Surah An-Nahl
Chapter 16 · Verse 37 · Revealed in Makkah
“[Even] if you should strive for their guidance, [O Muhammad], indeed, Allah does not guide those He sends astray, and they will have no helpers.”
Translation: Saheeh International
Listen to recitation
Mishary Rashid Alafasy
Reflection — Ibn Kathir
The Idolators Argument that their Shirk was Divinely decreed, and the Refutation of this Claim
Allah tells us about the idolators delusion over their Shirk, and the excuse they claimed for it based on the idea that it is ordained by divine decree. He says:
لَوْ شَآءَ اللَّهُ مَا عَبَدْنَا مِن دُونِهِ مِن شَىْءٍ نَّحْنُ وَلا ءَابَاؤُنَا وَلاَ حَرَّمْنَا مِن دُونِهِ مِن شَىْءٍ
Reflection — Maarif ul Quran
Has a Rasul of Allah appeared in India and Pakistan too?
From verse 36 in the present Surah: وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولًا (And We did raise a messenger among every people), as well as from verse 24 of Surah Fatir: وَإِن مِّنْ أُمَّةٍ إِلَّا خَلَا فِيهَا نَذِيرٌ (And there is no group of people among whom there has not been a warner - 35:24), it outwardly appears that messen-gers may have also been sent to areas now known as India and Pakistan - whether residents of the area, or located in another country whose deputies or emissaries had reached there. Then, there is the verse of Surah Al-Qasas: لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَّا أَتَاهُم مِّن نَّذِيرٍ (so that you may warn a people unto whom came no warner - 28:46). The sense released by the verse is that no warner had come before him to the people unto whom the Holy Prophet ﷺ was sent. This can be answered by saying that this obviously refers to the people of Arabia who became the first addressees of the prophetic mission of Sayyidna Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ - the fact being that no prophet since Sayyidna Ismail (علیہ السلام) had appeared among them. Therefore, the title given to these people in the Holy Qur'an was "Ummiyyin" (the unlettered ones). This does not necessarily imply that no prophet came before him in the rest of the world as well. Allah knows best.
What does this verse bring up for you today?