The Quran

Preface

مُحَمَّدٌ رَسولُ اللَّهِ ۚ وَالَّذينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدّاءُ عَلَى الكُفّارِ رُحَماءُ بَينَهُم ۖ تَراهُم رُكَّعًا سُجَّدًا يَبتَغونَ فَضلًا مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضوانًا ۖ سيماهُم في وُجوهِهِم مِن أَثَرِ السُّجودِ ۚ ذٰلِكَ مَثَلُهُم فِي التَّوراةِ ۚ وَمَثَلُهُم فِي الإِنجيلِ كَزَرعٍ أَخرَجَ شَطأَهُ فَآزَرَهُ فَاستَغلَظَ فَاستَوىٰ عَلىٰ سوقِهِ يُعجِبُ الزُّرّاعَ لِيَغيظَ بِهِمُ الكُفّارَ ۗ وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذينَ آمَنوا وَعَمِلُوا الصّالِحاتِ مِنهُم مَغفِرَةً وَأَجرًا عَظيمًا

Yusuf Ali

Muḥammad is the messenger of God. and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other.¹ Thou wilt see them bow and prostrate themselves (in prayer), seeking Grace from God and (His) Good Pleasure.² On their faces are their marks, (being) the traces³ of their prostration. This is their similitude in the Tawrah;⁴ and their similitude in the Gospel is:⁵ like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, (filling) the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result,⁶ it fills the Unbelievers with rage at them. God has promised those among them who believe and do righteous deeds forgiveness, and a great Reward.

Cf. 9:128. The devotees of God wage unceasing war against evil, for themselves, and for others; but to their own brethren in faith?especially the weaker ones-they are mild and compassionate: they seek out every opportunity to sympathise with them and help them.
Their humility is before God and His Prophet and all who have authority from God, but they yield no power or pomp, nor do they worship worldly show or glitter. Nor is their humility before God a mere show for men.
The traces of their earnestness and humility are engraved on their faces, i.e., penetrate their inmost being, the face being the outward sign of the inner man. If we take it in its literal sense, the traces might mean the marks left by repeated prostration on their foreheads. Moreover, a good man’s face alone shows in him the grace and light of God; he is gende, kind and forbearing, ever helpful, relying on God and possessing 'a blessed Peace and Calmness’ (i.e., sakinah: cf. 48:26; 48:18, n. 4894) that can come from no other source. (R).
In the Book of Moses, which is now found in a corrupt form in the Pentateuch, the posture of humility in prayer is indicated by prostration: e.g., Moses and Aaron “fell upon their faces”, Num. 16:22.
The similitude in the Gospel is about how the good seed is sown and grows gradually, even beyond the expectation of the sower: “the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth now how; for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear”; Mark, 4:27-28. Thus Islam was preached by the Prophet; the seed seemed to human eyes lost in the ground; but it put forth its shoot, and grew, and became strong, until it was able to stand on its own legs, and its worst enemies recognised its existence and its right to live. Note how much more complete the parable is in the Qur-ān. The mentality of the sowers of the seed is expressed in beautiful terms: its growth and strength filled them “with wonder and delight.”
I construe the particle “li” as expressing not the object, but the result. The result of the wonderful growth of Islam in numbers and strength was that its enemies were confounded, and raged furiously within their own minds, a contrast to the satisfaction, wonder, and delight of the Prophet and his Companions. The pronoun in “rage at them” of course refers to the Prophet and his Companions, and goes back to the earlier words, “on their faces” etc.