Sura 6, al-Anam (Cattle), Mecca 55
The Quranic Text & Ali’s translation:
وَمَا
قَدَرُواْ
اللّهَ حَقَّ
قَدْرِهِ إِذْ
قَالُواْ مَا
أَنزَلَ اللّهُ
عَلَى بَشَرٍ
مِّن شَيْءٍ...
6: 91. No just estimate of God do they make when they say: "Nothing doth God send down to man (by way of revelation)":
...قُلْ مَنْ أَنزَلَ الْكِتَابَ الَّذِي جَاء بِهِ مُوسَى نُورًا وَهُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ...
Say:
"Who then sent down the Book which Moses brought? a light and guidance to man:
...تَجْعَلُونَهُ قَرَاطِيسَ تُبْدُونَهَا وَتُخْفُونَ كَثِيرًا...
but ye make it into (separate) sheets for show, while ye conceal much (of its contents):
...وَعُلِّمْتُم مَّا لَمْ تَعْلَمُواْ أَنتُمْ وَلاَ آبَاؤُكُمْ...
therein were ye taught that which ye knew not -- neither ye nor your fathers."
...قُلِ اللّهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِي خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُونَ ﴿٩١﴾
Say: "Allah (sent it down)":
then leave them to plunge in vain discourse and trifling.
Transliteration Wa ma_ qadarulla_ha haqqa qadrihi iz qa_lu_ ma_ anzalalla_hu 'ala_ basyarim min syai'(in), qul man anzalal kita_bal lazi ja_'a bihi mu_sa_ nu_raw wa hudal linna_si taj'alu_nahu_ qara_tisa tubdu_naha_ wa tukhfu_na kasira_(n), wa 'ullimtum ma_ lam ta'lamu_ antum wa la_ a_ba_'ukum, qulilla_h(u), summa zarhum fi khaudihim yal'abu_n(a).
Other translations:
6: 91
Asad
For, no true understanding of God have they when they say, "Never has God revealed anything unto man." Say: "Who has bestowed from on high the divine writ which Moses brought unto men as a light and a guidance, [and] which you treat as 72 [mere] leaves of paper, making a show of them the while you conceal [so] much - although you have been taught [by it] what neither you nor your forefathers had ever known?" 73 Say: "God [has revealed that divine writ] ! " - and then leave them to play at their vain talk.
6:92
And this, too, is a divine writ which We have bestowed from on high - blessed, confirming the truth of whatever there still remains [of earlier revelations] 74 - and [this] in order that thou mayest warn the foremost of all cities and all who dwell around it. 75 And those who believe in the life to come do believe in this [warning]; and it is they who are ever-mindful of their prayers.
Pickthall
6:91
And they measure not the power of Allah its true measure when they say: Allah hath naught revealed unto a human being. Say (unto the Jews who speak thus): Who revealed the Book which Moses brought, a light and guidance for mankind, which ye have put on parchments which ye show, but ye hide much (thereof), and by which ye were taught that which ye knew not yourselves nor (did) your fathers (know it)? Say: Allah. Then leave them to their play of cavilling.
6:92
Pickthall And this is a blessed Scripture which We have revealed, confirming that which (was revealed) before it, that you may warn the Mother of Villages and those around her. Those who believe in the Hereafter believe herein, and they are careful of their worship.
Transliteration Wa ha_za_ kita_bun anzalna_hu muba_rakum musaddiqul lazi baina yadaihi wa litunzira ummal qura_ wa man haulaha_, wallazina yu'minu_na bil a_khirati yu'minu_na bihi wa hum 'a
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Asad’s comments:
72 Lit., "which you make into" : but it should be remembered that the verb ja'lahu has also the abstract meaning of "he considered it to be" or "regarded it as" or "treated it as" (Jawhari, Raghib, et al.): a significance often met with in the Qur'an.
73 This passage is obviously addressed to those followers of the Bible who pay lip-service to its sacred character as a revealed scripture but, in reality, treat it as "mere leaves of paper" - that is, as something that is of little consequence to their own conduct: for, although they pretend to admire the moral truths which it contains, they conceal from themselves the fact that their own lives have remained empty of those truths.
74 See surah 3, note 3.
75 "The foremost of all cities" (lit., "the mother of all towns") is an epithet applied in the Qur'an to Mecca because it is the place where the first temple ever dedicated to the One God was built (cf 3":96) and subsequently became the qiblah (direction of prayer) of all believers. The expression "all who dwell around it" denotes all mankind (Tabari, on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas; Razi).
Ali’s comments:
909. Qadara: to weight, judge, or estimate the value or capacity of anything; to have power so to do.
Cf. Qadir in 4:149 and n. 655.
The Jews who denied the inspiration of Muhammad had a good answer in their own books about the inspiration of Moses.
To those who do not believe in Moses, the answer is more general:
is it a just estimate of Allah to think either that He has not the power or the will to guide mankind, seeing that He is Omnipotent and the Source of all good?
If you say that guidance comes, not through an inspired book or man, but through our general intelligence, we point to the spiritual ignorance of ‘you and your ancestors’ the sad spiritual darkness of men and nations high in the intellectual scale.
910. Cf. 5:47 and n. 750, and 5:49.
In those passages Guidance (in practical conduct) is put before Light (or spiritual insight), as they refer to ordinary or average men.
Here Light (or spiritual insight) is put first as the question is: does God send inspiration?
911. The Message to Moses had unity: it was one Book.
The present Old Testament is a collection of books ("sheets") of various kinds: see Appendix II. end of Surah 5. In this way you can make a show, but there is no unity, and much of the spirit is lost or concealed or overlaid.
The same applies to the New Testament:
see Appendix III, after Appendix II.