Sura 7, al-Araf, Mecca 39
The Quranic text & Ali’s version
الَّذِينَ
يَتَّبِعُونَ
الرَّسُولَ
النَّبِيَّ
الأُمِّيَّ...
7:157. "Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet,
...الَّذِي يَجِدُونَهُ مَكْتُوبًا عِندَهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَالإِنْجِيلِ...
whom they find mentioned in their own (Scriptures); in the law and the Gospel;
...يَأْمُرُهُم بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ...
for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil:
...وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَآئِثَ...
he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure);
...وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالأَغْلاَلَ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ ......
He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them.
...فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ بِهِ وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ وَاتَّبَعُواْ النُّورَ الَّذِيَ أُنزِلَ مَعَهُ...
So it is those who believe in him, honor him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him,
.
...أُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴿١٥٧﴾
it is they who will prosper."
Other Versions
7: 157 [al-Araf, Mecca 39]
Asad …………….the unlettered Prophet whom they shall find described in the Torah that is with them, and [later on] in the Gospel [note 124]………it is they that shall attain to a happy state .”
Pickthall Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with them. He will enjoin on them that which is right and forbid them that which is wrong. He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them only the foul; and he will relieve them of their burden and the fetters that they used to wear. Then those who believe in him, and honor him and help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him: they are the successful.
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[[ Asad’s note 124 - ……..The stress on his having been “unlettered” [ummi], i.e., unable to read and write, serves to ring out the fact that all his knowledge of the earlier prophets and of the messages transmitted by them was due to divine inspiration alone, and not to a familiarity with the Bible as such.
For the Old Testament predictions of the advent of the Prophet Muhammad (especially in Deuteronomy xviii, 15 and 18), see surah 2, note 33; for the New Testament prophecies to the same effect, see 61:6 and the corresponding note 6.
NOTE 125 –A reference to the many severe rituals and obligations laid down in Mosaic Law as well as to the tendency towards asceticism evident in the teachings of the Gospels. Thus the Quran implies that those “burdens and shackles”, intended as means of spiritual discipline for particular communities and particular stages of man’s development, will become unnecessary as soon as God’s message to man shall have achieved its final, universal character in the teachings of the Last Prophet Muhammad. ]]
[[ Ali’s notes –
1127 In this verse is a prefiguring, to Moses, of the Arabian Messenger, the last and greatest of the messengers of Allah. Prophecies about him will be found in the Taurat and the Injil. In the reflex of the Taurat as now accepted by the Jews, Moses says: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me" (Deut. xviii. 15): the only Prophet who brought a Shari'at like that of Moses was Muhammad Al- Mustafa, and he came of the house of Ismail the brother of Isaac the father of Israel. In the reflex of the Gospel as now accepted by the Christians, Christ promised another Comforter (John xiv. 16): the Greek word Paraclete which the Christians interpret as referring to the Holy Spirit is by our Doctors taken to be Periclyte, which would be the Greek form of Ahmad. See Q. lxi. 6. (7.157)
1128 Aglal: plural of gullun, a yoke, an iron collar. In the formalism and exclusiveness of the Jews there were many restrictions which were removed by Islam, a religion of freedom in the faith of Allah, of universality in the variety of races, languages, manners and customs. (7.157)
1129 Light which is sent down with him: the words are "with him", not "to him", emphasizing the fact that the Light which he brought illumines every one who has the privilege of joining his great and universal Fellowship. (7.157)
1130 Falah = prosperity in its general sense as well as in its spiritual sense. In the general sense it means that right conduct is the only door to happiness and well-being. In the spiritual sense it means that Faith and its fruits (right conduct) are the only gates to salvation. (7.157)]]