Surah 28. Al-Qasas, Ayah 48
| فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ عِنْدِنَا قَالُوا لَوْلَا أُوتِيَ مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَىٰ ۚ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفُرُوا بِمَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَىٰ مِنْ قَبْلُ ۖ قَالُوا سِحْرَانِ تَظَاهَرَا وَقَالُوا إِنَّا بِكُلٍّ كَافِرُونَ |
| Asad | : | And yet, now that the truth has come unto them from Us, they say, "Why has he not been vouch-safed the like of what Moses was vouchsafed?"47 But did they not also, before this, deny the truth of what Moses was vouchsafed? For] they do say, "Two examples of delusion, [seemingly] supporting each other!"48 And they add, "Behold, we refuse to accept either of them as true!" |
| Malik | : | Now that the Truth has come to them from Us, they are saying: "Why is he (Muhammad) not given the like of what was given to Musa?" Have they not rejected that which was given to Musa before? They claim: "These (Torah and Qur'an) are the two works of sorcery complementing each other!" And they say: "We believe in neither." |
| Pickthall | : | But when there came unto them the Truth from Our presence, they said: Why is he not given the like of what was given unto Moses? Did they not disbelieve in that which was given unto Moses of old? They say: Two magics that support each other; and they say: Lo! in both we are disbelievers. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | But (now) when the Truth has come to them from Ourselves they say "Why are not (Signs) sent to him like those which were sent to Moses?" Do they not then reject (the Signs) which were formerly sent to Moses? They say: "Two kinds of sorcery each assisting the other!" And they say: "For us we reject all (such things)!" 3381 3382 |
| Transliteration | : | Falamma jaahumu alhaqqu min AAindina qaloo lawla ootiya mithla ma ootiya moosa awalam yakfuroo bima ootiya moosa min qablu qaloo sihrani tathahara waqaloo inna bikullin kafiroona |
Note - 47As the Qur'an frequently points out, the basic ethical
truths enunciated in it are the same as those of earlier
revelations. It is this very statement which induced the
opponents of Muhammad - in his own time as well as in
later times - to question the authenticity of the Qur'an:
"If it had really been revealed by God," they argue,
"would so many of its propositions, especially its social
laws, differ so radically from the laws promulgated in
that earlier divine writ, the Torah?" By advancing this
argument (and quite apart from the question of whether
the text of the Bible as we know it today has or has not
been corrupted in the course of time), the opponents of
Muhammad's message deliberately overlook the fact,
repeatedly stressed in the Qur'an, that the earlier
systems of law were conditioned by the spiritual level of
a particular people and the exigencies of a particular
chapter of human history, and therefore had to be
superseded by new laws at a higher stage of human
development (see in this connection the second paragraph
of 5:48 and the corresponding note [66]). However, as
is evident from the immediate sequence - and especially
from the last sentence of this verse - the above specious
argument is not meant to uphold the authenticity of the
Bible as against that of the Qur'an, but, rather, aims at
discrediting both - and through them, the basic religious
priciple against which the irreligious mind always
revolts: namely, the idea of divine revelation and of
man's absolute dependence on and responsibilty to God,
the Ultimate Cause of all that exists.
|
Note - 48A contemptuous allusion, on the one hand, to
Old-Testament predictions of the coming of the Prophet
Muhammad 9cf. surah {2}, note [33]), and, on the other,
to the oft-repeated Qur'anic statement that this divine
writ had been revealed to "confirm the truth of earlier
revelations". As regards my rendering of the term sihr
(lit., "magic" or "sorcery") as "delusion" - and
occasionally as "spellbinding eloquence" - see note [12]
on 74:24.
|
Note - 3381When a Revelation is sent to them, in the Qur-an, adapted
to all their needs and the needs of the time they live
in, they hark back to antiquity. The holy Prophet was in
many respects like Moses, but the times in which he lived
were different from the times of Moses, and his age did
not suffer from the deceptions of sorcery, like that of
Moses. The remedies which his age and future ages
required (for his Message was universal) were different.
His miracle of the Qur-an was different and most
permanent than the Rod and the Radiant-White Hand of
Moses. But supposing that the Quraish had been humoured
in their insincere demands, would they have believed? Did
they believe in Moses ? They were only put up by the Jews
to make objections which they themselves did not believe
in.
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Note - 3382Moses was called a sorcerer by the Egyptians, and the
wonderful words of the Qur-an were called sorcery by the
Quraish. As the Qur-an confirmed the Message of Moses,
the Quraish objectors said that they were in collusion.
The Quraish did not believe in Allah's Revelation at all.
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As the Qur'an frequently points out, the basic ethical truths enunciated in it are the same as those of earlier revelations. It is this very statement which induced the opponents of Muhammad - in his own time as well as in later times - to question the authenticity of the Qur'an: "If it had really been revealed by God," they argue, "would so many of its propositions, especially its social laws, differ so radically from the laws promulgated in that earlier divine writ, the Torah?" By advancing this argument (and quite apart from the question of whether the text of the Bible as we know it today has or has not been corrupted in the course of time), the opponents of Muhammad's message deliberately overlook the fact, repeatedly stressed in the Qur'an, that the earlier systems of law were conditioned by the spiritual level of a particular people and the exigencies of a particular chapter of human history, and therefore had to be superseded by new laws at a higher stage of human development (see in this connection the second paragraph of 5:48 and the corresponding note [66]). However, as is evident from the immediate sequence - and especially from the last sentence of this verse - the above specious argument is not meant to uphold the authenticity of the Bible as against that of the Qur'an, but, rather, aims at discrediting both - and through them, the basic religious priciple against which the irreligious mind always revolts: namely, the idea of divine revelation and of man's absolute dependence on and responsibilty to God, the Ultimate Cause of all that exists. |
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A contemptuous allusion, on the one hand, to Old-Testament predictions of the coming of the Prophet Muhammad 9cf. surah {2}, note [33]), and, on the other, to the oft-repeated Qur'anic statement that this divine writ had been revealed to "confirm the truth of earlier revelations". As regards my rendering of the term sihr (lit., "magic" or "sorcery") as "delusion" - and occasionally as "spellbinding eloquence" - see note [12] on 74:24. |
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When a Revelation is sent to them, in the Qur-an, adapted to all their needs and the needs of the time they live in, they hark back to antiquity. The holy Prophet was in many respects like Moses, but the times in which he lived were different from the times of Moses, and his age did not suffer from the deceptions of sorcery, like that of Moses. The remedies which his age and future ages required (for his Message was universal) were different. His miracle of the Qur-an was different and most permanent than the Rod and the Radiant-White Hand of Moses. But supposing that the Quraish had been humoured in their insincere demands, would they have believed? Did they believe in Moses ? They were only put up by the Jews to make objections which they themselves did not believe in. |
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Moses was called a sorcerer by the Egyptians, and the wonderful words of the Qur-an were called sorcery by the Quraish. As the Qur-an confirmed the Message of Moses, the Quraish objectors said that they were in collusion. The Quraish did not believe in Allah's Revelation at all. |
