61. As-Saff (The Ranks)
Medina Period
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
يَا
أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آَمَنُوا هَلْ
أَدُلُّكُمْ
عَلَى تِجَارَةٍ
تُنجِيكُم مِّنْ
عَذَابٍ
أَلِيمٍ ﴿١٠﴾
61: 10. O ye who believe!
shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous Penalty? --
C5443. Tijarat: bargain, trade, traffic, transaction: something given or done, in return for something which we desire to get.
What we give or do on our part is described in verse 11 below, and what we get is described in verse 12.
It is truly a wonderful bargain: what we are asked to give is so little; what we are promised in return is so much. There comes Allah's unbounded Bounty and Munificence.
Cf. also 9:111, where the bargain is stated in another way.
تُؤْمِنُونَ
بِاللَّهِ
وَرَسُولِهِ
وَتُجَاهِدُونَ
فِي سَبِيلِ
اللَّهِ
بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ
وَأَنفُسِكُمْ
...
61: 11. - That ye believe in Allah and His Messenger,
- and that ye strive (your utmost) in the Cause of Allah, with your property and your persons:
... ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿١١﴾
that will be best for you, if ye but knew!
C5444. It would indeed be a great and wonderful bargain to give so little and get so much, if we only knew and understood the comparative value of things-,the sacrifice of our fleeting advantages for forgiveness, the love of Allah, and eternal bliss.
يَغْفِرْ
لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ
وَيُدْخِلْكُمْ
جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي
مِن تَحْتِهَا
الْأَنْهَارُ
...
61: 12. He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to Gardens beneath which rivers flow,
... وَمَسَاكِنَ طَيِّبَةً فِي جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ ﴿١٢﴾
and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity:
that is indeed the supreme Achievement.
وَأُخْرَى
تُحِبُّونَهَا
نَصْرٌ مِّنَ
اللَّهِ وَفَتْحٌ
قَرِيبٌ وَبَشِّرِ
الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
﴿١٣﴾
61: 13. And another (favor will He bestow), which ye do love -- help from Allah and a speedy victory: so give the Glad Tidings to the Believers.
C5445. The supreme Achievement has already been mentioned viz.; the Gardens of Eternity with Allah. But lest that seem too remote or abstract for the understanding of men not strong in faith, another good news is mentioned which the men who first heard this Message could at once understand and appreciate-"which ye do love":
viz.: Help and Victory. For all striving in a righteous Cause we get Allah's help: and however much the odds against us may be, we are sure of victory with Allah's help. But all life is a striving or struggle,-the spiritual life even more than any other; and the final victory there is the same as the Garden of Eternity.
Asad’s Version:
61:10 O YOU who have attained to faith! Shall I point out to you a bargain that will save you from grievous suffering [in this world and in the life to come]?" (61:11) You are to believe in God and His Apostle, and to strive hard in God's cause with your possessions and your lives: this is for your own good - if you but knew it!
61:12 [If you do so,] He will forgive you your sins, and [in the life to come] will admit you into gardens through which running waters flow, and into goodly mansions in [those] gardens of perpetual bliss: 12 that [will be] the triumph supreme!
(61:13) And [withal, He will grant you] yet another thing that you dearly love: succour from God [in this world], and a victory soon to come: : 13 and [thereof, O Prophet,] give thou a glad tiding to all who believe.
[[Asad’s notes - 12 For this rendering of 'adn, see note 45 on 38:50.
13 Some of the commentators see in this promise of victory a prediction of actual, warlike conquests by the Muslims. It is, however, much more probable that it relates to a spiritual victory of the Qur'anic message, and its spread among people who had not previously understood it. ]]