لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ مُنْفَكِّينَ حَتَّىٰ تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ
IT IS NOT [conceivable] that such as are bent on denying the truth – [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God – should ever be abandoned [by Him] ere there comes unto them the [full] evidence of the truth: (1)
رَسُولٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ يَتْلُو صُحُفًا مُطَهَّرَةً
an apostle from God, conveying [unto them] revelations blest with purity, (2)
فِيهَا كُتُبٌ قَيِّمَةٌ
wherein there are ordinances of ever-true soundness and clarity. (3)
وَمَا تَفَرَّقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ
Now those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime did break up their unity [of faith] after such an evidence of the truth had come to them. (4)
وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَذَٰلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ
And withal, they were not enjoined aught but that they should worship God, sincere in their faith in Him alone, turning away from all that is false; and that they should be constant in prayer; and that they should spend in charity: for this is a moral law endowed with ever-true soundness and clarity. (5)
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أُولَٰئِكَ هُمْ شَرُّ الْبَرِيَّةِ
Verily, those who [despite all evidence] are bent on denying the truth – [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God – will find themselves in the fire of hell, therein to abide: they are the worst of all creatures. (6)
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمْ خَيْرُ الْبَرِيَّةِ
[And,] verily, those who have attained to faith and do righteous deeds – it is they, they who are the best of all creatures. (7)
جَزَاؤُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَشِيَ رَبَّهُ
Their reward [awaits them] with God: gardens of perpetual bliss, through which running waters flow, therein to abide beyond the count of time; well-pleased is God with them, and well-pleased are they with Him: all this awaits him who of his Sustainer stands in awe! (8)
- IT IS NOT [conceivable] that such as are bent on denying the truth - [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God1 - should ever be abandoned [by Him] ere there comes unto them the [full] evidence of the truth:
- 1 I.e., idol-worshippers or animists (in the anthropological sense of this word) who have never had any revealed scripture to fall back upon.
- Those who reject (Truth), among the People of the Book6221 and among the Polytheists,6222 were not going to depart (from their ways) until there should come to them Clear Evidence,-6223
- 6221 The People of the Book immediately referred to are the Jews and the Christians, who had received scriptures in the same line of prophecy in which came our Prophet. Their scriptures should have prepared them for the advent of the greatest and last of the Prophets. For the Jewish scriptures promised to the Jews, cousins or brethren to the Arabs, a prophet like Moses: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken" (Deut. 18:15). And Christ promised a Comforter (John, 14:16; 15:26; and 16:7; see my n. 5438 to 61:6) almost by name. The People of the Book fell from the true, straight, and standard religion, into devious ways, and would not come to the true Path until (they said) they were convinced by the arrival of the promised Prophet. But when the promised Prophet came in the person of Muhammad, they rejected him, because they really did not seek for Truth but only followed their own fancies and desires.
- 6222 The Polytheists, the Pagans, had not previously believed in any scriptures.<br/>But yet, when clear evidence came to them, they should have believed. Yet they rejected the Prophet because they were not really searching for Truth, but were only following their own fancies and desires.
- 6223 The Clear Evidence was the Prophet himself, his life, his personality, and his teaching.
-
Those who reject (Truth), among the People of the Book and among the Polytheists, were not going to depart (from their ways) until there should come to them Clear Evidence,-
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
Those who disbelieve among the People of the Scripture and the idolaters could not have left off (erring) till the clear proof came unto them,
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
Those who disbelieved from among the followers of the Book and the polytheists could not have separated (from the faithful) until there had come to them the clear evidence:
— M. Habib Shakir -
Those who disbelieve from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and among Al- Mushrikun, were not going to leave (their disbelief) until there came to them clear evidence.
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
Those who disbelieved from among the People of the Book and the associaters could not break off, until there had come Unto them the evidence.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
The unbelievers among the People of the Book and the idolaters would never desist until the Clear Proof came to them.
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
The unbelievers of the People of the Book and the idolaters would not leave off, till the Clear Evidence came to them __
— Ayub Khan -
Those, who disbelieve from among the People of the Book and the idolaters, would not desist from disbelief until there should come to them the clear evidence --
— Sher Ali -
IT IS NOT [conceivable] that such as are bent on denying the truth – [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God – should ever be abandoned [by Him] ere there comes unto them the [full] evidence of the truth:
— Muhammad Asad -
The unbelievers of the People of the Book and the idolaters would never leave off; till the Clear Sign came to them,
— Arthur Arberry -
Those who disbelieved{{1}} - be they from the People of the Book or from those who associated{{2}} others with Allah in His Divinity - will not desist from unbelief until the Clear Proof should come to them;{{3}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi