Surah 21. Al-Anbiya

CLOSER DRAWS unto men their reckoning: and yet they remain stubbornly heedless [of its approach].¹

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "and yet in [their] heedlessness they are obstinate (mu'ridun)".

The Day of Accountability for mankind is getting closer and closer, yet they are heedless and are turning away from the admonition.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Their reckoning draweth nigh for mankind, while they turn away in heedlessness.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Whenever there comes unto them any new reminder from their Sustainer, they but listen to it with playful amusement,²

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "while they are playing".

They listen with ridicule to each fresh warning that comes to them from their Rabb and remain engaged in the sports.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Never cometh there unto them a new reminder from their Lord but they listen to it while they play.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

their hearts set on passing delights; yet they who are [thus] bent on wrongdoing conceal their innermost thoughts³ [when they say to one another], "Is this [Muhammad] anything but a mortal like yourselves? Will you, then, yield to [his] spellbinding eloquence with your eyes open?"⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

See next note.

As regards my occasional rendering of sihr (lit., "sorcery" or "magic") as "spellbinding eloquence", see 74:24 , where this term occurs for the first time in the chronology of Qur'anic revelation. - By rejecting the message of the Qur'an on the specious plea that Muhammad is but a human being endowed with "spellbinding eloquence", the opponents of the Qur'anic doctrine in reality "conceal their innermost thoughts": for, their rejection is due not so much to any pertinent criticism of this doctrine as, rather, to their instinctive, deep-set unwillingness to submit to the moral and spiritual discipline which an acceptance of the Prophet's call would entail.

Their hearts are preoccupied with worldly affairs; these wrongdoers say to each other in private: "Is this man (Muhammad) not a human being like yourselves? Would you follow witchcraft with your eyes open?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

With hearts preoccupied. And they confer in secret The wrong-doers say: Is this other than a mortal like you? Will ye then succumb to magic when ye see (it)?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say:⁵ "My Sustainer knows whatever is spoken in heaven and on earth; and He alone is all-hearing, all-knowing."

  - Mohammad Asad

According to the earliest scholars of Medina and Basrah, as well as some of the scholars of Kufah, this word is spelt qul, as an imperative ("Say"), whereas some of the Meccan scholars and the majority of those of Kufah read it as aala ("He [i.e., the Prophet] said"). In the earliest copies of the Qur'an the spelling was apparently confined, in this instance, to the consonants q-l: hence the possibility of reading it either as qul or as qala. However, as Tabari points out, both these readings have the same meaning and are, therefore, equally valid, "for, when God bade Muhammad to say this, he [undoubtedly] said it....Hence, in whichever way this word is read, the reader is correct (musib as-sawab) in his reading." Among the classical commentators, Baghawi and Baydawi explicitly use the spelling qul, while Zamakhshari's short remark that "it has also been read as qala" seems to indicate his own preference for the imperative qul.

Tell them: "My Rabb has knowledge of every word which is spoken in the heavens and the earth, and He hears all and knows all."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He saith: My Lord knoweth what is spoken in the heaven and the earth. He is the Hearer, the Knower.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"Nay," they say, "[Muhammad propounds] the most involved and confusing of dreams!"⁶ - "Nay, but he has invented [all] this!" - "Nay, but he is [only] a poet!" - [and,] "Let him, then, come unto us with a miracle, just as those [prophets] of old were sent [with miracles]!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "confusing medleys (adghath) of dreams".

"Rather," some of them say, "this Qur'an is jumble of dreams!" Others say: "He has made it all up!" And yet others say: "He is a poet!" Let him bring to us a sign as did the former Rasools."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, say they, (these are but) muddled dreams; nay, he hath but invented it; nay, he is but a poet. Let him bring us a portent even as those of old (who were God's messengers) were sent (with portents).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall