And for this reason, He says near the beginning of Sūrat al-Baqarah, describing the believers:

“They are upon guidance from their Lord, and it is they who will succeed.”

Similarly, He says here:

“Will neither go astray nor suffer misery.”

For guidance is the opposite of misguidance, and success is the opposite of misery. Allah Most High also says:

“O children of Adam, if messengers from among you come to you, relating My signs to you, then whoever fears Allah and reforms—no fear will be upon them, nor will they grieve.

But those who deny Our signs and disdain them—those are the inhabitants of the Fire; they will abide therein forever.”

Some people believe in part of what the messengers brought and disbelieve in another part, as do those who believe in some messengers but not others. Such are the Jews and Christians, who believe in Moses, or in Moses and the Messiah together, but not in Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Thus, in the Quran, Allah addresses both the unlettered peoples who have not followed any messenger and the People of the Book who affirm some of the messengers, as in His saying:

“And say to those who were given the Scripture and to the unlettered, ‘Have you submitted yourselves to Allah?’”

And His saying:

“Those who disbelieved among the People of the Book and the polytheists were not to desist.”

Likewise, some believe in certain aspects of messengership and disbelieve in others. These include the Sabian philosophers and others like them, who may acknowledge messengership in principle but regard the messenger as a just king who has established a code of law for his people. Or they say that the message is for the common people, not the elite; or that it concerns practical matters, not matters of knowledge; or that it concerns matters common to all people, not the distinctive qualities of those who have attained perfection,