(12:109) (O Muhammad !) all the Messengers, whom We sent before you, were also human beings, and lived in the same habitations, and to them We sent Our Revelations. Have these people, then, not travelled in the land and seen what has been the end of those who have passed away before them ? Surely, the abode of the Hereafter is far better for those who (believed in the Messengers and) adopted the attitude of piety. What! will you not understand it even now ? *79

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*79) A very comprehensive subject has been condensed here into a couple of sentences, which may be expanded like this: "O Muhammad !these people do not listen to you because it is not an easy thing for them to believe you to be a Messenger of Allah just because you arc a mere human being who was born in their own city among themselves and brought up like other people. But there is nothing strange in this, for this is not the first instance of its kind. All the Prophets, whom We sent before you, were also human beings and lived in the same habitations to which they were sent. It never happened that a stranger came to a town and declared, "I have been sent as a Messenger to you. On the other hand, all the Prophets-Jesus, Moses, Abraham and Noah (Allah's peace be upon them all)-who were raised for the reform of the people, were human beings who wen born and brought up in their own habitations" . Then it addresses the disbelievers directly, as if to say, "Now it is for you to judge and decide whether you should accept the Messenger or reject him on such ftimcy grounds as these. You have travelled abroad and seen the end of those people who rejected the Message of their Prophets and followed their own lusts. You have seen, on your journeys, the ruined habitations of the people of 'Ad, Thamud, Midian, Lot, and others. Have you not observed these as object lessons, for these warn you that they would meet with far worse consequences in the Hereafter, and that conversely, those who are pious and God-fearing will have a very happy life?"