43. Sura Al-Zukhruf
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِنَّ
الْمُجْرِمِينَ
فِي عَذَابِ
جَهَنَّمَ
خَالِدُونَ
﴿٧٤﴾
43: 74. The Sinners will be in the Punishment of Hell,
to dwell therein (for aye):
لَا
يُفَتَّرُ
عَنْهُمْ وَهُمْ
فِيهِ مُبْلِسُونَ
﴿٧٥﴾
43: 75. Nowise will the (punishment) be lightened for them, and in despair will they be there overwhelmed.
وَمَا
ظَلَمْنَاهُمْ
...
43: 76. Nowise shall We be unjust to them:
C4673. The wrong-doers suffer not because Allah is unjust or cruel, nor as a deterrent to others, for the probationary period will then have passed, but because their evil deeds must bear their inevitable fruit. Allah's Grace was ever ready to offer opportunities for Repentance and Forgiveness. But they rejected them. They were unjust to themselves. This is complementary to the doctrine of works and their fruits, as explained in n. 4671 above.
... وَلَكِن كَانُوا هُمُ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿٧٦﴾
but it is they who have been unjust themselves.
وَنَادَوْا
يَا مَالِكُ
لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنَا
رَبُّكَ...
43: 77. They will cry:
"O Malik! would that thy Lord put and end to us!"
C4674. Malik: The name of the Angel in charge of Hell.
...قَالَ إِنَّكُم مَّاكِثُونَ ﴿٧٧﴾
He will say, "Nay, but ye shall abide!"
C4675. Cf. 20:74.
Annihilation is better than agony. But wrong-doers cannot destroy the "fruits" of their actions, by asking for annihilation.
لَقَدْ
جِئْنَاكُم
بِالْحَقِّ
وَلَكِنَّ
أَكْثَرَكُمْ
لِلْحَقِّ
كَارِهُونَ
﴿٧٨﴾
43: 78. Verily We have brought the truth to you: but most of you have a hatred for Truth.
C4676. We come back now to the Present,-primarily to the time when Islam was being preached in Makkah, but by analogy the present time or any time.
Truth is often bitter to the taste of those who live on Falsehoods, and Shams and profit by them. They hate the Truth, and plot against it. But will they succeed? See next verse and note.
أَمْ
أَبْرَمُوا
أَمْرًا ...
43: 79. What!
have they settled some Plan (among themselves)?
C4677. Men cannot settle the high affairs of the universe. If they plot against the Truth, the Truth will destroy them, just as, if they accept the Truth, the Truth will make them free. It is Allah Who disposes of affairs.
... فَإِنَّا مُبْرِمُونَ ﴿٧٩﴾
But it is We Who settle things.
أَمْ
يَحْسَبُونَ
أَنَّا لَا
نَسْمَعُ سِرَّهُمْ
وَنَجْوَاهُم...
43: 80. Or do they think that We hear not their secrets and their private counsels?
C4678. However secretly men may plot, everything is known to Allah. His Recording Angels are by, at all times and in all places, to prepare a Record of their Deeds for their own conviction when the time comes for Judgment.
...بَلَى وَرُسُلُنَا لَدَيْهِمْ يَكْتُبُونَ ﴿٨٠﴾
Indeed (We do), and Our Messengers are by them, to record.
قُلْ
إِن
كَانَ لِلرَّحْمَنِ
وَلَدٌ فَأَنَا
أَوَّلُ الْعَابِدِينَ
﴿٨١﴾
43: 81. Say:
"If (Allah) Most Gracious had a son, I would be the first to worship."
C4679. The prophet of Allah does not object to true worship in any form. But it must be true: it must not superstitiously attribute derogatory things to Allah, or foster false ideas.
سُبْحَانَ
رَبِّ السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضِ
رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ
...
43: 82. Glory to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne (of Authority)!
All Power, Authority, Knowledge, and Truth are with Allah. He neither begets nor is begotten. Glory to Him!
... عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ ﴿٨٢﴾
(He is free) from the things they attribute (to Him)!
فَذَرْهُمْ
يَخُوضُوا
وَيَلْعَبُوا
حَتَّى يُلَاقُوا
يَوْمَهُمُ
الَّذِي يُوعَدُونَ
﴿٨٣﴾
43: 83. So leave them to babble and play (with vanities) until they meet that Day of theirs, which they have been promised.
C4681. That Day of theirs: they had their Day on earth;
they will have a different sort of Day in the Hereafter, according to the promise of Allah about the Resurrection and Judgment, or perhaps about Retribution in this very life! So leave them to play about with their fancies and vanities. Truth must eventually prevail!
وَهُوَ
الَّذِي
فِي السَّمَاء
إِلَهٌ وَفِي
الْأَرْضِ
إِلَهٌ...
43: 84. It is He Who is Allah in heaven and Allah on earth;
...وَهُوَ الْحَكِيمُ الْعَلِيمُ ﴿٨٤﴾
and He is full of Wisdom and Knowledge.
Asad’s Version:
43:74 [But,] behold, they who are lost in sin shall abide in the suffering of hell: 55
(43:75) it will not be lightened for them; and therein they will be lost in hopeless despair.
(43:76) And it is not We who will be doing wrong unto them, but it is they who will have wronged themselves.
43:77 And they will cry: "O thou [angel] who rulest [over hell] ! Let thy Sustainer put an end to us! " -[whereupon] he will reply: "Verily, you must live on [in this state]..."
43:78 INDEED, [O you sinners,] We have conveyed the truth unto you; but most of you abhor the truth. 54
(43:79) Why - can they (who deny the truth ever] determine what [the truth] should be? 55
(43:80) Or do they, perchance, think that We do not hear their hidden thoughts and their secret confabulations? 58 Yea, indeed, [We do,) and Our heavenly forces 57 are with them, recording [all).
43:81 Say [O Prophet): "If the Most Gracious [truly) had a son, I would be the first to worship him!"
(43:82) Utterly remote, in His glory, is the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth the Sustainer, in almightiness enthroned 58 - from all that they may attribute to Him by way of definition! 5 '
43:83 But leave them to indulge in idle talk and play [with words] 60 until they face that [Judgment) Day of theirs which they have been promised:
(43:84) for [then they will come to know that) it is He [alone) who is God in heaven and God on earth, and [that) He alone is truly wise, all- knowing.
Yuksel’s version
They Hate the Truth
43:78 We have come to you with the truth, but most of you hate the truth.
43:79 Or have they devised some scheme? We will also devise.
[[ Asad’s notes -
54 As is evident from verses 81 if. above, this is a reference to the truth of God's oneness and uniqueness, which those who believe in Jesus as "the son of God" refuse, as it were, to acknowledge: thus, the discourse returns here to the question of the "nature" of Jesus touched upon in verses 57-65.
55 The verb barama or abrama signifies, literally, "he twined" or "twisted [something] together", e.g., the strands that are to form a rope; or "he twisted [something] well" or "strongly". Tropically, it connotes the act of "establishing" or "determining" a thing, a proposition, a course of events, etc. (Jawhari). According to the Lisan al-'Arab, the phrase abrama al-amr has the meaning of "he determined (ahkama) the case". In the present context, the term amr, having no definite article, signifies "anything" or - in its widest sense - "anything that should [or "could"] be": and so, taking the
preceding verse into account, we arrive at the meaning of arbitrarily "determining what [the truth] should be" - i.e., in contradiction to what the Qur'an postulates as the truth.
56 This is most probably an allusion to the centuries-long subtle Christian controversies on the question as to whether or not Jesus was "the son of God" and, hence, divine. These controversies were often influenced by a subconscious leaning of some of the early Christian thinkers towards ancient, mostly Mithraistic, cults and concepts which were in the beginning strongly opposed by unitarian theologians,
foremost among them Arius, Patriarch of Alexandria (about 280-336 C.E.). However, at the politically-motivated Council of Nicaea (325 c.E.), the Arian views - which until then had been shared by the overwhelming majority of articulate Christians - were condemned as "heretical", and the doctrine of Christ's divinity was officially formulated in the so-called Nicene Creed as the basis of Christian beliefs. (See also note 60 below).
57 Lit., "Our messengers", i.e., angels.
58 Cf. the last clause of surah 9 and the corresponding note 171 .
59 See note 88 on the last sentence of 6:100.
60 Evidently an allusion to the verbal subtleties of the Nicene Creed, and particularly the statemeht, "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten, not made [i.e., not created), by the Father as His only Son, of the same substance as the Father, God of God ...", etc. ]]