3. Surah Al-Imran

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

هَـذَا...

3: 165. What! when a single disaster smites you, although ye smote (your enemies) with one twice as great, do ye say?

"Whence is this?"

...قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنْفُسِكُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ﴿١٦٥﴾

Say (to them): "It is from yourselves:

for Allah hath power over all things."

C474. If Uhud was a reverse to the Muslims, they had inflicted a reverse twice as great on the Makkans at Badr.

This reverse was not without Allah's permission, for He wanted to test and purify the faith of those who followed Islam, and to show them that they must strive and do all in their power to deserve Allah's help.

If they disobeyed orders and neglected discipline, they must attribute the disaster to themselves and not to Allah.

وَمَا أَصَابَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْتَقَى الْجَمْعَانِ فَبِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ

3: 165, 166 Verily, God has the power to will anything and all that befell you on the day when the two hosts met in battle happened by God's leave, so that He might mark out….

Others version:

3: 165

Asad And do you, now that a calamity has befallen you after you had inflicted twice as much [on your foes] [note 126], ask yourselves, “How has this come about?” Say: “It has come from your own selves.”[note 127]. Verily, God has the power to will anything:

Pickthall And was it so, when a disaster smote you, though ye had smitten (them with a disaster) twice (as great), that ye said: How is this? Say (unto them, O Muhammad): It is from yourselves. Lo! Allah is Able to do all things.

Yuksel It was when you suffered setback. Even though you afflicted them with twice as much setback, you said, "Where is this coming from?" Say, "It is from yourselves." God is capable of all things.

Transliteration Awalamma_ asa_batkum musibatun qad asabtum mislaiha_, qultum anna_ ha_za_, qul huwa min 'indi anfusikum, innalla_ha 'ala_ kulli syai'in qadir(un).

[[ Asad’s notes – 126 I.e., at the battle of Badr, in the year 2 H.

127 – Many of the followers of the Prophet had been convinced that, whatever the

circumstances, God would grant them victory on account of their faith alone. The bitter experience at Uhud came as a shock to them; and so the Quran reminds them that this calamity was a consequence of their own doings.]]