Translation:
So set you your face steadily and truly to the Faith: 3540 (establish) Allah.s handiwork according to the pattern on which He has made mankind: no change (let there be) in the work (wrought) 3541 by Allah. that is the standard Religion: 3542 but most among mankind understand not.
So set you your face steadily and truly to the Faith: 3540 (establish) Allah.s handiwork according to the pattern on which He has made mankind: no change (let there be) in the work (wrought) 3541 by Allah. that is the standard Religion: 3542 but most among mankind understand not.
Translation:
AND SO, set thy face steadfastly towards the [one ever-true] faith, 25 turning away from all that is false, 26 in accordance with the natural disposition which God has instilled into man: 27 [for,] not to allow any change to corrupt what God has thus created 28 this is the [purpose of the one] ever-true faith; but most people know it not.
AND SO, set thy face steadfastly towards the [one ever-true] faith, 25 turning away from all that is false, 26 in accordance with the natural disposition which God has instilled into man: 27 [for,] not to allow any change to corrupt what God has thus created 28 this is the [purpose of the one] ever-true faith; but most people know it not.
Commentary:
25 I.e., "surrender thy whole being"; the term "face" is often used metonymically in the sense of one’s "whole being".
26 For this rendering of hanif, see note 110 on 2:135.
27 See 7:172 and the corresponding note 139. The term fitrah, rendered by me as "natural disposition", connotes in this context man’s inborn, intuitive ability to discern between right and wrong, true and false, and, thus, to sense God’s existence and oneness. Cf. the famous saying of the Prophet, quoted by Bukhari and Muslim: "Every child is born in this natural disposition; it is only his parents that later turn him into a ‘Jew’, a ‘Christian’, or a ‘Magian’." These three religious formulations, best known to the contemporaries of the Prophet, are thus contrasted with the "natural disposition" which, by definition, consists in man’s instinctive cognition of God and self-surrender (Islam) to Him. (The term "parents" has here the wider meaning of "social influences" or "environment").
28 Lit., "no change shall there be [or "shall be made"] in God’s creation (khalq)". i.e., in the natural disposition referred to above (Zamakhshari). In this context, the term tabdil ("change") obviously comprises the concept of "corruption".
25 I.e., "surrender thy whole being"; the term "face" is often used metonymically in the sense of one’s "whole being".
26 For this rendering of hanif, see note 110 on 2:135.
27 See 7:172 and the corresponding note 139. The term fitrah, rendered by me as "natural disposition", connotes in this context man’s inborn, intuitive ability to discern between right and wrong, true and false, and, thus, to sense God’s existence and oneness. Cf. the famous saying of the Prophet, quoted by Bukhari and Muslim: "Every child is born in this natural disposition; it is only his parents that later turn him into a ‘Jew’, a ‘Christian’, or a ‘Magian’." These three religious formulations, best known to the contemporaries of the Prophet, are thus contrasted with the "natural disposition" which, by definition, consists in man’s instinctive cognition of God and self-surrender (Islam) to Him. (The term "parents" has here the wider meaning of "social influences" or "environment").
28 Lit., "no change shall there be [or "shall be made"] in God’s creation (khalq)". i.e., in the natural disposition referred to above (Zamakhshari). In this context, the term tabdil ("change") obviously comprises the concept of "corruption".
3540 For Hanif see n. 134 to 2:135. Here "true" is used in the sense in which we say, "the magnetic needle is true to the north." Those who have been privileged to receive the Truth should never hesitate or swerve, but remain constant, as men who know.
3541 As turned out from the creative hand of Allah, man is innocent, pure, true, free, inclined to right and virtue, and endued with true understanding about his own position in the Universe and about Allah's goodness, wisdom, and power (Cf. n. 682 and n. 5360). That is his true nature, just as the nature of a lamb is to be gentle and of a horse is to be swift. But man is caught in the meshes of customs, superstitions, selfish desires, and false teaching. This may make him pugnacious, unclean, false, slavish, hankering after what is wrong or forbidden, and deflected from the love of his fellow-men and the pure worship of the One True God (see also 30:41). The problem before spiritual Teachers is to cure this crookedness, and to restore human nature to what it should be under the Will of Allah.
3542 In 9:36 , I translated al-Din al-qayyim as "straight usage." Here the meaning is wider, as it includes the whole life, thoughts and desires of man. The "standard Religion," or the Straight Way is thus contrasted with the various human systems that conflict with each other and call themselves separate "religions" or "sects" (see verse 32 below). Allah's standard Religion is one, as God is One.