24 Sura an-Nur, Medina 102

The Quranic text and Ali’s version

فِي بُيُوتٍ ...

24:36. (Lit is such a light) in houses,

C3004. The punctuation of the Arabic text makes it necessary to carry back the adverbial clause "in houses", to something in the last verse, say "Lit from a blessed Tree", the intervening clauses being treated as parenthetical.

... أَذِنَ اللَّهُ أَن تُرْفَعَ وَيُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ...

which Allah hath permitted to be raised to honor; for the celebration, in them of His name:

C3005. That is, in all places of pure worship;

but some Commentators understand special Mosques, such as the Ka'bah in Makkah or Mosques in Madinah or Jerusalem; for these are specially held in honour.

...يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ فِيهَا بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْآصَالِ ﴿٣٦﴾

in them is He glorified in the mornings and in the evenings, (again and again) --

C3006. In the evenings: the Arabic word is Asal, a plural of a plural, to imply emphasis:

I have rendered that shade of meaning by adding the words "again and again".

Asad’s version

24:36

IN THE HOUSES [of worship] which God has allowed to be raised so that His name be remembered in them, 56 there [are such as] extol His limitless glory at morn and evening –

(24:37) people whom neither [worldly] commerce nor striving after gain 57 can divert from the remembrance of God, and from constancy in prayer, and from charity: 58 [people] who are filled with fear [at the thought] of the Day on which all hearts and eyes will be convulsed,

(24:38) [and who only hope] that God may reward them in accordance with the best that they ever did, and give them, out of His bounty, more [than they deserve]: for, God grants sustenance unto whom He wills, beyond all reckoning.

[[Asad’s notes - 56 Lit., "and [ordained] that His name ...", etc.: implying, as the sequence shows, that the spiritual purpose of those houses of worship is fulfilled only by some, and not all, of the people who are wont to congregate in them out of habit.

57 Lit., "bargaining" or "selling" or "buying and selling" (bay 1 ) - a metonym for anything that might bring worldly gain.

58 For this rendering of the term zakah, see surah 2, note 34. ]]