51. Sura az-Zariyat
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
هَلْ
أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ
ضَيْفِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ
الْمُكْرَمِينَ
﴿٢٤﴾
51:24. Has the story reached thee, of the honored guests of Abraham?
C5005. Cf. 9:69-73 and notes, where further details of the story will be found.
Cf. also 15:51-56.
إِذْ
دَخَلُوا عَلَيْهِ
فَقَالُوا
سَلَامًا...
51: 25. Behold, they entered His presence, and said: "Peace!"
C5006. They were angels, who appeared suddenly before him at his tent-door in the guise of men, and saluted him with the salutation of peace. He returned the salutation, but felt, from their appearance and their manner, that they were unusual, not ordinary, strangers.
...قَالَ سَلَامٌ...
He said, "Peace!"
(and thought, "these seem) unusual people."
C5007. Munkar: unknown, uncommon, unusual, not customary, (hence by derived meaning, not applicable here, not fair or just);
opposite in both primary and secondary meanings to maraf, well-known, usual, customary, just. Cf. 15:62.
فَرَاغَ
إِلَى أَهْلِهِ
فَجَاء بِعِجْلٍ
سَمِينٍ
﴿٢٦﴾
51: 26. Then he turned quickly to his household, brought out a fatted calf.
C5008. They seemed unusual strangers, but he said nothing and quietly proceeded to perform the rites of hospitality. He brought a roast fatted calf and placed it before them to eat. But the strangers did not eat (11:70).
This disconcerted him. According to the laws of hospitality, a stranger under your roof is under your protection, but if he refuses to eat, he refuses your hospitality and keeps himself free from any ties of guest and host.
"What were their designs?" thought Abraham, and he felt some distrust. But they were angels and could not cat. They declared themselves, and announced the birth to Abraham of a son endowed with wisdom,-in other words that Abraham was to be the head of a long line of Prophets! (15:53).
فَقَرَّبَهُ
إِلَيْهِمْ
قَالَ أَلَا
تَأْكُلُونَ
﴿٢٧﴾
51: 27. And placed it before them...
He said, "Will ye not eat?"
فَأَوْجَسَ
مِنْهُمْ خِيفَةً...
51: 28. (When they did not eat), He conceived a fear of them.
...قَالُوا لَا تَخَفْ وَبَشَّرُوهُ بِغُلَامٍ عَلِيمٍ ﴿٢٨﴾
They said, "Fear not,"
and they gave him glad tidings of a son endowed with knowledge.
فَأَقْبَلَتِ
امْرَأَتُهُ
فِي صَرَّةٍ
فَصَكَّتْ
وَجْهَهَا
وَقَالَتْ
عَجُوزٌ عَقِيمٌ
﴿٢٩﴾
51: 29. But his wife came forward (laughing) aloud: she smote her forehead and said:
"a barren old woman!"
C5009. Abraham's wife Sarah was old and barren. This news seemed to her too good to be true. She came forward, clamoured (11:71), struck her forehead with her hands, indicative of her amusement and incredulity as "a barren old woman": 11:72.
قَالُوا
كَذَلِكَ قَالَ
رَبُّكِ...
51: 30. They said, "Even so has thy Lord spoken:
C5010. The angels said:
"What may sound improbable to human beings will yet come to pass if Allah commands. And Allah thy Lord has spoken. So shall it be. For all His promises are full of wisdom and knowledge."
So the angels on that occasion. But the application is for all time and to all human affairs. Never despair. However much Truth may be in the shade, it will shine with full splendour. And the Judgment will come, when good will come to its own!
إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْحَكِيمُ الْعَلِيمُ ﴿٣٠﴾
and He is full of Wisdom and Knowledge."
قَالَ
فَمَا خَطْبُكُمْ
أَيُّهَا
الْمُرْسَلُونَ
﴿٣١﴾
51: 31. (Abraham) said: "And what, o ye Messengers, is your errand (now)?"
قَالُوا
إِنَّا أُرْسِلْنَا
إِلَى قَوْمٍ
مُّجْرِمِينَ
﴿٣٢﴾
51: 32. They said,
"We have been sent to a people (deep) in sin --
لِنُرْسِلَ
عَلَيْهِمْ
حِجَارَةً مِّن
طِينٍ
﴿٣٣﴾
51: 33. "To bring on, on them (a shower of) stones of clay (brimstone),
C5011. Cf. 11:82, and n. 1052 to 7:84.
The angels' errand of mercy to Abraham (to announce the succession of godly men in his line) was coupled with their errand of justice and punishment to the people of Lut, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were deep in the most abominable and unnatural sins.
So Allah's Mercy and Justice go hand in hand in all human affairs. Faith has nothing to fear, and wickedness has only to turn and repent, to obtain Allah's Mercy.
مُسَوَّمَةً
عِندَ رَبِّكَ
لِلْمُسْرِفِينَ
﴿٣٤﴾
51: 34. "Marked as from thy Lord for those who trespass beyond bounds."
C5012. Cf. 11:83, and n. 1580.
Every crime has its due punishment as marked out in the decrees of Allah.
فَأَخْرَجْنَا
مَن كَانَ فِيهَا
مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
﴿٣٥﴾
51: 35. Then We evacuated those of the Believers who were there.
C5013. The only just or righteous persons found in Sodom and Gomorrah (Cities of the Plain by the Dead Sea) were in the house of Lut, who was the Prophet sent to call them to repentance. He and his believing family and adherents were told to leave in due time, and the wicked were destroyed in a shower of brimstone.
فَمَا
وَجَدْنَا
فِيهَا غَيْرَ
بَيْتٍ مِّنَ
الْمُسْلِمِينَ
﴿٣٦﴾
51: 36. But We found not there any just (Muslim) persons except in one house:
C5014. That was the house of Lut; and even there, his wife had no faith: she disobeyed the Command and perished: 11:81, n. 1577.
وَتَرَكْنَا
فِيهَا آيَةً
لِّلَّذِينَ
يَخَافُونَ
الْعَذَابَ
الْأَلِيمَ
﴿٣٧﴾
51: 37. And We left there a Signs for such as fear the Grievous Penalty.
C5015. The Grievous Chastisement: that is, the Final Judgment.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in this life is taken as the type of the Final Judgment. The vestiges can be seen-as a Sign and a Warning-in the sulphury plain round the Dead Sea: Cf. xv. 79.
51: 38. And in Moses (was another Sign):
C5016. Cf. 44:17-31.
The story of Moses and Pharaoh is here just referred to. The points emphasized here are:
- that Moses had manifest authority, yet Pharaoh doubted;
- that Pharaoh's reliance was on his Chiefs and his forces, but they could not help when his doom came; and
- that in the most extraordinary and incredible ways (judged by ordinary human standards), his arrogance and his reliance on his Chiefs and forces was his undoing.
... إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَاهُ إِلَى فِرْعَوْنَ بِسُلْطَانٍ مُّبِينٍ ﴿٣٨﴾
Behold, We sent him to Pharaoh, with authority manifest.
فَتَوَلَّى
بِرُكْنِهِ
وَقَالَ سَاحِرٌ
أَوْ مَجْنُونٌ
﴿٣٩﴾
51: 39. But (Pharaoh) turned back with his Chiefs, and said,
"A sorcerer, or one possessed!"
فَأَخَذْنَاهُ
وَجُنُودَهُ
فَنَبَذْنَاهُمْ
فِي الْيَمِّ
وَهُوَ مُلِيمٌ
﴿٤٠﴾
51: 40. So We took him and his forces, and threw them into the sea: and his was the blame.
C5017. The ungodly Egyptians were all destroyed, but the chief blame lay on Pharaoh for misleading them. Pharaoh's punishment was just. He could not blame any one else. And certainly no one can blame the course of Allah's Justice, for Allah was patient, and gave him many chances to repent.
Asad’s Version:
51:24 AND HAS the story of Abraham's honoured guests ever come within thy ken?"
(51:25) When those [heavenly messengers] came unto him and bade him peace, he answered, "[And upon you be) peace!" - [saying to himself,] "They are strangers."17
(51:26) Then he turned quietly to his household, and brought forth a fat [roasted] calf,
(51:27) and placed it before them, saying, "Will you not eat?"
(51:28) [And when he saw that the guests would not eat, he became apprehensive of them; 18 [but) they said, "Fear not" - and gave him the glad tiding of [the birth of] a son who would be endowed with deep knowledge."
51:29 Thereupon his wife approached [the guests] with a loud cry, and struck her face [in astonishment] and exclaimed: "A barren old woman [like me]!"
(51:30) They answered: "Thus has thy Sustainer decreed; and, verily, He alone is truly wise, all-knowing!"
(51:31) Said [Abraham): "And what [else] may you have in view, O you [heavenly] messengers?"
(51:32) They answered: "Behold, we have been sent unto a people lost in sin, 20
(51:33) to let loose upon them stone-hard blows of chastisement, 21
(51:34) marked out in thy Sustainer's sight for [the punishment of) such as have wasted their own selves." 22
51:35 And in the course of time 25 We brought out [of Lot's city] such [few) believers as were there:
(51:36) for apart from one [single] house 24 We did not find there any who had surrendered themselves to Us.
(51:37) And so We left therein a message for those who fear the grievous suffering [which awaits all evildoers).
51:38 AND IN [the story of Pharaoh and) Moses, too, [We left the same message: 26 for] when We sent him unto Pharaoh with [Our] manifest authority,
(51:39) and he turned away in [the pride of] his power and said, "A sorcerer [is this Moses], or a madman!" –
(51:40) We seized him and his hosts, and cast them all into the sea: and [none but Pharaoh] himself was to blame [for what happened]. 27
[[ Asad’s notes - 17 Lit., "unknown people" - i.e., not realizing that they were angels.
18 See note 101 on 11:70.
19 I.e., with prophethood (cf 15:53).
20 I.e., Lot's people.
21 Lit., "stones of clay" - the noun "clay" (tin) is, according to Zamakhshari, identical with the term sijjil mentioned in 1 1 :82 and tentatively explained in the corresponding note 1 14 as signiflying "chastisement pre-ordained".
22 For an explanation of this rendering of the term musrifin, see note 21 on 10:12.
23 Lit., "And then", i.e., after the events described in 1 1 :77 ff. and 15:61 ff.
24 I.e., Lot's family. ]]
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[[ Asad’s notes - 26 The above interpolations are based on the consensus of most of the classical commentators regarding the phrase "And in Moses, too".
27 This is an illustration of the Qur'anic doctrine that the suffering which is bound to befall an evildoer in this world or in the life to come, or in both, is but a consequence of his own doings. ]]