Muhammad Asad - The Message Of Quran
Muhammad Asad - End Note 4 (91:7)
As in so many other instances, the term nafs, which has a very wide range of meanings (see first sentence of note 1 on
4:1), denotes here the human self or personality as a whole: that is, a being composed of a physical body and that inexplicable life-essence loosely described as "soul".
Muhammad Asad - End Note 5 (91:7)
Lit., "and that which has made [or "formed"] it (sawwaha) in accordance with. . .", etc. For this particular connotation of the verb sawwa, see note 1 on
87:2, which represents the oldest Qur'anic instance of its use in the above sense. The reference to man and that which constitutes the "human personality", as well as the implied allusion to the extremely complex phenomenon of a life-entity in which bodily needs and urges, emotions and intellectual activities are so closely intertwined as to be indissoluble, follows organically upon a call to consider the inexplicable grandeur of the universe - so far as it is perceptible and comprehensible to man - as a compelling evidence of God's creative power.
Muhammad Asad - End Note 6 (91:8)
Lit., "and [consider] that which has inspired it with its immoral doings (fujuraha) and its God-consciousness (taqwaha)" - i.e., the fact that man is equally liable to rise to great spiritual heights as to fall into utter immorality is an essential characteristic of human nature as such. In its deepest sense, man's ability to act wrongly is a concomitant to his ability to act rightly: in other words, it is this inherent polarity of tendencies which gives to every "right" choice a value and, thus, endows man with moral free will (cf. in this connection note 16 on
7:24-25).
Muhammad Asad - End Note 7 (91:11)
For the story of the tribe of Thamud, given here as an illustration of man's potential wickedness, see
7:73-79 and the corresponding notes.
Muhammad Asad - End Note 8 (91:13)
Regarding this "she-camel belonging to God", see surah 7, note 57. For the particular reference to the injunction, "Let her drink", see
26:155 and the corresponding note 67. The formulation of this passage shows that the legend of the she-camel was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia.
Muhammad Asad - End Note 9 (91:14)
For this rendering of aqaruha, see note 61 on
7:91.
Muhammad Asad - End Note 10 (91:15)
Implying that their total lack of compassion for God's creatures showed that they did not fear His retribution and, hence, did not really believe in Him.
Shabbir Ahmed -
Shabbir Ahmed - End Note 2 (91:13)
The land belongs to God, and this she-camel represents the weak among you.
7:73,
26:155
Edip-Layth - Quran: A Reformist Translation
Edip-Layth - End Note 2 (91:14)
