25. Surah Al Furqan
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَالَّذِينَ
لَا
يَدْعُونَ مَعَ
اللَّهِ إِلَهًا
آخَرَ...
25:68. Those who invoke not, with Allah, any other god,
وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ...
nor slay such life as Allah has made sacred, except for just cause,
not commit fornication --
C3128. Here three things are expressly condemned:
- false worship, which is a crime against Allah;
- the taking of life, which is a crime against our fellow-creatures; and
- fornication, which is a crime against our self-respect, against ourselves.
Every crime is against Allah, His creatures, and ourselves, but some may be viewed more in relation to one than to another.
The prohibition against taking life is qualified: "except for just cause,": e.g., in judicial punishment for murder, or in self-preservation, which may include not only self-defence in the legal sense, but also the clearing out of pests, and the provision of meat under conditions of Halal.- see n. 698 to 5:5. After this comes a long parenthesis, which ends with verse 71 below.
... وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا ﴿٦٨﴾
and any that does this (not only) meets punishment.
يُضَاعَفْ
لَهُ الْعَذَابُ
يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ
وَيَخْلُدْ
فِيهِ مُهَانًا
﴿٦٩﴾
25:69. (But) the Penalty on the Day of Judgment will be doubled to him, and he will dwell therein in ignominy-
C3129. The three crimes just mentioned are specially detestable and infamous, and as ignominy will be added to other punishments, the penalty will be double that of ordinary punishment.
إِلَّا
مَن تَابَ
وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ
عَمَلًا صَالِحًا...
25:70. Unless he repents, believes, and works righteous deeds,
... فَأُوْلَئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ...
for Allah will change the evil of such persons into good,
... وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا ﴿٧٠﴾
and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
C3130. But even in the case of great crimes, if there is true repentance as tested by a changed life in conduct, Allah's Mercy is available, and it will transform the repentant's nature from evil to good.
وَمَن
تَابَ وَعَمِلَ
صَالِحًا فَإِنَّهُ
يَتُوبُ إِلَى
اللَّهِ مَتَابًا
﴿٧١﴾
25:71. And whoever repents and does good has truly turned to Allah with an (acceptable) conversion --
Asad’s Version:
(25:68) and who never invoke any [imaginary] deity side by side with God, and do not take any human being's life - [the life] which God has willed to be sacred - otherwise than in [the pursuit of] justice, 52 and do not commit adultery. And [know that] he who commits aught thereof 3 shall [not only] meet with a full requital
(25:69) [but] shall have his suffering doubled on Resurrection Day: for on that
[Day] he shall abide in ignominy.
25:70 Excepted, however, shall be they who repent and attain to faith and do righteous deeds: for it is they whose [erstwhile] bad deeds God will transform into good ones - seeing that God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace,
(25:71) and seeing that he who repents and [thenceforth] does what is right has truly turned unto God by [this very act of] repentance.
[[ Asad’s notes - 51 In the Qur'an, the verb anfaqa (and the corresponding noun nafaqah) has usually this connotation.
52 See surah 6, note 148.
53 Lit., "he who does that (dhalika)", i.e., any of the three sins referred to in this verse. (For my translation of zina as "adultery", see surah 24, note 2.)