16.Sura al-Nahl
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
16: 112. Allah sets forth a parable:
... قَرْيَةً كَانَتْ آمِنَةً مُّطْمَئِنَّةً يَأْتِيهَا رِزْقُهَا رَغَدًا مِّن كُلِّ مَكَانٍ...
a city enjoying security and quiet, abundantly supplied with sustenance from every place:
C2149. The reference may be to any of the cities or populations in ancient or modern times, which were favoured with security and other blessings from Allah, but which rebelled from Allah's Law and tasted the inevitable penalty, even in the midst of their iniquities.
Some Commentators see here a reference to the city of Makkah under Pagan control.
See next note.
... فَكَفَرَتْ بِأَنْعُمِ اللّهِ...
yet was it ungrateful for the favors of Allah:
... فَأَذَاقَهَا اللّهُ لِبَاسَ الْجُوعِ وَالْخَوْفِ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَصْنَعُونَ ﴿١١٢﴾
so Allah made it taste of hunger and terror (in extremes) (closing in on it) like a garment (from every side), because of the (evil)which (its people) wrought.
C2150. There is a double metaphor:
- the tasting of hunger and terror after the abundant supplies and the full security which it had enjoyed; and
- the complete enfolding of the City as with a garment, by these two scourges, hunger and a state of subjective alarm.
If the reference is to Makkah shortly before its fall to the Muslims, the "hunger" was the seven years' severe famine which afflicted it, and the alarm was the constant fear in the minds of the Pagans that their day was done. Peace and prosperity were restored after the re-entry of the Prophet.
وَلَقَدْ
جَاءهُمْ رَسُولٌ
مِّنْهُمْ
فَكَذَّبُوهُ
فَأَخَذَهُمُ
الْعَذَابُ
وَهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ ﴿١١٣﴾
16: 113. And there came to them a Messenger from among themselves, but they falsely rejected him;
so the wrath seized them even in the midst of their iniquities.
Pickthall’s Version:
16: 112
Pickthall Allah coineth a similitude: a township that dwelt secure and well content, its provision coming to it in abundance from every side, but it disbelieved in Allah's favors, so Allah made it experience the garb of dearth and fear because of what they used to do.
Transliteration Wa daraballa_hu masalan qaryatan ka_nat a_minatam mutma'innatay ya'tiha_ rizquha_ ragadam min kulli maka_nin fa kafarat bi an'umilla_hi fa aza_qahalla_hu liba_sal ju_'i wal khaufi bima_ ka_nu_ yasna'u_n(a).
16: 113
Pickthall And verily there had come unto them a messenger from among them, but they had denied him, and So the torment seized them while they were wrong-doers.
Transliteration Wa laqad ju_'ahum rasu_lum minhum fa kazzabu_hu fa akhazahumul 'azu_bu wa hum za_limu_n(a).
20 Sura Taha
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
قَالَ
رَبِّ لِمَ
حَشَرْتَنِي
أَعْمَى وَقَدْ
كُنتُ بَصِيرًا ﴿١٢٥﴾
20: 125. He will say: "O my Lord! why hast thou raised me up blind, while I had sight (before)?"
C2649. Because Allah gave him physical sight in this life for trial, he thinks he should be favoured in the real world, the world that matters! He misused his physical sight and made himself blind for the other world.
قَالَ كَذَلِكَ أَتَتْكَ آيَاتُنَا فَنَسِيتَهَا...
20: 126. (Allah) will say:
"Thus didst thou, when Our Signs came unto thee, disregard them:
...وَكَذَلِكَ الْيَوْمَ تُنسَى ﴿١٢٦﴾
so wilt thou, this day, be disregarded."
C2650. 'You were deliberately blind to Allah's Signs: now you will not see Allah's favours, and will be excluded from His Grace.
وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي
مَنْ أَسْرَفَ
وَلَمْ يُؤْمِن
بِآيَاتِ
رَبِّهِ...
20: 127. And thus do We recompense him who transgresses beyond bounds and believes not in the Signs of his Lord:
...وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَشَدُّ وَأَبْقَى ﴿١٢٧﴾
and the Penalty of the Hereafter is far more grievous and more enduring.
C2651. Blindness in the world of enduring Reality is far worse than physical blindness in the world of probation.
أَفَلَمْ
يَهْدِ لَهُمْ
كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا
قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ
الْقُرُونِ...
20: 128. It is not a warning to such men (to call to mind) how many generations before them We destroyed,
...يَمْشُونَ فِي مَسَاكِنِهِمْ...
in whose haunts they (now) move?
...إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي النُّهَى ﴿١٢٨﴾
Verily, in this are Signs for men endued with understanding.
C2652. Cf. 20:54.
This phrase concluded the argument of Moses with Pharaoh about Pharaoh's blindness to Allah and the Signs of Allah.
Now it concludes the more general argument about men, concerning whom the saying arose: 'none are so blind as those who will not see.'
Asad’s Version:
20:125
[And so, on Resurrection Day, the sinner] will ask: "O my Sustainer! Why hast Thou raised
me up blind, whereas [on earth] I was endowed with sight?" (20:126) [God] will reply: "Thus
it is: there came unto thee Our messages, but thou wert oblivious of them; and thus shalt thou
be today consigned to oblivion!"
20:127
For, thus shall We recompense him who wastes his own self... and does not believe in his Sustainer's messages: and, indeed, the suffering [of such sinners] in the life to come shall be most severe and most enduring!
20:128
CAN, THEN, they [who reject the truth] learn no lesson by recalling how many a generation We have destroyed before their time? 111 " - [people] in whose dwelling-places they [themselves now] walk about? In this, behold, there are messages indeed for those who are endowed with
reason!