Period of Revelation
As already mentioned in the introduction to Sura An Naml
according to Ibn Abbas and Jabir bin Zaid
Suras Ash-Shuaraa
An-Namland Al- Qasaswere sent down one after the other. The language
the style and the theme also show that the period of the revelation of these three Suras
is nearly the same. Another reason for their lose resemblance is that the different parts
of the Prophet Moses story as mentioned in these suras together make up a complete
story. In Sura Ash-Shuaraa
excusing himself for not accepting the office of Prophethood the Prophet Moses
submits
The people of Pharaoh have the charge of a crime against me; therefore
I fear that they will put me to death.
Then
when lie goes before Pharaoh
the latter says
Did we not bring you up as a child in our house? You lived quite a few years of your life
among us
and then you did what you did.
Nothing more of this has been mentioned there
but in this Sura the other details have been supplied. Similarly
in Sura An-Namlthe story starts abruptly from the time when the Prophet Moses was
journeying with his family and suddenly saw a fire at a distance. In that Sura nothing
has been said about the nature of his journey
or the place he was coming from
or his destination
but this Sura supplies all the necessary details. Thus
the three Suras read together complete the story of the Prophet Moses (Allah's peace
be upon him).
Theme and Topics
The main theme is to remove the doubts and objections that were being raised against
the Prophethood of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and
blessings) and to invalidate the excuses which were being offered for not believing in
him.
For this purpose, first the story of the Prophet Moses has been related, which, by
analogy with the period of revelation, impresses the following points in the listener's
mind automatically:
First, Allah provides the means and motives of whatever He wills to do, in imperceptible
ways. Thus, Allah so arranged things that the child through whom Pharaoh had to be
removed from power, was bred and brought up in his own house, and he could not
know whom he was fostering. Who can then fight God and frustrate Him by his
machinations.
Secondly, Prophethood is not granted to a person amid festivities by issuing a
proclamation from the earth and heavens. You wonder how Muhammad (upon whom
be Allah's peace) has been blessed with Prophethood unexpectedly, all of a sudden,
but Moses whom you yourselves acknowledge as a Prophet (v. 48) had also become a
Prophet unexpectedly, while on a journey, and nobody had known what event had
occurred in the desolation at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Even Moses himself did not know a
moment before what he was going to be blessed with. He, in fact, had gone to bring a
piece of the fire but had returned with the gift of Prophethood
Thirdly, the person from whom Allah wants to take some service comes out without any
army and armour and without an apparent helper or force at his back, yet he puts to
rout much stronger and better equipped opponents. The contrast that existed between
the strengths of Moses (peace be upon him) and Pharaoh was much more prominent
and glaring than that which existed between Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the
quraish; yet the world knows who had come out victorious in the end and who had been
routed.
Fourthly, you refer to Moses again and again and say, "Why has Muhammad not been
given the same which was given to Moses? i. e. miracles of the staff, the shining liand,
etc. as if to suggest that you would readily believe only if you were shown the kind of
the miracles that were shown by Moses to Pharaoh. But do you know what sort of
response was made by those who were shown those miracles? They had not believed
even after seeing the miracles, and had only said, "This is magic", for they were
involved in stubbornness and hostility to the Truth. The same malady afflicts you today.
Will you believe only when you are slowly the same kind of miracles?Then, do you
know what fate the disbelievers had met even after seeing the miracles? They were
annihilated by Allah. Do you now wish to meet the same doom by asking for the
miracles in your obstinacy?
These were the things which were automatically impressed in the mind of every listener
who heard this story in the pagan environment of Makkah, for a similar conflict was
going on at that time between the Holy Prophet and disbelievers of Makkah as had
already taken place between the Prophet Moses and Pharaoh before. This was the
background against which the story of the Prophet Moses was narrated so that a
perfect analogy was established automatically in every detail between the conditions
prevailing then in Makkah and those existing in the time of the Prophet Moses. Then,
from vcrse 43 onward the discourse turns to the real theme.
In the first place, the narration of a two thousand year old historical event by the Holy
Prophet with such accuracy and detail, is presented as a proof of his Prophethood
although he was un-lettered and the people of his city and clan knew full well that he
had no access to any source of such information as they could point out. Then his
appointment as a Prophet is put forward as Allah's mercy to them, for they were
heedless and Allah had made this arrangement for their guidance. Then their
oft-repeated objection, "Why has not this Prophet brought the miracles which Moses
had brought?" has been answered. It is said to them, "How can you be justified in
demanding miracles from this Prophet when you did not believe in Moses either, who,
as you yourselves acknowledge, had brought miracles from God?You can still see the
truth only if you do not serve your lusts and whims. But if you remained afflicted with
this malady, you would never see it even though you were shown any kind of miracles."
Then the disbelievers of Makkah have been warned and put to shame for an event that
occurred in those very days. Some Christians had come to Makkah and embraced
Islam when they heard the Qur'an from the Holy Prophet. Instead of learning any lesson
from this the Makkans were so upset at this that their leader, Abu Jahl, disgraced those
people publicly. In conclusion, the excuse that the disbelievers put forward for not
believing in the Holy Prophet has been dealt with. What they feared was this:"If we give
up the polytheistic creed of the Arabs and accept the doctrine of Tauhid instead, this
will put an end to our supremacy in the religious, political and economic fields, which, in
turn, will destroy our position of the most influential tribe of Arabia and we shall be left
with no refuge anywhere in the land." As this was the real motive of the chiefs of the
Quraish for their antagonism towards the Truth, and their doubts and objections were
only the pretences, which they invented to deceive the common people, Allah has dealt
with these fully till the end of the Sura, considered each aspect of these in a wise
manner and offered the remedy for their basic ailment due to which those people
judged the Truth and falsehood only from the viewpoint of their worldly interests.
