19. Surah Maryam

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

مَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ أَن يَتَّخِذَ مِن وَلَدٍ سُبْحَانَهُ...   

19: 35.  It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son.

Glory be to Him!

...إِذَا قَضَى أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ ﴿٣٥﴾

When He determines a matter, He only says to it,

"Be,"

and it is.

C2487. Begetting a son is a physical act depending on the needs of men's animal nature. Allah Most High is independent of all needs, and it is derogatory to Him to attribute such an act to Him. It is merely a relic of pagan and anthropomorphic materialist superstitions.

وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ هَذَا صِرَاطٌ مُّسْتَقِيمٌ ﴿٣٦﴾

19: 36.  Verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye:

this is a Way that is straight.

C2488. As opposed to the crooked superstitions which take refuge in all sorts of metaphysical sophistries to prove three in one and one in three. In the Quran there is no crookedness (18:1). Christ's teaching was simple, like his life, but the Christians have made it crooked.

فَاخْتَلَفَ الْأَحْزَابُ مِن بَيْنِهِمْ...   

19: 37.  But the sects differ among themselves:

...فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِن مَّشْهَدِ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ ﴿٣٧﴾

and woe to the Unbelievers because of the (coming) Judgment of a momentous Day!

C2489. Judgment. the word in the original is Mash-had, which implies many things:

-        the time or place where evidence is taken, as in a Court of Judgment;

-        the time or place where people are produced (to be judged); and

-        the occasion for such production for the taking of evidence.

A very expressive phrase for the Day of Judgment.

أَسْمِعْ بِهِمْ وَأَبْصِرْ يَوْمَ يَأْتُونَنَا...   

19: 38.  How plainly will they see and hear, the Day that they will appear before Us!

...لَكِنِ الظَّالِمُونَ الْيَوْمَ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ ﴿٣٨﴾

But the unjust today are in error manifest!

C2490. Cf. 50:22. and that whole passage, where the Resurrection is described.

وَأَنذِرْهُمْ يَوْمَ الْحَسْرَةِ إِذْ قُضِيَ الْأَمْرُ...   

19: 39.  But warn them of the Day of Distress, when the matter will be determined:

C2491. Hasrat: Sighs, sighing, regrets, distress.

...وَهُمْ فِي غَفْلَةٍ وَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ﴿٣٩﴾

for (behold), they are negligent and they do not believe!

إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَرِثُ الْأَرْضَ وَمَنْ عَلَيْهَا ...

19: 40.  It is We Who will inherit the earth, and all beings thereon:

C2492. Cf. 3:180. n. 485; 15:23,  n. 1964,

Material property passes from one to another: when one dies, another inherits it. Allah gives life and death, and all that survives after physical death goes back to Allah, the original source of all things.

... وَإِلَيْنَا يُرْجَعُونَ ﴿٤٠﴾

to Us will they all be returned.

Others version:

19: 35

Asad It is not conceivable that God should have taken unto Himself a son: limitless is He in His glory! When He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it “Be” – and it is!

Pickthall It befitteth not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is.

Transliteration Ma_ ka_na lil la_hi ay yat takhidza miw waladin subha_nah idza_ qadha_ amran fa in nama_ yaqu_lu lahu_ kun fayaku_n

19: 36 And [thus it was that Jesus always said]: “Verily, God is my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer; so worship [none but] Him: this [alone] is a straight way.”

Pickthall And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path.

Transliteration Wa in nal la_ha rab bi wa rab bukum fa'budu_h ha_dza_ shira_thum mustaqim

[ Ruby’s notes: This is simple. The Creator who created everything, why He would become part of His own creation? The Almighty who is the Sustainer of everything, why He would manifest Himself as one of the thing or person He Sustains? The One who is infinite and beyond comprehension, why He would reveal Himself as a finite thing or person? These questions are rational questions and the answers should be simple: it does not make any sense to think and worship an infinite unseen Supreme Being as a finite person in flesh and blood. The concept of Trinity does not stand a chance before the concept Islam offers about God. And this very idea of God and worship of Him should be the foundation of life and its work. This then should constitute the true submission, the Straight Path, the Religion for mankind defined in the Quran in 30:30. ]

[ Ali’s note : 2487 Begetting a son is a physical act depending on the needs of men's animal nature. Allah Most High is independent of all needs, and it is derogatory to Him to attribute such an act to Him. It is merely a relic of pagan and anthropomorphic materialist superstitions. (19.35)

2488 As opposed to the crooked superstitions which take refuge in all sorts of metaphysical sophistries to prove three in one and one in three. In the Qur-an there is no crookedness (xviii. 1). Christ's teaching was simple, like his life, but the Christians have made it crooked. (19.36) ]

19: 37

Asad And yet, the sects [that follow the Bible] are at variance among themselves [about the nature of Jesus]! Woe, then, unto all who deny the truth when that awesome Day will appear!

Pickthall The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day.

Transliteration Fakh talafal ahza_bu mim bainihim fawailul lil lazina kafaru_ mim mashadi yaumin 'azhim

19: 38

Asad How well will they hear and see [the truth] on the Day when they come before Us! Today, however, these evildoers are obviously lost in error:

Pickthall See and hear them on the Day they come unto Us! Yet the evil-doers are today in error manifest.

Transliteration Asmi'bihim wa abshir yauma ya'tu_nana_ la_kiniz zha_limu_nal yauma fi dhala_lim mubin

19: 39

Asad hence, warn them of [the coming of] the day of Regrets, when everything will have been decided – for as yet they are heedless, and they do not believe [in it].

Pickthall And warn them of the Day of anguish when the case hath been decided. Now they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not.

Transliteration Wa andzirhum yaumal hasrati idz qudhiyal amr wa hum fi ghaflatiw wahum la_ yu'minu_n

19: 40

Asad Behold, We alone shall remain after the earth and all who live on it have passed away, and [when] unto Us all will have been brought back.

Yusuf Ali It is We Who will inherit the earth and all beings thereon: to Us will they all be returned.

Pickthall Lo! We inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned.

Transliteration In na_ nahnu naritsul ardha wa man alaiha_ wa ilaina_ yurja'u_n

[ Asad’s note 30: Lit., “WE alone shall the earth and all who are on it”………………see 15:23 note 22………on the use of the term “inheritor” or “heir” in the sense of “one who remains after his predecessor has passed away” – in this case, after all creation has perished. (Cf the expression “the heritage of the heaven and the earth” used with reference to God, in d:180 and 57:10)]

[ Ruby’s note: This is a profound revelation regarding the nature of things we see in reality and the nature of God. What essentially conveyed here is that God is the ultimate reality on which all other transitory realities are based. When the physical base of the Universe is destroyed or recapitulated, what remains is the Essential Being, the source OR CAUSE of all existence, He is the ONLY eternal EXISTENCE. In science the concept of Big Bang gives the implication of this profound truth of our existence and this reality. May be one day science -- by understanding how energy transformed into matter and what happened in the millionth second after the Big Bang—could shed more light into this idea of the Ultimate Existence. ]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَلَدًا ﴿٨٨﴾

19:88.  They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!"

لَقَدْ جِئْتُمْ شَيْئًا إِدًّا ﴿٨٩﴾

19:89.  Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!

C2529. The belief in Allah begetting a son is not a question merely of words or of speculative thought. It is a stupendous blasphemy against Allah. It lowers Allah to the level of an animal.

If combined with the doctrine of vicarious atonement, it amounts to a negation of Allah's justice and man's personal responsibility.

It is destructive of all moral and spiritual order, and is condemned in the strongest possible terms.

تَكَادُ السَّمَاوَاتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنشَقُّ الْأَرْضُ...   

19:90.  At if the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder,

...وَتَخِرُّ الْجِبَالُ هَدًّا ﴿٩٠﴾

and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin.

أَن دَعَوْا لِلرَّحْمَنِ وَلَدًا ﴿٩١﴾

19:91.  That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious.

وَمَا يَنبَغِي لِلرَّحْمَنِ أَن يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا ﴿٩٢﴾

19:92.  For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a son.

C2530. This basic principle was laid down early in the argument (19:35).

It was illustrated by a reference to the personal history of many messengers, including Jesus himself, who behaved justly as men to their kith and kin and humbly served Allah.

The evil results of such superstitions were pointed out in the case of many previous generations which went to their ruin by dishonouring Allah.

And the argument is now rounded off towards the close of the Surah.

إِن كُلُّ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ إِلَّا آتِي الرَّحْمَنِ عَبْدًا ﴿٩٣﴾

19:93.  Not one of the beings in the heavens and the earth but must come to (Allah) Most Gracious as a servant.

لَقَدْ أَحْصَاهُمْ وَعَدَّهُمْ عَدًّا ﴿٩٤﴾

19:94.  He does take and account of them (all), and hath numbered them (all) exactly.

C2531. Allah has no sons or favorites or parasites, such as we associate with human beings.

On the other hand every creature of His gets His love, and His cherishing care.

Everyone of them, however humble, is individually marked before His Throne of Justice and Mercy, and will stand before Him on his own deserts.

وَكُلُّهُمْ آتِيهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَرْدًا ﴿٩٥﴾

19:95.  And every one of them will come to him singly on the Day of Judgment.

Asad’s Version:

19:88

As it is, 75 some assert, "The Most Gracious has taken unto Himself a son!"

19:89

Indeed, [by this assertion] you have brought forth something monstrous,

(19:90) whereat the heavens might well-nigh be rent into fragments, and the earth be split asunder, and the mountains fall down in ruins!

(19:91) That men. should ascribe a son to the Most Gracious,

(19:92) although it is inconceivable that the Most Gracious should take unto Himself a son! 77

19:93

Not one of all [the beings] that are in the heavens or on earth appears before the Most Gracious other than as a servant: 78

(19:94)

(19:95) and every one of them will appear before

Him on Resurrection Day in a lonely state. 79 '

[[ Asad’s notes -

73 Lit., "We number for them but a number". Cf. also the first sentence of verse 75 above.

74 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.

75 Lit., "And" (wa), connecting the present passage with verse 81.

76 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 inverse 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 maris "bond with God" and, if consciously persisted in, constitutes an unforgivable sin (cf. 4:48 and 116).

77 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" (42:1 1) and "nothing that could be compared with Him" (1 12:4). 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 : 1 00). ]]

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21. Surah Al Anbiya'

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَلَدًا...  

21: 26.  And they say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten offspring."

C2686. This refers both to the Trinitarian superstition that Allah has begotten a son, and to the Arab superstition that the angels were daughters of Allah. All such superstitions are derogatory to the glory of Allah.

The prophets and the angels are no more than servants of Allah: they are raised high in honour, and therefore they deserve our highest respect, but not our worship.

...سُبْحَانَهُ...

Glory to Him!

...بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُّكْرَمُونَ ﴿٢٦﴾

they are (but) servants raised to honor.

لَا يَسْبِقُونَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ ...

21: 27.  They speak not before He speaks,

C2687. They never say anything before they receive Allah's command to say it, and their acts are similarly conditioned.

This is also the teaching of Jesus as reported in the Gospel of St. John (12:49-50):

"For I have not spoken of myself: but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."

If rightly understood, "Father" has the same meaning as our "Rabb", Sustainer and Cherisher, not Begetter or Progenitor.

... وَهُم بِأَمْرِهِ يَعْمَلُونَ ﴿٢٧﴾

and they act (in all things) by His command.

يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ...  

21: 28.  He knows what is before them, and what is behind them,

...وَلَا يَشْفَعُونَ إِلَّا لِمَنِ ارْتَضَى...

and they offer no intercession except for those who are acceptable,

C2688. Cf. 20:109. Those who have conformed to the Will of Allah and obeyed His Law, thus winning the stamp of His approval.

...وَهُم مِّنْ خَشْيَتِهِ مُشْفِقُونَ ﴿٢٨﴾

and they stand in awe and reverence of His (glory).

C2689. They: the usual interpretation refers the pronoun to the servants of Allah who intercede:

it may also refer to those on whose behalf intercession is made: they do not take it as a matter of course, but stand in due awe and reverence of Allah's great glory and mercy.

وَمَن يَقُلْ مِنْهُمْ إِنِّي إِلَهٌ مِّن دُونِهِ فَذَلِكَ نَجْزِيهِ جَهَنَّمَ...  

21: 29.  If any of them should say, "I am a god besides Him,"

such a god We should reward with Hell:

...كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿٢٩﴾

thus do We reward those who do wrong.

Asad’s Version:

21:26

And [yet,) some say, "The Most Gracious has taken unto Himself a son"! Limitless is He in His glory!" Nay, [those whom they regard as God's "offspring"" are but His] honoured servants:

(21:27) they speak not until He has spoken unto them, 35 and [whenever they act,]

they act at His behest.

21:28

He knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them:" hence, they cannot intercede for any but those whom He has [already) graced with His goodly acceptance, 37 since they themselves stand in reverent awe of Him.

21:29

And if any of them were to say, "Behold, I am a deity beside Him" - that one We should

requite with hell: thus do We requite all [such] evildoers.

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23. Surah muminun

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

بَلْ أَتَيْنَاهُم بِالْحَقِّ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾

23. 90. We have sent them the Truth: but they indeed practice Falsehood!

مَا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ مِن وَلَدٍ وَمَا كَانَ مَعَهُ مِنْ إِلَهٍ...

23: 91. No son did Allah beget, nor is there any god along with Him:

...إِذًا لَّذَهَبَ كُلُّ إِلَهٍ بِمَا خَلَقَ وَلَعَلَا بَعْضُهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ...

(if there were many gods), behold, each god would have taken away what be had created, and some would have lorded it over others!

C2931. Cf. 17:42.

The multiplicity of gods is intellectually indefensible, considering the unity of Design and Purpose in His wonderful Universe.

Asad’s Version:

. 23:90

Nay, We have conveyed unto them the truth: and yet, behold, they are intent on lying [to themselves)! 51

(23:91) Never did God take unto Himself any 52 offspring, nor has there ever

been any deity side by side with Him: [for, had there been any,] lo! each deity would surely have stood apart [from the others] in whatever it had created, 53 and they would surely have [tried to] overcome one another! Limitless in His glory is God, [far] above anything that men may devise by way of definition, 54

[[Asad’s notes - 51 Lit., "they are indeed liars" - i.e., they deceive themselves by asserting that they believe in God and, at the same time, rejecting the idea of a life after death, which - in view of the fact that many wrongdoers prosper in this world while many righteous lead a life of suffering - is insolubly bound up with the concept of divine justice. Apart from this, a denial of the possibility of resurrection implies a doubt as to God's unlimited power and, thus, of His Godhead in the true sense of this concept. This latter doubt often finds its expression in the mystic belief in a multiplicity of divine powers: and it is to this erroneous belief that the next verse alludes.

52 This allusion to the pre-Islamic Arabian belief in angels as "God's daughters" and the Christian dogma of Jesus' "sonship of God" connects with the statement "they are intent on lying [to themselves]", which has been explained in the preceding note.

53 This is how almost all the classical commentators explain the phrase la-dhahaba bi-ma khalaqa (lit., "would surely have taken away whatever he had created"), implying that in such a hypothetical case each of the gods would have been concerned only with his own sector of creation, thus causing complete confusion in the universe.

54 See note 88 on 6:100. ]]

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