An-Naml (The Ant)

92. “And that I should recite the Qur’an (to people), so whoever is guided aright, he is guided aright to his own gain, and whoever goes astray, then say: ‘I am only (one) of the warners’.”

Next to Monotheism, the most important mission of the holy Prophet (S) was reciting the Divine verses to people. The benefit and harm of belief and disbelief of people, whether they accept the truth or not, return to them.

By this verse, the Prophet of Islam (S) announces that he is commanded to recite the Qur’an to the people of Mecca and to invite them to fulfil its commandments, to use the Qur’an as a light of guidance, to drink much from its life-giving source, and to rely on its guidance in all his programs.

Yes, Qur’an is a means for him in reaching to those two sacred aims and struggling against any infidelity, deviation, and aberration.

The verse says:

“And that I should recite the Qur’an (to people)…”

Then, he (S) adds to the abovementioned statement implying that the people should not think that their belief is beneficial for him or more important than that, for Allah, the Great. No, all the benefits of guidance reach them both in this world and the Next.

The verse continues saying:

“…so whoever is guided aright, he is guided aright to his own gain…”

And whoever goes astray his burden is over his own shoulder, because the Prophet (S) is only a warner and the evil consequences of their deeds do not reach him. His duty is to convey the clear revelation, and his duty is also showing the way and that how it can be paved, but he who is eager to remain in aberration he has caused only his own misfortune.

It is interesting that concerning guidance it says:

“whoever is guided aright, he is guided aright to his own gain”,

but concerning aberration it does not say it is to his own loss; it says:

“I am only (one) of the warners”.

This difference in statement may refer to this fact that the prophet is never silent in front of those who go astray and he does not leave them alone to their own state, but he constantly warns them and he does not become tired of doing it continuously, because he is a warner.

The verse says:

“…and whoever goes astray, then say: ‘I am only (one) of the warners’.”

This point is noteworthy that this Surah has begun with the statement of the importance of the Qur’an and it ends with the emphasis on recitation of the Qur’an, so the beginning and the end of the Surah is about the Qur’an.