47 Muhammad [38 verses]

Medina 95

Asad’s Version:


47:22 [Ask them:) "Would you, perchance, after having turned away [from God's commandment, prefer to revert to your old ways, and] spread corruption on earth, and [once again) cut asunder your ties of kinship? 28


(47:23) It is such as these whom God rejects, and whom He makes deaf [to the voice of truth], and whose eyes He blinds [to its sight]! 29 '


47:24) Will they not, then, ponder over this Qur'an? - or are there locks upon their hearts?


47:25 VERILY, those who turn their backs [on this message] after guidance has been vouchsafed to them, [do it because] Satan has embellished their fancies and filled them with false hopes:


(47:26) [they do turn their backs on it) inasmuch as 30 they are wont to say unto those who abhor all that God has revealed, "We will comply with your views on some points." 31 But God knows their secret thoughts:


(47:27) hence, how [will they fare) when the angels gather them in death, striking their faces and their backs? 32


(47:28) This, because they were wont to pursue what God condemns, and to hate [whatever would meet with] His goodly acceptance: 33 and so He has caused all their [good] deeds to come to nought.

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:


فَهَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِن تَوَلَّيْتُمْ أَن تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَتُقَطِّعُوا أَرْحَامَكُمْ ﴿٢٢﴾

47:22. Then, is it to be expected of you, if ye will do no mischief in the land, and break your ties of kith and kin?

C4847. It is no use to say, as the Quraish said, that it is not seemly to fight against kith and kin. From one point of view the stand against sin brings "not peace, but a sword". It is a case of either subduing evil or being subdued by evil. If evil gets the upper hand, it is not likely to respect ties of kith and kin. It did not in the case of the holy Prophet and his adherents, and had to be suppressed, to bring about the conditions necessary for peace.

أُوْلَئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ فَأَصَمَّهُمْ وَأَعْمَى أَبْصَارَهُمْ ﴿٢٣﴾

47:23. Such are the men whom Allah has cursed for He has made them deaf and blinded their sight.

C4848. Cursed: i.e., deprived of His Grace: left them straying, because they deliberately rejected His guidance. The result is that what they hear is as if they had not heard, and what they see is as if they had not seen.

They have no desire to understand Allah's Will or Allah's Revelation;-

or is it that they have themselves locked and bolted their hearts and minds, so that nothing can penetrate them?

أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ أَمْ عَلَى قُلُوبٍ أَقْفَالُهَا ﴿٢٤﴾

47:24. Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur'án, or are their hearts locked up by them?

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ ارْتَدُّوا عَلَى أَدْبَارِهِم مِّن بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الْهُدَى...

47:25. Those who turn back as apostates after Guidance was clearly shown to them,

C4849. Such men are entirely in the hands of Satan. They follow his suggestions, and their hopes are built on his deceptions.

...الشَّيْطَانُ سَوَّلَ لَهُمْ وَأَمْلَى لَهُمْ ﴿٢٥﴾

the Evil One has instigated them and buoyed them up with false hopes.

ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا لِلَّذِينَ كَرِهُوا مَا نَزَّلَ اللَّهُ ...

47:26. This, because they said to those who hate what Allah has revealed,

C4850. They have become so impervious to facts and truths, because, without the courage to oppose Allah's Cause openly, they secretly intrigue with Allah's enemies, and say that they will follow them part of the way, and by remaining partly in the other camp, they will be far more useful as spies and half-hearted doubters than by going over altogether. If they think that this game will be successful, they are mistaken.

... سَنُطِيعُكُمْ فِي بَعْضِ الْأَمْر...ِ

"We will obey you in part of (this) matter;"

...وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إِسْرَارَهُمْ ﴿٢٦﴾

but Allah knows their (inner) secrets.

All the inner secrets and motives of their hearts are known to Allah. Cf. 59:11.

فَكَيْفَ إِذَا تَوَفَّتْهُمْ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ...

47:27. But how (will it be) when the angels take their souls at death,

C4851. It is all very well for them to practice hypocrisy in this life. How will they feel at death, when they find that the angels know all, and touch the very spots they had taken such care to conceal?

... يَضْرِبُونَ وُجُوهَهُمْ وَأَدْبَارَهُمْ ﴿٢٧﴾

and smite their faces and their backs?

C4852. Their faces and their backs:

there is a subtle metaphor.

ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمُ اتَّبَعُوا مَا أَسْخَطَ اللَّهَ وَكَرِهُوا رِضْوَانَهُ فَأَحْبَطَ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ﴿٢٨﴾

47:28. This because they followed that which called forth the Wrath of Allah, and they hated Allah's good pleasure; so He made their deeds of no effect.


[[ Asad’s notes - 29 Cf. the reference to God's "sealing" the hearts of stubborn wrongdoers in 2:7.


30 Lit., "this, because ..., etc.


3 1 Lit., "in some [or "parts of] the matter" i e "although we cannot agree with you Iatheistsl as regards your denial of God, or of resurrection, or of the fact of revelation as such, we do agree with you that Muhammad is an impostor and that the Qur'an is but his invention" (Razi). By "those who turn their backs [on this message] after guidance has been vouchsafed to them" are meant, in the first instance,

the hypocrites and half-hearted followers of Islam at the time of the Prophet who refused to fight in defence of the Faith; in a wider sense, however, this definition applies to all people, at all times, who are impressed by the teachings of the Qur'an but nevertheless refuse to accept it as God-inspired and, therefore, morally binding.


32 See note 55 on 8:50.


33 See first clause of verse 3 of this surah, which speaks of the "pursuit of falsehood" . In ihe present instance, "that which would meet with His goodly acceptance" is the believer's readiness to sacrifice, if necessary, his life in the defence of the Faith.


34 The noun dighn (of which ad, ghan is the plural) denotes, primarily, "rancour" or "hate"; in its wider sense it signifies a person's "disposition", "inclination" or "leaning", especially in its negative aspects (Jawhari): hence, a "moral defect" or "failing". ]]



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