The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَلَئِن
سَأَلْتَهُم
مَّن نَّزَّلَ
مِنَ السَّمَاء
مَاء...
29: 63. And if indeed thou ask them who it is that sends down rain from the sky,
C3496. In 29:61 above, the point was that there is a certain type of man that realizes the power of Allah, but yet goes after false ideas and false worship.
Here the point is that there is another type of man to whom the goodness of Allah is made clear by rain and the gifts of nature and who realizes the daily, seasonal, and secular changes which evidence Allah's goodness in giving us life (physical and Spiritual) and reviving us after we seem to die,-and who yet fails to draw the right conclusion from it and to make his own life true and beautiful, so that when his period of probation in this transitory life is ended, he can enter into his eternal heritage.
Having come so far, such men fail at the crucial stage. At that stage they ought to have praised and glorified Allah and accepted His Grace and Light, but they show their want of true understanding by failing to profit by Allah's gifts.
...فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ مِن بَعْدِ مَوْتِهَا...
and gives life therewith to the earth after its death,
...لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُ...
they will certainly reply, "Allah!"
...قُلِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ...
Say, "Praise be to Allah!"
...بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ ﴿٦٣﴾
But most of them understand not.
وَمَا
هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ
الدُّنْيَا
إِلَّا لَهْوٌ
وَلَعِبٌ...
29: 64. What is the life of this world but amusement and play?
C3497. Cf. 6:32.
Amusement and play have no lasting significance except as preparing us for the serious work of life. So this life is but an interlude, a preparation for the real Life, which is in the Hereafter.
This world's vanities are therefore to be taken for what they are worth; but they are not to be allowed to deflect our minds from the requirements of the inner life that really matters.
...وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ... ...
But verily the Home in the Hereafter, that is life indeed,
...لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٦٤﴾
if they but knew.
Asad’s Version:
29:63 [Asad]
And thus it is: if thou ask them, "Who is it that sends down water from the skies, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless?" they will surely answer, "God."
Say thou: "[Since this is so,] all praise is due to God [alone]!"
But most of them will not use their reason:
(29:64) for, [if they did, they would know that] the life of this world is nothing but a passing delight and a play - whereas, behold, the life in the hereafter is indeed the only [true] life: if they but knew this!