Translation:
O you who were given the Book! Believe in what We have revealed—confirming your own Scriptures—before We wipe out ˹your˺ faces, turning them backwards, or We condemn the defiant as We did to the Sabbath-breakers.17 And Allah’s command is always executed!
O you who were given the Book! Believe in what We have revealed—confirming your own Scriptures—before We wipe out ˹your˺ faces, turning them backwards, or We condemn the defiant as We did to the Sabbath-breakers.17 And Allah’s command is always executed!
Translation:
O you People of the Book! believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming what was (already) with you, before We change the face and fame 567 of some (of you) beyond all recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbathbreakers, 568 for the decision of Allah Must be carried out.
O you People of the Book! believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming what was (already) with you, before We change the face and fame 567 of some (of you) beyond all recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbathbreakers, 568 for the decision of Allah Must be carried out.
Commentary:
567 Literally, "before We obliterate some features (or faces) and turn them front to back (or back to front)": an Arabic idiom, which must be translated freely to yield its proper meaning in English. The face is the chief expression of a man's own real essence; it is also the index of his fame and estimation. The People of the Book had been specially favoured by Allah with spiritual revelations, If they proved themselves unworthy, they lost their "face". Their eminence, would, owing to their own conduct, be turned into degradation. Others would take their place. The first shall be last and the last shall be first: Matt. 19:30.
568 Cf. 2:65 and n 79.
Translation:
O you who have been granted revelation [aforetime]! Believe in what We have [now] bestowed from on high in confirmation of whatever [of the truth] you already possess, lest We efface your hopes and bring them to an end 62 - just as We rejected those people who broke the Sabbath: for God's will is always done. 63
O you who have been granted revelation [aforetime]! Believe in what We have [now] bestowed from on high in confirmation of whatever [of the truth] you already possess, lest We efface your hopes and bring them to an end 62 - just as We rejected those people who broke the Sabbath: for God's will is always done. 63
Commentary:
62 Lit., "lest We obliterate the faces"- i.e., that towards which one turns, or that which one faces, with expectation (‘Abduh in Manar V, 144 ff.) - "and bring them back to their ends". It is to be noted that the term dubur (of which adbar is the plural) does not always signify the "back" of a thing - as most of the translators assume - but often stands for its "last part" or "end" (cf. Lane III, 846).
63 This is an allusion to the story of the Sabbath-breakers (lit., "the people of the Sabbath") referred to in 2:65 and fully explained in 7:163-166.
62 Lit., "lest We obliterate the faces"- i.e., that towards which one turns, or that which one faces, with expectation (‘Abduh in Manar V, 144 ff.) - "and bring them back to their ends". It is to be noted that the term dubur (of which adbar is the plural) does not always signify the "back" of a thing - as most of the translators assume - but often stands for its "last part" or "end" (cf. Lane III, 846).
63 This is an allusion to the story of the Sabbath-breakers (lit., "the people of the Sabbath") referred to in 2:65 and fully explained in 7:163-166.
17 See 7:163-165.