Surah 19. Maryam

For [such as] these have taken to worshipping deities other than God, hoping that they would be a [source of] strength for them.⁷⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

This refers to the type of man spoken of in the preceding passage as well as in verses {73-75}: people who "worship" wealth and power with an almost religious devotion, attributing to these manifestations of worldly success the status of divine forces.

They have taken other deities for worship besides Allah, so that they should be a source of strength to them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they have chosen (other) gods beside Allah that they may be a power for them.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But nay! [On Judgment Day] these [very objects of adoration] will disavow the worship that was paid to them, and will turn against those [who had worshipped them]!

  - Mohammad Asad

By no means! Those very deities will renounce their worship and turn against them on the Day of Judgement.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, but they will deny their worship of them, and become opponents unto them.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

ART THOU NOT aware that We have let loose all [manner of] satanic forces⁷¹ upon those who deny the truth - [forces] that impel them [towards sin] with strong impulsion?⁷²

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "the satans", by which term the Qur'an often describes all that is intrinsically evil, especially the immoral impulses in man's own soul (cf. note [10] on 2:14 and note [33] on verse {44} of the present surah).

See note [31] on 15:41 . According to Zamakhshari and Razi, the expression "We have let loose (arsalna) all [manner of] satanic forces (shayatin) upon those who deny the truth" has here the meaning of "We have allowed them to be active (khallayna) among them", leaving it to man's free will to accept or to reject those evil influences or impulses. Razi, in particular, points in this context to surah {14}, verse {22}, according to which Satan will thus address the sinners on Resurrection Day: "I had no power at all over you: I but called you-and you responded to me. Hence, blame not me, but blame yourselves." See also note [31] on 14:22 , in which Razi's comment is quoted verbatim.

Don't you see that We have sent down to the unbelievers shaitans who incite them against the Truth?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Seest thou not that We have set the devils on the disbelievers to confound them with confusion?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, be not in haste [to call down God's punishment] upon them: for We but number the number of their days.⁷³

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "We number for them but a number". Cf. also the first sentence of verse {75} above.

Therefore be not in haste against them, their days are numbered.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So make no haste against them (O Muhammad). We do but number unto them a sum (of days).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

On the Day when We shall gather the God-conscious unto [Us,] the Most Gracious, as honoured guests,

  - Mohammad Asad

The Day will surely come when We will gather the righteous like honored guests before the Compassionate (Allah),

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

On the Day when We shall gather the righteous unto the Beneficent, a goodly company.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and drive those who were lost in sin unto hell as a thirsty herd is driven to a well -

  - Mohammad Asad

and drive the criminals to Hell like thirsty cattle are driven to water.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And drive the guilty unto Hell, a weary herd,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[or that Day] none will have [the benefit of] intercession unless he has [in his lifetime] entered into a bond with the Most Gracious.⁷⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "except him who has...", etc. According to the classical commentators - including some of the most outstanding Companions of the Prophet - the "bond with God" denotes, in this context, the realization of His oneness and uniqueness; for the wider implications of this term, see surah {2}, note [19]. Consequently, as pointed out by Razi, even great sinners may hope for God's forgiveness - symbolically expressed by the right of "intercession" which will be granted to the prophets on Judgment Day (see note [7]on {10: 3}) - provided that, during their life on earth, they were aware of God's existence and oneness.

None shall have the power to intercede except the one who may receive the sanction of the Compassionate (Allah).

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They will have no power of intercession, save him who hath made a covenant with his Lord.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

As it is,⁷⁵ some assert, "The Most Gracious has taken unto Himself a son"!⁷⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "And" (wa), connecting the present passage with verse {81}.

This allusion to the Christian belief in Jesus as "the son of God" - and, in general, to every belief in God's "incarnation" in a created being - takes up the theme broached in verse {81} above: namely, the deification of powers or beings other than God "with a view to their being a source of strength" to those who turn to them. But whereas verse {81} refers specifically to the godless who accord a quasi-divine status to material wealth and power and abandon themselves entirely to the pursuit of worldly success, the present passage refers to people who, while believing in God, deify prophets and saints, too, in the subconscious hope that they might act as "mediators" between them and the Almighty. Since this deification offends against the principle of God's transcendent oneness and uniqueness, it implies a breach of man's "bond with God" and, if consciously persisted in, constitutes an unforgivable sin (cf. 4:48 and {116}).

Those who say: "The Compassionate (God) has begotten a son,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they say: The Beneficent hath taken unto Himself a son.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Indeed, [by this assertion] you have brought forth something monstrous,

  - Mohammad Asad

" certainly preach such a monstrous falsehood,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Assuredly ye utter a disastrous thing,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

whereat the heavens might well-nigh be rent into fragments, and the earth be split asunder, and the mountains fall down in ruins!

  - Mohammad Asad

that the very Heavens might crack, the earth might cleave asunder and the mountains might crumble to pieces

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Whereby almost the heavens are torn, and the earth is split asunder and the mountains fall in ruins,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

That men should ascribe a son to the Most Gracious,

  - Mohammad Asad

- at their ascribing a son to the Compassionate (God),

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

That ye ascribe unto the Beneficent a son,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

although it is inconceivable that the Most Gracious should take unto Himself a son!⁷⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

The idea that God might have a "son" - either in the real or in the metaphorical sense of this term - would presuppose a degree of innate likeness between "the father" and "the son": but God is in every respect unique, so that "there is nothing like unto Him" ({42: 11}) and "nothing that could be compared with Him" ({112: 4}). Moreover, the concept of "progeny" implies an organic continuation of the progenitor, or of part of him, in another being and, therefore, presupposes a degree of incompleteness before the act of procreation (or incarnation, if the term "sonship" is used metaphorically): and the idea of incompleteness, in whatever sense, negates the very concept of God. But even if the idea of "sonship" is meant to express no more than one of the different "aspects" of the One Deity (as is claimed in the Christian dogma of the "Trinity"), it is described in the Qur'an as blasphemous inasmuch as it amounts to an attempt at defining Him who is "sublimely exalted above anything that men may devise by way of definition" (see last sentence of 6:100 ).

It is not befitting to the Compassionate (God) that He should beget a son.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

When it is not meet for (the Majesty of) the Beneficent that He should choose a son.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Not one of all [the beings] that are in the heavens or on earth appears before the Most Gracious other than a servant:⁷⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., all of them - whether men or angels - are but created beings, having no share whatever in His divinity, and all of them submit, consciously or unconsciously, to His will (cf. 13:15 and {16:48-49}).

There is none in the heavens and in the earth but must come to the Compassionate (Allah) in full submission.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

There is none in the heavens and the earth but cometh unto the Beneficent as a slave.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

indeed, He has full cognizance of them, and has numbered them with [unfailing] numbering;

  - Mohammad Asad

He has a comprehensive knowledge and has kept strict count of all His creatures,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Verily He knoweth them and numbereth them with (right) numbering.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and every one of them will appear before Him on Resurrection Day in a lonely state.⁷⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [69] above.

and every one of them will come to Him individually on the Day of Resurrection.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And each one of them will come unto Him on the Day of Resurrection, alone.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

VERILY, those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds will the Most Gracious endow with love:⁸⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., bestow on them His love and endow them with the capability to love His creation, as well as cause them to be loved by their fellow-men. As is shown in the next verse, this gift of love is inherent in the guidance offered to man through divine revelation.

Surely the Beneficent will bring about love for those who believe and do good deeds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! those who believe and do good works, the Beneficent will appoint for them love.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and only to this end have We made this [divine writ] easy to understand, in thine own tongue, [O Prophet,]⁸¹ so that thou might convey thereby a glad tiding to the God-conscious, and warn thereby those who are given to [futile] contention:

  - Mohammad Asad

Since man is incapable of understanding the "word" of God as such, it has always been revealed to him in his own, human tongue (cf. 14:4 -"never have We sent forth any apostle otherwise than [with a message] in his own people's tongue"), and has always been expounded in concepts accessible to the human mind: hence the reference to the Prophet's revelations as "brought down upon thy heart" ({2: 97}), or "[divine inspiration] has alighted with it upon thy heart" ({26: 193-194}).

We have made this Qur'an easy in your own language so that you may give good news to the righteous and warn the headstrong contentious folk.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We make (this Scripture) easy in thy tongue, (O Muhammad) only that thou mayst bear good tidings therewith unto those who ward off (evil), and warn therewith the froward folk.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for, how many a generation⁸² have We destroyed before their time - [and] canst thou perceive any one of them [now], or hear any whisper of them?

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., civilization - a meaning which the term qarn has also in the identical phrase in verse {74}.

How many generations have We destroyed before them! Can you see any of them, or hear even a sound of them?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And how many a generation before them have We destroyed! Canst thou (Muhammad) see a single man of them, or hear from them the slightest sound?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall