Surah 5. Al-Ma'ida

0 my people! Enter the holy land which God has promised you; but do not turn back [on your faith], for then you will be lost!"

  - Mohammad Asad

"O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah has assigned for you. Do not turn back, because if you do, you will become losers."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

O my people! Go into the holy land which Allah hath ordained for you. Turn not in flight, for surely ye turn back as losers:

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

They answered: "O Moses! Behold, ferocious people dwell in that land,³³ and we will surely not enter it unless they depart therefrom; but if they depart therefrom, then, behold, we will enter it."

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "are in it". See Numbers xiii, 32-33, and also the whole of ch. xiv, which speaks of the terror that overwhelmed the Israelites on hearing the report of the twelve scouts mentioned in verse {12} of this surah, and of the punishment of their cowardice and lack of faith.

They said: "O Musa! A nation of giants live in there, we will not set our foot in it until they leave. As soon as they leave we will be ready to enter."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They said: O Moses! Lo! a giant people (dwell) therein, and lo! we go not in till they go forth from thence. When they go forth, then we will enter (not till then).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[Whereupon] two men from among those who feared [God, and] whom God had blessed, said: "Enter upon them through the gate³⁴ - for as soon as you enter it, behold, you shall be victorious! And in God you must place your trust if you are [truly] believers!"

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., by frontal attack. According to the Bible (Numbers xiv, 6-9, 24, 30, 38), the two God-fearing men were Joshua and Caleb, who had been among the twelve spies sent out to explore Canaan, and who now tried to persuade the terror-stricken children of Israel to place their trust in God. As so often in the Qur'an, this story of the Israelites serves to illustrate the difference between real, selfless faith and worldly self-love.

Thereupon two Allah-fearing men upon whom Allah had bestowed His Grace said: "Attack directly at the city gate, once you enter it, you will surely be victorious. Put your trust in Allah if you are really believers."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then outspake two of those who feared (their Lord, men) unto whom Allah had been gracious: Enter in upon them by the gate, for if ye enter by it, lo! ye will be victorious. So put your trust (in Allah) if ye are indeed believers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[But] they said: "O Moses! Behold, never shall we enter that [land] so long as those others are in it. Go forth, then, thou and thy Sustainer, and fight, both of you! We, behold, shall remain here!"

  - Mohammad Asad

They replied, "O Musa! We will never enter it so long as they remain therein. Therefore, both you and your Rabb should go and fight, we will stay here."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They said: O Moses! We will never enter (the land) while they are in it. So go thou and thy Lord and fight! We will sit here.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Prayed [Moses]: "O my Sustainer! Of none am I master but of myself and my brother [Aaron]: draw Thou, then, a dividing-line between us and these iniquitous folk!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Hearing this Musa prayed, "O my Rabb! I have no control over anyone except myself and my brother. Please, set us apart from these disobedient people."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He said: My Lord! I have control of none but myself and my brother, so distinguish between us and the wrongdoing folk.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Answered He: "Then, verily, this [land] shall be forbidden to them for forty years, while they wander on earth, bewildered, to and fro; and sorrow thou not over these iniquitous folk."

  - Mohammad Asad

Allah responded, "Very well, they are forbidden this land for forty years, during this time they will wander homeless on the earth, so do not grieve for these disobedient people."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Their Lord) said: For this the land will surely be forbidden them for forty years that they will. wander in the earth, bewildered. So grieve not over the wrongdoing folk.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND CONVEY unto them, setting forth the truth, the story of the two sons of Adam³⁵ - how each offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one of them whereas it was not accepted from the other. [And Cain] said: "I will surely slay thee!" [Abel] replied: "Behold, God accepts only from those who are conscious of Him.

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the story of Cain and Abel, mentioned in Genesis iv, 1-16. The pronoun in "tell them" refers to the followers of the Bible, and obviously connects with verse {15} of this surah, "Now there has come unto you Our Apostle, to make clear unto you much of what you have been concealing [from yourselves] of the Bible", the meaning of which has been explained in note [28] above. The moral of this particular Biblical story - a moral which the followers of the Bible have been "concealing from themselves" - is summarized in verse {32}.

Recite to them in all truth the story of Adam's two sons: How each offered a sacrifice, and how the offering of one was accepted while that of the other was not. The latter said: "I will kill you." The former replied: "Allah only accepts the sacrifice from the righteous.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But recite unto them with truth the tale of the two sons of Adam, how they offered each a sacrifice, and it was accepted from the one of them and it was not accepted from the other. (The one) said: I will surely kill thee. (The other) answered: Allah accepteth only from those who ward off (evil).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Even if thou lay thy hand on me to slay me, I shall not lay my hand on thee to slay thee: behold, I fear God, the Sustainer of all the worlds.

  - Mohammad Asad

Even if you stretch your hand to kill me, I shall not stretch my hand to slay you, for I fear Allah, the Rabb of the worlds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Even if thou stretch out thy hand against me to kill me, I shall not stretch out my hand against thee to kill thee, lo! I fear Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

I am willing, indeed, for thee to bear [the burden of] all the sins ever done by me as well as of the sin done by thee:³⁶ [but] then thou wouldst be destined for the fire, since that is the requital of evildoers!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "my sin as well as thy sin". It is evident from several well-authenticated ahadith that if a person dies a violent death not caused, directly or indirectly, by his own sinful actions, his previous sins will be forgiven (the reason being, evidently, that he had no time to repent, as he might have done had he been allowed to live). In cases of unprovoked murder, the murderer is burdened - in addition to the sin of murder - with the sins which his innocent victim might have committed in the past and of which he (the victim) is now absolved: this convincing interpretation of the above verse has been advanced by Mujahid (as quoted by Tabari).

I intend to let you bear the burden of my sins as well as yours and thus become an inmate of the Fire which is the reward for wrongdoers."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! I would rather thou shouldst bear the punishment of the sin against me and thine own sin and become one of the owners of the Fire. That is the reward of evil doers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But the other's passion³⁷ drove him to slaying his brother; and he slew him: and thus he became one of the lost.

  - Mohammad Asad

Among the many meanings attributable to the noun nafs (primarily, "soul", or "mind", or "self"), there is also that of "desire" or "passionate determination" (Qamus, see also Zamakhshari's Asas); in this context, the best rendering seems to be "passion".

The latter's soul prompted him to kill his brother; he killed him and thus became one of the losers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But (the other's) mind imposed on him the killing of his brother, so he slew him and became one of the losers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Thereupon God sent forth a raven which scratched the earth, to show him how he might conceal the nakedness of his brother's body. [And Cain] cried out: "Oh, woe is me! Am I then too weak to do what this raven did,³⁸ and to conceal the nakedness of my brother's body?" - and was thereupon smitten with remorse.³⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "to be like this raven".

Lit., "became of those who feel remorse". The thought of burying his dead brother's body, suggested to Cain by the raven's scratching the earth, brought home to him the enormity of his crime.

(He carried around the dead body of his brother and did not know what to do with it.) Then Allah sent a raven, which dug the ground to show him how to bury the dead body of his brother. "Alas!" He cried, "I failed even to be like this raven to find some way to dispose of the dead body of my brother!" So he became full of regrets.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then Allah sent a raven scratching up the ground, to show him how to hide his brother's naked corpse. He said: Woe unto me! Am I not able to be as this raven and so hide my brother's naked corpse? And he became repentant.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Because of this did We ordain unto the children of Israel that if anyone slays a human being - unless it be [in punishment] for murder or for spreading corruption on earth - it shall be as though he had slain all mankind; whereas, if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind.⁴⁰ And, indeed, there came unto them⁴¹ Our apostles with all evidence of the truth: yet, behold, notwithstanding all this, many of them go on committing all manner of excesses on earth.⁴²

  - Mohammad Asad

This moral truth is among those to which the first sentence of verse {15} of this surah alludes, and its succinct formulation fully explains the reason why the story of Cain and Abel is mentioned in this context. The expression "We have ordained unto the children of Israel" does not, of course, detract from the universal validity of this moral: it refers merely to its earliest enunciation.

I.e., to the followers of the Bible, both the Jews and the Christians.

The present participle la-musrifun indicates their "continuously committing excesses" (i.e., crimes), and is best rendered as "they go on committing" them. In view of the preceding passages, these "excesses" obviously refer to crimes of violence and, in particular, to the ruthless killing of human beings.

On account of that incident, We ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a person, except as a punishment for murder or mischief in the land, it will be written in his book of deeds as if he had killed all the human beings on the surface of the Earth and whoever will save a life shall be regarded as if he gave life to all the human beings on the surface of the Earth. Yet, even though Our Rasools came to them one after the other with clear revelations, it was not long before, many of them committed excesses in the land.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if be had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them of old with clear proofs (of Allah's sovereignty) , but afterwards lo! many of them became prodigals in the earth.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is but a just recompense for those who make war on God and His apostle,⁴³ and endeavour to spread corruption on earth, that they are being slain in great numbers, or crucified in great numbers, or have, in result of their perverseness, their hands and feet cut off in great numbers,⁴⁴ or are being [entirely] banished from [the face of] the earth: such is their ignominy in this world.⁴⁵ But in the life to come [yet more] awesome suffering awaits them -

  - Mohammad Asad

The term "apostle" is evidently generic in this context. By "making war on God and His apostle" is meant a hostile opposition to, and wilful disregard of, the ethical precepts ordained by God and explained by all His apostles, combined with the conscious endeavour to destroy or undermine other people's belief in God as well.

In classical Arabic idiom, the "cutting off of one's hands and feet" is often synonymous with "destroying one's power", and it is possibly in this sense that the expression has been used here. Alternatively, it might denote "being mutilated", both physically and metaphorically - similar to the (metonymical) use of the expression "being crucified" in the sense of "being tortured". The phrase min khilaf - usually rendered as "from opposite sides" - is derived from the verb khalafahu, "he disagreed with him", or "opposed him", or "acted contrarily to him": consequently, the primary meaning of min khilaf is "in result of contrariness" or "of perverseness".

Most of the classical commentators regard this passage as a legal injunction, and interpret it, therefore, as follows: "The recompense of those who make war on God and His apostle and spread corruption on earth shall but be that they shall be slain, or crucified, or that their hands and feet be cut off on opposite sides, or that they shall be banished from the earth: such shall be their ignominy in this world." This interpretation is, however, in no way warranted by the text, and this for the following reasons: (a) The four passive verbs occurring in this sentence - "slain", "crucified", "cut off" and "banished" - are in the present tense and do not, by themselves, indicate the future or, alternatively, the imperative mood. (b) The form yuqattalu does not signify simply "they are being slain" or (as the commentators would have it) "they shall be slain", but denotes - in accordance with a fundamental rule of Arabic grammar - "they are being slain in great numbers"; and the same holds true of the verbal forms yusallabu ("they are being crucified in great numbers") and yuqatta'a ("cut off in great numbers"). Now if we are to believe that these are "ordained punishments", it would imply that great numbers - but not necessarily all - of "those who make war on God and His apostle" should be punished in this way: obviously an inadmissible assumption of arbitrariness on the part of the Divine Law-Giver. Moreover, if the party "waging war on God and His apostle" should happen to consist of one person only, or of a few, how could a command referring to "great numbers" be applied to them or to him? (c) Furthermore, what would be the meaning of the phrase, "they shall be banished from the earth", if the above verse is to be taken as a legal injunction? This point has, indeed, perplexed the commentators considerably. Some of them assume that the transgressors should be "banished from the land [of Islam]": but there is no instance in the Qur'an of such a restricted use of the term "earth" (ard). Others, again, are of the opinion that the guilty ones should be imprisoned in a subterranean dungeon, which would constitute their "banishment from [the face of] the earth"! (d) Finally - and this is the weightiest objection to an interpretation of the above verse as a "legal injunction" - the Qur'an places exactly the same expressions referring to mass-crucifixion and mass-mutilation (but this time with a definite intent relating to the future) in the mouth of Pharaoh, as a threat to believers (see 7:124, 20:71 and 26:49). Since Pharaoh is invariably described in the Qur'an as the epitome of evil and godlessness, it is inconceivable that the same Qur'an would promulgate a divine law in precisely the terms which it attributes elsewhere to a figure characterized as an "enemy of God". In short, the attempt of the commentators to interpret the above verse as a "legal injunction" must be categorically rejected, however great the names of the persons responsible for it. On the other hand, a really convincing interpretation suggests itself to us at once as soon as we read the verse - as it ought to be read - in the present tense: for, read in this way, the verse reveals itself immediately as a statement of fact - a declaration of the inescapability of the retribution which "those who make war on God" bring upon themselves. Their hostility to ethical imperatives causes them to lose sight of all moral values; and their consequent mutual discord and "perverseness" gives rise to unending strife among themselves for the sake of worldly gain and power: they kill one another in great numbers, and torture and mutilate one another in great numbers, with the result that whole communities are wiped out or, as the Qur'an puts it, "banished from [the face of] the earth". It is this interpretation alone that takes full account of all the expressions occurring in this verse - the reference to "great numbers" in connection with deeds of extreme violence, the "banishment from the earth", and, lastly, the fact that these horrors are expressed in the terms used by Pharaoh, the "enemy of God".

The punishment for those who wage war against Allah and His Rasool and strive to create mischief in the land is death or crucifixion or the cutting off their hands and feet from opposite sides or exile from the land based on the gravity of their offense. This will be their humiliation in this world and in the Hereafter they will have grievous punishment,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

save for such [of them] as repent ere you [O believers] become more powerful than they:⁴⁶ for you must know that God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e. before belief in God and in the ethical principles decreed by Him becomes prevalent: for, in that event, repentance on the part of "those who make war on God and His apostle" would be no more than an act of conforming to the dominant trend and, therefore, of no moral value whatever. It is to be noted that the exemption from suffering relates to the hereafter.

except those who repent before you apprehend them, in such a case, you should know that Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Save those who repent before ye overpower them. For know that Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

O YOU who have attained to faith! Remain conscious of God, and seek to come closer unto Him, and strive hard in His cause, so that you might attain to a happy state.

  - Mohammad Asad

O believers! Fear Allah and seek the means to be closer to Him and make Jihad (struggle) in His Way so that you may be successful.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

O ye who believe! Be mindful of your duty to Allah, and seek the way of approach unto Him, and strive in His way in order that ye may succeed.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall