Surah At-Tur, Ayah 47

The Stubbornness of the Idolators; Their Punishment

Allah the Exalted reaffirms the stubbornness of the idolators and their ignorance of what goes around them,

وَإِن يَرَوْاْ كِسْفاً مِّنَ السَّمَآءِ سَـقِطاً

(And if they were to see a piece of the heaven falling down,) meaning, on them as punishment, they would not believe it is coming their way, saying that, these are layers of clouds on top of each other. Allah the Exalted said in other Ayat,

وَلَوْ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَاباً مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ فَظَلُّواْ فِيهِ يَعْرُجُونَ - لَقَالُواْ إِنَّمَا سُكِّرَتْ أَبْصَـرُنَا بَلْ نَحْنُ قَوْمٌ مَّسْحُورُونَ

(And even if We opened to them a gate from the heaven and they were to keep on ascending thereto (all day long), they would surely say (in the evening): "Our eyes have been dazzled. Nay, we are a people bewitched.")(15:14-15) Allah the Exalted said,

{ 1} It refers to the punishments faced by the disbelievers right in this world, like famines and the deterrent defeat in the battle of Badr. (Muhammad Taqi Usmani).

Why were the people of ancient Makkah so inclined that, wherever they saw God’s punitive devices falling from the sky, they would say that it was only a cloud? The reason for this was not that they did not accept God or His powers. The real reason for this was that they were doubtful of the Prophet really being a prophet. They were not convinced that the rejection of the person who was before them and who was apparently just like them could be so great a crime as to bring down a mountain of destruction upon them. The personality of the Prophet Muhammad was a matter of controversy among his contemporaries. He had at that time no established reputation, as it would seem to people today. But, it is the real test of man that he should see the reality by tearing asunder the veils of doubt. He should be able to discover the essence of the established personality in the apparently controversial personality.