Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
Allah knows your itinerary
and your [final] abode.
20 The faithful say,
‘If only a sūrah were sent down!’
But when a definitive sūrah is sent down
and war is mentioned in it,
you see those in whose hearts is a sickness 1
looking upon you
with the look of someone fainting at death.
So woe to them!
21 Obedience and upright speech.…2
So when the matter has been resolved upon,
if they remain true to Allah
that will surely be better for them.
22Mayitnotbethatifyouweretowieldauthority
you would cause corruption in the land
and ill-treat your blood relations?
23 They are the ones whom Allah has cursed,
so He made them deaf, and blinded their sight.
24 Do they not contemplate the Qur’ān,
or are there locks on the hearts?
25 Indeed those who turned their backs
after the guidance had become clear to them,
it was Satan who had seduced them,
and he had given them [far-flung] hopes.3
26 That is because they said
to those who loathed what Allah had sent down:
1 That is, the hypocrites.
2 Ellipsis; the omitted phrase is ‘are all that is expected of you.’
3 Or ‘and He [i.e. Allah] gave them respite.’
