Monday, December 23, 2024


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 62, verses 1 - 4
All that is in the heavens and all that is on earth extols the limitless glory of God, the Sovereign Supreme, the Holy, the Almighty, the Wise!
He it is who has sent unto the unlettered people an apostle from among themselves, [ 1 ] to convey unto them His messages, and to cause them to grow in purity, and to impart unto them the divine writ as well as wisdom – whereas before that they were indeed, most obviously, lost in error -; and [to cause this message to spread] from them unto other people as soon as they come into contact with them: [ 2 ] for He alone is almighty, truly wise.
Such is God’s bounty: He grants it to anyone who is wiling [to receive it]: for God is limitless in His great bounty.
Chapter 64, verses 12 – 13
Pay heed , then, unto God, and pay heed unto the Apostle; and if you turn away [know that] Our apostle’s only duty is a clear delivery of this message: God – there is no deity save Him!
In God, then, let the believers put their trust.
Chapter 69, verses 48-52
And verily this [Qur’an] is a reminder to all the God-conscious.
And, behold, well do We know that among you are such as will give the lie to it: yet, behold, this [rejection] will become a source of bitter regret for all who deny the truth [of God’s revelation] – for, verily, it is truth absolute!
Extol, then, the limitless glory of thy Sustainer’s mighty name!
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Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] The term “unlettered people” denotes a nation or community who had not previously had a revealed scripture of their own. The designation of the Prophet as a man “from among themselves” is meant, in this context, to stress the fact that he, too, was unlettered in the primary sense of this word, and could not, therefore, have “invented” the message of the Qur’an or “derived” its ideas from earlier scriptures.
[ 2 ] I.e., to cause the message of the Qur’an to reach people of other environments and of future times through the medium of the Arabs and their language: thus stressing the universality and timeless validity of all that has been revealed to Muhammad.

 




Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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