Al-Ahqaf 46:9
The Wind-Curved Sandhills · Meccan · Juz 26 · Page 503
Not the First of the Messengers
قُلۡ مَا كُنتُ بِدۡعࣰا مِّنَ ٱلرُّسُلِ وَمَآ أَدۡرِي مَا يُفۡعَلُ بِي وَلَا بِكُمۡۖ إِنۡ أَتَّبِعُ إِلَّا مَا يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَيَّ وَمَآ أَنَا۠ إِلَّا نَذِيرࣱ مُّبِينࣱ ٩
Say: I am no new thing among the messengers (of Allah), nor know I what will be done with me or with you. I do but follow that which is inspired in me, and I am but a plain warner.
Translation: Marmaduke Pickthall
Meaning
Say: “I am not something original among the messengers, nor do I know what will be done with me or with you.”
Insight
Elmalılı explains “bid‘” as something without precedent, newly arisen: the Prophet is not the first to claim prophethood, nor unlike any prophet before.
Reflect
Know how to say “I don’t know” about what you don’t know.
This short note is based on Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır’s Turkish commentary and has not yet been reviewed by a scholar.
Elmalılı’s commentary
An English translation of Elmalılı’s full commentary is coming soon. Read the original Turkish ›