Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’ān; Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad (1980)
it,104 and those who will abide near it in meditation, and those who will bow down and prostrate themselves [in prayer].”
(126) And, lo, Abraham prayed: “O my Sustainer! Make this a land secure, and grant its people fruitful sustenance – such of them as believe in God and the Last Day.”
[God] answered: “And whoever shall deny the truth, him will I let enjoy himself for a short while – but in the end I shall drive him to suffering through fire: and how vile a journey’s end!”
(127) And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the Temple, [they prayed:] “O our Sustainer! Accept Thou this from us: for, verily, Thou alone art all-hearing, all-knowing!
(128) “O our Sustainer! Make us surrender ourselves unto Thee, and make out of our offspring 105 a community that shall surrender itself unto Thee, and show us our ways of worship, and accept our repentance: for, verily, Thou alone art the Acceptor of Repentance, the Dispenser of Grace!
(129) “O our Sustainer! Raise up from the midst of our offspring 106 an apostle from among themselves, who shall convey unto them Thy messages, and impart unto them revelation as well as wisdom, and cause them to grow in purity: for, verily, Thou alone art almighty, truly wise!”
(130) And who, unless he be weak of mind, would want to abandon Abraham’s creed, seeing that We have indeed raised him high in this world, and that, verily, in the life to come he shall be among the righteous?
(131) When his Sustainer said to him, “Surrender thyself unto Me!” – he answered, “I have surrendered myself unto [Thee,] the Sustainer of all the worlds.”
(132) And this very thing did Abraham bequeath unto his children, and [so did] Jacob: “O my children! Behold, God has granted you the purest faith; so do not allow death to overtake you ere you have surrendered yourselves unto Him.”
(133) Nay, but you [yourselves, O children of Israel,] bear witness 107 that when death was approaching
104 The seven-fold circumambulation (ṭawāf) of the Kaʿbah is one of the rites of the pilgrimage, symbolically indicating that all human actions and endeavours ought to have the idea of God and His oneness for their centre.
105 The expression “our offspring” indicates Abraham’s progeny through his first-born son, Ishmael, and is an indirect reference to the Prophet Muḥammad, who descended from the latter.
106 Lit., “within them”.
107 I.e., “in the religious traditions to which you adhere”. It is to be noted that the conjunction am
