Surah 40. Ghafir

Say: "Since all evidence of the truth has come to me from my Sustainer, I am forbidden to worship [any of] those beings whom you invoke instead of God; and I am bidden to surrender myself to the Sustainer of all the worlds."

  - Mohammad Asad

O Prophet, tell them: "I have been forbidden to invoke those whom you invoke besides Allah. How can I do this when clear revelations have come to me from my Rabb, and I have been commanded to submit myself to the Rabb of the worlds."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say (O Muhammad): I am forbidden to worship those unto whom ye cry beside Allah since there have come unto me clear proofs from my Lord, and I am commanded to surrender to the Lord of the Worlds.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is He who creates you out of dust,⁴⁸ and then out of a drop of sperm, and then out of a germ-cell; and then He brings you forth as children; and then [He ordains] that you reach maturity, and then, that you grow old - though some of you [He causes to] die earlier-: and [all this He ordains] so that you might reach a term set [by Him],⁴⁹ and that you might [learn to] use your reason.

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [4] on 23:12 .

Or: "a term known [only to Him]" - cf. 6:2 and the corresponding note [2].

It is He Who has created you from dust, then from a sperm, then from a leechlike mass, then He delivers you from the womb of your mother as a child, then He makes you grow to reach the age of full strength, then He makes you grow to reach an old age - though some of you die earlier - so that you may complete your appointed term and grow in wisdom.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He it is Who created you from dust, then from a drop (of seed) then from a clot, then bringeth you forth as a child, then (ordaineth) that ye attain full strength and afterward that ye become old men though some among you die before and that ye reach an appointed term, that haply ye may understand.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is He who grants life and deals death; and when He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it, "Be" - and it is.

  - Mohammad Asad

It is He Who gives you life and causes you to die. It is He Who when He decides to do something, needs only to say: "Be," and it is.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He it is who quickeneth and giveth death. When He ordaineth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

ART THOU NOT aware of how far they who call God's messages in question have lost sight of the truth?⁵⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "how they are turned away" - i.e., from the truth: in this case, from all the observable evidence of God's almightiness and creative activity.

Do you not see how those who argue about the revelations of Allah turn away from the Right Way?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Hast thou not seen those who wrangle concerning the revelations of Allah, how they are turned away?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

they who give the lie to this divine writ and [thus] to all [the messages] with which We sent forth Our apostles [of oldl?⁵¹ But in time they will come to know [how blind they have been: they will know it on Judgment Day],

  - Mohammad Asad

Since, as the Qur'an so often points out, the fundamental truths set forth in all divine revelations are the same, a rejection of the last of them amounts to a rejection of all the preceding ones.

Those who have denied the Book and the Message which We have sent through Our Rasools shall soon come to know the truth when they will be cast into the fire of hell:

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Those who deny the Scripture and that wherewith we send Our messengers. But they will come to know,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

when they shall have to carry the shackles and chains [of their own making] around their necks,⁵² and are dragged

  - Mohammad Asad

For an explanation of the allegory of "shackles" and "chains", see note [13] on 13:5 , note [44] on the last but one sentence of 34:33 , and notes [6] and [7] on 36:8 .

when, with yokes and chains around their necks, they shall be dragged

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

When carcans are about their necks and chains. They are dragged

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

into burning despair, and in the end become fuel for the fire [of hell].⁵³

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus Mujahid (as quoted by Tabari) explains the verb yusjarun. As regards my rendering of hamim as "burning despair", see surah {6}, note [62].

through scalding fluid and burned in the fire of hell.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Through boiling waters; then they are thrust into the Fire.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And then they will be asked: "Where now are those [powers] to which you were wont to ascribe divinity

  - Mohammad Asad

Then they shall be asked: "Where are those gods whom you invoked in worship

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then it is said unto them: Where are (all) that ye used to make partners (in the Sovereignty)

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

side by side with God?" They will answer: "They have forsaken us - or, rather, what we were wont to invoke aforetime did not exist at all!"⁵⁴ [And they will be told:] "It is thus that God lets the deniers of the truth go astray: ⁵⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "we have not been invoking aforetime any [real] thing": thus realizing, belatedly, the intrinsic nothingness of all those imaginary powers and values - including the belief in man's alleged self-sufficiency and greatness - to which they paid homage in life.

I.e., by allowing them to pursue illusions and foolish fancies in consequence of their unwillingness to acknowledge the self-evident truth of God's existence and uniqueness and of man's utter dependence on Him. For a discussion of the problem of God's "letting" a sinner go astray, see note [4] on 14:4 .

besides Allah?" They will answer: "They have forsaken us, now we have come to know that those to whom we used to invoke, were in fact nothing." Thus Allah confounds the disbelievers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Beside Allah? They say: They have failed us: but we used not to pray to anything before. Thus doth Allah send astray the disbelievers (in His guidance).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

this is an outcome of your having arrogantly exulted on earth without any [concern for what is] right, and of your having been so full of self-conceit!

  - Mohammad Asad

It will be said: "You have met this fate because during your life on earth, you took delight in things other than the truth and you led a wanton life.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(And it is said unto them): This is because ye exulted in the earth without right, and because ye were petulant.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Enter [now] the gates of hell, therein to abide: and how vile an abode for all who are given to false pride!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Now enter the gates of hell to live therein forever. What an evil abode will be for the arrogant!"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Enter ye the gates of hell, to dwell therein. Evil is the habitation of the scornful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

HENCE, remain thou patient in adversity - for, verily, God's promise always comes true. And whether We show thee [in this world] something of what We hold in store for those [deniers of the truth], or whether We cause thee to die [ere that retribution takes place - know that, in the end], it is unto Us that they will be brought back.⁵⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

See the almost identical passage in 10:46 , as well as the corresponding notes [66] and [67].

So be patient, O Prophet, Allah's promise is true. Whether We let you witness the evil consequences with which they are being threatened, or We recall you before We smite them, in any case, they shall all return to Us.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then have patience (O Muhammad). Lo! the promise of Allah is true. And whether we let thee see a part of that which We promise them, or (whether) We cause thee to die, still unto us they will be brought back.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And, indeed, [O Muhammad,] We sent forth apostles before thy time, some of them We have mentioned to thee,⁵⁷ and some of them We have not mentioned to thee. And it was not given to any apostle to bring forth a miracle other than by God's leave.⁵⁸ Yet when God's will becomes manifest,⁵⁹ judgment will [already] have been passed in all justice, and lost will be, then and there, all who tried to reduce to nothing [whatever they could not understand].⁶⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., in the Qur'an.

See 6:109 - "Miracles are in the power of God alone" - and the corresponding note [94]. Both passages (6:109 and the present one) relate to the futile demand of Muhammad's opponents to be shown a miracle in proof of the divine origin of the Qur'an - the implication being that it is not God's will to convince the deniers of the truth by means of what is commonly regarded as miracles ".

Lit., "when God's command comes", i.e., whether it be in this world or on the Day of Judgment: a reference to the retribution spoken of in verse {77} above.

I.e., in this case, divine revelation as such. For the above rendering of al-mubtilun, see note [47] on the last sentence of 29:48 .

O Prophet, We have sent many Rasools before you; of them there are some whose stories We have relayed to you and others whose stories We have not relayed to you. It was not possible for any of those Rasools to bring a sign except by the leave of Allah. Then when the command of Allah came, the matter was decided with justice, and it was the wrongdoers who suffered the loss.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Verily We sent messengers before thee, among them those of whom We have told thee, and some of whom We have not told thee; and it was not given to any messenger that he should bring a portent cave by Allah's leave, but when Allah's commandment cometh (the cause) is judged aright, and the followers of vanity will then be lost.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is God who [at all times works wonders for you ⁶¹ thus, He] provides for you [all manner of] livestock, so that on some of them you may ride, and from some derive your food,

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., by providing in a wondrous manner the means of man's subsistence, and by endowing him with the miracle of a creative intellect which enables him to make fruitful use of so many natural phenomena. (This passage connects with the statement implied in verse {78} that "miracles are in the power of God alone": see note [58].)

It is Allah Who has provided you with cattle, that you may use some for riding and some for food;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Allah it is Who hath appointed for you cattle, that ye may ride on some of them, and eat of some--

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and find [yet other] benefits in them;⁶² and that through them you may attain to the fulfilment of [many] a heartfelt need:⁶³ for on them, as on ships, you are borne [through life].

  - Mohammad Asad

The "other benefits" are both concrete and abstract in their nature: concrete benefits like wool, skins, etc., and abstract ones like beauty (cf. {16:6-8}, as well as Solomon's reverence for the God-created beauty of horses expressed in {38:31-33}) or the all-time companionship of man and dog symbolized in the legend of the Men of the Cave ( 18:18 and {22}).

Lit., "a need in your bosoms" [or "hearts"]: i.e., a genuine need.

and there are also other advantages in them for you; they take you where you wish to go carrying you on their backs as ships carry you by the sea.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Many) benefits ye have from them and that ye may satisfy by their means a need that is in your breasts, and may be borne upon them as upon the ship.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall