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 80, ‘Abasa, Verses 1-10
[ 1 ] He frowned and turned away because the blind man approached him.
Yet for all thou didst know, [O Muhammad,] he might perhaps have grown in purity, or have been reminded [of the truth], and helped by this reminder.
Now as for him who believes himself to be self-sufficient [ 2 ] – to him didst thou give thy whole attention, although thou art not accountable for his failure to attain to purity; but as for him who came unto thee full of eagerness and in awe [of God] – him didst thou disregard!
Nay, verily, these [messages] are but a reminder: and so, who is willing may remember Him in [the light of His] revelations blest with dignity, lofty and pure, [borne] by the hands of messengers noble and most virtuous.
Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] One day, as recorded in many well-authenticated Traditions, the Prophet was engrossed in a conversation with some of the most influential chieftains of pagan Mecca, hoping to convince them – and through them, the Meccan community at large – of the truth of his message. At that point, he was approached by one of his followers, the blind ‘Abd Allah ibn Shurayh – known after his grandmother’s name as Ibn Umm Maktuum – with the request for a repetition or elucidation of certain earlier passages of the Qur’an. Annoyed by this interruption of what he momentarily regarded as a more important endeavor, the Prophet “frowned and turned away” from the blind man and was immediately, there and then, reproved by the revelation of the first ten verses of this surah. In later years he often greeted Ibn Umm Maktuum with these words of humility: “Welcome unto him on whose account my Sustainer has rebuked me (aatabanii)!”
Indirectly, the sharp Qur’anic rebuke (stressed, in particular, by the use of the third person form in verses 1-2) implies, firstly, that what would have been a minor act of discourtesy on the part of an ordinary human being, assumed the aspect of a major sin, deserving a divine rebuke, when committed by a prophet; and, secondly, it illustrates the objective nature of the Qur’anic revelation: for, obviously, in conveying God’s reproof of him to the world at large, the Prophet “does not speak out of his own desire”.
[ 2 ] I.e., who does not feel the need of divine guidance: a reference to the arrogant pagan chieftains with whom the Prophet was conversing.
