Bedouin

9. [at-Tawbah, Medina 113, 9H after Tabuk]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

الأَعْرَابُ أَشَدُّ كُفْرًا وَنِفَاقًا وَأَجْدَرُ أَلاَّ يَعْلَمُواْ حُدُودَ مَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ...   

9: 97.  The Arabs of the desert are the worst in unbelief and hypocrisy,

and most fitted to be in ignorance of the command which Allah hath sent down to His Messenger:

... وَاللّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ﴿٩٧﴾

but Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.

وَمِنَ الأَعْرَابِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مَا يُنفِقُ مَغْرَمًا وَيَتَرَبَّصُ بِكُمُ الدَّوَائِرَ...   

9: 98.  Some of the desert Arabs Look upon their payments as a fine, and watch for disasters for you:

C1346. The payments refer to the regular Charity established by Islam-the obligatory alms. If you look upon them as a fine or a burden, their virtue is lost.

If you rejoice that you have there an opportunity of helping the Community to maintain its standards of public assistance and to suppress the unseemly beggary and loathsome importunity whose relief is only governed by motives of getting rid of awkward obstacles on the way, then your outlook is entirely different. You wish for organized and effective efforts to solve the problems of human poverty and misery.

In doing so, you get nearer to Allah, and you earn the good wishes and prayers of godly men, led by our Holy Leader Mustafa.

... عَلَيْهِمْ دَآئِرَةُ السَّوْءِ وَاللّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ ﴿٩٨﴾

on them be the disaster of evil:

for Allah is He that heareth and knoweth (all things). 

وَمِنَ الأَعْرَابِ مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ...   

9: 99.  But some of the desert Arabs believe in Allah and the Last Day,

... وَيَتَّخِذُ مَا يُنفِقُ قُرُبَاتٍ عِندَ اللّهِ وَصَلَوَاتِ الرَّسُولِ... 

and look on their payments as pious gifts bringing them nearer to Allah and obtaining the prayers of the Messenger.

... أَلا إِنَّهَا قُرْبَةٌ لَّهُمْ ...

Aye, indeed they bring them nearer (to Him):

... سَيُدْخِلُهُمُ اللّهُ فِي رَحْمَتِهِ ...

soon will Allah admit them to His Mercy:

C1347. The Mercy of Allah is always present, as the sun is always shining. But when we have prepared ourselves to receive it, we come to the full enjoyment of it, as a man who was in a shade comes out by his effort into the open, and basks in sunshine.

... إِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ﴿٩٩﴾

for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Asad’s Version:

9: 97 [The hypocrites among] the Bedouin are more tenacious in refusal to acknowledge the truth and in hypocrisy [than are settled people], and more liable to ignore the ordinances which God has bestowed from on high upon His Apostle but God is all –knowing, wise.

9: 98 And among the Bedouin there are such as all that they might spend [in God’s cause] as a loss, and wait for misfortune to encompass you, it is they whom evil fortune shall encompass – for God is all-hearing, all-knowing.

9: 99 However, among the Bedouin there are such as believe in God and the Last Day, and regard all that they spend [in God’s cause] as a means of drawing them nearer to God and of the Apostle’s prayers. Oh, verily, it shall be a means of [God’s] nearness to them, [for] God will admit them unto His grace!