20. [Taha, Mecca 45]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
قَالَ رَبِّ لِمَ حَشَرْتَنِي أَعْمَى وَقَدْ كُنتُ بَصِيرًا ﴿١٢٥﴾
20: 125. He will say: "O my Lord! why hast thou raised me up blind, while I had sight (before)?"
C2649. Because Allah gave him physical sight in this life for trial, he thinks he should be favoured in the real world, the world that matters! He misused his physical sight and made himself blind for the other world.
قَالَ كَذَلِكَ أَتَتْكَ آيَاتُنَا فَنَسِيتَهَا...
20: 126. (Allah) will say:
"Thus didst thou, when Our Signs came unto thee, disregard them:
...وَكَذَلِكَ الْيَوْمَ تُنسَى ﴿١٢٦﴾
so wilt thou, this day, be disregarded."
C2650. 'You were deliberately blind to Allah's Signs: now you will not see Allah's favours, and will be excluded from His Grace.
وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي مَنْ أَسْرَفَ وَلَمْ يُؤْمِن بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِ...
20: 127. And thus do We recompense him who transgresses beyond bounds and believes not in the Signs of his Lord:
...وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَشَدُّ وَأَبْقَى ﴿١٢٧﴾
and the Penalty of the Hereafter is far more grievous and more enduring.
C2651. Blindness in the world of enduring Reality is far worse than physical blindness in the world of probation.
أَفَلَمْ يَهْدِ لَهُمْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ الْقُرُونِ...
20: 128. It is not a warning to such men (to call to mind) how many generations before them We destroyed,
...يَمْشُونَ فِي مَسَاكِنِهِمْ...
in whose haunts they (now) move?
...إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي النُّهَى ﴿١٢٨﴾
Verily, in this are Signs for men endued with understanding.
C2652. Cf. 20:54.
This phrase concluded the argument of Moses with Pharaoh about Pharaoh's blindness to Allah and the Signs of Allah.
Now it concludes the more general argument about men, concerning whom the saying arose: 'none are so blind as those who will not see.'
Asad’s Version:
[[20:125
[And so, on Resurrection Day, the sinner] will ask: "O my Sustainer! Why hast Thou raised me up blind, whereas [on earth] I was endowed with sight?"
(20:126) [God] will reply: "Thus it is: there came unto thee Our messages, but thou wert oblivious of them; and thus shalt thou
be today consigned to oblivion!"
20:127
For, thus shall We recompense him who wastes his own self... and does not believe in his Sustainer's messages: and, indeed, the suffering [of such sinners] in the life to come shall be most severe and most enduring!
20:128
CAN, THEN, they [who reject the truth] learn no lesson by recalling how many a generation We have destroyed before their time? 111 " - [people] in whose dwelling-places they [themselves now] walk about? In this, behold, there are messages indeed for those who are endowed with
reason! ]]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَلَا تَمُدَّنَّ عَيْنَيْكَ إِلَى مَا مَتَّعْنَا بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا مِّنْهُمْ...
20: 131. Nor strain thine eyes in longing for the things We have given for enjoyment to parties of them,
...زَهْرَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنيَا لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ...
the splendor of the life of this world, through which We test them:
...وَرِزْقُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى ﴿١٣١﴾
but the provision of thy Lord is better and more enduring.
C2656. The good things of this life make a brave show, but they are as nothing compared with the good of the Hereafter.
Both are provided by Allah. But the former are given to the just and the unjust as a test and trial, and in any case will pass away; while the latter come specially from Allah for His devoted servants, and are incomparably of more value and will last through eternity.
Others version:
20:131
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[[Asad’s notes - 115 Lit., "groups for "kinds"] of them" (azwajanminhum ). According to most of the commentators, this relates to the deniers of the truth spoken of in the preceding passages; but since the above
injunction has obviously a wider purport, condemning envy in general, I have rendered this expression as "so many others".
116 Implying that whatever God grants a person is an outcome of divine wisdom and, therefore, truly appropriate to the destiny which God has decreed for that person. Alternatively, the phrase may be understood as referring to the life to come and the spiritual sustenance which God bestows upon the righteous. ]]
[[Ali’s notes -
2656 The good things of this life make a brave show, but they are as nothing compared with the good of the Hereafter. Both are provided by Allah. But the former are given to the just and the unjust as a test and trial, and in any case will pass away; while the latter come specially from Allah for His devoted servants, and are incomparably of more value and will last through eternity. (20.131) ]]