Surah 34. Saba

Say, 'O Prophet,' 'I advise you to do 'only' one thing: stand up for 'the sake of' Allah- individually or in pairs- then reflect. Your fellow man¹ is not insane. He is only a warner to you before 'the coming of' a severe punishment.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

 i.e., Muḥammad (ﷺ).

Say: "I do admonish you on one point: that ye do stand up before Allah--(it may be) in pairs or (it may be) singly and reflect (within yourselves): your Companion is not possessed: he is no less than a Warner to you in face of a terrible Penalty." ^{3857 3858}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

A crowd mentality is not the best for the perception of the final spiritual truths. For these, it is necessary that each soul should commune within itself with earnest sincerity as before Allah: if it requires a Teacher, let it seek out one, or it may be that it wants the strengthening of the inner convictions that dawn on it, by the support of a sympathiser or friend. But careful and heart-felt reflection is necessary to appraise the higher Truths.

Note that in verses 46, 47, 48, 49 and 50, arguments are suggested to the Prophet, by which he can convince any right-thinking man of his sincerity and truth. Here the argument is that he is not possessed or out of his mind. If he is different from ordinary men, it is because he has to give a warning of a terrible spiritual danger to the men whom he loves but who will not understand his Message.

Say, 'If I had ever asked you for a reward, you could keep it. My reward is only from Allah. And He is a Witness over all things.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "No reward do I ask of you: it is (all) in your interest: my reward is only due from Allah: and He is Witness to all things." ³⁸⁵⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. x. 72. The second argument is that he has nothing to gain from them. His message is for their own good. He is willing to suffer persecution and insult, because he has to fulfil his mission from Allah.

Say, 'Surely my Lord hurls the truth 'against falsehood'. 'He is' the Knower of all unseen.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "Verily my Lord doth cast the (mantle of) Truth (over His servants) He that has full knowledge of (all) that is hidden." ³⁸⁶⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Allah's Truth is so vast that no man in this life can compass the whole of it. But Allah in His mercy selects His servants on whom it is cast like a mantle. They see enough to be able to teach their fellow men. It is through that mantle-that mission received from Allah-that a messenger can speak with authority to men, and this is his third argument.

Say, 'The truth has come, and falsehood will vanish, never to return.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "The Truth has arrived and Falsehood neither creates anything new nor restores anything." ³⁸⁶¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The fourth argument is that the Truth is final: it does not come and go: it creates new situations and new developments, and if by chance it seems to be defeated for a time, it comes back and restores the true balance;-unlike Falsehood, which by its very nature is doomed to perish: xvii. 81. The Prophet's credentials are known by the test of Time. This was already becoming apparent to discerning eyes when this Sura was revealed in Makkah, but it became clear to the whole world with the story of Islam's progress in Madinah.

Say, 'If I am astray, the loss is only mine. And if I am guided, it is 'only' because of what my Lord reveals to me. He is indeed All-Hearing, Ever Near.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "If I am astray I only stray to the loss of my own soul: but if I receive guidance it is because of the inspiration of my Lord to me: it is He Who hears all things and is (ever) near." ³⁸⁶²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

If it could possibly be supposed that the Prophet was a self-deceived visionary, it would affect him only, and could not fail to appear in his personality. But in fact he was steady in his constancy and Faith, and he not only went from strength to strength, but won the enduring and whole-hearted love and devotion of his nearest and dearest and of those who most came into contact with him. How was this possible, unless he had the Truth and the inspiration of Allah behind him? This is the fifth and last argument in this passage.

If only you could see when they will be horrified with no escape 'on Judgment Day'! And they will be seized from a nearby place.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 From the place of Judgment to Hell.

If thou couldst but see when they will quake with terror: but then there will be no escape (for them) and they will be seized from a position (quite) near. ³⁸⁶³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

After the arguments for the reality and triumph of Truth, we are asked to contemplate the position of the opposers of Truth when Truth is established. They will be struck with terror: for Truth is all-compelling. They will wish they could get away from that position, but that would be impossible. They will not be able to move far; they will be held fast to the consequences of their own earlier conduct. They will be caught quite close to the point of their departure from Truth.

They will 'then' cry, 'We do 'now' believe in it 'all'.' But how could they 'possibly' attain faith from a place so far-off 'from the world',¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 When it is already too late.

And they will say "We do believe (now) in the (truth)": but how could they receive (faith) from a position (so) far off ³⁸⁶⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

They will now profess their faith in Truth, but of what value will such profession be? Faith is a belief in things unseen: now everything is plain and open before them. The position in which they could have received Faith is left far off behind them, when Truth was struggling and asked for help or asylum, and they cruelly, arrogantly, insultingly repudiated Truth.

while they had already rejected it before, guessing blindly from a place 'equally' far-away 'from the Hereafter'?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Seeing that they did reject faith (entirely) before and that they (continually) cast (slanders) on the Unseen from a position far off? ³⁸⁶⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Not only did they reject the Truth of the Unseen (the true Reality), but they spread all sorts of false and malicious insinuations at the preachers of Truth, calling them dishonest men, liars, hypocrites, and so on. They did it like a coward taking up a sneaking position far from the fight and speeding arrows at a distant target.

They will be sealed off from whatever they desire, as was done to their counterparts before. Indeed, they were 'all' in alarming doubt.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And between them and their desires is placed a barrier as was done in the past with their partisans: for they were indeed in suspicious (disquieting) doubt. ^{3866 3867 3868}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

What they desire is to suppress Truth and to indulge in the satisfaction of their own evil, selfish motives. They will be baulked in both, and that itself will be their anguish and punishment. That has always been the law in the eternal struggle between Right and Wrong. All partisans of such narrow cliques have always suffered the same fate.

Note that verses 51-54 are a powerful description of the conflict between right and wrong, and may be understood in many meanings. (1) The description applies to the position in the final Hereafter, as compared with the position in this life. (2) It applies to the position of triumphant Islam in Madinah and later as compared with the position of persecuted Islam in its early days in Makkah. (3) It applies to the reversal of the position of right and wrong at various phases of the world's history, or of (4) individual history.

Cf. xiv. 9, and see n. 1884.