Commentary:

The word, “fatrah” in (after a gap between Messengers) literally means to slacken,to become dormant or to suspend or to terminate an activity. Leading authorities inTafsir have given this very meaning of fatrah in this verse. It signifies the suspensionof the coming of prophets for a certain interval of time which is the period of time inbetween Sayyidna Isa and the Last of the Prophets, Sayyidna Muhammad (saws)

Verification of the Gap

According to Sayyidna ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas, there is a period of one thousand andseven hundred years between Sayyidna Musa and Sayyidna ‘Isa. During this wholeperiod, prophets kept coming with their missions without any gap. To Bani Isra’ilalone, one thousand prophets were sent during this period - not included in whichare prophets who appeared among peoples other than Bani Israil. Then comes theperiod of only five hundred years between the birth of Sayyidna ‘Isa and the appearanceof the Holy Prophet as the Last Prophet. During this period, the usual chain ofprophets remained discontinued. Therefore, this period is known as Fatrah or Gap.Before this, a longer period has never remained unvisited by prophets. (Qurtubi, withsome explanation from the author)

There are other reports regarding the period of time between Sayyidna Musa and Sayyidna ‘Isa, and that which is between Sayyidna Isa and the Last Prophet, Sayyidna Muhammad (saws). The period of time indicated in these reports is either more, or less, but that does not affect the real purpose.

Imam al-Bukhari reports on the authority of Sayyidna Salman al- Farisi that there was a period of six hundred years between the time of Sayyidna 'Isa and the Last among Prophets (saws). During this entire period, no prophet was sent as confirmed by a Hadith in Mishkat, appearing there with reference to the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, which reports that the Holy Prophet (saws) said: 'Among people, I am the closest to 'Isa.'

He explained the meaning of his remark later in the Hadith when he said: 'No prophet was sent between the two of us.'

As for the three messengers mentioned in Surah Ya Sin (36), they were messengers sent by Sayyidna 'Isa who have been called messengers (bearers of a message) in the literal sense.

About the appearance of Khalid ibn Sinan al-'Arabi during this gap as reported by some chroniclers, Tafsir Ruh al-Ma'ani says with reference to Shihab that his being a prophet is correct, but the period in which he came was earlier than Sayyidna 'Isa, not after him.

Rulings concerning the Gap

Obviously, the verse seems to indicate the fate of the group of people who were not visited by any messenger or prophet or their deputies, nor did they have the religious laws of past prophets preserved with them; such people will be considered excusable and will deserve no punishment on the condition that such people should have not committed Shirk, the grave sin of ascribing partners in the Divinity of Allah. Therefore, Muslim jurists differ about rulings which apply to the people of Fatrah (gap), particularly about whether or not they will be forgiven.

The majority tilts towards the hope that they will be forgiven if they had kept adhering to the religion which had survived with them as originating from Sayyidna Musa or Sayyidna 'Isa irrespective of its authenticity - again, subject to the condition that they had not been hostile to the principle of Tauhid, the Oneness of Allah, and had nothing to do with the practice of Shirk. The reason is that the Principle of Tauhid needs no reported proof. Any human being who ponders over it could himself reason it out.

A Question and its Answer

A question may arise here that the Jews and Christians, the people of the Book, who are being addressed in this verse did have the Torah and the Evangile and their sages and scholars with them even if no messengers reached them during this gap. How then could they come up with the excuse on the Day of Judgement that they had received no guidance? The answer is that by the time of the Holy Prophet the original Torah and the Evangile had gone extinct. There were alterations in texts and additions of false narratives. Thus, the availability of non-original scriptures were no better than its extinction. The likelihood of an original manuscript surviving at some unknown place with someone would not be contrary to the assertion made. In fact, some scholars including Ibn Taymiyah have written that the original copies of the Torah and Evangile were present at some places.