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Quote from the Holy Qur'an: Az-Zumar (39:53)

۞ قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Quote from the Holy Qur'an: Az-Zumar (39:53)

(Dr. Mustafa Khattab) Say, ˹O Prophet, that Allah says,˺ “O My servants who have exceeded the limits against their souls! Do not lose hope in Allah’s mercy, for Allah certainly forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Translated by Ahmed Raza Khan.

Proclaim (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him), “O my* slaves, who have wronged themselves, do not lose hope in Allah’s mercy; indeed Allah forgives all sins; indeed He only is the Oft Forgiving, the Most Merciful.” (All Muslims are truly the slaves of Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him.)

There is a bit of confusion in this interpretation as I'm not eligible to judge anyone as both of them are tremendously knowledgeable.

I wanna know what most of the scholar's interpretation of this ayah.

Is this act of questioning here allowed on SE?

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  • note that if you read the whole passage 39:53-59, these are condemned people Feb 12, 2019 at 4:51
  • What are "these" mentioned here
    – Amir RAZA
    Feb 12, 2019 at 5:01
  • @AsanRamzan actually my main concern was are we the slaves of Prophet(pbuh) which has been already told in answer.
    – Amir RAZA
    Feb 12, 2019 at 5:05
  • agreed, I would never say we are slaves of anyone except Allah, we are only the followers of Muhammad (pbuh). But I saw that you took this verse as to mean the slaves of Muhammad (pbuh), but thought that you could only have really thought followers. So by deductive reasoning if these were indeed the follower of Muhammad (pbuh) at that time then they are condemn people which cannot be right. Feb 12, 2019 at 7:46
  • @AsanRamzan well said brother.
    – Amir RAZA
    Feb 12, 2019 at 8:06

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Both translations are technically correct. The first one spells out what is being implied, while the second one literally translates the verse leaving the reader to understand the implied meaning.

In the Arabic, there is no "Allah says." But, that is considered implied by the verse. Basically, it is commanding the Prophet (SAW) to say a quotation from Allah. That, I believe, is unanimously agreed by the scholars, and no one interprets it as us being the slaves ("عِبَادِيَ" is more correctly translated as worshippers) of the Prophet (SAW).

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