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

Chapter 57, verses 22-24
No calamity can ever befall the earth, and neither your own selves, unless it be [laid down] in Our decree before We bring it into being: verily, all this is easy for God. [Know this,] so that you may not despair over whatever [good] has escaped you nor exult [unduly] over whatever [good] has come to you: [ 1 ] for, God does not love any of those who, out of self-conceit, act in a boastful manner – those who are niggardly [with God’s bounty] and bid others to be niggardly.
Chapter 59, verses 22-24
God is He save whom there is no deity: the One who knows all that is beyond the reach of a created being’s perception, as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature’s senses or mind: He, the Most Gracious, the dispenser of Grace.
God is He save whom there is no deity: the Sovereign Supreme, the Holy, the One with whom all salvation rests, the Giver of Faith, the One who determines what is true and false, the Almighty, the One who subdues wrong and restores right, the One to whom all greatness belongs!
Utterly remote is God, in His limitless glory, from anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!
He is God, the Creator, the Maker who shapes all forms and appearances!
His [alone] are the attributes of perfection. All that is in the heavens and on earth extols His limitless glory: for He alone is almighty, truly wise!
Chapter 60, verse 3
But [bear in mind that] neither your kinsfolk nor [even] your own children will be of any benefit to you on Resurrection Day, [for then] He will decide between you [on your merit alone]: and God sees all that you do.
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Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] Thus, the knowledge that whatever has happened had to happen – and could not have not happened – because, obviously, it had been willed by God in accordance with his unfathomable plan, ought to enable a true believer to react with conscious equanimity to whatever good or ill comes to him.

 




Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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