Overview (Verses 109 - 110)

The Bearers of God’s Message
 
The sūrah now refers to the divine law concerning the messages given to prophets who delivered them. It also refers to some of the signs shown in the fate met by some past generations. As a Messenger of God, Muĥammad has many predecessors, and his message is not without precedent. Hence people should consider what happened to earlier communities which did not believe their messengers and rejected the faith. Their fate provides some signs that are clearly visible to all beholders.
 
“Even before your time, We only sent [as messengers] men to whom We gave Our revelations, choosing them from among their people. Have they not travelled the land and seen what was the end of those [unbelievers] who lived before them? Better indeed is the life to come for those who remain God-fearing. Will you not, then, use your reason?” (Verse 109) Reflection on the fate of former communities is bound to shake even hardened hearts. We can imagine their movements, actions and feelings, and we can paint a picture of them going about their business in these places, going from one location to another, full of hope, fear and aspiration, and looking up to the future, then suddenly they are motionless,  with all their faculties and senses completely dead.  Their quarters are lifeless, and they have gone. All has come to nothing. A complete void is all that is left. Reflection on these facts is bound to shake even the most hardened and cruel of hearts. Therefore, the Qur’ān takes us by the hand to show us the fate of earlier communities, time after time.
 
“Even before your time, We only sent [as messengers] men to whom We gave Our revelations, choosing them from among their people.” (Verse 109) These messengers were neither angels nor any other species of creature. They were human beings, just like the people of the towns. Like you, they were not even desert people, so that they would be gentler and more compassionate, showing more perseverance in the difficult task of advocating the faith. The Prophet’s message, then, follows the same pattern of revelation given to other messengers.
 
“Have they not travelled the land and seen what was the end of those [unbelievers] who lived before them?” (Verse 109) Had they done so, they would have realized that their own fate is bound to be the same as that of those earlier communities who denied their messengers when they conveyed to them God’s message. They would have realized that the pattern of God’s dealings with earlier communities will apply to them, and that they themselves will soon depart along the same way.
 
“Better indeed is the life to come for those who remain God-fearing.” (Verse 109) It is indeed infinitely better than this present life which is, by nature, a life of short duration. “Will you not, then, use your reason?” (Verse 109) You should use your reason to contemplate what happened to communities before you and guard against a similar fate. Reason will tell you to opt for the eternal life in preference to the fleeting comforts of this life.
 
The sūrah then describes the very hard period in the life of God’s messengers, which precedes the decisive moment when God’s promise is fulfilled and His law inevitably takes effect: “When at length [Our] messengers lost all hope and thought that they were denied, Our help came to them, saving those whom We willed [to be saved]. Never can Our [mighty] punishment be averted from people who are guilty.” (Verse 110) This is a frightful scene,  describing the great difficulties messengers face:  the denials, persistent abuse and arrogant refusal to accept the truth. Days and years pass while they continue to convey God’s message but meet with only very limited response. Years follow years while falsehood and evil continue to enjoy power and large followings, while the believers who are few in number, muster little or no power.
 
These are difficult times when evil swells its power, spreads tyranny and deals harshly and treacherously with advocates of the truth. God’s messengers await His promise, but it is not fulfilled in this world. At these moments, disturbing thoughts occur to them: have they been belied? Have their souls deceived them when they hoped for victory in this life? No messenger of God would be in this position unless he had been exposed to a measure of distress, hardship, suffering and stress beyond the ability of any other human being to tolerate. I have never read this verse, or the other one in Sūrah 2, without feeling a strong shudder as I try to imagine the horror that would cause a messenger of God to entertain such feelings. The verse in Sūrah 2 runs as follows:
 
“Do you reckon that you will enter paradise while you have not suffered like those [believers] who passed away before you? Affliction and adversity befell them, and so terribly shaken were they that the Messenger and the believers with him would exclaim, ‘When will God’s help come?’ Surely, God’s help is close at hand.” (2: 214) Every time I read either of these two verses I could imagine this great horror giving rise to such feelings of despair, affliction and distress violently shaking a messenger of God, with his morale getting so low, and the pain in his heart so intolerable. It is at this point when distress reaches its climax, leaving even the messenger powerless, that support is given in full measure, and victory is decisive: “Our help came to them, saving those whom We willed [to be saved]. Never can Our [mighty] punishment be averted from people who are guilty.” (Verse 110)