Surah Ash-Shu'ara, Ayah 211

The Qur'an was brought down by Jibril, not Shaytan

Allah tells us about His Book, which falsehood cannot approach from before or behind it, sent down by the All-Wise, Worthy of all praise. He states that it has been brought down by the trustworthy Ruh (i.e., Jibril) who is helped by Allah,

وَمَا تَنَزَّلَتْ بِهِ الشَّيَـطِينُ

(And it is not the Shayatin who have brought it down.) Then He tells us that it could not be the case for three reasons that the Shayatin brought it down. One is that it would not suit them, i.e., they have no desire to do so and they do not want to, because their nature is to corrupt and misguide people, but this contains words enjoining what is right and forbidding what is evil, and light, guidance and mighty proofs. There is a big difference between this and the Shayatin, Allah says:

أَفَرَ‌أَيْتَ إِن مَّتَّعْنَاهُمْ سِنِينَ ﴿205﴾

So tell me, If We give them enjoyment for years, - 26:205.

There is a hint in this verse that those who are bestowed with long life in this world by Allah Ta’ ala, it is His grace on them. But those who show ingratitude for this grace and do not submit to Islam, to them this respite and grace will not be of any avail. Imam Zuhri (رح) has related that Sayyidna ` Umar ibn ` Abdul Aziz (رح) used to recite this verse every morning by holding his beard and addressing his Self:

نھارک یا مغرور سھو و غفلۃ ولیلک نوم والرّدیٰ لک لازم

فلا انت فی الایقاظ یقظان حازم ولا انت فی النّوّام ناجِ و سالم

وتعٰی الٰی ما سوف تکرہ غبّہ کذٰلک فی الدّنیا تعیش البھایٔم

` O the duped one! Your whole day is spent in negligence and the night in sleep, while death is inevitable for you. Neither you are awake among the alert and woken nor are you the one who will get salvation from among the sleepers. You keep endeavoring for things which will soon bring you unpleasant results. Cattle and animals live like this in the world'.

The Quran was revealed in the Arabic language, which was also the mother tongue of the Prophet who presented it. This gave those who denied the truth the opportunity to allege that the Quran was this Prophet’s own creation. They said that, being an Arab, he had authored the Quran in Arabic. But the tenor of this objection itself clearly shows that it is lacking in seriousness. Indeed those who are not serious about matters of importance always find some flimsy excuse or the other to be critical of them. For example, if this Arabic Quran had been revealed to a non-Arab and if that person, in spite of not knowing Arabic, had recited the Arabic Quran to them, they would have immediately said that he was being tutored by some Arab. For those who lead worldly lives, any admission of Truth amounts to negating themselves. When Truth appears before them and they do not accept it, having given more importance to personal considerations, they are so conditioned to their worldly ways, that they are unable to revise their thinking and acknowledge the truth, specially when it goes against their interests.