2. Surah Al Baqarah

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ ...

2: 134. That was a People that hath passed away.

They shall reap the fruit of what they did, and ye of what ye do!

... وَلاَ تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ﴿١٣٤﴾

of their merits there is no question in your case!

C133. I have made a free paraphrase of what would read literally:

"Ye shall not be asked about what they used to do."

On the Day of Judgment each soul would have to answer for its own deeds: it cannot claim merit from others, nor be answerable for the crimes or sins of others.

Here the argument is:

if the Jews or Christians claim the merits of Father Abraham and the Patriarchs or of Jesus, we cannot follow them. Because there were righteous men in the past, it cannot help us unless we are ourselves righteous.

The doctrine of personal responsibility is a cardinal feature of Islam.

تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ...

2: 141. That was a people that hath passed away.

They shall reap the fruit of what they did, and ye of what ye do!

... وَلاَ تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ ﴿١٤١﴾

Of their merits there is no question in your case.

C139. Verse 134 began a certain argument, which is now rounded off in the same words in this verse. To use a musical term, the motif is now completed.

The argument is that it is wrong to claim a monopoly for Allah's Message: it is the same for all peoples and in all ages: if it undergoes local variations or variations according to times and seasons those variations pass away.

This leads to the argument in the remainder of the Surah that with the renewal of the Message and the birth of a new People, a new symbolism and new ordinances become appropriate, and they are now expounded.

Other Versions:

2: 134

Pickthall Those are a people who have passed away. Theirs is that which they earned, and yours is that which ye earn. And ye will not be asked of what they used to do.

Transliteration Tilka ummatun qad khalat, laha_ ma_ kasabat wa lakum ma_ kasabtum, wa la_ tus'alu_na 'amma_ ka_nu_ ya'malu_n(a).

[Asad’s note 109 – Lit., “you will not be asked about what they did”. This verse, as well as verse 141 below, stresses the fundamental Islamic tenet of individual responsibility, and denies the Jewish idea of their being “the chosen people” by virtue of their descent, as well as – by implication-the Christian doctrine of an “original sin” with which all human beings are supposedly burdened because of Adam’s fall from grace.]

2: 141

Asad “Now those people have passed away; unto them shall be accounted what they have earned, and unto you, what you have earned; and you will not be judged on the strength of what they did.”

Pickthall Those are a people who have passed away; theirs is that which they earned and yours that which ye earn. And ye will not be asked of what they used to do.

Tilka ummatun qad khalat, laha_ ma_ kasabat wa lakum ma_ kasabtum, wa la_ tus'alu_na 'amma_ ka_nu_ ya'malu_n(a

[139 Verse 134 began a certain argument, which is now rounded off in the same words in this verse. To use a musical term, the motif is now completed. The argument is that it is wrong to claim a monopoly for God's Message: it is the same for all peoples and in all ages: if it undergoes local variations or variations according to times and seasons those variations pass away. This leads to the argument in the remainder of the Sura that with the renewal of the Message and the birth of a new People, a new symbolism and new ordinances become appropriate, and they are now expounded. (2.141)]