54. Surah Al-Qamar (The Moon)
Mecca Period 37
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
كَذَّبَتْ
قَوْمُ لُوطٍ
بِالنُّذُرِ
﴿٣٣﴾
54: 33. The People of Lut rejected (his) Warning.
C5153. The story of Lot (Lut) and the Cities of the Plain has been frequently referred to.
See 11:74-83.
إِنَّا
أَرْسَلْنَا
عَلَيْهِمْ
حَاصِبًا ...
54: 34. We sent against them a violent tornado with showers of stones,
C5154. Hasib: a violent tornado bringing a shower of stones. The word occurs here;
in 17:68 (without reference to any particular place);
in 29:40 (where it seems to refer to Lut's Cities, see n. 3462);
and in 67:17 (where again there is no reference to a particular place).
In Lut's Cities the shower was of brimstone: see 11:82.
...إِلَّا آلَ لُوطٍ نَّجَّيْنَاهُم بِسَحَرٍ ﴿٣٤﴾
(which destroyed them), except Lut's household: them We delivered by early Dawn --
54: 35. As a Grace from Us:
...كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي مَن شَكَرَ ﴿٣٥﴾
Thus do We reward those who give thanks.
C5155. "Giving thanks" to Allah in Quranic phrase is to obey Allah's Law, to do His Will, to practice righteousness, to use all gifts in His service.
وَلَقَدْ
أَنذَرَهُم
بَطْشَتَنَا
...
54: 36. And (Lut) did warn them of Our Punishment,
C5156. Cf. 11:78-79.
... فَتَمَارَوْا بِالنُّذُرِ ﴿٣٦﴾
but they disputed about the Warning.
وَلَقَدْ
رَاوَدُوهُ
عَن ضَيْفِهِ
فَطَمَسْنَا
أَعْيُنَهُمْ
...
54: 37. And they even sought to snatch away his guests from him, but We blinded their eyes.
C5157. Lut had been preaching to them some time against their iniquities. The crisis of their fate came when the two angels came to Lut in the guise of handsome young men.
The men of the whole City came in an uproar, assaulted his house, and tried to snatch away the two handsome men. Lut tried to prevent them, but was powerless.
Darkness fell on their eyes, as the first stage in their punishment, and before next morning the wicked cities were buried under a shower of brimstone. Lot and his believing household were saved.
... فَذُوقُوا عَذَابِي وَنُذُرِ ﴿٣٧﴾
(They heard:) "Now taste ye My Wrath and My Warning."
وَلَقَدْ
صَبَّحَهُم
بُكْرَةً عَذَابٌ
مُّسْتَقِرٌّ
﴿٣٨﴾
54: 39. "So taste ye My Wrath and My Warning."
فَذُوقُوا
عَذَابِي وَنُذُرِ
﴿٣٩﴾
54: 38. Early on the morrow an abiding Punishment seized them:
54: 39. "So taste ye My Wrath and My Warning."
وَلَقَدْ
يَسَّرْنَا
الْقُرْآنَ
لِلذِّكْرِ
فَهَلْ مِن
مُّدَّكِرٍ
﴿٤٠﴾
54: 40. And We have indeed made the Qur'án easy to understand and remember:
then is there any that will receive admonition?
Asad’s Version:
54:33 LOT'S PEOPLE [too) gave the lie to all [Our] warnings:
(54:34) [and so,] behold, We let loose upon them a deadly tempest;" and only Lot's kinsfolk did We save at the break of dawn,
(54:35) as a blessing from Us: thus do We reward all who are grateful.
54:36 For he had truly warned them of Our punishing might; but they stubbornly cast doubt on these warnings,
(54:37) and even demanded that he give up his guests [to them]: 20 whereupon We
deprived them of their sight [and thus told them, as it were]: 21 "Taste, then, the suffering which I inflict when My warnings are disregarded! "
54:38 And, indeed, abiding suffering did befall them early on the morrow:
(54:39) "Taste, then, the suffering which I inflict when My warnings are disregarded!"
(54:40) Hence, indeed, We made this Qur'an easy to bear in mind: who, then, is willing to take it to heart?
[[ Asad’s notes - 20 See 1 1 11-19 and the corresponding notes.
21 According to Ibn 'Abbas (as quoted by Razi), the expression tarns al-'ayn ("deprivation of sight") denotes here a "veiling [of something] from "one's consciousness" (hajb 'an al-idrak). Hence, the phrase tamasna a'yunahum may be understood to mean that God deprived them, in consequence of their evil propensities, of all moral insight (cf 36:66 and the corresponding notes), and thus made them
liable - as the sequence shows - to undergo bitter suffering in this world and in the next. ]]