Surah 25. Al-Furqan

HALLOWED is He who from on high, step by step, has bestowed upon His servant the standard by which to discern the true from the false,¹ so that to all the world it might be a warning:

  - Mohammad Asad

Almost all the commentators give this meaning to the term al-furqan. In the above context it denotes the Qur'an as well as the phenomenon of divine revelation as such. (For an amplified interpretation of this term by Muhammad 'Abduh, see note [38] on 2:53 .) The verbal form nazzala implies gradualness both in time ("successively") and in method ("step by step").

Blessed is the One Who has revealed Al-Furqan (the criterion to distinguish right from wrong: The Qur'an) to His servant, that he may be a Warner to the worlds;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Blessed is He Who hath revealed unto His slave the Criterion (of right and wrong), that he may be a warner to the peoples.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He to whom the dominion over the heavens and the earth belongs, and who begets no offspring,² and has no partner in His dominion: for it is He who creates every thing and determines its nature in accordance with [His own] design.³

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [133] on 17:111 .

I.e., in accordance with the function assigned by Him to each individual thing or phenomenon: cf. the oldest formulation of this idea in {87:2-3}.

He is the One to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, has begotten no son and has no partner in His kingdom; He has created everything and ordained them in due proportions.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He unto Whom belongeth the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. He hath chosen no son nor hath He any partne in the sovereignty. He hath created everything and hath meted out for it a measure.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And yet, some choose to worship, instead of Him, [imaginary] deities that cannot create anything hut are themselves created.⁴ and have it not within their power to avert harm from, or bring benefit to, themselves, and have no power over death, nor over life, nor over resurrection!

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., whether they be inanimate "representations" of imaginary deities, or personified forces of nature or deified human beings. or simplv figments of the imagination.

Yet the unbelievers have taken besides Him other gods which can create nothing but are themselves created, which can neither harm nor help even themselves, and which have no power over life or death, or raising the dead to life.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Yet they choose beside Him other gods who create naught but are themselves created, and possess not hurt nor profit for themselves, and possess not death nor life, nor power to raise the dead.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Moreover, those who are bent on denying the truth are wont to say, "This [Qur'an] is nothing but a lie which he [himself] has devised with the help of other people,⁵ who thereupon have perverted the truth and brought a falsehood into being."⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Implying that the Qur'an, or most of it, is based on Judaeo-Christian teachings allegedly communicated to Muhammad by some unnamed foreigners (cf. 16:103 and the corresponding notes, especially note [130]) or, alternatively, by various Arab converts to Judaism or Christianity; furthermore, that Muhammad had either deceived himself into believing that the Qur'an was a divine revelation, or had deliberately - knowing that it was not so - attributed it to God.

Lit., "and thus, indeed, have they come with [or "brought"] a perversion of the truth" [which obviously is the meaning of zalm in this context] "and a falsehood". Whereas it is generally assumed that this clause constitutes a Qur'anic rebuttal of the malicious allegation expressed in the preceding clause, I am of the opinion that it forms part of that allegation, making the mythical "helpers" of Muhammad co-responsible, as it were, for the "invention" of the Qur'an.

Those who deny the Truth say: "This Al-Furqan (The Qur'an) is but a forgery which he (Muhammad) himself has devised and some other people have helped him." Unjust is what they do and falsehood is what they utter!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Those who disbelieve say: This is naught but a lie that he hath invented, and other folk have helped him with it, so that they have produced a slander and a lie.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And they say, "Fables of ancient times which he has caused to be written down,⁷ so that they might be read out to him at morn and evening!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Because it was known to his contemporaries that he was unlettered (ummi) and could not read and write.

And they say: "These are the stories of the ancients which he has copied down from what is read to him day and night."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they say: Fables of the men of old which he hath had written down so that they are dictated to him morn and evening.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say [O Muhammad]: "He who knows all the mysteries of the heavens and the earth has bestowed from on high this [Qur'an upon me]! Verily, He is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Tell them: "This (The Qur'an) is revealed by Him Who knows the secrets of the heavens and the earth; surely He is Ever-Forgiving, Merciful."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say (unto them, O Muhammad): He Who knoweth the secret of the heavens and the earth hath revealed it. Lo! He ever is Forgiving, Merciful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Yet they say: "What sort of apostle is this [man] who eats food [like all other mortals] and goes about in the market-places? Why has not an angel [visibly] been sent down unto him, to act as a warner together with him?"

  - Mohammad Asad

And they say: "What sort of Rasool is he who eats food and walks through the streets? Why has no angel been sent down with him to threaten the disbelievers?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they say: What aileth this messenger (of Allah) that he eateth food and walketh in the markets? Why is not an angel sent down unto him, to be a warner with him?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Or: "[Why has not] a treasure been granted to him [by God]?" Or: "He should [at least] have a [bountiful] garden, so that he could eat thereof [without effort]!"⁸ And so these evildoers say [unto one another], "If you were to follow [Muhammad, you would follow] but a man bewitched!"

  - Mohammad Asad

A sarcastic allusion to the "gardens of paradise" of which the Qur'an so often speaks. (Cf. 13:38 and the corresponding notes [74] and [75]; also 5:75 and {21:7-8}.)

Why he has not been given a treasure or at least a garden from which he could eat?" And these wicked people further say: "You are only following a man who is bewitched."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or (why is not) a treasure thrown down unto him, or why hath he not a paradise from whence to eat? And the evil-doers say: Ye are but following a man bewitched.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

See to what they liken thee, [O Prophet, simply] because they have gone astray and are now unable to find a way [to the truth]!

  - Mohammad Asad

See what sort of examples they apply to you! Because they are lost and cannot find the way to refute the truth of Tawhid and life after death.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

See how they coin similitudes for thee, so that they are all astray and cannot find a road!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hallowed is He who, if it be His will, shall give thee something better than that [whereof they speak] - gardens through which running waters flow - and shall assign to thee mansions [of bliss in the life to come].

  - Mohammad Asad

Blessed is He, Who, if He wills, could give you much better things than what they propose for you: not one but many gardens beneath which rivers flow; and make for you palaces too.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Blessed is He Who, if He will, will assign thee better than (all) that--Gardens underneath which rivers flow--and will assign thee mansions.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But nay! It is [the very coming of] the Last Hour to which they give the lie! However, for such as give the lie to [the announcement of] the Last Hour We have readied a blazing flame:

  - Mohammad Asad

But in fact they deny the Hour - and for the one who denies the coming of the Hour, We have prepared a blazing fire.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, but they deny (the coming of) the Hour, and for those who deny (the coming of) the Hour We have prepared a flame.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

when it shall face them from afar,⁹ they will hear its angry roar and its hiss;

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "When it shall see them from a far-off place": a metaphorical allusion, it would seem, to the moment of their death on earth. As in many other instances, we are given here a subtle verbal hint of the allegorical nature of the Qur'anic descriptions of conditions in the life to come by a rhetorical "transfer" of man's faculty of seeing to the object of his seeing: a usage which Zamakhshari explicitly characterizes as metaphorical ('ala sabil al-majaz).

When it shall come into their sight, from a long distance, they will hear its raging and roaring.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

When it seeth them from afar, they bear the cracking and the roar thereof.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and when they are flung, linked [all] together, into a tight space within, they will pray for extinction there and then!¹⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

For a tentative explanation of the allegory of the sinners' being "linked together" in hell, see my note [64] on 14:49 . As regards the "tight space" into which they will be flung, Zamakhshari remarks: "Distress is accompanied by [a feeling of] constriction, just as happiness is accompanied by [a feeling of] spaciousness; and because of this, God has described paradise as being 'as vast as the heavens and the earth' [ 3:133 ]."

And when, chained together, they are flung into some narrow space, they will fervently plead for death.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when they are flung into a narrow place thereof, chained together, they pray for destruction there.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[But they will be told:] "Pray not today for one single extinction, but pray for many extinctions!"¹¹

  - Mohammad Asad

Although the concept of "extinction" (thubur) implies finality and is, therefore, unrepeatable, the sinners' praying for "many extinctions" is used here as a metonym for their indescribable suffering and a corresponding, indescribable desire for a final escape.

But they will be told: "Do not plead for one death today, but plead for many deaths."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Pray not that day for one destruction, but pray for many destructions!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "Which is better-that, or the paradise of life abiding which has been promised to the God-conscious as their reward and their journey's end-

  - Mohammad Asad

Ask them: "Which is better, this hell or the eternal paradise which the righteous are being promised, which will be the reward of their good deeds and also their final destination;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: Is that (doom) better or the Garden of Immortality which is promised unto those who ward off (evil)? It will be their reward and journey's end.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

a promise given by thy Sustainer, [always] to be prayed for?"

  - Mohammad Asad

wherein they will live forever and get everything that they wish for: and this is the promise worth praying for, which your Rabb is going to fulfill."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Therein abiding, they have all that they desire. It is for thy Lord a promise that must be fulfilled.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

BUT [as for people who are oblivious of thy Sus-tainer's oneness¹² -] one Day He will gather them together with all that they [now] worship instead of God, and will ask [those to whom divinity was falsely ascribed¹³ ]: "Was it you who led these My creatures astray, or did they by themselves stray from the right path?"

  - Mohammad Asad

This passage connects elliptically with verse {3} above.

The rhetorical "question" which follows is obviously addressed to wrongfully deified rational beings - i.e., prophets or saints - and not, as some commentators assume, to lifeless idols which, as it were, "will be made to speak".

On that Day, He will gather all these people together along with the deities whom they worshiped besides Allah, and ask: "Was it you who misled these servants of Mine, or did they choose to go astray themselves?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And on the day when He will assemble them and that which they worship instead of Allah and will say: Was it ye who misled these my slaves or did they (themselves) wander from the way?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

They will answer: "Limitless art Thou in Thy glory! It was inconceivable for us to take for our masters anyone but Thyself!¹⁴ But [as for them -] Thou didst allow them and their forefathers to enjoy [the pleasures of] life to such an extent that¹⁵ they forgt all remembrance [of thee]: for they were people devoid of all good,"

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., "and so it would have been morally impossible for us to ask others to worship us". On the other hand, Ibn Kathir understands the expression "for us" (lana) as denoting "us human beings" in general, and not merely the speakers - in which case the sentence could be rendered thus: "It is not right for us [human beings] to take...", etc. In either case, the above allegorical "question-and-answer" - repeated in many variations throughout the Qur'an - is meant to stress, in a dramatic manner, the moral odiousness and intellectual futility of attributing divine qualities to any being other than God.

This is the meaning of hatta (lit., "till" or "until") in the present context.

Those deities will answer: "Glory be to You! It was not befitting for us that we could take any guardian besides You, but You let them and their forefathers enjoy the comforts of worldly life until they forgot the Reminder, and thereby became worthless people."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They will say: Be Thou glorified! It was not for us to choose any protecting friends beside Thee; but Thou didst give them and their fathers ease till they forgot the warning and became lost folk.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[Thereupon God will say:] "And now, they [whom you regarded as divine] have given the lie to all your [past] assertions, and you can neither ward off [your punishment] nor obtain any succour! For, whoever of you has committed [such] evil, him shall We cause to taste areas suffering!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus your gods will deny all that you profess today. Then you shall neither be able to avert your punishment nor shall you get any help from anywhere; and every one among you who is guilty of wrongdoing, We shall make him taste the mighty punishment.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Thus they will give you the lie regarding what ye say, then ye can neither avert (the doom) nor obtain help. And whoso among you doeth wrong, We shall make him taste great torment.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND [even] before thee, Lo Muhammad,] We never sent as Our message-bearers any but [mortal men,] who indeed ate food [like other human beings] and went about in the market-places: for [it is thus that] We cause you [human beings] to be a means of testing one another.'¹⁶ Are you¹⁷ able to endure [this test] with patience? For [remember, O man,] thy Sustainer is truly all-seeing!

  - Mohammad Asad

This elliptic passage undoubtedly alludes to the fact that the appearance of each new prophet had, as a rule, a twofold purpose: firstly, to convey a divinely-inspired ethical message to man, and thus to establish a criterion of right and wrong or a standard by which to discern the true from the false (al-furqan, as stated in the first verse of this surah); and, secondly, to be a means of testing men's moral perceptions and dispositions as manifested in their reactions to the prophet's message - that is, their willingness or unwillingness to accept it on the basis of its intrinsic merit without demanding or even expecting any "supernatural" proof of its divine origin. Indirectly, in its deepest sense, this passage implies that not only a prophet but every human being is, by virtue of his social existence, a means whereby the moral qualities of his fellow-men are put to a test: hence, some of the earliest commentators (among them Tabari) give to the above phrase the connotation of "We caused you human beings to be a means of testing one another".

I.e., "you men" or, more specifically, "you whom the message of the Qur'an has reached".

We have sent no Rasool before you, who did not eat or walk through the streets. In fact, We test you by means of one another. Now, will you show patience, for your Rabb is Ever Observant.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We never sent before thee any messengers but lo! they ate food and walked in the markets. And We have appointed some of you a test for others: Will ye be steadfast? And thy Lord is ever Seer.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall