Tafsir of Surah Yunus - Verse 16

Obstinance of the Chiefs of the Quraysh

Allah tells us about the obstinance of the disbelievers of the Quraysh, who were opposed to the message and denied Allah. When the Messenger ﷺ read to them from the Book of Allah and His clear evidence they said to him: "Bring a Qur'an other than this." They wanted the Prophet to take back this Book and bring them another book of a different style or change it to a different form. So Allah said to His Prophet :

قُلْ مَا يَكُونُ لِى أَنْ أُبَدِّلَهُ مِن تِلْقَآءِ نَفْسِى

(Say: "It is not for me to change it on my own accord;) This means that it is not up to me to do such a thing. I am but a servant who receives commands. I am a Messenger conveying from Allah.

إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلاَّ مَا يُوحَى إِلَىَّ إِنِّى أَخَافُ إِنْ عَصَيْتُ رَبِّى عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ

(I only follow that which is revealed unto me. Verily, I fear the torment of the Great Day (the Day of Resurrection) if I were to disobey my Lord.)

The Evidence of the Truthfulness of the Qur'an Muhammad ﷺ then argued with supporting evidence to the truthfulness of what he had brought them:

قُل لَّوْ شَآءَ اللَّهُ مَا تَلَوْتُهُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلاَ أَدْرَاكُمْ بِهِ

(Say: "If Allah had so willed, I should not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you...") This indicates that he brought this only with the permission and will of Allah for him to do so. The proof of this was that he had not fabricated it himself and that they were incapable of refuting it, and that they should be fully aware of his truthfulness and honesty since he grew up among them, until Allah sent the Message to him. The Prophet was never criticized for anything or held in contempt. So he said,

فَقَدْ لَبِثْتُ فِيكُمْ عُمُراً مِّن قَبْلِهِ أَفَلاَ تَعْقِلُونَ

(Verily, I have stayed among you a lifetime before this. Have you then no sense) Which meant "don't you have brains with which you may distinguish the truth from falsehood" When Heraclius, the Roman king, asked Abu Sufyan and those who were in his company about the Prophet , he said: "Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim" Abu Sufyan replied: "No." Abu Sufyan was then the head of the disbelievers and the leader of the idolators, but he still admitted the truth. This is a clear and irrefutable testimony since it came from the enemy. Heraclius then said: "I wondered how a person who does not tell a lie about others could ever tell a lie about Allah." Ja`far bin Abu Talib said to An-Najashi, the king of Ethiopia: "Allah has sent to us a Messenger that we know his truthfulness, ancestral lineage, and honesty. He stayed among us before the prophethood for forty years."

After that, the fact that the Qur'an was from Allah and that it was His Word was driven home with an open argument by saying: فَقَدْ لَبِثْتُ فِيكُمْ عُمُرً‌ا مِّن قَبْلِهِ (Then I have lived among you for years before it). In effect, he was saying, ` just think for a moment. Is it not that, much before the revelation of the Qur'an, I have spent a long period of forty years of my life among you? During this period, you have never heard me composing and reciting poetry or writing essays in prose. Had I been proficient in saying something like this Word of Allah, I would have naturally said at least some of it during this period of forty years. In addition to that, you have a direct experience of my character and conduct, particularly of my truth and honesty, during these long forty years of my life among you. You know that I have never lied then. How and why would I start lying now after all those forty years?' This clearly proves that the Holy Prophet ﷺ is true and trustworthy. Whatever there is in the Qur'an is the Word of Allah Ta` ala and has come from Him.

Important Note

No doubt, this argument of the Qur'an provides a perfect proof of its veracity as the Word of Allah. But, it has also given us a standing rule of conduct in matters of common interest where we must be able to separate the genuine from the counterfeit and the true from the false. When an office or rank of responsibility has to be given to a per-son, it becomes necessary to assess the qualification and capability of the incumbent. To do that, the best rule is to go through the record of his past life. If the person concerned is found to be true and trustworthy, the same can be expected from him in the future as well. And if, there is no evidence to prove his honesty and truth in that person's past life, trusting him for the future just because of what he says or claims is not a wise thing to do. In our time, finding the right person for an office of responsibility has become a nightmare. All sorts of errors (of intent, background research and decision making) are being committed and errors are compounded by widespread disorders (in social and governmental institutions). The real reason why all this is happening is the abandonment of this natural principle in favor of what is customary, formal (or straight dishonest).

The Quraysh of Makkah believed in God and the Prophet. They claimed to be the followers of the cult of Abraham (Ibrahim). So much so that many of the religious terms of Islam, for example, salat (prayers), sawm (fasting), zakat (alms-giving), hajj (pilgrimage), etc. are the same as had already been prevalent among them. In spite of this, why did they insist that they would accept the Quran only if it were replaced or amended? The reason for this was that the Quran enshrined God’s pure religion, while the Quraysh had adopted an adulterated variant of it in the name of God’s religion. A blow was dealt to their polytheistic concept of God by the Quranic principle of the oneness of God. In the light of the Quranic concept of prayer and obeisance to God, their prayer appeared to be simply child’s play. They had made the prophet the sign of national prestige, while the Quran wanted them to accept and follow a prophet who had to be given the status of a guide in all practical matters. They had taken it for granted that their service to the Ka‘bah was the greatest proof of their righteousness, whereas the Quran said that righteousness prevails when a man has the fear of God in his heart and, keeping the Hereafter in view, acts accordingly. A man mouths pious sounding words but ignores the Truth. The reason for this is that, at heart, he has no scruples. If a man is scrupulous enough to realise that he is answerable to God for all his utterances and deeds, he will immediately become serious, and a person who is serious will look at matters realistically. He cannot ignore moral questions or look at them in a superficial manner.