Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 6 Al-An'am, Ayat 7-9

وَلَوۡ نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَيۡكَ كِتٰبًا فِىۡ قِرۡطَاسٍ فَلَمَسُوۡهُ بِاَيۡدِيۡهِمۡ لَقَالَ الَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡۤا اِنۡ هٰذَاۤ اِلَّا سِحۡرٌ مُّبِيۡنٌ‏ ﴿6:7﴾ وَقَالُوۡا لَوۡلَاۤ اُنۡزِلَ عَلَيۡهِ مَلَكٌ​ ؕ وَلَوۡ اَنۡزَلۡـنَا مَلَـكًا لَّـقُضِىَ الۡاَمۡرُ ثُمَّ لَا يُنۡظَرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿6:8﴾ وَلَوۡ جَعَلۡنٰهُ مَلَـكًا لَّـجَـعَلۡنٰهُ رَجُلًا وَّلَـلَبَسۡنَا عَلَيۡهِمۡ مَّا يَلۡبِسُوۡنَ‏ ﴿6:9﴾

(6:7) (O Messenger!) Had We sent down to you a book incribed on parchment, and had they even touched it with their own hands, the unbelievers would still have said: 'This is nothing but plain magic.' (6:8) They also say: 'Why has no angel been sent down to this Prophet?'5 Had We sent down an angel, the matter would surely have long been decided and no respite would have been granted them.6 (6:9) Had We appointed an angel, We would have sent him down in the form of a man - and thus We would have caused them the same doubt which they now entertain.7

Notes

5. The unbelievers were saying that if Muhammed (peace be on him) had indeed been endowed with prophethood, an angel should have been sent down from heaven to announce that he was the Messenger of God, and that that people would be punished if they did not follow his directives. It was atonishing to these ignorant objectors that the Creator of the heavens and the earth should appoint someone as His Messenger and then leave him without protection against the physical hurts and insults that were flung at him. They would have expected the envoy of a Sovereign as great as the Creator of the universe to be accomplied by at least some heavenly constable, if not a large retinue, to protect him!

6. The unbelievers' objection is refuted by this remark. it warns them that the time available for accepting the true faith and bringing about the required reform in their lives will last only as long as Ultimate Reality remains concealed from human perception by the wheel of the Unseen. Once that wheel is removed, there will be no more respite: the summons to God's rekoning will have come. This earthly life is a test of whether a man is able to recognize the Ultimate Reality - even though it lies hidden from his sence perception - by the correct excecise of his reason and intelect and of whether, having once recognized it, he is able to behave in conformity with that Reality by exercising control over his animal self and its lusts. This test necessarily requires that the Reality should remain concealed. Thereafter man will be confronted with the result of the test rather than by any further test. Until God has decided to bring the term of their test to a close, it is not possible to respond to such requests by sending angels to them in their true form. (See also Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2, n.228.)

7. This is the second point in response to the unbelievers' objection. One possible form in which the angel could have appeared is in its true, non-terrestrial form. It has already been pointed out that the time for this has not arrived. Alternatively, angels could have come down in human form. But this would have left the unbelievers facing the same difficulty as they faced with regard to whether the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) had been designated by God or not.