25:31

وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلۡنَا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوّٗا مِّنَ ٱلۡمُجۡرِمِينَۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِرَبِّكَ هَادِيٗا وَنَصِيرٗا

Wakathalika jaAAalna likulli nabiyyin AAaduwwan mina almujrimeena wakafa birabbika hadiyan wanaseeran

And thus have We made for every prophet an enemy from among the criminals. But sufficient is your Lord as a guide and a helper.

Word by word
  1. وَكَذَٰلِكَAnd thus
  2. جَعَلۡنَاWe have made
  3. لِكُلِّfor every
  4. نَبِيٍّProphet
  5. عَدُوّٗاan enemy
  6. مِّنَamong
  7. ٱلۡمُجۡرِمِينَۗthe criminals
  8. وَكَفَىٰBut sufficient is
  9. بِرَبِّكَyour Lord
  10. هَادِيٗا(as) a Guide
  11. وَنَصِيرٗاand a Helper
Al-Furqan · 25:31Makkah

Every prophet had an enemy. Your Lord is enough.

Opposition is normal, and so is His help


The pattern
every prophetnot just you
faced
an enemyfrom among the criminals
but
your LordGuide and Helper
What opposition means
I must be wrongwhy else resist me?
the usual pathevery prophet walked it

Right after the Messenger ﷺ complains that his people abandoned the Quran, Allah comforts him. Ibn Kathir says in every earlier nation, each prophet had an enemy among the criminals. The idolators tried to stop people following the Quran, so Allah says He is enough as a Guide and Helper.

You start wearing hijab, or stop going to the Friday drinks, and someone at work makes it their hobby to comment. You wonder if you are doing something wrong. Resistance is part of the path, not proof you left it.

If people push back this hard, maybe I am on the wrong track.

Opposition came to every prophet, and Allah is enough for anyone on that path.

Try this

The next time someone mocks a good choice you made, say to yourself: Allah is enough as a Guide and Helper.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 25:30)

And the Messenger will say: "O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Qur'an. (30)Thus have We made for every Prophet an enemy among the criminals. But sufficient is your Lord as a Guide and Helper (31)

The Messenger (ﷺ) will complain against His Opponents

Allah tells how His Messenger and Prophet Muhammad will say: "O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Qur'an." The idolators would not listen to the Qur'an, as Allah says:

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَا تَسْمَعُوا لِهَٰذَا الْقُرْآنِ وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ

(And those who disbelieve say: "Listen not to this Qur'an, and make noise in the midst of it.")(41:26). When he would recite Qur'an to them, they would talk nonsense or speak about something else, so that they would not hear it. This is a form of forsaking it and rejecting it, and not believing in it is the same as forsaking it, and not pondering its meanings and trying to understand it is the same as forsaking it, and not acting upon it and following its commandments and heeding its prohibitions is the same as forsaking it, and turning away from it in favor of poetry or other words or songs or idle talk or some other way is the same as forsaking it. We ask Allah, the Most Generous, the Bestower of bounty, the One Who is able to do what He wills, to keep us safe from doing that which earns His wrath and to use us to do that which will earn His pleasure of preserving and understanding His Book, following its commandments night and day in the manner which He loves and which pleases Him, for He is Generous and Kind.

وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوًّا مِّنَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ

(Thus have We made for every Prophet an enemy among the criminals.) means, 'just as there is for you, O Muhammad, those people who scorned the Qur'an, so in all the previous nations did Allah make for every Prophet an enemy among the criminals, who called people to their misguidance and disbelief,' as Allah says:

وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوًّا شَيَاطِينَ الْإِنسِ وَالْجِنِّ 

(And so We have appointed for every Prophet enemies – Shayatin among mankind and Jinn) as stated in these two Ayat. (6:112) Allah says here:

وَكَفَىٰ بِرَبِّكَ هَادِيًا وَنَصِيرًا

(But sufficient is your Lord as a Guide and Helper.) meaning, for the one who follows His Messenger and believes in His Book, Allah will be his Guide and Helper in this world and the Hereafter. Allah says

هَادِيًا وَنَصِيرًا

(a Guide and Helper.) because the idolators used to try to prevent people from following the Qur'an lest anyone be guided by it. They wanted their way to prevail over the way of the Qur'an. Allah says:

وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوًّا مِّنَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ

(Thus have We made for every Prophet an enemy among the criminals.)