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 17, Verses 110-111
Say: “Invoke God, or invoke the Most Gracious: by whichever name you invoke Him, [He is always the one – for] His are all the attributes of perfection.”
And [pray unto Him; yet] be not too loud in thy prayer nor speak it in too low a voice, but follow a way in-between; and say: “All praise is due to God, who begets no offspring, and has no partner in His dominion, and has no weakness, and therefore no need for any aid” – and [thus] extol His limitless greatness.
Chapter 18, Verses 27-28
And convey [to the world, O Prophet] whatever has been revealed to thee of thy Sustainer’s writ. There is nothing that could alter His words; and thou canst find no refuge other than with Him.
And contain thyself in patience by the side of all who at morn and at evening invoke their Sustainer, seeking His countenance, and let not thine eyes pass beyond them in quest of the beauties of this world’s life; and pay no heed to any whose heart We have rendered heedless of all remembrance of Us because he has followed his own desires, abandoning all that is good and true.
Chapter 18, Verses 44-46
For thus it is: all protective power belongs to God alone, the True One. He is the best to grant recompense, and the best to determine what is to be.
And propound unto them the parable of the life of this world: [it is] like the water which We send down from the skies, and which is absorbed by the plants of this earth: but [in time] they turn into dry stubble which the winds blow freely about.
And it is God [alone] who determines all things.
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