Surah ash-Shu`ara' (The Poets ) 26 : 5

Explanatory Note

The Islamic message is designed by God to remain open to all communities and all generations. It is not meant for any particular group or location. Hence, its miracle should also remain available to all regardless of their community and generation. Hence God made the Qur’ān His miracle, rather than providing a physical miracle that leaves its onlookers speechless, having no counter argument. Physical miracles silence only those who see them, but they subsequently become no more than a piece of history. Conversely, the Qur’ān remains today, more than 13 centuries after its revelation, an open book outlining a code for life. People today find in it all that they need to put their lives on the right course, should they but determine to implement it. It leads them to a better world, higher horizons and an infinitely superior destiny. Future generations will find in the Qur’ān much that we have not been able to discover, because the Qur’ān gives every seeker what that seeker needs, while its treasures remain self-renewing, limitless. The unbelievers were unaware of this central issue. Therefore, they continued to turn a deaf ear whenever Qur’ānic revelations were read out to them. “Yet whenever any fresh reminder comes to them from the Most Merciful, they always turn their backs on it.” We note that God’s attribute mentioned here is ‘the Most Merciful’ indicating His great act of mercy, namely the revelation of the Qur’ān. Thus, their turning away from it appears in its reality: it is an abhorrent act that rejects God’s care and grace. They deprive themselves of such mercy when they are the ones who need it most.