6. Sura al-Anam

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَإِذَا جَاءتْهُمْ آيَةٌ قَالُواْ لَن نُّؤْمِنَ حَتَّى نُؤْتَى مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيَ رُسُلُ اللّهِ...

6: 124. When there comes to them a Sign (from Allah), they say:

"We shall not believe until we receive one (exactly) like those received by Allah's messengers."

C946. Besides the teaching in Allah's Word, and the teaching in Allah's world, of nature and history and human contacts, many Signs also come to the ungodly, in the shape of warnings or otherwise, which the ungodly either do not heed, or deliberately reject.

The Signs in the two cases are not the same, and that becomes one of their perverse arguments against Faith. But Allah's working will be according to His own Will and Plan, and not according to the wishes whims of the ungodly.

...اللّهُ أَعْلَمُ حَيْثُ يَجْعَلُ رِسَالَتَهُ ...

Allah knoweth best where (and how) to carry out His mission.

...سَيُصِيبُ الَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُواْ صَغَارٌ عِندَ اللّهِ وَعَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَمْكُرُونَ ﴿١٢٤﴾

Soon will the wicked be overtaken by humiliation before Allah, and a severe punishment, for all their plots.

فَمَن يُرِدِ اللّهُ أَن يَهْدِيَهُ يَشْرَحْ صَدْرَهُ لِلإِسْلاَمِ...

6: 125. Those whom Allah (in His Plan) willeth to guide, He openeth their breast to Islam;

C947. Allah's Universal Plan is the Qadha wa Qadr, which is so much misunderstood. That Plan is unalterable, and that is His Will.

It means that in the spiritual world, as in t physical world, there are laws of justice, mercy, grace, penalty, etc., which work as surely as anything we know.

If, then, a man refuses Faith, becomes a rebel, with each step he goes further and further down, and his pace will be accelerated; he will scarcely be able to take spiritual breath, and his recovery -in spite of Allah's mercy which he has rejected-will be as difficult as if he had to climb up to the skies.

On the other hand, the godly will find, with each step, the next step easier. Jesus expressed this truth paradoxically:

"He that hath, to him shall be given; but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath": Mark, 4:25.

John (6:65) make Jesus say: "No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."

...وَمَن يُرِدْ أَن يُضِلَّهُ يَجْعَلْ صَدْرَهُ ضَيِّقًا حَرَجًا كَأَنَّمَا يَصَّعَّدُ فِي السَّمَاء...

those whom He willeth to leave straying, He maketh their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up to the skies:

...كَذَلِكَ يَجْعَلُ اللّهُ الرِّجْسَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ ﴿١٢٥﴾

thus doth Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe.

Other versions:

6: 124

Yusuf Ali When there comes to them a Sign (from Allah) they say: "We shall not believe until we receive one (exactly) like those received by Allah's apostles." Allah knows best where (and how) to carry out His mission. Soon will the wicked be overtaken by humiliation before Allah and a severe punishment for all their plots.

Pickthall And when a token cometh unto them, they say: We will not believe till we are given that which Allah's messengers are given. Allah knows best with whom to place His message. Humiliation from Allah and heavy punishment will smite the guilty for their scheming.

Transliteration Wa iza_ ja_'athum a_yatun qa_lu_ lan nu'mina hatta_ nu'ta_ misla ma_ u_tiya rusululla_h(i), alla_hu a'lamu haisu yaj'alu risa_latah(u_), sayusibul lazina ajramu_ saga_run'indalla_hi wa aza_bun syadidum bima_ ka_nu_ yamkuru_n(a).

6: 125

Asad ………...God inflicts horror upon those who will not believe.

Yusuf Ali Those whom Allah (in His Plan) wills to guide He opens their breast to Islam; those whom He wills to leave straying He makes their breast close and constricted as if they had to climb up to the skies: thus doth Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe.

Pickthall And whomsoever it is Allah's will to guide, He expand his bosom unto the Surrender, and whomsoever it is His will to send astray, He makes his bosom close and narrow as if he were engaged in sheer ascent. Thus Allah lays ignominy upon those who believe not.

Transliteration Fa may yuridilla_hu ay yahdiyahu_ yasyrah sadrahu_ lil isla_m(i), wa may yurid ay yudillahu_ yaj'al sadrahu_ dayyiqan harajan ka annama_ yassa''adu fis sama_'(i), kaza_lika yaj'alulla_hur rijsa 'alal lazina la_ yu'minu_n(a).