Surah Anbiya ayat 5 Tafsir Quran 21:5

﴿بَلْ قَالُوا أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلَامٍ بَلِ افْتَرَاهُ بَلْ هُوَ شَاعِرٌ فَلْيَأْتِنَا بِآيَةٍ كَمَا أُرْسِلَ الْأَوَّلُونَ﴾
[ الأنبياء: 5]

21:5 But they say, "[The revelation is but] a mixture of false dreams; rather, he has invented it; rather, he is a poet. So let him bring us a sign just as the previous [messengers] were sent [with miracles]."

Nay bal in the three instances below effects a transition from one subject to another but they say regarding those parts of the Qur’ān he the Prophet has brought to them are ‘A muddle of nightmares a confusion of things he has seen in his sleep. Nay he has fabricated it he has invented it; nay he is a poet and what he has brought is merely poetry! So let him bring us a sign such as was sent to the ancients’ like the she-camel Sālih the staff and the glowing hand of Moses. God exalted be He says

They -the infidels- went further and fared worse -in their description of the Quran and of the Prophet They said: confused dreams, no, but he forged it, no, but he is a poet; he must present us with a miraculous sign like those with which were equipped the prophets of old

Which was revealed in Makkah The Virtues of Surat Al-Anbiya' Al-Bukhari recorded that `Abdur-Rahman bin Yazid said that `Abdullah said, "Banu Isra'il, Al-Kahf, Maryam, Ta Ha and Al-Anbiya' - they are among the earliest and most beautiful Surahs and they are my treasure." بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The Hour is at hand but People are heedless This is a warning from Allah of the approach of the Hour, and that people are heedless of it, i.e., they are not working for it or preparing for it.
An-Nasa'i recorded that Abu Sa`id reported from the Prophet : فِى غَفْلَةٍ مُّعْرِضُونَ ( while they turn away in heedlessness ), he said,
«فِي الدُّنْيَا»
( in this world. ) Allah says: أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلاَ تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ( The Event ordained by Allah will come to pass, so seek not to hasten it ) اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ وَإِن يَرَوْاْ ءَايَةً يُعْرِضُواْ ( The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder.
And if they see a sign, they turn away. ) 54:1,2.
Then Allah states that they do not listen to the revelation ( Wahy ) that He sends down to His Messenger , which is addressed to the Quraysh and all disbelievers like them. مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِّن ذِكْرٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ مُّحْدَثٍ ( Comes not unto them an admonition from their Lord as a recent revelation ) meaning, newly-revealed, إِلاَّ اسْتَمَعُوهُ وَهُمْ يَلْعَبُونَ ( but they listen to it while they play.
) This is like what Ibn `Abbas said, "Why do you ask the People of the Book about what they have, which has been altered and distorted, and they have added things and taken things away, when your Book is the most recently revealed from Allah, and you read it pure and unadulterated" Al-Bukhari recorded something similar to this. وَأَسَرُّواْ النَّجْوَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ ( Those who do wrong, conceal their private counsels ) meaning, what they say to one another in secret. هَلْ هَـذَآ إِلاَّ بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ ( Is this more than a human being like you ) meaning, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
They did not believe that he could be a Prophet because he was a human being like them, so how could he have been singled out to receive revelation, and not them They said: أَفَتَأْتُونَ السِّحْرَ وَأَنتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ ( Will you submit to magic while you see it ) meaning, will you follow him and be like one who submits to magic when he knows that it is magic Allah said in response to their fabrications and lies: قَالَ رَبِّى يَعْلَمُ الْقَوْلَ فِى السَّمَآءِ وَالاٌّرْضِ ( He said: "My Lord knows what is said in the heavens and on earth..." ) Nothing at all is hidden from the One Who knows that, and He is the One Who reveals this Qur'an which contains news of the earliest and last generations.
No one can produce the like of this except the One Who knows all the secrets of the heavens and the earth. وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ( And He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower. ) means, He hears all that they say and He knows all their circumstances.
This is a warning and a threat to them. The Disbelievers' Ideas about the Qur'an and the Messenger ; their demand for a Sign and the Refutation of that بَلْ قَالُواْ أَضْغَـثُ أَحْلاَمٍ بَلِ افْتَرَاهُ ( Nay, they say: "These are mixed up false dreams! Nay, he has invented it!..." ) Here Allah tells us of the stubbornness and heresy of the disblievers, and the various things they said about the Qur'an, and how they were confused and misguided about it.
Sometimes they described it as magic, and sometimes they described it as poetry, or mixed up false dreams, or a fabrication.
As Allah says: انْظُرْ كَيْفَ ضَرَبُواْ لَكَ الاٌّمْثَالَ فَضَلُّواْ فَلاَ يَسْتَطِيعْونَ سَبِيلاً ( See what examples they have put forward for you.
So they have gone astray, and never can they find a way ) 17:48 فَلْيَأْتِنَا بِـَايَةٍ كَمَآ أُرْسِلَ الاٌّوَّلُونَ ( Let him then bring us an Ayah like the ones that were sent before! ) They were referring to the she-camel of Salih, and the signs of Musa and `Isa.
And Allah says, وَمَا مَنَعَنَآ أَن نُّرْسِلَ بِالاٌّيَـتِ إِلاَّ أَن كَذَّبَ بِهَا الاٌّوَّلُونَ ( And nothing stops Us from sending the Ayat but that the people of old denied them. ) 17:59.
So Allah said here: مَآ ءَامَنَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَـهَآ أَفَهُمْ يُؤْمِنُونَ ( Not one of the towns of those which We destroyed, believed before them; will they then believe ) None of the peoples to whom Messengers were sent were given a sign at the hands of their Prophet and believed.
On the contrary, they disbelieved and We destroyed them as a result.
Would these people believe in a sign if they saw it Not at all! In fact, إِنَّ الَّذِينَ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِمْ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ - وَلَوْ جَآءَتْهُمْ كُلُّ ءايَةٍ حَتَّى يَرَوُاْ الْعَذَابَ الاٌّلِيمَ ( Truly, those, against whom the Word of your Lord has been justified, will not believe.
Even if every sign should come to them, until they see the painful torment. ) 10:96-97.
Indeed, they witnes- sed clear signs and definitive proof at the hands of the Messen- ger of Allah , signs which were far clearer and more overwhel- ming than any that had been witnessed in the case of any other Prophet, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon them all.

(21:5) Then, they say, "It is a bundle of incoherent dreams: nay, he himself has invented it: nay, he is a poet; *7 if not, let him bring a sign like the signs with which the former Prophets were sent."

But they say, "[The revelation is but] meaning

*7) The background of this verse is this: " When the message of the Holy Prophet started gaining adherents, the chiefs of Makkah decided among themselves to start a propaganda campaign to counteract it.
For this purpose they decided that every visitor to Makkah for pilgrimage should be approached and his mind so poisoned against the Holy Prophet that he dces not even go near and listen to him.
Though this campaign continued throughout the year, in the pilgrimage season specially a large number of men were deputed to go to the tents of the pilgrims to warn them to beware of the Holy Prophet.
Different sorts of things were said against the Holy Prophet during these talks.
Sometimes it was said that he was a sorcerer, or that he had fabricated the Qur'an himself but attributed it to Allah.
Some would say that his `Revelations' were the words of an insane person and a bundle of incoherent ideas.
Others would say that these were ordinary poetic ideas which were being dubbed as the words of AIIah.
All they wanted to do was to poison the minds of the visitors irrespective of the correctness of their own versions.
They had no considered and definite opinion in the matter.

This false propaganda, however, had just the opposite effect.
The name of the Holy Prophet became known throughout the length and breadth of the country through the nefarious activities of the chiefs of Makkah.
A positive kind of approach from the Muslims would not have achieved the same publicity in years as was achieved so rapidly through this negative campaign of the Quraish.
It set everybody thinking: "After all, who is this man against whom such a campaign of vilification has been started?" The serious type among them rather came to the conclusion that they must hear the Holy Prophet himself and said to themselves: "After all we are not children who can be easily enticed away" .

For instance, Ibn Ishaq has related in detail the story of Tufail-bin-'Amr Dausi in his own words: "I was a poet of the clan of Daus.
Once I went to Makkah and was, on my arrival there, surrounded by some people of the Quraish who told me all sorts of things against the Holy Prophet.
So I grew suspicious and tried to avoid him as far as possible.
The very next day, when I went to visit the Sanctuary, I saw him saying his prayer.
By chance, I heard a few sentences and felt that what he was reciting were excellent words.
I said to myself, `I am a poet and a sensible young man and no child who cannot discriminate between the right and the wrong.
Why should I not therefore meet him and inquire what he is reciting?' Accordingly, 1 followed him to his house and said, `The people had so mch poisoned me against you that I had actually put cotton into my ears lest I should hear.
your voice, but what I have heard today from you by chance was so appealing that I feel urged to inquire into your Message rather in detail.
At this the Holy Prophet recited a passage of the Qur'an, as a result of which I embraced Islam there and then.
On my return home I induced my father and wife to become Muslims, which they did, and then invited the people of my clan to embrace Islam with the result that till the Battle of the Trench as many as eighty families from my clan had entered the fold of Islam." ( Ibn Hisham, Vol.
II, pp.
22-24 ).

According to another tradition cited by Ibn Ishaq, the chiefs of the Quraish confessed in their private meetings that all their charges against the Holy Prophet were false.
According to him, addressing a meeting, Nadr bin Harith once said, "You cannot overcome Muhammad by the methods you are adopting against him.
When he was a young man you regarded him as your best-mannered person and looked upon him as your most truthful and honest man.
Now that he has attained advanced age, you say, He is a sorcerer: he is a sooth-sayer: he is a poet: he is insane.' By God, he is not a sorcerer, for we very well know what kind of people the sorcerers are and what kind of tricks they resort to.
By God, he is not a soothsayer, for we are fully aware of the guess-works of the sooth-sayers.
By God, he is not a poet for we know what poetry is and can judge that his words cannot be classified under poetry in any sense.
By God, he is not insane, for we all know what nonsensical things the insane people utter.
Therefore, O chiefs of the Quraish, let us think of some other plan to defeat him".
After this, he himself proposed that stories from Persia like dose of Rustam and Asfandyar should be given publicity to divert the people's attention from the Qur'an.
Accordingly, they put this scheme into practice and Nadr himself began to relate such stories before the people.
( Ibn Hisham, Vol.
l, pp.
320-321 ).

 

Which was revealed in Makkah The Virtues of Surat Al-Anbiya' Al-Bukhari recorded that `Abdur-Rahman bin Yazid said that `Abdullah said, "Banu Isra'il, Al-Kahf, Maryam, Ta Ha and Al-Anbiya' - they are among the earliest and most beautiful Surahs and they are my treasure." بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The Hour is at hand but People are heedless This is a warning from Allah of the approach of the Hour, and that people are heedless of it, i.e., they are not working for it or preparing for it.
An-Nasa'i recorded that Abu Sa`id reported from the Prophet : فِى غَفْلَةٍ مُّعْرِضُونَ ( while they turn away in heedlessness ), he said, «فِي الدُّنْيَا» ( in this world. ) Allah says: أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلاَ تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ( The Event ordained by Allah will come to pass, so seek not to hasten it ) اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ وَإِن يَرَوْاْ ءَايَةً يُعْرِضُواْ ( The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder.
And if they see a sign, they turn away. ) 54:1,2.
Then Allah states that they do not listen to the revelation ( Wahy ) that He sends down to His Messenger , which is addressed to the Quraysh and all disbelievers like them. مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِّن ذِكْرٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ مُّحْدَثٍ ( Comes not unto them an admonition from their Lord as a recent revelation ) meaning, newly-revealed, إِلاَّ اسْتَمَعُوهُ وَهُمْ يَلْعَبُونَ ( but they listen to it while they play.
) This is like what Ibn `Abbas said, "Why do you ask the People of the Book about what they have, which has been altered and distorted, and they have added things and taken things away, when your Book is the most recently revealed from Allah, and you read it pure and unadulterated" Al-Bukhari recorded something similar to this. وَأَسَرُّواْ النَّجْوَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ ( Those who do wrong, conceal their private counsels ) meaning, what they say to one another in secret. هَلْ هَـذَآ إِلاَّ بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ ( Is this more than a human being like you ) meaning, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
They did not believe that he could be a Prophet because he was a human being like them, so how could he have been singled out to receive revelation, and not them They said: أَفَتَأْتُونَ السِّحْرَ وَأَنتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ ( Will you submit to magic while you see it ) meaning, will you follow him and be like one who submits to magic when he knows that it is magic Allah said in response to their fabrications and lies: قَالَ رَبِّى يَعْلَمُ الْقَوْلَ فِى السَّمَآءِ وَالاٌّرْضِ ( He said: "My Lord knows what is said in the heavens and on earth..." ) Nothing at all is hidden from the One Who knows that, and He is the One Who reveals this Qur'an which contains news of the earliest and last generations.
No one can produce the like of this except the One Who knows all the secrets of the heavens and the earth. وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ( And He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower. ) means, He hears all that they say and He knows all their circumstances.
This is a warning and a threat to them. The Disbelievers' Ideas about the Qur'an and the Messenger ; their demand for a Sign and the Refutation of that بَلْ قَالُواْ أَضْغَـثُ أَحْلاَمٍ بَلِ افْتَرَاهُ ( Nay, they say: "These are mixed up false dreams! Nay, he has invented it!..." ) Here Allah tells us of the stubbornness and heresy of the disblievers, and the various things they said about the Qur'an, and how they were confused and misguided about it.
Sometimes they described it as magic, and sometimes they described it as poetry, or mixed up false dreams, or a fabrication.
As Allah says: انْظُرْ كَيْفَ ضَرَبُواْ لَكَ الاٌّمْثَالَ فَضَلُّواْ فَلاَ يَسْتَطِيعْونَ سَبِيلاً ( See what examples they have put forward for you.
So they have gone astray, and never can they find a way ) 17:48 فَلْيَأْتِنَا بِـَايَةٍ كَمَآ أُرْسِلَ الاٌّوَّلُونَ ( Let him then bring us an Ayah like the ones that were sent before! ) They were referring to the she-camel of Salih, and the signs of Musa and `Isa.
And Allah says, وَمَا مَنَعَنَآ أَن نُّرْسِلَ بِالاٌّيَـتِ إِلاَّ أَن كَذَّبَ بِهَا الاٌّوَّلُونَ ( And nothing stops Us from sending the Ayat but that the people of old denied them. ) 17:59.
So Allah said here: مَآ ءَامَنَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَـهَآ أَفَهُمْ يُؤْمِنُونَ ( Not one of the towns of those which We destroyed, believed before them; will they then believe ) None of the peoples to whom Messengers were sent were given a sign at the hands of their Prophet and believed.
On the contrary, they disbelieved and We destroyed them as a result.
Would these people believe in a sign if they saw it Not at all! In fact, إِنَّ الَّذِينَ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِمْ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ - وَلَوْ جَآءَتْهُمْ كُلُّ ءايَةٍ حَتَّى يَرَوُاْ الْعَذَابَ الاٌّلِيمَ ( Truly, those, against whom the Word of your Lord has been justified, will not believe.
Even if every sign should come to them, until they see the painful torment. ) 10:96-97.
Indeed, they witnes- sed clear signs and definitive proof at the hands of the Messen- ger of Allah , signs which were far clearer and more overwhel- ming than any that had been witnessed in the case of any other Prophet, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon them all.

( Nay, say they ) some of them say, ( (these are but ) muddled dreams) false dreams, that which Muhammad ( pbuh ) brought to us is but false dreams; ( nay, he hath but invented it ) some others say: Muhammad ( pbuh ) invented the Qur’an; ( nay, he is but a poet ) some of them said: no, he is a poet. ( Let him bring us a portent ) a sign ( even as those of old (who were God’s messengers ) were sent ( with portents )) just as the messengers of old were sent with signs to their people, as he claims.

Nay, they say:"These (revelations of the Quran which are inspired to Muhammad SAW) are mixed up false dreams! Nay, he has invented it! Nay, he is a poet! Let him then bring us an Ayah (sign as a proof) like the ones (Prophets) that were sent before (with signs)!"

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