al-Najm

فَبِأيِّ آلَآء رَبِّكَ تَتَمَارَی

هَذَا نَذِيرٌ مِّنَ النُّذُرِ الاُولَی

55. Then which of the Graces of your Lord will you doubt?

56. This is a warner of the warners of old.

The main obligation of all Prophets and the main goal of all Scriptures is to warn mankind. Although the blessed Verse is seemingly addressed to the Noble Prophet (S), but it actually addresses mankind saying that O man! You still entertain doubts despite observing so many tokens of Divine Omnipotence? It sounds as if the traces of the destruction of the cities of ‘Ad and Thamud were still visible at the time of the Revelation of the Holy Qur’an as a reference is made to the same elsewhere³;

("Indeed, you pass by them in the morning and at night; will you not then reflect [upon their disobedience and take a lesson out of the fate of the ancients]?" ⁴ ).

As mentioned in the exegetic work Manhaj al-Sadiqin, it is narrated on the authority of Muhammad ibn Humayd A‘mash from Salih from Ibn ‘Abbas that when the Noble Prophet (S) was assigned to appoint ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (as) as his successor and impart the same unto people, the Noble Prophet (S) first concealed the same from Quraysh chiefs, since he was aware that they would oppose the same and they would not acknowledge such appointment out of arrogance and envy and they might even harm ‘Ali (as).

Then Archangel Gabriel descended and said:

"God Almighty will keep you from their evil deeds"

and revealed the Verse:

"If you fail to do the same, you will not fulfill your Prophetic Call"

unto him. Thus, the Noble Prophet (S) appointed ‘Ali (as) as the Imam and made it obligatory for the Muslim community on the Day of Ghadir Khum to obey his Guardianship. Following the appointment of ‘Ali (as) to imamate, the blessed Verse 55;

("Then which of the Graces of your Lord will you doubt?")

was revealed.⁵ In interpreting the blessed Verse 56, Qur’an exegetes maintain that the antecedent of the demonstrative pronoun;

"this" (hadha)

may be the Noble Prophet of Islam (S) who like his predecessors was Divinely appointed to warn people. The antecedent may be the Holy Qur’an that like former Scriptures was revealed for people's Guidance. Then, it is a source of surprise that you do not believe in God Almighty. Some exegetes hold that the antecedent of the demonstrative pronoun in question is the torment sent down upon former peoples and the blessed Verse warns people against such torment. God Almighty knows best.

Footnotes

1. 3. 37:133-139
2. 4. 37:137-138
3. 5. Tafsir Makhzan al-Asrar; Manhaj al-Sadiqin, under the blessed Verse in question.