Surah 27. An-Naml

Nay - who is it that has made the earth a fitting abode⁵⁵ [for living things], and has caused running waters [to flow] in its midst, and has set upon it mountains firm, and has placed a barrier between the two great bodies of water?⁵⁶ Could there be any divine power besides God? Nay, most of those [who think so] do not know [what they are saying]!

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "place of rest" (qarar). But see also {77:25-26} and the corresponding note [9].

See 25:53 and the corresponding notes [41] and [42].

Just think who has made the earth a place for your residence, caused in it the rivers to flow, set mountains upon it and placed a barrier between the two seas? Is there another god besides Allah? Nay, most of them have no knowledge.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Is not He (best) Who made the earth a fixed abode, and placed rivers in the folds thereof, and placed firm hills therein, and hath set a barrier between the two seas? Is there any God beside Allah? Nay, but most of them know not!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay - who is it that responds to the distressed when he calls out to Him, and who removes the ill [that caused the distress], and has made you inherit the earth?⁵⁷ Could there be any divine power besides God? How seldom do you keep this in mind!

  - Mohammad Asad

Cf. 2:30 and the corresponding note [22]. In the present instance the accent is on God's having caused man to "inherit the earth" by endowing him with specific faculties and abilities - an implicit denial of man's claim that he is independent and "master of his fate".

Just think who answers the oppressed person when he cries out to Him and relieves his affliction, and makes you, O mankind, inheritors of the earth? Is there another god besides Allah? How little do you reflect!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Is not He (best) who answereth the wronged one when he crieth unto Him and removeth the evil, and hath made you viceroys of the earth? Is there any God beside Allah? Little do they reflect!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay - who is it that guides you in the midst of the deep darkness of land and sea,⁵⁸ and sends forth the winds as a glad tiding of His coming grace?⁵⁹ Could there be any divine power besides God? Sublimely exalted is God above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., metonymically, through all the seemingly insoluble complexities of human life.

See 7:57 and the corresponding note [44].

Just think who guides you in darkness on the land and the sea, and who sends the winds as heralds of good news of His mercy? Is there another god besides Allah? Exalted be Allah above what they associate with Him!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Is not He (best) Who guideth you in the darkness of the land and the sea, He Who sendeth the winds as heralds of His mercy? Is there any God beside Allah? High exalted be Allah from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him)!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay - who is it that creates [all life] in the first instance, and then brings it forth anew?⁶⁰ And who is it that provides you with sustenance out of heaven and earth?⁶¹ Could there be any divine power besides God? Say: "[If you think so,] produce your evidence - if you truly believe in your claim!"⁶²

  - Mohammad Asad

This relates to man's life on earth and his resurrection after bodily death as well as to the this - worldly cycle of birth, death and regeneration manifested in all organic nature.

As in 10:31 , the term "sustenance" (rizq) has here both a physical and a spiritual connotation; hence the phrase, "out of heaven and earth".

Lit., "if you are truthful" - the implication being that most people who profess a belief in a multiplicity of divine powers, or even in the possibility of the One God's "incarnation" in a created being, do so blindly, sometimes only under the influence of inherited cultural traditions and habits of thought, and not out of a reasoned conviction.

Just think who originates creation and then repeats its production, and who gives you sustenance from the heavens and the earth? Is there another god besides Allah? Say: "Show us your proof if you are telling the truth!"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Is not He (best), Who produceth creation, then reproduceth it, and Who provideth for you from the heaven and the earth? Is there any God beside Allah? Say: Bring your proof, if ye are truthful!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "None in the heavens or on earth knows the hidden reality [of anything that exists: none knows it] save God."⁶³ And neither can they [who are living] perceive when they shall be raised from the dead:

  - Mohammad Asad

In this context, the term al-ghayb - rendered by me here as "the hidden reality" - apparently relates to the "how" of God's Being, the ultimate reality underlying the observable aspects of the universe, and the meaning and purpose inherent in its creation. My repetition, within brackets, of the words "none knows it", i.e., save God, is necessitated by the fact that He is infinite, unlimited as to space, and cannot, therefore, be included among the beings "in the heavens or on earth" who have all been created by Him.

Say: No one in the heavens or in the earth has the knowledge of the unseen except Allah and their gods do not know when they shall be raised to life again.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say (O Muhammad): None in the heavens and the earth knoweth the Unseen save Allah; and they know not when they will be raised (again).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

nay, their knowledge of the life to come stops short of the truth:⁶⁴ nay, they are [often] in doubt as to its reality: nay, they are blind to it.⁶⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., they cannot truly visualize the hereafter because its reality is beyond anything that man may experience in this world: and this, it cannot be stressed often enough, is an indirect explanation of the reason why all Qur'anic references to the conditions, good or bad, of man's life after death are of necessity expressed in purely allegorical terms.

I.e., blind to its logical necessity within God's plan of creation. For, it is only on the premise of a life after death that the concept of man's moral responsibility and, hence, of God's ultimate judgment can have any meaning; and if there is no moral responsibility, there can be no question of a preceding moral choice; and if the absence of choice is taken for granted, all differentiation between right and wrong becomes utterly meaningless as well.

Their knowledge does not grasp the Hereafter; rather they are in doubt about it; nay, they are blind concerning it!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, but doth their knowledge reach to the Hereafter? Nay, for they are in doubt concerning it. Nay, for they cannot see it.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And so, they who are bent on denying the truth are saying: "What! After we have become dust-we and our forefathers - shall we [all], forsooth, be brought forth [from the dead]?

  - Mohammad Asad

The unbelievers say: "What! When we and our fathers have become dust, shall we really be raised from the dead?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Yet those who disbelieve say: when we have become dust like our fathers, shall we verily be brought forth (again)?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Indeed, we were promised this - we and our forefathers - in the past as well; it is nothing but fables of ancient times!"

  - Mohammad Asad

This promise which is made to us was also made to our forefathers before us, these are nothing but the legends of primitive people."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We were promised this, forsooth, we and our fathers. (All) this is naught but fables of the men of old.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "Go all over the earth and behold what happened in the end to those [who were thus] lost in sin!"⁶⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., those who denied the reality of a life after death and, hence, of man's ultimate responsibility for his conscious doings. As pointed out in the preceding note, the unavoidable consequence of this denial is the loss of all sense of right and wrong: and this, in its turn. leads to spiritual and social chaos, and so to the downfall of communities and civilizations.

Say: "Travel through the earth and see what has been the end of the criminals."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Travel in the land and see the nature of the sequel for the guilty!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But do not grieve over them, and neither be distressed by the false arguments which they devise [against God's messages].⁶⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "by their scheming". For the Qur'anic use of the term makr in the sense of "devising false arguments [against something]", see 10:21 and the corresponding note [33].

O Prophet, do not worry about them nor feel distressed because of their plots.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And grieve thou not for them, nor be in distress because of what they plot (against thee).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And [when] they ask, "When is this promise [of resurrection] to be fulfilled? [Answer this, O you who believe in it,] if you are men of truth!" -

  - Mohammad Asad

They also say: "When will this promise be fulfilled if what you say be true?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they say: When (will) this promise (be fulfilled), if ye are truthful?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

say thou: "It may well be that something of that which [in your ignorance] you so hastily demand⁶⁸ has already drawn close unto you...."

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the end of their own life, which must precede their resurrection.

Say: "It may be that a part of what you wish to hasten is near at hand."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: It may be that a part of that which ye would hasten on is close behind you.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Now, verily, thy Sustainer is indeed limitless in His bounty unto men - but most of them are bereft of gratitude.

  - Mohammad Asad

The fact is that your Rabb is very gracious to mankind: yet most of them are ungrateful.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! thy Lord is full of bounty for mankind, but most of them do not give thanks.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But, verily, thy Sustainer knows all that their hearts conceal as well as all that they

  - Mohammad Asad

Indeed your Rabb knows what their breasts conceal and what they reveal.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! thy Lord knoweth surely all that their bosoms hide, and all that they proclaim.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for there is nothing [so deeply] hidden in the heavens or on earth but is recorded in [His] clear decree.

  - Mohammad Asad

Nor there is any secret in heaven or on earth which is not recorded in a clear Book.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And there is nothing hidden in the heaven or the earth but it is in a clear Record.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall