Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Qalam Verse 13

Mufti Taqi Usmani

harsh, (and) after all that, notorious,

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

brute, and—on top of all that—an illegitimate child.

Ruwwad Translation Center

coarse, and furthermore, an illegitimate child.

A. J. Arberry

moreover ignoble,

Abdul Haleem

coarse, and on top of all that, an imposter.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

Gross, and therewithal ignoble-

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,-

Abul Ala Maududi

the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble;

Ahmed Ali

Crude, and above all, mean and infamous,

Ahmed Raza Khan

Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage.

Ali Quli Qarai

callous and, on top of that, baseborn

Ali Ünal

Cruel and ignoble, and in addition to all that, morally corrupt

Amatul Rahman Omar

(Nor listen to any) hard-hearted ruffian who is, above all this, utterly useless and known for mischief making,

English Literal

Rough/rude , after that a known mean low or evil person .

Faridul Haque

Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage.

Hamid S. Aziz

Ignoble (violent, cruel and greedy), besides all that, base-born (inherently degenerate);

Hilali & Khan

Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth),

Maulana Mohammad Ali

When Our messages are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore!

Mohammad Habib Shakir

Ignoble, besides all that, base-born;

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Greedy therewithal, intrusive.

Muhammad Sarwar

ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt or that because he may possess wealth and children.

Qaribullah & Darwish

the crude of low character

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

`Utul, and moreover Zanim.

Wahiduddin Khan

who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born;

Talal Itani

Rude and fake besides.

Tafsir jalalayn

coarse-grained, crude, moreover ignoble, an adopted son of Quraysh -- namely, al-Wald b. al-Mughra, whose father claimed him after eighteen years; Ibn `Abbs said, `We know of no one whom God has described in the derogatory way in which He describes him, blighting him with ignominy that will never leave him (the adverbial qualifier [ba`da dhlika, `moreover'] is semantically connected to zanm, `ignoble') --

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

`Utul, and moreover Zanim.
`Utul means one who is cruel, harsh, strong, greedy and stingy.

Imam Ahmad recorded from Al-Harithah bin Wahb that the Messenger of Allah said,

أَلَا أُنَبِّيُكُمْ بِأَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ كُلُّ ضَعِيفٍ مُتَضَعِّفٍ لَوْ أَقْسَمَ عَلَى اللهِ لَاَبَرَّهُ

أَلَا أُنَبِّيُكُمْ بِأَهْلِ النَّارِ كُلُّ عُتُلَ جَوَّاظٍ مُسْتَكْبِر

Shall I inform you of the people of Paradise?

(They will be) very weak and oppressed person. When he swears by Allah, he fulfills his oath.

Shall I inform you of the people of the Fire?

Every `Utul (cruel person), Jawwaz and arrogant person.

Al-Waki` said,

"It (`Utul) is every Jawwaz, Ja`zariand arrogant person."

Both Al-Bukhari and Muslim recorded this in their Two Sahihs, as well as the rest of the Group, except for Abu Dawud. All of its routes of transmission are by way of Sufyan Ath-Thawri and Shu`bah who both reported it from Sa`id bin Khalid.

The scholars of Arabic language have said that
Ja`zari means rude and harsh, while Jawwaz means greedy and stingy.

Concerning the word Zanim, Al-Bukhari recorded from Ibn `Abbas that he said concerning the Ayah,
عُتُلٍّ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ زَنِيمٍ
(`Utul (cruel), and moreover Zanim.)

"A man from the Quraysh who stands out among them like the sheep that has had a piece of its ear cut off."

The meaning of this is that he is famous for his evil just as a sheep that has a piece of its ear cut off stands out among its sister sheep.

In the Arabic language the Zanim is a person who is adopted among a group of people (i.e., he is not truly of them).

Ibn Jarir and others among the Imams have said this.

Concerning Allah's statement,

أَن كَانَ ذَا مَالٍ وَبَنِينَ