ترجمهٔ معانی آیه 61 سوره سوره نحل - ترجمهٔ انگلیسی ـ دکتر ولید بلیهش العمری - دایرة المعارف قرآن کریم

آیه: 61

وَلَوۡ يُؤَاخِذُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلنَّاسَ بِظُلۡمِهِم مَّا تَرَكَ عَلَيۡهَا مِن دَآبَّةٖ وَلَٰكِن يُؤَخِّرُهُمۡ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٖ مُّسَمّٗىۖ فَإِذَا جَآءَ أَجَلُهُمۡ لَا يَسۡتَـٔۡخِرُونَ سَاعَةٗ وَلَا يَسۡتَقۡدِمُونَ

(61) ^[3321]If Allah were to hold people to account over their injustice, He would not leave a single moving creature^[3322] on its ˹the Earth’s˺ face. But He delays them until a specified term^[3323]; when their term is due, they will not be delayed an hour nor will they be hastened^[3324].

[3321] This passage captures the character of the whole sura: people aggressed against the Message and ridiculed it; they deserved God Almighty’s punishment but He only delays it for a stated term; the Messenger’s mission is to deliver the Message clearly and to bear patiently and not feel too sad over this state of affairs.
[3322] God’s annihilating punishment would be all-encompassing of all humans and moving creatures alongside them (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī, al-Tafsīr al-Muyassar). Other scholars, notably al-Qurṭubī and al-Wāḥidī, opine that the dābbah (moving creature) referred to here specifically means the Deniers. However, in a long discussion, al-Shinqīṭī (Aḍwā’ al-Bayān) gives ample textual evidence that the first opinion is the more acceptable of the two. This is how corrupting humans can be to the world.
[3323] “So think not that Allah is unaware of what the unjust commit; He only delays them for a Day on which sights stare upwards ˹wide open˺!” (14: 42).
[3324] A set time for it to taste Divine Wrath and retribution should it persist in Denying (al-Ṭabarī, al-Wāḥidī, al-Basīṭ, Shinqīṭī, al-ʿAdhb al-Namīr). The ones who are directly meant by this warning are the Arabs of that time who stood against the Message. Their attention is being drawn to what befell those who came before them (Ibn ʿĀshūr): “Indeed, Messengers before you were ridiculed, but those who used to ridicule them got hit by what they ridiculed. *Say ˹Muhammad˺: “Travel the land and look what was the fate of the Deniers”” (6: 10-11).