The Quran

لَهُ مُعَقِّباتٌ مِن بَينِ يَدَيهِ وَمِن خَلفِهِ يَحفَظونَهُ مِن أَمرِ اللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُغَيِّرُ ما بِقَومٍ حَتّىٰ يُغَيِّروا ما بِأَنفُسِهِم ۗ وَإِذا أَرادَ اللَّهُ بِقَومٍ سوءًا فَلا مَرَدَّ لَهُ ۚ وَما لَهُم مِن دونِهِ مِن والٍ

Muhammad Asad

[thinking that] he has hosts of helpers - both such as can be perceived by him and such as are hidden from him¹- that could preserve him from whatever God may have willed.² Verily, God does not change men's condition unless they change their inner selves;³ and when God wills people to suffer evil [in consequence of their own evil deeds], there is none who could avert it: for they have none who could protect them from Him.

Lit., "from between his hands and from behind him". As in 2:255, the expression "between his hands" denotes "something that is perceivable by him" or "evident to him", while that which is "behind him" is a metonym for something "beyond his ken" or "hidden from him". See also next note.
Lit., "from God's command (amr)". The rendering of the above passage hinges on the meaning given to the term mu'aqqibat-a double plural of mu'aqqib, which signifies "something that comes immediately after another thing" or "succeeds another thing without interruption". Most of the classical commentators understand by mu'aqqibat "hosts of angels", i.e., the recording angels who attend on every human being, succeeding one another without interruption. Consequently, they interpret the phrase min bayni yadayhi wa-min khalfihi as meaning "ranged before him and behind him", i.e., surrounding man from all sides; and they explain the words "from God's command" as being here synonymous with "by God's command", and take them to refer to the angels or to their function of guardianship. However, this interpretation has by no means the support of all the commentators. Some of the earliest ones assume that the term mu'aqqibat refers to all manner of worldly forces or concepts on which man so often relies in the mistaken belief that they might help him to achieve his aims independently of God's will: and this is the meaning given to this elliptic passage by the famous commentator Abu Muslim al-Isfahani, as quoted by Razi. Explaining verse 10 and the first part of verse 11, he says: "All alike are, in God's knowledge, deeds done secretly or openly, as well as he who hides in the darkness of night and he who walks [boldly] in the light of day... : for he that resorts to the [cover of] night can never elude God's will (amr), just as he [cannot] that walks in the light of day, surrounded by hosts of helpers (mu'aqqibat)- that is, guards and aids - meant to protect him: [for] those guards of his cannot save him from [the will of] God." It is on this convincing interpretation that I have based my rendering. The worldly "guards and aids" on which a sinner relies may be tangible (like wealth, progeny, etc.) or intangible (like personal power, high social standing, or the belief in one's "luck"): and this explains the phrase "both such as can be perceived by him and such as are hidden from him" (see preceding note).
Lit., "that which is in themselves". This statement has both a positive and a negative connotation: i.e., God does not withdraw His blessings from men unless their inner selves become depraved (cf. 8:53), just as He does not bestow His blessings upon wilful sinners until they change their inner disposition and become worthy of His grace. In its wider sense, this is an illustration of the divine law of cause and effect (sunnat Allah) which dominates the lives of both individuals and communities, and makes the rise and fall of civilizations dependent on people's moral qualities and the changes in "their inner selves".