The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 384
LETTER TO NAWWAB MUHAMMAD ALI KHAN And then again, God says to His Messengersas: وَ إِنْ كَانَ كَبُرَ عَلَيْكَ إِعْرَاضُهُمْ فَإِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَنْ تَبْتَغِي نَفَقًا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَوْ سُلَّمًا فِي السَّمَاءِ فَتَأْتِيَهُمُ بِآيَةٍ وَ لَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَمَعَهُمْ عَلَى الْهُدَى فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْجِهِلِينَ 10 Meaning: If (O Messenger, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) the aversion of these disbelievers bears heavy on you, you might, if you have the power, dig a passage into the earth, or scale the very heavens with a ladder, and bring forth some Sign for them. Had God so willed, He would have guided all those who ask for a Sign. Therefore, be not of the ignorant people. Now, all these verses show that in the time of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, the disbelievers used to demand Signs. Indeed, they would even swear oaths that they would come to believe; but, in the eyes of Allah, glorified be His eminence, they merited punishment, and their demands were absurd. Indeed, Allah, His eminence be glorified, says very clearly that the faith of someone who comes to believe after seeing a Sign is not acceptable [to God]. The verse: لَا يَنْفَعُ نَفْسًا إِيْمَانُهَا [to believe in them shall not profit a soul which believed not before] bearing on this point, has already been quoted. Closely resembling it is another verse: وَ لَقَدْ جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَتِ فَمَا كَانُوا لِيُؤْمِنُوا بِمَا كَذَّبُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ كَذَلِكَ يَطْبَعُ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِ الْكَفِرِينَ 30 1. Surah al-An'ām, 6:36 [Publisher] 2. Surah al-An'am, 6:159 [Publisher] 3. Surah al-A'raf, 7:102 [Publisher] 383