Sura 21 al-Anbiya [nabi] Mecca 73
Asad’s version
21:92
VERILY, [O you who believe in Me,] this community of yours is one single community, since I am the Sustainer of you all: worship, then, Me [alone]! 89
(21:93} But men have torn their unity wide asunder, 90 [forgetting that] unto Us they all are bound to return.
The Quranic text and Ali’s version
إِنَّ
هَذِهِ
أُمَّتُكُمْ
أُمَّةً
وَاحِدَةً
...
21:92. Verily, this Brotherhood of yours is a single Brotherhood,
C2749. Ummah: this is best translated by Brotherhood here.
"Community", "race", and "nation." and "people" are words which import other ideas and do not quite correspond to "Ummah".
"Religion" and "Way of Life" are derived meanings, which could be used in other passages, but are less appropriate here.
Our attention has been drawn to people of very different temperaments and virtues, widely different in time, race, language, surroundings, history, and work to be performed, but forming the closest brotherhood as being men and women united in the highest service of Allah. They prefigure the final and perfected Brotherhood of Islam.
... وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ ﴿٩٢﴾
and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore serve Me (and no other).
وَتَقَطَّعُوا
أَمْرَهُم
بَيْنَهُمْ...
21:93. But (later generations) cut off their affair (of unity), one from another:
C2750. Allah's Message was and ever is one; and His Messengers treated it as one. It is people of narrower views who come later and trade on the earlier names, that break up the Message and the Brotherhood into jarring camps and sects.
...كُلٌّ إِلَيْنَا رَاجِعُونَ ﴿٩٣﴾
(yet) will they all return to Us.
21:92
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إِنَّ هَٰذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ |
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Inna hathihi ommatukum ommatan wahidatan waana rabbukum faoAAbudooni |
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Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning |
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Lo! this, your religion, is one religion, and I am your Lord, so worship Me. |
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Surely this Islam is your religion, one religion (only), and I am your Lord, therefore serve Me. |
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Verily, this brotherhood of yours is a single brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore serve Me (and no other). |
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Truly, this, your community, is one community and I am your Lord so worship Me. |
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This community of yours is one community and I am your Lord, so worship Me. |
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This community of yours [forms] one nation, while I am your Lord, so worship Me. |
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This is the religion eminently professed by all the previous Prophets, the one and only system of faith and worship established by Allah and I am Allah your Creator, therefore, worship Me and adore Me with the appropriate acts and rites. |
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Verily, O Mankind! This community of yours is one single community, since I am the Sustainer of you all. So, serve Me alone! (23:52). |
21:93
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وَتَقَطَّعُوا أَمْرَهُم بَيْنَهُمْ كُلٌّ إِلَيْنَا رَاجِعُونَ |
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WataqattaAAoo amrahum baynahum kullun ilayna rajiAAoona |
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Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning |
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But men have torn their unity wide asunder, [forgetting that] unto Us they all are bound to return. |
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And they have broken their religion (into fragments) among them, (yet) all are returning unto Us. |
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And they broke their religion (into sects) between them: to Us shall all come back. |
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But (later generations) cut off their affair (of unity), one from another: (yet) will they all return to Us. |
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But (later generations) cut off their affair (of unity), one from another: (yet) will they all return to Us. |
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But they cut asunder their affair between them. Yet all of them are ones who return to Us. |
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But they divided themselves into factions, but to Us they shall all return. |
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They have carved up their own affair among themselves; yet everyone will be returning to Us. |
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[[ Asad’s notes - 89 After calling to mind, inverses 48-91, some of the earlier prophets, all of whom stressed the oneness and uniqueness of God, the discourse returns to that principle of oneness as it ought to be reflected in the unity of all who believe in Him. (See 23:51 ff.)
90 This is the meaning of the idiomatic phrase, taqatta'u amrahum baynahum. As Zamakhshari points out, the sudden turn of the discourse from the second person plural to the third person is indicative of God's severe disapproval - His "turning away", as it were, from those who are or were guilty of breaking the believers' unity. (See also 23:53 and the corresponding note 30.) ]]
[[ Ruby’s notes –I believe the way these few verses sequenced it definitely means those who seek division and dissentions among humanity. There is One God and one humanity, there should be unity on the fundamental ideas.]]
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