Surah 34. Saba, Ayah 21
| وَمَا كَانَ لَهُ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِالْآخِرَةِ مِمَّنْ هُوَ مِنْهَا فِي شَكٍّ ۗ وَرَبُّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَفِيظٌ |
| Transliteration | : | wa- maa kaana la- -hu calay -him min sult.aan 'illaa li- naclam man yu'min bi- al- 'aakhirah min man huwa min -haa fe shakk wa- rabb -ka calaa kull shay' h.afez. |
| Pickthall | : | And he had no warrant whatsoever against them, save that We would know him who believeth in the Hereafter from him who is in doubt thereof; and thy Lord (O Muhammad) taketh note of all things. |
| Asad | : | And yet, he had no power at all over them:30 [for if We allow him to tempt man,] it is only to the end that We might make a clear distinction between those who [truly] believe in the life to come and those who are in doubt thereof:31 for thy Sustainer watches over all things. |
| Malik | : | even though he had no authority over them. It all happened because We wanted to see who among them believed in the hereafter and who is in doubt concerning it. Your Rabb is watching over all things. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | But he had no authority over them except that We might test the man who believes in the Hereafter from him who is in doubt concerning it: and thy Lord doth watch over all things. 3821 |
Note - 30Cf. a similar phrase placed in the mouth of Iblis in
14:22 ("I had no power at all over you: I but called
you - and you responded unto me"), and the corresponding
note [31]; also, see note [30] on {15:39-40}. - Although,
on the face of it, verses {20-21} of the present surah
refer to the people of Sheba, their import is (as the
sequence shows) much wider, applying to the human race as
such.
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Note - 31See 15:41 and the corresponding note [31].
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Note - 3821Might test: the word in the original is might know. It is
not that Allah does not know all. Why does He want to
test? It is in order to help us subjectively, to train
our will, to put us definitely the question, "Will you
obey Allah or other than Allah?" Cf. n. 467 to iii. 154.
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Cf. a similar phrase placed in the mouth of Iblis in 14:22 ("I had no power at all over you: I but called you - and you responded unto me"), and the corresponding note [31]; also, see note [30] on {15:39-40}. - Although, on the face of it, verses {20-21} of the present surah refer to the people of Sheba, their import is (as the sequence shows) much wider, applying to the human race as such. |
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Might test: the word in the original is might know. It is not that Allah does not know all. Why does He want to test? It is in order to help us subjectively, to train our will, to put us definitely the question, "Will you obey Allah or other than Allah?" Cf. n. 467 to iii. 154. |
