Surah ash-Shu`ara' (The Poets ) 26 : 154

Explanatory Note

“You are only a human being like us.” Whenever a messenger of God addressed them, people were always troubled by this point. They always had a flawed concept of what a messenger should be like. They could not understand God’s wisdom of choosing ordinary people as His messengers, nor could they appreciate the honour God grants to mankind by choosing His messengers from among themselves, making them the leaders that receive light and guidance from Him. They felt that a messenger of God should be of a different type of creation, since he brings them information from on high, and tells them of the realm that lies beyond their perception. The fact is that humanity is incapable of appreciating that God so honoured such a man, giving him the ability to be in direct contact with the Supreme Society while still on earth. A man like others, going about his life in a normal way: eating, drinking, sleeping,marrying, walking about the streets and market places, and experiencing all the desires and feelings that occur to everyone else. Across all generations people demanded from each messenger a miracle to prove that he was truly sent by God: “Bring us a sign if you are a man of truth.”