As far as divine enlightenment is concerned the apostles of God have a great status. They understand best that God is fountainhead of all well being and might. When God protects someone then no evil force can harm him. So if they are afraid then it is because of the fact that something may go against the will of God.

In the 7th verse God says about the apostles of yore:

“(It is the practice of those) who preach the Messages of God and fear Him, and fear none but God. And He is enough to call (men) to account.”

Indeed it is this feature that instills in the apostles the power of God and makes them stand steadfast against the enemy. This is one of the causes that increase their capabilities.

But a question arises here because in verse 37 of Surah Ahzab God addresses the Messenger and says:

“When you married the wife of Zayd “But you did hide in your heart that which God was about to reveal but it is more fitting for you that you should.”

The Messenger was afraid of the people because he was marrying the wife of one whom he had adopted as a son because in those days the Arabs did not look with favor on the marriage with the divorced wife of an adopted son.

What we learn from this des c r i p tion is that despite being the foremost of all the prophets of God he did have apprehensions about others. This is what verse 39 of Surah Ahzab describes:

“Those who convey the messages of God and fear Him and fear none but Him, God suffices to their account.”

What is the compatibility between these two des c r i p tions?

We can derive at the answer to this question through a little deliberation that I have described in “ Al Tafsir Alamsal” : The prophet was not afraid of any person but was the apprehension about breaking a pagan custom ( marrying the divorced woman of Zayd) and this could create chaos in the minds of the people and there was no such precedent in the lives of the previous prophets. This was a strange deed for these people without any personal dislike for it was about opposing the rules and laws that they had followed.

The proximity of these two verses may even stand for their being complimentary to each other. The apprehension of the Prophet was the apprehension about implementing the word of God and not personal (We need to think deeply about this.)