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 he 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, and dedicated to “li-qawmin yatafakkaroon” (people who think).

Chapter 67, verses 1-3
Hallowed be He in whose hands all dominion rests, since He has the power to will anything: He who has created death as well as life, [ 1 ] so that He might put you to a test [and thus show] which of you is best in conduct, and [make you realize that] He alone is almighty, truly forgiving.
[Hallowed be] He who has created seven heavens in full harmony with one another: [ 2 ] no fault wilt thou see in the creation of the Most Gracious. And turn thy vision [upon it] once more: canst thou see any flaw?
Chapter 67, verse 13 - 14
And [know, O men, that] whether you keep your beliefs secret or state them openly, He has full knowledge indeed of all that is in [your] hearts. How could it be that He who has created [all] should not know [all]? Yea, He alone is unfathomable [in His wisdom], all-aware!
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Translator’s Notes
[1] Since what is termed “death” is stated here to be created, it cannot be identical with “non-existence”, but obviously must have a positive reality of its own. To my mind, it connotes, firstly, the inanimate state of existence preceding the emergence of life in plants or animated beings; and, secondly, the state of transition from life as we know it in this world to the – as yet to us unimaginable- condition of existence referred to in the Qur’an as the “hereafter” or “the life to come”.
[ 2 ] The term sama (“heaven” or “sky” is applied to anything that is spread like a canopy above any other thing. Thus, the visible skies which stretch like a vault above the earth and form, as it were, a canopy, are called sama: and this is the primary meaning of this term in the Qur’an: in a wider sense it has the connotation of “cosmic system”. As regards the “seven heavens”, it is to be borne in mind that in Arabic usage – and apparently in other Semitic languages as well – the number “seven” is often synonymous with “several” (see Lisan al-Arab), just as “seven” or “seven hundred” often means “many” or “very many” (Taj al-Arus). This, taken together with the accepted linguistic definition that “every sama is a sama with regard to what is below it” (Raghib), may explain the “seven heavens” as denoting the multiplicity of cosmic systems.

 




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