Surah 80. Abasa

you gave him your 'undivided' attention,

  - Mustafa Khattab

To him dost thou attend;

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

even though you are not to blame if he would not be purified.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Though it is no blame to thee if he grow not (in spiritual understanding). ⁵⁹⁵³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Allah's Message is for all, but if the great ones arrogantly keep back from it, it is no fault of the preacher, so long as he has proclaimed the Message. He should attend to all, and specially to the humble and lowly.

But as for the one who came to you, eager 'to learn',

  - Mustafa Khattab

But as to him who came to thee striving earnestly

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

being in awe 'of Allah',

  - Mustafa Khattab

And with fear (in his heart) ⁵⁹⁵⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The fear in the blind man's heart may have been two-fold. (1) He was humble and God-fearing, not arrogant and self-sufficient; (2) being poor and blind, he feared to intrude; yet his earnest desire to learn the Qur-an made him bold, and he came, perhaps unseasonably, but was yet worthy of encouragement, because of the purity of his heart.

you were inattentive to him.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Of him wast thou unmindful.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

But no! This 'revelation' is truly a reminder.

  - Mustafa Khattab

By no means (should it be so)! For it is indeed a Message of instruction: ⁵⁹⁵⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Allah's Message is a universal Message, from which no one is to be excluded, rich or poor, old or young, great or lowly, learned or ignorant. If anyone had the spiritual craving that needed satisfaction, he was to be given precedence if there was to be any question of precedence at all.

So let whoever wills be mindful of it.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Therefore let who will keep it in remembrance.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

It is 'written' on pages held in honour-

  - Mustafa Khattab

(It is) in Books held (greatly) in honor. ⁵⁹⁵⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

At the time this Sura was revealed, there were perhaps only about 42 or 45 Suras in the hands of the Muslims. But it was a sufficient body of Revelation of high spiritual value, to which the discription given here could be applied. It was held in the highest honor; its place in the hearts of Muslims was more exalted than that of anything else; as Allah's Word, it was pure and sacred; and those who transcribed it were men who were honorable, just and pious. The legend that the early Suras were not carefully written down and preserved in books is a pure invention. The recensions made later in the time of the first and the third Khalifas were merely to preserve the purity and safeguard the arrangement of the text at a time when the expansion of Islam among non-Arabic-speaking people made such precautions necessary.

highly esteemed, purified-

  - Mustafa Khattab

Exalted (in dignity) kept pure and holy

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

by the hands of angel-scribes,

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Written) by the hands of scribes

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

honourable and virtuous.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Honorable and Pious and Just.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Condemned are 'disbelieving' humans! How ungrateful they are 'to Allah'!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Woe to man! what hath made him reject Allah?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

From what substance did He create them?

  - Mustafa Khattab

From what stuff Hath He created him?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

He created them from a sperm-drop, and ordained their development.

  - Mustafa Khattab

From a sperm-drop: He hath created him and then mouldeth him in due proportions; ⁵⁹⁵⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. lxxvi. 2, and n. 5832. The origin of man as an animal is lowly indeed. But what further faculties and capacities has not Allah granted to man? Besides his animal body, in which also he shares in all the blessings which Allah has bestowed on the rest of His Creation, man has been granted divine gifts which entitle him to be called the Vicegerent on earth: ii. 30. He has a will; he has spiritual perception; he is capable of divine love; he can control nature within certain limits, and subject nature's forces to his own use. And he has been given the power of judgment, so that he can avoid excess and defect, and follow the middle path. And that path, as well as all that is necessary for his life in its manifold aspects, has been made easy for him.

Then He makes the way easy for them,¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The way to true guidance or the way out of their mothers’ wombs.

Then doth He make His path smooth for him;

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali