-->
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
I.e., all being equal in dignity, and therefore free from envy. As Razi points out, the plural noun surur (sing. sarir), which literally denotes "couches" or, occasionally, "thrones", signifies also "seats [or "thrones"] of eminence" or "of happiness (surur)", from which latter word the noun sarir and its plural surur may be derived. The sublime quality of these "thrones of happiness" is in some instances further symbolized by expressions like "gold-encrusted" ( 56:15 ) or "raised high" ( 88:13 ).
i.e., the bitterness they had in their hearts towards other believers who wronged them in the worldly life.
Cf. vii. 43, and n. 1021. The hearts and minds will be so purified that all past rancour, jealousy, or sense of injury will be obliterated. The true Brotherhood will be realised there, when each will have his own dignity, there will be no question of invidious comparisons; each will face the others with joy and confidence. There will be no sense of toil or fatigue, and the joy will last for ever.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "never shall they be caused to depart from it".
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
We must realise both sides of Allah's attributes: His mercy, grace, and forgiveness are unbounded; if we reject all this, His justice and punishment will also be beyond all that we can conceive.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
In his commentary on the above two verses, Razi notes that the statement relating to God's forgiveness and grace contains a threefold emphasis - expressed by the repetition of the personal pronoun ana relating to God, and the definite article al before each of the two participial adjectives - whereas there is no such stress in the mention of His chastisement of recalcitrant sinners. (Cf. 6:12 - and the corresponding note [10] - as well as 6:54 , both of which verses state that God "has willed upon Himself the law of grace and mercy".)
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
For a more detailed story of Abraham and the heavenly messengers, see verses {69-76} of surah {11} (Hud), which was revealed shortly before the present one. The connection between this story and the preceding stress on God's grace arises from Abraham's saying (in verse {56}), "And who - other than those who have utterly lost their way - could ever lose the hope of his Sustainer's grace?" Similarly, the subsequent references (in verses {58-84}) to the sinful communities that were destroyed because they refused to heed the warnings of their prophets are, obviously, meant to illustrate the reverse of God's grace, namely, His inevitable chastisement of deliberate, unrepented sinning (verse {50} above).
In illustration of the contrasts between Good and Evil, and the consequences that flow from them, we have now a reference to four incidents from the past, viz.: (1) an incident from the story of Abraham; (2) from that of Lot, nephew of Abraham, and the end of the Cities of the Plain, which he was sent to warn; (3) the People of the Wood; and (4) the People of the Rocky Tract (Hijr), after whom this Sura is called. As usual, the recital of Allah's abounding grace comes first.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
For the reason of Abraham's and Sarah's apprehension, see 11:70 .
As mentioned in 11:69-70, the angels came to Abraham in the form of men and when he offered them food, they did not eat. In ancient Middle Eastern culture, if a guest refused to eat the food provided by their host, it was a sign of ill-will.
For a full understanding of this reference to the angels who were Abraham's guests and came to announce the birth of a son to him in his old age, read xi. 69-73 and notes. The appearance of two strangers of uncommon appearance, who refused to partake of the host's sumptuous hospitality, made Abraham at first suspicious and afraid.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
I.e., will be a prophet.
The birth of a son in old age, to a sonless father was glad tidings to Abraham personally. The birth of a son endowed with widsom promised something infinitely more. Considering that the angels were divine messengers, the wisdom referred to was divine wisdom, and the event became an event of prime importance in the world's religious history. For Abraham became, through his progeny, the root of the three great universal religions, diffused throughout the world.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "We have given thee the glad tiding of the truth" - i.e., of the truth willed by God (Ibn 'Abbas, as quoted by Razi).
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. xi. 69.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
When cordial understanding was established between Abraham and his guests and probably when the guests were about to depart, Abraham put a question to them: "What is the mission on which you are going?" It was further implied: "Is there anything I can do to help?" But no. The mission was one of Punishment for abominable sins. Note that the mention of Allah's Wrath is always linked with that of Allah's Mercy, and the Mercy comes first. The same angels that came to punish Sodom and Gomorrah were charged first to give the good news of Allah's Mercy to Abraham in the shape of a long line of Teachers of Righteousness.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
I.e., to the people of Sodom (see also {7:80-84} and {11:77-83}).
The Cities of the Plain round the Dead Sea, which to this day is called the Bahr Lut. They were given to unspeakable abominations. Read in this connection xi. 77- 83 and notes.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Here, again, Allah's saving Grace is linked with His Wrath, and is mentioned first.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
See 7:83 and the corresponding note [66], as well as 11:81 and 66:10 . My interpolation of the words "of whom God says" is necessitated by the elliptic use of the verb qaddarna - which, in the sense of "We have ordained" or "decreed", is an act attributed in the Qur'an invariably, and exclusively, to God. As I have repeatedly pointed out in my notes, God's "ordaining" a sinner to commit a sin or His "decreeing" that he should remain deaf to the voice of truth is a metonym for the natural law instituted by Him, which has been explained in surah {2}, note [7]; it refers also, generally speaking, to God's absolute fore-knowledge of how any of His creatures will act in a given situation (Zamakhshari). See also note [56] on 11:34 and note [4] on 14:4 .
See xi. 81, and n. 1577.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.