21. Surah Al Anbiya'
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
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.
وَهَذَا
ذِكْرٌ مُّبَارَكٌ
أَنزَلْنَاهُ...
21: 50. And this is a blessed Message which We have sent down:
...أَفَأَنتُمْ لَهُ مُنكِرُونَ ﴿٥٠﴾
will ye then reject it?
C2711. Here is a Prophet and a Book, greater than Moses and his Book. Are you going to reject him and it? (R).
وَلَقَدْ
آتَيْنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ
رُشْدَهُ مِن
قَبْلُ ...
21: 51. We bestowed aforetime on Abraham his rectitude of conduct,
C2712. Rushd: right conduct, corresponding in action to the quality expressed in the epithet Hanif (sound or true in Faith) applied to Abraham in 2:135 and elsewhere.
... وَكُنَّا بِه عَالِمِينَ ﴿٥١﴾
and well were We acquainted with him.
C2713. Hence Abraham's title "Friend of Allah" (Khalil Allah): 4:125.
إِذْ
قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ
وَقَوْمِهِ
...
21: 52. Behold! he said to his father and his people,
C2714. Reference is made to Abraham in many places. In 19:42-49 it was with reference to his relations to his father: the problem was how a righteous man should deal with his father, when his duty to his father conflicts with his duty to Allah.
Here the problem is: how a righteous man should deal with evil and overcome it; how he should fight against evil, and if he is subjected to the fire of persecution, how his firmness draws Allah's Mercy, and the very troubles he is placed in become his comfort and joy.
... مَا هَذِهِ التَّمَاثِيلُ الَّتِي أَنتُمْ لَهَا عَاكِفُونَ ﴿٥٢﴾
"What are these images, to which ye are (so assiduously) devoted?"
قَالُوا
وَجَدْنَا
آبَاءنَا لَهَا
عَابِدِينَ
﴿٥٣﴾
21: 53. They said, "We found our father worshipping them."
قَالَ
لَقَدْ كُنتُمْ
أَنتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُمْ
فِي ضَلَالٍ
مُّبِينٍ ﴿٥٤﴾
21: 54. He said, "Indeed ye have been in manifest error-ye and your fathers."
قَالُوا
أَجِئْتَنَا
بِالْحَقِّ
أَمْ أَنتَ مِنَ
اللَّاعِبِينَ
﴿٥٥﴾
21: 55. They said, "Have you brought us the Truth, or are you one of those who jest?"
C2715. Abraham looked at life with a serious eye, and his people took it light-heartedly. He was devoted to Truth, and they cared more for ancestral custom, In the conflict he seemed to be in their power. But he was fearless, and he triumphed by Allah's Grace.
قَالَ
بَل رَّبُّكُمْ
رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضِ
الَّذِي فَطَرَهُنَّ...
21: 56. He said,
"Nay, your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth,
He Who created them (from nothing):
C2716. For the various words for "creation" see n. 120 to 2:117, where fatara is explained and differentiated from other words of similar meaning.
...وَأَنَا عَلَى ذَلِكُم مِّنَ الشَّاهِدِينَ ﴿٥٦﴾
and I am a witness to this (truth).
Asad’s Version:
(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.
21:50 And [like those earler revelations,] this one, too, is a blessed reminder which We have bestowed from on high: will you, then, disavow it?
21:51 [al-anbiya, Mecca 73]
AND, INDEED, long before [the time of Moses] We vouchsafed unto Abraham his consciousness of what is right; 59 ' and We were aware of [what moved] him
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(21:52) when he said unto his father and his people, "What are these images to which you are so intensely devoted?"
21:53
They answered: "We found our forefathers worshipping them."
(21:54} Said he: "Indeed, you and your forefathers have obviously gone astray!"
(21:55} They asked: "Hast thou come unto us [with this claim] in all earnest - or art thou one of those jesters?"
(21:56} He answered: "Nay, but your [true] Sustainer is the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth - He who has brought them into being: and I am one of those who bear witness to this [truth]!"
[[Context verses - 21:48
AND, INDEED, We vouchsafed unto Moses and Aaron [Our revelation as] the standard [al-Furqan] by which to discern the true from the false, 57 and as a [guiding] light and a reminder for the God- conscious
[[Asad’s notes - 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.
58 For an explanation of the above rendering of the expression bi'1-ghayb, see note 3 on 2:3.
59 The possessive pronoun "his" affixed to the noun rushd (which, in this context, has the meaning of "consciousness of what is right") emphasizes the highly personal, intellectual quality of Abraham's progressive realization of God's almightiness and uniqueness (cf. 6:7-79 as well as note 69 on 6:83); while the expression min qabl - rendered by me as "long before [the time of
Moses]" - stresses, once again, the element of continuity in man's religious insight and experience. ]]
