Surah Al-A'raf, Ayah 63

أَوَ عَجِبْتُمْ

("Do you wonder..."), do not wonder because of this. Surely, it is not strange that Allah sends down revelation to a man among you as mercy, kindness and compassion for you, so that he warns you that you may avoid Allah's torment by associating none with Him,

وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

("and that you may receive (His) mercy.") Allah said,

فَكَذَّبُوهُ

(But they belied him) but they insisted on rejecting and opposing him, and only a few of them believed in him, as Allah stated in another Ayah. Allah said next,

فَأَنجَيْنَـهُ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ فِي الْفُلْكِ

(So We saved him and those along with him in the Fulk) the ark,

وَأَغْرَقْنَا الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُواْ بِـَايَـتِنَآ

(And We drowned those who belied Our Ayat. ) Allah said in another Ayah,

مِّمَّا خَطِيئَـتِهِمْ أُغْرِقُواْ فَأُدْخِلُواْ نَاراً فَلَمْ يَجِدُواْ لَهُمْ مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنصَاراً

(Because of their sins they were drowned, then they were admitted into the Fire. And they found none to help them instead of Allah.) 71:25 Allah said,

إِنَّهُمْ كَانُواْ قَوْماً عَمِينَ

(They were indeed a blind people.) meaning, blind from the Truth, unable to recognize it or find their way to it. Here, Allah said that He has taken revenge from His enemies and saved His Messenger and those who believed in him, while destroying their disbelieving enemies. Allah said in a another Ayah,

إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا

(Verily, We will indeed make victorious Our Messengers) 40:51. This is Allah's Sunnah (way) with His servants, in this life and the Hereafter, that the good end, victory and triumph is for those who fear Him. For example, Allah destroyed the people of Nuh, and saved Nuh and his believing followers. Ibn Wahb said that he was told that Ibn `Abbas said that eighty men were saved with Nuh in the ship, one of them was Jurhum, who spoke Arabic. Ibn Abi Hatim collected this statement, which was also narrated with a continuous chain of narration from Ibn `Abbas.

Here, the answer given was: أَوَعَجِبْتُمْ أَن جَاءَكُمْ ذِكْرٌ‌ مِّن رَّ‌بِّكُمْ عَلَىٰ رَ‌جُلٍ مِّنكُمْ لِيُنذِرَ‌كُمْ وَلِتَتَّقُوا وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْ‌حَمُونَ ﴿63﴾ (Do you wonder that an advice from your Lord has come to you through a man from among you, so that he may warn you and that you may fear Allah, and that you may be blessed with mercy?) [ that is, his warning may lead you to stop opposing him as a result of which you may be blessed with mercy ]

The substance of the argument is that the making of a human being a messenger of Allah is not a matter of surprise. First of all, Allah Ta` ala is the Absolute Master. Bestowing on someone the status of a prophet or messenger is His exclusive domain. It is He who does it at His will. No one is in a position to dare have it otherwise. In addition to that, a little deliberation will make it clear that the purpose of sending a prophet or messenger to guide human beings can only be achieved through a human being. This is a mission angels cannot perform.

The reason is that the purpose of prophethood is to bring people round to believe in and obey Allah Ta` ala and save them from harsh consequences of their opposition to His injunctions - and this can only be possible when a person from their own kind presents before them a model of the desired conduct and shows before them that it is quite possible to worship Allah and obey His injunctions even with the fulfillment of inherent human needs and desires. If this call was brought forth by angels and they were to put their model before people, it is obvious that people would have found it fairly convenient to say that an-gels are free of human desires, they are never hungry or thirsty, they never sleep, or get tired. How could they ever become like them? But, when one of their own kind, despite having common human characteristics and desires, walks amongst them as a perfect model of obedience to Divine injunctions, they would be left with no excuse.

It was to point out in this direction that it was said: لِيُنذِرَ‌كُمْ وَلِتَتَّقُوا (so that he may warn you and that you may fear Allah). In other words, it means that a person whose warning can make people have fear could only be the one who is of their kind and is an epitome of human traits like them. This is not an unusual doubt for the disbelievers of many communities who have questioned the propriety of having a human being as prophet or messenger. This is the answer given by the Qur'an to all such doubts. It is certainly regrettable that, despite so many clarifications of the Qur'an, there are people who would dare going to the limit of denying the ` humanness' of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . But, the problem with the ignorant among human beings is that they would not understand this reality and would simply refuse to accept the superiority of anyone from their own kind. This is why they would nurse hatred for their contemporary Awliya' (men of Allah) and ` Ulama' (highly trained and trustworthy religious scholars who practice what they teach) and look down upon them because of their contemporaneousness. This has always been the trademark of the ignorant.

When this paternal and well-wishing approach of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) in reply to the heart-rending words said by his addressees made no effect on these unfeeling people who turned blind to truth and kept belying it, then, Allah Ta` ala sent down upon them the punishment of Flood

God has made the world in such a way that its material occurrences symbolize its spiritual aspects. When rain falls anywhere, the water reaches every part of that place. But in respect of its use, conditions in different lands vary. When one region gets water, lush green fields emerge from it. There may be another region which, even after getting rain, remains unaffected, and nothing but wild bushes will grow there. The same is the position of that spiritual rainfall which comes down on behalf of God in the shape of His guidance. The message of this guidance reaches the ears of every man but its benefits accrue to everybody according to his receptivity. One who is receptive to accepting the Truth, derives full advantage from it; he gets a new lease of life from it; his nature is suddenly activated. His contact with his Almighty Lord is established. His parched soul blooms with divine inspiration. Just the opposite is the condition of the person who has lost his natural receptivity. The rainfall of guidance, in spite of its immense possibilities, does not benefit him at all; he remains as dry as he was earlier. If at all there is any crop, it is only a scanty growth of wild bushes. The rainfall of guidance breeds in him jealousy, haughtiness, a tendency to employ meaningless sophistry, and opposition to the truth. Thus he fails to accept the truth and support it. In order to absorb the rainwater, the land must necessarily be dry. If the land is not dry, the rain water will simply pass over it, and will not be absorbed in it. In the same way, the guidance of God becomes rooted only in that man who is desirous of it; one who has emptied his soul of the dross of this world. Unlike him, one who is careless of God’s guidance and whose heart is engrossed in other interests and other glories may encounter God’s guidance, but it will not permeate him. It will not become the nutrition of his soul; it will not water the land of his soul and help to grow the garden of God in it.