Sura-34 [Saba Mecca 58]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:

وَمَا آتَيْنَاهُم مِّن كُتُبٍ يَدْرُسُونَهَا...

34:44. But We had not given them Books which they could study,

... وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ قَبْلَكَ مِن نَّذِيرٍ ﴿٤٤﴾

nor sent messengers to them before thee as Warners.

C3855. The ancestors (as in the case of the Arabs of the Times of Ignorance) had received no revelation of the dear kind which a messenger and a Book bring them. This is a reason for welcoming, not for rejecting new Truth.

وَكَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ...

34:45. And their predecessors rejected (the Truth);

... وَمَا بَلَغُوا مِعْشَارَ مَا آتَيْنَاهُمْ فَكَذَّبُوا رُسُلِي...

these have not received a tenth of what We had granted to those: yet when they rejected My messengers,

C3856. Passing to Peoples before the immediate ancestors, the People of the Book, or the People of Saba and 'Ad and Thamud, had received favours and gifts, power and wealth, ten times more than were enjoyed by the Pagan Quraish. Yet when they turned away from Allah's Truth, Allah turned away from them, and what terrible consequences descended on them when they lost Allah's Grace! This should make everyone humble, not least the posterity of Muhammad the Messenger if they forsake Allah's Truths! For they have received a higher Teaching!

... فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ ﴿٤٥﴾

how (terrible) was My rejection (of them)!

Asad’s Version:

34:44 And yet, [O Muhammad,] never have We vouchsafed them any revelations which they could quote, 54 and neither have We sent unto them any warner before thee.

(34:45) Thus, too, gave the lie to the truth [many of] those who lived before them; and although those [earlier people] had not attained to even a tenth of [the evidence of the truth] which We have vouchsafed unto these [late successors of theirs], yet when they gave the lie to My apostles, how awesome was My rejection! 55

34:46 Say: "I counsel you one thing only: Be [everconscious of] standing before God, whether you are in the company of others or alone; 56 and then bethink yourselves [that] there is no madness in [this prophet,] your fellow -man: 57 he is only a warner to you of suffering severe to come."

53 Lit., "sorcery" or "magic" - a term frequently used in the sense of "spellbinding eloquence" (cf. 74:24, the earliest instance in the chronology of Qur'anic revelation).

54 Lit., "which they could study", i.e., in support of the blasphemous beliefs and practices inherited from their ancestors. Cf. 30:35, which expresses a similar idea.

55 Sc, "And how much worse will fare the deniers of the truth to whom so explicit and so comprehensive a divine writ as the Qur'an has been conveyed ~." My rendering of the whole of this verse is based on Razi's interpretation, which differs from that of most of the other commentators.

56 Lit., "two by two (mathna) and singly (furada)". According to Razi, the expression mathna denotes, in this context, "together with another person" or "other persons": hence, the above phrase may be understood to refer to maris social behaviour - i.e., his actions concerning others - as well as to his inner, personal attitude in all situations requiring a moral choice.

57 See note 150 on 7:184.