17.al-Israa, Mecca 50
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَقُرْآناً
فَرَقْنَاهُ
لِتَقْرَأَهُ
عَلَى النَّاسِ
عَلَى مُكْثٍ...
17: 106. (It is) a Qur'án which We have divided (into parts from time to time), in order that thou mightest recite it to men at intervals:
...وَنَزَّلْنَاهُ تَنزِيلاً ﴿١٠٦﴾
We have revealed it by stages.
C2317. The marvel is that these parts, revealed at different times and in different circumstances, should fit together so closely and consistently as they do. All revelation is progressive.
The previous revelations were also progressive. Each of them marked a stage in the world's spiritual history.
Man's mind does not take in more than his spiritual state will have prepared him, for Allah's revelation comes as a light to illuminate our difficulties and show us the way in actual situations that arise.
Other versions:
17: 106
Pickthall And (it is) a Quran that We have divided, that thou mayest recite it unto mankind at intervals, and We have revealed it by (successive) revelation.
Yuksel 17:106 A Quran/Recitation that We have separated, so that you may relate it to the people over time; and We have brought it down gradually.
Transliteration Wa qur'a_nan faraqna_hu litaqra'ahu_ 'alan na_si 'ala_ muksiw wa nazzalna_hu tanzila_(n).
77. Al-Mursalat (Those Sent Forth)
Mecca Period
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
77: 1. By the (Winds) Sent Forth...
C5863. This Sura begins with an appeal to five things, as pointing to the substantive statement in verse 7, that the Day of Justice and Judgment is bound to come, and we must prepare for it. It is difficult to translate, but easy to understand, if we remember that a triple thread of allegory runs through this passage (verses 1-7). The five things or phases, which will be presently considered in detail, refer to
a. Winds in the physical world,
b. Angels in the Kingdom of Allah, and
c. Prophets in the human world, connecting it with the Kingdom of Allah.
... عُرْفًا ﴿١﴾
... one after another (to man's profit);
C5864. Understanding the reference to Winds, we can see that they are powerful factors in the government of the physical world.
1. They come gently as harbingers of the blessings of rain and fertility (15:22; 30:48); but
2. they can come as violent tornadoes, uprooting and destroying (51:41-42);
3. they can scatter seeds far and wide, and
4. they can separate chaff from grain, or clear the air from epidemics; and
5. they literally carry sound, and therefore Messages. All these things point to the power and goodness of Allah, and we are asked to believe that His promise of Mercy and Justice in the Hereafter is indeed true.
Cf. this passage with 51:1-6 (Al Dharriyat) with which it has many affinities,
Asad’s Version:
77:1 CONSIDER these [messages,] sent forth in waves' (2) and then storming on with a tempest's force! (3) Consider these [messages] that spread [the truth] far and wide, (4) thus separating [right and wrong] with all clarity, 2 (5) and then giving forth a reminder, (6) [promising] freedom from blame or [offering] a warning! 3
[[ Asad’s notes - 1 I.e., one after another: an allusion to the gradual, step-by-step revelation of the Qur'an. By contrast, the next clause (verse 2) obviously relates to the impact of the divine writ as a whole. For my rendering of the adjurative particle wa as "Consider", see su-rah 74, first half of note 23.
2 Lit., "with [all] separation" (farqan). Cf 8:29 and the corresponding note; also note 38 on 2:53.
3 I.e., showing what leads to freedom from blame - in other words, the principles of right conduct and what is ethically reprehensible and, therefore, to be avoided. ]]