67.Surah Al-Mulk
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
قَالُوا بَلَى قَدْ جَاءنَا نَذِيرٌ فَكَذَّبْنَا وَقُلْنَا مَا نَزَّلَ اللَّهُ مِن شَيْءٍ ...
67: 9. They will say:
"Yes indeed: a Warner did come to us, but we rejected him and said, '
Allah never sent down any (Message):
إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ كَبِيرٍ ﴿٩﴾
ye are in nothing but an egregious delusion!' "
C5566. Allah's Signs were not only rejected or defied, but their very existence was denied.
Nay, more, even their possibility was denied, and alas! righteous people and Prophets were persecuted or mocked (36:30). They were called fools or madmen, or men under a delusion!
وَقَالُوا لَوْ كُنَّا نَسْمَعُ أَوْ نَعْقِلُ مَا كُنَّا فِي أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ ﴿١٠﴾
67: 10. They will further say:
"Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we should not (now) be among the Companions of the Blazing Fire!"
C5567. Man has himself the power given to him to distinguish good from evil, and he is further helped by the teachings of the great Messengers or World Teachers. Where such Teachers do not come into personal contact with an individual or a generation, the true meaning of their teaching can be understood by means of the Reason which Allah has given to every human soul to judge by. It is failure to follow a man's light sincerely that leads to his degradation and destruction.
67: 11. They will then confess their sins:
C5568. They will then have passed through the fire of Judgment and will now be in the fire of Punishment. The Reality will not only now be clear to them, but after the questionings of the angels they cannot even pretend to make any excuses. They will freely confess, but that is not repentance, for repentance implies amendment, and the time for repentance and amendment will have long been past.
... فَسُحْقًا لِّأَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ ﴿١١﴾
but far will be (Forgiveness) from the Companions of the Blazing Fire!
Asad’s Version:
(67:6) for, suffering in hell awaits all who are [thus] bent on blaspheming against their Sustainer: 6 and how vile a journey's end!
67:7 When they are cast into that [hell], they will hear its breath indrawing as it boils up,
(67:8) well-nigh bursting with fury; [and] every time a host [of such sinners] is flung into it, its keepers will ask them, "Has no warner ever come to you?"
(67:9) They will reply: "Yea, a warner did indeed come unto us, but we gave him the lie and said, 'Never has God sent down anything [by way of revelation] ! You [self-styled warners] are but lost in a great delusion!" 7
67:10 And they will add: "Had we but listened [to those warnings], or [at least] used our own reason, we would not [now] be among those who are destined for the blazing flame!""
(67:11) Thus will they come to realize their sins: but [by that time,] remote will have become all good from those who are destined for the blazing flame.
[[Asad’s notes - 6 I.e., by presuming to know what will happen in the future - a knowledge which rests with God alone. This connects with the statement in verse 4 that man can never truly unravel the mysteries of cosmic space ("the heavens"), which in its turn implies that he should not presume to foretell terrestrial events from the position and the aspects of the stars. Since only God knows "that which is beyond the reach of a created being's perception" (al-ghayb), any such attempt is a blasphemy (kufr).
7 Lit., "You are in nothing but a great error (dalal)" - thus denying the reality of divine revelation as such. ]]