Surah 40. Ghafir

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

And [thus] He displays His wonders before you: which, then, of God's wonders can you still deny?

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus, He shows you His signs; then, which signs of Allah you will deny?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And He showeth you His tokens. Which, then, of the tokens of Allah do ye deny?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

HAVE THEY, then, never journeyed about the earth and beheld what happened in the end to those [deniers of the truth] who lived before their time? More numerous were they, and greater in power than they are, and in the impact which they left on earth: but all that they ever achieved was of no avail to them -

  - Mohammad Asad

Have they never travelled through the earth and seen what was the end of those who have gone before them? They were more in number and superior in strength than these and they have left behind great traces of their power in the land; yet all that they did was of no avail to them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Have they not travelled in the land to see the nature of the consequence for those before them? They were more numerous than these, and mightier in power and (in the) traces (which they left behind them) in the earth. But all that they used to earn availed them not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for when their apostles came to them with all evidence of the truth, they arrogantly exulted in whatever knowledge they [already] possessed: ⁶⁴ and [so, in the end,] they were overwhelmed by the very thing which they were wont to deride.⁶⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., they were fully satisfied with their own empirically or speculatively acquired or inherited knowledge; and so, in their arrogant conviction that man is "self-sufficient" and, therefore, not in need of any guidance by a Power beyond the reach of human perception, they rejected whatever ethical and spiritual truths were offered them by the prophets.

I.e., the idea of God's existence and inescapable judgment: see 6:10 and the corresponding note [9].

When their Rasools came to them with clear revelations, they proudly boasted about their own knowledge; but the very forewarned scourge at which they mocked, hemmed them in.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when their messengers brought them clear proofs (of Allah's Sovereignty) they exulted in the knowledge they (themselves) possessed. And that which they were wont to mock befell them.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And then, when they [clearly] beheld Our punishment,⁶⁶ they said: "We have come to believe in the One God, and we have renounced all belief in that to which we were wont to ascribe a share in His divinity!"⁶⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the God-willed, catastrophic breakdown of their society and civilization in consequence of their persistent rejection of all spiritual values.

This evidently includes their past belief in man's supposedly "unlimited possibilities" and the illusory conviction that one day he would achieve "mastery over nature".

When they saw Our scourge, they cried out: "We believe in Allah, the One and Only, and we reject all those gods whom we used to associate with Him."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then, when they saw Our doom, they said: We believe in Allah only and reject (all) that we used to associate (with Him).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But their attaining to faith after they had beheld Our punishment could not possibly benefit them⁶⁸ such being the way of God that has always obtained for His creatures-: and so, then and there, lost were they who had denied the truth.⁶⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., firstly, because this belated faith could not unmake a reality which had already come into being, and, secondly, because it could not contribute to their spiritual growth inasmuch as it was not an outcome of free choice but had been, rather, forced on them by the shock of an irreversible calamity.

The "way of God" (sunnat Allah) is the Qur'anic term for the totality of natural laws instituted by the Creator: in this case, the law that faith has no spiritual value unless it arises out of a genuine, inner enlightenment.

But after seeing Our scourge, their professing the faith (Islam) was of no use to them; such was the practice of Allah in dealing with His servants in the past, and thus the disbelievers were lost.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But their faith could not avail them when they saw Our doom. This is Allah's law which hath ever taken course for his Bondsmen. And then the disbelievers will be ruined.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall