Surah 6. Al-An'am

And He alone holds sway over His servants. And He sends forth heavenly forces to watch over you⁵² until, when death approaches any of you, Our messengers cause him to die: and they do not overlook [anyone].

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "sends forth guardians over you".

He is the Irresistible (reigns supreme) over his servants and sends guardian angels over you. At length, when death approaches anyone of you, Our angels take his soul and they are not negligent in performing their duty.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He is the Omnipotent over His slaves. He sendeth guardians over you until, when death cometh unto one of you, Our messengers receive him, and they neglect not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And they [who have died] are thereupon brought before God,⁵³ their true Lord Supreme. Oh, verily, His alone is all judgment: and He is the swiftest of all reckoners!

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "brought back [or "referred"] to God" - i.e., placed before Him for judgment.

Then those souls are brought back to Allah, their real Master. Beware! He is the Judge and He is the swiftest in settling accounts.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then are they restored unto Allah, their Lord, the Just. Surely His is the judgment. And He is the most swift of reckoners.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "Who is it that saves you from the dark dangers⁵⁴ of land and sea [when] you call unto Him humbly, and in the secrecy of your hearts, 'If He will but save us from this [distress], we shall most certainly be among the grateful'?"

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "the darknesses" or "the deep darkness".

Ask them: "Who delivers you from calamities in the darkness of the land and of the sea, when you call upon Him in open humility and silent terror: If You deliver us from this affliction, we shall become truly grateful."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: Who delivereth you from the darkness of the land and the sea? Ye call upon Him humbly and in secret, (saying): If we are delivered from this (fear) we truly will be of the thankful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "God [alone] can save you from this and from every distress - and still you ascribe divinity to other powers beside Him!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Say: "Allah delivers you from these and all other calamities, yet you commit shirk (worship false gods)!"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: Allah delivereth you from this and from all afflictions. Yet ye attribute partners unto Him.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "It is He alone who has the power to let loose upon you suffering from above you or from beneath your feet,⁵⁵ or to confound you with mutual discord and let you taste the fear of one another."⁵⁶ Behold how many facets We give to these messages, so that they might understand the truth;

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., from any direction or by any means whatsoever.

Or: "the violence of one against another" - inner disintegration, fear, violence and tyranny being the inevitable consequences of a society's departure from spiritual truths.

Say: "He has the power to send calamities on you from above and from below or to split you into discordant factions to make you taste the violence of one another. See how We present Our revelations over and over again so that they may understand the reality.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: He is able to send punishment upon you from above you or from beneath your feet, or to bewilder you with dissension and make you taste the tyranny one of another. See how We display the revelations so that they may understand.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and yet, to all this thy people⁵⁷ have given the lie, although it is the truth. Say [then]: "I am not responsible for your conduct.

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the unbelieving compatriots of the Prophet and, by implication, all who deny the truth.

But your people are rejecting this (The Qur'an), although it is the very truth." Tell them: "I am not appointed as your caretaker.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Thy people (O Muhammad) have denied it, though it is the Truth. Say: I am not put in charge of you.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Every tiding [from God] has a term set for its fulfilment: and in time you will come to know [the truth]."

  - Mohammad Asad

For every prophecy there is an appointed time, and soon you will come to know."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

For every announcement there is a term, and ye will come to know.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

NOW, whenever thou meet such as indulge in [blasphemous] talk about Our messages, turn thy back upon them until they begin to talk of other things;⁵⁸ and if Satan should ever cause thee to forget [thyself], remain not, after recollection, in the company of such evildoing folk,

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "until they immerse themselves in talk other than this".

When you see those who are engaged in arguments about Our revelations, turn away from them until they change their topic of discussion. If Shaitan ever makes you forget this commandment, then as soon as you realize, withdraw from the company of wrongdoers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when thou seest those who meddle with Our revelations, withdraw from them until they meddle with another topic. And if the devil cause thee to forget, sit not, after the remembrance, with the congregation of wrong doers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for whom those who are conscious of God are in no wise accountable. Theirs, however, is the duty to admonish [the sinners],⁵⁹ so that they might become conscious of God.

  - Mohammad Asad

This is a paraphrase of the elliptic expression wa-lakin dhikra ("however, an admonition").

Though righteous people will not be held responsible for wrongdoers' actions, yet it is their duty to admonish them; perhaps they may refrain from evil deeds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Those who ward off (evil) are not accountable for them in aught, but the Reminder (must be given them) that haply they (too) may ward off (evil).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And leave to themselves all those who, beguiled by the life of this world, have made play and passing delights their religion;⁶⁰ but remind [them] herewith that [in the life to come] every human being shall be held in pledge for whatever wrong he has done, and shall have none to protect him from God, and none to intercede for him; and though he offer any conceivable ransom,⁶¹ it shall not be accepted from him. It is [people such as] these that shall be held in pledge for the wrong they have done; for them there is [in the life to come] a draught of burning despair,⁶² and grievous suffering awaits them because of their persistent refusal to acknowledge the truth.

  - Mohammad Asad

The phrase attakhadhu dinahum la'iban wa-lahwan can be understood in either of two ways: (l) "they have made their religion [an object of] play and fun", or (2) "they have made play and fun [or "passing delights"] their religion" - i.e., the main goal of their lives. To my mind, the latter reading is definitely preferable inasmuch as it brings out the fact that many of those who are "beguiled by the life of this world" devote themselves to the pursuit of what the Qur'an describes as "passing delights" - including the pleasures which money and power can provide - with something akin to religious fervour: an attitude of mind which causes them to lose sight of all spiritual and moral values.

Lit., "though he might [try to] ransom himself with all ransom" - i.e., though he might proffer, after resurrection, any atonement whatever for his past sins.

Among the various meanings attributable to the word hamim are the concepts of intense heat as well as of painful cold (Qamus, Taj al-'Arus). In the eschatology of the Qur'an it invariably refers to the suffering of the sinners in the life to come, and since all Qur'anic references to life after death are, necessarily, allegorical, the term hamim may be rendered as "burning despair".

Leave those people alone, who take their religion as mere play and amusement and are deceived by the life of this world. However, keep on admonishing them with this (The Qur'an), lest their souls be damned by their own sinful deeds. They will not have any protector or intercessor to rescue them from Allah, and if they seek to offer every imaginable ransom, it shall not be accepted from them. Such are those who are damned by their own sinful deeds. They will get boiling water to drink and painful torture for their rejection of the Truth.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And forsake those who take their religion for a pastime and a jest, and whom the life of the world beguileth. Remind (mankind) hereby lest a soul be destroyed by what it earneth. It hath beside Allah no friend nor intercessor, and though it offer every compensation it will not be accepted from it. Those are they who perish by their own deserts. For them is drink of boiling water and a painful doom, because they disbelieved.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

SAY: "Shall we invoke, instead of God, something that can neither benefit us nor harm us, and [thus] turn around on our heels after God has guided us aright? - like one whom the satans have enticed into blundering after earthly lusts, the while his companions, trying to guide him, call out unto him [from afar],⁶³ 'Come thou to us!'" Say: "Verily, God's guidance is the only guidance: and so we have been bidden to surrender ourselves unto the Sustainer of all the worlds,

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "whom the satans have enticed with lusts on earth, [rendering him] bewildered, [while] he has companions who call him unto guidance". See in this connection note [10] on 2:14 , as well as note [31] on 14:22 and note [16] on 15:17 .

Ask the mushrikin: "Should we call on those, instead of Allah, who can neither benefit us nor harm us? Should we turn upon our heels after Allah has guided us to the Right Way? Like the one whom Shaitan has misled and is wandering around in the land, while his friends are calling him to the right way, shouting: "Come this way!" Tell them: "Allah's guidance is the only guidance. We are commanded to surrender (become Muslims) to the Rabb of the worlds,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: Shall we cry, instead of unto Allah, unto that which neither profiteth us nor hurteth us, and shall we turn back after Allah hath guided us, like one bewildered whom the devils have infatuated in the earth, who hath companions who invite him to the guidance (saying): Come unto us? Say: Lo! the guidance of Allah is Guidance, and we are ordered to surrender to the Lord of the Worlds,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and to be constant in prayer and conscious of Him: for it is He unto whom you all shall be gathered."

  - Mohammad Asad

to establish Salah and fear Him, before Whom you shall all be assembled on the Day of Judgement.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And to establish worship and ward off (evil), and He it is unto Whom ye will be gathered.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And He it is who has created the heavens and the earth in accordance with [an inner] truth⁶⁴ - and whenever He says, "Be," His word comes true; and His will be the dominion on the Day when the trumpet [of resurrection] is blown. He knows all that is beyond the reach of a created being's perception, as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature's senses or mind:⁶⁵ for He alone is truly wise, all-aware.

  - Mohammad Asad

See surah {10}, note [11].

The term ash-shahadah (lit., "that which is [or "can be"] witnessed") is used in this and similar contexts as the exact antithesis of al-ghayb ("that which is beyond the reach of a created being's perception"). Thus, it circumscribes those aspects of reality which can be sensually or conceptually grasped by a created being.

He is the One Who has created the heavens and the earth to manifest the Truth. On the Day when He will say: "Be," it shall be (the Day of Resurrection). His Word is the truth. He shall be the sole Sovereign on the Day when the trumpet will be blown. He has the full knowledge of the invisible and the visible. He is the Wise, the Aware.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in truth. In that day when He saith: Be! it is. His word is the truth, and His will be the Sovereignty on the day when the trumpet is blown. Knower of the invisible and the visible, He is the Wise, the Aware.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND, LO, [thus] spoke Abraham unto his father Azar:⁶⁶ "Takest thou idols for gods? Verily, I see that thou and thy people have obviously gone astray!"

  - Mohammad Asad

The subsequent passage (verses {74} ff.) continues, by way of narrative, the exposition of God's oneness and uniqueness. - In the Bible, the name of Abraham's father is given not as Azar but as Terah (the Tarah or Tarakh of the early Muslim genealogists). However, he seems to have been known by other names (or designations) as well, all of them obscure as to origin and meaning. Thus, in various Talmudic stories he is called Zarah, while Eusebius Pamphili (the ecclesiastical historian who lived towards the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era) gives his name as Athar. Although neither the Talmud nor Eusebius can be regarded as authorities for the purposes of a Qur'an-commentary, it is not impossible that the designation Azar (which occurs in the Qur'an only once) is the pre-Islamic, Arabicized form of Athar or Zarah.

Tell them about Ibrahim (Abraham), who said to Azer, his father: "Are you taking idols for gods? Surely, I see you and your people in manifest error."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Remember) when Abraham said unto his father Azar: Takest thou idols for gods? Lo! I see thee and thy folk in error manifest.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And thus We gave Abraham [his first] insight into [God's] mighty dominion over the heavens and the earth - and [this] to the end that he might become one of those who are inwardly sure.

  - Mohammad Asad

We showed Ibrahim the kingdom of the heavens and the earth , as We show you with examples from nature, so he became one of the firm believers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Thus did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he mighty be of those possessing certainty:

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then, when the night overshadowed him with its darkness, he beheld a star; [and] he exclaimed, "This is my Sustainer!" - but when it went down, he said, "I love not the things that go down."

  - Mohammad Asad

When the night drew its shadow over him, he saw a star and said, "this is my Rabb." But when it set, he said: "I do not love to worship such a god that fades away."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

When the night grew dark upon him he beheld a star. He said: This is my Lord. But when it set, he said: I love not things that set.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then, when he beheld the moon rising, he said, "This is my Sustainer!" - but when it went down, he said, "Indeed, if my Sustainer guide me not, I will most certainly become one of the people who go astray!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Afterwards he saw the moon shining, he said; "This is my Rabb." But when it also set, he cried: "If my Rabb does not guide me, I shall certainly become one of those who go astray."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when he saw the moon uprising, he exclaimed: This my Lord. But when it set, he said: Unless my Lord guide me, I surely shall become one of the folk who are astray.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then, when he beheld the sun rising, he said, "This is my Sustainer! This one is the greatest [of all]!" - but when it [too] went down, he exclaimed: "O my people! Behold, far be it from me to ascribe divinity, as you do, to aught beside God!

  - Mohammad Asad

Then when he saw the sun with its brighter shine, and he said: "This must be my Rabb; it is larger than the other two." But when it also set, he exclaimed: "O my people! I am done with your shirk (associating partners with Allah).

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when he saw the sun uprising, he cried: This is my Lord! This is greater! And when it, set be exclaimed: O my people! Lo! I am free from all that ye associate (with Him).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Behold, unto Him who brought into being the heavens and the earth have I turned my face, having turned away from all that is false; and I am not of those who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him."

  - Mohammad Asad

As far as I am concerned, I will turn my face, being upright, to Him Who has created the heavens and the earth, and I am not one of the mushrikin."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! I have turned my face toward him Who created the heavens and the earth, as one by nature upright, and I am not of the idolaters.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And his people argued with him. He said: "Do you argue with me about God, when it is He who has guided me? But I do not fear anything to which you ascribe divinity side by side with Him, [for no evil can befall me] unless my Sustainer so wills.⁶⁷ All things does my Sustainer embrace within His knowledge; will you not, then, keep this in mind?

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "unless my Sustainer wills a thing".

When his people started arguing with him, he told them: "Will you argue with me about Allah, whereas He Himself has guided me? I do not fear those whom you take for gods besides Him, none can harm me unless my Rabb so wills, the knowledge of my Rabb encompasses everything, why don't you get admonition?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

His people argued with him. He said: Dispute ye with me concerning Allah when He hath guided me? I fear not at a]] that which ye set beside Him unless my Lord willeth. My Lord includeth all things in His knowledge: Will ye not then remember?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall