Confusion occurred during the Battle of Uhud when it was rumored that the Prophet (saws) had been killed in the battle. However, this verse had a great influence at the death of the Prophet (saws), where the greatest event befell the believers, here we find the depth in words that express the event in which the rumor that the Prophet (saws) was killed in Uhud, we see that when in the story when the Prophet (saws) moved to the side of his Lord, when at that time Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) did not believe this, so he went out and raised his sword saying:
“Whoever said: Muhammad has died, I will cut off his head with this sword, but he went to the side of his Lord as Musa bin Imran went,”
It was narrated by Abdullah bin Abbas (May Allah be pleased with them) that Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) came out while Omar Ibn Al-Khattab was talking to people and said: “Sit, Omar”, but Omar refused to sit down, so the people came to him and left Omar, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) then said:
“As for what follows, whoever of you worshiped Muhammad, (saws), then Muhammad has died, and whoever of you worshiped Allah, Allah is alive and does not die, Allah said:
وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ إِلاَّ رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ أَفَإِن مَّاتَ أَوْ قُتِلَ انقَلَبْتُمْ عَلَى أَعْقَابِكُمْ وَمَن يَنقَلِبْ عَلَىَ عَقِبَيْهِ فَلَن يَضُرَّ اللّهَ شَيْئًا وَسَيَجْزِي اللّهُ الشَّاكِرِينَ
{Muhammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allah at all; but Allah will reward the grateful.}
Abdullah bin Abbas said: By Allah, it would have been as if the people did not know that Allah had revealed this verse until Abu Bakr recited it, so all the people received it from him, I could hardly hear people not reciting it. Saeed bin Al-Musayyib said that Umar said:
“By Allah, when I heard Abu Bakr reciting it, I felt crippled until my feet couldn’t pick me up, and I fell to the ground when I heard him recite it, because I knew the Prophet has died.”
Although this verse was revealed for the reason of the rumor that the Prophet was killed in the Battle of Uhud, but at all times we need every verse in the Holy Qur’an; because it is valid for every time and place, so no one comes and says: This verse was revealed in a specific incident, so it is not valid now, and this verse was revealed at that time, so it is not valid at this time. The Qur’an is the word of Allah, and Allah is the Creator, Allah is All-Knowing, and Allah is All-Wise, and if He is Creator, All-Knowing, and Wise, he will not say any word without encompassing all creation and time as in this verse.
In this verse, the name “Muhammad” is mentioned for the first time in the Holy Qur’an. However, this name is mentioned four times:
وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ إِلاَّ رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ
{Muhammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him.} (Ali-Imran: 144)
مُّحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاء عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاء بَيْنَهُمْ
{Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves.} (Al-Fath: 29)
وَآمَنُوا بِمَا نُزِّلَ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَهُوَ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ
{and believe in what has been sent down upon Muhammad – and it is the truth from their Lord} (Muhammad: 2)
مَّا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِّن رِّجَالِكُمْ وَلَكِن رَّسُولَ اللَّهِ وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ
{Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the prophets} (Al-Ahzaab: 40)
Additionally, the name “Ahmad” is mentioned once in the Holy Qur’an:
وَإِذْ قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُم مُّصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَمُبَشِّرًا بِرَسُولٍ يَأْتِي مِن بَعْدِي اسْمُهُ أَحْمَدُ
{And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, “O children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.” But when he came to them with clear evidences, they said, “This is obvious magic.”} (As-Saff: 6)
His name (saws) is Muhammad, and Ahmad, but what is the difference? The two names are of the same letters which means in Arabic (to praise). The wife of Abo Lahab when she wanted to insult the Prophet (saws) she called him (Muthammam) means (The blamed) instead of (Muhammad), for that the Prophet (saws) said:
“Doesn’t it astonish you how Allah protects me from the Quraish’s abusing and cursing? They abuse Mudhammam and curse Mudhammam while I am Muhammad (and not Mudhammam)”.[1]
And the disbelievers of Quraysh, because of their great hatred of him (saws), they did not call him by his name which indicates praise, instead they would turn to his opposite, saying: “Mudhammam” this is not his name nor known by him. So What came out of them was intended for someone else, so it happens against their intentions, and Allah (swt) will take revenge on them.
Hence, the difference between the two names Muhammad and Ahmad is that Muhammad is a name on which praise fell from someone else, people praise him for his good manners and his greatness, so he became Muhammad because of the many praises that fell upon him. As for Ahmed, it is a name of preference, we may say this person thanks Allah and that praises Allah but who is the most thankful to Allah (swt), is our master, the Messenger of Allah, so his name is Ahmed because he is the most thankful to Allah.
Look at the greatness of the name, not to mention the greatness of Muhammadan (saws) himself, that if we want to talk about for ages they cannot be enough, nor can any human being talk about him, as Allah (swt) did saying:
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ
{And indeed, you are of a great moral character.} (Al-Ahzab: 4)
So, the greatness is in his name, in his actions, in the values that he came up with.
رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ {[Other] messengers have passed on before him}: The most beloved of creation to Allah (swt) is Muhammad, but Allah (swt )says: Since that Muhammad is a human being, the laws of humans apply to him, but he is distinguished from them because he is a messenger with a message. So everything related to human beings as: life, death, health and disease apply to the Prophet, so he has fallen ill and grieved for his children, for his mother, for his uncle Abu Talib, for Mrs. Khadija, and for Hamzah.
Therefore, when Allah (swt) chooses the Messengers, He chooses them from the human in order to be an example to people. If the Messenger is not an example of humans, then he is not qualified to hold the message of Allah (swt), but the messengers and prophets are all qualified and they are a behavioral example. The Prophet (saws) was the most perfect of people in morals and courage, the most perfect of speech, and the most perfect of people in everything because he is a messenger and a prophet:
أَفَإِن مَّاتَ أَوْ قُتِلَ {So if he was to die or be killed}: There is a difference between death and killing. It is true that in both the soul leaves the body, but the difference is that in death the soul leaves and there is no destruction of the body, but killing destroys the body, and its destruction leads to death.
فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِي
{And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul,”} (Al-Hijr: 29)
The soul does not come into being until the body that will carry it has been proportioned, If this body was subjected to the destruction of its structure, the soul departed, but it came out in its time, someone might say: In this case it did not come out in its time, but came out due to the bullet fired by the killer. The answer is: No, it did not come out because of the bullet fired by the killer, for the bullet destroyed the structure, but the age was determined. It is said: “If the killer was patient with the murdered, he would die alone”.
انقَلَبْتُمْ عَلَى أَعْقَابِكُمْ {would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]?}: Because some turned on their heels in the Battle of Uhud. Also this same verse refers to all times, as what happened the wars of Rida.
وَمَن يَنقَلِبْ عَلَىَ عَقِبَيْهِ فَلَن يَضُرَّ اللّهَ شَيْئًا {And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allah at all;}: Neither faith nor disbelief, nor obedience nor disobedience, can harm nor benefit except you, not Allah (swt).
وَسَيَجْزِي اللّهُ الشَّاكِرِينَ {but Allah will reward the grateful.}: Allah (swt), asked man to be thankful and praised for the bestowments, and also thankful by His patience over trials, so the way to give thanks and praise in a trial is through patience.
[1] Sahih Al-Bukhari: Book of virtues, Hadith No. 3340.