🕋 تفسير سورة يس
(Ya-Sin) • المصدر: EN-AL-JALALAYN
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ يس
📘 Yā sīn God knows best what He means by these letters.
وَسَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
📘 And it is the same to them whether you warn them read a-andhartuhum pronouncing both hamzas; or by substituting an alif for the second one; or by not pronouncing the second one but inserting an alif between the one not pronounced and the other one or without the insertion or do not warn them they will not believe.
إِنَّمَا تُنْذِرُ مَنِ اتَّبَعَ الذِّكْرَ وَخَشِيَ الرَّحْمَٰنَ بِالْغَيْبِ ۖ فَبَشِّرْهُ بِمَغْفِرَةٍ وَأَجْرٍ كَرِيمٍ
📘 You can only warn in other words your warning will only benefit him who follows the Remembrance the Qur’ān and fears the Compassionate One in secret who fears Him despite not having seen Him; so give him the good tidings of forgiveness and a noble reward namely Paradise.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ وَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَدَّمُوا وَآثَارَهُمْ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَيْءٍ أَحْصَيْنَاهُ فِي إِمَامٍ مُبِينٍ
📘 Truly it is We Who bring the dead to life for the resurrection and record in the Preserved Tablet what they have sent ahead during their lives of good or evil that they may be requited for it and their vestiges what conduct was followed after them as good practice. And everything kulla shay’in is in the accusative because of the verb that governs it and is the following We have numbered We have recorded precisely in a clear register a clear Book namely the Preserved Tablet.
وَاضْرِبْ لَهُمْ مَثَلًا أَصْحَابَ الْقَرْيَةِ إِذْ جَاءَهَا الْمُرْسَلُونَ
📘 And strike for them as a similitude mathalan is the first direct object the inhabitants ashāba is the second direct object of the town of Antioch Antākya when the messengers namely Jesus’s disciples came to it idh jā’ahā’l-mursalūna is an inclusive substitution for ashāba’l-qaryati ‘the inhabitants of the town’.
إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمُ اثْنَيْنِ فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا فَعَزَّزْنَا بِثَالِثٍ فَقَالُوا إِنَّا إِلَيْكُمْ مُرْسَلُونَ
📘 When We sent to them two men and they denied them both from idh arsalnā ilayhim ithnayni fa-kadhdhabūhumā to the end is a substitution for the previous idh ‘when’ so We reinforced them read fa-‘azaznā or fa-‘azzaznā in other words We reinforced the two men with a third and they said ‘We have indeed been sent to you by God’.
قَالُوا مَا أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُنَا وَمَا أَنْزَلَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِنْ أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا تَكْذِبُونَ
📘 They said ‘You are nothing but humans like us and the Compassionate One has revealed nothing. You are only lying!’
قَالُوا رَبُّنَا يَعْلَمُ إِنَّا إِلَيْكُمْ لَمُرْسَلُونَ
📘 They said ‘Our Lord knows qālū rabbunā ya‘lamu functions like an oath. Emphasis is intensified by this oath and also by the addition of the lām to what was before simply mursalūna ‘we have been sent’ to counter their intensified denial that we have indeed been sent to you by Him!
وَمَا عَلَيْنَا إِلَّا الْبَلَاغُ الْمُبِينُ
📘 And our duty is only to communicate in clear terms’ to deliver the Message clearly and manifestly with plain proofs such as the curing of the blind the leper and the diseased and the bringing of the dead back to life.
قَالُوا إِنَّا تَطَيَّرْنَا بِكُمْ ۖ لَئِنْ لَمْ تَنْتَهُوا لَنَرْجُمَنَّكُمْ وَلَيَمَسَّنَّكُمْ مِنَّا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
📘 They said ‘We augur ill of you for we have been deprived of rain because of you. If la-in the lām is for oaths you do not desist we will surely stone you and there shall befall you at our hands a painful chastisement’.
قَالُوا طَائِرُكُمْ مَعَكُمْ ۚ أَئِنْ ذُكِّرْتُمْ ۚ بَلْ أَنْتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُسْرِفُونَ
📘 They said ‘May your augury of ill be with you! as punishment for your disbelief. What! Even if a-in the interrogative hamza has been added to the conditional in ‘if’ the hamza may be pronounced or elided but in both cases add an alif between it and the other one it be that you are being reminded? even if you are being admonished and made to fear God’s chastisement? the response to the conditional has been omitted that is to say ‘do you augur ill and disbelieve even if it be that you are being admonished?’ and this response constitutes the object of the interrogative which is meant rhetorically as a rebuke. Nay but you are a profligate people!’ who transgressing the bounds set by God with your practice of idolatry.
وَالْقُرْآنِ الْحَكِيمِ
📘 By the Definitive Qur’ān made definitive by its marvellous arrangement and unique meanings
وَجَاءَ مِنْ أَقْصَى الْمَدِينَةِ رَجُلٌ يَسْعَىٰ قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اتَّبِعُوا الْمُرْسَلِينَ
📘 And there came a man from the furthest part of the city — this was Habīb the carpenter who had believed in these messengers and whose house lay at the far end of the city — hastening with a hurried pace after he had heard that the people had denied the messengers. He said ‘O my people follow the messengers!
اتَّبِعُوا مَنْ لَا يَسْأَلُكُمْ أَجْرًا وَهُمْ مُهْتَدُونَ
📘 Follow ittabi‘ū this reiterates the preceding ittabi‘ū them who do not ask you for any reward in return for delivering to you the message and who are rightly guided. And so he was asked ‘Do you follow their religion?’ So he replied
وَمَا لِيَ لَا أَعْبُدُ الَّذِي فَطَرَنِي وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
📘 And why should I not worship Him Who originated me Him Who created me — in other words there is nothing to prevent me from worshipping Him when the necessitating factors for this exist and the same applies to you — and to Whom you shall be returned? after death whereupon He will requite you for your disbelief.
أَأَتَّخِذُ مِنْ دُونِهِ آلِهَةً إِنْ يُرِدْنِ الرَّحْمَٰنُ بِضُرٍّ لَا تُغْنِ عَنِّي شَفَاعَتُهُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَا يُنْقِذُونِ
📘 Shall I take a-attakhidu regarding the two hamzas here the same applies as mentioned with regard to a-andhartuhum above; this is an interrogative meant as a denial besides Him in other words other than Him other gods idols whose intercession that intercession of theirs which you assert if the Compassionate One should wish me any harm will not avail me in any way nor will they be able to save me? wa-lā yunqidhūn is an adjectival qualification of ālihatan ‘gods’.
إِنِّي إِذًا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ
📘 Truly then in other words in the case of me worshipping gods other than God I would be in manifest error.
إِنِّي آمَنْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَاسْمَعُونِ
📘 Lo! I believe in your Lord. So listen to me!’ in other words hear what I have to say; but they stoned him and he died.
قِيلَ ادْخُلِ الْجَنَّةَ ۖ قَالَ يَا لَيْتَ قَوْمِي يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 It was said to him upon his death ‘Enter Paradise!’ — but it is also said that he entered it while he was still alive. He said ‘O yā is for calling attention to something would that my people knew
بِمَا غَفَرَ لِي رَبِّي وَجَعَلَنِي مِنَ الْمُكْرَمِينَ
📘 with what munificence my Lord has forgiven me would that they knew of His great forgiveness and made me of the honoured ones!’
۞ وَمَا أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ مِنْ جُنْدٍ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَمَا كُنَّا مُنْزِلِينَ
📘 And We did not send mā here is for negation down on his people namely Habīb’s after him after his death any host from the heaven that is any angels to destroy them nor do We ever send down any angels to destroy anyone.
إِنْ كَانَتْ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ خَامِدُونَ
📘 It their punishment was but one Cry — Gabriel gave a cry to them — and lo! they were extinguished silent dead.
إِنَّكَ لَمِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
📘 you O Muhammad (s) are indeed of those sent by God
يَا حَسْرَةً عَلَى الْعِبَادِ ۚ مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ
📘 Ah the anguish for servants such as these and their like from among those who denied the messengers and were destroyed this word hasra denotes ‘extreme agony’; the vocative here is being used metaphorically in other words ‘It is time for you O anguish so come now!’. Never did a messenger come to them but that they mocked him this statement is given as an explanation of the cause thereof of the ‘agony’ since it the statement entails their mockery which itself results in their being destroyed and which in turn is the cause of the ‘anguish’.
أَلَمْ يَرَوْا كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُمْ مِنَ الْقُرُونِ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ لَا يَرْجِعُونَ
📘 Have they — that is those inhabitants of Mecca who said to the Prophet ‘You have not been sent by God!’ Q. 1343 — not seen not come to know the interrogative is meant rhetorically as an affirmative how many kam here is predicative as opposed to interrogative in other words it is to be understood as kathīran ‘many’; it is operated by the statement that comes next below and it comments on the operative clause for the statement that preceded it; the meaning then is as follows indeed many generations communities We have destroyed before them how that they the ones destroyed never return? to those deniers who are now alive? So will they not learn from their example? from annahum ‘how that they’ to the end of the verse is a substitution for the preceding clause kam ahlaknā qablahum mina’l-qurūni bearing in mind the aforementioned general meaning.
وَإِنْ كُلٌّ لَمَّا جَمِيعٌ لَدَيْنَا مُحْضَرُونَ
📘 And indeed in is either for negation or is in its softened form every one of them that is every single creature kullun is the subject will be gathered jamī‘un is the predicate of the subject before Us at the Scene following their resurrection arraigned muhdarūna is a second predicate for the Reckoning read lammā with the sense of illā or lamā with the lām functioning as a separator and the mā being extra.
وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ الْأَرْضُ الْمَيْتَةُ أَحْيَيْنَاهَا وَأَخْرَجْنَا مِنْهَا حَبًّا فَمِنْهُ يَأْكُلُونَ
📘 And a sign for them of the truth of resurrection wa-āyatun lahum is a preceding predicate is the dead earth read maytatu or mayyitatu which We revive with water ahyaynāhā is the subject and out of which We bring forth grain such as wheat so that they eat thereof;
وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا جَنَّاتٍ مِنْ نَخِيلٍ وَأَعْنَابٍ وَفَجَّرْنَا فِيهَا مِنَ الْعُيُونِ
📘 and We have placed therein gardens orchards of date-palms and vines and We have caused a number of springs to gush forth therein
لِيَأْكُلُوا مِنْ ثَمَرِهِ وَمَا عَمِلَتْهُ أَيْدِيهِمْ ۖ أَفَلَا يَشْكُرُونَ
📘 that they might eat of its fruits read thamarihi or thumurihi in other words of the fruits of the mentioned date-palms and otherwise; but it was not their hands that made it namely they did not cultivate the fruits. Will they not then give thanks? for His favours to them exalted be He?
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْأَزْوَاجَ كُلَّهَا مِمَّا تُنْبِتُ الْأَرْضُ وَمِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَمِمَّا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 Glory be to Him Who created all the pairs the specimens of what the earth produces of seeds and other things and of themselves of males and females and of what they do not know of marvellous and strange creatures.
وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُمْ مُظْلِمُونَ
📘 And a sign for them of the tremendous power of God is the night from which We strip We separate the day and behold they find themselves in darkness passing into the darkness of the night.
وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ
📘 And the sun which runs from wa’l-shamsu tajrī to the end of the statement is subsumed by the introductory wa-āyatun lahum ‘and a sign for them’; alternatively it constitutes another sign for them; similar is the case with wa’l-qamara ‘and the moon’ further below to its resting-place in other words it does not overstep it. That namely its running is the ordaining of the Mighty in His kingdom the Knower of His creation.
وَالْقَمَرَ قَدَّرْنَاهُ مَنَازِلَ حَتَّىٰ عَادَ كَالْعُرْجُونِ الْقَدِيمِ
📘 And the moon — read wa’l-qamaru in the nominative or wa’l-qamara in the accusative; and it may be in the accusative because of a following verb that governs it We have determined it with respect to its course to run in phases — twenty eight phases in twenty eight nights of every month; it becomes concealed for two nights when the month has thirty days and for one night when it has twenty nine days — until it returns during its final phase seeming to the human eye like an aged palm-bough in other words like the stalk with a date cluster when it ages becoming delicate arched and yellowish.
عَلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ
📘 on a ‘alā is semantically connected to the preceding statement straight path that is you follow the way of the prophets before you enjoining the affirmation of God’s Oneness and guidance the emphasis expressed by the oath in ‘by the definitive Qur’ān’ and the remainder of the statement is a response to the disbelievers’ saying to him ‘You have not been sent by God!’ Q. 1343.
لَا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ وَلَا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ۚ وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ
📘 It does not behove — it is neither facilitated nor is it right for — the sun to catch up with the moon and so appear together with it at night nor may the night outrun the day and thus it the night never arrives before the latter ends and each kullun the nunation compensates for the missing genitive annexation that would have been constructed with al-shams ‘the sun’ al-qamar ‘the moon’ and al-nujūm ‘the stars’ of these is in an orbit swimming moving — these celestial bodies are being treated as though they were rational beings.
وَآيَةٌ لَهُمْ أَنَّا حَمَلْنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ فِي الْفُلْكِ الْمَشْحُونِ
📘 And a sign for them of Our power is that We carried their seed dhurriyatahum a variant reading has dhurriyyātihim that is to say their original ancestors in the laden Ark that is Noah’s fully-loaded ship
وَخَلَقْنَا لَهُمْ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ مَا يَرْكَبُونَ
📘 and We have created for them the like of it that is the like of Noah’s Ark namely the small and large ships resembling it which they have made by the instruction of God exalted be He in which they ride.
وَإِنْ نَشَأْ نُغْرِقْهُمْ فَلَا صَرِيخَ لَهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْقَذُونَ
📘 And if We will We drown them despite the existence of ships for them to ride safely in whereat they have no one to call to none to succour them nor are they rescued delivered —
إِلَّا رَحْمَةً مِنَّا وَمَتَاعًا إِلَىٰ حِينٍ
📘 except by a mercy from Us and for an enjoyment until some time in other words they can only be saved by Our showing them mercy and Our permitting them to enjoy those pleasures of theirs until their terms of life are concluded.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّقُوا مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَمَا خَلْفَكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
📘 And when it is said to them ‘Beware of that which is before you of the chastisement of this world as it is said to others and that which is behind you of the chastisement of the Hereafter that perhaps you might find mercy’ they turn away in aversion.
وَمَا تَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ آيَةٍ مِنْ آيَاتِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَّا كَانُوا عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ
📘 And never did a sign of the signs of their Lord come to them but that they turned away from it.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ أَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ قَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنُطْعِمُ مَنْ لَوْ يَشَاءُ اللَّهُ أَطْعَمَهُ إِنْ أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ
📘 And when it is said that is when the poor ones from among the Companions of the Prophet say to them ‘Expend on us of what God has provided you’ of wealth those who disbelieve say to those who believe in mockery of them ‘Are we to feed those whom if God willed He would feed? as you are wont to believe? You in saying this to us together with this believe of yours are only in manifest error!’ — as an explicit declaration of their disbelief this statement is very effective in the way that it has been expressed.
وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَٰذَا الْوَعْدُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
📘 And they say ‘When will this promise of resurrection be fulfilled if you are being truthful?’ therein.
مَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً تَأْخُذُهُمْ وَهُمْ يَخِصِّمُونَ
📘 God exalted be He says They await but a single Cry namely the cry of Isrāfīl’s First Blast that will seize them while they are disputing read yakhassimūna which is actually yakhtasimūna where the vowel of the tā’ has been moved to the khā’ and it the tā’ has been assimilated with the sād in other words while they are oblivious to it busily engaged in disputes concluding bargains eating and drinking and so on; a variant reading has yakhsimūna similar in pattern to yadribūna in which case the meaning is while they dispute with one another.
تَنْزِيلَ الْعَزِيزِ الرَّحِيمِ
📘 A revelation from the Mighty in His kingdom the Merciful to His creatures tanzīla’l-‘azīzi’l-rahīm is the predicate of an implicit subject namely al-qur’ān
فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ تَوْصِيَةً وَلَا إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهِمْ يَرْجِعُونَ
📘 Then they will not be able to make any testament that is to make a bequest nor will they return to their folk from their markets and their businesses rather they will die then and there.
وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَإِذَا هُمْ مِنَ الْأَجْدَاثِ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَنْسِلُونَ
📘 And the Trumpet is blown — this is the Horn — at the second Blast for the Resurrection to take place; between the two Blasts is an interval of forty years; and lo! they those interred will be scrambling out of their graves towards their Lord emerging therefrom hurriedly.
قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا مَنْ بَعَثَنَا مِنْ مَرْقَدِنَا ۜ ۗ هَٰذَا مَا وَعَدَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ وَصَدَقَ الْمُرْسَلُونَ
📘 They the disbelievers among them will say ‘O yā is for calling attention to something woe to us! waylanā means halākanā ‘O our destruction!’ and it is a verbal noun which has no regular verbal conjugation Who has raised us from our place of sleep? they say this because they will have been asleep in the interval between the two blasts and will not have been punished yet. This that is this raising is that which the Compassionate One had promised and regarding which the messengers had spoken the truth’ they affirm this truth when such affirmation is no longer of any benefit to them — but it is also said that this is said to them.
إِنْ كَانَتْ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ جَمِيعٌ لَدَيْنَا مُحْضَرُونَ
📘 It is but a single Cry and behold they will all be arraigned before Us!
فَالْيَوْمَ لَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا وَلَا تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
📘 So today no soul shall be wronged in any way and you shall not be requited except the requital of what you used to do.
إِنَّ أَصْحَابَ الْجَنَّةِ الْيَوْمَ فِي شُغُلٍ فَاكِهُونَ
📘 Indeed today the inhabitants of Paradise are busy read fī shughlin or fī shughulin oblivious to what the inhabitants of the Fire are suffering busy delighting in pleasures such as deflowering virgins — not busy with anything wearisome as there is no toil in Paradise — rejoicing blissful fākihūna is a second predicate of inna the first being fī shugulin ‘busy’;
هُمْ وَأَزْوَاجُهُمْ فِي ظِلَالٍ عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ مُتَّكِئُونَ
📘 they hum the subject and their spouses beneath the shade zilāl is the plural of zulla or zill and is the predicate in other words no blinding sunlight affects them reclining upon muttaki’ūna is a second predicate connected to ‘alā ‘upon’ couches arā’ik is the plural of arīka which is a bed inside a curtained canopy or the bedding therein.
لَهُمْ فِيهَا فَاكِهَةٌ وَلَهُمْ مَا يَدَّعُونَ
📘 They have fruits therein and therein they have whatever they call for whatever they wish for.
سَلَامٌ قَوْلًا مِنْ رَبٍّ رَحِيمٍ
📘 “Peace!” salāmun is a subject — the word qawlan is its predicate that is peace by way of a word from a Lord Who is Merciful to them in other words He says to them ‘Peace be on you!’
وَامْتَازُوا الْيَوْمَ أَيُّهَا الْمُجْرِمُونَ
📘 And He says ‘Stand apart O you sinners on this day! in other words separate yourselves from the believers — said to them upon their mingling with the latter.
لِتُنْذِرَ قَوْمًا مَا أُنْذِرَ آبَاؤُهُمْ فَهُمْ غَافِلُونَ
📘 that you may warn therewith a people qawman connected to tanzīla ‘a revelation’ whose fathers were not warned in the period of the interval al-fatra so they this people are oblivious to faith and right guidance.
۞ أَلَمْ أَعْهَدْ إِلَيْكُمْ يَا بَنِي آدَمَ أَنْ لَا تَعْبُدُوا الشَّيْطَانَ ۖ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
📘 Did I not charge you command you O children of Adam by the tongues of My messengers that you should not worship Satan that you should not obey him; truly he is a manifest enemy to you one whose enmity is evident
وَأَنِ اعْبُدُونِي ۚ هَٰذَا صِرَاطٌ مُسْتَقِيمٌ
📘 and that you should worship Me and that you should affirm My Oneness and obey Me — that is the straight path?
وَلَقَدْ أَضَلَّ مِنْكُمْ جِبِلًّا كَثِيرًا ۖ أَفَلَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْقِلُونَ
📘 For verily he has led astray from among you many a creature jibillan is the plural of jabīl similar in pattern to qadīm ‘old’; a variant reading has jubulan. Did you not use to comprehend? his enmity and his misguidance or the chastisements that befell them and so believe? And it will be said to them in the Hereafter
هَٰذِهِ جَهَنَّمُ الَّتِي كُنْتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ
📘 This is Hell which you were promised!
اصْلَوْهَا الْيَوْمَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْفُرُونَ
📘 Burn therein today as chastisement for that which you used to reject!’
الْيَوْمَ نَخْتِمُ عَلَىٰ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَتُكَلِّمُنَا أَيْدِيهِمْ وَتَشْهَدُ أَرْجُلُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ
📘 Today We shall seal up their mouths namely the mouths of the disbelievers for their saying By God our Lord we were never idolaters!’ Q. 623; and their hands shall speak to Us and their feet shall bear witness as will other parts of their bodies concerning what they used to earn and so each limb will speak of that sinful action which issued from it.
وَلَوْ نَشَاءُ لَطَمَسْنَا عَلَىٰ أَعْيُنِهِمْ فَاسْتَبَقُوا الصِّرَاطَ فَأَنَّىٰ يُبْصِرُونَ
📘 And had We willed We would have obliterated their eyesight We would have rendered them blind by obliterating them then they would have tried to advance towards the path to be on their way as usual but how would they have seen? then. In other words they would not have been to see.
وَلَوْ نَشَاءُ لَمَسَخْنَاهُمْ عَلَىٰ مَكَانَتِهِمْ فَمَا اسْتَطَاعُوا مُضِيًّا وَلَا يَرْجِعُونَ
📘 And had We willed We would have transformed them into apes or swine or stones in their place makānatihim variant reading has makānātihim the plural of makāna meaning makān in other words ‘in their dwellings’; then they would have neither been able to go ahead nor to return in other words they would not then be able to come and go.
وَمَنْ نُعَمِّرْهُ نُنَكِّسْهُ فِي الْخَلْقِ ۖ أَفَلَا يَعْقِلُونَ
📘 And whomever We give long life by prolonging his term of life We cause him to regress nankushu; a variant reading has 2nd verbal form nunakkishu derived from al-tankīs in creation that is in terms of his physical form so that after having enjoyed strength and youth he becomes feeble and decrepit. Will they then not understand? that One Who is able to effect such a state — with which they are familiar — is also able to resurrect that they might then become believers? a variant reading for ya‘qilūna ‘they understand’ has the second person plural ta‘qilūna ‘you understand’.
وَمَا عَلَّمْنَاهُ الشِّعْرَ وَمَا يَنْبَغِي لَهُ ۚ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرٌ وَقُرْآنٌ مُبِينٌ
📘 And We did not teach him that is the Prophet poetry — this was revealed to refute their saying ‘This Qur’ān that he has brought is but poetry!’ — nor is it poetry seemly nor is it facilitated for him. It — that which he has brought — is just Remembrance an admonition and a Qur’ān that clarifies that manifests God’s rulings and other matters;
لَقَدْ حَقَّ الْقَوْلُ عَلَىٰ أَكْثَرِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
📘 The word for chastisement has already proved true it has become due for most of them for they in other words most of them will not believe.
لِيُنْذِرَ مَنْ كَانَ حَيًّا وَيَحِقَّ الْقَوْلُ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ
📘 that he may warn li-yundhira; or read li-tundhira ‘that you may warn’ therewith whoever is alive able to comprehend what is being said to him — and such are the believers — and that the Word of chastisement from God may be fulfilled against the disbelievers who are like the dead unable to comprehend what is said to them.
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّا خَلَقْنَا لَهُمْ مِمَّا عَمِلَتْ أَيْدِينَا أَنْعَامًا فَهُمْ لَهَا مَالِكُونَ
📘 Or have they not seen have they not realised the interrogative is meant as an affirmative and the wāw inserted therein in a-wa-lam is for supplementation that We have created for them and for all human beings of what Our hands worked of what We have made without any partner or helper cattle namely camels cows and sheep so that they are their owners? masters controlling them.
وَذَلَّلْنَاهَا لَهُمْ فَمِنْهَا رَكُوبُهُمْ وَمِنْهَا يَأْكُلُونَ
📘 And We have subdued We have disposed these cattle for them so that some of them provide rides for them and some of them they eat.
وَلَهُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ وَمَشَارِبُ ۖ أَفَلَا يَشْكُرُونَ
📘 And there are other benefits for them therein such as their wool fur and hairs and drinks made from their milk mashārib is the plural of mashrab meaning shurb ‘a drink’; or what is meant is the place from which the drink issues. Will they not then give thanks? to the One Who has bestowed these graces upon them and so become believers? In other words they do not do any of this.
وَاتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ آلِهَةً لَعَلَّهُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ
📘 And they have taken besides God in other words other than Him other gods idols which they worship that perhaps they might be helped protected against God’s chastisement by their gods’ interceding for them as they are wont to claim.
لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَهُمْ وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ
📘 They their gods cannot help them — they are being treated as though they were rational beings — and they their idol gods are their host as they claim their supporters ever-present but in the Fire together with them.
فَلَا يَحْزُنْكَ قَوْلُهُمْ ۘ إِنَّا نَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ
📘 So do not be grieved by their remarks to you that you have not been sent by God and otherwise. Assuredly We know what they conceal and what they proclaim in this respect and otherwise and We will requite them accordingly.
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الْإِنْسَانُ أَنَّا خَلَقْنَاهُ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُبِينٌ
📘 Or has man — namely the like of al-‘Āsī b. Wā’il — not seen has he not realised that We created him from a drop of sperm and so on in stages until We made him powerful and strong. Then lo! he is an open adversary severely antagonistic towards Us openly making this manifest by his denial of resurrection.
وَضَرَبَ لَنَا مَثَلًا وَنَسِيَ خَلْقَهُ ۖ قَالَ مَنْ يُحْيِي الْعِظَامَ وَهِيَ رَمِيمٌ
📘 And he strikes for Us a similitude in this respect and forgets the manner of his creation from a sperm-drop a thing more curious than his similitude; he says ‘Who will revive the bones when they are rot?’ in other words when they have become withered He does not say ramīmatun ‘decayed’ because it ramīmun ‘rot’ is a noun and not an adjective. It is reported that he al-‘Āsī took some withered bones and crushed them into pieces and said to the Prophet s ‘Do you think that God can revive these bones after they have decayed and become rot?’ And so the Prophet s said ‘Yes indeed! And He will also throw you into the Fire’.
قُلْ يُحْيِيهَا الَّذِي أَنْشَأَهَا أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ خَلْقٍ عَلِيمٌ
📘 Say ‘He will revive them Who originated them the first time and He is Knower of all creation of every single creature generally and in detail before and after it has been created —
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا فِي أَعْنَاقِهِمْ أَغْلَالًا فَهِيَ إِلَى الْأَذْقَانِ فَهُمْ مُقْمَحُونَ
📘 Indeed We have put fetters around their necks to bind to them their hands because ghull is a fetter that shackles the hands to the neck such that they the hands are bound up to the chins adhqān is the plural of dhaqan which is where the two sides of the beard meet so that their heads are upturned they are unable to lower them this statement is figurative and is meant to indicate their inability to yield to faith or to lower their heads to it.
الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمْ مِنَ الشَّجَرِ الْأَخْضَرِ نَارًا فَإِذَا أَنْتُمْ مِنْهُ تُوقِدُونَ
📘 He Who has made for you and for all human beings fire from the green tree namely from the markh and ‘afār variety or from all trees except for the jujube ‘unnāb and behold from it you kindle’ from it you strike fire this is proof of the power of God to resurrect for in this example of the green tree He has combined the elements of water fire and wood; but neither the water extinguishes the fire nor does the fire ignite the wood.
أَوَلَيْسَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِقَادِرٍ عَلَىٰ أَنْ يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُمْ ۚ بَلَىٰ وَهُوَ الْخَلَّاقُ الْعَلِيمُ
📘 Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth in all their immensity able to create the like of them? namely human beings in all their minuteness? Yes indeed He is able to do this — God Himself replies here. And He is the Creator khallāq means Creator of many things the Knower of all things.
إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ
📘 His command His affair when He wills a thing that is when He will to create something is just to say to it ‘Be’ and it is a variant reading for fa-yakūnu has fa-yakūna as a supplement to yaqūla ‘to say’.
فَسُبْحَانَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ مَلَكُوتُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
📘 So glory be to Him in Whose hand is the dominion of all things malakūt means mulk the wāw and tā’ have been added for hyperbole and to Whom you will be returned restored in the Hereafter.
وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا فَأَغْشَيْنَاهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ
📘 And We have set before them a barrier read saddan or suddan in both instances and behind them a barrier; so We have covered them so they do not see — this is also figurative depicting the way in which the paths of faith are closed to them.
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