وَالسَّمَاءِ وَالطَّارِقِ CONSIDER the heavens and that which comes in the night! (1) وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الطَّارِقُ And what could make thee conceive what it is that comes in the night? (2) النَّجْمُ الثَّاقِبُ It is the star that pierces through [life's] darkness: (3) إِنْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ لَمَّا عَلَيْهَا حَافِظٌ [for] no human being has ever been left unguarded. (4) فَلْيَنْظُرِ الْإِنْسَانُ مِمَّ خُلِقَ LET MAN, then, observe out of what he has been created: (5) خُلِقَ مِنْ مَاءٍ دَافِقٍ he has been created out of a seminal fluid (6) يَخْرُجُ مِنْ بَيْنِ الصُّلْبِ وَالتَّرَائِبِ issuing from between the loins [of man] and the pelvic arch [of woman]. (7) إِنَّهُ عَلَىٰ رَجْعِهِ لَقَادِرٌ Now, verily, He [who thus creates man in the first instance] is well able to bring him back [to life] (8) يَوْمَ تُبْلَى السَّرَائِرُ on the Day when all secrets will be laid bare, (9) فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ وَلَا نَاصِرٍ and [man] will have neither strength nor helper! (10) |
Abdullah Yusuf Ali By the Sky6067 and the Night-Visitant6068 (therein);- (Translation) 6067. The appeal here is to a single mystic Symbol, viz,: the Sky with its Night Visitant: and the substantive proposition is in verse 4: "There is no soul but has a protector over it". In the last Surah we considered the persecution of Allah's votaries, and how Allah protects them. Here the same theme is presented in another aspect. In the darkest sky shines out most brilliantly the light of the most brilliant star. So in the night of spiritual darkness-whether through ignorance of distress-shines the glorius star of Allah's revelation. By the same token the man of Faith and Truth has nothing to fear. Allah will protect His own. 6068. This is explained in verse 3 below. The "Star of piercing brightness" is understood by some to be the Morning Star, by others to be the planet Saturn, by others again to be Sirius, or the Pleiades or shooting stars. I think it is best to take "Star" in the collective or generic sense, for stars shine on every night in the year, and their piercing brightness is most noticeable on the darkest night. Buy this commentary from Amazon  .Other Translations of Verse : • By the Sky and the Night-Visitant (therein);- (Abdullah Yusuf Ali) • By the heaven and the Morning Star (Mohamed Marmaduke Pickthall) • I swear by the heaven and the comer by night; (M. H. Shakir) • By the heaven, and At-Tariq (the night-comer, i.e. the bright star); (Taqiuddin Hilali and Muhammad Muhsin Khan) • By the heaven and the night-comer (Abdul-Majid Daryabadi) • By the sky, and by the nightly comer! (Hassan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish) • By the heaven, and the night star __ (Muhammad Ayub Khan) • By the heaven and the Morning Star - (Sher Ali) • CONSIDER the heavens and that which comes in the night! (Muhammad Asad) • By heaven and the night-star! (Arthur John Arberry) |