15. Surah Al Hijr
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
15: 16. It is We who have set out
C1949. Evil having been described, not as an external thing, but as a taint of the soul, we have in this section a glorious account of the purity and beauty of Allah's Creation.
Evil is a blot on it, not a normal feature of it. Indeed, the normal feature is the guard which Allah has put on it, to protect it from evil.
... فِي السَّمَاء بُرُوجًا وَزَيَّنَّاهَا لِلنَّاظِرِينَ ﴿١٦﴾
the Zodiacal Signs in the heavens, and made them fair-seeming to (all) beholders;
C1950. In the countless millions of stars in the universe which we see, the first step in our astronomical knowledge is to find marvelous order, beauty, and harmony, on a scale of grandeur which we appreciate more and more as our knowledge increases.
The first broad belt that we distinguish is the Zodiac, which marks the sun's path through the heavens year after year and the limit of the wanderings of the moon and the planets.
We make twelve divisions of it and call them Signs of the Zodiac. Each marks the solar path through the heavens as we see it, month after month. We can thus mark off the seasons in our solar year, and express in definite laws the most important facts in meteorology, agriculture, seasonal winds, and tides.
Then there are the mansions of the moon, the mapping out of the Constellations, and the other marvelous facts of the heavens, some of which affect our physical life on this earth. But the highest lessons we can draw from them are spiritual.
The author of this wonderful Order and Beauty is One, and He alone is entitled to our worship.
15:17. And (moreover) we have guarded them
C1951. Taking the physical heavens, we can imagine the supreme melody of harmony- guarded from every disturbing force. If by any chance any rebellious force of evil seeks to obtain, by stealth, a sound of that harmony to which all who make themselves constant are freely invited, it is pursued by a shooting star, for there can be no consonance between evil and good.
... مِن كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ رَّجِيمٍ ﴿١٧﴾
from every evil spirit accursed:
C1952. Rajim: driven away with stones, rejected, accursed.
Cf. 3:36.
إِلاَّ مَنِ
اسْتَرَقَ
السَّمْعَ ...
15:18. But any that gains a hearing by stealth,
C1953. Cf. 72:8-9. [Eds.]
... فَأَتْبَعَهُ شِهَابٌ مُّبِينٌ ﴿١٨﴾
is pursued by a flaming fire, bright (to see).
C1954. A shooting star.
Cf. 37:10.
Asad’s Version:
15:16 AND, INDEED, We have set up in the heavens great constellations, 15 and endowed them with beauty for all to behold;
(15:17) and We have made them secure against every satanic force
accursed 16 –
(15:18) so that anyone who seeks to learn [the unknowable] by stealth is pursued by a flame clear to see. 17
[[ Asad’s notes - 16 The term shaytan ("satan") - derived from the verb shatana ("he was [or "became"] remote") - often denotes in the Qur'an a force or influence remote from, and opposed to, all that is true and good (Taj al-'Arus, Raghib): thus, for instance, in2:14 it is used to describe the evil impulses (shayatin) within the hearts of "those who are bent on denying the truth". In its widest, abstract sense it denotes every "satanic force", i.e., every impulsion directed towards ends which are contrary to valid ethical postulates. In the present context, the phrase "every satanic force accursed (rajim)"- like the phrase "every rebellious (marid) satanic force" in a similar context in 37:7 - apparently refers to endeavours, strongly condemned in Islam, to divine the future by
means of astrological speculations: hence the preceding reference to the skies and the stars. The statement that God has made the heavens "secure" against such satanic forces obviously implies that He has made it impossible for the latter to obtain, through astrology or what is popularly described as "occult sciences", any real knowledge of "that which is beyond the reach of human perception" (al-ghayb).
17 Lit., "excepting [or "except that"] anyone who seeks to hear by stealth...", etc. The implication seems to be that any attempt at fathoming the mysteries of the unknowable by such illicit means ("by stealth") is inevitably followed by "a flame clear to see", i.e., by burning, self-evident frustration. (Cf also 37:10.)]]