27. Surah Al-naml

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ زَيَّنَّا لَهُمْ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فَهُمْ يَعْمَهُونَ ﴿٤﴾

27:4 [Ali]. As to those who believe not in the Hereafter, We have made their deeds pleasing in their eyes; and so they wander about in distraction.

C3242. Those who reject Allah and follow Evil have a good conceit of themselves. Their deeds are pleasing to no one else.

As they have rejected Allah's guidance, they are allowed to hug their own self-conceit, and given further respite for repentance. But they follow their own whims and wander about in distraction, as they have no standards such as guide the godly.

أُوْلَئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَهُمْ سُوءُ الْعَذَابِ وَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ هُمُ الْأَخْسَرُونَ ﴿٥﴾

27: 5. Such are they for whom a grievous Penalty is (waiting): and in the Hereafter theirs will be the greatest loss.

C3243. The account will then be made up, and they will be found to be terribly in loss. They will be the worst in loss, for all their self-complacency.

وَإِنَّكَ لَتُلَقَّى الْقُرْآنَ مِن لَّدُنْ حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ ﴿٦﴾

27: 6. As to thee, the Qur'án is bestowed upon thee from the presence of One Who is Wise and All-Knowing.

Asad’s Version:

27:4

As for those who will not believe in the life to come - behold, goodly have We made their own doings appear unto them, and so they stumble blindly to and fro. 4

(27:5) It is they whom the worst of suffering awaits: for it is they, they who in the life to come shall be the greatest losers!

(27:6) But [as for thee, O believer,] verily, thou hast received this Qur'an out of the grace of One who is wise, all-knowing. 5

[[Asad’s note - 4 The implication is that people who do not believe in life after death concentrate all their endeavours, as a rule, on material gains alone, and cannot think of anything worthwhile beyond "their own doings". See also note 7 on 2:7, which explains why the "causing" of this spiritual blindness and confusion in itself but a consequence of man's own behaviour is attributed to God.

5 This stress on the spiritual illumination offered to man through divine revelation not only connects with the opening verses of this surah, but also forms a link between this passage and the following one, which calls to mind the sudden illumination of Moses, symbolized by the vision of the burning bush. ]