Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary * - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (55) Surah: Al-Kahf
وَمَا مَنَعَ ٱلنَّاسَ أَن يُؤۡمِنُوٓاْ إِذۡ جَآءَهُمُ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَيَسۡتَغۡفِرُواْ رَبَّهُمۡ إِلَّآ أَن تَأۡتِيَهُمۡ سُنَّةُ ٱلۡأَوَّلِينَ أَوۡ يَأۡتِيَهُمُ ٱلۡعَذَابُ قُبُلٗا
(55) [3879]Nothing withheld people from Believing, when guidance came to them, and to seek their Lord’s forgiveness, barring[3880] that the canon of the ancients[3881] befalls them or that the Punishment comes upon them barefaced[3882].
[3879] This and the following ayas, as well as the next passage, reflect on the then ongoing stalemate and mounting opposition in Makkah, where the Call of Faith did not make much progress, beyond the commoners, especially with the Makkan oligarchy whose arguments and demands knew no end. This reflection aims at comforting the Noble Messenger (ﷺ) who found their intransigence particularly exasperating (cf. Aya 6 above; Ibn ʿUthaymīn, Sūrat al-Kahf).
[3880] Given the structure of this sentence with the deletion of muḍāf (head of the genitive construct, lit. the added to) and the mentioning of the muḍāf ilayh (the genitive construct, lit. the added to it), the reason for them not to Believe was interpreted differently by exegetes (cf. al-Zamakhsharī, al-Bayḍāwī, Abū al-Suʿūd). They differently fill in what is deleted as follows:
that what prevented them from Believing was God Almighty’s Decree which was as per His Sempiternal Knowledge whereby they would not come to Believe (cf. al-Wāḥidī, Ibn Juzayy, al-Shinqīṭī).
That what prevented them from Believing was the same reason that prevented previous doomed nations, i.e. their habit of intransigence and transgression (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
That what prevented them from Believing was their anticipation of the response to their demand that Punishment should befall them as proof of the truthfulness of the Message (cf. Makkī, al-Hidāyah, al-Zajjāj, Maʿānī al-Qur’ān, Ibn Kathīr).
However, on a pragmatic level, al-Rāzī and Ibn ʿĀshūr, take this to be a threat to the Deniers, that they should Believe or that the Punishment of the earlier nations would come to befall them: “Indeed We have sent ˹Messengers˺ before you for companies of old; *never does a Messenger come to them without them ridiculing him. *Like so We give it ˹Denial˺ passage in the hearts of criminals; *never are they to Believe in it ˹the Reminder˺, though the canon of the ancients already came to pass!” (15: 10-13)
[3881] Sunnat al-awwalīn (also found in 15: 13, 18: 55, 35: 43) or Sunnat Allāh (as in 33: 38 and 62, 35: 43, 40: 85, 48: 23) is used invariably to caution in the Qur’an; the earlier nations who rebelled against God were destroyed. People are always encouraged to consider their fate vis-a-vis the fate of earlier nations and contemplate God’s time-honoured law: “… then do they await except the canon of the ancients? But you shall never find any change in the canon of Allah; you shall never find any alteration in the canon of Allah. *Have they not travelled through the land and observed how the end of those before them was; they were ˹even˺ greater than them in power. Allah is not to be frustrated by anything in the Heavens or on Earth – He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful” (35: 43-44).
[3882] They see it unmasked, in front of their faces (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī): “Certainly ˹Muhammad˺, the ones over whom the Word of your Lord has come true, will never Believe; *not ever if every Sign was to come to them, until they ˹actually˺ see the painful Punishment!” (10: 96-97)
[3880] Given the structure of this sentence with the deletion of muḍāf (head of the genitive construct, lit. the added to) and the mentioning of the muḍāf ilayh (the genitive construct, lit. the added to it), the reason for them not to Believe was interpreted differently by exegetes (cf. al-Zamakhsharī, al-Bayḍāwī, Abū al-Suʿūd). They differently fill in what is deleted as follows:
that what prevented them from Believing was God Almighty’s Decree which was as per His Sempiternal Knowledge whereby they would not come to Believe (cf. al-Wāḥidī, Ibn Juzayy, al-Shinqīṭī).
That what prevented them from Believing was the same reason that prevented previous doomed nations, i.e. their habit of intransigence and transgression (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
That what prevented them from Believing was their anticipation of the response to their demand that Punishment should befall them as proof of the truthfulness of the Message (cf. Makkī, al-Hidāyah, al-Zajjāj, Maʿānī al-Qur’ān, Ibn Kathīr).
However, on a pragmatic level, al-Rāzī and Ibn ʿĀshūr, take this to be a threat to the Deniers, that they should Believe or that the Punishment of the earlier nations would come to befall them: “Indeed We have sent ˹Messengers˺ before you for companies of old; *never does a Messenger come to them without them ridiculing him. *Like so We give it ˹Denial˺ passage in the hearts of criminals; *never are they to Believe in it ˹the Reminder˺, though the canon of the ancients already came to pass!” (15: 10-13)
[3881] Sunnat al-awwalīn (also found in 15: 13, 18: 55, 35: 43) or Sunnat Allāh (as in 33: 38 and 62, 35: 43, 40: 85, 48: 23) is used invariably to caution in the Qur’an; the earlier nations who rebelled against God were destroyed. People are always encouraged to consider their fate vis-a-vis the fate of earlier nations and contemplate God’s time-honoured law: “… then do they await except the canon of the ancients? But you shall never find any change in the canon of Allah; you shall never find any alteration in the canon of Allah. *Have they not travelled through the land and observed how the end of those before them was; they were ˹even˺ greater than them in power. Allah is not to be frustrated by anything in the Heavens or on Earth – He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful” (35: 43-44).
[3882] They see it unmasked, in front of their faces (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī): “Certainly ˹Muhammad˺, the ones over whom the Word of your Lord has come true, will never Believe; *not ever if every Sign was to come to them, until they ˹actually˺ see the painful Punishment!” (10: 96-97)
Arabic explanations of the Qur’an:
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (55) Surah: Al-Kahf
Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an into English - in progress - translated by Dr. Walid Bleihesh Al-Omari.