7–14. “They say, ‘What is the matter with this Messenger, that he eats food and walks about in the marketplaces? Why has an angel not been sent down to him to serve as a warner alongside him? Or why has a treasure not been bestowed upon him, or a garden provided for him from which he may eat?’ The wrongdoers say, ‘You are following only a man who is bewitched.’ Consider how they put forward comparisons concerning you. They have strayed and cannot find a way. Blessed is He who, if He wills, can give you better than that: gardens beneath which rivers flow, and He can give you palaces. Rather, they deny the Hour, and We have prepared a blazing Fire for whoever denies the Hour.”
This is one of the claims made by those who denied the Messenger, by which they sought to impugn his message. They objected that he should have been an angel or a king, or that an angel should have assisted him. They said: “What is the matter with this Messenger?” That is, what is the matter with this man who claims to be a messenger? They said this in mockery and derision.
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“He eats food.” This is one of the characteristics of human beings. Why, then, was he not an angel who did not eat food or need what human beings need? “And walks about in the marketplaces” to buy and sell. In their view, this was unbefitting of a messenger, even though Allah said: “We never sent any messengers before you without their eating food and walking about in the marketplaces.”
“Why has an angel not been sent down to him?” That is, why was an angel not sent down with him to help and assist him, “to serve as a warner alongside him”? In their view, he was not sufficient for the mission and lacked the power and capacity to undertake it.
“Or why has a treasure not been bestowed upon him?” That is, a store of wealth acquired without effort. “Or a garden provided for him from which he may eat,” thereby sparing him the need to walk about in the marketplaces seeking a livelihood.
“The wrongdoers say”—it was their wrongdoing, not any genuine uncertainty, that drove them to say—“You are following only a man who is bewitched.” Yet they knew the perfection of his intellect, the excellence of his speech, and his freedom from every fault they might allege. Because these claims of theirs were so utterly astonishing, Allah, the Exalted, said: “Consider how they put forward comparisons concerning you.” These were their claims: Why was he not an angel, free of human characteristics? Why was there not an angel with him, since he was supposedly incapable of what he claimed? Why was a treasure not sent down to him, or a garden provided for him to spare him from walking about in the marketplaces? Or why was he bewitched?
“They have strayed and cannot find a way.” They made contradictory claims, all of which were born of ignorance, error, and foolishness. None of them contained any guidance or even the slightest semblance of an argument that could impugn his message. Merely considering and comprehending these claims is enough for a rational person to conclude decisively that they are false, without any need to refute them. Allah therefore commanded that they be considered and contemplated, and that one examine whether they warranted withholding the definite judgment that the Messenger was truly a messenger and was truthful. Allah then stated that He was able to grant you abundant good in this world, saying: “Blessed is He who, if He wills, can give you better than that”—that is, better than what they proposed. He then explained it by saying: “Gardens beneath which rivers flow, and He can give you palaces,” lofty and splendidly adorned. His power and will are not incapable of providing that. Yet because this world is, in His sight, exceedingly remote and insignificant, He gave His allies and messengers only what His wisdom required of it. His enemies’ demand that they should have been granted an exceedingly abundant provision from this world was both wrongdoing and insolence.
Because the falsity of their claims was evident, Allah, the Exalted, declared that they did not make them in pursuit of the truth or in order to follow proof. Rather, they arose from obstinacy, wrongdoing, and denial of the truth. They merely gave voice to what was in their hearts. He therefore said: “Rather, they deny the Hour.” There is no way to guide an obstinate denier who has no intention of following the truth, nor is there any effective means of debating him. Only one recourse remains for him: that punishment descend upon him. Allah therefore said: “And We have prepared a blazing Fire for whoever denies the Hour”—that is, a tremendous Fire whose flames burn fiercely, raging against its inhabitants and exhaling with terrible force.