6. Sura al-Anam
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَقَالُواْ
إِنْ
هِيَ
إِلاَّ
حَيَاتُنَا
الدُّنْيَا
وَمَا
نَحْنُ
بِمَبْعُوثِينَ
﴿٢٩﴾
6: 29. And they (sometimes) say:
"There is nothing except our life on this earth, and never shall we be raised up again."
وَلَوْ
تَرَى
إِذْ
وُقِفُواْ
عَلَى
رَبِّهِمْ...
6: 30. If thou couldst but see when they are confronted with their Lord!
...قَالَ أَلَيْسَ هَذَا بِالْحَقِّ...
He will say: "Is not this the truth?"
...قَالُواْ بَلَى وَرَبِّنَا...
They will say: "Yea, by our Lord!"
...قَالَ فَذُوقُواْ العَذَابَ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَكْفُرُونَ ﴿٣٠﴾
He will say: "Taste ye then the penalty, because ye rejected faith."
Others version:
6: 29
Yusuf Ali And they (sometimes) say: "There is nothing except our life on this earth and never shall we be raised up again."
Pickthall And they say: There is naught save our life of the world, and we shall not be raised (again).
Transliteration Wa qa_lu_ in hiya illa_ haya_tunad dunya_ wa ma_ nahnu bi mab'u_sin(a).
6: 30
Yusuf Ali If thou couldst but see when they are confronted with their Lord! He will say: "Is not this the truth?" They will say: "Yea by our Lord!" He will say: "Taste ye then the penalty because ye rejected faith."
Pickthall If thou couldst see when they are set before their Lord! He will say: Is not this real? They will say: Yea, verily, by our Lord! He will say: Taste now the retribution for that ye used to disbelieve.
Transliteration Wa lau tara_ iz wuqifu_ 'ala_ rabbihim, qa_la alaisa ha_za_ bil haqq(i), qa_lu_ bala_ wa rabbina_, qa_la fazu_qul 'aza_ba bima_ kuntum takfuru_n(a).
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِلَيْهِ
مَرْجِعُكُمْ
جَمِيعًا...
10: 4. To Him will be your return -- of all of you.
...وَعْدَ اللّهِ حَقًّا...
The promise of Allah is true and sure.
C1388. Haqq: true, right, for just ends, in right proportions, sure and certain:
all these ideas are implied.
...إِنَّهُ يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ...
It is He Who beginneth the process of Creation, and repeateth it,
C1389. Cf. n. 120 to 2:117.
Allah's creation is not a simple act, once done and finished with. It is continuous, and there are many stages, not the least important of which is the Hereafter, when the fruits of our life will be achieved.
...لِيَجْزِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ الصَّالِحَاتِ بِالْقِسْطِ ...
that He may reward with justice those who believe and work righteousness,
...وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لَهُمْ شَرَابٌ مِّنْ حَمِيمٍ وَعَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكْفُرُونَ ﴿٤﴾
but those who reject Him will have nothing but draughts of boiling fluids, and a Penalty grievous: because they did reject Him.
C1390. Hamim: boiling fluid:
it is associated as in 38:57, with gassaq, a dark, murky, or intensely cold fluid; both indicative of the grievous penalty that results from rebellion against Allah.
Others version:
10: 4 Unto Him you all must return: this is, in truth, God’s promise – for, behold, He creates in the first instance, and then brings him forth anew to the end that He may reward with equity all who attain to faith and do righteous deeds; whereas for those who are bent on denying the truth there is in store a draught of burning despair and grievous suffering because of their persistent refusal to acknowledge the truth.
17. Surah Al Isra
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَجَعَلْنَا
عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ
أَكِنَّةً أَن
يَفْقَهُوهُ
وَفِي آذَانِهِمْ
وَقْرًا...
17: 46. And We put coverings over their hearts (and minds) lest they should understand the Qur'án, and deafness into their ears:
C2231. The invisible veil being put against the ungodly on account of their deliberate rejection of Truth, the result is that their minds are fogged so that they cannot understand and their ears are clogged so that they cannot hear.
In other words the effects of Evil become cumulative in shutting out Allah's grace.
...وَإِذَا ذَكَرْتَ رَبَّكَ فِي الْقُرْآنِ وَحْدَهُ وَلَّوْاْ عَلَى أَدْبَارِهِمْ نُفُورًا ﴿٤٦﴾
when thou dost commemorate thy Lord -- and Him alone -- in the Qur'án, they turn on their backs, fleeing (from the Truth).
نَّحْنُ
أَعْلَمُ بِمَا
يَسْتَمِعُونَ
بِهِ إِذْ
يَسْتَمِعُونَ
إِلَيْكَ ...
17: 47. We know best why it is they listen, when they listen to thee;
C2232. See last note.
That being so, the only motive for the ungodly to listen to Allah's Truth is to scoff at it instead of to be instructed by it. They may make a show of listening, but when they meet together in private, they show themselves in their true colours. Cf. 2:14.
They cannot help seeing that there is singular charm and attractiveness in Allah's Word, and that it consoles, helps, and elevates many people who receive it in the right spirit. So they pretend that they are superior to such people and laugh at them for listening to some one who is only under the influence of something which they call magic!
... وَإِذْ هُمْ نَجْوَى إِذْ يَقُولُ الظَّالِمُونَ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلاَّ رَجُلاً مَّسْحُورًا ﴿٤٧﴾
and when they meet in private conference, Behold, the wicked say, "Ye follow none other than a man bewitched!"
انظُرْ
كَيْفَ ضَرَبُواْ
لَكَ الأَمْثَالَ...
17: 48. See what similes thy strike for thee;
...فَضَلُّواْ فَلاَ يَسْتَطِيعْونَ سَبِيلاً ﴿٤٨﴾
but they have gone astray, and never can they find a way.
C2233. Note that the word used is "Sabilan" "a way", not "the way".
In going astray they have lost the way; but never can they find any means of getting back to that way, or of justifying themselves or making good their wicked similes.
وَقَالُواْ
أَئِذَا كُنَّا
عِظَامًا وَرُفَاتًا
أَإِنَّا
لَمَبْعُوثُونَ
خَلْقًا جَدِيدًا ﴿٤٩﴾
17: 49. They say:
"What! when we are reduced to bones and dust, should we really be raised up (to be) a new creation?"
C2234. They do not realise that Allah Who created them once out of nothing can create them again, with memories of their past, in order to render to Him an account of how they used or misused the talents and opportunities which they were given.
If it is to be a new Creation, what then?
Bones and dust or ashes may yet retain something of the personality which was enshrined in them. But even if they were reduced to stones or iron or anything which their minds can conceive of as being most unlike them, yet there is nothing impossible to Allah!
He has clearly sent a Message that we shall have to render an account of ourselves, and His Message is necessarily true. (R).
قُل
كُونُواْ حِجَارَةً
أَوْ حَدِيدًا ﴿٥٠﴾
17: 50. Say: "(Nay!) be ye stones or iron,
أَوْ خَلْقًا
مِّمَّا يَكْبُرُ
فِي صُدُورِكُمْ...
17: 51. "Or created matter which, in your minds, is hardest (to be raised up) -- (yet shall ye be raised up)!"
...فَسَيَقُولُونَ مَن يُعِيدُنَا ...
Then will they say: "Who will cause us to return?"
...قُلِ الَّذِي فَطَرَكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ...
Say: "He Who created you first!"
...فَسَيُنْغِضُونَ إِلَيْكَ رُؤُوسَهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَى هُوَ...
Then will they wag their heads towards thee, and say, "When will that be?"
C2235. The skeptic shifts his ground when he is cornered in argument. It is no longer tenable for him to say that it cannot happen or that there is no one who can bring him back to life and memory. He now gets shaky, and says, "Well, when is that going to happen?"
The actual time no man can tell. Indeed that event will be on a plane in which there will be no Time. Our relative ideas of time and place will have been completely overthrown, and it will appear to us then, not that it has been postponed too long, but that it has come too soon!
See the next verse and note.
...قُلْ عَسَى أَن يَكُونَ قَرِيبًا ﴿٥١﴾
Say, "Maybe it will be quite soon!
يَوْمَ
يَدْعُوكُمْ
فَتَسْتَجِيبُونَ
بِحَمْدِهِ...
17: 52. "It will be on a Day when He will call you, and ye will answer (His call) with (words of) His praise,
...وَتَظُنُّونَ ...
and ye will think
C2236. It may be that this verse should not be in the inverted commas governed by the verb "say", in the last clause of the last verse. In that case, the answer to the skeptic would be finished in the last verse, and this verse would be a general statement applying also to the righteous, who will rise up celebrating the praises of Allah.
But on the whole, I think it is better to take this verse as part of the answer to the skeptic referred to in the last verse.
... إِن لَّبِثْتُمْ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً ﴿٥٢﴾
that ye tarried but a little while!"
C2237. Whatever may have been your spiritual blindness in this life, the "new creation" will have opened your eyes to the Truth. No one will any longer be in any delusion as regards the Reality of Allah, and will be forced, by their new circumstances, to recognise the Truth and sing Allah's praises. And all will be surprised at the seemingly short flight of time since they had their little ephemeral life on this earth. They will now appraise its true worth.
Others version:
17: 45
Yusuf Ali When thou dost recite the Qur'an We put between thee and those who believe not in the Hereafter a veil invisible:
Pickthall And when thou recitest the Qu'ran We place between thee and those who believe not in the Hereafter a hidden barrier;
Transliteration Wa iza_ qara'tal qur'a_na ja'alna_ bainaka wa bainal lazina la_ yu'minu_na bil a_khirati hija_bam mastu_ra_(w),
17: 46
Yusuf Ali And We put coverings over their hearts (and minds) lest they should understand the Qur'an and deafness into their ears: when thou dost commemorate thy Lord and Him alone in the Qur'an they turn on their backs fleeing (from the Truth).
Pickthall And We place upon their hearts veils lest they should understand it, and in their ears a deafness; and when thou makest mention of thy Lord alone in the Qur'an, they turn their backs in aversion.
Transliteration Wa ja'alna_ 'ala_ qulu_bihim akinnatan ay yafqahu_hu wa fi a_za_nihim waqra_(n), wa iza_ zakarta rabbaka fil qur'a_ni wahdahu_ wallau 'ala_ adba_rihim nufu_ra_(n).
17: 47
Yusuf Ali We know best why it is they listen when they listen to thee; and when they meet in private conference Behold the wicked say "Ye follow none other than a man bewitched!"
Pickthall We are best aware of what they wish to hear when they give ear to thee and when they take secret counsel, when the evil doers say: Ye follow but a man bewitched.
Transliteration Nahnu a'lamu bima_ yastami'u_na bihi iz yastami'u_na ilaika wa iz hum najwa_ iz yaqu_luz za_limu_na in tattabi'u_na illa_ rajulam mashu_ra_(n).
17: 48
Yusuf Ali See what similes thy strike for thee; but they have gone astray and never can they find a way.
Pickthall See what similitudes they coin for thee, and thus are all astray, and cannot find a road!
Transliteration Unzur kaifa daraba_ lakal ama_la fa dallu_ fala_ yastati'u_na sabila_(n).
17: 49
Yusuf Ali They say: "What! when we are reduced to bones and dust should we really be raised up (to be) a new creation?"
Pickthall And they say: When we are bones and fragments, shall we, forsooth, be raised up as a new creation?
Transliteration Wa qa_lu_ a'iza_ kunna_ 'iza_maw wa rufa_tan a'inna_ lamab'u_su_na khalqan jadida_(n).
17: 50
Yusuf Ali Say: "(Nay!) be ye stones or iron
Pickthall Say: Be ye stones or iron
Transliteration Qul ku_nu_ hija_ratan au hadida_(n),
17: 51
Yusuf Ali "Or created matter which in your minds is hardest (to be raised up)--(yet shall ye be raised up)!" Then will they say: "Who will cause us to return?" Say: "He Who created you first!" Then will they wag their heads towards thee and say "When will that be?" Say "Maybe it will be quite soon!
Pickthall Or some created thing that is yet greater in your thoughts! Then they will say: Who shall bring us back (to life)? Say: He who created you at the first. Then will they shake their heads at thee, and say: When will it be? Say: It will perhaps be soon;
Transliteration Au khalqam mimma_ yakburu fi sudu_rikum, fa sayaqu_lu_na may yu'iduna_, qulil lazi fatarakum awwala marrah(tin), fa sayungidu_na ilaika ru'u_sahum wa yaqu_lu_na mata_ huw(a), qul 'asa_ ayyaku_na qariba_(n).
17: 52
Yusuf Ali "It will be on a Day when He will call you and ye will answer (His call) with (words of) His praise and ye will think that ye tarried but a little while!"
Pickthall A day when He will call you and ye will answer with His praise, and ye will think that ye have tarried but a little while.
Transliteration Yauma yad'u_kum fa tastajibu_na bi hamdihi wa tazunnu_na il labistum illa_ qalila_(n).
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