44. Ad-Dukhan (the Smoke)

59 verses, Mecca 64

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

حم ﴿١﴾

44: 1. Ha Mim.

وَالْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ ﴿٢﴾

44: 2. By the Book that makes things clear --

C4689. The Quran is its own evidence. In the last Surah (43:3) stress was laid on the fact that everyone could understand it.

Here the stress is on the fact that it is a Message of Mercy from Allah in that it warns mankind against evil.

إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةٍ مُّبَارَكَةٍ ...

44: 3. We sent it down during a blessed night:

C4690. Usually taken to be a night in the month of Ramadhan, say the 23rd, 25th, or 27th night of that month. It is referred to as the Night of Power in 97:1-2.

See also 2:185.

But perhaps we need not fix it literally by the calendar. The night that a Message descends from Allah is indeed a blessed night like a day of rain for a parched land.

... إِنَّا كُنَّا مُنذِرِينَ ﴿٣﴾

for We (ever) wish to warn (against Evil).

فِيهَا يُفْرَقُ كُلُّ أَمْرٍ حَكِيمٍ ﴿٤﴾

44: 4. In that (night) is made distinct every affair of wisdom,

C4691. Such an occasion is one on which divine Wisdom places before us, through Revelation, the solution of spiritual problems of the highest import to mankind.

أَمْرًا مِّنْ عِندِنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا مُرْسِلِينَ ﴿٥﴾

44: 5. By command, from Our presence.

For We (ever) send (revelations),

رَحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ﴿٦﴾

44: 6. As a Mercy from thy Lord:

for He hears and knows (all things);

C4692. It is because Allah is the friend of the friendless and the help of the helpless that He hears all sincere prayers, and as His knowledge embraces all things, He grants to us whatever is best for us, not as we see it, but as He knows it in His perfect knowledge.

Asad’s Version:

44:1 Ha. Mim. 1 CONSIDER this divine writ, clear in itself and clearly showing the truth! 2

44:3 Behold, from on high have We bestowed it on a blessed night: 3 for, verily, We have always been warning [man]. 4

(44:4) On that [night] was made clear, in wisdom, the distinction between all things [good and evil] 5

(44:5) at a behest from Ourselves: for, verily, We have always been sending [Our messages of guidance]

(44:6) in pursuance of thy Sustainer's grace [unto man]. Verily, He alone is all-hearing, all-knowing,

[[Asad’s notes - 1 See Appendix II.

2 See note 2 on 12:1.

3 I.e., the night on which the revelation of the Qur'an began: see surah 97.

4 The revelation of the Qur'an is but a continuation and, indeed, the climax of all divine revelation which has been going on since the very dawn of human consciousness. Its innermost purpose has always been the warning extended by God to man not to abandon himself to mere material ambitions and pursuits and, thus, to lose sight of spiritual values.

5 Lit., "was made distinct everything wise", i.e., "wisely" or "in wisdom": a metonymical attribution of the adjective "wise" - which in reality relates to God, the maker of that distinction - to what has thus been made distinct (Zamakhshari and Razi). The meaning is that the revelation of the Qur'an, symbolized by that "blessed night" of its beginning, provides man with a standard whereby to discern between good and evil, or between all that leads to spiritual growth through an ever-deepening realization

(ma'rifah) of God's existence, on the one hand, and all that results in spiritual blindness and self-destruction, on the other.]]