Surah 25. Al-Furqan

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Verses [Section]: 1-9[1], 10-20 [2], 21-34 [3], 35-44 [4], 45-60 [5], 61-77 [6]

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Quran Text of Verse 1-925. Al-Furqanبِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِتَبٰرَكَBlessed is HeالَّذِیْWhoنَزَّلَsent downالْفُرْقَانَthe CriterionعَلٰیuponعَبْدِهٖHis slaveلِیَكُوْنَthat he may beلِلْعٰلَمِیْنَto the worldsنَذِیْرَاۙa warner لَّذِیْThe One Whoلَهٗto Him (belongs)مُلْكُ(the) dominionالسَّمٰوٰتِ(of) the heavensوَ الْاَرْضِand the earthوَ لَمْand notیَتَّخِذْHe has takenوَلَدًاa sonوَّ لَمْand notیَكُنْHe hasلَّهٗfor Himشَرِیْكٌa partnerفِیinالْمُلْكِthe dominionوَ خَلَقَand He (has) createdكُلَّeveryشَیْءٍthingفَقَدَّرَهٗand determined itتَقْدِیْرًا (with) determination 25. Al-Furqan Page 360وَ اتَّخَذُوْاYet they have takenمِنْbesides Himدُوْنِهٖۤbesides Himاٰلِهَةًgodsلَّاnotیَخْلُقُوْنَthey createشَیْـًٔاanythingوَّ هُمْwhile theyیُخْلَقُوْنَare createdوَ لَاand notیَمْلِكُوْنَthey possessلِاَنْفُسِهِمْfor themselvesضَرًّاany harmوَّ لَاand notنَفْعًاany benefitوَّ لَاand notیَمْلِكُوْنَthey controlمَوْتًاdeathوَّ لَاand notحَیٰوةًlifeوَّ لَاand notنُشُوْرًا resurrection وَ قَالَAnd sayالَّذِیْنَthose whoكَفَرُوْۤاdisbelieveاِنْNotهٰذَاۤthisاِلَّاۤ(is) butاِفْكُa lieفْتَرٰىهُhe invented itوَ اَعَانَهٗand helped himعَلَیْهِat itقَوْمٌpeopleاٰخَرُوْنَ ۛۚotherفَقَدْBut verilyجَآءُوْthey (have) producedظُلْمًاan injusticeوَّ زُوْرًاۚۛand a lie وَ قَالُوْۤاAnd they sayاَسَاطِیْرُTalesالْاَوَّلِیْنَ(of) the former peopleاكْتَتَبَهَاwhich he has had writtenفَهِیَand theyتُمْلٰیare dictatedعَلَیْهِto himبُكْرَةًmorningوَّ اَصِیْلًا and evening قُلْSayاَنْزَلَهُHas sent it downالَّذِیْthe One Whoیَعْلَمُknowsالسِّرَّthe secretفِیinالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ الْاَرْضِ ؕand the earthاِنَّهٗIndeed HeكَانَisغَفُوْرًاOft-Forgivingرَّحِیْمًا Most Merciful وَ قَالُوْاAnd they sayمَالِWhy doesهٰذَاthisالرَّسُوْلِMessengerیَاْكُلُeatالطَّعَامَ[the] foodوَ یَمْشِیْand walkفِیinالْاَسْوَاقِ ؕthe marketsلَوْ لَاۤWhy notاُنْزِلَis sent downاِلَیْهِto himمَلَكٌan Angelفَیَكُوْنَthen he beمَعَهٗwith himنَذِیْرًاۙa warner اَوْOrیُلْقٰۤیis deliveredاِلَیْهِto himكَنْزٌa treasureاَوْorتَكُوْنُisلَهٗfor himجَنَّةٌa gardenیَّاْكُلُhe may eatمِنْهَا ؕfrom itوَ قَالَAnd sayالظّٰلِمُوْنَthe wrongdoersاِنْNotتَتَّبِعُوْنَyou followاِلَّاbutرَجُلًاa manمَّسْحُوْرًا bewitched اُنْظُرْSeeكَیْفَhowضَرَبُوْاthey set forthلَكَfor youالْاَمْثَالَthe similitudesفَضَلُّوْاbut they have gone astrayفَلَاso notیَسْتَطِیْعُوْنَthey are able (to find)سَبِیْلًا۠a way

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Translation of Verse 1-9In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

(25:1) Most blessed is He¹ Who sent down this Criterion^{2, 3} on His servant, to be a warner to all mankind;⁴

(25:2) He to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth;⁵ Who has taken to Himself no son⁶ nor has He taken any partner in His kingdom;⁷ Who created everything and then determined its destiny.⁸

(25:3) Yet people have taken, instead of Him, other deities; those that create nothing but are themselves created;⁹ who do not have the power to hurt or benefit even themselves; who have no power over death, nor over life, nor over the resurrection of the dead.¹⁰

(25:4) Those who disbelieve in the Message of the Prophet say: "This (Criterion) is nothing but a lie which he has forged with the help of others." Such have indeed resorted to a grievous wrong and sheer falsehood.¹¹

(25:5) They say: "These are merely fairy tales of the ancients which he has got inscribed and they are then recited to him morning and evening."

(25:6) Say to them (O Muhammad): "It is He Who knows the secrets of the heavens and the earth¹² Who has sent down this Book. Indeed, He is Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate."¹³

(25:7) They say: "What sort of a Messenger is this: he eats food and walks about in the markets?¹⁴ Why was an angel not sent down to him so that he may remain with the Messenger and warn those that do not believe in him?¹⁵

(25:8) Why was a treasure not bestowed upon him, or a garden whereof he might obtain his sustenance?"¹⁶ The evil-doers say: "You are simply following a bewitched man."¹⁷

(25:9) See what specious arguments they put forth before you: they are so strayed that they will not find their way to anything sound.¹⁸

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Commentary

1. The actual word used here, tabaraka, is hard to translate even in one sentence, let alone in one word. Its root is B R K from which we have two infinitives: barakah and buruk. Barakah suggests growth, plentitude and abundance. As for buruk, it signifies permanence, continued existence, and indispensability. The word tabaraka conforms to the verbal form rafa‘ul which conveys the nuances of intensity and perfection. The word thus denotes growth, plentitude, utmost abundance, and a high state of permanence. It is used in a variety of contexts to denote, in different ways, the permanence or abundance of an object. (Ibn Manzur, Lisan al- ‘Arab, q.v. B R K. — Ed.) Itis " also used to signify a “great height”. For example, the expression tabarakat al-nakhlah means: “the date-palm grew very high”. Al-Asma‘I says that a -Bedouin climbed a high mound and said to his companions: “tabaraktu ‘alaykum” (“I have become higher (or taller) than you.”) (See Alusi, Ruh al-Ma-ani, Vol. 18. p. 230 — Ed.) Sometimes it is also used to denote greatness and eminence: on other occasions, excellence in virtue, goodness and generosity, and still on other occasions, a high degree of purity and holiness.

The same holds true for its other meaning, namely permanence and perennially. It is, however, the context that indicates in each instance which one of its several meanings the word is being used in.

The present context seems to suggest that tabaraka is being used here in respect of God to stress not one but several ideas: (i) That God is Bounteous and Omniscient. He has, therefore, bestowed the great blessing of the Furqan (“criterion”) upon His servant Muhammad (peace be on him), and thereby devised an arrangement to warn all mankind.

(ii) That God is Most Exalted and Most Glorious since the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs to Him.

(iii) That God is Most Hallowed, that He is free of every imperfection.

Hence, there is no basis for the notion that anyone has a share in God’s Divinity. No one belongs to God’s genre, and hence no one can be His peer, nor can anyone bear any resemblance to Him. God is not subject to death or extinction, to change or transformation.

Being Everlasting, He is in no need of any offspring to succeed Him.

(iv) That God is the Highest, the Most Supreme because Kingdom and sovereignty wholly belong to Him, and no one has the power that would enable partaking of God’s power and authority.

(v) That God is Absolute in His creative power for He is the Creator of everything in the universe and the sole Determinate of its destiny.

(For more details see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, Vol. VI, al-Mu’minun, 23: n. 14, p. 88. See also n. 19 below.)

2. That is, the Qur’an. Furqan is a derivative from the root F R Q which means to separate between two objects or, to separate two parts of the same object. (Ibn Manzur, Lisan al- ‘Arab, q.v. F R Q — Ed.)

This word is used in respect of the Qur'an either in the sense of fariq (the separator) or mafruq (the separated). It is also used to emphasize that the Qur’an is such an exceedingly potent means of separating between two things that it might be considered separation par excellence. Taken in the first and the third senses, the appropriate translation of the word Furqan would be “criterion” or “touchstone”. In its second meaning, the statement would mean that the Qur’an is composed of many separate parts which were revealed on different occasions. Thus the Qur’an is al-Furqan in both sets of meanings of the term.

3. The word nazzala suggests that the Qur’an was revealed in fragments.

The relevance of this introductory remark will become fully evident when we come to verse 32 which addresses an objection made by the unbelievers of Makka as to why the Qur’an was not revealed in one piece.

4. That is, a warner, one who alerts people and draws their attention to the dire consequences of their negligence of the Truth and their becoming enmeshed in error. The word nadhir used here could refer either to “al- Furqan” (i.e. the Qur'an) which was revealed by God, or to “His servant” to whom the Qur’an was revealed. Such are the words of the text that both interpretations would be valid. Now since the purpose of revealing the Qur’an and raising the Prophet (peace be on him) was one and the same. it would be appropriate to say that here both are meant.

It may also be noted that the verse presents both the “warner” and the “warning” as of universal import; that the Message of the Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) are not meant for any particular country or any specific period of time. They are meant, instead, for the whole world and for all times. This is stated many times in the Qur’an.

The following verses would illustrate this: “O men, I am Allah’s Messenger to you all” (al-A ‘raf, 7:158); “... and this Qur’an was revealed to me that I should warn you thereby and also whomsoever it may reach” (al-An ‘am 6:19). “We have sent you only as a bearer of good tidings and as a warner to all mankind” (Saba’ 34:28) and “We have sent you forth as a mercy to all men of the world” (al-Anbiya’ 21:107). The Prophet (peace be on him) has himself also repeatedly stressed this universal aspect of his Prophetic office: I have been sent to all men, the white and the black (Muslim. °K. al-Masajid wa Mawadi ‘al-Salah’ and Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, Vol. 1, p. 250 — Ed.

Before me a Prophet would be sent only to his own people but I have been sent to all mankind. (Bukhari, ‘K. al-Salat’, and ‘Bab Qawl al- Nabi Sallalahu ‘alayhi wa Sallam ju‘ilat li al-Ard Masjidan wa Tahuran’ — Ed.)

I have been sent to all mankind and with me the [raising of the] Prophets was put to an end. (Muslim, ‘K. al-Masajid wa Mawadi al-Salah’ — Ed.):

5. Alternatively it may be translated as follows: “The kingdom of the heavens and the earth is His Alone.” That is, He Alone has exclusive right over the heavens and the earth. None other has any legitimate right over, nor any share in, the kingdom of the heavens and the earth.

6. That is, neither God has any familial ties with anyone, nor did He take anyone as His son. There is none in the universe who has the right to become a deity either on the grounds of sharing God's descent, or on the grounds of being God’s offspring. God is absolutely unique; there is none like Him. There is no common stock of gods which would provide any reason to believe that a whole race of gods had come into existence. Therefore, the unbelievers who considered angels or jinn or any human beings as God’s offspring: and mistook them to be their gods are victims of ignorance and error; equally so are those who believe that God has taken someone as His son because of the latter’s inherent qualities, if not owing to someone being in actual fact the latter’s son.

No matter how one looks at it, the idea of God taking a son is absolutely absurd. Those who invented this idea or took it over from others are simply incapable, as a result of their own pettiness of comprehending God’s greatness. They imagine God - Who is peerless and beyond all needs — to be like human beings who adopt children either for love of them or for fear of their own loneliness in case they have no issue or because they want an heir so that their name and work might continue. These are the three motives which prompt human beings to think of adoption. Ascribing any of these motives to God is simply ignorance, stupidity and blasphemy. (For further explanation see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, Vol. IV, Yunus, 10: nn. 66-8, pp. 50-1.)

7: The word used here — mulk means kingship, supreme authority, and sovereignty. (Ibn Manzur, Lisan al- ‘Arab, q.v. M L K. Ed.) The verse means that God alone is the Absolute Sovereign of the whole Universe and no one has the least share in His sovereignty. This necessarily means that none other than God is worthy of worship, for human beings worship only those who, according to their understanding, have the power either to do good to them or conversely to bring harm upon them and who can influence their destiny. For none, not even the most stupid person, would seek refuge in a powerless being. When it is recognized that no one except God has the real power and authority in the universe, it seems only natural that no one will bow before anyone other than God, no one will stretch out his hands with offerings to anyone other than God, no tongue will sing hymns for or supplicate before anyone other than God. Not even the most ignorant of human beings will submit to any except the One True God, and none will regard any but Him as the real Sovereign. This interpretation is supported by the first part of the verse which affirms that it is God “to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth” (verse 2).

8. Another rendering could be: “He determined everything according to an exact measure” or “He set out an exact measure for everything”. No translation of the verse, however, can convey its full meaning which consists of affirming that God has not only brought into being all that exists in the universe, but that He has also determined the form, size, potentialities, attributes, characteristics, functions as well as the modes and terms of their existence, the limits of their growth and development, and all other details pertaining to them. Moreover, God has created for everything in the universe the means and the resources by dint of which it is able to perform, in its own sphere, the functions assigned to it.

This one verse contains the complete doctrine of taw hid. It belongs to that category of comprehensive Qur’anic verses which succinctly encompass a vast range of subjects. In just a few words it encapsulates a rich treasure store of meaning. According to a hadith, the Prophet (peace be on him) himself taught this verse to every child of his family as soon as he or she was able to speak. (See Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al- Sinni, ‘‘Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah', Bab ma yulaqqan al-Sabi idha Afsaha bi al-Kalam’, tradition no. 424. See also Ibn Abi Shaybah, al- Musannaf. ‘Kitab Fada’il al-Qur’an’. Bab fi al-Sibyan mata yata‘allamun al-Qur’ an, Vol. 10, p. 556. (This hadith occurs with reference to Surah Bani Isra’il. verse 111.) This serves to underscore the fact that the present verse is an excellent means of inculcating the doctrine of taw hid, and every Muslim should impress its content on the minds of his children as soon as they begin to develop consciousness.

9, These are comprehensive words which cover all false gods. They embrace all God’s creatures — the angels, the jinn, the Prophets, the saints, the sun and the moon and the planets and the trees, rivers and animals, all that were set up as deities by human beings despite the fact that they were only God’s creatures.

At the same time, they also embrace those deities that were contrived by human beings, namely pieces of stone and wood.

10. The essence of the matter is that Allah sent down al-Furqan on His servant so that he might invite people to the Truth (which they had forsaken because of their heedlessness) and to warn them against the evil consequences of the folly into which they had fallen the folly of setting up deities beside the One True God. God also revealed the Criterion to the Prophet (peace be on him) gradually so that he might make the true distinct from the false, the sound distinct from the counterfeit.

11. An alternative rendering could be: “an act of grave injustice”.

12. This is the same objection which contemporary Orientalists raise against the Qur’an. It is intriguing that during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be on him), none of his enemies ever asserted that he had acquired the substance of his teaching from Buhayra the monk whom he met in his childhood. Nor did they ever say that he had taken over all his teachings from Christian monks and Jewish rabbis during the trade journeys he made in his youth. This is understandable because they knew that the Prophet (peace be on him) did not undertake those journeys al! alone but went along with the caravans. Even if they had levelled such a charge, they would have been refuted by many of their own people who had accompanied the Prophet (peace be on him) on those journeys. Everyone in Makka had seen the Prophet (peace be on him) live in their midst for many years and so they knew him quite well.

Hence such a charge would have been violently rejected by the people. For if he had really received all the information from Buhayra the monk, either when he was only twelve, or thirteen, or twenty-five years old when he went on these trade journeys, then why had no one ever heard anything from him throughout these years about any of the matters which form part of the Qur’an? It is for this reason that the Makkan unbelievers did not dare to hurl such a baseless and impudent charge at the Prophet (peace be on him) and this slanderous fabrication was left for the more audacious people of later times. What they said did not concern the pre-Prophetic period of Muhammad’s life, but rather the period that followed his designation as a Prophet. The argument they advanced amounted to the following: Being unlettered, the Prophet (peace be on him) could not possibly have acquired any new information by himself by reading the relevant books, nor had he shown any sign of knowing the things that he preached during the first forty years of his life before he was designated a Prophet. What, then, was the source of his information? They claimed that in such an event the Prophet (peace be on him) must have had recourse to some old books which had been translated for him and were read to him. They contended that it was fragments of these that he had memorized at night and which he subsequently recited to people during the day. It is known from various traditions that | certain individuals who were among the relatively more knowledgeable among the People of the Book and who lived in Makka were considered to be the source of the Prophet’s scriptural information. They included ‘Addas, a freedman of Huwaytib ibn ‘Abd al-‘Uzza, Yasar, a freedman of ‘Ala’ ibn al-Hadrami, and Jabr, a freedman of ‘Amir ibn Rabi ‘ah.

This is quite a weighty charge. What better objection could there be to the Prophet’s claim of receiving revelation from on high than to pinpoint the very persons who were the sources of his information? It seems astonishing that this charge was not even refuted in the Qur’an. Instead, it was simply stated that it was an impudent lie; that the Prophet’s detractors were altogether unjust in bringing such a false charge against him because the Qur’an was the Word of God, the Word of Him Who knows all the secrets of the heavens and the earth. Is not it odd that in such a hostile environment this accusation was summarily and contemptuously dismissed without any attempt to refute it? Was it really such a baseless charge that it could be rejected by merely saying that it was a lie and unjust? What is even more astonishing is that after this curt response, no one ever demanded a more detailed response — neither the unbelievers nor the newly converted Muslims. No one said that the charge had not been effectively answered, that it had simply been parried.

The difficulty is solved if we were to bear in mind the milieu in which the detractors of Islam had raised this objection. The following points may _ be mentioned in this regard.

First, it was not at all difficult for the nobles of Makka, who ruthlessly persecuted the Muslims, to raid the houses of the so-called “assistants”, of the Prophet, of those who were allegedly involved in translating certain materials for him. It was not even difficult to raid Muhammad’s (peace be on him) own house. They could easily have seized the relevant texts and placed them before the public in order to show what the true source of the Prophet’s Message was. This would not have been at all difficult for those who felt no compunction in dragging the converts of Islam, like Bilal along the blazing sands of the Makkan streets. They could easily have done so because they’ were hardly bound by any moral code. By seizing those texts, they could easily have jeopardized Muhammad’s (peace be on him) Mission forever. But they did not go to such lengths and resorted instead to mere verbal jibes.

Second, the alleged “assistants” of the Prophet (peace be on him) were not strangers; they were Makkans whose level of learning was known to everyone.

Anyone with ever an iota of intelligence could tell that what was presented by Muhammad (peace be on him) as revelation was a unique and sublime message of the highest literary excellence, and that it would have been impossible for his so-called “assistants” to produce anything like it. This is why no one took this charge seriously. Even those who were not acquainted with these so-called “assistants” could at least appreciate that if they really were such literary prodigies, why had they not claimed the credit for this wonderful Book, the Qur’an themselves? Why did they remain in the background and refrain from claiming the credit for their composition of verses of such exquisite beauty?

Third; -all the alleged “assistants” were freed slaves who had originally come from abroad and were still attached, as clients, to their former masters. This for the simple reason that in the tribal system that prevailed in Arabia, none could have survived without the protection of an influential tribe. Now, - God forbid, if the claim of Muhammad (peace be on him) to be a Prophet was false, those people would not have continued to function as his faithful “assistants”. Is it conceivable that they would be sincere companions and reverent devotees of a man who had learned certain things from them at night and had then passed them on to others during the daytime as revelations from God? In such a case, their involvement with the Prophet (peace be on him) could only have been in consideration of some material benefit. But no one with even an iota of rationality can believe that they would have offended their patrons and joined hands with Muhammad (peace be on him) in a venture which they knew to be a hoax. After all, Muhammad (peace be on him) was the main target of the wrath of their patrons. Why would they court the animosity of their former masters for the sake of illusory gains that might come from such a person? Moreover, their former masters could always have persecuted them in order to extract confessions from them. Why did they not do so? And why did they not let them tell the public that they were the real people behind this “forged” prophethood? Furthermore, is it credible that those persons, who spent most of their time with the Prophet (peace be on him), would not have known about this forgery, if indeed there was forgery at hand? It is equally inexplicable for the material of this revelation to have been prepared in this clandestine manner when the likes of Zayd ibn Harithah, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, Abu Bakr and others who were with the Prophet (peace be on him) most of the time; in other words, they at least would have known about it.

And if there was any truth in this charge, how could these men believe in the Prophet (peace be on him) with such fervor and devotion and be willing to incur all kinds of losses and expose themselves to all kinds of dangers for his sake? On account of such reasoning, none during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be on him) took this charge of forgery seriously. In like manner, presumably, the Qur’an did not respond to this charge in any detail. The charge was merely cited so as to show the extent to which the opponents of Islam were blinded by their hostility to the Truth, and the depths of depravity to which they would stoop in fabricating sheer lies and acting injustices.

13. This is a very meaningful statement in the context in which it has been made. How very Merciful and Forgiving is God Who grants respite even to those who concoct such atrocious lies to oppose the Truth. This statement, however, also contains a nuance of admonition. It says, in effect: “O unjust people, give up your enmity to the Truth and accept it and We shall forgive you for your past misdeeds.”

14. It seemed strange to them that God should send a human being as His Messenger, a mortal who like themselves also needed to eat to exist. They thought that if God really wanted to send a human being as His Messenger, such a person should at least have been from among the kings and mighty ones of the world. He should not be someone who walked about the streets as ordinary people do. He should have been beyond the reach of ordinary mortals.

After all, who would listen to a man who walked around like ordinary people, and who was devoid of splendor and regalia? In their-view, the task of God’s Messenger was not so much to provide guidance as to impress people with his pomp and splendor. (For more details see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, Vol. VI, al-Mu’minun, 23: n. 26, p. 92.).

15. If a human being was a Messenger, at least an angel, with a whip in his hand, should have been made his companion so that he could overawe people with his warning: “Obey or else I’ll scourge you.” It was indeed strange, so they thought, that the Lord of the Universe should appoint an ordinary human being as His Prophet and then leave him alone to helplessly suffer the abuse and persecution of his enemies.

16. If nothing else, Ged should have at least made some arrangement for the livelihood of His Messenger. How strange then that God’s Messenger was worse off than the ordinary nobles of Arabia. He had neither money, nor a garden of whose fruit he could ‘partake, and yet he laid claim to being a Messenger from the Lord of the entire Universe.

17. In other words, “insane”. The Arabs thought that there were three possible causes for a person’s madness: either he was bewitched by a jinn, he was under the influence of an enemy’s magic, or he was under the curse of a god or goddess. From time to time, the Makkan unbelievers so labelled the Prophet (peace be on him). At the same time, they also held him to be «a very clever man who had established a bureau where ancient texts were translated to support his enterprise of Prophethood. Not reasoning the folly behind their own contradictory statements, they would sometimes argue that the Prophet (peace be on him) was a magician and in the next breath identify him as someone who was under a magic spell. Additionally, they declared him to be a poet.

18. These objections to the claim of Prophethood are not described here in order to refute them. Rather, they are mentioned simply to show the extent of the opponents’ blindness which arose from their spite and prejudice. Indeed, the charges so made against the Prophet were not even worth refuting. Rather, it was sufficient to mention them in order to demonstrate that they had no logical argument to support their contentions, and that they were opposing a; sound and reasonable message with nothing more than vile and stupid Statements. When they were told that polytheism, on which their faith and culture rested, was erroneous and devoid of every basis, they made no effort; to marshal any rational arguments in support of their beliefs. Instead, they sought to decry the Prophet (peace be on him) by saying that he was a man bewitched. When the Messenger of God (peace be on him) demonstrated that monotheism was the operating principle of the whole universe and when he pointed to the manifest proofs which supported this truth, they merely rebutted his claim by saying that he was no more than a magician. Furthermore, when the Prophet (peace be on him) told them that they had not been treated without any end and purpose, and that they were bound to return to their Lord and render an account of their deeds in the Life to Come, and when he advanced an array of rational, moral and historical evidence in support of these truths, they tried to refute him by identifying him as a poet. The Prophet (peace be on him) advised them that he brought a clear and true Message from God, but they did not so much as consider it. Instead, they accused him of plagiarizing it. As proofs of his Prophethood, the Messenger of God drew their attention to the miraculous Word of God, to his own unblemished life, to the excellence of his conduct and character, and to the moral transformation that had come about in the lives of his followers under his influence. Yet still they paid no heed. Rather, they would ask him irrational questions, such as follows, in order to support their erroneous standpoint: “Why do-you eat? Why do you walk about in the bazaars? Why does not an angel accompany you wherever you go? Why do not you own a treasure or a garden?”