Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
so that they may take admonition.
44 You were not on the western side 1
when We revealed the commandments 2 to Moses,
nor were you among the witnesses.3
45 But We brought forth other generations
and time took its toll on them.
And you did not dwell among the people of Midian
reciting to them Our signs,
but it is We who are the senders [of the apostles].
46 And you were not on the side of the Mount
when We called out [to Moses],
but [We have sent you as] a mercy from your Lord
that you may warn a people
to whom there did not come any warner
before you,
so that they may take admonition.4
47 And lest
— should an affliction visit them
because of what their hands have sent ahead 5 —
they should say, ‘Our Lord!
Why did You not send us an apostle
so that we might have followed Your signs
1 That is, on the western side of the mountain, or valley, of Sinai.
2 Or ‘the Law.’
3 Or, ‘nor were you among those present.’
4 That is, ‘The faithless imagine that this teaching is of your own contrivance. But it was We who sent Our revelations to Moses and gave him the scripture and the Law before you even came into the world, nor it was you who lived among the people of Midian to recite Our signs to them. It was We who have been sending the apostles before you, and it is We who have sent you as a mercy and guidance to mankind, after the passage of time had taken its toll and obscured the path of the prophets.’
5 Or ‘prepared,’ or ‘committed.’