22. Sura al-Hajj

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ...

22: 45. How many populations have We destroyed, which were given to wrongdoing!

...فَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا...

They tumbled down on their roofs.

C2823. The roofs fell in first, and the whole structure, walls and all, came tumbling after, as happens in ruins. The place was turned upside down.

...وَبِئْرٍ مُّعَطَّلَةٍ وَقَصْرٍ مَّشِيدٍ ﴿٤٥﴾

And how many wells are lying idle and neglected, and castles lofty and well-built!

C2824. In a dry country like Arabia, a well stands as a symbol for a living, flourishing population, and many place-names mean "the well of so-and-so" e.g., Bir 'Ali, a village just south of Madinah the quality of whose drinking water is famous, or Abyar Ibn Hassan, a noted stopping place on the road from Makkah to Madinah about 92 miles from Madinah.

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ...

22: 46. Do they not travel through the land,

...فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ يَعْقِلُونَ بِهَا أَوْ آذَانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا...

so that their hearts (and mind) may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear?

C2825. The word for "heart" in Arabic speech imports both the seat of intelligent faculties and understanding as well as the seat of affections and emotions.

Those who reject Allah's Message may have their physical eyes and ears, but their hearts are blind and deaf. If their faculties of understanding were active, would they not see the Signs of Allah's Providence and Allah's Wrath in nature around them and in the cities and ruins if they travel intelligently?

...فَإِنَّهَا لَا تَعْمَى الْأَبْصَارُ وَلَكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِي فِي الصُّدُورِ ﴿٤٦﴾

Truly it is not their eyes that are blind but their hearts which are in their breasts.

Asad’s Version:

22:45 [al-Hajj, Medina 103] Asad

And how many a township have We destroyed because it had been immersed in evildoing - and now they [all] lie deserted, with their roofs caved in! And how many a well lies abandoned, and how many a castle that [once] stood high!

22:46 [asad]

Have they, then, never journeyed about the earth, letting their hearts gain wisdom, and causing

their ears to hear?" Yet, verily, it is not their eyes that have become blind - but blind have become the hearts that are in their breasts!