Surah Aal-i-Imraan (3) — Ayah 164

(Ayah 164) ➊ {لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللّٰهُ …:} Allah Almighty is describing the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) being a human and from among mankind as a favor, and indeed this is a great favor: firstly, he will convey Allah’s message in the language and dialect of his own people, which will be easy for everyone to understand; secondly, people, being of the same kind, will be familiar with him and close to him; and thirdly, it is possible for a human to follow another human, i.e., a man, but it is not within his capacity to follow angels, nor do angels possess the weaknesses and needs found in humans, nor can an angel comprehend the depths and subtleties of human intuition and consciousness. Therefore, if the messenger were from among the angels, he would be deprived of all those necessities that are essential for preaching and invitation. That is why all the prophets who came were humans. The Noble Qur’an has explained their humanity in detail, for example, see Surah Yusuf (109), Surah Al-Furqan (20), Surah Ha Mim As-Sajdah (6), and the last verse of Surah Al-Kahf.
➋ In the above verse, when it was stated that embezzlement and betrayal are far removed from the dignity of a prophet, and that prophethood and betrayal cannot coexist, in this verse, the same is further emphasized: that you (O Prophet) have been sent with a pure and lofty objective, which is that he recites His verses to you, teaches you the Book and wisdom (Sunnah), and purifies you from vices. Then, towards such a pure personality, who has been sent for the attainment of such a great purpose, how can any sensible person attribute embezzlement to him, or how can it even occur to anyone’s mind that he could commit a major and reprehensible act like betrayal? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has declared this sin to be a major one in many ahadith; even in the hadith of Ibn Lutbiyyah, the gifts given to rulers were counted as embezzlement. [ بخاری، الحیل، باب احتیال العامل… : ۶۹۷۹ ] { ”وَ اِنْ كَانُوْا“ } This was originally { ”وَ اِنَّهُمْ كَانُوْا“ }, the proof of which is the presence of the emphatic “lam” in {”لَفِيْ ضَلٰلٍ مُّبِيْنٍ“}.

164. 1 Allah Almighty is describing the fact that the Prophet is from among humans and mankind as a favor, and indeed this is a great favor: firstly, he will convey Allah’s message in the language and dialect of his own people, which will be easy for everyone to understand; secondly, people will be familiar and close to him because of being of the same kind; thirdly, it is possible for a human to follow a human, but it is not within his capacity to follow angels, nor can an angel comprehend the depths and subtleties of human intuition and consciousness. Therefore, if the messenger were from among the angels, he would be deprived of all those qualities that are extremely necessary for preaching and invitation. That is why all the prophets who have come were all humans. The Quran has explained their humanity in detail. (وَمَآ اَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ اِلَّا رِجَالًا نُّوْحِيْٓ اِلَيْهِمْ مِّنْ اَهْلِ الْقُرٰى) 12:19 “We did not send before you ﷺ any messengers except men to whom We revealed.” (وَمَآ اَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِيْنَ اِلَّآ اِنَّهُمْ لَيَاْكُلُوْنَ الطَّعَامَ وَيَمْشُوْنَ فِي الْاَسْوَاقِ) (25:20" We did not send before you any messengers except that they ate food and walked in the markets. "۔ And the Prophet ﷺ himself was made to say (قُلْ اِنَّمَآ اَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوْحٰٓى اِلَيَّ اَنَّمَآ اِلٰــهُكُمْ اِلٰهٌ وَّاحِدٌ) (حٰم السجدۃ :6) “Say: I am only a human like you, but it is revealed to me.” Today, many people do not understand this and fall into deviation.

164. 2 In this verse, three important objectives of prophethood have been mentioned: 1. Recitation 2. Purification 3. Teaching of the Book and Wisdom. Teaching of the Book automatically includes recitation; teaching is only possible with recitation, and the concept of teaching without recitation does not exist. Despite this, recitation has been mentioned separately as an objective, which clarifies the point that recitation in itself is a sacred and virtuous act, whether the reader understands its meaning or not. Trying to understand the meanings and messages of the Quran is certainly necessary for every Muslim. But until this objective is achieved or until one attains such understanding, neglect or avoidance of Quranic recitation is not permissible. Purification refers to the correction of beliefs, actions, and morals. Just as he ﷺ turned them away from polytheism and set them upon monotheism, likewise he elevated a nation of extremely ill-mannered and ill-tempered people to the heights of morality and character. According to most commentators, wisdom refers to hadith.

164. 2 This is “an” (lightened) from “inna” (heavy), meaning it carries the sense of (indeed, certainly, without a doubt).

164. Indeed, Allah has bestowed a great favor [158.1] upon the believers by raising among them a Messenger from themselves [159], who recites to them His verses, purifies them, and teaches them the Book and wisdom [160], although before this they were in clear misguidance.

The word [158۔ 1] «منّ» is used in several meanings: (1) to do a favor, (2) to remind of a favor, (3) to cut or be cut. And when this word is used in the sense of doing a favor, it refers to a very great favor. And that great favor is divine revelation and its light. To understand this, consider the example that Allah Almighty has granted man eyes and sight. But as long as there is no external light, such as the light of the sun, moon, stars, or lamps and lanterns, the eyesight does not function. It does work in darkness, but very little, and a person wanders and stumbles. In the same way, Allah Almighty has granted man intellect for understanding and thinking. But there are many issues of the universe, human physical life, and metaphysics where intellect alone cannot function unless it receives some external light. If intellect tries to function without this external light, it will wander and stumble, and this is the condition of philosopher-type people. And the external light for intellect is divine revelation. When intellect works in the light of divine revelation, its work can be correct and reliable. Thus, Allah Almighty informing people of the reality and essence of everything through prophets and revelation is a very great favor upon people; otherwise, finding the straight path based solely on intellect is beyond the scope of limited intellect. And some commentators have related this verse to the previous verse and have taken ﴿اَفَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ رِضْوَان اللّٰهِ﴾ to refer to the person of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They say that a prophet is always subject to the pleasure of Allah Almighty, whereas a traitor earns the displeasure of Allah and makes his abode in Hell, and these two can never be equal, for they are opposites of each other.

[159] Why is the Messenger a human? That is, the Messenger is from the human race. He is an Arab and from the Quraysh. He speaks Arabic in the dialect of the Quraysh so that the Arab people can understand his words. He is neither from the type of angels nor from the type of jinn, so that no one can use the excuse, in order to avoid following the excellent example, that "You were superhuman; how can we humans follow you?"

[160]
The Purposes of the Prophets' Mission:

This verse has appeared in the Quran at several places with variation in word order, and from this it is understood that the following four are the purposes of your mission and likewise of other prophets:
1. As the Book of Allah is revealed, he recites it to the people, so that they too can preserve these verses in their hearts and in written copies.
2. He purifies the souls of his followers, keeps an eye on their deeds and actions, and wherever he sees any deficiency, shortcoming, or mistake, he warns them and corrects and trains them.
3. He teaches the Book of Allah, which means that reciting the Book of Allah and teaching it are two different things. Teaching means that he also explains its meanings and interpretation. Although the language of the Companions ؓ was Arabic, it often happened that they misunderstood the meaning, so he informed them of the correct meaning, and sometimes he himself would ask them.
4. Along with the Book, he teaches them wisdom. Wisdom is of two kinds: theoretical and practical, i.e., he informs them of the secrets and subtleties of the verses of Allah and also teaches them the method or methods of implementing the divine commands, and demonstrates them himself. In other words, wisdom can also refer to the Sunnah.

Refutation of the People of the Quran and the Rejecters of Hadith:

Thus, in this verse is a complete refutation of the sect that thinks that the status of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ (God forbid) was merely that of a letter carrier: that the Book was revealed to him, he conveyed it to the Ummah, and his task was finished. As for acting upon this Book, it should be done in every era according to the demands of that era. The status of Sunnah or Hadith is merely that of the history of that era, from which it is known how the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself acted upon the Quranic commands in his own time. Thus, according to them, neither is Hadith a legal proof, nor is following or obeying the Messenger an essential part of the religion. In their view, the duty of obeying the Messenger was only during his lifetime. Whereas, according to this verse, it is clear that you are not merely a Messenger, but also a teacher, interpreter, purifier, and the one who explains the method of every command of the Book of Allah. And since he is the excellent example for Muslims and the Seal of the Prophets, therefore, every word and deed of his is obligatory to follow for Muslims until the Day of Judgment. As for the demands of the time, this is actually the field of intellect: that a person, in the light of the Book and Sunnah, seeks solutions to arising issues in such a way and adopts such measures that the text or essence of the Book and Sunnah is not violated. And this intellectual effort is called analogy (qiyas) and ijtihad, whose door is open until the Day of Judgment. Using the excuse of the demands of the present age or being overawed by modern theories to abandon the Sunnah or to make far-fetched interpretations of the Quran is not the work of any Muslim.