32. Surah al-Sajda

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن ذُكِّرَ بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِ ثُمَّ أَعْرَضَ عَنْهَا...

32:22 And who does more wrong than one to whom are recited the Signs of his Lord, and who then turns away therefrom?

C3655. The worst and most hardened sinner is the man to whom Allah's Signs are actually brought home and who yet prefers Evil and turns away from the Light of Allah.

The Signs may be

- in the words and guidance of a great Teacher or in some minor sorrow or warning, which he disregards with contumely. Or

- it may be in a catastrophic blow to his conscience, which should open his eyes, but from which he deliberately refuses to profit.

The penalty-the Nemesis-must necessarily come eventually.

...إِنَّا مِنَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ مُنتَقِمُونَ ﴿٢٢﴾

Verily from those who transgress We shall exact (Due) Retribution.

Asad’s Version:

(32:20) but as for those who are lost in iniquity - their goal is the fire: as oft as they will try to come out of it, they will be thrown back into it; and they will be told, "Taste [now] this suffering through fire which you were wont to call a lie!"

32:21 However, ere [We condemn them to] that supreme suffering, We shall most certainly let them taste of a suffering closer at hand," so that they might [repent and] mend their ways. 17

(32:22) And who could be more wicked than he to whom his Sustainer's messages are conveyed and who thereupon turns away from them? Verily, We shall inflict Our retribution on those who are [thus] lost in sin!