20 Sura Taha

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

قَالَ رَبِّ لِمَ حَشَرْتَنِي أَعْمَى وَقَدْ كُنتُ بَصِيرًا ﴿١٢٥﴾

20: 125. He will say: "O my Lord! why hast thou raised me up blind, while I had sight (before)?"

C2649. Because Allah gave him physical sight in this life for trial, he thinks he should be favoured in the real world, the world that matters! He misused his physical sight and made himself blind for the other world.

قَالَ كَذَلِكَ أَتَتْكَ آيَاتُنَا فَنَسِيتَهَا...

20: 126. (Allah) will say:

"Thus didst thou, when Our Signs came unto thee, disregard them:

...وَكَذَلِكَ الْيَوْمَ تُنسَى ﴿١٢٦﴾

so wilt thou, this day, be disregarded."

C2650. 'You were deliberately blind to Allah's Signs: now you will not see Allah's favours, and will be excluded from His Grace.

وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي مَنْ أَسْرَفَ وَلَمْ يُؤْمِن بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِ...   

20: 127. And thus do We recompense him who transgresses beyond bounds and believes not in the Signs of his Lord:

...وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَشَدُّ وَأَبْقَى ﴿١٢٧﴾

and the Penalty of the Hereafter is far more grievous and more enduring.

C2651. Blindness in the world of enduring Reality is far worse than physical blindness in the world of probation.

أَفَلَمْ يَهْدِ لَهُمْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ الْقُرُونِ...   

20: 128. It is not a warning to such men (to call to mind) how many generations before them We destroyed,

...يَمْشُونَ فِي مَسَاكِنِهِمْ...

in whose haunts they (now) move?

...إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي النُّهَى ﴿١٢٨﴾

Verily, in this are Signs for men endued with understanding.

C2652. Cf. 20:54.

This phrase concluded the argument of Moses with Pharaoh about Pharaoh's blindness to Allah and the Signs of Allah.

Now it concludes the more general argument about men, concerning whom the saying arose: 'none are so blind as those who will not see.'

Asad’s Version:

20:125

[And so, on Resurrection Day, the sinner] will ask: "O my Sustainer! Why hast Thou raised

me up blind, whereas [on earth] I was endowed with sight?"

(20:126) [God] will reply: "Thus

it is: there came unto thee Our messages, but thou wert oblivious of them; and thus shalt thou

be today consigned to oblivion!"

20:127

For, thus shall We recompense him who wastes his own self... and does not believe in his

Sustainer's messages: and, indeed, the suffering [of such sinners] in the life to come shall be

most severe and most enduring!

20:128

CAN, THEN, they [who reject the truth] learn no lesson by recalling how many a generation

We have destroyed before their time? 1 " - [people] in whose dwelling-places they [themselves

now] walk about? In this, behold, there are messages indeed for those who are endowed with

reason!