Surah al-Mu'minun (The Believers ) 23 : 24

Explanatory Note

However, the noblemen in his community who deny what he advocates are not prepared to discuss his statement or consider the evidence supporting it. They are unable to shed their narrow vision that concentrates on their own status and that of the messenger who calls them to accept the truth. They are not prepared to elevate themselves to the broader level from where they can better appreciate this great truth on its own. They cannot isolate it from personalities. Hence, they disregard this most fundamental truth in the universe, speaking instead about Noah as an individual: “This man is but a mortal like yourselves who wants to make himself superior to you.”

From this very narrow angle the people of Noah looked at the great truth advocated by him. Hence, they could not appreciate its nature or see its truth. Their limited concerns and narrow interests thus blinded them to its essence, preventing their minds and hearts from appreciating it. Thus, to them the whole question was one of a single man from among themselves, who had nothing to distinguish him from the rest of them, wanting to have superiority over them, giving himself status above their own.

In their haste to prevent Noah from attaining what they imagine he is after, they not only deny Noah’s status, but also the status of mankind in general. They refuse to accept that God may honour this human race. They simply do not believe that God would send a human messenger, if He sends messengers at all. “Had God willed, He would surely have sent down angels.”

This is because they do not find in their own souls the sublime quality that links mankind with the Supreme Society. It is the quality that enables those whom God selects to receive the grace embodied in His message and deliver it to their fellow human beings, guiding them to its noble source.

In their futile argument they refer to familiar precedents, rather than to wise logic: “We have never heard anything like this ever happening to our forefathers.” This always happens when blind imitation suppresses free thinking. Thus people do not look at what they have and try to relate it to reality in order to arrive at the right conclusion to questions in hand. They rather look to history for precedents. If they fail to find such a precedent, they are prepared to reject the question in its entirety.

Devoid of thought and imagination, such communities of unbelievers accept that what happened in the past may happen again. By contrast, what did not happen in the past cannot come into existence. What a narrow vision of human life this is, freezing it at a particular point of their forefathers’ lives.