Surah 14. Ibrahim

[And] tell [those of] My servants who have attained to faith that they should be constant in prayer and spend [in Our way], secretly and openly, out of what We provide for them as sustenance,⁴⁴ ere there come a Day when there will be no bargaining, and no mutual befriending.⁴⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

See surah {2}, note [4].

Cf. 2:254 . According to the philologist Abu 'Ubaydah, as quoted by Razi, the expression bay' ("selling and buying" or "bargaining") denotes here the metaphorical "[giving and taking] ransom" which, as the Qur'an repeatedly stresses, will be inadmissible on the Day of Judgment (cf. 3:91 and the corresponding note [71], as well as 5:36 , 10:54 , 13:18 , 39:47 and {70:11-15}); similarly, the denial of khilal - which Abu 'Ubaydah regards as synonymous, in this context, with makhalah ("mutual befriending") - expresses the impossibility of "ransom" through intercession on Judgment Day, for "now, indeed, you have come unto Us in a lonely state, even as We created you in the first instance" ( 6:94 ).

O Prophet, tell My devotees who have believed, to establish Salah (regular five times daily prayers) and spend in charity openly and secretly out of the sustenance which We have given them, before the coming of that Day in which there will neither be trading nor any friendship.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Tell My bondmen who believe to establish worship and spend of that which We have given them, secretly and publicly, before a day cometh wherein there will be neither traffic nor befriending.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[And remember that] it is God who has created the heavens and the earth, and who sends down water from the sky and thereby brings forth [all manner] of fruits for your sustenance; and who has made ships subservient to you, so that they may sail through the sea at His behest; and has made the rivers subservient [to His laws, so that they be of use] to you;

  - Mohammad Asad

It is Allah , Who has created the heavens and the earth. He sends down water from the sky with which He brings forth fruits for your sustenance. He has made the ships subservient to you, that they may sail through the sea by His command; and likewise the rivers are made for your benefit.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth, and causeth water to descend from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you, and maketh the ships to be of service unto you, that they may run upon the sea at His command, and hath made of service unto you the rivers;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and has made the sun and the moon, both of them constant upon their courses, subservient [to His laws, so that they be of use] to you; and has made the night and the day subservient [to His laws, so that they be of use] to you.⁴⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Almost all classical commentators agree that God's having made the natural phenomena "subservient" to man is a metaphor (majaz) for His having enabled man to derive lasting benefit from them: hence my explanatory interpolations. In the same sense, the night and the day are spoken of in 10:67 , 27:86 or 40:61 as having been "made for you" (resp. "for them").

The sun and the moon are also assigned for your benefit, which steadfastly pursue their courses, to cause the night and the day for your benefit.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And maketh the sun and the moon, constant in their courses, to be of service unto you, and hath made of service unto you the night and the day.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And [always] does He give you something out of what you may be asking of Him;⁴⁷ and should you try to count God's blessings, you could never compute them. [And yet,] behold, man is indeed most persistent in wrongdoing, stubbornly ingrate!

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., God satisfies every one of man's desires, provided that His unfathomable wisdom regards its satisfaction as ultimately beneficial to the human being concerned: this is the meaning of the preposition min (lit., "out of", but in this context, "something out of") preceding the phrase "what you may be asking".

He has given you all that you could ask for and if you want to count the favors of Allah, you will never be able to count them. In fact, man is unjust, thankless.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And He giveth you of all ye ask of Him, and if ye would count the bounty of Allah ye cannot reckon it. Lo! man is verily a wrong-doer, an ingrate.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND [remember the time] when Abraham spoke [thus]:⁴⁸ "O my Sustainer! Make this land secure ⁴⁹ and preserve me and my children from ever worshipping idols⁵⁰ -

  - Mohammad Asad

The whole of this passage (verses {35-41}) - from which the title of this surah is derived - represents a parenthetic reminder, in the form of Abraham's prayer, of the only way to righteousness, in the deepest sense of the word, open to man: namely, a recognition of God's existence, oneness and uniqueness and, hence, a rejection of all belief in "other powers" supposedly co-existent with Him (cf. verse {30} above). Inasmuch as this prayer implies a realization of, and gratitude for, God's infinite bounty, it connects directly with the preceding verse {34} and the subsequent verse {42}.

I.e., the land in which the Ka'bah is situated (see surah {2}, note [102]) and, more specifically, Mecca.

The term "idols" (asnam, sing. sanam) does not apply exclusively to actual, concrete representations of false "deities": for shirk - that is, an attribution of divine powers or qualities to anyone or anything beside God - may consist also, as Razi points out, in a worshipful devotion to all manner of "causative agencies and outward means to an end" - an obvious allusion to wealth, power, luck, people's favour or disfavour, and so forth - whereas genuine faith in the oneness and uniqueness of God (at-tawhid al-mahd) consists in divesting oneself of all inner attachment to [such] causative agencies and in being convinced that there exists no real directing power apart from God".

Remember when Ibrahim (Abraham) said: "My Rabb! Make this city a city of peace and save me and my sons from the worship of idols.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when Abraham said: My Lord! Make safe this territory, and preserve me and my sons from serving idols.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for, verily, O my Sustainer, these [false objects of worship] have led many people astray! "Hence, [only] he who follows me [in this my faith] is truly of me;⁵¹ and as for him who disobeys me - Thou art, verily, much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace!

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus, Abraham accepts God's verdict (given in 2:124 ) regarding the sinners from among his descendants.

O Rabb! They have indeed led many people astray (and they might led my descendants astray as well). Therefore, only those who follow my ways belong to me and I leave those to You who disobey me; surely You are Forgiving, Merciful.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

My Lord! Lo! they have led many of mankind astray. But whoso followeth me, he verily is of me. And whoso disobeyeth me, still Thou art Forgiving, Merciful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"O our Sustainer! Behold, I have settled some of my offspring in a valley in which there is no arable land,⁵² close to Thy sanctified Temple, so that, O our Sustainer, they might devote themselves to prayer: cause Thou, therefore, people's hearts to incline towards them,⁵³ and grant them fruitful sustenance, so that they might have cause to be grateful.

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the narrow desert valley of Mecca, which is enclosed by barren, rocky hills. By "some of my offspring" Abraham refers to Ishmael and his descendants who settled at Mecca.

I.e., to be desirous of visiting them - namely, on pilgrimage to Mecca - and thus help them to maintain themselves in the holy but barren land. The phrase af'idah min an-nas lends itself also to the rendering "the hearts of some people", in which case it could be taken to mean "the hearts of the believers" (Baghawi, Razi, Ibn Kathir).

Our Rabb! I have settled some of my offspring in a barren valley near Your Sacred House. Our Rabb! I have done this in the hope that they would establish Salah, therefore, turn the hearts of the people toward them and provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Our Lord! Lo! I have settled some of my posterity in an uncultivable valley near unto Thy holy House, our Lord! that they may establish proper worship; so incline some hearts of men that they may yearn toward them, and provide Thou them with fruits in order that they may be thankful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"O our Sustainer! Thou truly knowest all that we may hide [in our hearts] as well as all that we bring into the open: for nothing whatever, be it on earth or in heaven, remains hidden from God.

  - Mohammad Asad

Our Rabb! Certainly You know what we conceal and what we reveal. In fact, nothing in the earth or in heaven is hidden from Allah.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Our Lord! Lo! Thou knowest that which we hide and that which we proclaim. Nothing in the earth or in the heaven is hidden from Allah.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"All praise is due to God, who has bestowed upon me, in my old age, Ishmael and Isaac! Behold, my Sustainer hears indeed all prayer:

  - Mohammad Asad

Praise be to Allah who has given me Isma`il (Ishmael) and Ishaq (Isaac) in my old age. Indeed my Rabb hears all prayers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Praise be to Allah Who hath given me, in my old age, Ishmael and Isaac! Lo! my Lord is indeed the Hearer of Prayer.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[hence,] O my Sustainer, cause me and [some] of my offspring to remain constant in prayer!⁵⁴ "And, O our Sustainer, accept this my prayer:

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., metonymically, "to remain utterly devoted to Thee". The particle min ("[some] of") preceding the word dhurriyati ("my offspring") is obviously an allusion to 2:124 , where God says in answer to Abraham's question about his descendants: "My covenant does not embrace the evildoers." Thus, Abraham has been given to understand that not all of his posterity would be righteous and that none can claim to belong to a "chosen people" by virtue of his or her descent from an apostle of God: a statement which relates not only to the Israelites, who descended from Abraham through Isaac, but also to the Arabian (Ishmaelite) branch of the Abrahamic peoples, from whom the Quraysh were to spring: hence, by implication, even to the unrighteous among the descendants of the Last Prophet, Muhammad, who belonged to the tribe of Quraysh.

O Rabb! Make me and my descendants establish Salah. Our Rabb! Accept my prayer.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

My Lord! Make me to establish proper worship, and some of my posterity (also); our Lord! and accept the prayer.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Grant Thy forgiveness unto me, and my parents, and all the believers, on the Day on which the [last] reckoning will come to pass!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Our Rabb! Forgive me and my parents and all believers on the Day when the accountability will take place."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents and believers on the day when the account is cast.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND DO NOT think that God is unaware of what the evildoers are doing: He but grants them respite until the Day when their eyes will stare in horror,⁵⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

This verse connects with the last sentence of Abraham's prayer, namely, his reference to "the Day on which the [last] reckoning will come to pass". The wrongdoers mentioned here are those who indulge in the belief "that there are other powers that can rival God" (cf. verse {30} above), and thus commit the unforgivable sin of shirk. As regards the "respite" granted to them, see the first clause of 11:20 and the corresponding note [39].

Never think that Allah is unaware of what these unjust people are doing. He is only deferring their case to that Day when their eyes will be fixedly open,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Deem not that Allah is unaware of what the wicked do. He but giveth them a respite till a day when eyes will stare (in terror).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

the while they will be running confusedly to and fro, with their heads upraised [in supplication], unable to look away from what they shall behold,⁵⁶ and their hearts an abysmal void.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "their gaze will not revert to them".

they will be running in terror with their heads uplifted, staring but seeing nothing and their hearts utterly vacant.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

As they come hurrying on in fear, their heads upraised, their gaze returning not to them, and their hearts as air.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, warn men of the Day when this suffering may befall them, and when those who did wrong [in their lifetime] will exclaim: "O our Sustainer! Grant us respite for a short while, so that we might respond to Thy call and follow the apostles!"⁵⁷ [But God will answer:] "Why - were you not aforetime wont to swear that no kind of resurrection and retribution awaited you?⁵⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

Cf. 6:27 .

Lit., "that there would be no going down [or "no removal"] whatever for you" - i.e., no passing-over from earthly life to a life in the hereafter, attended by God's retribution of sins: a reference to many people's refusal, often mentioned in the Qur'an, to believe in life after death and. hence. in God's ultimate judgment.

O Muhammad forewarn mankind of the Day when Our punishment will overtake them; when the wrongdoers will say: "Our Rabb! Give us a little more respite: we will answer Your call and follow the Rasools!" But it will be said to them, "Are you not the same people who once swore that you would never suffer a decline?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And warn mankind of a day when the doom will come upon them, and those who did wrong will say: Our Lord! Reprieve us for a little while. We will obey Thy call and will follow the messengers. (It will be answered): Did ye not swear before that there would be no end for you?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And yet, you dwelt in the dwelling-places of those who had sinned against their own selves [before your time],⁵⁹ and it was made obvious to you how We had dealt with them: for We have set forth unto you many a parable [of sin, resurrection and divine retribution]."⁶⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "you lived on the same earth, and in basically the same human environment, as those earlier generations who offended against all ethical values and thereby brought destruction upon themselves: hence, their tragic fate should have been a warning to you".

Lit., "the parables", i.e., the parables in the Qur'an which illuminate the idea of resurrection and of God's final judgment (Razi). See also note [37] above.

When you lived among those people who had wronged their souls, it was explained to you how We dealt with them and We even described for you their examples."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And (have ye not) dwelt in the dwellings of those who wronged themselves (of old) and (hath it not) become plain to you how We dealt with them, and made examples for you?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall