3. Sura al-Imran

Medina 89 [200 verses]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَوَلَّوْاْ مِنكُمْ يَوْمَ الْتَقَى الْجَمْعَانِ إِنَّمَا اسْتَزَلَّهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ بِبَعْضِ مَا كَسَبُواْ...

3: 155. Those of you who turned back on the day the two hosts met, it was Satan who caused them to fail, because of some (evil) they had done.

...وَلَقَدْ عَفَا اللّهُ عَنْهُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ حَلِيمٌ ﴿١٥٥﴾

But Allah has blotted out (their fault): for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Forbearing

Transliteration Innallazinatawallauyaumaltaqaljam'a_n(i), innamastazallahumusysyaita_nu bi ba'di ma_ kasabu_, walaqad 'afalla_hu'anhum, innalla_hagafu_runhalim(un).

3: 155

Asad Behold, as for those of you who turned away [from their duty] on the day when the two hosts met in battle – Satan caused them to stumble only by means of something that they [themselves] had done [note 117]. But now God has effected this sin of theirs: verily, God is much-forgiving, forbearing.

Pickthall Lo! those of you who turned back on the day when the two hosts met, Satan alone it was who caused them to backslide, because of some of that which they have earned. Now Allah hath forgiven them. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Clement.

Asad’s comments:

117 This is an illustration of a significant Qur'anic doctrine, which can be thus summarized: "Satan's influence" on man is not the primary cause of sin but its first consequence: that is to say, a consequence of a person's own attitude of mind which in moments of moral crisis induces him to choose the easier, and seemingly more pleasant, of the alternatives open to him, and thus to become guilty of a sin, whether by commission or omission. Thus, God's "causing" a person to commit a sin is conditional upon the existence, in the individual concerned, of an attitude of mind which makes him prone to commit such a sin: which, in its turn, presupposes maris free will - that is, the ability to make, within certain limitations, a conscious choice between two or more possible courses of action.