Quote:
{2:104} O you who have believed, say not [to God's Messenger], "Raaina" but say, "Unthurna" and listen. And for the disbelievers is a painful punishment.
The two transliterations would leave the English reader baffled. Some attempt to explain the two words should have been used.
راعنا, "Raaina", means "pay attention to us." Pickthall and Asad got that when they translated it "Listen to us."
انظرنا, "Unthurna", quite simply means "Give us reprieve". Only Asad caught that meaning when he translated is "Have patience with us." My translation therefore is:
{2:104} O you who have believed, do not say [to Prophet Muhammad], "Pay attention to us," but say, "Give us time [to understand]" and listen. And for the disbelievers is a painful torment.Quote:
{2:106} We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that God is over all things competent?
This verse is almost always mistranslated
. The conjugation of the verb
ننسخ is a
conditional conjugation, which makes the first sentence say, "If We [ever] remove a sign...", not "We do not remove a sign..." because the latter is a present tense conjugation. The only translation I'm aware of which caught the conditional conjugation and its meaning is the one by
N. J. Dawood.
Also,
آية means "sign" in Arabic, not "verse." All verses of the Quran are signs pointing to God. That's why God uses the word to refer to verses of the Quran. But there are more signs in the universe than the verses of the Quran. Sarwar got that one right.
I propose this translation,
{2:106} If We [ever] remove a sign or cause it to be forgotten, We would bring a better or similar one. Did you not know that God is over everything powerful?