17.85. Wayas-aluunaka AAani alrruuhiquli alrruuhu min amri rabbii wamauutiitummina alAAilmi illa qaliilan
17.85. They will ask thee concerning the Spirit. Say: The Spirit is by command of my Lord, and of knowledge ye have been vouchsafed but little. (Pickthall)
17.85. Und sie fragen dich nach dem Geist. Sag: Der Geist ist etwas vom Befehl meines Herrn, und euch wurde vom Wissen nur wenig gegeben! (Ahmad v. Denffer)
17.85. Sie fragen dich nach dem Geist. Sag: Der Geist ist vom Befehl meines Herrn, euch aber ist vom Wissen gewiß nur wenig gegeben. (Bubenheim)
17.85. Sie fragen dich nach der Seele. Sage: "Gott allein weiß, was die Seele ist . Was euch an Wissen zuteil geworden ist, ist gegenüber Gottes Wissen wenig." (Azhar)
17.85. Und sie fragen dich nach der Seele, sag: ‚Die Seele ist eine Angelegenheit meines HERRN; und euch wurde vom Wissen nur ein wenig zuteil.‘ (Zaidan)
17.85. Man fragt dich nach dem Geist. Sag: Der Geist ist Logos (amr) von meinem Herrn. Aber ihr habt nur wenig Wissen erhalten. (Paret)
17.85. Und sie befragen dich über die Seele. Sprich: "Die Seele ist eine Angelegenheit meines Herrn; und euch ist vom Wissen nur wenig gegeben." (Rasul)
Tafsir von Maududi für die Ayaat 85 bis 85
They ask you about "The Spirit." ( 103 ) Say, "This Spirit comes by the ommand of my Lord, but you have been given only a little of the 'Knowledge' . "
Desc No: 103 It is generally understood that the Arabic word "Ruh"stands here for "soul"' as if the people asked the Holy Prophet about the soul of man in regard to its nature, and the answer was that it came by the Command of Allah. But we have great hesitation in accepting this meaning for it could be taken only if the verse be isolated from its context; otherwise these words would become quite incoherent for there is no reason why the question about "soul" should have intervened between the preceding three verses and following verses which deal with the theme of the Qur'an. If we read the verse in its context, it becomes quite obvious that here the word "Ruh" (The Spirit) stands for the angel who brings Revelation. This was in answer to the question of the mushriks, "Where from do you bring the Qur'an?" as if to say, "O Muhammad, these people ask you about "The Spirit', that is, the source of the Qur'an or the means of acquiring it", so tell them, "This Spirit comes to me by the Command of my Lord but your knowledge is so little that you cannot distinguish between the nature of human words and the Divinely revealed words. That is why you suspect that this has been fabricated by some man. " The above interpretation is to be preferred, because it fits in excellently between the preceding and the succeeding verses. This is also supported by the Qur'an itself: " ...He sends down by His Command ` The Spirit" to any of His servants He wills so that they should warn the people of the Day, when they shall be assembled together." (XL: 15) "And likewise We have sent down "The Spirit' to you by Our Command: you did not know what the Book was and what the Faith ..." (XLII: 52). Besides this, Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah and Hasan Basri (may Allah bestow His mercy upon them all) have also adopted the same interpretation. Ibn Jarir has attributed the same thing to Ibn `Abbas on the authority of Qatadah, but at the same time he tells a strange thing that Ibn `Abbas stated this thing only in secret. Again the author of Ruh-ul-Ma'ani cites these words of Hasan and Qatadah: "By ruh is meant Jibril: the question was about the nature of his coming down and inspiring the heart of the Holy Prophet with Revelation."
){kind=link}