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Lit., "you shall be brought back" - for, "all that exists goes back to Him [as its source]" ( 11:123 ).
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I.e., a remedy for all that is contrary to truth and moral good.
Those who do wrong have a disease in their hearts, which will cause their spiritual death. Allah in His Mercy declares His Will to them, which should direct their lives and provide a healing for their spiritual disease. If they accept Faith, the remedy acts; they find themselves in right guidance and receive Allah's forgiveness and mercy. Surely those are far better gifts than material advantages, wealth, or possessions.
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This connects with the statement, in verse {57}, that the Qur'an offers to man a complete guidance towards the good life and spiritual fulfilment in this world, and happiness in the life to come. As already mentioned in surah {2}, note [4], the term rizq connotes all that may be good and useful to man, be it of a physical nature (in the conventional sense of "means of sustenance") or belonging to the realm of the mind (like reason, knowledge, etc.) or of the spirit (like faith, kindness, patience, etc.). Thus, it applies exclusively to positive, beneficial means of sustenance and never to things or phenomena which are morally reprehensible and/or physically or socially injurious.
Lit., "and thereupon you have made some of it forbidden (haram) and [some of it] lawful (halal)". The fact that it is God who "has bestowed upon you from on high" (anzala 'alaykum) - i.e., has willed that man should make use of - all that can be qualified as rizq, automatically makes all its manifestations lawful (Zamakhshari). In accordance with the doctrine that everything which has not been expressly forbidden by the Qur'an or the explicit teachings of the Prophet is eo ipso lawful, this verse takes a clear-cut stand against all arbitrary prohibitions invented by man or artificially "deduced" from the Qur'an or the Prophet's sunnah (Manar XI. 409 f.: see also note [58] on verse {36} of this surah, as well as {5:101-102} and the corresponding notes). In its wider sense, the above verse relates to people who refuse to be guided by revelation and prefer to "follow nothing but conjecture" (verse {36}).
This refers to 6:138-139.
"Sustenance" is to be taken in both the literal and the metaphorical sense. In the literal sense, what fine and varied things Allah has provided for us on land and in sea and air, in the vegetable, animal, and mineral kingdoms? Yet narrow minds put artificial barriers against their use. In the metaphorical sense, what enchanting fields of knowledge and spiritual endeavour are provided in our individual and social lives? And who is to say that some are lawful and others forbidden? Supposing they were so in special circumstances, it is not right to attribute artificial restrictions of that kind to Allah and falsely erect religious sanctions against them.
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By delaying their punishment and allowing them time to repent.
People who lie in Religion or invent false gods, or false worship,-have they any idea of the Day of Judgment, when they will be called to account, and will have to answer for their deeds?
Allah is most kind, and gracious, and generous with His gifts of all kinds, material and spiritual. But men do not understand, and arc ungrateful in forgetting the Giver of all and setting up false objects of worship and false standards of pride.
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Or: "Whatever discourse (qur'an) from Him".
Lit., "witnesses", corresponding to the majestic plural "We". The specific reference to the Prophet and his recitation of the Qur'an (implied in the singular form of address in the first part of this sentence) is meant to stress the supreme importance of divine revelation in the context of human life.
See footnote for 6:38.
There is nothing that men can do but Allah is a witness to it. We may be deeply engrossed in some particular thing and for the time being be quite unconscious of other things. But Allah's knowledge not only comprehends all things, but has all things actively before it. Nothing is hidden from Him. And His knowledge has another quality which human knowledge has not. Human knowledge is subject to time, and is obliterated by time. Allah's knowledge is like a Record and endures forever. And His Record has a further quality which human records have not. The most permanent human record may be quite intelligible to those who make it but may be ambiguous to others and may become unintelligible with the progress of time, as happens almost invariably to the most enduring inscriptions from very ancient times: but in Allah's "Record" or knowledge there is no ambiguity, for it is independent of time, or place. This is the force of Mubin ("clear") here.
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The verb waliya (from which the noun wali, pl. awliya', is derived) signifies, primarily, the nearness or closeness of one thing to another: thus, God is spoken of in the Qur'an (e.g., in 2:257 and 3:68 ) as being "near unto (wali) those who believe". Although the term wali, when applied to God, as well as to the relationship between one created being and another, is often used in the Qur'an in the sense of "helper", "friend", "protector", "guardian", etc., none of these secondary meanings can properly - i.e., without offending against the reverence due to God - describe man's attitude to, or relationship with, Him. Consequently, the above reference to the believers as awliya' of God is best rendered as "they who are close to God" in the sense of their being always conscious of Him. This rendering has the support of almost all the classical commentators.
Allah's all-embracing knowledge and constant watchful care over all His creatures, may be a source of fear to sinners, but there is no fear for those whom He honours with His love and friendship,-neither in this world nor in the world to come.
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I.e., the happiness born of the feeling of closeness to God and, hence, of spiritual fulfilment.
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The noun 'izzah comprises the concepts of superior might as well as of honour and glory. Its rendering into another language depends on the context, and sometimes - as in this case - necessitates a combination of two terms.
Sometimes the words of the unrighteous or their revilings hurt or grieve the righteous man, but there is no occasion for either anger or sorrow: they have no power and they can do no real dishonour, for all power and honour are from Allah.
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Lit., "partners", i.e., of God (see surah {6}, note [15]). The substantive pronoun man ("whoever") occurring twice in the first part of this verse contains an allusion to rational beings (as distinct from inanimate objects) whom "those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God" consider to be endowed with qualities or powers which, in fact, belong to Him alone. The Qur'an argues against this idolatrous concept by pointing out that all rational beings, whether men or angels "belong to God" (i.e., are - like everything else in the universe - wholly dependent on Him for their existence), possessing no divine qualities and, therefore, no reality as objects of worship.
All creatures are subject to Allah. If, therefore, any false worship is set up, the false gods-so called "partners"-are merely creatures of imagination or false inventions.
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See {14:32-33} and the corresponding note [46]; for the specific significance, in this context of the reference to "day" and "night", see note [77] on 27:86 , which belongs to a somewhat earlier revelation than the present surah.
Our physical life-and our higher life in so far as it is linked with the physical-is sustained by the alternation of rest and activity, and the fit environment for this alternation is the succession of Nights and Days in our physical world. The Day makes the things "visible to us-" a beautiful symbol, not only of the physical work for which we go about by day, but of the higher activities which are fitly associated with seeing, perception and enquiry. Intuition (insight) is a little out of that circle because that may come by night, when our other faculties are resting.
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See surah {2}, note [96].
The Christians, pagans, etc.
Jesus in Christianity, the angels in pagan Arab mythology, etc.
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In Quranic language "prosperity" refers both to our every-day life and to the higher life within us,-to the Present and the Future,-health and strength, opportunities and resources, a spirit of contentment, and the power of influencing others. Here there seems to be an extra touch of meaning. A liar not only deprives himself of prosperity in all senses, but his "lie" itself against Allah will not succeed: it will and must be found out.
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