Tazkirul Quran, Qur’an 26:204–212
The Poets (Al-Shu‘ara’)
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
English text; the translator is not named in the archive’s data.
Translation
(204) Do they want to hasten Our punishment? (205) Think! If We let them enjoy life for some years, (206) and then the promised punishment fell upon them, (207) of what avail would their past enjoyment be to them? (208) Never have We destroyed a town without sending down messengers to warn it, (209) as a reminder from Us: We are never unjust. (210) It was not the devils who brought down the Quran: (211) neither are they worthy of it, nor are they capable of it, (212) indeed they are debarred from overhearing it.
Commentary
(a) When, on behalf of God, the call for Truth appears at the level of a prophet, it appears in its final and perfect shape. That is why it becomes necessary for God’s punishment to visit any community which denies the prophet. However, until this punishment is actually administered, man considers himself safe from it. In order to prove the divine call baseless, he adopts various tactics. Sometimes he derides the prophet’s personality and sometimes he calls the Divine revelation brought by him spurious. Sometimes he says that if God is against them, why does He not punish them?
The only responsibility of the prophet, or the preacher acting on behalf of the prophet, is that he should make the people aware of the Truth. All matters over and above that are the responsibility of God and He shows them this when He wills.