Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
3 It is He who has spread out the earth
and set in it firm mountains and streams,
and of every fruit
He has made in it two kinds.1
He draws the night’s cover over the day.
There are indeed signs in that
for a people who reflect.
4 In the earth are neighbouring terrains [of diverse kinds]
and vineyards, farms,
and date palms
growing from the same root and from diverse roots,
[all] irrigated by the same water,
and We give some of them an advantage over others
in flavour.
There are indeed signs in that
for a people who apply reason.
5 If you are to wonder [at anything],
then wonderful 2 is their remark,
‘When we have become dust,
shall we be [ushered] into a new creation?’
They are the ones who defy their Lord;
they shall have iron collars around their necks,
they shall be the inhabitants of the Fire,
and they shall remain in it [forever].
6 They would press you for evil
sooner than for good,3
though there have already gone by before them
1 Or ‘a pair,’ or ‘two mates.’
2 That is, odd, astonishing.
3 That is, they ask you to bring about the Divine punishment with which you have threatened them, instead of pleading for Divine mercy and forgiveness.
