And when what has passed; it produced a clear meaning of what we said to the Children of Israel: "If you do good"; the verse; for everyone among them; and others; and that is His saying (glorified and exalted is He): ﴿Whoever is guided﴾; so he follows the guidance; ﴿then he is guided only for himself﴾; because his reward does not extend beyond him; ﴿And whoever goes astray﴾; by turning away from what We have revealed of the clarification; ﴿then he goes astray only against it﴾; because his punishment upon him; does not exceed him; ﴿And no bearer of burdens will bear another's burden﴾; meaning: any bearer of burdens; ﴿will bear another's burden﴾; to lighten it; rather, for every reward is his own deed; it does not extend to others; so We reward whoever is guided; and We punish whoever goes astray; ﴿And We were not﴾; meaning: despite Our greatness; ﴿to punish﴾; anyone; ﴿until We send﴾; meaning: a sending that is appropriate for Our greatness; ﴿a Messenger﴾; so whoever reaches his call and opposes his command and is arrogant about following him; We punish him with what he deserves; and this matter has been established by the sending of Adam - peace be upon him -; and those after him from the noble prophets - blessings and peace be upon them - in all nations; as He (glorified and exalted is He) said: ﴿And We certainly sent to every nation a messenger﴾ [An-Nahl: 36] ﴿And there was no nation but that there had passed within it a warner﴾ [Fatir: 24] (p-389) for indeed their call to Allah (glorified and exalted is He) has spread; and it has encompassed the regions; and it has become well-known; look at the saying of Quraysh; those who did not receive a prophet after Ishmael - peace be upon him -: ﴿We have not heard of this in the last religion﴾ [Sad: 7]; for it implies that they heard it in the first religion; so whoever reaches the call of any one of them in any way and falls short in searching for it is a disbeliever; deserving of punishment; so do not be deceived by the saying of many people regarding the salvation of the people of the interval; along with the informing of the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - that their forefathers who passed away in ignorance are in the fire; and that what the dung beetle rolls is better than them; and other than that from the reports; Imam Abu Abdullah Al-Halimi; one of the distinguished scholars of the Shafi'i school; and great imams of Islam - may Allah be pleased with them - said in the early parts of his methodology; in the chapter of those to whom the call has not reached: And we only said: that whoever among them is rational and discerning; if he sees and observes; unless he does not believe in a religion; he is a disbeliever; because he; even if he has not heard the call of our Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him -; there is no doubt that he has heard the call of someone from the prophets who were before him - blessings and peace be upon him - due to their multitude; and the long duration of their call; and the abundance of those who believed in them; and followed them; and those who disbelieved in them and opposed them; (p-390) for indeed the news may reach through the tongue of the opposer just as it reaches through the tongue of the supporter; and if he hears any call to Allah; and he neglects to use his intellect to ascertain its validity; while he is among those capable of reasoning and reflection; he is thus turning away from the call; so he has disbelieved; and Allah knows best; and if it is possible that he has never heard of any religion; or the call of a prophet; or did not know that there is in the world someone who establishes a deity - and we do not see that this would be the case -; then if so, his matter is subject to difference - meaning among those who require belief by mere reason; and those who do not require it except by the addition of transmission; and what Al-Halimi said has been reported similarly from Imam Al-Shafi'i himself - may Allah be pleased with him -; Al-Zarkashi said at the end of the chapter on blood money; in his explanation of the methodology: And Al-Shafi'i indicated the difficulty of the failure of the call to reach; where he said: And I do not think that anyone has not reached him the call; except that there are people beyond the river by our existence; and Al-Dumayri said: And Al-Shafi'i said: And there remains no one to whom the call has not reached.