11.Surah Hud

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِن نَّقُولُ إِلاَّ اعْتَرَاكَ بَعْضُ آلِهَتِنَا بِسُوَءٍ...

11: 54. "We say nothing but that (perhaps) some of our gods may have seized thee with imbecility."

Continuing their argument, the Unbelievers make a show of making all charitable allowances for Hud, but in reality cut him to the quick by bringing in their false gods.

"To be quite polite," said they, "we will not say that you are exactly a liar! Perhaps you have been touched with imbecility! Ah yes! You rail against what you call our false gods! Some of them have paid you out, and made you a fool! Ha! ha!"

This mockery is even worse than their other false accusations. For it sets up false gods against the One True God, even in dealing with Hud.

So Hud replies, with spirit and indignation:

"At least keep Allah's name out of your futile talk! You know as well as I do, that I worship the One True God!

You pretend that your false gods can smite a true Prophet of Allah!

I accept the challenge. Scheme and plot against me as you may, all of you-you and your gods! See if you have any power! I ask for no quarter from you!

My trust is in Allah!"

...قَالَ إِنِّي أُشْهِدُ اللّهِ وَاشْهَدُواْ أَنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ ﴿٥٤﴾

He said:

"I call Allah to witness, and do ye bear witness that I am free from the sin of ascribing, to Him,

Asad’s Version:

11: 54 [Hud, Mecca 52]

Yusuf Ali "We say nothing but that (perhaps) some of our gods may have seized thee with imbecility." He said: "I call Allah to witness and do ye bear witness that I am free from the sin of ascribing to Him

Pickthall We say naught save that one of our gods hath possessed thee in an evil way. He said: I call Allah to witness, and do ye (too) bear witness, that I am innocent of (all) that ye ascribe as partners (to Allah)

Yuksel "All we can say is that perhaps some of our gods have possessed you with evil." He said, "I make God my witness, and all of you witness that I disown what you have set up as partners--

Transliteration In naqu_lu illa-'tara_ka ba'du a_lihatina_ bi su_'(in), qa_la inni usyhidulla_ha wa-syhadu_ anni bari'um mimma_ tusyriku_n(a).

Ayah 6

Yusuf Ali They say: "O thou to whom the Message is being revealed! Truly thou art mad (or possessed)!

Pickthall And they say: O thou unto whom the Reminder is revealed, lo! thou art indeed a madman!

Transliteration Wa qa_lu_ ya_ ayyuhal lazi nuzzila 'alaihiz zikru innaka lamajnu_n(un).

51. Surah Adh-Dhariyat (The Dust-Scattering Winds)

Mecca Period 67

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

كَذَلِكَ مَا أَتَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا قَالُوا سَاحِرٌ أَوْ مَجْنُونٌ ﴿٥٢﴾

51: 52. Similarly, no messenger came to the Peoples before them, but they said (of him) in like manner,

"A sorcerer, or one possessed"

C5029. They said this of Moses: 51:39.

And they said this of the holy Prophet: 38:4; 44:14.

أَتَوَاصَوْا بِهِ ...

51: 53. Is this the legacy they have transmitted, one to another?

... بَلْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ ﴿٥٣﴾

Nay, they are themselves a people transgressing beyond bounds!

C5030. There is a tradition of Evil as there is a tradition of Good. The ways of Evil in dealing with the teachers of Truth are similar in all ages, But such evil traditions would have no effect, were it not that the generation following them is itself ungodly, "transgressing beyond bounds."

Asad’s Version:

51:52 [But] thus it is: never yet came any apostle to those who lived before their time but they said, "A spellbinder 38 [is he], or a madman!"

(51:53) Have they, perchance, handed down this [way of thinking] as a legacy unto one another? Nay, they are people filled with overweening arrogance!

[[Asad’s note - 38 Thus, the innermost purpose of the creation of all rational beings is their cognition (ma'rifah) of the existence of God and, hence, their conscious wmingness to conform their own existence to whatever they may perceive of His will and plan: and it is this twofold concept of cognition and willingness that gives the deepest meaning to what the Qnr'an describes as "worship" ('ibadah). As the next verse shows, this spiritual call does not arise from any supposed "need' - on the part of the Creator,

who is self-sufficient and infinite in His power, but is designed as an instrument for the inner development of the worshipper, who, by the act of his conscious self-surrender to the all-pervading Creative Will, may hope to come closer to an understanding of that Will and, thus, closer to God Himself. ]]