| | Al-muntakhab fi tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim rendition of Surah The Thunder(ar-Ra`d)
--- |
|---|
| 13:1 | | A. (Alef), L. (Lam), M. (Meem), R. (Raa), the Surah opens with these introductory letters from the Arabic Alphabet to draw attention to the miracle of the Quran which though written in the people's tongue, Cannot be emulated. These are divinely discoursed verses of the Book -the Quran- distinctly indicating that all that has been revealed to you O Muhammad from Allah, your Creator, is the truth guiding into all truth, but peoples' hearts dare rise defiant against Allah and most of them are unwilling to open their minds' eyes or their hearts' ears |
| 13:2 | | Allah, the Omnipotent, is He Who raised the heavens with its spheres lying above or outside of each other inlaid with heavenly bodies superstructures that are kept aloft without pillars or visible means* of support that you people can see, then set He Himself on the Throne of Supremacy and dominion, of grace and mercy, and reduced the sun** and the moon to a state of subserviency. Each describing its orbit for a determined period of time. He conducts all affairs and expounds His revelations and clearly displays His cosmic signs to the mind and renders His discourse readily understood so that you people may hopefully realize that you shall inevitably assemble before Him, at the predetermined point of time |
| 13:3 | | He is it Who extended the earth spreading it out and therein He placed mountains in a certain setting, fixed as with an anchor, and rivers with copious streams of fresh water flowing in channels, and of all and each fruit did He produce a pair, male and female -with stamens and pistils, uni and bisexual. He enshrouded the day with the veil of the night. Indeed here, there and everywhere are signs with prodigies emblematic of Omnipotence and Authority sensed by those who consider matters and ponder their cause |
| 13:4 | | And in the earth are areas bordering each other, and orchards of vines and edible grain and palm trees bearing clusters of dates moulded on one stem or on more than one stem arising from the same root, alimented with the same water from the same source, yet We make the produce of one unlike that of the other in quality and quantity and We distinguish some in taste upon others. Indeed, here, there and everywhere are signs with prodigies emblematic of Omnipotence and Authority sensed by those who view facts with their minds' eye |
| 13:5 | | What strikes you with wonder is their astonishment that is mingled with perplexity and bewildered curiosity. They say: "Do you believe that after we have been reduced to dust, we will be restored to life and be created anew!". This is indeed flat blasphemy thought and felt by those who decisively deny Allah, and these are they who shall be fettered with the chains round their necks, and these are the inmates of Hell wherein they will have passed through nature to eternal suffering |
| 13:6 | | They defiantly ask you -O Muhammad- to hasten the promised punishment instead of searching out the truth and be hopeful of Allah's mercy, albeit they heard of the typical instances of the past, forming particular cases of a principle and signal instances of punishment. Nonetheless, Allah, your Creator, is indeed Forgiving. He extends His mercy and forgiveness to people despite their wrongful actions, but also, Allah, punishes severely |
| 13:7 | | Yet the infidels defiantly say: "If only a sign other than the Quran be revealed to him to evince both his wisdom and the truth of his mission!". But you are only a spectacle and a warning, and to every nation did Allah send a Messenger with the truth that guides into all truth |
| 13:8 | | Allah, the Omniscient, knows what every female -human and animal- bears in her womb and what the wombs would lose or gain. To every created being -material or immaterial- did Allah prescribe the extent and quality, the degree and the proportion according with its intended measure |
| 13:9 | | He is Omniscient of what the breasts store of thoughts and feelings and of what they forge. He has cognizance and holds prescience of what is conversed secretly and uttered below the breath and of what is suggested secretly to the mind. He is well acquainted with the visible and the seen and with what is avowed openly and openly disclosed and with all that is uttered loudly and with all that is being said. He is uniquely and imposingly the Great and He is infinitely far above the whole and all in all |
| 13:10 | | Indeed, everything that is said or done comes instantaneously to His knowledge whether it be by those of you who do not express their thoughts m words or utter them below their breath or by those of you whose vocal expression is openly avowed, and whether it be said or done by the one who hides under the veil of night or by the other who moves about in daylight |
| 13:11 | | Each and everyone has a succession of guardian angels guarding the whole on the fore and the back side upon Allah's high behest. Allah does not change the state of life of a given nation until they have changed the state of their innermost being. And when it is His will that a people be stricken with a misfortune or be wedded to a calamity, no expedient whatever nor anyone of singular ingenuity can avert it, and besides Him they have no tutelary protector |
| 13:12 | | He is it Who exhibits to view the lightening -the electrical discharges between groups of clouds or between the clouds and the ground- which actuate you people with the feeling of fear. It might bring suffering, strike one dead or engender a cyclonic storm. Also with the feeling of hope of rainfalls to revive the land that has been pined with drought- and He is it Who engenders the thick clouds, the cumulus and the cumulus nimbus |
| 13:13 | | And thunder, like the rest of His creation, as it declares itself, reverberates His praises, and so do the angels who stand under His awe with dread mingled with veneration and entertain the profound reverence dutiful to Him. He sends the engendered thunderbolts wherever He wills to strike therewith whom He will. Yet they -the infidels- argue against Allah and they are ready to argue than to obey Him when He is the Omnipotent and the Almighty Who strikes at the root |
| 13:14 | | The spirit of truth that guides into all truth is asserted as Allah's own, whereas those objects they worship and invoke besides Him do not respond to them anymore than the thirsty who stretches out his hand to lift water to his gaping mouth but it never reaches his mouth. Indeed the system of faith and worship practiced by the infidels is simply worthless and leads them to the loss in the of error |
| 13:15 | | To Allah Who controls the fate of all, do all beings, the material and the immaterial, in the heavens and on earth submit to His government and to His supreme controlling and influencing power willingly or unwillingly. So do the shadows they cast on the ground or on a surface by the intercepting sun rays fore and afternoon, and other luminary in the hull of the eve |
| 13:16 | | Ask them O Muhammad: "Who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth!" and say to them: "It is Allah". and ask them: "Have you taken besides Him other deities who have no control over what befalls You of good or harm!". Ask them: "Do you compare the one without the sense of sight or who lacks spiritual perception with the other who perceives objects by sight or perceives mentally and apprehends by thought ! " "Does darkness or want of spiritual or intellectual sight compare with light or spiritual enlightenment?". Or did those whom they incorporate with Allah call into existence or form out of nothingness any creature, animate or inanimate, identical with any of those created by Allah, to the extent that they cannot tell the difference! Say to them: "It is Allah Who is the Creator of the whole and of all in all; He is the One and only Ilah, the Supreme controlling and influencing power inherent in the whole and in all in all." |
| 13:17 | | He sends the rain-water from the floor of the vault of heaven and there it is conveyed along channels of various capacities in due measure. Where the torrent flows, it drives before it unworthy matter and impurities floating on the surface gathering into a heap of froth resembling aptly the foamy admixture and impurities mounting to the surface of the heated ores for the separation of precious metals used for ornaments and other uses. Thus does Allah give examples with allegorical representations of truth and falsehood. As to the froth and the scum, they are rejected and disappear, whereas what is profitable to the people remains behind on earth. Thus does Allah describe a subject under the guise of some other subject of aptly suggestive resemblance |
| 13:18 | | Those who respond favourably to Allah, the Creator, and lift to Him their inward sight are the recipients of Allah's blessings and gratifying rewards, whereas those who do not respond and their hearts dare rise defiant against Him were born to be losers. If they have profuse affluence of all things on earth and twice as much, they would gladly give it in expiation of their guilt at Judgment, but far from it. These and their like must expect a manifest discomfort of body and mind. Much misery and hardship shall be the insignia of their reckoning when the account of their life and conduct is rendered at Judgment. Their abode is Hell and evil indeed is the bed they have made for themselves |
| 13:19 | | Does he who is certain of the truth of your mission O Muhammad and knows that all that has been revealed to you from Allah, your Creator, is the truth guiding into all truth, compare with him who lacks intellectual and spiritual perception! Indeed, those who bear Allah in mind are people of insight |
| 13:20 | | b) who make their prayer unto Allah, their Creator, and to Him they render the vow, and they do not breach a legal or a moral bond nor an obligation or a promise |
| 13:21 | | c) who join together humanity and policy and the two hands in fidelity and join all that Allah has ordained be joined together, and stand in awe of Allah with dread mingled with veneration and they fear the misery and hardship experienced at Judgement |
| 13:22 | | d) who possess their souls in patience purposed to fulfill their obligation to Allah and to satisfy their conscience and their hearts |
| 13:23 | | Enjoying themselves in the Gardens of Eden with peace of mind and blissful habitation. They are heartily welcomed together with those who are righteous among their parents, their mates and their progeny, and there, shall they be visited by the angels who make entry through every gate |
| 13:24 | | To bid them welcome and greet them with the welcoming salute: "Peace be upon you for your patience and endurance; how excellent and how blissful is this final and eternal abode!" |
| 13:25 | | Those who do not fulfill their covenant with Allah after they have solemnly vowed to Him to do what has been enjoined, disjoining humanity and policy instead of joining them, separating the two hands joining one another in fidelity, disjoining all that Allah has ordained be joined together and making mischief on earth or creating discord were born to be losers. These and such persons have come within the measure of Allah 's wrath, and in their final abode they will have passed through nature to eternal suffering |
| 13:26 | | Allah gives livelihood generously and confers support gratuitously on whom He will and He also gives with restraint and by measure to whom He will. The worldly - minded - rejoice beyond a common joy with life here below afore that Hereafter. But how little are the material and the immaterial things that minister to enjoyment and content here as compared with Hereafter |
| 13:27 | | Yet the infidels insolently say: "If only a sign other than the Quran be revealed to him from Allah, his Creator, to evince both his wisdom and the truth of his mission! Say to them: "Indeed, Allah misleads whom He pleases and He guides those who lift to Him their inward sight," |
| 13:28 | | Their hearts and minds become quiet and calm at the thought of Allah. Indeed, at the thought of Allah do hearts and minds find peace, repose and tranquility |
| 13:29 | | Those who recognize Allah with hearts impressed with the image of religious and spiritual virtues and deeds with wisdom and piety are they whose hearts have been touched with the divine hand. Blessed are they with the beatitude of heaven, and eternity in perpetual bliss is asserted as their own |
| 13:30 | | Thus have We sent you O Muhammad to a people before whom generations who received Messengers have passed away, so that you recite to them Our divine revelations and narrate to them all that We have inspired to you, notwithstanding that they deny Allah, AL-Rahman and His mercy, and their hearts dare rise defiant against Him. Say to them: "He is Allah, my Creator, there is no Ilah but He; in Him do I trust and to Him do I in lowliest plight repentant stand and unto Him do I set my thought" |
| 13:31 | | And if there be a discourse that has a firm place in the realm of fact, a discourse by which mountains could be set in motion or the earth be torn apart or the dead be spoken to it would have been this Quran But, command, control, domination and decision are asserted as Allah's own. Further, do those whose hearts have been touched with the divine hand not realize that had Allah willed He could have guided mankind as a whole to His path of righteousness! Nonetheless, those whose hearts dare rise defiant against Allah -shall not cease to be bombarded with disaster hitting them directly in requital of their evil deeds or hits close enough to their homes -as a deterrent- until Allah's promised punishment comes to pass. Allah never fails to keep His promise |
| 13:32 | | Messengers sent before you O Muhammad were also bombarded with foul epithets. The infidels mocked them and gave them a lick with the rough side of their tongues, and called them everything they could lay their tongues to. But despite their wickedness, I put their punishment in respite, then I cast them down from a position of prosperity and power and brought them to ruin, and how unbearable was the retribution |
| 13:33 | | Does he who stands guard over every soul, and His sentinel angels record every deed that is done or in the making or suggested secretly to the mind and to whose knowledge everything comes instantaneously, compare with a false object of worship or a helpless creature or dumb idols whom they called holy gods! Yet they still incorporate with Allah other deities. Say to them: "Name them; or do you inform Allah of objects on earth He has no knowledge of! the fact is that the infidels' intrigues and cunning allured them to brighter worlds and led them, under the vexations of their minds, to a path other than that of righteousness. And he whom Allah misguides shall find no one to guide him thereto |
| 13:34 | | They must expect punishment in this world, and worse shall be the punishment in the world-to-come, and besides Allah no one can afford them protection |
| 13:35 | | To represent in words the Paradise promised those who lift to Allah their inward sight, it is the Garden of bliss and delight, of protection, security and peace of mind beneath which rivers flow. Its fruits and its glory are eternal and therein they will have passed through nature to eternity of joy. This is the destination of those who entertain the profound reverence dutiful to Allah, whereas the intended end of those who deny Him is the fire of Hell |
| 13:36 | | Ahl AL-Kitab (The People of the Book) -the Jews- who lift to Allah their inward sight rejoice at the Quran and at all that has been revealed to you O Muhammad They find in it an extension of the basic principles of the Oneness of Allah, the validation of previous Scriptures and the unity of purpose, feeling and action. But among the sects are those who receive a part of the Quran with consenting mind and reject other parts not falling in with their vain desires. Say to them: "I have been commanded to worship Allah and never to incorporate with Him other deities and to present inducements to the people to turn to Him; and to Him shall all return" |
| 13:37 | | And thus did We reveal it -the Quran- as the constitution of Our Sovereign power discoursed in Arabic literary form. And should you Muhammad be inclined to please them -the sects- and respond to their desires after divine knowledge has been imparted to you, then you will have lost Allah's tutelary guardianship and protection |
| 13:38 | | We sent Messengers before you O Muhammad who were human and We entered them into matrimony and We gave them a progeny, and it was not for any of them to work a miracle of his own, their miracles were worked and Authorized by Allah and were imparted to them as He ordained. Every period of time has its divine Book and appropriate constitution |
| 13:39 | | Allah deletes -what becomes of secondary character- as He wills and He confirms what He will, and this and that are put on record in the archetypal Book in the realm of Heaven |
| 13:40 | | And We either show you O Muhammad in your life time some part of the retributive punishment We promised them or occasion your death before. You are only responsible for relating the divine message and We are responsible for their trial in Day of judgement |
| 13:41 | | Do they -the infidels- not see that We reduce the; land or territory in their possession and add it to the Muslims territory by progressive conquests of its outlying borders! And Allah is He Who commands, and no one shall ever be able to reverse His judicial decision;He is swift indeed in putting the law in execution |
| 13:42 | | Their predecessors schemed and conspired and the wicked plotted against the just, but who can get the better of Allah's plans or defeat His predetermined events? He is the Master Who controls all plans at will. He has omniscience and holds prescience of all that each soul earns of qualities, actions and deeds, The day shall come when the infidels realize with much regrets to whom belongs eternity in the heavenly and blissful abode! |
| 13:43 | | Thus still, the infidels say to you-: "You are not sent by Allah nor are you charged with a message from Him to mankind". Say to them: " Good enough for me is Allah as a witness of my actions and of your actions. He knows the truth of the Book -the Quran- and of every Book and so do those who apply their minds to the acquisition of learning and exercise thought and deliberation in reading the Book |
