Surah 6. Al-An'am

Lost indeed are they who consider it a lie that they will have to meet God - till the Last Hour suddenly comes upon them, [and] they cry, "Alas for us, that we disregarded it!" - for they shall bear on their backs the burden of their sins:²¹ oh, how evil the load with which they shall be burdened!

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "their burdens". My use of the words "the burden of their sins" rests on the interpretation given by Ibn 'Abbas, as quoted by Razi.

Those people are indeed lost who deny that they will ever meet Allah. When the hour of Doomsday will overtake them all of a sudden, they will exclaim: "Alas! How negligent we have been about this Hour." They will be carrying the burden of their sins on their backs; and evil indeed are the burdens that they carry!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They indeed are losers who deny their meeting with Allah until, when the hour cometh on them suddenly, they cry: Alas for us, that we neglected it! They bear upon their back their burdens. Ah, evil is that which they bear!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And nothing is the life of this world but a play and a passing delight; and the life in the hereafter is by far the better for all who are conscious of God. Will you not, then, use your reason?

  - Mohammad Asad

The life of this world is nothing but play and amusement, but the life of the Hereafter will be better for those who are righteous. Will you not use your common sense?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Naught is the life of the world save a pastime and a sport. Better far is the abode of the Hereafter for those who keep their duty (to Allah). Have ye then no sense?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Well do We know that what such people say²² grieves thee indeed: yet, behold, it is not thee to whom they give the lie, but God's messages do these evildoers deny.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "what they say" - i.e., about life after death (which they regard as a "fable") in particular, and about the Qur'anic message in general.

O Muhammad We know it well that what they say grieves you: it is not you that they deny, these wrongdoers actually deny the revelations of Allah.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We know well how their talk grieveth thee, though in truth they deny not thee (Muhammad) but evil-doers flout the revelations of Allah.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And, indeed, [even] before thy time have apostles been given the lie, and they endured with patience all those charges of falsehood, and all the hurt done to them, till succour came unto them from Us: for there is no power that could alter [the outcome of] God's promises. And some of the histories of those apostles have already come within thy ken.²³

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "some of the information concerning the apostles has already come to thee": a reference to the fact that only a few of the earlier prophets and their histories have been specifically mentioned in the Qur'an (always in connection with a particular moral lesson), while the great majority of them are only alluded to in a general manner, in support of the divine statement that no community or civilization has been left without prophetic guidance.

Many Rasools before you were denied but patiently bore with their denial and persecution until Our help came down to them: for none can change the decrees of Allah. You have already received the news of what happened to those Rasools.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Messengers indeed have been denied before thee, and they were patient under the denial and the persecution till Our succour reached them. There is none to alter the decisions of Allah. Already there hath reached thee (somewhat) of the tidings of the messengers (We sent before).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And if it distress thee that those who deny the truth²⁴ turn their backs on thee - why, then, if thou art able to go down deep into the earth or to ascend a ladder unto heaven²⁵ in order to bring them a [yet more convincing] message, [do so;] but [remember that] had God so willed, He would indeed have gathered them all unto [His] guidance. Do not, therefore, allow thyself to ignore [God's ways].²⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "that they".

Lit., "to seek out an opening in the earth or a ladder to heaven".

Lit., "be not, therefore, of the ignorant".

If you find their aversion hard to bear, then see if you can make a tunnel in the ground or put a ladder to ascend in the skies by which you can bring them a sign. O Prophet, you know well that if Allah wanted, He would have given guidance to all. So do not be like the ignorant.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if their aversion is grievous unto thee, then, if thou canst, seek a way down into the earth or a ladder unto the sky that thou mayst bring unto them a portent (to convince them all)! If Allah willed, He could have brought them all together to the guidance So be not thou among the foolish ones.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Only they who listen [with their hearts] can respond to a call; and as for the dead [of heart], God [alone] can raise them from the dead, whereupon unto Him they shall return.²⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "they shall be returned". Most of the classical commentators (e.g., Tabari, Zamakhshari, Razi, as well as the earlier authorities whom they quote) interpret this verse in the metaphorical sense in which it has been rendered by me. As is so often the case with Qur'anic diction, its elliptical meaning can only be brought out by means of interpolations.

Surely those who listen to Our revelations with open mind will accept the Truth. As for the dead (those with closed minds), Allah will bring them back to life, on the Day of Judgement, to be produced in His court.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Only those can accept who hear. As for the dead, Allah will raise them up; then unto Him they will be returned.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And they say, "Why has no miraculous sign been bestowed on him²⁸ from on high by his Sustainer?" Say: "Behold, God has the power to bestow any sign from on high." Yet most human beings are unaware of this²⁹ -

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., on Muhammad, to demonstrate that he is really a bearer of God's message.

Lit., "most of them do not know", i.e., that God manifests Himself always - as the next verse points out - through the ever-recurring miracle of His creation.

They ask: "Why has a sign not been sent down to him from his Rabb?" Tell them: "Allah is surely able to send down a Sign if He wants; but most of them do not understand the wisdom behind it."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They say: Why hath no portent been sent down upon him from his Lord? Say: Lo! Allah is Able to send down a portent. But most of them know not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

although there is no beast that walks on earth and no bird that flies on its two wings which is not [God's] creature³⁰ like yourselves: no single thing have We neglected in Our decree. And once again:³¹ Unto their Sustainer shall they [all] be gathered.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "but they are [God's] creatures (umam)". The word ummah (of which umam is the plural) primarily denotes a group of living beings having certain characteristics or circumstances in common. Thus, it is often synonymous with "community", "people", "nation", "genus" "generation", and so forth. Inasmuch as every such grouping is characterized by the basic fact that its constituents (whether human or animal) are endowed with life, the term ummah sometimes signifies "[God's] creatures" (Lisan al-'Arab, with particular reference to this very Qur'an-verse; also Lane I, 90). Thus, the meaning of the above passage is this: Man can detect God's "signs" or "miracles" in all the life-phenomena that surround him, and should, therefore, try to observe them with a view to better understanding "God's way" (sunnat Allah) - which is the Qur'anic term for what we call "laws of nature".

The particle thumma is mostly used as a conjunction indicating a sequence in time or order ("then", "thereafter" or "thereupon"), and occasionally also as a simple conjunction equivalent to "and". But in yet another usage - of which there are frequent instances in the Qur'an as well as in pre-Islamic Arabian poetry - thumma has the significance of a repetitive stress, alluding to something that has already been stated and is now again emphasized. This particular usage of thumma is best rendered by the words "and once again", followed by a colon.

If you really want to see the signs of Allah, just look at any animal that walks upon the earth and any bird that flies in the air; they too are the communities like you. We have not left out anything from the Book in determining the courses of their lives. They all shall be gathered before their Rabb.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

There is not an animal in the earth, nor a flying creature flying on two wings, but they are peoples like unto you. We have neglected nothing in the Book (of Our decrees). Then unto their Lord they will be gathered.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And they who give the lie to Our messages are deaf and dumb, in darkness deep. Whomever God wills, He lets go astray; and whomever He wills, He places upon a straight way.³²

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [4] on 14:4 .

Those who deny Our Revelations are deaf and dumb, living in many layers of darkness. Allah confounds whom He will, and guides to the Right Way whom He pleases.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Those who deny our revelations are deaf and dumb in darkness. Whom Allah will He sendeth astray, and whom He will He placeth on a straight path.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "Can you see yourselves invoking any but God when God's chastisement befalls you [in this world], or the Last Hour comes upon you? [Tell me this,] if you are men of truth!

  - Mohammad Asad

Ask them to think carefully and answer: "When you face a disaster or the last Hour approaches you, do you call for help anyone other than Allah? Answer me if you are truthful!"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: Can ye see yourselves, if the punishment of Allah come upon you or the Hour come upon you, calling upon other than Allah? Do ye then call (for help) to any other than Allah? (Answer that) if ye are truthful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay, but it is Him alone that you will invoke - whereupon He may, if He so wills, remove that [ill] which caused you to call unto Him; and you will have forgotten all that to which you [now] ascribe divinity side by side with Him."

  - Mohammad Asad

No, on Him Alone you will call, and forget those whom you have set up as His partners; then if He pleases, He relieves you from the affliction about which you have prayed to Him.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, but unto Him ye call, and He removeth that because of which ye call unto Him, if He will, and ye forget whatever partners ye ascribed unto Him.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And, indeed, We sent Our messages unto people before thy time, [O Prophet,] and visited them with misfortune and hardship so that they might humble themselves:

  - Mohammad Asad

We did send Rasools before you to other nations and afflicted them with suffering and adversities so that they might learn humility.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We have sent already unto peoples that were before thee, and We visited them with tribulation and adversity, in order that they might grow humble.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

yet when the misfortune decreed by Us befell them, they did not humble themselves, but rather their hearts grew hard, for Satan had made all their doings seem goodly to them.

  - Mohammad Asad

Why did they not humble themselves when the sufferings overtook them? On the contrary their hearts became hardened and Shaitan made their sinful acts seem fair to them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

If only, when our disaster came on them, they had been humble! But their hearts were hardened and the devil made all that they used to do seem fair unto them!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then, when they had forgotten all that they had been told to take to heart, We threw open to them the gates of all [good] things,³³ until - even as they were rejoicing in what they had been granted - We suddenly took them to task: and lo! they were broken in spirit;³⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., to test them by happiness after the test by misery.

The verb ablasa signifies "he despaired of all hope" or "became broken in spirit". (For the linguistic connection of this word with the name of Iblis, the Fallen Angel, see surah {7}, note [10].)

When they neglected the warning they had received, then, instead of punishment, We opened the gates of every kind of prosperity for them; but just as they were rejoicing in what they were given, We suddenly seized them; lo! They were plunged into despair!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then, when they forgot that whereof they had been reminded, We opened unto them the gates of all things till, even as they were rejoicing in that which they were given, We seized them unawares, and lo! they were dumbfounded.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and [in the end,] the last remnant of those folk who had been bent on evildoing was wiped out.³⁵ For all praise is due to God, the Sustainer of all the worlds.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "cut off". The above passage illustrates a phenomenon well known in history: namely, the inevitable social and moral disintegration of communities which have lost sight of spiritual truths.

Thus We cut off the roots of the wrongdoers. All praises are due to Allah the Rabb of the worlds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So of the people who did wrong the last remnant was cut off. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall