What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “So if you are in doubt about what We have revealed to you, then ask those who read the Book before you”?

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

Question : He says: What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

So if you are in doubt, [O Muhammad], about that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you

فَإِن كُنتَ فِي شَكٍّ مِّمَّا أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ فَاسْأَلِ الَّذِينَ يَقْرَءُونَ الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكَ

[Yunus 10:94]

And was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in doubt about the Qur'an, as some might understand from the apparent meaning of the verse? Allah has clarified this matter for you.

Answer : The path to Paradise. The Messenger did not doubt; rather, Allah the Exalted said:

The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers

آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ

[Al-Baqarah 2:285]

All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers

كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ

[Al-Baqarah 2:285]

And this condition does not necessitate the occurrence of the conditioned, just as in the saying of Allah the Exalted:

Say, [O Muhammad], "If the Most Merciful had a son, then I would be the first of [his] worshippers."

قُلْ إِن كَانَ لِلرَّحْمَٰنِ وَلَدٌ فَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْعَابِدِينَ

[Az-Zukhruf 43:81]

And it is known that it is impossible for the Most Merciful to have a child. This means that if you, O Muhammad, were in doubt, ask, and we will find certainty in contrast to those who doubted His message or cast doubt upon it.

Source قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 196 - 332 ما معنى قوله تعالى ( فإن كنت في شك مما أنزلنا إليك فاسأل الذين يقرأون الكتاب من قبلك)؟ — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

Flag this fatwa