Traducción de los significados del Sagrado Corán - La traducción al inglés- Dr. Walid Blihech Al Umari (en proceso)
Al-An‘ām
ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِي خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ وَجَعَلَ ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ وَٱلنُّورَۖ ثُمَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِرَبِّهِمۡ يَعۡدِلُونَ
[1300] All praise is God’s alone and none besides Him (cf. al-Ṭabarī).
[1301] The expression al-ẓulumāt wa al-nūr (lit. darknesses and light) is quite recurrent throughout the Qur’an. ‘Darkness’ is invariably always found in the plural form (ẓulumāt) whilst ‘light’ is conversely always in the singular. Here they could mean both tangible and abstract darkness and light; ignorance, Association and sin as opposed to knowledge, Belief and obedience (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī).
This sura being about proving with compelling, inexorable logic God Almighty’s singular rightfulness to Lordship, being the sole Creator and Sustainer of the whole universe and all that exists therein, opens up magnificently with this succinct statement. That God is the Creator and the sole deserver of praise and gratitude, that He is the undisputed ‘light’ that sound human nature is born to vouch for is, given the many contexts that individuals find themselves plunged into, clouded over by multiple ‘darknesses’. Yet, all of these ‘darknesses’ are decimated, one after another, in and through the upcoming ayas. The argument for this singular ‘light’ is expounded and advanced and the multi-layered, multi-faceted darkness is exposed before those who use their reason to a worthy end. All comes to a climax in Aya 6: 122 below: “Is the one who was dead and We caused him to come alive and bestowed upon him a light to walk in among people be like the one who is plunged in complete darkness; there is no way for him to emerge out of which?” (cf. also 2: 257).
هُوَ ٱلَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن طِينٖ ثُمَّ قَضَىٰٓ أَجَلٗاۖ وَأَجَلٞ مُّسَمًّى عِندَهُۥۖ ثُمَّ أَنتُمۡ تَمۡتَرُونَ
[1302] Clay is the original substance of human creation (cf. 15: 26, 55: 14, 37: 11); Adam, the father of humanity, was created from clay, processed earth. (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, Abū al-Suʿūd, al-Saʿdī)
[1303] There are two ‘terms’ (ajal) spoken of here. Exegetes have differed over the meaning of each of these. However, many of them (e.g. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī, Ibn ʿĀshūr) are of the opinion that God Almighty has set a term for each individual’s existence in life, throughout which they will be tried and tested, and then they will die and be turned into the original substance of which humans are made, earth (decomposed clay). This is the first term, whilst the second is the exact timing of the Day on which people will be resurrected and recreated alive again for judgement; no one knows the exact hour of the Day of Judgement except Almighty God Himself (7: 187). That people see and live through the all too incontrovertible fact of their very own existence, life and death, all around them, is all the more reason for them to be guided to Believing in the Creator, and to ask about the cogent reason behind their existence.
وَهُوَ ٱللَّهُ فِي ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَفِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ يَعۡلَمُ سِرَّكُمۡ وَجَهۡرَكُمۡ وَيَعۡلَمُ مَا تَكۡسِبُونَ
[1304] He is the most glorified Lord Who is rightfully worshipped by the dwellers of these two realms (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī). “It is He Who is ˹the only˺ God in the Heavens and ˹the only˺ God in Earth; For He is the All-Wise, All-Knowing” (43: 84).
Note that the Majestic Name, Allah, is deliberately employed in this sura. It is used by way of bringing to mind the Supreme God Whom the Arabs related to (39: 3) but with an added, perspective-changing, emphasis on how He should be viewed. It is a call for a return to the pristine ḥanīfiyyah creed of the patriarch of Prophets, Abraham (عليه السلام) of whom they were descendants.
[1305] Only such an Omnipotent, Omnipresent Lord should be heeded and worshipped, and none besides Him.
وَمَا تَأۡتِيهِم مِّنۡ ءَايَةٖ مِّنۡ ءَايَٰتِ رَبِّهِمۡ إِلَّا كَانُواْ عَنۡهَا مُعۡرِضِينَ
فَقَدۡ كَذَّبُواْ بِٱلۡحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمۡ فَسَوۡفَ يَأۡتِيهِمۡ أَنۢبَٰٓؤُاْ مَا كَانُواْ بِهِۦ يَسۡتَهۡزِءُونَ
[1306] Here are three types of reaction to the Signs of God: first denying them and pretending to take no notice of them; secondly, casting aspersions on their truthfulness, and, thirdly, ridiculing and jeering at them. These three reactions are gradual and of varying intensity; the first being the less outspoken (cf. al-Rāzī, Abū Ḥayyān). This plays into the bigger picture being drawn here of the stance taken by the Makkan pagans on Islam and its call and highlights how stiff in their opposition to it they were.
[1307] Sooner or later, they will come to realize the Truth of what they Denied. One instance of this, as opined by Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما) (quoted in al-Ṭabarī), is the story of one of the Quraysh chiefs, namely al-Walīd Ibn al-Mughīrah, who was one of Islam’s brashest enemies and who is vividly described in Sura al-Qalam. He was told in that sura that he would be ‘branded on the snout’ (68: 16), and sure enough this news came true in the Battle of Badr, when his nose was smitten leaving an ineradicable, all visible mark on this most prominent site of pride, as per the Arab culture of the time. Yet, even this sign, he and the few around him did not heed. Another such notable example is the news of the victory of the Byzantines over the Persians after their humiliating defeats beginning in the year 613 up to 615, roughly three years after the Prophet (ﷺ) began his mission and in the midst of the heat of the onslaught against his call. A very remote possibility as it was, Sura al-Rūm gave an exact time for which the Byzantines would rebound and gain the upper hand over their enemies: “within a few (biḍʿ) years”, (30: 4). It was within biḍʿ (anywhere between three and ten years (cf. Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab)) that this foretelling took place. In 622, i.e. six or seven years after the Qur’anic prediction, the tide indeed turned in favour of the Byzantines and they gained the upper hand over their enemies. Even this though was not enough of a Sign for the Deniers; clearly, darkness is what they languished in.
It has to be said that, as per many an exegete, the realization of the Truth of the news of the Qur’an, of which they were told, would be in this worldly life and/or in the Hereafter, when they would be brought before ultimate justice.
أَلَمۡ يَرَوۡاْ كَمۡ أَهۡلَكۡنَا مِن قَبۡلِهِم مِّن قَرۡنٖ مَّكَّنَّٰهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ مَا لَمۡ نُمَكِّن لَّكُمۡ وَأَرۡسَلۡنَا ٱلسَّمَآءَ عَلَيۡهِم مِّدۡرَارٗا وَجَعَلۡنَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرَ تَجۡرِي مِن تَحۡتِهِمۡ فَأَهۡلَكۡنَٰهُم بِذُنُوبِهِمۡ وَأَنشَأۡنَا مِنۢ بَعۡدِهِمۡ قَرۡنًا ءَاخَرِينَ
[1308] Qarn which derives from the verb qarana (to join together/bundle up) is a large group of people or a nation joined together both temporally and spatially. It is also said of a stretch of time, the people who live through this time, or those who live during a period over which a Prophet was active in his career. It is said that qarn is 80 years long but no less than 30 years. (Ibn Qutaybah, Gharīb al-Qur’ān, Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lughah, al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt)
[1309] The Qurayshites had many of the ruins of previous, much more prosperous, nations all around them: “You ˹Makkans˺ pass by their ruins morning *and night. Will you not use your reason?” (37: 137-138). They could also see many more of these majestic ruins, especially those of the wealthy Nabateans in Hegra (al-Ḥijr) and Petra (al-Batrā’) respectively, during their famed winter and summer journeys (cf. 106: 2). The fact that these earlier nations who were endowed with such abundance and were given water (the source of life and prosperity) both flowing and pouring without end were devastated, did not make them think over their fate contemplatively. “Have they not travelled throughout the land to see what was the end of those ˹destroyed˺ before them? They were far superior in might; they cultivated the land and developed it more than these ˹Makkans˺ ever have. Their Messengers came to them with clear proofs. Allah would have never wronged them, but it was they who wronged themselves” (30:9).
[1310] “Your Lord never destroys towns until He sends a Messenger to their mother ˹town˺ to recite unto them Our Signs. And We never destroy towns, save when their people are wrongdoers” (28:59).
وَلَوۡ نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَيۡكَ كِتَٰبٗا فِي قِرۡطَاسٖ فَلَمَسُوهُ بِأَيۡدِيهِمۡ لَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓاْ إِنۡ هَٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحۡرٞ مُّبِينٞ
[1311] This passage expounds, explains and substantiates the previous one.
[1312] The reason for their Denial was not the seemingly weak abstract arguments and evidences they were being presented with, for even if they were to have concrete evidence brought to them (here, a heavenly book in touchable, tangible material, unlike the Unseen revelation that the Messenger (ﷺ) was relaying to them), they would still not Believe, out of deep-set aversion and ingrained antagonism (Ibn ʿUthaymīn). When faced with concrete evidence, they would always conjure up the lame ploy of calling it all nothing but magic: “And even if We opened for them a gate to Heaven, through which they continued to ascend, *they would still say: “Our eyes are hallucinating. We are bewitched!”” (15: 14-15).
وَقَالُواْ لَوۡلَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَيۡهِ مَلَكٞۖ وَلَوۡ أَنزَلۡنَا مَلَكٗا لَّقُضِيَ ٱلۡأَمۡرُ ثُمَّ لَا يُنظَرُونَ
[1313] “And they say ˹mockingly˺: “What kind of messenger is this who eats food and goes about in market-places ˹for a living˺? If only an angel had been sent down with him to be his co-warner!” (25: 7).
[1314] The delivery of the Message usually takes years, if not even centuries as in the case of Prophet Noah (عليه السلام) (29: 14), of hard, toilsome work, example setting, and argumentation and counter-argumentation. Angels were not created for this role. This is why God sends human Messengers; with whom people can interact, relate to and see them acting upon their own teachings, thus providing role models to be emulated and followed. Angels descending to Earth have only one job: to deliver what is ‘true’; “either a Message to a human Messenger or a Punishment from God upon those who Deny it” (Mujāhid, quoted in al-Ṭabarī). “They ˹brashly˺ say: “O you to whom the Reminder is revealed! You must be insane! *Why do you not bring us the angels, if what you say is true?” *We do not send down the angels, save in Truth ˹Punishment˺, and were We to do so, they would be granted no respite” (15: 6-8).
Besides, God would not gratify haughty Deniers by answering their devious demands as much as He obliged His most faithful servants Abraham (عليه السلام) when he asked Him to show him how He brings the dead to life (2: 260) and Jesus and his disciples when they asked for a heavenly feast (5: 114). Were Messengers to answer each one of these demands, the requests would have known no end. They would have been taken for a plaything, losing their meaning and becoming so commonplace as to be to no avail (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr). Sincere Belief has to emanate from the heart and be based on unshakable, profound certainty. It is not the result of the mere material realization of a miracle that vanishes once this outside source of awe is no longer perceivable (cf. al-Saʿdī).
