25. [al-Furqan, Mecca 42]
Asad’s Version:
25:4
Moreover, those who are bent on denying the truth are wont to say, "This (Qur'an] is nothing but a lie which he (himself) has devised with the help of other people: who thereupon have perverted the truth and brought a falsehood into being." 6
25:5 And they say, "Fables of ancient times which he has caused to be written down, 7 so that they might be read out to him at morn and evening!"
(25:6) Say [O Muhammad]: "He who knows all the mysteries of the heavens and the earth has bestowed from on high this (Qur'an upon me)! Verily, He is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace!"
25:7 Yet they say: "What sort of apostle is this [man] who eats food (like all other mortals] and goes about in the market-places? Why has not an angel (visibly] been sent down unto him, to act as a warner together with him?"
(25:8) Or: "(Why has not] a treasure been granted to him (by God)?" Or: "He should (at least] have a (bountiful] garden, so that he could eat thereof [without effort]!" 8
And so these evildoers say (unto one another], "If you were to follow (Muhammad, you would follow) but a man bewitched!"
25:9 See to what they liken thee, [O Prophet, simply] because they have gone astray and are now unable to find a way (to the truth)!
(25:10) Hallowed is He who, if it be His will, shall give thee something better than that (whereof they speak] - gardens through which running waters flow - and shall assign to thee mansions (of bliss in the life to come].
25:11
But nay! It is (the very coming of] the Last Hour to which they give the lie! However, for such as give the lie to [the announcement of] the Last Hour We have readied a blazing flame: (25: 12) when it shall face them from afar,' they will hear its angry roar and its hiss; (25: 13) and when they are flung, linked [all) together, into a tight space within, they will pray for extinction there and then! 10
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَقَالَ
الَّذِينَ
كَفَرُوا إِنْ
هَذَا إِلَّا
إِفْكٌ افْتَرَاهُ
وَأَعَانَهُ
عَلَيْهِ قَوْمٌ
آخَرُونَ...
25: 4. But the Misbelievers say:
"Naught is this but a lie which he has forged, and others have helped him at it."
C3057. Ifk, which I have translated a "lie" may be distinguished from zur at the end of this verse, translated "falsehood".
The "lie" which the enemies attributed to the holy Prophet of Allah was supposed to be something which did not exist in reality, but was invented by him with the aid of other people: the implication was that:
- the Revelation was not a revelation but a forgery,
- and that the things revealed e.g. the news of the Hereafter, the Resurrection, the Judgment, the Bliss of the Righteous and the sufferings of the Evil, were fanciful and had no basis in fact.
Delusion is also suggested.
The reply is that, so far from that being the case, the facts were true and the charges were false (zar),-the falsehood being due to the habits of iniquity for which the Misbelievers' whole mental and spiritual attitude was responsible. (R).
... فَقَدْ جَاؤُوا ظُلْمًا وَزُورًا ﴿٤﴾
In truth it is they who have put forward an iniquity and a falsehood.
وَقَالُوا
أَسَاطِيرُ
الْأَوَّلِينَ
اكْتَتَبَهَا
فَهِيَ تُمْلَى
عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً
وَأَصِيلًا
﴿٥﴾
25: 5. And they say:
"Tales of the ancients, which he has caused to be written: and they are dictated before him morning and evening."
C3058. In their misguided arrogance they say: 'We have heard such things before; they are pretty tales which have come down from ancient times; they are good for amusement, but who takes them seriously?'
When the beauty and power of the Revelation are pointed out, and its miracle as coming from an unlearned man, they again hint at other men who wrote them, though they could not produce any one who could write anything like it.
قُلْ
أَنزَلَهُ
الَّذِي يَعْلَمُ
السِّرَّ فِي
السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضِ...
25: 6. Say:
"This (Qur'án) was sent down by Him Who knows the Mystery (that is) in the heavens and the earth:
C3059. The answer is that the Quran teaches spiritual knowledge of what is ordinarily hidden from men's sight, and such knowledge can only come from Allah, to Whom alone is known the secret of the whole Creation.
In spite of man's sin and shortcomings, He forgives, and He sends His most precious gift, i.e., the revelation of His Will.
... إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا ﴿٦﴾
verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."
وَقَالُوا
مَالِ هَذَا
الرَّسُولِ
يَأْكُلُ الطَّعَامَ
وَيَمْشِي فِي
الْأَسْوَاقِ...
25: 7. And they say:
"What sort of a messenger is this, who eats food, and walks through the streets?
... لَوْلَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مَلَكٌ فَيَكُونَ مَعَهُ نَذِيرًا ﴿٧﴾
Why has not an angel been sent down to him to give admonition with him?
C3060. This is another objection:
'He is only a man like us: why is not an angel sent down, if not by himself, at least with him?'
The answer is:
angels would be of no use to men as Messengers, as they and men would not understand each other, and if angels came, it might cause more confusion and wonder than understanding in men's minds.
The office of an angel is different. A teacher for mankind is one who shares their nature, mingles in their life, is acquainted with their doings, and sympathises with their joys and sorrows.
أَوْ
يُلْقَى
إِلَيْهِ كَنزٌ
...
25: 8. "Or (why) has not a treasure been bestowed on him,
... أَوْ تَكُونُ لَهُ جَنَّةٌ يَأْكُلُ مِنْهَا...
or why has he (not) a garden for enjoyment?"
C3061. Literally, 'that he may eat out of it'.
As shown in n. 776 to 5:66, akala (to eat) has a comprehensive meaning, implying enjoyment of all kinds.
Here the garden itself stands for a type of the amenities of life: its fruits would be available for eating, its coolness for rest and refreshment, its waters and its landscape for aesthetic delight.
... وَقَالَ الظَّالِمُونَ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا رَجُلًا مَّسْحُورًا ﴿٨﴾
The wicked say: "Ye follow none other than a man bewitched."
C3062. Cf. 17:47.
This speech, of the wicked or the ungodly, is meant to be even more bitter than that of the Misbelievers. It makes out the Prophet to be a demented fool!
انظُرْ
كَيْفَ ضَرَبُوا
لَكَ الْأَمْثَالَ
...
25: 9. See what kinds of companions they make for thee!
... فَضَلُّوا فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَبِيلًا ﴿٩﴾
But they have gone astray, and never a way will they be able to find!
C3063. The charges the enemies made against the Messenger of Allah recoiled on those who made them. The Messenger was vindicated, and went from strength to strength, for Allah's Truth will always prevail.
The men who perversely leave the way of truth, righteousness, and sincerity, have not only missed the Way, but on account of their perversity they will never be able to find any way by which they can get back to Truth.
تَبَارَكَ
الَّذِي إِن
شَاء جَعَلَ
لَكَ خَيْرًا
مِّن ذَلِكَ
جَنَّاتٍ...
25: 10. Blessed is He Who, if that were His will, could give thee better (things) than those -- Gardens
The reminiscent phrase shows that the first argument, about the Revelation and Prophethood, is completed, and we now pass on to the contrast, the fate of the rejecters of both.
... تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ وَيَجْعَل لَّكَ قُصُورًا ﴿١٠﴾
beneath which rivers flow; and He could give thee Palaces (secure to dwell in).
C3065. This phrase is usually symbolized of the Bliss in the Hereafter. If it were Allah's Plan, He could give his Messengers complete felicity and power in this life also. Instead of being persecuted, mocked, driven out of their homes, and having to exert their utmost powers of body, mind, and character to plant the flag of Truth in an unbelieving world, they could have lived in ease and security. But that would not have given the real lessons they came to teach struggling humanity by their example.
[[ Asad’s notes - 5 Implying that the Qur'an, or most of it, is based on Judaeo-Christian teachings allegedly communicated to Muhammad by some unnamed foreigners (cf 16:103 and the corresponding notes, especially note 130) or, alternatively, by various Arab converts to Judaism or Christianity; furthermore, that Muhammad had either deceived himself into believing that the Qur'an was a divine revelation, or had deliberately - knowing that it was not so - attributed it to God.
6 Lit., "and thus, indeed, have they come with [or "brought"] a perversion of the truth" [which obviously is the meaning of zuim in this context "and a falsehood". Whereas it is generally assumed that this clause constitutes a Qur'anic rebuttal of the malicious allegation expressed in the preceding clause, I am of the opinion that it forms part of that allegation, making the mythical "helpers" of Muhammad co-responsible, as it were, for the "invention" of the Qur'an.
7 Because it was known to his contemporaries that he was unlettered (ummi) and could not read and write.
8 A sarcastic allusion to the "gardens of paradise" of which the Qur'an so often speaks. (Cf.l3:38 and the corresponding notes 74 and 75; also 5:75 and 21 :7-8.)
9 Lit., "When it shall see them from a far-off place": a metaphorical allusion, it would seem, to the moment of their death on earth. As in many other instances, we are given here a subtle verbal hint of the allegorical nature of the Qur'anic descriptions of conditions in the life to come by a rhetoncal " transfer" of man' s faculty of seeing to the oblect of his seeing : a usage which Zamakhshari explicitly characterizes as metaphorical ('ala' sabil al-majaz).
10 For a tentative explanation of the allegory of the sinners' being "linked together" in hell, see my note 64 on 14:49. As regards the "tight space" into which they will be flung, Zamakhshari remarks: "Distress is accompanied by [a feeling of] constriction, just as happiness is accompanied by [a feeling of] spaciousness; and because of this, God has described paradise as being 'as vast as the heavens and the earth [3 : 1 3 3] . " ]]