Translation
In no condition or engagement you might find yourself, no portion of the Qur’an that you might be reading, reflecting or explaining (to others) and no work which you might be doing, that We [God and His angels] are not a Witness to such of your occupations. Neither is there anything of the weight of an atom [miskala jarratin] on the earth or in the universe hidden from your Sustainer God, nor anything smaller nor larger than that. These are all but in a book well documented [kitabim mubin]. 476
Now for the friends to God, who are faithful and are mindfully responsible (to their human rights and obligations) will have no fear not will they grieve. For them are the good news and outcomes in this life and in the life to come. God’s words (and promises) suffer no changes and such outcome is an achievement worth striving for.
Let not the speech and conducts of some (your adversaries) be a source of grief for you. All the glory and might belongs to God and comes from God. He Hears and He Knows! Whatever exists in the universe and what is on this earth belong to God alone. Those who invoke others aside from God, what is it that they follow? It is nothing but false conjectures [Zanna] and they indeed surmise! 477
Interpretation
476 In our world today where Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Alexa are household names and platforms, where communications and conversations happens on email and wireless devices, and where Wi-Fi connects the world through cloud computing and infrastructure, we realize that a word said or a sentiment expressed is ever engrained in the memory of the internet. Such information is being exploited by companies like Google and Facebook, with blatant disregard for privacy and respect for day-to-day personal conduct done in the privacy of our home or our workplace. Technology created by human beings is capable of witnessing what we do, what we are, and even what we think or like. With such evidence, our generation should take it seriously when God says that He and His angels witness all that we do, read, discuss, converse, and record in books so that our life and our pursuits can be evaluated in this life and in the life to come with clear evidence with no scope for denials and misjudgments for lack of evidence.
477 Having warned us that our actions and conducts are recorded and will serve as evidence, people of faith and goodness are being comforted by God and continue to be mindful and behave responsibly, while others might do evil and oppose their good work. The prevalence of evils in our world today—whether in terms of social evils, economic inequality, political corruption, or the destruction of our environment—should propel people of goodness to struggle to restore the balance in our world and not be dismayed since eventual success and honor belongs to people of faith and goodness, even if it seems remote sometime in our life and in our generation.
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REFLECTION
We see trouble around the world in our generation, even after horrendous World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War, and the rise and fall of colonialism and Communism in the twentieth century, when we thought we learned our lessons as human society. We are faced with newer troubles: the random terrors committed by terrorists and overwhelming and misguided responses by nation states, the ever-widening divide between the rich and the poor, religious extremism, ethnic cleansing, wanton disregard for citizens’ rights and safely in various countries and regions around the world, the intrusive nature of technology, and the absolute disrespect and disregard for our planet by profit-seeking industries and benign neglect from our consumer-centric lifestyle.
ACTION
We are being watched by God and will be asked as to what we did in this life and in the life to come. We have been given windows to God’s questioning of our conduct already in the Qur’an, as we also feel in the angst of our souls each day—for example: “Of what crime the innocent female child was buried alive?”; :How is it that you stay silent while people are being oppressed?”; “We will see how you behave when you are given the upper hand”; “Do not do injustice even by mutual consent”; “Do not come into one’s home without seeking permission first”; “Struggle until there is no more persecution and injustice”; “Why is it that you do not take the path to higher morals?” Reminders abound, but who is listening?
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Key Arabic Terms
142. miskala jarratin: something small like an atom (10:61)
143. kitabim mubin: open or transparent book; document that is visible to God and eventually to all of us (10:61)
144. Zanna: conjecture, uninformed guesses (10:66)