You are here: Home » Chapter 35 » Verse 18 » Translation
Sura 35
Aya 18
18
وَلا تَزِرُ وازِرَةٌ وِزرَ أُخرىٰ ۚ وَإِن تَدعُ مُثقَلَةٌ إِلىٰ حِملِها لا يُحمَل مِنهُ شَيءٌ وَلَو كانَ ذا قُربىٰ ۗ إِنَّما تُنذِرُ الَّذينَ يَخشَونَ رَبَّهُم بِالغَيبِ وَأَقامُوا الصَّلاةَ ۚ وَمَن تَزَكّىٰ فَإِنَّما يَتَزَكّىٰ لِنَفسِهِ ۚ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ المَصيرُ

Muhammad Asad

AND NO BEARER of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden;1 and if one weighed down by his load calls upon [another] to help him carry it, nothing thereof may be carried [by that other], even if it he one's near of kin.2 Hence, thou canst [truly] warn only those who stand in awe of their Sustainer although He is beyond the reach of their perception,3 and are constant in prayer, and [know that] whoever grows in purity, attains to purity but for the good of his own self, and [that] with God is all journeys' end.
  • I.e., on Judgment Day - for "whatever [wrongj any human being commits rests upon him alone" (6:164, which is followed by a sentence identical with the one above).
  • Thus, any transfer of moral responsibility from one person to another is shown to be impossible. Whereas the first part of the above statement implies a negation of the Christian doctrine of "original sin" with which mankind is supposedly burdened, the second part categorically refutes the doctrine of the "vicarious atonement" of that sin by Jesus. (See also 53 :38 and the corresponding note 31.)
  • For an explanation of this rendering of bi'l-ghayb, see surah 2, note 3. The meaning is that only those "who believe in the existence of that which is beyond the reach of human perception" can really benefit by the "warning" inherent in the preceding statement. (See also 27:80-81 and 30:52-53.)