Quraanic Exegesis, Dought&clear, - * Commentary on the verse “And We have sent you (O Muhammad ) not but as a mercy for the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists)” [al-Anbiya’ 21:107]

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Some people make a connection between the fact that the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not kill anyone except one man during his life and the verse in which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “And We have sent you (O Muhammad ) not but as a mercy for the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists)” [al-Anbiya’ 21:107]. Is there any basis for making this connection?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):“And We have sent you (O Muhammad ) not but as a mercy for the Aalameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists)” [al-Anbiya’ 21:107].The scholars differed concerning the ‘Aalameen (translated here as “mankind, jinns and all that exists”; also often translated as “the worlds”) to whom the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was sent as a mercy.
Ibn Jibreen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Here Allah, may He be exalted, says to His Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): We have not sent you, O Muhammad, to Our creation except as a mercy to those to whom We have sent you of Our creation.
Then the commentators differed as to the meaning of this verse: does it mean as a mercy to all of the world to whom Muhammad was sent, believers and disbelievers alike? Or does it mean to the believers only and not the disbelievers?
Some of them said that what is meant is to all the world, both believers and disbelievers.
It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas said: As far as the one who believes in Allah and the Last Day is concerned, mercy will be decreed for him (by virtue of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)) in this world and the Hereafter; as for the one who does not believe in Allah and His Messenger, he will be saved (by virtue of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)) from the punishments that befell the previous landslides and being pelted with stones from heaven.
Others said that what is meant is he is a mercy to the believers only, to the exclusion of the disbelievers.
The more correct of the two opinions is that which was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas, which says that Allah sent His Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) as a mercy to all the world, both believers and disbelievers. As for the believers, Allah guided them through him and caused them, through their belief in him and their acting upon what he brought from Allah, to enter Paradise. As for the disbelievers, by virtue of him He warded off from them the hastening of the punishment that came upon the nations who disbelieved in their Messengers before him.
End quote fromTafseer at-Tabari, 18/551-552. See alsoTafseer Ibn Katheer, 5/385;Tafseer as-Sa‘di, p. 532
Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
In the sending of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) there is mercy even for his enemies, in that the punishment will not be hastened for them.
End quote fromFataawa al-Hadeethiyyah, p. 34
One of the things that explained this universal mercy by the sending of our Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is the verse in which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And (remember) when they said: ‘O Allah! If this (the Qur’an) is indeed the truth (revealed) from You, then rain down stones on us from the sky or bring on us a painful torment.’
And Allah would not punish them while you (Muhammad ) are amongst them, nor will He punish them while they seek (Allah’s) Forgiveness.”
[al-Anfaal 8:32-33].
Shaykh Muhammad Rasheed Rida (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
It was not in accordance with Allah’s way or laws, or His mercy or wisdom, to punish them when you, O Messenger, are among them; rather He sent you as a mercy to the worlds and as a blessing, not as a punishment. Moreover it was not His way to punish those like them who rejected the Messengers when they were still among them. Rather He would first bring them (His Messengers) out from among them as Ibn ‘Abbaas said.
End quote fromTafseer al-Manaar, 9/545
Think about this story that highlight the attitude of the Prophet of mercy (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) when the people of at-Taa’if rejected him and harmed him severely, when all he was doing was calling them to believe in the Oneness of Allah, and he did not want anything from them apart from that.
Al-Bukhaari (3231) and Muslim (1795) narrated that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): Was there ever a day that was worse for you than the day of Uhud? He said: “I suffered at the hands of your people, and the worst that I suffered from them was the day of al-‘Aqabah, when I presented myself to Ibn ‘Abd Yaleel ibn ‘Abd Kulaal, and he did not respond to what I wanted. So I went, with signs of distress on my face, and I did not recover until I was in Qarn al-Tha’aalib, where I lifted my head and saw that a cloud was shading me. I looked and saw therein Jibraa’eel (peace be upon him), who called me and said: Allaah has heard what your people said to you, and how they have rejected you. He has sent to you the angel of the mountains, so that you can tell him to do whatever you want to them. Then he called the angel of the mountains to me and he greeted me with salaam, then said: O Muhammad, Allaah has heard what your people have said to you, and I am the angel of the mountains. Your Lord has sent me so that you can tell me what to do. What do you want? If you wish I will bring together the two mountains of Makkah to crush them. The Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to him: “Rather I hope that Allaah will bring forth from their loins people who will worship Allaah alone, not associating anything with Him.”
Secondly:
More than one of the scholars have stated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not kill anyone with his own hand except Ubay ibn Khalaf, whom he killed on the day of Uhud.
Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was the most perfect of people in terms of his courage that is required of leaders in war, but he did not kill anyone with his hand except Ubay ibn Khalaf, whom he killed on the day of Uhud. He did not kill anyone else with his own hand before or after that.
End quote fromMinhaaj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah, 8/57
Perhaps Allah, may He be exalted, intended the severest punishment for this wretch, so He decreed that he should be killed at the hands of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), for he was one of the most hostile of people towards him and his religion. Al-Bukhaari (4076) narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Allah becomes extremely angry with the one who is killed by a Prophet and the anger of Allah became severe against the one who caused the face of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) to bleed.
Ahmad (3858) narrated from Ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The most severely punished of people on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who was killed by a Prophet or who killed a Prophet, or a leader of misguidance or an image maker.”
Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani inas-Saheehah, 281
Thirdly:
There is no doubt that, although the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not kill anyone with his own hand except this wretch, he is the one who prescribed and enjoined jihad and urged the Muslims to go out on jihad. There is no contradiction between the fact that he prescribed and enjoined jihad and killed that wretch or anyone else, and the words of Allah, may He be exalted, (interpretation of the meaning)“And We have sent you (O Muhammad ) not but as a mercy for the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists)” [al-Anbiya’ 21:107], because Allah, may He be exalted, only sent him to bring people forth from darkness to light, and to guide them to His straight path. He prescribed for him jihad for His sake and to fight His enemies who wanted to extinguish the light of Allah and spread mischief on earth.
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O Prophet (Muhammad )! Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them, their abode is Hell, - and worst indeed is that destination”
[at-Tawbah 9:73]
“O Prophet (Muhammad )! Urge the believers to fight”
[al-Anfaal 8:65].
Jihad for the sake of Allah and fighting the enemies of Allah were among the greatest means of spreading this religion and bringing people out from the darkness of kufr to the light of faith. This is the greatest mercy that people can attain: that Allah saves them from kufr and guides them to faith, and brings them out of darkness into light.
Because of this mercy (resulting from jihad), which people may not realize, our Lord was amazed at it (this mercy), as it says in the hadeeth.
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say: “Our Lord, may He be glorified and exalted, is amazed with a people who are led into Paradise in chains.”
Narrated by [Abu Dawood, no. 2677]
In the commentary on the verse in which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):“You (true believers) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:110], Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “You are the best of people for people, you bring them with chains on their necks until they enter Islam.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4557
Think about the mercy of the Most Merciful of those who show mercy, Whose mercy no one can describe, the extent of which no one can comprehend. Glory be to Him, His slaves cannot comprehend Him; He is more merciful to His slaves than a mother to her child, as His Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) told us. Yet despite that He tests them with calamities and trials, by His wisdom, and He punishes His enemies with vengeance and humiliation in this world and with eternity in Hell in the Hereafter, and none of that contradicts the perfection of His mercy towards His slaves, glory be to Him.
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Quraanic Exegesis, Dought&clear, - * Reconciling between the verse “Allah will protect you from the people” and the death of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)

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How can we reconcile between the verse “Allah will protect you from the people” i.e., from being killed, and the hadeeth narrated by ‘Aa’ishah in Saheeh al-Bukhaari: “O ‘Aa’ishah, I still feel the pain of the food that I ate in Khaybar, and this time I feel that my aorta is being cut from that poison”?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
The verse in question says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O Messenger (Muhammad )! Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord. And if you do not, then you have not conveyed His Message. Allah will protect you from mankind. Verily, Allah guides not the people who disbelieve.”
[al-Maa’idah 5:67].
The hadeeth in question says:
‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to say, during the illness of which he died: “O ‘Aa’ishah, I still feel the pain of the food that I ate in Khaybar, and this time I feel that my aorta is being cut from that poison.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4165
The “food” was poisoned mutton.
The aorta is an artery connected to the heart; if it is cut, the individual dies.
The original story is as follows
It was narrated from Anas that a Jewish woman brought some poisoned mutton to the Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and he ate some of it. Then she was brought to the Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and he asked her about that. She said: I wanted to kill you. He said: “Allaah would not have given you the power to do that.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2474; Muslim, 2190
Secondly:
The Muslim must understand that there is no contradiction between the texts of the revelation. What some people think, that there are contradictions between the texts of the revelation are only apparent contradictions as it appears to them, but in fact they are not contradictions. Hence the well-versed scholars of Islam are not incapable – by the grace and help of Allah – of reconciling what appears to be a contradiction for those who are unaware of how these texts may be reconciled.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
It is not possible for there to be in Islam two reports that contradict one another in all ways, without one of them being stronger and thus taking precedence.
Al-Musawwadah, 306
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
As for there being two clear saheeh hadeeths that contradict one another in all aspects without one of them abrogating the other, this does not exist in the first place. Allah forbid that such a contradiction should be found be in the words of the most truthful one (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), from whose lips nothing but the truth came.
Zaad al-Ma‘aad, 4/149
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) also said:
Blessings and peace of Allah be upon the one whose words confirmed one another and testified to one another. Any conflict or confusion can only stem from misunderstandings, not from the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). What every believer must do is confirm his beliefs in the words of the most truthful one (i.e., the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)), and he should realise that above every man of knowledge, there is someone more knowledgeable.
Miftaah Dar as-Sa‘aadah, 3/383
Ash-Shaatibi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Anyone who is well versed in the fundamentals of sharee‘ah would realize that the shar‘i texts could hardly contradict one another and anyone who examines the basis of different shar‘i issues would see any confusion therein, because there are no contradictions at all in sharee‘ah. So the one who is well versed in it is aware of the subtle differences between one text and another, he will never find any contradiction. Therefore you can never find two texts that all Muslim scholars agree contradict one another. But because the scholars are not infallible, it is possible that there may be a contradiction between texts in the opinion of some of them.
Al-Muwaafaqaat, 4/294.
There are some scholars who challenged those who claimed that there are contradictions between the texts of the revelation, such as Imam Ibn Khuzaymah (may Allah have mercy on him) who used to say – as we see inTadreeb ar-Raawi, 2/176: I do not know of any two hadeeths that contradict one another; if anyone has two hadeeths that contradict one another, let him bring them to me so that I may reconcile between them.
Thirdly:
With regard to what the questioner mentioned about there being an apparent contradiction between the words of Allah, may He be exalted,“Allah will protect you from mankind”and the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), “and this time I feel that my aorta is being cut” and the fact that he died from the poison that the Jews put in his food – there is no contradiction between them, because the protection of which the verse speaks is protection from fitnah and misguidance, and from being killed before having conveyed the message, and all of that was fulfilled for him (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). His Lord, may He be exalted, protected him from all of that and he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not die until after he had conveyed the message of his Lord. Allah, may He be exalted, said (interpretation of the meaning):
“This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion”
[al-Maa’idah 5:3].
Some of the scholars mentioned a subtle meaning here, which is that Allah, may He be exalted, insisted that for our Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), Prophethood and martyrdom should be combined.
Allah, may He be exalted, protected His Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) from the kuffaar of Quraysh when they wanted to kill him in Makkah, and his Lord protected him from being killed in Madinah in the campaigns in which he was present. And even when the Jews attempted to kill him with poison, Allah protected him from that, and the mutton told him that it was poisoned. The Sahaabi who was with him and ate some of it – namely Bishr ibn al-Bara’ ibn Ma‘roor – died but the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not die. But this does not contradict the fact that that there was some effect from that poison or his belief that he would die because of it. What he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said does not mean that the poison was the cause of his death; rather the report indicates that he was feeling it and that that might coincide with the end of his life.
Whatever the case, protection from being killed came before he finished conveying the message of his Lord, and he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not die until he had conveyed it in the most complete manner. The context of the verse indicates that, as his Lord, may He be exalted, instructed him to convey the message and told him that He would protect him from the people.
This idea is also supported by what the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to the Jewish woman: “Allaah would not have given you the power to do that.” That was after she told him that she had wanted to kill him. This is either a statement that refers to his being protected against being killed by poison until he departed this world, or it is a statement indicating that that would not happen before the message was conveyed.
To sum up: it may either be said that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was protected from being killed by the poison – as we shall see below in the words of Ibn Katheer, an-Nawawi and others – and that Allah revealed to him that there was poison in the meat and this was part of His protection of him, or it may be said that the protection was during his conveying of the message of Islam, which does not mean that he could not be killed after the message had been conveyed – as we shall see below in the words of al-Qurtubi, Ibn Hajar and al-‘Uthaymeen – and that through this killing, Allah granted our Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) both Prophethood and martyrdom, and made that a reminder to us of the ongoing enmity of the Jews towards us and our religion.
There follow some of the comments of the scholars on what we have mentioned above, which will explain what we mean, in sha Allah.
1. Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Part of Allah’s protection of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was His protection of him from the people of Makkah and their leaders, those who bore malicious envy towards him, and those who were stubborn, despite the intensity of their enmity and resentment, and their drawing up plans to oppose him night and day, through the means that He created by His decree and wisdom. At the beginning of his mission, He protected him by means of his paternal uncle Abu Taalib, who was an important leader who was obeyed among Quraysh. Allah created in his heart a natural love for the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), not love as ordained by Allah; if he had become Muslim, the kuffaar and their leaders would have had the audacity to harm the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). But because he (Abu Taalib) and they had in common the fact that they were not believers, the kuffaar feared and respected him. But when Abu Taalib died, the mushrikeen caused him some harm, then Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, brought him the Ansaar, who swore allegiance to him as Muslims, who arranged for him to move to their land – namely Madinah. When he joined them, they protected him against the red and the black (i.e., all people). Whenever any of the mushrikeen or people of the Book wanted to do him harm, Allah opposed them and turned their plots against them. When the Jews plotted against him by means of witchcraft, Allah protected him from them and revealed to him the Mi‘wadhatayn (Soorat al-Falaq and an-Naas) as a remedy for this disease. When the Jews poisoned the leg of mutton in Khaybar, Allah informed him of that and protected him from it. And there are many similar cases which it would take too long to mention here.
Tafseer an-Nawawi, 3/154
2. an-Nawawi said, in his commentary on the hadeeth about the poisoned mutton:
This shows how he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was protected from all the people, as Allah said (interpretation of the meaning):“Allah will protect you from mankind”[al-Maa’idah 5:67]. This is a miracle of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), as he was protected from the poison that killed others, and Allah, may He be exalted, informed him that it was poisoned, and the leg of mutton itself spoke to him. Elsewhere than in Muslim it is narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The leg (of mutton) is informing me that it is poisoned.”
Sharh Muslim, 14/p. 179
3. Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
With regard to the words of Allah (interpretation of the meaning):“Allah will protect you from mankind”[al-Maa’idah 5:67], Ibn Qutaybah said: That is, He will protect you against them. The protection of Allah means that He prevents him from committing sin.
If it is said: Where is the guarantee of protection when his cheek was cut, his tooth was broken and other kinds of harm reached him? There are two answers to this.
The first is that he was protected against being killed or captured or extensive harm. With regard to regular harm, that was possible.
The second is that this verse was revealed after those things happened to him, because al-Maa’idah is one of the last soorahs to be revealed.
Zaad al-Maseer, 2/397
4. Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
With regard to what befell the Messengers of different kinds of harm, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was not protected from that; rather some such things did happen to him. He was wounded on the day of Uhud, his helmet was broken on his head, some of the links of chainmail were embedded in his cheek and he fell into one of the holes that were dug there. They also put great pressure on him in Makkah where he encountered some of that which had befallen previous Messengers, that Allah had decreed for him, and Allah raised him thereby in status and multiplied his rewards. But Allah protected him against them and they were not able to kill him or to stop him conveying the message; they did not come between him and what he was obliged to do of conveying the message. He conveyed the message and fulfilled the trust, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him.
Fataawa ash-Shaykh Ibn Baaz, 8/p. 150
5. Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
There is nothing in this verse that contradicts the idea that he should take precautions to protect himself, just as the fact that Allah declared that His religion would be victorious and prevail does not contradict the command to fight and make all necessary preparations for the fight.
Al-Mufhim lima Ashkila min Talkhees Kitaab Muslim, 6/280
6. al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said, after quoting these words of al-Qurtubi:
Based on this, what is meant is protection against fitnah and misguidance, or being killed. And Allah knows best.
Fath al-Baari, 6/82
Fourthly:
Among the practical examples of the Prophet’s being protected from being killed before the message had been conveyed is the following:
It was narrated that Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah said: We went out on a campaign with the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in the direction of Najd. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) caught up with us in a valley where there were a lot of trees. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) dismounted beneath a tree and hung up his sword of one of its branches, and the people scattered in the valley seeking the shade of the trees. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “A man came to me whilst I was sleeping and took the sword. I woke up to see him standing over my head and he took me surprise when I saw that the sword was unsheathed in his hand. He said to me: Who will protect you from me? I said: Allah. Then he said a second time: Who will protect you from me? I said: Allah. Then he put the sword back in its sheath, and there he is, still sitting here.” Then the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not take the matter any further.
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2753; Muslim, 843
According to another report, he said: O Muhammad, who will protect you from me? The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah will protect me from you; put down the sword.” And he put it down.
An-Nawawi said:
This shows that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) put his trust in Allah and that Allah, may He be exalted, protected him from the people, as Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):“Allah will protect you from mankind”[al-Maa’idah 5:67].
Sharh Muslim, 15/44
And Allah knows best.

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