Surah 41. Ha-Mim, Ayah 44
| وَلَوْ جَعَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا أَعْجَمِيًّا لَقَالُوا لَوْلَا فُصِّلَتْ آيَاتُهُ ۖ أَأَعْجَمِيٌّ وَعَرَبِيٌّ ۗ قُلْ هُوَ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا هُدًى وَشِفَاءٌ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ فِي آذَانِهِمْ وَقْرٌ وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِمْ عَمًى ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ يُنَادَوْنَ مِنْ مَكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ |
| Transliteration | : | wa- law jacalnaa -hu qur'aan(an) acjamey(an) la- qaalo law-laa fus.s.ilat 'aayaat -hu 'a- acjamey wa- carabey qul huwa li- 'alladhena 'aamano huda(n) wa- shifaa' wa- 'alladhena laa yu'minon fe 'aadhaan -him waqr wa- huwa calay -him cama(n) 'olaa'ika yunaadawn min makaan baced |
| Pickthall | : | And if We had appointed it a Lecture in a foreign tongue they would assuredly have said: If only its verses were expounded (so that we might understand)? What! A foreign tongue and an Arab? Say unto them (O Muhammad): For those who believe it is a guidance and a healing; and as for those who disbelieve, there is a deafness in their ears, and it is blindness for them. Such are called to from afar. |
| Asad | : | Now if We had willed this [divine writ] to be a discourse in a non-Arabic tongue, they [who now reject it] would surely have said, "Why is it that its messages have not been spelled out clearly?37 Why [a message in] a non-Arabic tongue, and [its bearer] an Arab?" Say: "Unto all who have attained to faith, this [divine writ] is a guidance and a source of health; but as for those who will not believe - in their ears is deafness, and so it remains obscure to them: they are [like people who are] being called from too far away.38 |
| Malik | : | Had We revealed this Qur'an in a foreign language, they (same people) would have said: "Why have not its verses been made clear? Why in a foreign language, while the audience are Arabs?" Say O Prophet: "To the believers, it is a guide and a healing; and the ones who do not believe, it is merely their deafness and their blindness; because they act as if they are being called from a far-off place." |
| Yusuf Ali | : | Had We sent this as a Qur'an (in a language) other than Arabic they would have said: "Why are not its verses explained in detail? What! (a Book) not in Arabic and (a Messenger) an Arab?" Say: "It is a guide and a healing to those who believe; and for those who believe not there is a deafness in their ears and it is blindness in their (eyes); they are (as it were) being called from a place far distant!" 4516 4517 |
Note - 37Sc., "in a tongue which we can understand". Since the
Prophet was an Arab and lived in an Arabian environment,
his message had to be expressed in the Arabic language,
which the people to whom it was addressed in the first
instance could understand: see in this connection note
[72] on the first sentence of 13:37, as well as the
first half of 14:4 - "never have We sent forth any
apostle otherwise than [with a message] in his own
people's tongue, so that he might make [the truth] clear
unto them". Had the message of the Qur'an been formulated
in a language other than Arabic, the opponents of the
Prophet would have been justified in saying, "between us
and thee is a barrier" (verse {5} of this surnh
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Note - 38Lit, "from a far-off place": i.e., they only hear the
sound of the words, but cannot understand their meaning.
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Note - 4516Cf. xvi. 103-105; xii. 2; etc. It was most natural and
reasonable that the Messenger being Arab, the Message
should be in his own tongue, that he might explain it in
every detail, with the greatest power and eloquence. Even
though it was to be for the whole world, its initial
exposition was thus to be in Arabic. But if people had no
faith and were spiritually deaf or blind, it would not
matter in what language it came.
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Note - 4517Cf. xli. 5, and vi. 25. They pretended that it was too
deep for them, when they meant that they were superior to
it! The fact was that by putting themselves in an
artificially false position, they rendered themselves
impervious to the Message. The voice of Revelation or the
voice of conscience sounded to them as if it came from a
far-off place! They themselves made themselves strangers
to it.
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Sc., "in a tongue which we can understand". Since the Prophet was an Arab and lived in an Arabian environment, his message had to be expressed in the Arabic language, which the people to whom it was addressed in the first instance could understand: see in this connection note [72] on the first sentence of 13:37, as well as the first half of 14:4 - "never have We sent forth any apostle otherwise than [with a message] in his own people's tongue, so that he might make [the truth] clear unto them". Had the message of the Qur'an been formulated in a language other than Arabic, the opponents of the Prophet would have been justified in saying, "between us and thee is a barrier" (verse {5} of this surnh |
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Cf. xvi. 103-105; xii. 2; etc. It was most natural and reasonable that the Messenger being Arab, the Message should be in his own tongue, that he might explain it in every detail, with the greatest power and eloquence. Even though it was to be for the whole world, its initial exposition was thus to be in Arabic. But if people had no faith and were spiritually deaf or blind, it would not matter in what language it came. |
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Cf. xli. 5, and vi. 25. They pretended that it was too deep for them, when they meant that they were superior to it! The fact was that by putting themselves in an artificially false position, they rendered themselves impervious to the Message. The voice of Revelation or the voice of conscience sounded to them as if it came from a far-off place! They themselves made themselves strangers to it. |
