Quran Garden

Session 512

Chapter 3

Verse 183

To those who say, "God has commanded us not to believe in any messenger unless he brings us an offering that fire consumes," say, "Messengers before me have come to you with clear signs, including the one you mention.  Why, then, did you kill them, if you are sincere?" (Chapter 3: Verse 183)

The battle of Uhud was an act of discipline and cleansing of the Muslims.  Now that their ranks were purified, God wanted to highlight the camps of their enemies: the camp of the People of the Book, namely the Jews of Medina, the camp of the polytheists of Quraish, and the camp of the polytheists surrounding Medina.  The Quran clarified: these are your enemies; familiarize yourselves with them: they killed God's prophets and said such and such about God and your messenger.

The Jews of Medina rejected Muhammad and justified it by quoting the Torah, "Our Lord instructed us not to believe in any messenger unless he brings a material sign from the heavens: an offering that a fire from the sky would consume."

This type of miracle is true, and we see it in the story of Cain and Able (Qabeel and Habeel).  God says,

And narrate to them the truth about the story of Adam's two sons: each offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one and not the other.  One said, "I will kill you," but the other said, "God only accepts the sacrifice of those who are mindful of Him.  If you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you.  I fear God, the Lord of all worlds." (5:27-28)

We ask, how come the verse states that the offering "was accepted from one and not the other"?  Isn't God's acceptance a matter of the unseen hidden from us?  Two people may pray next to each other in the mosque, yet Allah accepts the prayer of one but not the other.  Thus, when we read that the offering "was accepted from one and not the other," we understand that God made a perceptible visible sign; otherwise, there was no way for Cain and Able to know whose offering was accepted and whose was not.     

Here, we must understand that Allah always addresses His creation appropriately according to their collective level of knowledge and mental capacity.  Let me explain, historically the miracles of the messengers before our beloved Muhammad were materially displayed by breaking the physical laws of the universe.  For example, the miracle of Prophet Abraham was a fire that did not burn him; Moses' staff came to life as a snake, while Jesus would cure the lepers and the blind.  All were sensory miracles meant to astound the audience.  However, they were like a flame that lit brightly, but once extinguished, their power and light could only be experienced second-hand by storytelling.  This is because God's previous messages were meant for a particular time and specific peoples; so material miracles were sufficient.

Islam is different.  It is the final religion sent to the entire humanity till the last day.  Thus, it required an everlasting miracle that could be experienced first-hand across space and time.  Such a miracle cannot be sensory or material.  Islam necessitated an intellectual marvel that accommodates human progress and intelligence across millennia.  The Nobel Quran is that miracle.  God says,

We will show them Our signs on the horizon and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth.  (41:53)

The time of Adam, peace be upon him, was different.  His sons, Cain and Abel, had a disagreement, which the Quran did not specify.  Do not say it was a fight over a woman, marriage, or something else.  If it were important, God would have informed us.  What is clear is that there was an irreconcilable conflict between the brothers.  They wanted the matter out of their hands, so they looked to the heavens for a verdict.  In our modern era, we seek similar nonbiased solutions when we disagree.  For example, two brothers may look for chance to solve a disagreement when neither one can convince the other of his opinion.  They would write their names on a piece of paper and let a third person draw the winner's name.  This leaves little room for objection.   

Cain and Abel brought forth two offerings.  An offering, translated from the Arabic قُرْبَان (Qurban,) is an object or an act meant to bring the person closer to God.  The acceptance of such an offering is one of God's secrets, but at the time of Cain and Abel, Allah made a visible sign: A fire from the sky that consumed only one offering.  Abel's offering was accepted, filling his Cain with jealousy and rage.  The story continues,

If you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you.  I fear God, the Lord of all worlds.  (5:28)

Cain threatened to kill his brother, but Abel replied that he would not hurt his brother even if he attacked him: "I will not raise mine to kill you.  I fear God, the Lord of all worlds." We ask, isn't this enough evidence to tell us that Abel was worthy of God's acceptance?  He was willing to restrain himself, even in the face of death, because he did not want to sin.  Abel had healthy faith and a conscious mind; both are requirements for God's acceptance.

Even so, we should not think of Cain as all evil.  Yes, his desires and anger got the best of him, but listen to the following verse,

So his self incited him to kill his brother - he therefore killed him and became one of the losers.  (5:30)

There was some good in Cain, as evidenced by the phrase, "his self incited him to kill his brother." To incite is to urge and persuade someone to act violently or unlawfully.  That takes effort because faith guards against such behaviors.  Sadly for Cain, his self won the battle over his faith, so he resigned to his anger and killed his brother.  As soon as the awful deed was done and Cain saw his brother in a pool of blood, the flames of vengeance were extinguished.  Cain panicked.  God says,

Then God sent forth a raven, scratching in the earth, to show him how he might cover his brother's corpse.  He cried: "Oh, woe to me!  Am I unable even to be like this raven and so find a way to cover my brother's body?" And he became distraught with remorse.  (5:31)

This brings us back to the verse.  The Jews of Medina denied Prophet Muhammad, claiming that Allah instructed them not to believe in a messenger unless he came with an offering accepted by the heavens.  Why did they say that?  Where they genuine?  No, God answers,

Say, "Messengers before me have come to you with clear signs, including the one you mention.  Why, then, did you kill them, if you are sincere?"

They realized that the greatest miracle of Muhammad -the Noble Qur'an- is everlasting and appropriate for the seal of heavenly prophethood.  No Prophet from the Israelites was ever to come.  So, they used the demand for a physical miracle as a pretense for not believing.  Their request was a feeble excuse to deny faith. 

Allah informed us that the era of physical miracles is over because humanity was close to intellectual maturity.  So an intellectual spiritual miracle was needed to accompany the heavenly teachings till the Day of Judgement.  Had the miracle been physical, it would have been only witnessed by the contemporaries of Muhammad.  As for the Quran, any believing person in the year 1600, 2024, or 3060 can say: "Muhammad is the messenger of God, and here in my hand is his miracle."

More importantly, God is the All-Wise.  His miracles have a purpose, a time, and a place and serve to validate the authenticity of the messenger.  Allah does not bring miracles based on popular demand.  It is audacious for humans even to suggest one.  God says,

They say: "We will not believe in you until you cause a spring to gush forth for us from this land; Or you have a garden of date-palms and grapes, and cause rivers to gush forth in their midst abundantly; or make the sky fall on us in pieces, as you claimed will happen; or bring God and the angels before us face to face; or have a house made of gold; or ascend into the sky- even then, we will not believe in your ascension until you send a real book down for us to read." Say, "Glory be to my Lord!  Am I anything but a mortal, a messenger?" (17:90-93)

You may have noticed that all these requests were of material sensory miracles.   God says in aya 59 of chapter 17,

Nothing prevents Us from sending miraculous signs, except the fact that previous nations denied them.

So those who demanded that they shall not "believe in any messenger unless he brings us an offering that fire consumes" have already been granted what they asked for, yet they rejected it and killed the bearer of such a miracle.  Their request was only meant to cause disputes, delays, and sow divisions.