Surah 96. Al-Alaq

READ¹ in the name of thy Sustainer, who has created -

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., "this divine writ". The imperative iqra' may be rendered as "read" or "recite". The former rendering is, to my mind, by far the preferable in this context inasmuch as the concept of "reciting" implies no more than the oral delivery - with or without understanding - of something already laid down in writing or committed to memory, whereas "reading" primarily signifies a conscious taking-in, with or without an audible utterance but with a view to understanding them, of words and ideas received from an outside source: in this case, the message of the Qur'an.

Read! In the name of your Rabb Who created

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Read: In the name of thy Lord who createth,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

created man out of a germ-cell!²

  - Mohammad Asad

The past tense in which the verb khalaqa appears in these two verses is meant to indicate that the act of divine creation (khalq) has been and is being continuously repeated. It is also noteworthy that this very first Qur'anic revelation alludes to man's embryonic evolution out of a "germ-cell" - i.e., out of a fertilized female ovum - thus contrasting the primitiveness and simplicity of his biological origins with his intellectual and spiritual potential: a contrast which clearly points to the existence of a conscious design and a purpose underlying the creation of life.

- created man from a leechlike mass.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Createth man from a clot.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Read - for thy Sustainer is the Most Bountiful One

  - Mohammad Asad

Read! Your Rabb is the Most Gracious,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

who has taught [man] the use of the pen -

  - Mohammad Asad

Who taught by the Pen,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Who teacheth by the pen,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

taught man what he did not know!³

  - Mohammad Asad

"The pen" is used here as a symbol for the art of writing or, more specifically, for all knowledge recorded by means of writing: and this explains the symbolic summons "Read!" at the beginning of verses {1} and {3}. Man's unique ability to transmit, by means of written records, his thoughts, experiences and insights from individual to individual, from generation to generation, and from one cultural environment to another endows all human knowledge with a cumulative character; and since, thanks to this God-given ability, every human being partakes, in one way or another, in mankind's continuous accumulation of knowledge, man is spoken of as being "taught by God" things which the single individual does not - and, indeed, cannot - know by himself. (This double stress on man's utter dependence on God, who creates him as a biological entity and implants in him the will and the ability to acquire knowledge, receives its final accent, as it were, in the next three verses.) Furthermore, God's "teaching" man signifies also the act of His revealing, through the prophets, spiritual truths and moral standards which cannot be unequivocally established through human experience and reasoning alone: and, thus, it circumscribes the phenomenon of divine revelation as such.

taught man what he knew not.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Teacheth man that which be knew not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay, verily, man becomes grossly overweening

  - Mohammad Asad

Nay! Indeed, man transgresses all bounds,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, but verily man is rebellious

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

whenever he believes himself to be self-sufficient:

  - Mohammad Asad

in thinking himself to be self-sufficient,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

That he thinketh himself independent!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for, behold, unto thy Sustainer all must return.⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "is the return (ar-ruj'a)". This noun has here a twofold implication: "everyone will inescapably be brought before God for judgment", as well as "everything that exists goes back to God as its source". In ultimate analysis, the statement expressed in verses {6-8} rejects as absurd the arrogant idea that man could ever be self-sufficient and, hence, "master of his own fate"; furthermore, it implies that all moral concepts - that is, all discrimination between good and evil, or right and wrong - are indissolubly linked with the concept of man's responsibility to a Supreme Power: in other words, without such a feeling of responsibility - whether conscious or subconscious - the concept of "morality" as such loses all its meaning.

although surely towards your Rabb is his return.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! unto thy Lord is the return.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

HAST THOU ever considered him who tries to prevent

  - Mohammad Asad

Have you seen the one (Abu Jahl) who forbids

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Hast thou seen him who dissuadeth

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

a servant [of God] from praying?⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "who forbids a servant [of God] when he prays", implying an attempt at preventing. Since this seems to refer to praying in public, most of the classical commentators see in this passage (which was revealed at least a year later than the first five verses) an allusion to Abu Jahl, the Prophet's bitterest opponent in Mecca, who persistently tried to prevent Muhammad and his followers from praying before the Ka'bah. However, there is no doubt that the purport of the above passage goes far beyond any historical incident or situation inasmuch as it applies to all attempts, at all times, to deny to religion (symbolized in the term "praying") its legitimate function in the shaping of social life - attempts made either in the conviction that religion is every individual's "private affair" and, therefore, must not be allowed to "intrude" into the realm of social considerations, or, alternatively, in the pursuit of the illusion that man is above any need of metaphysical guidance.

Our servant from offering Salah (prayer)?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

A slave when he prayeth?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hast thou considered whether he is on the right way,

  - Mohammad Asad

Have you considered, if He was on the right guidance,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Hast thou seen if he (relieth) on the guidance (of Allah)

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

or is concerned with God-consciousness?⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "or enjoins God-consciousness (taqwa)" - i.e., whether his aim is to deepen his fellowmen's God-consciousness by insisting that religion is a purely personal matter: the obvious implication being that this is not his aim, and that he is not on the right way in thinking and acting as he does. - Throughout this work, the term taqwa - of which the present is the earliest instance in the chronology of Qur'anic revelation - has been rendered as "God-consciousness", with the same meaning attaching to the verbal forms from which this noun is derived. (See also surah {2}, note [2].).

or was enjoining true piety, why he would forbid someone from prayer?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or enjoineth piety?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hast thou considered whether he may [not] be giving the lie to the truth and turning his back [upon it]?⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., "because in his arrogance he cannot face it".

Have you considered, if he denies the truth and turns away, what will happen?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Hast thou seen if he denieth (Allah's guidance) and is froward?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Does he, then, not know that God sees [all]?

  - Mohammad Asad

Does he not know that Allah is observing all things?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Is he then unaware that Allah seeth?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay, if he desist not, We shall most surely drag him down upon his forehead -⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "by his forelock" - an ancient Arabian expression denoting a person's utter subjection and humiliation (see 11:56 and the corresponding note [80]). However, as Razi points out, the term "forelock" (nasiyah) is here used metonymically for the place on which the forelock grows, i.e., the forehead (cf. also Taj al-'Arus).

Nay! Let him know that if he does not stop, We will drag him by the forelock,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, but if he cease not, We will seize him by the forelock--

  - Marmaduke Pickthall