بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمـٰنِ الرَّحيمِ تَبارَكَ الَّذي بِيَدِهِ المُلكُ وَهُوَ عَلىٰ كُلِّ شَيءٍ قَديرٌ

HALLOWED be He in whose hand all dominion rests, since He has the power to will anything:

الَّذي خَلَقَ المَوتَ وَالحَياةَ لِيَبلُوَكُم أَيُّكُم أَحسَنُ عَمَلًا ۚ وَهُوَ العَزيزُ الغَفورُ

He who has created death as well as life,¹ so that He might put you to a test [and thus show] which of you is best in conduct, and [make you realize that] He alone is almighty, truly forgiving.

1. 1.  Since what is termed "death" is stated here to have been created, it cannot be identical with "non-existence", but obviously must have a positive reality of its own. To my mind, it connotes, firstly, the inanimate state of existence preceding the emergence of life in plants or animated beings; and, secondly, the state of transition from life as we know it in this world to the - as yet to us unimaginable - condition off existence referred to in the Qur'an as "the hereafter" or "the life to come" (al-akhirah).

الَّذي خَلَقَ سَبعَ سَماواتٍ طِباقًا ۖ ما تَرىٰ في خَلقِ الرَّحمـٰنِ مِن تَفاوُتٍ ۖ فَارجِعِ البَصَرَ هَل تَرىٰ مِن فُطورٍ

[Hallowed be] He who has created seven heavens in full harmony with one another:² no fault will thou see in the creation of the Most Gracious. And turn thy vision [upon it] once more: canst thou see any flaw?

1. 2.  Or: "conforming [with one another]", this being the primary significance of tibaq (sing. tabaq). For the meaning of the "seven heavens", see surah 2, note 20.

ثُمَّ ارجِعِ البَصَرَ كَرَّتَينِ يَنقَلِب إِلَيكَ البَصَرُ خاسِئًا وَهُوَ حَسيرٌ

Yea, turn thy vision [upon it] again and yet again: [and every time] thy vision will fall back upon thee, dazzled and truly defeated….³

1. 3.  Sc., in its endeavour to encompass the mysteries of the universe.

وَلَقَد زَيَّنَّا السَّماءَ الدُّنيا بِمَصابيحَ وَجَعَلناها رُجومًا لِلشَّياطينِ ۖ وَأَعتَدنا لَهُم عَذابَ السَّعيرِ

And, indeed, We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with lights,⁴ and have made them the object of futile guesses for the evil ones [from among men]:⁵ and for them have We readied suffering through a blazing flame –

1. 4.  Lit., "lamps" - i.e., stars: cf. 37:6, "We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with the beauty of stars".
2. 5.  For the wider meaning of shayatin - a term which in this context points specifically to "the satans from among mankind, that is, the astrologers" (Baydawi) - see surah 15, note 16. As regards the term rajm (pl. rujum), which literally denotes the "throwing [of something] like a stone" - i.e., at random - it is often used metaphorically in the sense of "speaking conjecturally" or "making [something] the object of guesswork" (Jawhari, Raghib - the latter connecting this metaphor explicitly with the above verse -, Lisan al-'Arab, Qamus, Taj al-'Arus, etc.). Cf. also 37:6.

وَلِلَّذينَ كَفَروا بِرَبِّهِم عَذابُ جَهَنَّمَ ۖ وَبِئسَ المَصيرُ

for, suffering in hell awaits all who are [thus] bent on blaspheming against their Sustainer:⁶ and how vile a journey's end!

1. 6.  I.e., by presuming to know what will happen in the future - a knowledge which rests with God alone. This connects with the statement in verse 4 that man can never truly unravel the mysteries of cosmic space ("the heavens"), which in its turn implies that he should not presume to foretell terrestrial events from the position and the aspects of the stars. Since only God knows "that which is beyond the reach of a created being's perception" (al-ghayb), any such attempt is a blasphemy (kufr).

إِذا أُلقوا فيها سَمِعوا لَها شَهيقًا وَهِيَ تَفورُ

When they are cast into that [hell], they will hear its breath indrawing as it boils up,

تَكادُ تَمَيَّزُ مِنَ الغَيظِ ۖ كُلَّما أُلقِيَ فيها فَوجٌ سَأَلَهُم خَزَنَتُها أَلَم يَأتِكُم نَذيرٌ

well-nigh bursting with fury; [and] every time a host [of such sinners] is flung into it, its keepers will ask them, Has no warner ever come to you?

قالوا بَلىٰ قَد جاءَنا نَذيرٌ فَكَذَّبنا وَقُلنا ما نَزَّلَ اللَّهُ مِن شَيءٍ إِن أَنتُم إِلّا في ضَلالٍ كَبيرٍ

They will reply: Yea, a warner did indeed come unto us, but we gave him the lie and said, 'Never has God sent down anything [by way of revelation]! You [self-styled warners] are but lost in a great delusion!'⁷

1. 7.  Lit., "You are in nothing but a great error (dalal )" - thus denying the reality of divine revelation as such.

وَقالوا لَو كُنّا نَسمَعُ أَو نَعقِلُ ما كُنّا في أَصحابِ السَّعيرِ

And they will add: Had we but listened [to those warnings], or [at least] used our own reason, we would not [now] be among those who are destined for the blazing flame!⁸

1. 8.  Reason, properly used, must lead man to a cognition of God's existence and, thus, of the fact that a definite plan underlies all His creation. A logical concomitant of that cognition is the realization that certain aspects of the divine plan touching upon human life - in particular, the distinction between right and wrong - are being continuously disclosed to man through the medium of the revelation which God bestows on His chosen message-bearers, the prophets. This innate "bond with God" (referred to in 2:27 and explained in the corresponding note 19) may be broken only at the expense of man's spiritual future, with suffering in the life to come as the inevitable alternative.

فَاعتَرَفوا بِذَنبِهِم فَسُحقًا لِأَصحابِ السَّعيرِ

Thus will they come to realize their sins: but [by that time,] remote will have become all good from those who are destined for the blazing flame.

إِنَّ الَّذينَ يَخشَونَ رَبَّهُم بِالغَيبِ لَهُم مَغفِرَةٌ وَأَجرٌ كَبيرٌ

[As against this,] behold, for those who stand in awe of God although He is beyond the reach of their perception,⁹ there is forgiveness in store and a great reward.

1. 9.  For this rendering of the expression bi'l-ghayb, see surah 2, note 3.

وَأَسِرّوا قَولَكُم أَوِ اجهَروا بِهِ ۖ إِنَّهُ عَليمٌ بِذاتِ الصُّدورِ

AND [know, O men, that] whether you keep your beliefs¹⁰ secret or state them openly, He has full knowledge indeed of all that is in [your] hearts.¹¹

1. 10. While the primary significance of the noun qawl is "a saying" or "an utterance", it is often used tropically in the sense of "a statement"'. i.e., of a belief, an opinion, a teaching, a doctrine, etc. In the present context it evidently relates to man's beliefs in general, be they affirmative or negative: hence the plural form in my rendering of this term.
2. 11. I.e., He knows why one person believes in Him and another rejects this belief; hence, He takes man's innermost motivations, abilities and inabilities fully into account.

أَلا يَعلَمُ مَن خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطيفُ الخَبيرُ

How could it be that He who has created [all] should not know [all]?¹² Yea, He alone is unfathomable [in His wisdom], aware!¹³

1. 12. Lit., "Does He not know, [He] who has created?"
2. 13. See surah 6, note 89.

هُوَ الَّذي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الأَرضَ ذَلولًا فَامشوا في مَناكِبِها وَكُلوا مِن رِزقِهِ ۖ وَإِلَيهِ النُّشورُ

He it is who has made the earth easy to live upon:¹⁴ go about, then, in all its regions, and partake the sustenance which He provides: but [always bear in mind that] unto Him you shall be resurrected.

1. 14. Lit., "who has made the earth submissive (dhalulan) to you": i.e., yielding to the intelligence with which He has endowed man.

أَأَمِنتُم مَن فِي السَّماءِ أَن يَخسِفَ بِكُمُ الأَرضَ فَإِذا هِيَ تَمورُ

Can you ever feel secure that He who is in heaven¹⁵ will not cause the earth to swallow you up when, lo and behold, it begins to quake?

1. 15. This expression is, of course, purely metaphorical since God is limitless in space as well as in time. Its use here is apparently meant to stress the unfathomable quality of His existence and power, which penetrates, and reveals itself in, every aspect of His cosmic creativeness, symbolized in the term "heaven".

أَم أَمِنتُم مَن فِي السَّماءِ أَن يُرسِلَ عَلَيكُم حاصِبًا ۖ فَسَتَعلَمونَ كَيفَ نَذيرِ

Or can you ever feel secure that He who is in heaven will not let loose against you a deadly stormwind,¹⁶ whereupon you would come to know how [true] My warning was?

1. 16. Lit., "a stormwind that raises stones".

وَلَقَد كَذَّبَ الَّذينَ مِن قَبلِهِم فَكَيفَ كانَ نَكيرِ

And, indeed, [many of] those who lived aforetime¹⁷ did give the lie [to My warnings]: and how awesome was My rejection [of them]!

1. 17. Lit., "before them" (min qablihim). This personal pronoun relates - as does the whole of the passage beginning with verse 13 - to people of all times, who are herewith reminded of what happened to deniers of the truth in earlier times; hence my rendering of min qablihim as "aforetime".

أَوَلَم يَرَوا إِلَى الطَّيرِ فَوقَهُم صافّاتٍ وَيَقبِضنَ ۚ ما يُمسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا الرَّحمـٰنُ ۚ إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيءٍ بَصيرٌ

Have they, then, never beheld the birds above them, spreading their wings and drawing them in? None but the Most Gracious upholds them: for, verily, He keeps all things in His sight.

أَمَّن هـٰذَا الَّذي هُوَ جُندٌ لَكُم يَنصُرُكُم مِن دونِ الرَّحمـٰنِ ۚ إِنِ الكافِرونَ إِلّا في غُرورٍ

[And] is there any, besides the Most Gracious, that could be a shield¹⁸ for you, and could succour you [against danger]? They who deny this truth are but lost in self- delusion!

1. 18. Lit., "an army".

أَمَّن هـٰذَا الَّذي يَرزُقُكُم إِن أَمسَكَ رِزقَهُ ۚ بَل لَجّوا في عُتُوٍّ وَنُفورٍ

Or is there any that could provide you with sustenance if He should withhold His provision [from you]? Nay, but they [who are bent on denying the truth] stubbornly persist in their disdain [of God's messages] and in their headlong flight [from Him]!

أَفَمَن يَمشي مُكِبًّا عَلىٰ وَجهِهِ أَهدىٰ أَمَّن يَمشي سَوِيًّا عَلىٰ صِراطٍ مُستَقيمٍ

But then, is he that goes along with his face close to the ground¹⁹ better guided than he that walks upright on a straight way?

1. 19. Lit., "prone upon his face" - i.e., seeing only what is immediately beneath his feet, and utterly unaware of the direction into which his path is taking him: a metaphor of the spiritual obtuseness which prevents a person from caring for anything beyond his immediate, worldly concerns, and thus makes him resemble an earthworm that "goes along prone upon its face".

قُل هُوَ الَّذي أَنشَأَكُم وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمعَ وَالأَبصارَ وَالأَفئِدَةَ ۖ قَليلًا ما تَشكُرونَ

SAY: [God is] He who has brought you [all] into being, and has endowed you with hearing, and sight, and hearts:²⁰ [yet] how seldom are you grateful!

1. 20. I.e., with the faculty of feeling as well as of rational thinking.

قُل هُوَ الَّذي ذَرَأَكُم فِي الأَرضِ وَإِلَيهِ تُحشَرونَ

Say: It is He who has multiplied you on earth; and it is unto Him that you shall be gathered [on resurrection].

وَيَقولونَ مَتىٰ هـٰذَا الوَعدُ إِن كُنتُم صادِقينَ

But they [only] ask, When is this promise to be fulfilled? [Answer this, O you who believe in it,] if you are men of truth!

قُل إِنَّمَا العِلمُ عِندَ اللَّهِ وَإِنَّما أَنا نَذيرٌ مُبينٌ

Say thou, [O Prophet:] Knowledge thereof rests with God alone; and I am only a plain warner.

فَلَمّا رَأَوهُ زُلفَةً سيئَت وُجوهُ الَّذينَ كَفَروا وَقيلَ هـٰذَا الَّذي كُنتُم بِهِ تَدَّعونَ

Yet in the end, when they shall see that [fulfilment] close at hand, the faces of those who were bent on denying the truth will be stricken with grief; and they will be told, This it is that you were [so derisively] calling for!

قُل أَرَأَيتُم إِن أَهلَكَنِيَ اللَّهُ وَمَن مَعِيَ أَو رَحِمَنا فَمَن يُجيرُ الكافِرينَ مِن عَذابٍ أَليمٍ

SAY [O Prophet]: What do you think? Whether God destroys me and those who follow me, or graces us with His mercy²¹ - is there anyone that could protect [you] deniers of the truth from grievous suffering [in the life to come]?

1. 21. I.e., "Whether we succeed in spreading God's message or not, what have you unbelievers to gain?"

قُل هُوَ الرَّحمـٰنُ آمَنّا بِهِ وَعَلَيهِ تَوَكَّلنا ۖ فَسَتَعلَمونَ مَن هُوَ في ضَلالٍ مُبينٍ

Say: He is the Most Gracious: we have attained to faith in Him, and in Him have we placed our trust; and in time you will come to know which of us was lost in manifest error.

قُل أَرَأَيتُم إِن أَصبَحَ ماؤُكُم غَورًا فَمَن يَأتيكُم بِماءٍ مَعينٍ

Say [unto those who deny the truth]: What do you think? If of a sudden all your water were to vanish underground, who [but God] could provide you with water from [new] unsullied springs?²²

1. 22. Apart from a further reminder of God's providential power (thus continuing the argument touched upon in verses 19-21), the above verse has a parabolic significance as well. Just as water is an indispensable element of all organic life, so is a constant flow of moral consciousness an indispensable prerequisite of all spiritual life and stability: and who but God could enable man to regain that consciousness after all the older ethical stimuli have dried up and "vanished underground"?