Surah 41. Fussilat

and thereupon We let loose upon them a stormwind raging through days of misfortune,²¹ so as to give them, in the life of this world, a foretaste of suffering through humiliation: but [their] suffering in the life to come will be far more humiliating, and they will have none to succour them.

  - Mohammad Asad

See {69:6-8}.

So, over a few ill-omened days, We let loose on them a furious hurricane to make them taste a shameful scourge in this life, but more shameful still will be the punishment of the hereafter, and they shall have none to help them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Therefor We let loose on them a raging wind in evil days, that We might make them taste the torment of disgrace in the life of the world. And verily the doom of the Hereafter will be more shameful, and they will not be helped.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And as for [the tribe of] Thamud, We offered them guidance, but they chose blindness in preference to guidance: and so the thunderbolt of shameful suffering fell upon them as an outcome of all [the evil] that they had wrought;

  - Mohammad Asad

As for Thamud, We offer them Our guidance, but they preferred to remain blind rather than to receive guidance towards the Right Way; so the thunderbolt of humiliating scourge seized them for their misdeeds,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And as for Thamud, We gave them guidance, but they preferred blindness to the guidance, so the bolt of the doom of humiliation overtook them because of what they used to earn.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and We saved [only] those who had attained to faith and were conscious of Us.

  - Mohammad Asad

but We saved those who believed and had the fear of Allah.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We delivered those who believed and used to keep their duty to Allah.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, [warn all men of] the Day when the enemies of God shall be gathered together before the fire, and then shall be driven onward,

  - Mohammad Asad

Imagine that Day when the enemies of Allah will be brought together and led to the hellfire in groups.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And (make mention of) the day when the enemies of Allah are gathered unto the Fire, they are driven on

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

till, when they come close to it, their hearing and their sight and their [very] skins will bear witness against them, speaking of what they were doing [on earth].

  - Mohammad Asad

Finally when they reach there, their ears, their eyes, and their skins will testify to their misdeeds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Till, when they reach it, their ears and their eyes and their skins testify against them as to what they used to do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And they will ask their skins, "Why did you bear witness against us?" - [and] these will reply: "God, who gives speech to all things, has given speech to us [as well]: for He [it is who] has created you in the first instance - and unto Him you are [now] brought back.

  - Mohammad Asad

And they will ask their skins: "Why did you testify against us?" Their skins will reply: "Allah Who gives the faculty of speech to everything, has made us speak. He is the One Who created you to begin with, and now to Him you are being brought back.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they say unto their skins: Why testify ye against us? They say: Allah hath given us speech Who giveth speech to all things, and Who created you at the first, and unto Whom ye are returned.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And you did not try to hide [your sins] lest your hearing or your sight or your skins bear witness against you: nay, but you thought that God did not know much of what you were doing

  - Mohammad Asad

During your life on earth you use to hide yourselves while committing crimes, you never thought that your own ears, your own eyes and your own skins would ever testify against you. Rather you thought that even Allah had no knowledge of many things that you do.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Ye did not hide yourselves lest your ears and your eyes and your skins should testify against you, but ye deemed that Allah knew not much of what ye did.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and that very thought which you thought about your Sustainer has brought you to perdition, and so now you find yourselves among the lost!"

  - Mohammad Asad

This thought of yours, which you entertained concerning your Rabb, has brought you to destruction and now you have become of those who are utterly lost."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

That, your thought which ye did think about your Lord, hath ruined you; and ye find yourselves (this day) among the lost.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And then, [even] if they endure [their lot] in patience, the fire will still be their abode;²² and if they pray to be allowed to make amends, they will not be allowed to do so:²³

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., "unless God wills to reprieve them": see the last paragraph of 6:128 and the corresponding note [114]; also the hadith quoted in note [10] on 40:12 .

Lit., "they will not be of those who are allowed to make amends": an allusion to the request of the doomed, on the Day of Judgment, to be granted a "second chance" on earth, and to God's refusal of this request (cf. {6:27-28} and 32:12 ).

Then, whether they have patience or not, the fire will still be their home, and even if they beg for pardon, it shall not be granted to them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And though they are resigned, yet the Fire is still their home; and if they ask for favor, yet they are not of those unto whom favor can be shown.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for [when they became oblivious of Us,] We assigned to them [their own evil impulses as their] other selves,²⁴ and these made appear goodly to them whatever lay open before them and whatever was beyond their ken.²⁵ And so, the sentence [of doom] will have fallen due upon them together with the [other sinful] communities of invisible beings²⁶ and humans that passed away before their time: verily, they [all] will indeed be lost!

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "soul-mates" (cf. 4:38 ). The verb qarana, from which the noun qarin is derived, signifies "he linked" or "intimately associated" or "yoked together [one thing with another]". Cf. 43:36 - "as for anyone who chooses to remain blind to the remembrance of the Most Gracious, to him We assign an [enduring] evil impulse [lit., "a satan"], to become his other self".

Lit., "that which was between their hands and that which was behind them": i.e., their own evil impulses (which had become their "other selves", as it were) made alluring to them the unrestrained enjoyment, without any moral discrimination, of all the worldly attractions which lay open before them, causing them, at the same time, to dismiss as an illusion the idea of ressurrection and of God's judgment - thus giving them a false sense of security with regard to something that was beyond their ken.

For this rendering - and the meaning - of the term jinn, see Appendix III.

We have assigned intimate companions, of like nature, for them Who make their past and present seem fair to them; and the same word (sentence of punishment) proved true against them, which overtook generations of jinn and men who have gone before them, that they shall surely be in loss.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We assigned them comrades (in the world), who made their present and their past fair seeming unto them. And the Word concerning nations of the jinn and humankind who passed away before them hath effect for them. Verily they are the losers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

NOW THOSE who are bent on denying the truth say [unto one another]: "Do not listen to this Qur'an, but rather talk frivolously about it, so that you might gain the upper hand!"²⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

This is an allusion to efforts aimed at discrediting the Qur'an by describing it as "invented" by Muhammad for his own - personal and political - ends, as a series of "misunderstood quotations" from earlier scriptures, as the result of "hallucinations", and so forth: all of which implies that the opponents of the Qur'anic message instinctively feel its force, realizing at the same time that it endangers their self-complacent, materialistic outlook on life and ought, therefore, to be combatted. This explains the statement, at the end of verse {28}, that they "knowingly reject" God's messages.

The disbelievers say: "Do not listen this Qur'an and make noise when it is recited so that you may gain the upper hand."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Those who disbelieve say: Heed not this Qur'an, and drown the hearing of it; haply ye may conquer.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But We shall most certainly give those who are [thus] bent on denying the truth a taste of suffering severe, and We shall most certainly requite them according to the worst of their deeds!

  - Mohammad Asad

We will certainly punish the disbelievers and requite them for the worst of their misdeeds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But verily We shall cause those who disbelieve to taste an awful doom, and verily We shall requite them the worst of what they used to do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

That requital of God's enemies will be the fire [of the hereafter]: in it will they have an abode of unmeasurable duration as an outcome of their having knowingly rejected Our messages.²⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

For the above rendering of the verb jahada, see surah {29}, note [45].

hell that is, the reward for such enemies of Allah, which will be their eternal home: a reward for their denying Our revelations.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

That is the reward of Allah's enemies: the Fire. Therein is their immortal home; payment forasmuch as they denied Our revelations.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And they who [in their life on earth] were bent on denying the truth will [thereupon] exclaim: "O our Sustainer! Show us those of the invisible beings and humans that have led us astray: ²⁹ we shall trample them underfoot, so that they shall be the lowest of all!"³⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

See 6:112 - "against every prophet We have set up as enemies the evil forces (shayatin) from among humans as well as from among invisible beings" - and the corresponding note [98].

Cf. 7:38 .

Wherein, the disbelievers will say: "Our Rabb! Show us those among jinns and mankind who misled us: we shall trample them under our feet so that they become utterly disgraced."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And those who disbelieve will say: Our Lord! Show us these who beguiled us of the jinn and humankind. We will place them underneath our feet that they may be among the nethermost.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[But,] behold, as for those who say, "Our Sustainer is God," and then steadfastly pursue the right way - upon them do angels often descend, [saying:] "Fear not and grieve not, but receive the glad tiding of that paradise which has been promised to you!

  - Mohammad Asad

As for those who say: "Our God is Allah," and then stay firm on it, the angels will descend on them, saying: "Let nothing fear or grieve you. Rejoice for the good news of paradise that has been promised to you.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! those who say: Our Lord is Allah, and afterward are upright, the angels descend upon them, saying: Fear not nor grieve, but bear good tidings of the paradise which ye are promised.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall