Surah 43. Az-Zukhruf

And He it is who sends down, again and again,⁹ waters from the sky in due measure: and [as] We raise therewith dead land to life, even thus will you be brought forth [from the dead].

  - Mohammad Asad

The grammatical form nazzala implies here recurrence: hence, "again and again".

The One Who sends down rain from the sky in due measure and thereby resurrects a dead land - that's how you shall be brought forth (raised to life again).

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And who sendeth down water from the sky in (due) measure, and We revive a dead land therewith. Even so will ye be brought forth;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And He it is who has created all opposite.¹⁰ And He [it is who] has provided for you all those ships and animals whereon you ride,

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "all pairs". Some commentators regard the term azwaj as synonymous in this context with "kinds" (Baghawi, Zamakhshari, Baydawi, Ibn Kathir): i.e., they take the above phrase to mean no more than that God created all kinds of things, beings and phenomena. Others (e.g., Tabari) see in it a reference to the polarity evident in all creation. Ibn'Abbas (as quoted by Razi) says that it denotes the concept of opposites in general, like "sweet and sour, or white and black, or male and female"; to which Razi adds that everything in creation has its complement, "like high and low, right and left, front and back, past and future, being and attribute", etc., whereas God - and He alone - is unique, without anything that could be termed "opposite" or "similar" or "complementary". Hence, the above sentence is an echo of the statement that "there is nothing that could be compared with Him" ( 112:4 ).

The One Who has created all living things in pairs and made for you the ships and cattle on which you ride

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He who created all the pairs, and appointed for you ships and cattle whereupon ye ride.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

in order that you might gain mastery over them,¹¹ and that whenever you have mastered them, you might remember your Sustainer's blessings and say: "Limitless in His glory is He who has made [all] this subservient to our use - since [but for Him,] we would not have been able to attain to it.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "over its backs" - i.e., according to all classical commentators, the "backs" of the above-mentioned animals and ships alike, the singular form of the pronoun ("its") relating to the collective entity comprised in the concept of "all whereon you ride" (ma tarkabun): in other words, "all that you use or may use by way of transport". As regards my rendering of li-tasta'u as "so that you might gain mastery", I should like to point out that the verb istawa (lit., "he established himself") has often the connotation adopted by me: see Jawhari, Raghib and Lisan al-'Arab, art. sawa; also Lane IV, 1478.

so that you may firmly sit on their backs, then as you mount, recall the goodness of your Rabb and say: "Glory be to Him Who has subjected these to Our use, otherwise We could not have brought them under our control,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

That ye may mount upon their backs, and may remember your Lord's favor when ye mount thereon, and may say: Glorified be He Who hath subdued these unto us, and we were not capable (of subduing them);

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, verily, it is unto Him that we must always turn."

  - Mohammad Asad

and to our Rabb we shall all return."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And lo! unto our Lord we are returning.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND YET,¹² they attribute to Him offspring from among some of the beings created by Him!¹³ Verily,most obviously bereft of all gratitude is man!

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., despite the fact that most people readily admit that God has created all that exists (verse {9} above), some of them tend to forget His uniqueness.

Lit., "attribute to Him a part out of [some of] His creatures ('ibad)": cf. 6:100 and the corresponding notes. The noun juz' (lit., "part") evidently denotes here "a part of Himself", as implied in the concept of "offspring"; hence my rendering. If, on the other hand, juz' is understood in its literal sense, the above sentence could have (as Razi assumes) a more general meaning, namely, "they attribute a part of His divinity to some of the beings created by Him". However, in view of the sequence, which clearly refers to the blasphemous attribution of "offspring" to God, my rendering seems to be preferable.

Yet inspite of recognizing all this, they have made some of His servants to be a part of Him! Surely mankind is clearly ungrateful.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they allot to Him a portion of His bondmen! Lo! man is verily a mere ingrate.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Or [do you think], perchance, that out of all His creation He has chosen for Himself daughters, and favoured you with sons?¹⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

It should be remembered that the people thus addressed were the pagan Arabs, who believed that some of their goddesses, as well as the angels, were "God's daughters". In view of the fact that those pre-Islamic Arabs regarded daughters as a mere liability and their birth as a disgrace, this verse is obviously ironical. (Cf. in this connection {16:57-59}.)

Would Allah choose daughters (pagan Arabs believed that angels were the daughters of Allah) for Himself out of what He Himself creates and gives you sons?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or chooseth He daughters of all that He hath created, and honoureth He you with sons?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For [thus it is:] if any of them is given the glad tiding of [the birth of] what he so readily attributes to the Most Gracious,¹⁵ his face darkens, and he is filled with suppressed anger:

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "what he postulates as a likeness of [or "as likely for"] the Most Gracious": i.e., female offspring, which implies a natural "likeness" to its progenitor.

Yet when a new born-girl - the gender that they ascribe to the Compassionate - is announced to one of them, his face darkens and he is filled with grief.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if one of them hath tidings of that which he likeneth to the Beneficent One, his countenance becometh black and he is full of inward rage.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"What! [Am I to have a daughter -] one who is to be reared [only] for the sake of ornament?"¹⁶ - and thereupon he finds himself torn by a vague inner conflict.¹⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., one who, from the viewpoint of the pre-Islamic Arabs, would have no function other than "embellishing" a man's life.

Lit., "he finds himself in an invisible (ghayr mubin) conflict" - i.e., an inner conflict which he does not quite admit to his consciousness: cf. 16:59 - "he debates within himself:] Shall he keep this child despite the contempt [which he feels for it] - or shall he bury it in the dust?" (See also, in particular, the corresponding note [66].)

Do they ascribe to Allah, the female gender who is brought up among trinkets and is unable to make herself clear in disputation?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Liken they then to Allah) that which is bred up in outward show, and in dispute cannot make itself plain?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And [yet] they claim that the angels - who in themselves are but beings created by the Most Gracious¹⁸ - are females: [but] did they witness their creation? This false claim of theirs¹⁹ will be recorded, and they will be called to account [for it on Judgment Day]!

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "who are but worshippers [or "creatures"] ('ibad ) of the Most Gracious" - in either case stressing their having been created and, hence, not being divine.

Lit., "their testimony", i.e., regarding the "sex" of the angels, who are spiritual in nature (Razi) and, therefore, sexless.

They regard the angels, who are themselves servants of the Compassionate, as female divinities. Did they witness their creation? They should know that their testimony shall be noted down and they shall be called to account for it.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they make the angels, who are the slaves of the Beneficent, females. Did they witness their creation? Their testimony will be recorded and they will be questioned.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Yet they say, "Had [not] the Most Gracious so willed, we would never have worshipped them!" [But] they cannot have any knowledge of [His having willed] such a thing: they do nothing but guess.²⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., they cannot have any "knowledge" of something that is devoid of all reality - because, far from having "willed" their sin, God had left it to their free will to make a moral choice between right and wrong. (See in this connection surah {6}, note [143].)

They say: "Had it been the will of the Compassionate, We should never have worshipped them." They have no knowledge about that; they are merely guessing.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they say: If the Beneficent One had (so) willed, we should not have worshipped them. They have no knowledge whatsoever of that. They do but guess.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Or have We, perchance, vouchsafed them, before this one, a revelation [to the contrary,] to which they are still holding fast?²¹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., a revelation which would allow man to worship other beings beside God, or to attribute "offspring" to Him: a rhetorical question implying its own negation.

Or have We given them a Book before this to which they hold authority for their angel-worshipping?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or have We given them any Scripture before (this Qur'an) so that they are holding fast thereto?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay, but they say, "Behold, We found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and, verily, it is in their footsteps that we find our guidance!"

  - Mohammad Asad

The only argument they have is to say: "We found our forefathers practicing this faith and we are walking in their footsteps."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, for they say only: Lo! we found our fathers following a religion, and we are guided by their footprints.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And thus it is: whenever We sent, before thy time, a warner to any community, those of its people who had lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures²² would always say, "Behold, we found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and, verily, it is but in their footsteps that we follow!"²³

  - Mohammad Asad

For this rendering of the term mutraf (derived from the verb tarafa), see note [147] on 11:116 .

Commenting on this passage, Razi says: "Had there been in the Qur'an nothing but these verses, they would have sufficed to show the falsity of the principle postulating [a Muslim's] blind, unquestioning adoption of [another person's] religious opinions (ibtal al -qawl bi't-taqlid ): for, God has made it clear [in these verses] that those deniers of the truth had not arrived at their convictions by way of reason, and neither on the clear authority of a revealed text, but solely by blindly adopting the opinions of their forebears and predecessors; and all this God has mentioned in terms of blame and sharp disparagement."

Even so, whenever We sent a Warner before you to forewarn a nation, its affluent people said: "We found our forefathers practicing this faith and surely we are going to follow their footsteps."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And even so We sent not a warner before thee (Muhammad) into any township but its luxurious ones said: Lo! we found our fathers following a religion, and we are following their footprints.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[Whereupon each prophet] would say,²⁴ "Why, even though I bring you a guidance better than that which you found your forefathers believing in?" - [to which] the others would reply, "Behold, we deny that there is any truth in [what you claim to be] your messages!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Whereas in some of the readings of the Qur'an the opening word of this verse is vocalized as an imperative, qul ("say"), the reading of Hafs ibn Sulayman al-Asadi - on which this translation is based - gives the pronounciation qala ("he said" or, since it is a repeated occurrence, "he would say").

Each Warner asked: "What if I bring you better guidance than that which your forefathers practiced?" But they replied: "Well! We reject the faith with which you have been sent."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(And the warner) said: What! Even though I bring you better guidance than that ye found your fathers following? They answered: Lo! in what ye bring we are disbelievers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And so We inflicted Our retribution on them: and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth!

  - Mohammad Asad

Consequently, We inflicted Our retribution on them; then see what was the end of those who disbelieved?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So We requited them. Then see the nature of the consequence for the rejecters!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall