And when you, [O Muḥammad], do not bring them a sign [i.e., miracle], they say, "Why have you not contrived it?" Say, "I only follow what is revealed to me from my Lord. This [Qur’ān] is enlightenment from your Lord and guidance and mercy for a people who believe."
Verse 203 of Surah Al-A’raf (7:203), a Meccan surah, is in juz 9, on page 176 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 72 reciters.
Listen to verse 203 of Surah Al-A’raf
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Tafsir of verse 203
Al-Mukhtasar
And If you O Messenger come with a sign, they reject it and turn away from it; and if you do not come to them with a sign, they ask why he did not produce one. Say to them O Messenger: 'It is not up to me to just come with a sign. Rather, I only follow what was revealed to me from Allah: the Qur’ān which I recite to you, an evidence and proof from Allah your Creator, the arranger of your lives, a guidance and mercy for the believers among His creation. As for those who do not have faith, then they are lost and wretched.'
When you do not bring them a sign89, they say, “Why do you not improvise one?” Say, “I only follow what is revealed to me from my Lord. This [Qur’an] is an insight from your Lord, and a guidance and mercy for people who believe.”
Notes
[89] The Qur’an is the greatest sign ever, yet they denied it blindly.
And if you do not bring them a miracle [according to their (i.e. Quraish-pagans’) proposal], they say: "Why have you not brought it?"16 Say: "I but follow what is revealed to me from my Lord. This (the Qur’ân) is nothing but evidence from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe."
Notes
[16] (V.7:203): Narrated Anas رضي الله عنه that the Makkan people (Quraish-pagans) requested Allâh’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم to show them a miracle, and so he showed them the splitting of the moon. (Sahih Al-Bukhâri, Vol.4. hadîth No.831).
And when thou bringest not a verse for them they say: Why hast thou not chosen it? Say: I follow only that which is inspired in me from my Lord. This (Qur'an) is insight from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy for a people that believe.
If thou bring them not a revelation, they say: "Why hast thou not got it together?" Say: "I but follow what is revealed to me from my Lord: this is (nothing but) lights from your Lord, and Guidance, and mercy, for any who have faith."
And when you bring them not a revelation they say: Why do you not forge it? Say: I only follow what is revealed to me from my Lord; these are clear proofs from your Lord and a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe.
And when you do not come up to them with a sign, they say, "Why have you not selected it?" Say, "Surely I closely follow only what has been revealed to me from my Lord; these one evident demonstrations (i.e., demonstrations for beholders) from your Lord, and a guidance, and a mercy for a people who believe.".
And We have not revealed to you the Book, [O Muḥammad], except for you to make clear to them that wherein they have differed and as guidance and mercy for a people who believe.
Or lest you say, "If only the Scripture had been revealed to us, we would have been better guided than they." So there has [now] come to you a clear evidence from your Lord and a guidance and mercy. Then who is more unjust than one who denies the verses of Allāh and turns away from them? We will recompense those who turn away from Our verses with the worst of punishment for their having turned away.
There was certainly in their stories a lesson for those of understanding. Never was it [i.e., the Qur’ān] a narration invented, but a confirmation of what was before it and a detailed explanation of all things and guidance and mercy for a people who believe.
