37. As-Saffat (Those Ranged In Ranks)

Mecca 56 [182 verses]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

أَمْ لَكُمْ سُلْطَانٌ مُّبِينٌ ﴿١٥٦﴾

37: 156. Or have ye an authority manifest?

فَأْتُوا بِكِتَابِكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ﴿١٥٧﴾

37: 157. Then bring ye your Book (of authority) if ye be truthful!

وَجَعَلُوا بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ الْجِنَّةِ نَسَبًا...

37: 158. And they have invented a blood-relationship between Him and the Jinns:

C4132. The angels arc at least pure beings engaged in the service of Allah. But the Pagan superstitions not only connect them with Allah as daughters but even connect Allah by relationship with all kinds of spirits, good or evil! In some mythologies the most evil powers are gods or goddesses as if they belonged to the family of Allah the Creator and had some semblance of equality with Him! This, too, is repudiated in the strongest terms.

For Jinns see n. 929 to 6:100.

...وَلَقَدْ عَلِمَتِ الْجِنَّةُ إِنَّهُمْ لَمُحْضَرُونَ ﴿١٥٨﴾

but the Jinns know (quite well) that they have indeed to appear (before His judgment-seat)!

Asad’s Version:

37:156 Or have you, perchance, a clear evidence [for your assertions]?

(37:157) Produce, then, that divine writ of yours, if you are speaking the truth!

(37:158) And some people" have invented a kinship between Him and all manner of invisible forces 67 - although [even] these invisible forces know well that, verily, they [who thus blaspheme against God] shall indeed be arraigned [before Him on Judgment Day: for]

Yuksel’s Version:

37:158 They invented a kinship between Him and the Jinn. But the Jinn know that they will be gathered.

[[ Asad’s note - 66 Lit, "they".

67 See Appendix III. Whereas most of the classical commentators are of the opinion that the term al-jinnah denotes here the angels, since they - like all beings of this category - are imperceptible to man's senses, I believe that the above verse refers to those intangible forces of nature which elude all direct observation and manifest themselves only in their effects: hence their designation, in this context, by the plural noun al-jinnah, which primarily denotes "that which is concealed

from [man's] senses". Inasmuch as people who refuse to believe in God often tend to regard those elemental forces as mysteriously endowed with a purposeful creative power (cf Bergson's concept of the elan vital), the Qur'an states that their votaries invent a "kinship" between them and God, i.e., attribute to them qualities and powers similar to His. ]]