The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 114
CH. 11 HŪD PT. 12 to you, then know that it has E فَإِلَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَكُمْ فَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا And if they do not respond. 15 * اُنْزِلَ بِعِلْمِ اللهِ وَاَنْ لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ been revealed replete with فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُّسْلِمُونَ ) Allah's knowledge and that there is no God but He. Will you then submit? 1396 "4:167. attended with any special power. The verse under comment answers this objection by saying that although the Holy Prophet did not possess treasures of gold or silver, yet he possessed vast spiritual treasures the like of which were not possessed by the whole world collectively; and that those treasures were embodied in the Quran. So if they objected that the Holy Prophet was not a true Prophet and that certain portions of his Message were defective and needed to be altered, then let them bring forward a work comparable not to the whole of the Quran, but only to ten such chapters of it as they deemed to be defective. If, however, they could not produce a book comparable even to these so-called defective portions, which they thought needed to be changed, then they would have to admit that the Prophet of Islam did indeed possess a treasure the like of which none could produce. For full discussion of this subject, see under 2:24 where all similar verses of the Quran have been collectively treated. 1396. Commentary: Naturally the question arises here whether the challenge contained in the preceding verse was confined to the lifetime of the Holy Prophet or whether it extended even to the later ages. This question has been answered in the present verse by the use of the plural pronoun "you" in the clause, And if they do not respond to you, thus showing that the challenge was not confined to the time of the Holy Prophet but extended to all time. If the challenge had been confined only to the lifetime of the Holy Prophet, the words used would have been "if they do not respond to thee" and not as they are. The use of the plural pronoun shows that Muslims in every age can deliver this challenge to disbelievers and the verse guarantees that the Quran will ever stand unrivalled in its manifold excellences. 1322 the The words, then know that it has been revealed replete with Allah's knowledge, mean that if opponents of Islam do not accept this challenge, it will clearly establish that the Quran comprises the special knowledge of God, and contains matters which are beyond human ken, being undiscoverable by man; hence their inability to produce a book like it. The expression, that there is no god but He, indicates that the inability of men of all ages to produce a book