Surah 55. Ar-Rahman

THE MOST GRACIOUS

  - Mohammad Asad

The Compassionate (Allah).

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The Most Compassionate

  - Mustafa Khattab

The Beneficent

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

(Allah) Most Gracious!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

has imparted this Qur'an [unto man].

  - Mohammad Asad

Who taught the Qur’an,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

taught the Quran,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Hath made known the Quran.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is He Who has taught the Qur'an. ⁵¹⁷²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Revelation comes from Allah Most Gracious, and it is one of the greatest Signs of His grace and favour. He is the source of all Light, and His light is diffused throughout the universe.

He has created man:

  - Mohammad Asad

created man

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

created humanity,

  - Mustafa Khattab

He hath created man.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He has created man:

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

He has imparted unto him articulate thought and speech.¹

  - Mohammad Asad

The term al-bayan - denoting "the means whereby a thing is [intellectually] circumscribed and made clear" (Raghib) - applies to both thought and speech inasmuch as it comprises the faculty of making a thing or an idea apparent to the mind and conceptually distinct from other things or ideas, as well as the power to express this cognition clearly in spoken or written language (Taj al-'Arus): hence, in the above context, "articulate thought and speech", recalling the "knowledge of all the names" (i.e., the faculty of conceptual thinking) with which man is endowed (see 2:31 and the corresponding note [23]).

and taught him how to convey his feelings and thoughts.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'and' taught them speech.

  - Mustafa Khattab

He hath taught him utterance.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He has taught him speech (and Intelligence) ⁵¹⁷³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Bayan: intelligent speech: power of expression: capacity to understand clearly the relations of things and to explain them. Allah has given this to man, and besides this revelation in man's own heart, has aided him with revelation in nature and revelation through prophets and messengers.

[At His behest] the sun and the moon run their appointed courses;²

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "according to a definite reckoning".

The sun and the moon move along their computed courses.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The sun and the moon 'travel' with precision.

  - Mustafa Khattab

The sun and the moon are made punctual.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed; ⁵¹⁷⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In the great astronomical universe there are exact mathematical laws, which bear witness to Allah's Wisdom and also to His favours to His creatures; for we all profit by the heat and light, the seasons, and the numerous changes in the tides and the atmosphere, on which the constitution of our globe and the maintenance of life depend.

[before Him] prostrate themselves the stars and the trees.

  - Mohammad Asad

The shrubs and the trees prostrate in adoration.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The stars and the trees bow down 'in submission'.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 lit., prostrate.

The stars and the trees adore.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And the herbs and the trees-both (alike) bow in adoration. ^{5175 5176}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Najm: may mean stars collectively, or herbs collectively: perhaps both meanings are implied.

All nature adores Allah. Cf. xxii. 18, and n. 2790; xiii. 15; and xvi. 48-49.

And the skies has He raised high, and has devised [for all things] a measure,³

  - Mohammad Asad

The noun mizan, usually denoting a "balance", has here the more general connotation of "measure" or "measuring" by any means whatsoever (Zamakhshari), in both the concrete and abstract senses of the word. (Cf. also the parabolic use of the term mizan in 42:17 and 57:25 .)

He has raised the heaven on high and created the balance:

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

As for the sky, He raised it 'high', and set the balance 'of justice'

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the sky He hath uplifted; and He hath set the measure,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And the Firmament has He raised high and He has set up the balance (of Justice) ⁵¹⁷⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The "balance of justice" in this verse is connected with "the Balance" in the next two verses, that men may act justly to each other and observe due balance in all their actions, following the golden mean and not transgressing due bounds in anything. But the Balance is also connected figuratively with the heavens above in three symbols: (1) Justice is a heavenly virtue: (2) the heavens themselves are sustained by mathematical balance; and (3) the constellation Libra (the Balance) is entered by the sun at the middle of the zodiacal year.

so that you [too, O men,] might never transgress the measure [of what is right]:

  - Mohammad Asad

don’t ever tamper with this balance.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

so that you do not defraud the scales.

  - Mustafa Khattab

That ye exceed not the measure,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

In order that ye may not transgress (due) balance.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

weigh, therefore, [your deeds] with equity, and cut not the measure short!

  - Mohammad Asad

Therefore, you also establish weight with justice and do not give less measure.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Weigh with justice, and do not give short measure.

  - Mustafa Khattab

But observe the measure strictly, nor fall short thereof.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance. ⁵¹⁷⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

To be taken both literally and figuratively. A man should be honest and straight in every daily matter, such as weighing out things which he is selling: and he should be straight, just and honest, in all the highest dealings, not only with other people, but with himself and in his obedience to Allah's Law. Not many do either the one or the other when they have an opportunity of deceit. Justice is the central virtue, and the avoidance of both excess and defect in conduct keeps the human world balanced just as the heavenly world is kept balanced by mathematical order.

And the earth has He spread out for all living beings,

  - Mohammad Asad

He laid out the earth for His creatures,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He laid out the earth for all beings.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the earth hath He appointed for (His) creatures,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is He Who has spread out the earth for (His) creatures: ⁵¹⁷⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

How can Allah's favours be counted? Look at the earth alone. Life and the conditions here are mutually balanced for Allah's creatures. The vegetable world produces fruit of various kinds and corn or grain of various kinds for human food. The grain harvest yields with it fodder for animals in the shape of leaves and straw, as well as food for men in the shape of grain. The plants not only supply food but sweet-smelling herbs and flowers. Raihan is the sweet basil, but is here used in the generic sense, for agreeable produce in the vegetable world, to match the useful produce already mentioned.