Surah 29. Al-Ankabut

If you ask them 'O Prophet' who created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon 'for your benefit', they will certainly say, 'Allah!' How can they then be deluded 'from the truth'?

  - Mustafa Khattab

If indeed thou ask them who has created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon (to His Law); they will certainly reply "Allah." How are they then deluded away (from the truth)? ^{3493 3494}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xxiii. 84-89. "Them" in both passages refers to the sort of inconsistent men who acknowledge the power of Allah, but are deluded by false notions into disobedience of Allah's Law and disregard of Allah's Message.

Cf. xiii. 2, and xxiii. 85. The perfect order and law in Allah's universe should be Signs to man's intelligence to get his own will into tune with Allah's Will; for only so can he hope to attain his full development.

Allah gives abundant or limited provisions to whoever He wills of His servants. Surely Allah has 'full' knowledge of everything.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Allah enlarges the sustenance (which He gives) to whichever of His servants He pleases; and He (similarly) grants by (strict) measure (as He pleases): for Allah has full knowledge of all things. ³⁴⁹⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xiii. 26. Unequal gifts are not a sign of chaos in Allah's universe. Allah provides for all according to their real needs and their most suitable requirements, according to His perfect knowledge and understanding of His creatures.

And if you ask them who sends down rain from the sky, giving life to the earth after its death, they will surely say, 'Allah!' Say, 'Praise be to Allah!' In fact, most of them do not understand.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And if indeed thou ask them who it is that sends down rain from the sky and gives life therewith to the earth after its death they will certainly reply "Allah!" Say "Praise be to Allah!" But most of them understand not. ³⁴⁹⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In xxix. 61 above, the point was that there is a certain type of man that realizes the power of Allah, but yet goes after false ideas and false worship. Here the point is that there is another type of man to whom the goodness of Allah is made clear by rain and the gifts of nature and who realizes the daily, seasonal, and secular changes which evidence Allah's goodness in giving us life (physical and Spiritual) and reviving us after we seem to die,-and who yet fails to draw the right conclusion from it and to make his own life true and beautiful, so that when his period of probation in this transitory life is ended, he can enter into his eternal heritage. Having come so far, such men fail at the crucial stage. At that stage they ought to have praised and glorified Allah and accepted His Grace and Light, but they show their want of true understanding by failing to profit by Allah's gifts.

This worldly life is no more than play and amusement. But the Hereafter is indeed the real life, if only they knew.

  - Mustafa Khattab

What is the life of this world but amusement and play? But verily the Home in the Hereafter that is life indeed if they but knew. ³⁴⁹⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vi. 32. Amusement and play have no lasting significance except as preparing us for the serious work of life. So this life is but an interlude, a preparation for the real Life, which is in the Hereafther. This world's vanities are therefore to be taken for what they are worth; but they are not to be allowed to deflect our minds from the requirements of the inner life that really matters.

If they happen to be aboard a ship 'caught in a storm', they cry out to Allah 'alone' in sincere devotion. But as soon as He delivers them 'safely' to shore, they associate 'others with Him once again'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Now if they embark on a boat they call on Allah making their devotion sincerely (and exclusively) to Him; but when He had delivered them safely to (dry) land Behold they give a share (of their worship to others)! ³⁴⁹⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf vii. 29, where I have slightly varied the English phrase according to the context. It was shown in the last verse that the life of this world is fleeting, and that the true life-that which matters-is the Life in the Hereafter. In contrast with this inner reality is now shown the shortsighted folly of man. Where he faces the physical dangers of the sea, which are but an incident in the phenomenal world, he actually and sincerely seeks the help of Allah; but when he is safely back on land, he forgets the Realities, plunges into the pleasures and vanities of fleeting phenomena, and his devotion, which should be given exclusively to Allah, is shared by idols and vanities of his own imagination.

So let them be ungrateful for all We have given them, and 'let them' enjoy themselves 'for now'! For they will soon know.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Disdaining ungratefully Our gifts and giving themselves up to (worldly) enjoyment! But soon will they know. ³⁴⁹⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Such folly results in the virtual rejection (even though it may not be express) of Allah and His Grace. It plunges man into the pleasures and vanities that merely delude and are bound to pass away. This delusion, however, will come to an end when the true Reality of the Hereafter will shine forth in all its splendor.

Have they not seen how We have made 'Mecca' a safe haven, whereas people 'all' around them are snatched away?¹ How can they then believe in falsehood² and deny Allah's favours?

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Mecca was considered as a sanctuary. Therefore, fighting was not allowed there, and whoever entered Mecca (especially in the neighbourhood of the Ka’bah) was safe—a privilege that other cities in Arabia did not have.

 i.e., the false gods and idols.

Do they not then see that We have made a Sanctuary secure and that men are being snatched away from all around them? Then do they believe in that which is vain and reject the Grace of Allah? ³⁵⁰⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

If they want evidences of their folly in the phenomenal world itself, they will see sacred Sanctuaries where Allah's Truth abides safely in the midst of the Deluge of broken hopes, disappointed ambitions and unfulfilled plans in the world around. The immediate reference was to the Sanctuary of Makkah and the gradual progress of Islam in the districts surrounding the Quraish in the midst of the trying Makkan period. But the general application holds good for all times and places.

And who does more wrong than those who fabricate lies against Allah or reject the truth after it has reached them? Is Hell not a 'fitting' home for the disbelievers?

  - Mustafa Khattab

And who does more wrong than he who invents a lie against Allah or rejects the Truth when it reaches Him? Is there not a home in Hell for those who reject Faith? ³⁵⁰¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vi. 21. Even from a worldly point of view those who reject Allah's Truth are at a disadvantage. But those who deliberately invent lies and set up false gods for worship, what punishment can we imagine for them except a permanent deprivation of Allah's grace, and a home in Hell?

As for those who struggle in Our cause, We will surely guide them along Our Way. And Allah is certainly with the good-doers.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And those who strive in Our (Cause) We will certainly guide them to Our Paths: for verily Allah is with those who do right. ^{3502 3503}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Strive in Our Cause." All that man can do is to strive in Allah's Cause. As soon as he strives with might and main, with constancy and determination, the Light and Mercy of Allah come to meet him. They cure his defects and shortcomings. They provide him with the means by which he can raise himself above himself. They point out the Way, and all the Paths leading up to it. See next note.

The Way of Allah (sirat-ul-Mustaqim) is a Straight Way. But men have strayed from it in all directions. And there are numerous Paths by which they can get back to the Right Way, the way in which the purity of their own nature, and the Will and Mercy of Allah require them to Walk. All these numerous Paths become open to them if once they give their hearts in keeping to Allah and work in right Endeavour (Jihad) with all their mind and soul and resources. Thus will they get out of the Spider's web of this frail world and attain to eternal Bliss in the fulfillment of their true Destiny.