27 An-Naml (The Ants)
Mecca Period 48
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِنَّ
الَّذِينَ لَا
يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِالْآخِرَةِ
زَيَّنَّا
لَهُمْ أَعْمَالَهُمْ
فَهُمْ يَعْمَهُونَ
﴿٤﴾
27: 4. As to those who believe not in the Hereafter, We have made their deeds pleasing in their eyes; and so they wander about in distraction.
C3242. Those who reject Allah and follow Evil have a good conceit of themselves. Their deeds are pleasing to no one else.
As they have rejected Allah's guidance, they are allowed to hug their own self-conceit, and given further respite for repentance. But they follow their own whims and wander about in distraction, as they have no standards such as guide the godly.
أُوْلَئِكَ
الَّذِينَ
لَهُمْ سُوءُ
الْعَذَابِ
وَهُمْ فِي
الْآخِرَةِ
هُمُ الْأَخْسَرُونَ
﴿٥﴾
27: 5. Such are they for whom a grievous Penalty is (waiting): and in the Hereafter theirs will be the greatest loss.
C3243. The account will then be made up, and they will be found to be terribly in loss. They will be the worst in loss, for all their self-complacency.
وَإِنَّكَ
لَتُلَقَّى
الْقُرْآنَ
مِن لَّدُنْ
حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ
﴿٦﴾
27: 6. As to thee, the Qur'án is bestowed upon thee from the presence of One Who is Wise and All-Knowing.
أَمَّن
يَبْدَأُ
الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ
يُعِيدُهُ...
27: 64. Or, who originates Creation, then repeats it,
C3300. Cf. 10:34, and n. 1428.
...وَمَن يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضِ...
and who gives you sustenance from heaven and earth?
C3301. Sustenance: of course in the spiritual as well as the material sense.
...أَإِلَهٌ مَّعَ اللَّهِ ...
(Can there be another) god besides Allah?
...قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ﴿٦٤﴾
Say,
"Bring forth your argument, if ye are telling the truth!"
C3302. All the arguments point to the Unity of Allah: there is none whatever against it.
قُل
لَّا يَعْلَمُ
مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضِ
الْغَيْبَ
إِلَّا اللَّهُ...
27: 65. Say:
None in the heavens or on earth, except Allah, knows what is hidden:
C3303. The existence of Allah is certain. But nothing else can be known with certainty to our knowledge. He has told us of the Hereafter, and therefore we know it is true.
But those who do not believe in Allah,-what knowledge or certainty can they have?
Even when it is actually coming, they will not have the sense to perceive it.
...وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ أَيَّانَ يُبْعَثُونَ ﴿٦٥﴾
nor can they perceive when they shall be raised up (for Judgment).
بَلِ
ادَّارَكَ
عِلْمُهُمْ
فِي الْآخِرَةِ...
27: 66. Still less can their knowledge comprehend the Hereafter:
...بَلْ هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا...
nay, they are in doubt and uncertainty thereanent;
...بَلْ هُم مِّنْهَا عَمِونَ ﴿٦٦﴾
nay, they are blind thereunto!
C3304. The Unbelievers are generally materialists, who cannot go beyond the evidence of their physical senses. As to a spiritual vision of the future, their physical senses would only leave them in doubt and uncertainty, while their rejection of the spiritual light makes them blind altogether to the next world.
وَقَالَ
الَّذِينَ
كَفَرُوا أَئِذَا
كُنَّا تُرَابًا
وَآبَاؤُنَا
أَئِنَّا
لَمُخْرَجُونَ
﴿٦٧﴾
27: 67. The Unbelievers say:
"What! when we become dust, -- we and our fathers -- shall we really be raised (from the dead)?
لَقَدْ
وُعِدْنَا
هَذَا نَحْنُ
وَآبَاؤُنَا
مِن قَبْلُ...
27: 68. "It is true we were promised this -- we and our fathers before (us):
...إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ ﴿٦٨﴾
these are nothing but tales of the ancients."
قُلْ
سِيرُوا فِي
الْأَرْضِ
فَانظُرُوا
كَيْفَ كَانَ
عَاقِبَةُ
الْمُجْرِمِينَ
﴿٦٩﴾
27: 69. Say: "Go ye through the earth and see what has been the end of those guilty (of sin)."
C3305. Even if the Unbelievers are unwilling to take any doctrine, they have only to observe what has actually happened on the earth, and they will see that evil always came to an evil end, and that Truth and righteousness ultimately won.
وَلَا
تَحْزَنْ عَلَيْهِمْ
وَلَا تَكُن
فِي ضَيْقٍ
مِّمَّا يَمْكُرُونَ
﴿٧٠﴾
27: 70. But grieve not over them, nor distress thyself because of their plots.
C3306. Cf. 16:127, and n. 2164.
'The righteous need not worry over the unjust. The plots of the unjust can never defeat or deflect the purpose of Allah.
وَيَقُولُونَ
مَتَى
هَذَا الْوَعْدُ
إِن كُنتُمْ
صَادِقِينَ
﴿٧١﴾
27: 71. They also say: "When will this promise (come to pass)?
(Say) if ye are truthful."
قُلْ
عَسَى أَن يَكُونَ
رَدِفَ لَكُم
بَعْضُ الَّذِي
تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ
﴿٧٢﴾
27: 72. Say: "It may be that some of the events which ye wish to hasten on may be (close) in your pursuit!"
C3307. The Unbelievers -or even men of half-hearted faith- may say, "Why worry over distant future events? Take the day as it comes!"
But that is a fallacy. Judgment is certain, and it may be that this very hour may be the hour of doom for any given individual.
This is the hour of repentance and amendment. For Allah wishes well to all mankind in spite of their ingratitude.
وَإِنَّ
رَبَّكَ لَذُو
فَضْلٍ عَلَى
النَّاسِ وَلَكِنَّ
أَكْثَرَهُمْ
لَا يَشْكُرُونَ
﴿٧٣﴾
27: 73. But verily thy Lord is full of grace to mankind: yet most of them are ungrateful.
وَإِنَّ
رَبَّكَ لَيَعْلَمُ
مَا تُكِنُّ
صُدُورُهُمْ
وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ
﴿٧٤﴾
27: 74. And verily thy Lord knoweth all that their hearts do hide, as well as all that they reveal.
Asad’s Version:
27:4
As for those who will not believe in the life to come - behold, goodly have We made their own doings appear unto them, and so they stumble blindly to and fro. 4
(27:5) It is they whom the worst of suffering awaits: for it is they, they who in the life to come shall be the greatest losers!
(27:6) But [as for thee, O believer,] verily, thou hast received this Qur'an out of the grace of One who is wise, all-knowing. 5
[[Asad’s note - 4 The implication is that people who do not believe in life after death concentrate all their endeavours, as a rule, on material gains alone, and cannot think of anything worthwhile beyond "their own doings". See also note 7 on 2:7, which explains why the "causing" of this spiritual blindness and confusion in itself but a consequence of man's own behaviour is attributed to God.
5 This stress on the spiritual illumination offered to man through divine revelation not only connects with the opening verses of this surah, but also forms a link between this passage and the following one, which calls to mind the sudden illumination of Moses, symbolized by the vision of the burning bush. ]
27:64 Nay - who is it that creates [all life] in the first instance, and then brings it forth anew? 60 And who is it that provides you with sustenance out of heaven and earth?" Could there be any divine power besides God? Say: "[If you think so,] produce your evidence - if you truly believe in your claim!" 62
27:65 Say: "None in the heavens or on earth knows the hidden reality [of anything that exists: none knows it] save God." 63 And neither can they [who are living] perceive when they shall be raised from the dead:
(27:66) nay, their knowledge of the life to come stops short of the truth:" nay, they are [often] in doubt as to its reality: nay, they are blind to it. 65
27:67 And so, they who are bent on denying the truth are saying: "What! After we have become dust - we and our forefathers - shall we [all], forsooth, be brought forth [from the dead]?
(27:68) Indeed, we were promised this - we and our forefathers - in the past as well; it is nothing but fables of ancient times! "
27:69 Say: "Go all over the earth and behold what happened in the end to those [who were thus] lost in sin
(27:70) But do not grieve over them, and neither be distressed by the false arguments which they devise [against God's messages]. 67
(27:71) And [when] they ask, "When is this promise [of resurrection] to be fulfilled? [Answer this, O you who believe in it,] if you are men of truth!" –
(27:72) say thou: "It may well be that something of that which [in your
ignorance] you so hastily demand'" has already drawn close unto you...."
27:73 Now, verily, thy Sustainer is indeed limitless in His bounty unto men - but most of them are bereft of gratitude.
(27:74) But, verily, thy Sustainer knows all that their hearts conceal as welt as all that they bring into the open:
(27:75) for there is nothing [so deeply] hidden in the heavens or on earth but is recorded in (His] clear decree.
[[ Asad’s notes - 63 In this context, the term al-ghayb - rendered by me here as "the hidden reality" - apparently relates to the "how" of God's Being, the ultimate reality underlying the observable aspects of the universe, and the meaning and purpose inherent in its creation. My repetition, within brackets, of the words "none knows it", i.e., save God, is necessitated by the fact that He is infinite, unlimited as to space, and cannot, therefore, be included among the beings "in the heavens or on earth", who have all been created by Him.
64 I.e., they cannot truly visualize the hereafter because its reality is beyond anything that man may experience in this world: and this, it cannot be stressed often enough, is an indirect explanation of the reason why all Qur'anic references to the conditions, good or bad, of man's life after death are of necessity expressed in purely allegorical terms.
65 I.e., blind to its logical necessity within God's plan of creation. For, it is only on the premise of a life after death that the concept of maris moral responsibility and, hence, of God's ultimate judgment can have any meaning; and if there is no moral responsibility, there can be no question of a preceding moral choice; and if the absence of choice is taken for granted, all differentiation between right and wrong becomes utterly meaningless as well. ]]
66 I.e., those who denied the reality of a life after death and, hence, of man's ultimate responsibility for his conscious doings. As pointed out in the preceding note, the unavoidable consequence of this denial is the loss of all sense of right and wrong: and this, in its turn, leads to spiritual and social chaos, and so to the downfall of communities and civilizations.
67 Lit., "by their scheming". For the Qur'anic use of the term makr in the sense of "devising false arguments [against something]", see 10:21 and the corresponding note 33.
68 I.e., the end of their own life, which must precede their resurrection.
69 For this rendering of the verb yaqussu, see note 5 on 12:3. ]]