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."
قُلْ
سِيرُوا فِي
الْأَرْضِ
فَانظُرُوا
كَيْفَ كَانَ
عَاقِبَةُ
الْمُجْرِمِينَ
﴿٦٩﴾
27: 69. Say: "Go ye through the earth and see what has been the end of those guilty (of sin)."
C3305. Even if the Unbelievers are unwilling to take any doctrine, they have only to observe what has actually happened on the earth, and they will see that evil always came to an evil end, and that Truth and righteousness ultimately won.
وَلَا
تَحْزَنْ عَلَيْهِمْ
وَلَا تَكُن
فِي ضَيْقٍ
مِّمَّا يَمْكُرُونَ
﴿٧٠﴾
27: 70. But grieve not over them, nor distress thyself because of their plots.
C3306. Cf. 16:127, and n. 2164.
'The righteous need not worry over the unjust. The plots of the unjust can never defeat or deflect the purpose of Allah.
وَيَقُولُونَ
مَتَى
هَذَا الْوَعْدُ
إِن كُنتُمْ
صَادِقِينَ
﴿٧١﴾
27: 71. They also say: "When will this promise (come to pass)?
(Say) if ye are truthful."
قُلْ
عَسَى أَن يَكُونَ
رَدِفَ لَكُم
بَعْضُ الَّذِي
تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ
﴿٧٢﴾
27: 72. Say: "It may be that some of the events which ye wish to hasten on may be (close) in your pursuit!"
C3307. The Unbelievers -or even men of half-hearted faith- may say, "Why worry over distant future events? Take the day as it comes!"
But that is a fallacy. Judgment is certain, and it may be that this very hour may be the hour of doom for any given individual.
This is the hour of repentance and amendment. For Allah wishes well to all mankind in spite of their ingratitude.
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! "
27:69 Say: "Go all over the earth and behold what happened in the end to those [who were thus] lost in sin
(27:70) But do not grieve over them, and neither be distressed by the false arguments which they devise [against God's messages]. 67
(27:71) And [when] they ask, "When is this promise [of resurrection] to be fulfilled? [Answer this, O you who believe in it,] if you are men of truth!" –
(27:72) say thou: "It may well be that something of that which [in your
ignorance] you so hastily demand'" has already drawn close unto you...."
[[Asad’s note - 67 Lit., "by their scheming". For the Qur'anic use of the term makr in the sense of "devising false arguments [against something]", see 10:21 and the corresponding note 33. ]]