7.Surah al-Araf
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَنَادَى
أَصْحَابُ
الأَعْرَافِ
رِجَالاً
يَعْرِفُونَهُمْ
بِسِيمَاهُمْ...
7: 48. The men on the heights will call to certain men whom they will know from their marks,
...قَالُواْ مَا أَغْنَى عَنكُمْ جَمْعُكُمْ وَمَا كُنتُمْ تَسْتَكْبِرُونَ ﴿٤٨﴾
saying: "Of what profit to you were you hoards and your arrogant ways?
C1027. This speech is in three parts:
1. the last lines of this verse are addressed to the Companions of the Fire, reminding them (as a bench of judges might speak to a prisoner) of the futility of their wealth and riches and arrogance in their earthly life:
2. the second part, in the first half of verse 49, recalls to their minds how false was their contempt of the good but lowly men who are now to be the inheritors of heaven: and
3. the latter part of verse 49, "enter ye the Garden" is addressed to the Blessed, to give them a welcome to their state of felicity.
أَهَـؤُلاء
الَّذِينَ
أَقْسَمْتُمْ
لاَ
يَنَالُهُمُ
اللّهُ
بِرَحْمَةٍ...
7: 49. "Behold! are these not the men whom you swore that Allah with His mercy would never bless?
...ادْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلاَ أَنتُمْ تَحْزَنُونَ ﴿٤٩﴾
Enter ye the garden:
no fear shall be on you, nor shall ye grieve."
وَنَادَى
أَصْحَابُ
النَّارِ
أَصْحَابَ
الْجَنَّةِ
أَنْ
أَفِيضُواْ
عَلَيْنَا
مِنَ
الْمَاء
أَوْ
مِمَّا
رَزَقَكُمُ
اللّهُ...
7: 50. The companions of the fire will call to the companions of the garden;
"Pour down to us water or anything that Allah doth provide for your sustenance."
...قَالُواْ إِنَّ اللّهَ حَرَّمَهُمَا عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ ﴿٥٠﴾
They will say:
"Both these things hath Allah forbidden to those who rejected Him.
C1028. The Companions of the Fire will thirst for water and not get it, and for sustenance which will not be theirs, while the Companions of the Garden will have the crystal waters of the springs and rivers and they will enjoy the bliss of Allah's Countenance, which will be their supreme nourishment and the fruit of their life of probation and seeking. These things will not be transferable.
Cf. also 37:41-47, 62-67. (R).
الَّذِينَ
اتَّخَذُواْ
دِينَهُمْ
لَهْوًا
وَلَعِبًا
وَغَرَّتْهُمُ
الْحَيَاةُ
الدُّنْيَا...
7: 51. "Such as took their religion to be mere amusement and play, and were deceived by the life of the world."
...فَالْيَوْمَ نَنسَاهُمْ كَمَا نَسُواْ لِقَاء يَوْمِهِمْ هَـذَا...
That day shall We forget them as they forgot the meeting of this day of theirs,
C1029. "Forgetfulness" may be involuntary, from a defect of memory, or figuratively, a deliberate turning away from, or ignoring of, something we do not want, as when we say in an argument, "you conveniently forget that so- and-so is so-and-so." Here the latter kind is meant.
If men deliberately ignored the Hereafter in spite of warnings, can they expect to be received by Allah, Whom they themselves rejected?
...وَمَا كَانُواْ بِآيَاتِنَا يَجْحَدُونَ ﴿٥١﴾
and as they were wont to reject Our signs.
ثُمَّ
عَفَوْنَا
عَنكُمِ مِّن
بَعْدِ ...
7: 52. Even then We did forgive you;
C67. Moses prayed for his people, and Allah forgave them. This is the language of the Quran.
The Old Testament version is rougher:
"The Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people": Exod. 32:14.
The Muslim position has always been that the Jewish (and Christian) scriptures as they stand cannot be traced direct to Moses or Jesus, but are later compilations. Modern scholarship and Higher Criticism has left no doubt on the subject. But the stories in these traditional books may be used in an appeal to those who use them: only they should be spiritualized, as they are here, and especially in 2:54 below.
... ذَلِكَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿٥٢﴾
there was a chance for you to be grateful.
وَإِذْ
آتَيْنَا
مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ
وَالْفُرْقَانَ
...
7: 53. And remember We gave Moses the Scripture and the criterion (between right and wrong),
C68. Allah's revelation, the expression of Allah's Will, is the true standard of right and wrong. It may be in a Book or in Allah's dealings in history. All these may be called His Signs or Miracles.
In this passage some commentators take the Scripture and the Criterion (Furqan) to be identical.
Others take them to be two distinct things:
- Scripture being the written Book and
- the Criterion being other Signs.
I agree with the latter view.
The word Furqan also occurs in 21:48 in connection with Moses and Aaron and in the first verse of Surah 25, as well as in its title, in connection with Muhammad.
As Aaron received no Book, Furqan must mean the other Signs.
Mustafa had both the Book and the other Signs: perhaps here too we take the other Signs as supplementing the Book.
Cf. Words worth's "Arbiter undisturbed of right and wrong." (Prelude, Book 4)
... لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ ﴿٥٣﴾
there was a chance for you to be guided aright.
Others version:
7: 48
Asad And they who [in life] has possessed this faculty of discernment will call out to those…….”What has your amassing [of wealth] availed you, and all the false pride of your past?”
Pickthall And the dwellers on the Heights call unto men whom they know by their marks, (saying): What did your multitude and that in which ye took your pride avail you?
Transliteration Wa na_da_ asha_bul a'ra_fi rija_lay ya'rifu_nahum bi sima_hum qa_lu_ ma_ agna_ 'ankum jam'ukum wa ma_ kuntum tastakbiru_n(a).
[[ Ruby’s comment – I disagree with Asad here: this faculty of discernment is given to everyone, each human being, whether they use it or not that is a different question. I do not know this meaning of the word “araf” is appropriate here or not. ]]
7: 49
Pickthall Are these they of whom ye swore that Allah would not show them mercy? (Unto them it hath been said): Enter the Garden. No fear shall come upon you nor is it ye who will grieve.
Transliteration Aha_'ula_'il lazina aqsamtum la_ yana_luhumulla_hu bi rahmah(tin), udkhulul jannata la_ khaufun 'alaikum wa la_ antum tahzanu_n(a).
7: 50
Pickthall And the dwellers of the Fire cry out unto the dwellers of the Garden; Pour on us some water or some of that where with Allah hath provided you. They say: Lo! Allah hath forbidden both to disbelievers (in His guidance),
Transliteration Wa na_da_ asha_bun na_ri asha_bal jannati an afidu_ 'alaina_ minal ma_'i au mimma_ razaqakumulla_h(u), qa_lu_ innalla_ha harramahuma_ 'alal ka_firin(a).
7: 51
Pickthall Who took their religion for a sport and pastime, and whom the life of the world beguiled. So this day We have forgotten them even as they forgot the meeting of this Day and as they used to deny Our tokens.
Transliteration Allazinattakhazu_ dinahum lahwaw wa la'ibaw wa garrathumul haya_tud dunya_, fal yauma nansa_hum kama_ nasu_ liqa_'a yaumihim ha_za_, wa ma_ ka_nu_ bi a_ya_tina_ yajhadu_n(a).
7: 52
Pickthall Verily We have brought them a Scripture which We expound with knowledge, a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe.
Transliteration Wa laqad ji'na_kum bi kita_bin fassalna_hu 'ala_ 'ilmin hudaw wa rahmatal liqaumiy yu'minu_n(a).
7: 53
Pickthall Await they aught save the fulfillment thereof? On the day when the fulfillment thereof cometh, those who were before forgetful thereof will say: The messengers of our Lord did bring the Truth! Have we any intercessors, that they may intercede for us? Or can we be returned (to life on earth), that we may act otherwise than we used to act? They have lost their souls, and that which they devised hath failed them.
Transliteration Hal yanzuru_na illa_ ta'wilah(a_), yauma ya'ti ta'wiluhu_ yaqu_lul lazina nasu_hu min qablu qad ja_'at rusulu rabbina_ bil haqq(i), fahal lana_ min syufa'a_'a fa yasyfa'u_ lana_ au nuraddu fa na'mala gairal lazi kunna_ na'mal(u), qad khasiru_ anfusahum wa dalla 'anhum ma_ ka_nu_ yaftaru_n(a).