The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930)/He Frowned
SÛRAH LXXX
'Abasa, "He Frowned," takes its name from the first word. One day when the Prophet was in conversation with one of the great men of Qureysh (his own tribe), seeking to persuade him of the truth of Al-Islâm, a blind man came and asked a question concerning the faith. The Prophet was annoyed at the interruption, frowned and turned away from the blind man. In this Sûrah he is told that a man's importance is not to be judged from his appearance or worldly station.
An early Meccan Sûrah.
"HE FROWNED"
Revealed at Mecca
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
1 He frowned and turned away
2 Because the blind man came unto him.
3 What could inform thee but that he might grow (in grace)
4 Or take heed and so the reminder might avail him?
5 As for him who thinketh himself independent,
6 Unto him thou payest regard.
7 Yet it is not thy concern if he grow not (in grace).
8 But as for him who cometh unto thee with earnest purpose
9 And hath fear,
10 From him thou art distracted.
11 Nay, but verily it is an Admonishment,
12 So let whosoever will pay heed to it,
13 On honoured leaves
14 Exalted, purified,
15 (Set down) by scribes
16 Noble and righteous.
17 Man is (self-)destroyed: how ungrateful!
18 From what thing doth He create him?
19 From a drop of seed. He createth him and proportioneth him,
20 Then maketh the way easy for him,
21 Then causeth him to die, and burieth him;
22 Then, when He will, He bringeth him again to life.
23 Nay, but (man) hath not done what He commanded him.
24 Let man consider his food:
25 How We pour water in showers
26 Then split the earth in clefts
27 And cause the grain to grow therein
28 And grapes and green fodder
29 And olive-trees and palm-trees
30 And garden-closes of thick foliage
31 And fruits and grasses:
32 Provision for you and your cattle.
33 But when the Shout cometh
34 On the day when a man fleeth from his brother
35 And his mother and his father
36 And his wife and his children,
37 Every man that day will have concern enough to make him heedless (of others).
38 On that day faces will be bright as dawn,
39 Laughing, rejoicing at good news;
40 And other faces, on that day, with dust upon them,
41 Veiled in darkness,
42 Those are the disbelievers, the wicked.