Here Allah refutes those who denied that human Messengers could be sent:
[وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا
قَبْلَكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُّوحِى إِلَيْهِمْ]
(And We sent not before you but men to whom We revealed.) meaning, all the
Messengers who came before you were men, human beings. There were no angels
among them. This is like the Ayat:
[وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا
مِن قَبْلِكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُّوحِى إِلَيْهِمْ مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَى]
(And We sent not before you any but men unto whom We revealed, from among the
people of townships) [12:109]
[قُلْ مَا كُنتُ
بِدْعاً مِّنَ الرُّسُلِ]
(Say: "I am not a new thing among the Messengers...) [46:9] Allah tells us
that the previous nations denied that and said:
[أَبَشَرٌ
يَهْدُونَنَا]
("Shall mere men guide us'') [64:6]. So Allah says here:
[فَاسْأَلُواْ أَهْلَ
الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنْتُم لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ]
(So ask the people of the Reminder if you do not know.) meaning, ask the
people of knowledge among the nations such as the Jews and Christians and other
groups: `were the Messengers who came to you human beings or angels' Indeed they
were human beings. This is a part of the perfect blessing of Allah towards His
creation: He sent to them Messengers from among themselves so that they could
receive the Message from them and learn from them.
[وَمَا جَعَلْنَـهُمْ
جَسَداً لاَّ يَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ]
(And We did not place them in bodies that did not eat food...) meaning,
rather they had bodies that ate food, as Allah says:
[وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا
قَبْلَكَ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ إِلاَّ إِنَّهُمْ لَيَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ
وَيَمْشُونَ فِى الاٌّسْوَاقِ]
(And We never sent before you any of the Messengers but verily, they ate food
and walked in the markets) [25:20] meaning, they were human beings who ate and
drank like all other people, and they went to the marketplaces to earn a living
and engage in business; that did not affect them adversely or reduce their
status in any way, as the idolators imagined.
[مَا لِهَـذَا
الرَّسُولِ يَأْكُلُ الطَّعَامَ وَيَمْشِى فِى الاٌّسْوَاقِ لَوْلا أُنزِلَ
إِلَيْهِ مَلَكٌ فَيَكُونَ مَعَهُ نَذِيراًأَوْ يُلْقَى إِلَيْهِ كَنْزٌ أَوْ
تَكُونُ لَهُ جَنَّةٌ يَأْكُلُ مِنْهَا]
(And they say: "Why does this Messenger eat food, and walk about in the
markets. Why is not an angel sent down to him to be a warner with him Or (why)
has not a treasure been granted to him, or why has he not a garden whereof he
may eat'') [25:7-8]
[وَمَا كَانُواْ
خَـلِدِينَ]
(nor were they immortals) meaning, in this world; on the contrary, they
lived, then they died.
[وَمَا جَعَلْنَا
لِبَشَرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ الْخُلْدَ]
(And We granted not to any human being immortality before you) [21:34] But
what distinguished them from others was that they received revelation from
Allah, and the angels brought down to them from Allah His rulings concerning His
creation, what He commanded and what He prohibited.
[ثُمَّ صَدَقْنَـهُمُ
الْوَعْدَ]
Then We fulfilled to them the promise. the promise that their Lord made to
destroy the evildoers. Alla0h fulfilled His promise and did that. He says:
[فَأَنجَيْنَـهُمْ
وَمَن نَّشَآءُ]
(So We saved them and those whom We willed,) meaning, their followers among
the believers,
[وَأَهْلَكْنَا
الْمُسْرفِينَ]
(but We destroyed Al-Musrifin.) meaning, those who disbelieved the Message
brought by the Messengers.
[لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَآ
إِلَيْكُمْ كِتَـباً فِيهِ ذِكْرُكُمْ أَفَلاَ تَعْقِلُونَ - وَكَمْ قَصَمْنَا مِن
قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ ظَـلِمَةً وَأَنشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا قَوْماً ءَاخَرِينَ - فَلَمَّآ
أَحَسُّواْ بَأْسَنَآ إِذَا هُمْ مِّنْهَا يَرْكُضُونَ - لاَ تَرْكُضُواْ
وَارْجِعُواْ إِلَى مَآ أُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيهِ وَمَسَـكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ
تُسْأَلُونَ - قَالُواْ يوَيْلَنَآ إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَـلِمِينَ - فَمَا زَالَت تِلْكَ
دَعْوَاهُمْ حَتَّى جَعَلْنَـهُمْ حَصِيداً خَـمِدِينَ ]
(10. Indeed, We have sent down for you a Book in which there is Dhikrukum.
Will you not then understand) (11. How many a town given to wrongdoing, have We
destroyed, and raised up after them another people!) (12. Then, when they sensed
Our torment, behold, they (tried to) flee from it.) (13. Flee not, but return to
that wherein you lived a luxurious life, and to your homes, in order that you
may be questioned.) (14. They cried: "Woe to us! Certainly we have been
wrongdoers.'') (15. And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a
field that is reaped, extinct.)
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