Surah 70. Al-Ma'arij

WHAT, THEN, is amiss with such as are bent on denying the truth, that they run about confusedly to and fro before thee,

  - Mohammad Asad

What is the matter with the disbelievers that they are rushing towards you,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

What aileth those who disbelieve, that they keep staring toward thee (O Muhammad), open-eyed,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[coming upon thee] from the right and from the left, in crowds?¹⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

This, again, connects with the statement in verse {19}, "man is born with a restless disposition" (see note [7] above). People who do not want to see the truth of God's existence and have, therefore, no solid basis on which to build their world-view, are, by the same token, unable to conceive any definite standards of personal and social ethics. Hence, whenever they are confronted with anyone's positive assertion of faith, they "run about to and fro" in spiritual confusion, trying, in order to justify themselves intellectually, to demolish the premises of that faith by means of many-sided, contradictory arguments - an endeavour depicted in the metaphor "coming upon thee from the right and from the left"; and since they derive all their strength from a conformity with shallow mass-opinions, they can do this only "in crowds".

from the right and from the left, in groups?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

On the right and on the left, in groups?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Does every one of them hope to enter [by this means] a garden of bliss?¹⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "Do they hope to achieve inner peace and fulfilment by 'disproving' another person's faith?"

Are they each seeking to enter the garden of bliss?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Doth every man among them hope to enter the Garden of Delight?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Never! For, behold, We have created them out of something that they know [only too well]!¹⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Namely, out of "dust", - i.e., out of the same primitive organic and inorganic substances as are found in and on the earth: the implication being that only spiritual consciousness and endeavour can raise man above the mere material form of his existence, and thus enable him to achieve the inner fulfilment metaphorically described here as "a garden of bliss".

By no means! Surely, We have created them out of that what they (unbelievers) know.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, verily. Lo! We created them from what they know.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But nay! I call to witness [Our being] the Sustainer of all the points of sunrise and sunset:¹⁷ verily, well able are We

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., of all the variation, throughout the solar year, of the points at which the sun "rises" and "sets": thus stressing the fact that He is the Ultimate Cause of all orbital movement in the universe and, hence, its Creator (cf. 37:5 and 55:17 ).

But nay! I swear by the Rabb of the easts and the wests, that We have the power

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But nay! I swear by the Lord of the rising places and the setting places of the planets that We are Able

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

to replace them with [people] better than they are; for there is nothing to prevent Us [from doing what We will].¹⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

The implication is that it is not His will to replace "those who are bent on denying the truth" in this world, by believers, inasmuch as such a "replacement" would not be in accord with His design of multiform human existence, in which faith is always challenged and tested by unbelief, and vice versa.

to destroy them and replace them with others better than them, and nothing can hinder Us from doing so.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

To replace them by (others) better than them. And We are not to be outrun.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, leave them to indulge in idle talk and play [with words]¹⁹ until they face that [Judgment] Day of theirs which they have been promised -

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., their philosophising about a supposedly "uncreated" world and a hypothetical "self-generation" of life, as well as their blatant "denial", unsupported by any factual evidence, of a life after death or even of the existence of God.

Therefore, leave them to plunge in vain talk and blunder about until they face that Day of theirs which they are being promised.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So let them chat and play until they meet their Day which they are promised--

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

the Day when they shall come forth in haste from their graves, as if racing towards a goal-post,

  - Mohammad Asad

The Day when they shall rush forward from their graves, as if they were racing towards a goal,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The day when they come forth from the graves in haste, as racing to a goal,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

with downcast eyes, with ignominy overwhelming them: that Day which they were promised again and again....²⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

The concept of "again and again" - i.e., by a succession, through the ages, of prophetic revelations - is implied in the auxiliary verb kanu, which usually connotes repetition and/or duration.

with downcast eyes and countenances distorted with shame. Such will be the Day, which they are being promised.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

With eyes aghast, abasement stupefying them: Such is the Day which they are promised.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall