31. Surah Luqman

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَإِذَا غَشِيَهُم مَّوْجٌ كَالظُّلَلِ دَعَوُا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ...

31:32. When a wave covers them like the canopy (of clouds), they call to Allah, offering Him sincere devotion.

C3621. Cf. 7:29. Unlike the people mentioned in the last verse, who constantly seek Allah's help and give thanks for His mercies by using them aright and doing their duty, there is a class of men whose worship is merely inspired by terror.

When they are in physical danger-the only kind of danger they appreciate,-e.g. in a storm at sea, they genuinely think of Allah. But once the danger is past, they become indifferent or wish to appear good while dallying with evil. See next verse.

...فَلَمَّا نَجَّاهُمْ إِلَى الْبَرِّ فَمِنْهُم مُّقْتَصِدٌ...

But when He has delivered them safely to land, there are among them those that halt between (right and wrong).

C3622. They halt between two opinions.

- They are not against good, but they will not eschew evil.

- They are a contrast to those who "constantly persevere and give thanks".

But such an attitude amounts really to "perfidious ingratitude".

...وَمَا يَجْحَدُ بِآيَاتِنَا إِلَّا كُلُّ خَتَّارٍ كَفُورٍ ﴿٣٢﴾

But none reject Our Signs except only a perfidious ungrateful (wretch)!

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ...

31:33. O mankind! do your duty to your Lord,

...وَاخْشَوْا يَوْمًا لَّا يَجْزِي وَالِدٌ عَن وَلَدِهِ وَلَا مَوْلُودٌ هُوَ جَازٍ عَن وَالِدِهِ شَيْئًا...

and fear (the coming of) a Day when no father can avail aught for his son, nor a son avail aught for his father.

C3623. On the Day of Reckoning no one can help another. The most loving father cannot help his son or be a substitute for him, and vice versa. Each will have his own personal responsibilities.

...إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ...

Verily, the promise of Allah is true:

...فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا ...

let not then this present life deceive you

... وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُم بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ ﴿٣٣﴾

nor let the Chief Deceiver deceive you about Allah.

C3624. The Chief Deceiver is Satan.

It may make us forget that Time is fleeting and delude us by suggesting that the Reckoning may not come, whereas it is certain to come, because Allah's promise is true.

We must not play with Time nor be deceived by appearances. The Day may come to-day or to-morrow or when we least expect it.

Asad’s Version:

(31:32) For [thus it is with most men:] when the waves engulf them like shadows [of death], they call unto God, sincere [at that moment] in their faith in Him alone: but as soon as He has brought them safe ashore, some of them stop half-way [between belief and unbelief]. 2 ' Yet none could knowingly reject Our messages unless he be utterly perfidious, ingrate.

31:33 O MEN! Be conscious of your Sustainer, and stand in awe of the Day on which no parent will be of any avail to his child, nor a child will in the least avail his parent! Verily, God's promise [of resurrection] is true indeed: let not, then, the life of this world delude you, and let not [your own] deceptive thoughts about God delude you! 30

[[ Asad’s notes - 29 Cf. 17:67, as well as 29:65, which says - in a similar context - that "they [begin to) ascribe to imaginary powers a share in His divinity" (yushrikun). The parable of a storm at sea is, of course, a metonym applying to every kind of danger that may beset man in life.

30 For instance, the self-deluding expectation, while deliberately committing a sin, that God will forgive it (Sa'id ibn Jubayr, as quoted by Tabari, Baghawi, Zamakhshari). According to Tabari, the term gharur denotes "anything that deludes" (ma gharra) a person in the moral sense, whether it be Satan, or another human being, or an abstract concept, or (as in 57:14) "wishful thinking". ]]