7. Sura al-Araf, Mecca 39

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

قَدِ افْتَرَيْنَا عَلَى اللّهِ كَذِبًا إِنْ عُدْنَا فِي مِلَّتِكُم بَعْدَ إِذْ نَجَّانَا اللّهُ مِنْهَا...

7: 89. "We should indeed invent a lie against Allah, if we returned to your ways after Allah hath rescued us therefrom:

C1059. The answer of the righteous is threefold.

1. "Coming back is all very well. But do you mean that we should practice the vices we detest?"

2. "You want us to lie against our conscience and our Lord, after we have seen the evil of your ways."

3. "Neither bribes nor threats, nor spacious appeals to patriotism or ancestral religion can move us: the matter rests with Allah, Whose will and pleasure we obey, and on Whom alone we rely. His knowledge will search out all your specious pretences."

...وَمَا يَكُونُ لَنَا أَن نَّعُودَ فِيهَا إِلاَّ أَن يَشَاء اللّهُ رَبُّنَا...

nor could we by any manner of means return thereto unless it be as in the Will and plan of Allah, our Lord.

C1060. This, of course, does not mean that any one can ever return to evil ways with Allah's consent. Shu'ayb has already emphatically repudiated the idea of returning "to your ways after Allah hath rescued us therefrom."

But even if their ways had been good, the human will, he goes on to say, has no data to rely upon, and he and his followers would only be guided by Allah's Will and Plan.

وَسِعَ رَبُّنَا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا...

Our Lord can reach out to the utmost recesses of things by His knowledge.

...عَلَى اللّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا...

In Allah is our trust.

...رَبَّنَا افْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِالْحَقِّ ...

Our Lord! decide thou between us and our people in truth,

C1061. Having answered the insincere quibblers among the godless, the righteous turn to Allah in earnest prayer.

The endless controversies in this world about abstract or speculative things never end even where both sides are sincere in their beliefs. The decision must be taken to Allah, Who sits on the throne of Truth, and Whose decisions will, therefore, be free from the errors and imperfections of all human judgment. The sincere have nothing to fear in the appeal to Him, as their motives are pure.

... وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الْفَاتِحِينَ ﴿٨٩﴾

for thou art the best to decide."

Other Versions:

7: 89

Asad We should be guilty of blaspheming against God were we to return to your ways after God has saved us from them! It is not conceivable that we should return to them – unless God, our Sustainer, so wills.

All things does our Sustainer embrace within His knowledge: in God do we place our trust. O our Sustainer! Lay you open the truth between us and our people – for Thou are the best of all to lay open the truth!”

Pickthall We should have invented a lie against Allah if we returned to your religion after Allah hath rescued us from it. It is not for us to return to it unless Allah should (so) will. Our Lord comprehendeth all things in knowledge. In Allah do we put our trust. Our Lord! Decide with truth between us and our folk, for Thou art the best of those who make decision.

Transliteration Qadiftaraina_ 'alalla_hi kaziban in 'udna_ fi millatikum ba'da iz najja_nalla_hu minha_, wa ma_ yaku_nu lana_ an na'u_da fiha_ illa_ ay yasya_'alla_hu rabbuna_, wasi'a rabbuna_ kulla syai'in 'ilma_(n), 'alalla_hi tawakkalna_, rabbanaftah bainana_ wa baina qaumina_ bil haqqi wa anta khairul fa_tihin(a).

[[ Asad’s note 72 - ….since the verb “fataha” can also be rendered as “he decided”. However, Shuayb’s prayer could not have implied a request for God’s “decision” (for there was no doubt in his mind as to who was right), and therefore the primary significance of “iftah” (“lay open”) and fatih (“one who lays open”, i.e., the truth) is preferable. ]]