Aw yakoona laka baytun min zukhrufin aw tarqa fee assama-i walan nu'mina (surah Al Isra: 93)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(17:93) or you bring Allah and the angels face to face before us or a house of gold comes into being for you or you ascend the sky, and we are not going to believe in your ascension until you bring down to us a writing that we may read"-O Muhammad, Say to them, "My Lord be glorified! have I ever claimed to be anything more than a human Messenger?" *106

Aw yakoona laka baitum min zukhrufin aw tarqaa fis samaaa`i wa lan nu`mina liruqiyyika hatta tunazzila `alainaa kitaaban naqra`uh; qul Subhaana Rabbee hal kuntu illaa basharar Rasoolaa

*106) This is the second answer to the demand of the disbelievers for a miracle. The first answer is contained in V. 59. The eloquence of this concise answer is above praise: "You demand from me that I should cause a spring to gush forth, or in the twinkling of an eye should bring into being a garden in full bloom with canals flowing in it: or I should cause the heaven to fall into pieces on those of you who are rejecting the message: or I should cause to build a furnished palace of gold: or I should call Allah and the angels to stand before you and testify to this effect: ' We Ourselves have sent down Muhammad as Our Messenger' : or I should go up to the sky in your presence and bring down, addressed to you, the letter of authority of my appointment duly signed by Allah so that you may touch it with your hands and read it with your own eyes. " The concise answer to these big demands was this, "My Lord be glorified! Have I ever claimed to be anything more than a human Messenger?" It may be expanded like this: "O foolish people! have 1 claimed to be God that you are demanding such things from me? Did I ever say that I am all-powerful and am ruling over the Earth and the Heavens? From the very first day my claim has been that I am a human being who is bringing the Message from God. Therefore, if you want to judge the authenticity of my claim, you may judge it from my Message. If you are convinced that it is based on the Truth and is absolutely rational, then you should believe in it without making foolish demands. On the other hand, if you find any defect in it, you may reject it. If you want to test whether my claim is based on truth, you should judge it by the standard of my conduct and morals as a human being and my mission. Is it not a folly that, instead of this, you are demanding from me to cleave the earth and cause the sky to fall? Is there any connection whatsoever of Prophethood with things like chest?"