As-Saff (The Ranks)

6. Remember when Jesus (as), son of Mary, said: “O Children of Israel! Verily, I am the Messenger of Allah unto you, acknowledging the Torah which came before me and giving glad tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad. But when he came to them with clear proofs, they said: “This is plain magic.”

7. And who does more wrong than the one who forges a lie against Allah while he is being invited to embrace the Islamic faith? And Allah guides not the people who are wrong-doers.

The blessed Verse 6 is saying:

“O Muhammad (S)! Remember when Jesus (as), son of Mary, said: 'O Children of Israel [namely the Jews following Moses (as)]! I am Allah’s Messenger sent unto you. I believe in Moses (as) acknowledging his Prophetic Call and bearing glad tidings to you that a Prophet (S) will come after me with a perfect religion and his token is that his name is Ahmad, namely praised in words and deeds or the Messenger (S) who will praise God Almighty.”

The name Ahmad may reflect that he was Divinely appointed to praise God Almighty by the recitation of His Ninety-Nine Names such that people may known Him through His Most Beauteous Attributes, since it is not known whether other Prophets did not make Him known unto people through the same number of Names each of which reflect one of the Divine Attributes.

Narrating on the authority of his father, Muhammad ibn Mat‘am says that the Noble Prophet (S) said that he had names such as Ahmad, Muhammad, Mahi, through whom God Almighty effaces disbelief, Hashir, namely under whose banner people would be resurrected, and ‘Àqib, i.e. the last of the Prophets not to be followed by any other Prophet.¹

According to a tradition narrated concerning the Noble Prophet’s (S) Ascension (mi‘raj), God Almighty addressed the Noble Prophet of the Islamic faith (S) several times by the name Ahmad which may possibly given rise to the saying that his name is Ahmad in the heavens and Muhammad (S) on the earth.

It is narrated from Imam ‘Ali (as) that the Noble Prophet of Islam (S) has ten names five of which, namely Muhammad, Ahmad, ‘Abd Allah, Yasin, and Nun, are attested in the Holy Qur’an.² The foregoing brief discussion reflects that one of the most well-known names of the Noble Prophet of the Islamic faith (S) is Ahmad.³

The blessed Verse closes with

“But when he came to them with clear proofs, they said: “This is plain magic.”

The antecedent of the pronoun

“them” (hum)

is possibly the Seal of the Prophets (S) who had many proofs and miracles and Prophet Jesus (as) had formerly make known his name and tokens, but the Prophet Muhammad’s (S) miracles were regarded as magic by his people saying that it was plain magic.

The antecedent of the pronoun may be Prophet Jesus (as) who performed miracles like raising the dead, curing the blind, and making pigeons out of mud and giving life to it, but the Jews regarded his miracles as magic. People are habitually inclined through concupiscent desires to turn away from the Truth and turn toward Falsehood, as a consequence of which they failed to obey the Prophets and their chiefs knew that people’s obeying the Prophets would entail damages to their chieftainship.

In order to waive their obligations, they denied the prophets and regarded their miracles as magic.

Thus, God Almighty censures such people and asks them in the blessed Verse:

“And who does more wrong than the one who forges a lie against Allah while he is being invited to embrace the Islamic faith? And Allah guides not the people who are wrong-doers.”

The point is that the Prophets call people unto Islam, namely Guidance, in which the people’s physical and spiritual health lies.

Those who deny the Prophets are the worst of people since they not only wrong themselves and deprive themselves of happiness, and have contented themselves to stay with disbelieving and irreligious people and their bestiality without taking any step toward happiness, but also when man fails to seek Guidance and wrongs himself, God Almighty will not guide him.

Such wrongdoers wrong people as well since they impede them from being guided. God Almighty will never guide such people since wrong-doers are not subject to being guided.