Surah 81 (Arberry) What are the "slinkers"?

[Always Learning]

No! I swear by the slinkers, the runners, the sinkers...

Qur'an (Arberry's Translation) 81:15-16

Can anyone tell me what this refers to when all the other English translations have something to do with planets and stars moving about in the heavens? Which translation is more accurate - Arberry's or the others? Or maybe the ayat about "slinkers, runners, [and] slinkers" is a cryptic reference to the planets? I guess this is probably some sort of Arabic idiom?

Can someone please explain these ayat refer to?

[جوري]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

81:1 to top

Sahih International
When the sun is wrapped up [in darkness]

81:2 to top

Sahih International
And when the stars fall, dispersing,

81:3 to top

Sahih International
And when the mountains are removed

81:4 to top

Sahih International
And when full-term she-camels are neglected

81:5 to top

Sahih International
And when the wild beasts are gathered

81:6 to top

Sahih International
And when the seas are filled with flame

81:7 to top

Sahih International
And when the souls are paired

81:8 to top

Sahih International
And when the girl [who was] buried alive is asked

81:9 to top

Sahih International
For what sin she was killed

81:10 to top

Sahih International
And when the pages are made public

81:11 to top

Sahih International
And when the sky is stripped away

81:12 to top

Sahih International
And when Hellfire is set ablaze

81:13 to top

Sahih International
And when Paradise is brought near,

81:14 to top

Sahih International
A soul will [then] know what it has brought [with it].

81:15 to top

Sahih International
So I swear by the retreating stars -

81:16 to top

Sahih International
Those that run [their courses] and disappear -

81:17 to top

Sahih International
And by the night as it closes in

81:18 to top

Sahih International
And by the dawn when it breathes

81:19 to top

Sahih International
[That] indeed, the Qur'an is a word [conveyed by] a noble messenger

81:20 to top

Sahih International
[Who is] possessed of power and with the Owner of the Throne, secure [in position],

81:21 to top

Sahih International
Obeyed there [in the heavens] and trustworthy.

81:22 to top

Sahih International
And your companion is not [at all] mad.

81:23 to top

Sahih International
And he has already seen Gabriel in the clear horizon.

81:24 to top

Sahih International
And Muhammad is not a withholder of [knowledge of] the unseen.

81:25 to top

Sahih International
And the Qur'an is not the word of a devil, expelled [from the heavens].

81:26 to top

Sahih International
So where are you going?

81:27 to top

Sahih International
It is not except a reminder to the worlds

81:28 to top

Sahih International
For whoever wills among you to take a right course.

81:29 to top

Sahih International
And you do not will except that Allah wills - Lord of the worlds.

[Muwaahid]

So verily, I swear by the planets that recede (i.e. disappear during the day and appear during the night).

And by the planets that move swiftly and hide themselves,

81:15-16 muhsin khan translation of the meaning of the noble quran

[Always Learning]

Thanks for the replies.

What are the "slinkers", "runners", and "sinkers" though? Are they names for certain types of planets/stars? They don't seem to appear in any translation but Arberry's, as you have both shown, so I was just wondering why he translated these Ayat in this way. Do these words (whatever they are in the original Arabic), in that context, always refer to celestial bodies in Arabic?

I had heard that Arberry was most of the most literal translators, as well as one of the most eloquent, but sometimes so much so that he obscures the meaning of the original text. I guess this is one of those cases...

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[جوري]

Arberry was an orientalist not a native Arabic speaker. The Job of the translator is to evoke meaning, not give a literal translation. In order to actually understand the Arabic and the message you'll have to learn Arabic.

As for the verse itself, according to Tafsir al-jalalyen

{ الجوار الكنَّس } هي النجوم الخمسة: زحل والمشتري والمريخ والزهرة وعطارد،

{ الجوار الكنَّس } هي النجوم الخمسة: زحل والمشتري والمريخ والزهرة وعطارد، تخنس بضم النون، أي ترجع في مجراها وراءها، بينما نرى النجم في آخر البرج إذ كَّر راجعا إلى أوله، وتكنس بكسر النون: تدخل في كناسها، أي تغيب في المواضع التي تغيب فيها.

Sahih International
Those that run [their courses] and disappear -

بضم النون، أي ترجع في مجراها وراءها، بينما نرى النجم في آخر البرج إذ كَّر راجعا إلى أوله، وتكنس بكسر النون: تدخل في كناسها، أي تغيب في المواضع التي تغيب فيها.

Sahih International
Those that run [their courses] and disappear -
are five planets:

خنس (العباب الزاخر) خَنَسَ عنه يَخْنُسُ ويَخْنِسُ -بالضم والكسر-: أي تاخَّرَ، خَنْساً وخُنُوساً. والخَنّاس: الشيطان، قال الزجّاج في قولِهِ تعالى: (فلا أُقْسِمُ بالخُنَّسِ): خُنُوْسُها أنَّها تغيب كما تَخْنُسُ الشياطين؛ يعني إذا ُّكِرَ اسم الله عزَّ وجَل. والخُنَّسُ: الكواكِبُ كُلُّها لأنّها تَخْنُسُ في المغيب؛ أو لأنها تختفي نهاراً، وقيلَ: هي الكواكب السيّارَة دون الثابتة. وقال الفرّاء في قوله تعالى: (فلا أُقْسِمُ بالخُنَّسِ الجَوَارِ الكُنَّسِ): إنَّها النجوم الخمسة التي تَخْنِس في مَجْراها وتَرْجِع؛ وهي زحل والمشتري والمريخ والزُّهرَة وعُطارِد، لأنَّها تَخْنسُ في مجراها وتَكْنِس: أي تَسْتَتِرُ كما تستَتِرُ الظَّباء في كُنُسِها. ويقال: سُمِّيَت خُنَّساً لتأخُّرِها، لأنها الكواكب المُتَحَيَّرة التي ترجِع وتستقيم. وفي حديث كعب الأحبار: تَخْرُجُ عنقٌ من النّار فَتَخْنسُ بالجَبّارينَ في النّار. أي تَغيفُ بهم وتَجْتَذْبَهُم. ويقال: خَنَسْتُه: أي اخّضرتُه؛ خَنْساً، ومنه قول العلاء بن الحَضْرَميِّ واسمُ الحَضْرَميِّ عبد الله -رضي الله عنه- قَدِمَ على النَّبيّ -صلى الله عليه وسلّم- وأنشده

http://www.baheth.info/all.jsp?term= ????
in a nut shell because they seem to appear and disappear and thus run a course!

hope that helps to simplify the Arabic as it is quite complicated..

best,

[Always Learning]

Thanks a lot - that cleared things up quite a bit. :statisfie

[جوري]

by the way if you just look at the dictionary you'd have found the same thing, it is just an archaic term that is no longer used:

sinkers: A pitch that curves downward rapidly as it approaches the plate

so it is about planets that orbit their due course... Which is an amazing radically post modern term when you think that in Europe and well into the middle ages thought the earth was flat and planets stationary. In fact a christian here on board once made the same claim not of the flatness but of the stars being stationary I believe his name was canard or something akin to that.

peace

[Ibn Masud]

I wouldn't recommend reading Arbery, they tend to give there own opinions rather than do the work and translate matters according to how the Muslims understood it which is the whole point really.

i would recommend the following,

The Qur'an
English translation with Arabic text
M.A.S Abdel Haleem
Oxford World's Classic's Hardback [this is the second edition not the first]

Revised for the new edition, this translation is written in contemporary language that remains true to the meaning and spirit of the original, making the text crystal clear while retaining all of this great work's eloquence.

or,

Tafsir Al Jalalayn
By Imam Jalal'Uddin Al- Mahalli and Imam Jalal'Uddin Suyuti
Hardback 1378 Pages
Published by Dar al Taqwa, London UK
Translated By Aisha Bewlye

The publication of this book is a landmark in the history of Islamic literature in English. With this work, for the first time, a complete translation of one of the great classical commentaries on the Holy Qur’an becomes available to English-speaking readers.
Tafsir al-Jalalayn, meaning 'The Commentary of the Two Jalals' is named after its two authors: Jalalu’d-Din al-Mahalli (1389-1459), who wrote half of it, and his student, Jalalu’d-Din as-Su~uti (1445-1505), one of the greatest Muslim scholars of all, who completed it after al-Mahalli’s death.
For half a millennium Tafsir al-Jalalayn has been considered the essential first step in the study of the meanings of the Qur’an by teachers and students throughout the Islamic world Although it is among the shortest and simplest .of the ‘complete commentaries, it is at the same time both wide-ranging and profound

I would recommend this work over anything else as you get the context of everything in the Quran while reading the quran at the same time, it's a unique work in that respect, you should look at sample pages to see what im talking about.

[IAmZamzam]

Arberry's goal seemed to be to approximate the beauty and cadence of the Arabic text first and the meaning second (say it out loud: "I swear by the slinkers, the runners, the sinkers"), although he was careful not to scrimp on the meaning either. His prefaces went to great pains to stress that he understood and confessed that he knew that he could not get perfect *either* the meaning *or* the beauty and cadence--which is exactly why it's called "The Koran Interpreted" and not "The Koran". Before you accuse him of getting his priorities out of whack, his version was the first I ever read and still my favorite (at least to this untrained ear) and what drew me to Allah's words in the first place, so don't be quick to judge it harshly. This man knew what he was doing.