20. [Ta’ha, Mecca 45]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
كُلُوا
مِن طَيِّبَاتِ
مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ...
20: 81. (Saying):
"Eat of the good things We have provided for your sustenance,
C2602. Cf. 2:57 and n. 71; and 7:160.
1 should like to construe this not only literally but also metaphorically.
'Allah has looked after you and saved you. He has given you ethical and spiritual guidance. Enjoy the fruits of all this, but do not become puffed up and rebellious (another meaning in the root Taga); otherwise the Wrath of Allah is sure to descend on you.'
...وَلَا تَطْغَوْا فِيهِ فَيَحِلَّ عَلَيْكُمْ غَضَبِي...
but commit no excess therein, lest My Wrath should justly descend on you:
...وَمَن يَحْلِلْ عَلَيْهِ غَضَبِي فَقَدْ هَوَى ﴿٨١﴾
and those on whom descends My Wrath do perish indeed!
C2603. This gives the key-note to Moses' constant tussle with his own people, and introduces immediately afterwards the incident of the golden calf.
(20:81)
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[[ Asad’s notes - [[Asad’s note -
66 There is almost complete unanimity among the classical commentators in that God's "condemnation" (ghadab, lit., "wrath") is a metonym for the inescapable retribution which man brings upon himself if he deliberately rejects God's guidance and "transgresses the bounds of equity".]]
[[Ali’s notes - 2601 Right side: Cf. xix. 52, and n. 2504, towards the end. The Arabian side of Sinai (Jabal Musa) was the place where Moses first received his commission before going to Egypt, and also where he received the Torah after the Exodus from Egypt. (20.80)
2602 Cf. ii. 57 and n. 71; and vii. 160. I should like to construe this not only literally but also metaphorically. 'Allah has looked after you and saved you. He has given you ethical and spiritual guidance. Enjoy the fruits of all this, but do not become puffed up and rebellious (another meaning in the root Taga); otherwise the Wrath of Allah is sure to descend on you.' (20.81)
2603 This gives the key-note to Moses's constant tussle with his own people, and introduces immediately afterwards the incident of the golden calf. (20.81) ]]
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21.[al-Aniybia, Mecca 73]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَكَمْ
قَصَمْنَا مِن
قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ
ظَالِمَةً...
21: 11. How many were the populations we utterly destroyed because of their iniquities,
...وَأَنشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ ﴿١١﴾
setting up in their places other peoples!
فَلَمَّا
أَحَسُّوا
بَأْسَنَا إِذَا
هُم مِّنْهَا
يَرْكُضُونَ
﴿١٢﴾
21: 12. Yet, when they felt Our Punishment (coming), behold, they (tried to) flee from it.
C2673. When they had every chance of repentance and reform, they rejected Allah's Message, and perhaps even put up an open defiance.
When they actually began to feel the Wrath coming, they began to flee, but it was too late! Besides, where could they flee to from the Wrath of Allah?
Hence the ironical appeal to them in the next verse: better go back to your luxuries and what you thought were your permanent homes!
Cf. Christ's saying in the present Gospel of St. Matthew (3:7):
"O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the Wrath to come?"
لَا
تَرْكُضُوا
وَارْجِعُوا
إِلَى مَا
أُتْرِفْتُمْ
فِيهِ وَمَسَاكِنِكُمْ
لَعَلَّكُمْ
تُسْأَلُونَ
﴿١٣﴾
21: 13. Flee not, but return to the good things of this life which were given you, and to your homes, in order that ye may be called to account.
C2674. See last note.
'You thought your homes so comfortable: why don't you go back to them? You will be called to account. Perhaps there may be rewards to be given you, who knows?
This irony is itself the beginning of the Punishment. But the ungodly now see how wrong they had been. But their signs and regrets now avail them nothing. It is too late. They are lost, and nothing can save them.
Asad’s Version:
21:11
For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and
raised another people in its stead! 14 (21:12} And [every time,] as soon as they began to feel
Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it –
(21:13)
(and at the same time they seemed
to hear a scornful voice]: "Do not try to flee, but return to all that [once] gave you pleasure and corrupted your whole being. 15 and [return] to your homes, so that you might be called to account [for what you have done] ! "
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[[Asad’s note - 15 For an explanation of the phrase ma utriftum fihi, see surah 11, note 147.
147 The verb tarifa means "he enjoyed a life of ease and plenty", while the participle mutraf denotes "one who enjoys a life of ease and plenty" or "indulges in the pleasures of life", i.e., to the exclusion of moral considerations. The form mutarraf has an additional significance, namely,
"one whom a life of softness and ease has caused to behave insolently", or "one whom the [exclusive] pursuit of the pleasures of life has corrupted" (Mughni ). Hence my above rendering of the phrase and utrifu fihi. ]]
