Hûd
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[11:17]
Can, then, [he who cares for no more than the life of this world be compared with] one who takes his stand on a clear evidence from his Sustainer, conveyed through [this] testimony from Him, as was the revelation vouchsafed to Moses aforetime – [a divine writ ordained by Him] to be a guidance and grace [unto man]?
They [who understand this message – it is they alone who truly] believe in it; whereas for any of those who, leagued together [in common hostility], deny its truth – the fire shall be their appointed state [in the life to come].
And so, be not in doubt about this [revelation]: behold, it is the truth from thy Sustainer, even though most people will not believe in it.
* v.17 : This interpolation is based on the interpretation given by Baghawī, Zamakhsharī, and Rāzī.
* Lit., “which a witness from Him recites,” or “announces.” According to Zamakhsharī, Rāzī, and other classical commentators, this phrase refers to the Qur’ān; hence my rendering of shāhid as “testimony.” If, as some commentators believe, this term refers to the Prophet or, alternatively, to the Angel Gabriel who transmitted the revelation to him, shāhid should be translated as “witness.” Whichever interpretation one adopts, the meaning remains the same, for – as Ibn Kathīr points out in his commentary on this verse – “the Qur’ān was revealed through Gabriel to Muhammad, and was conveyed by the latter to the world.”
* Sc., “and shall, therefore, attain to happiness in the hereafter.” The ījāz (elliptic mode of expression) employed in this passage is comparable in its subtlety to that in 10:103.
* I.e., in hostile, a-priori opposition to the message of the Qur’ān, without really understanding its purport. The “historical” identification, by some of the commentators, of the ahzāb with the pagan Arabs who leagued together in their hostility to the Prophet is definitely too narrow in this context.
* Rāzī suggests that the conjunction fa (“And so”) preceding this sentence (which is obviously addressed to man in general) connects with verses 12-14 above: a suggestion which is most convincing in view of the sequence.
* Lit., “but” or “nevertheless.”