47. Sura Muhammad

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن تَنصُرُوا اللَّهَ يَنصُرْكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَكُمْ ﴿٧﴾

47: 7. O ye who believe!

if ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly.

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَتَعْسًا لَّهُمْ وَأَضَلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ﴿٨﴾

47: 8. But those who reject (Allah), for them is destruction, and (Allah) will render their deeds astray (from their mark).

C4827. See above, 471I and n. 4817.

ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَرِهُوا مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأَحْبَطَ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ﴿٩﴾

47: 9. That is because they hate the Revelation of Allah; so He has made their deeds fruitless.

C4828. Their deeds are "fruitless" in the sense that they are vain; they do not produce the results intended by their doers.

But they will not be exempt from producing the natural consequences of evil, viz., further degradation and misery for the soul.

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ...

47: 10. Do they not travel through the earth, and see what was the End of those before them (who did evil)?

C4829. The end of evil is evil. All past history and tradition shows that. Will not men of every generation learn that lesson?

Allah helps His servants, but those who rebel against Allah have no one to help them.

...دَمَّرَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ أَمْثَالُهَا ﴿١٠﴾

Allah brought utter destruction on them, and similar (fates await) those who reject Allah.

ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ مَوْلَى الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَأَنَّ الْكَافِرِينَ لَا مَوْلَى لَهُمْ ﴿١١﴾

47: 11. That is because Allah is the Protector of those who believe, but those who reject Allah have no protector.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدْخِلُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ...

47: 12. Verily Allah will admit those who believe and do righteous deeds, to Gardens beneath which rivers flow;

...وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَتَمَتَّعُونَ وَيَأْكُلُونَ كَمَا تَأْكُلُ الْأَنْعَامُ وَالنَّارُ مَثْوًى لَّهُمْ ﴿١٢﴾

while those who reject Allah will enjoy (this world) and eat as cattle eat; and the Fire will be their abode.

C4830. An apt simile.

Beasts of the field eat their fill, but have no higher interests. Men who worship the world exclusively are no better: their pleasures and enjoyments rise no higher then those of the beasts of the field. They have no inkling of spiritual happiness.

On the contrary, as they were endowed with spiritual faculties which they misused, they will not escape the Fire of Punishment, the Penalty of Sin.

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ هِيَ أَشَدُّ قُوَّةً مِّن قَرْيَتِكَ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَتْكَ...

47: 13. And how many cities, with more power than thy city which has driven thee out, have We destroyed (for their sins)?

C4831. A reference to Pagan Makkah, which drove out the holy Prophet because of his righteousness and because he preached Repentance.

The date of this Surah must therefore be after the Hijrah.

...أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ فَلَا نَاصِرَ لَهُمْ ﴿١٣﴾

Asad’s Version:

47:7 O you who have attained to faith! If you help [the cause of] God, He will help You, and will make firm your steps;

(47:8) but as for those who are bent on denying the truth, ill fortune awaits them, since He will let all their [good] deeds go to waste:

(47:9) this, because they hate [the very thought of] what God has bestowed from on high 8 - and thus He causes all their deeds to come to nought!'

47:10 Have they, then, never journeyed about the earth and beheld what happened in the end to those [wilful sinners] who lived before their time? God destroyed them utterly: and the like thereof awaits all who deny the truth."*

47:11 This, because God is the Protector of all who have attained to faith, whereas they who deny the truth have no protector.

(47:12) Verily, God will admit all who attain to faith and do righteous deeds into gardens through which running waters flow, whereas they who are bent on denying the truth shall have - even though they may enjoy their life [in this world] and eat as cattle eat - the fire [of the hereafter] for their abode.

(47: 13) And how many a community" of greater power than this thy community which has driven thee out, [O Muhammad,) have We destroyed, with none to succour them!