الم
Alif. Lām. Mīm. (1)
تَنْزِيلُ الْكِتَابِ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ مِنْ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
THE BESTOWAL from on high of this divine writ issues, beyond any doubt, from the Sustainer of all the worlds: (2)
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ بَلْ هُوَ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ لِتُنْذِرَ قَوْمًا مَا أَتَاهُمْ مِنْ نَذِيرٍ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ
and yet, they [who are bent on denying the truth] assert, "[Muhammad] has invented it!" Nay, but it is the truth from thy Sustainer, enabling thee to warn [this] people to whom no warner has come before thee, so that they might follow the right path. (3)
اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلَا شَفِيعٍ أَفَلَا تَتَذَكَّرُونَ
IT IS GOD who has created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six aeons, and is established on the throne of His almightiness. You have none to protect you from God, and none to intercede for you [on Judgment Day]: will you not, then, bethink yourselves? (4)
يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يَعْرُجُ إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ مِمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
He governs all that exists, from the celestial space to the earth; and in the end all shall ascend unto Him [for judgment] on a Day the length whereof will be [like] a thousand years of your reckoning. (5)
ذَٰلِكَ عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ
Such is He who knows all that is beyond the reach of a created being's perception, as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature's senses or mind: the Almighty, the Dispenser of Grace, (6)
الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ وَبَدَأَ خَلْقَ الْإِنْسَانِ مِنْ طِينٍ
who makes most excellent everything that He creates. Thus, He begins the creation of man out of clay; (7)
ثُمَّ جَعَلَ نَسْلَهُ مِنْ سُلَالَةٍ مِنْ مَاءٍ مَهِينٍ
then He causes him to be begotten out of the essence of a humble fluid; (8)
ثُمَّ سَوَّاهُ وَنَفَخَ فِيهِ مِنْ رُوحِهِ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ قَلِيلًا مَا تَشْكُرُونَ
and then He forms him in accordance with what he is meant to be, and breathes into him of His spirit: and [thus, O men,] He endows you with hearing, and sight, and feelings as well as minds: [yet] how seldom are you grateful! (9)
وَقَالُوا أَإِذَا ضَلَلْنَا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَإِنَّا لَفِي خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ بَلْ هُمْ بِلِقَاءِ رَبِّهِمْ كَافِرُونَ
For [many are] they [who] say, "What! After we have been [dead and] lost in the earth, shall we indeed be [restored to life] in a new act of creation?" Nay, but [by saying this] they deny the truth that they are destined to meet their Sustainer! (10)
قُلْ يَتَوَفَّاكُمْ مَلَكُ الْمَوْتِ الَّذِي وُكِّلَ بِكُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ تُرْجَعُونَ
Say: "[One day,] the angel of death who has been given charge of you will gather you, and then unto your Sustainer you will be brought back." (11)
- then He causes him to be begotten8 out of the essence of a humble fluid;
- 8 Lit., "He caused [i.e., as pointed out in note 6 above, "He causes"] his procreation [or "his begetting"] to be out of ..., etc.
- And made his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid despised:3638
- 3638 Then comes life and the reproduction of life. We are still looking at the purely physical aspect, but it is now a stage higher; it is an animal. Its reproduction is through the sperm or semen, which is a quintessence of every part of the body of man. Yet it issues from the same part of his body as the urine, and is therefore despicable in man's sight. It is a living cell or cells, summing up so much ancestral life-history. Cf. 23:12, and n. 2872.
-
And made his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid despised:
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid;
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
Then He made his progeny of an extract, of water held in light estimation.
— M. Habib Shakir -
Then He made his offspring from semen of worthless water (male and female sexual discharge).
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
Then He made his progeny from an extract of water base.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
then He made his offspring from a clot of weak water (semen).
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
Then He made his progeny of an extraction of a mean water;
— Ayub Khan -
Then He made his progeny from an extract of an insignificant fluid;
— Sher Ali -
then He causes him to be begotten out of the essence of a humble fluid;
— Muhammad Asad -
then He fashioned his progeny of an extraction of mean water,
— Arthur Arberry -
then made his progeny from the extract of a mean fluid,{{14}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi