Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb narrated to us; [the report comes] from Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from Zayd al-Numayrī, from al-Ḥasan—and Hammām transmitted it from Qatādah—who said:

“Even in the pre-Islamic era, and later within Islam itself, the Arabs affirmed al-qadar (the divine decree). Allah the Exalted declares: ‘O Messenger, convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord. If you do not, then you have not delivered His message; and Allah will protect you from the people’ (Q 5:67).

In this verse He first mentions the duty of conveying what has been revealed to him, and then He refers to the very act of delivering the message, saying, ‘If you do not, then you have not delivered His message.’ Thus He describes both the Messenger’s conveying of the message and his refraining from it as an “act” (fiʿl). Consequently, no one can claim that the Messenger failed to carry out the task with which he was charged.”