God sent two messengers to a village, but the people denied them. Then, God sent a third messenger to support them. The Quran tells us about a man who believed in them and called his people to believe in what they brought, but they killed him, and God admitted him to paradise.
Their Story:
God Almighty narrates the story of three prophets without mentioning their names. The context only mentions that the people denied two messengers, so God sent a third to support them. The Quran does not specify who the people of the village were or the name of the village. Different narrations exist, but the Quran’s lack of specificity indicates that knowing the name or location does not add to the story’s meaning or message. However, the people continued to deny and reject the messengers, saying, “You are only human beings like us, and the Most Merciful has not revealed anything; you are only lying.”
This repeated objection to the humanity of the messengers shows a naive understanding and perception, as well as ignorance of the role of the messenger. They always expected some mysterious secret in the messenger’s personality and life, filled with illusions and myths. How could a messenger from heaven to earth be a simple, ordinary person with no secrets or mysteries? An ordinary human being like those who fill the markets and homes?
This is naive thinking. Mysteries and secrets are not inherent qualities of prophethood and messengership. The message is a divine method for humanity to live by. The life of the messenger is the practical model for living according to that divine method. The model that calls his people to emulate him. They are human, so their messenger must be human to provide a life model they can follow.
In the confidence of one assured of his truthfulness and aware of his role, the messengers replied, “God knows, and that is enough. The role of the messengers is to convey the message. They have done so. People are free to choose their actions and bear the consequences. The matter between the messengers and the people is about conveying God’s message; once that is done, everything else is up to God.”
But the deniers and the misguided do not take things in this clear, easy manner; they cannot tolerate the presence of those who call to guidance and resort to harsh and violent methods in resisting the truth because falsehood is narrow-minded. They said, “We see an evil omen from you; if you do not desist, we will surely stone you, and a painful punishment from us will surely touch you.” Thus, falsehood revealed its tyranny and threatened the guides, and it rebelled against the calm word of truth!
However, the duty placed on the messengers requires them to continue on their path: “Your evil omen is with yourselves.” The claim of seeing an evil omen from a call or a face is a superstition from the days of ignorance. The messengers explain to their people that it is a superstition and that their share of good or evil does not come from outside themselves. It is with them, linked to their intentions and actions, dependent on their efforts and deeds. They can make their share good or make it evil. God’s will for a servant is executed through the servant’s own self, direction, and actions. He carries his fate with him. This is the established truth based on a correct foundation. As for superstition about places, faces, or words, it is a baseless myth!
They said to them, “Is it because you were reminded?” Will you stone and torture us because we reminded you? Is this the reward for reminding? “No, you are a transgressing people,” exceeding the limits in thinking and judgment, rewarding admonition with threats and warnings, and responding to the call with stoning and torture!
What happened to the believing man:
The context does not tell us what happened to these prophets but mentions what happened to a man who believed in them. He believed in them alone and stood with his faith as a weak minority against a disbelieving majority. A man came from the farthest part of the city, striving. He came with his heart opened to the call of truth. This man heard the call and responded to it after seeing the signs of truth and logic in it. When his heart felt the reality of faith, this truth moved in his conscience, and he could not remain silent about it. He did not stay in his home with his belief while seeing the misguidance, disbelief, and immorality around him. Instead, he strove with the truth he believed in. He strove to his people, who were denying, rejecting, threatening, and intimidating. He came from the farthest part of the city, striving to fulfill his duty in calling his people to the truth, stopping their oppression, and resisting their sinful aggression, which they were about to inflict on the messengers. And it seems that the man was neither of high status nor power. He had no tribe to defend him if harm befell him. But it was the living faith in his conscience that drove him and brought him from one end of the city to the other.
He said to them: Follow these messengers, for the one who calls to such a message, without seeking any reward or gain, must be truthful. Otherwise, what would drive him to endure such hardship if he were not fulfilling a duty from God? What motivates him to bear the burden of the call, confront people with beliefs different from their own, and expose himself to their harm, evil, mockery, and persecution, without gaining anything or seeking any reward from them? Their guidance is clear in the nature of their call. They call to one God, to a clear path, and to a belief free from superstition and ambiguity. They are guided to a sound method and a straight path.
Then he spoke to them about himself and the reasons for his faith, appealing to the innate nature that awakened within him and was convinced by the clear, natural evidence. He questioned himself before his faith, “Why should I not worship the One who created me and to whom I will return? What diverts me from this natural path that first comes to mind?” Human nature is drawn to its Creator, turning to Him first, and only deviates from this path due to an external influence contrary to its nature. Turning to the Creator is the most natural course.
He then highlighted the misguided nature of the opposite path. The path of those who worship gods other than the Most Merciful, which neither harm nor benefit. Is there anyone more misguided than one who abandons the logic of nature, which calls the created to worship its Creator, and deviates to worship other than the Creator without necessity or reason? Is there anyone more misguided than one who turns away from the Creator to weak gods who neither protect nor avert harm when the Creator wills harm due to his deviation and misguidance?
Now, having spoken with the voice of sincere, clear, and knowledgeable nature, he made his final decision in the face of his denying, threatening, and intimidating people. For the voice of nature in his heart was stronger than any threat or denial: “Indeed, I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me.” Thus, he confidently and assuredly declared his faith and bore witness to it. He implied to them to say it as he did, or he did not care what they said!
The martyrdom of the man and his entry into paradise:
The context suggests that the disbelieving people killed the believing man, although it does not explicitly state this. The curtain falls on the world and its events, on the people and their state, and lifts to show us this martyr who proclaimed the word of truth, following the voice of nature, and cast it in the faces of those who wielded threats and persecution. We see him in the hereafter and witness the honor God has prepared for him, befitting the brave, sincere, and martyred believer: “It was said, ‘Enter Paradise.’ He said, ‘I wish my people could know how my Lord has forgiven me and made me of the honored ones.’”
The worldly life is connected to the afterlife. We see death as a transition from the world of perishing to the world of eternity. It is a step by which the believer is freed from the narrowness of the earth to the vastness of paradise, from the prolongation of falsehood to the tranquility of truth, from the threat of tyranny to the peace of bliss, and from the darkness of ignorance to the light of certainty.
We see the believer, having seen what God has given him in paradise of forgiveness and honor, remembering his people with a pure heart and a contented soul. He wishes his people could see him and see what his Lord has given him of satisfaction and honor, so they may know the truth with the knowledge of certainty.
The destruction of the people of the village by the cry:
This was the reward for faith. As for tyranny, it was too insignificant for God to send angels to destroy it. It is weak, weak: “And We did not send down upon his people after him any soldiers from the heaven, nor would We have done so. It was not but one shout, and immediately they were extinguished.” (Quran 36:28-29). Here, the description of the people’s demise is not prolonged, to belittle their matter and diminish their worth. It was but one shout that extinguished their breaths, and the curtain falls on their miserable, humiliating scene!
The context surpasses the names of the prophets and their stories to highlight the story of a man who believed. The context does not mention his name. His name does not matter; what matters is what happened to him. He believed in the prophets of God. He was told to enter paradise. Let what happened to him in terms of torture and killing be what it may. This does not hold any value in the final reckoning. The value lies in his entry into paradise immediately upon declaring his faith, immediately upon his killing.
