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Word Analysis & Comparison
20. Surah • 87. Verse
Word Analysis
مَآ
mā
Not
وَلَـٰكِنَّا
walākinnā
but we
مِّن
min
from
فَكَذَٰلِكَ
fakadhālika
and thus
Rashad Khalifa
The Final Testament
They said, "We did not break our agreement with you on purpose. But we were loaded down with jewelry, and decided to throw our loads in. This is what the Samarian suggested."
The Monotheist Group
The Quran: A Monotheist Translation
They said: "We did not break the promise by our own will, but we were loaded down with the jewelry of the people so we cast them down, and it was such that the Sumerian suggested."
Edip-Layth
Quran: A Reformist Translation
They said, "We did not break the promise by our own will, but we were loaded down with the jewelry of the people so we cast them down, and it was such that the Samarian suggested."
Abdul Haleem
Holy Quran Translation
They said, ‘We did not break our word to you deliberately. We were burdened with the weight of people’s jewellery, so we threw it [into the fire], and the Samiri did the same,’
Abul A'la Maududi
Tafhim commentary
They answered: "We did not break our promise with you out of our own volition; but we were laden with the load of people's ornaments, and we simply threw them down[1](into the fire), and[2] the Samiri also threw down something,
2
It is a pity that some of our commentators have interpreted this verse in the light of the above traditions of the Bible. They say that the Israelites felt burdened with the weight of those ornaments which they had borrowed from their Egyptian neighbors, with the intention of carrying them away as a spoil bestowed by God.
1
This excuse was put forward by those people who were involved in the shirk fabricated by the Samiri. They meant to say: We did not throw down the ornaments with the intention of setting up a calf nor did we know what was going to be made of these, but when the calf was brought before us, we involuntarily got involved in shirk. The Arabic text which we have translated into: "We were laden with burdens of ornaments of the people", simply means this: The heavy ornaments which our men and women were wearing like the Egyptians proved very burdensome to us in our wanderings in the desert and we did not know how to get rid of them for it appeared very difficult for us to travel in the desert with them. But according to the Bible these ornaments had been borrowed by every family of the Israelites from their Egyptian neighbors with this intention, “....and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters and ye shall spoil the Egyptians....and let every man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold....And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians....so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.” And that, too, on the advice of Prophet Moses, whom God Himself had instructed to do this noble deed. (Exodus, 3: 14-22, 11: 2-3, and I 2: 35-36).
Al-Hilali & Khan
Holy Quran Translation
They said: "We broke not the promise to you, of our own will, but we were made to carry the weight of the ornaments of the [Fir‘aun’s (Pharaoh)] people, then we cast them (into the fire), and that was what As-Sâmirî suggested."
Taqi Usmani
Holy Quran Translation
They said, "We did not break our promise to you of our own accord, but we were burdened with loads from the ornaments of the people;so we threw them, and thus did Sāmiriyy cast."
Abdullah Yusuf Ali
Holy Quran Translation
They said: "We broke not the promise to thee, as far as lay in our power: but we were made to carry the weight of the ornaments of the (whole) people, and we threw them (into the fire), and that was what the Samiri suggested.
Marmaduke Pickthall
Holy Quran Translation
They said: We broke not tryst with thee of our own will, but we were laden with burdens of ornaments of the folk, then cast them (in the fire), for thus As-Samiri proposed.
Mustafa Khattab
The Clear Quran
They argued, "We did not break our promise to you of our own free will, but we were made to carry the burden of the people’s ˹golden˺ jewellery,[1] then we threw it ˹into the fire˺, and so did the Sâmiri."
Mohamed Ahmed - Samira
Holy Quran Translation
They said: "We did not break our promise to you of our own will, but we were made to carry the loads of ornaments belonging to the people, which we threw (into the fire), and so did Sameri.
George Sale
Holy Quran Translation
They answered, we have not failed in what we promised thee of our own authority; but we were made to carry in several loads of gold and silver, of the ornaments of the people, and we cast them into the fire; and in like manner al Sameri also cast in what he had collected,
Hamid S. Aziz
Holy Quran Translation
And Moses returned to his people, wrathful, grieving! Said he, "O my people! Did not your Lord make you a goodly promise? Has the time seemed too long for you, or do you desire that wrath should descend on you from your Lord, and so you have broken your promise to me?"
Mahmoud Ghali
Holy Quran Translation
They said, "In no way did we fail your promise of our volition; but we were burdened with encumbrances of adornment of the people; so we hurled them (into the fire). So, (even) thus did As-Samiriyy (The Samaritan) also cast."
Ali Quli Qarai
Holy Quran Translation
They said, ‘We did not fail our tryst with you of our own accord, but we were laden with the weight of the people’s ornaments, and we cast them [into the fire] and so did the Sāmirī throw. ’
Arthur John Arberry
Holy Quran Translation
'We have not failed in our tryst with thee, ' they said, 'of our volition; but we were loaded with fardels, even the ornaments of the people, and we cast them, as the Samaritan also threw them, into the fire. '
Bijan Moeinian
Holy Quran Translation
They [came with a ridiculous excuse and] said: "We did not break our promise to you. The fact of the matter is: we wanted to get rid of our jewelry and melt them down, as suggested by Samarian!"
E. Henry Palmer
Holy Quran Translation
They said, 'We have not broken our promise to thee of our own accord. But we were made to carry loads of the ornaments of the people, and we hurled them down, and so did es Samariy cast;
Amatul Rahman Omar
Holy Quran Translation
They said, `We have not willfully failed to keep (our) promise with you but (the thing is that) we were laden with loads of the jewelry of the (Egyptian) people and we threw them away (into the fire). That was what the Sâmîri suggested.'
Aisha Bewley
Holy Quran Translation
They said, ‘We did not break our promise to you of our own volition. But we were weighed down with the heavy loads of the people’s jewelry and we threw them in, for that is what the Samari did.’
Muhammad Asad
Holy Quran Translation
They answered: "We did not break our promise to thee of our own free will, but [this is what happened:] we were loaded with the [sinful] burdens of the [Egyptian] people's ornaments, and so we threw them [into the fire], and likewise did this Samaritan cast [his into it]. "
Abdel Khalek Himmat
Al- Muntakhab
"We did not break our promise of our own accord, " they said, "but we were made to carry loads of ornaments -of Egyptian women- which we thought portend evil and We threw them in the fire to get rid of them and so did Samiri".
Progressive Muslims
Holy Quran Translation
They said: "We did not break the promise by our own will, but we were loaded down with the jewellery of the people so we cast them down, and it was such that the Samarian suggested. "
Syed Vickar Ahamed
Holy Quran Translation
They said: "We did not break the promise to you, as far as it was within our power: But we were made to carry the weight of the ornaments of (all) the people, and we threw them (into the fire), and that was what the As-Samiri suggested,
Shabbir Ahmed
Holy Quran Translation
They said, "We intended to break no promises. But this is what happened. We were loaded with the sinful burdens of the (Egyptian people's) ornament, and so we threw them into the fire, as suggested by this As-Samiri."
Sahih International
(Umm Muhammad, Mary Kennedy, Amatullah Bantley)
They said, "We did not break our promise to you by our will, but we were made to carry burdens from the ornaments of the people [of Pharaoh], so we threw them [into the fire], and thus did the Samiri throw. "
Sam Gerrans
The Qur'an: A Complete Revelation
They said: “We failed not to keep our promise to thee of our own accord, but we were given to bear burdens of the adornment of the people — so we hurled them. (And thus the Sāmiriyy cast,