21:6
Not
one of the communities that We destroyed in bygone times 7 would ever
believe [their
prophets]:
wilt these, then, [be more willing to] believe? 8
21:7
[al-Anbiyaa, Mecca 73]
For
[even] before thy time, [O Muhammad,] We
never sent [as Our apostles] any
but [mortal] men, whom We inspired - hence, [tell
the deniers of the truth,] "If you do not know this, ask the
followers of earlier revelation'" (21:8) and neither did We
endow them with bodies that could dispense with food, 10 nor were
they immortal.
Wama arsalna qablaka illa rijalan
noohee ilayhim fais-aloo ahla alththikri
in kuntum la taAAlamoona
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Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning
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Muhammad
Asad
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For [even] before thy time, [O Muhammad,] We never sent [as Our
apostles] any but [mortal] men, whom We inspired - hence, [tell
the deniers of the truth,] “If
you do not know this, ask the followers of earlier revelation”
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M.
M. Pickthall
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And We sent not (as Our messengers) before thee other than men,
whom We inspired. Ask the followers of the Reminder if ye know
not?
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Shakir
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And We did not send before you any but men to whom We sent
revelation, so
ask the followers of the reminder if you do not
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Yusuf
Ali
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Before thee, also, the messengers We sent were but men, to whom
We granted inspiration: If ye realise this not, ask
of those who possess the Message.
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Wahiduddin
Khan
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The messengers We sent before you were but men whom We had sent
revelations. Ask the People of the Book if you do not know
this—
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[Al-Muntakhab]
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We never sent and inspired before you O Muhammad but men chosen
from among the town dwellers whose deeds were natural to man,
therefore, you -infidels- may ask those who are well versed in
the antecedent Scriptures -Jews and Christians- if indeed you
do not know!
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[Progressive
Muslims]
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And We did not send before you except men whom We inspired to.
So
ask the people of the remembrance if you do not know.
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Abdel
Haleem
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And even before your time [Prophet], all the messengers We sent
were only men We inspired–– if you [disbelievers]
do not know, ask people who know the Scripture––
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Abdul
Majid Daryabadi
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And We sent not before thee but men unto whom We revealed; so
ask the people of the Admonition if ye know not.
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Ahmed
Ali
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And We did not send before you except men, We inspire/transmit
to them, so ask/question the reminder's/remembrance's people if
you were not knowing.
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Aisha
Bewley
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We have only ever sent before you men who were given
Revelation. Ask the People of the Reminder if you do not know.
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Ali
Ünal
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We did not send as Messengers before you (O Muhammad), any but
men to whom We revealed. So (O people) ask those who have
special knowledge (of the Divine Revelations), if you do not
know.
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Ali
Quli Qara'i
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We did not send [any apostles] before you except as men, to
whom We revealed. Ask the People of the Reminder if you do not
know.
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Amatul
Rahman Omar
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(Prophet!) We sent none (as Messengers) before you but (they
were) men to whom We made Our revelations. Therefore (O
disbelievers!) ask the followers of the Reminder if you do not
know (this).
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Hamid
S. Aziz
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Of those before them not one of the communities which We
destroyed believed, how will these believe?
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Muhammad
Mahmoud Ghali
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And in no way did We send before you except men to whom We
revealed (the Message). So ask (This is addressed to the
disbelievers) the Population of the Remembrance, in case you do
not know.
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Muhammad
Sarwar
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The messengers that We had sent before you were only men to
whom We had given revelation. Ask the People of the Book if you
do not know.
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Muhammad
Taqi Usmani
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And We did not send before you messengers except men whom We
inspired with revelation. So, ask the people (having the
knowledge) of the Message, if you do not know.
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Shabbir
Ahmed
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(O Prophet) Before you We sent none but men to whom We granted
Revelation. (Tell the deniers), "If you do not know this,
ask the followers of previous Revelations." (16:43).
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Syed
Vickar Ahamed
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Also before you, the messengers we sent were only men, to whom
We granted the Revelation: If you do not know this, ask those,
the people of the Remainder [of the Scripture, the Torah and
the Gospel)].
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Umm
Muhammad (Sahih International)
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And We sent not before you, [O Muhammad], except men to whom We
revealed [the message], so ask the people of the message if you
do not know.
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Farook
Malik
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For [even] before thy time, [O Muhammad,] We never sent [as Our
apostles] any but [mortal] men, whom We inspired - hence, [tell
the deniers of the truth,] "If you do not know this, ask
the followers of earlier revelation" -[Lit., "followers
of the reminder" - i.e., of the Bible, which in its
original, uncorrupted form represented one of Gods "reminders"
to man.]
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Controversial, deprecated, or status undetermined works
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Bijan
Moeinian
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Before you, I sent many human beings to them as My Messengers
to whom I revealed My Revelations. If you do not know about
them, ask those who have inherited the Scripture.
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Faridul Haque
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And We did not send (Prophets) before you except men, to whom
We sent divine revelations - therefore, O people, ask the
people of knowledge if you do not know.
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Hasan Al-Fatih Qaribullah
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We never sent (anyone) before you except men to whom We
revealed to them. 'Ask the people of the Remembrance if you do
not know. '
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Maulana
Muhammad Ali
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And We sent not before thee any but men to whom We sent
revelation; so ask the followers of the Reminder if you know
not.
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Muhammad Ahmed - Samira
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Never did We send a message before you but through a man, whom
We inspired. If you do not know, then ask the keepers of the
oracles of God.
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Sher
Ali
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And WE sent none as Messengers before thee but men to whom WE
sent revelations. So ask the people of the reminder, if you
know not;
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Yusuf
Ali (org.)
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Before thee, also, the apostles We sent were but men, to whom
We granted inspiration: If ye realise this not, ask of those
who possess the Message.
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Rashad
Khalifa
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We did not send before you except men whom we inspired. Ask
those who know the scripture, if you do not know.
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Non-Muslim and/or Orientalist works
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Arthur
John Arberry
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And We sent none before thee, but men to whom We made
revelation -- question the People of the Remembrance, if you do
not know --
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Edward
Henry Palmer
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Nor did we send before them any but men whom we inspired? Ask
ye the people of the Scriptures if ye do not know.
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George
Sale
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We sent none as our apostles before thee, other than men, unto
whom We revealed our will. Ask those who are acquainted with
the scripture, if ye know not this.
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John
Medows Rodwell
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And we sent none, previous to thee, but men to whom we had
revealed ourselves. Ask ye the people who are warned by
Scriptures, if ye know it not.
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[[
Asad’s notes -
6
Lit., "confusing medleys (ad, ghath) of dreams".
7
Lit., "before them".
8
The downfall of those communities of old - frequently referred to in
the Qur'an - was invariably due to the fact that they had been
resolved to ignore all spiritual truths which militated against their
own, materialistic concept of life: is it, then (so the Qur'anic
argument goes), reasonable to expect that the opponents of the
Prophet Muhammad, who are similarly motivated, would be more willing
to consider his message on its merits?
9
Lit., "followers of the reminder" - i.e., of the Bible,
which in its original, uncorrupted form represented one of God's
"reminders" to man.
10
Lit., "neither
did We fashion them [i.e., those apostles] as bodies that ate no
food", implying a denial of any supernatural quality in the
prophets entrusted with God's message (cf 5:75, 13:38 and 25:20, as
well as the corresponding notes). The above is an answer to the
unbelievers' objection to Muhammad's prophethood
expressed inverse 3 of this surah. ]]
[[Ali’s note - 2670 See
xvi. 43 and n. 2069. This answers the Unbelievers' taunt, "he is
just a man like ourselves!" True, but all messengers sent by
Allah were men, not angels or another kind of beings, who could not
understand men or whom men could not understand. (21.7)
]]