Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)

as a dispensation in Arabic;
and should you follow their desires
after the knowledge that has come to you,
you shall have against Allah neither
any guardian nor any defender.1
38 Certainly We have sent apostles before you,
and We appointed for them wives
and descendants;
and an apostle may not bring a sign
except by Allah’s leave.
There is a written [schedule] for every term:
39 Allah effaces and confirms whatever He wishes
and with Him is the Mother Book.2
40 Whether We show you a part of what
We promise them,3
or take you away [before that],
your duty is only to communicate,
and it is for Us to do the reckoning.
41 Have they not seen how We visit the land
diminishing it at its edges?
Allah judges,
and there is none who may repeal His judgement,
and He is swift at reckoning.
42 Those who were before them [also] schemed;4
yet all devising belongs to Allah.
He knows what every soul earns.
Soon the faithless will know

1 Cf. 2:120, 145; 5:48, 49; 23:71; 42:15.

2 Cf. 43:4.

3 That is, the punishment.

4 Ellipsis. The omitted phrase is ‘but their plotting was of no avail to them.’

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 29 Mar. 2024: http://quran-archive.org/explorer/ali-quli-qarai/2005?page=381