Communication in the Qur’an (09/11)

The People’s Reactions to the Messengers

1. Their views of religion, unbelief, anger, and expectation of miracles

When Allah is mentioned on His own, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink back shuddering. But when others apart from Him are mentioned, they jump for joy. (Surat az-Zumar: 45)

The reactions of prominent unbelievers to the righteous religion communicated to them usually consist of violence, over-reaction, anger, arrogance, and so on. Believers should be aware of their attributes and what kind of reactions they may receive from unbelievers while communicating their message. Believers can learn these from the verses in the Qur’an. Being prepared against them is a sound step towards success.

Unbelievers generally want to see a miracle in order to believe. In the Qur’an this wish is described as follows:

Unbelievers want to see miracles. In order to believe, they absolutely want to see such miracles. However, for those who can use their intelligence miracles abound everywhere.

For example, if someone says that “there is a stone suspended in the air,” that would be a great miracle. But what they fail to realize is that the billions of tons that make up our planet have been hanging in the vacuum of space ever since it was created. However, it was not simply left there to hang without purpose; it revolves in a perfect orbit around the Sun.

The wondrous power of attraction among atoms is also a miracle, as is the fact that the far-distant Sun can warm Earth and be a means of life for all creatures. The fact that there is a reason for these things does not diminish their miraculous character, because that reason is also a miracle. But such things do not affect those who fail to see the proofs of Allah’s power.

In the Qur’an, Allah tells us how the unbelievers look for miracles:

But their desire to see miracles is not sincere; if they experience a miracle, their hearts will not be satisfied and they will not come to faith. They only want to see a miracle to support their idea that the Prophet (saas) cannot perform miracles and, therefore, they are not obliged to believe.

Another reaction of unbelievers is to reject what they have been told and accuse the Prophet (saas) and the believers of being liars. We will deal with these accusations in chapter three.

Unbelievers who have grave doubts (Surah Hud) about Islam have a materialist viewpoint and reject the reality of the Hereafter. About them, Allah says: (They said”) “What is there but our life in this world? We die and we live, and we will not be raised again” (Surat al-Muminun: 37).

Instead of thinking about the believers’ words, they try to find inconsistencies in them and to dismiss the message through word games. They also try to humiliate the believers, such as when they asked Nuh (as): “Why should we believe you, when [only] the vilest people follow you?” (Surat ash-Shu‘ara’: 111).

Allah tells us about these people in another verse:

Their emotional and excessive reaction, which they openly display by insulting the intelligence of those believers who invite them to practice religious morality, shows how really base they are. Nuh (as) tells about the reaction of such people:

We can see that unbelievers have various reactions to what they are told; however, none of their reactions are respectful or mature. As we shall now see, these reactions are sometimes beyond the pale of acceptable behavior.

2. Threats and violence

The most negative reactions come from those referred to in the Qur’an as the “ruling circle of society lapsed into unbelief.” These prominent people, who exercise economic and political power, realize that the religion being preached threatens their vested interests and continued dominance.

The Qur’an tells us that one of their main characteristics is that they are “the affluent…” (Surat az-Zukhruf: 23). And yet they want even more wealth and possessions, and so feverishly put forth every effort to pile up more: “He thinks his wealth will make him live for ever” (Surat al-Humaza: 3). No doubt, satan plants this idea in their minds by showing the way to the Tree of Everlasting Life and to a kingdom that will never fade away (Surah Ta Ha: 120). Given that such people have fallen under satan’s influence and have become his “squadron,” one can easily understand why they are so hostile to the believers.

The Qur’an also tells us about those who seek to divert believers from the true path:

Allah tells us about the traps and assaults organized by satan’s “prominent friends.” For example, those who plotted Musa’s (as) death were prominent men of the city (Surat al-Qasas: 20) who also undertook to provoke the people’s rejection of him by calling him a “skilled magician” (Surat al-A‘raf 109). In the next verse, they sought to provoke a public reaction by proclaiming his preaching to be a threat and a matter of state by saying: “(He) desires to expel you from your land.” With the people already under their influence, they imposed the death penalty on him for stirring up strife by asking them: “So, what do you recommend?”

As Allah tells us in Surat al-A‘raf 123, Pharaoh asked the people if they believed in Allah before he authorized them to do so. He wanted to transform an ordinary event into a case of incitement and plotting against the city in order to convince the people that the death penalty was justified. Seeing that the magicians disagreed, he tried to impose the death penalty on them too.

Are you going to leave Musa and his people to cause corruption in the land and abandon you and your deities? (Surat al-A‘raf: 127)

As these prominent citizens had taken satan as their protector and followed in his footsteps, they regarded it as their duty to oppose the believers. The Qur’an speaks of these friends of satan as the party of Iblis or satan’s brothers:

Actually, satan has taken the unbelievers under his control and incites them to oppose the believers. He creates groundless misgivings within them to hinder and even prevent Islam’s spread and gradual ascendancy. To achieve his goal, he forms a squad composed of those who accept him as their guide and directs it according to his will.

Thus, those who have lapsed into unbelief, following satan and their own prominent citizens, work against the believers.

Naturally, a religious morality that accords with human nature will gain mass appeal and acceptance by being communicated to people. But those members of the “ruling circle who have lapsed into unbelief” try to hinder the believers and messengers because they do not want religious morality to gain ground. The Qur’an mentions how they try to influence public opinion and block the communication of this morality. For example, the ruling circle warns the people about Shu‘ayb (as): “... If you follow Shu‘ayb, you will definitely be lost” (Surat al-A‘raf: 90). In another verse, Allah speaks of their anti-religion propaganda:

As we can see, these prominent individuals try to influence people’s thinking by warning them that they will be losers and that Allah’s messengers and prophets are just human beings, not supernatural beings. In another verse, Allah describes their attempts:

It is interesting that the ruling circle accuses His prophets and messengers of being opportunists. They accuse these worthy individuals of wanting money, possessions, power, and other transient worldly things. They made the same accusation against Musa (as) and Aaron (as):

Indeed, those engaged in this attempt are the very ones who accused the Prophet (saas), although many verses state that he wanted no return for his attempt to spread Islam (e.g., Surah Yunus: 72, Surat ash-Shu‘ara’: 179-180, and Surat al-An‘am: 90).

The ruling circle hurled insults, false accusations, threats, and extortion attempts at those who were trying to relay the religion. For example, the unbelievers roused the people against Lut (as) and his followers: “…Expel them from your city! They are people who keep themselves pure!” (Surat al-A‘raf: 82).

Similar threats were made against Shu‘ayb (as):

We can see from this verse that those who seek to spread Islam have to be very strong against the unbelievers. When the latter hear Allah’s name or religion mentioned, they are overcome by fits of anger. Ibrahim’s (as) father responded to his son’s call by stating: “Do you forsake my deities, Ibrahim? If you do not stop, I will stone you. Keep away from me for a good long time” (Surah Maryam: 46).

Pharaoh warned Musa (as) that if he accepted the existence of another deity besides him, he would be thrown into prison (Surat ash-Shu‘ara’: 29) and killed (Surah Ghafir: 26). He also threatened his magicians, saying that he would saw off their hands and feet and hang them on palm trees if they believed without his permission (Surah Ta Ha: 71). Due to their fierce anger, the unbelievers even tried to throw Ibrahim (as) into the fire (Surat al-‘Ankabut: 24). Nuh’s (as) unbelieving people threatened to stone him and drive him away (Surat ash-Shu‘ara’: 116).

By the will of Allah, this violent anger is a test for the believers, for:

The unbelievers also form themselves into a kind of movement. Perhaps they probably do this because they are not strong or courageous enough to confront believers on their own and therefore seek to increase their resolve. For example, when the magicians joined together against Musa (as), they said to one another: “… so decide on your scheme and then arrive together in force ...” (Surah Ta Ha: 64). Prominent individuals also met together to plan how to kill Musa (as).

3. Accusations against prophets and messengers

One strategy used by a society’s ruling circle is to reduce the communication’s effectiveness by leveling various accusations against these special men in an attempt to shake the people’s faith and confidence in them. One such accusation is that of being crazy, which is mentioned in many verses of the Qur’an:

The purpose here is to damage the messenger’s reputation among the people and to justify punishing him. In their view, they must be only crazy, since they continue to embrace religious morality so tenaciously despite all pressures and difficulties. However, Allah says that His prophets and messengers are extremely intelligent and trustworthy:

They also accuse the Prophet (saas) of inventing the religion he proclaims:

In response to this accusation, a prophet or messenger says:

This specific accusation is based on another accusation:

Then these accusations increase:

This is one of the unbelievers’ major questions: “Why him and no one else?” But even if it was someone else, they would still ask the same question, because they cannot endure the existence of a messenger or a prophet who relays Allah’s religion. There is no such person in their “ancestral religion.” And even if there were, he would be only a person of whom they could approve. They ask: “Why was this Qur’an not sent down to one of the great men of the two cities?” (Surat az-Zukhruf: 31). The ruling circles would disparage any prophet or messenger who did not meet their expectations and who introduced a religion that did not agree with their ancestral religion:

They also accused Salih of being ill-starred: “...We see you, and those with you, as an evil omen...” (Surat an-Naml: 47) and Musa (as) of being weak: (Pharaoh asked:) “Am I not better than this man, who is contemptible and can scarcely make anything clear?” (Surat az-Zukhruf: 52).

There have certainly been many examples of such accusations but these are among the main ones. There will always be unbelievers who will raise these questions and react with absolute hatred and violence to anyone communicating Islam to others. As we saw earlier, Allah reveals how we are to respond to them.

4. The vigorous defense of ancestral religion and the attempt to bring the believers back to it

There are principles at the “cellular level” within human beings that prevent them from adopting new ideas and changing how they think. Present from birth in a person’s environment, family, and circle of friends, they form a “personal” viewpoint and an “individual” attitude toward life. We can call this a “worldview.”

So, one of the greatest challenges in communicating religion is to replace a non-Islamic worldview with one that is directed toward the Hereafter and founded upon fearing, respecting, and pleasing Allah. A person’s worldview may be completely materialist or give rise to religious ideas that have no relation to true religion. We see in the Qur’an that people’s reactions to prophets communicating religion and believers are of two kinds: either they deny Allah’s existence or they defend the traditional religion.

The unbelievers vigorously defend their ancestral religion and, as a result, reject His message and try to draw believers back to the old ways. Many people are strongly attached to their ancestral religion and judge what they hear according to whether or not it accords with their worldview.

It is usual for some individuals to reject the true religion on the grounds that it does not accord with their ancestral religion, which is often very deeply rooted. Even though it contains an idea of Allah, it is very far from the truth revealed in the Qur’an. This is the work of satan, for the Qur’an warns: “... Do not let the Deluder (satan) delude you concerning Allah” (Surah Luqman: 33). This tactic tries to fool people into thinking that their actions, which are actually done under the influence of satan, are being done in the name of Allah and religion. Allah says in this regard:

This is the situation with those who espouse their ancestral religion, and is no different from the situation of the members of the ruling circle. They use the idea of religion for their own advantage. In the Qur’an, Allah describes such hypocrites who use His word for their own benefit:

There are several things to notice in this verse:

1. Some prominent members of society try to prevent people from believing in Islam by misusing Allah’s name. For example, they say: “If Allah had wanted, He would have sent angels down.” This is a sign that people expect to see miracles before they will believe. As we said earlier, belief does not require a special miracle; for those who use their intelligence, miracles happen every minute of the day.

Allah reveals that unbelievers use His name to keep people ignorant of the truths revealed in the Qur’an and to prevent them from following the right path:

As we can see, those who follow their ancestral religion seek to hide the unseemly things they do behind Allah’s name in order to legitimate their deeds.

2. Some people try to influence and cloud the minds of anyone listening to a presentation of religion. These people are called the ruling circle who did not believe. They use their oppressive authority to confuse people and do what they can to keep them from believing. The reason for this is clear: believers, who are intelligent and aware, do not accept the falsehoods to which they are subjected and, most importantly, react against those who oppose religious morality and call upon them to justify their actions. It is natural that if such a spirit were established in society, the losers would be the ruling circle who did not believe.

Elsewhere we see that these people are part of satan’s design, his squad that attacks believers with his promptings to help him attain his goal.

3. “The prominent individuals” who oppose what is said about religious morality accuse a prophet or a messenger of trying to gain prestige. This accusation has no relation to the truth and is discussed in the chapter entitled “Accusations against the Prophets and the Messengers.”

4. One of the sayings of unbelieving ruling circle is: “We never heard of anything like this among our ancestors of old.” However, the Qur’an shows just how attached they are to their ancestral religion and how unwise this attachment is: "What, even though their fathers did not understand a thing and were not guided! (Surat al-Baqara: 170), “Even if satan is calling them to the punishment of the Blazing Fire?” (Surah Luqman: 21), or “What if I have come with better guidance than what you found your fathers following?” (Surat az-Zukhruf: 24).

The interesting thing is that people who are attached to their ancestral religion want to convert believers who communicate the true religion.

This “conversion” is very important for those who are attached to their ancestral religion. They are very annoyed when one of their numbers accepts religious truth and so try to return that person to the fold. If this attempt is unsuccessful, they dismiss such people from their minds. (They are actually doing the new believers a favor.) Members of the ruling circle with power and authority go even farther by making threats.

Every ingrained belief that lies outside religion and every tradition that is contrary to the Qur’an fits into the category of “ancestral religion.” The followers of this religion could end up in Hell.