Sura-34 [Saba Mecca 58]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:

قُلْ مَن يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ...

34:24. Say: "Who gives you sustenance, from the heavens and the earth?"

C3827. There are six propositions introduced here with the word "Say", at verses 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 30.

- They clearly explain the doctrine of Unity (verse 22),

- the Mercy of Allah (verse 24),

- man's Personal Responsibility (verse 25),

- the Final Justice of Allah (verse 26),

- Allah's Power and Wisdom (verse 27),

- and the Inevitability of the Judgment, by which true values will be restored (verse 30).

... قُلِ اللَّهُ...

Say: "It is Allah,

... وَإِنَّا أَوْ إِيَّاكُمْ لَعَلَى هُدًى أَوْ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ ﴿٢٤﴾

and certain it is that either we or ye are on right guidance or in manifest error!"

C3828. Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, are incompatible, one with another. In this matter we can make no compromise.

It is true that in men there may be various degrees of good or evil mixed together, and we have to tolerate men as our fellow-creatures, with all their faults and shortcomings. But this does not mean that we can worship Allah and Mammon together.

Wrong is the negation of Right as light is of darkness. Though there may be apparently varying depths of darkness, this is only due to the imperfection of our vision: it is varying strengths of light as perceived by our relative powers of sight. So we may perceive the Light of Allah in varying degrees according to our spiritual vision. But in simple questions of Right or Wrong, we are faced by the Categorical Imperative.

Asad’s Version:

34:24

Say: "Who is it that provides for you sustenance out of the heavens and the earth?" 35

Say: "It is God. And, behold, either we [who believe in Him] or you [who deny His oneness] are on the right path, or have clearly gone astray!"

[[35 See note 49 on the first sentence of 10:31.]]

The Thirty-Fifth Surah

Al-Fatir (The Originator)

Mecca Period 43

35:3 O men! Call to mind the blessings which God has bestowed upon you! Is there any creator, other than God, that could provide for you sustenance out of heaven and earth? 3 There is no deity save Him: and yet, how perverted are your minds!

[[Asad’s notes - 3 See 10:31 and the corresponding note 49. ]]