Surah Al-Furqaan (25) — Ayah 21

(Ayah 21) ➊ {وَ قَالَ الَّذِيْنَ لَا يَرْجُوْنَ لِقَآءَنَا …:} This is the fourth objection of the deniers of the Prophethood of this Prophet (peace be upon him). Allah Almighty, instead of saying {’’وَقَالُوْا‘‘} (And they said) or {’’وَ قَالَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا‘‘} (And those who disbelieved said), said: «{وَ قَالَ الَّذِيْنَ لَا يَرْجُوْنَ لِقَآءَنَا }» (And those who do not expect to meet Us said), meaning they dared to be so insolent because they do not expect to meet Us. Let alone certainty, if they even had hope of the Resurrection and being presented before Us, such a grave statement would not have come from their mouths.

➋ The deniers said, “(If an angel descends with revelation upon this Prophet,) why are angels not sent down upon us, or why does it not happen that we see our Lord (with our own eyes)?” This is such a statement that no human has the right to dare utter, because it is an objection against that Pure Being whose greatness has no limit and whose wisdoms cannot be known. Therefore, Allah Almighty, with words {’’ لَقَدْ ‘‘} that carry the meaning of an oath, said that I swear these people have become very arrogant in their hearts and have adopted such rebellion which is a very great rebellion. Whereas, in reality, they have no greatness, nor in the eyes of people. Another meaning of the verse could be: why did it not happen that angels descended with this Prophet, or the Lord Himself came forward to confirm him. As if, for them, the clear miracles of the Prophet, especially the Qur’an, have no value, even though they could not produce the like of a single surah.

➌ Allah Almighty has mentioned this objection of the disbelievers at several other places as well. Thus, in Surah Al-An’am, He said: «{ وَ اِذَا جَآءَتْهُمْ اٰيَةٌ قَالُوْا لَنْ نُّؤْمِنَ حَتّٰى نُؤْتٰى مِثْلَ مَاۤ اُوْتِيَ رُسُلُ اللّٰهِ اَللّٰهُ اَعْلَمُ حَيْثُ يَجْعَلُ رِسَالَتَهٗ سَيُصِيْبُ الَّذِيْنَ اَجْرَمُوْا صَغَارٌ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ وَ عَذَابٌ شَدِيْدٌۢ بِمَا كَانُوْا يَمْكُرُوْنَ }» [ الأنعام : ۱۲۴ ] “And when a sign comes to them, they say, ‘We will never believe until we are given the like of what was given to Allah’s messengers.’ Allah knows best where to place His message. Soon, those who committed crimes will be afflicted with humiliation from Allah and a severe punishment for what they used to plot.” And in Surah Bani Isra’il, verses (90 to 93), the demands are mentioned which they presented as conditions for believing in the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), among which was this demand: «{ اَوْ تَاْتِيَ بِاللّٰهِ وَ الْمَلٰٓىِٕكَةِ قَبِيْلًا }» [ بني إسرائیل : ۹۲ ] “Or you bring Allah and the angels before us.”

➍ Allah Almighty declared this to be great arrogance and great rebellion because they demanded for every person the rank of a Prophet, which would be attained by the descent of an angel. (See Al-Muddathir: 52, 53) Then they did not stop there, but demanded the descent of several angels who would bring Allah’s message to them. They went even further and demanded to see the Lord Himself. As if, they demanded things that were not even granted to the Prophets. Here, a question arises: the request to see Allah was also made by Musa (peace be upon him), so why was that not called arrogance? The answer is that Musa (peace be upon him) did not make the request to see Allah as a condition of faith, but out of longing.

21-1. That is, instead of sending a human as a messenger, an angel would have been sent as a messenger. Or it means that angels would have descended with the Prophet, whom we could see with our own eyes, and they would confirm this human messenger.

21-2. That is, the Lord Himself would come and tell us that Muhammad ﷺ is My messenger and it is necessary for you to have faith in him.

21-3. It is the result of this arrogance and rebellion that they are making such demands which are against the will of Allah Almighty. Allah Almighty tests people through faith in the unseen. If He were to send angels before their eyes or Himself descend to the earth, then the aspect of their trial would be eliminated. Therefore, how could Allah Almighty do something that is against His wisdom of creation and His divine will?

21. And those who do not expect to meet Us say, "Why are not the angels sent down to us, or (why) do we not see our Lord (with our own eyes) [29]?" They have certainly become arrogant within themselves and have exceeded all bounds in rebellion [30].

[29]
The Disbelievers’ Demand That Angels Should Descend Upon Them:

Among the absurd demands of the disbelievers of Makkah was also this: just as an angel descends upon you, an angel should descend upon each one of us as well. So that we may be fully convinced that what you are calling us to is indeed true. And if this is not possible, then at least we should be able to see our Lord Himself, Who should tell us once that He is sending such-and-such person as a Messenger and that we must believe in him. Allah Almighty says that these demands of theirs are not because, if these things were fulfilled, they would be ready to believe; rather, these people are making such absurd statements because they do not believe that after death they will be presented before Us. If they were certain of this, they would never make such statements.

[30] That is, the abundance of wealth and prosperity We have granted them has made them think highly of themselves. They think that if an angel can descend upon this person, who in their view is of a lower status than them, then why can’t an angel descend upon us as well, or at least Allah Almighty Himself should assure us of these matters. How can we believe in the words of this person?