The Quran

Preface

يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ أوتُوا الكِتابَ آمِنوا بِما نَزَّلنا مُصَدِّقًا لِما مَعَكُم مِن قَبلِ أَن نَطمِسَ وُجوهًا فَنَرُدَّها عَلىٰ أَدبارِها أَو نَلعَنَهُم كَما لَعَنّا أَصحابَ السَّبتِ ۚ وَكانَ أَمرُ اللَّهِ مَفعولًا

Yusuf Ali

O ye People of the Book! believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming what was (already) with you, before We change the face and fame¹ of some (of you) beyond all recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbathbreakers,² for the decision of God Must be carried out.

Literally, “before We obliterate some features (or faces) and turn them front to back (or back to front)”: an Arabic idiom, which must be translated freely to yield its proper meaning in English. The face is the chief expression of a man’s own real essence; it is also the index of his fame and estimation. The People of the Book had been specially favoured by God with spiritual revelations, If they proved themselves unworthy, they lost their “face”. Their eminence, would, owing to their own conduct, be turned into degradation. Others would take their place. The first shall be last and the last shall be first: Matt. 19:30.
Cf. 2:65 and n. 79.