(52–53) “Likewise, no messenger came to those before them without their saying, ‘A sorcerer or a madman!’ Have they passed this down to one another? Rather, they are a transgressing people.”

Allah consoles His Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—concerning the polytheists who associate partners with Allah, deny him, and make vile claims about him from which he is entirely free. Such claims have always been the habitual practice of the criminals who deny the messengers: Allah never sent a messenger without his people accusing him of sorcery or madness.

Allah Most High says: Are these claims made by earlier and later generations things that they passed down to one another, each teaching them to the next, so that their agreement upon them should therefore come as no surprise? “Or are they a transgressing people” whose hearts and deeds resemble one another in unbelief and transgression, and whose statements, arising from their transgression, therefore resemble one another as well?

This is indeed the reality, as the Most High says: “Those who have no knowledge say, ‘Why does Allah not speak to us, or why does a sign not come to us?’ Those before them said the same; their hearts are alike.” The same holds true of the believers: because their hearts resemble one another in submitting to the truth, seeking it, and striving for it, they hasten to believe in their messengers, honor and revere them, and address them in a manner befitting them.