2. Sura Baqara [early Medina 87]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَإِذْ
قَالَ
رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلاَئِكَةِ
إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ
فِي الأَرْضِ
خَلِيفَةً ...
2:30. Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth."
... قَالُواْ أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاء...
They said, "Wilt thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?
... وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ...
Whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?"
... قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٣٠﴾
He said: "I know what ye know not."
Asad’s Version:
2: 30
AND LO! 21 Thy Sustainer said unto the angels: "Behold, I am about to establish upon earth one who shall inherit it." 22
They said: "Wilt Thou place on it such as will spread corruption thereon and shed blood -
whereas it is we who extol Thy limitless glory, and praise Thee, and hallow Thy name?"
[God] answered: "Verily, I know that which you do not know."
Other versions:
Pickthall And when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: wilt Thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not.
Transliteration Wa iz qa_la rabbuka lil mala_'ikati inni ja_'ilun fil ardi khalifah(tan), qa_lu_ ataj'alu fiha_ may yufsidu fiha_ wa yasfikud dima_'(a), wa nahnu nusabbihu bihamdika wa nuqaddisulak(a), qa_la inni a'lamu ma_la_ ta'lamu_n(a).
[[Ali’s notes -
C47. It would seem that the angels, though holy and pure, and endued with power from Allah, yet represented only one side of Creation. We may imagine them without passion or emotion, of which the highest flower is love.
If man was to be endued with emotions, those emotions would lead him to the highest and drag him to the lowest.
The power of will or choosing would have to go with them, in order that man might steer his own bark. This power of will (when used aright) gave him to some extent a mastery over his own fortunes and over nature, thus bringing him nearer to the God-like nature which has supreme mastery and will.
We may suppose the angels had no independent wills of their own; their perfection in other ways reflected Allah's perfection but could not raise them to the dignity of vicegerency.
The perfect vicegerent is he who has the power of initiative himself, but whose independent action always reflects perfectly the will of his Principal.
The distinction is expressed by Shakespeare (Sonnet 94) in those fine lines:
"They are the lords and owners of their faces.
Others but stewards of their excellence."
The angels in their one-sidedness saw only the mischief consequent on the misuse of the emotional nature by man; perhaps they also, being without emotions, did not understand the whole of Allah's nature, which gives and asks for love. In humility and true devotion to Allah, they remonstrate; we must not imagine the least tinge of jealousy, as they are without emotion.
This mystery of love being above them, they are told that they do not know and they acknowledge (in 2:32 below) not their fault (for there is no question of fault) but their imperfection of knowledge. At the same time, the matter is brought home to them when the actual capacities of man are shown to them (2:31, 33).
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6. Sura al-Anam
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَهُوَ
الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ
خَلاَئِفَ
الأَرْضِ...
6:165.It is He who hath made you (His) agents, inheritors of the earth:
C988. Cf. 2:30 and note, where I have translated "Khalifah" as "Vicegerent", it being Allah's Plan to make Adam (as representing mankind) His vicegerent on earth.
In C.1 I have construed the same word by the word "Agent."
Another idea implied in "Khalifah" is that of "successor, heir, or inheritor," i.e., one who has the ultimate ownership after the present possessors, to whom a life-tenancy has been given by the owner, have passed away.
In 15:23 occurs the striking word "heirs" (warithun) as applied to Allah: "We give life and death, and We are the Heirs (of Inheritors)."
The same idea occurs in 3:180, where see n. 485.
The translation here attempts to express both the ideas which I understand from the original.
...وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَكُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ لِّيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي مَا آتَاكُمْ...
He hath raised you in ranks, some above others: that he may try you in the gifts He hath given you:
...إِنَّ رَبَّكَ سَرِيعُ الْعِقَابِ وَإِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ﴿١٦٥﴾
for thy Lord is quick in punishment:
yet He is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful
Other versions:
6: 165
Asad For, He it is who has made you inherit the earth [note 165], and has raised some of you by degrees above others, so that He might try you by means of what He has bestowed upon you [note 166].
Pickthall He it is who hath placed you as viceroys of the earth and hath exalted some of you in rank above others, that He may try you by (the test of) that which He hath given you. Lo! Thy Lord is swift in prosecution, and lo! He is Forgiving, Merciful.
Transliteration Wa huwal lazi ja'alakum khala_'ifal ardi wa rafa'a ba'dakum fauqa ba'din daraja_til liyabluwakum fi ma_ a_ta_kum, inna rabbaka sari'ul 'iqa_b(i), wa innahu_ lagafu_rur rahim(un).
[[Asad’s note 165 – See surah 2, note 94. Note 166 – I.e., by way of character, strength, knowledge, social position, wealth, etc.]]
[[ Ali’s note - 988 Cf. ii. 30 and n. where I have translated "Khalifa" as "Vicegerent", it being god's Plan to make Adam (as representing mankind) His vicegerent on earth. Another idea implied in "Khalifa" is that of "successor, heir, or inheritor," i.e., one who has the ultimate ownership after the present possessors, to whom a life-tenancy has been given by the owner, have passed away. In xv. 23 occurs the striking word "heirs" (warithun) as applied to God: "We give life and death, and We are the Heirs (of Inheritors)." The same idea occurs in iii. 180, where see n. 485. (6.165) ]]
27. An-Naml (The Ants)
Mecca Period 48
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
أَمَّن
يُجِيبُ
الْمُضْطَرَّ
إِذَا دَعَاهُ...
27:62. Or, who listens to the (soul) distressed when it calls on Him,
...وَيَكْشِفُ السُّوءَ ...
and who relieves its suffering,
C3297. Besides the evidence of external nature, there is the still more intimate evidence in man's inner conscience and heart.
Allah listens to man's cry of agony and relieves his suffering, and He has given him superiority over other creation on this earth, through his mind and soul. Is man then going to run after inferior beings and forget Allah?
... وَيَجْعَلُكُمْ خُلَفَاء الْأَرْضِ...
and makes you (mankind) inheritors of the earth?
...أَإِلَهٌ مَّعَ اللَّهِ...
(Can there be another) god besides Allah?
...قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ ﴿٦٢﴾
Little it is that ye heed!
أَمَّن
يَهْدِيكُمْ
فِي ظُلُمَاتِ
الْبَرِّ
وَالْبَحْرِ...
27:63. Or, who guides you through the depths of darkness on land and sea,
...وَمَن يُرْسِلُ الرِّيَاحَ بُشْرًا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ رَحْمَتِهِ...
and who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before His mercy?
After external nature, our attention was drawn to our inner consciousness; after that, it is drawn here to our social and collective life, in which we use the forces of nature for international intercourse, trade, agriculture, production, and economic well-being generally.
In the next verse, we are asked to contemplate creation from its primeval stages, through its intermediate processes, to the final Destiny in a new Creation-a new heaven and a new earth.
...أَإِلَهٌ مَّعَ اللَّهِ...
(Can there be another) god besides Allah? --
...تَعَالَى اللَّهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ﴿٦٣﴾
high is Allah above what they associate with Him!
Asad’s Version:
27:62 Nay - who is it that responds to the distressed when he calls out to Him, and who removes the ill [that caused the distress], and has made you inherit the earth? 57
Could there be any divine power besides God? How seldom do you keep this in mind!
27:63 Nay - who is it that guides you in the midst of the deep darkness of land and sea, 58 and sends forth the winds as a glad tiding of His coming grace?" Could there be any divine power besides God? Sublimely exalted is God above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!
[[Asad’s notes -57 Cf. 2:30 and the corresponding note 22. In the present instance the accent is on God's having caused man to "inherit the earth" by endowing him with specific faculties and abilities an implicit denial of man's claim that he is independent and "master of his fate". ]]