This was contrary to Persians, about whom the prophet said:ِ ``If knowledge is taken up to Pleiades, a group of the Persians will pull it down.'':ِ ``Had We sent it down to some none Arabs, and had he recited it to them they would not have believed it.'' Therefore, the words of God reflected, and entered to the hearts and minds of the sinful Arabs by and by, and gradually in a period of 23 years.
And besides; they were such a racially diverse community that the waves of fanaticism had made them deaf, and were far from accepting a cult or creed of a non-Arab whom they called AJME, which means the stranger. They were so obstinate in their paganism that would not believe in any truth until they could see a painful punishment, afflicting them out of a sudden. By such punishments, the calamities of this material world is most probably wanted.
FANATICISM, which is excessive enthusiasm and unreasoning zeal on any subject such as religion, race, or tribe, has been strictly reproved by Islam. Fanaticism will lay a cover upon the eyes to prevent seeing the fact and truth.
Hazrat Imam Ali (AS) has said:ِ ``Allah will punish six groups of people for six kinds of sinِHe punishes Arabs for their fanaticism, the headmen for their pride, the rulers for their oppression, the jurists for their jealousy, the merchants for their fraud, and the rustics for their ignorance.'' [ 483 ] أَفَبِعَذَابِنَا يَسْتَعْجِلُونَ(( 204 )) 204- DO THEY SEEK TO HASTEN OUR PUNISHMENT!?
أَفَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ مَّتَّعْنَاهُمْ سِنِينَ(( 205 )) 205- HAVE YOU THEN SEEN, IF WE LET THEM ENJOY (THIS LIFE) FOR YEARS? ثُمَّ جَاءَهُمْ مَّا كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ(( 206 )) 206- THEN THERE CAME TO THEM THAT WHICH THEY WERE PROMISED. مَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُمْ مَّا كَانُوا يُمَتَّعُونَ(( 207 )) 207- WHAT THEY HAVE ENJOYED WILL AVAIL THEM NOTHING.
وَمَا أَهْلَكْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَة إِلاَّ لَهَا مُنذِرُونَ(( 208 )) 208- AND WE DID NOT DESTROY ANY TOWN EXCEPT THAT, THERE WERE WARNERS FOR IT, ذِكْرَى وَمَا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ(( 209 )) 209- TO REMIND. AND WE WERE NOT OPPRESSORS. وَمَا تَنَزَّلَتْ بِهِ الشَّيَاطِينُ(( 210 )) 210- AND THE SATANS DID NOT BRING IT DOWN. وَمَا يَنْبَغِى لَهُمْ وَمَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ(( 211 )) 211- AND IT IS NOT BEFITTING THEM, NOR ARE THEY ABLE TO.
إِنَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّمْعِ لَمَعْزُولُونَ(( 212 )) 212- THEY ARE BREFT OF HEARING. (EVESDROPPING) [ 484 ] THE COMMENTARY ANOTHER CHARGE BROUGHT ON QURA"N VERSE NO.204ِ212 The previous passage was ended in that, the sinners will ask for some respite in their death-bed.