Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
اشْدُدْ بِهِ أَزْرِي
Strengthen my back through him 1 (20:31);
وَلَا تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَمْشِ
Do not turn your cheek disdainfully from the people (31:18);
تَتَجَافَىٰ جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ
their sides vacate their beds (32:16);
حَتَّىٰ تَضَعَ الْحَرْبُ أَوْزَارَهَا
till the war lays down its burdens (47:4).
Some idioms are unintelligible when translated literally. These have to be paraphrased appropriately in order to be understood. Examples are:
وَتَوَدُّونَ أَنَّ غَيْرَ ذَاتِ الشَّوْكَةِ تَكُونُ لَكُمْ
you were eager that it should be the one that was unarmed 2 (8:7);
فَرَدُّوا أَيْدِيَهُمْ فِي أَفْوَاهِهِمْ
but they did not respond to them 3 (14:9);
فَضَرَبْنَا عَلَىٰ آذَانِهِمْ فِي الْكَهْفِ سِنِينَ عَدَدًا
We put them to sleep 4 in the Cave for several years (18:11);
وَنَحْشُرُ الْمُجْرِمِينَ يَوْمَئِذٍ زُرْقًا
on that day We shall muster the guilty with blind eyes 5 (20:102);
قُرَّتُ عَيْنٍ لِّي وَلَكَ
a [source of] comfort to me and you 6 (28:9);
وَمَن يُسْلِمْ وَجْهَهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ
Whoever surrenders his heart to Allah 7 (31:22);
وَتُقَطِّعُوا أَرْحَامَكُمْ
and ill-treat your blood relations 8 (47:22);
1 That is, reinforce my strength through him.
2 Lit., ‘one that was free of thorns.’ That is, one which was unarmed and, therefore, easy to defeat.
3 Lit., ‘they thrust their hands into their mouths.’
4 Lit., ‘We struck on their ears.’ The idiom is probably drawn from the practice of mothers of putting children to sleep by patting the head with the palm of the hand placed on the ear. 5 Lit., ‘with blued eyes.’
6 Lit., ‘a refreshment of the eye to me and you.’
7 Lit., ‘submits his face toward Allah.’
8 Lit., ‘sever your wombs (or ties of kinship).
Cite this page
Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation,
Islamic College for Advance Studies Press (ICAS), London (Distributed by The Centre for Translation of the Holy Qur’ān, Qom, Iran), Consulted online at “Quran Archive - Texts and Studies on the Quran” on 16 Jan. 2025:
http://quran-archive.org/explorer/ali-quli-qarai/2005?page=19