Surah 43. Az-Zukhruf

And it is not We who will be doing wrong unto them, but it is they who will have wronged themselves.

  - Mohammad Asad

We did not wrong them, but it is they who wronged themselves.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We wronged them not, but they it was who did the wrong.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And they will cry: "O thou [angel] who rulest [over hell]! Let thy Sustainer put an end to us!" - [whereupon] he will reply: "Verily, you must live on [in this state]...."

  - Mohammad Asad

They will cry: "O Malik (the keeper of hell)! Let your Rabb put and end to us." But he will answer: "Nay! You are going to live forever."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they cry: O master! Let thy Lord make an end of us. He saith: Lo! here ye must remain.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

INDEED, [O you sinners,] We have conveyed the truth unto you; but most of you abhor the truth.⁵⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

As is evident from verses {81} ff. above, this is a reference to the truth of God's oneness and uniqueness, which those who believe in Jesus as "the son of God" refuse, as it were, to acknowledge: thus, the discourse returns here to the question of the "nature" of Jesus touched upon in verses {57-65}.

We have brought you the truth, but most of you hate the truth.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We verily brought the Truth unto you, but ye were, most of you, averse to the Truth.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Why - can they [who deny the truth ever] determine what [the truth] should be?⁵⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

The verb barama or abrama signifies, literally, "he twined" or "twisted [something] together", e.g., the strands that are to form a rope; or "he twisted [something] well" or "strongly". Tropically, it connotes the act of "establishing" or "determining" a thing, a proposition, a course of events, etc. (Jawhari). According to the Lisan a -'Arab, the phrase abrama al-amr has the meaning of "he determined (ahkama) the case". In the present context, the term amr, having no definite article, signifies "anything" or - in its widest sense - "anything that should [or "could"] be": and so, taking the preceding verse into account, we arrive at the meaning of arbitrarily "determining what [the truth] should be" - i.e., in contradiction to what the Qur'an postulates as the truth.

If they have devised a plan to ruin you (O Muhammad), then surely We too shall devise a plan to ruin them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or do they determine any thing (against the Prophet)? Lo! We (also) are determining.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Or do they, perchance, think that We do not hear their hidden thoughts and their secret confabulations?⁵⁶ Yea, indeed, [We do,] and Our heavenly forces⁵⁷ are with them, recording [all].

  - Mohammad Asad

This is most probably an allusion to the centuries-long subtle Christian controversies on the question as to whether or not Jesus was "the son of God" and, hence, divine. These controversies were often influenced by a subconscious leaning of some of the early Christian thinkers towards ancient, mostly Mithraistic, cults and concepts which were in the beginning strongly opposed by unitarian theologians, foremost among them Arius, Patriarch of Alexandria (about 280-336 C.E.). However, at the politically-motivated Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.), the Arian views - which until then had been shared by the overwhelming majority of articulate Christians - were condemned as "heretical", and the doctrine of Christ's divinity was officially formulated in the so-called Nicene Creed as the basis of Christian beliefs. (See also note [60] below).

Lit., "Our messengers", i.e., angels.

Do they think that We cannot hear their secret talks and their private converse? Of course We do, and Our messengers (angels) who are assigned to them, record it all.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or deem they that We cannot hear their secret thoughts and private confidences? Nay, but Our envoys, present with them, do record.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say [O Prophet]: "If the Most Gracious [truly] had a son, I would be the first to worship him!"

  - Mohammad Asad

O Prophet tell the Christians: "If the Compassionate (Allah) had a son, I would be the first to worship him."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say (O Muhammad): The Beneficent One hath no son. I am first among the worshippers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Utterly remote, in His glory, is the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth - the Sustainer, in almightiness enthroned⁵⁸ - from all that they may attribute to Him by way of definition!⁵⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

Cf. the last clause of surah {9} and the corresponding note [171].

See note [XX] on the last sentence of 6:100 .

Glory be to the Rabb of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, He is above what they ascribe to Him.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Glorified be the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, from that which they ascribe (unto Him)!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But leave them to indulge in idle talk and play [with words]⁶⁰ until they face that [Judgment] Day of theirs which they have been promised:

  - Mohammad Asad

Evidently an allusion to the verbal subtleties of the Nicene Creed, and particularly the statement, "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten, not made [i.e., not created], by the Father as His only Son, of the same substance as the Father, God of God ...", etc.

So let them blunder and play until they face their Day, which has been promised to them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So let them flounder (in their talk) and play until they meet the Day which they are promised.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for [then they will come to know that] it is He [alone] who is God in heaven and God on earth, and [that] He alone is truly wise, all-knowing.

  - Mohammad Asad

It is He (Allah) Who is God in the heavens and God on earth; He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowledgeable.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And He it is Who in the heaven is God, and in the earth God. He is the Wise, the knower.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And hallowed be He unto whom the dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them belongs, and with whom the knowledge of the Last Hour rests, and unto whom you all shall be brought back!

  - Mohammad Asad

Blessed is He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them! He Alone has the knowledge of the Hour of Doom, and to Him you shall all be brought back.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And blessed be He unto Whom belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and with Whom is knowledge of the Hour, and unto Whom ye will be returned.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And those [beings] whom some invoke beside God⁶¹ have it not in their power to intercede [on Judgment Day] for any but such as have [in their lifetime] borne witness to the truth, and have been aware [that God is one and unique].⁶²

  - Mohammad Asad

A reference to falsely deified saints or prophets and, particularly (in view of the context), to Jesus.

For an explanation of the Qur'anic concept of "intercession", see 10:3 - "There is none that could intercede with Him unless He grants leave therefore" - and the corresponding note [7]. - My interpolation, at the end of the above verse, of the words "that God is one and unique" is based on Razi's interpretation of this passage, implying that a mere oral "bearing witness to the truth" is useless if it is not the outcome of an inner awareness of God's oneness and uniqueness.

And those to whom they invoke besides Him, have no power to intercede for them except those who testify to the truth by virtue of knowledge.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And those unto whom they cry instead of Him possess no power of intercession, saving him who beareth witness unto the Truth knowingly.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Now if thou ask those [who worship any being other than God] as to who it is that has created them, they are sure to answer, "God." How perverted, then, are their minds!

  - Mohammad Asad

If you ask them Who created them, they will certainly say: "Allah." How then are they deluded away from the truth?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if thou ask them who created them, they will surely say: Allah. How then are they turned away?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[But God has full knowledge of the true believer⁶³] and of his [despairing] cry: "O my Sustainer! Verily, these are people who will not believe!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Razi (on whose commentary the above interpolation is based), regards this as a reference to the Prophet Muhammad. It seems, however, that the meaning is wider, embracing every believer, of whatever denomination, who is distressed at the blindness of people who attribute divinity or divine qualities to any being other than God Himself.

Allah has heard the Prophet's cry: "O Rabb! Surely these are a people who would not believe."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And he saith: O my Lord! Lo! those are a folk who believe not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Yet bear thou with them, and say, "Peace [be upon you]!" - for in time they will come to know [the truth].

  - Mohammad Asad

Therefore, O Prophet! Bear with them and wish them peace. They shall soon come to know the truth.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then bear with them (O Muhammad) and say: Peace. But they will come to know.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall