21, Sura al-Anbiya [Nabi], Mecca 73

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى وَهَارُونَ الْفُرْقَانَ وَضِيَاء وَذِكْرًا لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ ﴿٤٨﴾

21: 48.  In the past We granted to Moses and Aaron the Criterion (for judgment), and a Light and a Message for those who would do right --

C2709. Cf. 2:53 and n. 68, where the meaning of Furqan is discussed. Here three things are mentioned as given to Moses and Aaron:

1.     The Criterion for judgment: this might well be the wonderful Proofs they saw of Allah's goodness and glory from which they could have no doubt as to Allah's will and command;

2.     the Light; this was the inner enlightenment of their soul, such as comes from inspiration: and

3.     the Message, the Book, the original Book of Moses, which Aaron as his lieutenant would also use as a guide for his people.

الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُم بِالْغَيْبِ وَهُم مِّنَ السَّاعَةِ مُشْفِقُونَ ﴿٤٩﴾

21: 49.  Those who fear their Lord in their most secret thoughts,

and who hold the Hour (of Judgment) in awe.

C2710. Note the three kinds of fear mentioned in 21:48-49.

-        Taqwa is the fear of running counter to the will of Allah; it is akin to the love of Him; for we fear to offend those we love; it results in right conduct, and those who entertain it are "those who would do right".

-        Then there is Khayat, the fear of Allah, lest the person who entertains it may be found, in his inmost thoughts, to be short of the standard which Allah wishes for him; this is also righteous but in a less high degree than Taqwa which is akin to love.

-        And thirdly, there is the fear of consequences on the Day of Judgment (ishfaq); this also may lead to righteousness, but is on a still lower plane. Perhaps the three correspond to the Criterion, the Light, and the Message (or Warning) of the last verse.

Asad’s Version:

21:48 AND, INDEED, We vouchsafed unto Moses and Aaron [Our revelation as] the standard by which to discern the true from the false, 57 and as a [guiding] light and a reminder for the God- conscious

(21:49) who stand in awe of their Sustainer although He is beyond the reach of human perception, 58 and who tremble at the thought of the Last Hour.

[[Asad’s note -

57 See note 38 on 2:53. The reference to the revelation bestowed on the earlier prophets as "the standard by which to discern the true from the false" (al-furqan) has here a twofold implication: firstly, it alludes to the Qur'anic doctrine - explained in note 5 on 2:4 - of the historical continuity in all divine revelation, and, secondly, it stresses the fact that revelation - and revelation alone - provides an absolute criterion of all moral valuation. Since the Mosaic dispensation as such was binding on the children of Israel alone and remained valid only within a particular historical and cultural context, the term al-furqan relates here not to the Mosaic Law as such, but to the fundamental ethical truths contained in the Torah and common to all divine revelations. ]]