Surah 22. Al-Hajj, Ayah 15
| مَنْ كَانَ يَظُنُّ أَنْ لَنْ يَنْصُرَهُ اللَّهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ فَلْيَمْدُدْ بِسَبَبٍ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ ثُمَّ لْيَقْطَعْ فَلْيَنْظُرْ هَلْ يُذْهِبَنَّ كَيْدُهُ مَا يَغِيظُ |
| Transliteration | : | man kaana yaz.unn 'an lan yans.ur -hu 'allaah fe ad- dunyaa wa- al- 'aakhirah fa- li- yamdud bi- sabab 'ilaa as- samaa' thumma li- yaqt.ac fa- li- yanz.ur hal yudhhibanna kayd -hu maa yaghez. |
| Pickthall | : | Whoso is wont to think (through envy) that Allah will not give him (Muhammad) victory in the world and the Hereafter (and is enraged at the thought of his victory), let him stretch a rope up to the roof (of his dwelling), and let him hang himself. Then let him see whether his strategy dispelleth that whereat he rageth! |
| Asad | : | If anyone thinks that God will not succour him14 in this world and in the life to come, let him reach out unto heaven by any [other] means and [thus try to] make headway:15 and then let him see whether this scheme of his will indeed do away with the cause of his anguish.16 |
| Malik | : | If anyone thinks that Allah will not help His Rasool in this world and in the Hereafter, let him stretch out a rope to the sky if he can and cut a hole to peep through and see for himself whether his device can avert that which irritates him. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | If any think that Allah will not help him (His Apostle) in this world and the Hereafter let him stretch out a rope to the ceiling and cut (himself) off: then let him see whether his plan will remove that which enrages (him)! 2786 |
Note - 14I.e., that God is not enough to succour him: obviously an
allusion to the type of man who "worships God on the
border-line of faith" (verse {11} above) and therefore
doubts His power to guide men towards happiness in this
world and in the hereafter. The assumption of the
majority of the commentators that the personal pronoun
"him" relates to the Prophet Muhammad is, to my mind,
very far-fetched and certainly not warranted by the
context.
|
Note - 15The rendering of la-yaqta' as "let him [try to] make
headway" is based on the accepted, tropical use of the
verb qata'a (lit., "he cut") in the sense of "traversing
a distance": and this is the interpretation of yaqtac by
Abu Muslim (as quoted by Razi). The expression "by any
[other] means" (bi-sabab) relates to what has been said
in verses {12-13} above.
|
Note - 16Lit., "that which causes anger" or "exasperation", i.e.,
anguish at finding himself helpless and abandoned.
|
Note - 2786There is some difference of opinion as to the
interpretation of this verse. Most Commentators are
agreed that the pronoun "him" in the second line ("will
not help him") refers to the holy Prophet, and that the
"any" in the first line refers to his enemies, who wished
to see him destroyed and removed from the scene of his
labours. Ibn 'Abbas, whom I have followed here, and whom
a great number of Commentators follow, construes the
later clauses in the sense given in the text. Freely
paraphrased, it means: if the enemies of Allah's
Messenger are enraged at his successes, let them fix a
rope to their ceiling and hang themselves. Samaa is thus
rendered by the word "ceiling". If Samaa is rendered by
the word "heaven" (the usual meaning), the paraphrase
would be : if the enemies of Allah's Messenger are
enraged at the help he gets from heavens, let them
stretch a rope to heavens, and see if they can cut off
the help in that way!-in other words, they are fools if
they think they can intercept Allah's help by their petty
devices!
|
Share your thoughts about this with others by posting a comment. Visit our FAQ for some ideas.
Filter Comments 
 |
I.e., that God is not enough to succour him: obviously an allusion to the type of man who "worships God on the border-line of faith" (verse {11} above) and therefore doubts His power to guide men towards happiness in this world and in the hereafter. The assumption of the majority of the commentators that the personal pronoun "him" relates to the Prophet Muhammad is, to my mind, very far-fetched and certainly not warranted by the context. |
| |
The rendering of la-yaqta' as "let him [try to] make headway" is based on the accepted, tropical use of the verb qata'a (lit., "he cut") in the sense of "traversing a distance": and this is the interpretation of yaqtac by Abu Muslim (as quoted by Razi). The expression "by any [other] means" (bi-sabab) relates to what has been said in verses {12-13} above. |
| |
There is some difference of opinion as to the interpretation of this verse. Most Commentators are agreed that the pronoun "him" in the second line ("will not help him") refers to the holy Prophet, and that the "any" in the first line refers to his enemies, who wished to see him destroyed and removed from the scene of his labours. Ibn 'Abbas, whom I have followed here, and whom a great number of Commentators follow, construes the later clauses in the sense given in the text. Freely paraphrased, it means: if the enemies of Allah's Messenger are enraged at his successes, let them fix a rope to their ceiling and hang themselves. Samaa is thus rendered by the word "ceiling". If Samaa is rendered by the word "heaven" (the usual meaning), the paraphrase would be : if the enemies of Allah's Messenger are enraged at the help he gets from heavens, let them stretch a rope to heavens, and see if they can cut off the help in that way!-in other words, they are fools if they think they can intercept Allah's help by their petty devices! |
