Surah An-Nisaa (4) — Ayah 41

In the above verses, the negation of injustice on the Day of Judgment and the promise of manifold reward have been mentioned. Now it is being stated here that the good or bad recompense will be given based on the testimony of the prophets or those people through whom Allah conveyed His message to His creation. For details, see Surah Al-Baqarah (__QUR_143__). And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) will bear witness over his Ummah and over the previous nations regarding the conveyance of the religion.

41. 1. In every nation, its prophet will bear witness before Allah that, "O Allah! We conveyed Your message to our people, now if they did not accept, what is our fault?" Then, over all of them, the Noble Prophet ﷺ will bear witness, "O Allah, they are truthful." You ﷺ will give this testimony because of this Quran which was revealed to you ﷺ and in which, as needed, the stories of previous prophets and their nations have also been mentioned. This will be a very severe moment, and just imagining it is enough to make one tremble. It is mentioned in a hadith that once the Noble Prophet ﷺ expressed the desire to hear the Quran from Abdullah bin Mas'ud ؓ. When he was reciting and reached this verse, you ﷺ said, "That's enough now." Abdullah bin Mas'ud says that when I looked, tears were flowing from both eyes of the Prophet ﷺ. Some people say that only the one who has seen everything with his own eyes can bear witness. Therefore, they interpret the meaning of 'shaheed' (witness) as 'present and seeing' and thus consider the Noble Prophet ﷺ as 'present and seeing.' But to consider the Noble Prophet ﷺ as present and seeing is to associate you ﷺ with the attribute of Allah, which is shirk, because being present and seeing is only an attribute of Allah Almighty. Their argument from the word 'shaheed' holds no strength in itself. This is because testimony can also be based on certain knowledge, and whose knowledge can be more certain than the facts and events stated in the Quran? On the basis of this certain knowledge, the Quran itself has called the Ummah of Muhammad (shuhada 'ala al-nas) (witnesses over all mankind). If being present and seeing is necessary for testimony, then every individual of the Ummah of Muhammad would have to be considered present and seeing. In any case, this belief about the Prophet ﷺ is polytheistic and baseless. May Allah protect us from it.

41. (Just imagine) how it will be when We bring a witness from every nation [73], and (O Prophet) We bring you as a witness over these witnesses.

[73]
Your Testimony Over Previous Nations:

In this verse, the condition of the Day of Gathering and the court of Allah Almighty is being mentioned. At that time, a witness will be brought from every nation, who will be the prophet of that nation, and he will testify: "O Allah! I conveyed Your message and Your commands to the nation exactly as they were, and such and such people accepted them, while such and such people disobeyed and disbelieved." But the disobedient people of that nation will outright deny and say, "No warner ever came to us." In other words, these disobedient people will not refrain from lying even in the court of Allah Almighty, and by denying the testimony of their prophet, they will try to cast doubt upon it. At that time, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ will be brought, and you will confirm the testimony of those prophets. Even then, the disobedient people will not desist from their stubbornness and will say, "He was not present at that time, so how can he confirm the prophets?" At that time, you will say, "I used to confirm the previous prophets in the world as well, based on the revelation sent down from Allah, so how could I not confirm them today?" Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud ؓ narrates that once the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, "Recite some Quran to me." I said, "How can I recite to you when the Quran was revealed to you?" He ﷺ said, "That's true, but I like to hear it from someone else." Ibn Mas'ud ؓ says, "Then I began to recite Surah An-Nisa, and when I reached this verse
﴿فَكَيْفَ اِذَا جِئْنَا مِنْ كُلِّ اُمَّةٍ....﴾
he ﷺ said, 'Stop.' When I looked, I saw that tears were flowing from his eyes."
[بخاری، کتاب التفسیر]
From this verse, your superiority over all the prophets is established, because you will have the honor of testifying over all the previous prophets. And when Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud ؓ, while reciting Surah An-Nisa, reached this verse, it is said that due to gratitude, thankfulness, happiness, and joy, tears began to flow from your eyes—that is, on one hand, due to extreme happiness at the virtue granted by Allah, and on the other, as an expression of utmost gratitude for this bounty of Allah, tears were flowing from your eyes.