35. Al-Fatir (The Originator)

Mecca Period 43

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُمْسِكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ أَن تَزُولَا...

35:41. It is Allah Who sustains the heavens and the earth, lest they cease (to function):

... وَلَئِن زَالَتَا إِنْ أَمْسَكَهُمَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّن بَعْدِهِ...

and if they should fail, there is none -- not one -- can sustain them thereafter:

... إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا ﴿٤١﴾

verily He is Most Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving.

C3934. Allah's world goes on according to the laws and decrees established by Him. There are occasional lapses and deviations on the part of His creatures. But He does not punish every petty fault.

One of His merciful qualities is that of repeated forbearance and forgiveness.

Asad’s Version:

35:41 Verily, it is God [alone] who upholds the celestial bodies 29 and the earth, lest they deviate [from their orbits] for if they should ever deviate, there is none that could uphold them after He will have ceased to do so. 30 [But,] verily, He is ever-forbearing, much-forgiving! 31

Yuksel’s Version:

35:40 Say, "Do you see the partners whom you have called on besides God? Show me what they have created on earth. Or do they possess any partnership in the heavens? Or have We given them a book wherein they are taking knowledge from it? Indeed, what the transgressors promise one another is no more than arrogance."

35:41 God is the One who holds the heavens and the earth, lest they cease to exist. They would certainly cease to exist if anyone else were to hold them after Him. He is Forbearing, Forgiving.

[[Asad’s notes -

29 Lit., "the heavens" - in this case apparently a metonym for all the stars, galaxies, nebulae, etc., which traverse the cosmic spaces in obedience to a most intricate system of God- willed laws, of which the law of gravity, perhaps most obvious to man, is but one.

30 Lit., "after Him". This seems to be an allusion to the Last Hour, which, according to the Qur'an, will be heralded by a cosmic catastrophe.

31 I.e., inasmuch as He does not speed up the end of the world despite the sinfulness of most of its inhabitants, and neither punishes without giving the sinner time to reflect and to repent (cf. verse 45).]]