Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 7 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:7

وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُّوحِىٓ إِلَيْهِمْ ۖ فَسْـَٔلُوٓا۟ أَهْلَ ٱلذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

“And We sent not before you, [O Muḥammad], except men to whom We revealed [the message], so ask the people of the message [i.e., former scriptures] if you do not know.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every messenger before was a human being who received revelation; if that seems strange, ask the people who kept the earlier record.

A reflection

Human messengers are a gift, not a flaw

This ayah answers the whisper of 21:3 directly: is he anything but a human like you? Yes, it replies. And so was every messenger before him. A commentator calls it a reply to the deniers and, at the same time, a consolation for the Prophet ﷺ. He was not the odd one out. He stood in a long line of men who ate, walked in markets and were sent.

Another commentator explains why this is a mercy. Sending messengers from among people was part of the completeness of Allah's favour to His creation. A messenger of their own kind is someone they can actually learn from: someone they can approach, question and imitate.

Picture a patient the night before an operation. A nurse sits on the edge of her bed and says, quietly, that she had the same procedure five years ago. Then she tells her exactly what the first morning will feel like. An angel could not have done that.

The word rijāl, men, is chosen with care too. One commentator notes that an angel is never called a rajul. The word belongs to beings with a counterpart: man and woman, man and boy. It places the messengers firmly among the children of Adam.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.