25. Surah Al Furqan

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهًا آخَرَ...

25:68. Those who invoke not, with Allah, any other god,

وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ...

nor slay such life as Allah has made sacred, except for just cause,

not commit fornication --

C3128. Here three things are expressly condemned:

- false worship, which is a crime against Allah;

- the taking of life, which is a crime against our fellow-creatures; and

- fornication, which is a crime against our self-respect, against ourselves.

Every crime is against Allah, His creatures, and ourselves, but some may be viewed more in relation to one than to another.

The prohibition against taking life is qualified: "except for just cause,": e.g., in judicial punishment for murder, or in self-preservation, which may include not only self-defence in the legal sense, but also the clearing out of pests, and the provision of meat under conditions of Halal.- see n. 698 to 5:5. After this comes a long parenthesis, which ends with verse 71 below.

... وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا ﴿٦٨﴾

and any that does this (not only) meets punishment.

يُضَاعَفْ لَهُ الْعَذَابُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَيَخْلُدْ فِيهِ مُهَانًا ﴿٦٩﴾

25:69. (But) the Penalty on the Day of Judgment will be doubled to him, and he will dwell therein in ignominy-

C3129. The three crimes just mentioned are specially detestable and infamous, and as ignominy will be added to other punishments, the penalty will be double that of ordinary punishment.