Having emphasized to the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he could not make people respond to God’s message as he would have liked them to do, and told him that he could not make the deaf hear or the blind see, now it tells him to put a question to those who passed before him. But how could he do that? “Ask any of the messengers We sent before you: ‘Did We ever appoint deities to be worshipped other than the Lord of Grace?’” God’s oneness is the central point of divine religion ever since the first of His messengers. On what basis, then, do those who worship other beings rely? The Qur’an states this truth here in a unique image that shows the Prophet asking the messengers before him whether God has appointed deities to be worshipped other than Himself. The very question implies its definitive and categorical answer, given by each and every one of God’s messengers. It is a very pleasing image, one that employs a strong, inspiring and effective style.

Needless to say, there are gulfs of time and place between Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the messengers who went before him. There is also the gulf between life and death, which is far greater than the gulfs of time and place. Yet all these gulfs totally disappear before the essential truth of the unity of the divine message based on God’s oneness. It is this truth that remains solidly present while considerations of time, place, life and death, as also of all changing phenomena, disappear. The dead and the living all testify to it at all times. Such are the connotations of this remarkable Qur’anic statement.

However, in relation to the Prophet and his brothers, the messengers of God sent before him, and their bond with their Lord, nothing is considered far or near. At any divine moment, all barriers are removed, and the essential, fundamental truth appears in full color. It is the truth of all existence that transcends all barriers of time, place, shape and image. At this moment, the Prophet asks and receives the answer, as happened to him on his night journey when he led all earlier prophets in prayer.

When we look at such a statement, it is better for us not to think of limitations in our life. What is familiar to us in life is by no means the total law governing the entire universe. We should remember that we only know some of the phenomena operating in the universe and see some of their effects when we recognize an aspect of its laws. There are barriers in our constitutional make-up and in our senses that limit our perception to what is familiar to us. Beyond that, there is a realm that we cannot fathom.

The surah continues to console the Prophet in the face of the objections raised about God’s choice of him as the Messenger by the chiefs of his people, people who upheld the false values of the present world. In this context, the surah relates an episode from Moses’ history depicting how Pharaoh and his people also upheld the same values.

The Quraysh elders said: “Why was not this Qur’an revealed to some great man of the two cities.” (Verse 31) In former times, Pharaoh took pride in his power and kingdom, arrogantly asking: “Is the kingdom of Egypt not mine, with all these rivers flowing at my feet? Do you not see?” (Verse 51) Proud and arrogant, he pointed to Moses, God’s prophet and messenger, who had no great worldly wealth or position, and said: “Am I not better than this contemptible wretch who can hardly make his meaning clear?” (Verse 52) Pharaoh also made a suggestion similar to the unbelieving Quraysh: “Why have no bracelets of gold been given to him? Why have no angels come to accompany him?” (Verse 53) It sounds like a musical recording, played over and over again.

The surah shows how the deluded masses responded, despite the miracles shown by Moses and the tests to which they were subjected. Every time a hardship befell them, they would cry out to Moses to pray to his Lord to lift their affliction. The surah also explains the fate they suffered after they failed to heed the warning: “When they incurred Our anger, We inflicted Our retribution on them and drowned them all; and so We made them a thing of the past and an example for later generations.” Yet these later unbelievers still do not take heed.

Throughout this episode, the unity of the divine message is clearly apparent. Similarly, the nature of the tyrannical elders and their reception of the message of the truth is the same. They all cling to the trivial values of this world. We also see the nature of the masses who are easily led astray by their leaders.