From
the translation by Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss)
About the translator:
Muhammad Asad, Leopold Weiss,
was born of Jewish parents in Livow, Austria (later
Poland) in 1900, and at the age of 22 made his first
visit to the Middle East. He later became an outstanding
foreign correspondent for the Franfurter Zeitung,
and after his conversion to Islam travelled and
worked throughout the Muslim world, from North Africa
to as far east as Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.
After years of devoted study he became one of the
leading Muslim scholars of our age. His translation
of the Holy Qur'an is one of the most lucid and
well-referenced works in this category, dedicated
to “li-qawmin yatafakkaroon” (For people
who think).
Chapter
42, verse 47
[Hence, O men,] respond to your Sustainer before
there comes, at God’s behest, a Day in which
there will be no turning back: [for] on that Day
you will have no place of refuge, and neither will
you be able to deny aught [of the wrong that you
have done].
Chapter 42, verses 51 -53
And it is not given to mortal man that God should
speak unto him otherwise than through sudden inspiration,
or [by a voice, as it were,] from behind a veil,
or by sending an apostle to reveal, by His leave,
whatever He wills [to reveal]: for, verily, He is
exalted, wise.
And thus, too, [O Muhammad,] have We revealed unto
thee a life-giving message, [coming] at Our behest.
[Ere this message came unto thee,] thou didst not
know what revelation is, nor what faith [implies]:
but [now] We have caused this [message] to be a
light, whereby We guide whom We will of Our servants:
and, verily, [on the strength thereof] thou, too,
shall guide [men] onto the straight way –
the way that leads to God, to whom all that is in
the heavens and all that is on the earth belongs.
Oh, verily, with God is the beginning and the end
of all things!
Chapter 43, verse 36
But as for anyone who chooses to remain blind to
the remembrance of the Most Gracious, to him We
assign an [enduring] evil impulse, to become his
other self: whereupon, behold, these [evil impulses]
bar all such from the path [of truth], making them
think that they are guided aright!
Chapter 43, verses 43 –44
So hold fast to all that has been revealed to thee
[ O Muhammad]: for, behold, thou art on a straight
way; and, verily, this [revelation] shall indeed
become [a source of] eminence for thee and thy people:
but in time you all will be called to account [for
what you have done with it].
Chapter 43, verse 85
And hallowed be He unto whom the dominion over the
heavens and the earth and all that is between them
belongs, and with whom the knowledge of the Last
Hour rests, and unto whom you all shall be brought
back!