Surah Al-Anbiyaa (21) — Ayah 8

(Ayah 8) ➊ The meaning of {وَ مَا جَعَلْنٰهُمْ جَسَدًا …:’’ جَسَدًا ‘‘} is a lifeless body; it is synonymous with "jism" (body). This is the statement of the authoritative scholars of language, as Abu Ishaq Zajjaj has mentioned in the explanation of Allah Almighty’s statement: «{ فَاَخْرَجَ لَهُمْ عِجْلًا جَسَدًا لَّهٗ خُوَارٌ }» [ طٰہٰ : ۸۸ ]. [ التحریر والتنویر ] This is the answer to their objection: «{ مَالِ هٰذَا الرَّسُوْلِ يَاْكُلُ الطَّعَامَ وَ يَمْشِيْ فِي الْاَسْوَاقِ }» [الفرقان : ۷ ] “What is with this Messenger that he eats food and walks in the markets?” Along with this, another objection of theirs was: «{ هَلْ هٰذَاۤ اِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ }» [ الأنبیاء : ۳ ] “He is but a man like yourselves.” Along with these objections, their demand was: «{ فَلْيَاْتِنَا بِاٰيَةٍ كَمَاۤ اُرْسِلَ الْاَوَّلُوْنَ }» [ الأنبیاء : ۵ ] “So let him bring us a sign just as the previous messengers were sent.” The answer to {’’ فَلْيَاْتِنَا بِاٰيَةٍ ‘‘} has already passed. Here, the answer to the other two objections is given: that all the messengers We sent before were human beings, not angels; they were men, not women. Similarly, they were not lifeless bodies that did not eat or walk in the markets; rather, they used to eat and drink and walk in the markets. (Furqan: 20) They also had wives and children. (Ra’d: 38) Just like your forefathers Ibrahim and Ismail (peace be upon them), and the forefathers of Bani Israel: Yaqub, Ishaq, and Ibrahim (peace be upon them). So when you accept all of them as messengers despite being human, eating and drinking, walking in the markets, and having families and children, then why do you not accept the unlettered Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as a messenger?

➋ Whether the polytheists are from earlier times, the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), or our own time, their mindset is always that saints are free from eating and drinking, independent of wives and children, and have no connection with worldly affairs. That is why, in their view, those who wish to become saints and spiritual leaders abandon earning and so on, and settle in huts and monasteries. Some devotees of these saints spread strange and wonderful stories about them, which are not even possible. If you do not believe it, read “Tazkirat al-Awliya,” for example: such-and-such saint first skipped food for a day, then for a month, then for a year, and then for his entire life. About a saint from Punjab, his devotees have spread that he spent twelve years worshipping in the jungle without eating anything, only having a piece of wooden bread with him, which he would occasionally bite with his teeth. Then for twelve years, he worshipped Allah hanging upside down in a well. No one asks them: what kind of worship is hanging upside down? And what happened to the prayers, fasts, ablution, and bathing during that period? For these people, this is sainthood, whereas those three companions, one of whom said that he would always stand in prayer all night and never sleep, the second said that he would always fast during the day and never go without fasting, and the third said that he would not marry women, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: [ وَاللّٰهِ ! إِنِّيْ لَأَخْشَاكُمْ لِلّٰهِ وَأَتْقَاكُمْ لَهُ لٰكِنّيْ أَصُوْمُ وَأُفْطِرُ وَ أُصَلِّيْ وَ أَرْقُدُ وَ أَتَزَوَّجُ النِّسَاءَ فَمَنْ رَغِبَ عَنْ سُنَّتِيْ فَلَيْسَ مِنِّيْ ] “By Allah! I am the one among you who fears Allah the most and is the most pious, but I stand in prayer and I sleep, I fast and I do not fast, and I marry women. So whoever turns away from my way is not from me.” [ بخاري، النکاح، باب الترغیب في النکاح : ۵۰۶۳ ]

➌ { وَ مَا كَانُوْا خٰلِدِيْنَ :} This is also a refutation of one of the disbelievers’ false beliefs: that Allah’s messengers and special servants do not die. Many ignorant people have made up a statement which they recite as if it is a verse of the Qur’an: {’’ أَلَا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَائَ اللّٰهِ لَا يَمُوْتُوْنَ وَلٰكِنَّهُمْ مِنْ دَارٍ إِلٰي دَارٍ يَنْتَقِلُوْنَ ‘‘} “Know that Allah’s friends do not die, rather they move from one house to another.” If someone happens to say that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) or such-and-such saint has passed away, these people declare him disrespectful and do not even refrain from attacking him. Allah Almighty has said here that the previous messengers were not everlasting, but after living their natural lives, they passed away. Elsewhere He said: «{ وَ مَا جَعَلْنَا لِبَشَرٍ مِّنْ قَبْلِكَ الْخُلْدَ اَفَاۡىِٕنْ مِّتَّ فَهُمُ الْخٰلِدُوْنَ }» [الأنبیاء : ۳۴ ] “And We did not grant immortality to any human before you; so if you die, will they be immortal?” For further details, see Surah Az-Zumar (30, 31).

8. 1. Rather, they also used to eat food and, having encountered death, became travelers to the eternal world; this is being presented as evidence of the humanity of the prophets.

8. We did not make their (the messengers') bodies such that they would not eat food, nor were they immortal [8].

[8]
All Prophets Were Men, Used to Eat Food, and Have All Departed from This World:

Now, an answer is being given to a fundamental objection of the disbelievers of Makkah. The objection was that this Prophet is a human being just like us. All human weaknesses and needs are present in him as they are in us. He, like us, is dependent on eating, drinking, walking, and moving about, and, like us, he also marries. Furthermore, he neither possesses any religious grandeur nor is there any angel who stays with him. In response to all these things, they were told that you, who keep asking the People of the Book various questions and raising various objections against this Prophet, should ask them this question as well: Was Musa (Moses) ؑ a human being or not? Their answer will satisfy you that Musa ؑ himself and all the other prophets besides him were all human beings. All human needs were attached to them as well. Besides eating and drinking, all of them also faced death, and today, none of them is alive. [نيز ديكهئے سورة نحل كا حاشيه 44۔ 1]