Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation (1930)
SÛRAH XXVII
An-Naml, “The Ant,” takes its name from the ant mentioned in v. 18. Some commentators, objecting to the miraculous, seek to explain the ants, in the story of Solomon, as an old Arab tribe, the birds as cavalry, Hudhud (the hoopoe) as a man’s name, and the Jinn as foreign troops.
It belongs to the middle group of Meccan Sûrahs.
The Ant
1. Ṭâ. Sîn.1 These are revelations of the Qur’ân and a Scripture that maketh plain;
2. A guidance and good tidings for believers
3. Who establish worship and pay the poor-due and are sure of the Hereafter.
4. Lo! as for those who believe not in the Hereafter, We have made their works fair-seeming unto them so that they are all astray.
5. Those are they for whom is the worst of punishment, and in the Hereafter they will be the greatest losers.
6. Lo! as for thee (Muhammad), thou verily recei vest the Qur’ân from the presence of One Wise, Aware.
7. (Remember) when Moses said unto his household: Lo! I spy afar off a fire; I will bring you tidings thence, or bring to you a borrowed flame that ye may warm yourselves.
8. But when he reached it, he was called, saying: Blessed is
1 See Sûr. II, v. 1, footnote.
