Quran Garden

Session 354

Chapter 3

Verse 21

Those who disbelieve in God's signs and kill the prophets unjustly, and kill those who call for justice from among the people, give them the glad tidings of a painful torment.

(Chapter 3: Verse 21)

The phrase "Those who disbelieve in God's signs" is interesting because it makes a distinction between a person who disbelieves in God and one who disbelieves in the signs of God.  Faith in God only comes through observing the evidence which proves His existence in the universe.  Proofs of the presence of a magnificent creator are all around us.  People who ignore such signs naturally disbelieve in God.  Allah is unseen, whereas the evidence to His existence is everywhere, thus the phrase "Those who disbelieve in God's signs" also includes those who disbelieve in God.

The verse continues with “and kills the prophets."  It is worth noting that the word "kill"  is associated with prophets in the Quran, but never with messengers.  Why? To answer this question, we must understand the difference between prophets -translated from the Arabic نبي   (Nabi)- and messengers -translated from the Arabic  رسول (Rasoul). 

Allah sent prophets and messengers to convey His teaching to humankind.  A messenger carries a new heavenly message, teaches it to his people, and practices it among them.  A prophet, on the other hand, does not carry a new message.  He only serves as a practical example and as a reminder to his people of previous messages.  Thus, every messenger is a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger. 

Let's clarify.  Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, Abraham, David (peace be upon them) brought new heavenly messages and new scriptures; thus they were all messengers.  They were also prophets because they practiced the new message and led by example.  Prophets Solomon, Lot, John, and many others, peace be upon them, were sent to bring people back to the right path and adhere to the scriptures they already had.  They were not messengers because they did not bring new revelations. 

Allah protects both His prophets and His messengers from sin and mistakes.  They are infallible in delivering and practicing God's teachings.  Since messengers are the carriers of new revelations, Allah gives them the added protection from being killed.  It does not make sense for God to choose the best of His creation, send him as a messenger to deliver new heavenly revelations, and then give people the power to kill him.  However, people may have power over prophets who are sent as role models. 

Here we should ask, why do people kill prophets? Understandably, they may want to kill a messenger.  A messenger, after all, carries with him a new religion, and people may be intolerant of change; they may be zealots for the old religion.  But prophets do not bring anything new; they only re-establish the faith people already have.  So why kill them? We answer that a prophet's actions highlight the hypocrisy of the people of his time.  Prophets properly adhere to God's teachings, and thus expose those who only do so superficially.  Prophets subject their whims to God's will, while those around them lust after life’s pleasures.  And lastly, the model behavior of prophets often exposes the clergy who abuse religion to grab power and amass wealth. 

In a corrupt society, people dislike anyone who exposes their hypocrisy.  They often feel anger and hatred towards him or her and see a need to remove this obstacle from their way.  There is a big difference between merely declaring faith and actually practicing it.  Thus, you often see those who properly practice their faith ridiculed in their community.  Take the example of a lazy student who sees her friend studying and preparing for exams.  She starts wondering, "Why is my friend disciplined to study and succeed, and I cannot bring myself to sit down and focus?" No one likes to feel inferior to others.  Sadly, for many people, the solution is not to sit down and study, but to distract the good student from studying and make fun of her.  This is exactly what happens to upright people in a corrupt society.  God says:

The wicked used to laugh at the believers, wink at one another as they passed by them, and joke about them when they got back to their folks.  When they saw them, they said, "They have indeed gone astray;" though they were not sent to be their keepers. (83:29-33)

Don't we see this scenario play out in our societies today? People who adhere to God's teachings are often called crazy and out of touch with modernity.  Allah responds with the scene from the Hereafter:

So today, the believers are laughing at the disbelievers as they sit on couches, gazing in wonder. Have the disbelievers been repaid for what they used to do? (83:34-36)

If this is how sinners are punished, then can you imagine the punishment of those who kill the prophets?

Here we should ask, why did God describe the killing of the prophets as "unjust"? Is there any just way of killing a prophet? We answer that the killing of prophets can never be justified.  The description "unjustly" is used as an introduction to the following phrase: "and kill those who call for justice from among the people."   Allah turns your attention to the fact that those who kill prophets are not satisfied until they remove all the prophets’ followers out of their way.  Anyone who acts upright and calls for justice is a target.