سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّٰهِ
Holy Qur'an
Al-Qur'an
Kids Qur'an
This relates not only to the worship of saints, angels and "deified" persons as such, but also to that of their symbolic representations (statues, pictures, relics, etc.) and, in the case of defunct human personalities, of their real or reputed tombs. Since all such practices are based on the worshipper's hope of "mediation" between himself and God, they obviously conflict with the concept of His omniscience and justice, and are, therefore - notwithstanding their widespread occurrence - utterly rejected by the Qur'an.
I.e., between those worshippers and the spiritual leaders who have led them astray (cf. {34:31-33})
Cf. {6:22-24} and the corresponding notes.
The implication is this: Since God is almighty, He can have or do anything that He wills; and so, if He wanted, He could "take unto Himself a son" (which is an allusion to the Christian doctrine of Jesus as "the son of God"). Since, however, He is "limitless in His glory" - i.e., complete in His excellence and utterly remote from all imperfection - He is ipso facto remote from the incompleteness inherent in the need of, or desire for, progeny, which logically precludes the possibility of His having a "son". (Cf. the last sentence of 6:100 and the corresponding note [88].)
See note [I] I on the last but one sentence of 10:5 .
See note [5] on 13:2 .
See 4:1 and the corresponding note [1].
Lit., "eight [in] pairs", i.e., the male and the female of four kinds of cattle (sheep, goats, camels and bovine cattle). For an explanation of my rendering, see note [130] on {6:143-144}, where the same kinds of domesticated cattle are spoken of in connection with certain meaningless, superstitious taboos of pre-Islamic times, whereas here they are mentioned as "bestowed upon you" by God, and therefore lawful. Beyond this, the mention of cattle in this context is meant to remind man that it is God who provides his sustenance and that, therefore, man is utterly dependent on Him.
Lit., "by creation after creation, in three darknesses": an allusion to the successive stages of embryonic development, repeatedly spoken of in the Qur'an (cf. 22:5 and {23:12-14}), and to the darkness of the womb, the membrane enveloping the embryo, and its pre-natal blindness.
Lit., "how, then, are you turned away?" - i.e., from the truth.
Or: "If you deny the truth".
This statement occurs in the Qur'an five times in exactly the same formulation (apart from the above instance, in 6:164 , 17:15 , 35:18 and 53:38 - this last being the earliest in the chronology of revelation). In the present instance, it contains an allusion to (and rejection of) the Christian doctrine of "vicarious atonment" and, indirectly, to the worship of saints. etc., spoken of in verse {3} ahove and referred to in note [1]. (See also note [31] on 53:38 .)
Lit., "he cries out", i.e., instinctively, and as a rule.
Lit., "and gives God compeers (andad, sing. nidd)". Cf. the last sentence of 2:22 and the corresponding note [13].
Alternatively, the above verse could be rendered thus: "Is, perchance, he who worships . . hoping for his Sustainer's grace, [equal to one who denies the truth]?"
This interpolation is justified by the fact that the possessive pronoun in the subsequent phrase "servants of Mine" obviously relates to God.
I.e., there is always a possibility of doing good and "migrating from evil unto God" - which is the permanent, spiritual connotation of the concept of hijrah implied here: see note [124] on 4:97 .
Implying that on Resurrection Day they will be irretrievably separated from all whom they had loved, and all who had been close to them in this world. The "loss of one's own self" signifies, I think, the destruction of one's true identity and uniqueness as a human being, which is described in the next clause as "the most obvious loss" that man may be made to suffer in the life to come.
As in many other instances, the Qur'an alludes in this phrase to the allegorical nature as well as to the real purpose of all descriptions of the suffering which awaits the sinners in the hereafter; cf. {74:35-36}- "that [hell-fire] is indeed one of the great [forewarnings]: a warning to mortal man".
For my rendering of at-taghut as "powers of evil", see surah {2}, note [250]. In the present context, this term apparently circumscribes the seductive force of certain evil ambitions or desires - like striving after power for its own sake, acquisition of wealth by exploiting one's fellow-beings, social advancement by all manner of immoral means, and so forth - any of which may cause man to lose all spiritual orientation, and to be enslaved by his passions.
Cf. {10:62-64}.
According to Razi, this describes people who examine every religious proposition (in the widest sense of this term) in the light of their own reason, accepting that which their mind finds to be valid or possible, and rejecting all that does not measure up to the test of reason. In Raz~'s words, the above verse expresses "a praise and commendation of following the evidence supplied by one's reason (hujjat al-'aql), and of reaching one's conclusions in accordance with [the results of] critical examination (nazar) and logical inference (istidlal)." A somewhat similar view is advanced, albeit in simpler terms, by Tabari.
This, to my mind, is the meaning of the prefix fa in fa-man - stressing, by implication, the contrast between the glad tiding given to those who have attained to faith and the suffering which awaits those "who shall have lost their own selves" through sinning (verses {15-16}).
In view of the repeated Qur'anic statements that God always accepts a sinner's sincere repentance, provided it is proffered before the hour of death, His ineluctable "sentence of suffering" obviously relates to such as die without repentance, and hence find themselves, as it were, "already in the fire".
Lit., "But" (lakin), indicating a return to the theme of verses {17-18}.
As in many other instances, the above Qur'anic reference to the endless transformations and the miraculous cycle of life and death in all nature serves to emphasize God's almightiness and, specifically, His power to resurrect the dead - thus alluding, indirectly, to the statement at the end of the preceding verse that "never does God fail to fulfil His promise".
Lit., "has been bestowing from on high", i.e., step by step. The verbal form nazzala indicates both gradualness and continuity in the process of divine revelation and may, therefore, be appropriately rendered by the use of the present tense.
This is the most acceptable meaning, in this context, of the term mathani (pl. of mathna), as explained by Zamakhshari in his commentary on the above verse. Another possible meaning, preferred by Razi, is "pairing its statements", i.e., referring to the polarity stressed in all Qur'anic teachings (e.g., command and prohibition, duties and rights, reward and punishment, paradise and hell, light and darkness, the general and the specific, and so forth). As regards the inner consistency of the Qur'an, see also 4:82 and 25:32 , as well as the corresponding notes.
Or: "He guides therewith whomever He wills", either of these two formulations being syntactically correct.
See note [4] on 14:4 .
Lit., "who will protect himself with his face": an idiomatic phrase implying that the person concerned has nothing whatever with which to protect himself.
Cf. 16:26 , which contains the additional sentence, "God visited with destruction all that they had ever built ...", etc., which explains the present reference to their suffering and ignominy "in the life of this world".
As in many other passages of the Qur'an, the use of the term "parable" (mathal) immediately or shortly after a description of men's condition - whether good or bad - in the hereafter is meant to remind us that all such descriptions relate to something that is "beyond the reach of a created being's perception" (al-ghayb), and cannot, therefore, be conveyed to man otherwise than by means of allegories or parables expressed in terms of human experience and therefore accessible, in a general sense, to human imagination.
Lit., "without any deviousness ('iwaj) , i.e., which could obscure its meaning: see note [1] on 18:1 , where this term occurs in a slightly different phrasing. As regards the stress on the formulation of this divine writ "in the Arabic tongue", see 12:2 , 13:37 , 14:4 and 41:44 , as well as the corresponding notes.
Lit., "with regard to whom there are [several] partners (shuraka')", i.e., as masters: a metaphor for belief in a plurality of divine powers.
The term mathal, which is usually rendered by me as "parable" (e.g., at the beginning of this verse as well as in verse {27}), primarily denotes a "likeness", i.e., of one thing to another; but sometimes it is used tropically as a synonym for sifah (the "quality", "intrinsic attribute" or "nature" of a thing) or halah (its "state" or "condition"). In the present instance, the last mentioned of these meanings is most appropriate, inasmuch as it alludes to man's condition arising from either of two contrasting attitudes: a belief in God's transcendental oneness and uniqueness on the one hand, and a readiness to ascribe divine powers and qualities to a variety of created beings or supposed "incarnations" of God, on the other.
In this instance, the "inventing of lies about God" alludes to the attribution of a share in His divinity to anyone or anything beside Him, whether it be a belief in a plurality of deities, or in an imaginary "incarnation" of God in human form, or in saints allegedly endowed with semi-divine powers.
Lit., "Is not in hell an abode ...", etc.: a rhetorical question indicating, firstly, that otherworldly suffering is the unavoidable destiny - symbolically, "an abode" - of all such sinners and, secondly, that in the concept and picture of "hell" we are given an allegory of that self-caused suffering.
Or: "instead of Him". This relates not merely to false deities, but also to saints alive or dead, and even to certain abstract concepts which the popular mind endows with charismatic qualitieslike wealth, power, social status, national or racial pre-eminence, the idea of man's "selfsufficiency", etc. - and, finally, to all false values which are allowed to dominate man's thoughts and desires. The godless always stress the supposed necessity of paying attention to all these imaginary forces and values, and frighten themselves and their fellow-men by the thought that a neglect to do so might have evil consequences in their practical life.
For this rendering of la'in, see surah {11}, note [11].
See note [23] on 31:25 .
Lit., "suffering ('adhab) that will disgrace him": implying that surrender to false values inevitably leads to man's spiritual decay and, if persisted in by many, to social catastrophes and widespread suffering.
Or: "thou art not responsible for their conduct" (see note [4] on 17:2 ).
According to Razi, this passage connects allegorically with the preceding - the light of guidance being likened to life, and man's going astray, to death or, if it is not permanent, to death-like sleep followed by awakening. Beyond this, however, we have here a reminder - in tune with the subsequent passages - of God's almightiness, and especially of His exclusive power to create and to withdraw life. As to the operative verb yatawaffa, it primarily denotes "He takes [something] away in full"; and because death is characterized by a disappearance of all vital impulses (the "soul") from the once-living body - their being "taken away in full", as it were - this form of the verb has been used tropically, since time immemorial, in the sense of "causing to die", and (in its intransitive form) "dying" or (as a noun) "death": a usage invariably adhered to in the Qur'an. The traditional likening of sleep to death is due to the fact that in both cases the body appears to be devoid of consciousness, partially and temporarily in the former case, and completely and permanently in the latter. (The popular translation of anfus-pl. of nafs - as "souls" is certainly inappropriate in the above context, since, according to the fundamental teaching of the Qur'an, man's soul does not "die" at the time of his bodily death but, on the contrary, lives on indefinitely. Hence, the term anfus must be rendered here as "human beings".)
This is the meaning of the particle am in this context (Zamakhshari), implying that despite all the evidence of God's almightiness, many people tend to disregard it.
I.e., intercessors who could act as such independently of God's permission - an assumption which the Qur'an categorically denies (see surah {10}, note [7]).
A reference to the adoration of dead saints or their tombs or relics, as well as of inanimate representations of saints, of imaginary deities, etc.
Regarding the problem of intercession as such, see note [7] on 10:3 .
Since a cognition of God must have a sense of moral responsibility as its correlate, the godless shrink from it, and joyfully turn to the "worship" - real or metaphoric - of imaginary powers which make no such moral demand.
See surah {6}, note [65].
Lit., "and the like of it with it".
Cf. 3:91 and the corresponding note [71].
Lit., "will have become obvious to them (bada lahum) from God" - i.e., the fact that man's attitudes and actions in this world determine his state and further development in the hereafter: in other words, that happiness or suffering in the life to come (allegorically described as "paradise" or "hell", and "reward" or "chastisement") are but natural consequences of the use which man makes in this life of his capabilities, endowments and opportunities.
Lit., "that which they were wont to deride will enfold them" or "will have enfolded them": i.e., the reality of life after death and of the spiritual truths preached by God's prophets will overwhelm them.
Lit., "knowledge" - i.e., "my prosperity is due to my own ability and shrewdness": see the first sentence of 28:78 and the corresponding note. But whereas there this "saying" or thought is attributed to the legendary Qarun, in the present instance - which is by far the earlier in the chronology of Qur'anic revelation - it is said to be characteristic of man as such (see, e.g., {7:189-190}, where this tendency is referred to in connection with the experience of parenthood).
Lit., "those who are bent on wrongdoing (alladhina zalamu) from among these here".
See note [16] on the opening words of verse {10} of this surah {11}.
Sc.. "whenever the sinner repents and turns to Him": cf., for instance, 6:54 - "Your Sustainer has willed upon Himself the law of grace and mercy - so that if any of you does a bad deed out of ignorance, and thereafter repents and lives righteously, He shall be [found] muchforgiving, a dispenser of grace"; or 4:110 - "he who does evil or [otherwise] sins against himself, and thereafter prays God to forgive him, shall find God much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace".
Cf. 4:18 - "repentance shall not be accepted from those who do evil deeds until their dying hour, and then say, 'Behold, I now repent'; nor from those who die as deniers of the truth".
Whenever there is no clear indication that the term nafs has another meaning, it signifies a "human being"; hence, the personal pronouns relating to this term (which is feminine in Arabic) are masculine in my rendering.
Cf. 2:167 and 26:102 , as well as {6:27-28} and the corresponding note [19].
The phrase iswadda wajhuhu (lit., "his face became black", or "dark") is used idiomatically to describe a face expressive of grief or ignominy (cf. 16:58 ), just as its opposite, ibyadda wajhuhu (lit., "his face became white" or "shining") describes a countenance expressive of happiness or justified pride: cf. 2:106 - "some faces will shine [with happiness] and some faces will be dark [with grief]". Apart from this, both phrases have also a tropical significance namely "he became [or "felt"] disgraced", resp. "honoured". - As regards the "inventing of lies about God" spoken of in this verse, see note [37] above.
See note [38] on the last sentence of verse {32} of this surah.
For the meaning of the term wakil in this context, see note [4] on 17:2 .
I.e., "it has been conveyed to thee through the divine messages revealed to the prophets". The assumption of almost all the classical commentators that this passage is addressed to Muhammad does not make much sense in view of God's knowledge that neither he nor any of the prophets who came before him would ever commit the deadly sin (referred to in the sequence) of "ascribing divine powers to aught beside God". On the other hand, the above reminder becomes very cogent and relevant as soon as it is conceived as being addressed to man in general, irrespective of time and circumstance.
I.e., the whole universe is as nothing before Him: for this specific allegory of God's almightiness, see 21:104 . There are many instances, in the Qur'an as well as in authentic ahadith, of the clearly metaphorical use of the term "hand" in allusions to God's absolute power and dominion. The particular reference, in the above, to the Day of Resurrection is due to the fact that it will be only on his own resurrection that a human being shall fully grasp the concept of God's almightiness, referred to in the subsequent words, "limitless is He in His glory'' (subhanahu)".
As is evident from 27:89 , the above is an allusion to the unbroken spiritual life in this world - and, therefore, happiness in the hereafter - of those who have attained to faith and have done righteous deeds. Cf. 21:103 - "the supreme awesomeness [of the Day of Resurrection] will cause them no grief".
Cf. 37:19 .
I.e., with a clear revelation of His will. See also 14:48 , where it is stated that on Resurrection Day "the earth shall be changed into another earth, as shall be the heavens". A further allusion to this transformation (and not annihilation) of the universe is found in {20:105-107}.
Cf. {17:13-14} (and the corresponding note [18]); also 18:49 .
See 4:41 and the corresponding note [52]. Accordingly, the above phrase may well have the meaning of "all the prophets as witnesses", i.e., for or against those to whom they conveyed God's message. In all probability, however, the term shuhada, a' (or ashhad in 40:51 ) signifies here - as its singular shahid obviously does in 50:21 - man's newly-awakened consciousness, which will compel him to bear witness against himself on Judgment Day (cf. 6:130 , 17:14 , 24:24 , 36:65 , 41:20 ff.).
Cf. {99:7-8}, "he who shall have done an atom's weight of good, shall behold it; and he who shall have done an atom's weiaht of evil, shall behold it".
I.e., as an ineluctable consequence of their unrepented sinning.
Sc., "and therefore refused to submit to the guidance offered them by God's apostles": cf. {96:6-7} - "man becomes grossly overweening whenever he believes himself to be self-sufficient". See also 16:22 and the corresponding note [IS].
Lit., "and its gates have [or "will have"] been opened", i.e., before their arrival, as indicated by the particle wa (lit., "and"), which in this case denotes precedence in time (Zamakhshari). Cf. in this connection {38}: SO - "gardens of perpetual bliss, with gates wide-open to them".
Lit., "has made us heirs to this land", i.e., of paradise. According to all the classical commentators, the concept of "heritage" is used here metaphorically, to denote the rightful due, or portion, of the blessed. The term ard (lit., "earth" or "land") has also - especially in poetry - the connotation of "anything that is spread" (cf. Lane I, 48): hence my rendering of it, in the above context, as "expanse".
Whenever the term al-'arsh ("the throne [of God]") occurs in the Qur'an, it is used as a metaphor for His absolute dominion over all that exists: hence my rendering, "the throne of [God's] almightiness". (See also 7:54 and the corresponding note [43].) The mention of the "angels surrounding" it has, obviously, a metaphorical meaning: see note [4] on 40:7 .
Lit., "it will he said".