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Sura 35
Aya 41
41
۞ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُمسِكُ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضَ أَن تَزولا ۚ وَلَئِن زالَتا إِن أَمسَكَهُما مِن أَحَدٍ مِن بَعدِهِ ۚ إِنَّهُ كانَ حَليمًا غَفورًا

Muhammad Asad

Verily, it is God [alone] who upholds the celestial bodies1 and the earth, lest they deviate [from their orbits] for if they should ever deviate, there is none that could uphold them after He will have ceased to do so.2] [But,] verily, He is ever-forbearing, much-forgiving!3
  • Lit., "the heavens" - in this case apparently a metonym for all the stars, galaxies, nebulae, etc., which traverse the cosmic spaces in obedience to a most intricate system of God-willed laws, of which the law of gravity, perhaps most obvious to man, is but one.
  • Lit., "after Him". This seems to be an allusion to the Last Hour, which, according to the Qur'an, will be heralded by a cosmic catastrophe.
  • I.e., inasmuch as He does not speed up the end of the world despite the sinfulness of most of its inhabitants, and neither punishes without giving the sinner time to reflect and to repent (cf. verse 45).