Surah 26. Ash-Shuara

and as soon as the two hosts came in sight of one another, the followers of Moses exclaimed: "Behold, we shall certainly be overtaken [and defeated]!"

  - Mohammad Asad

When the two hosts came face to face, the companions of Musa cried out: "We are surely overtaken."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when the two hosts saw each other, those with Moses said: Lo! we are indeed caught.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He replied: "Nay indeed! My Sustainer is with me, [and] He will guide me!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Musa said: "Not at all! My Rabb is with me; He will show me a way out."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He said: Nay, verily! for lo! my Lord is with me. He will guide me.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Thereupon We inspired Moses thus: "Strike the sea with thy staff!" - whereupon it parted, and each part appeared like a mountain vast.³³

  - Mohammad Asad

See {20: 77} and the corresponding note [61]. Cf. also the Biblical account (Exodus xiv, 21), according to which "the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided".

Then We revealed Our will to Musa: "Strike the sea with your staff," and the sea was cleft asunder, each part stood like a mighty mountain.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then We inspired Moses, saying: Smite the sea with thy staff. And it parted, and each part was as a mountain vast.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And We caused the pursuers³⁴ to draw nea unto that place:

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "the others".

We made the other party (Fir'on and his army) follow them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then brought We near the others to that place.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and We saved Moses and all who were with him,

  - Mohammad Asad

We delivered Musa and all who were with him;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We saved Moses and those with him, every one;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and then We caused the others to drown.³⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

From various indications in the Bible (in particular, Exodus xiv, 2 and 9), it appears that the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea took place at the north-western extremity of what is known today as the Gulf of Suez. In those ancient times it was not as deep as it is now, and in some respects may have resembled the shallow part of the North Sea between the mainland and the Frisian Islands, with its total ebbs which lay bare the sandbanks and make them temporarily passable, followed by sudden, violent tides which submerge them entirely.

and drowned the others.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We drowned the others.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

In this [story], behold, there is a message [unto all men], even though most of them will not believe [in it].

  - Mohammad Asad

Surely there is a lesson in this: yet most of these people do not learn this lesson to become believers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! herein is indeed a portent, yet most of them are not believers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And yet, verily, thy Sustainer - He alone - is almighty, a dispenser of grace!³⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [6] on verses {8-9}.

The fact is that your Rabb is the Mighty as well as the Merciful.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And lo, thy Lord! He is indeed the Mighty, the Merciful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND CONVEY unto them³⁷ the story of Abraham

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., to the kind of people spoken of in verses {3-8} of this surah.

Narrate to them the story of Ibrahim,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Recite unto them the story of Abraham:

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[how it was] when he asked his father and his people, "What is it that you worship?"

  - Mohammad Asad

when he asked his father and his people: "What is that which you worship?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

When he said unto his father and his folk: What worship ye?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

They answered: "We worship idols, and we remain ever devoted to them."

  - Mohammad Asad

They replied: "We worship idols, and sit beside them with all devotion."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They said: We worship idols, and are ever devoted unto them.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Said he: "Do [you really think that] they hear you when you invoke them,

  - Mohammad Asad

Ibrahim asked: "Do they hear you when you call on them?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He said: Do they hear you when ye cry?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

or benefit you or do you harm?"

  - Mohammad Asad

Can they help you or harm you?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or do they benefit or harm you?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

They exclaimed: "But we found our fore-fathers doing the same!"³⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

The particle bal at the beginning of the sentence expresses astonishment. Thus, evading a direct answer to Abraham's criticism of idol-worship, his people merely stress its antiquity, forgetting - as Zamakhshari points out - that "ancient usage and precedence in time are no proof of [a concept's] soundness". Razi, for his part, states that the above verse represents "one of the strongest [Qur'anic] indications of the immorality (fasad) inherent in [the principle of] taqlid'', i.e., the blind, unquestioning adoption of religious concepts or practices on the basis of one's uncritical faith in no more than the "authority" of a scholar or religious leader.

They replied: "No! But we found our forefathers doing so."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They said: Nay, but we found our fathers acting on this use.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Said [Abraham]: "Have you, then, ever con-sidered what it is that you have been worshipping-

  - Mohammad Asad

Ibrahim said: "Have you ever seen with open eyes these which you have been worshipping

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He said: See now that which ye worship,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall