Surah 11. Hud, Ayah 17

Lit., "but" or "nevertheless".

This interpolation is based on the interpretation given by Baghawi, Zamakhshari and Razi.

Sc., "and shall, therefore, attain to happiness in the hereafter". The ijaz (elliptic mode of expression) employed in this passage is comparable in its subtlety to that in 10:103 .

Lit., "which a witness from Him recites", or "announces". According to Zamakhshari, Razi and other classical commentators, this phrase refers to the Qur'an; hence my rendering of shahid as "testimony". If, as some commentators believe, this term refers to the Prophet or, alternatively, to the Angel Gabriel who transmitted the revelation to him, shahid should be translated as "witness". Whichever interpretation one adopts, the meaning remains the same, for - as Ibn Kathir points out in his commentary on this verse - "the Qur'an was revealed through Gabriel to Muhammad, and was conveyed by the latter to the world".

I.e., in hostile, a-priori opposition to the message of the Qur'an, without really understanding its purport. The "historical" identification, by some of the commentators, of the ahzab with the pagan Arabs who leagued together in their hostility to the Prophet is definitely too narrow in this context.

Razi suggests that the conjunction fa ("And so") preceding this sentence (which is obviously addressed to man in general) connects with verses {12-14} above: a suggestion which is most convincing in view of the sequence.

"A witness from Himself': i.e., the Book which was given to Al-Mustafa, the Holy Qur-an, which is compared to the original Revelation given to Moses. We make no difference between one true and genuine Message and another, nor between one apostle and another,-for they all come from the One True God.

"Guide": the Arabic word here is Imam, a leader, a guide, one that directs to the true Path. Such a direction is an instance of the Mercy and Goodness of Allah to man. The Qur-an and the Prophet Muhammad are also called, each, a Guide and a Mercy, and so are these epithets applicable to previous Books and Prophets.