15 we read words like this...
15 we read words like this, where they said: “If you are of the truthful ones, why do you not bring to us the angels?” In the beginning of this Surah also we read: “...Why is not an angel been sent down to him, to be a warner with him?” [^4] But a person who seeks truth only demands reason for proving a matter and he does not care about the sort of reason whatever kind it may be.
When by performing miracles, including the holy Qur’an itself, the Prophet (S) has proved that his call and invitation is right, what do these pretexts mean? The best reason that these words were not uttered for the sake of researching on the prophethood of the holy Prophet (S) is that they asked to see Allah and by this demand they reduced Him to a visible object.
This groundless demand was asked by the Children of Israel and its decisive answer has been given them in the Qur’an which is explained in Surah Al-’A‘raf, No. 7, verse 143. Thus, the Holy Qur'an answers these demands in this way: “...Certainly they are too proud highly of themselves and have revolted in great revolt.” The Arabic word /‘utuww/ means to restrain to obey an order stubbornly and with enmity.
The Qur’anic phrase /fi ’anfusihim/ may mean that they were proud of themselves and were also self-conceited, or it may mean that they concealed their conceit and pride in their own heart and proposed such demands and pretexts. In our age there are also some persons who repeat the logic of former polytheists and say that they do not believe in Allah unless they see Allah in their laboratory and experiment the soul with Himself in surgery operation.
The source of both is one thing: arrogance and delusion. Basically, all the persons who know sense and experience as the only means of recognition implicitly repeat this very matter. All materialists and the money-minded ones do have the same opinion, while our sense can perceive only a small part of this world. Anyway, all materialists count everything unspiritual and earthy and they try to see Allah with their own physical eyes and this is their great mistake.