أَتَىٰ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
GOD'S JUDGMENT is [bound to] come: do not, therefore, call for its speedy advent! Limitless is He in His glory and sublimely exalted above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity! (1)
يُنَزِّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ بِالرُّوحِ مِنْ أَمْرِهِ عَلَىٰ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ أَنْ أَنْذِرُوا أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاتَّقُونِ
He causes the angels to descend with this divine inspiration, [bestowed] at His behest upon whomever He wills of His servants: "Warn [all human beings] that there is no deity save Me: be, therefore, conscious of Me!" (2)
خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ تَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
He has created the heavens and the earth in accordance with [an inner] truth; sublimely exalted is He above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity! (3)
خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُبِينٌ
He creates man out of a [mere] drop of sperm: and lo! this same being shows himself endowed with the power to think and to argue! (4)
وَالْأَنْعَامَ خَلَقَهَا لَكُمْ فِيهَا دِفْءٌ وَمَنَافِعُ وَمِنْهَا تَأْكُلُونَ
And He creates cattle: you derive warmth from them, and [various other] uses; and from them you obtain food; (5)
وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا جَمَالٌ حِينَ تُرِيحُونَ وَحِينَ تَسْرَحُونَ
and you find beauty in them when you drive them home in the evenings and when you take them out to pasture in the mornings. (6)
وَتَحْمِلُ أَثْقَالَكُمْ إِلَىٰ بَلَدٍ لَمْ تَكُونُوا بَالِغِيهِ إِلَّا بِشِقِّ الْأَنْفُسِ إِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ
And they carry your loads to [many] a place which [otherwise] you would be unable to reach without great hardship to yourselves. Verily, your Sustainer is most compassionate, a dispenser of grace! (7)
وَالْخَيْلَ وَالْبِغَالَ وَالْحَمِيرَ لِتَرْكَبُوهَا وَزِينَةً وَيَخْلُقُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
And [it is He who creates] horses and mules and asses for you to ride, as well as for [their] beauty: and He will yet create things of which [today] you have no knowledge. (8)
وَعَلَى اللَّهِ قَصْدُ السَّبِيلِ وَمِنْهَا جَائِرٌ وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَهَدَاكُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ
And [because He is your Creator,] it rests with God alone to show you the right path: yet there is [many a one] who swerves from it. However, had He so willed, He would have guided you all aright. (9)
- And [because He is your Creator,] it rests with God alone to show you the right path:7 yet there is [many a one] who swerves from it. However, had He so willed, He would have guided you all aright.8
- 7 Lit., "upon God rests the [showing of the] goal of the path" - i.e., the establishing of the goals of ethics and morality implied in the concept of the "right path". In further analysis of this phrase, the expression "it rests upon God" ('ala 'llah) is similar in intent to the statement in 6:12 and 54 that He "has willed upon Himself the law of grace and mercy": in other words, God invariably shows the right path to everyone who is willing to follow it.
- 8 Since the concept of morality is linked with man's God-given freedom of choice between good and evil, God does not "impose" His guidance upon man but leaves it to him to accept or reject it.
- And unto Allah leads straight2029 the Way, but there are ways that turn aside: if Allah had willed, He could have guided all of you.
- 2029 Through material things "the Way" does always lead to Allah. But some minds are so obsessed with material things that they miss the pointers to the spiritual. Allah could have forced all to the true Way, but in His Will and Plan is the training of man's will, and that is done by the Signs in nature and Revelation.
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And unto Allah leads straight the Way, but there are ways that turn aside: if Allah had willed, He could have guided all of you.
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
And Allah's is the direction of the way, and some (roads) go not straight. And had He willed He would have led you all aright.
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
And upon Allah it rests to show the right way, and there are some deviating (ways); and if He please He would certainly guide you all aright.
— M. Habib Shakir -
And upon Allah is the responsibility to explain the Straight Path (i.e. Islamic Monotheism for mankind i.e. to show them legal and illegal, good and evil things, etc. so, whosoever accepts the guidance, it will be for his own benefit and whosoever goes astray, it will be for his own destruction), but there are ways that turn aside (such as Paganism, Judaism, Christianity, etc.). And had He willed, He would have guided you all (mankind).
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
And upon Allah is the direction of the way, and thereof is some crooked; and had He willed He would have guided you all.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
It is for Allah to show the way. Some swerve from it, but had He willed, He would have guided all of you.
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
And it is God's to show the mean way, yet some turn away from it; and if He willed, He would have guided you all.
— Ayub Khan -
And upon God rests the showing of the right way, and there are ways which deviate from the right course. And if He had enforced His Will, He would have guided you all.
— Sher Ali -
And [because He is your Creator,] it rests with God alone to show you the right path: yet there is [many a one] who swerves from it. However, had He so willed, He would have guided you all aright.
— Muhammad Asad -
Gods it is to show the way; and some do swerve from it. If He willed, He would have guided you all together.
— Arthur Arberry -
It rests with Allah alone to show you the Right Way, even when there are many crooked ways.{{9}} Had He so willed, He would have (perforce) guided you all aright.{{10}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi