40. Sura al Mu’min

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

ثُمَّ قِيلَ لَهُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تُشْرِكُونَ ﴿٧٣﴾

40: 73. Then shall it be said to them:

"Where are the (deities) to which ye gave part-worship --

مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ...

40: 74. "In derogation of Allah?"

... قَالُوا ضَلُّوا عَنَّا...

They will reply:

"They have left us in the lurch:

C4450. All falsehoods will vanish: Cf. 7:36.

The only Reality will be fully manifest even to those to whom Evil was made to seem alluring in the lower life. They will feel in their inmost souls that they had been pursuing mere shadows, things of no real existence. This was the result of their rejecting the Light and the Grace of Allah: they got entangled in the mazes of error.

... بَل لَّمْ نَكُن نَّدْعُو مِن قَبْلُ شَيْئًا ...

nay, we invoked not, of old, anything (that had real existence)."

... كَذَلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ الْكَافِرِينَ ﴿٧٤﴾

Thus does Allah leave the Unbelievers to stray.

ذَلِكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَفْرَحُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ...

40: 75. "That was because ye were wont to rejoice on the earth in things other than the Truth,

C4451. Allah does not withdraw His grace from any unless,

- they actively and deliberately take a delight in things that are vain or false, and

- they insolently reject the things that are truer-in other words, unless men are deliberately false to their own fights, as illuminated by the Light of Allah.

... وَبِمَا كُنتُمْ تَمْرَحُونَ ﴿٧٥﴾

and that ye were wont to be insolent.

ادْخُلُوا أَبْوَابَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا...

40: 76. "Enter ye the gates of Hell, to dwell therein:

C4452. Cf. 39:72.

... فَبِئْسَ مَثْوَى الْمُتَكَبِّرِينَ ﴿٧٦﴾

and evil is (this) abode of the arrogant!"

Asad’s Version:

40:73 And then they will be asked: "Where now are those [powers] to which you were wont to ascribe divinity

(40:74) side by side with God?" They will answer: "They have forsaken us - or, rather, what we were wont to invoke aforetime did not exist at all!" 54 [And they will be told:] "It is thus that God lets the deniers of the truth go astray: 55

(40:75) this is an outcome of your having arrogantly exulted on earth without any [concern for what is] right, and of your having been so full of self-conceit!

(40:76) Enter [now) the gates of hell, therein to abide: and how vile an abode for all who are given to false pride!"

Yuksel’s version

40:72 To the boiling water, then in the fire they will be burned.*

40:73 Then it will be said to them: "Where are those that you have set up as partners—

40:74 beside God?" They will say, "They have abandoned us. No, we used not to call on anything before!" Thus God leads the ingrates astray.

40:75 That was because you used to gloat on earth without any right, and for what you used to rejoice.

40:76 Enter the gates of hell, abiding therein. What a miserable abode for the arrogant ones.