English Translation and Commentary of the Holy Quran (2010)

by Maulana Muhammad Ali

Chapter 26: Al-Shuara — The Poets (Revealed at Makkah: 11 sections, 227 verses)

Section 1 (Verses 26:1–26:9): The Prophet is Consoled

Translation:

بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

طٰسٓمّٓ ﴿۱﴾

26:1 Benignant, Hearing, Knowing God.1

تِلۡکَ اٰیٰتُ الۡکِتٰبِ الۡمُبِیۡنِ ﴿۲﴾

26:2 These are the verses of the Book that makes manifest.2

لَعَلَّکَ بَاخِعٌ نَّفۡسَکَ اَلَّا یَکُوۡنُوۡا مُؤۡمِنِیۡنَ ﴿۳﴾

26:3 Perhaps you will kill yourself with grief because they do not believe.3

اِنۡ نَّشَاۡ نُنَزِّلۡ عَلَیۡہِمۡ مِّنَ السَّمَآءِ اٰیَۃً فَظَلَّتۡ اَعۡنَاقُہُمۡ لَہَا خٰضِعِیۡنَ ﴿۴﴾

26:4 If We please, We could send down on them a sign from heaven, so that their necks would bend before it.4

وَ مَا یَاۡتِیۡہِمۡ مِّنۡ ذِکۡرٍ مِّنَ الرَّحۡمٰنِ مُحۡدَثٍ اِلَّا کَانُوۡا عَنۡہُ مُعۡرِضِیۡنَ ﴿۵﴾

26:5 And no new Reminder from the Beneficent comes to them but they turn away from it.

فَقَدۡ کَذَّبُوۡا فَسَیَاۡتِیۡہِمۡ اَنۡۢبٰٓؤُا مَا کَانُوۡا بِہٖ یَسۡتَہۡزِءُوۡنَ ﴿۶﴾

26:6 They indeed reject, so the news will soon come to them of that at which they mock.5

اَوَ لَمۡ یَرَوۡا اِلَی الۡاَرۡضِ کَمۡ اَنۡۢبَتۡنَا فِیۡہَا مِنۡ کُلِّ زَوۡجٍ کَرِیۡمٍ ﴿۷﴾

26:7 Do they not see the earth, how many of every noble kind We cause to grow in it?

اِنَّ فِیۡ ذٰلِکَ لَاٰیَۃً ؕوَ مَا کَانَ اَکۡثَرُ ہُمۡ مُّؤۡمِنِیۡنَ ﴿۸﴾

26:8 Surely in this is a sign, yet most of them do not believe.

وَ اِنَّ رَبَّکَ لَہُوَ الۡعَزِیۡزُ الرَّحِیۡمُ ﴿٪۹﴾

26:9 And surely your Lord is the Mighty, the Merciful.6

Commentary:

  1. This verse consists of the letters ṭā, sīn and mīm, which may stand for the names of God: Laṭīf, meaning Benignant, Samī‘, meaning Hearing, and ‘Alīm, meaning Knowing. I may, however, suggest another interpre­tation. These chapters speak in particular of the calling of Moses at Mount Sinai, so ṭā sīn may stand for Ṭūr Sīna’, or Mount Sinai, and mīm may stand for Moses; attention is thus called in these letters to the revelation granted to Moses at Mount Sinai, which bears testimony to the truth of the Prophet. This is corroborated by the plain statement made in the last chapter of this group, that the disbelievers called the revelations of Moses and Muhammad two enchantments backing up each other (28:48). ↩
  2. The Quran makes manifest all that is needed for a right development of the human faculties, and it also makes manifest the whole truth. ↩
  3. The Prophet was informed by Divine revelation of the doom of an evil generation, but instead of cursing it, he exerted himself heroically to save his people by bringing about a mighty transformation among them, a transformation for which he was so anxious that he is described here as almost killing himself with grief. ↩
  4. Such a sign was sent in the battle of Badr and again in the conquest of Makkah. In the former place their chiefs were laid low, and in the latter they accepted submission. ↩
  5. It was the prophecies of their own defeat and of the predominance of Islam at which they mocked. ↩
  6. Seven prophets in all are spoken of in this chapter, and it is related how the enemies of every one of them were exterminated in the final triumph of the Truth. Yet to give an indication of the fate of the Prophet Muhammad’s opponents each prophet’s mention is ended with the two attributes of the Divine Being men­tioned here, the Mighty, the Merciful, the first of these indicating that Truth will, even now, be made to overcome all opposition and the second that the dealing with the opponents of the Prophet would be a merciful dealing. The Prophet’s opponents were defeated indeed but they were not destroyed and a reformed people rose again to power. ↩

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