本章的中心主题是真主的独一性，驳斥一切将儿子或同伴归于祂的观念和想法。它也涉及复活这一重要问题，而复活与真主独一性的概念紧密相连。在这一点上，本章遵循了麦加启示的大多数，甚至几乎所有章节的模式。

The central theme of this sūrah focuses on God’s oneness, rejecting all concepts and ideas assigning a son or a partner to Him. It also touches on the important issue of resurrection, intertwined as it is with the concept of God’s oneness. In this, the sūrah follows the same pattern as most, if not all, sūrahs revealed in Makkah.

该章通过若干故事展开其主题,首先是撒迦利亚和他的儿子约翰的故事,接着是玛利亚的故事以及耶稣的诞生。随后是易卜拉欣与其父亲的故事的一部分,之后简要提及其他先知:以撒、雅各、穆萨、哈伦、易司马仪、伊德里斯、阿丹和努哈。这些故事约占该章的三分之二,借此阐明真主独一、复活、真主没有子嗣或同伴的真理。

The sūrah explores its theme through several stories, beginning with that of Zachariah and his son, John, and follows this with the story of Mary and the birth of Jesus. We then have a part of Abraham’s story with his father, followed by brief references to other prophets: Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Ishmael, Idrīs, Adam and Noah. These stories take up nearly two-thirds of the sūrah, driving home the truth of God’s oneness, resurrection, the non-existence of any children or partners with God.

他们还清楚地阐明了遵循正道者与误入歧途者对先知所持的态度。

They also clearly outline the attitudes towards the prophets of those who follow guidance and those who go astray.

本章还包括一些关于审判日的场景，对否认复活之人的若干辩驳，以及对否认真主启示的不信道者在今世和后世之命运的提及。所有这些都与本章所叙述的故事走向完全契合，并强化了其核心主题。

The sūrah also includes some scenes of the Day of Judgement, some arguments against those who deny resurrection, and a reference to the fate of the unbelievers who deny God’s message, both in this life and in the life to come. All this fits perfectly with the drift of the stories the sūrah relates and reinforces its central theme.

这一章经（surah）有其独特的氛围，贯穿于它的所有叙述之中，并弥漫于它的各个主题之中。

The sūrah has its distinctive atmosphere which permeates through all its accounts and pervades its themes.

该sūrah描绘了人类灵魂内部以及周围宇宙中各种各样的反应与情感。这个我们想象为毫无知觉的世界，被展现为拥有自身的灵魂，能够感知和体会。这为整个sūrah增添了氛围：我们看到天空、大地和山岳因愤怒而反应强烈，几乎要被撕裂或夷为平地。这一切的起因是“人们竟然把儿子归于至仁主，而至仁主是不应该有儿子的。”（第91-92节）人类灵魂的反应则贯穿整个sūrah，从头到尾都有体现。其中的主要故事也充满了此类反应，尤其是玛利亚的故事以及耶稣的诞生。

The sūrah portrays a full range of reaction and feeling within the human soul as also within the universe around it. This world which we imagine to be senseless is shown to have a soul of its own capable of sense and feeling. This adds to the general atmosphere of the sūrah as we see the heavens, the earth and the mountains in anger, reacting so strongly as to almost be rent asunder or levelled down. All this because “people should ascribe a son to the Most Merciful, although it is inconceivable that the Most Merciful should take to Himself son.” (Verses 91-92) Reactions within the human soul are shown throughout the sūrah from start to finish. Its main stories are full of such reactions, particularly in that of Mary and the birth of Jesus.

该章的基调独特，充满慈悯、安然与同主之间的直接亲近。开篇讲述真主赐予撒迦利亚的恩典，以及他如何在内心深处秘密地向主祈求："这是你的主对他的仆人撒迦利亚所施恩典的记述：当时他在内心深处秘密地向他的主呼求。"（第2-3节）全章屡次提到恩典、慈悯及与之相近的词语，并与真主的仁慈与慈爱之属性相伴出现。信士在后世所享受的喜乐，被描述为爱："至于信道并行善的人，至仁主必使他们得到爱悦。"（第96节）真主赐予约翰的恩惠之一，就是使他充满慈悯："我在他幼年时就赐予他智慧，并以我的恩惠、慈悯和纯洁赐予他；他敬畏主，"（第12-13节）同样，耶稣蒙受真主的恩典，孝顺母亲，言行温和友善："他使我孝敬我的母亲，他没有使我成为骄傲的、不幸的人。"（第32节）

The sūrah has a distinctive ambience of compassion, contentedness and direct relation with God. It opens with an account of the grace God bestowed on Zachariah, and how he addressed God in a secret appeal: “This is an account of the grace which your Lord bestowed on His servant Zachariah: when he called out to his Lord in the secrecy of his heart.” (Verses 2-3) The words of grace, compassion and their synonyms are frequently mentioned throughout the sūrah, together with God’s attributes of beneficence and mercy. The happiness the believers will enjoy in the life to come is described as love: “As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, God will certainly bestow love on them.” (Verse 96) Among the favours God bestowed on John is that he was compassionate: “We granted him wisdom while he was still a youth, as well as, by Our grace, compassion and purity; and he was [always] righteous.” (Verses 12-13) Similarly, Jesus was, by the grace of God, dutiful to his mother, gentle and friendly in his manners: “He has made me kind to my mother, not haughty or bereft of grace.” (Verse 32)

我们确实能在这章经文的用词和句式中感受到真主广大的恩典笼罩着人类的全部生活。我们也感到，当那些荒谬的宣称——说真主有伙伴——响起时，整个宇宙都为之震颤，因为宇宙无法容忍如此荒谬的说法。我们认识到，这章经文有着独特的音乐节奏与韵律。即使是其用词的声音以及各节经文结尾的字词，也带来一种清晰的舒缓之感。当语境需要坚定时，这些经文结尾便采用双重的、浊音的爆破音或擦音，以增强坚定或权能的印象。

We indeed feel God’s abounding grace extending over all human life in the vocabulary and sentence structure of the sūrah. We also feel that the whole universe shudders to the sound of the preposterous claims that God has partners. For the universe cannot countenance such absurdity. We recognize that the sūrah has a distinctive musical rhythm and tempo. Even the sound of its vocabulary and the words ending its verses impart a clear sense of ease. Where the context requires firmness, such verse-endings have a doubled, voiced sound of either the plosive or fricative variety, to enhance the impression of firmness or power.

该章在不同主题与整体氛围下，展现了节奏、段尾与韵脚的多样变化。开篇叙述先知宰凯里雅与叶哈雅的故事时，经文以音节“ya”押韵，尾音为中等元音。这一韵脚在玛利亚与尔撒的故事以及随后简述其他先知的段落中始终保持。这些叙述结束后，该章评论了麦尔彦之子尔撒的真相，并对其子嗣身份作出最终裁定。此处段尾的形式有所不同：以长音“ee”或“oo”结尾的词之后紧跟鼻音“m”或“n”，给人以安定而定局的感觉。

The sūrah provides good examples of variations in cadence, verse- endings and rhymes according to the subject being discussed and the overall atmosphere. At the start, when the sūrah relates its account of the prophets Zachariah and John, the verses rhyme with the syllable, ‘ya’ giving a medium vowel at the end. The same rhyme is maintained throughout the story of Mary and Jesus as well as the brief accounts of other prophets that follow. When these accounts are concluded, the sūrah comments on the truth about Jesus, son of Mary, with the final verdict on his sonship. Here we have a different kind of verse-ending where words with a long ‘ee’ or ‘oo’ vowel are followed by a nasal ‘m’ or ‘n’ giving the impression of a settled and final matter.

当这部分完结后,本章又接着讲述先知的故事,从易卜拉欣及其父亲开始。那种轻柔、舒缓的韵脚再次出现,直到本章开始论述那些拒绝真理、反对神的启示和使者的人将要遭受的惩罚。此时节奏变得更加有力,韵脚转为以浊爆破音“d”开头、接元音“a”的音。当经文批评并谴责不信者的态度时,节奏变得更为强烈,韵脚中的“d”音被重复,形成双“d”音。由此可见,本章是韵律与节奏巧妙运用的完美范例:韵脚与节奏与整体意义和氛围完全和谐一致。二者共同营造了本章的整体氛围,使经文能够毫不费力地从一个主题流畅地过渡到另一个主题。

When this is complete, the sūrah resumes its accounts of earlier prophets commencing with Abraham and his father. The earlier, easy and gentle rhyme is picked up again until the sūrah begins its discussion of the punishment that awaits those who reject the truth and oppose God’s message and messengers. Here the cadence becomes stronger, and the rhyme changes to be a medium vowel ‘a’ preceded by the voiced, plosive ‘d’ sound. When the attitude of the unbelievers comes in for criticism and denunciation, the rhythm becomes even more powerful, reflected by a doubled ‘d’ sound for the rhyme. Thus the sūrah provides a perfect example of manipulated rhyme and rhythm such that it is in flawless harmony with the overall meaning and atmosphere. Both contribute to the general ambience of the sūrah as it moves with perfect ease from one subject to another.

整部sūrah可以分为三个部分。第一部分包括撒迦利亚和他的儿子约翰的故事，以及马利亚和她的儿子耶稣的故事，最后以一段评论对耶稣作出定论；耶稣的降生与本性，在犹太人和基督徒之中都引起过大量争议。

The whole sūrah may be divided into three parts. The first includes the story of Zachariah and his son John, together with the story of Mary and her son Jesus, culminating in a comment that gives the final verdict on Jesus whose birth and nature were the subject of much controversy among both the Jews and Christians.

第二部分包含易卜拉欣（亚伯拉罕）生平中的一段故事，他在其中与自己多神崇拜的族人的信仰划清界限。经文讲述了真主如何以子嗣补偿他，这些子嗣繁衍成了一个民族。其中简要提及了其他先知，以及后世中追随他们指引的人和迷失的人，并说明了这两类人的最终归宿。最后，经文宣告宇宙的主宰权是唯一的，主必须被崇拜，不得以任何同等之物与祂并列：“祂是诸天和大地以及两者之间万物的主，所以你们应当只崇拜祂，并坚持崇拜祂。你们知道有谁的名字配与祂的名字并列吗？”（第65节）

The second part includes an episode from Abraham’s life story, in which he dissociated himself from the beliefs of his idolatrous community. It tells how God compensated him with offspring that brought a whole nation into being. It includes brief references to other prophets, those who followed their guidance and those who erred in succeeding generations, explaining the ultimate destiny of both groups. It ends with a declaration that Lordship in the universe is one and the Lord must be worshipped without association of partners with Him: “He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. Worship Him alone, then, and remain steadfast in His worship. Do you know any whose name is worthy to be mentioned side by side with His?” (Verse 65)

这一部分以关于复活的论证开始，描绘了审判日的若干场景。它呈现了整个宇宙对一切多神论主张的否定。全篇以一个极具感染力的场景作结，描述了古代民族的覆灭：“在他们之前，我毁灭了多少世代！你能看到他们中的一个吗？或者能听到他们的一点声音吗？”（第98节）

The final part begins with the arguments advanced about resurrection, portraying some scenes from the Day of Judgement. It provides an image of the rejection of all polytheistic claims by the whole universe. It ends with a highly effective scene of the doom of earlier communities: “How many a generation have We destroyed before their time! Can you find a single one of them [now], or hear so much as a whisper of them?” (Verse 98)