Surah 7. Al-A'raf

For those whom God lets go astray, there is no guide; and He shall leave them in their overweening arrogance, blindly stumbling to and fro.¹⁵²

  - Mohammad Asad

As in verse {178} above - and in many other places in the Qur'an - the expression "he whom God lets [or "causes to"] go astray" indicates the natural law instituted by God (sunnat Allah), whereby a wilful neglect of one's inborn, cognitive faculties unavoidably results in the loss of all ethical orientation: that is, not an act of "predestination" but a result of one's own choice. See also surah {2}, note [7], and surah {14}, note [4].

None can guide those whom Allah confounds and leaves them blundering about in their rebellious transgression.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Those whom Allah sendeth astray, there is no guide for them. He leaveth them to wander blindly on in their contumacy.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

THEY WILL ASK thee [O Prophet] about the Last Hour: "When will it come to pass?" Say: "Verily, knowledge thereof rests with my Sustainer alone. None but He will reveal it in its time. Heavily will it weigh on the heavens and the earth; [and] it will not fall upon you otherwise than of a sudden." They will ask thee - as if thou couldst gain insight into this [mystery] by dint of persistent inquiry!¹⁵³ Say: "Knowledge thereof rests with my Sustainer alone; but [of this] most people are unaware."

  - Mohammad Asad

The verb ahfa means "he did [a thing] in an excessive measure" or "he exceeded the usual bounds in doing [something]". In connection with an inquiry, and especially when followed by 'anhu or 'anha ("about it"), it signifies "he tried hard to gain insight [into something] by persistently inquiring about it". Thus, used as a participle, it means "one who has gained insight [into something] through persistent inquiry". In the above context, the implication is that no amount of inquiry or speculation can reveal to man - the prophets included - the coming of the Last Hour before its actual manifestation.

They ask you about the Hour of Doom and when will it take place. Say: "Knowledge about it rests only with my Rabb: He Himself will disclose it at the proper time. Heavy is its weight in the heavens and the earth. It will not come gradually but all of a sudden. They ask you as if you yourself were in search of it. Tell them: "The knowledge about it rests only with Allah though most people do not understand."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They ask thee of the (destined) Hour, when will it come to port. Say: Knowledge thereof is with my Lord only. He alone will manifest it at its proper time. It is heavy in the heavens and the earth. It cometh not to you save unawares. They question thee as if thou couldst be well informed thereof. Say: Knowledge thereof is with Allah only, but most of mankind know not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say [O Prophet]: "It is not within my power to bring benefit to, or avert harm from, myself, except as God may please. And if I knew that which is beyond the reach of human perception, abundant good fortune would surely have fallen to my lot, and no evil would ever have touched me. I am nothing but a warner, and a herald of glad tidings unto people who will believe."¹⁵⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

See 6:50 , as well as the corresponding note. The repeated insistence in the Qur'an on the humanness of the Prophet is in tune with the doctrine that no created being has or could have any share, however small, in any of the Creator's qualities or powers. In logical continuation of this argument, the next passage verses {189-198} stresses the uniqueness and exclusiveness of God's creative powers.

Further tell them: "I have no power to acquire benefit or avert any harm from myself, only that happens which Allah wants. Had I possessed the knowledge of the unseen I would have acquired many benefits to myself; and no harm would have touched me. I am no more than a Warner and bearer of good news for the true believers."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: For myself I have no power to benefit, nor power to hurt, save that which Allah willeth. Had I knowledge of the Unseen, I should have abundance of wealth, and adversity would not touch me. I am but a warner, and a bearer of good tidings unto folk who believe.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

IT IS HE who has created you [all] out of one living entity, and out of it brought into being its mate, so that man might incline [with love] towards woman.¹⁵⁵ And so, when he has embraced her, she conceives [what at first is] a light burden, and continues to bear it. Then, when she grows heavy [with child], they both call unto God, their Sustainer, "If Thou indeed grant us a sound [child], we shall most certainly be among the grateful!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "so that he might incline towards her". For an explanation of the terms "one living entity" and "its mate", see 4:1 , and the corresponding note.

He is the one who created you from a single being and from that being He created his mate, so that he might find comfort with her. When he covers her, she conceives a light burden and walks around with it. When it grows heavy they both pray to Allah their Rabb saying: "If You will grant us a healthy child, we will be truly thankful."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He it is who did create you from a single soul, and therefrom did make his mate that he might take rest in her. And when he covered her she bore a light burden, and she passed (unnoticed) with it, but when it became heavy they cried unto Allah, their Lord, saying: If thou givest unto us aright we shall be of the thankful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And yet, as soon as He has granted them sound [offspring], they begin to ascribe to other powers beside Him a share in bringing about what He has granted them!¹⁵⁶ Sublimely exalted, however, is God above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "they attribute to Him partners with regard to that which He has granted them": i.e., many of them look upon the contributing factors of sound childbirth (like personal care during pregnancy, medical assistance, eugenics, etc.) as something independent of God, forgetting that all these contributing factors are - like the birth of the child itself - but an outcome of God's will and grace: a manifestation of what the Qur'an calls "the way of God" (sunnat Allah). Since this kind of mental association of "other" factors with God is not really intentional, it does not amount to the unforgivable sin of shirk ("the ascribing of divine qualities to powers other than God"); but it is close enough to it to warrant the subsequent discourse on shirk in the real meaning of this term.

But when He gives them a healthy child they both began to associate partners with Him in what He has given them; but Allah is exalted far above the shirk they commit of associating other deities with Him as His partners.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But when He gave unto them aright, they ascribed unto Him partners in respect of that which He had given them. High is He exalted above all that they associate (with Him).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Will they, then, ascribe divinity, side by side with Him, unto beings that cannot create anything¹⁵⁷ - since they themselves are created -

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "that which does not create anything": a phrase expressed in the singular, but having the plural meaning of "beings" - that is, either animate beings (like saints or supposedly "divine" personalities) or their inanimate representations.

Do they associate with Him those deities who can create nothing but are themselves created,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Attribute they as partners to Allah those who created naught, but are themselves created,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and neither are able to give them succour nor can succour themselves,

  - Mohammad Asad

they have neither the ability to help them, nor can they help themselves?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And cannot give them help, nor can they help themselves?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and, if you pray to them for guidance, do not respond to you?¹⁵⁸ As far as you are concerned, it is all one whether you invoke them or keep silent.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "do not follow you". As regards my translation of in tad'uhum ila 'l-huda as "if you pray to them for guidance" (instead of the erroneous - but common - translation "if you invite [or "call"] them to guidance"), see Zamakhshari, Razi and Ibn Kathir. Cf. also verse {198} below.

If you invite them to guidance they will not follow you. It will be all the same for you whether you call them or hold your peace.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if ye call them to the Guidance, they follow you not. Whether ye call them or are silent is all one to them.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Verily, all those whom you invoke beside God are but created beings¹⁵⁹ like yourselves: invoke them, then, and let them answer your prayer - if what you claim is true!

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "servants" ('ibad) - i.e., created beings subservient to God's will. This refers to saints living or dead, as well as to inanimate objects of every description, including idols, fetishes and representational images - physical or mental - of saints or deified persons.

In fact those whom you call besides Allah are bondmen, like yourselves. Well call them, and let them answer you, if what you say is true!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! those on whom ye call beside Allah are slaves like unto you. Call on them now, and let them answer you, if ye are truthful!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Have these [images], perchance, feet on which they could walk? Or have they hands with which they could grasp? Or have they eyes with which they could see? Or have they ears with which they could hear? Say [O Prophet]: "Summon to your aid all those to whom you ascribe a share in God's divinity,¹⁶⁰ and thereupon contrive [anything you may wish] against me, and give me no respite!

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "summon your [God -]partners" see surah {6}, note [15].

Have they feet to walk with? Have they hands to hold with? Have they eyes to see with? Have they ears to hear with? O Muhammad, say: "Call on your shoraka' (partners you have set up besides Allah) and collectively plot against me and give me no respite!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Have they feet wherewith they walk, or have they hands wherewith they hold, or have they eyes wherewith they see, or have they ears wherewith they hear? Say: Call upon your (so-called) partners (of Allah), and then contrive against me, spare me not!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Verily, my protector is God, who has bestowed this divine writ from on high: for it is He who protects the righteous,

  - Mohammad Asad

My protector is Allah Who has revealed this Book and He is the protecting friend of the righteous.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! my Protecting Friend is Allah who revealeth the Scripture. He befriendeth the righteous.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

whereas all those whom you invoke in His stead are neither able to give you succour nor can succour themselves;

  - Mohammad Asad

On the contrary, those whom you call besides Him have neither the ability to help you, nor can they help themselves.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They on whom ye call beside Him have no power to help you, nor can they help themselves.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and if you pray unto them for guidance, they do not hear; and though thou mayest imagine that they behold thee,¹⁶¹ they do not see."

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "though thou seest them looking at thee" - but since the pronoun "them" in tarahum ("thou seest them") refers to mental images no less than to physical representations, the verb must be understood in its abstract sense of "seeing with the mind", i.e., "considering" or "imagining". In contrast with the preceding passages, which are addressed to those who actually invoke false deities or images, the last sentence is addressed to man in general, sinner and believer alike: and this generalization is brought out by changing the form of address from "you" to "thou".

If you call them to guidance, they cannot even hear what you say, although it appears as if they are looking at you, they do not see.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if ye (Muslims) call them to the Guidance they hear not; and thou (Muhammad) seest them looking toward thee, but they see not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

MAKE due allowance for man's nature,¹⁶² and enjoin the doing of what is right; and leave alone all those who choose to remain ignorant.¹⁶³

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "accept what is easily forthcoming [from man's nature]". According to Zamakhshari, khudh al-'afw means: "Accept what comes easily to thee [or "what is willingly accorded to thee"] of the doings and the nature of men, and make things easy [for them], without causing them undue hardship (kulfah); and do not demand of them efforts that may be too difficult for them." This interpretation - which has been adopted by many other classical commentators as well - is based on the identical explanation of the phrase khudh al 'afw by 'Abd Allah ibn az-Zubayr and his brother 'Urwah (Bukhari), as well as by 'A'ishah and, in the next generation, by Hisham ibn 'Urwah and Mujahid (see Tabari, Baghawi and Ibn Kathir). Thus, in accordance with the Qur'anic statements that "man has been created weak" 4:28 and that "God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear" ( 2:286 , 6:152 , 7:42 , 23:62 ), the believer is admonished to make due allowance for human nature and not to be too harsh with those who err. This admonition is the more remarkable as it follows immediately upon a discourse on the most unforgivable of all sins - the ascribing of divine powers or qualities to anyone or anything but God.

Lit., "the ignorant ones" - i.e., those who wilfully remain deaf to moral truths, and not those who are simply unaware of them.

Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Keep to forgiveness (O Muhammad), and enjoin kindness, and turn away from the ignorant.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And if it should happen that a prompting from Satan stirs thee up [to blind anger],¹⁶⁴ seek refuge with God: behold, He is all-hearing, all-knowing.

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., anger at the rejection of the truth by "those who choose to remain ignorant". The words "to blind anger" interpolated between brackets are based on a Tradition according to which the Prophet, after the revelation of the preceding verse calling for forbearance, exclaimed, "And what about [justified] anger, O my Sustainer?" - whereupon the above verse was revealed to him (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Razi, Ibn Kathir).

If Shaitan tempts you, seek refuge with Allah; for He is the one Who is All Hearing, Knowing.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if a slander from the devil wound thee, then seek refuge in Allah. Lo! He is Hearer, Knower.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Verily, they who are conscious of God bethink themselves [of Him] whenever any dark suggestion from Satan touches them¹⁶⁵ - whereupon, lo! they begin to see [things] clearly,

  - Mohammad Asad

The noun ta'if (also forthcoming in the forms tayf and tayyif denotes any ungraspable phantom, image or suggestion, as in a dream, or "an imperceptible obsession which obscures the mind" (Taj al-'Arus). Since, in the above context, it is described as coming from Satan, "a dark suggestion" seems to be an appropriate rendering.

Those who fear Allah, when they are tempted by Shaitan, they have but to remember Allah and they shall see the light (right course of action)!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! those who ward off (evil), when a glamour from the devil troubleth them, they do but remember (Allah's guidance) and behold them seers!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

even though their [godless] brethren would [like to] draw them into error:¹⁶⁶ and then they cannot fail [to do what is right].

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., by goading them to anger or trying to engage them in futile argument. "Their brethren" are those who wilfully remain ignorant of the truth (with the pronoun referring to the God-conscious). The conjunctive particle wa preceding this clause has here the meaning of "although" or "even though".

As for Shaitan's brothers, they drag them deeper into error and never relax their efforts.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Their brethren plunge them further into error and cease not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And yet, when thou [O Prophet] dost not produce any miracle for them, some [people] say, "Why dost thou not seek to obtain it [from God]?"¹⁶⁷ Say: "I only follow whatever is being revealed to me by my Sustainer: this [revelation] is a means of insight from your Sustainer, and a guidance and grace unto people who will believe.

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., "if thou art really His apostle" (cf. 6:37 and {109}, and the corresponding notes). Some of the commentators assume that the term ayah - translated by me as "miracle" - denotes here a verbal "message" which would answer the objections of those who did not believe in the Prophet. Since, however, the continuous revelation of the Qur'an was full of such messages, the demand of the unbelievers must have related to some particular manifestation or "proof" of his divinely-inspired mission: namely, to a concrete miracle which would establish the truth of his claim in a supposedly "objective" manner. In its wider implication, the above verse relates to the primitive mentality of all who regard miracles, and not the message itself, as the only valid "proof" of prophethood.

When you, O Muhammad, do not bring them a revelation, they say: "Have you not yet invented?" Tell them: "I follow only what is revealed to me from my Rabb. This Book contains veritable insight from your Rabb, a guidance and blessing for the true believers."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when thou bringest not a verse for them they say: Why hast thou not chosen it? Say: I follow only that which is inspired in me from my Lord. This (Qur'an) is insight from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy for a people that believe.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, when the Qur'an is voiced, hearken unto it, and listen in silence, so that you might be graced with [God's] mercy."

  - Mohammad Asad

When the Qur'an is recited, listen to it with complete silence so that you may be shown mercy.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when the Qur'an is recited, give ear to it and pay heed, that ye may obtain mercy.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And bethink thyself of thy Sustainer humbly and with awe, and without raising thy voice, at morn and at evening; and do not allow thyself to be heedless.

  - Mohammad Asad

Bring your Rabb to remembrance deep in your soul with humility and in reverence without raising your voice, both in the mornings and in the evenings; and be not of those who are heedless.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And do thou [O Muhammad) remember thy Lord within thyself humbly and with awe, below thy breath, at morn and evening. And be thou not of the neglectful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall