Tafsir of Surah Saba' - Verse 45

The Saying of the Disbelievers about the Prophets, and its refutation

Allah tells us that the disbeliever deserve to be severely punished by Him, because when His clear Verses were recited to them, and they heard them fresh from the lips of His Messenger , they said:

قَالُواْ مَا هَـذَا إِلاَّ رَجُلٌ يُرِيدُ أَن يَصُدَّكُمْ عَمَّا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ ءَابَآؤُكُمْ

(They say: "This is naught but a man who wishes to hinder you from that which your fathers used to worship.") meaning, that the religion of their fathers was the truth and that what the Messenger brought to them was false -- may the curse of Allah be upon them and their fathers!

وَقَالُواْ مَا هَـذَآ إِلاَّ إِفْكٌ مُّفْتَرًى

(And they say: "This is nothing but an invented lie.") referring to the Qur'an. l

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لِلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ إِنْ هَـذَآ إِلاَّ سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ

(And those who disbelieve say of the truth when it has come to them: "This is nothing but evident magic!") Allah says:

وَمَآ ءَاتَيْنَـهُمْ مِّنْ كُتُبٍ يَدْرُسُونَهَا وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ قَبْلَكَ مِّن نَّذِيرٍ

(And We had not given them Scriptures that they could study, nor sent to them before you any warner) meaning, Allah did not reveal any Book to the Arabs before the Qur'an, and He did not send any Prophet to them before Muhammad ﷺ . They used to wish for that and say, `if only a warner comes to us or a Book is revealed to us, we would be more guided than others,' but when Allah blessed them with that, they disbelieved him and stubbornly rejected him. Then Allah says:

وَكَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبلِهِمْ

(And those before them denied;) meaning, other nations.

وَمَا بَلَغُواْ مِعْشَارَ مَآ ءَاتَيْنَـهُمْ

(these have not received even a tenth of what We had granted to those (of old);) Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Of the power of this world." This was also the view of Qatadah, As-Suddi and Ibn Zayd. This is like the Ayat:

وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَـهُمْ فِيمَآ إِن مَّكَّنَّـكُمْ فِيهِ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُمْ سَمْعاً وَأَبْصَـراً وَأَفْئِدَةً فَمَآ أَغْنَى عَنْهُمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَلاَ أَبْصَـرُهُمْ وَلاَ أَفْئِدَتُهُمْ مِّن شَىْءٍ إِذْ كَانُواْ يَجْحَدُونَ بِـَايَـتِ اللَّهِ وَحَاقَ بِهم مَّا كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

(And indeed We had firmly established them with that wherewith We have not established you! And We had assigned them the hearing, seeing, and hearts; but their hearing, seeing, and their hearts availed them nothing since they used to deny the Ayat of Allah, and they were completely encircled by that which they used to mock at!) (46: 26)

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ فَيَنظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ كَانُواْ أَكْـثَرَ مِنْهُمْ وَأَشَدَّ قُوَّةً

(Have they not traveled through the earth and seen what was the end of those before them They were more in number than them and mightier in strength) (40:82). but that did not protect them from the punishment of Allah, and Allah destroyed them because they denied His Messengers. Allah says:

فَكَذَّبُواْ رُسُلِى فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ

(yet they denied My Messengers. Then how (terrible) was My denial!) meaning, `how severe was My wrath and how great was My avenging of My Messengers.'

Commentary

The word: مِعْشَارَ‌ (mi'shar) in verse 45: وَمَا بَلَغُوا مِعْشَارَ‌ مَا آتَيْنَاهُمْ (while these (infidels of Makkah) have not reached even one tenth of what We gave to those (before them) has been taken to mean: عُشُر ('ushr: a tenth) by some early commentators. Some scholars have interpreted it as: عُشرُ العُشر (ushr-ul-` ushr: a hundredth) while others call it: عُشرُ العَشِیر (` ushr-ul ` ashir: a thousandth). Obviously, the later has a higher degree of exaggeration as compared to 'ushr or ten. The sense of the verse is that not even a tenth, rather a thousandth, of the worldly wealth, power, blessings of age and health given to earlier communities was received by the people of Makkah. Therefore, they should take lesson from what happened to past communities and the evil end they faced. These were people who invited upon themselves the wrath of Allah when they rejected prophets and messengers and, consequently, when came the actual punishment, their power, bravery, wealth and fortified fortresses could do nothing for them.

The Quran presented clear arguments to its opponents which they were unable to counter. In spite of this, they were successful in dissuading the common people from accepting the truth. The sole reason for this success was that the disbelievers played on the sentiments of the common people and stirred them up by saying that it (the Quran’s message) was against the traditions of their forefathers. The miraculous literary value of the Quran was undeniable, and therefore, attempts were made to convince people that its supposed greatness depended solely on magical feats of expression which had nothing to do with divine revelation; it was only a miracle of penmanship and not the result of the knowledge of reality. It is most interesting that as a matter of historical record, for people of every period, prejudice has proved stronger than rational arguments. The Quran’s addressees could have put forward rational arguments to reject it or they could have referred to any other divine scriptures from which a contradiction to the Quran could have been produced. But none took recourse to either of these possibilities. If people so blatantly deny the call for Truth, it is due to nothing but stubbornness.