2. Surah Al Baqarah

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَسْتَحْيِي أَن يَضْرِبَ مَثَلاً مَّا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا...

2: 26. Allah disdains not to use the similitude of things, lowest as well as highest.

C45. The word for "the lowest" in the original Arabic means a gnat, a byword in the Arabic language for the weakest of creatures.

In 29:41, which was revealed before this Surah, the similitude of the Spider was used, and similarly in 22:73, there is the similitude of the Fly. For similitudes taken from magnificent forces of nature, expressed in exalted language, see 2:19 above.

To Allah all His creation has some special meaning appropriate to itself, and some of what we consider the lowest creatures have wonderful aptitudes, e.g., the spider or the fly.

... فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ...

Those who believe know that it is truth from their Lord;

... وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَـذَا مَثَلاً...

but those who reject Faith say: "What means Allah by this similitude?"

... يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيراً وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيراً...

By it He causes many to stray, and many He leads into the right path,

... وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلاَّ الْفَاسِقِين ﴿٢٦﴾

but He causes not to stray, except those who forsake (the path).

الَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهْدَ اللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ مِيثَاقِهِ وَيَقْطَعُونَ مَا أَمَرَ اللَّهُ بِهِ أَن يُوصَلَ...

2: 27. Those who break Allah's Covenant after it is ratified, and who sunder what Allah has ordered to be joined,

... وَيُفْسِدُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ أُولَـئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُون ﴿٢٧﴾

and do mischief on earth: These cause loss (only) to themselves.

Pickthall’s Version:

2: 26

Pickthall Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude even of a gnat. Those who believe know that it is the truth from their Lord; but those who disbelieve say: What doth Allah wish (to teach) by such a similitude? He misleadeth many thereby, and He guideth many thereby; and He misleadeth thereby only miscreants;

Transliteration Innalla_ha la_ yastahyi ay yadriba masalam ma_ ba'u_datan fama_ fauqaha_, fa ammal lazina a_manu_ faya'lamu_na annahul haqqu mir rabbihim, wa ammal lazina kafaru_ fa yaqu_lu_na ma_za_ ara_dalla_hu bi ha_za_ masala_(n), yudillu bihi kasiraw wayahdi bihi kasira_(n), wa ma_ yudillu bihi illal fa_siqin(a).

2: 27

Pickthall Those who break the covenant of Allah after ratifying it and sever that which Allah ordered to be joined, and (who) make mischief in the earth: Those are they who are the losers

Transliteration Allazina yanqudu_na'ahdalla_hi mim ba'di misa_qih(i), wa yaqta'u_na ma_ amaralla_hu bihi ay yu_sala wa yufsidu_na fil ard(i), ula_'ika humul kha_siru_n(a).

[ Asad note 19: The “bond with God” [ conventionally translated as “God’s covenant”] apparently refers here to man’s moral obligation to use his inborn gifts – intellectual as well as physical – in the way intended for them by God. The “establishment” of this bond arises from the faculty of reason which, if properly used, must lead man to a realization of his own weakness and dependence on a causative power and, thus, to a gradual cognition of God’s will with reference to his own behavior. ……..The deliberate omission of any explanatory reference in this connection suggests that the expression “bond with God” stands for something that is rooted in the human situation as such, and can therefore, be perceived instinctively as well as through conscious experience: namely, that innate relationship with God which makes Him “closer to man than his neck-vein” (50:16)

[ Ruby’s note: ‘ahd’, ‘misak’ etc. connotes ‘covenant’, ‘a very strong commitment’, ‘promise’, ‘responsibility’, ‘duty’, etc…….Asad translated this expression ‘ahdallah’ as ‘bond with God’.

Since in any kind situation of commitment or promise there is a give and take context, some one gives something or does something to another, and on the basis of that right or claim, one demands a commitment or promise of delivery on the other. I believe this meaning is closer to the truth, or the most important idea here: With God’s gift of implanting true nature in human [see 30:30] comes an automatic duty and responsibility to live the life in compliance with the Law He has set in reality. He has given this capacity, this ability, to a human being to sense it and understand it right from his/her true nature. Therefore, out of that capacity and empowerment comes an automatic responsibility on the part of a human being. I believe, this is referred here through the expression “ahdallah”. ]

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