Surah 34. Saba

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Verses [Section]: 1-11[1], 12-21 [2], 22-30 [3], 31-36 [4], 37-45 [5], 46-54 [6]

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Quran Text of Verse 1-1134. Saba Page 42834. Sabaبِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِاَلْحَمْدُAll praisesلِلّٰهِ(be) to Allahالَّذِیْthe One to Whom belongsلَهٗthe One to Whom belongsمَاwhateverفِی(is) inالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ مَاand whateverفِی(is) inالْاَرْضِthe earthوَ لَهُand for Himالْحَمْدُ(are) all praisesفِیinالْاٰخِرَةِ ؕthe Hereafterوَ هُوَAnd Heالْحَكِیْمُ(is) the All-Wiseالْخَبِیْرُ the All-Aware یَعْلَمُHe knowsمَاwhatیَلِجُpenetratesفِیinالْاَرْضِthe earthوَ مَاand whatیَخْرُجُcomes outمِنْهَاfrom itوَ مَاand whatیَنْزِلُdescendsمِنَfromالسَّمَآءِthe heavenوَ مَاand whatیَعْرُجُascendsفِیْهَا ؕthereinوَ هُوَAnd Heالرَّحِیْمُ(is) the Most Mercifulالْغَفُوْرُ the Oft-Forgiving وَ قَالَBut sayالَّذِیْنَthose whoكَفَرُوْاdisbelieveلَاNotتَاْتِیْنَاwill come to usالسَّاعَةُ ؕthe HourقُلْSayبَلٰیNayوَ رَبِّیْby my Lordلَتَاْتِیَنَّكُمْ ۙsurely it will come to youعٰلِمِ(He is the) Knowerالْغَیْبِ ۚ(of) the unseenلَاNotیَعْزُبُescapesعَنْهُfrom Himمِثْقَالُ(the) weightذَرَّةٍ(of) an atomفِیinالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ لَاand notفِیinالْاَرْضِthe earthوَ لَاۤand notاَصْغَرُsmallerمِنْthanذٰلِكَthatوَ لَاۤand notاَكْبَرُgreaterاِلَّاbutفِیْ(is) inكِتٰبٍa RecordمُّبِیْنٍۗۙClear لِّیَجْزِیَThat He may rewardالَّذِیْنَthose whoاٰمَنُوْاbelieveوَ عَمِلُواand doالصّٰلِحٰتِ ؕrighteous deedsاُولٰٓىِٕكَThoseلَهُمْfor themمَّغْفِرَةٌ(will be) forgivenessوَّ رِزْقٌand a provisionكَرِیْمٌ noble وَ الَّذِیْنَBut those whoسَعَوْstriveفِیْۤagainstاٰیٰتِنَاOur Versesمُعٰجِزِیْنَ(to) cause failureاُولٰٓىِٕكَthoseلَهُمْfor themعَذَابٌ(is) a punishmentمِّنْofرِّجْزٍfoul natureاَلِیْمٌ painful وَ یَرَیAnd seeالَّذِیْنَthose whoاُوْتُواhave been givenالْعِلْمَthe knowledgeالَّذِیْۤ(that) whatاُنْزِلَis revealedاِلَیْكَto youمِنْfromرَّبِّكَyour Lordهُوَ[it]الْحَقَّ ۙ(is) the Truthوَ یَهْدِیْۤand it guidesاِلٰیtoصِرَاطِ(the) Pathالْعَزِیْزِ(of) the All-Mightyالْحَمِیْدِ the Praiseworthy وَ قَالَBut sayالَّذِیْنَthose whoكَفَرُوْاdisbelieveهَلْShallنَدُلُّكُمْwe direct youعَلٰیtoرَجُلٍa manیُّنَبِّئُكُمْwho informs youاِذَاwhenمُزِّقْتُمْyou have disintegratedكُلَّ(in) totalمُمَزَّقٍ ۙdisintegrationاِنَّكُمْindeed youلَفِیْsurely (will be) inخَلْقٍa creationجَدِیْدٍۚnew 34. Saba Page 429اَفْتَرٰیHas he inventedعَلَیaboutاللّٰهِAllahكَذِبًاa lieاَمْorبِهٖin himجِنَّةٌ ؕ(is) madnessبَلِNayالَّذِیْنَthose whoلَا(do) notیُؤْمِنُوْنَbelieveبِالْاٰخِرَةِin the Hereafterفِی(will be) inالْعَذَابِthe punishmentوَ الضَّلٰلِand errorالْبَعِیْدِ far اَفَلَمْThen, do notیَرَوْاthey seeاِلٰیtowardsمَاwhatبَیْنَ(is) before themاَیْدِیْهِمْ(is) before themوَ مَاand whatخَلْفَهُمْ(is) behind themمِّنَofالسَّمَآءِthe heavenوَ الْاَرْضِ ؕand the earthاِنْIfنَّشَاْWe willنَخْسِفْWe (could) cause to swallow themبِهِمُWe (could) cause to swallow themالْاَرْضَthe earthاَوْorنُسْقِطْcause to fallعَلَیْهِمْupon themكِسَفًاfragmentsمِّنَfromالسَّمَآءِ ؕthe skyاِنَّIndeedفِیْinذٰلِكَthatلَاٰیَةًsurely, is a Signلِّكُلِّfor everyعَبْدٍslaveمُّنِیْبٍ۠who turns (to Allah) وَ لَقَدْAnd certainlyاٰتَیْنَاWe gaveدَاوٗدَDawoodمِنَّاfrom Usفَضْلًا ؕBountyیٰجِبَالُO mountains!اَوِّبِیْRepeat praisesمَعَهٗwith himوَ الطَّیْرَ ۚand the birdsوَ اَلَنَّاAnd We made pliableلَهُfor himالْحَدِیْدَۙ[the] iron اَنِThatاعْمَلْmakeسٰبِغٰتٍfull coats of mailوَّ قَدِّرْand measure preciselyفِی[of]السَّرْدِthe links (of armor)وَ اعْمَلُوْاand workصَالِحًا ؕrighteousnessاِنِّیْIndeed I Amبِمَاof whatتَعْمَلُوْنَyou doبَصِیْرٌ All-Seer

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Translation of Verse 1-11In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

(34:1) All praise be to Allah to Whom belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth,¹ and all praise be to Him in the World to Come.² He is Most Wise, All-Aware.³

(34:2) He knows what penetrates into the earth and what goes forth from it, what descends from the heaven and what ascends to it. He is the Most Merciful, the Most Forgiving.⁴

(34:3) The unbelievers say: “How come the Hour is not coming upon us!”⁵ Say to them: “Yes indeed, by my Lord, by Him Who fully knows the realm beyond the ken of perception, that the Hour shall inevitably come upon you.⁶Nothing escapes Him, not even the smallest particle in the heavens or the earth; nor is anything smaller or bigger than that but is in a Manifest Book.”⁷

(34:4) (The Hour shall come) that He may reward those who believe and do righteous deeds. Theirs shall be forgiveness and a generous provision.

(34:5) As for those who worked against Our Signs in order to frustrate them, they shall suffer a painful chastisement.⁸

(34:6) (O Prophet), those who have knowledge see clearly that what has been revealed to you from your Lord is the Truth and directs to the Way of the Most Mighty, the Immensely Praiseworthy Lord.⁹

(34:7) The unbelievers say: “Shall we direct you to the man who tells you that when you have been utterly broken to pieces, you will be raised to life again?

(34:8) Has he forged a lie against Allah, or is he afflicted with madness?”¹⁰ Nay, but those who do not believe in the Hereafter are doomed to be chastised and are far gone in error.¹¹

(34:9) Do they not see how the heavens and the earth encompass them from the front and the rear? We could, if We so wished, cause the earth to swallow them or let fragments of the sky fall upon them.¹² Verily there is a Sign in this for every servant (of Allah) who penitently turns to Him.¹³

(34:10) We bestowed Our favour upon David.¹⁴ (We commanded): “O mountains, sing Allah's praises with him”; (and so did We command) the birds.¹⁵ We softened the iron for him, (saying):

(34:11) “Fashion coats of mail and measure their links with care¹⁶ and act righteously. I am watching over whatever you do.”

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Commentary

1. Hamd signifies both praise and gratitude, and both these meanings are intended in this verse. Since the entire universe belongs to God, He deserves to be praised for all the glorious manifestations of beauty and excellence, of wisdom and creative power, of consummate workmanship and artistry that we see around us and throughout the universe. Hence anyone who derives any benefit, amusement or pleasure from anything should offer thanks to God. Now, since all that exists in the universe is exclusively God's, only He deserves to be praised and thanked.

2. All bounties in this world have been bestowed upon their recipients by God alone. The same will happen in the World-to-Come: there too, the source of all good that one receives will be God alone.

Evidently, therefore, it is God Alone Who deserves praise and gratitude in this world and in the Next.

3. That is, all what God does bespeak of the highest degree of wisdom and benevolence, of perfection and excellence. He knows everything about all His creatures. He knows well the whereabouts of each of them, of their actual conditions, of their needs and requirements.

He also fully knows what is conducive to their well-being, what they have done thus far, and what they will do in the future. He has full knowledge of every atom of the universe He has created.

4. If an individual or group has not been hit by a scourge despite their defiance of God’s commands that does not mean that this world is a banana republic governed by a foolish sovereign. Rather, the Mercy so shown results from the fact that God is Most Compassionate and Most Forbearing; in essence, He overlooks man’s misdeeds. He also has full power to instantly punish all culprits and deny them their sustenance.

He can paralyses them and even destroy them in an instant. However, this is not His way. Thanks to His immense mercy — and this despite His Being All-Powerful — He grants respite and reprieve to those that are disobedient so that they may mend their ways. Moreover, if and when they give up their misconduct, God readily pardons them.

5. The unbelievers, feigning ignorance, made this comment by way of jest and sarcasm. The purpose in so doing was to emphasize the fact that the Prophet (peace be on him) had constantly warned them that the Day of Judgement was just around the corner. No one knew, however, what prevented its coming though it was supposedly on its way. In this way, the unbelievers sought to show that though they had repeatedly rejected and mocked the Prophet (peace be on him) and demonstrated their utter disrespect towards him, God's scourge had still not visited them.

6. Here, while swearing by God, mention is made of His attribute of fully knowing “the realm beyond the ken of perception”. This suggests that while the Last Day is bound to come, the exact time of its coming is known only to God. This truth is variously and frequently stated in the Qur’an. See al-A’raf 7:187; Ta Ha 20:15; Luqman 31:34; al- Ahzab 33:63; al-Mulk 67:25-26 and al-Niazi’at 79:42-44.

7. This is among the arguments adduced in the Qur’an to establish that the Life-to-Come lies well within the realm of the possible. This argument was occasioned by the unbelievers’ rejection of the Hereafter on the grounds that after human beings have been reduced to dust, and the elements of which they were composed have been widely dispersed they cannot be brought together again so as to bring’ them back to life, (see verse 7 below). In other words, the unbelievers thought that disintegrated and decomposed human bodies could not be brought together again. This misconception is removed by the Qur’an’s assertion that every particle in the farthest stretches of the universe is in God’s record and He knows its whereabouts. Hence, whenever God decides to resurrect human beings, He will have no difficulty in re-assembling all the component parts of which each individual body was comprised.

8. The upshot of what has been said (see verse 4 above) is that the World-to-Come is within the range of the possible. What is now being said goes a step further. It affirms that the Next World is not simply possible; it is imminent. A time will surely come when God will punish the wrong-doers for their erroneous actions and reward the righteous for their good deeds. Reason as well as justice require that the guilty should be punished and the upright rewarded. We, however, know that all people are not necessarily recompensed in this life for their good and bad deeds; in fact; many a time we observe that what happens is quite contrary to what one would reasonably expect.

Hence a time must come when these essential requirements of justice are met. This will happen on the Day of Judgement. Should there be no Afterlife, it would be tantamount to injustice.

Another point is also evident from what has been said above: that faith and righteous deeds lead to God’s “forgiveness and generous provision” (see verse 4 above). On the contrary, “a painful chastisement” awaits those who engage in hostile efforts to frustrate God’s true religion and bring about its degradation. This implies that those who sincerely believe but whose deeds are somewhat flawed will receive forgiveness even if they do not receive “generous provision”.

As for the unbelievers who are not actively opposed to the true faith, their situation is somewhat different from the unbelievers engaged in active opposition. While such people will not escape chastisement, they will nonetheless be spared the kind of pain and grievous punishment earmarked for actively hostile unbelievers.

9. The unbelievers may go to any length they wish to falsify the truth expounded by the Prophet (peace be on him) but their efforts will not meet with success. Their efforts can, at most, deceive those _ who are ignorant. As for those endowed with knowledge, they will not be misled by them.

10. The Quraysh chiefs knew well that it was difficult for common people to consider the Prophet (peace be on him) as unveracious. This because the whole community positively knew him to be truthful.

Indeed, throughout his life, they had never heard a false word from him. Therefore, the unbelieving chiefs had to launch an attack on some of the Prophet's doctrines, claiming for instance, that he expounded absolutely fantastic notions, not least life after death. This, according to them, indicated quite simply that he was either a liar or a madman.

Their portrayal of the Prophet (peace be on him) as a madman, however, was as baseless as their contention that he was a liar. This because it was impossible for any rational being to believe that a person so distinctively intelligent and conspicuously wise could be a maniac. How could any person in his proper senses stomach this kind of nonsense? God, therefore, does not advance any argument to refute this foolish and vile statement. Instead, He addresses their sense of wonder at the idea of the Afterlife.

11. This constitutes the first part of the Qur’anic rejoinder to their contention. The unbelievers are emphatically told that while the Prophet (peace be on him) was acquainting them with the truth, they persisted in paying no heed to him. They had chosen, instead, to blindly pursue the path that would lead them straight onto Hell. Such was the extent of their pitiful folly that they dismissed the Prophet (peace be on him), who was virtually consuming himself with concern to save them, as a madman.

12. This is yet another rejoinder to the unbelievers’ contention. To better appreciate this one needs to recall that the Makkan unbelievers mainly rejected the Hereafter on the following grounds:

(i) They were not inclined to believe in Divine reckoning and judgement for this would place curbs on their unbridled freedom.

(ii) They were totally opposed to the idea of Resurrection and the Day of Judgement. They were not at all prepared to believe: that a day would come when the present order of existence would come to an end, giving way to an altogether new one.

(iii) They also found it hard to believe in resurrection of the dead. It seemed impossible to them that those who had long since been dead, whose bodies had disintegrated, and whose tiny fragments, from which they had been composed, that were now lost in earth, water or air could ever be brought back to life. The response enshrined in this verse is relevant to all three objections raised by the unbelievers. Additionally, it also embodies a severe warning to such unbelievers in these words: “We could, if We so wished, cause the earth to swallow them or let fragments of the sky fall upon them”.

The verse also succinctly brings out the following points: (i) A careful observation of the universe testifies that it is neither a plaything nor the product of any accident. It has been created by the Omnipotent 1 Lord in perfect wisdom. It is absurd, therefore, to think that in such a well-ordered universe, man, who is endowed with rational faculty, discernment, and choice, will not be called to account. (ii) Anyone who studies the workings of the universe is bound to realize that there is no reason at all why it should be difficult for the Afterlife to happen. Even a slight alteration in the laws that hold together the order of the heavens and the earth can instantly lead to Doomsday.

The entire system of the universe is indicative of the fact that God, Who has created the universe, is certainly possessed of the power to create another one should He choose to do so. For, obviously, had its re-creation been difficult He could not have created it in the first place. (iii) The unbelievers entertain a very fallacious concept of the Creator of the heavens and the earth. They think that it is beyond Him to resurrect anything. Notwithstanding the decomposition and disintegration of human bodies, every part of those bodies will still remain within the confines of the heavens and the earth. Now, since God is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, it is pretty easy for Him to retrieve all the fragments of which those bodies were comprised.

It is He Who brought them into being, and provided them with all that their bodies were composed of. Since He created human beings in the first instance and gave shape to their bodies, He can easily re-create them.

Implicit in this argument is the warning that the unbelievers are surrounded by God and that they will find no refuge against Him.

He has the power to afflict them with any calamity whenever He so wants: they may, for example, be overtaken by a scourge that strikes them from on high or one from beneath their feet. People take this planet earth as their home and build their houses on it. At any moment, the earth can be violently shaken by an earthquake, causing innumerable human beings to be buried under it. Likewise, the sky presently appears to people as a, safe canopy. However, lightning, torrential rain, or other such calamities can easily destroy them. In such a condition, their heedlessness of God and the Hereafter and their prattle against their sincere well-wisher, the Prophet (peace be on him), simply amounts to courting self-destruction.

13. An unbiased seeker after truth and guidance can learn many lessons from the system operating in the heavens and the earth.

However, those averse to God are simply incapable of perceiving any Divine signs in natural phenomena.

14. Reference here is made to the many favors God bestowed upon the Prophet David (peace be on him). He was an ordinary young man who hailed from the tribe of Judah and who lived in Bethlehem. He was brought into the limelight following his slaying of the mighty Goliath in the battle against the Philistines. His heroism endeared him to all Israelites. This marked his rise to eminence and power. Subsequent upon the death of Saul, David was first made the ruler of Judah at Hebron (present-day al-Khalil). He then conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital. Under his dynamic leadership a vast kingdom, stretching from the Gulf of Aqaba to the western banks of the Euphrates, was established, a kingdom whose hallmark was faith in God. In addition to this, David was endowed with exceptional knowledge, wisdom, justice, integrity and devotion to God. (For further details see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, al-Baqarah 2:251, n. 273, Vol. I, p. 193; Bani Isra’il 17:5 n. 7, Vol. V, pp. 12-16.) (For the Bible see Samuel 1:16-17, Samuel 2:2-5, Kings 1:2, Chronicles 1:3-12 — Ed.)

15. Verse 79 of Surah al-Anbiya’ states the same truth. (See Towards Understanding the Qur'an, al-Anbiya’ 21:79, n. 71, Vol. V, p. 284.)

16. This occurs in Surah al-Anbiya’ 21: 80. (See also Towards Understanding the Qur'an, al-Anbiya’ 21:80, n. 72, Vol. V, pp. 284-5.)