Surah 11. Hud, Ayah 27

As is evidenced by the histories of all the prophets - and particularly that of Jesus and, after him, of Muhammad - most of their early followers belonged to the lowest classes of society - the slaves, the poor and the oppressed - to whom the divine message gave the promise of an equitable social order on earth and the hope of happiness in the hereafter: and it is precisely this revolutionary character of every prophet's mission that has always made it so distasteful to the upholders of the established order and the privileged classes of the society concerned.

Lit., "We do not see in you any superiority [or "merit"] over us."

 Typically, the poor and the helpless are the first to believe in prophets, taking them as saviours, whereas the rich and powerful are hesitant to believe, perceiving the new faith as a threat to their influence.

The Unbelievers were impelled by three powerful human motives of evil to resist Grace: (1) jealousy of other men; they said, "Why, you are no better than ourselves," half perceiving the Prophet's superiority, and half ignoring it; (2), contempt of the weak and lowly, who are often better intellectually, morally, and spiritually; they said, "We cannot believe or do what these fellows, our inferiors in social rank, believe or do!"; (3) arrogance and self-sufficiency, which is a vice cognate to (2), looked at from a different angle; they said, "We are really better than the lot of you!" Now the claim made on behalf of Allah's Message attacked all these three attitudes. And all they could say against it was to abuse it impatiently, and call it a lie.