Sura 31, Luqman, Mecca 57

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Translation:

أَلَمْ تَرَوْا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَخَّرَ لَكُم مَّا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ...

31: 20. Do ye not see that God has subjected to your (use) all things in the heavens and on earth,

...وَأَسْبَغَ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعَمَهُ ظَاهِرَةً وَبَاطِنَةً ...

and has made His bounties flow to you in exceeding measure, (both) seen and unseen?

...وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يُجَادِلُ فِي اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَلَا هُدًى وَلَا كِتَابٍ مُّنِيرٍ ﴿٢٠﴾

Yet there are among men those who dispute about God, without knowledge and without guidance, and without a Book to enlighten them!

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا...

31: 21. When they are told to follow the (revelation) that God has sent down, they say:

...بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءنَا...

"Nay, we shall follow the ways that we found our fathers (following)."

...أَوَلَوْ كَانَ الشَّيْطَانُ يَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَى عَذَابِ السَّعِيرِ ﴿٢١﴾

What! even if it is Satan beckoning them to the Penalty of the (Blazing) Fire!

Asad’s Translation:

31:20

ARE YOU NOT aware that God has made subservient to you all 18 that is in the heavens and all that is on earth, and has lavished upon you His blessings, both outward and inward?" And yet, among men there is many a one that argues about God without having any knowledge [of Him], without any guidance, and without any light-giving revelation;

(31:21)

and when such [people] are told to follow that which God has bestowed from on high, they answer, "Nay, we shall follow that which we found our forefathers believing in and doing!" Why - [would you follow your forefathers] even if Satan had invited them unto the suffering of the blazing flame? 20

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Ali’s comments:

3607. [31:20] Such men lack knowledge, as they make no use of their intellects but are swayed by their passions; they lack guidance, as they are impatient of control; and the fruits of revelation, or spiritual insight, do not reach them, as they reject Faith and Revelation.

Asad’s comments:

20 Regarding the implications of the term "Satan" in this context, see note 10 on 2:14 and note 16 on 1 5 : 1 7. As in many other places in the Qur'an, the above verse expresses an oblique condemnation of the principle and practice of taqlid (see Razi's observations quoted in note 38 on 26:74).

[ Note 38 on 26:74 The particle bal at the beginning of the sentence expresses astonishment. Thus, evading a direct answer to Abraham's criticism of idol-worship, his people merely stress its antiquity, forgetting - as Zamakhshari points out - that "ancient usage and precedence in time are no proof of [a concept's] soundness". Razi, for his part, states that the above verse represents "one of the strongest [Qur'anic] indications of the immorality (fasad) inherent in [the principle of] taqlid", i.e., the blind, unquestioning adoption of religious concepts or practices on the basis of one's uncritical faith in no more than the "authority" of a scholar or religious leader. ]