25. Surah Al Furqan
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَكَذَلِكَ
جَعَلْنَا
لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ
عَدُوًّا مِّنَ
الْمُجْرِمِينَ...
25: 31. Thus have We made for every prophet an enemy among the sinners:
... وَكَفَى بِرَبِّكَ هَادِيًا وَنَصِيرًا ﴿٣١﴾
but enough is thy Lord to guide and to help.
C3087. It is the nature of sin to be hostile to truth and righteousness, but such hostility will not harm the righteous and need cause no misgiving because Allah will guide and help those who work in His cause.
And what could he better or more effective than His guidance and help?
وَقَالَ
الَّذِينَ
كَفَرُوا لَوْلَا
نُزِّلَ عَلَيْهِ
الْقُرْآنُ
جُمْلَةً
وَاحِدَةً...
25: 32. Those who reject Faith say: "Why is not the Qur'án revealed to him all at once?"
... كَذَلِكَ لِنُثَبِّتَ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ وَرَتَّلْنَاهُ تَرْتِيلًا ﴿٣٢﴾
Thus (is it revealed), that We may strengthen thy heart thereby,
and We have rehearsed it to thee in slow, well-arranged stages, gradually.
C3088. Three reasons are given for the gradual revelation of the Quran.
- "To strengthen thy heart": the tremendous task of winning the Arab nation, and, through them, the whole world, to Islam, required superhuman patience, constancy, and firmness, and these qualities were strengthened by the gradual promulgation of solutions to each difficulty as it arose.
- "Slow, well-arranged stages": though the stages were gradual, as the occasion demanded from time to time, in the course of twenty-three years, the whole emerged, when completed, as a well-arranged scheme of spiritual instruction, as we have seen in following the arrangement of the Suras.
- Questions put and answers given: see next note.
وَلَا
يَأْتُونَكَ
بِمَثَلٍ إِلَّا
جِئْنَاكَ
بِالْحَقِّ
وَأَحْسَنَ
تَفْسِيرًا
﴿٣٣﴾
25:33. And no question do they bring to thee but We reveal to thee the truth and the best explanation (thereof).
C3089. Divine knowledge is a fathomless ocean. But glimpses of it can be obtained by any individuals sincerely searching for the Truth. Their progress will be in grades. If they ask questions, and answers are then furnished to them, they are more likely to apprehend the Truth, as they have already explored the part of the territory in which they are interested.
In the same way, when concrete questions arise by the logic of events, and they are answered not only for the occasion, but from a general stand-point, the teaching has a far greater chance of penetrating the human intelligence and taking shape in practical conduct. And this is the usual way of instruction in the Quran.
Asad’s Version:
25:30 AND (on that Day] the Apostle will say: 23 "0 my Sustainer! Behold, [some of] my people have come to regard this Qur'an as something [that ought to be] discarded !" 24
(25:31) For so it is that against every prophet We have set up enemies from among those who are lost in sin: 25 yet none can guide and give succour as thy Sustainer does!
25:32 Now they who are bent on denying the truth are wont to ask, "Why has not the Qur'an been bestowed on him from on high in one single revelation?" 26 (It has been revealed] in this manner so that We might strengthen thy heart thereby - for We have so arranged its component parts that they form one consistent whole. 27 –
(25:33) and [that] they [who deny the truth] might never taunt thee with any deceptive half-truth 28 without Our conveying to thee the [full] truth and [providing thee] with the best explanation. 29
[[ Asad’s notes - 26 Lit., "in one piece" or "as one statement" (jumlatan wahidatan) - implying, in the view of the opponents of Islam, that the gradual, step-by-step revelation of the Qur'an points to its having been "composed" by Muhammad to suit his changing personal and political requirements.
27 I.e., free of all inner contradictions (cf. 4:82). See also 39:23, where the Qur'an is spoken of as "fully consistent within itself. The concise phrase rattalnahu tartilan comprises the parallel concepts of "putting the component parts [of a thing] together and arranging them well" as well as "endowing it with inner consistency". Inasmuch as full consistency and freedom from contradictions in a message spread over twenty -three years of a life as full of movement and drama as that of the Prophet does give a clear indication of its God-inspired quality, it is bound to strengthen the faith of every thinking believer: and herein lies, according to the Qur'an itself, the deepest reason, for its slow, gradual revelation. (When applied to the reciting of the Qur'an - as in 73:4 - the term tartil refers to the measured diction and the thoughtful manner in which it ought to be enunciated.) ]]