Surah 67. Al-Mulk

Or who is it that will provide for you if He withholds His provision? In fact, they persist in arrogance and aversion 'to the truth'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Or who is there that can provide you with Sustenance if He were to withhold His provision? Nay they obstinately persist in insolent impiety and flight (from the Truth). ⁵⁵⁷⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Sustenance" here, as elsewhere, (e.g., in xvi. 73, n. 2105), refers to all that is necessary to sustain and develop life in all its phases. Allah Most Gracious is the Source of all our Sustenance, and if we persist in looking to Vanities for our Sustenance, we are pursuing a mirage, and, if we examine the matter, we are only following obstinate unpulses of rebellion and impiety.

Who is 'rightly' guided: the one who crawls facedown or the one who walks upright on the Straight Path?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Is then one who walks headlong with his face grovelling better guided or one who walks evenly on a Straight Way? ^{5580 5581}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xxvii. 90, and n. 3320. The man of probity is the man who walks evenly on a Straight Way, his feet guided by Allah's Light and his heart sustained by Allah's Mercy. The man who chooses evil grovels, with his face down, in paths of Darkness, stumbling on the way, and in constant distrust and fear, the fear of Evil. The two kinds of men are poles apart, although they five on the same earth, see the same Signs, and are fed with the same Mercies from Allah.

Like Abraham trying to guide his unbelieving father: Cf. xix. 43.

Say, 'O Prophet,' 'He is the One Who brought you into being and gave you hearing, sight, and intellect. 'Yet' you hardly give any thanks.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "It is He Who has created you (and made you grow) and made for you the faculties of hearing seeing feeling and understanding: little thanks it is ye give." ^{5582 5583}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Prophet is asked to draw constant attention to Allah, the source of all growth and development, the Giver of the faculties by which we can judge and attain to higher and higher spiritual dignity. And yet, such is our self-will, we use our faculties for wrong purposes and thus show our ingratitude to Allah.

For anshaa see n. 923 to vi. 98.

'Also' say, 'He is the One Who has dispersed you 'all' over the earth, and to Him you will 'all' be gathered.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "It is He Who has multiplied you through the earth and to Him shall ye be gathered together." ⁵⁵⁸⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Mankind, from one set of parents, has been multiplied and scattered through the earth. Men have not only multiplied in numbers but they have developed different languages and characteristics, inner and outer. But they will all be gathered together at the End of Things, when the mischief created by the wrong exercise of man's will be cancelled, and the Truth of Allah will reign universally.

'Still' they ask 'the believers', 'When will this threat come to pass, if what you say is true?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

They ask: When will this promise be (fulfilled)? If ye are telling the truth. ⁵⁵⁸⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Unbelievers are sceptical, but they are answered in the next two verses.

Say, 'O Prophet,' 'That knowledge is with Allah alone, and I am only sent with a clear warning.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "As to the knowledge of the time it is with Allah alone: I am (sent) only to warn plainly in public." ⁵⁵⁸⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Judgment is certain to come. But when it will exactly come, is known to Allah alone. The Prophet's duty is to proclaim that fact openly and clearly. It is not for him to punish or to hasten the punishment of evil. Cf. xxii. 47-49.

Then when they see the torment drawing near, the faces of the disbelievers will become gloomy, and it will be said 'to them', 'This is what you claimed would never come.'¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Another possible translation: “This is what you were calling for.”

At length when they see it close at hand grieved will be the faces of the Unbelievers and it will be said (to them): "This is (the promise fulfilled) which ye were calling for!" ^{5587 5588}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"It", i.e., the fulfilment of the promise, the Day of Judgment. When it is actually in sight, then the Unbelievers realise that those whom they used to laugh at for their Faith were in the right, and that they themselves, the sceptics, were terribly in the wrong.

They had defiantly asked for it. Now that it has come near, and it is too late for repentance, there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth".

Say, 'O Prophet,' 'Consider this: whether Allah causes me and those with me to die or shows us mercy, who will save the disbelievers from a painful punishment?'¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Meaning, whether Allah takes our lives (as you wish) or grants us a long life, it is all good for us. But who will protect you from Allah if you disbelieve in Him.

Say: "See ye? If Allah were to destroy me and those with me or if He bestows His Mercy on us yet who can deliver the Unbelievers from a grievous Penalty?" ⁵⁵⁸⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The sceptics might say and do say to the righteous: "Ah well! if calamities come, they involve the good with the bed, just as you say that Allah showers His mercies on both good and evil!" The answer is: "Don't you worry about us: even supposing we are destroyed, with all who believe with us, is that any consolation to you? Your sins must bring on you suffering, and nothing can ward it off. If we get any sorrows or sufferings, we take them as a mere trial to make us better, for we believe in Allah's goodness and we put our trust in Him." See next verse.

Say, 'He is the Most Compassionate- in Him 'alone' we believe, and in Him 'alone' we trust. You will soon know who is clearly astray.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "He is (Allah) Most Gracious: we have believed in Him and on Him have we put our trust: so soon will ye know which (of us) it is that is in manifest error." ⁵⁵⁹⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

See the end of the last note. "Our Faith tells us that Allah will deliver us from all harm if we sincerely repent and lead righteous lives. You, Unbelievers, have no such hope. When the real adjustment of values is established, you will soon see whether we were in the wrong or you!"

Say, 'Consider this: if your water were to sink 'into the earth', then who 'else' could bring you flowing water?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: "See ye? If your stream be some morning lost (in the underground earth) who then can supply you with clear-flowing water?" ⁵⁵⁹¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Sura is closed with a parable, taken from a vital fact of our physical life, and leading up to the understanding of our spiritual life. In our daily life, what would happen if we woke up some fine morning to find that the sources and springs of our water-supply had disappeared and gone down into the hollows of the earth? Nothing could save our life. Without water we cannot live, and water cannot rise above its level, but always seeks a lower-level. So in spiritual life. Its sources and springs are in the divine wisdom that flows from on high. Allah is the real source of that life, as He is of all forms of life. We must seek His Grace and Mercy. We cannot find grace or mercy or blessing from anything lower. His Wisdom and Mercy are like, fresh clear-flowing spring-water, not like the muddy murky wisdom and goodness of this lower world which is only relative, and which often hampers life rather than advances it.