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Sura 60
Aya 4
4
قَد كانَت لَكُم أُسوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ في إِبراهيمَ وَالَّذينَ مَعَهُ إِذ قالوا لِقَومِهِم إِنّا بُرَآءُ مِنكُم وَمِمّا تَعبُدونَ مِن دونِ اللَّهِ كَفَرنا بِكُم وَبَدا بَينَنا وَبَينَكُمُ العَداوَةُ وَالبَغضاءُ أَبَدًا حَتّىٰ تُؤمِنوا بِاللَّهِ وَحدَهُ إِلّا قَولَ إِبراهيمَ لِأَبيهِ لَأَستَغفِرَنَّ لَكَ وَما أَملِكُ لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِن شَيءٍ ۖ رَبَّنا عَلَيكَ تَوَكَّلنا وَإِلَيكَ أَنَبنا وَإِلَيكَ المَصيرُ

Muhammad Asad

Indeed, 'you have had a good example in Abraham and those who followed him, when they said unto their [idolatrous] people: "Verily, we are quit of you and of all that you worship instead of God: we deny the truth of whatever you believe; and between us and you there has arisen enmity and hatred, to last until such a time1 as you come to believe in the One God!" The only exception was2 Abraham's saying to his father "I shall indeed pray for [God's] forgiveness for thee,3 although I have it not in my power to obtain anything from God in thy behalf." [And Abraham and his followers prayed:] "O our Sustainer! In Thee have we placed our trust, and unto Thee do we turn: for unto Thee is all journeys' end.
  • Since the adverb abadan is immediately followed by the particle hatta ("until such a time as..."), it is obviously erroneous to give it the meaning of "forever", as has been hitherto done in all translations of the Qur'an into Western languages. In view of the original connotation of the noun abad as "time" or "long time", i.e., of indefinite duration (Jawhari, Zamakhshari's Asas, Mughni, etc.), abadan is best rendered in the present context as "to last [until] ...", etc.
  • Lit., "Except for": i.e., an exception from Abraham's statement, "between us and you there has arisen enmity and hatred, to last...", etc. In other words, his filial love prevented Abraham from including his father in his declaration of "enmity and hatred": although later - after his father had died as an idolater - Abraham could not but disavow him (cf. 9:114).
  • Cf. 19:47-48.