7. Sura al-Araf
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
فَلَمَّا
عَتَوْاْ
عَن
مَّا
نُهُواْ
عَنْهُ
قُلْنَا
لَهُمْ
...
7: 166. When in their insolence they transgressed (all) prohibition, We said to them:
... كُونُواْ قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ ﴿١٦٦﴾
"Be ye apes, despised and rejected."
وَإِذْ
تَأَذَّنَ
رَبُّكَ
لَيَبْعَثَنَّ
عَلَيْهِمْ
إِلَى
يَوْمِ
الْقِيَامَةِ
مَن
يَسُومُهُمْ
سُوءَ
الْعَذَابِ...
7: 167. Behold! thy Lord did declare that He would send against them, to the Day of Judgment, those who would afflict them with grievous penalty.
C1140. See Deut, 11:28:
"A curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day":
also Deut, 28:49;
"The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth: a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand";
and many other passages.
...إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَسَرِيعُ الْعِقَابِ وَإِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ﴿١٦٧﴾
Thy Lord is quick in retribution,
but he is also Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمْ
فِي
الأَرْضِ
أُمَمًا...
7: 168. We broke them up into sections on this earth.
C1141. The dispersal of the Jews is a great fact in the world's history. Nor has their persecution ended yet, nor is it likely to end as far as we can foresee.
...مِّنْهُمُ الصَّالِحُونَ وَمِنْهُمْ دُونَ ذَلِكَ...
There are among them some that are the righteous, and some that are the opposite.
...وَبَلَوْنَاهُمْ بِالْحَسَنَاتِ وَالسَّيِّئَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ﴿١٦٨﴾
We have tried them with both prosperity and adversity: in order that they might turn (to us).
Other versions:
7: 166
Yusuf Ali When in their insolence they transgressed (all) prohibition We said to them: "Be ye apes despised and rejected."
Pickthall So when they took pride in that which they had been forbidden, We said unto them: Be ye apes despised and loathed!
Transliteration Falamma_ 'atau 'amma_ nuhu_ 'anhu qulna_ lahum ku_nu_ qiradatan kha_si'in(a).
[[ Ali’s notes –
1139 Cf. ii. 65, n. 79. (7.166) ]]
[[ Asad’s note 133 - ….this is but a metaphor (mathal) coined by God with regard to them, similar to the metaphor of ‘the ass carrying books’ [62:5]”…………..It should be borne in mind that the expression “like an ape” is often used in classical Arabic to describe a person who is unable to restrain his gross appetites or passions.]
7: 167
Yusuf Ali Behold! thy Lord did declare that He would send against them to the Day of Judgment those who would afflict them with grievous penalty. Thy Lord is quick in retribution but he is also Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.
Pickthall And (remember) when thy Lord proclaimed that He would raise against them till the Day of Resurrection those who would lay on them a cruel torment. Lo! verily thy Lord is swift in prosecution and lo! verify He is Forgiving, Merciful.
Transliteration Wa iz ta'azzana rabbuka layab'asanna 'alaihim ila_ yaumil qiya_mati may yasu_muhum su_'al 'aza_b(i), inna rabbaka lasari'ul 'iqa_b(i), wa innahu_ lagafu_rur rahim(un).
[[Ruby’s note 7:167 – Here “they” is referred, I think, to those who disregarded God’s warnings and transgressed mentioned in the above verses 65 and 66.]]
7: 168
Asad And We dispersed them as [separate] communities all over the earth; some of them were righteous, and some of them less than that: and the latter We tried with blessings as well as with afflictions, so that they might mend their ways.
Yusuf Ali We broke them up into sections on this earth. There are among them some that are the righteous and some that are the opposite. We have tried them with both prosperity and adversity: in order that they might turn (to us).
Pickthall And We have sundered them in the earth as (separate) nations. Some of them are righteous, and some far from that. And We have tried them with good things and evil things that haply they might return.
Transliteration Wa qatta'na_hum fil ardi umama_(n), minhumus sa_lihu_na wa minhum du_na za_lik(a), wa balauna_hum bil hasana_ti was sayyi'a_ti la'allahum yarji'u_n(a).
[[ Ali’s notes -
1140 See Deut, xi. 28: "A curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day": also Deut, xxviii. 49; "The Lord shall bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies: a nation whose tongue you shall not understand"; and many other passages. (7.167)
1141 The dispersal of the Jews is a great fact in the world's history. Nor has their persecution ended yet, nor is it likely to end as far as we can foresee. (7.168)
1142 Merely inheriting a Book, or doing lip service to it, does not make a nation righteous. If they succumb to the temptations of the world, their hypocrisy becomes all the more glaring. "High finance" is one of these temptations. Cf. also ii. 80: "the Fire shall not touch us except for a few numbered days": and ii. 88, about their blasphemous self-sufficiency. (7.169)