Surah 74. Al-Muddaththir

Nay, verily, it is against Our messages that he knowingly, stubbornly sets himself⁷ -

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "he is wont (kana) to set himself". The noun 'anid, derived from the verb 'anada, denotes "one who opposes or rejects something that is true, knowing it to be true" (Lisan al-'Arab). The element of human contrariness and stubbornness is implied in the use of the auxiliary verb kana, which indicates here a permanently recurring phenomenon despite its past-tense formulation. I am, therefore, of the opinion that verses {18-25}, although ostensibly formulated in the past tense, must also be rendered in the present tense.

By no means! Because he has stubbornly denied Our revelations.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay! For lo! he hath been stubborn to Our revelations.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[and so] I shall constrain him to endure a painful uphill climb!⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

In combination with the verb urhiquhu ("I shall constrain him to endure") the term sa'ud (lit., "ascent" or "climb") has the tropical connotation of something extremely difficult, painful or distressing. In the above context, it is an allusion to the loss of all instinctive innocence - and, hence, to the individual and social suffering - which unavoidably follows upon man's wilful neglect of moral and spiritual truths ("God's messages") in this world and bars his spiritual development in the life to come.

Soon I shall make him suffer mounting calamities,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

On him I shall impose a fearful doom.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Behold, [when Our messages are conveyed to one who is bent on denying the truth,] he reflects and meditates [as to how to disprove them] -

  - Mohammad Asad

surely he pondered and devised a plot.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

For lo! he did consider; then he planned

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and thus he destroys himself,⁹ the way he meditates:

  - Mohammad Asad

The expression qutila reads, literally, "he has been killed" or, as an imprecation, "may he be killed". Since a literal rendering of this expression - whether conceived as a statement of fact or an imprecation - would be meaningless here, many commentators (Tabari among them) understand it as signifying "he is rejected from Gods grace" (lu'ina) i.e., "killed" spiritually by his own action or attitude; hence my rendering, "he destroys himself".

May he perish, how he plotted!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Self) destroyed is he, how he planned!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

yea, he destroys himself, the way he meditates!

  - Mohammad Asad

Again, may he perish, how he plotted!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Again (self) destroyed is he, how he planned!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and then he looks [around for new arguments],

  - Mohammad Asad

He looked around,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then looked he,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and then he frowns and glares,¹⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., he becomes emotionally involved because he suspects in his heart that his arguments are weak (Razi).

frowned and scowled,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then frowned he and showed displeasure.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and in the end he turns his back [on Our message], and glories in his arrogance,

  - Mohammad Asad

then he turned his back in scornful pride

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then turned he away in pride

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and says, "All this is mere spellbinding eloquence handed down [from olden times]!¹²

  - Mohammad Asad

The term sihr, which usually denotes "sorcery" or "magic", primarily signifies "the turning of something from its proper [or "natural"] state of being into another state"; hence, it is often applied to the fascination or enchantment caused by exceptional, "spellbinding" eloquence (Taj al-'Arus). In its pejorative sense - as used by deniers of the truth to describe a divine message - it has also the connotation of "wilful deception" or "delusion".

and said: "This is nothing but counterfeited magic,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And said: This is naught else than magic from of old;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

This is nothing but the word of mortal man!"

  - Mohammad Asad

this is nothing but the word of a human being."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

This naught else than speech of mortal man.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[Hence,] I shall cause him to endure hell-fire [in the life to come]!¹³

  - Mohammad Asad

This is unquestionably the earliest instance of the term saqar ("hell-fire"), one of the seven metaphorical names given in the Qur'an to the concept of the suffering in the hereafter which man brings upon himself by sinning and deliberately remaining blind and deaf, in this world, to spiritual truths (cf. surah {15}, note [33]). The allegorical character of this and all other Qur'anic descriptions of man's condition and destiny in the hereafter is clearly alluded to in the subsequent verse as well as in verse {28} ff.

Soon I shall cast him into Saqar.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Him shall I fling unto the burning.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And what could make thee conceive what hell-fire is?

  - Mohammad Asad

What will make you understand, what Saqar is?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

--Ah, what will convey unto thee what that burning is!--

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It does not allow to live, and neither leaves [to die],

  - Mohammad Asad

It is burning fire which leaves nothing and spares none.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

I leaveth naught; it spareth naught

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

making [all truth] visible to mortal man.¹⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

Most of the commentators interpret the above elliptic phrase in the sense of "changing the appearance of man" or "scorching the skin of man". The rendering adopted by me, on the other hand, is based on the primary significance of the verb laha - "it appeared", "it shone forth" or "it became visible". Hence, the primary meaning of the intensive participial noun lawwah is "that which makes [something] visible". In the above context, it relates to the sinner's belated cognition of the truth, as well as to his distressing insight into his own nature, his past failings and deliberate wrongdoings, and the realisation of his own responsibility for the suffering that is now in store for him: a state neither of life nor of death (cf.{87:12-13}).

It shrivels human flesh.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

It shrivelleth the man.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Over it are nineteen [powers].¹⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

Whereas most of the classical commentators are of the opinion that the "nineteen" are the angels that act as keepers or guardians of hell, Razi advances the view that we may have here a reference to the physical, intellectual and emotional powers within man himself: powers which raise man potentially far above any other creature, but which, if used wrongly, bring about a deterioration of his whole personality and, hence, intense suffering in the life to come. According to Razi, the philosophers (arbab al-hikmah) identify these powers or faculties with, firstly, the seven organic functions of the animal - and therefore also human-body (gravitation, cohesion, repulsion of noxious foreign matter, absorption of beneficent external matter, assimilation of nutrients, growth, and reproduction); secondly, the five "external" or physical senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste); thirdly, the five "internal" or intellectual senses, defined by Ibn Sina - on whom Razi apparently relies - as (1)perception of isolated sence-images, (2)conscious apperceptions of ideas, (3)memory of sense-images, (4)memory of conscious apperceptions; and, lastly, the emotions of desire or aversion (resp. fear or anger), which have their roots in both the "external" and "internal" sense-categories - thus bringing the total of the powers and faculties which preside over man's spiritual fate to nineteen. In their aggregate, it is these powers that confer upon man the ability to think conceptually, and place him, in this respect, even above the angels (cf. 2:30 ff. and the corresponding notes; see also the following note).

It is guarded by nineteen guards.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Above it are nineteen.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For We have caused none but angelic powers to lord over the fire [of hell];¹⁶ and We have not caused their number to be aught but a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth¹⁷ - to the end that they who have been granted revelation aforetime might be convinced [of the truth of this divine writ];¹⁸ and that they who have attained to faith [in it] might grow yet more firm in their faith; and that [both] they who have been granted the earlier revelation and they who believe [in this one] might be freed of all doubt; and that they in whose hearts is disease¹⁹ and they who deny the truth outright might ask, "What does [your] God mean by this parable?"²⁰ In this way God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray],and guides aright him that wills [to be guided].²¹ And none can comprehend thy Sustainer's forces save Him alone: and all this²² is but a reminder to mortal man.

  - Mohammad Asad

Since it is by virtue of his powers of conscious perception and conceptual thinking that man can arrive at a discriminating cognition of good and evil and, thus, rise to great spiritual heights, these powers are described here as "angelic" (lit., "angels" - this being the earliest occurrence of the term malak in the history of Qur'anic revelation). On the other hand, since a neglect or a deliberately wrong use of these angelic powers is at the root of all sinning on the part of man and, therefore, of his suffering in the hereafter, they are spoken of as "the lords (ashab) of the fire [of hell]", which complements the expression "over it" in the preceding verse.

This is apparently an allusion to the allegorical character of this passage, which "those who are bent on denying the truth" are unwilling to recognize as such and, hence, fail to grasp its real purport. By speculating on the reasons which allegedly induced Muhammad - whom they regard as the "author" of the Qur'an - to lay stress on one particular number, they tend to take the allegory in a literal sense, thus missing its point entirely.

Namely, by being enabled, through an understanding of the above allegory, to appreciate the rational approach of the Qur'an to all questions of faith. The reference to "those who have been granted revelation aforetime" is the earliest statement outlining the principle of continuity in mankind's religious experience.

I.e., in this instance, the half-hearted ones who, despite their ability to discern between right and wrong, incline towards unbelief.

Cf. the identical phrase in 2:26 , together with the corresponding note [18]. My interpolation, in both these passages, of the word "your" between brackets is necessitated by the fact that it is the unbelievers who ask this question.

Or: "God lets go astray whomever He wills, and guides aright whomever He wills" (see surah {14}, note [4]). The stress on the allegorical nature of the above passage, spoken of as a "parable" (mathal), has here the same purpose as in 2:26 - namely, to prevent the followers of the Qur'an from attaching a literal meaning to its eschatological descriptions - a purpose that is unmistakably expressed in the concluding sentence of this passage: "All this is but a reminder to mortal man". (See also next note.)

Lit., "it" or "these" - depending on whether the personal pronoun hiya is taken to denote a singular - in which case it would refer to the feminine noun saqar, "hell-fire" (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Baghawi, Ibn Kathir) - or a plural, referring to what Razi pinpoints as "those [Qur'anic] verses dealing with these allegories (hadhihi 'l-mutashabihat)": hence my compromise rendering "all this".

We have appointed none but angels as wardens of the fire; and We have made their number a trial for the unbelievers, so that the People of the Book may be convinced and the faith of the true believers may be increased, and that no doubts will be left for the People of the Book and the believers, and that those in whose hearts there is a disease and the disbelievers may say: "What could Allah mean by this parable?" Thus, Allah leaves to stray whom He wills and guides whom He pleases. No one knows the forces of your Rabb except Himself, and this (Qur'an) is nothing but a reminder to mankind.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We have appointed only angels to be wardens of the fire, and their number have We made to be a stumbling block for those who disbelieve; that those to whom the scripture hath been given may have certainty, and that believers may increase in faith; and that those to whom the Scripture hath been given and believers may not doubt; and that those in whose hearts there is disease, and disbelievers, may say: What meaneth Allah by this similitude? Thus Allah sendeth astray whom He will, and whom He will He guideth. None knoweth the hosts of thy Lord save Him. This is naught else than a Reminder unto mortals.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

NAY, but consider the moon!²³

  - Mohammad Asad

This is the earliest Qur'anic instance of the adjurative particle wa used in the sense of a solemn, oathlike assertion - a calling to witness, as it were - meant (as in the expression "by God!") to give weight to a subsequently stated truth or evidence of the truth: hence, I am rendering it here and elsewhere as "consider". In the present case, the truth thus to be stressed is the implied statement that just as the changing phases of the moon and the alternation of night and day are the outcome of God-given, natural laws, so, too, a sinner's suffering in the hereafter is but a natural outcome of his deliberate wrongdoing in this world. (See also note [7] on 2:7 .)

Nay! By the moon,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, by the Moon

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Consider the night when it departs,

  - Mohammad Asad

by the departing night

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And the night when it withdraweth

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and the morn when it dawns!

  - Mohammad Asad

and by the coming of dawn,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And the dawn when it shineth forth,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Verily, that [hell-fire] is indeed one of the great [forewarnings] -

  - Mohammad Asad

surely this hellfire is one of mighty scourge,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! this is one of the greatest (portents)

  - Marmaduke Pickthall