ق وَالْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ
Qāf. CONSIDER this sublime Qur'ān! (1)
بَلْ عَجِبُوا أَنْ جَاءَهُمْ مُنْذِرٌ مِنْهُمْ فَقَالَ الْكَافِرُونَ هَٰذَا شَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ
But nay – they deem it strange that a warner should have come unto them from their own midst; and so these deniers of the truth are saying, "A strange thing is this! (2)
أَإِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَٰلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ
Why -[how could we be resurrected] after we have died and become mere dust? Such a return seems far-fetched indeed!" (3)
قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا تَنْقُصُ الْأَرْضُ مِنْهُمْ وَعِنْدَنَا كِتَابٌ حَفِيظٌ
Well do We know how the earth consumes their bodies, for with Us is a record unfailing. (4)
بَلْ كَذَّبُوا بِالْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ فَهُمْ فِي أَمْرٍ مَرِيجٍ
Nay, but they [who refuse to believe in resurrection] have been wont to give the lie to this truth whenever it was proffered to them; and so they are in a state of confusion. (5)
أَفَلَمْ يَنْظُرُوا إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَوْقَهُمْ كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَاهَا وَزَيَّنَّاهَا وَمَا لَهَا مِنْ فُرُوجٍ
Do they not look at the sky above them – how We have built it and made it beautiful and free of all faults? (6)
وَالْأَرْضَ مَدَدْنَاهَا وَأَلْقَيْنَا فِيهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَأَنْبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ
And the earth – We have spread it wide, and set upon it mountains firm, and caused it to bring forth plants of all beauteous kinds, (7)
تَبْصِرَةً وَذِكْرَىٰ لِكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُنِيبٍ
thus offering an insight and a reminder unto every human being who willingly turns unto God. (8)
وَنَزَّلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً مُبَارَكًا فَأَنْبَتْنَا بِهِ جَنَّاتٍ وَحَبَّ الْحَصِيدِ
And We send down from the skies water rich in blessings, and cause thereby gardens to grow, and fields of grain, (9)
وَالنَّخْلَ بَاسِقَاتٍ لَهَا طَلْعٌ نَضِيدٌ
and tall palm-trees with their thickly-clustered dates, (10)
رِزْقًا لِلْعِبَادِ وَأَحْيَيْنَا بِهِ بَلْدَةً مَيْتًا كَذَٰلِكَ الْخُرُوجُ
as sustenance apportioned to men; and by [all] this We bring dead land to life: [and] even so will be [man's] coming-forth from death. (11)
كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ وَأَصْحَابُ الرَّسِّ وَثَمُودُ
[Long] before those [who now deny resurrection] did Noah's people give the lie to this truth, and [so did] the folk of Ar-Rass, and [the tribes of] Thamūd (12)
وَعَادٌ وَفِرْعَوْنُ وَإِخْوَانُ لُوطٍ
and 'ād, and Pharaoh, and Lot's brethren, (13)
وَأَصْحَابُ الْأَيْكَةِ وَقَوْمُ تُبَّعٍ كُلٌّ كَذَّبَ الرُّسُلَ فَحَقَّ وَعِيدِ
and the dwellers of the wooded dales [of Madyan], and the people of Tubba': they all gave the lie to the apostles – and thereupon that whereof I had warned [them] came true. (14)
أَفَعَيِينَا بِالْخَلْقِ الْأَوَّلِ بَلْ هُمْ فِي لَبْسٍ مِنْ خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ
Could We, then, be [thought of as being] worn out by the first creation? Nay – but some people are [still] lost in doubt about [the possibility of] a new creation! (15)
- But nay - they deem it strange that a warner should have come unto them from their own midst;2 and so these deniers of the truth are saying, "A strange thing is this!
- 2 This is the earliest Qur'anic mention - repeated again and again in other places of people's "deeming it strange" that a purportedly divine message should have been delivered by someone "from their own midst", i.e., a mortal like themselves. Although it is undoubtedly, in the first instance, a reference to the negative attitude of the Meccan pagans to Muhammad's call, its frequent repetition throughout the Qur'an has obviously an implication going far beyond that historical reference: it points to the tendency common to many people, at all stages of human development, to distrust any religious statement that is devoid of all exoticism inasmuch as it is enunciated by a person sharing the social and cultural background of those whom he addresses, and because the message itself relies exclusively - as the Qur'an does - on an appeal to man's reason and moral sense. Hence, the Qur'an explicitly mentions people's "objections" to a prophet "who eats food [like ordinary mortals] and goes about in the market-places" (25:7; see also note 16 on 25:20).
- But they wonder that4941 there has come to them a Warner from among themselves. So the Unbelievers say: "This is a wonderful thing!
- 4941 In a sense their wonder is natural: do we wonder at the glorious sun? In another sense it is unnatural: what should we say of a man who fails to see in broad daylight?
-
But they wonder that there has come to them a Warner from among themselves. So the Unbelievers say: "This is a wonderful thing!
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
Nay, but they marvel that a warner of their own hath come unto them; and the disbelievers say: This is a strange thing:
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
Nay! they wonder that there has come to them a warner from among themselves, so the unbelievers say: This is a wonderful thing:
— M. Habib Shakir -
Nay, they wonder that there has come to them a warner (Muhammad SAW) from among themselves. So the disbelievers say: "This is a strange thing!
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
Aye! they marvel that there hath come Unto them a warner from among themselves; so the infidels Say: this is a thing wondrous!
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
No, but they marvel that from among themselves a warner has come to them. The unbelievers say (in mockery): 'This is a marvelous thing!
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
has come to them from among themselves, and the unbelievers say, `this is a wonderful thing!
— Ayub Khan -
But they wonder that there has come to them a Warner from among themselves. And the disbelievers say, 'This is a strange thing.
— Sher Ali -
But nay – they deem it strange that a warner should have come unto them from their own midst; and so these deniers of the truth are saying, "A strange thing is this!
— Muhammad Asad -
Nay, but they marvel that a warner has come to them from among them; and the unbelievers say, This is a marvellous thing!
— Arthur Arberry -
Nay; they wondered that a warner should have come to them from among themselves.{{2}} The unbelievers said: "This indeed is a strange thing.
— Abu'l Ala Maududi