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سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّٰهِ
Holy Qur'an
Al-Qur'an
Kids Qur'an
See Appendix II.
Lit., "An account of thy Sustainer's grace upon...", etc. According to the account in the Gospels, not contradicted by the Qur'an, Zachariah's wife Elisabeth was a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Cf. Luke i, 36).
Lit., "with secret calling".
Lit., "never have I been unfortunate in my prayer to Thee".
Lit., "after me". He evidently anticipated that his kinsfolk - who, like himself, were priests attached to the Temple - would be morally too weak to fulfil their duties with dignity and conviction (Razi), and thus, perhaps, unable to safeguard the future of Mary, whose guardian he was (cf. the first paragraph of 3:37 ).
See 3:39 .
Lit., "Never before have We made a namesake for him". The name Yahya (John) signifies "he shall live", i.e., he will be spiritually alive and will be remembered forever; and the fact that God Himself had chosen this name for him was a singular distinction, equivalent to a divine promise (kalimah, cf. note [28] on 3:39 ).
Lit., "when [or "although"] thou wert nothing". This stress on God's unlimited power to bring into being a new chain of causes and effects forms here, as in Al 'Imran, a preamble to the announcement, expressed in very similar terms, of the birth of Jesus (see verses {19} ff.).
See 3:41 and the corresponding note [29].
According to Razi, this is clearly implied inasmuch as the sequence presupposes that John had in the meantime reached an age which enabled him to receive and understand God's commandment.
According to Razi, this is clearly implied in as much as the sequence presupposes that John had in the meantime reached an age which enabled him to receive and understand God's commandment.
Lit., "compassion from Us"-i.e., as a special divine gift.
Lit., "in the divine writ". In this surah as well as in Al 'Imran the story of the birth of John is followed by that of Jesus - firstly, because John (called "the Baptist" in the Bible) was to be a precursor of Jesus, and, secondly, because of the obvious parallelism in the form of the announcements of these two births.
Apparently, in order to devote herself undisturbed to prayer and meditation. The "eastern place" may possibly, as Ibn Kathir suggests, signify an eastern chamber of the Temple, to the service of which Mary had been dedicated by her mother (cf. {3: 35-37}).
As pointed out in surah {2}, note [71], and surah {16}, note [2], the term ruh often denotes "divine inspiration". Occasionally, however, it is used to describe the medium through which such inspiration is imparted to God's elect: in other words, the angel (or angelic force) of revelation. Since - as is implied in 6:9 - mortals cannot perceive an angel in his true manifestation, God caused him to appear to Mary "in the shape of a well-made human being", i.e., in a shape accessible to her perception. According to Razi, the designation of the angel as ruh ("spirit" or "soul") indicates that this category of beings is purely spiritual, without any physical element.
Cf. the identical phrase in verse {9} above, relating to the announcement of John's birth to Zachariah. In both these cases, the implication is that God can and does bring about events which may be utterly unexpected or even inconceivable before they materialize. In connection with the announcement of a son to Mary, the Qur'an states in {3 :47} that "when He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it, 'Be' - and it is": but since neither the Qur'an nor any authentic Tradition tells us anything about the chain of causes and effects (asbab) which God's decree "Be" was to bring into being, all speculation as to the "how" of this event must remain beyond the scope of a Qur'an-commentary. (But see also note [87] on {21: 91}.)
One of the several meanings of the term ayah is "a sign" or, as elaborately defined by Raghib, "a symbol" (cf. surah {17}, note [2]). However, the sense in which it is most frequently used in the Qur'an is "a [divine] message": hence, its metonymic application to Jesus may mean that he was destined to become a vehicle of God's message to man - i.e., a prophet - and, thus, a symbol of God's grace. - As regards the words "thou shalt have a son" interpolated by me between brackets, a statement to this effect is implied in the subsequent phrase beginning with "so that" (Zamakhshari and Razi).
I.e., compelling her to cling to it for support: thus stressing the natural, normal circumstances of this childbirth, attended - as is the case with all women - by severe labour pains.
Or: "from beneath her". However, Qatadah (as quoted by Zamakhshari) interprets this as meaning "from beneath the palm-tree".
Lit., "say" - but since actual speech would contradict what follows, the "saying" implies here a communication by gestures.
In its primary sense, the term sawm denotes "abstinence" or "self-denial"; in the present context it is synonymous with samt ("abstinence from speech"); in fact-as pointed out by Zamakhshari - the latter term is said to have figured in the Qur'an-copy belonging to 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud (possibly as a marginal, explanatory notation).
Lit., "she came with him to her people, carrying him".
In ancient Semitic usage, a person's name was often linked with that of a renowned ancestor or founder of the tribal line. Thus, for instance, a man of the tribe of Banu Tamim was sometimes addressed as "son of Tamim" or "brother of Tamim". Since Mary belonged to the priestly caste, and hence descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses, she was called a "sister of Aaron" (in the same way as her cousin Elisabeth. the wife of Zachariah, is spoken of in Luke i, 5, as one "of the daughters of Aaron").
Although the Qur'an mentions in 3:46 that Jesus would "speak unto men [while yet] in his cradle" - i.e., would be imbued with wisdom from his early childhood - verses {30-33} seem to be in the nature of a trope, projecting the shape of things to come by using, for the sake of emphasis, the past tense to describe something that was to become real in the future. (See also next note.)
Since it is not conceivable that anyone could be granted divine revelation and made a prophet before attaining to full maturity of intellect and experience, 'Ikrimah and Ad-Dahhak - as quoted by Tabari - interpret this passage as meaning, "God has decreed (qada) that He would vouchsafe unto me revelation...", etc., thus regarding it as an allusion to the future. Tabari himself applies the same interpretation to the next verse, explaining it thus: "He has decreed that He would enjoin upon me prayer and charity". However, the whole of this passage (verses {30-33}) may also be understood as having been uttered by Jesus at a much later time - namely, after he had reached maturity and been actually entrusted with his prophetic mission: that is to say, it may be understood as an anticipatory description of the ethical and moral principles which were to dominate the adult life of Jesus and particularly his deep consciousness of being only "a servant of God".
Lit., "about whom they are in doubt", or "about whom they [vainly] dispute": an allusion to the many conflicting views about the nature of Jesus and his origins, ranging from the blasphemous Jewish assertion that he was a "false prophet" and the product of a shameful, illicit union (cf. 4:156 ), to the Christian belief that he was "the son of God" and, therefore, God incarnate. In this connection, see also 3:59 and the corresponding note [47].
See note [96] on {2: 116}.
Cf. 3:51 and 43:64 .
I.e., either rejecting him entirely, as do the Jews, or - as is the case with the Christians - deifying him.
Lit., "from the manifestation (mashhad) of an awesome Day", i.e., the Day of Judgment.
Lit., "We alone shall inherit the earth and all who are on it". For an explanation of this metaphoric use of the concept of "inheritance", see surah {15}, note [22].
The mention of Abraham and his subsequent, unavailing plea to his father to recognize God's oneness and uniqueness connects with the preceding discourse, under the same aspect, on the true nature of Jesus as a mortal human being and a mere servant of the One and Only God.
I.e., a cognition of God's existence and uniqueness through intellectual insight (cf. {6:74-82}).
The absurdity inherent in the attribution of divine qualities to anything or anyone but God is here declared, by implication, to be equivalent to "worshipping" the epitome of unreason and ingratitude symbolized in Satan's rebellion against his Creator. In this connection it should be noted that the term shaytan is derived from the verb shatana, signifying "he was [or "became"] remote [from the truth];' (Lisan al-'Arab, Taj al-'Arus); hence, the Qur'an describes every impulse that inherently offends against truth, reason and morality as "satanic", and every conscious act of submission to such satanic influences as a "worship of Satan".
According to Zamakhshari and Razi, the construction of this clause (beginning with "so that") is meant to bring out the idea that one's belated realization, in the hereafter, of having been "close unto Satan" is the most terrible consequence of deliberate sinning.
Lit., "that I will not be unfortunate in the prayer to my Sustainer".
Lit., "a lofty language of truth" or "of truthfulness" - the term lisan ("language" or "tongue") being used here metonymically for what may be pronounced by the tongue (Zamakhshari). An alternative interpretation of the phrase, advanced by many commentators, is "granted them a lofty renown for truth" or "truthfulness", or simply "a most goodly renown".
The mention of Moses and other prophets in this context serves to reinforce the statement that all of them - like Jesus - were but mortal servants of God whom He had inspired with His message to man (cf. verse {30} above). As regards the distinction between the terms "prophet" (nabi) and "apostle" (rasul), see the opening clause of 22:52 and the corresponding note [65].
I.e., to the right side from the standpoint of Moses, as he was facing Mount Sinai (Tabari). However, it is much more probable that the term "right side" has here, as elsewhere in the Qur'an the abstract connotation of "blessedness" (cf. note [25] on {74: 39}). For a fuller account of God's calling Moses to prophethood, see {20: 9} ff.
After the mention of Moses, who descended from Abraham through Isaac, we are reminded of Ishmael, Abraham's first-born son and the progenitor of the "northern" group of Arab tribes, and thus of the Prophet Muhammad, who descended in direct line, through the tribe of Quraysh, from Ishmael.
This may perhaps mean that Ishmael was the first among the prophets to establish prayer and charity as obligatory forms of worship.
The majority of the classical commentators identify the Prophet Idris - who is mentioned in the Qur'an once again, namely in 21:85 - with the Biblical Enoch (Genesis v, 18-19 and 21-24), without, however, being able to adduce any authority for this purely conjectural identification. Some modern Qur'an-commentators suggest that the name Idris may be the Arabicized form of Osiris (which, in its turn, was the ancient Greek version of the Egyptian name As-ar or Us-ar), said to have been a wise king and/or prophet whom the Egyptians subsequently deified (cf. Maraghi XVI, 64, and Sayyid Qutb, Fi Zilal al-Qur'an, Cairo, n.d., vol. XVI,44); but this assumption is too far-fetched to deserve any serious consideration. Finally, some of the earliest Qur'an-commentators ('Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, Qatadah, 'Ikrimah and Ad-Dahhak) assert - with, to my mind, great plausibility-that ''Idris'' is but another name for Ilyas, the Biblical Elijah (regarding whom see note [48] on {37: 123}).
As regards my rendering of rafa'nahu as "whom We exalted", see 3:55 and 4:158 , where the same expression is used with reference to Jesus, as well as note [172] on the last-named verse.
Whereas the Hebrew prophets, whose line ended with Jesus, descended from Abraham through Isaac and Israel (Jacob), Muhammad traced his descent from the same patriarch through the latter's first-born son, Ishmael.
I.e., all of the prophets were conscious of being no more than mortal, humble servants of God. (See also 32:15 .)
I.e., they will realize in the hereafter the full extent of the self-deception which has led to their spiritual ruin.
I.e., they will not only not be deprived of reward for the least of their good deeds, but will be granted blessings far beyond their actual deserts (cf. 4:40 ).
This lengthy paraphrase of the expression bi'l-ghayb gives, I think, the closest possible interpretation of the idea underlying it: namely, the prospect of a reality which is inconceivable by man in terms of his worldly experiences, and which can, therefore, only be hinted at by means of allegorical allusions. (See also the first clause of 2:3 and the corresponding note [3].)
The term salam comprises the concepts of spiritual soundness and peace, freedom from faults and evils of any kind, and inner contentment. As I have pointed out in note [29] on 5:16 (where this term has been rendered, in a different context, as "salvation"), its closest - though by no means perfect - equivalent would be the French salut, in the abstract sense of that word, or the German Heil.
I.e., always. It is to be noted that the term rizq ("sustenance") applies to all that might be of benefit to a living being, spiritually as well as physically.
I.e., that which even the angels can only glimpse but not fully understand. Literally, the above phrase reads, "that which is between our hands and that which is behind us and that which is between these". Regarding this idiomatic expression, see 2:255 -"He knows all that lies open before men and all that is hidden from them" - and the corresponding note [247]. The reference to the angels connects with the preceding mention of some of the earlier prophets who, like Muhammad, were recipients of divine revelation.
Lit., "when [or "although"] he was nothing".
See surah {15}, first half of note [16]; cf. also the reference to the "worship of Satan" in verses {44-45} of the present surah, as well as the corresponding notes [33] and [34]. The symbolism of the sinners being linked on Judgment Day "with the satanic forces which impelled them in life" is easily understood if we remember - as has been pointed out in note [10] on 2:14 - that the term shaytan ("satan" or "satanic force") is often used in the Qur'an to describe every evil propensity in man's own self. The personal pronoun relates to those who reject the concept of resurrection and life after death.
I.e., those who have consciously and deliberately rejected the idea of man's responsibility before God and have thus led their weaker, less conscious fellow-men astray will be consigned to the deepest suffering in the hereafter.
Lit., "of burning therein": an allusion to the fact that not every one of the sinners will be irrevocably consigned to the suffering described in the Qur'an as hell. (The particle thumma which introduces this clause has here the function of an explanatory conjunction with the preceding statement and is, therefore, best rendered as "for".)
Lit., "none of you but will reach it". According to some of the classical authorities, the pronoun "you" relates to the sinners spoken of in the preceding passages, and particularly to those who refuse to believe in resurrection; the majority of the commentators, however, are of the opinion that all human beings, sinners and righteous alike, are comprised within this address in the sense that all "will come within sight of it": hence my rendering.
For this particular rendering of thumma, see surah {6}, note [31].
I.e., utterly humbled and crushed by their belated realization of God's judgment and of the ethical truths which they had arrogantly neglected in life.
Lit., "two groups" or "parties": an allusion to two kinds or types of human society characterized by their fundamentally different approach to problems of faith and morality. (See next note.)
Lit., "better in assembly". This parabolic "saying" of the unbelievers implies, in the garb of a rhetorical question, a superficially plausible but intrinsically fallacious argument in favour of a society which refuses to submit to any absolute moral imperatives and is determined to obey the dictates of expediency alone. In such a social order, material success and power are usually seen as consequences of a more or less conscious rejection of all metaphysical considerations - and, in particular, of all that is comprised in the concept of God-willed standards of morality - on the assumption that they are but an obstacle in the path of man's free, unlimited "development". It goes without saying that this attitude (which has reached its epitome in the modern statement that "religion is opium for the people") is diametrically opposed to the demand, voiced by every higher religion, that man's social life, if it is to be a truly "good" life, must be subordinated to definite ethical principles and restraints. By their very nature, these restraints inhibit the unprincipled power-drive which dominates the more materialistic societies and enables them to achieve - without regard to the damage done to others and, spiritually, to themselves - outward comforts and positions of strength in the shortest possible time: but precisely because they do act as a brake on man's selfishness and power-hunger, it is these moral considerations and restraints - and they alone - that can free a community from the interminable, self-destructive inner tensions and frustrations to which materialistic societies are subject, and thus bring about a more enduring, because more organic, state of social well-being. This, in short, is the elliptically implied answer of the Qur'an to a rhetorical question placed in the mouths of "those who are bent on denying the truth".
Lit., "in property" or "abundance of property". In this context - as in the last verse of this surah - the term - qarn apparently signifies "people of one and the same epoch", i.e., a "civilization".
Or: "grant him a respite", so that he might have a chance to realize the error of his ways and to repent: thus, every believer is enjoined to pray for those who are sinning.
This interpolation refers to, and connects with, the "saying" of the deniers of the truth mentioned in verse {73} above (Zamakhshari).
Lit., "in respect of support" or "of forces" (jundan) - an expression which, in this context, denotes both material resources and the ability to utilize them towards good ends.
Lit.. "God increases in guidance those who...", etc.
Lit., "which are better in thy Sustainer's sight as regards merit, and better as regards returns" (cf. 18:46 .)
This is a further illustration of the attitude described in verses {73-75} (and referred to in note [59]): namely, the insistence on material values to the exclusion of all moral considerations, and the conviction that worldly "success" is the only thing that really counts in life. As in many other places in the Qur'an, this materialistic concept of "success" is metonymically equated with one's absorption in the idea of "wealth and children".
In this context, the term al-ghayb denotes the unknowable future.
Lit., "inherit from him" - a metaphor based on the concept of one person's taking over what once belonged to, or was vested in, another.
I.e.. bereft of any extraneous support, and thus depending on God's grace and mercy alone (cf. 6:94 as well as verse [95] of the present surah).
This refers to the type of man spoken of in the preceding passage as well as in verses {73-75}: people who "worship" wealth and power with an almost religious devotion, attributing to these manifestations of worldly success the status of divine forces.
Lit., "the satans", by which term the Qur'an often describes all that is intrinsically evil, especially the immoral impulses in man's own soul (cf. note [10] on 2:14 and note [33] on verse {44} of the present surah).
See note [31] on 15:41 . According to Zamakhshari and Razi, the expression "We have let loose (arsalna) all [manner of] satanic forces (shayatin) upon those who deny the truth" has here the meaning of "We have allowed them to be active (khallayna) among them", leaving it to man's free will to accept or to reject those evil influences or impulses. Razi, in particular, points in this context to surah {14}, verse {22}, according to which Satan will thus address the sinners on Resurrection Day: "I had no power at all over you: I but called you-and you responded to me. Hence, blame not me, but blame yourselves." See also note [31] on 14:22 , in which Razi's comment is quoted verbatim.
Lit., "We number for them but a number". Cf. also the first sentence of verse {75} above.
Lit., "except him who has...", etc. According to the classical commentators - including some of the most outstanding Companions of the Prophet - the "bond with God" denotes, in this context, the realization of His oneness and uniqueness; for the wider implications of this term, see surah {2}, note [19]. Consequently, as pointed out by Razi, even great sinners may hope for God's forgiveness - symbolically expressed by the right of "intercession" which will be granted to the prophets on Judgment Day (see note [7]on {10: 3}) - provided that, during their life on earth, they were aware of God's existence and oneness.
Lit., "And" (wa), connecting the present passage with verse {81}.
This allusion to the Christian belief in Jesus as "the son of God" - and, in general, to every belief in God's "incarnation" in a created being - takes up the theme broached in verse {81} above: namely, the deification of powers or beings other than God "with a view to their being a source of strength" to those who turn to them. But whereas verse {81} refers specifically to the godless who accord a quasi-divine status to material wealth and power and abandon themselves entirely to the pursuit of worldly success, the present passage refers to people who, while believing in God, deify prophets and saints, too, in the subconscious hope that they might act as "mediators" between them and the Almighty. Since this deification offends against the principle of God's transcendent oneness and uniqueness, it implies a breach of man's "bond with God" and, if consciously persisted in, constitutes an unforgivable sin (cf. 4:48 and {116}).
The idea that God might have a "son" - either in the real or in the metaphorical sense of this term - would presuppose a degree of innate likeness between "the father" and "the son": but God is in every respect unique, so that "there is nothing like unto Him" ({42: 11}) and "nothing that could be compared with Him" ({112: 4}). Moreover, the concept of "progeny" implies an organic continuation of the progenitor, or of part of him, in another being and, therefore, presupposes a degree of incompleteness before the act of procreation (or incarnation, if the term "sonship" is used metaphorically): and the idea of incompleteness, in whatever sense, negates the very concept of God. But even if the idea of "sonship" is meant to express no more than one of the different "aspects" of the One Deity (as is claimed in the Christian dogma of the "Trinity"), it is described in the Qur'an as blasphemous inasmuch as it amounts to an attempt at defining Him who is "sublimely exalted above anything that men may devise by way of definition" (see last sentence of 6:100 ).
I.e., all of them - whether men or angels - are but created beings, having no share whatever in His divinity, and all of them submit, consciously or unconsciously, to His will (cf. 13:15 and {16:48-49}).
See note [69] above.
I.e., bestow on them His love and endow them with the capability to love His creation, as well as cause them to be loved by their fellow-men. As is shown in the next verse, this gift of love is inherent in the guidance offered to man through divine revelation.
Since man is incapable of understanding the "word" of God as such, it has always been revealed to him in his own, human tongue (cf. 14:4 -"never have We sent forth any apostle otherwise than [with a message] in his own people's tongue"), and has always been expounded in concepts accessible to the human mind: hence the reference to the Prophet's revelations as "brought down upon thy heart" ({2: 97}), or "[divine inspiration] has alighted with it upon thy heart" ({26: 193-194}).
I.e., civilization - a meaning which the term qarn has also in the identical phrase in verse {74}.