Mustafa Khattab – Mistranslated Verses Of The Quran 2187

			So this ayat is probably one of the
		

			most commonly mistranslated
		

			ayat in the Quran. It's in chapter 21,
		

			Surah Anbiya, verse 87.
		

			Most
		

			translators
		

			say that when Jonah, the man of the
		

			whale, he left his town without permission from
		

			Allah
		

			in a rage
		

			thinking that Allah has no power over him.
		

			And of course, this is what you end
		

			up with when you don't understand Arabic. Arabic
		

			is not your native tongue and you use
		

			a dictionary to translate the Quran. You will
		

			always do something like this.
		

			In Islamic belief,
		

			for you to think that Allah has no
		

			power over someone, this is unacceptable.
		

			Especially for a prophet to think that Allah
		

			has no power over him, this is not
		

			acceptable in Islam. But the actual meaning,
		

			is mentioned also in other places in the
		

			Quran,
		

			Allah says for example, in another place in
		

			the Quran,
		

			Allah gives abundant or limited provisions to whoever
		

			He wants.
		

			So the word here does not mean to
		

			have power over, but rather it means that
		

			Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he thought that Allah
		

			would not restrain him, He would not make
		

			it difficult for him, and Allah Subhanahu Wa
		

			Ta'ala would not put him in a tight
		

			place to restrain him. And eventually Allah Subhanahu
		

			Wa Ta'ala put him in the belly of
		

			the whale. So the best understanding of this
		

			ayah is that Allah he thought, Yunus alaihi
		

			wasallam thought that Allah would not restrain him.
		

			It doesn't mean Allah does not have power
		

			over him. Thank you.