إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ...

33:56 [Ali]. Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet:

C3761. Allah and His angels honour and bless the holy Prophet as the greatest of men. We are asked to honour and bless him all the more because he took upon himself to suffer the sorrows and afflictions of this life in order to guide us to Allah's Mercy and the highest inner Life.

...يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا ﴿٥٦﴾

O ye that believe!

send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ...

57. Those who annoy Allah and His Messenger -- Allah has cursed them in this world and in the Hereafter,

C3762. Cf. n. 3758 above.

...وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ عَذَابًا مُّهِينًا ﴿٥٧﴾

and has prepared for them a humiliating Punishment.

وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ بِغَيْرِ مَا اكْتَسَبُوا...

58. And those who annoy believing men and women undeservedly,

...فَقَدِ احْتَمَلُوا بُهْتَانًا وَإِثْمًا مُّبِينًا ﴿٥٨﴾

bear (on themselves) a calumny and a glaring sin.

C3763. Cf. 4:112. In that passage we were told that any one who was himself guilty but accused an innocent man of his guilt, was obviously placing himself in double jeopardy;

- first, for his own original guilt, and

- secondly for the guilt of a false accusation.

Here we take two classes of men instead of two individuals.

The men and women of faith (if they deserve the name) and doing all they can to serve Allah and humanity. If they are insulted, hurt, or annoyed by those whose sins they denounce, the latter suffer the penalties of a double guilt, viz., their sins to start with, and the insults or injuries they offer to those who correct them. Instead of resenting the preaching of Truth, they should welcome it and profit by it.