The Quran

159

إِنَّ الَّذينَ يَكتُمونَ ما أَنزَلنا مِنَ البَيِّناتِ وَالهُدىٰ مِن بَعدِ ما بَيَّنّاهُ لِلنّاسِ فِي الكِتابِ ۙ أُولٰئِكَ يَلعَنُهُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَلعَنُهُمُ اللّاعِنونَ

Muhammad Asad

BEHOLD, as for those who suppress aught of the evidence of the truth and of the guidance which We have bestowed from on high, after We have made it clear unto mankind through the divine writ - these it is whom God will reject, and whom all who can judge will reject.¹

Lit., "whom all who reject will reject" - i.e., all righteous persons who are able to judge moral issues. God's rejection (la'nah) denotes "exclusion from His grace" (Manor II, 50). In classical Arabic usage, the primary meaning of la'nah is equivalent to ib'ad ("estrangement" or "banishment"); in the terminology of the Qur'an, it signifies "rejection from all that is good" (Lisan al-'Arab). According to Ibn 'Abbas and several outstanding scholars of the next generation, the divine writ mentioned here is the Bible; thus, the above verse refers to the Jews and the Christians.