19. Surah Maryam, Mecca 44
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَرِثُ الْأَرْضَ وَمَنْ عَلَيْهَا ...
19: 40. It is We Who will inherit the earth, and all beings thereon:
Transliteration In na_ nahnu naritsul ardha wa man alaiha_ wa ilaina_ yurja'u_n
... وَإِلَيْنَا يُرْجَعُونَ ﴿٤٠﴾
to Us will they all be returned.
Transliteration In na_ nahnu naritsul ardha wa man alaiha_ wa ilaina_ yurja'u_n
19: 40
Asad
Behold, We alone shall remain after the earth and all who live on it have passed away, and [when] unto Us all will have been brought back.
Pickthall
Lo! We inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned.
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[[ Ali’s notes: C2492. Cf. 3:180. n. 485; 15:23, n. 1964,
Material property passes from one to another: when one dies, another inherits it. Allah gives life and death, and all that survives after physical death goes back to Allah, the original source of all things.
[ Asad’s note 30: Lit., “WE alone shall the earth and all who are on it”………………see 15:23 note 22………on the use of the term “inheritor” or “heir” in the sense of “one who remains after his predecessor has passed away” – in this case, after all creation has perished. (Cf the expression “the heritage of the heaven and the earth” used with reference to God, in d:180 and 57:10)]
[ Ruby’s note: This is a profound revelation regarding the nature of things we see in reality and the nature of God. What essentially conveyed here is that God is the ultimate reality on which all other transitory realities are based. When the physical base of the Universe is destroyed or recapitulated, what remains is the Essential Being, the source OR CAUSE of all existence, He is the ONLY eternal EXISTENCE. In science the concept of Big Bang gives the implication of this profound truth of our existence and this reality. May be one day science - by understanding how energy transforms into matter and what happens in the millionth second after the Big Bang — could shed more light on the nature of reality. The nature of the Ultimate Existence would always remain beyond human comprehension. ]