وَما أَرسَلنا مِن قَبلِكَ إِلّا رِجالًا نوحي إِلَيهِم مِن أَهلِ القُرىٰ ۗ أَفَلَم يَسيروا فِي الأَرضِ فَيَنظُروا كَيفَ كانَ عاقِبَةُ الَّذينَ مِن قَبلِهِم ۗ وَلَدارُ الآخِرَةِ خَيرٌ لِلَّذينَ اتَّقَوا ۗ أَفَلا تَعقِلونَ

We did not send [any apostles] before you except as men to whom We revealed from among the people of the towns. Have they not travelled over the land so that they may observe how was the fate of those who were before them? And the abode of the hereafter is surely better for those who are God-wary. Do you not apply reason?

EXEGESIS

ʿĀqibah (fate) means a thing’s end and final outcome.^[1]

Qurā (towns) is the plural of qaryah meaning a town, city, or settlement. Ahl al-qurā is referring to the people of those townships.^[2] It is often used in contrast to bādiyah, which refers to any area with little settlement.

Dār al-ākhirah (the abode of the hereafter) appears in this verse and in 16:30 with the indefinite dār in a possessive construct (iḍāfah) with al-ākhirah, whereas in 2:94 and 6:31 al-dār is definite (al-dār al-ākhirah) with al-ākhirah as its adjective. It is said that in dār al-ākhirah there is an implied ḥāl (state), that is: dār al-ḥāl al-ākhirah, the abode of the state of the hereafter, implying that people have two states, the state of dunyā in which they are created, and the state of ākhirah to which they will emerge.[3]

EXPOSITION

The preceding verse illustrates how the Prophet as a human being elevated his divine summons through the profound insight bestowed upon him. The fact that he was a human being should startle no one, for God explicitly reminds us that every prophet before him was likewise human. This fact does not diminish their station, but in fact complements their capacity for spiritual leadership. Their shared humanity became the very means through which they could fully comprehend human struggles, intimately empathise with their followers, and translate divine wisdom into guidance that is accessible to all. Far from being a limitation, this human dimension served to amplify the prophets’ insight, allowing them to bridge the physical and metaphysical. This demonstrates that true spiritual wisdom flourishes not despite humanity, but through human potential when it is aligned with divine will.

We did not send [any apostles] before you except as men to whom We revealed: men here is used in contrast to angels or jinns. The Meccans routinely decried Prophet Muhammad (s) as being simply a man, and that if God truly wished to send them a messenger, He would have sent an angel.[4]

From among the people of the towns: we know that the prophets of God would be sent to central urban areas so that their message may spread from there to surrounding lands and people, Your Lord would not destroy the towns until He had raised an apostle in their mother city to recite to them Our signs (28:59), wherein mother city refers to the central city of a region. We also know that prophets would be raised from among the local population so that their people would know them and their background and good character and could trust them. This highlights that the prophets were men who lived amongst their people and were not strangers from other lands or angels from another dimension.[5]

Have they not travelled over the land: the verse addresses the disbelievers who denied the Prophet’s call.[6] The prophets of previous nations were not unknown to even the pagan Arabs, and they knew of the stories of Abraham (a), Lot (a), Moses (a), Jesus (a), Hūd (a), Ṣāliḥ (a), and others. Especially regarding the latter two, the legends of the civilisations of ՙĀd and Thamūd were known to them and their ruins were still remnant in the Arabian Peninsula, and they would come across them during their travels.

So that they may observe how was the fate of those who were before them: do they not see how destruction befell those nations so that they may take heed and not pursue the same path?[7] Downfall and destruction is the inevitable end of all those who plot against God’s commands and think they can thwart His will.

And the abode of the hereafter is surely better for those who are God-wary: seeing the ruins of previous civilisations should make a reasonable person realise all kingdoms and empires will eventually perish. Nothing in this world will last and if people wish for something lasting and if they seek true bliss, they should aim not to raise a mighty civilisation or massive structures, but rather construct for themselves an abode in the hereafter, as is reported from the Prophet: ‘A cubit of paradise is better than this world and all that is in it.’[8]

Do you not apply reason: as per the surah’s theme, the emphasis is once again on reason: the ability of man to recognise patterns, draw lessons from them, and understand through that the outcome of choices and actions. These last three verses of the surah effectively bring us back to the opening of the surah: Indeed We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran so that you may apply reason (verse 2).

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Qatādah has argued that the meaning of the people of the towns is that God never chose any prophets from amongst people in rural areas, and only ever chose them from amongst the urban population. He argues that this is because urbanites are more learned and educated since people in rural areas do not have access to scholars.[9] Hasan al-Baṣrī argued that rural people were harsher and less sympathetic, whereas urbanites were more clever.[10]

Qurṭubī claims that not all prophets were men. He supports this with a narration attributed to the Prophet: ‘There were four prophets from amongst the women: Eve, Āsiyah, the mother of Moses, and Mary.’[11] Ibn Ḥajar comments on the verse, And when the angels said: ‘O Mary, Allah has chosen you and purified you, and He has chosen you above the world’s women’ (3:42) by quoting this opinion and mentioning that Ibn Ḥazm adds two other women: Sārah and Hājar. He also lists a variety of other opinions amongst the scholars about this matter.[12] Ibn Kathīr adds that while it is true that the angel Gabriel spoke to Lady Mary and that the Quran describes God as revealing some things to the mother of Prophet Moses (a) (28:7, 20:38), this does not necessitate that they were prophets.[13] 

While all of these women were pious and of high status, it is incorrect to say they were prophets, as prophethood has its own definition, which they did not fulfil. Amongst the conditions of prophethood is to receive revelation and have the duty of delivering that message to people. Although some, such as Abū Ḥayyān, have argued that is only the definition of rasūl (messenger) and not nabī (prophet), claiming that a nabī is anyone who receives revelation.[14] As for the Quran, it does not attribute the title of nabī to any woman, rather it describes for example Lady Mary with the title of ṣiddīqah (truthful one): The Messiah, son of Mary, is but an apostle. Certainly [other] apostles have passed before him, and his mother was a truthful one (5:75).[15]

[1] Tabrisi, 6/729; Tantawi, 8/524.
[2] Tibyan, 7/65.
[3] Tibyan, 6/206-207.
[4] See Tibyan, 6/206.
[5] See also Mizan, 11/278.
[6] Tabrisi, 5/412.
[7] Tabrisi, 5/412.
[8] Tabrisi, 5/412; Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah, al-Muṣannaf (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1989), 8/79.
[9] Related in Tibyan, 6/206; Tabrisi, 5/412. A similar position is adopted in Thalabi, 5/264; Baghawi, 2/518; Nemuneh, 10/97.
[10] Related in Tabrisi, 5/412; Baghawi, 2/518. A similar position is adopted in Zamakhshari, 2/509.
[11] Qurtubi, 9/274. See also Shawkani, 3/60.
[12] Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Fatḥ al-Bārī (Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, n.d.), 6/340.
[13] Ibn Kathir, 4/362.
[14] Muhit, 6/334.
[15] See Ibn Kathir, 4/362.