2. Surah Al Baqarah
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَقَالُواْ
اتَّخَذَ
اللّهُ وَلَدًا
سُبْحَانَهُ
...
2: 116. They say: "Allah hath begotten a son;" Glory be to Him.
... بَل لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ كُلٌّ لَّهُ قَانِتُونَ ﴿١١٦﴾
Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth; everything renders worship to Him.
C119. It is a derogation from the glory of Allah - in fact it is blasphemy - to say that Allah begets sons, like a man or an animal.
The Christian doctrine is here emphatically repudiated. If words have any meaning, it would mean an attribution of Allah of a material nature, and of the lower animal functions of sex. (R)
Asad’s Version:
2 : 116 Everything renders worship to Him.
( Compliance or submission to the Will and Law of God : everything in the Universe is absolutely submissive to that, that is the essence of Worship )
===================================
6. Sura al-Anam
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
الْحَمْدُ
لِلّهِ
الَّذِي
خَلَقَ
السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالأَرْضَ
وَجَعَلَ
الظُّلُمَاتِ
وَالنُّورَ...
6: 1. Praise be to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and made the darkness and the light.
...ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِرَبِّهِم يَعْدِلُونَ ﴿١﴾
Yet those who reject Faith hold (others) as equal with their Guardian-Lord.
C834. Adaia has various meanings:
1. to hold something as equal to something else, as here; to balance nicely;
2. to deal justly, as between one party and another, 42:15;
3. to give compensation or reparation, or something as equivalent to something else, 6:70;
4. to turn the balance the right way, to give a right disposition, to give a just bias or proportion, 82:7;
5. to turn the balance the wrong way, to swerve, to show bias. 4:135.
C835. The argument is threefold:
1. Allah created everything you see and know: how can you then set up any of His own creatures as equal to Him?
2. He is your own Guardian-Lord; He cherishes and loves you: how can you be so ungrateful as to run after something else?
3. Darkness and Light are to help you to distinguish between the true from the false: how then can you confound the true God with your false ideas and superstitions?
There may also be a repudiation of the Duality of old Persian theology; Light and Darkness are not conflicting Powers; they are both creatures of Allah.
Asad’s Version:
6: 1 All praise is due to God, who has created the heavens and the earth, and brought into being deep darkness as well as light: and yet, those who are bent on denying the truth regard other powers as their Sustainer’s equals!
===================================
7. Sura al-Araf
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِنَّ
رَبَّكُمُ
اللّهُ
الَّذِي
خَلَقَ
السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالأَرْضَ
فِي
سِتَّةِ
أَيَّامٍ
...
7: 54. Your Guardian-Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days,
C1031. A sublime verse, comparable to the Throne Verse 2:255.
The Creation in six Days is of course metaphorical. In 45:14, "the Days of Allah" refer not so much to time as to the growth in us of a spiritual sense, a sense of sin and a sense of Allah's Mercy.
In 22:47, we are told that a Day in the sight of Allah is like a thousand years of our reckoning, and in 70:4, the comparison is with 50,000 of our years.
In the history of our material earth, we may reckon six great epochs of evolution.
The significance of the figure six will be discussed in connection with 41:9:12, where the ,matter is referred to in more detail.
... ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ...
and is firmly established on the throne (of authority):
C1032. Here, we are told of the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days. But lest we should be obsessed with the Jewish idea that Allah rested on the seventh day, we are told that the Creation was but a prelude to Allah's work: for His authority is exercised constantly by the laws which He establishes and enforces in all parts of His Creation.
The beautiful imagery of night and day seeking out each other in rapid succession is still further enforced in the Arabic by the double accusative of the verb yugshi, showing the mutual interactions of the day and the night, each covering the other in turn. The heavenly bodies show an order which is evidence of His constant care and government.
Not only that, but it is only He Who creates, maintains, and governs, and no one else. (R).
...يُغْشِي اللَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا...
He draweth the night as a veil O'er the day, each seeking the other in rapid succession:
...وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ وَالنُّجُومَ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ بِأَمْرِهِ...
He created the sun, the moon, and the stars, (all) governed by laws under His command.
...أَلاَ لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالأَمْرُ تَبَارَكَ اللّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ ﴿٥٤﴾
Is it not His to create and to govern?
Blessed be Allah, the cherisher and sustainer of the worlds!
Asad’s Version:
7: 54 Verily, your Sustainer is God, who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, and is established on the throne of His almightuness……
(see Adad note 43) ( 7 times in Quran : "established on the throne of His almightiness" along with His creation of the Universe: 7:54, 10:3, 13:2, 20:5, 25:59, 32:4, & 57:4)
===================================
10. Surah Yunus
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
هُوَ
الَّذِي جَعَلَ
الشَّمْسَ
ضِيَاء وَالْقَمَرَ
نُورًا...
10: 5. It is He Who made the sun to be a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of beauty),
C1391. The fitting epithet for the sun is dhia, "splendour and glory of brightness", and for the moon is "a light" (of beauty), the cool light that illuminates and helps in the darkness of the night.
But the sun and moon also measure time. The simplest observation can keep pace with the true lunar months and lunar years, which are all that is required by a pastoral people.
For agriculture solar years are required, as they indicate the changes of the seasons, but ordinary solar years are never exact; even the solar year of 3651/4 days requires correction by advanced astronomical calculation.
...وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُواْ عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ...
and measured out stages for her: that ye might know the number of years and the count (of time).
...مَا خَلَقَ اللّهُ ذَلِكَ إِلاَّ بِالْحَقِّ...
Nowise did Allah create this but in truth and righteousness.
C1392. Everything in Allah's creation has use and purpose, and fits into a Design. It is true in every sense of the word and it is good and just.
It is not merely a matter of sport or freak (21:16). Though so varied, it proclaims Allah's Unity; though a limited free-will is granted to creatures, the results of evil (which is rebellion) are neutralized and harmony is restored. Cf. 3:191.
...يُفَصِّلُ الآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٥﴾
(Thus) doth He explain his Signs in detail, for those who understand.
C1393. Cf. 9:11.
إِنَّ
فِي اخْتِلاَفِ
اللَّيْلِ
وَالنَّهَارِ
وَمَا خَلَقَ
اللّهُ فِي
السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالأَرْضِ
لآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ
يَتَّقُونَ ﴿٦﴾
10: 6. Verily, in the alternation of the Night and the Day, and in all that Allah hath created, in the heavens and the earth, are Signs for those who fear Him.
C1394. Cf. 2:164.
Asad’s Version:
10: 5 He it is who has made the sun a radiant light and the moor a light, and has determined for it phases so that you might know how to compute the years and to measure [time]. None of this has God created without truth.
Clearly does He spell out these messages unto people of knowledge:
10: 6 for Verily, in the alternating of night and day, and in all that God has created in the heavens and on earth there are messages indeed for people who are conscious of Him!
as for those who do not believe that they are destined to meet Us,
===================================
21. Surah Al Anbiya'
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
أَوَلَمْ
يَرَ
الَّذِينَ
كَفَرُوا أَنَّ
السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضَ
كَانَتَا رَتْقًا
فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا...
21: 30. Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder?
C2690. The evolution of the ordered worlds as we see them is hinted at.
As man's intellectual gaze over the physical world expands, he sees more and more how Unity is the dominating note in Allah's wonderful Universe.
Taking the solar system alone, we know that the maximum intensity of sun-spots corresponds with the maximum intensity of magnetic storms on this earth. The universal law of gravitation seems to bind all mass together. Physical facts point to the throwing off of planets from vast quantities of diffused nebular matter, of which the central condensed core is a sun.
...وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاء كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ...
We made from water every living thing.
C2691. About 72 per cent, of the surface of our Globe is still covered with water, and it has been estimated that if the inequalities on the surface were all leveled, the whole surface would be under water, as the mean elevation of land sphere-level would be 7,000-10,000 feet below the surface of the ocean.
This shows the predominance of water on our Globe. That all life began in the water is also a conclusion to which our latest knowledge in biological science points. Apart from the fact that protoplasm, the original basis of living matter, is liquid or semi-liquid and in a state of constant flux and instability, there is the fact that land animals, like the higher vertebrates, including man, show, in their embryological history, organs like those of fishes, indicating the watery origin of their original habitat. The constitution of protoplasm is about 80 to 85 per cent of water.
...أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ﴿٣٠﴾
Will they not then believe?
Asad’s Version:
21 : 30 Are, then, they who are bent on denying the truth not aware that THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WERE ONE SINGLE ENTITY, which We then parted ASUNDER ? and We made out of water every living thing? see Asad note 38
===================================
51. Sura az-Zariyat
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَالسَّمَاء
بَنَيْنَاهَا
بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا
لَمُوسِعُونَ
﴿٤٧﴾
51: 47. With the power and skill did We construct the Firmament: for it is We Who create the vastness of Space.
C5025. If you do not wish to go back to the wonderful things in the past, which show the power and goodness of Allah, and His justice supreme over all wrong-doing, look at the wonderful things unfolding themselves before your very eyes!
1. The space in the heavens above! Who can comprehend it but He Who made it and sustains it?
2. The globe of the earth under your feet! How great its expanse seems over sea and land, and spread out for you like a wonderful carpet or bed of rest!
- sex in plants and animals, by which one individual is complementary to another;
- in the subtle forces of nature, Day and Night, positive and negative electricity, forces of attraction and repulsion: and numerous other opposites, each fulfilling its purpose, and contribution to the working of Allah's Universe:
- and in the moral and spiritual world,
Love and Aversion,
Mercy and Justice,
Striving and Rest, and so on;
-all fulfilling their functions according to the Artistry and wonderful Purpose of Allah. Everything has its counterpart, or pair, or complement. Allah alone is One, with none like Him, or needed to complement Him. These are noble things to contemplate. And they lead us to a true understanding of Allah's Purpose and Message.
Asad’s Version:
51: 47 And it is We who have built the universe with power; and, verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it.
===================================
57. Sura al-Hadid
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
هُوَ
الَّذِي خَلَقَ
السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضَ
فِي سِتَّةِ
أَيَّامٍ ...
57: 4. He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days,
C5277. "In six Days": see 41:9-12, and notes;
also more briefly, n. 1031 to 7:54.
... ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ ...
and is moreover firmly established on the Throne (of authority).
It is not that Allah completed His Creation in six days and rested on the seventh day, or rests now.
Certain external forms of the universe were by Allah's Command completed in six periods of evolution. But His creative process still goes on, and He is still, and will always be, in full control, knowing all and guiding all affairs. (R).
...يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَاء وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا...
He knows what enters within the earth and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from heaven and what mounts up to it.
...وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ ...
And He is with you wheresoever ye may be.
C5279. Allah watches over man and observes his deeds. His knowledge comprehends all, the earth, heavens, what is in them or above them or whatever is in between them, comes out of them or goes into them, for "not a leaf doth fall but with His knowledge", and "there is not a grain in the darkness (or depths) of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered), but is inscribed in a Record". (6:59). [Eds.]
... وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ ﴿٤﴾
And Allah sees well all that ye do.
Asad’s Version:
57: 4 He it is who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, and is established on the throne of His almightiness. (see Asad Note 3