Surah 36. Yasin

and that you shold worship Me [alone]? This would have been a straight way!

  - Mohammad Asad

and that you should worship Me which is the Right Way?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But that ye worship Me? That was the right path.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And [as far Satan-] he had already led astray agreat many of you: could you not, then, use your reason?

  - Mohammad Asad

Yet, inspite of this, he (Shaitan) has led a great number of you astray. Had you no common sense?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Yet he hath led astray of you a great multitude. Had ye then no sense?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"This, then, is the hell of which you were warned again and again:³¹

  - Mohammad Asad

The phrase "This, then, is the hell" points to the fact that the sinners' realization of their having gone astray despite repeated warnings by the prophets will, in itself, be a source of intense suffering ('adhab) in the life to come. The element of repetition or persistence is implied in the use of the auxiliary verb kuntum both here and in the next verse.

This is the hell, of which you were repeatedly warned.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

This is hell which ye were promised (if ye followed him).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

endure it today as an outcome of your persistent denial of the truth!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Now! Enter in it this Day because you persistently rejected the truth."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Burn therein this day for that ye disbelieved.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

On that Day We shall set a seal on their mouths³² -but their hands will speak unto Us, and their feet will bear witness to whatever they have earned [in life].

  - Mohammad Asad

A metaphor for their being unable really to excuse or defend their past actions and attitudes.

On that Day, We shall seal their mouths while their hands will speak to Us and their feet will bear witness to all their misdeeds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

This day We seal up mouths, and hands speak out and feet bear witness as to what they used to earn.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

NOW HAD IT BEEN Our will [that men should not be able to discern between right and wrong], We could surely have deprived them of their sight,³³ so that they would stray forever from the [right] way: for how could they have had insight [into what is true]?³⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "We could surely have effaced their eyes": a metaphor for "We could have created them morally blind" and, thus, devoid of all sense of moral responsibility - which, in its turn, would constitute a negation of all spiritual value in human life as such. (Cf. 2:20 - "if God so willed, He could indeed take away their hearing and their sight".)

In this instance - as, e.g., in 20:96 - the verb basura ("he became seeing" or "he saw") is obviously used in its tropical sense of "perceiving [something] mentally". According to Ibn 'Abbas, as quoted by Tabari, the phrase anna yubsirun signifies "how could they perceive the truth".

Had it been Our Will, We could surely have blotted out their eyes; and let them run about groping for the way, then how could they see?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And had We willed, We verily could have quenched their eyesight so that they should struggle for the way. Then how could they have seen?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And had it been Our will [that they should not be free to choose between right and wrong], We could surely have given them a different nature³⁵ [and created them as beings rooted] in their places, so that they would not be able to move forward, and could not turn back.³⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "transformed [or "transmuted"] them".

I.e., if it had been God's will that men should have no freedom of will or moral choice, He would have endowed them from the very beginning with a spiritually and morally stationary nature, entirely rooted in their instincts ("in their places"), devoid of all urge to advance, and incapable either of positive development or of retreat from a wrong course.

And had it been Our Will, We could have nailed them to the ground, then neither could they move forward nor retrace their steps.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And had We willed, We verily could have fixed them in their place, making them powerless to go forward or turn back.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But [let them always remember that] if We lengthen a human being's days, We also cause him to decline in his powers [when he grows old]: will they not, then, use their reason?³⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., man should never postpone his exercise of moral choice - for if human beings are superior creatures inasmuch as they have been endowed with the faculty of discernment and a wide measure of free will, let them also remember that "man has been created weak" ( 4:28 ) and liable to decline still further in old age, so that the time at his disposal is short.

Those to whom We grant long life, We reverse their nature. Don't they understand anything from this?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He whom We bring unto old age, We reverse him in creation (making him go back to weakness after strength). Have ye then no sense?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND [thus it is:] We have not imparted to this [prophet the gift of] poetry, nor would [poetry] have suited this [message]:³⁸ it is but a reminder and a [divine] discourse, clear in itself and clearly showing the truth,³⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

This passage resumes the theme enunciated in the opening verses of this surah, namely, the revelation of the Qur'an. As in 26:224 , we have here an allusion to the allegation of Muhammad's opponents, in his own as well as in later times, that what he described as divine revelation was in reality an outcome of his own poetic invention. This the Qur'an refutes by alluding to the fundamental difference between poetry - especially Arabic poetry - and divine revelation as exemplified by the Qur'an: whereas in the former the meaning is often subordinated to the rhythm and the melody of language, in the Qur'an the exact opposite is the case, inasmuch as here the choice of words, their sound and their position in the sentence - and, hence, its rhythm and melody - are always subordinated to the meaning intended. (Cf. also 26:225 and the corresponding note [100].)

For this composite rendering of the adjective mubin, see surah {12}, note [2]. Literally, the above phrase reads, "a reminder and a [divine] discourse...". etc., with the conjunctive particle wa ("and") being used here, as in 15:1 , to point out that the Qur'an is an integral element in the process of divine revelation.

We have not taught him (Muhammad) poetry, nor does it behove him. This is nothing but a reminder and a plain Qur'an

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And we have not taught him (Muhammad) poetry, nor is it meet for him. This is naught else than a Reminder and a Lecture making plain,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

to the end that it may warn everyone who is alive [of heart], and that the word [of God] may bear witness⁴⁰ against all who deny the truth.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "may come [or "be proved"] true", i.e., on the Day of Judgment (cf. verse {7} of this surah ).

to warn those who are alive and to establish the charge against the disbelievers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

To warn whosoever liveth, and that the word may be fulfilled against the disbelievers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Are they, then, not aware that it is for them that We have created, among all the things which Our hands have wrought,⁴¹ the domestic animals of which they are [now] masters?

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "which We alone have or could have created" (Zamakhshari and Razl). The above metaphorical expression is based on the concept of "handiwork" in its widest sense, abstract as well as concrete.

Do they not see that among the other things which Our hands have fashioned, We have created cattle which are under their domination?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Have they not seen how We have created for them of Our handiwork the cattle, so that they are their owners,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and that We have subjected them to men's will,⁴² so that some of them they may use for riding and of some they may eat,

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "made them submissive (dhallalnaha ) to them": implying also that man is morally responsible for the manner in which he uses or misuses them.

We have subjected these animals to them, that they may ride on some and eat the flesh of others,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And have subdued them unto them, so that some of them they have for riding, some for food?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and may have [yet other] benefits from them, and [milk] to drink? Will they not, then, be grateful?

  - Mohammad Asad

in them there are other advantages and drinks (milk) for them. Should they not then be grateful?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Benefits and (divers) drinks have they from them. Will they not then give thanks?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But [nay,] they take to worshipping deities other than God,⁴³ [hoping] to be succoured [by them, and not knowing that]

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "other deities beside God" - alluding, in either case, to objects of worship consciously conceived as such - i.e., idols, imaginary deities, deified persons, saints, etc. - as well as to abstract concepts like power, wealth or "luck", which may not be consciously "worshipped" but are nevertheless often revered in an almost idolatrous fashion. The verb ittakhadhu (lit., "they took [or "have taken"] for themselves"), used in the Qur'an in this and in similar contexts, is particularly suited for the wide range of meanings alluded to inasmuch as it bears the connotation of adopting something - whether it be concrete or abstract - for one's own use or adoration.

Yet they have taken other gods besides Allah hoping to get their help.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they have taken (other) gods beside Allah, in order that they may be helped.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

they are unable to succour their devotees,⁴⁴ even though to them they may [appear to] be hosts drawn up [for succour].

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit.. "them".

But they do not have the ability to help them yet their worshippers stand like warriors ready to defend them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

It is not in their power to help them; but they (the worshippers) are unto them a host in arms.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall