30. Ar-Rum (The Byzantines)

Mecca Period [6-7 years before Hijra]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَمَا أَنتَ بِهَادِي الْعُمْيِ عَن ضَلَالَتِهِمْ...

30: 53. Nor canst thou lead back the blind from their straying:

C3571. See last note.

Then there is the case of men about whom the saying holds true, that none are so blind as those who will not see. They prefer to stray in paths of wrong and of sense-pleasures. How can they be guided in any way?

The only persons who gain by spiritual teaching are those who bring a mind to it-who believe and submit their wills to Allah's Will.

This is the central doctrine of Islam.

...إِن تُسْمِعُ إِلَّا مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِآيَاتِنَا فَهُم مُّسْلِمُونَ ﴿٥٣﴾

only those wilt thou make to hear, who believe in Our Signs and submit (their wills in Islam).

اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن ضَعْفٍ...

30: 54. It is Allah Who created you in a state of (helpless) weakness,

... ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةً...

then gave (you) strength after weakness,

ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ ضَعْفًا وَشَيْبَةً...

then, after strength, give (you) weakness and a hoary head:

C3572. What was said before about the people who make Allah's teaching of "of none effect" does not mean that Evil will defeat Allah. On the contrary we are asked to contemplate the mysteries of Allah's wisdom with another Parable.

In our physical life we see how strength is evolved out of weakness and weakness out of strength. The helpless babe becomes a lusty man in the pride of his manhood, and then sinks to a feeble old age: and yet there is wisdom in all these stages in the Universal Plan. So Allah carries out His Plan in this world "as He wills", i.e., according to His Will and Plan, and none can gainsay it. And His Plan is wise and can never be frustrated.

...يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاء وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْقَدِيرُ ﴿٥٤﴾

He creates as He wills, and it is He Who has all knowledge and power.

وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يُقْسِمُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ مَا لَبِثُوا غَيْرَ سَاعَةٍ...

30: 55. On the Day that the Hour (of reckoning) will be established, the transgressors will swear that they tarried not but an hour:

C3573. Whatever the seeming inequalities may be now-when the good appear to be weak and the strong seem to oppress-will be removed when the balance will be finally redressed.

That will happen in good time,-indeed so quickly that the Transgressors will be taken by Surprise. They were deluded by the fact that what they took to be their triumph or their freedom to do what they liked was only a reprieve, a "Term Appointed", in which they could repent and amend and get Allah's Mercy. Failing this, they will then be up against the Penalties which they thought they had evaded or defied.

...كَذَلِكَ كَانُوا يُؤْفَكُونَ ﴿٥٥﴾

thus were they used to being deluded!

Asad’s Version:

(30:53) just as thou canst not lead the blind [of heart] out of their error: none canst thou make hear [thy call] save such as [are willing to] believe in Our messages, and thus surrender themselves unto Us. 47

30:54 IT IS GOD who creates you [all in a state] of weakness, and then, after weakness, ordains strength [for you], and then, after [a period of] strength, ordains [old-age] weakness and grey hair. 48 He creates what He wills; and He alone is all-knowing, infinite in His power.

30:55 [He it is who will cause you to die, and in time will resurrect you.] 4 ' And when the Last Hour dawns, those who had been lost in sin will swear that they had not tarried [on earth] longer than an hour: thus were they wont to delude themselves [all their lives] ! !0

[[Asad’s notes - 48 In the original, this sentence is formulated in the past tense ("has created you" and "has ordained"), stressing the recurrent character of man's life-phases. In translation, this recurrence can be suitably expressed by using the present tense.

49 This interpolation - the meaning of which is elliptically implied here - shows the connection of the present passage with the preceding one, as well as with verses 11-16 and 27.

50 The illusory character of man's earthbound concept of "time" is brought out in the Quran in several places. In the above context stress is laid, firstly, on the relativity of this concept - i.e., on the infinitesimal shortness of our life on earth as compared with the timeless duration of life in the hereafter (cf, for instance, 10:45 or 17:52) - and, secondly, on the resurrected sinners' self-deluding excuse that their life on earth had been too short to allow them to realize their errors and mend their ways. It is to this second aspect of the problem that the Qur'an alludes in the "words, "thus were they wont to delude themselves" (lit., "to be turned away", i.e.,

from the truth). For an explanation of the verb yu'fikun, see surah 5, note 90. ]]