Sūrat Ibrāhīm
Section 5 of 12 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Three Doubts Answered
What emerges from a general reading of these verses is a set of answers to the central doubts which the disbelievers of those times raised against their prophets.
The first was a plea of uncertainty about the very thing to which they were being called:
أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَبَؤُا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ قَوْمِ نُوحٍ وَعَادٍ وَثَمُودَ ۛ وَٱلَّذِينَ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۛ لَا يَعْلَمُهُمْ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ ۚ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ فَرَدُّوٓا۟ أَيْدِيَهُمْ فِىٓ أَفْوَٰهِهِمْ وَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا كَفَرْنَا بِمَآ أُرْسِلْتُم بِهِۦ وَإِنَّا لَفِى شَكٍّ مِّمَّا تَدْعُونَنَآ إِلَيْهِ مُرِيبٍ
“Has there not come to you the news of those before you, the people of NūH, ‘Ād and Thamūd and of those after them. No one knows them except Allah. Their prophets came to them with clear signs, but they put their hands into their mouths and said, “We reject what you are sent with, and indeed we are in confounding doubt about what you are calling us to believe.”” (14:9)
We are in doubt concerning that to which you invite us. The doubt might attach to anything: some articles of belief they could perhaps accept, others they questioned. To remove it, Allah (swt) puts the matter to them directly: can there be doubt about Allah (swt) Himself?
۞ قَالَتْ رُسُلُهُمْ أَفِى ٱللَّهِ شَكٌّ فَاطِرِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ يَدْعُوكُمْ لِيَغْفِرَ لَكُم مِّن ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرَكُمْ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ۚ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُنَا تُرِيدُونَ أَن تَصُدُّونَا عَمَّا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ ءَابَآؤُنَا فَأْتُونَا بِسُلْطَـٰنٍ مُّبِينٍ
“Their prophets said, “Is it in Allah that you have some doubt, who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth? He calls you, so that He may forgive you some of your sins and give you respite up to a specified term.” They said, “You are no more than a human being like us. You want to prevent us from what our forefathers used to worship. So, bring us some clear authority.”” (14:10)
He it is who made this entire universe. Consider the world at the smallest scale, where everything stands in relation to everything else: reflection upon it must arrive at a creator. How, then, can one refuse to arrive there? The oneness of Allah (swt) in His creation is evident.
The second doubt was over the messenger himself, an objection the Makkans raised too, and one that will be met again in Sūrah Banī Isrāʾīl when that is treated in detail: how can a human being be a messenger — why is he not an angel? For some this was a genuine difficulty; for others it was merely a pretext. Either way, Allah (swt) answers it.
The third, and among the greatest obstacles to their accepting Islam, was their obstinacy in taqlīd al-ābāʾ, the following of their fathers' footsteps — an unwillingness to move from where they were: if it sufficed for them, it suffices for us. A fourth was begun and withdrawn: those were the three principal points.