43. Surah Zukhruf
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَكَذَلِكَ
مَا أَرْسَلْنَا
مِن قَبْلِكَ
فِي قَرْيَةٍ
مِّن نَّذِيرٍ
إِلَّا
قَالَ مُتْرَفُوهَا...
43: 23. Just in the same way, whenever We sent a Warner before thee to any people, the wealthy ones among them said:
C4628. It is some privileged position, and not ancestral custom, which is really at the bottom of much falsehood and hypocrisy in the world. This has been again and again in religious history.
...إِنَّا وَجَدْنَا آبَاءنَا عَلَى أُمَّةٍ وَإِنَّا عَلَى آثَارِهِم مُّقْتَدُونَ ﴿٢٣﴾
"We found our fathers following a certain religion, and We will certainly follow in their footsteps."
قَالَ أَوَلَوْ جِئْتُكُم بِأَهْدَى مِمَّا وَجَدتُّمْ عَلَيْهِ آبَاءكُمْ...
43: 24. He said:
"What! even if I brought you better guidance than that which ye found your fathers following?"
C4629. The Warner or messenger pointed out the merits and the truth of his teaching, and how superior it was to what they called their ancestral customs. But they denied his mission itself or the validity of any such mission. In other words they did not believe in inspiration or revelation, and went on in their evil ways, with the inevitable result that they brought themselves to destruction.
قَالُوا
إِنَّا بِمَا
أُرْسِلْتُم
بِهِ كَافِرُونَ
﴿٢٤﴾
They said:
"For us, We deny that ye (prophets) are sent (on a mission at all)."
فَانتَقَمْنَا
مِنْهُمْ...
43: 25. So We exacted retribution from them:
...فَانظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ ﴿٢٥﴾
now see what was the end of those who rejected (Truth)!
Asad’s Version:
Asad’s version
43:23 And thus it is: whenever We sent, before thy time, a warner to any community, those of its people who had lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures 22 would always say, - "Behold, we found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and, verily, it is but in their footsteps that we follow!" 23
43:24 [Whereupon each prophet) would say, 24 "Why, even though I bring you a guidance better than that which you found your forefathers believing in?" - [to which] the others would reply, "Behold, we deny that there is any truth in [what you claim to be) your messages!"
43:25 And so We inflicted Our retribution on them: and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth!
Yuksel’s version
43:23 Similarly, We did not send a warner to a town, except its privileged hedonists said, "We found our fathers following a certain way, and we are being guided in their footsteps."
43:24 He said, "What if I brought to you better guidance than what you found your fathers upon?" They said, "We reject the message you deliver."
43:25 Consequently, We took revenge upon them. So see what the consequence of the deniers was!
[[Asad’s notes -
22 For this rendering of the term mutraf (derived from the verb tarafa), see note 1 47 on 1 1 : 1 1 6.
23 Commenting on this passage, Razi says: "Had there been in the Qur'an nothing but these verses, they would have sufficed to show the falsity of the principle postulating [a Muslim's] blind, unquestioning adoption of [another person's] religious opinions (ibtal al-qawl bi't-taqlid): for, God has made it clear [in these verses] that those deniers of the truth had not arrived at their convictions by way of reason, and neither on the clear authority of a revealed text, but solely by blindly adopting the opinions of their forebears and predecessors; and all this God has mentioned in terms of blame
and sharp disparagement. "
24 Whereas in some of the readings of the Qur'an the opening word of this verse is vocalized as an imperative, qui ("say"), the reading of Hafs ibn Sulayman al-Asadi - on which this translation is based - gives the pronounciation qala ("lie said" or, since it is a repeated occurrence, "he would ]]
45 Al-Jathiyah (Kneeling Down)
Mecca Period 65
45:23 HAST THOU ever considered [the kind of man) who makes his own desires his deity, and whom God has [thereupon] let go astray, knowing [that his mind is closed to all guidance], 24 and whose hearing and heart He has sealed, and upon whose sight He has placed a veil? 25 Who, then, could guide him after God [has abandoned him]? Will you not, then, bethink yourselves?
45:24 And yet they say: "There is nothing beyond our life in this world. We die as we come to life, 26 and nothing but time destroys us." But of this they have no knowledge whatever: they do nothing but guess.
(45:25) And [so,) whenever Our messages are conveyed to them in all their clarity, their only argument is this: 27 "Bring forth our forefathers [as witnesses), if what you claim is true!" 28
[[Asad’s notes -
24 Thus Razi, evidently reflecting the views of Zamakhshari, which have been quoted at length in my note 4 on 14:4.
25 See note 7 on 2:7
26 I.e., by accident, or as an outcome of blind forces of nature.
27 Lit., "their argument is nothing but that they say".
28 Cf. 44: 36 and the corresponding note 19. ]]
Ali’s version
أَفَرَأَيْتَ
مَنِ
اتَّخَذَ
إِلَهَهُ
هَوَاهُ
...
45:23. Then seest thou such a one as takes as his god his own vain desire?
C4761. If a man follows, not the laws of Allah, which are also the laws of his own pure nature as made by Allah, but the desires of his own distorted self, as shaped by the rebellion of his will, the inevitable consequence will be the withdrawal of Allah's grace and guidance. All his faculties will then be debased, and there will be nothing to guide him, unless he turns in repentance again to Allah.
... وَأَضَلَّهُ اللَّهُ عَلَى عِلْمٍ...
Allah has, knowing (him as such), left him astray,
...وَخَتَمَ عَلَى سَمْعِهِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَجَعَلَ عَلَى بَصَرِهِ...
and sealed His hearing and his heart (and understanding), and put a cover on his sight.
...غِشَاوَةً فَمَن يَهْدِيهِ مِن بَعْدِ اللَّهِ ....
Who, then, will guide him after Allah (has withdrawn Guidance)?
.. أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ ﴿٢٣﴾
Will ye not then receive admonition?
وَقَالُوا
مَا
هِيَ
إِلَّا
حَيَاتُنَا
الدُّنْيَا
نَمُوتُ
...
24. And they say:
"What is there but our life in this world?
... وَنَحْيَا وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَا إِلَّا الدَّهْرُ...
We shall die and we live, and nothing but Time can destroy us."
C4763. Cf. 23:37, and n. 2896.
The additional touch here, "And nothing but Time can destroy us", suggests the materialist philosophy that Matter and Time are eternal backwards and forwards; and possibly also that though each individual perishes, the race lasts till Time destroys it. This is not knowledge but conjecture. Why not accept light from Him Who knows all.
...وَمَا لَهُم بِذَلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ ﴿٢٤﴾
But of that they have no knowledge: they merely conjecture:
وَإِذَا
تُتْلَى
عَلَيْهِمْ
آيَاتُنَا
بَيِّنَاتٍ
مَّا
كَانَ
حُجَّتَهُمْ
إِلَّا
أَن
قَالُوا...
25. And when Our Clear Signs are rehearsed to them, their argument is nothing but this: they say,
...ائْتُوا بِآبَائِنَا إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ﴿٢٥﴾
"Bring (back) our forefathers, if what ye say is true!"
C4764. Cf. 44:36.
It is no argument to say, "If there is a future life, bring back our forefathers and let us see them here and now!"
It is not for a man to raise the dead when and where he pleases. It is for Allah to command. And His promise is about the general Resurrection for the Day of Judgment. In His hands are the keys of life and death.