32. As-Sajdah (Prostration), 30 verses

Mecca Period 75

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فَسَقُوا فَمَأْوَاهُمُ النَّارُ...

32: 20. As to those who are rebellious and wicked, their abode will be the Fire:

...كُلَّمَا أَرَادُوا أَن يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا أُعِيدُوا فِيهَا...

every time they wish to get away therefrom, they will be forced thereinto,

C3653. Cf. 22:22.

Just as the gardens is the type of Bliss, so is the Fire the type of Penalty and suffering. There will be no getting away from it.

What will be the thoughts of those who had earned it?

"We used to reject the idea of the Consequences as a mere chimera: and now we find it to be true!"

What will be their feelings then?

How will they like it!

...وَقِيلَ لَهُمْ ذُوقُوا عَذَابَ النَّارِ الَّذِي كُنتُم بِهِ تُكَذِّبُونَ ﴿٢٠﴾

and it will be said to them:

"Taste ye the Penalty of the Fire, the which ye were wont to reject as false."

وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ الْأَدْنَى دُونَ الْعَذَابِ الْأَكْبَرِ...

32: 21. And indeed We will make them taste of the Penalty of this (life) prior to the supreme Penalty,

C3654. The final Penalty is to come in the Hereafter. There is no doubt about it.

But before it comes, a minor Penalty comes in this very life. It may be in some kind of misfortune, or it may be in the pangs of a tortured conscience or secret sorrow.

But this minor Penalty may be really a mercy, as it gives them a chance of repentance and amendment.

...لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ﴿٢١﴾

in order that they may (repent and) return.

وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن ذُكِّرَ بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِ ثُمَّ أَعْرَضَ عَنْهَا...

32: 22. And who does more wrong than one to whom are recited the Signs of his Lord, and who then turns away therefrom?

C3655. The worst and most hardened sinner is the man to whom Allah's Signs are actually brought home and who yet prefers Evil and turns away from the Light of Allah.

The Signs may be

- in the words and guidance of a great Teacher or in some minor sorrow or warning, which he disregards with contumely. Or

- it may be in a catastrophic blow to his conscience, which should open his eyes, but from which he deliberately refuses to profit.

The penalty-the Nemesis-must necessarily come eventually.

...إِنَّا مِنَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ مُنتَقِمُونَ ﴿٢٢﴾

Verily from those who transgress We shall exact (Due) Retribution.

Asad’s Version:

(32:20) but as for those who are lost in iniquity - their goal is the fire: as oft as they will try to come out of it, they will be thrown back into it; and they will be told, "Taste [now] this suffering through fire which you were wont to call a lie!"

32:21 However, ere [We condemn them to] that supreme suffering, We shall most certainly let them taste of a suffering closer at hand," so that they might [repent and] mend their ways. 17

(32:22) And who could be more wicked than he to whom his Sustainer's messages are conveyed and who thereupon turns away from them? Verily, We shall inflict Our retribution on those who are [thus] lost in sin!