|
|
|
|
|
|
.. |
Holy
Quran Section
> English
Translation and Commentary of the Holy Quran by
Maulana Muhammad Ali (Table of
Contents)
>
Chapter
52 (Al-Tur- The
Mountain)
> Section 2 (Verses 29 to 49) Section/Ruku 2
[Verses 29 to 49]: Opponents are doomed: 1. Translation: 30 Or say they: A poet — we wait for him the evil accidents of time. 31 Say: Wait, I too wait along with you. 32 Or do their understandings bid them this? Or are they an inordinate people? 33 Or say they: He has forged it. Nay, they have no faith. 34 Then let them bring a saying like it, if they are truthful.a 35 Or were they created without a (creative) agency?a Or are they the creators? 36 Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay, they are sure of nothing. 37 Or have they the treasures of thy Lord with them? Or have they absolute authority?a 38 Or have they the means by which they listen? Then let their listener bring a clear authority.a 39 Or has He daughters and you have sons? 40 Or askest thou a reward from them so that they are over-burdened by a debt? 41 Or possess they the unseen, so they write (it) down?a 42 Or do they intend a plot? But those who disbelieve will be the ensnared ones in the plot.a 43 Or have they a god other than Allah? Glory be to Allah from what they set up (with Him)! 44 And if they were to see a portion of the heaven coming down, they would say: Piled-up clouds!a 45 Leave them then till they meet that day of theirs wherein they are smitten with punishment: 46 The day when their struggle will avail them naught, nor will they be helped.a 47 And surely for those who do wrong there is a chastisement besides that; but most of them know not.a 48 And wait patiently for the judgment of thy Lord, for surely thou art before Our eyes,a and celebrate the praise of thy Lord, when thou risest, 49 And in the night, give Him glory, too, and at the setting of the stars. 2. Commentary: 35a. Or without a cause, or without a purpose. [Back to verse 35] 37a. That is, their authority or power in the land would soon be brought to naught. [Back to verse 37] 38a. This verse shows that the Arab astrologers and diviners pretended that they could listen to the secrets of the future, but their conjectures about the future failed to make any impression, as they did not turn out true. The word used here is sullam, which I translate as means. It signifies primarily a ladder, the Arabs believing that their diviners could ascend to the higher regions, and there obtain news of the future (R). This throws light upon the statements made in 15:17, 37:8, 67:5, 72:8. From what is said further on in v. 41, and elsewhere, challenging them to put down their pretended knowledge of the unseen in writing, a challenge repeatedly given but never accepted, it is clear that the diviners themselves knew that what they said was no more than mere conjecture. [Back to verse 38] 41a. Here we have a clear proof that from the very beginning the Qur’an was written down as it was revealed. This chapter is one of the very early revelations, and here we find the opponents challenged to write down prophecies relating to the future, the suggestion clearly being that the prophecies of the Qur’an relating to the future were handed over to them in a written form. [Back to verse 41] 42a. Mark the clear language in which their vanquishment and the overthrow of their power is spoken of. But kaid (plot) also means war; see LL, which gives this significance of the word on the authority of the best Arabic lexicons, and many commentators say that there is a reference here to the battle of Badr. Thus Kf interprets the words hum al-makidun, the concluding words, as meaning they it is to whom the consequences of their war will return and their own plans will destroy them, and this was so, as they were slain on the day of Badr. [Back to verse 42] 44a. By a portion of the heaven coming down upon them is meant a punishment from heaven, which they repeatedly demanded: "Or thou cause the heaven to come down upon us in pieces" (17:92); "So cause a portion of the heaven to fall on us" (26:187). [Back to verse 44] 46a. Mark the clearness and force with which the prophecy is continued. The reference to war and their vanquishment in it is made clearer here. [Back to verse 46] 47a. The two kinds of punishment with which the opponents were threatened are spoken of distinctly in this verse, viz., a punishment which was to overtake them in this very life in the form of famines and the wars which were to result in the complete overthrow of their power, and a punishment in the form of spiritual torment in another life. [Back to verse 47] 48a. The judgment of the Lord signifies the punishment of the wicked. The Prophet is not to have any fear, for he is spoken of as being before Our eyes. [Back to verse 48]
Holy
Quran Section
> English
Translation and Commentary of the Holy Quran by
Maulana Muhammad Ali (Table of
Contents)
>
Chapter
52 (Al-Tur- The
Mountain)
> Section 2 (Verses 29 to 49)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
