Sura 57, al-Hadid [Iran], Medina 94

The Quranic text and Ali’s version

يَوْمَ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا انظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ...

57:13.  One day will the Hypocrites -- men and women -- say to the Believers:

"Wait for us! let us borrow (a light) from your Light!"

C5290. Watchful preparation in Life, and the light of Faith, which reflects the divine Light, are matters of personal Life, and cannot be borrowed from another.

So, in Christ's parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), when the foolish ones had let their lamps go out for want of oil, they asked to borrow oil from the wise ones, but the wise ones answered and said, "Not so; ... but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves".

...قِيلَ ارْجِعُوا وَرَاءكُمْ فَالْتَمِسُوا نُورًا...

It will be said:

"turn ye back to your rear! then seek a light (where ye can)!"

... فَضُرِبَ بَيْنَهُم بِسُورٍ لَّهُ بَابٌ ...

So a wall will be put up betwixt them, with a gate therein.

C5291. The wall will divide the Good from the Evil. But the Gateway in it will show that communication will not be cut off. Evil must realise that Good- i.e.., Mercy and Felicity-had been within its reach, and that the Wrath which envelops it is due to its own rejection of Mercy.

... بَاطِنُهُ فِيهِ الرَّحْمَةُ وَظَاهِرُهُ مِن قِبَلِهِ الْعَذَابُ ﴿١٣﴾

Within it will be Mercy throughout, and without it, all alongside, will be (wrath and) Punishment!

يُنَادُونَهُمْ أَلَمْ نَكُن مَّعَكُمْ...

14.  (Those without) will call out, "were we not with you?"

C5292. The evil will now claim some right of kinship or association or proximity with the good in earthly life; but in fact they had been arrogant and had selfishly despised them before. The reply will be:

• you yourselves chose temptation and evil;

• when you had power in your earthly life, you hoped for ruin to the good, and perhaps plotted for it;

• you were warned by prophets of Allah, but you doubted Allah's very existence and certainly Ms Mercy and Justice, and the Hereafter;

• you followed your own lusts and neglected Reason and Truth;

• you were given plenty of rope, but you followed your mad career, until Judgment came upon you, and now it is too late for repentance.

...قَالُوا بَلَى وَلَكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ وَارْتَبْتُمْ وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ...

(The others) will reply,

"True! but ye led yourselves into temptation; ye looked forward (to our ruin); ye doubted (Allah's promise); and (your false) desires deceived you;

...حَتَّى جَاء أَمْرُ اللَّهِ وَغَرَّكُم بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ ﴿١٤﴾

until there issued the Command of Allah. And the Deceiver deceived you in respect of Allah.

C5293. The Arch-Deceiver (Satan) deceived you in respect of Allah in many ways: for example,

• he made you oblivious of Allah's Mercy and loving-kindness;

• he made you reject His Grace;

• he made you think that Allah's Justice may not overtake you; etc.

فَالْيَوْمَ لَا يُؤْخَذُ مِنكُمْ فِدْيَةٌ وَلَا مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا...

15.  "This Day shall no ransom be accepted of you, nor of those who rejected Allah.

C5294. In personal responsibility there is no room for vicarious ransom or for ransom by payments of gold or silver or by sacrifice of possessions. Nor can the crime be expiated for after Judgment. 'You' and 'those who rejected Allah' are two ways of looking at the same persons. 'You are rejected because you rejected Allah.'

مَأْوَاكُمُ النَّارُ هِيَ مَوْلَاكُمْ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ ﴿١٥﴾

Your abode is the fire: That is the proper place to claim you: and an evil refuge it is!"