The Quran

Preface

فَقالَ المَلَأُ الَّذينَ كَفَروا مِن قَومِهِ ما هٰذا إِلّا بَشَرٌ مِثلُكُم يُريدُ أَن يَتَفَضَّلَ عَلَيكُم وَلَو شاءَ اللَّهُ لَأَنزَلَ مَلائِكَةً ما سَمِعنا بِهٰذا في آبائِنَا الأَوَّلينَ

Yusuf Ali

The chiefs of the Unbelievers among his people said: “He is no more than a man like yourselves: his wish is to assert his superiority over you: if God had wished¹ (to send messengers), He could have sent down angels; never did we hear such a thing (as he says), among our ancestors of old.”

They attribute altogether wrong motives to him (such as they would have actuated themselves), in saying that he was trying to establish his own personal superiority over them by his preaching. Then they accuse him of falsehood in claiming to bring a message of God. “If, they say, “God had wished to send us messengers, He would have sent angels, not a man like ourselves and from among ourselves. Our ancestors did not worship One God: why should we?”