Al-Ankaboot (The Spider)

50. “And they say: ‘Why have signs (miracles) not been sent down upon him from his Lord? Say: ‘The signs are only with Allah, and I am only a plain warner’.”

The act of ‘seeking for excuses’ in the obstinate people does not end. (After observing kinds of miracles they demanded other miracles either.) The Prophet (S) resisted before the pretext-seekers and, answering them, he refused them, because miracle is a Divine wise affair, not a play for the pretext seekers.

However, those unbelievers who, as the result of obstinacy and persisting on falsehood, never agreed to accept the logical argument of the Qur’an, and bringing a Book, such as Qur’an, by an illiterate person, like the Prophet of Islam (S), which was a clear proof upon his legitimacy, tried to seek a new pretext, as the Qur’an through the verses under discussion, as well as the other verse, implicitly indicates that they mockingly used to say why there have not been sent down some miracles to the Prophet of Islam (S) like the miracles which were sent down to Moses (as) and Jesus (as) from the side of Allah. Why has he not a Rod and white hand like Moses or a breath like the breath of Jesus?

Why does he not destroy his enemies by great miracles, in the same way that Moses, Shu‘ayb, Hud, Noah, and Thamud (as) did?

Or as Surah ’Isra’ from their tongue says, they used to claim some things as follows:

“…We shall never believe in you till you make a spring to gush forth the earth for us,” “Or till you should have a garden of date-palms and grapes in the midst of which you cause streams to flow forth,” “Or you cause the heaven, as you think, to fall in pieces upon us, or bring Allah and the angels face to face with us,” “Or there be for you a house of gold, or you should be flying into the sky and never will we believe in your ascending unless you bring down to us a book which we may read…”1

Without doubt, besides the Qur’an, the Prophet of Islam (S) had some other miracles which have explicitly been mentioned in history books, but by these words of theirs, they were not seeking for miracle. From one side, they wanted to ignore the miracle of the Qur’an, and, from other side, they used to ask for extemporarily miracles.

The purpose of extemporarily miracles is that the Prophet (S) should do any extraordinary action they suggested according to their own desires. For instance, someone suggested him to make springs to gush forth, someone else said that he (S) had to change the mountains of Mecca into gold; and the third sought pretext that the Prophet (S) should ascend to sky.

Thus, they wanted to show miracles as a worthless play, and, finally, to call him a sorcerer.

Therefore, the Qur’an in Surah Al-’An‘am, No. 6, verse 111 says:

“And even if We sent down the angels to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We mustered all things before them, (even then) they would not believe, unless Allah pleases; but most of them (deliberately) ignore.”

However, in order to answer to these obstinate pretext-seekers, the Qur’an uses two ways:

At first, it says to the Prophet (S) to tell them that bringing miracle is not his job that he does it according to their desires, because all miracles are with Allah alone:

“…The signs are only with Allah…”,

and He knows which miracle, in what time and for which nation, is appropriate. Allah knows who try to seek the truth and supernatural events must be shown to them, and who seek pretext and follow their carnal desires.

Then the verse continues saying that the Prophet of Allah (S) tells them that he is only a plain warner, and his duty is to state the word of Allah, while giving them miracles is only with His Pure Essence.

“…and I am only a plain warner.”