42. Ash-Shura

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَالَّذِينَ يُحَاجُّونَ فِي اللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ مَا اسْتُجِيبَ لَهُ...

42: 16. But those who dispute concerning Allah after He has been accepted,

C4549. After He has been accepted. The disputants are the Unbelievers who pugnaciously assault the minds of Believers after the Believers have by conviction accepted Faith in Allah as leading to spiritual Light.

...حُجَّتُهُمْ دَاحِضَةٌ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ ﴿١٦﴾

futile is their dispute in the sight of their Lord: on them is Wrath, and for them will be a Penalty Terrible.

Such disputation is futile. An inner spiritual experience can never be shaken by dialectical assaults. On the contrary such disputations recoil on the heads of those who indulge in them. Allah's Wrath is on them in this life, and the terrible Penalty of the Hereafter must inevitably follow their evil plots against Truth.

اللَّهُ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ وَالْمِيزَانَ...

42: 17. It is Allah Who has sent down the Book in truth, and the Balance (by which to weigh conduct).

C4550. Revelation is like a balance, an instrument placed by Allah in our hands, by which we can weigh all moral issues, all questions of right and wrong in conduct. We must do so constantly. For the Judgment in any given case may come at any time: it may be quite near, and we must always be prepared.

The Balance may also refer to the God given faculty by which man can judge between right and wrong.

...وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّ السَّاعَةَ قَرِيبٌ ﴿١٧﴾

And what will make thee realize that perhaps the Hour is close at hand?

يَسْتَعْجِلُ بِهَا الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهَا...

42: 18. Only those wish to hasten it who believe not in it:

C4551. The Unbelievers do not believe in Judgment and laugh at it. They say defiantly, "If there is to be a punishment, let it come at once!" The threefold answer to this will be found in n. 1810 to 13:6.

With those who believe, the case is different. They know that the Hereafter is an awful Reality, and prepare for it. They see clearly on what a wrong track the scoffers are!

...وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مُشْفِقُونَ مِنْهَا وَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهَا الْحَقُّ...

those who believe hold it in awe, and know that it is the Truth.

...أَلَا إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُمَارُونَ فِي السَّاعَةِ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ بَعِيدٍ ﴿١٨﴾

Behold, verily those that dispute concerning the Hour are far astray.

Asad’s Version:

42:16

And as for those who would [still] argue about God 21 after He has been acknowledged [by them] - all their arguments are null and void in their Sustainer's sight, and upon them will fall [His] condemnation, and for them is suffering severe in store:

(42: 17) [for] it is God [Himself] who has bestowed revelation from on high, setting forth the truth, and [thus given man] a balance [wherewith to weigh right and wrong]. 22 And for all thou knowest, the Last Hour may well be near!

42:18 Those who do not believe in it [mockingly] ask for its speedy advent 23 - whereas those who have attained to faith stand in awe of it, and know it to be the truth.

Oh, verily, they who call the Last Hour in question have indeed gone far astray!