Surah 43. Az-Zukhruf

[And there] they will be waited upon with trays and goblets of gold; and there will be found all that the souls might desire, and [all that] the eyes might delight in. And therein shall you abide, [O you who believe:]

  - Mohammad Asad

There they shall be served with golden dishes and golden goblets, and they shall have everything that their souls can desire and all that their eyes can delight in - and it will be said to them: "Now you shall abide therein forever.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Golden trays and cups will be passed around to them. There will be whatever the souls desire and the eyes delight in. And you will be there forever.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Therein are brought round for them trays of gold and goblets, and therein is all that souls desire and eyes find sweet. And ye are immortal therein.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

To them will be passed round dishes and goblets of gold: there will be there all that the souls could desire all that the eyes could delight in: and ye shall abide therein (for aye). ⁴⁶⁶⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We shall have all our near and dear ones ("wives") with us: perfected Love will not be content with Self, but like a note of music will find its melody in communion with the others. The richest and most beautiful vessels will minister to our purified desires, and give complete and eternal satisfaction to our souls in every way.

for such will be the paradise which you shall have inherited by virtue of your past deeds:

  - Mohammad Asad

You have inherited this paradise by virtue of your good deeds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

That is the Paradise which you will be awarded for what you used to do.

  - Mustafa Khattab

This is the Garden which ye are made to inherit because of what ye used to do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Such will be the Garden of which ye are made heirs for your (good) deeds (in life). ⁴⁶⁷⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We shall be there, not as strangers, or temporary guests, but as heirs,-made heirs in eternity because of the good lives we had led on earth.

fruits [of those deeds] shall you have in abundance, [and] thereof shall you partake!

  - Mohammad Asad

therein you shall have plenty of fruit to eat."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

There you will have abundant fruit¹ to eat from.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Fruit also implies delicacies.

Therein for you is fruit in plenty whence to eat.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Ye shall have therein abundance of fruit from which ye shall have satisfaction. ^{4671 4672}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The "fruit" here links on with the last words in the last verse (72), "ye are made heirs for your (good) deeds (in life)".

"Shall eat". But the word akala is used in many places in the comprehensive sense of "enjoy", "have satisfaction". For example, see n. 776 to v. 69. Cf. also vii. 19 and n. 1004.

[But,] behold, they who are lost in sin shall abide in the suffering of hell:⁵³

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., for an unspecified period: see the last paragraph of 6:128 and the corresponding note [114], as well as the saying of the Prophet quoted in note [10] on 40:12 , indicating that - in accordance with the Qur'anic statement, "God has willed upon Himself the law of grace and mercy" ( 6:12 and [54]) - the otherworldly suffering described as "hell" will not be of unlimited duration. Among the theologians who hold this view is Razi, who stresses in his comments on the above passage that the expression "they shall abide (khalidun) in the suffering of hell" indicates only an indeterminate duration, but "does not convey the meaning of perpetuity" (la yafidu 'd -dawam).

But the criminals will abide in the punishment of hell.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Indeed, the wicked will be in the torment of Hell forever.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Lo! the guilty are immortal in hell's torment.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The Sinners will be in the Punishment of Hell to dwell therein (for aye):

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

it will not be lightened for them; and therein they will be lost in hopeless despair.

  - Mohammad Asad

Their punishment will never be lightened, and they shall remain despair therein.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

It will never be lightened for them, and there they will be overwhelmed with despair.

  - Mustafa Khattab

It is not relaxed for them, and they despair therein.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nowise will the (punishment) be lightened for them and in despair will they be there overwhelmed.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And it is not We who will be doing wrong unto them, but it is they who will have wronged themselves.

  - Mohammad Asad

We did not wrong them, but it is they who wronged themselves.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We did not wrong them, but it was they who were the wrongdoers.

  - Mustafa Khattab

We wronged them not, but they it was who did the wrong.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nowise shall We be unjust to them: but it is they who have been unjust themselves. ⁴⁶⁷³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The wrong-doers suffer not because Allah is unjust or cruel, nor as a deterrent to others, for the probationary period will then have passed, but because their evil deeds must bear their inevitable fruit. Allah's Grace was ever ready to offer opportunities for Repentance and Forgiveness. But they rejected them. They were unjust to themselves. This is complementary to the doctrine of works and their fruits, as explained in n. 4671 above.

And they will cry: "O thou [angel] who rulest [over hell]! Let thy Sustainer put an end to us!" - [whereupon] he will reply: "Verily, you must live on [in this state]...."

  - Mohammad Asad

They will cry: "O Malik (the keeper of hell)! Let your Rabb put and end to us." But he will answer: "Nay! You are going to live forever."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They will cry, 'O Malik!¹ Let your Lord finish us off.' He will answer, 'You are definitely here to stay.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Angel Mâlik is the chief keeper of Hell.

And they cry: O master! Let thy Lord make an end of us. He saith: Lo! here ye must remain.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

They will cry: "O Malik! would that thy Lord put an end to us!" He will say "Nay but ye shall abide!" ^{4674 4675}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Malik: The name of the Angel in charge of Hell.

Cf. xx. 74. Annihilation is better than agony. But wrong-doers cannot destroy the "fruits" of their actions, by asking for annihilation.

INDEED, [O you sinners,] We have conveyed the truth unto you; but most of you abhor the truth.⁵⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

As is evident from verses {81} ff. above, this is a reference to the truth of God's oneness and uniqueness, which those who believe in Jesus as "the son of God" refuse, as it were, to acknowledge: thus, the discourse returns here to the question of the "nature" of Jesus touched upon in verses {57-65}.

We have brought you the truth, but most of you hate the truth.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We certainly brought the truth to you, but most of you were resentful of the truth.

  - Mustafa Khattab

We verily brought the Truth unto you, but ye were, most of you, averse to the Truth.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Verily We have brought the truth to you: but most of you have a hatred for Truth. ⁴⁶⁷⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We come back now to the Present,-primarily to the time when Islam was being preached in Makkah, but by analogy the present time or any time. Truth is often bitter to the taste of those who live on Falsehoods, and Shams and profit by them. They hate the Truth, and plot against it. But will they succeed? See next verse and note.

Why - can they [who deny the truth ever] determine what [the truth] should be?⁵⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

The verb barama or abrama signifies, literally, "he twined" or "twisted [something] together", e.g., the strands that are to form a rope; or "he twisted [something] well" or "strongly". Tropically, it connotes the act of "establishing" or "determining" a thing, a proposition, a course of events, etc. (Jawhari). According to the Lisan a -'Arab, the phrase abrama al-amr has the meaning of "he determined (ahkama) the case". In the present context, the term amr, having no definite article, signifies "anything" or - in its widest sense - "anything that should [or "could"] be": and so, taking the preceding verse into account, we arrive at the meaning of arbitrarily "determining what [the truth] should be" - i.e., in contradiction to what the Qur'an postulates as the truth.

If they have devised a plan to ruin you (O Muhammad), then surely We too shall devise a plan to ruin them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or have they mastered some 'evil' plan? Then We 'too' are surely planning.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or do they determine any thing (against the Prophet)? Lo! We (also) are determining.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

What! have they settled some Plan (among themselves)? But it is We Who settle things. ⁴⁶⁷⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Men cannot settle the high affairs of the universe. If they plot against the Truth, the Truth will destroy them, just as, if they accept the Truth, the Truth will make them free. It is Allah Who disposes of affairs.

Or do they, perchance, think that We do not hear their hidden thoughts and their secret confabulations?⁵⁶ Yea, indeed, [We do,] and Our heavenly forces⁵⁷ are with them, recording [all].

  - Mohammad Asad

This is most probably an allusion to the centuries-long subtle Christian controversies on the question as to whether or not Jesus was "the son of God" and, hence, divine. These controversies were often influenced by a subconscious leaning of some of the early Christian thinkers towards ancient, mostly Mithraistic, cults and concepts which were in the beginning strongly opposed by unitarian theologians, foremost among them Arius, Patriarch of Alexandria (about 280-336 C.E.). However, at the politically-motivated Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.), the Arian views - which until then had been shared by the overwhelming majority of articulate Christians - were condemned as "heretical", and the doctrine of Christ's divinity was officially formulated in the so-called Nicene Creed as the basis of Christian beliefs. (See also note [60] below).

Lit., "Our messengers", i.e., angels.

Do they think that We cannot hear their secret talks and their private converse? Of course We do, and Our messengers (angels) who are assigned to them, record it all.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or do they think that We do not hear their 'evil' thoughts and secret talks? Yes 'We do'! And Our messenger-angels are in their presence, recording 'it all'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or deem they that We cannot hear their secret thoughts and private confidences? Nay, but Our envoys, present with them, do record.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Or do they think that We hear not their secrets and their private counsels? Indeed (We do) and Our Messengers are by them to record. ⁴⁶⁷⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

However secretly men may plot, everything is known to Allah. His Recording Angels are by, at all times and in all places, to prepare a Record of their Deeds for their own conviction when the time comes for Judgment.

Say [O Prophet]: "If the Most Gracious [truly] had a son, I would be the first to worship him!"

  - Mohammad Asad

O Prophet tell the Christians: "If the Compassionate (Allah) had a son, I would be the first to worship him."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say, 'O Prophet,' 'If the Most Compassionate 'really' had offspring, I would be the first worshipper.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say (O Muhammad): The Beneficent One hath no son. I am first among the worshippers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "If (Allah) Most Gracious had a son I would be the first to worship." ⁴⁶⁷⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The prophet of Allah does not object to true worship in any form. But it must be true: it must not superstitiously attribute derogatory things to Allah, or foster false ideas.

Utterly remote, in His glory, is the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth - the Sustainer, in almightiness enthroned⁵⁸ - from all that they may attribute to Him by way of definition!⁵⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

Cf. the last clause of surah {9} and the corresponding note [171].

See note [XX] on the last sentence of 6:100 .

Glory be to the Rabb of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, He is above what they ascribe to Him.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Glorified is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, far above what they claim.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Glorified be the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, from that which they ascribe (unto Him)!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Glory to the Lord of the heavens and the earth the Lord of the Throne (of Authority)! (He is free) from the things they attribute (to Him)! ⁴⁶⁸⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vii. 54 and n. 1032. All Power, Authority, Knowledge, and Truth are with Allah. He neither begets nor is begotten. Glory to Him!

But leave them to indulge in idle talk and play [with words]⁶⁰ until they face that [Judgment] Day of theirs which they have been promised:

  - Mohammad Asad

Evidently an allusion to the verbal subtleties of the Nicene Creed, and particularly the statement, "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten, not made [i.e., not created], by the Father as His only Son, of the same substance as the Father, God of God ...", etc.

So let them blunder and play until they face their Day, which has been promised to them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So let them indulge 'in falsehood' and amuse 'themselves' until they face their Day, which they have been warned of.

  - Mustafa Khattab

So let them flounder (in their talk) and play until they meet the Day which they are promised.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

So leave them to babble and play (with vanities) until they meet that Day of theirs which they have been promised. ⁴⁶⁸¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

That Day of theirs: they had their Day on earth; they will have a different sort of Day in the Hereafter, according to the promise of Allah about the Resurrection and Judgment, or perhaps about Retribution in this very life! So leave them to play about with their fancies and vanities. Truth must eventually prevail!

for [then they will come to know that] it is He [alone] who is God in heaven and God on earth, and [that] He alone is truly wise, all-knowing.

  - Mohammad Asad

It is He (Allah) Who is God in the heavens and God on earth; He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowledgeable.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

It is He Who is 'the only' God in the heavens and 'the only' God on the earth. For He is the All-Wise, All-Knowing.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And He it is Who in the heaven is God, and in the earth God. He is the Wise, the knower.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is He Who is Allah in heaven and Allah on earth; and He is full of Wisdom and Knowledge.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And hallowed be He unto whom the dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them belongs, and with whom the knowledge of the Last Hour rests, and unto whom you all shall be brought back!

  - Mohammad Asad

Blessed is He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them! He Alone has the knowledge of the Hour of Doom, and to Him you shall all be brought back.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And Blessed is the One to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and everything in between! With Him 'alone' is the knowledge of the Hour. And to Him you will 'all' be returned.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And blessed be He unto Whom belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and with Whom is knowledge of the Hour, and unto Whom ye will be returned.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And blessed is He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all between them: with Him is the knowledge of the Hour (of Judgment): And to Him shall ye be brought back. ⁴⁶⁸²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We glorify Allah, and we call His name blessed, because He has not only supreme power and authority, but because we shall return to Him and see "the Light of His Countenance" (xxx. 38).

And those [beings] whom some invoke beside God⁶¹ have it not in their power to intercede [on Judgment Day] for any but such as have [in their lifetime] borne witness to the truth, and have been aware [that God is one and unique].⁶²

  - Mohammad Asad

A reference to falsely deified saints or prophets and, particularly (in view of the context), to Jesus.

For an explanation of the Qur'anic concept of "intercession", see 10:3 - "There is none that could intercede with Him unless He grants leave therefore" - and the corresponding note [7]. - My interpolation, at the end of the above verse, of the words "that God is one and unique" is based on Razi's interpretation of this passage, implying that a mere oral "bearing witness to the truth" is useless if it is not the outcome of an inner awareness of God's oneness and uniqueness.

And those to whom they invoke besides Him, have no power to intercede for them except those who testify to the truth by virtue of knowledge.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'But' those 'objects of worship' they invoke besides Him have no power to intercede, except those who testify to the truth knowingly.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 i.e., Jesus, Ezra, and the angels.

And those unto whom they cry instead of Him possess no power of intercession, saving him who beareth witness unto the Truth knowingly.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And those whom they invoke besides Allah have no power of intercession; only he who bears witness to the Truth and they know (him). ⁴⁶⁸³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

While idols and false gods have no power of intercession, persons like Jesus, who is falsely worshipped by his misguided followers, but who himself preached the Gospel of Unity with full understanding will have the power of intercession.

Now if thou ask those [who worship any being other than God] as to who it is that has created them, they are sure to answer, "God." How perverted, then, are their minds!

  - Mohammad Asad

If you ask them Who created them, they will certainly say: "Allah." How then are they deluded away from the truth?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

If you ask them 'O Prophet' who created them, they will certainly say, 'Allah!' How can they then be deluded 'from the truth'?

  - Mustafa Khattab

And if thou ask them who created them, they will surely say: Allah. How then are they turned away?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

If thou ask them Who Created them they will certainly say Allah: how then are they deluded away (from the Truth)? ⁴⁶⁸⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xxxi. 25, and n. 3613-1 and xxxix. 38, and n. 4299.

[But God has full knowledge of the true believer⁶³] and of his [despairing] cry: "O my Sustainer! Verily, these are people who will not believe!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Razi (on whose commentary the above interpolation is based), regards this as a reference to the Prophet Muhammad. It seems, however, that the meaning is wider, embracing every believer, of whatever denomination, who is distressed at the blindness of people who attribute divinity or divine qualities to any being other than God Himself.

Allah has heard the Prophet's cry: "O Rabb! Surely these are a people who would not believe."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'Allah is Aware of' the Prophet's cry: 'O my Lord! Indeed, these are a people who persist in disbelief.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

And he saith: O my Lord! Lo! those are a folk who believe not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

(Allah has knowledge) of the (Prophet's) cry "O my Lord! truly these are a people who will not believe!" ^{4685 4686}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Commentators are divided in opinion as to the construction. The best opinion is that which I have adopted, referring back qilihi as a genitive governed by 'ilm in verse 85.

The Prophet was much troubled in mind by the Unfaith of the Quraish: xviii. 6. He is here told to leave them alone for a time, for the Truth must soon prevail.

Yet bear thou with them, and say, "Peace [be upon you]!" - for in time they will come to know [the truth].

  - Mohammad Asad

Therefore, O Prophet! Bear with them and wish them peace. They shall soon come to know the truth.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So bear with them and respond with peace. They will soon come to know.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then bear with them (O Muhammad) and say: Peace. But they will come to know.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But turn away from them and say "Peace!" but soon shall they know! ⁴⁶⁸⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xxv. 63, and n. 3123.