The Creator, and the Excuses

Allah begins: He is the Creator. All praise to Allah, who created the heavens and the earth — absolute facts. He it is who created darkness and light. And then these who disbelieve set up others as equal to Allah; they make others His equals. He it is who created you from soil, from dirt. It is unlikely that anyone in those days knew the origin; they had no laboratories by which to determine such things. Biology had not reached that point, it seems, and that came later.

The whole cannot be read here; but Allah says in verse 4 that every time a verse comes to them, they reject it. Allah (swt) then employs various arguments: have they not seen how We destroyed the peoples before them, whom We had settled upon the earth, upon whom We had showered rain and water, to whom We had given lakes and streams — and then, when they did wrong, We destroyed them. That a man has possessions does not mean that he has ultimate success. Ultimate success belongs to the Hereafter.

Allah then mentions a number of other matters. Even were We to send down upon them a written document — a piece of writing they might touch; for it must be remembered that the Qur'an did not come down in writing, but in words, memorised — even were We to send them from the divine realm a divine piece of writing (how such a thing would appear, who can say; it would be remarkable indeed), a piece of writing they might touch and admire and believe in, they would still say… For where there is obstinacy, or where there are other attachments, the truth makes no difference to a man.

Another thing they say is: why does Allah not send an angel? Why a human being? Why not an angel? So Allah says, in verse 8, that had We sent an angel, the matter would have been settled; it would have been a grave business. And even had We sent an angel, We should have made him a man; We should have given him the appearance of a man, since otherwise there would be too much made of his being an angel. There are other places in the Qur'an where Allah says that if an angel is sent, he does not eat; he has no need to eat, or drink, or sleep.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) is told that messengers before him were mocked as well; but all of that leads only to their own destruction. Travel the earth. Go and look upon the remnants of ʿĀd and Thamūd. Go to Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ; go to Petra; go south to Yemen, and you will see the remnants of these places. It requires only reflection. What to include and what to leave out: the survey must move somewhat quickly here.

Allah asks: if Allah afflicts you with some harm, there is none to relieve you of it but He; and if He gives you any good, He has power over everything and might over everyone. Within all of this, of course, there are discussions of the Hereafter, and many warnings given.