23 . Sura Al-Muminun
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
قَالَ
عَمَّا قَلِيلٍ
لَيُصْبِحُنَّ
نَادِمِينَ
﴿٤٠﴾
23: 40. (Allah) said: "In but a little while, they are sure to be sorry!"
C2899. When the Punishment comes, they will be sorry for themselves, but it will be too late then.
فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ
الصَّيْحَةُ
بِالْحَقِّ
...
23: 41. Then the Blast overtook them with justice,
C2900. See 11:66, and notes 1563 and 1561.
... فَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ غُثَاء...
and We made them as rubbish of dead leaves (floating on the stream of Time)!
C2901. Ghutha: rubbish of dead leaves, or scum floating on a torrent.
...فَبُعْدًا لِّلْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿٤١﴾
So away with the people who do wrong!
ثُمَّ
أَنشَأْنَا
مِن بَعْدِهِمْ
قُرُونًا آخَرِينَ
﴿٤٢﴾
23: 42. Then We raised after them other generations.
مَا
تَسْبِقُ مِنْ
أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَهَا
وَمَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ
﴿٤٣﴾
23: 43. No people can hasten their term, nor can they delay (it).
ثُمَّ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا تَتْرَا...
23: 44. Then sent We Our Messengers in succession:
...كُلَّ مَا جَاء أُمَّةً رَّسُولُهَا كَذَّبُوهُ...
every time there came to a people their Messenger, they accused him of falsehood:
...فَأَتْبَعْنَا
بَعْضَهُم
بَعْضًا وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ
أَحَادِيثَ...
so We made them follow each other (in punishment): We made them as a tale (that is told):
C2902. Their habitations and their organisation have been wiped out. What remains is merely a vague story of their existence, a tale that is told. Where their name remains, which is not always the case, it is only a by-word, suggesting all that is unstable and ephemeral,-"to point a moral and adorn a tale".
...فَبُعْدًا لِّقَوْمٍ لَّا يُؤْمِنُونَ ﴿٤٤﴾
so away with a people that will not believe!
فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا
فَكَانُوا مِنَ
الْمُهْلَكِينَ
﴿٤٨﴾
23: 48. So they accused them of falsehood, and they became of those who were destroyed.
وَلَقَدْ
آتَيْنَا مُوسَى
الْكِتَابَ
لَعَلَّهُمْ
يَهْتَدُونَ
﴿٤٩﴾
23: 49. And We gave Moses the Book, in order that they might receive guidance.
C2905. Here the reference is to the second part of the mission of Moses, that to the Israelites, which the Israelites rendered ineffective by their want of faith.
See n. 2903 above.
Asad’s Version:
(23:40) [And God) would say: "After a little while they will surely be smitten with
remorse!" 1 '
(23:41) And then the blast [of Our punishment) overtook them, justly and
unavoidably, 20 and We caused them to become as the flotsam of dead leaves and the scum
borne on the surface of a torrent: and so away with those evildoing folk!
23:42
AND AFTER them We gave rise to new generations: 21
(23:43) [for,] no community can ever
forestall [the end of) its term - and neither can they delay [its coming). 22
(23:44) And We sent
forth Our apostles, one after another: [and) every time their apostle came to a community, they
gave him the lie: and so We caused them to follow one another [into the grave), and let them
become [mere) tales: and so - away with the folk who would not believe!
23:48
Thus, they gave the lie to those two, and earned [thereby) their place among the doomed: 24
(23:49) for, indeed, We had vouchsafed revelation unto Moses in order that they might find the right way.