Gems from the Holy Qur’an
From the translation by Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss)
About the translator:
Muhammad Asad, Leopold Weiss, was born of Jewish parents in Livow, Austria (later Poland) in 1900, and at the age of 22 made his first visit to the Middle East. He later became an outstanding foreign correspondent for the Franfurter Zeitung, and after years of devoted study became one of the leading Muslim scholars of our age. His translation of the Holy Qur'an is one of the most lucid and well-referenced works in this category, dedicated to “li-qawmin yatafakkaroon” (people who think). Forwarded by Dr Ismat Kamal.
Chapter 11, Verse 117
For never would the Sustainer destroy a community for wrong [beliefs alone] so long as its people behave righteously [towards one another] [ 1 ].
Chapter 11, Verse 120
And [remember:] out of all accounts relating to the [earlier] apostles We convey unto thee [only] that wherewith We [aim to] make firm thy heart [ 2 ]: for through these [accounts] comes the truth unto thee, as well as an admonition and a reminder unto all believers.
Chapter 11, Verse 123
And God alone comprehends the hidden reality of the heavens and the earth: for, all that exists goes back to Him [as its source].
Worship Him, then, and place thy trust in Him alone: for thy Sustainer is not unaware of what you do.
Chapter 12, Verse 108
Say [O Prophet]: “This is my way: Resting upon conscious insight accessible to reason, I am calling [you all] unto God [ 3 ] – I and they who follow me.”
And [say:] “Limitless is God in His glory; and I am not one of those who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him!”
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Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] Explaining the above verse Razi says: “God’s chastisement does not afflict any people merely on account of their holding beliefs amounting to shirk or kufr , but afflicts them only if they persistently commit evil in their mutual dealings, and deliberately hurt [other human beings] and act tyrannically [towards them]. Hence, those who are learned in Islamic Law hold that men’s obligations towards God rest on the principle of [His] forgiveness and liberality, whereas the rights of man are of a stringent nature and must always be strictly observed” – the obvious reason being that God is almighty and needs no defender, whereas man is weak and needs protection.
[ 2 ] I.e., the Qur’an does not intend to present these stories as such, but uses them (or, rather, relevant parts of them) as illustrations of moral truths and as a means to strengthen the faith of the believer.
[ 3 ] Thus, “the call to God” enunciated by the Prophet is described here as the outcome of a conscious insight accessible to, and verifiable by, man’s reason: a statement which circumscribes to perfection the Qur’anic approach to all questions of faith, ethics and morality, and is echoed many times in expressions like “so that you might use your reason”, or “will you not, then, use your reason?”, or “so that they might understand [the truth] or “so that you might think”; and, finally, in the oft-repeated declaration that the message of the Qur’an as such is meant specifically “for people who think”.
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