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 his conversion to Islam travelled and
worked throughout the Muslim world, from North Africa
to as far east as Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.
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, dedicated
to “li-qawmin yatafakkaroon” (For people
who think).
Chapter 61, verse 14
O you who have attained to faith! Be helpers [in
the cause of God] – even as Jesus, the son
of Mary, said unto the white-garbed ones, [ 1 ]
“Who will be my helpers in God’s cause?”
– whereupon the white-garbed [disciples] replied,
“we shall be [thy] helpers in the cause of
God!”
And so [it happened that] some of the children of
Israel came to believe [in the apostleship of Jesus],
whereas others denied the truth. [ 2 ] But [now]
We have given strength against their foes unto those
who have [truly] attained to faith: [ 3 ] and they
have become the ones that shall prevail.
Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] The designation applied in the Qur’an
to the disciples of Jesus.
[ 2 ] I.e., some of them recognized him as a prophet
– and, therefore, as no more than a created,
human being – whereas others denied this truth
in the course of time by regarding him as “the
son of God” – and, therefore, as “god
incarnate” – while others rejected him
and his message altogether. The fact that the earliest
followers of Jesus regarded him as purely human
is evident from the many theological controversies
which persisted during the first three or four centuries
of the Christian era. Thus, some renowned theologians,
like Theodotus of Byzantium, who lived toward the
end of the second century, and his followers –
among them Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch in
the year 260 – maintained that the “sonship
of God” mentioned in the then-existing texts
of the Gospels was purely symbolic, denoting no
more than that Jesus was a human being exalted by
God. The originally widespread teachings of Bishop
Arius (280-326) centered in the concept of Jesus
as a mortal man chosen by God for a specific task,
and in the concept of God as absolutely One, unknowable,
and separate from every created being; this doctrine,
however, was ultimately condemned by the Councils
of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), and gradually
ceased to have any influence on the Christian masses.
[ 3 ] I.e., all who truly believe in Jesus as God’s
Apostle and , thus, as a forerunner of the Last
Prophet, Muhammad, whose message confirms and expands
the true message of Jesus.
