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Compared Translations of the meaning of the Quran - 50:17 | |
| < 50:18 50:16 > |
| Transliteration | Ith yatalaqqa almutalaqqiyani AAani alyameeni waAAani alshshimali qaAAeedun |
| Literal | When/if the two receivers/meeters/finders meet from the right (side) and the left, protecting/guarding . |
| Yusuf Ali | Behold, two (guardian angels) appointed to learn (his doings) learn (and noted them), one sitting on the right and one on the left. |
| Pickthal | When the two Receivers receive (him), seated on the right hand and on the left, |
| Arberry | When the two angels meet together, sitting one on the right, and one on the left, |
| Shakir | When the two receivers receive, sitting on the right and on the left. |
| Sarwar | We swear that We have created the human being and We know what his soul whispers to him. We are closer to him than even his jugular vein. |
| Khalifa | Two recording (angels), at right and at left, are constantly recording. |
| Hilali/Khan | (Remember!) that the two receivers (recording angels) receive (each human being after he or she has attained the age of puberty), one sitting on the right and one on the left (to note his or her actions) . |
| H/K/Saheeh | When the two receivers receive, seated on the right and on the left. |
| Malik | Besides this direct knowledge ,We have assigned to every one two scribes (guardian angels), the one seated on his right and the other on his left,[17] |
| QXP | And so it may happen that two conflicting demands in his mind, sitting in opposite directions, pull him apart. (His reason, and his emotions (50:21)). |
| Maulana Ali | When the two receivers receive, sitting on the right and on the left, |
| Free Minds | When the two receivers meet on the right and on the left. |
| Qaribullah | When both receivers (the angels) receive, one on his right, the other on his left, |
| George Sale | When the two angels deputed to take account of a man's behaviour, take an account thereof; one sitting on the right hand, and the other on the left: |
| JM Rodwell | When the two angels charged with taking account shall take it, one sitting on the right hand, the other on the left: |
| Asad | [And so,] whenever the two demands [of his nature] come face to face, contending from the right and from the left, [The first part of the above sentence - i.e., the phrase yatalaqqa al-mutalaqqiyan - may be understood in either of two senses: "the two that are meant to receive do receive", or "the two that aim at meeting each other do meet". The classical commentators adopt, as a rule, the first sense and, consequently, interpret the passage thus: "... the two angels that are charged with recording man's doings do record them, sitting on his right and on his left". In my opinion, however, the second of the two possible meanings ("the two that aim at meeting each other") corresponds better with the preceding verse, which speaks of what man's innermost self (nafs) "whispers within him", i.e., voices his subconscious desires. Thus, "the two that aim at meeting" are, I believe, the two demands of, or, more properly, the two fundamental motive forces within man's nature: his primal, instinctive urges and desires, both sensual and non-sensual (all of them comprised in the modern psychological term "libido"), on the one side, and his reason, both intuitive and reflective, on the other. The "sitting (qaid) on the right and on the left" is, to my mind, a metaphor for the conflicting nature of these dual forces which strive for predominance within every human being: hence, my rendering of qaid as "contending". This interpretation is, moreover, strongly supported by the reference, in verse 21, to man's appearing on Judgment Day with "that which drives and that which bears witness" - a phrase which undoubtedly alludes to man's instinctive urges as well as his conscious reason (see note on verse 21 below).] |
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