57 Al-Hadid (Iron)
Medina Period [94]
Ali’s version and the Arabic text
اعْلَمُوا
أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ
الدُّنْيَا
لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ
وَزِينَةٌ ...
57:20. Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement,
In the present passage the idea is further amplified. In this life people not only play and amuse themselves and each other, but they show off, and boast, and pile up riches and man-power and influence, in rivalry with each other.
...وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ...
pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among yourselves, riches and children:
...كَمَثَلِ ...
Here is a similitude:
C5303. Cf. 39:21, and n. 4273.
Here the Parable is meant to teach a slightly different lesson. Allah's mercies are free and open to all, like His rain. But how do men make use of them? The good men take the real spiritual harvest and store the Spiritual grain. The men who are in love with the ephemeral are delighted with the green of the tares and the grass; but such things give no real nourishment; they soon wither, become dry, and crumble to pieces, like the worldly pleasures and pomps, boasting and tumults, possessions and friends.
...غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ...
How rain and the growth which it brings forth, delight (the hearts of) the tillers;
C5304. Kuffar is here used in the unusual sense of 'tillers or husbandmen', because they sow the seed and cover it up with soil.
But the ordinary meaning, 'Rejecters of Truth', is not absent. The allegory refers to such men.
...فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا...
soon it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away.
...وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ...
But in the Hereafter is a Penalty severe (for the devotees of wrong), and Forgiveness from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure (for the devotees of Allah).
...وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُور ﴿٢٠﴾ِ
And what is the life of this world, but goods and chattels of deception?
Many of the attractive vanities of this world are but nets set by Satan to deceive man. The only thing real and lasting is the Good Life lived in the Light of Allah.
Asad’s version
57:20 KNOW [O men] that the life of this world is but a play and a passing delight, and a beautiful show, and [the cause of] your boastful vying with one another, and [of your] greed for more and more riches and children. 29 Its parable is that of [life-giving] rain: the herbage which it causes to grow delights the tillers of the soil;" but then it withers, and thou canst see it turn yellow; and in the end it crumbles into dust. But [the abiding truth of man's condition will become fully apparent] in the life to come: [either) suffering severe, or 32 God's forgiveness and His goodly acceptance: for the life of this world is nothing but an enjoyment of self-delusion.
Yuksel’s version
The Purpose of Life on Earth
57:20 Know that this worldly life is no more than play and amusement, and boasting among you, and an increase in wealth and children. It is like plants that are supplied by an abundant rain, which appear pleasing to those who do not appreciate. But then they dry up and turn yellow, and become useless hay. In the Hereafter there is severe retribution, and forgiveness from God and approval. This worldly life is no more than a deceiving enjoyment.
[[Asad’s notes - 29 Commenting at length on this passage, Razi makes it clear that life as such is not to be despised, inasmuch as it has been created by God: cf. 38:27 - "We have not created heaven and earth and all that is between them without meaning and purpose" ; and 23:115- "Did you think that We have created you in mere idle play?" But whereas life in itself is a positive gift of God and - as Razi points out the potential source of all blessings, it loses this positive quality if it is indulged in recklessly, blindly and with disregard of spiritual values and considerations: in brief, if it is indulged in without any thought of the hereafter.
30 Lit., "[It is] like the parable of..., etc.
3 1 This is the sole instance in the Qur'an where the participial noun kafir (in its plural form kuffar) has its original meaning of "tiller of the soil". For the etymology of this meaning, see note 4 on 74:10, where the term kuffar (in the sense of "denier of the truth") appears for the first time in the sequence of Qur'anic revelation.
32 According to Tabari, the conjunction wa has here the meaning of aw ("or"). ]]