﴿ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِن كُنتُ عَلَىٰ بَيِّنَةٍۢ مِّن رَّبِّى وَءَاتَىٰنِى رَحْمَةًۭ مِّنْ عِندِهِۦ فَعُمِّيَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنُلْزِمُكُمُوهَا وَأَنتُمْ لَهَا كَٰرِهُونَ ﴾

“Said [Noah]: "O my people! What do you think? If [it be true that I am taking my stand on a clear evidence from my~ Sustainer, who has vouchsafed unto me grace from Himself - [a revelation] to which you have remained blind-: [if this be true,] can we force it on you even though it be hateful to you?”

Here ‘baiyyinah’ means argument, while ‘rahmah’ means prophethood. (Tafsir an-Nafasi). When a prophet preaches to a community, he takes a stand on these two things. After the Prophet, a preacher will be a true preacher only when he takes a stand on precisely these two things, with the difference that whatever inspiration he has will be what he indirectly received from the Prophet, while the Prophet received it directly from God. When a community ignores the messenger of God, thinking that from the worldly point of view he has nothing of value for them, at that very time he is in a position to give them very great and valuable things, i.e. argument and guidance. The greatness of reasoning and guidance is totally at the command of the messenger. This is an important part of his inner and intangible greatness, but how can those whose eyes are fixed on outward glamour appreciate it?