076
Muhammad Asad
AL-INSAN (MAN)
THE SEVENTY-SIXTH
SURAH
Total Verses: 31
PERIOD UNCERTAIN
Introduction
THE OPINIONS of the
earliest commentators are divided as to whether this surah - also called
Ad-Dahr ("Time" or "Endless Time") after a word
occurring in the first verse - belongs to the
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE:
(1) HAS THERE [not] been an endless
span of time 1 before man [appeared - a time] when he was not yet a thing
to be thought of? 2
(2) Verily, it is We who have created
man out of a drop of sperm intermingled, 3 so
that We might try him [in his later life]: and therefore We made him a being
endowed with hearing and sight.
(3) Verily, We have shown him the
way: 4 [and it rests with him to prove himself] either grateful
or ungrateful.
(4) [Now,] behold, for those who deny
the truth 5 We have readied chains and shackles, and a blazing flame –
(5) [whereas,] behold, the truly
virtuous shall drink from a cup flavoured with the calyx of sweet-smelling
flowers: 7
(6) a source [of bliss] whereof God's
servants shall drink, seeing it flow in a flow abundant. 8
(7) [The truly virtuous are] they
[who] fulfil their vows, 9 and stand in awe of a Day the woe of which is bound to
spread far and wide,
(8) and who give food - however great
be their own want of it - unto the needy, and the orphan, and the captive,
11
(9) [saying, in their hearts,]
"We feed you for the sake of God alone: we desire no recompense from you,
nor thanks:
(10) behold, we stand in awe of our
Sustainer's judgment 12 on a distressful, fateful Day!"
(11) And so, God will preserve them from
the woes of that Day, and will bestow on them brightness and joy,
(12) and will reward them for all their
patience in adversity with a garden [of bliss] and with [garments of] silk.
13
(13) In that [garden] they will on
couches recline, and will know therein neither [burning] sun nor cold severe,
(14) since its [blissful] shades will
come down low over them, 14 and low will hang down its clusters of fruit, most easy to
reach. 15
(15) And they will be waited upon with
vessels of silver and goblets that will [seem to] be crystal –
(16) crystal-like, [but] of silver - the
measure whereof they alone will determine. 16
(17) And in that [paradise] they will be
given to drink of a cup flavoured with ginger,
(18) [derived from] a source [to be
found] therein, whose name is "Seek Thy Way". 17
(19) And immortal youths will wait upon
them: 18 when thou seest them, thou wouldst deem them to be
scattered pearls;
(20) and when thou seest [anything that
is] there thou wilt see [only] bliss and a realm transcendent
(21) Upon those [blest] will be garments
of green silk and brocade; and they will be adorned with bracelets of silver.
19
And their Sustainer will them to drink of a drink most pure. 20
(22) [And they will be told:]
"Verily, all this is your reward since Your endeavour [in life] has met
[God's] goodly acceptance!"
(23) VERILY, [O believer,] it is We who
have bestowed from on high this Qur'an upon thee, step by step 21 -
truly a bestowal from on high!
(24) Await, then, in all patience thy
Sustainer's judgment, 22 and pay no heed to any of them, who is a wilful sinner or
an ingrate;
(25) and bear in mind thy Sustainer's
name 23 at morn and evening
(26) and during some of the night, 24 and
prostrate thyself before Him, and extol His limitless glory throughout the long
night. 25
(27) Behold, they [who are unmindful of
God] love this fleeting life, and leave behind them [all thought of] a
grief-laden Day.
(28) [They will not admit to themselves
that] it We who have created them and strengthened their make 26 -
and [that] if it be Our will We can replace them entirely with others of their
kind. 27
(29) VERILY, all this is an admonition:
whoever, then, so wills, may unto his Sustainer find a way.
(30) But you cannot will it unless God
wills [to show you that way]: 28 for, behold, God is indeed all-seeing, wise.
(31) He admits unto His grace everyone
who wills [to be admitted]; 29 but as for the evildoers - for them has He readied
grievous suffering [in the life to come].
1 Implying, according to all the
classical commentators, "there has indeed been an immensely long [or
"endless"] span of time" - the interrogative particle hal having
here the positive meaning of qad. However, this meaning can be brought
out equally well by interpolating the word "not".
2 Lit., "a thing
mentioned" or "mentionable" - i.e., non-existent even as a
hypothetical concept. The purport of this statement is a refutation of the
blasphemous "anthropocentric" world-view, which postulates man as he
exists - and not any Supreme Being - as the centre and ultimate reality of all
life.
3 Sc., "with the female
ovum"; cf. 86:6-7.
4 I.e., God has not only endowed
man with "hearing and sight", i.e., with reason and the instinctive
ability to discern between right and wrong, good and evil (cf. 90:10), but He
also actively guides him by means of the revelation bestowed on the prophets.
5 In this context, the
"denial of the truth" (kufr) apparently relates to man's
deliberate suppression of his inborn cognition of God's existence (cf. 7:172
and the corresponding note 139) as well as to his disregard of his own
instinctive perceptions of good and evil.
6 Sc., "of despair". For
the metaphor of "shackles and chains" - i.e., the consequence of the
sinners' blind surrender to their own passions and to false values, and the
resulting enslavement of their spirit - see surah 34, note 44; also
Razi's elaborate comments (quoted in note 7 on 73:12-13) on this allegory of
suffering in the hereafter.
7 The Lisan al-Arab gives
"the calyx (kimm) of the grape before its flowering" as the primary
significance of kafur; according to other lexicologists (e.g" Taj
al-Arus), it denotes "the calyx of any flower"; Jawhari applies
it to the "spathe of a palm tree", Hence, this - and not
"camphor" - is evidently the meaning of kafur in the above
context: an allusion to the sweet, extremely delicate fragrance of the symbolic
"drink" 'of divine knowledge (cf. 83:25-28 and the corresponding
notes 8 and 9),
8 Lit" "making [or
"letting"] it flow…", etc.: i.e., having it always at their
disposal.
9 I.e., the spiritual and social
obligations arising from their faith.
10 Or, as in 2:176, "however
much they themselves may cherish [i.e., "need"] it"; cf. also
90:14-16. It is to be noted that in this context the concept of "giving
food" comprises every kind of help and care, both material and moral.
11 The term asir denotes anyone
who is a "captive" either literally (e.g. a prisoner) or
figuratively, i.e., a captive of circumstances which render him helpless; thus,
the Prophet said, "Thy debtor is thy captive; be, therefore, truly kind to
thy captive" (Zamakhshari, Razi, et al.). The injunction of kindness
towards all who are in need of help - and therefore "captive" in one
sense or another - applies to believers and non-believers alike (Tabari,
Zamakhshari), and apparently also to animals dependent on man.
12 Lit" "we fear our
Sustainer".
13 For this allegory, see first
half of note 41 on 18:31.
14 Regarding the allegorical
implication of the term "shades" (zilal), see note 74 on 4:57. It is
to be noted that the existence of shade presupposes, the existence of light
(Jawhari), which latter is one of the characteristics implicit in the concept
of "paradise".
15 Lit., "in all
humility".
16 I.e., partaking of as much as
they may desire.
17 This is how Ali ibn Abi Talib -
as quoted by Zamakhshari and Razi - explains the (obviously compound) word
salsabilan, dividing it into its two components, sal sabilan ("ask [or
"seek"] the way"): namely, "seek thy way to paradise by
means of doing righteous deeds". Although Zamakhshari does not quite agree
with this interpretation, it is, in my opinion, very convincing inasmuch as it
contains an allusion to the highly allegorical character of the concept of
"paradise" as a spiritual consequence of one's positive endeavours in
this world, That its delights are not of a material nature is also evident from
their varying descriptions - i.e., "a cup flavoured with ginger" in
verse 17, and "flavoured with the calyx of sweet-smelling flowers" in
verse 5; or "they will be waited upon with trays and goblets of gold"
in 43:71, and "vessels of silver and goblets that will [seem to] be
crystal – crystal-like, [but] of silver", in verses 15-16 of this surah;
and so forth.
18 See note 6 on 56:17-18.
19 See
20 Implying that God Himself will
slake their spiritual thirst by purifying their inner selves "of all envy,
and rancour, and malice, and all that leads to harm, and all that is base in
man's nature" (Ibn Kathir, quoting Ali ibn Abi Talib), and by allowing
them to "drink" of His Own Light (Razi).
21 The gradualness of Qur'anic
revelation is implied in the verbal form nazzalna..
22 This connects with the
preceding mention of the life to come, in which the righteous will meet with
bliss, and the evildoers with suffering.
23 I.e., His
"attributes" as they manifest themselves in His creation - since the
human mind can grasp only the fact of His existence and the manifestation of
those "attributes", but never the "how" of His Reality
(Razi).
24 I.e., at all times of
wakefulness.
25 I.e., "whenever
unhappiness oppresses thee and all seems dark around thee".
26 I.e., endowed their bodies and
minds with the ability to enjoy "this fleeting life".
27 I.e., with other human beings
who would have the same powers of body and mind, but would put them to better
use.
28 See note 11 on 81:28-29. The
perplexity of some of the commentators at the apparent
"contradiction" between those two verses - as well as between verses
29-30 of the present surah - has been caused by their elliptic formulation,
which, I believe, is resolved in my rendering. In the present instance, in
particular, there is a clear connection between the above two verses and verse
3 of this surah: "We have shown him the way: [and it rests with him to
prove himself] either grateful or ungrateful". (Cf. also 74:56.)
29 Or: "whomever He
wills" - either of these two formulations being syntactically justified.