Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary * - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (37) Surah: Al-An‘ām
وَقَالُواْ لَوۡلَا نُزِّلَ عَلَيۡهِ ءَايَةٞ مِّن رَّبِّهِۦۚ قُلۡ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَادِرٌ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يُنَزِّلَ ءَايَةٗ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكۡثَرَهُمۡ لَا يَعۡلَمُونَ
(37) They said: “If only a Sign from his Lord would be sent down to him!”[1349] Say ˹Muhammad˺: “Indeed Allah can send down a Sign”; but most of them know not[1350].
[1349] They keep on asking for miraculous ‘signs’ even though whatever Signs they might be given would not be believed in (Aya 25 above), seeking thereby only to further confound and complicate matters (Aya 9 above) (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī). This is their oft-evoked lame excuse: “They say: “We will not Believe in you ˹Muhammad˺ until you make a spring gush out of the ground for us; *or until you have a garden of date palms and vines, and make rivers pour through them; *or make the sky fall on us in pieces, as you claimed will happen; *or bring Allah and the angels before us face to face; *or have a house made of gold; or ascend into the sky, ˹but˺ even then, we will not Believe in your ascension until you send a ˹tangible˺ book down for us to read”. Say: “Glory be to my Lord! Am I anything but a mortal, a Messenger?”” (17: 90-93).
[1350] This draws attention to their sheer ignorance of the laws of God and what befell many a nation before them: when people ask for a sign and choose afterwards to declare it false, they will surely meet a swift reckoning. An example at hand is that of the Thamūd, their not too distant neighbours, who asked for a supernatural she-camel as a Sign but chose to disbelieve in it afterwards, miraculous as it was, and God exacted justice on them momentarily: “Nothing keeps Us from sending the ˹demanded˺ Signs except that they had ˹already˺ been denied by earlier peoples. And We gave the Thamūd the she-camel as a clear ˹Sign˺, but they wrongfully rejected it. We only send the Signs as a warning” (17: 59).
[1350] This draws attention to their sheer ignorance of the laws of God and what befell many a nation before them: when people ask for a sign and choose afterwards to declare it false, they will surely meet a swift reckoning. An example at hand is that of the Thamūd, their not too distant neighbours, who asked for a supernatural she-camel as a Sign but chose to disbelieve in it afterwards, miraculous as it was, and God exacted justice on them momentarily: “Nothing keeps Us from sending the ˹demanded˺ Signs except that they had ˹already˺ been denied by earlier peoples. And We gave the Thamūd the she-camel as a clear ˹Sign˺, but they wrongfully rejected it. We only send the Signs as a warning” (17: 59).
Arabic explanations of the Qur’an:
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (37) Surah: Al-An‘ām
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.