Surah Al-Furqan 25:44

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.

Pada ayat ini, Allah menasihati Nabi Muhammad supaya jangan menganggap bahwa kebanyakan orang-orang musyrik mendengarkan ayat dan memahami kebenaran yang terkandung dalam ayat itu sehingga mereka dapat mengamalkan petunjuknya untuk melakukan amal saleh dan memperbaiki akhlak. Allah mengingatkan yang demikian karena mereka itu seperti hewan ternak, bahkan mereka lebih sesat. Jika dibandingkan dengan hewan ternak, maka binatang tunduk kepada majikannya, yang dirasakan mencintainya, tahu siapa yang berbuat kebaikan dan yang berbuat kejahatan kepadanya, dapat mencari sendiri tempat di mana ada rumput makanannya dan air minumannya, dan jika malam hari tahu kembali ke kandangnya, berbeda sekali dengan kaum musyrikin itu sendiri. Mereka tidak mau mengenal Pencipta dan Pemberi rezeki, mereka tidak merasakan berbagai nikmat yang dilimpahkan Tuhan kepadanya.

Orang-orang musyrik tidak merasa tertipu oleh setan, yang selalu memandang baik bujukan hawa nafsunya. Kebodohan binatang ternak terbatas hanya pada dirinya sendiri, tetapi kebodohan mereka menjalar sampai menimbulkan berbagai fitnah dan kebinasaan serta menghalangi orang lain dari jalan kebenaran, sampai menimbulkan perpecahan dan peperangan di antara sesama manusia. Walaupun binatang itu tidak mengetahui ketauhidan dan kenabian, namun mereka tidak menentangnya, berbeda dengan orang-orang musyrik yang mengingkari ketauhidan karena kesombongan dan kefanatikan terhadap ajaran keliru yang diwarisi dari nenek moyangnya. Binatang ternak tidak menyia-nyiakan insting yang dikaruniakan Allah kepadanya. Lain halnya dengan kaum musyrikin, mereka dianugerahi akal dan naluri yang baik sejak lahir, tetapi mereka menyia-nyiakan akal yang sehat itu untuk membedakan mana yang baik dan mana yang tidak.

Di dalam ayat disebutkan bahwa sebagian besar mereka tidak mendengar atau memahami kebenaran. Memang ada sebagian kecil di antara mereka yang mengakui kebenaran, tetapi tidak sanggup mengikutinya karena khawatir akan kehilangan kedudukan.