Surah 53. An-Najm

CONSIDER this unfolding [of God's message], as it comes down from on high!¹

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "Consider the star when it sets" - an interpretation which for some reason has the preference of the majority of the commentators. However, almost all of them admit that the term najm - derived from the verb najama, "it appeared", "began", "ensued", or "proceeded" denotes also the "unfolding" of something that comes or appears gradually, as if by instalments. Hence, this term has from the very beginning been applied to each of the gradually-revealed parts (nujum) of the Qur'an and, thus, to the process of its gradual revelation, or its "unfolding", as such. This was, in fact, the interpretation of the above verse given by 'Abd Allah ibn'Abbas (as quoted by Tabari); in view of the sequence, this interpretation is regarded as fully justified by Raghib, Zamakhshari, Razi, Baydawi, Ibn Kathir and other authorities. Raghib and Ibn Kathir, in particular, point to the phrase mawaqi' an-nujum in 56:75 , which undoubtedly refers to the step-by-step revelation of the Qur'an. - As regards my rendering of the adjective particle wa as "Consider", see surah {74}, note [23].

By the star when it set,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

By the stars when they fade away!

  - Mustafa Khattab

By the Star when it setteth,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

By the Star when it goes down ⁵⁰⁸⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

An-Najm is interpreted in various ways. As most commonly accepted, it means either a Star generically, or the close cluster of seven stars known as the Pleiades in the Constellation Taurus, which the sun enters about the 21st of April every year. In mid-April, or a little later, the beautiful cluster would set just after the sun, after having gradually ascended the sky in the winter months. In late May, or a little later, it would rise just before the sun. In its western aspects, it might be considered a spring constellation. To open-air nations (including the Arabs) whose climate usually presents starry skies, this is an object of great interest, and many folklore tales gather round it. When so glorious a cluster is content to bow down in the horizon and merge its light in the greater light created by Allah, it becomes a symbol of humility in beauty and power before the Most High. Whose revelation discloses the summit of beauty, power, and wisdom. Hawa in the text may mean either "goes down (or sets)" or "rises". Whichever meaning we take, it makes no difference to the interpretation given above.

This fellow-man of yours has not gone astray, nor is he deluded,²

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [150] on 7:184 .

your companion (Muhammad) is neither astray, nor misguided,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Your fellow man¹ is neither misguided nor astray.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Muḥammad (ﷺ).

Your comrade erreth not, nor is deceived;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Your Companion is neither astray nor being misled ⁵⁰⁸⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Your Companion" is the holy Prophet Muhammad, who had lived among the Quraish. He is defended from three kinds of charges that the Unbelievers brought against him: (1) that he was going astray, either through defect of intelligence or through carelessness; (2) that he was being misled or deceived by evil spirits; and (3) that he spoke out of a whim or impulse, or from a selfish desire to impress his own personality. None of these charges were true. On the contrary he had direct inspiration from Allah.

and neither does he speak out of his own desire:

  - Mohammad Asad

nor does he speak out of his own desire.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nor does he speak of his own whims.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nor doth he speak of (his own) desire.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) Desire.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

that [which he conveys to you] is but [a divine] inspiration with which he is being inspired -

  - Mohammad Asad

This Qur'an is but an inspired revelation.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

It is only a revelation sent down 'to him'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

It is naught save an inspiration that is inspired,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is no less than inspiration sent down to him:

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

something that a very mighty one³ has imparted to him:

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the Angel of Revelation, Gabriel.

He is being taught by one who is mighty, powerful (angel Gabriel);

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He has been taught by one 'angel' of mighty power¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The angel Gabriel.

Which one of mighty powers hath taught him,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He was taught by one mighty in Power ⁵⁰⁸⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is referred by the Commentators to the angel Gabriel, through whom the inspiration came. Cf. lxxxi, 20.

[an angel] endowed with surpassing power, who in time manifested himself in his true shape and nature,

  - Mohammad Asad

the one free from defects who became stable in the view.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

and great perfection, who once rose to 'his' true form¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Gabriel used to come to the Prophet in a human form. But he appeared to him (ﷺ) twice in his angelic form: once at the beginning of the Prophet’s mission (when the angel manifested himself, filling the horizon, the Prophet (ﷺ) lost his consciousness), and another time during the Prophet’s Night Journey to the seventh heaven to receive the order to pray directly from Allah (see 17:1).

One vigorous; and he grew clear to view

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Endued with Wisdom: For he appeared (in stately form)

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

appearing in the horizon's loftiest part,⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

Cf. 81:23 and the corresponding note [8]. According to the Qur'an and the testimony of authentic Traditions, the Prophet had no more than twice in his lifetime a vision of this angelic force "manifested in its true shape and nature" (which, as pointed out by Zamakhshari, is the meaning of the expression istawa in this context): once after the period called fatrat al-wahy (see introductory note to surah {74}), and another time, as alluded to in verses {13-18}, in the course of his mystic vision known as the "Ascension" (see Appendix IV).

He stood poised at the uppermost horizon,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

while on the highest point above the horizon,

  - Mustafa Khattab

When he was on the uppermost boon.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

While he was in the highest part of the horizon: ⁵⁰⁸⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Gabriel appeared in stately form. Istawa in verse 61 translated "appeared", means literally "mounted" or "ascended", or "set himself to execute a design"; see n. 1386 to x. 3.

and then drew near, and came close,

  - Mohammad Asad

then he drew near, coming closer

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

then he approached 'the Prophet', coming so close

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then be drew nigh and came down

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then he approached and came closer

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

until he was but two bow-lengths away, or even nearer.⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

This graphic "description" of the angel's approach, based on an Arabian figure of speech, is meant to convey the idea that the Angel of Revelation became a clearly perceptible, almost tangible, presence.

within the length of two bows or even closer,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

that he was only two arms-lengths away or even less.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 lit., he was only two bow-draws away.

Till he was (distant) two bows' length or even nearer,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer; ⁵⁰⁸⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Two bow-shots (counting 100 to 150 yards to a bow-shot) would be a clearly visible distance.

And thus did [God] reveal unto His servant whatever He deemed right to reveal.⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "whatever He revealed": an allusion to the exceptional manifestation of the angel "in his true shape and nature" as well as to the contents of divine revelation as such. In its deeper sense the above phrase implies that even to His chosen prophets God does not entirely unveil the ultimate mysteries of existence, of life and death, of the purpose for which He has created the universe, or of the nature of the universe itself.

and revealed to Allah's servant that what he was supposed to reveal.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then Allah revealed to His servant what He revealed 'through Gabriel'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And He revealed unto His slave that which He revealed.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

So did (Allah) convey the inspiration to His Servant (conveyed) what He (meant) to convey. ⁵⁰⁹⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Gabriel would be just a messenger, to do no more than convey Allah's Message to Allah's Messenger.

The [servant's] heart did not give the lie to what he saw:⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

Inasmuch as the Prophet was fully aware of the spiritual character of his experience, there was no conflict between his conscious mind and his intuitive perception (the "vision of the heart") of what is normally not perceptible.

His (Muhammad's) own heart did not deny that which he saw.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The 'Prophet's' heart did not doubt what he saw.

  - Mustafa Khattab

The heart lied not (in seeing) what it saw.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The (Prophet's) (mind and) heart in no way falsified that which he saw. ⁵⁰⁹¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Heart" in Arabic includes the faculty of intelligence as well as the faculty of feeling. The impression conveyed was pure truth; there was no illusion in it.

will you, then, contend with him as to what he saw?⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus the Qur'an makes it clear that the Prophet's vision of the angel was not a delusion but a true spiritual experience: but precisely because it was purely spiritual in nature, it could be conveyed to others only by means of symbols and allegories, which sceptics all too readily dismiss as fancies, "contending with him as to what he saw".

How can you, O unbelievers then, question what he saw?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

How can you 'O pagans' then dispute with him regarding what he saw?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Will ye then dispute with him concerning what he seeth?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Will ye then dispute with him concerning what he saw?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And, indeed, he saw him⁹ a second time

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., he saw the angel "manifested in his true shape and nature".

And he (Muhammad) saw him once again

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And he certainly saw that 'angel descend' a second time

  - Mustafa Khattab

And verily he saw him, yet another time

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For indeed he saw him at a second descent. ⁵⁰⁹²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The first occasion when Gabriel appeared in a visible form was at the Mountain of Light, when he brought his first revelation beginning with Iqraa:. The second was at the Prophet's Miraj or Ascension: see Introduction to S. xvii.

by the lote-tree of the farthest limit,¹⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., on the occasion of his mystic experience of the "Ascension" (mi'raj). Explaining the vision conveyed in the expression sidrat al-muntaha, Raghib suggests that owing to the abundance of its leafy shade, the sidr or sidrah (the Arabian lote-tree) appears in the Qur'an as well as in the Traditions relating to the Ascension as a symbol of the "shade - i.e., the spiritual peace and fulfilment - of paradise. One may assume that the qualifying term al-muntaha ("of the utmost [or "farthest"] limit") is indicative of the fact that God has set a definite limit to all knowledge accessible to created beings, as pointed out in the Nihayah: implying, in particular, that human knowledge, though potentially vast and penetrating, can never - not even in paradise (the "garden of promise" mentioned in the next verse) - attain to an understanding of the ultimate reality, which the Creator has reserved for Himself (cf. note [6] above).

near Sidra-tul-Muntaha (the Lot-tree at the farthest end of the seven heavens, beyond which none can pass).

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

at the Lote Tree of the most extreme limit 'in the seventh heaven'-

  - Mustafa Khattab

By the lote tree of the utmost boundary,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Near the Lote-tree beyond which none may pass: ⁵⁰⁹³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

For the Lote-tree in its literal meaning, see n. 3814 to xxxiv. 16. The wild Lote is thorny; under cultivation it yields good fruit and shade, and is symbolic of heavenly bliss, as here and in lvi. 28.

near unto the garden of promise,

  - Mohammad Asad

Near it is Janna-tul-M'awa (the rest-house of paradise).

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

near which is the Garden of 'Eternal' Residence-

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nigh unto which is the Garden of Abode.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Near it is the Garden of Abode. ⁵⁰⁹⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The "Garden of Abode" (Jannat al-Mawa) lies close to the Lote-Tree and, in the opinion of some authorities, is so called because the souls of believers will find their abode therein.