37. As-Saffat (Those Ranged In Ranks)

Mecca 56 [182 verses]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ ﴿١١٠﴾

37: 110. Thus indeed do We reward those who do right.

إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ﴿١١١﴾

37: 111. For he was one of Our believing Servants.

وَبَشَّرْنَاهُ بِإِسْحَقَ نَبِيًّا مِّنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ﴿١١٢﴾

37: 112. And We gave him the good news of Isaac -- a prophet -- one of the Righteous.

C4105. Isaac was Abraham's second son, born of Sarah, when Abraham was 100 years of age. See n. 4101.

He was also blessed and became the ancestor of the Jewish people. See next note.

وَبَارَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى إِسْحَقَ...

37: 113. We blessed him and Isaac:

...وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِهِمَا مُحْسِنٌ وَظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِ مُبِينٌ ﴿١١٣﴾

but of their progeny are (some) that do right, and (some) that obviously do wrong, to their own souls.

C4106. So long as the Children of Israel upheld the righteous banner of Allah, they enjoyed Allah's blessing, and their history is a portion of sacred history. When they fell from grace, they did not stop Allah's Plan: they injured their own souls.

Asad’s Version:

37:110 Thus do We reward the doers of good –

(37: 111) for he was truly one of our believing servants

(37:112) And [in time] We gave him the glad tiding of Isaac, [who, too, would be] a prophet, one of the righteous;

(37: 113) and We blessed him and Isaac: but among the offspring of these two there were [destined] to be both doers of good and such as would glaringly sin against

themselves. 45

[[Asad’s note - 45 I.e., commit evil. With this prediction the Qur'an refutes, as in so many other places, the spurious contention of the Jews that they are 'the chosen people" by virtue of their descent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and therefore a priori 'assured", as it were, of God's acceptance. In other words, God's blessing a prophet or a saint does not, by itself, imply the conferment of any special status on his descendants.]]