Surah 80. Abasa

NAY, VERILY, these [messages] are but a reminder:⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., of the existence and omnipotence of God. The Qur'an is described here, as in many other places, as "a reminder" because it is meant to bring man's instinctive - though sometimes hazy or unconscious - realization of God's existence into the full light of consciousness. (Cf. 7:172 and the corresponding note [139].)

It should not be so! Indeed, this is but an admonition;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But no! This 'revelation' is truly a reminder.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nay, but verily it is an Admonishment,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

By no means (should it be so)! For it is indeed a Message of instruction: ⁵⁹⁵⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Allah's Message is a universal Message, from which no one is to be excluded, rich or poor, old or young, great or lowly, learned or ignorant. If anyone had the spiritual craving that needed satisfaction, he was to be given precedence if there was to be any question of precedence at all.

and so, whoever is willing may remember Him

  - Mohammad Asad

let him who wants, accept it.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So let whoever wills be mindful of it.

  - Mustafa Khattab

So let whosoever will pay heed to it,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Therefore let who will keep it in remembrance.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

in [the light of His] revelations blest with dignity,

  - Mohammad Asad

It is written in scrolls, which are honored,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

It is 'written' on pages held in honour-

  - Mustafa Khattab

On honored leaves

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

(It is) in Books held (greatly) in honor. ⁵⁹⁵⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

At the time this Sura was revealed, there were perhaps only about 42 or 45 Suras in the hands of the Muslims. But it was a sufficient body of Revelation of high spiritual value, to which the discription given here could be applied. It was held in the highest honor; its place in the hearts of Muslims was more exalted than that of anything else; as Allah's Word, it was pure and sacred; and those who transcribed it were men who were honorable, just and pious. The legend that the early Suras were not carefully written down and preserved in books is a pure invention. The recensions made later in the time of the first and the third Khalifas were merely to preserve the purity and safeguard the arrangement of the text at a time when the expansion of Islam among non-Arabic-speaking people made such precautions necessary.

lofty and pure,

  - Mohammad Asad

exalted, purified,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

highly esteemed, purified-

  - Mustafa Khattab

Exalted, purified,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Exalted (in dignity) kept pure and holy

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

[borne] by the hands of messengers

  - Mohammad Asad

and which remain in the hands of scribes,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

by the hands of angel-scribes,

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Set down) by scribes

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

(Written) by the hands of scribes

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

noble and most virtuous.

  - Mohammad Asad

who are noble and virtuous.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

honourable and virtuous.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Noble and righteous.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Honorable and Pious and Just.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

[But only too often] man destroys himself:⁵ how stubbornly does he deny the truth!

  - Mohammad Asad

For my rendering of qutila as "he destroys himself", see surah {74}, note [9].

Woe to man! What a disbeliever he is!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Condemned are 'disbelieving' humans! How ungrateful they are 'to Allah'!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Man is (self) destroyed: how ungrateful!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Woe to man! what hath made him reject Allah?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

[Does man ever consider] out of what substance [God] creates him?

  - Mohammad Asad

Out of what Allah has created him?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

From what substance did He create them?

  - Mustafa Khattab

From what thing doth He create him?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

From what stuff Hath He created him?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Out of a drop of sperm He creates him, and thereupon determines his nature,⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., in accordance with the organic functions which man's body and mind are to fulfil, and the natural conditions to which he will have to adapt himself. Verses {18-22}, although formulated in the past tense, obviously describe a recurrent phenomenon.

Out of a semen-drop! Allah created him and then fashioned him in due proportion,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He created them from a sperm-drop, and ordained their development.

  - Mustafa Khattab

From a drop of seed. He createth him and proportioneth him,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

From a sperm-drop: He hath created him and then mouldeth him in due proportions; ⁵⁹⁵⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. lxxvi. 2, and n. 5832. The origin of man as an animal is lowly indeed. But what further faculties and capacities has not Allah granted to man? Besides his animal body, in which also he shares in all the blessings which Allah has bestowed on the rest of His Creation, man has been granted divine gifts which entitle him to be called the Vicegerent on earth: ii. 30. He has a will; he has spiritual perception; he is capable of divine love; he can control nature within certain limits, and subject nature's forces to his own use. And he has been given the power of judgment, so that he can avoid excess and defect, and follow the middle path. And that path, as well as all that is necessary for his life in its manifold aspects, has been made easy for him.

and then makes it easy for him to go through life;⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "He makes easy the way for him". This is an allusion to man's being endowed with the intellectual equipment enabling him to discern between good and evil and to make fruitful use of the opportunities offered to him by his earthly environment.

then makes his way of life smooth for him,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then He makes the way easy for them,¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The way to true guidance or the way out of their mothers’ wombs.

Then maketh the way easy for him,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then doth He make His path smooth for him;

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

and in the end He causes him to die and brings him to the grave;

  - Mohammad Asad

then causes him to die and stows him in a grave.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

then causes them to die and be buried.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Burial is perceived as a way of honouring human beings after their death.

Then causeth him to die, and burieth him;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then He causeth him to die and putteth him in his Grave; ⁵⁹⁵⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xx. 55. Death is an inevitable event after the brief life on this earth, but it is also in a sense a blessing, a release from the imperfections of this world, a close of the probationary period, after which will dawn the full Reality. "The Grave" may be understood to be the period between physical death and immortal Life, whatever may be the mode of disposal of the dead body. This intermediate period is the Barzakh or Partition: see n. 2940 to xxiii. 101.

and then, if it be His will, He shall raise him again to life.

  - Mohammad Asad

Then He will surely bring him back to life when He pleases.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then when He wills, He will resurrect them.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then, when He will, He bringeth him again to life.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then when it is His will He will raise him up (again).

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Nay, but [man] has never yet fulfilled what He has enjoined upon him!⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

In other words, man has failed to make adequate use of the intellectual and spiritual endowment referred to in verse {20}. Whereas some commentators are of the opinion that this relates only to the type of man spoken of in verse {17} above, others maintain, with greater plausibility, that it is a reference to man in general - thus: "No human being has ever fulfilled all that was imposed on him as a [moral] duty" (Mujahid, as quoted by Tabari, with a similar statement attributed by Baghawi to Al-Hasan al-Basri); or "From the time of Adam to this time, no human being has ever been free of shortcomings" (Zamakhshari, Baydawi). This is in tune with the Qur'anic doctrine that perfection is an attribute of God alone.

By no means has he fulfilled the duty that Allah had assigned him.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But no! They have failed to comply with what He ordered.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nay, but (man) hath not done what He commanded him.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

By no means hath he fulfilled what Allah Hath commanded him. ⁵⁹⁵⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Though all these blessings and stages have been provided by Allah's Grace for the good of man, yet unregenerate man fails in carrying out the purpose of his creation and life.

Let man, then, consider [the sources of] his food:

  - Mohammad Asad

Let man reflect on the food he eats,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Let people then consider their food:

  - Mustafa Khattab

Let man consider his food:

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then let man look at his Food (and how We provide it): ⁵⁹⁶⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

After a reference to man's inner history, there is now a reference to just one item in his daily outer life, his food: and it is shown how the forces of heaven and earth unite by Allah's Command to serve man and his dependants. "A provision for you and your cattle" (verse 32 below). If that is the case with just one item, food, how much more comprehensive is Allah's beneficence when the whole of man's needs are considered!

[how it is] that We pour down water, pouring it down abundantly;

  - Mohammad Asad

How We pour down rainwater in abundance

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

how We pour down rain in abundance

  - Mustafa Khattab

How We pour water in showers

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For that We pour forth water in abundance

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali