Surah 52. At-Tur

Say, 'Keep waiting! I too am waiting with you.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say thou: "Await ye! I too will wait along with you!" ⁵⁰⁶⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. ix. 52. If the wicked wait or look for some calamity to befall the Prophet, the Prophet can with far more justice await the decision of the issue between him and his persecutors. For he stands for right, and Allah will support the right.

Or do their 'intelligent' minds prompt them to this 'paradox'?¹ Or are they 'just' a transgressing people?

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The pagan leaders claimed to be Mecca’s most intelligent minds. So this verse questions their intelligence, arguing that the Prophet (ﷺ) cannot be a madman and a poet at the same time.

Is it that their faculties of understanding urge them to this or are they but a people transgressing beyond bounds? ^{5066 5067}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

It may be that the persecutors of Truth are ignorant, and their deficient faculties of understanding mislead them, but it is more often the case that they are perverse rebels against the law of Allah, defending their own selfish interests, and preventing those whom they oppress, from getting justice.

Cf. li. 53.

Or do they say, 'He made this 'Quran' up!'? In fact, they have no faith.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or do they say "He fabricated the (Message)"? Nay they have no faith! ⁵⁰⁶⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

As an alternative to the charges of being a soothsayer or a madman or a disgruntled poet, there is the charge of a forger or fabricator applied to the prophet of Allah when he produces his Message. This implies that there can be no revelation or inspiration from Allah. Such an attitude negatives Faith altogether. But if this is so, can they produce a work of man that can compare with the inspired Word of Allah? They cannot. Cf. n. 37-39, and xvii. 88.

Let them then produce something like it, if what they say is true!¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Arab pagans were challenged in the Quran to produce its equivalent (52:34), or ten sûrahs (11:13), or at least one sûrah (2:23), but the challenge has never been met.

Let them then produce a recital like unto it if (it be) they speak the Truth!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Or were they created by nothing, or are they 'their own' creators?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Were they created of nothing or were they themselves the creators? ⁵⁰⁶⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Were they created of nothing?" Three possible alternative meanings are suggested by the Commentators, according to the meaning we give to the Arabic preposition min=of, by, with, for. (1) 'Were they created by nothing? Did they come into existence of themselves? Was it a mere chance that they came into being? (2) Were they created as men out of nothing? Was there not a wonderful seed, from which their material growth can be traced, as the handiwork of a wise and wonderful Creator? Must they not then seek His Will? (3) Were they created for nothing, to no purpose? If they were created for a purpose, must they not try to learn that purpose by understanding Allah's Revelation?

Or did they create the heavens and the earth? In fact, they have no firm belief 'in Allah'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay they have no firm belief. ⁵⁰⁷⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

They obviously did not create the wonders of the starry heavens and the fruitful globe of the earth. But they can assign no definite cause to explain it, as they have no firm belief on the subject themselves.

Or do they possess the treasuries of your Lord, or are they in control 'of everything'?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or are the Treasures of thy Lord with them or are they the managers (of affairs)? ⁵⁰⁷¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vi. 50, and n. 867. The Treasures of Allah's Knowledge are infinite. But the doubters and unbelievers have no access to them, much less can the doubters and unbelievers manage the wonders of this world. Must they not therefore seek grace and revelation from Allah?

Or do they have a stairway, by which they eavesdrop 'on the heavens'? Then let those who do so bring a compelling proof.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or have they a ladder by which they can (climb up to heaven and) listen (to its secrets)? Then let (such a) listener of theirs produce a manifest proof. ⁵⁰⁷²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vi. 35: a reference to the Pagan belief that by means of a material ladder a man might climb up to heaven and learn its secrets!

Or does He have daughters 'as you claim', while you 'prefer to' have sons?¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 See footnote for 37:149.

Or has He only daughters and ye have sons? ⁵⁰⁷³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xvi. 57-59, and n. 2082. To the gospel of Unity it is repugnant to assign begotten sons or daughters to Allah. But the Arab superstition about angels being the daughters of Allah was particularly blasphemous as the Pagan Arabs hated to have daughters themselves and considered it a mark of humiliation!

Or are you 'O Prophet' asking them for a reward 'for the message' so that they are overburdened by debt?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or is it that thou dost ask for a reward so that they are burdened with a load of debt? ⁵⁰⁷⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The prophets of Allah ask for no reward to preach the Message of Allah and direct men to the right Path. Why then do men shun them and persecute those who seek to bring blessings to them?

Or do they have access to 'the Record in' the unseen, so they copy it 'for all to see'?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or that the Unseen is in their hands and they write it down? ⁵⁰⁷⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Unseen is a subject of Revelation, though it works through the common everyday life of man. The men who reject Revelation simply because it is outside their own experience ought on the contrary to try to learn about it and seek to understand it.

Or do they intend to scheme 'against the Prophet'? Then it is the disbelievers who will fall victim to 'their' schemes.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or do they intend a plot (against thee)? But those who defy Allah are themselves involved in a Plot! ⁵⁰⁷⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Shallow men who plot against Good are themselves the willing victims of insidious plots laid by Evil.

Or do they have a god other than Allah? Glorified is Allah far above what they associate 'with Him'!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or have they a god other then Allah? exalted is Allah far above the things they associate with Him! ⁵⁰⁷⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is the final and decisive question: Is there really any god other than Allah the One True God? Every argument points to the negative. A series of questions has been asked above pointing to the negative of the superstitions of the godless. The gospel of Unity, Revelation, and the Hereafter has thus been preached by a searching examination of the position of the Unbelievers. And the Sura ends with an exhortation to leave alone those who will not believe because they wish not to believe, and to let Time work out the web and pattern of Allah's Plan.

If they were to see a 'deadly' piece of the sky fall down 'upon them', still they would say, ''This is just' a pile of clouds.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Were they to see a piece of the sky falling (on them) they would (only) say: "clouds gathered in heaps!" ⁵⁰⁷⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In xxvi. 187, Shu'aib, the Prophet of Allah, is challenged by the Companions of the Wood "to cause a piece of the sky to fall on us, if thou art truthful." Such a challenge, in some form or other, is addressed to all prophets of Allah. It is mere defiance. It has no meaning. If a piece of the sky were to fall on them, it would not convince them, for they would only say: "These are only clouds gathered in heaps." They do not wish to believe. Otherwise there are ample Signs and Evidences of Allah's Plan in Creation and in man's own heart.

So leave them until they face their Day in which they will be struck dead-

  - Mustafa Khattab

So leave them alone until they encounter that Day of theirs wherein they shall (perforce) swoon (with terror) ⁵⁰⁷⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

That is, the Day of Judgment. Cf. xxxix. 68, and n. 4343.