Surah 7. Al-A'raf

O CHILDREN of Adam! Beautify yourselves²³ for every act of worship, and eat and drink [freely], but do not waste: verily, He does not love the wasteful!

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "take to your adornment (zinah)". According to Raghib (as quoted in Lane III, 1279 f ), the proper meaning of zinah is "a [beautifying] thing that does not disgrace or render unseemly ... either in the present world or in that which is to come": thus, it signifies anything of beauty in both the physical and moral connotations of the word.

O Children of Adam! Put on your adornment (decent proper dress) when you attend your Masjid at the time of every prayer. Eat and drink, but do not be extravagant; surely He does not love the extravagant.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

O Children of Adam! Look to your adornment at every place of worship, and eat and drink, but be not prodigal. Lo! He loveth not the prodigals.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "Who is there to forbid the beauty which God has brought forth for His creatures, and the good things from among the means of sustenance?" Say: "They are [lawful] in the life of this world unto all who have attained to faith - to be theirs alone on Resurrection Day."²⁴ Thus clearly do We spell out these messages unto people of [innate] knowledge!

  - Mohammad Asad

By declaring that all good and beautiful things of life - i.e., those which are not expressly prohibited - are lawful to the believers, the Qur'an condemns, by implication, all forms of life-denying asceticism, world-renunciation and self-mortification. While, in the life of this world, those good things are shared by believers and unbelievers alike, they will be denied to the latter in the hereafter cf. verses {5-51} of this surah.

O Muhammad, ask them: "Who has forbidden you to wear decent clothes or to eat the good food which Allah has provided for His devotees?" Say: "All these things are for the enjoyment of the believers in the life of this world though shared by others; but these shall be exclusively theirs on the Day of Resurrection. Thus do We make Our revelations clear for those who understand."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: Who hath forbidden the adornment of Allah which He hath brought forth for His bondmen, and the good things of His providing? Say: Such, on the Day of Resurrection, will be only for those who believed during the life of the world. Thus do We detail Our revelations for people who have knowledge.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "Verily, my Sustainer has forbidden only shameful deeds, be they open or secret, and [every kind of] sinning, and unjustified envy, and the ascribing of divinity to aught beside Him - since He has never bestowed any warrant therefor from on high - and the attributing unto God of aught of which you have no knowledge."

  - Mohammad Asad

Say: "My Rabb has forbidden all indecencies whether open or secret, sin and rebellion against justice, committing shirk with Allah for which He has granted no sanction, and saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: My Lord forbiddeth only indecencies, such of them as are apparent and such as are within, and sin and wrongful oppression, and that ye associate with Allah that for which no warrant hath been revealed, and that ye tell concerning Allah that which ye know not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And for all people a term has been set:²⁵ and when [the end of] their term approaches, they can neither delay it by a single moment,²⁶ nor can they hasten it.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "for every community (ummah) there is a term": i.e., all people have a life-term decreed by God, during which they are at liberty to accept or to reject the guidance offered them through revelation. The word ummah often denotes "living beings" - in this context, "people".

In Arabic usage, the term sa'ah (lit., "hour") signifies not merely the astronomical hour - i.e., the twenty-fourth part of a mean solar day - but also "time" in an absolute sense, or any fraction of it, whether large or small. In the above context, it has obviously been used in the sense of "a least fraction of time" or "a single moment".

For every nation there is a fixed term, when their term expires, it can neither be delayed for a moment nor can it be made to come early."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And every nation hath its term, and when its term cometh, they cannot put it off an hour nor yet advance (it).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

O CHILDREN of Adam! Whenever there come unto you apostles of your own, conveying My messages unto you, then all who are conscious of Me and live righteously - no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve;

  - Mohammad Asad

O children of Adam! Whenever there come to you Rasools from among you and recite to you My revelations, those who will become righteous and mend their ways will have nothing to fear or to regret;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

O Children of Adam! If messengers of your own come unto you who narrate unto you My revelations, then whosoever refraineth from evil and amendeth there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

but they who give the lie to Our messages and scorn them in their pride - these are destined for the fire, therein to abide.

  - Mohammad Asad

but those who deny Our revelations and treat them with arrogance, shall be the inmates of hellfire to live therein forever.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But they who deny Our revelations and scorn them such are rightful owners of the Fire; they will abide therein.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And who could be more wicked than they who attribute their own lying inventions to God or give the lie to His messages? Whatever has been decreed to be their lot [in life] will be theirs²⁷ - till there shall come unto them Our messengers to cause them to die, [and] shall say, "Where, now, are those beings whom you were wont to invoke beside God?" And [those sinners] will reply, "They have forsaken us!" - and [thus] they will bear witness against themselves that they had been denying the truth.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "their share of the [divine] decree (al-kitab) will reach them": i.e., they will have in their lifetime, like all other people, all the good or bad fortune envisaged for them in God's eternal decree. The "messengers" (rusul) referred to in the next clause are, apparently, the angels of death.

Who can be more unjust than the one who invents a lie against Allah or rejects His revelations? Such people will have their destined portion from the Book (what was written for them to receive during their life on earth); until when Our messengers (angels of death) arrive to take away their souls, they will ask: "Where are those gods whom you used to invoke besides Allah?" They will reply: "They have forsaken us" and they will bear witness against themselves (admit) that they were indeed kuffar (unbelievers).

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Who doeth greater wrong than he who inventeth a lie concerning Allah or denieth Our tokens. (For such) their appointed portion of the Book (of destiny) reacheth them till, when Our messengers come to gather them, they say: Where (now) is that to which ye cried beside Allah? They say: They have departed from us. And they testify against themselves that they were disbelievers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[And God] will say: "Join those hosts of invisible beings and humans who have gone before you into the fire!" [And] every time a host enters [the fire], it will curse its fellow-host - so much so that, when they all shall have passed into it, one after another, the last of them will speak [thus] of the first of them:²⁸ "O our, Sustainer! It is they who have led us astray: give, them, therefore, double suffering through fire!" He will reply: "Every one of you deserves double suffering²⁹ - but you know it not."

  - Mohammad Asad

The terms "first" and "last" refer here either to a sequence in time ("those who came earlier" and "those who came later") or in status ("leaders" and "followers"); and in both cases they relate, as the next sentence indicates, to the evil influence which the former exerted on the latter during their lifetime - either directly, as leaders of thought and persons of distinction, or indirectly, as forerunners in time, whose example was followed by later generations.

Lit., "to everyone a double [suffering]": i.e., for having gone astray and for having, by his example, led others astray. Cf. 16:25 - "on Resurrection Day they shall bear the full weight of their own burdens, as well as some of the burdens of those ignorant ones whom they have led astray".

Allah will say: "Enter the fire and join the nations of Jinns and men who have gone before you." As each nation will enter hell, it will curse its preceding sister till all are gathered there, the last of them will say about the first one: "Our Rabb! These have led us astray; therefore, give them double punishment of the fire." He will answer: "There will be double for all, although you may not know because of being predecessor or successor in sin and aggression."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He saith: Enter into the Fire among nations of the jinn and humankind who passed away before you. Every time a nation entereth, it curseth its sister (nation) till, when they have all been made to follow one another thither, the last of them saith unto the first of them: Our Lord! These led us astray, so give them double torment of the Fire. He saith: For each one there is double (torment), but ye know not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And the first of them will say unto the last of them: "So you were in no wise superior to us!³⁰ Taste, then, this suffering for all [the evil] that you were wont to do!"

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "You went the wrong way, as we did, out of your own free will, and you bear the same responsibility as we do." Another possible interpretation is: "You are not superior to us because you have learnt nothing from our mistakes."

Then the first will say to the last: "If we were to blame, you too, were no better than us; now taste the punishment of your misdeeds."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And the first of them saith unto the last of them : Ye were no whit better than us, so taste the doom for what ye used to earn.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

VERILY, unto those who give the lie to Our messages and scorn them in their pride, the gates of heaven shall not be opened;³¹ and they shall not enter paradise any more than a twisted rope can pass through a needle's eye:³² for thus do We requite such as are lost in sin.

  - Mohammad Asad

According to Ibn 'Abbas (as quoted by Razi), this metaphor signifies that God will not accept any of the good deeds of such sinners, nor their subsequent supplications.

Lit., "until (hatta) a twisted rope passes through a needle's eye"; since this phrase is meant to express an impossibility, the rendering of hatta as "any more than" seems to be appropriate here. As for the word jamal occurring in this sentence, there is hardly any doubt that its translation, in this context, as "camel" is erroneous. As pointed out by Zamakhshari (and confirmed by other classical commentators, including Razi), Ibn 'Abbas used to read the word in the spelling jummal, which signifies "a thick rope" or "a twisted cable"; and the same reading is attributed to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (Taj al-'Arus). It is to be noted that there are also several other dialectical spellings of this word, namely, jumal, juml, jumul and, finally, jamal (as in the generally-accepted version of the Qur'an) - all of them signifying "a thick, twisted rope" (Jawhari), and all of them used in this sense by some of the Prophet's Companions or their immediate successors (tabi'un). Ibn 'Abbas is also quoted by Zamakhshari as having said that God could not have coined so inappropriate a metaphor as "a camel passing through a needle's eye" - meaning that there is no relationship whatsoever between a camel and a needle's eye whereas, on the other hand, there is a definite relationship between the latter and a rope (which after all, is but an extremely thick thread). On all accounts, therefore, the rendering of jamal as "a twisted rope" is, in this context, infinitely preferable to that of "a camel". The fact that the latter rendering occurs in a somewhat similar phrase in the Greek version of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew xix, 24, Mark x, 25 and Luke xviii, 25) does not affect this contention. One should remember that the Gospels were originally composed in Aramaic, the language of Palestine at the time of Jesus, and that those Aramaic texts are now lost. It is more than probable that, owing to the customary absence of vowel signs in Aramaic writing, the Greek translator misunderstood the consonant spelling g-m-l (corresponding to the Arabic j-m-l), and took it to mean "a camel": a mistake repeated since, with regard to the above Qur'an-verse, by many Muslims and all non-Muslim orientalists as well.

Surely, the gates of the Heaven will not be opened for those who deny Our revelations and treat them with arrogance; their admission into paradise will be as impossible as the passing of a camel through the eye of a needle. That is how We shall reward the criminals.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! they who deny Our revelations and scorn them, for them the gates of Heaven will not be opened nor will they enter the Garden until the camel goeth through the needle's eye. Thus do We requite the guilty.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hell will be their resting-place and their covering as well:³³ for thus do We requite the evildoers.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "for them there will be a resting-place of [the fires of] hell and, from above them, coverings [thereof]".

Hell shall be their bed and flames shall be their covering. That is how We shall reward the wrongdoers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Theirs will be a bed of Hell, and over them coverings (of Hell). Thus do We requite wrong doers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds - [and] We do not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear - they are destined for paradise, therein to abide,

  - Mohammad Asad

As for those who believe and do good deeds - We never burden a soul with more than it can bear - they are worthy of Paradise, wherein they will live forever.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But (as for) those who believe and do good works We tax not any soul beyond its scope. Such are rightful owners of the Garden. They abide therein.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

after We shall have removed whatever unworthy thoughts or feelings may have been [lingering] in their bosoms. Running waters will flow at their feet;³⁴ and they will say: "All praise is due to God, who has guided us unto this; for we would certainly not have found the right path unless God had guided us! Indeed, our Sustainer's apostles have told us the truth!" And [a voice] will call out unto them: "This is the paradise which you have inherited by virtue of your past deeds!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "beneath them": i.e., all blessings will be at their command.

We shall remove whatever ill-feeling they may have in their hearts against one another. Rivers will be flowing beneath them; and they will say: "Praise be to Allah Who guided us this way, we would have never found the Right Way if Allah had not guided us. The Rasools of our Rabb have surely preached us the truth." At that time they will hear the announcement: "This is paradise, which you have inherited because of your good deeds."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We remove whatever rancor may be in their hearts. Rivers flow beneath them. And they say: The praise to Allah, Who hath guided us to this. We could not truly have been led aright if Allah had not guided us. Verily the messengers of our Lord did bring the Truth. And it is cried unto them: This is the Garden. Ye inherit it for what ye used to do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And the inmates of paradise will call out to the inmates of the fire: "Now we have found that what our Sustainer promised us has come true; have you, too, found that what your Sustainer promised you has come true?" [The others] will answer, "Yes!" - whereupon from their midst a voice³⁵ will loudly proclaim: "God's rejection is the due of the evildoers

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "an announcer" (mu'adhdhin).

The residents of paradise will call out to the inmates of the hellfire: "We have indeed found out the promises of our Rabb to be true. Have you, too, found the promise of your Rabb to be true?" "Yes," they will answer, and a herald will proclaim among them, "the curse of Allah be upon those wrongdoers

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And the dwellers of the Garden cry unto the dwellers of the Fire: We have found that which our Lord promised us (to be) the Truth. Have ye (too) found that which your Lord promised the Truth? They say: Yea, verily. And a crier in between them crieth: The curse of Allah is on evil doers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

who turn others away from God's path and try to make it appear crooked, and who refuse to acknowledge the truth of the life to come!"

  - Mohammad Asad

who hindered other people from the Way of Allah and sought to make it crooked, and who did not believe in the hereafter."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Who debar (men) from the path of Allah and would have it crooked, and who are disbelievers in the Last Day.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall