Sura- 28 [ Al Qasas mecca 49 ]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:

وَلَوْلَا أَن تُصِيبَهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ فَيَقُولُوا...

28:47. If (We had) not (sent thee to the Quraish) -- in case a calamity should seize them for (the deeds) that their hands have sent forth, they might say:

...رَبَّنَا لَوْلَا أَرْسَلْتَ إِلَيْنَا رَسُولًا ...

"Our Lord! why didst Thou not send us a messenger?

C3380. Now that a warner has come among them with all the authority that previous Messengers possessed and with all the knowledge which can only come by divine inspiration, they have no excuse left whatever. They cannot say, "No warner came to us."

If any evil comes to them, as the inevitable result of their ill-deeds, they cannot blame Allah and say that they were not warned.

Cf. 20:134.

... فَنَتَّبِعَ آيَاتِكَ وَنَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ﴿٤٧﴾

We should then have followed the Signs and been amongst those who believe!"

فَلَمَّا جَاءهُمُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ عِندِنَا قَالُوا لَوْلَا أُوتِيَ مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى...

28:48. But (now), when the Truth has come to them from Ourselves, they say,

"Why are not (Signs) sent to him, like those which were sent to Moses?"

...أَوَلَمْ يَكْفُرُوا بِمَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى مِن قَبْلُ...

Do they not then reject (the Signs) which were formerly sent to Moses?

C3381. When a Revelation is sent to them, in the Quran, adapted to all their needs and the needs of the time they live in, they hark back to antiquity.

The holy Prophet was in many respects like Moses, but the times in which he lived were different from the times of Moses, and his age did not suffer from the deceptions of sorcery, like that of Moses.

The remedies which his age and future ages required (for his Message was universal) were different. His miracle of the Quran was different and most permanent than the Rod and the Radiant-White Hand of Moses.

But supposing that the Quraish had been humoured in their insincere demands, would they have believed?

Did they believe in Moses?

They were only put up by the Jews to make objections which they themselves did not believe in.

...قَالُوا سِحْرَانِ تَظَاهَرَا ...

They say: "Two kinds of sorcery, each assisting the other!"

C3382. Moses was called a sorcerer by the Egyptians, and the wonderful words of the Quran were called sorcery by the Quraish.

As the Quran confirmed the Message of Moses, the Quraish objectors said that they were in collusion.

The Quraish did not believe in Allah's Revelation at all.

... وَقَالُوا إِنَّا بِكُلٍّ كَافِرُونَ ﴿٤٨﴾

And they say: "For us, we reject all (such things)!"

Asad’s Version:

(28:47) and [We have sent thee] lest they say [on Judgment Day], when disaster befalls them as an outcome of what their own hands have wrought, "O our Sustainer, if only Thou hadst sent an apostle unto us, we would have followed Thy messages, and would have been among those who believe!"

28:48 And yet, now that the truth has come unto them from Us, they say, "Why has he not been vouchsafed the like of what Moses was vouchsafed?" 47 But did they not also, before this, deny the truth of what Moses was vouchsafed? [For] they do say, "Two examples of delusion, [seemingly] supporting each other!" 48 And they add, "Behold,

we refuse to accept either of them as true ! "