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 his conversion
to Islam travelled and worked throughout the Muslim
world, from North Africa to as far east as Afghanistan,
India and Pakistan. 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.
Chapter 20, Verses 132-133
And bid thy people to pray, and persevere therein.
[But remember:] We do not ask thee to provide sustenance
[for Us]:
[ 1 ] it is We who provide sustenance
for thee. And the future belongs to the God-conscious.
Now they [who are blind to the truth] are wont to
say, “If [Muhammad] would but produce for us
a miracle from his Sustainer!” [But] has there
not come unto them a clear evidence [of the truth
of this divine writ] in what is [to be found] in the
earlier scriptures?
[ 2 ]
Chapter 21, Verses 1 - 4
Closer draws unto men their reckoning: and yet they
remain stubbornly heedless [of its approach].
Whenever there comes unto them any new reminder from
their Sustainer, they but listen to it with playful
amusement, their hearts set on passing delights; yet
they who are [thus] bent on wrongdoing conceal their
innermost thoughts [when they say to one another],
“is this [Muhammad] anything but a mortal like
yourselves? Will you, then, yield to [his] spellbinding
eloquence with your eyes open?”
Say: “My Sustainer knows whatever is spoken
in heaven and on earth; and He alone is all hearing,
all-knowing.”
Translator’s Notes
[ 1 ] My interpolation of the words
“for Us” is based on Razi’s interpretation
of the above sentence: “God makes it clear that
He has enjoined this [i.e., prayer] upon men for their
own benefit alone, inasmuch as He Himself is sublimely
exalted above any [need of] benefits”. In other
words, prayer must not be conceived as a kind of tribute
to a “jealous God” – as the Old
Testament, in its present corrupted form, frequently
describes Him – but solely as a spiritual benefit
for the person who prays.
[ 2 ] I.e., “Does not the Qur’an
express the same fundamental truth as were expressed
in the revelations granted to the earlier prophets?”
Beyond this, the above rhetorical question contains
an allusion to the predictions of the advent of Muhammad
to be found in the earlier scriptures, e.g., in Deuteronomy
xviii, 15 and 18 or in John xiv, 16, xv, 26 and xvi,
7, where Jesus speaks of the “Comforter”
who is to come after him.