Surah 4. An-Nisaa', Ayah 153

As is evident from the sequence, the term ahl al-kitab ("followers of [earlier] revelation") refers here specifically to the Jews, which justifies its rendering as "followers of the Old Testament".

Sc., "in proof of thy prophethood". Alternatively, the sentence may be understood thus: "They ask thee to bring down unto them an [actual] book from heaven." In view, however, of the oft-repeated Qur'anic statement that the Jews were convinced that they alone could be granted divine revelation, it seems to me that the rendering adopted by me is the more appropriate.

See 2:55 and the corresponding note [40].

 i.e., they demanded the Quran to be revealed all at once in writing similar to the Tablets of Moses. This demand is refuted in 25:32.

Cf. ii. 55, for the thunder and lightning which affected those who were presumptuous enough to ask that they should see Allah face to face, and ii. 51, and n. 66, for the worship of the golden calf. The lesson is that it is presumptuous on the part of man to judge of spiritual things in terms of material things, or to ask to see Allah with their material eyes when Allah is above material forms and is independent of time and space.