25. [al-Furqan, Mecca 42]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَقَالَ
الَّذِينَ
لَا يَرْجُونَ
لِقَاءنَا
لَوْلَا أُنزِلَ
عَلَيْنَا
الْمَلَائِكَةُ
...
25: 21. Such as fear not the meeting with Us (for Judgment) say:
"Why are not the angels sent down to us,
C3077. The blasphemers who have given up all Faith and laugh at the Hereafter: nothing is sacred to them: their arrogance and insolence are beyond all bounds.
... أَوْ نَرَى رَبَّنَا...
or (why) do we not see our Lord?"
C3078. Cf. 2:55.
The Israelites in the time of Moses demanded to see Allah. But they were struck with thunder and lightning even as they looked on. Indeed death would have been their fate, had it not been for the mercy of Allah.
... لَقَدِ اسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي أَنفُسِهِمْ ...
Indeed they have an arrogant conceit of themselves,
... وَعَتَوْ عُتُوًّا كَبِيرًا ﴿٢١﴾
and mighty is the insolence of their impiety!
يَوْمَ
يَرَوْنَ
الْمَلَائِكَةَ
لَا بُشْرَى
يَوْمَئِذٍ
لِّلْمُجْرِمِينَ...
25: 22. The Day they see the angels -- no joy will there be to the sinners that Day:
... وَيَقُولُونَ حِجْرًا مَّحْجُورًا ﴿٢٢﴾
the (angels) will say:
"There is a barrier forbidden (to you) altogether!"
C3079. They will not be allowed to enjoy any of the felicity or peace which will be the normal state of the new world of Reality. Their own past will stand as a barrier to shut them off .
Asad’s Version:
25:21
But those who do not believe that they are destined to meet Us 18 are wont to say, "Why have no angels been sent down to us?" - or, "Why do we not see our Sustainer?"
Indeed, they are far too proud of themselves, having rebelled [against God's truth] with utter disdain!
25:22
[Yet] on that Day - the Day on which they shall see the angels"- there will be no glad tiding for those who were lost in sin; and they will exclaim, "By a forbidding ban [are we from God's grace debarred]!" –
(25:23) for We shall have turned towards all the [supposedly good] deeds
they ever wrought, and shall have transformed them into scattered dust –
=====================================
27 An-Naml (The Ants)
Mecca Period 48
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
بَلِ
ادَّارَكَ
عِلْمُهُمْ
فِي الْآخِرَةِ...
27: 66. Still less can their knowledge comprehend the Hereafter:
...بَلْ هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا...
nay, they are in doubt and uncertainty thereanent;
...بَلْ هُم مِّنْهَا عَمِونَ ﴿٦٦﴾
nay, they are blind thereunto!
C3304. The Unbelievers are generally materialists, who cannot go beyond the evidence of their physical senses. As to a spiritual vision of the future, their physical senses would only leave them in doubt and uncertainty, while their rejection of the spiritual light makes them blind altogether to the next world.
وَقَالَ
الَّذِينَ
كَفَرُوا أَئِذَا
كُنَّا تُرَابًا
وَآبَاؤُنَا
أَئِنَّا
لَمُخْرَجُونَ
﴿٦٧﴾
27: 67. The Unbelievers say:
"What! when we become dust, -- we and our fathers -- shall we really be raised (from the dead)?
لَقَدْ
وُعِدْنَا
هَذَا نَحْنُ
وَآبَاؤُنَا
مِن قَبْلُ...
27: 68. "It is true we were promised this -- we and our fathers before (us):
...إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ ﴿٦٨﴾
these are nothing but tales of the ancients."
Asad’s Version:
(27:66) nay, their knowledge of the life to come stops short of the truth:"
nay, they are [often] in doubt as to its reality: nay, they are blind to it. 65
27:67 And so, they who are bent on denying the truth are saying: "What! After we have become dust - we and our forefathers - shall we [all], forsooth, be brought forth [from the dead]?
(27:68) Indeed, we were promised this - we and our forefathers - in the past as well; it is nothing but fables of ancient times! "