30. Surah Ar Rum

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

أَوَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ...

10: 9. Do they not travel through the earth, and see what was the End of those before them?

... كَانُوا أَشَدَّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً وَأَثَارُوا الْأَرْضَ وَعَمَرُوهَا أَكْثَرَ مِمَّا عَمَرُوهَا...

They were superior to them in strength,

and they tilled the earth and populated it in greater numbers than these (pagans) have done,

... وَجَاءتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ...

there came to them their apostles with Clear (Signs),

(which they rejected, to their own destruction):

C3515. Let not any generation think that it is superior to all that went before it. We may be "heirs to all the ages, in the foremost files of times." That is no reason for arrogance, but on the contrary adds to our responsibility.

When we realize what flourishing cities and kingdoms existed before, how they flourished in numbers and prosperity, what chances they were given, and how they perished when they disobeyed the law of Allah, we shall feel a sense of humility, and see that it was rebellion and self-will that brought them down. Allah was more than just. He was also merciful. But they brought about their own ruin.

... فَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ﴿٩﴾

it was not Allah Who wronged them but they wronged their own souls.

ثُمَّ كَانَ عَاقِبَةَ الَّذِينَ أَسَاؤُوا السُّوأَى...

30:10 In the long run evil in the extreme will be the End of those who do evil;

C3516. The Arabic superlative feminine, referring to the feminine noun Aqibah, I have translated by "Evil in the extreme".

In this life good and evil may seem to be mixed up, and it may be that somethings or persons that are evil get what seem to be good rewards or blessings, while the opposite happens to the good. But this is only a temporary appearance. In the long run Evil will have its own evil consequences, multiplied cumulatively. And this, because evil not only rejected Allah's Message of Good but laughed at Good and misled others.

... أَن كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا بِهَا يَسْتَهْزِؤُون ﴿١٠﴾

for that they rejected the Signs of Allah, and held them up to ridicule.

Asad’s Version:

30:9

Have they, then, never journeyed about the earth and beheld what happened in the end to those [deniers of the truth] who lived before their time? Greater were they in power than they are; and they left a stronger impact on the earth, and built it up even better 7 than these [are doing] ; and to them [too] came their apostles with all evidence of the truth: and so, [when they rejected the truth and thereupon perished,] it was not God who wronged them, but it was they who had wronged themselves.

30:10

And once again: 8 evil is bound to be the end of those who do evil by giving the lie to God's messages and deriding them.

37.Surah as saffat

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

فَاسْتَفْتِهِمْ ...

37: 11. Just ask their opinion:

C4040. "Their": "they" are the doubters, the evil ones, the deniers of Allah's grace and mercy, who laugh at Revelation and disbelieve in a Hereafter.

... أَهُمْ أَشَدُّ خَلْقًا أَم مَّنْ خَلَقْنَا...

are they the more difficult to create, or the (other) beings We have created?

Are they more important or more difficult to create than the wonderful variety of beings in Allah's spacious Creation?

Do they forget their own lowly state, as having been created from muddy clay?

...إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاهُم مِّن طِينٍ لَّازِبٍ ﴿١١﴾

Them have We created out of a sticky clay!

C4041. Cf. 6:2; 7:12; 32:7; etc.

بَلْ عَجِبْتَ وَيَسْخَرُونَ ﴿١٢﴾

37: 12. Truly dost thou marvel, while they ridicule,

C4042. It is indeed strange that unregenerate man should forget, on the one hand, his lowly-origin, and on the other hand, his high Destiny, as conferred upon him by the grace and mercy of Allah.

The indictment of him here comprises four counts:

- they ridicule the teaching of Truth;

- instead of profiting by admonition, they pay no heed;

- when Allah's Signs are brought home to them, they ridicule them as much as they ridiculed the teaching of Truth: and

- when they have to acknowledge incontestable facts, they give them false names like "sorcery", which imply fraud or something which has no relation to their life, although the facts touch the inner springs of their life intimately.

وَإِذَا ذُكِّرُوا لَا يَذْكُرُونَ ﴿١٣﴾

37: 13. And, when they are admonished, pay no heed --

وَإِذَا رَأَوْا آيَةً يَسْتَسْخِرُونَ ﴿١٤﴾

37: 14. And, when they see a Sign, turn it to mockery,

وَقَالُوا إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ ﴿١٥﴾

37: 15. And say,

"This is nothing but evident sorcery!

أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا وَعِظَامًا أَئِنَّا لَمَبْعُوثُونَ ﴿١٦﴾

37: 16. "What! when we die, and become dust and bones, shall we (then) be raised up (again)?

أَوَآبَاؤُنَا الْأَوَّلُونَ ﴿١٧﴾

37: 17. "And also our fathers of old?"

C4043. Although the Hereafter, is the most solid facts in our intelligent existence, materialists deny them. They cannot believe that they could have any existence beyond the grave-still less their ancestors who died ages and ages ago: how could they ever come to life again?

قُلْ نَعَمْ...

37: 18. Say thou:

"Yea,

...وَأَنتُمْ دَاخِرُونَ ﴿١٨﴾

and ye shall then be humiliated (on account of your evil)."

C4044. They are assured that the future life is a solid fact, but that it will be in very different conditions from those they know now.

All their present arrogance will have been humbled in the dust. There will be another plane, in which souls will have experiences quite different from those in their probationary life here. In that life the virtues they lacked will count, and the arrogance they hugged will be brought low.

فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ زَجْرَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ ...

37: 19. Then it will be a single (compelling) cry;

C4045. Cf. 36:29,49, and 53.

... فَإِذَا هُمْ يَنظُرُونَ ﴿١٩﴾

and behold, they will begin to see!

C4046. Their spiritual blindness will then leave them. But they will be surprised at the suddenness of their disillusion.

وَقَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا هَذَا يَوْمُ الدِّينِ ﴿٢٠﴾

37: 20. They will say, "Ah! woe to us! This is the Day of Judgement!"

هَذَا يَوْمُ الْفَصْلِ الَّذِي كُنتُمْ بِهِ تُكَذِّبُونَ ﴿٢١﴾

37: 21. (A voice will say,)

"This is the Day of Sorting Out, whose truth ye (once) denied!"

C4047. The Day of Judgment is the day of sorting out. Cf. 36:59.

Good and evil will finally be separated, unlike the apparently inexplicable conditions in the present probationary life, when they seem to be mixed together.

احْشُرُوا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا وَأَزْوَاجَهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا يَعْبُدُونَ ﴿٢٢﴾

37: 22. "Bring ye up," it shall be said, "The wrongdoers and their wives, and the things they worshipped --

C4048. That is, if their wives were also wrong-doers. They are separately mentioned, because the Arabic phrase for "wrong-doers" is of the masculine gender. All the associates in wrong-doing will be marshaled together. There will be personal responsibility: neither husband nor wife can lay the blame on the other.

مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ...

37: 23. "Besides Allah,

فَاهْدُوهُمْ إِلَى صِرَاطِ الْجَحِيمِ ﴿٢٣﴾

and lead them to the Way to the (Fierce) Fire!

وَقِفُوهُمْ...

37: 24. "But stop them,

C4049. The scene here is after judgment. As, in an earthly tribunal, the prisoner or his advocate is asked why sentence should not be pronounced upon him, so here those who are proved to have been guilty of wrong are allowed to consider if anything or any one can help them. Then comes the exposure of the misleaders.

...إِنَّهُم مَّسْئُولُونَ ﴿٢٤﴾

for they must be asked:

Asad’s Version:

37:11 AND NOW ask those [who deny the truth] to enlighten thee: Were they more difficult to create than all those [untold marvels] that We have created? - for, behold, them have We created out of [mere] clay commingled with water!'

(37:12) Nay, but whereas thou dost marvel, 8 they [only] scoff;

(37:13) and when they are reminded [of the truth]; they refuse to take it to heart; (37:14) and when they become aware of a [divine] message, they turn it to ridicule (37:15) and say: "This is clearly nothing but [a mortal's] spellbinding eloquence!

(37:16) Why - after we have died and become mere dust and bones, shall we, forsooth, be raised from the dead? - (37: 17) and perhaps also our forebears of old?"

37:18 Say: "Yea, indeed - and most abject will you then be!" –

(37:19) for that [resurrection which they deride] will be [upon them of a sudden, as if it were] but a single accusing cry - and then, lo! they will begin to see [the truth] (37:20) and will say: "Oh, woe unto us! This is the Day of Judgment! "

37:21 [And they will be told:] "This is the Day of Distinction [between the true and the false' - the Day] which you were wont to call a lie!"

(37:22) [And God will thus command:] "Assemble all those who were bent on evildoing, together with others of their ilk 10 and [with] all that they were wont to worship (37:23) instead of God, and lead them all onto the way to the blazing

fire,

(37:24) and halt them [there]!" [And then,] behold, they shall be asked, (37:25) "How is it that [now] you cannot succour one another?"