10. Surah Yunus

Ali’s version & Quranic Text:

وَمَا كَانَ لِنَفْسٍ أَن تُؤْمِنَ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ...   

10:100. No soul can believe, except by the Will of Allah,

...وَيَجْعَلُ الرِّجْسَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ لاَ يَعْقِلُونَ ﴿١٠٠﴾

and He will place Doubt (or obscurity) on those who will not understand.

C1482. Rijs (from rajisa, yarjasu, or rajusa, yarjusu) has various meanings: e.g.,

-        filth, impurity, uncleanness, abomination, as in 9:95;

-        hence, filthy deeds, foul conduct, crime, abomination, thus shading off into previous, as in 5:93;

-        hence punishment for crime, penalty, as in 6:125;

-        a form of such punishment, viz., doubt, obscurity, or unsettlement of mind, anger, indignation, as in 9:125, and here, but perhaps the idea of punishment is also implied here.

Other versions

Asad notwithstanding that no human being can ever attain to faith otherwise than by God’s leave [ note123] and [that] it is He who lays the loathsome evil [of disbelief] upon those who will not use their reason [note 124]?

Pickthall It is not for any soul to believe save by the permission of Allah. He hath set uncleanness upon those who have no sense.

Yuksel It is not for a person to acknowledge except by God's leave. He casts the affliction upon those who do not reason.

Transliteration Wa ma_ ka_na li nafsin an tu'mina illa_ bi iznilla_h(i), wa yaj'alur rijsa 'alal lazina la_ ya'qilu_n(a).

[[ Asad’s notes - 123 – I.e., by the virtue of God’s guidance and within the compass of what He has decreed to be man’s nature, comprising the ability to discriminate between right and wring. Since man’s freedom of moral choice expresses itself in his willingness of unwillingness to conform to his true, God-willed nature . it can eb said to depend, in the last resort, on God’s grace (cf. in this respect surah 2, note 19, as well as surah 14, note 4.).

Note 124- Cf. 8:22 and 55, as well as the corresponding note 58. As in those verses, unbelief is here shown to be the result of a person’s a-priori unwillingness to use his reason with a view to understanding God’s messages, be they directly expresses in the revelations granted to His prophets, or – as the Quran once again stresses in the next verse – open to man’s perception in the observable phenomena of His creation. ]]

[[ Ali’s notes - 1481 To creatures endued with Will, Faith comes out of an active use of that Will. But we must not be so arrogant as to suppose that that is enough. At best man is weak, and is in need of Allah's grace and help. If we sincerely wish to understand, He will help our Faith; but if not, our doubts and difficulties will only be increased. This follows as a necessary consequence, and in Quranic language all consequences are ascribed to Allah. (10.100)

1482 Rijs (from rajisa, yarjasu, or rajusa, yarjusu) has various meanings: e.g., (1) filth, impurity, uncleanness, abomination, as in ix. 95; (2) hence, filthy deeds, foul conduct, crime, abomination, thus shading off into (1), as in v. 90; (3) hence punishment for crime, penalty, as in vi. 125; (4) a form of such punishment, viz., doubt, obscurity, or unsettlement of mind, anger, indignation, as in ix. 125, and here, but perhaps the idea of punishment is also implied here. (10.100)