41. Sura Fussilat

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

فَإِنْ أَعْرَضُوا فَقُلْ أَنذَرْتُكُمْ صَاعِقَةً مِّثْلَ صَاعِقَةِ عَادٍ وَثَمُودَ ﴿١٣﴾

41: 13. But if they turn away, say thou:

"I have warned you of a stunning Punishment (as of thunder and lightning) like that which (overtook) the 'Ad and the Thamud!"

C4479. See verse 17 below.

إِذْ جَاءتْهُمُ الرُّسُلُ مِن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ ...

41: 14. Behold, the messengers came to them, from before them and behind them, (preaching):

C4480. "From before them and behind them": i.e., from every side. They were warned from every point of view.

... أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا اللَّهَ...

"Serve none but Allah."

...قَالُوا لَوْ شَاء رَبُّنَا لَأَنزَلَ مَلَائِكَةً ...

They said,

"If our Lord had so pleased, He would certainly have sent down angels (to preach):

C4481. Cf. 15:7, n. 1941; 6:8-9, n. 841-842.

The 'Ad had more power and material civilisation than the Pagan Arabs contemporary with the holy Prophet. But the greater the material civilisation, the greater the arrogance as the besetting sin.

... فَإِنَّا بِمَا أُرْسِلْتُمْ بِهِ كَافِرُونَ ﴿١٤﴾

now we reject your mission (altogether)."

فَأَمَّا عَادٌ فَاسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ...

41: 15. Now the 'Ad behaved arrogantly through the land, against (all) truth and reason,

C4482. Against (all) truth and reason: Cf. 7:33.

Their estimate of their own strength was greater than was justified by facts, but if they had all the strength which they arrogated to themselves, yet how could they stand before Allah?

... وَقَالُوا مَنْ أَشَدُّ مِنَّا قُوَّةً...

and said: "Who is superior to us in strength?"

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّ اللَّهَ الَّذِي خَلَقَهُمْ هُوَ أَشَدُّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً...

What!

did they not see that Allah, Who created them, was superior to them in strength?

...وَكَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا يَجْحَدُونَ ﴿١٥﴾

But they continued to reject Our Signs!

فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِيحًا صَرْصَرًا فِي أَيَّامٍ نَّحِسَاتٍ...

41: 16. So We sent against them a furious Wind through days of disaster,

C4483. The detailed story of the 'Ad and their besetting sin, and the preaching of their Prophet Hud to them will be found in 26:123-140;

also 7:65-72, and n. 1040 to 7:65.

For the furious Wind, Cf. 54:19.

...لِّنُذِيقَهُمْ عَذَابَ الْخِزْيِ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا...

that We might give them a taste of a Penalty of humiliation in this Life;

...وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَخْزَى وَهُمْ لَا يُنصَرُونَ ﴿١٦﴾

but the Penalty of the Hereafter will be more humiliating still:

and they will find no help.

Asad’s Version:

41:13 BUT IF they turn away, 16 say: "I warn you of [the coming of] a thunderbolt of punishment 17 like the thunderbolt [that fell upon the tribes] of Ad and Thamud!" 18

(41:14) Lo! There came unto them [God's] apostles, speaking of what lay open before them and what was [still) beyond their ken, 19 [and calling unto them,] "Worship none but God!" They answered: "If our Sustainer had willed [us to believe in what you say], He would have sent down angels [as His message-bearers] 20 , As it is, behold, we deny that there is any truth in what you [claim to] have been sent with!"

41:15 Now as for [the tribe of) 'Ad, they walked arrogantly on earth, [offending] against all right, and saying, "Who could have a power greater than ours?"

Why - were they, then, not aware that God, who created them, had a power greater than theirs? But they went on rejecting Our messages;

(41:16) and thereupon We let loose upon them a stormwind raging through days of misfortune, 21 so as to give them, in the life of this world, a foretaste of suffering through humiliation: but [their] suffering in the life to come will be far more humiliating, and they will have none to succour them.

14 I.e., a multiplicity of cosmic systems (cf. note 20 on 2:29).

15 Cf. 15:16-18 and the corresponding notes 16 and 17; also 37:6 ff

16 This connects with the opening sentence of verse 9 above: "Would you indeed deny Him who has created...", etc.

17 See note 40 on 2:55.

1 8 For the story of these two ancient tribes, see 7:65-79 and the corresponding notes, in particular 48 and 56; also 26:123-158.

1 9 Lit., "from between their hands and from behind them" : i.e., reminding them of something that was known to them - namely, what happened to sinners like themselves who lived before their time - and warning them of what was bound to happen in the future to them, too, if they persisted in their denial of the truth (Al-Hasan al-Basri, as quoted by Zamakhshari). However, it is possible to understand the above phrase (which has been explained in note 247 on 2:255) in yet another, more direct way: God's message-bearers pointed out to those sinning communities something that should have been obvious to them (lit., "between their hands") - namely, their patently wrong attitude in their worldly, social concerns and moral concepts - as well as the unreasonableness of their denying something that was still beyond their ken (lit., "behind them"): namely, life after death and God's ultimate judgment.

20 Cf. 6:8-9 and 15:7

21 See 69:6-8.

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