Boreal
From Merchant to Messenger
The Prophet Muhammad's struggle for legitimacy as revealed in the Koran
Allah's Response to the Mocking
4:166
But Allah bears witness (to your [Muhammad’s] Prophethood) by what He has
revealed to you, that He revealed it with His Knowledge. The angels bear witness
too, and Allah suffices as a witness!
4:167 Indeed, those who disbelieve and debar other from the path of Allah have gone far astray!
4:168 Those who disbelieve and act unjustly, Allah will never forgive them nor lead them to any path,
4:169 Other than the path of Hell, abiding therein forever. That for Allah is an easy matter!
4:170 O mankind, the Messenger has come to you with the truth from your Lord. If you believe, it would be better for you; but if you disbelieve then surely to Allah belongs what is in the heavens and on the earth. Allah is All-Knowing, Wise.
Not a Soothsayer, Nor a Madman, Nor a Fabricator
52:29 So remind [them]; for you (Muhammad) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a soothsayer or a madman.
52:30 Or do they say: “A poet for whom we await an uncertain fate.”
52:31 Say: “Await, I am indeed with you awaiting.”
52:32 Or do their minds bid them to do this; or are they, rather, an aggressive people?
52:33 Or do they say: “He fabricated it?” No, they believe not.
Prove it!
52:34 Let them bring, then, a discourse like it, if they are truthful.
52:35 Were they created out of nothing, or are they like creators?
52:36 Or did they create the heavens and the earth? No, they do not believe with certainty.
52:37 Or do they possess the treasuries of your Lord; or are they the domineering ones?
52:38 Or, do they have a ladder whereon they listen (to what is transpiring in the Higher Realm, Moududi). Let their listener, then, bring a manifest authority.
52:39 Or, does He have the daughters and you have the sons?
52:40 Or, are you asking them a wage; therefore they are weighted down with debt?
52:41 Or, do they do they have knowledge of the Unseen, and so they are writing it down?
52:42 Or, do they desire to scheme? The unbelievers are truly the object of scheming.
52:43 Or, do they have a god other than Allah? Allah will be exalted above what they associate!
Even if We had pieces of Paradise fall to the ground, the unbelievers would say they’re cloud fragments, nothing to see here.
52:44 “If they see a lump falling down from the sky, they say: “A mass of clouds.”
52:45 Leave them, then, till they encounter the Day on which they will be thunderstruck;
52:46 The Day when their cunning will avail them nothing, and they will not be supported.
52:47 And the wrongdoers shall suffer a punishment beyond that.
A Retribution Double Standard
THE RAMPARTS
7 Al-A’râf
In the Name of Allah,
the Compassionate, the Merciful
7:1 Alif - Lam - Mim - Sad. 7:2 [This is] a Book revealed to you (Muhammad); let there be no gall in your heart because of it. [It is revealed] so that you may warn with it, and as a reminder to the believers.
7:3 Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord and do not follow other patrons besides Him. How little you heed the warning.
7:4 How many a town We have destroyed; Our might struck them at night or while they were napping.
7:5 Their only assertion when Our Might struck them was to say: “We have indeed been wrongdoers.”
A town, a city, a civilization could not escape the cruel fate Allah had in store for it, as He explained to Muhammad, who may have wondered why, in his lifetime, God did not obliterate forthwith cities where people enjoyed life instead of humbling themselves before Him, as He had done so many times before.
50:36 How many a generation mightier than they have We destroyed before them? Search the land, then, is there any escape?
50:37 In that is a reminder to whoever has a heart or lends an ear, while he witnesses.
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30:7 They know the outward aspect of the present life, but they are heedless of the Hereafter.
30:8 Have they not considered within themselves that Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and what is between them except in truth and at an appointed time? Yet many people disbelieve in the Encounter of their Lord.
30:9 Have they not travelled in the land to see what was the fate of those who preceded them? They were stauncher than them in strength, and they ploughed the earth and built it up better than they themselves built it up, and their Messengers came to them with the clear proofs. Allah would never wrong them, but they wronged themselves.
30:10 Then, evil was the end of those who committed the gravest sin; for they have denounced Allah’s Signs and used to scoff at them.
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Allah commits “evil,” e.g., obliteration of cities and people, to terrorise the survivors into submitting, see Getting to Know Allah: “Allah Days,” Boreal Books).
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Allah’s claims to have utterly destroyed countless people simply for calling His messengers liars, while leaving unscathed the Arabs who relentlessly ridiculed Muhammad and his otherworldly book (which would eventually compel him to leave Mecca), only increased the mocking. Muhammad fled Mecca for Medina after getting wind of another plan to kill him, which could be interpreted as being cast out, as revealed by God in the following revelation.
47:13 How many a city that was mightier than your city (Mecca), which cast you out (Muhammad), have We destroyed, and they have no supporter?
47:14 Is he who relies on a clear proof from his Lord like one whose evil action has been embellished for him? They have simply followed their fancies.
Allah did not even interfere with the first attempt to kill His cherished spokesman through suffocation with the stomach of a dead camel, nor did He punish the perpetrators (see Appendix Rukaya Saves her Father). Instead of showing even a modicum of the fury He had unleashed in the past on those who were less brazen, God simply had Muhammad repeat many of the same questions and phrases that made him a laughing stock in the first place.
21:33 It is He who created the night and the day, the sun and the moon, each floating in its orbit.
21:34 And We did not grant immortality to any human before you. If you die, are they then (the Meccan unbelievers) immortal?
21:35 Every living soul shall taste death, and We test you by evil and good as a temptation and unto Us you shall be returned.
21:36 And if the unbelievers see you, they only take you as an object of mockery [saying]: “Is this the one who talks about your gods?” And they disbelieve in the mention of the Compassionate.
21:37 Man is created in haste. I will bring you My Signs; so do not hasten them.
21:38 And they say: “When will this threat come to pass if you are truthful?”
21:39 If only the unbelievers knew the time when they will not be able to ward off the Fire from their faces or their backs, and they will not be helped!
21:40 But it will come upon them suddenly confounding them, and so they will not be able to repel it, nor will they be respited.
21:41 Many Messengers before you were mocked; then those who scoffed at them were afflicted by that which they used to mock.
21:42 Say: “Who guards you night and day against the Compassionate?” Yet they turn away from the mention of their Lord.
21:43 Or do they have gods who will defend them against Us! They cannot help themselves and they will not be protected from Us?
21:44 No, We gave ease to those people and their fathers until they became advanced in age. Do they not see that We come upon the land [under their control] reducing it from its extremities (we are causing the influence of Islam to spread fast in the land and are thus reducing the boundaries of the influence of its opponents, Moududi)? Are they then the victors?
21:45 Say: “I only warn you through the Revelation; but the deaf people do not hear the call, when they are warned.”
21:46 And if the least hint of your Lord’s punishment touches them, they will surely say: “Woe to us; we have been truly wrongdoers.”
21:47 We set up the just scales for the Day of Resurrection, so that no soul shall be wronged a whit; and even if it be the weight of a mustard seed, We shall produce it. We suffice as reckoners.
Allah reminds the mockers of their origins and wonders out loud, so to speak, as to whether those who mock will remember what was said to them by His Messenger.
37:11 So ask them: “Are they mightier in constitution than those We have created?” We have actually created them from sticky clay.
37:12 You rather wonder, while they mock.
37:13 If they are reminded, they will not remember.
37:14 And if they see a sign, they simply scoff.
You Are Not the First to be Mocked!
Allah again acknowledges that all the messengers He sent before His latest and greatest were accused of not being 'right in the head' at least once during their lives in revelations meant to reassure Muhammad that he is not alone. That He again mentions that they were brutally dealt with while Muhammad’s Arab detractors continue to mock him with impunity may not have helped.
6:10 Other Messengers before you were mocked; but those who scoffed at them were stricken with that at which they scoffed.
6:11 Say: “Travel in the land and look what was the fate of those who disbelieved [in the Messengers].”
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43:6 How many a Prophet have We sent unto the ancients?
43:7 But not a Prophet came to them whom they did not mock.
43:8 So We destroyed a people mightier than they in valour; and the example of the ancients was gone.
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13:30 Thus We have sent you (Muhammad) forth to a nation before which other nations had passed away, so as to recite to them what We revealed to you; and yet they deny the Compassionate. Say: “He is my Lord; there is no god but he. In Him I have put my trust and unto Him is my return.”
13:31 Had there been a Qur’an by which the mountains are made to move, or the land cleft asunder, or the dead spoken to [they would not believe]. No, the whole affair is Allah’s. Do not the believers know that had Allah pleased, he would have guided all mankind? As for those who disbelieve, disaster will not cease to afflict them because of what they did or will settle near their homes until Allah’s Promise is fulfilled. Surely Allah does not break His Promise.
13:32 Many Messengers before you were mocked; so I gave the unbelievers a respite; then I seized them. How then was my retribution!
Bear With It
36:74 Yet, they have taken, apart from Allah, other gods that they might receive support.
36:75 But they cannot support them, although they are arrayed as troops for them.
36:76 Do not let their words cause you grief; We know what they reveal and what they conceal.
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6:33 We know that what they say grieves you. For they do not deny what you say; but the wrongdoers [continue to] deny Allah’s Revelations.
6:34 Other Messengers were denounced before you, but they put up with the denunciation, and they were injured until Our Help came to them. None can change the Words (His Promises to support His Messengers) of Allah. Tidings have already been imparted about those Messengers.
6:35 And if you find their aversion unbearable, seek, if you can, a hole in the earth or a ladder to the sky in order to bring them a sign. Had Allah pleased, He would surely have led them all to guidance; so do not be one of the ignorant.
6:36 Only those who hear will respond, and the dead will be raised by Allah; and unto Him they shall be returned.
6:37 And they also say: “Why has no sign (miracle) come down to him from His Lord?” Say: “Allah is surely Able to send down a sign, but most of them do not know.”
6:38 There is no animal [crawling] on land or a bird flying with its wings, but are communities like yourselves. We have not left anything out in the Book. Then unto their Lord they shall be gathered.
6:39 And those who deny Our Revelations are deaf and dumb in total darkness. Whoever Allah pleases, He will lead astray; and whoever He pleases, He will lead onto a straight path.
Who are they gonna call?
6:40 Say: “Tell me, if Allah’s Punishment overtakes you, or the Hour (Judgement Day) strikes, would you call upon any other than Allah, if you are truthful?”
6:41 Nay, upon Him you will call and if He will lighten that about which you call, if He pleases; and then you will forget what you used to associate with [with Him].
Don’t be like Jonah if you want to avoid ending up in the belly of a fish (see Shared Prophets: "Jonas," Boreal Books for all revelations pertaining to Jonas, also referred to as Jonah in the Koran).
68:48 Bear up with your Lord’s Judgement, then, and do not be like the Man in the Whale (Jonah), when he called out fully distressed.
68:49 Had not a Grace from his Lord been meted out to him, he would have been cast out in the wilderness, fully despised.
68:50 But his Lord chose him and made him one of the righteous.
You are in Our Thoughts.
52:48 Bear with your Lord’s Judgement, for you are in Our Thoughts; and proclaim the Praise of Your Lord when you arise;
52:49 And in the night glorify Him, and at the receding of the stars.
It’s not all bad, so toil on, Muhammad, toil on.
THE DILATION
94 Ash-Sharh
In the Name of Allah,
the Compassionate, the Merciful
94:1 Did We not dilate your breasts;
94:2 And lift from you your burden;
94:3 Which had weighted down your back?
94:4 Did We not exalt your name?
94:5 Surely, along with hardship is ease.
94:6 Surely, along with hardship is ease (repeated, not a typo!).
94:7 So when you have finished, toil on;
94:8 And unto your Lord, incline.
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74:6 Do not give in expectation of increased return,
74:7 And for the sake of your Lord, persevere.
Be Patient
11:110 And We have given Moses the Book, but discord broke out around it; and but for a Word that preceded from your Lord, the matter would have been decided between them. They are indeed in disturbing doubt with respect to it.
11:111 And your Lord will surely pay them all in full for their works. He is truly aware of what they do.
11:112 Be then upright as you have been commanded, together with those who repented with you, and do not be unjust; for He sees whatever you do.
11:113 And do not incline towards the wrongdoers, lest the Fire should touch you. You have no supporters apart from Allah, and you will not be helped.
11:114 And perform the prayer at the two ends of the day and [the first] watches of the night. Surely the good deeds will wipe out the evil deeds; that is a reminder for those who remember.
11:115 And be patient; for Allah does not waste the reward of the righteous.
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16:125 Call to the Way of Your Lord with wisdom and mild exhortation, and argue with them in the best manner. Your Lord surely knows those who stray from His Path, and He knows well those who are rightly guided.
16:126 If you punish, then let your punishment be proportionate to the wrong done to you. Yet should you forbear, that is truly better for those who forbear.
16:127 Be patient; yet your patience is only through Allah. Do not grieve for them (the unbelievers), and do not be distressed on account of what they devise.
16:128 Allah is with those who are God-fearing and those who are beneficent.
Muhammad would not heed God’s advice in Revelation 16:26 to “let your punishment be proportionate to the wrong done to [him].” When came time to avenge those who had mocked him, Muhammad had those who mocked him in rhyme, the poets, assassinated (see Jihad in the Koran: "Jews of Medina", Boreal Books) as well as young girls who had mocked him in songs (see Jihad in the Koran: "Mecca Surrenders", Boreal Books)
Take a break
37:167 Even though they might say:
37:168 “If we had been given a Reminder from the ancients,
37:169 “We would have been among Allah’s sincere servants.”
37:170 Then they disbelieved in it (the Qur’an). Surely they will learn.
37:171 Our Word unto the Messengers has already gone out.
37:172 They will surely be supported.
37:173 And Our Hosts (Allah’s armies, Moududi) are the true victors.
37:174 So, turn away (O Muhammad) from them for a while.
37:175 And look at them; they shall soon be able to see (their defeat and your victory with their own eyes, Moududi).
37:176 Are they seeking to hasten our punishment?
37:177 When it descends upon their backyard, wretched is the morning of those forewarned!
37:178 And turn away from them a while.
37:179 And look, for they shall be able to see.
37:180 Exulted be your Lord, the Lord of Glory, above the allegations.
37:181 And peace be upon the Messengers.
37:182 And praise to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
It’s Not Your Fault
2:105 Neither the unbelievers among the People of the Book nor the polytheists wish to see any good (the Revelations) sent down to you from your Lord. Allah favours with His Mercy whomever He wishes, and Allah’s Bounty is great.
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36:43 And if We wish, We would drown them; then there is none to deliver them, nor will they be rescued.
36:44 Except for a mercy from Us and enjoyment for a while.
36:45 If it is said to them: “Beware what came before you and what is behind you, that perchance you might receive mercy.”
36:46 Yet, no Sign of their Lord’s Signs comes to them but they turn away from it.
The difficulty in getting more people to accept his claim of speaking on God’s behalf caused the budding Prophet, on more than one occasion, to doubt his ability to fulfil his mission. Numerous times, as previously encountered, Allah, to shore up Muhammad’s morale explains that if some refused to believe and obey him, it had nothing to do with the superbly drafted message and excellent delivery. It is only because He wants it that way; this is all part of the Plan, as He explains in Surah Yâ Sîn, which Muhammad called the Heart of the Koran.
It was narrated that Anas said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah (sic) be upon him) said: ‘Everything has a heart and the heart of the Qur’an (sic) is Ya-Seen. Whoever recites Ya-Seen (sic), Allaah will record for him the reward of reading the Qur’an ten times.’”
al-Tirmidhi
In Yâ Sîn, Allah again reminds Muhammad that those whom He does not want as believers, such as the arrogant, He causes to remain unbelievers. In “the Heart of the Koran,” Allah reveals that He has restrained the arrogant from becoming believers by placing “invisible shackles upon their necks down to their chins; and so their heads are held high.” To be absolutely sure the arrogant never believe, He has “placed in front of them a barrier and behind them a barrier” and “covered their eyes so they do not see” so they are, therefore, oblivious to His Signs.
36 YÂ SÎN
In the Name of Allah,
the Compassionate, the Merciful
36:1 Yâ - Sîn (came to be one of the Prophet’s names)
36:2 By the wise Qur’an.
36:3 You are truly one of the Messengers.
36:4 Upon a straight path.
36:5 It is the Revelation of the All-Mighty, the Merciful.
36:6 To warn a people, whose fathers were not warned and so they are heedless.
36:7 The sentence has been passed against most of them, for what they do not believe.
36:8 We have placed shackles upon their necks down to their chins; and so their heads are held high.
36:9 And We placed in front of them a barrier and behind them a barrier and We have covered their eyes so they do not see.
36:10 It is the same whether you warn them or do not warn them, they will not believe.
36:11 You only warn him who follows the Reminder and fears the All Compassionate though unseen. Announce to him, then, the good news of forgiveness and a generous wage.
In Surah 10, The Cave, the “barrier” becomes “coverings upon their hearts” (Revelation 18:57).
18:56 We do not send Messengers except as bearer of good news and warners; yet the unbelievers dispute with falsehood, to refute the truth thereby; and they take My Revelations and what they were warned about as an object of mockery.
18:57 And who is more unjust than one who, upon being reminded of his Lord’s Revelations, turns away from them, and forgets what his hands have done? We have placed coverings upon their hearts lest they understand it (the Qur’an), and put a deafness in their ears. If you call them to the guidance they will never be guided.
18:58 And your Lord is All-Forgiving and Merciful. Were He to call them to account for what they have earned, He would have hastened their punishment. However, they have an appointment from which they will find no escape.
18:59 And those towns, We have destroyed them when they did wrong, and We set for their destruction an appointed time.
If only those Allah wishes to lead will be led, it only makes sense for God to tell Muhammad to preach, so to speak, to the choir (Revelation 18:28).
18:27 Recite what was revealed to you from your Lord’s Book; no one can alter His Words, and from Him, you will find no refuge.
18:28 And confine yourself to those who call upon their Lord, morning and evening, desiring His Face. And let not your eyes wander away from them, desiring the finery of the present life. And do not obey him whose heart We have made heedless of Our Remembrance, he has followed his own desires, and his case has become hopeless.
It's the Jews' fault.
2:75 Do you then hope that they will believe in you when a group of them (the Jews) did hear the Word of Allah, then after they understood it, they knowingly perverted it?
2:76 And when they meet those who have believed they say: “We believe,” but when they come together privately, they say: “Will you tell them what Allah has revealed to you (about Muhammad) so that they might dispute with you concerning it before your Lord? Have you no sense?"
2:77 Do they not know that Allah knows what they conceal and what they reveal?
2:78 Among them are illiterate people who know nothing of the Book (the Scriptures) except illusory desires. Indeed, they are only conjecturing.
The Jews of Medina to whom Muhammad preached, along with the Arabs of the City and those who take them as friends, will get their comeuppance.
58:14 Have you not considered those who befriended a people (the Jews of Medina, Moududi) who incurred Allah’s Wrath? They are not of you nor of them; and they swear in falsehood knowingly.
58:15 Allah has prepared for them a terrible punishment. Evil indeed is what they used to do.
58:16 They took they oaths as a smoke-screen, and so they debarred access to Allah’s Path. Theirs, then, is a demeaning punishment.
58:17 Neither their possessions not their children shall avail them anything against Allah. Those are the Companions of the Fire, dwelling therein forever.
58:18 On the Day Allah shall resurrect all and they will swear to Him as they swear to you, thinking that they have something to gain. Indeed, they are the liars.
58:19 Satan has taken a hold of them, and so caused them to forget the mention of Allah. Those are the party of Satan; indeed the party of Satan are the losers.
The Last Laugh
Don’t worry, I will take care of you. After all, the book I have imparted to you is a mercy in and of itself.
28:85 He Who imparted the Qur’an to you will surely return you to a safe resort. Say: “My Lord knows best who has brought the guidance and who is in manifest error.”
28:86 You did not expect that the Book will be transmitted to you, except as a mercy from your Lord. So, do not be a partisan of the unbelievers.
Whatever happens, you and I will have the last laugh.
6:135 Say: “O My people, do whatever you can; and I shall do what I can. You shall surely know whose is the happy outcome in the Hereafter. Indeed, the wrongdoers shall not prosper.”
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10:20 And they say: “If only a sign is sent to him from His Lord.” Say then: “The Unseen belongs to Allah; so wait, I will be waiting with you.”
I see and hear everything.
10:65 And let not what they say grieve you. All power is Allah’s; He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.
In Revelation 15:13, Allah admits there is nothing He can do about the mocking, for even with the examples of ancient civilizations destroyed for not taking His Messengers seriously, and even if He showed heaven to the mocking unbelievers by opening one of its seven gates, they would think themselves “bewitched.”
15:9 It is truly We who have revealed the Reminder, and We are truly its guardians.
15:10 And We have sent forth Messengers before you to the sects of old.
15:11 And no Messenger came to them but they mocked him.
15:12 That is how We instill it into the hearts of the sinners.
15:13 They do not believe in him despite the example of the ancients.
15:14 And if We open for them a gate of heaven, so that they could continue to ascend through it;
15:15 They would simply say: “Our eyes have been covered over, or rather we are a people bewitched.”
In a surah that has little to do with poets, its name notwithstanding, God reminds an “exhausted” Muhammad that if He had wanted to, He would have sent the unbelievers a sign that would have caused more than just a permanent cricked neck.
THE POETS
26 Ash-Shu’ara’
In the Name of Allah,
the Compassionate, the Merciful
26:1 Tah – Sin – Mim (the same letters occur at the beginning of Surah 28; the significance of this is not clear).
26:2 Those are the Signs of the Manifest Book.
26:3 Perhaps, you are exhausting yourself, because they will not believe.
26:4 If We will, We would send down on them from heaven a sign, so their necks will stay subjugated thereto.
26:5 No new reminder from the Compassionate ever comes to them but they will turn away from it.
A warning: what they used to mock will come back to haunt them, followed by a familiar boast as a sign.
26:6 They have indeed disbelieved; therefore, there will come to them the news of what they used to mock at.
26:7 Have they not considered the earth, how much We have caused to grow therein of every noble pair (fine vegetation, Moududi)?
26:8 There is surely in that a sign; but most of them will not believe.
26:9 Your Lord, indeed, is the All-Mighty, the Merciful.
As we approach the end of The Poets, Allah warns Muhammad about calling on other gods.
26:213 So do not call, with Allah, upon another god. For then you will be one of those chastised.
26:214 And warn your closest clan members.
26:215 And lower your wing humbly to those of the believers who follow you.
26:216 Should they disobey you, then say: “I am quit of what you are doing.”
26:217 And put your trust in the All-Mighty, the Merciful;
26:218 Who sees you when you stand up;
26:219 And When you go around those who prostrate themselves.
26:220 He is indeed the All-Seeing, the All-Knowing.
What about those demons?
26:221 Shall I tell you upon whom do the demons descend?
26:222 They descend upon every vicious impostor.
26:223 They listen, but most of them are liars.
Revelations about actual poets who mocked Muhammad in rhyme brings a close to this surah. Revelations about actual poets who mocked Muhammad in rhyme brings a close to this surah. Poets were much admired in pre-Islamic Arabia, and some had a large following not unlike the rock stars of today. As mentioned earlier, Muhammad had the poets who mocked him assassinated.
26:224 And as to the poets, the perverse follow them.
26:225 Do you not see that they wander aimlessly in every glen?
26:226 And that they say what they do not do?
26:227 Except for those who believe and do the righteous deeds, mention Allah frequently, and are victorious after they were wronged. Surely, the wrongdoers shall know what outcome is ultimately theirs.
Angels Would Make No Difference
There are signs to God’s greatness you can see. Then, there are those you can’t see because He won’t let you, such as His angels—except for those He chooses to speak on His behalf at different periods in time, such as Muhammad.
6:109 They swear by Allah most solemnly that, were a sign to come to them, they would surely believe in it. Say: “Signs are only with Allah”; but how do you know that, if those signs come, they will still not believe?
6:110 And We will divert their hearts and their sights [from the truth], as they failed at first to believe in it; and We shall leave them dumbfounded in their wrongdoing.
6:111 Even if We send the angels to them and the dead speak to them, and if We bring everything before them, they would not believe, unless Allah wills; but most of them are ignorant.
Muhammad’s detractors asked him for angels that they, too, could see and engage with if he was indeed telling the truth.
15:7 “Why do you not bring us the angels, if you are truthful?”
Allah, as aforementioned, does send angels to deliver the truth to those who speak on His behalf.
15:8 We do not send the angels down except with the Truth; and then they will have no respite.
In Surah, The Criterion, Allah confirms that those who wanted to see the angels (or Him) before believing, will see them on Judgement Day, but they will be sorry they ever asked, for they will be treated like ‘criminals’.
25:19 They have denounced you as liars regarding what you say: and so you are not able to divert the punishment or give support. Who does wrong among you, We shall make him taste a grievous punishment.
25:20 We never sent any Messengers before you but they ate food and strolled in the markets; and We made some of you tempters to each other. Will you stand fast? Your Lord is All-Seeing.
25:21 And those who do not hope for Our Encounter, say: “If only the angels were sent down to us, or we were made to see our Lord.” They have grown arrogant within themselves and became most overbearing.
25:22 The Day they see the angels, there is no longer any cause for rejoicing for the criminals; and they (the angels) will say: “A firm prohibition [upon you].”
25:23 And We shall proceed to the work they did and turn it into scattered dust.
The angels themselves put in their angels’ worth.
19:64 We (the angels) do not come down except at the Command of your Lord. His is what is before us, what is behind us and what is in between. Your Lord is never forgetful.
19:65 Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between them. So worship Him and be steadfast in His Worship; do you know anyone who is worthy of the same name?
The Jinn Believe in Muhammad
Allah would also have the jinn—invisible beings that even Muhammad could not discern (see Getting to Know Allah: "Allah and the Jinn," Boreal Books)—rally to His spokesman’s defence.
46:29 And when We dispatched towards you a group of jinn to listen to the Qur’an, and they attended to it, they said: “Listen”, but when it was finished they returned to their own people to warn them.
46:30 They said: “O our people, we have heard a Book sent down after Moses, confirming what came before it and guiding to the truth and to a Straight Path.
46:31 “O our people, respond to the caller (Muhammad) unto Allah and believe in him, and He (Allah) will forgive you some of your sins and save you from a painful punishment.”
46:32 He who does not answer the caller unto Allah will not thwart Him on earth and he will not have any protectors apart from Him. Such people are in manifest error.
46:33 Have they not seen that Allah, Who has created the heavens and the earth and has not been wearied by creating them, is Able to raise the dead? Yes, indeed, He has power over everything.
46:34 And on the Day that the unbelievers shall be exposed to the Fire [they will be asked]: “Is this not just?” They will say: “Yes, indeed, by our Lord.” He will then say: “Taste now the punishment for your disbelief.”
46:35 So bear patiently, as the Constant Messengers (Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus) bore up, and do not seek to hasten it (the punishment) for them. On that Day they shall see what they were promised, as if they had not lingered except for a single hour of the day. This is a proclamation. Shall any but the sinful people be destroyed?
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Muhammad would ask God to show him what the unbelievers were promised, i.e., Hell.
23:93 Say: “Lord, you would show me what they are promised. 23:94 “Lord do not reckon Me among the wrongdoing people“.
23:95 And We are surely Able to show you what We promised them.
23:96 Ward off evil with that which is fairer. We know best what they describe (utter against you, Moududi).
23:97 And say: “Lord, I seek refuge with you from the goadings (sic) of the devils.
23:98 “And I seek refuge with You lest they join me.”