In the name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever Merciful They deem it strange that one from among them has come to warn them. The unbelievers say: “This is a sorcerer telling lies. Does he make all the gods into one God? This is indeed most strange!” Their leaders go about saying: “Walk away, and hold steadfastly to your deities: this is the only thing to do. Never did we hear of a claim like this in any faith of latter days! It is all an invention. Was the message given to him alone out of all of us?” (SAD: 38: 4-8)
In its opening verses, the Surah started with a shock intended to awaken the unbelievers’ hearts. Details of their arrogance then follow, as described in the above passage. Such is the arrogance: “Was the message given to him alone out of all of us?” And such is the hostility: “Does he make all the gods into one God?... Never did we hear of a claim like this in any faith of latter days!... This is a sorcerer telling lies... It is all an invention.” Amazement that God’s messenger should be human is an oft-repeated story. Since the beginning of divine messages every community took the same stance.
Every new messenger was human, yet their fellow men continued to express amazement at this.
“They deem it strange that one from among them has come to warn them.” Yet the most natural and logical thing is that the messenger who warns them should be human who thinks and feels like them: a man who appreciates what thoughts they may harbor, their weaknesses, desires, abilities and what obstacles they may encounter or influences they may fall under.
When a man is given the message to warn them, he lives among them, setting a practical example for them to follow. They know that he is one of them and that they are required to follow the life system he endorses.
It is not difficult for them to do so, since a man like them has set the example. Moreover, he is of their own generation, speaking their language, knowing their traditions and the way they go about their affairs.
Mutual response is easily established between them.
There is no thought of him being alien to them or to their lives.
Yet this most natural and logical situation was always the cause of amazement and the basis for leveling accusations at God’s messengers. The unbelievers simply did not appreciate the purpose behind such a choice, nor did they understand the nature of the divine message. To them, it should not provide practical leadership on the way to God; rather, it should be mysterious, full of secret, an enigma. They wanted it to be engulfed in obscurity, removed from practical life.
Then they could treat it as just another legend or superstition that formed the basis of their unsound beliefs.
God, however, wanted something different for humanity, especially in the case of His last message, Islam. He wanted it to be the norm for human society: for it to provide a clean, pure and sublime way of life that is practical, free of mystery as also one that is easy to implement. “The unbelievers say: This is a sorcerer telling lies.” They said this, discounting the possibility that God might have sent His revelations to one of them. In saying so, they hoped to turn ordinary people away from the Prophet, to cause confusion and mar the clear truth that was being stated by the man who was known for his honesty, integrity and truthfulness.
The plain fact is that the Quraysh elders did not for an instant believe that Muhammad, whom they knew very well, was a sorcerer or a liar, as they alleged. Their allegations were simply propaganda tools aimed at misleading people. The Quraysh elders recognized that the truth Muhammad preached would do away with all their privileges; privileges that relied on deception and false values.
On one occasion the Quraysh elders held a conference on how to counter the effects of what the Prophet said to people, and how to turn pilgrims from other tribes away from him. It is useful to quote this again here. Al-Walid ibn Al-Mughirah, a distinguished figure among the Quraysh chaired that conference: In his opening address, Al-Walid said: “Now that the pilgrimage season is approaching, people will start arriving from all over the place. They must have heard about your friend (meaning the Prophet). So you had better agree what to say when you are asked about him. We must guard against having too many opinions, particularly if they are mutually contradictory.” When his audience asked his advice as to what they should say, he preferred to listen to their suggestions first. What concerned Al-Walid most was that the opinion they would come out with should take account of the fact that Muhammad was asking people to listen to the Qur’an, God’s message, expressed in beautiful language and a powerful style. The description they would attach to Muhammad should also account for his persuasive, eloquent argument.
Descriptions like “fortune-teller,” “madman,” “poet” and “magician” were proposed. None was considered convincing by Al-Walid, who pointed out weaknesses in each, one after the other. He told his people that what Muhammad said was nothing like what was said by such men. When nobody could suggest anything more plausible, they asked Al-Walid to come out with a better suggestion.
He said: “What Muhammad says is certainly beautiful.
It is like a date tree with solid roots and rich fruit.
Every one of these suggestions you have made is bound to be recognized as false. The least disputable one is to claim that he is a magician who repeats magic words which make a man fall out with his father, mother, wife and clan.” They all approved of Al-Walid’s suggestion and set about preparing their propaganda campaign to make the pilgrims wary of Muhammad and unwilling to meet him.
Such was the scheming of the Quraysh elders and such was their agreed strategy whereby they would accuse the Prophet of sorcery and lying. They said this deliberately even though they knew it was all a lie.
They were fully aware that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was neither a sorcerer nor a liar.