30 Ar-Rum (The Byzantines)
Mecca Period [6-7 years before Hijra]
Asad’s Version:
(30:43) Set, then, thy face steadfastly towards the one ever-true faith," ere there come from God a Day [of reckoning - the Day] which cannot be averted. On that Day all will be sundered:
(30:45) so that He might reward, out of His bounty, those who have attained to faith and done righteous deeds. Verily, He does not love those who refuse to acknowledge the truth –
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
فَأَقِمْ
وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ
الْقَيِّمِ
مِن قَبْلِ أَن
يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ
لَّا
مَرَدَّ لَهُ
مِنَ اللَّهِ...
30: 43. But set thou thy face to the right Religion, before there come from Allah the Day which there is no chance of averting:
C3559. We should recover the balance that has been upset by Evil and Falsehood before it is too late. For a Day will surely come when true values will be restored and all falsehood and evil will be destroyed.
Nothing but repentance and amendment can avert the consequences of Evil. When the Day actually comes, repentance will be too late: for the impassable barrier between Evil and Good will have been fixed, and the chance of return to Allah's pattern will have been lost.
...يَوْمَئِذٍ يَصَّدَّعُونَ ﴿٤٣﴾
on that Day shall men be divided (in two).
C3560. The sharp division will then have been accomplished between the unfortunate ones who rejected Truth and Faith and will suffer for their rejection, and the righteous who will attain Peace and Salvation:
see next verse.
Note that the state of the Blessed will not be merely a passive state. They will actively earn and contribute to their own happiness.
لِيَجْزِيَ
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا
الصَّالِحَاتِ
مِن فَضْلِهِ...
30: 45. That He may reward those who believe and work righteous deeds, out of His Bounty:
C3561. Though the repose and bliss will have been won by the righteous by their own efforts, it must not be supposed that their own merits were equal to the reward they will earn.
What they will get will be due to the infinite Grace and Bounty of Allah.
...إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْكَافِرِينَ ﴿٤٥﴾
for He loves not those who reject Faith.
C3562. In form this clause is (here as elsewhere) negative, but it has a positive meaning: