Surah 55. Ar-Rahman

The stars and the trees bow down 'in submission'.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 lit., prostrate.

And the herbs and the trees-both (alike) bow in adoration. ^{5175 5176}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Najm: may mean stars collectively, or herbs collectively: perhaps both meanings are implied.

All nature adores Allah. Cf. xxii. 18, and n. 2790; xiii. 15; and xvi. 48-49.

As for the sky, He raised it 'high', and set the balance 'of justice'

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the Firmament has He raised high and He has set up the balance (of Justice) ⁵¹⁷⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The "balance of justice" in this verse is connected with "the Balance" in the next two verses, that men may act justly to each other and observe due balance in all their actions, following the golden mean and not transgressing due bounds in anything. But the Balance is also connected figuratively with the heavens above in three symbols: (1) Justice is a heavenly virtue: (2) the heavens themselves are sustained by mathematical balance; and (3) the constellation Libra (the Balance) is entered by the sun at the middle of the zodiacal year.

so that you do not defraud the scales.

  - Mustafa Khattab

In order that ye may not transgress (due) balance.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Weigh with justice, and do not give short measure.

  - Mustafa Khattab

So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance. ⁵¹⁷⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

To be taken both literally and figuratively. A man should be honest and straight in every daily matter, such as weighing out things which he is selling: and he should be straight, just and honest, in all the highest dealings, not only with other people, but with himself and in his obedience to Allah's Law. Not many do either the one or the other when they have an opportunity of deceit. Justice is the central virtue, and the avoidance of both excess and defect in conduct keeps the human world balanced just as the heavenly world is kept balanced by mathematical order.

He laid out the earth for all beings.

  - Mustafa Khattab

It is He Who has spread out the earth for (His) creatures: ⁵¹⁷⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

How can Allah's favours be counted? Look at the earth alone. Life and the conditions here are mutually balanced for Allah's creatures. The vegetable world produces fruit of various kinds and corn or grain of various kinds for human food. The grain harvest yields with it fodder for animals in the shape of leaves and straw, as well as food for men in the shape of grain. The plants not only supply food but sweet-smelling herbs and flowers. Raihan is the sweet basil, but is here used in the generic sense, for agreeable produce in the vegetable world, to match the useful produce already mentioned.

In it are fruit, palm trees with date stalks,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Therein is fruit and date-palms producing spathes (enclosing dates):

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

and grain with husks, and aromatic plants.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Also corn with (its) leaves and stalk for fodder and sweet-smelling plants.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Then which of your Lord's favours will you 'humans and jinn' both deny?¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 This question is repeated thirty-one times in this sûrah: eight times after reminders of Allah’s favours, seven times in the passage talking about the punishment of the deniers of judgment (which is the number of the gates of Hell), and eight times in each of the two following passages talking about Paradise, which has eight gates.

Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? ⁵¹⁸⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Both the pronoun "your" and the verb "will ye deny" are in the Arabic in the Dual Number. The whole Sura is a symphony of Duality, which leads up to Unity, as explained in the Introduction. All creation is in pairs: li. 49, and notes 5025-26; xxxvi. 36, n. 3981. Justice is the conciliation of two opposites to unity, the settlement of the unending feud between Right and Wrong. The things and concepts mentioned in this Sura are in pairs: man and outer nature; sun and moon; herbs and trees; heaven and earth; fruit and corn; human food and fodder for cattle; things nourishing and things sweet-smelling; and so on throughout the Sura. Then there is man and Jinn, for which see n. 5182 below. "Will ye deny?" that is, fail to acknowledge either in word or thought or in your conduct. If you misuse Allah's gifts or ignore them, that is equivalent to ingratitude or denial or refusal to profit by Allah's infinite Grace.

He created humankind from 'sounding' clay like pottery,

  - Mustafa Khattab

He created man from sounding clay like unto pottery. ⁵¹⁸¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

See n. 1966 to xv. 26. The creation of men and Jinns is contrasted. Man was made of sounding clay, dry and brittle like pottery. The Jinn (see next note) was made from a clear flame of fire. Yet each has capacities and possibilities which only Allah's Grace bestows on them. How can they deny Allah's favours?

and created jinn from a 'smokeless' flame of fire.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And He created Jinns from fire free of smoke: ⁵¹⁸²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

For the meaning of Jinn, see n. 929 to vi. 100. They are spirits, and therefore subtle like a flame of fire. Their being free from smoke implies that they are free from grossness, for smoke is the grosser accompaniment of fire.

Then which of your Lord's favours will you both deny?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny? ⁵¹⁸³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Part of the idea of this refrain will be found in xvi. 71, 72; xl. 81; and liii. 55 (where see n. 5122).

'He is' Lord of the two easts and the two wests.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The two points of sunrise and sunset in the summer and the winter.

(He is) Lord of the two Easts and Lord of the two Wests: ⁵¹⁸⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The two Easts are the two extreme points where the sun rises during the year, and includes all the points between. Similarly the two Wests include the two extreme points of the sun's setting and all the points between. The Dual Number fits with the general atmosphere of Duality in this Sura. Allah is Lord of every region of the earth and sky, and He scatters His bounties everywhere. See also n. 4641 to xliii. 38, and n. 4034 to xxxvii. 5.

Then which of your Lord's favours will you both deny?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

He merges the two bodies of 'fresh and salt' water,

  - Mustafa Khattab

He has let free the two bodies of flowing water meeting together: ⁵¹⁸⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

See xxv. 53, and n. 3111, where it is explained how the two bodies of water, salt and sweet, meet together, yet keep separate, as if there was a barrier or partition between them. This is also one of the favours of Allah. Sea-water is a sanitating agent, while fresh water is sweet and palatable to drink.

yet between them is a barrier they never cross.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 See footnote for 25:53.

Between them is a Barrier which they do not transgress:

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali