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In the Qur'anic descriptions of paradise, the term zill ("shade") and its plural zilal is often used as a metaphor for "happiness" - thus, for instance, in 4:57 , where zill zalil signifies "happiness abounding" (see surah {4}, note [74]) - while the "couches" on which the blessed are to recline are obviously a symbol of inner fulfilment and peace of mind, as pointed out by Razi in his comments on 18:31 and 55:54 .
Secondly, the joy or happiness is figured to be, not solitary, but shared by associates.
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Thirdly, besides any external conditions of Bliss, the Bliss in the Hereafter has an inner quality.
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This composite expression is, I believe, the nearest approach in English to the concept of salam in the above context. For a further explanation of this term, see note [29] on 5:16 , where salam is rendered as "salvation".
Fourthly, we reach the highest grade of bliss, the salutation "Peace!" from Allah Most Merciful. Cf. x. 10. That Word sums up the attainment of the final Goal. For it explains the nature of the Most High;-He is not only a Lord and Cherisher, but a Lord Whose supreme glory is Mercy, Peace, and Harmony!
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Notice how this finely balanced passage, after reaching the summit of sublimity in describing the state of the Blessed, in the word Salam, gradually takes us down to contemplate the state of the Sinners in a graduated descent. In the first place, it refers to their negative state, their state of isolation. From this Day of Judgment, they will no longer have the chance of being with the Blessed and perhaps of profiting spiritually by that proximity. The first feature of the Day of Judgment is that it is a Day of Separation-of sorting out. Each soul now finds its own true level, as the period of probation is over.
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For the meaning of what the Qur'an describes as "worship of Satan", see note [33] on 19:44 .
Secondly, there is a gentle reproach to the wrong-doers, more in sorrow than in anger. They are addressed as "children of Adam", to emphasise two facts, (1) that they have disgraced their ancestry, for Adam after his Fall repented and was forgiven, and the high Destiny of mankind has been the prize open to all his descendants, and (2) that Allah Most Merciful has throughout the ages continued to warn mankind against the snares laid by Satan, the avowed enemy of man, and that Allah's Grace was ever on the watch to help all to freedom from those snares.
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Thirdly, besides the negative warning, a positive Way was shown to them-the Straight Way, the Way of those who receive Allah's Grace and attain to Bliss, the Rope which would save them from shipwreck, the Shield which would save them from assault, the key to the door of proximity to Allah.
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Fourthly, it is pointed out that they were given Understanding ('aql), so that by their own faculties they could have judged their own best interests, and yet they betrayed or misused those faculties, and deliberately threw away their chance! And not only a few, but so many! They went gregariously to ruin in spite of the individual care which their Lord and Cherisher bestowed on them!
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The phrase "This, then, is the hell" points to the fact that the sinners' realization of their having gone astray despite repeated warnings by the prophets will, in itself, be a source of intense suffering ('adhab) in the life to come. The element of repetition or persistence is implied in the use of the auxiliary verb kuntum both here and in the next verse.
Fifthly, the naked fact is now placed before them,-the Hell,-the state of damnation, which they could so easily have avoided!
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As they deliberately and persistently rejected all teaching, guidance, and warnings, they are now told to experience the Fire of Punishment, for it is but the consequence of their own acts.
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A metaphor for their being unable really to excuse or defend their past actions and attitudes.
The ungodly will now be dumbfounded. They will be unable to speak or offer any defence. (The consequences of all acts, which follow according to Allah's Law, are, in Quranic language, attributed to Allah). But their silence will not matter. Their own hands and feet will speak against them. "Hands and feet" in this connection are symbolical of all the instruments for action which they were given in this life. The same extended meaning is to be understood for "eyes" in the following verse. Cf. also xli. 20- 21, where eyes, ears, and skins are all mentioned as bearing witness against such as misused them.
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Lit., "We could surely have effaced their eyes": a metaphor for "We could have created them morally blind" and, thus, devoid of all sense of moral responsibility - which, in its turn, would constitute a negation of all spiritual value in human life as such. (Cf. 2:20 - "if God so willed, He could indeed take away their hearing and their sight".)
In this instance - as, e.g., in 20:96 - the verb basura ("he became seeing" or "he saw") is obviously used in its tropical sense of "perceiving [something] mentally". According to Ibn 'Abbas, as quoted by Tabari, the phrase anna yubsirun signifies "how could they perceive the truth".
"If it had been Our Will": i.e., if such had been the Will and Plan of Allah. If Allah had not intended to give man his limited free-will, or power of choice, the case would have been different: there would have been no moral responsibility which could have been enforced. They could have had no sight or intelligence, and they could not have been blamed for not seeing or understanding. But such is not the case.
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Lit., "transformed [or "transmuted"] them".
I.e., if it had been God's will that men should have no freedom of will or moral choice, He would have endowed them from the very beginning with a spiritually and morally stationary nature, entirely rooted in their instincts ("in their places"), devoid of all urge to advance, and incapable either of positive development or of retreat from a wrong course.
Meaning, We have the ability to turn them into stone or any other inanimate object.
If Allah's Plan had been to grant no limited freedom of choice or will to men, He could have created them quite different, or could have transformed them into stationary creatures, either in physical form as in the case of trees, or in moral or spiritual qualities, where there was no possibility either of progress or deterioration. Man would then have been unable to reach the heights of grandeur which are now open to him, or, if he goes wrong, to return through the door of repentance and mercy, and still pursue his path of ascent. But it was Allah's Plan to give man all these privileges, and man must shoulder all the responsibilities that go with them.
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I.e., man should never postpone his exercise of moral choice - for if human beings are superior creatures inasmuch as they have been endowed with the faculty of discernment and a wide measure of free will, let them also remember that "man has been created weak" ( 4:28 ) and liable to decline still further in old age, so that the time at his disposal is short.
Human beings are born weak, then they reach their prime, then they grow weak after a certain age. See 30:54.
This connects on with the last verse. Everything is possible with Allah. If you doubt how man can be transformed from his present nature, contemplate the transformations he already undergoes in his present nature at different ages. As a child powers of mind and body are still undeveloped. As he grows, they grow, and certain moral qualities, such as courage, daring, the will to conquer, unfold themselves. In extreme old age these are again obscured, and a second childhood supervenes. The back of the man who walked proudly straight and erect is now bent. If these transformations take place even in his present nature and constitution, how much easier was it for Allah to cast him in an immobile mould? But Allah granted him instead the high possibilities and responsibilities referred to in the last note.
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This passage resumes the theme enunciated in the opening verses of this surah, namely, the revelation of the Qur'an. As in 26:224 , we have here an allusion to the allegation of Muhammad's opponents, in his own as well as in later times, that what he described as divine revelation was in reality an outcome of his own poetic invention. This the Qur'an refutes by alluding to the fundamental difference between poetry - especially Arabic poetry - and divine revelation as exemplified by the Qur'an: whereas in the former the meaning is often subordinated to the rhythm and the melody of language, in the Qur'an the exact opposite is the case, inasmuch as here the choice of words, their sound and their position in the sentence - and, hence, its rhythm and melody - are always subordinated to the meaning intended. (Cf. also 26:225 and the corresponding note [100].)
For this composite rendering of the adjective mubin, see surah {12}, note [2]. Literally, the above phrase reads, "a reminder and a [divine] discourse...". etc., with the conjunctive particle wa ("and") being used here, as in 15:1 , to point out that the Qur'an is an integral element in the process of divine revelation.
Cf. xxvi. 224 and n. 3237. Here "Poetry" is used as connoting fairy tales, imaginary descriptions, things futile, false, or obscure, such as decadent Poetry is, whereas the Qur-an is a practical guide, true and clear.
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Lit., "may come [or "be proved"] true", i.e., on the Day of Judgment (cf. verse {7} of this surah ).
"Alive", both in English and Arabic, means not only "having physical fife", but having all the active qualities which we associate with life. In religious language, those who are not responsive to the realities of the spiritual world are no better than those who are dead. The Message of Allah penetrates the hearts of those who are alive in the spiritual sense.
Cf. xxviii. 63. If people reject Truth and Faith after they have been admonished and warned, the charge against them, of wilful rebellion, is proved. They cannot then plead either ignorance or inadvertence.
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