Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
one community,1
We would have surely made
for those who defy the All-beneficent,
silver roofs for their houses
and [silver] stairways by which they ascend;
34 and [silver] doors for their houses
and [silver] couches on which they recline;
35 and ornaments of gold;2
yet all that would be nothing but
the wares of the life of this world,
and the Hereafter near your Lord is
for the Godwary.
36 Whoever turns a blind eye to 3
the remembrance of the All-beneficent,
We assign him a devil
who remains his companion.
37 Indeed they 4 bar them from the way
while they suppose that they are [rightly] guided.
38 When he comes to Us, he will say,
‘I wish there had been between me and you
the distance between east and west!
What an evil companion [are you]!’
39 ‘Today that 5 will be of no avail to you.
As you did wrong,
so will you share in the punishment.’
40 Can you, then, make the deaf hear
1 That is, a monolithic community of people without faith.
2 Or ‘houses embellished with gold.’
3 Or ‘whoever shuns.’
4 That is, the devils.
5 That is, ‘your desire to keep away from your evil companion.’
