Surah Ghafir, Ayah 78

The Command to be Patient and Good News of Victory

Here Allah commands His Messenger to patiently bear the rejection of those who rejected him: `Allah will fulfill His promise to you that you will be victorious and will prevail over your people, and you and those who follow you, will be the successful ones in this world and the Hereafter.'

فَـإِمَّا نُرِيَنَّكَ بَعْضَ الَّذِى نَعِدُهُمْ

(and whether We show you some part of what We have promised them,) means, in this world, and this is what happened, for Allah gave them the joy of humiliating the leaders and nobles (of the Quraysh), who were killed on the day of Badr, then Allah granted them victory over Makkah and the entire Arabian Peninsula during the lifetime of the Prophet .

In verse 77, it was said: فَاصْبِرْ‌ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّـهِ حَقٌّ فَإِمَّا نُرِ‌يَنَّكَ (Therefore, be patient. Surely, the promise of Allah is true. Then, whether We show you [ in your life ] a part of the promise We are making to them, or make you die [ before they are punished ], in any case they have to be returned to Us). From this verse it appears that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was hopefully waiting for the disbelievers to be punished. Therefore, it was to comfort him that he was asked to be somewhat patient about it. The promise of Allah for them, that they will be punished, will certainly be fulfilled - may be during his lifetime, or after he has departed from the mortal world. Waiting for the disbelievers to be punished apparently seems contrary to the dignity of one who was sent with universal mercy. But, here the matter is different. When the purpose of punishing criminals is to bring comfort to innocent believers who were oppressed, then, the punishment of criminals is not contrary to compassion and mercy. Nobody regards the punishment given to a criminal against the dictate of mercy.

Events in the lives of the previous prophets have been described in the Quran, not as historical records, but by way of admonition. So, these descriptions of prophets in the Quran are restricted to whatever is deemed necessary (by God) for the purpose of admonition. The real mission of a prophet is only to convey the message of God to the people, with all due respect to the requirements of propriety. As far as miracles are concerned, it is entirely at God’s discretion whether they are demonstrated or not. Miracles were shown mostly to communities who were destined by God to be destroyed on account of their arrogance. So, as a last measure, by way of fulfilling the conditions of fully conveying the divine message fortified by reasoned arguments, they were also shown miracles . But the case of the community of the last Prophet of God was different. A major part of this community was finally destined to be believers. They were the people who were potentially capable of becoming the first group in history who admitted the Truth simply on the strength of arguments and, in exercise of their free will, surrendered themselves to it.