Note 1
See Appendix II; also surah 11, note 1.

Note 2
According to Zamakhshari and Razi, this is the real meaning of the verbal form yastahibbun in the above context-implying that such an all-absorbing, exclusive love of the life of this world leads inevitably to a denial of moral truths.

Note 3
Since every divine writ was meant to be understood by man, it is obvious that each had to be formulated in the language of the people whom the particular prophet was addressing in the first instance; and the Qur'an - notwithstanding its universal import (cf. note 126 on 7:158) - is no exception in this respect.

Note 4
Or: "God lets go astray whomever He wills, and guides whomever He wills". All Qur'anic references to God's "letting man go astray" must be understood against the background of 2:26 - "none does He cause to go astray save the iniquitous, who break their bond with God" (regarding which latter expression, see surah 2, note 19): that is to say, man's "going astray" is a consequence of his own attitudes and inclinations and not a result of an arbitrary "predestination" in the popular sense of this word (cf. surah 2, note 7). In his commentary on the above verse, Zamakhshari stresses this aspect of free choice on the part of man and points out that "God does not cause anyone to go astray except one who, as He knows, will never attain to faith; and He does not guide anyone aright except one who, as He knows, will attain to faith. Hence, the [expression] 'causing to go astray' denotes [God's] leaving [one] alone (takhliyah) and depriving [him] of all favour, whereas [the expression] 'guidance' denotes [His] grant of fulfilment (tawfiq) and favour .... Thus, He does not forsake anyone except those who deserve to be forsaken, and does not bestow His favour upon anyone except those who deserve to be favoured." Commenting on the identical phrase occurring in 16: 93, Zamakhshari states: "[God] forsakes him who, as He knows, will [consciously] choose to deny the truth and will persevere in this [denial]; and ... He bestows His favour upon him who, as He knows, will choose faith: which means that He makes the issue dependent on [man's] free choice (al-ikhtiyar), and thus on his deserving either [God's] favour or the withdrawal of [His] aid ... and does not make it dependent on compulsion [i.e., predestination], which would rule out [man's] deserving anything of the above."

Note 5
In ancient Arabian tradition, the terms "day" or "days" were often used to describe momentous historical events (e.g., ayyam al-'arab as a metonym for the inter-tribal wars of pre-Islamic Arabia). However, in view of the frequent Qur'anic application of the word "day" to eschatological concepts -e.g., the "Last Day", the "Day of Resurrection", the "Day of Reckoning", and so forth-and, particularly, in view of 45:14, where the expression "the Days of God" unmistakably points to His judgment at the end of time - it is only logical to assume that in the present context this expression bears the same significance: namely, God's final judgment of man on the Day of Resurrection. The use of the plural form ("the Days of God") is perhaps meant to bring out the idea that the "Day" of which the Qur'an so often speaks has nothing to do with human time-definitions but, rather, alludes to an ultimate reality in which the concept of "time" has neither place nor meaning.

Note 6
For this rendering of the particle idh, see surah 2, note 21.

Note 7
Cf. 2:49; also Exodus i, 15-16 and 22.

Note 8
Le., "even more than you deserve".

Note 9
Le., they have disappeared from the face of the earth, and none save God knows today how many they were and how they lived. See verse 14 and note 18 below.

Note 10
Lit., "they put their hands into their mouths" - an idiomatic phrase indicating one's inability to refute a reasonable proposition by cogent, logical counter-arguments: for the out-of-hand rejection of the apostles' message by their recalcitrant compatriots cannot by any means be regarded as an "argument".

Note 11
See surah 11, note 92. It is to be noted that whereas in 11:62 this reply is placed in the mouth of people of one particular community -the Thamud -and is phrased in the singular ("thy call to us"), it appears here in the plural ("your call to us") and represents the gist of the answers given by various communities to various prophets. This generalization, underlying the entire subsequent account and containing echos of several Qur'anic narratives relating to the experiences of individual apostles of earlier times, is obviously meant to bring out the symptomatic character of the attitude referred to: the stubborn attitude of people who either deny God altogether, or - while not consciously denying His existence - yet fee[ compelled to interpose all manner of imaginary "mediators" (thought to be divine or semi-divine) between themselves and Him, thus denying, by implication, His omniscience and omnipotence.

Note 12
Lit., "their apostles".

Note 13
Le., "until the end of your life in this world". This is, I believe, an indirect allusion to the calamities which are bound to befall, even in this world, "those who are bent on denying the truth" (see the last paragraph of 13:31 and the corresponding note 57) -implying that they who consciously respond to the call of God, conveyed through His prophets, would be immune to this kind of suffering and would be graced with abiding spiritual happiness (cf. 13:29).

Note 14
I.e., it is to the contents of the divine message propounded to them that all seekers after truth must turn for illumination (see 7:75 and 13:43, as well as the corresponding notes). The Qur'an dwells in many places (e.g., in 6:109 or 13: 31) on the futility - moral as well as intellectual-of the demand that the divine origin of a prophetic message should be proved by tangible, extraneous means: for, a morally valid and intellectually justifiable conviction of the intrinsic truth of such a message can be gained only through "conscious insight accessible to reason" (12:108).

Note 16
Cf. 7:88, where this alternative is placed before Shu'ayb.

Note 17
Lit., "to them".

Note 18
Lit., "after them": implying a divine promise that the truth preached by the apostles would outlive its detractors (cf. verse 9 above, "None knows them [now] save God"), and would triumph in the end.

Note 19
As Zamakhshari points out, the divine promise expressed in the above verse is equivalent to the statement in 7:128 that "the future (al- aqibah) belongs to the God-conscious".

Note 20
Or: "they [i.e., the apostles] prayed for victory" or "for [God's] aid" -both these meanings being contained in the noun fath, with which the verbal form istaftahu, used here, is connected. It should be borne in mind that the primary significance of fataha is "he opened", and of istaftaha, "he sought to open [something]" or "he desired that it be opened". Thus, the above passage echoes, in a generalized form, Shu'ayb's prayer in 7:89, "Lay Thou open (iftah) the truth between us and our people".

Note 21
Lit., "[with] hell beyond him", i.e., as his destiny. For my rendering of jabbar, in this context, as "enemy of the truth", see the first part of note 58 on 26:130.

Note 22
The word sadid is an infinitive noun of sadda. which in its primary meaning denotes "he turned away" or "was averse [from something]"; also - as noted in the Qamus and the Asas - "he cried out loudly" (i.e., by reason of his aversion to something). Since sadid signifies anything that is repulsive, it is also used tropically to describe the pus that flows from wounds or the viscous liquid that oozes from corpses. In his commentary on this verse, Razi suggests that the expression ma' sadid is here purely metaphorical, and should be understood as "water like [what is described as] sadid". It is in pursuance of this interpretation that I have rendered the above expression as "waters of most bitter distress" - a metaphor of the boundless suffering and bitter frustration which, in the life to come, awaits those who during their life in this world were bent on denying all spiritual truths. (Cf. the expression sharab min hamim -rendered by me as "a draught of burning despair"-occurring in several places and elucidated in note 62 on 6:70.)

Note 23
I.e., to reconcile himself to this suffering.

Note 24
I.e., even the good ones (Razi).

Note 25
Lit., "this, this is the straying far-away". The definite article in the expression ad-dalal al-ba'id, preceded by the pronouns dhalika huwa, is meant to stress the extreme degree of this "straying far-away" or "going astray": a construction that can be rendered in English only by a paraphrase, as above. It is to be noted that this phrase occurs in the Qur'an only twice- namely, in the above passage and in 22: 12 -and refers in both cases to a denial, conscious or implied, of God's oneness and uniqueness.

Note 26
See note 11 on 10:5.

Note 27
Lit., "bring forth a new creation" or "new people", for it should be remembered that the term khalq denotes not merely "creation" or "act of creation" but also "people" or "mankind", which seems to be its meaning here (Ibn `Abbas, as quoted by Razi).

Note 28
I.e., those who had sinned out of moral weakness and self-indulgence, relying on the supposedly superior wisdom of the so-called "leaders of thought", who are described in the sequence as having "gloried in their arrogance" (astakbaru) inasmuch as they refused to pay heed to God's messages (Tabari, on the authority of Ibn `Abbas).

Note 29
Sc., "but now it is too late for repentance". According to Tabari and Razi, this is the meaning of the above passage. Zamakhshari, however, prefers another interpretation, implying a reference not to the present but to the past, thus: "`If God had guided us aright, we would have guided you [too] aright": in other words, he understands the phrase as an attempt on the part of the doomed to divest themselves of all responsibility, and to attribute their past sinning to God's "not having willed" to guide them aright. To my mind, the interpretation offered by Tabari and Razi is preferable because-all other considerations apart-it provides a logical connection between the request of "the weak" (see preceding note) and the reply of those who in their earthly life had "gloried in their arrogance", as well as with the latters' subsequent, despairing utterance, which can be summed up in the words, "too late!"

Note 30
Lit., "God promised you a promise of truth" - i.e., the promise of resurrection and last judgment.

Note 31
In his commentary on this passage, Razi remarks: "This verse shows that the real Satan (ash-shaytan al-asli) is [man's own] complex of desires (an-nafs): for, Satan makes it clear [in the above] that it was only by means of insinuations '(waswasah) that he was able to reach [the sinner's soul]; and had it not been for an already-existing [evil] disposition due to lusts, anger, superstition or fanciful ideas, these [satanic] insinuations would have had no effect whatsoever."

Note 32
Le., "I cannot respond to your call for help, just as you should not have, in your lifetime, responded to my call." The above sentence is often interpreted in another sense, namely, "I cannot succour you, just as you cannot succour me". However, in view of Satan's allegorical reference-in the preceding passages as well as in the next sentence-to the sinners' earthly past, the rendering adopted by me seems to be more suitable; moreover, it is closer to the primary meaning of the verb sarakha ("he cried out"), from which the form musrikh ("one who responds to a cry") is derived (Jawhari).

Note 33
This is, to my mind, the meaning of the highly elliptical phrase kafartu bi-ma ashraktumuni min qabl, which could be literally-but most inadequately-translated thus: "I have refused to admit the truth of that whereby you associated me aforetime [with God]." The implication is that Satan, while endeavouring to lead men astray, never claims to be God's "equal" (cf. 7:20, where he speaks of God, to Adam and Eve, as "your Sustainer", or 15:36 and 39, where he addresses Him as "my Sustainer", or 8:48 and 59:16, where he says, "behold, 1 fear God") but, rather, tries to make men's sinful doings "seem goodly to them" (cf. 6:43, 8:48, 16:63, 27:24, 29:38), i.e., persuades them that it is morally justifiable to follow one's fancies and selfish desires without any restraint. But while Satan himself does not make any claim to equality with God, the sinner who submits to Satan's blandishments attributes to him thereby, as it were, "a share in God's divinity". -It must be stressed, in this connection, that the Qur'anic expression shaytan is often used as a metaphor for every human impulse that is intrinsically immoral and, therefore, contrary to man's best - i.e., spiritual - interests.

Note 34
I.e., all those who had consciously either from intellectual arrogance or from moral weakness -responded to "Satan's call".

Note 35
As in 10:10, this phrase reads literally, "their greeting therein [will be],'Peace!' (salam)"-a term which has been explained in surah 5, note 29.

Note 36
In its wider meaning, the term kalimah ("word") denotes any conceptual statement or proposition. Thus, a "good word" circumscribes any proposition (or idea) that is intrinsically true and - because it implies a call to what is good in the moral sense - is ultimately beneficent and enduring; and since a call to moral righteousness is the innermost purport of every one of God's messages, the term "good word" applies to them as well. Similarly, the "corrupt word" mentioned in verse 26 applies to the opposite of what a divine message aims at: namely, to every idea that is intrinsically false or morally evil and, therefore, spiritually harmful.

Note 37
See note 33 on the first clause of 39:27.

Note 38
Lit., "having no permanance (qarar) whatever": i.e., the "corrupt word" (see note 36 above) is ephemeral in its effect, however strong its original impact on the minds of people who fall prey to

Note 39
Lit., "firm" (thabit). The term Bawl -similar to the term kalimah (see note 36 above) - denote, beyond its primary meaning of "saying" or "utterance", also anything that can be defined as a statement of belief or opinion, namely, "concept", "tenet", "assertion of faith", and so on. In this context it expresses the concept that there is no deity save God, and that Muhammad is His Apostle: which is an interpretation of the above phrase given by the Prophet himself, as quoted by Bukhari in a Tradition on the authority of Al-Bara' ibn`Azib (Kitab at-Tafsir), and by other Traditionists, including Muslim, on the authority of Shu`bah. The adjective thabit connotes the "firmness"-that is, the unshakable truth-of the "word" (or "concept",) which it qualifies, thus connecting it with the preceding parable of the "good word" and the "good tree".

Note 40
See note 4 on verse 4 of this surah.

Note 41
Lit., "who have exchanged God's blessings for a denial of the truth". The expression "God's blessings (ni'mah)" obviously refers here to the messages revealed through His apostles.

Note 42
This is evidently an allusion to the relationship between the arrogant leaders of thought and their weak followers spoken of in verse 21 above.

Note 43
Lit., "they gave God compeers (andad)". For an explanation of my paraphrase of this sentence (fully justified by Razi), see surah 2, note 13. -The particle li prefixed to the subsequent verb li-yudillu does not denote intent but is a so-called lam al-`aqibah, i.e., "the [letter] lam indicating a consequence" or "a result" (Razi), and is in this case suitably rendered as "and so".

Note 44
See surah 2, note 4.

Note 45
Cf. 2:254. According to the philologist Abu `Ubaydah, as quoted by Razi, the expression bay` ("selling and buying" or "bargaining") denotes here the metaphorical "[giving and taking] ransom" which, as the Qur'an repeatedly stresses, will be inadmissible on the Day of Judgment (cf. 3:91 and the corresponding note 71, as well as 5:36, 10:54, 13:18, 39:47 and 70:11); similarly, the denial of khilal - which Abu `Ubaydah regards as synonymous, in this context, with mukhalah ("mutual befriending")-expresses the impossibility of "ransom" through intercession on Judgment Day, for "now, indeed, you have come unto Us in a lonely state, even as We created you in the first instance" (6:94).

Note 46
Almost all classical commentators agree that God's having made the natural phenomena "subservient" to man is a metaphor (majaz) for His having enabled man to derive lasting benefit from them: hence my explanatory interpolations. In the same sense, the night and the day are spoken of in 10:67, 27:86 or 40:61 as having been "made for you" (resp. "for them").

Note 47
Le., God satisfies every one of man's desires, provided that His unfathomable wisdom regards its satisfaction as ultimately beneficial to the human being concerned: this is the meaning of the preposition min (lit., "out of", but in this context, "something out of") preceding the phrase "what you may be asking".

Note 48
The whole of this passage (verses 35-41)-from which the title of this surah is derived represents a parenthetic reminder, in the form of Abraham's prayer, of the only way to righteousness, in the deepest sense of the word, open to man: namely, a recognition of God's existence, oneness and uniqueness and, hence, a rejection of all belief in "other powers" supposedly co-existent with Him (cf. verse 30 above). Inasmuch as this prayer implies a realization of, and gratitude for, God's infinite bounty, it connects directly with the preceding verse 34 and the subsequent verse 42.

Note 49
Le., the land in which the Ka'bah is situated (see surah 2, note 102) and, more specifically, Mecca.

Note 50
The term "idols" (asnam, sing. sanam) does not apply exclusively to actual, concrete representations of false "deities": for shirk -that is, an attribution of divine powers or qualities to anyone or anything beside God-may consist also, as Razi points out, in a worshipful devotion to all manner of "causative agencies and outward means to an end" - an obvious allusion to wealth, power, luck, people's favour or disfavour, and so forth-"whereas genuine faith in the oneness and uniqueness of God (at-tawhid al-mahd) consists in divesting oneself of all inner attachment to [such] causative agencies and in being convinced that there exists no real directing power apart from God".

Note 51
Thus, Abraham accepts God's verdict (given in 2:124) regarding the sinners from among his descendants.

Note 52
Le., the narrow desert valley of Mecca, which is enclosed by barren, rocky hills. By "some of my offspring" Abraham refers to Ishmael and his descendants who settled at Mecca.

Note 53
Le., to be desirous of visiting them - namely, on pilgrimage to Mecca - and thus help them to maintain themselves in the holy but barren land. The phrase af'idah min an-nas lends itself also to the rendering "the hearts of some people", in which case it could be taken to mean "the hearts of the believers" (Baghawi, Razi, Ibn Kathir).

Note 54
I.e., metonymically, "to remain utterly devoted to Thee". The particle min ("[some] of") preceding the word dhurriyati ("my offspring") is obviously an allusion to 2:124, where God says in answer to Abraham's question about his descendants: "My covenant does not embrace the evildoers." Thus, Abraham has been given to understand that not all of his posterity would be righteous and that none can claim to belong to a "chosen people" by virtue of his or her descent from an apostle of God: a statement which relates not only to the Israelites, who descended from Abraham through Isaac, but also to the Arabian (Ishmaelite) branch of the Abrahamic peoples, from whom the Quraysh were to spring: hence, by implication, even to the unrighteous among the descendants of the Last Prophet, Muhammad, who belonged to the tribe of Quraysh.

Note 55
This verse connects with the last sentence of Abraham's prayer, namely, his reference to "the Day on which the [last] reckoning will come to pass". The wrongdoers mentioned here are those who indulge in the belief "that there are other powers that can rival God" (cf. verse 30 above), and thus commit the unforgivable sin of shirk. As regards the "respite" granted to them, see the first clause of 11:20 and the corresponding note 39.

Note 56
Lit., "their gaze will not revert to them".

Note 57
Cf. 6:27.

Note 58
Lit., "that there would be no going down [or "no removal"] whatever for you" - i.e., no passing-over from earthly life to a life in the hereafter, attended by God's retribution of sins: a reference to many people's refusal, often mentioned in the Qur'an, to believe in life after death and, hence, in God's ultimate judgment.

Note 59
I.e., "you lived on the same earth, and in basically the same human environment, as those earlier generations who offended against all ethical values and thereby brought destruction upon themselves: hence, their tragic fate should have been a warning to you".

Note 60
Lit., "the parables", i.e., the parables in the Qur'an which illuminate the idea of resurrection and of God's final judgment (Razi). See also note 37 above.

Note 61
Lit., "they devised their devising", i.e., their blasphemous belief in the existence of other "divine powers" side by side with God: this is the interpretation given by Tabari towards the end of his long commentary on this verse. For my rendering of the term makr, in this context, as "false imagery", see surah 13, note 62.

Note 62
I.e., the promise of resurrection and recompense on the Day of Judgment. This relates specifically to the "respite" occasionally granted to evildoers for the duration of their lifetime (cf. verse 42 above).

Note 63
This is an allusion to the total, cataclysmic change, on the Last Day, of all natural phenomena, and thus of the universe as known to man (cf. 20:105 and the corresponding note 90). Since that change will be beyond anything that man has ever experienced or what the human mind can conceive, all the Qur'anic descriptions - in the next two verses as well as in many other places-of what is to happen on that Last Day are, of necessity, expressed in allegorical terms: and this applies also to all descriptions of man's condition, good or bad, in, the life to come. (Cf. note 37 above, relating to the term "parable" often used in the Qur'an.)

Note 64
In his commentary on this passage, Razi expresses the view that the reference to the sinners' being "linked together in fetters" is a metaphor of their own evil deeds and inclinations and, consequently, of the utter despair which will be common to all of them in the hereafter. To my mind, it may also be an allusion to the chain-reaction which every evil deed is bound to set in motion on earth, one evil unavoidably begetting another.

Note 65
According to Razi, the "garments of black pitch (gatiran)"' and the "fire veiling their faces" are metaphors of the inexpressible suffering and loathsome horror which will enwrap the sinners' souls on the Day of Judgment. (See also surah 73, note 7.)