Surah Al-Furqan 25:42

How the Disbelievers mocked the Messenger

Allah tells us how the disbelievers mocked the Messenger when they saw him. This is like the Ayah,

(And when the disbelievers see you, they take you not except for mockery) (21:36), which means that they tried to find faults and shortcomings in him. Here Allah says:

(And when they see you, they treat you only in mockery (saying): "Is this the one whom Allah has sent as a Messenger") i.e., they said this by way of belittling and trying to undermine him, so Allah put them in their place, and said:

(And indeed Messengers before you were mocked at) (6:10)

(He would have nearly misled us from our gods,) They meant: `he nearly turned us away from worshipping idols, and he would have done so, had we not been patient and persevered in our ways.' So Allah said, warning and threatening them:

(And they will know, when they see the torment...)

They took Their Desires as their gods and were more astray than Cattle

Then Allah tells His Prophet that if Allah decrees that someone will be misguided and wretched, then no one can guide him except Allah, glory be to Him:

(Have you seen him who has taken as his god his own vain desire) meaning, whatever he admires and sees as good in his own desires becomes his religion and his way. As Allah says:

(Is he then, to whom the evil of his deeds is made fair seeming. So that he consider it as good. Verily, Allah sends astray whom he wills.) 35:8

(Would you then be a guardian over him) Ibn `Abbas said: "During the Jahiliyyah, a man would worship a white rock for a while, then if he saw another that looked better, he would worship that and leave the first." Then Allah said:

(Or do you think that most of them hear or understand) meaning, they are worse than grazing cattle. Cattle only do what they were created to do, but these people were created to worship Allah Alone without associating partners with Him, but they worship others with Him, even though evidence has been established against them and Messengers have been sent to them.

Ucapan orang-orang musyrik bahwa Muhammad hampir saja menyesatkan mereka dari sembahan-sembahannya, seandainya mereka tidak tekun dan sabar menyembahnya, menunjukkan bahwa Nabi Muhammad telah menyampaikan dakwahnya dengan sungguh-sungguh disertai dengan hujah-hujah yang nyata. Nabi saw juga memperlihatkan berbagai mukjizat sehingga mereka hampir-hampir meninggalkan agama nenek moyangnya dan memasuki agama Islam. Ucapan mereka itu menunjukkan pula adanya pertentangan yang hebat dalam hati sanubari mereka, dari satu sisi mereka mencemoohkan Nabi saw, dan dari sisi lain mereka merasa khawatir akan terpengaruh oleh dakwah Nabi saw yang sangat kuat dan logis itu.

Selanjutnya, ayat ini menerangkan bahwa mereka akan mengetahui tentang siapa yang sesat jalannya pada saat mereka melihat azab. Menurut riwayat, ayat ini terkait dengan ulah yang dilakukan Abu Jahal pada setiap kali ia bertemu dengan Rasulullah. Cara serupa itu dilakukan oleh umat terdahulu kepada para rasul Allah seperti tersebut dalam firman Allah:

Dan sungguh, beberapa rasul sebelum engkau (Muhammad) telah diperolok-olokkan, sehingga turunlah azab kepada orang-orang yang mencemoohkan itu sebagai balasan olok-olokan mereka. (al-An'am/6: 10)