Sura 45, Al-Jathiyah (Kneeling Down), Mecca 65


The Quranic Text & Ali’s Translation


أَفَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَهَهُ هَوَاهُ ...Shape1

45:23. Then seest thou such a one as takes as his god his own vain desire?

... وَأَضَلَّهُ اللَّهُ عَلَى عِلْمٍ...

God has, knowing (him as such), left him astray,

...وَخَتَمَ عَلَى سَمْعِهِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَجَعَلَ عَلَى بَصَرِهِ...

and sealed His hearing and his heart (and understanding), and put a cover on his sight.



[ Ali’s comment: 4762. Cf. 2:7 and notes. ]



...غِشَاوَةً فَمَن يَهْدِيهِ مِن بَعْدِ اللَّهِ ....

Who, then, will guide him after God (has withdrawn Guidance)?

.. أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ ﴿٢٣﴾

Will ye not then receive admonition?

وَقَالُوا مَا هِيَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ ...Shape2

24. And they say:

"What is there but our life in this world?

... وَنَحْيَا وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَا إِلَّا الدَّهْرُ...

We shall die and we live, and nothing but Time can destroy us."

...وَمَا لَهُم بِذَلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ ﴿٢٤﴾

But of that they have no knowledge: they merely conjecture:

وَإِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُنَا بَيِّنَاتٍ مَّا كَانَ حُجَّتَهُمْ إِلَّا أَن قَالُوا...Shape3

25. And when Our Clear Signs are rehearsed to them, their argument is nothing but this: they say,

...ائْتُوا بِآبَائِنَا إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ﴿٢٥﴾

"Bring (back) our forefathers, if what ye say is true!"





Asad’s Translation


45:23 HAST THOU ever considered [the kind of man) who makes his own desires his deity, and whom God has [thereupon] let go astray, knowing [that his mind is closed to all guidance], 24 and whose hearing and heart He has sealed, and upon whose sight He has placed a veil? 25 Who, then, could guide him after God [has abandoned him]? Will you not, then, bethink yourselves?


45:24 And yet they say: "There is nothing beyond our life in this world. We die as we come to life, 26 and nothing but time destroys us." But of this they have no knowledge whatever: they do nothing but guess.


(45:25) And [so,) whenever Our messages are conveyed to them in all their clarity, their only argument is this: 27 "Bring forth our forefathers [as witnesses), if what you claim is true!" 28




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Ali’s comments:


4761. [45:23] If a man follows, not the laws of God, which are also the laws of his own pure nature as made by God, but the desires of his own distorted self, as shaped by the rebellion of his will, the inevitable consequence will be the withdrawal of God's grace and guidance. All his faculties will then be debased, and there will be nothing to guide him, unless he turns in repentance again to God.


4763. [45-24] Cf. 23:37, and n. 2896.

The additional touch here, "And nothing but Time can destroy us", suggests the materialist philosophy that Matter and Time are eternal backwards and forwards; and possibly also that though each individual perishes, the race lasts till Time destroys it. This is not knowledge but conjecture. Why not accept light from Him Who knows all.


4764. [45:25] Cf. 44:36.

It is no argument to say, "If there is a future life, bring back our forefathers and let us see them here and now!"

It is not for a man to raise the dead when and where he pleases. It is for God to command. And His promise is about the general Resurrection for the Day of Judgment. In His hands are the keys of life and death.



Asad’s Comments:


24 Thus Razi, evidently reflecting the views of Zamakhshari, which have been quoted at length in my note 4 on 14:4.

25 See note 7 on 2:7

26 I.e., by accident, or as an outcome of blind forces of nature.

27 Lit., "their argument is nothing but that they say".

28 Cf. 44: 36 and the corresponding note 19.