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This allegorical expression, used here with reference to Mary's conception of Jesus, has been widely - and erroneously - interpreted as relating specifically to his birth. As a matter of fact, the Qur'an uses the same expression in three other places with reference to the creation of man in general - namely in {15 :29} and 38:72 , "when I have formed him... and breathed into him of My spirit"; and in 32:9 , "and thereupon He forms [lit., "formed"] him fully and breathes [lit., "breathed"] into him of His spirit". In particular, the passage of which the last-quoted phrase is a part (i.e., {32:7-9}) makes it abundantly and explicitly clear that God "breathes of His spirit" into every human being. Commenting on the verse under consideration, Zamakhshari states that "the breathing of the spirit [of God] into a body signifies the endowing it with life": an explanation with which Razi concurs. (In this connection, see also note [181] on 4:171 .) As for the description of Mary as allati ahsanat farjaha, idiomatically denoting "one who guarded her chastity" (lit., "her private parts"), it is to be borne in mind that the term ihsan - lit., "[one's] being fortified [against any danger or evil]" - has the tropical meaning of "abstinence from what is unlawful or reprehensible" (Tarj al-'Arus), and especially from illicit sexual intercourse, and is applied to a man as well as a woman: thus, for instance, the terms muhsan and muhsanah are used elsewhere in the Qur'an to describe, respectively, a man or a woman who is "fortified [by marriage] against unchastity". Hence, the expression allati ahsanat farjaha, occurring in the above verse as well as in {66: 12} with reference to Mary, is but meant to stress her outstanding chastity and complete abstinence, in thought as well as in deed, from anything unlawful or morally reprehensible: in other words, a rejection of the calumny (referred to in 4:156 and obliquely alluded to in {19:27-28}) that the birth of Jesus was the result of an "illicit union".
For my rendering of the term ayah as "symbol", see surah {17}, note [2], and surah {19}, note [16].
Gabriel breathed into the sleeves of Mary’s garment so she conceived Jesus.
Mary the mother of Jesus. Chastity was her special virtue: with a son of virgin birth, she and Jesus became a miracle to all nations. That was the virtue with which they (both Mary and Jesus) resisted evil.
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After calling to mind, in verses {48-91}, some of the earlier prophets, all of whom stressed the oneness and uniqueness of God, the discourse returns to that principle of oneness as it ought to be reflected in the unity of all who believe in Him. (See {23: 51} ff.)
Ummat: this is best translated by Brotherhood here. "Community", "race", and "nation," and "people" are words which import other ideas and do not quite correspond to "Ummat". "Religion" and "Way of Life" are derived meanings, which could be used in other passages, but are less appropriate here. Our attention has been drawn to people of very different temperaments and virtues, widely different in time, race, language, surroundings, history, and work to be performed, but forming the closest brotherhood as being men and women united in the highest service of Allah. They prefigure the final and perfected Brotherhood of Islam.
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This is the meaning of the idiomatic phrase, taqatta'u amrahum baynahum. As Zamakhshari points out, the sudden turn of the discourse from the second person plural to the third person is indicative of God's severe disapproval-His "turning away", as it were, from those who are or were guilty of breaking the believers' unity. (See also 23:53 and the corresponding note [30].)
Allah's Message was and ever is one; and His Messengers treated it as one. It is people of narrower views who come later and trade on the earlier names, that break up the Message and the Brotherhood into jarring camps and sects.
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I.e., even a breach of religious unity may not be unforgivable so long as it does not involve a worship of false deities or false moral values (cf. verses {98-99} below): this is the meaning of the stress, in this context, on man's being "a believer withal" -an echo of the principle clearly spelt out in 2:62 and several other Qur'anic passages.
Allah gives credit for every act of righteousness, however small: when combined with sincere Faith in Allah, it becomes the stepping stone to higher and higher things. It is never lost.
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Lit., "an inviolable law (haram) upon ...", expressing the impossibility of conceiving anything to the contrary (Zamakhshari).
I.e., whenever God consigns a community to destruction, He does it not because of its people's occasional lapses but only because of their irremediable, conscious unwillingness to forsake their sinful ways.
But when wickedness comes to such a pass that the Wrath of Allah descends, as it did on Sodom, the case becomes hopeless. The righteous were warned and delivered before the Wrath descended. But those destroyed will not get another chance, as they flouted all previous chances. They will only be raised at the approach of the Day of Judgment.
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I.e., until the Day of Resurrection, heralded by the allegorical break-through of "Gog and Magog" (see surah {18}, note [100], especially the last sentence): for it is on that Day that even the most hardened sinner will at last realize his guilt and be filled with belated remorse.-The term hadab literally denotes "raised ground" or "elevation", but the expression min kulli hadabin is used here idiomatically, signifying "from all directions" or "from every corner [of the earth]": an allusion to the irresistible nature of the social and cultural catastrophes which will overwhelm mankind before the coming of the Last Hour.
See 18:93-99.
For Gog and Magog see n. 2439 to xviii. 92. The name stands for wild and lawless tribes who will break their barriers and swarm through the earth. This will be one of the prognostications of the approaching Judgment.
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I.e., deliberately and without any excuse, since all the prophets had warned man of the Day of Resurrection and Judgment: cf. {14:44-45}. The words "bent on" interpolated by me within brackets indicate intent, similar to the preceding expression alladhina kafaru, "those who were bent on denying the truth" (see also note [6] on 2:6 ).
i.e., the Final Hour.
Cf. xiv. 42.
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Lit., "you are bound to reach it". The expression "all that you have worshipped instead of God" comprises not merely all false religious imagery but also all false ethical values endowed with quasi-divine sanctity, all of which are but "the fuel of hell".
See footnote for 43:57-58.
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The ultimate proof of Truth and Falsehood will be that Truth will endure and come to its own, while Falsehood will be destroyed. And so the men who worshipped Truth will come to their own, while those who worshipped Falsehood will be in a Fire of Punishment they could scarcely have imagined before. In that state there will be nothing but regrets and sighs and groans, and these evil sounds will drown everything else.
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Thus, spiritual "deafness" in the life to come will be the inexorable consequence of one's having remained deaf, in this world, to the voice of truth, just as "blindness" and oblivion will be part of the suffering of all who have been spiritually blind to the truth (cf. {20:124-126}).
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I.e., those who have been promised paradise on account of their faith and their good deeds. 99 See in this connection 14:48 and the corresponding note [63].
In contrast to the misery of those who rejected Truth and Right, will be the happiness of those who accepted it. The good will not hear the least sound of the groans of evil. Their true soul's desires will be fulfilled-not temporarily as in this world, but in a permanent form.
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The Judgment and balancing of accounts will be a mighty Terror to the evil-doers. But it will cause, to the righteous, not grief or anxiety, but hope and happiness, for now they will be in a congenial atmosphere, and will see the fulfilment of their ideals in the meeting and greeting of the angels, preparatory to their enjoyment of the supreme Bliss-seeing the Face of Allah.
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The world-the universe-as we know it, will be folded up like a scroll of parchment, for it will have done its work. If Allah created all this world out of nothing, He can create an entirely new heaven and a new earth, on a plane of which we can form no conception in our present life. And He will do so, for that is His promise.
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Lit., "after the reminder (adh-dhikr)". For the deeper implications of the Qur'anic term dhikr, see note [13] on verse {10} of this surah.
Zabur (lit., "scripture" or "book") is a generic term denoting any "book of wisdom": hence, any and all of the divine scriptures revealed by God to the prophets (Tabari). The statement that "My righteous servants shall inherit the earth" is obviously an echo of the promise, "You are bound to rise high if you are [truly] believers" ({3: 139}) - the implication being that it is only through faith in God and righteous behaviour on earth that man can reach the heights envisaged for him by his Creator's grace.
This refers to Psalm 37:29: “The righteous shall inherit the land.” See footnote for 39:47.
Zabur: the Book of the Psalms of David. The name of David is expressly mentioned in connection with the Zabur in iv. 163 and xvii. 55, although there the indefinite article is applied to the word as meaning a Book of Scripture. See Psalms xxv. 13, "his seed shall inherit the earth"; xxxvii. 11, "the meek shall inherit the earth" (quoted by Jesus in Matt. v.3); and xxxvii. 29, "the righteous shall inherit the land."
The same promise occurs in the Pentateuch, Exod. xxxii. 13.
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