• Nothing prevents anyone to believe in the apostles of God

• There is no necessity to send angels as apostles

• God can create worlds like the worlds which He has already created

Al-Israa (Bani-Israel) Verses 94 – 100

وَمَا مَنَعَ النَّاسَ أَنْ يُؤْمِنُوا إِذْ جَاءَهُمُ الْهُدَىٰ إِلَّا أَنْ قَالُوا أَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ بَشَرًا رَسُولًا

And nothing prevented the people from believing, when came unto them the guidance (from their Lord), save that they said: “What! hath God sent a man (like unto us to be) (His) Apostle.” (17:94)

قُلْ لَوْ كَانَ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَلَائِكَةٌ يَمْشُونَ مُطْمَئِنِّينَ لَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَلَكًا رَسُولًا

Say thou: “If there were in the earth angels walking, settled in security, surely We would have sent down unto them, from the heaven, an angel as an apostle.” (17:95)1

قُلْ كَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ بِعِبَادِهِ خَبِيرًا بَصِيرًا

Say thou: “Sufficeth God as a witness between me and you; Verily He of His servants is All- Aware and All-Seeing. (17:96)2

وَمَنْ يَهْدِ اللَّهُ فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَدِ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَنْ تَجِدَ لَهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِنْ دُونِهِ وَنَحْشُرُهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ عَلَىٰ وُجُوهِهِمْ عُمْيًا وَبُكْمًا وَصُمًّا مَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ كُلَّمَا خَبَتْ زِدْنَاهُمْ سَعِيرًا

And whomsoever God guideth, then he is guided aright; and whomsoever He leaveth to stray, thou shalt never find for him any guardians other than 3Him; and We will gather them together on the Day of Resurrection on their faces,4blind5dumb and deaf; their abode shall be Hell; so oft as it abateth, We shall increase for them the blaze. (17:97)6

ذَٰلِكَ جَزَاؤُهُمْ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَقَالُوا أَإِذَا كُنَّا عِظَامًا وَرُفَاتًا أَإِنَّا لَمَبْعُوثُونَ خَلْقًا جَدِيدًا

This is their recompense for they disbelieved in Our signs and said they: “What! when we become (mere) bones and decayed dust, (even) then shall we (in fact) be raised into a new creation?” (17:98)7

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّ اللَّهَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ قَادِرٌ عَلَىٰ أَنْ يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَهُمْ أَجَلًا لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ فَأَبَى الظَّالِمُونَ إِلَّا كُفُورًا

What! See they not that God Who created the heavens and the earth, is (certainly) able to create the like of them, and He hath decreed for them a term in which there is no doubt; but incline not the unjust save (to) denying. (17:99)8

قُلْ لَوْ أَنْتُمْ تَمْلِكُونَ خَزَائِنَ رَحْمَةِ رَبِّي إِذًا لَأَمْسَكْتُمْ خَشْيَةَ الْإِنْفَاقِ وَكَانَ الْإِنْسَانُ قَتُورًا

Say thou: If ye own the treasures of the mercy of my Lord, (even) then will ye certainly withhold them for fear of spending; and man is ever 9niggardly.” (17:100)

Commentary

Verse 94

Even after presenting the intellectual everlasting miracle (Qur’an) as the testimony to the bonafides of his ministry, they started demanding such foolish signs which would satisfy their sensual desires, or they would display their aversion to accept the proper guidance to which the answer was given in the last sentence of verse 17:93; and Qur’an also gives the reason for the adamant attitude in verse 17:94 and again refers to the Divine witness which is between the Holy Prophet and the people, i.e., Qur’an in verse 17:96. (A.P.).

• 1. Refer to note on verses 6:8 & 6:9.
• 2. Refer to note on verses 6:19 & 6:20.
• 3. God.
• 4. Lying prone.
• 5. Refer to verse 2:18.
• 6. Refer to verse 13:43.
• 7. Refer to note on verses 36:78-83.
• 8. Refer to verses 17:89, 17:49-52 & 36:81.
• 9. Owing to the lack of the power of reproduction of what is spent away.