20. Sura Taha
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
قَالَ
رَبِّ لِمَ
حَشَرْتَنِي
أَعْمَى وَقَدْ
كُنتُ بَصِيرًا ﴿١٢٥﴾
20: 125. He will say: "O my Lord! why hast thou raised me up blind, while I had sight (before)?"
C2649. Because Allah gave him physical sight in this life for trial, he thinks he should be favoured in the real world, the world that matters! He misused his physical sight and made himself blind for the other world.
قَالَ كَذَلِكَ أَتَتْكَ آيَاتُنَا فَنَسِيتَهَا...
20: 126. (Allah) will say:
"Thus didst thou, when Our Signs came unto thee, disregard them:
...وَكَذَلِكَ الْيَوْمَ تُنسَى ﴿١٢٦﴾
so wilt thou, this day, be disregarded."
C2650. 'You were deliberately blind to Allah's Signs: now you will not see Allah's favours, and will be excluded from His Grace.
وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي
مَنْ أَسْرَفَ
وَلَمْ يُؤْمِن
بِآيَاتِ
رَبِّهِ...
20: 127. And thus do We recompense him who transgresses beyond bounds and believes not in the Signs of his Lord:
...وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَشَدُّ وَأَبْقَى ﴿١٢٧﴾
and the Penalty of the Hereafter is far more grievous and more enduring.
C2651. Blindness in the world of enduring Reality is far worse than physical blindness in the world of probation.
أَفَلَمْ
يَهْدِ لَهُمْ
كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا
قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ
الْقُرُونِ...
20: 128. It is not a warning to such men (to call to mind) how many generations before them We destroyed,
...يَمْشُونَ فِي مَسَاكِنِهِمْ...
in whose haunts they (now) move?
...إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي النُّهَى ﴿١٢٨﴾
Verily, in this are Signs for men endued with understanding.
C2652. Cf. 20:54.
This phrase concluded the argument of Moses with Pharaoh about Pharaoh's blindness to Allah and the Signs of Allah.
Now it concludes the more general argument about men, concerning whom the saying arose: 'none are so blind as those who will not see.'
Asad’s Version:
20:125
[And so, on Resurrection Day, the sinner] will ask: "O my Sustainer! Why hast Thou raised me up blind, whereas [on earth] I was endowed with sight?"
20:126
[God] will reply: "Thus it is: there came unto thee Our messages, but thou wert oblivious of them; and thus shalt thou
be today consigned to oblivion!"
20:127
For, thus shall We recompense him who wastes his own self... and does not believe in his Sustainer's messages: and, indeed, the suffering [of such sinners] in the life to come shall be most severe and most enduring!
20:128
CAN, THEN, they [who reject the truth] learn no lesson by recalling how many a generation We have destroyed before their time? 111 " - [people] in whose dwelling-places they [themselves now] walk about? In this, behold, there are messages indeed for those who are endowed with
reason! ]]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَلَا
تَمُدَّنَّ
عَيْنَيْكَ
إِلَى مَا مَتَّعْنَا
بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا
مِّنْهُمْ...
20: 131. Nor strain thine eyes in longing for the things We have given for enjoyment to parties of them,
...زَهْرَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنيَا لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ...
the splendor of the life of this world, through which We test them:
...وَرِزْقُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى ﴿١٣١﴾
but the provision of thy Lord is better and more enduring.
C2656. The good things of this life make a brave show, but they are as nothing compared with the good of the Hereafter.
Both are provided by Allah. But the former are given to the just and the unjust as a test and trial, and in any case will pass away; while the latter come specially from Allah for His devoted servants, and are incomparably of more value and will last through eternity.
وَأْمُرْ أَهْلَكَ
بِالصَّلَاةِ
وَاصْطَبِرْ
عَلَيْهَا...
20: 132. Enjoin prayer on thy people, and be constant therein.
...لَا نَسْأَلُكَ رِزْقًا نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُكَ...
We ask thee not to provide sustenance:
We provide it for thee.
C2657. Sustenance, in the sense of ordinary needs of life, the man of Allah does not worry about. That is provided by Allah for all, the just and the unjust.
But the special provision, the real Sustenance, the spiritual fruit, is for a righteous life in the service of Allah.
...وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلتَّقْوَى ﴿١٣٢﴾
But the (fruit of) the Hereafter is for Righteousness.
20:131
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[[Asad’s notes - 115 Lit., "groups for "kinds"] of them" (azwajanminhum ). According to most of the commentators, this relates to the deniers of the truth spoken of in the preceding passages; but since the above
injunction has obviously a wider purport, condemning envy in general, I have rendered this expression as "so many others".
116 Implying that whatever God grants a person is an outcome of divine wisdom and, therefore, truly appropriate to the destiny which God has decreed for that person. Alternatively, the phrase may be understood as referring to the life to come and the spiritual sustenance which God bestows upon the righteous. ]]
[[Ali’s notes -
The good things of this life make a brave show, but they are as nothing compared with the good of the Hereafter. Both are provided by Allah. But the former are given to the just and the unjust as a test and trial, and in any case will pass away; while the latter come specially from Allah for His devoted servants, and are incomparably of more value and will last through eternity. (20.131) ]]
Asad’s Version:
20:132
And bid thy people to pray, and persevere therein. [But remember:] We do not ask thee to provide sustenance [for Us]:" 7 it is We who provide sustenance for thee. And the future belongs to the God-conscious. " 8
NOW THEY [who are blind to the truth] are wont to say, "If [Muhammad] would but produce for us a miracle from his Sustainer! 11 ' [But] has there not come unto them a clear evidence [of the truth of this divine writ] in what is [to be found] in the earlier scriptures? 120
[[Asad’s notes - 117 My interpolation of the words "for Us" is based on Razi's interpretation of the above sentence: "God makes it clear that He has enjoined this [i.e., prayer] upon men for their own benefit alone, inasmuch as He Himself is sublimely exalted above any [need of] benefits." In other words, prayer must not be conceived as a kind of tribute to a "jealous God" - as the Old Testament, in its present
corrupted form, frequently describes Him - but solely as a spiritual benefit for the person who prays.
118 Lit., "to God-consciousness".
119 I.e., in proof of his prophetic mission: cf 6:109 and, many other instances in which the deniers of the truth are spoken of as making their belief in the Qur'anic message dependent on tangible "miracles".
120 I.e., "Does not the Qur'an express the same fundamental truths as were expressed in the revelations]]
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21. [al-Anbiya, Mecca 73]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِنَّهُ
يَعْلَمُ
الْجَهْرَ
مِنَ
الْقَوْلِ
وَيَعْلَمُ
مَا
تَكْتُمُونَ
﴿١١٠﴾
21: 110. "It is He Who knows what is open in speech and what ye hide (in your hearts).
C2765. The Messenger of Allah freely and impartially teaches all how to carry out Allah's Will and live a good life.
If some of them are hypocrites and come into the Ummah (Brotherhood) from baser motives and not the pure motives of the love of Allah, their motives and conduct will be judged by Allah and not by men.
وَإِنْ
أَدْرِي
لَعَلَّهُ
فِتْنَةٌ
لَّكُمْ
وَمَتَاعٌ
إِلَى
حِينٍ
﴿١١١﴾
21: 111. "I know not but that it may be a trial for you, and a grant of (worldly) livelihood (to you) for a time.
C2766. In the same way if men who come into the Brotherhood from pure motives and yet feel aggrieved that those outside are better off from a worldly point of view, they are wrong.
It may be that the fleeting enjoyment of this world's goods is but a trial, and they should be grateful for being saved from temptation.
Asad’s Version:
21:110
"Verily, He knows all that is said openly, just as He [alone] knows all that you would conceal.
21:111
But [as for me,] I do not know whether, perchance, this [delay in God's judgment] is but a trial for you, and a [merciful] respite for a while." 105
[[Asad’s note - 105 Lit., "enjoyment [of life] for a while": i.e., a chance, mercifully granted by God, to attain to faith. ]]
[[Ali’s note -
111. "I know not but that it may be a trial for you, and a grant of (worldly) livelihood (to you) for a time.
C2766. In the same way if men who come into the Brotherhood from pure motives and yet feel aggrieved that those outside are better off from a worldly point of view, they are wrong.
It may be that the fleeting enjoyment of this world's goods is but a trial, and they should be grateful for being saved from temptation.]]
