Verses translated, summary, explanatory notes in Urdu & English
اِنَّ رَبَّکُمُ اللّٰہُ الَّذِیۡ خَلَقَ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الۡاَرۡضَ فِیۡ سِتَّۃِ اَیَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسۡتَوٰی عَلَی الۡعَرۡشِ یُدَبِّرُ الۡاَمۡرَ ؕ مَا مِنۡ شَفِیۡعٍ اِلَّا مِنۡۢ بَعۡدِ اِذۡنِہٖ ؕ ذٰلِکُمُ اللّٰہُ رَبُّکُمۡ فَاعۡبُدُوۡہُ ؕ اَفَلَا تَذَکَّرُوۡنَ ﴿۳﴾ اِلَیۡہِ مَرۡجِعُکُمۡ جَمِیۡعًا ؕ وَعۡدَ اللّٰہِ حَقًّا ؕ اِنَّہٗ یَبۡدَؤُا الۡخَلۡقَ ثُمَّ یُعِیۡدُہٗ لِیَجۡزِیَ الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا وَ عَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ بِالۡقِسۡطِ ؕ وَ الَّذِیۡنَ کَفَرُوۡا لَہُمۡ شَرَابٌ مِّنۡ حَمِیۡمٍ وَّ عَذَابٌ اَلِیۡمٌۢ بِمَا کَانُوۡا یَکۡفُرُوۡنَ ﴿۴﴾ ہُوَ الَّذِیۡ جَعَلَ الشَّمۡسَ ضِیَآءً وَّ الۡقَمَرَ نُوۡرًا وَّ قَدَّرَہٗ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعۡلَمُوۡا عَدَدَ السِّنِیۡنَ وَ الۡحِسَابَ ؕ مَا خَلَقَ اللّٰہُ ذٰلِکَ اِلَّا بِالۡحَقِّ ۚ یُفَصِّلُ الۡاٰیٰتِ لِقَوۡمٍ یَّعۡلَمُوۡنَ ﴿۵﴾ اِنَّ فِی اخۡتِلَافِ الَّیۡلِ وَ النَّہَارِ وَ مَا خَلَقَ اللّٰہُ فِی السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ لَاٰیٰتٍ لِّقَوۡمٍ یَّتَّقُوۡنَ ﴿۶﴾ اِنَّ الَّذِیۡنَ لَا یَرۡجُوۡنَ لِقَآءَنَا وَ رَضُوۡا بِالۡحَیٰوۃِ الدُّنۡیَا وَ اطۡمَاَنُّوۡا بِہَا وَ الَّذِیۡنَ ہُمۡ عَنۡ اٰیٰتِنَا غٰفِلُوۡنَ ۙ﴿۷﴾ اُولٰٓئِکَ مَاۡوٰىہُمُ النَّارُ بِمَا کَانُوۡا یَکۡسِبُوۡنَ ﴿۸﴾ اِنَّ الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا وَ عَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ یَہۡدِیۡہِمۡ رَبُّہُمۡ بِاِیۡمَانِہِمۡ ۚ تَجۡرِیۡ مِنۡ تَحۡتِہِمُ الۡاَنۡہٰرُ فِیۡ جَنّٰتِ النَّعِیۡمِ ﴿۹﴾ دَعۡوٰىہُمۡ فِیۡہَا سُبۡحٰنَکَ اللّٰہُمَّ وَ تَحِیَّتُہُمۡ فِیۡہَا سَلٰمٌ ۚ وَ اٰخِرُ دَعۡوٰىہُمۡ اَنِ الۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ﴿٪۱۰﴾
Introductory summary:
These notes, covering Notes 4 to 14, set out the two foundational principles of the Prophet’s teaching and argue for them step by step. The first is God’s absolute lordship. He did not create the universe and then step back or hand it to others; He actively rules and sustains it, and no one can override His decisions or force an intercession. Because lordship (rububiyyah), meaning sustenance, ownership and sovereignty, belongs to Him alone, worship (ʿibadah) in its three senses of devotion, servitude and obedience is due to Him alone. The second principle is accountability in the Hereafter, which the notes defend with three rational arguments in logical sequence. A second life is possible, because God created the first. It is necessary, because moral responsibility creates a claim to reward and punishment that this world does not settle. It is certain, because an All-Wise Creator, whose purposeful design is visible in the sun, moon and the alternation of night and day, will not leave that demand unmet. The notes add that these signs guide only those who are free of prejudice and sincerely want the truth. They then offer an empirical argument: wherever the sense of answerability to God is lost, individual and collective conduct decays. Morality without God, they argue, collapses into self-interested utilitarianism, and any virtue an atheist does show is borrowed from religious influence. The notes then explain that Paradise is earned through faith that is truly absorbed into character, just as food nourishes only when it is digested. Finally, they portray the believers in Paradise as carrying their noble character into it: their delight is in glorifying God and wishing peace upon one another, not in sensual indulgence.
Urdu translation
حقیقت یہ ہے کہ تمہارا ربّ وہی خدا ہے جس نے آسمانوں اور زمین کو چھ دنوں میں پیدا کیا، پھر تختِ حکومت پر جلوہ گر ہوا اور کائنات کا انتظام چلارہا ہے۔4 کوئی شفاعت ﴿سفارش﴾ کرنے والا نہیں ہے اِلّا یہ کہ اس کی اجازت کے بعد شفاعت کرے۔5 یہی اللہ تمہارا ربّ ہے لہٰذا تم اُسی کی عبادت کرو۔6 پھر کیا تم ہوش میں نہ آوٴ گے؟7
اسی کی طرف تم سب کو پلٹ کا جانا ہے8، یہ اللہ کا پکا وعدہ ہے۔ بے شک پیدائش کی ابتداء وہی کرتا ہے، پھر وہی دوبارہ پیدا کرے گا،9 تاکہ جو لوگ ایمان لائے اور جنہوں نے نیک اعمال کیے ان کو پورے انصاف کے ساتھ جزا دے، اور جنہوں نے کُفر کا طریقہ اختیار کیا وہ کھولتا ہوا پانی پئیں اور دردناک سزا بُھگتیں اُس انکارِحق کی پاداش میں جو وہ کرتے رہے۔10
وہی ہے جس نے سُورج کو اُجیالا بنایا اور چاند کو چمک دی کہ گھَٹنے بھڑھنے کی منزلیں ٹھیک ٹھیک مقرر کر دیں تا کہ تم اُس سے برسوں اور تاریخوں کے حساب معلوم کر و۔ اللہ نے یہ سب کچھ﴿ کھیل کے طور پر نہیں بلکہ﴾ با مقصد ہی بنایا ہے۔ وہ اپنی نشانیوں کو کھول کھول کر پیش کر رہا ہے اُن لوگوں کے لیے جو علم رکھتے ہیں۔ یقیناً رات اور دن کے اُلٹ پھیر میں اور ہر اُس چیز میں جو اللہ نے زمین اور آسمانوں میں پیدا کی ہے، نشانیاں ہیں اُن لوگوں کے لیے جو ﴿غلط بینی و غلط روی سے﴾ بچنا چاہتے ہیں۔11
حقیقت یہ ہے کہ جو لوگ ہم سے ملنے کی توقع نہیں رکھتے اور دُنیا کی زندگی ہی پر راضی اور مطمئن ہو گئے ہیں ، اور جو لوگ ہماری نشانیوں سے غافل ہیں، اُن کا آخری ٹھکانہ جہنم ہو گااُن برائیوں کی پاداش میں جن کا اکتساب وہ ﴿اپنے اُس غلط عقیدے اور غلط طرزِ عمل کی وجہ سے ﴾ کرتے رہے۔12
اور یہ بھی حقیقت ہے کہ جو لوگ ایمان لائے ﴿یعنی جنہوں نے اُن صداقتوں کو قبول کر لیا جو اس کتاب میں پیش کی گئی ہیں﴾ اور نیک اعمال کرتے رہے اُنہیں اُن کا ربّ اُن کےایمان کی وجہ سے سیدھی راہ چلائے گا، نعمت بھری جنتّوں میں اُن کے نیچے نہریں بہیں گی،13 وہاں اُن کی صدا یہ ہوگی کہ”پاک ہے تُو اے خدا“، اُن کی یہ دُعا ہوگی کہ ” سلامتی ہو “ اور اُن کی ہر بات کا خاتمہ اِس پر ہو گا کہ ” ساری تعریف اللہ ربّ العالمین ہی کے لیے ہے14۔“ ؏ ١
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
In truth, your Lord is the God who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself on the Throne of sovereignty, and He is running the affairs of the universe.⁴ No one can intercede except after His permission.⁵ This is Allah, your Lord, so worship Him alone.⁶ Will you not then come to your senses?⁷
To Him you will all return.⁸ This is Allah’s firm promise. He is the one who begins creation, and He is the one who will create it again.⁹ He does this to reward with full justice those who believed and did good deeds. Those who chose the way of disbelief will drink boiling water and suffer a painful punishment for the denial of truth they persisted in.¹⁰
He is the one who made the sun radiant and gave the moon its light. He precisely fixed the moon’s stages of waxing and waning so that you may know the count of years and the reckoning of dates. Allah has not created all this [as a game]; He created it with purpose. He lays out His signs in detail for people who have knowledge. In the alternation of night and day, and in everything Allah has created in the earth and the heavens, there are signs for people who want to guard themselves [against false perception and wrong conduct].¹¹
In truth, some people do not expect to meet Us and are content and at ease with the life of this world, and some are heedless of Our signs. Their final abode will be Hell, as recompense for the evils they kept earning [through their false beliefs and wrong conduct].¹²
It is equally true that those who believed [that is, accepted the truths presented in this Book] and kept doing good deeds will be guided on the straight path by their Lord because of their faith. In gardens of bliss, rivers will flow beneath them.¹³ Their call there will be, “Glory be to You, O God!” Their greeting will be, “Peace!” And their every word will end with, “All praise belongs to Allah alone, Lord of all the worlds.”¹⁴
[End of Section 1]
Explanatory foot notes
Surah Yunus, Note 4
In other words, after creating the universe He did not withdraw into inactivity. He Himself took His seat on the throne of sovereignty over the universe He created, and the management of the whole world is now actually in His hands. Foolish people imagine that God created the universe and then simply left it to run however it would, or handed it over to others to control as they please.
The Quran presents the opposite as the truth. Allah Himself rules over the entire workshop of His creation. All authority is in His own hands, and He alone holds the reins of power. Whatever happens in every corner of the universe, at every moment, happens directly by His command or permission. His relationship with this world of existence is not merely that He brought it into being at some point in the past. He is its constant planner and manager: it stands because He sustains it, and it runs because He runs it. (See Surah Al-A’raf, Notes 40 and 41.)
Surah Yunus, Note 5
In other words, far from anyone else having a share in running and managing the world, no one even has enough authority to intercede with God and get one of His decisions changed, or to have someone’s fortune made or ruined. The most anyone can do is pray to God, and whether that prayer is accepted depends entirely on God’s will. In all of God’s dominion there is no one so powerful that his word must prevail and his intercession cannot be refused, no one who can cling to the leg of the Throne and refuse to budge until he gets his way.
Surah Yunus, Note 6
The three preceding sentences stated an objective reality: God alone is in fact your Lord. Now you are being told how you should conduct yourselves given this fact. Since lordship (rububiyyah) belongs entirely to God, it necessarily follows that you should worship (‘ibadah) Him alone.
The word rububiyyah carries three meanings: nurturing and sustaining, ownership and mastery, and rule and sovereignty. In the same way, the word ‘ibadah, its counterpart, carries three meanings: devotion, servitude and obedience.
First meaning: devotion. Because God is the only Sustainer, people should be grateful to Him alone, make their supplications to Him alone, and bow their heads before Him alone in love and reverence.
Second meaning: servitude. Because God is the only Owner and Master, people should live as His servants and slaves. They should not act independently of Him, and they should not accept mental or practical servitude to anyone besides Him.
Third meaning: obedience. Because God is the only [Ruler], people should obey His command and follow His law. They should neither make themselves their own rulers nor accept the sovereignty of anyone other than Him.
Surah Yunus, Note 7
In other words, this reality has now been laid open before you, and you have been told plainly what the right conduct is in light of it. Will your eyes still not open? Will you remain caught in the same misconceptions that have kept the whole course of your life at odds with reality until now?
Surah Yunus, Note 8
This is the second fundamental principle of the Prophet’s teaching. The first principle is that Allah alone is your Lord, so worship Him alone. The second principle is that you must return from this world and give an account to your Lord.
Surah Yunus, Note 9
This sentence contains both a claim and its proof. The claim is that God will create human beings again. The proof offered for it is that He is the one who created them the first time.
Anyone who accepts that God began creation cannot call it impossible or unreasonable that the same God will bring that creation back again. And who could deny that God began creation, apart from the atheists who, simply to escape the religion of the clergy, have been willing to adopt a theory as foolish as creation without a Creator?
Surah Yunus, Note 10
This is the need on account of which Allah will create human beings again. The argument given above was enough to prove that bringing creation back is possible and that it is wrong to consider it far-fetched. Now we are told that this repetition of creation is necessary according to reason and justice, and that this need cannot be met in any way except by a second creation.
Those who accept God as their only Lord and adopt the proper attitude of servitude deserve the full reward for their right conduct. Those who deny reality and live in opposition to it also deserve to see the evil result of their wrong conduct. If this need is not being met in the present worldly life, and anyone who is not obstinate knows that it is not, then another life is certainly unavoidable to meet it. (For further explanation, see Surah Al-A’raf, Note 30, and Surah Hud, Note 105.)
Surah Yunus, Note 11
This is the third argument for belief in the Hereafter. God’s works are visible everywhere in the universe, and some of their greatest signs are there for everyone to see in the sun and the moon and the cycle of night and day. They give the clearest proof that the Creator of this magnificent workshop of existence is not a child who made it all just to play with, only to smash the toy house once he has had his fill. It is plainly evident that there is order, wisdom and purpose in all His works, and deep intention in the creation of every single particle. He is All-Wise, and the marks and signs of His wisdom are openly before you. How, then, can you expect Him to leave unanswered the entitlement to reward and punishment that necessarily arises from giving human beings reason and moral responsibility?
In this way, these verses present belief in the Hereafter together with three arguments for it, set out in precise logical order:
First: a second life is possible, because the first life actually exists, which proves such a life can exist.
Second: a second life is necessary. In this present life people carry out their moral responsibility rightly or wrongly, and that creates an entitlement to punishment or reward. Reason and justice therefore demand another life in which everyone sees the result their moral conduct deserves.
Third: since reason and justice require a second life, that requirement will certainly be met. The Creator of humanity and the universe is All-Wise, and no one can expect the All-Wise to hold back from bringing about what wisdom and justice demand.
On careful reflection, these three arguments turn out to be the only ones possible for proving life after death by reasoning, and they are also sufficient. After them, only one thing could be added: showing people with their own eyes that the thing which is possible, which needs to exist, and which God’s wisdom requires Him to bring about, is standing right before them. That will not be done in this present worldly life, however, because believing after seeing means nothing. The very test God intends for human beings is whether they will accept realities beyond sense and observation through pure reflection, thought and sound reasoning.
In this connection, another important point is made that deserves close attention. The verses say that God “lays out His signs in detail for people who have knowledge,” and that “in everything Allah has created there are signs for people who want to guard themselves against false perception and wrong conduct.” This means that God, in His great wisdom, has spread signs throughout the phenomena of life that clearly point to the realities hidden behind them. But only people who have two qualities can reach the reality through these signs:
First, they must be free of ignorant prejudice and must use the means of acquiring knowledge that God has given to human beings.
Second, they must themselves want to avoid error and take the right path.
Surah Yunus, Note 12
Here again, a claim is made and its proof is indicated alongside it. The claim is that the necessary and certain result of denying the Hereafter is Hell. The proof is that a person who denies this belief, or is simply indifferent to it, goes on earning evils whose punishment can be nothing other than Hell.
This is a fact, and thousands of years of human experience bear witness to it. Consider people who do not see themselves as responsible and answerable before God, who have no fear that they must eventually account to God for the full record of their lives, and who act on the assumption that this worldly life is the only life. For them the only measure of success and failure is how much prosperity, comfort, fame and power a person gains in this world, and because of these materialist notions they regard God’s signs as unworthy of attention. The whole of their lives goes wrong. They live in the world like unbridled camels, acquire the worst morals and qualities, fill God’s earth with oppression, corruption, sin and immorality, and so become deserving of Hell.
This is a different kind of argument for belief in the Hereafter. The first three arguments were rational ones, while this one is empirical. It is only alluded to here, but the Quran gives it in detail in various places. In short, the argument is this: neither an individual’s conduct nor the collective conduct of human groups is ever set right unless the awareness and conviction that we must answer to God for our deeds is embedded at the foundation of human character.
The question to consider is why this should be so. Why does human character and conduct head down the path of evil as soon as this awareness and conviction disappear or weaken? If belief in the Hereafter did not correspond to objective reality, and denying it did not go against reality, the results of affirming or denying it could not keep appearing in our experience with such inevitable consistency. When one thing consistently produces right results, and its absence always produces wrong ones, that is conclusive proof that the thing itself is right.
In response, people sometimes argue that many who deny the Hereafter base their moral philosophy and way of life entirely on atheism and materialism. They say such people still have fairly upright characters, do not commit oppression, corruption, sin or immorality, and are good in their dealings and devoted to serving others.
The weakness of this argument becomes clear with a moment’s thought. Examine every materialist, irreligious philosophy and system of thought. You will find no foundation anywhere for the moral excellences and good deeds for which these “virtuous” atheists are praised. No logic can show that these irreligious philosophies provide any motive for truthfulness, trustworthiness, honesty, keeping one’s word, justice, compassion, generosity, self-sacrifice, sympathy, self-control, chastity, recognition of what is right, and fulfilling the rights of others.
Once God and the Hereafter are set aside, the only workable system of morality that can be built rests on utilitarianism. All other moral philosophies are merely hypothetical and bookish, not practical. However far the morality produced by utilitarianism is extended, it never goes beyond one thing: a person does whatever is expected to bring some benefit in this world to himself or to the society he belongs to. Driven by hope of gain and fear of loss, such a morality can lead a person to commit truth or falsehood, trustworthiness or betrayal, honesty or dishonesty, loyalty or treachery, justice or oppression, as the occasion demands. In short, it can lead him to any virtue or its opposite.
The best example of this morality is the modern nations. It is often cited to show that, despite holding a materialist view of life and lacking any concept of the Hereafter, its individuals are generally more truthful, straightforward, honest, faithful to their commitments, just-minded and reliable in their dealings than others. In reality, however, the character of this very nation gives us the most striking practical proof of how unstable utilitarian morality is.
If the truthfulness, fairness, uprightness and fidelity to agreements of the liberal really rested on a firm conviction that these qualities are permanent moral virtues in themselves, how could the following be possible? Each individual liberals/citizens carry these qualities in his personal character. Yet the people of the whole nation choose ( leaders) as its representatives and the heads of its collective affairs openly use lies, broken promises, oppression, injustice and dishonesty on a vast scale in running its empire and its international affairs, and they keep the trust of the entire nation. Is this not clear proof that these people do not believe in permanent moral values? It shows that, according to worldly gain and loss, they adopt, and are able to adopt, two contradictory moral attitudes at the same time.
Still, suppose there really is someone in the world who denies God and the Hereafter and yet consistently practises certain virtues and avoids certain vices. His virtue and restraint are not the result of his materialist view of life. They result from religious influences that have unconsciously settled in his soul. His moral capital has been stolen from religion, and he is using it improperly in irreligion, because he can never point to the source of this capital anywhere in the treasury of his irreligion and materialism.
Surah Yunus, Note 13
Do not pass over this sentence casually. The sequence of its ideas deserves close attention.
Why will these people receive Paradise in the life of the Hereafter? Because they walked the straight path in the life of this world. In every task, in every area of life, and in every individual and collective matter, they chose the right way and abandoned false ways.
How did they gain the ability to tell right from wrong, truth from falsehood and straight from crooked at every step, at every turn and at every crossroads of life? And where did they find the strength to hold firm to the right course that this discernment showed them, and to avoid going astray? From their Lord, because He is the source of guidance in knowledge and of enabling grace in action.
Why did their Lord keep granting them this guidance and this enabling grace? Because of their faith.
What kind of faith produces the results described above? Not a faith that means mere acceptance, but a faith that becomes the soul of one’s character and conduct, and by whose power goodness begins to show in one’s morals and deeds.
In your physical life you can see for yourself that staying alive, being healthy, having the strength to work, and enjoying life all depend on the right kind of food. But these results do not come from nourishment that means merely eating. They come from nourishment that is digested, becomes blood, and reaches every vein. There it gives every part of the body the strength to do its own work properly.
In exactly the same way, in the moral life, being guided, seeing rightly, acting rightly and finally attaining success all depend on right beliefs. But these results do not come from beliefs that are merely spoken or lie idle in some corner of the heart and mind. They come from beliefs that are absorbed into the self and become one’s way of thinking, one’s taste and one’s temperament. They then show clearly in one’s character, conduct and way of life.
Under God’s physical law, a person who eats but remains like one who has not eaten does not earn the benefits reserved for one who eats and digests. Why, then, should anyone expect that under His moral law a person who believes but remains like one who does not believe can deserve the rewards reserved for one who believes and becomes righteous?
14These facts about the life in Paradise have been stated in order to make conspicuous the high thinking and the noble qualities of the Believers. When they enter Paradise after coming out successful in this worldly test they will manifest the same high qualities of character that they had in this world. Instead of making urgent and immediate demands for beautiful articles of luxury, musical instruments, wine and women, they will sing hymns of praise to their Lord. This also belies that picture of the life in Paradise that some crooked people have formed of it. The fact is that the noble personalities which the Believers build in this world and the high ways of thinking and the excellent moral characters they form in this world and the great and rigid training they give to their feelings, emotions and desires, will become all the more prominent in the pure surroundings and environments of Paradise. That is why they will love it most to sing hymns of praise to Allah and glorify His name just as they did in this world. Besides this, their greatest wish and desire in Paradise will be peace for one another, as it was in their collective life in this world.
