39. Surah Az-Zumar (The Throngs)

Mecca Period 59 [75 verses]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَالَّذِينَ اجْتَنَبُوا الطَّاغُوتَ أَن يَعْبُدُوهَا وَأَنَابُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ لَهُمُ الْبُشْرَى...

39: 17. Those who eschew Evil -- and fall not into its worship -- and turn to Allah (in repentance) -- for them is Good News:

... فَبَشِّرْ عِبَادِ ﴿١٧﴾

so announce the Good News to My Servants --

الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ...

39: 18. Those who listen to the Word, and follow the best (meaning) in it:

C4269. The Commentators construe this clause in two alternative ways.

1. If "word" be taken as any word, the clause would mean that good men listen to all that is said and choose the best of it.

2. If "word" be taken to mean Allah's Word, it would mean that they should listen reverently to it, and where permissive and alternative courses are allowed for those who are not strong enough to follow the higher course, those "endued with understanding" should prefer to attempt the higher course of conduct.

For example, it is permitted (within limits) to punish those who wrong us, but the nobler course is to repel evil with good (23:96): we should try to follow the nobler course.

I prefer the latter construction: it accords better with my interpretation of the last verse: see n. 4268.

... أُوْلَئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَدَاهُمُ اللَّهُ...

those are the ones whom Allah has guided,

... وَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ ﴿١٨﴾

and those are the ones endued with understanding.

Asad’s Version:

(39:17) seeing that for those who shun the powers of evil lest they [be tempted to] worship them, 20 and turn unto God instead, there is the glad tiding [of happiness in the life to come]. 21 Give, then, this glad tiding to [those of] My servants

(39:18) who listen [closely] to all that is said, and follow the best of it: 22 [for] it is they whom God has graced with His guidance, and it is they who are [truly] endowed with insight!

[[Asad’s notes - 20 For my rendering of at-taghut as "powers of evil", see surah 2, note 250. In the present context, this term apparently circumscribes the seductive force of certain evil ambitions or desires - like striving after power for its own sake, acquisition of wealth by exploiting one's fellow-beings, social advancement by all manner of immoral means, and so forth - any of which may cause man to lose all spiritual orientation, and to be enslaved by his passions.

21 Cf. 10:62-64.

22 According to Razi, this describes people who examine every religious proposition (in the widest sense of this term) in the light of their own reason, accepting that which their mind finds to be valid or possible, and rejecting all that does not measure up to the test of reason. In Razi's words, the above verse expresses "a praise and commendation of following the evidence supplied by one's reason (hujjat al-'aql), and of reaching one's conclusions in accordance with [the results of] critical examination (nazar) and logical inference (istidlal)." A somewhat similar view is advanced, albeit

in simpler terms, by Tabari. ]]