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 4, Verses 27 – 28
And God wants to turn you into His mercy, whereas those who follow [only] their own lusts want you to drift far away from the right path. God wants to lighten your burdens: for man has been created weak.
Chapter 4, Verse 35
And if you have a reason to fear that a breach might occur between a [married] couple, appoint an arbiter from among his people and an arbiter from among her people; if they both want to set things aright, God may bring about their reconciliation. Behold God is all-knowing, aware.
Chapter 4, Verses 36 – 38
And worship God [alone], and do not ascribe divinity, in any way, to aught beside Him. And do good unto your parents, and near of kin, and unto orphans, and the needy, and the neighbor from among your own people, and the neighbor who is a stranger, and the friend by your side, and the wayfarer, and those whom you rightfully possess [ 1 ]. Verily, God does not love any f those who, full of self-conceit, act in a boastful manner; nor those who are niggardly, and bid others to be niggardly, and conceal whatever God has bestowed upon them out of His bounty; and so We have readied shameful suffering from all who deny the truth. And [God does not love those who spend their possessions on others [only] to be seen and praised by men, and while they believe neither in God nor in the Last Day; and he who has Satan for a soul-mate, how evil a soul-mate has he!
Chapter 4, Verse 40
Verily, God does not wrong [anyone] by as much as one atom’s weight; and if there be a good deed, He will multiply it, and will bestow out of His grace a mighty reward.
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Translator’s Notes
1 According to Ali Ibn Abi Talib and others “the friend by tour side” is one’s wife or husband. By “those whom you rightfully possess” are meant, in this context, slaves of either sex. Since this verse enjoins “the doing of good” towards all people with whom one is in contact, and since the best that can be done to a slave is to free him, the above passage calls elliptically, for freeing of slaves. In Chapter 2, Verse 177 and Chapter 9, Verse 60, the freeing of human beings from bondage is explicitly mentioned as one of the objectives to which zakah (charity) funds are to be dedicated.
