-->
This allusion to the pre-Islamic Arabian belief in angels as "God’s daughters" and the Christian dogma of Jesus’ "sonship of God" connects with the statement "they are intent on lying [to themselves]", which has been explained in the preceding note.
This is how almost all the classical commentators explain the phrase la-dhahaba bi-ma khalaqa (lit., "would surely have taken away whatever he had created"), implying that in such a hypothetical case each of the gods would have been concerned only with his own sector of creation, thus causing complete confusion in the universe.
See note [88] on 6:100 .
Cf. xvii. 42. The multiplicity of gods is intellectually indefensible, considering the unity of Design and Purpose in His wonderful Universe.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
See surah {6}, note [65].
To suppose that Allah has a son or family or partners or companions is to have a low idea of Allah, Who is high above all such relationships. He is the One True God, and there can be none to compare with Him.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "to show me" [sc., "in my lifetime"]. According to Zamakhshari, the combination of the conditional particle in ("if") with ma ("that which" or "whatever") - spelt and pronounced imma - endows the verb turini (lit., "Thow wilt show me") with the quality of intrinsic necessity - thus: "If it is inevitable (la budd) that Thou show me [or "let me witness"]...", etc. In translation, this particular phrasing is best rendered as above, since anything that is God’s will becomes eo ipso inevitable.
The Meccan pagans.
In the first instance, this applied to the holy Prophet. His subsequent Hijrat from Makkah and the eventual overthrow of the Makkan oligarchy amply prove the fulfilment of the prophecy. But in general meaning it applies to all. We are taught that evil will be visited with a terrible punishment, not only in a future life, but in this very life when its cup is full and the time comes for punishment in Allah's Plan. If it has to come while we are still on the scene of this life, we are asked to pray that we may not be found in the company of those who draw such punishment on themselves. In other words we must eschew the society of evil ones.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
See surah {13}, note [44]. In the present context, the evil referred to consists - as the next clause shows - in blasphemous attempts at "defining" God (cf. verse {91}); but the ethical principle implied in the above injunction is the same as that expressed in the last clause of 13:22 as well as in 41:34 - namely, that evil must not be countered with another evil but, rather, repelled by an act of goodness.
Their claims that there are many gods, and that the Prophet is a liar, a poet, etc.
Whether people speak evil of you, in your presence or behind your back, or they do evil to you in either of those ways, all is known to Allah. It is not for you to punish. Your best course is not to do evil in your tum, but to do what will best repel the evil. Two evils do not make a good. Cf. xli. 34, n. 4504.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "of the satans" or "satanic forces": see note [10] on 2:14 .
But in any case, shun evil for yourself, and you cannot do this without seeking the help and protection of Allah. Not only must you shun all promptings of evil, but you must shun its proximity. It may be that in retaliating on evil, or even in your curiosity to discover what evil is, you may fall into evil yourself. You should avoid going near it or anything which brings it near to you. And in this matter you should seek Allah's help.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. verses {74} and {90} above, with which the present passage connects.
Most of the commentators regard the plural form of address in the verb irji'uni ("let me return") as an expression of reverence. Since, however, the Qur'an offers no other instance of God's being addressed in the plural (in contrast with the frequent use of the plural in His speaking of Himself), Baydawi suggests - on the strength of examples from pre-Islamic poetry - that this plural form of address is equivalent to an emphatic repetition of the singular form irji'ni: hence the repetition of this phrase in my rendering.
This verse I think connects on with xxiii. 90 above. Though Allah proclaims His Truth everywhere, the wicked cling to Falsehood until they face the reality of Death.
The verb for "send me back" is in the plural in Arabic, which is construed either (1) as an emphatic form, as if the singular were repeated, or (2) as a plural of respect, though such a plural is not ordinarily used in addressing Allah, or (3) as a plural addressed to the angels, after the address to Allah in "O my Lord!"
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "in respect of that which (fi-ma) I have left", comprising both the omission of good and the commission of bad deeds.
Meaning, once they are dead, they will never return to the world.
The unrighteous will ask for another chance. But it will be too late then. The time for repentance will then have passed.
Their request will mean nothing. It will be treated merely as an empty word of excuse. They had plenty of chances in this life. Not only did they reject them, but they did not even believe in Allah or ask for His assistance.
Barzakh: a partition, a bar or barrier; the place or state in which people will be after death and before Judgment. Cf. xxv. 53 and Iv. 20. Behind them is the barrier of death, and in front of them is the Barzakh, partition, a quiescent state until the judgment comes.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
On the Day of Judgment, the Trumpet will be blown by an angel—causing all to die. When it is blown a second time, everyone will be raised from the dead for judgment (see 39:68).
Everyone will be busy with their own situation.
The old relationships of the world will then be dissolved. Each soul will stand on its merits.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Good and evil deeds will be weighed against each other. If the good deeds prevail, the soul will attain falah, i.e., prosperity, well-being, bliss, or salvation; if the contrary, there will be the misery and anguish of Hell.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
The loss or perdition will not mean that they will die and feel no more: xiv. 17. The punishment will mean nothing, if there was no sensibility, but total annihilation.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
That is to say, their faces will be disfigured with anguish, and their lips will quiver and fall out of place, exposing their teeth.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "we became people who go astray". This allegorical "dialogue" is meant to bring out the futile excuse characteristic of so many sinners who attribute their failings to an abstract "bad luck" (which is the meaning of shiqwah in this context); and thus, indirectly, it stresses the element of free will - and, therefore, of responsibility - in man’s actions and behaviour.
'The evil in us conquered us; it was our misfortune that we surrendered to evil, and went astray.' They forget that it was by their own deliberate choice that they surrendered to evil, and they are reminded in verses 109-110 of the ridicule with which they covered godly men in their life on earth.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
My interpolation of the word "ignominy" is based on the fact that this concept is inherent in the verb khasa'a (lit., "he drove [someone or something] scornfully away"), and is, therefore, forcefully expressed in the imperative ikhsa'u.
After their flouting of Allah's Signs and their mockery of godly men on earth, they have forfeited their right to plead for mercy before Allah's Throne.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "the best of those [or "of all"] who show mercy". The same expression is found in the concluding verse of this surah.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "until they made you forget":i.e.,"your scoffing at them became the cause of your forgetting".
Literally, 'they made you forget My Message'. The ungodly were so occupied in the backbiting and ridicule of the godly that the godly themselves became the unconscious cause of the ungodly forgetting the warnings declared by Allah against those who do not treat His Signs seriously. Thus evil often brings about its own ruin through the instrumentality of those whom it would make its victims.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No comments posted for Surah 23