Question
Could you please give your translation of the verse 43:61.The verse reads as:
And lo! verily there is knowledge of the Hour. So doubt ye not concerning it, but follow Me. This is the right path. (43:61,Trans.by Pickthal).
My understanding is that the verse could be translated as:
And lo! verily with Him is the knowledge of the Hour. So doubt ye not concerning it, but follow Me. This is the right path.
To my understanding, the verse seems to be a speech of Jesus (pbuh) to his people rather than God addressing directly, as most scholars have translated. Could you please guide me to any verse of Quran where God said “fathabeeuni” [“follow Me”.]?
Thank you very much.
Regards
Answer
In my opinion your objection to the cited translation of the Holy Qur’an is justified. However, I am afraid the translation you provide yourself cannot be accepted either because the context would not allow attributing the statement to Jesus Christ whose statement has been explicitly mentioned in the next verse. Had he been quoted in the previous verse there would be no need of mentioning his name in the next verse. Your translation of the first sentence is also incorrect on the grounds that the Arabic word to connote ‘with Him is the knowledge of the Hereafter’ are “عنده علم الساعة“.
In my opinion, the word “قل“ or “say” is suppressed before the referred statement, implying that the Prophet (pbuh) has been directed to say these words to his addressees. The verse should thus be translated as follows:
[Say to them, O Muhammad] And indeed he [Jesus Christ] is the sign of the Hereafter, so doubt not concerning it, and follow me. This indeed is the right path. (Al-Zukhruf 43:61)
As for your last point, the word ‘`Ittibaa’ has been used in the Holy Qur’an in its many modified forms, but it has not been used with reference to the God.
Regards,
Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
July 30, 2003