Surah 26. Ash-Shuara

They answered: "Shall we place our faith in thee, even though [only] the most abject [of people] follow thee?"⁴⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [47] on 11:27 .

They replied: "Should we believe in you, whereas your followers are but the lowest of the low?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They said: Shall we put faith in thee, when the lowest (of the people) follow thee?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Said he: "And what knowledge could I have as to what they were doing [before they came to me]?

  - Mohammad Asad

He said: "I have no knowledge as to what they have been doing;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He said: And what knowledge have I of what they may have been doing (in the past)?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Their reckoning rests with none but my Sus-tainer: if you could but understand [this]!⁵⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

This is obviously a retort to the unbelievers' suggestion (elliptically implied here) that those "abject" followers of Noah had declared their faith in him, not out of conviction, but only in order to gain some material advantages. Noah's answer embodies a cardinal principle of Qur'anic ethics and, hence, of Islamic Law: No human being has the right to sit in judgment on another person's faith or hidden motives; whereas God knows what is in the hearts of men, society may judge only by external evidence (az-zahir), which comprises a person's words as well as deeds. Thus, if anyone says, "I am a believer", and does not act or speak in a manner contradicting his professed faith, the community must consider him a believer.

their account is the concern of my Rabb, if you could use your common sense!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! their reckoning is my Lord's concern, if ye but knew;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, I shall not drive away [any of] those [who profess to be] believers;

  - Mohammad Asad

I am not going to drive away any believer .

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And I am not (here) to repulse believers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

I am nothing but a plain warner."

  - Mohammad Asad

I am nothing but a plain Warner."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

I am only a plain warner.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Said they: "Indeed, if thou desist not, O Noah, thou wilt surely be stoned to death!"⁵¹

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "thou wilt surely be among those who are stoned [to death]".

They said: "O Nuh! If you do not stop, you shall be stoned to death."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They said: If thou cease not, O Noah, thou wilt surely be among those stoned (to death).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[Whereupon] he prayed: "O my Sustainer! Behold, my people have given me the lie:

  - Mohammad Asad

Nuh prayed: "O Rabb! My people have disobeyed me.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He said: My Lord! Lo! my own folk deny me.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

hence, lay Thou wide open the truth between me and them,⁵² and save me and those of the believers who are with me!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "decide Thou with a [clear] decision between me and them". My choice of the primary significance of iftah ("lay open", i.e., the truth) has been explained in note [72] on the last sentence of 7:89

Decide the case between me and them openly. Deliver me and the believers who are with me."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Therefor judge Thou between us, a (conclusive) judgment, and save me and those believers who are with me.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And so We saved him and those [who were] with him in the fully-laden ark,

  - Mohammad Asad

So We granted his prayer, delivered him and those with him in the laden ark,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We saved him and those with him in the laden ship.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and then We caused those who stayed behind to drown.⁵³

  - Mohammad Asad

The story of Noah and his people, as well as of the Deluge, is given in greater detail in {11:25-48}.

and drowned the rest in the flood.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then afterward We drowned the others.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

In this [story], behold, there is a message [unto men],⁵⁴ even though most of them will not believe [in it].

  - Mohammad Asad

For the message specifically alluded to here, see verses {111-115}, as well as note [50] above.

Surely in this story there is a great lesson, but most of these people do not learn a lesson and become believers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! herein is indeed a portent, yet most of them are not believers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But, verily, thy Sustainer - He alone-is almighty, a dispenser of grace!

  - Mohammad Asad

The fact is that your Rabb is the Mighty as well as the Merciful.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And lo, thy Lord, He is indeed the Mighty, the Merciful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[AND the tribe of] Ad gave the lie to [one of God's] message-bearers

  - Mohammad Asad

The people of 'Ad, too, disbelieved their Rasools.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(The tribe of) Aad denied the messengers (of Allah),

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

when their brother Hud⁵⁵ said unto them: "Will you not be conscious of God?

  - Mohammad Asad

See 7:65 and the corresponding note [48].

Remember when their brother Hud asked them: "Have you no fear of Allah?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

When their brother Hud said unto them: Will ye not ward off (evil)?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Behold, I am an apostle [sent by Him] to you, [and therefore] worthy of your trust:

  - Mohammad Asad

Rest assured that I am a trustworthy Rasool of Allah towards you.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! I am a faithful messenger unto you,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

be, then, conscious of God, and pay heed unto me!.

  - Mohammad Asad

So fear Allah and obey me.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So keep your duty to Allah and obey me.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"And no reward whatever do I ask of you for it: my reward rests with none but the Sustainer of all the worlds.

  - Mohammad Asad

I do not ask you any reward for my services, for my reward will be given by the Rabb of the Worlds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And I ask of you no wage therefor; my wage is the concern only of the Lord of the Worlds.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"Will you, in your wanton folly, build [idolatrous] altars on every height,⁵⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

The noun ayah, which primarily denotes "a sign" or "a token", evidently refers here to the ancient Semitic custom of worshipping the tribal gods on hilltops, which were crowned to this end by sacrificial altars or monuments, each of them devoted to a particular deity: hence my rendering of ayah, in this particular context, as "altars" (in the plural).

Are you erecting a monument on every high place for fun?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Build ye on every high place a monument for vain delight?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and make for yourselves mighty castles, [hoping] that you might become immortal?⁵⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

The meaning could be either "hoping that you might live in them forever", or "that you might gain immortal renown for having built them".

Are you building strong fortresses as if you are going to live here forever?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And seek ye out strongholds, that haply ye may last for ever?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And will you [always], whenever you lay hand [on others], lay hand [on them] cruelly, without any restraint?⁵⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

The term jabbar, when applied to man, as a rule denotes one who is haughty, overbearing, exorbitant and cruel, and does not submit to any moral restraints in his dealings with those who are weaker than himself. Sometimes (as, e.g., in 11:59 or 14:15 ) this term is used to describe a person's negative ethical attitude, and in that case it may be rendered as "enemy of the truth". In the present instance, however, stress is laid on the tyrannical behaviour of the tribe of 'Ad, evidently relating to their warlike conflicts with other people: and in this sense it expresses a Qur'anic prohibition, valid for all times, of all unnecessary cruelty in warfare, coupled with the positive, clearly-implied injuction to subordinate every act of war - as well as the decision to wage war as such - to moral considerations and restraints.

Whenever you lay your hands on anyone, you act like cruel tyrants.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if ye seize by force, seize ye as tyrants?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall