Compared Translations of the meaning of the Quran - 21:17 | |
| < 21:18 21:16 > |
| Transliteration | Law aradna an nattakhitha lahwan laittakhathnahu min ladunna in kunna faAAileena |
| Literal | If We wanted that We take a plaything/an amusement , We would have taken it from at Us, if We were making/doing. |
| Yusuf Ali | If it had been Our wish to take (just) a pastime, We should surely have taken it from the things nearest to Us, if We would do (such a thing)! |
| Pickthal | If We had wished to find a pastime, We could have found it in Our presence - if We ever did. |
| Arberry | had We desired to take to Us a diversion We would have taken it to Us from Ourselves, had We done aught. |
| Shakir | Had We wished to make a diversion, We would have made it from before Ourselves: by no means would We do (it). |
| Sarwar | Had We wanted to play games, We could have certainly done so with things at hand. |
| Khalifa | If we needed amusement, we could have initiated it without any of this, if that is what we wanted to do. |
| Hilali/Khan | Had We intended to take a pastime (i.e. a wife or a son, etc.), We could surely have taken it from Us, if We were going to do (that). |
| H/K/Saheeh | Had We intended to take a diversion, We could have taken it from [what is] with Us — if [indeed] We were to do so. |
| Malik | Had We meant to make it a play ground, We would have done it by Ourself, without giving you discretion to do right and wrong, had We ever done so.[17] |
| QXP | If We had wished to find a pastime, We could have found it in Our Presence, if such had been Our Will at all! |
| Maulana Ali | Had We wished to take a pastime, We would have taken it from before Ourselves; by no means would We do (so). |
| Free Minds | If We wanted to be amused, We could have done so from what is already with Us, if that is what We wished to do. |
| Qaribullah | Had We wished to take to Us an amusement We would have taken it to Us from Ours had We done so. |
| George Sale | If We had pleased to take diversion, verily We had taken it with that which beseemeth Us; if We had resolved to have done this. |
| JM Rodwell | Had it been our wish to find a pastime, we had surely found it in ourselves;- if to do so had been our will. |
| Asad | [for,] had We willed to indulge in a pastime, We would indeed have produced it from within Ourselves - if such had been Our will at all! [Lit., "if We had [ever] willed to do so": meaning that, had God ever willed to "indulge in a pastime" (which, being almighty and self-sufficient, He has no need to do). He could have found it within His Own Self, without any necessity to create a universe which would embody His hypothetical - and logically inconceivable - will to "please Himself", and would thus represent a "projection", as it were, of His Own Being. In the elliptic manner of the Quran, the above passage amounts to a statement of God's transcendence.] |
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The Sublime Quran, by Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar
