Surah al-Mu'minun (The Believers ) 23 : 33

Overview (Verses 31 - 38)

Along the Same Way to Ruin
 
The sūrah moves on to portray another scene of unbelievers denying the message that continues to be the same across all generations and communities.
 
Then after these people We raised a new generation. And We sent forth to them a messenger from among themselves, and he said: My people! Worship God alone, for you have no deity other than Him. Will you not be God-fearing?’ (Verses 31-32)
 
The stories of earlier prophets referred to in this sūrah are not meant to give a full account or to provide details. They are meant to emphasize the unity of the message given to all of them, and to make clear that they received the same response from all their different communities. Hence these accounts commence with Noah to indicate the starting point, and finish with Moses and Jesus to define the last point before the final message. No names are mentioned in between the start and the finish of this long chain. This serves to indicate the similarity of all intervening episodes. However, in every new case the essence of the message and the way it was received are clearly mentioned to serve the purpose of the sūrah.
 
“Then after these people We raised a new generation.” (Verse 31) The community in question is not specified, but it is most likely that the reference here is to the `Ād, the Prophet Hūd’s people.
 
And We sent forth to them a messenger from among themselves, and he said: My people! Worship God alone, for you have no deity other than Him. Will you not be God-fearing? (Verse 32)
 
It is exactly the same message given by Noah to his people. It is expressed here in the very same words, although these communities spoke totally different languages. But what was the answer?
 
Their answer was almost identical to that given by Noah’s people:
 
The unbelieving elders of his people, who denied the life to come and to whom We granted ease and plenty in this worldly life, said: ‘This man is but a mortal like yourselves, eating of what you eat and drinking of what you drink. Indeed, if you pay heed to a mortal like yourselves, you will certainly be the losers.’ (Verses 33-34)
 
This oft repeated objection concentrates on the fact that the messenger sent to them is a human being. Those who raise it are people who enjoy power and wealth and whose hearts no longer feel the spiritual bond between man and his Creator. Affluence corrupts human nature, blunts sensitivities, closes receptive faculties and weakens the heart’s ability to feel and respond. Hence Islam combats the accumulation of wealth and establishes a social system that does not allow the very rich to emerge in the Muslim community simply because to do so encourages corruption.
 
The corrupt rich add in this case a denial of resurrection. They wonder at this messenger who alerts them to such life after death, considering it very strange:
 
Does he promise you that, after you have died and become dust and bones, you shall be brought forth to life? Improbable, improbable indeed is what you are promised! There is no lift beyond this, our present life; we die and we live, and we shall never be restored to life. (Verses 35-37)
 
Such people cannot understand the ultimate purpose of life, the elaborate planning of its different stages until it reaches its eventual destination. This purpose will not be achieved in full in this present life on earth. Goodness is not fully rewarded in this life, nor does evil receive its just deserts. All rewards are given in the life to come. Good believers achieve the ultimate form of life that is free of fear, worry and hardship and continues as God wishes. On the other side, those who cling to evil in this life go to the lowest depths of life where their humanity comes to an end and they become as hard as stones.
 
Such people cannot understand such concepts. They fail to look at the early stages of life which were outlined at the beginning of the sūrah in order to realize the nature of its final stages. They cannot imagine that the Mighty Power that controlled those stages will not cause life to end at the point of death when the body decays. Hence they are full of amazement at the messenger who promises them that they will be resurrected. In their ignorance, they consider this farfetched. They categorically state that there is only one life and one death. Generation succeeds generation, and those who have already died and are reduced to dust and bones cannot come back to life as the prophet promises them.
 
Yet unbelievers do not stop at this juncture betraying their own ignorance and their inability to reflect on the early stages of human life detailed at the opening of the sūrah. They go further than this and accuse God’s messenger of lying and fabricating things that he attributes to God. They do not know God except in the context of making false accusations against His messenger: “He is nothing but a man who attributes his lies to God. Never will we believe in him.” (Verse 38)