1. What did the believing man call upon his people to do?
The believing man called upon his people to “follow the Messengers!”.
2. How did they react to his call?
They reacted to his call in a violent way and instead of listening and heeding to his call, they killed him.
3. What lesson does the story of the believing man teach us?
When one comes across the Message of Truth, one should not only believe in the Message but also support the Messenger by helping him in his call towards Truth and fearlessly do everything in one’s might to fight against evil.
4. Taking other gods apart from Allah is a grave error. Discuss.
The error becomes great when someone considers creations to be worthy of worship. Allah is the One True Creator. He alone deserves to be worshipped.
Those who take other gods besides Allah assume that they will come to their help in the Day of Judgement through intercession. This assumption is utterly stupid!
The ‘gods’ are so powerless that they can neither benefit themselves nor can come to the rescue of others. Benefit or harm comes from Allah who is All-Powerful.
5. What reward did Allah give to the believing man? What was the end of those who did not heed his advice?
The reward was that Allah forgave all his sins and admitted him into Paradise. Those who did not heed his advice were punished severely by Allah. A Mighty Blast devastated the entire town and its people!
6. ‘We did not send down any hosts after him, against his people from heaven, nor do We have to send one’. Explain.
This verse describes what happened to the people of the town after they killed the believing man.
The people of the town planned to stone and punish the three Messengers. To teach them a lesson and to control the forces of evil, Allah does not need an army from heaven to be sent! A single mighty blast is sufficient to raze villages and cities to the ground. The people of the town, therefore, were reduced to silence by a single blast. Neither they nor their pseudo-gods were able to avert the punishment of Allah.
7. Who were the Prophet’s early followers and opponents? Why?
The Quraysh were the early opponents of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his early followers were from among the poor and oppressed sections of the Makkan society.
This was because the Prophet (peace be upon him) started his mission from his family who belonged to the Quraysh tribe. Most of them rejected his message and became his early opponents. Those who found the message of the Prophet to be appealing, as it gave them peace and self-respect, accepted his message openly and became his early followers.
