Surah Al Isra Tafseer

The Secret Counsel of Quraysh after hearing the Qur'an

Allah says;

نَّحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَسْتَمِعُونَ بِهِ إِذْ يَسْتَمِعُونَ إِلَيْكَ وَإِذْ هُمْ نَجْوَى إِذْ يَقُولُ الظَّالِمُونَ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلاَّ رَجُلً مَّسْحُورًا

We know best of what they listen to, when they listen to you. And when they take secret counsel, then the wrongdoers say:"You follow none but a bewitched man."

Allah tells His Prophet about what the leaders of Quraysh discussed when they came and listened to him reciting Qur'an in secret, without their people knowing about it.

They said that he was Mashur which according to the better-known view means someone affected by magic (Sihr);

it may also mean a man who has a lung, i.e., a mere human being, as if they were saying that if you follow Muhammad, you will only be following a human being.

This second suggestion does not sound correct, because what they meant here was that he was under the influence of Sihr (magic) which made him see dreams in which he learned these words that he recited.

Some of them said he was a poet, or a soothsayer, or crazy, or a sorcerer.

Allah says:

انظُرْ كَيْفَ ضَرَبُواْ لَكَ الَامْثَالَ فَضَلُّواْ فَلَ يَسْتَطِيعْونَ سَبِيلً