Sura-7 [ Al Araf mecca 39]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:




أَوَلَمْ يَتَفَكَّرُواْ مَا بِصَاحِبِهِم مِّن جِنَّةٍ...

7:184. Do they not reflect?

Their companion is not seized with madness:

C1155. Their companion, i.e., the Holy Prophet, who lived with and amongst them. He was accused of madness because he behaved differently from them.

- He had no selfish ambitions;

- he was always true, in thought, word, and deed:

- he was kind and considerate to the weak, and was not dazzled by worldly power or wealth or position:

- he was undeterred by fear of the strong, the mockery of the cynics, the bitterness of the evil, or the indifference of the heedless.

That is why he stood out boldly against wrong: he did not mince his words, and his warnings were not mealy-mouthed.

...إِنْ هُوَ إِلاَّ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ ﴿١٨٤﴾

he is but a perspicuous warner.

C1156. Mubin; perspicuous.

The reason why I have not used a simpler word, such as "plain" or "clear" is explained in n. 716 to 5:15.

Al-Mustafa's sermons were not polite reminders, with an eye to the flattery of weaknesses in high places or national vanities or crowd passions. They brought out every foible into the glare of light, by a fiery eloquence fed by inspiration from Allah.



Asad’s version


(7:184) Has it, then, never occurred to them 149 that there is no madness whatever in [this] their fellowman? He is only a plain warner. 150



[[ Asad’s notes - 149 Lit., "Have they, then, not reflected".


1 50 Because he enunciated a message that differed radically from anything to which the Meccans had been accustomed, the Prophet was considered mad by many of his unbelieving contemporaries. The stress on his being "their fellow-man" (sahibuhum - lit., "their companion") is meant to emphasize the fact that he is human, and thus to counteract any possible tendency on the part of his followers to invest him with superhuman qualities: an argument which is more fully developed in verse 1 88. ]]