40. Sura al Mu’min

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا...

40:51. We will, without doubt, help Our messengers and those who believe (both) in this world's life

... وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْأَشْهَادُ ﴿٥١﴾

and on the Day when the Witnesses will stand forth --

C4424. The Day of Judgment is described as "the Day when Witnesses will stand forth". This description implies two things:

- that there man will be judged justly; his past actions and his faculties and opportunities will be witnesses as to the use he made of them (24:24); in fact he will himself be a witness against himself (6:130);

- and the prophets and just men will bear witness to the fact that they preached and warned men (39:69; 2:133).

يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ الظَّالِمِينَ مَعْذِرَتُهُمْ...

40: 52. The Day when no profit will it be to Wrongdoers to present their excuses,

C4425. After the testimony mentioned in the last note, there will be no room for excuses, and if any were made, they could serve no purpose, unlike the state of matters in this world, where there is much make-believe, and Falsehood often masquerades as Truth and is accepted as such even by those who should know better.

... وَلَهُمُ اللَّعْنَةُ وَلَهُمْ سُوءُ الدَّارِ ﴿٥٢﴾

but they will (only) have the Curse and the Home of Misery.

Asad’s Version:

40:51 BEHOLD, We shall indeed succour Our apostles and those who have attained to faith, [both] in this world's life and on the Day when all the witnesses shall stand up 35 –

(40:52) the Day when their excuses will be of no avail to the evildoers, seeing that their lot will be rejection from all that is good, and a woeful hereafter. 36

[[Asad’s note - 35 See note 71 on 39:69.

36 Lit., "the evil of the [otherworldly] abode". As regards the term la~nah, its primary significance is "estrangement" or "rejection"; in Qur'anic terminology it denotes "rejection from all that is gdod" (Lisan al-'Arab) and, specifically, "estrangement from God's grace" (Zamakhshari). ]]