2. Surah Al Baqarah
The Quranic Text& Ali’s Version:
وَإِذَا
تَوَلَّى
سَعَى فِي الأَرْضِ
لِيُفْسِدَ
فِيِهَا وَيُهْلِكَ
الْحَرْثَ
وَالنَّسْلَ...
2: 205. When he turns his back, his aim everywhere is to spread mischief through the earth and destroy crops and cattle.
... وَاللّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الفَسَادَ ﴿٢٠٥﴾
But Allah loveth not mischief.
وَإِذَا
قِيلَ
لَهُ اتَّقِ
اللّهَ أَخَذَتْهُ
الْعِزَّةُ
بِالإِثْمِ...
2: 206. When it is said to him, "Fear Allah," he is led by arrogance to (more) crime.
... فَحَسْبُهُ جَهَنَّمُ وَلَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ ﴿٢٠٦﴾
Enough for him is Hell; an evil bed indeed (to lie on)!
C228. According to the English saying,
"As you have made your bed, so you must lie in it."
2: 205
Asad But whenever he prevails, he goes about the earth spreading corruption and destroying [man’s] tilth and progeny [note 189]: and God does not love corruption.
Pickthall And when he turneth away (from thee) his effort in the land is to make mischief therein and to destroy the crops and the cattle; and Allah loveth not mischief.
Transliteration Wa iza_ tawalla_ sa'a_ filardi liyufsida fiha_ wa yuhlikal harsa wan nasl(a), walla_hu la_ yuhibbulfasa_ d(a).
[Asad’s note 189 - …………..As regards the expression ‘harth’ (rendered by me as “tilth”), its primary significance is “gain” or “acquisition” through labor; and thus it often signifies “worldly goods”………….However, some commentators – basing their opinion on the Quranic sentence, “your wives are your tilth” (2:223) – maintain that ‘harth’ stands here for “wives”……………]
2: 206
Asad And whenever he is told, “Be conscious of God,” his false pride drive him into sin: wherever hell will be his allotted portion – and how vile a resting –place!
Pickthall And when it is said unto him: Be careful of thy duty to Allah, pride taketh him to sin. Hell will settle his account, an evil resting place.
Transliteration Wa iza_ qila lahut taqilla_ha akhazathul 'izzatu bil ismi fahasbuhu_ jahannam(u), wa labi'sal miha_d(u).
39. Az-Zumar (The Throngs)
Mecca Period 59 [75 verses]
Asad’s Version:
(39:57) or lest he should say, "If God had but guided me, I would surety have been among those who are conscious of Him!" –
(39:58) or lest he should say, when he becomes aware of the suffering [that awaits him], "Would that I had a second chance [in life], so that I could be among the doers of good!""
39:59 [But God will reply:] "Yea, indeed! My messages did come unto thee; but thou gavest them the lie, and were filled with false pride, and wert among those who deny the truth!"
(39:60) And [so,] on the Day of Resurrection thou wilt see all who invenied lies about God [with] their faces darkened [by grief and ignominy]. 62 Is not hell the [proper] abode for all who are given to false pride?"
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
أَوْ
تَقُولَ
لَوْ
أَنَّ
اللَّهَ
هَدَانِي
لَكُنتُ
مِنَ
الْمُتَّقِينَ
﴿٥٧﴾
39:57. "Or (lest) it should say:
'If only Allah had guided me, I should certainly have been among the righteous!' --
C4328. In the second place, we might be inclined to say,
'I wish I had received warning or guidance'. But this would not be true, because the warning and guidance are being conveyed in the clearest manner in Allah's Revelation. "that is the force of 'lest it should say'. It could have said so, had it not seen that the objection is clearly anticipated in the call to repent and in the seaming about the Hereafter.
أَوْ
تَقُولَ
حِينَ
تَرَى
الْعَذَابَ
...
39:58. "Or (lest) it should say when it (actually) sees the Penalty:
C4329. In the third place, when we stand face to face with the Penalty of our own deeds, we might say, 'I wish I had another chance' But not one, but many, chances are being given, especially when we are told (verse 53 above): 'Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful'. The force of 'lest it should say' here is the same as explained in the last note.
... لَوْ أَنَّ لِي كَرَّةً فَأَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ﴿٥٨﴾
'If only I had another chance I should certainly be among those who do good!'
بَلَى
قَدْ
جَاءتْكَ
آيَاتِي...
59. "(The reply will be)
C4330. The reply explains how all such pleas have been anticipated and met. It was deliberate rejection that will deserve and meet its consequences. It is further explained that the motive of sin, as with Satan, was haughtiness and Self. (R).
... فَكَذَّبْتَ بِهَا...
and thou didst reject them:
... وَاسْتَكْبَرْتَ...
thou wast haughty,
... وَكُنتَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ ﴿٥٩﴾
and became one of those who reject Faith!'"
C4331. Cf. 2:34.
The example of the arch-sinner illustrates what happens in a minor degree in every kind of sinner.
[[Asad’s notes - 59 Cf. 4:18 - "repentance shall not be accepted from those who do evil deeds until their dying hour, and then say, 'Behold, I now repent'; nor from those who die as deniers of the truth".
60 Whenever there is no clear indication that the term nafs has another meaning, it signifies a "human being"; hence, the personal pronouns relating to this term (which is feminine in Arabic) are masculine in my rendering. ]]