Surah 44. Ad-Dukhan

And if you do not believe me, [at least] stand away from me!"

  - Mohammad Asad

If you do not believe me, then leave me alone."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And if ye put no faith in me, then let me go.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But then, [when they beset him with their enmity,] he called out to his Sustainer, "These are [indeed] people lost in sin!"

  - Mohammad Asad

But they became aggressive, so Musa prayed to his Rabb: "These are indeed a criminal people."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And he cried unto his Lord (saying): These are a guilty folk.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And [God said]: "Go thou forth with My servants by night, for you will surely be pursued;

  - Mohammad Asad

The reply came: "Set forth with My servants (Israelites) at night, surely you shall be pursued.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then (his Lord commanded) Take away my slaves by night. Lo! ye will be followed,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and leave the sea becalmed¹² [between thee and Pharaoh's men]: for, verily, they are a host destined to be drowned!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "cleft" - the expression rahwan having both these connotations (Jawhari, with especial reference to the above phrase). See also notes [33] and [35] on {26:63-66}.

When you have crossed the red sea along with your people miraculously, then leave the sea divided; for they are a host who are destined to be drowned."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And leave the sea behind at rest, for lo! they are a drowned host.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[And so they perished: and] how many gardens did they leave behind, and water-runnels,

  - Mohammad Asad

How many gardens and springs they left behind!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

How many were the gardens and the water springs that they left behind,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and fields of grain, and noble dwellings,

  - Mohammad Asad

And agriculture and grand palaces!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And the cornlands and the goodly sites

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and [all that] life of ease in which they used to delight!

  - Mohammad Asad

And means of luxury and comfort which they used to enjoy!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And pleasant things wherein they took delight!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Thus it was. And [then] We made another people heirs [to what they had left],

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus was their end! And We let other people inherit what was once theirs.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Even so (it was), and We made it an inheritance for other folk;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and neither sky nor earth shed tears over them, nor were they allowed a respite.¹³

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., "to repent their sins".

Neither Heaven nor earth sheds tears for them; nor were they given a respite.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And the heaven and the earth wept not for them, nor were they reprieved.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And, indeed, We delivered the children of Israel from the shameful suffering

  - Mohammad Asad

We did deliver the children of Israel from a humiliating chastisement

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We delivered the Children of Israel from the shameful doom

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[inflicted on them] by Pharaoh, seeing that he was truly outstanding among those who waste their own selves;¹⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

For this rendering of the term musrif, see surah {10}, note [21].

inflicted by Fir'on who was the most arrogant among such inordinate transgressors,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(We delivered them) from Pharaoh. Lo! he was a tyrant of the wanton ones.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and, indeed, We chose them knowingly above all other people,¹⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., according to all commentators, above all people of their time, because at that time the children of Israel were the only people who worshipped the One God: which is the reason of the frequent Qur'anic references to the story of their delivery from bondage. The stress on God's having "chosen them knowingly" alludes to His foreknowledge that in later times they would deteriorate morally and thus forfeit His grace (Zamakhshari and Razi).

and We chose them, inspite of knowing their weaknesses above the nations of the world.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We chose them, purposely, above (all) creatures.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and gave them such signs [of Our grace] as would clearly presage a test.¹⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "as would have in them a manifest test": an allusion to the long line of prophets raised in their midst, as well as to the freedom and prosperity which they were to enjoy in the Promised Land. All this presaged a test of their sincerity with regard to the spiritual principles which in the beginning raised them "above all other people" and, thus, of their willingness to act as God's message-bearers to all the world. The formulation of the above sentence implies elliptically that they did not pass that test inasmuch as they soon forgot the spiritual mission for which they had been elected, and began to regard themselves as God's "chosen people" simply on account of their descent from Abraham: a notion which the Qur'an condemns in many places. Apart from this, the majority of the children of Israel very soon lost their erstwhile conviction that the life in this world is but the first and not the final stage of human life, and - as their Biblical history shows - abandoned themselves entirely to the pursuit of material prosperity and power. (See next note.)

We showed them signs in which there was a clear trial.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We gave them portents wherein was a clear trial.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[Now,] behold, these [people] say indeed:¹⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

Although, on the face of it, by "these people" the Israelites are meant, the reference is obviously a general one, applying to all who hold the views expressed in the sequence, and in particular to the pagan contemporaries of the Prophet Muhammad. Nevertheless, there is a subtle connection between this passage and the preceding allusion to the "test" with which the children of Israel were to be faced: for it is a historical fact that up to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple and their dispersion by the Roman emperor Titus, the priestly aristocracy among the Jews, known as the Sadducees, openly denied the concepts of resurrection, divine judgment and life in the hereafter, and advocated a thoroughly materialistic outlook on life.

As to these (people of Qureysh) who say:

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! these, forsooth, are saying:

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"That [which is ahead of us] is but our first [and only] death,¹⁸ and we shall not be raised to life again.

  - Mohammad Asad

"There is nothing beyond our first death and we shall not be raised again.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

There is naught but our first death, and we shall not be raised again.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

So then, bring forth our forefathers [as witnesses], if what you claim is true!"¹⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "bring our forefathers back to life and let them bear witness that there is a hereafter". This ironic demand accords with the saying of the unbelievers mentioned in 43:22 and {23}, "We found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and, verily, it is in their footsteps that we find our guidance!" Thus, in the last resort, the fact that their ancestors did not believe in a hereafter is to them as conclusive an argument against it as the fact that nobody has as yet come back to life to confirm the truth of resurrection.

Bring back our forefathers if you are truthful."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Bring back our fathers, if ye speak the truth!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Are they, then, better than the people of Tubba' and those before them, whom We destroyed because they were truly lost in [the same] sin?²⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

"Tubba" was the title borne by a succession of powerful Himyar kings who ruled for centuries over the whole of South Arabia, and were finally overcome by the Abyssinians in the fourth century of the Christian era. They are mentioned elsewhere in the Qur'an ( 50:14 ) as having denied the truth of resurrection and God's judgment.

Are these people better than the people of Tubba and those who were before them? We destroyed them all only because they had become criminals.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Are they better, or the folk of Tubba and those before them? We destroyed them, for surely they were guilty.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For [thus it is:] We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in mere idle play:²¹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., without meaning or purpose (cf. 21:16 ) - implying that if there were no hereafter, man's life on earth would be utterly meaningless, and thus in contradiction to the above as well as the subsequent statement, "none of all this have We created without [an inner] truth".

It was not for a sport that We created the heavens the earth and all that lies between them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We created not the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in play.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

none of this have We created without [an inner] truth:²² but most of them understand it not.

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [11] on 10:5 .

We have created them to reveal the truth, but most of them do not understand.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We created them not save with truth; but most of them know not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

VERILY, the Day of Distinction [between the true and the false] is the term appointed for all of them:²³

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [6] on 77:13 .

Surely the Day of sorting out is the time appointed for the resurrection of them all.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Assuredly the Day of Decision is the term of all of them,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall