. Sura al-Furqan, Mecca 42
The Quranic text and Ali’s version
أَمْ
تَحْسَبُ
أَنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ
يَسْمَعُونَ
أَوْ يَعْقِلُونَ...
44. Or thinkest thou that most of them listen or understand?
... إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا كَالْأَنْعَامِ ...
... بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلًا ﴿٤٤﴾
nay, they are worse astray in Path.
Asad’s version
(25:44) Or dost thou think that most of them listen [to thy message] and use their reason? Nay, they are but like cattle - nay, they are even less conscious of the right way! 37
[[Asad’s notes - 37 Lit., "they are farther astray from the path [of truth]": see note 144 on 7:179.
38 I.e., "We cause it to contract in accordance with the 'laws of nature' which We Ourselves have instituted." As in so many other instances in the Qur'an, the abrupt change from the third-person pronoun "He" to "We" is meant to illustrate the fact that God is undefinable, and that it is only the inadequacy of human speech - and, hence, of the human mind - that makes it necessary to refer to the Supreme Being by pronouns which in reality are applicable only to finite-created "persons" (cf. Foreword,note 2).]]