7. Sura al-Araf

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَأَوْرَثْنَا الْقَوْمَ الَّذِينَ كَانُواْ يُسْتَضْعَفُونَ مَشَارِقَ الأَرْضِ وَمَغَارِبَهَا الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا ...

7: 137. And We made a people, considered weak (and of no account), inheritors of lands in both east and west, lands whereon We sent down our blessings.

...وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ الْحُسْنَى عَلَى بَنِي إِسْرَآئِيلَ بِمَا صَبَرُواْ...

The fair promise of the Lord was fulfilled for the children of Israel, because they had patience and constancy,

...وَدَمَّرْنَا مَا كَانَ يَصْنَعُ فِرْعَوْنُ وَقَوْمُهُ وَمَا كَانُواْ يَعْرِشُونَ ﴿١٣٧﴾

and We levelled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Pharaoh and his people erected (with such pride).

C1096. Israel, which was despised, became a great and glorious nation under Solomon. He had goodly territory, and was doubly blest. His land and people were prosperous, and he wits blessed with wisdom from Allah. His sway and his fame spread east and west. And thus Allah's promise to Israel was fulfilled.

Note that Syria and Palestine had once been under the sway of Egypt. At the same time the proud and rebellious Pharaoh and his people were brought low. The splendid monuments which they had erected with so much skill and pride were mingled with the dust. Their great cities-Thebes (or No-Ammon), Memphis (or Noph, sacred to the Bull of Osiris), and the other splendid cities, became as if they had not existed, and archaeologists have had to dig up their ruins from the sands.

The splendid monuments-temples, palaces, tombs, statues, columns, and stately structures of all kinds-were buried in the sands. Even monuments like the Great Sphinx, which seem to defy the ages, were partly buried in the sands, and owe their rescue to the comparatively recent researches of archaeologists.

As late as 1743 Richard Pococke in his Travels in Egypt (p. 41), remarked:

"Most of those pyramids are very much ruined." (R).

Other versions:

7: 137 [al-A’raf, Mecca 39]

Asad (7:137) whereas unto the people who [in the past] had been deemed utterly low, We gave as their heritage the eastern and western parts of the land that We had
blessed.⁹⁸

And [thus] thy Sustainer's good promise unto the children of Israel was fulfilled in result of their patience in adversity;⁹⁹ whereas We utterly destroyed all that Pharaoh and his people had wrought, and all that they had built.¹⁰⁰

……..in result of their patience in adversity [note 99].

Yusuf Ali And We made a people considered weak (and of no account) inheritors of lands in both east and west lands whereon We sent down our blessings. The fair promise of the Lord was fulfilled for the children of Israel because they had patience and constancy and We leveled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Pharaoh and his people erected (with such pride).

Pickthall And We caused the folk who were devised to inherit the eastern parts of the land and the western parts thereof which We had blessed. And the fair word of the Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because of their endurance; and We annihilated (all) that Pharaoh and his folk had done and that they had contrived.

Yuksel We let the people who were oppressed inherit the east and the west of the land which We have blessed, and good word of your Lord was completed towards the Children of Israel. For they were patient, and We destroyed what Pharaoh and his people were doing, and what they contrived.

Transliteration Wa aurasnal qumal lazina ka_nu_ yustad'afu_na masya_riqal ardi wa maga_ribahal lati ba_rakna_ fiha_, wa tammat kalimatu rabbikal husna_ 'ala_ bani isra_'ila bima_ sabaru_, wa dammarna_ ma_ ka_na yasna'u fir'aunu wa qaumuhu_ wa ma_ ka_nu_ ya'risyu_n(a).

[[ Asad’s notes - 98 Palestine is spoken of as "blessed" because it was the land in which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had lived, and because so many other prophets were to appear there.

99 – The promise of God referred to here is the one given to the children of Israel through Moses (see verses 128 and 129).

100 The story of the suffering of the Israelites during their bondage in Egypt, their deliverance through Moses, their crossing of the Red Sea (or, more probably, of what today is known as the
Gulf of Suez) and the destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts is narrated in considerable detail in the Bible (Exodus i-xiv). The Qur'an, on the other hand, does not give us a consecutive narrative: for historical narrative as such is never its purpose. Whenever the Qur'an refers to past events whether recorded in the Bible or alive in Arabian tradition - it does so
exclusively with a view to bringing out elements that are relevant to the ethical, teachings which it propounds. ]]

[[ Ali’s note - C1096. Israel, which was despised, became a great and glorious nation under Solomon. He had goodly territory, and was doubly blest. His land and people were prosperous, and he wits blessed with wisdom from Allah. His sway and his fame spread east and west. And thus Allah's promise to Israel was fulfilled.

Note that Syria and Palestine had once been under the sway of Egypt. At the same time the proud and rebellious Pharaoh and his people were brought low. The splendid monuments which they had erected with so much skill and pride were mingled with the dust. Their great cities-Thebes (or No-Ammon), Memphis (or Noph, sacred to the Bull of Osiris), and the other splendid cities, became as if they had not existed, and archaeologists have had to dig up their ruins from the sands.

The splendid monuments-temples, palaces, tombs, statues, columns, and stately structures of all kinds-were buried in the sands. Even monuments like the Great Sphinx, which seem to defy the ages, were partly buried in the sands, and owe their rescue to the comparatively recent researches of archaeologists.

As late as 1743 Richard Pococke in his Travels in Egypt (p. 41), remarked:

"Most of those pyramids are very much ruined." (R).]]