27. Surah Al-naml

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

بَلِ ادَّارَكَ عِلْمُهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ...

27: 66. Still less can their knowledge comprehend the Hereafter:

...بَلْ هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا...

nay, they are in doubt and uncertainty thereanent;

...بَلْ هُم مِّنْهَا عَمِونَ ﴿٦٦﴾

nay, they are blind thereunto!

C3304. The Unbelievers are generally materialists, who cannot go beyond the evidence of their physical senses. As to a spiritual vision of the future, their physical senses would only leave them in doubt and uncertainty, while their rejection of the spiritual light makes them blind altogether to the next world.

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَئِذَا كُنَّا تُرَابًا وَآبَاؤُنَا أَئِنَّا لَمُخْرَجُونَ ﴿٦٧﴾

27: 67. The Unbelievers say:

"What! when we become dust, -- we and our fathers -- shall we really be raised (from the dead)?

لَقَدْ وُعِدْنَا هَذَا نَحْنُ وَآبَاؤُنَا مِن قَبْلُ...

27: 68. "It is true we were promised this -- we and our fathers before (us):

...إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ ﴿٦٨﴾

these are nothing but tales of the ancients."

Asad’s Version:

(27:66) nay, their knowledge of the life to come stops short of the truth:"

nay, they are [often] in doubt as to its reality: nay, they are blind to it. 65

27:67 And so, they who are bent on denying the truth are saying: "What! After we have become dust - we and our forefathers - shall we [all], forsooth, be brought forth [from the dead]?

(27:68) Indeed, we were promised this - we and our forefathers - in the past as well; it is nothing but fables of ancient times! "