Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AL AN'AAM [130]

130. O you assembly of Jinn and humans! ”Did not there come to you Messengers from amongst you, reciting unto you My verses and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours'' They will say: ”We bear witness against ourselves.'' It was the life of this world that deceived them. And they will bear witness against themselves that they were disbelievers. Allah will chastise the disbelieving Jinns and humans on the Day of Resurrection, when He asks them, while having better knowledge, if the Messengers delivered His Messages to them,

(”O you assembly of Jinn and humans! Did not there come to you Messengers from among you'') We should note here that the Messengers are from among mankind only, not vice versa, as Mujahid, Ibn Jurayj and others from the Imams of Salaf and later generations have stated. The proof for this is that Allah said,

(Verily, We have sent the revelation to you as We sent the revelation to Nuh and the Prophets after him.) ï´¿4:163ï´¾, until,

(Messengers as bearers of good news as well as of warning in order that mankind should have no plea against Allah after the (coming of) Messengers.) ï´¿4:165ï´¾ Allah said, concerning the Prophet Ibrahim,

(And We ordained among his offspring prophethood and the Book) ï´¿29: 27ï´¾, thus sending the prophethood and the Book exclusively through the offspring of the Prophet Ibrahim. No one has claimed that there were Prophets from among the Jinns before the time of Ibrahim, but not after that. Allah said,

(And We never sent before you any of the Messengers but verily, they ate food and walked in the markets.) ï´¿25:20ï´¾, and,

(And We sent not before you any but men unto whom We revealed, from among the people of townships.) ï´¿12:109ï´¾ Therefore, concerning prophethood, the Jinns follow mankind in this regard and this is why Allah said about them,

(And (remember) when We sent towards you a group of the Jinn, listening to the Qur'an. When they stood in the presence thereof, they said: ”Listen in silence!” And when it was finished, they returned to their people, as warners. They said: ”O our people! Verily, we have heard a Book sent down after Musa, confirming what came before it, it guides to the truth and to the straight way. O our people! Respond to Allah's caller, and believe in him. He (Allah) will forgive you your sins, and will save you from a painful torment (i.e. Hell-fire). And whosoever does not respond to Allah's caller, he cannot escape on earth, and there will be no helpers for him besides Allah. Those are in manifest error.) ﴿46:29-32﴾ A Hadith collected by At-Tirmidhi stated that the Messenger of Allah recited Surat Ar-Rahman, to these Jinns, in which Allah said,

(We shall attend to you, O you two classes (Jinn and men)! Then which of the blessings of your Lord will you both (Jinn and men) deny) ï´¿55:31-32ï´¾ Allah said in this honorable Ayah,

(O you assembly of Jinn and humans! ”Did not there come to you Messengers from amongst you, reciting unto you My verses and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours” They will say: ”We bear witness against ourselves.'') meaning, we affirm that the Messengers have conveyed Your Messages to us and warned us about the meeting with You, and that this Day will certainly occur. Allah said next,

(It was the life of this world that deceived them.) and they wasted their lives and brought destruction to themselves by rejecting the Messengers and denying their miracles. This is because they were deceived by the beauty, adornment and lusts of this life.

(And they will bear witness against themselves) on the Day of Resurrection,

(that they were disbelievers...) in this worldly life, rejecting what the Messengers, may Allah's peace and blessings be on them, brought them.