Page 272
wa-mā ʾarsalnā min qablika ʾillā rijālan nūḥī ʾilayhim fa-sʾalū ʾahla dh-dhikri ʾin kuntum lā taʿlamūna
We did not send [any apostles] before you except as men to whom We revealed. Ask the People of the Reminder if you do not know.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah An-Nahl – Verse 43
43. “And We did not send before you except men unto whom We revealed; So ask the people of ‘Thikr’ (the Qur’an) if you do not know,”
At this time, addressing the Prophet (S), the Qur’an asserts that Allah did not send anyone before him except those individuals from mankind whose hearts were illuminated with the light of Divine revelation. That is, they were just like him in divine messengership benefiting from revelation and in the capacity of being His own envoys. This matter was raised in answer to the pagans of Mecca who rejected the prophetic mission of man. Allah points out that the prophet must be of the people’s own equals so that they can see him and talk to him and, finally, understand his words. Therefore, in such a case, it is not appropriate that instead of a man, an angel be appointed as a messenger to carry out the prophetic mission.
The verse says:
“And We did not send before you except men unto whom We revealed; So ask the people of ‘Thikr’ (the Qur’an) if you do not know,”
In other words, He recounts in this verse: We did not send before you, O’ Mohammad (S), anyone to any nation but the cases confirmed and equipped with Our revelation, to which your people raise objections as to why it is that their prophet is not an angel who is from among the human kind. Declare that they seek the truth out by referring to the Ahl-uth-Thikr, the knowledgeable people and the scientists of each nation, if they are unable to put questions concerning issues to all prophets who belong to the human kind.
According to Ibn Abbas, the object of ‘Ahl-uth-Thikr’ are the Christian and Jewish scholars in this context; that is: were they doubtful as to the truth of the matter, they would better refer to the people of Turat, and the nation of the Bible for the clarification of the issues. These words are addressed to the pagans, for the news which the Jews and the Christians provided them with, out of their Books, were acceptable to them while rejecting the words of the Prophet (S), owing to their intensive hostility. Some, however, claim that ‘Ahl-uth-Thikr’ signifies the ‘followers of the Qur’an,’ because /thikr/ means ‘the Qur’an’.
Jabir-Ibn-i-Yazid and Muhammad Ibn-i-Muslim, quoting Imam-Mohammad-i-Baqir (as) state that he has proclaimed:
“We are ‘Ahl-uth-Thikr’. 7
To sum up, this noble verse deals with a general universal principle which is acceptable by human reason, and it is referring of whatever one is not knowledgeable about to the experts in that field. That is, for whatever you do not know, you may ask the knowledgeable ones. Certainly, the best example in religious issues is the Ahl-ul-Bayt of the Prophet (S) who can provide the point of reference. There are numerous quotations as to the validity of this point in the Shi‘ite as well as the Sunni literature which have been dealt with extensively in the third volume of Mulhaqat-i-’Ihq aq-ul-Haqq p.p. 482, onwards.
Tabari, Ibn-i-Kathir, and ’ Allūsi have also pointed out that ‘Ahl-uth-Thikr’ is the same and identical with ‘Ahl-ul-Bayt’ in their commentaries beneath this verse. We also have it that H afiz Muhammad Ibn-i-Mu’min-i-ShiRazi has mentioned the same matter in ‘Mustakhraj’ when discussing the ‘position’ of the ‘Ahl-ul-Bayt’. Again, in vol. 23 of Bihar, pages 172 onwards, there have been quoted about 60 quotations concerning this issue, through some of which the Immaculate Imams have confirmed that:
“Swearing by Allah, it is we who are the ‘Ahl-uth-Thikr’, the responsible, (to whom the people must put their questions).”
Therefore, one must turn to the specialists in the Qur’anic sciences, namely, the Ahl-ul-Bayt for ones inquiry regarding his religious and ideological questions, who are experts in the field of the Qur’anic knowledge and not at random turn to whoever has got a superficial knowledge of Islam.
Footnotes