7. Sura al-Araf

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

فَرِيقًا هَدَى وَفَرِيقًا حَقَّ عَلَيْهِمُ الضَّلاَلَةُ...

7: 30. Some He hath guided:

others have (by their choice) deserved the loss of their way:

C1012. Guidance is for all. But in some it takes effect: in others the doors are closed against it, because they have taken Satan for their friend.

If they have lost their way, they have richly deserved it; for they deliberately took their choice, even though, in their self-righteousness, they may think that their sin is their virtue, and that their Evil is their Good.

...إِنَّهُمُ اتَّخَذُوا الشَّيَاطِينَ أَوْلِيَاء مِن دُونِ اللّهِ وَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُم مُّهْتَدُونَ ﴿٣٠﴾

in that they took the evil ones, in preference to Allah, for their friends and protectors, and think that they receive guidance.

Others version:

7: 30

Asad some [of you] He will have graced with His guidance, whereas for some a straying from the right path will have become unavoidable [note 22]: for, behold, they will have taken [their own] evil impulses for their masters in preference to God, thinking all the while that they have found the right path!”

Pickthall A party hath He led aright, while error hath just hold over (another) party, for lo! they choose the devils for protecting friends instead of Allah and deem that they are rightly guided.

Transliteration Fariqan hada_ wa fariqan haqqa 'alaihimud dala_lah(tu), innahumuttakhazusy syaya_tina auliya_'a min du_nilla_hi wa yahsabu_na annahum muhtadu_n(a).

[[ Ruby’s note – This indicates why one can lose God’s guidance when one chose deliberately a wrong path.]

[[ Asad’s note 22 – Lit., “will have become incumbent upon them” (haqqa alayhim), implying that this straying was an inevitable consequence of their own doings and attitudes.]]