19. Surah Maryam

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). ]]