Al Qaṣaṣ

وَمَا كُنتَ بِجَانِبِ الطُّورِ إِذْ نَادَيْنَا وَلَكِن رَّحْمَةً مِن رَّبّـِكَ لِتُنذِرَ قَوْماً مَّآ أَتَاهُم مِن نَّذِيرٍ مِن قَبْلِكَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ

46. “And you were not on the side of the Mount Tur when We called (unto Moses), but (this revelation is) a mercy from your Lord that you warn a people to whom no warner had come before you, in order that they may receive admonition.”

Like other people, the Divine prophets do not know the heavenly news without the contact with the source of Divine revelation. The Qur’anic news is entirely from the source of Divine revelation. Again, for emphasis on this very meaning, this holy verse adds:

It was that time that Allah (s.w.t.) issued the command of prophethood for Moses. The Qur’an continues saying:

Shortly speaking, Allah (s.w.t.) reiterated the warnings and awakening events that had occurred in the old nations’ time when the Prophet of Islam (S) was not present and did not witness them, so that he would recite them for this misguided people, probably they cause them to awaken. There arises a question here that how does the Qur’an say that no warner had come for this nation (i.e. the Arabs contemporary with the Prophet (S)), while we know that there comes no time that the earth is empty of a godly Hujjat (proof) and the vicegerents of the prophets had always been present among this nation, too?

In answer, we say that its purpose is to send a prophet who had a heavenly Book and was a clear warner, because it prolonged for centuries between the time of Jesus (as) and the advent of the Prophet of Islam (S) when no arch-prophet came, and this very matter gave a pretext to the atheists and mischief-makers. In one of his sermons, Ali (as) says:

“Verily Allah sent Muhammad (S) when none among the Arabs read a (heavenly) Book or claimed prophethood. He guided the people till he took them to their (correct) position and reached them their salvation.” ³