36. Sura YaSin
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَمَا أَنزَلْنَا
عَلَى قَوْمِهِ
مِن بَعْدِهِ
مِنْ جُندٍ
مِّنَ السَّمَاء...
26: 28. And We sent not down against his People, after Him, any hosts from heaven,
... وَمَا كُنَّا مُنزِلِينَ ﴿٢٨﴾
nor was it needful for Us so to do.
إِن كَانَتْ
إِلاَّ صَيْحَةً
وَاحِدَةً ...
26: 29. It was no more than a single mighty Blast, and behold!
C3973. Allah's Justice or Punishment does not necessarily come with pomp and circumstance, nor have the forces of human evil or wickedness the power to require the exertion of mighty spiritual forces to subdue them. A single mighty Blast-either the rumbling of an earthquake, or a great and violent wind-was sufficient in this case.
Cf. 11:67 and n. 1561 (which describes the fate of the Thamud; also. n. 3463 to 29:40).
... فَإِذَا هُمْ خَامِدُونَ ﴿٢٩﴾
they were (like ashes) quenched and silent.
C3974. Cf. 21:15.
They had made a great deal of noise in their time, but they were reduced to silence, like spent ashes.
يَا حَسْرَةً
عَلَى الْعِبَادِ...
26: 30. Ah! alas for (My) servants!
... مَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِؤُون ﴿٣٠﴾
There comes not an messenger to them but they mock Him!
C3975. Cf. 6:10 and many other passages of similar import.
Ignorant men mock at Allah's prophets, or any one who takes Religion seriously. But they do not reflect that such levity reacts on themselves. Their own lives are ruined and they cease to count.
If they study history, they will see that countless generations were destroyed before them because they did not take Truth seriously and undermined the very basis of their individual and collective existence.
My servants is here equivalent to "men". Allah regrets the folly of men, especially as He cherishes them as His own servants.
أَلَمْ يَرَوْا
كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا
قَبْلَهُم مِّنْ
الْقُرُونِ ...
26: 31. See they not how many generations before them We destroyed?
... أَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ لاَ يَرْجِعُونَ ﴿٣١﴾
Not to them will they return:
C3976. Not to them will they return.
What do the two pronouns them and they refer to?
Commentators and translators have construed them differently, and some of them evade the question. To my mind the best construction seems to be:
- the generations which we have destroyed before the people addressed ('do they not see?') will not be restored to the people addressed:
- generations (qurn) standing for the periods of prosperity and good fortune enjoyed by the ancestors. They have all been wiped out:
- they will never be restored, but all people will be brought before the Judgment-seat for giving an account of their deeds.
وَإِن
كُلٌّ لَّمَّا
جَمِيعٌ لَّدَيْنَا
مُحْضَرُونَ ﴿٣٢﴾
26: 32. But each one of them all -- will be brought before Us (for judgment).
Asad’s Version:
36:28 And after that, no host out of heaven did We send down against his people, nor did We need to send down any:
(36:29) nothing was [needed] but one single blast [of Our punishment] - and lo! they became as still and silent as ashes.
36:30 OH, TH REGRETS that [most] human beings will have to bear!" Never has an apostle come to them without their deriding him!
(36:31) Are they not aware of how many a generation We have destroyed before their time, [and] that those [that have perished] will never return to them, 17
(36:32) and [that] all of them, all together, will [in the end] before Us be arraigned?
And [yet,] they have a sign [of Our power to create and to resurrect] in the lifeless earth which We make alive, and out of which We bring forth grain, whereof they may eat;
Yuksel
36:28 We did not send down upon his people after him soldiers from the sky; for there was no need to send them down.
36:29 For all it took was one scream, whereupon they were stilled.
36:30 Alas for the servants. For every time a messenger went to them, they would ridicule him.
36:31 Did they not see how many generations We destroyed before them; do they not go back to them?
36:32 How every one of them will be summoned before Us.