Surah Saba >> Currently viewing Surah Saba Ayat 51 (34:51)

Surah Saba Ayat 51 in Arabic Text

وَلَوۡ تَرَىٰٓ إِذۡ فَزِعُواْ فَلَا فَوۡتَ وَأُخِذُواْ مِن مَّكَانٖ قَرِيبٖ
Wa law taraaa iz fazi’oo falaa fawta wa ukhizoo min makaanin qareeb

English Translation

Here you can read various translations of verse 51

Sahih International
And if you could see when they are terrified but there is no escape, and they will be seized from a place nearby.

Yusuf Ali
If thou couldst but see when they will quake with terror; but then there will be no escape (for them), and they will be seized from a position (quite) near.

Abul Ala Maududi
If you could only see when the unbelievers will go about in a state of terror. They will have no escape and will be seized from a place near at hand.

Muhsin Khan
And if you could but see, when they will be terrified with no escape (for them), and they will be seized from a near place.

Pickthall
Couldst thou but see when they are terrified with no escape, and are seized from near at hand,

Dr. Ghali
And if you could see (them) as they get alarmed; so there is no eluding, (i.e., there is no escaping) and they are taken (away) from a place near (at hand).

Abdel Haleem
[Prophet], if you could only see their terror! There will be no escape when they are seized from a nearby place;

Muhammad Junagarhi
اور اگر آپ (وه وقت) ملاحظہ کریں جب کہ یہ کفار گھبرائے پھریں گے پھر نکل بھاگنے کی کوئی صورت نہ ہوگی اور قریب کی جگہ سے گرفتار کر لئے جائیں گے

Quran 34 Verse 51 Explanation

For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Saba ayat 51, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.

Ala-Maududi

(34:51) If you could only see when the unbelievers will go about in a state of terror. They will have no escape and will be seized from a place near at hand.[72]


72. That is, “On the Day of Resurrection, every culprit will be seized in a way as though he lay in hiding close by. As he will try to flee, he will be seized immediately.”

Ibn-Kathir

51. And if you could but see, when they will be terrified with no escape, and they will be seized from a near place. 52. And they will say: “We do believe (now);” but how could they receive (Tanawush) from a place so far off. 53. Indeed they did disbelieve before (in this world), and they (used to) conjecture about the Unseen, from a far place. 54. And a barrier will be set between them and that which they desire, as was done in the past with the people of their kind. Verily, they have been in grave doubt.) Here Allah says: `if only you could see, O Muhammad, when these deniers are terrified on the Day of Resurrection, and they have no way of escape and nowhere to run to and no refuge.’


﴿وَأُخِذُواْ مِن مَّكَانٍ قَرِيبٍ﴾

(and they will be seized from a near place.) means, they will not even be given the slightest chance of escape, but they will be seized from the first instant. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: “When they come forth from their graves.”

﴿وَقَالُواْ ءَامَنَّا بِهِ﴾

(And they will say: “We do believe (now);”) means, on the Day of Resurrection, they will say, `we believe in Allah and His angels, Books and Messengers.’ This is like the Ayah:

﴿وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذِ الْمُجْرِمُونَ نَاكِسُواْ رُءُوسِهِمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ رَبَّنَآ أَبْصَرْنَا وَسَمِعْنَا فَارْجِعْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَـلِحاً إِنَّا مُوقِنُونَ ﴾

(And if you only could see when the criminals shall hang their heads before their Lord (saying): “Our Lord! We have now seen and heard, so send us back that we will do righteous good deeds. Verily, we now believe with certainty.”) (32:12) Allah says:

﴿وَأَنَّى لَهُمُ التَّنَاوُشُ مِن مَّكَانِ بَعِيدٍ﴾

(but how could they receive from a place so far off) meaning, how could they attain faith now that they are so far removed from the place where it could be accepted from them, and they have entered the realm of the Hereafter which is the realm of reward and punishment, not the realm of trial and testing If they had believed in this world, that would have been good for them, but now they have entered the Hereafter, there is no way that their faith can be accepted, just as there is no way a person can get a thing if he is far away from it. Mujahid said:

﴿وَأَنَّى لَهُمُ التَّنَاوُشُ﴾

but how could they At-Tana0wush؟ means, How could they attain that؟ Az-Zuhri said, They will wish to attain faith when they have reached the Hereafter and are cut off from this world. Al-Hلasan Al-Basلri said, They will seek something when they have no way of attaining it, they will seek faith from a distant place.

﴿وَقَدْ كَـفَرُواْ بِهِ مِن قَـبْلُ﴾

Indeed they did disbelieve before, means, how can they attain faith in the Hereafter when in this world they disbelieved in the truth and denied the Messengers؟

﴿وَيَقْذِفُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ مِن مَّكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ﴾

(and they (used to) conjecture about the Unseen from a far place. ) Malik narrated from Zayd bin Aslam that he said:

﴿وَيَقْذِفُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ﴾

(and they (used to) conjecture about the Unseen,) means, “By guessing.” as Allah says,

﴿رَجْماً بِالْغَيْبِ﴾

guessing at the Unseen )18:22(. Sometimes they said he was a poet, sometimes they said he was a soothsayer, or a sorcerer, or a mad man, or other baseless comments. They denied the idea of resurrection and said:

﴿إِن نَّظُنُّ إِلاَّ ظَنّاً وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُسْتَيْقِنِينَ﴾

(we do not think it but as a conjecture, and we have no firm convincing belief.) (45:32). Qatadah and Mujahid said, “Their belief that there would be no resurrection, no Paradise and no Hell was based on mere conjecture.”

﴿وَحِيلَ بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ مَا يَشْتَهُونَ﴾

(And a barrier will be set between them and that which they desire,) Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Ad-Dahhak and others, `This means faith.” As-Suddi said:

﴿وَحِيلَ بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ مَا يَشْتَهُونَ﴾

(And a barrier will be set between them and that which they desire, ) means “Repentance.” This was also the view of Ibn Jarir, may Allah have mercy on him. Mujahid said:

﴿وَحِيلَ بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ مَا يَشْتَهُونَ﴾

(And a barrier will be set between them and that which they desire,) means, “This world and its wealth, luxuries and people.” Something similar was narrated from Ibn `Umar, Ibn `Abbas and Ar-Rabi` bin Anas, may Allah be pleased with him. It is also the opinion of Al-Bukhari and the Group. The correct view is that there is no contradiction between the two views, for a barrier will be set between them and what they desire in this world, and what they seek in the Hereafter will be denied from them.

﴿كَمَا فُعِلَ بِأَشْيَـعِهِم مِّن قَبْلُ﴾

(as was done in the past with the people of their kind.) means, as happened to the nations of the past who disbelieved in the Messengers; when the punishment of Allah came upon them, they wished that they had believed, but this was not accepted from them.

﴿فَلَمَّا رَأَوْاْ بَأْسَنَا قَالُواْ ءَامَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَحْدَهُ وَكَـفَرْنَا بِمَا كُنَّا بِهِ مُشْرِكِينَ – فَلَمْ يَكُ يَنفَعُهُمْ إِيمَـنُهُمْ لَمَّا رَأَوْاْ بَأْسَنَا سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِى قَدْ خَلَتْ فِى عِبَادِهِ وَخَسِرَ هُنَالِكَ الْكَـفِرُونَ ﴾

(So, when they saw Our punishment, they said: “We believe in Allah Alone and reject (all) that we used to associate with Him as (His) partners. “Then their faith could not avail them when they saw Our punishment. (Like) this has been the way of Allah in dealing with His servants. And there the disbelievers lost utterly.) (40:84-85).

﴿إِنَّهُمْ كَانُواْ فِى شَكٍّ مُّرِيبِ﴾

Verily, they have been in grave doubt. means, in this world they had doubts, so their faith will not be accepted from them when they behold the punishment with their own eyes. Qata0dah said, Beware of doubt. For whoever dies doubting, will be raised doubting؛ and whoever dies believing, with certainty will be raised believing with certainty. This is the end of the Tafsir of Surah Saba’. Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is the Guide to the right way.

Quick navigation links

Surah Saba
1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 . 11 . 12 . 13 . 14 . 15 . 16 . 17 . 18 . 19 . 20 . 21 . 22 . 23 . 24 . 25 . 26 . 27 . 28 . 29 . 30 . 31 . 32 . 33 . 34 . 35 . 36 . 37 . 38 . 39 . 40 . 41 . 42 . 43 . 44 . 45 . 46 . 47 . 48 . 49 . 50 . 51 . 52 . 53 . 54

surah saba ayat 51
surah saba ayat 52
surah saba ayat 53
surah saba ayat 54
surah saba ayat 1

skip_previous play_arrow skip_next
0:00/0:00
volume_up