57. Surah Al-Hadid

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:





يَوْمَ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا انظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ...

57:13. One day will the Hypocrites -- men and women -- say to the Believers:

"Wait for us! let us borrow (a light) from your Light!"

C5290. Watchful preparation in Life, and the light of Faith, which reflects the divine Light, are matters of personal Life, and cannot be borrowed from another.

So, in Christ's parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), when the foolish ones had let their lamps go out for want of oil, they asked to borrow oil from the wise ones, but the wise ones answered and said, "Not so; ... but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves".

...قِيلَ ارْجِعُوا وَرَاءكُمْ فَالْتَمِسُوا نُورًا...

It will be said:

"turn ye back to your rear! then seek a light (where ye can)!"

... فَضُرِبَ بَيْنَهُم بِسُورٍ لَّهُ بَابٌ ...

So a wall will be put up between them, with a gate therein.

C5291. The wall will divide the Good from the Evil. But the Gateway in it will show that communication will not be cut off. Evil must realise that Good- i.e.., Mercy and Felicity-had been within its reach, and that the Wrath which envelops it is due to its own rejection of Mercy.

... بَاطِنُهُ فِيهِ الرَّحْمَةُ وَظَاهِرُهُ مِن قِبَلِهِ الْعَذَابُ ﴿١٣﴾

Within it will be Mercy throughout, and without it, all alongside, will be (wrath and) Punishment!

يُنَادُونَهُمْ أَلَمْ نَكُن مَّعَكُمْ...

57:14.  (Those without) will call out, "were we not with you?"

C5292. The evil will now claim some right of kinship or association or proximity with the good in earthly life; but in fact they had been arrogant and had selfishly despised them before. The reply will be:

...قَالُوا بَلَى وَلَكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ وَارْتَبْتُمْ وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ...

(The others) will reply,

"True! but ye led yourselves into temptation; ye looked forward (to our ruin); ye doubted (Allah's promise); and (your false) desires deceived you;

...حَتَّى جَاء أَمْرُ اللَّهِ وَغَرَّكُم بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ ﴿١٤﴾

until there issued the Command of Allah. And the Deceiver deceived you in respect of Allah.

C5293. The Arch-Deceiver (Satan) deceived you in respect of Allah in many ways: for example,

فَالْيَوْمَ لَا يُؤْخَذُ مِنكُمْ فِدْيَةٌ وَلَا مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا...

57:15.  "This Day shall no ransom be accepted of you, nor of those who rejected Allah.

C5294. In personal responsibility there is no room for vicarious ransom or for ransom by payments of gold or silver or by sacrifice of possessions. Nor can the crime be expiated for after Judgment. 'You' and 'those who rejected Allah' are two ways of looking at the same persons. 'You are rejected because you rejected Allah.'

مَأْوَاكُمُ النَّارُ هِيَ مَوْلَاكُمْ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ ﴿١٥﴾

Your abode is the fire: That is the proper place to claim you: and an evil refuge it is!"

 

أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ...

57: 16.  Has not the time arrived for the Believers ...

C5295. Humility and the remembrance of Allah and His Message are never more necessary than in the hour of victory and prosperity.

... أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ...

that their hearts in all humility should engage in the remembrance of Allah and of the truth which has been revealed (to them),

...وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلُ ...

and that they should not become like those to whom was given Revelation aforetime,

C5296. The men immediately referred to are the contemporary Jews and Christians. To each of these Ummahs was given Allah's Revelation, but as time passed, they corrupted it, became arrogant and hard-hearted, and subverted justice, truth, and the purity of Life.

But the general lesson is far wider. No one is favoured of Allah except on the score of righteousness. Except on that score, there is no chosen individual or race. There is no blind good fortune or ill fortune. All happens according to the just laws and Will of Allah. But at no time is humility or righteousness more necessary than in the hour of victory or triumph.

... فَطَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَمَدُ فَقَسَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ ...

but long ages passed over them and their hearts grew hard?

وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ ﴿١٦﴾

For many among them are rebellious transgressors.


Asad’s Version:



57:13 On that Day shall the hypocrites, both men and women," speak [thus) unto those who have attained to faith: "Wait for us! Let us have a [ray of] light from your light!" [But] they will be told: "Turn back, and seek a light [of your own]!"

14 And thereupon a wall will be raised between them [and the believers], with a gate in it: within it will be grace and mercy, and against the outside thereof, suffering. 15


57:14 They [who will remain without] will call out to those [within], "Were we not with you?" - [to which] the others will answer: "So it was! But you allowed yourselves to succumb to temptation," and you were hesitant [in your faith 17 ], and you were doubtful [of resurrection]; and your wishful thinking beguiled you until God's command came to pass: 18 for, [indeed, your own] deceptive thoughts about God deluded you! 19


57:15 "And so, no ransom 20 shall be accepted today from you, and neither from those who were [openly] bent on denying the truth. Your goal is the fire: it is your [only] refuge 21 - and how evil a journey's end!"


57:16 IS IT NOT time that the hearts of all who have attained to faith should feel humble at the remembrance of God and of all the truth that has been bestowed [on them] from on high, 22 lest they become like those who were granted revelation aforetime, 23 and whose hearts have hardened with the passing of time so that many of them are [now] depraved? 24




[[Asad’s notes -

1 3 Meant here are, apparently, not only outright "hypocrites" (in the connotation given to this term in Western languages), but also people who, being shaky in their beliefs and uncertain in their moral convictions, are inclined to deceive themselves (see note 7 on 29:1 1).


14 I.e., "you should have sought light while you hved on earth".


1 5 The stress on there being a gate in the wall separating true believers and hypocrites (or the weak of faith) points to the possibility of the latters' redemption: cf the famous hadith quoted in note 10 on 40:12. Mujahid (as quoted by Tabari) identifies the "wall" spoken of here with the "barrier" (hijab) mentioned in 7:46.


16 Sc, "by the prospect of worldly gains" or "by fear for your personal safely" - both of which characterize the half-hearted as well as the hypocrites.


17 Thus Ibn Zayd (quoted by Tabari), explaining the verb tarabbastum.


18 I.e., "until your death".


19 See note 30 on the last sentence of 31:33.


20 I.e., belated repentance.


21 Lit., "your friend" (mawlakum) - i.e., "the only thing by which you may hope to be purified and redeemed": cf. the saying of the Prophet mentioned in note 10 on 40:12; see also note 15 above.


22 I.e., "Should not the remembrance of God and His revelation make them humble rather than proud?" This is an emphatic warning against all smugness, self-righteousness and false pride at having to faith" - a failing which only too often attains to such as consider themselves "pious".


23 This is apparently an allusion to the spiritually arrogant among the Jews, who regard themselves as "God's chosen people" and, therefore, as predestined for His acceptance.


24 I.e., so that now they act contrary to the ethical precepts of their religion: implying that the purpose of all true faith is to make man humble and God-conscious rather than self-satisfied, and that a loss of that spiritual humility invariably results in moral degeneration. ]]