Surah 6. Al-An'am

the Originator of the heavens and the earth! How could it be that He should have a child without there ever having been a mate for Him - since it is He who has created everything, and He alone knows everything?

  - Mohammad Asad

He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. How could He have a son when He has no consort? He has created everything and is aware of everything.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The Originator of the heavens and the earth! How can He have a child, when there is for Him no consort, when He created all things and is Aware of all things?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Such is God, your Sustainer: there is no deity save Him, the Creator of everything: worship, then, Him alone - for it is He who has everything in His care.

  - Mohammad Asad

That is Allah your Rabb! There is no god but Him, the creator of everything. Therefore, worship Him, He is the Guardian of everything.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Such is Allah, your Lord. There is no God save Him, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. And He taketh care of all things.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

No human vision can encompass Him, whereas He encompasses all human vision: for He alone is unfathomable, all-aware.⁸⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

The term latif denotes something that is extremely subtle in quality, and therefore intangible and unfathomable. Whenever this term occurs in the Qur'an with reference to God in conjunction with the adjective khabir ("all-aware"), it is invariably used to express the idea of His inaccessibility to human perception, imagination or comprehension, as contrasted with His Own all-awareness (see, apart from the above verse, also 22:63 , 31:16 , 33:34 and 67:14 . In the two instances where the combination of latif and khabir carries the definite article al ( 6:103 and 67:14 ), the expression huwa 'l-latif has the meaning of "He alone is unfathomable" - implying that this quality of His is unique and absolute.

No vision can grasp Him while He grasps all visions. He is the Subtle, the Aware.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Vision comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth (all) vision. He is the Subtile, the Aware.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Means of insight have now come unto you from your Sustainer [through this divine writ]. Whoever, therefore, chooses to see, does so for his own good; and whoever chooses to remain blind, does so to his own hurt. And [say unto the blind of heart]: "I am not your keeper."

  - Mohammad Asad

Now there have come to you clear proofs from your Rabb to open your eyes. Therefore, anyone who will open his eyes, it is good for his own soul and anyone who will play blind, it is to his own harm, and I am the Prophet, not assigned as a keeper over you.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Proofs have come unto you from your Lord, so whoso seeth, it is for his own good, and whoso is blind is blind to his own hurt. And I am not a keeper over you.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And thus do We give many facets to Our messages. And to the end that they might say, "Thou hast taken [all this] well to heart,"⁹⁰ and that We might make it clear unto people of [innate] knowledge,

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "thou hast learned [it well]" - i.e., God's message.

Thus do We explain Our revelations over and over again so that the unbelievers may say: "You have learned from someone, but not from Allah" and that this may become clear to people of understanding.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Thus do We display Our revelations that they may say (unto thee, Muhammad): "Thou hast studied," and that We may make (it) clear for people who have knowledge.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

follow thou what has been revealed unto thee by thy Sustainer - save whom there is no deity - and turn thy back upon all who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him.

  - Mohammad Asad

Follow what is revealed to you from your Rabb, there is no god but Him and turn aside from the mushrikin.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Follow that which is inspired in thee from thy Lord; there is no God save Him; and turn away from the idolaters.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Yet if God had so willed, they would not have ascribed divinity to aught beside Him;⁹¹ hence, We have not made thee their keeper, and neither art thou responsible for their conduct.

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., no mortal has it in his power to cause another person to believe unless God graces that person with His guidance.

If Allah wanted they would not be mushrikin. We have neither appointed you their keeper nor made you their guardian.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Had Allah is willed, they had not been idolatrous. We have not set thee as a keeper over them, nor art thou responsible for them.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But do not revile those [beings] whom they invoke instead of God,⁹² lest they revile God out of spite, and in ignorance: for, goodly indeed have We made their own doings appear unto every community.⁹³ In time, [however,] unto their Sustainer they must return: and then He will make them [truly] understand all that they were doing.

  - Mohammad Asad

This prohibition of reviling anything that other people hold sacred - even in contravention of the principle of God's oneness - is expressed in the plural and is, therefore, addressed to all believers. Thus, while Muslims are expected to argue against the false beliefs of others, they are not allowed to abuse the objects of those beliefs and to hurt thereby the feelings of their erring fellow-men.

Lit., "thus goodly have We made ...", etc., implying that it is in the nature of man to regard the beliefs which have been implanted in him from childhood, and which he now shares with his social environment, as the only true and possible ones - with the result that a polemic against those beliefs often tends to provoke a hostile psychological reaction.

O believers, do not insult those, whom these mushrikin call upon besides Allah, lest in retaliation they call bad names to Allah out of their ignorance. Thus We have made the deeds of every group of people seem fair to them. In the end they will all return to their Rabb and then, He will inform them of the reality of all that they have done.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Revile not those unto whom they pray beside Allah lest they wrongfully revile Allah through ignorance. Thus unto every nation have We made their deed seem fair. Then unto their Lord is their return, and He will tell them what they used to do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Now they swear by God with their most solemn oaths that if a miracle were shown to them, they would indeed believe in this [divine writ]. Say: "Miracles are in the power of God alone."⁹⁴ And for all you know, even if one should be shown to them, they would not believe

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit.. "Miracles are only with God." It is to be noted that the Qur'anic term ayah denotes not only a "miracle" (in the sense of a happening that goes beyond the usual - that is, commonly observable - course of nature), but also a "sign" or "message": and the last-mentioned significance is the one which is by far the most frequently met with in the Qur'an. Thus, what is commonly described as a "miracle" constitutes, in fact, an unusual message from God, indicating - sometimes in a symbolic manner - a spiritual truth which would otherwise have remained hidden from man's intellect. But even such extraordinary, "miraculous" messages cannot be regarded as "supernatural": for the so-called "laws of nature" are only a perceptible manifestation of "God's way" (sunnat Allah) in respect of His creation - and, consequently, everything that exists and happens, or could conceivably exist or happen, is "natural" in the innermost sense of this word irrespective of whether it conforms to the ordinary course of events or goes beyond it. Now since the extraordinary messages referred to manifest themselves, as a rule, through the instrumentality of those specially gifted and divinely elected personalities known as "prophets", these are sometimes spoken of as "performing miracles" - a misconception which the Qur'an removes by the words, "Miracles are in the power of God alone". (See also 17:59 and the corresponding note [71].)

These mushrikin solemnly swear by Allah that if a Sign came to them they would most certainly believe in your Prophethood. Say: "All signs are vouchsafed by Allah." What should make you understand that if a sign comes to them they will still not believe?.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they swear a solemn oath by Allah that if there come unto them a portent they will believe therein. Say: Portents are with Allah and (so is) that which telleth you that if such came unto them they would not believe.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

so long as We keep their hearts and their eyes turned [away from the truth],⁹⁵ even as they did not believe in it in the first instance: and [so] We shall leave them in their overweening arrogance, blindly stumbling to and fro.

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., so long as they remain blind to the truth in consequence of their unwillingness to acknowledge it - and this in accordance with the law of cause and effect which God has imposed on His creation (see surah {2}, note [7]).

We will turn away their hearts and their eyes from the Truth because of their attitude which prompted them to disbelieve in the first place, and We will leave them to wander in their rebellious wrongdoing.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We confound their hearts and their eyes. As they believed not therein at the first, We let them wander blindly on in their contumacy.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And even if We were to send down angels unto them, and if the dead were to speak unto them,⁹⁶ and [even if] We were to assemble before them, face to face, all the things [that can prove the truth], they would still not believe unless God so willed.⁹⁷ But [of this] most of them are entirely unaware.

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., of the fact that there is life after death.

See note [95] above.

Even if We had sent to them the angels, made the dead speak to them, and presented all the different things of the world before them as proof, they would have not believed, unless Allah wanted otherwise (and forcing someone to believe is not what He wants): Yet most of them act out of ignorance.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And though We should send down the angels unto them, and the dead should speak unto them, and We should gather against them all things in array, they would not believe unless Allah so willed. Howbeit, most of them are ignorant.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND THUS it is that against every prophet We have set up as enemies the evil forces from among humans as well as from among invisible beings that whisper unto one another glittering half-truths meant to delude the mind.⁹⁸ But they could not do this unless thy Sustainer had so willed: stand, therefore, aloof from them and from all their false imagery!

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "embellished speech" or "varnished falsehood" (Lane III, 1223) "by way of delusion" - i.e., half-truths which entice man by their deceptive attractiveness and cause him to overlook all real spiritual values (see also {25:30-31}). - Regarding my rendering of jinn as "invisible beings", see note [86] above and Appendix III. The term shayatin (lit., "satans"), on the other hand, is often used in the Qur'an in the sense of evil forces inherent in man as well as in the spiritual world (cf. 2:14 , and the corresponding note). According to several well-authenticated Traditions, quoted by Tabari, the Prophet was asked, "Are there satans from among men?" - and he replied, "Yes, and they are more evil than the satans from among the invisible beings (al-jinn)." Thus, the meaning of the above verse is that every prophet has had to contend against the spiritual - and often physical - enmity of the evil ones who, for whatever reason, refuse to listen to the voice of truth and try to lead others astray.

Like this Rasool, We had granted each Rasool his opponents - shaitans from among the human beings and Jinns - some of them inspire the others with seductive discourses of deception. If your Rabb wanted, they would not have done so. Therefore, neglect them as well as what they invent,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Thus have We appointed unto every Prophet an adversary--devils of humankind and jinn who inspire in one another plausible discourse through guile. If thy Lord willed, they would not do so; so leave them alone with their devising;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Yet, to the end that the hearts of those who do not believe in the life to come might incline towards Him, and that in Him they might find contentment, and that they might earn whatever they can earn [of merit] -

  - Mohammad Asad

so that the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter may be inclined to what they say, and be pleased with it; and so that they can earn what they wish to earn.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

That the hearts of those who believe not in the Hereafter may incline thereto, and that they may take pleasure therein, and that they may earn what they are earning.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[say thou:] "Am I, then, to look unto anyone but God for judgment⁹⁹ [as to what is right and wrong], when it is He who has bestowed upon you from on high this divine writ, clearly spelling out the truth?"¹⁰⁰ And those unto whom We have vouchsafed revelation aforetime know that this one, too, has been bestowed from on high, step by step, by thy Sustainer.¹⁰¹ Be not, then, among the doubters-

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "to seek a judge other than God".

The expression mufassalan could also be rendered as "in a manner that brings out the distinction (fasl) between truth and falsehood" (Zamakhshari). The use of the plural "you" indicates that the divine writ is addressed to all who may come to know it.

See 2:146 , and the corresponding note. The pronoun "it" may refer either to the earlier divine writ - the Bible - and to its prediction of the advent of a prophet descended from Abraham, or, more probably, to the Qur'an: in which case it must be rendered as "this one, too". In either case, the above phrase seems to allude to the instinctive (perhaps only subconscious) awareness of some of the followers of the Bible that the Qur'an is, in truth, an outcome of divine revelation.

Say: Should I seek a judge other than Allah, when He is the One Who has revealed this Book (The Qur'an) with full details? Those whom We gave the Book, before you, know very well that it is revealed to you from your Rabb with the Truth; therefore, you should not be of those who have doubts.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Shall I seek other than Allah for judge, when He it is who hath revealed unto you (this) Scripture, fully explained? Those unto whom We gave the Scripture (aforetime) know that it is revealed from thy Lord in truth. So be not thou (O Muhammad) of the waverers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for, truly and justly has thy Sustainer's promise been fulfilled.¹⁰² There is no power that could alter [the fulfilment of] His promises: and He alone is all-hearing, all-knowing.

  - Mohammad Asad

When related to God, the term kalimah (lit., "word") is often used in the Qur'an in the sense of "promise". In this instance it obviously refers to the Biblical promise (Deuteronomy xviii, 15 and 18) that God would raise up a prophet "like unto Moses" among the Arabs see surah {2}, note [33].

The Words of your Rabb have been completed with credibility and justice; there is no way to change His Words. He is the Hearer, the Knower.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Perfected is the Word of thy Lord in truth and justice. There is naught that can change His words. He is the Hearer, the Knower.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall