Al Shu‘arā’

وَأَنذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ الأَقْرَبِينَ

وَاخْفِضْ جَنَاحَكَ لِمَنِ اتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

فَإِنْ عَصَوْكَ فَقُلْ إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى الْعَزِيزِ الرَّحِيمِ

214. “And warn your nearest relations,”
215. “And lower your wing (be humble) to the believer who follow you.”
216. “But if they disobey you, then say: ‘Verily I am quit of what you do’!”
217. “And rely on the Mighty, the Merciful,”

In the school of revelation, all people are equal before the law of Allah, and the close people to the Prophet (p.b.u.) are also warned. This warning to the nearest ones strengthens the sense of accepting the truth in others. Therefore, in this verse, Allah commands the Prophet (S) implicitly that he warns even his nearest relatives and frightens them from pplytheism and disobeying the command of Allah. It says:

In order to start a vast revolutionary program, it is evident that it must begin with smaller and more condensed rings. It was better for the Prophet (S) to begin his first call with his relations, who knew both his pure background more than others, and the love of his close relation with them required that they hearkened to his word more than others, because they, comparing with others, were farther from jealousies, enmities, and taking an antagonistic position.

By the way, according to what has been recorded in the Islamic histories, in the third year of his embassy, the Prophet of Islam (S) was commissioned to convey this call, for until then the call was being achieved hiddenly and only a few persons had embraced Islam. But when the above verse, and the verse saying:

were sent down, the Prophet (S) was commissioned to announce his call manifestly and to begin it first with his own nearest relations.²⁴ The manner of this conveying and warning was briefly as follows: The holy Prophet invited his close relations to Abutalib’s house. On that day, they were forty persons, and among the Prophet’s uncles only Abutalib, Hamzah, and Abu Lahab attended the meeting. After having the food, when the Prophet (S) wanted to fulfil his duty and convey his call, Abu Lahab took the initiative and disturbed the situation by his sayings. So the Prophet (S) invited them again for food on the following day.

After having the food, he (S) said:

“O the children of ‘Abdul-Muttalib! I do not know any young man among Arabs who has brought for his tribe something better than what I have brought for you. I have brought the goodness of this world and Hereafter for you, and Allah has ordered me to invite you to this religion. Which one of you will assist me in this affair so that he can be my brother and my successor?”

The crowd totally rejected save Ali (as) who was the youngest among them. He stood up and said:

“O the messenger of Allah! I will be your assistant in this way.”

The holy Prophet (S) touched Ali’s neck and said:

“Verily this is my brother and my Heir and my Caliph! Hear him and obey him!”

The crowd stood up while they had a smile of mockery on their lips and they told Abutalib that he ordered him to obey the command of his son. This tradition has also been narrated by many of the sunni scholars, including: ’Ibn-’Abi-Jarirah, ’Ibn-i-’Abi Hatam, ’Ibn- i-Murduwayh, ’Abu-Na‘im, Beyhaghi, Tha‘labi, and Tabari. Ibn-i-’Athir has mentioned this meaning in the second volume of the book ‘Kamil, as well as Abul-Qada’ in the first volume of his history book, and so on.

This tradition shows how alone the Prophet (S) had been on that day, and that they had no response to his call save mockery and ridicule, and that how Ali (as) was beside the Prophet (S) as his assistance and defender from the first days of the call of the Prophet (S). In another holy tradition we read that the Prophet (S) called every one of the members of Quraysh one by one, and warned them of the Fire. Sometimes he said:

“O the children of Ka‘b! deliver your selves from the Fire!”

Sometimes he said this very thing to the tribes of Bani ‘Abd-ush-Shams, Bani ‘Abd-i-Manaf, Bani Hashim, and Bani ‘Abd-ul-Muttalib. He told them to rescue their selves from Fire because he was not able to defend them in the case of being blasphemous.²⁵ Then, in the next verse, a vaster scope is referred to, when it recommends the Prophet (S) to have love and humility for the believers who follow him, and says:

This beautiful Divine meaning metaphorically indicates having humiliation accompanied with love, affection and mercy. As when the birds want to show affection to their chicken, they stretch their wings, lower them, and hold their chicken under their wings, so that they can be secure both from the probable harmful events and being protected from any separation, the holy Prophet (S) is also divinely commissioned to gather the true believers under his own protection.

This expressive statement refers to some different delicate points concerning having love and kindness unto the believers which can be made clear with a little attention. By the way, mentioning this sentence next to the subject of warning indicates this fact that: if once warning and severity is emphasized for the training issues, next to it immediately love, affection and sympathy are emphasized, too, in order that a suitable result comes into being with the combination of them both.

Then, the fourth divine commandment is mentioned, where it says:

The apparent form of the verse shows that the pronoun ‘you’ in the Qur’anic phrase: /‘asauka/ (they disobey you) refers to the close kinsmen of the Prophet (S). This means: if they did not submit to the truth after your invitation and continued their paganism and adversary, you might define your position against them. As it will be explained later, this predict of the Qur’an happened and all of them, except Ali (as), denied to accept the invitation of the Prophet (S).

Some of them were silent there, while some others made their opposition manifest by the way of mockery and ridicule. At last, through the fifth divine commandment, in order to complete the former programs, the holy Prophet of Islam (S) is ordered:

These oppositions should not discourage you and that yoar friends and followers are scantly, must not affect your firm decision. You are not alone; you rely on your Lord Who is Mighty and Merciful. Your Lord is the same One Whose attributes, as Mighty and Merciful, were mentioned at the end of the life stories of the ancient prophets. He is the same Lord Who by His might vanished the oppression of the Pharaohs, the pride of the people of Namrud, arrogance and egoistic manner of the people of Noah (a.s), mammonism of the people ‘Ad, and sexuality of the peopte of Lut, and delivered these great divine prophets as well as their believing followers, who were in minority, and bestowed Mercy upon them.