Surah 14. Ibrahim

And all [mankind] will appear before God [on the Day of Judement]; and then the weak²⁸ will say unto those who had gloried in their arrogance: "Behold, We were but your followers: can you, then, relieve us of something of God's chastisement?" [And the others] will answer: "If God would but show us the way [to salvation], we would indeed guide you [towards it].²⁹ It is [now] all one, as far as we are concerned, whether we grieve impatiently or endure [our lot] with patience: there is no escape for us!"

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., those who had sinned out of moral weakness and self-indulgence, relying on the supposedly superior wisdom of the so-called "leaders of thought", who are described in the sequence as having "gloried in their arrogance" (astakbaru) inasmuch as they refused to pay heed to God's messages (Tabari, on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas).

Sc., "but now it is too late for repentance". According to Tabari and Razi, this is the meaning of the above passage. Zamakhshari, however, prefers another interpretation, implying a reference not to the present but to the past, thus: "If God had guided us aright, we would have guided you [too] aright": in other words, he understands the phrase as an attempt on the part of the doomed to divest themselves of all responsibility, and to attribute their past sinning to God's "not having willed" to guide them aright. To my mind, the interpretation offered by Tabari and Razi is preferable because - all other considerations apart - it provides a logical connection between the request of "the weak" (see preceding note) and the reply of those who in their earthly life had "gloried in their arrogance", as well as with the latters' subsequent, despairing utterance, which can be summed up in the words, "too late!"

When all people appear before Allah, those who were weak in the world will say to those who thought themselves mighty: "We were your followers. Now! Can you do anything to relieve us from the punishment of Allah?" They will reply: "Had Allah given us guidance, we would have guided you. Now it makes no difference whether we panic or bear it with patience, for there is no escape for us."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They all come forth unto their Lord. Then those who were despised say unto those who were scornful: We were unto you a following, can ye then avert from us aught of Allah's doom? They say: Had Allah guided us, we should have guided you. Whether we rage or patiently endure is (now) all one for us: we have no place of refuge.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And when everything will have been decided, Satan will say: "Behold, God promised you something that was bound to come true!³⁰ I, too, held out [all manner of] promises to you - but I deceived you. Yet I had no power at all over you: I but called you - and you responded unto me. Hence, blame not me, but blame yourselves.³¹ It is not for me to respond to your cries, nor for you to respond to mine:³² for, behold, I have [always] refused to admit that there was any truth in your erstwhile belief that I had a share in God's divinity."³³ Verily, for all evildoers³⁴ there is grievous suffering in store.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "God promised you a promise of truth" - i.e., the promise of resurrection and last judgment.

In his commentary on this passage, Razi remarks: "This verse shows that the real Satan (ash-shaytan al-asli) is [man's own] complex of desires (an-nafs): for, Satan makes it clear [in the above] that it was only by means of insinuations (waswasah) that he was able to reach [the sinner's soul]; and had it not been for an already-existing [evil] disposition due to lusts, anger, superstition or fanciful ideas, these [satanic] insinuations would have had no effect whatsoever."

I.e., "I cannot respond to your call for help, just as you should not have, in your lifetime, responded to my call." The above sentence is often interpreted in another sense, namely, "I cannot succour you, just as you cannot succour me". However, in view of Satan's allegorical reference - in the preceding passages as well as in the next sentence - to the sinners' earthly past, the rendering adopted by me seems to be more suitable; moreover, it is closer to the primary meaning of the verb sarakha ("he cried out"), from which the form musrikh ("one who responds to a cry") is derived (Jawhari).

This is, to my mind, the meaning of the highly elliptical phrase kafartu bi-ma ashraktumuni min qabl, which could be literally - but most inadequately - translated thus: "I have refused to admit the truth of that whereby you associated me aforetime [with God]." The implication is that Satan, while endeavouring to lead men astray, never claims to be God's "equal" (cf. 7:20 , where he speaks of God, to Adam and Eve, as "your Sustainer", or 15:36 and {39}, where he addresses Him as "my Sustainer", or 8:48 and 59:16 , where he says, "behold, I fear God") but, rather, tries to make men's sinful doings "seem goodly to them" (cf. 6:43 , 8:48 , 16:63 , 27:24 , 29:38 ), i.e., persuades them that it is morally justifiable to follow one's fancies and selfish desires without any restraint. But while Satan himself does not make any claim to equality with God, the sinner who submits to Satan's blandishments attributes to him thereby, as it were, "a share in God's divinity". - It must be stressed, in this connection, that the Qur'anic expression shaytan is often used as a metaphor for every human impulse that is intrinsically immoral and, therefore, contrary to man's best - i.e., spiritual - interests.

I.e., all those who had consciously - either from intellectual arrogance or from moral weakness - responded to "Satan's call".

Once the matter has been decided, Shaitan will say: "In fact, the promises which Allah made to you were all true; I too made some promises to you but failed to keep any of them. However, I had no power over you. I just invited you, and you accepted my invitation. Now! Do not blame me, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor you can help me. I reject what you did before; that you associated me with Allah. Certainly such wrongdoers will have painful punishment."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And Satan saith, when the matter hath been decided: Lo! Allah promised you a promise of truth; and I promised you, then failed you. And I had no power over you save that I called unto you and ye obeyed me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can ye help me. Lo! I disbelieved in that which ye before ascribed to me. Lo! for wrong-doers is a painful doom.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But those who shall have attained to faith and done righteous deeds will be brought into gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide by their Sustainer's leave, and will be welcomed with the greeting, "Peace!"³⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

As in 10:10 , this phrase reads literally, "their greeting therein [will be], 'Peace!' (salam)" - a term which has been explained in surah {5}, note [29].

Those who believe and do good deeds will be admitted to Paradise, beneath which rivers flow, to live therein forever with the permission of their Rabb, and their greetings therein will be: "Peace!"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And those who believed and did good works are made to enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow, therein abiding by permission of their Lord, their greeting therein: Peace!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

ART THOU NOT aware how God sets forth the parable of a good word?³⁶ [It is] like a good tree, firmly rooted, [reaching out] with its branches towards the sky,

  - Mohammad Asad

In its wider meaning, the term kalimah ("word") denotes any conceptual statement or proposition. Thus, a "good word" circumscribes any proposition (or idea) that is intrinsically true and - because it implies a call to what is good in the moral sense - is ultimately beneficent and enduring; and since a call to moral righteousness is the innermost purport of every one of God's messages, the term "good word" applies to them as well. Similarly, the "corrupt word" mentioned in verse {26} applies to the opposite of what a divine message aims at: namely, to every idea that is intrinsically false or morally evil and, therefore, spiritually harmful.

Do you not see how Allah gave the example of comparing a good word with a good tree, whose roots are firm and its branches are in the sky?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Seest thou not how Allah coineth a similitude: A goodly saying, as a goodly tree, its root set firm, its branches reaching into heaven,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

yielding its fruit at all times by its Sustainer's leave. And [thus it is that] God propounds parables unto men, so that they might bethink themselves [of the truth].³⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [33] on the first clause of 39:27 .

It yields its fruits in every season by Allah's leave. Allah cites these examples for men so that they may learn a lesson from them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Giving its fruit at every season by permission of its Lord? Allah coineth the similitudes for mankind in order that they may reflect.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And the parable of a corrupt word is that of a corrupt tree, torn up [from its roots] onto the face of the earth, wholly unable to endure.³⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "having no permanence (qarar) whatever": i.e., the "corrupt word" (see note [36] above) is ephemeral in its effect, however strong its original impact on the minds of people who fall prey to it.

But the example of an evil word is that of an evil tree, which is torn out from the earth and has no stability.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And the similitude of a bad saying is as a bad tree, uprooted from upon the earth, possessing no stability.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[Thus,] God grants firmness unto those who have attained to faith through the word that is unshakably true³⁹ in the life of this world as well as in the life to come; but the wrongdoers He lets go astray:⁴⁰ for God does whatever He wills.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "firm" (thabit). The term qawl - similar to the term kalimah (see note [36] above) - denote, beyond its primary meaning of "saying" or "utterance", also anything that can be defined as a statement of belief or opinion, namely, "concept", "tenet", "assertion of faith", and so on. In this context it expresses the concept that there is no deity save God, and that Muhammad is His Apostle: which is an interpretation of the above phrase given by the Prophet himself, as quoted by Bukhari in a Tradition on the authority of Al-Bara' ibn 'Azib (Kitab at-Tafsir), and by other Traditionists, including Muslim, on the authority of Shu'bah. The adjective thabit connotes the "firmness" - that is, the unshakable truth-of the "word" (or "concept") which it qualifies, thus connecting it with the preceding parable of the "good word" and the "good tree".

See note [4] on verse {4} of this surah.

With firm words, Allah makes the believers steadfast in the life of this world and in the hereafter; but Allah lets the wrongdoers go astray. Allah does what He pleases.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Allah confirmeth those who believe by a firm saying in the life of the world and in the Hereafter, and Allah sendeth wrongdoers astray. And Allah doeth what He will.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

ART THOU NOT aware of those who have preferred a denial of the truth to God's blessings,⁴¹ and [thereby] invited their people to alight in that abode of utter desolation

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "who have exchanged God's blessings for a denial of the truth". The expression "God's blessings (ni'mah)" obviously refers here to the messages revealed through His apostles.

Have you not seen those people who have responded to the favors of Allah with ingratitude and drive their people into the House of Perdition?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Hast thou not seen those who gave the grace of Allah in exchange for thanklessness and led their people down to the Abode of Loss,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

- hell - which they [themselves] will have to endure?⁴² And how vile a state to settle in!

  - Mohammad Asad

This is evidently an allusion to the relationship between the arrogant leaders of thought and their weak followers spoken of in verse {21} above.

Which is hell! Wherein they shall burn, an evil place to live.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Even to) hell? They are exposed thereto. A hapless end!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For, they claimed that there are powers that could rival God,⁴³ and so they strayed from His path. Say: "Enjoy yourselves [in this world], but, verily, the fire will be your journey's end!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "they gave God compeers (andad)". For an explanation of my paraphrase of this sentence (fully justified by Razi), see surah {2}, note [13]. - The particle li prefixed to the subsequent verb li-yudillu does not denote intent but is a so-called lam al-'aqibah, i.e., "the [letter] lam indicating a consequence" or "a result" (Razi), and is in this case suitably rendered as "and so".

They set up equals with Allah to mislead people from His Way. Tell them: "Well, you may enjoy yourself for a while, but your final destination is going to be hellfire."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they set up rivals to Allah that they may mislead (men) from His way. Say: Enjoy life (while ye may) for lo! your journey's end will be the Fire.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[And] tell [those of] My servants who have attained to faith that they should be constant in prayer and spend [in Our way], secretly and openly, out of what We provide for them as sustenance,⁴⁴ ere there come a Day when there will be no bargaining, and no mutual befriending.⁴⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

See surah {2}, note [4].

Cf. 2:254 . According to the philologist Abu 'Ubaydah, as quoted by Razi, the expression bay' ("selling and buying" or "bargaining") denotes here the metaphorical "[giving and taking] ransom" which, as the Qur'an repeatedly stresses, will be inadmissible on the Day of Judgment (cf. 3:91 and the corresponding note [71], as well as 5:36 , 10:54 , 13:18 , 39:47 and {70:11-15}); similarly, the denial of khilal - which Abu 'Ubaydah regards as synonymous, in this context, with makhalah ("mutual befriending") - expresses the impossibility of "ransom" through intercession on Judgment Day, for "now, indeed, you have come unto Us in a lonely state, even as We created you in the first instance" ( 6:94 ).

O Prophet, tell My devotees who have believed, to establish Salah (regular five times daily prayers) and spend in charity openly and secretly out of the sustenance which We have given them, before the coming of that Day in which there will neither be trading nor any friendship.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Tell My bondmen who believe to establish worship and spend of that which We have given them, secretly and publicly, before a day cometh wherein there will be neither traffic nor befriending.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[And remember that] it is God who has created the heavens and the earth, and who sends down water from the sky and thereby brings forth [all manner] of fruits for your sustenance; and who has made ships subservient to you, so that they may sail through the sea at His behest; and has made the rivers subservient [to His laws, so that they be of use] to you;

  - Mohammad Asad

It is Allah , Who has created the heavens and the earth. He sends down water from the sky with which He brings forth fruits for your sustenance. He has made the ships subservient to you, that they may sail through the sea by His command; and likewise the rivers are made for your benefit.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth, and causeth water to descend from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you, and maketh the ships to be of service unto you, that they may run upon the sea at His command, and hath made of service unto you the rivers;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and has made the sun and the moon, both of them constant upon their courses, subservient [to His laws, so that they be of use] to you; and has made the night and the day subservient [to His laws, so that they be of use] to you.⁴⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Almost all classical commentators agree that God's having made the natural phenomena "subservient" to man is a metaphor (majaz) for His having enabled man to derive lasting benefit from them: hence my explanatory interpolations. In the same sense, the night and the day are spoken of in 10:67 , 27:86 or 40:61 as having been "made for you" (resp. "for them").

The sun and the moon are also assigned for your benefit, which steadfastly pursue their courses, to cause the night and the day for your benefit.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And maketh the sun and the moon, constant in their courses, to be of service unto you, and hath made of service unto you the night and the day.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And [always] does He give you something out of what you may be asking of Him;⁴⁷ and should you try to count God's blessings, you could never compute them. [And yet,] behold, man is indeed most persistent in wrongdoing, stubbornly ingrate!

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., God satisfies every one of man's desires, provided that His unfathomable wisdom regards its satisfaction as ultimately beneficial to the human being concerned: this is the meaning of the preposition min (lit., "out of", but in this context, "something out of") preceding the phrase "what you may be asking".

He has given you all that you could ask for and if you want to count the favors of Allah, you will never be able to count them. In fact, man is unjust, thankless.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And He giveth you of all ye ask of Him, and if ye would count the bounty of Allah ye cannot reckon it. Lo! man is verily a wrong-doer, an ingrate.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND [remember the time] when Abraham spoke [thus]:⁴⁸ "O my Sustainer! Make this land secure ⁴⁹ and preserve me and my children from ever worshipping idols⁵⁰ -

  - Mohammad Asad

The whole of this passage (verses {35-41}) - from which the title of this surah is derived - represents a parenthetic reminder, in the form of Abraham's prayer, of the only way to righteousness, in the deepest sense of the word, open to man: namely, a recognition of God's existence, oneness and uniqueness and, hence, a rejection of all belief in "other powers" supposedly co-existent with Him (cf. verse {30} above). Inasmuch as this prayer implies a realization of, and gratitude for, God's infinite bounty, it connects directly with the preceding verse {34} and the subsequent verse {42}.

I.e., the land in which the Ka'bah is situated (see surah {2}, note [102]) and, more specifically, Mecca.

The term "idols" (asnam, sing. sanam) does not apply exclusively to actual, concrete representations of false "deities": for shirk - that is, an attribution of divine powers or qualities to anyone or anything beside God - may consist also, as Razi points out, in a worshipful devotion to all manner of "causative agencies and outward means to an end" - an obvious allusion to wealth, power, luck, people's favour or disfavour, and so forth - whereas genuine faith in the oneness and uniqueness of God (at-tawhid al-mahd) consists in divesting oneself of all inner attachment to [such] causative agencies and in being convinced that there exists no real directing power apart from God".

Remember when Ibrahim (Abraham) said: "My Rabb! Make this city a city of peace and save me and my sons from the worship of idols.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when Abraham said: My Lord! Make safe this territory, and preserve me and my sons from serving idols.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall