25. [al-Furqan, Mecca 42]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَلَقَدْ
أَتَوْا
عَلَى الْقَرْيَةِ
الَّتِي أُمْطِرَتْ
مَطَرَ السَّوْءِ...
25: 40. And the (Unbelievers) must indeed have passed by the town on which was rained a shower of evil:
C3095. This refers to Lut's story and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the wicked cities of the plain near the Dead Sea, by a shower of brimstone. The site lies on the highway between Arabia and Syria.
... أَفَلَمْ يَكُونُوا يَرَوْنَهَا...
did they not then see it (with their own eyes)?
... بَلْ كَانُوا لَا يَرْجُونَ نُشُورًا ﴿٤٠﴾
But they fear not the Resurrection.
وَإِذَا
رَأَوْكَ إِن
يَتَّخِذُونَكَ
إِلَّا هُزُوًا...
25: 41. When they see thee, they treat thee no otherwise than in mockery:
... أَهَذَا الَّذِي بَعَثَ اللَّهُ رَسُولًا ﴿٤١﴾
"Is this the one whom Allah has sent as a messenger?"
إِن
كَادَ
لَيُضِلُّنَا
عَنْ آلِهَتِنَا
لَوْلَا أَن
صَبَرْنَا
عَلَيْهَا...
25: 42. "He indeed would well-nigh have misled us from our gods, had it not been that we were constant to them!"
... وَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ حِينَ يَرَوْنَ الْعَذَابَ مَنْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلًا ﴿٤٢﴾
Soon will they know, when they see the Penalty, who it is that is most misled in Path!
C3096. "Path" (Sabil) is almost equivalent here to conduct, way of life.
أَرَأَيْتَ
مَنِ اتَّخَذَ
إِلَهَهُ هَوَاهُ
...
25: 43. Seest thou such a one as taketh for his god his own passion (or impulse)?
... أَفَأَنتَ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِ وَكِيلًا ﴿٤٣﴾
Couldst thou be a disposer of affairs for him?
C3097. The man who worships his own passions or impulses or desires is the most hopeless to teach or lead or guide.
If it were anything else the matter with him, the Prophet could argue with him. But Reason cannot prevail over blind passion. It is vain to hope that such a man could be led, until his mad desires are killed. No one could undertake any responsibility for him, for he obeys no law and follows no advice. He is worse than brute beasts, which may not understand, but at least follow the wholesome instincts implanted in them by Allah. The lawless man has killed his instincts and is unwilling to submit to guidance.
أَمْ
تَحْسَبُ
أَنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ
يَسْمَعُونَ
أَوْ يَعْقِلُونَ...
25: 44. Or thinkest thou that most of them listen or understand?
... إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا كَالْأَنْعَامِ ...
They are only like cattle; --
... بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلًا ﴿٤٤﴾
nay, they are worse astray in Path.
أَلَمْ
تَرَ
إِلَى
رَبِّكَ ...
25: 45. Hast thou not turned thy vision to thy Lord? --
C3098. We saw in 24:35 that Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.
We have now another sublime passage, in which we are asked to contemplate the Glory of Allah by a parable of the subtle play of Light and Shade in Allah's creation. (R).
... كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ...
how He doth prolong the Shadow!
C3099. In our artificial fife and surroundings we fail to see some of the finest mysteries of Light and Shade.
We praise, and rightly, the wonderful colours of sunset. We see, particularly in climates more northerly than that of India, the subtle play of Light and Shade in the twilight succeeding sunsets.
If we were as assiduous in seeing sunrises and the play of Light and Shade preceding them, we should see phenomena even more impressive, as the early morning seems to us more holy than any other time in the twenty-four hours of the sun's daily journey.
- There is first the false dawn, with its curious uncertain light and the curious long uncertain shadows which it casts.
Then there are the streaks of black in the East, succeeded by the true dawn, with its delicate tones of colours and light and shade.
The fight of this true or false Dawn is not given by the direct rays of the sun. In a sense it is not light, but the shadows or reflections of light. And they gradually merge into actual sunrise, with its more substantial or more defined shadows, which we can definitely connect with the sun.
... وَلَوْ شَاء لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا...
If He willed, He could make it stationary!
... ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلًا ﴿٤٥﴾
Then do We make the sun its guide:
C3100. The morning shadows are long but more definite, and their length and direction are seen to be guided by the sun. But they change insensibly every second or fraction of a second.
Asad’s Version:
25:40
And they [who now deny Our messages] must surely have come across that town which was rained upon by a rain of evil: 35 have they, then, never beheld it [with their mind's eye]? But nay, they would not believe in resurrection! 36
(25:41) Hence, whenever they consider thee, [O Muhammad,] they but make thee a target of their mockery, [saying:] "Is this the one whom God has sent as an apostle?
(25:42) Indeed, he would well-nigh have led us astray from our deities, had we not been [so] steadfastly attached to them!" But in time, when they see the suffering [that awaits them], they will come to know who it was that went farthest astray from the path [of truth]!
25:43 Hast thou ever considered [the kind of man] who makes his own desires his deity? Couldst thou, then, [O Prophet,] be held responsible for him?
(25:44) Or dost thou think that most of them listen [to thy message] and use their reason? Nay, they are but like cattle - nay, they are even less conscious of the right way! 37
25:45) ART THOU NOT aware of thy Sustainer (through His works]? - how He causes the
shadow to lengthen [towards the night] when, had He so willed, He could indeed have made it stand still: but then, We have made the sun its guide; (25:46) and then, [after having caused it to lengthen,] We draw it in towards Ourselves 38 with a gradual drawing-in.
[[ Asad’s notes: -
35 A reference to Sodom and its destruction by a rain of "stone-hard blows of chastisement pre- ordained" (see 1 1 :82 and the corresponding note 114). The phrase "they have come across may be understood in eitherof two ways: (a) in its literal sense of "chancing upon" or "passing by", in which case it applies to the Prophet's contemporaries and opponents, the pagan Meccans, whose customary caravan route to Syria passed close by the Dead Sea and the probable site of Sodom and Gomorrah; or (b) in the tropical sense of "becoming aware [of something] " through reading or hearsay - in which case it may be taken to refer to people of all times, and to the fact that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is part and parcel of mankind's moral heritage.
36 Lit., "they were wont not to look forward to [i.e., to expect or believe in] resurrection".
37 Lit., "they are farther astray from the path [of truth]": see note 144 on 7:179.
38 I.e., "We cause it to contract in accordance with the 'laws of nature' which We Ourselves have instituted." As in so many other instances in the Qur'an, the abrupt change from the third-person pronoun "He" to "We" is meant to illustrate the fact that God is undefinable, and that it is only the inadequacy of human speech - and, hence, of the human mind - that makes it necessary to refer to the Supreme Being by pronouns which in reality are applicable only to finite-created "persons" (cf. Foreward note 2).