Page 52 - The Evil Called Mockery

50 THE EVIL CALLED MOCKERY

be to my Lord! Am I anything but a human messenger?"
Nothing prevents people from believing when guidance
comes to them but the fact that they ask: "Has Allah sent a
human being as a messenger?" (Surat al-Isra', 90-94)
As mentioned earlier, in the Qur'an Allah tells us that such de-
mands and mockery have always characterized the unbelievers' at-
tacks against Allah's prophets and the believers. However, the
unbelievers have never been able to achieve their goals, for Allah al-
ways smashes their traps and punishes them in ways that they never
expect:
If We postpone the punishment for them for a limited time,
they will ask: "What is holding it back?" No, indeed! The
day it reaches them it will not be averted, and the things
they mocked will encompass them. (Surah Hud, 8)
They ask you to hasten the punishment. If it were not for a
stipulated term, the punishment would have come to them
already. It will come upon them suddenly, when they are
not expecting it. They ask you to hasten the punishment,
but hell already encircles the unbelievers. On the Day that
the punishment envelops them from above and from un-
derneath their feet, He will say: "Taste what you were
doing!" (Surat al-‘Ankabut, 53-55)
They ask: "When will this promise be fulfilled, if you are
telling the truth?" Say: "It may well be that some of what
you are anxious to hasten is right on your heels." (Surat an-
Naml, 71-72)