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 12, Verses 109-111
And even before thy time, [O Prophet], We never sent [as Our apostles] any but [mortal] men, whom We inspired, [and whom We always chose] from among the people of the [very] communities [to whom the message was brought] [ 1 ].
Have then, they, [who reject this divine writ] never journeyed about the earth and beheld what happened in the end to those [deniers of the truth] who lived before them? – and [do they not know that] to those who are conscious of God the life in the hereafter is indeed better [than this world]? Will they not, then, use their reason?
[All the earlier apostles had to suffer persecution for a long time;] but at last – when those apostles had lost all hopes and saw themselves branded as liars – Our succor attained to them: whereupon everyone whom We willed [to be saved] was saved [and the deniers of truth were destroyed]: for, never can Our punishment be averted from people who are lost in sin.
Indeed, in the stories of these men there is a lesson for those who are endowed with insight.
[As for this revelation,] it could not possibly be a discourse invented [by man]: nay indeed, it is [a divine writ] confirming the truth of whatever there still remains [of earlier revelations], clearly spelling out everything, and [offering] guidance and grace unto people who will believe.
Chapter 13, Verses 10-11
It is all alike [to Him] whether any of you conceals his thought or brings it into the open, and whether he seeks to hide [his evil deeds] under the cover of night or walks [boldly] in the light of day, [thinking that] he has a host of helpers – both such as can be perceived by him and such as our hidden from him – that could preserve him from whatever God may have willed.
Verily, God does not change men’s condition unless they change their inner selves; and when God wills people to suffer evil [in consequence of their own deeds], there is none who can avert it: for they have none who could protect them from Him.
Chapter 13, Verse 15
And before God prostrate themselves, willingly or unwillingly, all [things and beings] that are in the heavens and on earth, as do their shadows in the mornings and the evenings.
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Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] This is an answer to the objection that often raised by unbelievers that a mortal man like themselves could not have been entrusted with God’s message to man.
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