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.