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Lit., "Is it that they have partners [of God]" - i.e., "do they believe that circumstantial phenomena like wealth, power, 'luck', etc., have something divine about them?" - the implication being that belief in such "forces" is usually at the root of men's pursuance of exclusively worldly ends. (For my above explanatory rendering of the term shuraka' - lit., "partners" or "associates" [of God] - see note [15] on 6:22 .)
I.e., which cause them to abandon themselves with an almost religious fervour to something of which God disapproves - namely, the striving after purely materialistic goals and a corresponding disregard of all spiritual and ethical values. For my rendering of din, in this context, as "moral law", see note [3] on 109:6 .
Lit., "word of decision", i.e., that His final judgment shall be postponed until the Day of Resurrection (see next note).
I.e., God would have made a clear-cut distinction, in this world, between those who look forward to the hereafter and those who care for no more than worldly success, by granting unlimited happiness to the former and causing the latter to suffer: but since it is only in the hereafter that man's life is to be truly fulfilled, God has willed to postpone this distinction until then.
Nothing can exist without the permission of Allah. Can people, who indulge in false worship say: "Why does Allah permit it?" The answer is: "a certain latitude is allowed with the grant of a limited form of free will. When the time for Judgment comes, the Punishment is sure." See n. 1810 to xiii. 6. Decree (or Word) of Judgment: See n. 1407 to x. 19.
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The chief feature of the punishment of wrong-doing is that the minds of the wrong-doers are haunted with terror on account of their own guilty conscience. They cannot possibly escape the weight of that terror.
In contrast with the withering terror of the wrong-doers is the ease and rational happiness of those who do good. "On them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve" (ii. 38). Their wills will have been purified, and they shall have all that they shall desire, "before their Lord". That is, their highest Bliss will be the sight of their Lord. No higher Bounty can they wish for.
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Lit., "love for those who are near (al-qurba)". Some commentators take this to mean "those who are near to me", i.e., Muhammad's kinsfolk: but quite apart from the objection that such a "personal" demand would conflict with the preceding assurance, "No reward do I ask of you", the deliberate ommission of any possessive pronoun in respect of the term al-qurba indicates that it is not limited to any personal relationship but, rather, alludes to a relationship common to all human beings: namely, the fellowship of man - a concept which implies the fundamental ethical postulate to care for one another's material and spiritual welfare.
This could also be a call to all believers to love and respect the immediate family of the Prophet (ﷺ).
This could also be a call to all believers to love and respect the immediate family of the Prophet (ﷺ).
Heaven may be pictured to our minds in various forms. This is one of the highest, and Allah announces it freely to the righteous.
No sort of tangible reward does the prophet of Allah ask for proclaiming the Glad Tidings of Allah. But at least he has the right to ask that his kith and kin should not persecute him and put all sorts of obstacles in his way, as did the Quraish against the holy Prophet.
Cf. xxxv. 29-30, and notes 3915 (for increase) and 3917 (for Allah's appreciation of service).
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See note [103] on 10:82 .
If any one has a doubt about a prophet's mission, let him look at the prophet's lfe, at his work, at his character. Allah loves Truth, not Falsehood. Allah's aid goes with Truth, not with Falsehood. The beauty and power of Allah's Word cannot be found in Falsehood. The false man's heart would be sealed, not expanded to new heights, as is that of the Message-bearer of Allah.
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Whatever the sin, Allah's Mercy is open to sincere Repentance, at all times, until the decree of condemnation issues.
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To the prayers of the righteous He listens, and He gives them of His Bounty beyond their deserts. Every time they do a little good, they are increased in their goodness. Every right impulse or aspiration is strengthened and leads to progressive spiritual advancement.
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This passage connects with, and elucidates, the statement in the preceding verse that God "responds unto all who attain to faith and do righteous deeds" - a statement which, at first glance, seems to be contrary to the fact that whereas many wrongdoers prosper and are happy, many righteous people suffer hurt and deprivation. In reply to this objection, the above verse points elliptically to man's innate "greed for more and more" (see 102:1 ), which often causes him to become "grossly overweening whenever he believes himself to be self-sufficient" ( 96:6 ). To counteract this tendency, the Qur'an stresses again and again that God's "response" to the righteous - as well as to wrongdoers - will become fully evident only in the life to come, and not necessarily in this world, which, after all, is only the first, short stage of man's existence.
It may be objected that all prayers, even of good people, are not answered. The reply is: (1) that even everyone who is good does not necessarily know what is best for him, for the values in this life are curiously distorted; and (2) on account of their want of knowledge, if everyone got all he asked for, there would be chaos and confusion, and "transgression beyond bounds through the earth", for the different interests are so intermingled and balanced that some measure must be observed in granting people's wishes. This measure is best supplied by the watchful care of Allah and His perfect knowledge of all our real needs.
"As He pleases" is here almost equivalent to "as He thinks best".
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This reference to the symbol of life-giving rain connects with the preceding statement that "He bestows [His grace] in due measure, as He wills", and is a preamble, as it were, to the statement in the next verse that all creation is but a visible "sign" or "revelation" of God's existence and purposeful activity, as well as of the God-willed continuation of all life in the hereafter.
That men should get such a blessing as rain when they expect it according to ordinary calculations or probabilities does not impress them, as it is a daily occurrence. But Allah's mercy is more than this. It comes to our aid even when all hope is lost, and gives us new chances and new openings where we least expect them. His quality of cherishing and protecting His creatures is always active, and what higher praise can we give?
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Lit., "in both". In the Qur'an, the expression "the heavens and the earth" invariably denotes the universe in its entirety.
Dabbatun: beasts, living, crawling creatures of all kinds: see n. 166 to ii. 164. Similarly in xxiv. 45, and other passages, the word is used for living creatures of all kinds, life generally, whose material basis is the mysterious thing which science calls protoplasm. The more our biological knowledge increases, the more do we marvel at the unity of Life on the one hand, and its diversity on the other.
Life is not confined to our one little Planet. It is a very old speculation to imagine some life like human life on the planet Mars. Though no scientific demonstration is possible, it is reasonable to suppose that Life in some form or other is scattered through some of the millions of heavenly bodies scattered through space. What a wonderful Sign of Allah! The Almighty Who created such countless beings has surely the power to bring them together.
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This oft-recurring phrase is a Qur'anic metonym for man's doings and conscious attitudes in this world, meant to bring out the fact that these doings or attitudes are the "harvest" of a person's spiritual character and have, therefore, a definite influence on the quality of his life in the hereafter. Since the latter is but an organic continuation of earthly life, man's subsequent spiritual growth and bliss or, alternatively, spiritual darkness and suffering - symbolically circumscribed as God's "reward" and "chastisement" or "paradise" and "hell" - depend on, and are a result of, what one has previously "earned".
All evil, all sorrow, all pain and affliction, are things not normal, things twisted from the pure and holy nature as created by Allah's hands. As far as man is concerned, his misfortunes are but the consequences of the things he has done. He must bear personal responsibility for them and not throw the blame on others.
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Every evil deed or word or thought must have its evil consequences: but if Allah forgives anything,-and He forgives much, yet no one imagine that he has defeated-or can defeat-Allah's. Will or Plan. The only help or protection that is possible is from Allah. Cf. xxix. 22.
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As is evident from the sequence, in this instance the term ayah (lit., "sign" or "[divine] message") is used in the sense of "parable". (See next note.)
The great and stately ships are appealed to again and again as being among the Signs of Allah, from many aspects. The aspect referred to here is how the great sailing ship runs prosperously as long as "the breath of heaven fills the sail", and what a miserable helpless creature she becomes when she once becomes becalmed. Students of English literature will remember the striking picture which Coleridge draws in his "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." The becalmed ship is as it were in the grip of Death because of the crime which the sailor had committed, and his mind feels psychologically the full force of the Sign. By analogy we can apply this to other craft: the steamer is not free from other dangers of the sea, nor air-craft from numerous dangers of the air.
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If we study such Signs in the right spirit, we learn the highest lessons for our spiritual life: on the one hand, patient perseverance with reliance on Allah, and on the other a feeling or attitude of grateful thanks to Allah, that He enables us to achieve so much in spite of our shortcomings, and forgives in us so much that deserves punishment and disaster.
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I.e., because of the evil which they have committed. The above passage is, I believe, a parabolical allusion to the three possible alternatives in the life to come: spiritual progress and happiness (symbolized by ships that sail freely through the sea); spiritual stagnancy (ships that lie motionless on the sea's surface); and spiritual disaster and suffering (summarized in the concept of perdition). The second of these three alternatives seems to point to the condition of those 'ala 'l-a'raf spoken of in 7:46 Cf. and explained in the corresponding note [37].
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For this rendering of yujadilun, see note [25] on 40:35 .
If we treat Allah's Signs in the wrong spirit, i.e., contumaciously reject them or constantly dispute about them instead of trying to understand them, we are told that such tactics will avail us nothing. we cannot escape the consequences of our sins. The only way to escape is by repentance on our part and the grant of mercy by Allah.
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