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bal qālū ʾaḍghāthu ʾaḥlāmin bali ftarāhu bal huwa shāʿirun fa-l-yaʾtinā bi-ʾāyatin ka-mā ʾursila l-ʾawwalūna
But they said, ‘[They are] muddled dreams!’ ‘Indeed, he has fabricated it!’ ‘Indeed, he is a poet!’ ‘Let him bring us a sign, like those sent to the former generations.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-’Anbiya’ – Verse 5
5. “‘Nay!’, They say: ‘(These are) medleys of dreams! Nay! he has forged it! Nay! he is a poet! Let him then bring us a sign like the ones that were sent unto (the prophets) of old.”
After referring to two pretexts of the opponents, the Qur’an points to four other subjects they used to apply. They said that whatever Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (S), had brought were not revelations, but they were some confused dreams that he considered as truth and reality. The verse says:
Sometimes they change their saying and say that he is a liar who has forged these words to Allah. The verse continues saying:
And sometimes they say that he is a poet, and those verses are some poetic imaginations made by him. The verse says:
And, finally they say that, passing by these things, if he is true, and he is a messenger of the Lord, he should bring a miracle for them as the former messengers had been sent with miracles. The verse says:
Considering these contradictory attributions they attributed to the Prophet (S) it shows as a good reason that these people were not the seekers of the Truth. Their aim was to find pretexts in order to send the rival out of the scene in any rate and any form they could.
Explanations
The Arabic term /’adqa/ is the plural form of /diq/ in the sense of ‘a group’, or ‘a collection’; and the Qur’anic word /’ahlam/ is the plural form of /hulm/ with the sense of ‘dream’. Thus, the holy phrase /’adqau ’ahlam/ means ‘a selection of confused dreams’. Those disbelievers wanted the Prophet of Islam (S) to bring some miracles like those of Moses (as) and Isaac (as), but their real aim was to seek pretexts, because taking the sort of miracle depends on Divine Wisdom, not on the desires of people.
The enemy is not satisfied with striking one accusation. He attacks from every side by means of frequent accusations, and this is one of the main styles of the enemy.