In circulation: Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve. (8.55)
Quraan: 8:55
إِنَّ شَرَّ الدَّوَابِّ عِندَ اللّهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ فَهُمْ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ
Inna sharra alddawabbi AAinda Allahi allatheena kafaroo fahum la yuminoona
Muhammad Asad
8:55 (Asad) Verily, the vilest creatures in the sight of God are those who are bent on denying the truth and therefore do not believe.
Asad (8,58)
[58]
Note 58 (Quran Ref: 8:55 )
Cf. verse 22 of this surah, where the same epithet is applied to human beings “who do not use their reason”. In the present instance, it should be noted, the particle fa at the beginning of the phrase fa-hum Ia yu’minun has the meaning of “and therefore” (“and therefore they do not believe”): thus showing that lack of belief in spiritual verities is a consequence of one’s being “bent on denying the truth”. Expressed in positive terms, this amounts to the statement that belief in any ethical proposition depends on one’s readiness to consider it on its merits and to admit the truth of whatever one’s mind judges to be in conformity with other-empirically or intuitively established-truths. As regards the expression alladhina kafaru, the use of the past tense is meant here, as so often in the Qur’an, to stress the element of intention, and is, therefore, consistently rendered by me – wherever the context warrants it – as “those who are bent on denying the truth” (see also surah 2, note 6).
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Mike Ghouse: The vilest citizens in your city are those who are bent on violating the traffic rules, those who do not believe in the laws of the land. Those who drink and drive make hell for themselves and for others.