Surah 14. Ibrahim, Ayah 21
| وَبَرَزُوا لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا فَقَالَ الضُّعَفَاءُ لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا إِنَّا كُنَّا لَكُمْ تَبَعًا فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُغْنُونَ عَنَّا مِنْ عَذَابِ اللَّهِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ ۚ قَالُوا لَوْ هَدَانَا اللَّهُ لَهَدَيْنَاكُمْ ۖ سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْنَا أَجَزِعْنَا أَمْ صَبَرْنَا مَا لَنَا مِنْ مَحِيصٍ |
| Transliteration | : | wa- barazo li- 'allaah jamec(an) fa- qaala ad.- d.ucafaa' li- 'alladhena istakbaro 'in(na) -naa kunnaa la- -kum tabac(an) fa- hal 'antum mughnon can -naa min cadhaab 'allaah min shay' qaalo law hadaa -naa 'allaah la- hadaynaa -kum sawaa' calay -naa 'a- jazicnaa 'am s.abarnaa maa la- -naa min mah.es. |
| Pickthall | : | They all come forth unto their Lord. Then those who were despised say unto those who were scornful: We were unto you a following, can ye then avert from us aught of Allah's doom? They say: Had Allah guided us, we should have guided you. Whether we rage or patiently endure is (now) all one for us: we have no place of refuge. |
| Asad | : | And all [mankind] will appear before God [on the Day of Judement]; and then the weak28 will say unto those who had gloried in their arrogance: "Behold, We were but your followers: can you, then, relieve us of something of God's chastisement?" [And the others] will answer: "If God would but show us the way [to salvation], we would indeed guide you [towards it].29 It is [now] all one, as far as we are concerned, whether we grieve impatiently or endure [our lot] with patience: there is no escape for us!" |
| Malik | : | When all people appear before Allah, those who were weak in the world will say to those who thought themselves mighty: "We were your followers. Now! Can you do anything to relieve us from the punishment of Allah?" They will reply: "Had Allah given us guidance, we would have guided you. Now it makes no difference whether we panic or bear it with patience, for there is no escape for us." |
| Yusuf Ali | : | They will all be marshalled before Allah together: then will the weak say to those who were arrogant "For us we but followed you; can ye then avail us at all against the wrath of Allah?" They will reply "If we had received the guidance of Allah we should have given it to you: to us it makes no difference (now) whether we rage or bear (these torments) with patience: for ourselves there is no way of escape." 1895 1896 |
Note - 28I.e., those who had sinned out of moral weakness and
self-indulgence, relying on the supposedly superior
wisdom of the so-called "leaders of thought", who are
described in the sequence as having "gloried in their
arrogance" (astakbaru) inasmuch as they refused to pay
heed to God's messages (Tabari, on the authority of Ibn
'Abbas).
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Note - 29Sc., "but now it is too late for repentance". According
to Tabari and Razi, this is the meaning of the above
passage. Zamakhshari, however, prefers another
interpretation, implying a reference not to the present
but to the past, thus: "If God had guided us aright, we
would have guided you [too] aright": in other words, he
understands the phrase as an attempt on the part of the
doomed to divest themselves of all responsibility, and to
attribute their past sinning to God's "not having willed"
to guide them aright. To my mind, the interpretation
offered by Tabari and Razi is preferable because - all
other considerations apart - it provides a logical
connection between the request of "the weak" (see
preceding note) and the reply of those who in their
earthly life had "gloried in their arrogance", as well as
with the latters' subsequent, despairing utterance, which
can be summed up in the words, "too late!"
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Note - 1895When the time for judgment comes, there are two kinds of
disillusionment waiting for the ungodly: (1) Those who
were misled and failed to see that each soul bears its
own personal responsibility (ii. 134) and cannot shift it
on to others, will turn to those who misled them, in the
hope that they might intercede for them or do something
to help them. They receive a plain answer as in the
latter part of this verse. (2) Those who relied on Satan,
His answer (in xiv. 22 below) is frank, cynical and
brutal.
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Note - 1896Those whose power or specious intelligence or influence
misled them-such as false priests or leaders-will find
themselves in a parlous state. How can they help others?
They themselves failed to profit from Allah's guidance,
and they can with some justice retort that they put them
in the wrong path as they followed it themselves!
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I.e., those who had sinned out of moral weakness and self-indulgence, relying on the supposedly superior wisdom of the so-called "leaders of thought", who are described in the sequence as having "gloried in their arrogance" (astakbaru) inasmuch as they refused to pay heed to God's messages (Tabari, on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas). |
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Sc., "but now it is too late for repentance". According to Tabari and Razi, this is the meaning of the above passage. Zamakhshari, however, prefers another interpretation, implying a reference not to the present but to the past, thus: "If God had guided us aright, we would have guided you [too] aright": in other words, he understands the phrase as an attempt on the part of the doomed to divest themselves of all responsibility, and to attribute their past sinning to God's "not having willed" to guide them aright. To my mind, the interpretation offered by Tabari and Razi is preferable because - all other considerations apart - it provides a logical connection between the request of "the weak" (see preceding note) and the reply of those who in their earthly life had "gloried in their arrogance", as well as with the latters' subsequent, despairing utterance, which can be summed up in the words, "too late!" |
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When the time for judgment comes, there are two kinds of disillusionment waiting for the ungodly: (1) Those who were misled and failed to see that each soul bears its own personal responsibility (ii. 134) and cannot shift it on to others, will turn to those who misled them, in the hope that they might intercede for them or do something to help them. They receive a plain answer as in the latter part of this verse. (2) Those who relied on Satan, His answer (in xiv. 22 below) is frank, cynical and brutal. |
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Those whose power or specious intelligence or influence misled them-such as false priests or leaders-will find themselves in a parlous state. How can they help others? They themselves failed to profit from Allah's guidance, and they can with some justice retort that they put them in the wrong path as they followed it themselves! |
