53. An-Najm (The Unfolding)
Mecca Period [23]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
53: 1. By the Star...
C5085. Najm is interpreted in various ways. As most commonly accepted, it means either a Star generically, or the close cluster of seven stars known as the Pleiades in the Constellation Taurus, which the sun enters about the 21st of April every year.
In mid-April, or a little later, the beautiful cluster would set just after the sun, after having gradually ascended the sky in the winter months. In late May, or a little later, it would rise just before the sun. In its western aspects, it might be considered a spring constellation.
To open-air nations (including the Arabs) whose climate usually presents starry skies, this is an object of great interest, and many folklore tales gather round it.
When so glorious a cluster is content to bow down in the horizon and merge its light in the greater light created by Allah, it becomes a symbol of humility in beauty and power before the Most High. Whose revelation discloses the summit of beauty, power, and wisdom.
... إِذَا هَوَى ﴿١﴾
... when it goes down --
Hawa in the text may mean either "goes down (or sets)" or "rises". Whichever meaning we take, it makes no difference to the interpretation given above.
مَا
ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ
وَمَا غَوَى
﴿٢﴾
53: 2. Your Companion is neither astray nor being misled,
C5086. "Your Companion" is the holy Prophet Muhammad, who had lived among the Quraish. He is defended from three kinds of charges that the Unbelievers brought against him:
that he was going astray, either through defect of intelligence or through carelessness;
that he was being misled or deceived by evil spirits; and
that he spoke out of a whim or impulse, or from a selfish desire to impress his own personality.
None of these charges were true. On the contrary he had direct inspiration from Allah.
وَمَا
يَنطِقُ عَنِ
الْهَوَى
﴿٣﴾
53: 3. Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) Desire.
إِنْ
هُوَ إِلَّا
وَحْيٌ يُوحَى
﴿٤﴾
53: 4. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him:
عَلَّمَهُ
شَدِيدُ الْقُوَى
﴿٥﴾
53: 5. He was taught by one mighty in Power,
C5087. This is referred by the Commentators to the angel Gabriel, through whom the inspiration came.
Cf. 81:20.
53: 6. Endued with Wisdom:
... فَاسْتَوَى ﴿٦﴾
For he appeared (in stately form)
وَهُوَ
بِالْأُفُقِ
الْأَعْلَى
﴿٧﴾
53: 7. While he was in the highest part of the horizon:
C5088. Gabriel appeared in stately form, perhaps towering above the Mountains of Light (see C. 31).
Istawa in verse 6 translated "appeared", means literally "mounted" or "ascended", or "set himself to execute a design";
see n. 1386 to 10:3.
53: 8. Then he approached and came closer,
فَكَانَ
قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ
أَوْ أَدْنَى
﴿٩﴾
53: 9. And was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer;
C5089. Two bow-shots (counting 100 to 150 yards to a bow-shot) would be a dearly visible distance. (R).
Asad’s Version:
53:1 CONSIDER this unfolding [of God's message], as it comes down from on high! 1 (53:2) This fellow-man of yours has not gone astray, nor is he deluded, 2
(53:3) and neither does he speak out of his own desire:
(53:4) that [which he conveys to you] is but [a divine] inspiration with which he is being inspired –
(53:5) something that a very mighty one 5 has imparted to him:
(53:6) [an angel] endowed with surpassing power, who in time manifested himself in his true shape and nature,
(53:7) appearing in the horizon's loftiest part, 4
(53:8) and then drew near, and came close,
(53:9) until he was but two bow-lengths away, or even nearer. 5
[[Asad’s notes -
1 Or: "Consider the star when it sets" - an interpretation which for some reason has the preference of the majority of the commentators. However, almost all of them admit that the term najm - derived from the verb najama, "it appeared", "began", "ensued", or "proceeded" - denotes also the "unfolding" of something that comes or appears gradually, as if by instalments. Hence, this term has from the very beginning been applied to each of the gradually-revealed parts (nujum) of the Qur'an and, thus, to the process of its gradual revelation, or its "unfolding", as such. This was; in fact, the interpretation of the above verse given by ' Abd Allah ibn Abbas (as quoted by Tabari); in view of the sequence, this interpretation is regarded as fully justified by Raghib, Zamakhshari, Razi, Baydawi, Ibn Kathir and other authorities. Raghib and Ibn Kathir, in particular, point to the phrase mawaqi' an-nujum in 56:75, which undoubtedly refers to the step-by-step revelation of the Qur'an. - As regards my rendering of the adjective particle wa as "Consider", see surah 74, note 23.
2 See note 150 on 7:184.
3 I.e., the Angel of Revelation, Gabriel.
4 Cf 81 :23 and the corresponding note 8. According to the Qur'an and the testimony of authentic Traditions, the Prophet had no more than twice in his lifetime a vision of this angelic force "manifested in its true shape and nature" (which, as pointed out by Zamakhshari, is the meaping of the expression istawa in this context): once after the period called fafrat al-wahy (see introductory note to surah 74), and another time, as alluded to in verses 1 3- 1 8, in the course of his mystic vision known as the
"Ascension" (see Appendix IV).
5 This graphic "description" of the angel's approach, based on an ancient Arabian figure of speech, is meant to convey the idea that the Angel of Revelation became a clearly perceptible, almost tangible, presence. ]]