(7–9) “We sent before you only men to whom We gave revelation. Ask those who possess knowledge if you do not know. * We did not make them bodies that did not eat food, nor were they immortal. * Then We fulfilled Our promise to them: We saved them and whomever We willed, and We destroyed the transgressors.”
This is an answer to the specious arguments of those who denied the Messenger. They said: Why was he not an angel who had no need of food and drink or to walk about in the marketplaces? And why was he not immortal? Since he was none of these, they claimed, this proved that he was not a messenger.
Such specious arguments have always persisted in the hearts of those who deny the messengers. Because they resembled one another in disbelief, their statements likewise resembled one another. Allah Most High therefore answered these objections for those who denied the Messenger while affirming the messengers before him—even if that were only Abraham, peace be upon him, whose prophethood all religious communities acknowledged, while the polytheists claimed to follow his religion and creed. He explained that all the messengers before Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—were human beings who ate food and walked in the marketplaces, and to whom human conditions such as death and other things befell. Allah sent them to their peoples and nations; some believed them, while others denied them. Allah fulfilled His promise to them by granting deliverance and happiness to them and their followers, and He destroyed the transgressors who denied them.
Why, then, are false objections raised to deny the messengership of Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—when the same qualities were found in his fellow messengers, whom those denying Muhammad nevertheless acknowledge? This establishes the argument against them with the utmost clarity. If they acknowledge a messenger who was human—and they would never acknowledge a messenger who was not—then their objections are false. They themselves have invalidated those objections by acknowledging their unsoundness and have thereby contradicted themselves.
Even supposing that they were to move from this position to denying human prophethood altogether, claiming that no one could be a prophet unless he were an immortal angel who did not eat food, Allah Most High has answered this objection in His words:
“They say, ‘Why was an angel not sent down to him?’ Had We sent down an angel, the matter would have been settled, and they would have been granted no respite. * And had We made him an angel, We would certainly have made him in the form of a man, and We would have left them just as confused as they are now.”
Moreover, human beings do not have the capacity to receive revelation directly from angels:
“Say, ‘Had there been angels walking securely upon the earth, We would have sent down to them an angel from heaven as a messenger.’”
If you are in doubt and lack knowledge concerning the circumstances of the earlier messengers, then “ask those who possess knowledge” of the previous scriptures, such as the people of the Torah and the Gospel. They will inform you from the knowledge they possess that all those messengers were human beings of the same kind as the people to whom they were sent.
Although the specific occasion of this verse concerns asking those who possess knowledge about the circumstances of the earlier messengers—and those who possess knowledge are the learned—it applies generally to every question concerning the religion, whether its fundamentals or its subsidiary matters. When a person lacks knowledge of any such matter, he must ask someone who knows it. The verse therefore commands people to learn and to question the learned. They were commanded to ask the learned only because the learned are required to teach and to answer concerning what they know.
Restricting such questions to those who possess knowledge also entails a prohibition against asking anyone known for ignorance and lack of knowledge, as well as a prohibition against such a person putting himself forward to answer. This verse also proves that no woman has ever been a prophet—neither Mary nor any other woman—for He says, “only men.”