Surah 87. Al-Ala

EXTOL the limitless glory of thy Sustainer's name: [the glory of] the All-Highest,

  - Mohammad Asad

Glorify the name of your Rabb, the Most High,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Praise the name of thy Lord the Most High,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Glorify the name of thy Guardian-Lord Most High ⁶⁰⁸⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The word "Lord" by itself is an inadequate rendering here for Rabb. For it implies cherishing, guarding from harm, sustaining, granting all the means and opportunities of development. See n. 20 to i. 2. For shortness, perhaps "Guardian-Lord" will be sufficient in the Text.

who creates [every thing], and thereupon forms it in accordance with what it is meant to be,¹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., He endows it with inner coherence and with qualities consistent with the functions which it is meant to perform, and thus adapts it a priori to the exigencies of its existence.

Who has created all things and perfected them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Who created and 'perfectly' fashioned 'all',

  - Mustafa Khattab

Who createth, then disposeth;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Who hath created and further given order and proportion; ⁶⁰⁸¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The story of Creation is wonderful and continuous. There are several processes which we contemplate in glorifying Allah's name. First, He brings us into being. Secondly, He endows us with forms and faculties exactly suited to what is expected of us, and to the environments in which our life will be cast, giving to everything due order and proportion.

and who determines the nature [of all that exists],² and thereupon guides it [towards its fulfilment],

  - Mohammad Asad

Cf. the last sentence of 25:2 and the corresponding note [3]; also 20:50 and note [31].

Who has set their destinies and guided them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

and Who ordained precisely and inspired accordingly,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Who measureth, then guideth;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Who hath ordained laws. And granted guidance; ⁶⁰⁸²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Thirdly, He has ordained laws and decrees, by which we can develop ourselves and fit ourselves into His whole scheme of evolution for all His Creation. He has measured exactly the needs of all, and given us instincts and physical predispositions which fit into His decrees. Fourthly, He gives us guidance, so that we are not the sport of mechanical laws. Our reason and our will are exercised, that we may reach the higher destiny of man.

and who brings forth herbage,

  - Mohammad Asad

Who brings forth green pasture,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

and Who brings forth 'green' pasture,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Who bringeth forth the pasturage,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And Who bringeth out the (green and luscious) pasture. ⁶⁰⁸³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Fifthly, after maturity comes decay. But even in that decay, as when green pasture tums to stubble, we subserve other ends. In so far as we are animals, we share these processes with other forms of material Creation, animal, vegetable, and even mineral, which all have their appointed laws of growth and decay. But man's higher destiny is referred to in subsequent verses.

and thereupon causes it to decay into rust-brown stubble!³

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., metonymically, "who brings forth life and deals death".

then reduces it to black rubbish.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

then reduces it to withered chaff.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then turneth it to russet stubble.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And then doth make it (but) swarthy stubble.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali