Surah Al-araf in english

Verse 1

Alif Lām Mīm Sād: God knows best what He means by these [letters].

Verse 2

This is, a Book that is revealed to you — addressing the Prophet (s) — so let there be no inhibition, [no] constraint, in your breast because of it, to convey it — for fear that you might be called a liar — that you may warn thereby (li-tundhira, ‘that you may warn’, is semantically connected to unzila, ‘is revealed’, that is to say, ‘[it is revealed] for [the purposes of] warning’) and as a reminder for those who believe, in it.

Verse 3

Say to them: Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord, namely, the Qur’ān, and do not follow, [do not] take, beside Him, namely, God, in other words, other than Him, any patrons, obeying them in disobedience of Him, exalted be He. Little do you remember (read tadhakkarūn or yadhakkarūn, ‘[little] are you or they admonished’; the original tā’ [of tatadhakkarūn] has been assimilated with the dhāl; a variant reading has tadhkurūn; the mā [of qalīlan mā, ‘little’] is extra, merely emphasising the ‘littleness’).

Verse 4

How many (kam is predicative and is the direct object [of the main verb, ahlaknāhā, ‘We have destroyed’]) a city, meaning its inhabitants, have We destroyed, have We willed its destruction! So Our might, Our chastisement, came upon it at night or while they slept at noon (qā’ilūn: al-qaylūla is a rest taken halfway during the day, even if it does not involve sleep), in other words, sometimes it came upon it at night, and sometimes it came during the day.

Verse 5

And their only plea, their [only] words, when Our might came upon them, was to say, ‘We were evildoers indeed’.

Verse 6

Then verily We shall question those to whom the Message was sent, that is, [We shall question those] communities, about their response to the messengers, and to what extent they implemented that which was conveyed to them; and We shall question the messengers, about the conveying [of that Message].

Verse 7

And We shall narrate to them with knowledge, We shall inform them, with [previous] knowledge, of what they did; for verily We were not absent, when the messengers were conveying [the Message], nor [were We absent] during the time of bygone communities and what they did.

Verse 8

The weighing, of deeds or of the scrolls of these [deeds] shall be — in a balance that has a tongue and two palms [as scales], as reported in a hadīth — on that day, that is, on the day of the questioning mentioned, namely, the Day of Resurrection, the true [weighing], the fair [weighing] (al-haqq, ‘the true’, is an adjectival qualification of al-wazn, ‘the weighing’). As for those whose scales are heavy, with good deeds, they are the successful, the triumphant.

Verse 9

And as for those whose scales are light, because of evil deeds, those are the ones who have lost their souls, by causing them to travel towards the Fire, because they mistreated, they [knowingly] denied, Our signs.

Verse 10

And We have given you power, O Children of Adam, in the earth, and have appointed for you therein livelihoods (ma‘āyish is the plural of ma‘īsha), that is, the means by which you [are able to] subsist; little (qalīlan mā: mā is to emphasise the ‘littleness’) thanks you show, for this.

Verse 11

And We created you, that is, your father Adam, then shaped you, that is, We shaped him with you [deposited] in his back, then said to the angels: ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam!’, a prostration that is a bow of salutation. So they fell prostrate, all save Iblīs, the father of the jinn, who was among the angels — he was not of those who make prostration.

Verse 12

He, exalted be He, said, ‘What prevented you from falling prostrate (allā is [made up of] an-lā, the lā being extra) when I commanded you?’ He [Iblīs] said, ‘I am better than him. You created me from fire, while him You created from clay’.

Verse 13

Said He, ‘Then go down from it, that is, from the Garden — it is also said, [go down] from the heavens — it is not, right, for you to show pride here, so go forth, out of it! Surely you are among the abased!’, the contemptible!

Verse 14

Said he, ‘Reprieve me, postpone my affair, until the day when they, people, are resurrected’.

Verse 15

Said He, ‘Lo! You are of those reprieved’ — in another verse, it is said, until the day of an appointed time [Q. 38:81], that is, [until] the time of the first blast [of the Trumpet].

Verse 16

Said he, ‘Now, because You have sent me astray (fa-bi-mā aghwaytanī means bi-ighwā’ik, ‘for Your sending me astray’: the bā’ is for oaths, and the response of the oath is [the following]) verily I shall sit in ambush for them, that is, for the Children of Adam, on Your straight path, that is, on the path that leads to You.

Verse 17

Then I shall come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left, that is to say, from every side, and prevent them from following it [that path]. Ibn ‘Abbās said, ‘However, he cannot come upon them from above, lest he come between the servant and the mercy of God, exalted be He’. And You will not find most of them thankful’, believing.

Verse 18

Said He, ‘Go forth from it, degraded (read madh’ūman) disgraced or despised, and banished, removed from mercy. As for those of them, of people, who follow you (la-man, ‘as for those who’: the lām is for inceptiveness; or it is for introducing the oath, which is [the following]) I shall assuredly fill Hell with all of you’, that is, with you, through your seed, and with people — herein [in this address] those present have predominance over those absent (this [last] sentence [of the verse] expresses the sense of ‘the requital’ [suggested] in the conditional man, ‘who’: in other words, ‘whoever follows you, then I shall punish him’).

Verse 19

And, He said, ‘O Adam, dwell, you (anta: this is reiterated in order to emphasise the subject of the verb uskun, ‘dwell’, and to supplement to it [what follows]) and your wife, Eve (read Hawwā’), in the Garden, and eat from whence you will, but do not come near this tree, to eat of it — and this was wheat — lest you become evildoers’.

Verse 20

Then Satan, Iblīs, whispered to them that he might manifest, reveal, to them that which was hidden (wūriya: based on [the verbal form] fū‘ila and [derives] from [the infinitive] al-muwārā) to them of their shameful parts. And he said, ‘Your Lord prohibited you from this tree only, in aversion, lest you become angels (malakayn may also be read malikayn) or become immortals’, in other words, that is the necessary consequence of eating from it, as [is stated] in another verse: Shall I guide you to the Tree of Immortality and a kingdom that does not waste away? [Q. 20:120].

Verse 21

And he swore to both of them, that is, he swore to both of them by God, ‘Truly, I am a sincere adviser to you’, in this matter.

Verse 22

Thus did he lead them on, [thus] did he debase them in their status, by delusion, on his part; and when they tasted of the tree, that is, [when] they ate of it, their shameful parts were manifested to them, that is, the front [private part] of each was revealed to the other, as well as their behinds — each of these parts is called saw’a, ‘shameful’, because its exposure ‘shames’ (yasū’u) that person — and they began to piece together, they began to stick, onto themselves some of the leaves of the Garden, to cover themselves up therewith. And their Lord called them: ‘Did I not prohibit you from this tree, and say to you, “Verily Satan is a manifest enemy to you”?’, one whose enmity is evident? (the interrogative is meant as an affirmative).

Verse 23

They said, ‘Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, by our act of disobedience, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall surely be among the lost’.

Verse 24

Said He, ‘Go down, that is, Adam and Eve, with all those you comprise of your seed, each of you, each seed, an enemy to the other, on account of the wrong each does to the another. There will be for you on earth an abode, a place of settlement, and enjoyment for a while’, [until] your terms [of life] are fulfilled.

Verse 25

Said He, ‘There, that is, [on] earth, you shall live, and there you shall die, and from there you shall be brought forth’, through the Resurrection (read active takhrujūn, ‘you shall come forth’, or passive tukhrajūn, ‘you shall be brought forth’).

Verse 26

O Children of Adam! We have sent down on you a garment, that is, We have created it for you, to conceal, to cover up, your shameful parts, and feathers, meaning all that one adorns oneself with of garments, and the garment of God-fearing, righteous deeds and virtuous traits (read as libāsa’l-taqwā, ‘the garment of God-fearing’, as a supplement to the preceding libāsan, ‘a garment’; or read as libāsu’l-tawqā as the subject, the predicate of which is the [following] sentence) that is best; that is one of God’s signs, the proofs of His power; perhaps they will remember, and believe (the address shifts from the second [to the third] person).

Verse 27

O Children of Adam! Let not Satan tempt you, lead you astray, that is, do not follow him, lest you fall into temptation, as he caused your parents to go forth from the Garden, by tempting them, stripping (yanzi‘u is a circumstantial qualifier) them of their garments to manifest to them their shameful parts. Surely he, Satan, sees you, he and his tribe, his army, from where you do not see them — because of their ethereal bodies or their being colourless. We have made the devils friends, helpers and companions, of those who do not believe.

Verse 28

And when they commit any indecency, such as idolatry, or circumambulating the [Sacred] House naked, saying, ‘We cannot perform the circumambulations wearing clothes in which we were disobedient to God’ — and so they forbade this [wearing of clothes] — they say, ‘We found our fathers practising it, and so we followed their example, and God has, also, enjoined it on us’. Say, to them: ‘God does not enjoin indecency. Do you say concerning God that which you do not know?’, that He has said? (the interrogative is meant as a repudiation).

Verse 29

Say: ‘My Lord enjoins justice, fairness. And set (wa-aqīmū is a supplement to the [syntactical] significance of bi’l-qist, ‘justice’, that is to say, [it is as if] He said, ‘Be just and set [your faces]’, or read [wa-aqīmū] with an implied fa-aqbilū, ‘so turn’ towards it) your faces, towards God, in every place of worship, performing your prostrations purely for Him, and call upon Him, worship Him, devoting your religion to Him, [free] of any idolatry. As He brought you into being, [as] He created you, when you were nothing, so you will return, that is, [so] He will bring you back to life on the Day of Resurrection.

Verse 30

A party, of you, He has guided, while another party has deserved to go astray — they have taken devils as patrons instead of God, that is, other than Him, and think that they are guided’.

Verse 31

O Children of Adam! Don your adornment, that which covers your nakedness, at every place of worship, at prayer and at the circumambulation, and eat and drink, what you want, but do not be excessive; He truly does not love those who are excessive.

Verse 32

Say, in disavowal of them, ‘Who has forbidden the adornment of God which He has brought forth for His servants, in the way of garments, and the good things, the delicious foods, of [God’s] sustenance?’ Say: ‘These, on the Day of Resurrection, shall be exclusively (read khālisatun meaning ‘exclusively theirs’, or khālisatan as a circumstantial qualifier) for those who believed during the life of this world, deservedly, even if others should share it with them. Thus We detail the signs, We explain them in such detail, for a people who know’, [who] reflect, for they are the ones to profit from these [signs].

Verse 33

Say: ‘My Lord forbids only indecencies, grave sins, such as fornication, such of them as are apparent and such as are hidden, that is, the overt ones and the secret ones, and sin, the act of disobedience, and wrongful insolence, against people, namely, oppression, and that you associate with God that for which He never revealed any warrant, any definitive proof for such association, and that you say concerning God that which you do not know’, in the way of forbidding what He has not forbidden and other things.

Verse 34

Every community has a term, a [finite] period of time. When their term comes they shall not delay it a single hour nor bring it forward.

Verse 35

O Children of Adam! If (immā: the nūn of the conditional particle in has been assimilated with the extra mā) there should come to you messengers from among you, narrating to you My signs, then whoever fears, associating others with God, and makes amends, in his actions — no fear shall befall them, neither shall they grieve, in the Hereafter.

Verse 36

And those who deny Our signs and scorn them, not believing in them — those shall be the inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein.

Verse 37

And who — that is, none — does greater evil than he who invents a lie against God, by ascribing to Him a partner or a child, or denies His signs?, the Qur’ān. Those — their portion, their lot, of the Scripture, of what has been inscribed as theirs in the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfūz), in the way of provision, term [of life] and other matters, shall reach them until, when Our messengers, the angels, come to them, to take their souls, they say, to them, in reprimand: ‘Where is that which you were calling upon, worshipping, beside God?’ They will say, ‘They have gone astray from us’, they are not present [before us], and so we cannot see them; and they will bear witness against themselves, upon death, that they were disbelievers.

Verse 38

He, exalted be He, will say, to them, on the Day of Resurrection: ‘Enter into the Fire among, the number of, communities of jinn and mankind who passed away before you’ (fī’l-nār, ‘into the Fire’, is semantically connected to udkhulū, ‘enter’). Every time a community enters, the Fire, it curses its sister-community, [the one] that came before it, because of its having gone astray on account of it, until, when they have all followed, caught up with, one another there, the last of them, those who were the followers, shall say to the first of them, those whom they revered and followed: ‘Our Lord, these led us astray; so give them a double chastisement of the Fire.’ He, exalted be He, will say, ‘For each, of you and them, will be a double, chastisement, but you do not know’ (read ta‘lamūn, or ya‘lamūn, ‘they [do not] know’), what will be for each party.

Verse 39

And the first of them shall say to the last of them, ‘You have no advantage over us, since you did not disbelieve because of us: you and we are equal [in this predicament]. God, exalted be He, says to them: So taste the chastisement for what you used to earn’.

Verse 40

Those who deny Our signs and scorn them, not believing in them, indeed the gates of heaven shall not be opened for them, when their spirits are carried up to it after death, for instead they are taken down into Sijjīn [cf. Q. 83:7f.] — in contrast to the believer, for whom the gates are opened, and his spirit is carried up into the seventh heaven, as is stated in one hadīth — nor shall they enter Paradise until the camel passes through the eye of the needle, which is impossible, and so is their entry [into Paradise]. So, with this requital, We requite those who are sinful, through disbelief.

Verse 41

Hell shall be their bed, and over them coverings, of fire (ghawāshin is the plural of ghāshiya and its nunation compensates for the omitted yā’). Thus do We requite the evildoers.

Verse 42

And those who believe and perform righteous deeds (wa’lladhīna āmanū wa-‘amilū’l-sālihāti is the subject) We do not charge any soul beyond its scope, its capacity for action (lā nukallifu nafsan illā wus‘ahā, ‘We do not charge any soul beyond its scope’, constitutes a parenthetical statement, intervening between it [the above subject] and its predicate, which is [the following]) those are the inhabitants of Paradise, abiding therein.

Verse 43

We shall strip away all rancour, [all] spite that existed between them in the world, that is in their breasts; and beneath them, beneath their palaces, flow rivers; and they will say, once they have settled in their dwellings: ‘Praise be to God, Who guided us to this, action, the reward of which is this [Paradise]; for we would surely never have been guided if God had not guided us (the response to the [conditional] law lā, ‘if … not’ is omitted, because it is indicated by the preceding [clause]). Verily the messengers of our Lord did bring the truth.’ And it is cried to them: (an is read softened, that is, [understand it as] annahu; alternatively, it is an explicative particle in all five places [here and the four to follow]) ‘This is your Paradise; you have inherited it for what you used to do’.

Verse 44

And the inhabitants of Paradise will call to the inhabitants of the Fire, either in affirmation or in reprimand: ‘We have found that which our Lord promised us, in the way of reward, to be true; have you found that, chastisement, which your Lord promised, you, to be true?’ They will say: ‘Yes!’ And then a crier, a caller, shall proclaim between them, between both parties, making them hear that: ‘God’s curse is on the evildoers,

Verse 45

who bar, people, from God’s way, [from] His religion, desiring it, that is, they seek the way that is, crooked, disbelieving in the Hereafter’.

Verse 46

And between them, that is, [between] the inhabitants of Paradise and those of the Fire, is a veil, a barrier, said to be the wall of the Heights, and on the Heights, which is, the wall of Paradise, are men, whose good deeds and evil deeds are equal, as [is stated] in the hadīth, who know each, of the inhabitants of Paradise and those of the Fire, by their mark — glowing faces in the case of the believers and blackened [ones] in the case of the disbelievers, for they are able to see them, their position being high — and they call to the inhabitants of Paradise: ‘Peace be upon you!’ God, exalted be He, says: They, that is, those men of the Heights, have not entered it, Paradise, although they aspire, to enter it. Al-Hasan [al-Basrī] said, ‘God causes them to have this aspiration only because He desires to be generous to them’. Al-Hākim reported that Hudhayfa [b. al-Yamān] said, ‘While they are in this situation, God appears to them and says “Get up and enter Paradise, for I have forgiven you”.’

Verse 47

And when their eyes, those of the men of the Heights, are turned towards, in the direction of, the inhabitants of the Fire, they shall say, ‘Our Lord, do not assign us, to the Fire, with the evildoing folk’.

Verse 48

And those of the Heights call to men, from among the inhabitants of the Fire, whom they know by their mark, [saying]: ‘Your masses, of property, or your multitude, and your haughtiness, that is, your disdaining of belief, have not availed you, [as protection against] the Fire. And they also say to them, pointing to those [formerly] oppressed Muslims:

Verse 49

Are these the ones of whom you swore that God would never grant them mercy?’: it has already been said to them, ‘Enter Paradise; no fear shall come upon you, nor shall you grieve’ (a variant reading [for udkhulū, ‘enter’ (imperative, second person plural)] has the passive udkhilū, ‘they have been admitted’, or dakhalū, ‘they entered’; the negation clause [‘no fear shall come upon you, nor shall you grieve’] is a circumstantial qualifier, in other words, [they enter Paradise] while this is being said to them).

Verse 50

And the inhabitants of the Fire call out to the inhabitants of Paradise [saying]: ‘Pour on us some water, or some of that, food, which God has provided you!’ They say: ‘God has forbidden, He has prohibited, both to the disbelievers,

Verse 51

those who took their religion for a diversion and a game, and whom the life of this world has deluded.’ Therefore today We have forgotten them, We have left them in the Fire, just as they forgot the encounter of this day of theirs, when they neglected to perform [good] deeds for it, and because they used to deny Our signs.

Verse 52

And indeed We have brought them, that is, the people of Mecca, a Book, the Qur’ān, which We have detailed, [which] We have made clear through tidings and the Promise [of reward] and the Threat [of punishment], with knowledge (‘alā ‘ilmin is a circumstantial qualifier, in other words, ‘knowing what has been detailed in it’), a guidance (hudan is [also] a circumstantial qualifier referring to the hā’ [the suffixed pronoun of fassālnā-hu, ‘which We have detailed’]) and a mercy for a people who believe, in it.

Verse 53

Are they waiting — they are not waiting — for anything but its fulfilment, the consequences of what is in it? On the day when its fulfilment comes, which will be [on] the Day of Resurrection, those who were forgetful of it before, [those who] neglected to believe in it, shall say, ‘Indeed, our Lord’s messengers came with the truth. Have we then any intercessors, that they may intercede for us, or shall we be returned, to the world, that we may act otherwise than we used to act?’, [and instead] affirm God’s Oneness and refrain from associating others with Him. It will then be said to them, ‘No!’ God, exalted be He, says: Verily they have lost their souls, for they have ended up in perdition, and that which they used to invent, in alleging [that God has] a partner, has failed, has abandoned, them.

Verse 54

Surely your Lord is God, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, of the days of this world, that is to say, in the equivalent thereof, since there was no sun then. Had He willed He could have created them in an instant; but the reason for His not having done so is that He wanted to teach His creatures to be circumspect; then presided upon the Throne, a presiding befitting of Him (al-‘arsh, ‘throne’, in the [classical] language is the elevated seat on which a king sits). He cloaks (read yughshī or yughashshī) the night with the day, that is, He covers each one with the other: each following the other in swift pursuit — and the sun and the moon and the stars (if all of these are read in the accusative, then they constitute a supplement to al-samāwāt, ‘the heavens’, and if in the nominative, then they constitute the subject of the sentence, the predicate of which follows) have been made subservient, [have been] subdued, by His command, by His power. Verily, His is, all, creation and the command, in its entirety. Blessed, Magnified, be God, the Lord, the Master, of the Worlds!

Verse 55

Call upon your Lord humbly (tadarru‘an is a circumstantial qualifier), in subservience, and quietly, in secret. Truly, He loves not the aggressors, who are braggarts and loud-mouthed in [their] supplications.

Verse 56

And work not corruption in the land, through idolatry and acts of disobedience, after it has been set right, as a result of the sending forth of messengers [to it], and call upon Him in fear, of His punishment, and in hope, of His mercy — surely the mercy of God is near to the virtuous, the obedient (qarīb, ‘near’, as the predicate of [the feminine noun] rahma, ‘mercy’, is in the masculine because it [rahma] is annexed to Allāh, ‘God’).

Verse 57

He it is Who sends the winds, unfolding with His mercy, that is, dispersing before the rains (a variant reading [for nushuran, ‘unfolding’] has nushran; another reading has nashran as the verbal noun; and a third variant has bushran, meaning mubashshiran, ‘[with which] He is bearing good tidings [of His mercy]’; the singular of the first reading is nashūr, similar [in pattern] to rasūl, ‘messenger’; the singular of the last is bashīr) until, when they, the winds, bear heavy clouds, [clouds heavy] with rain, We lead it, that is, [We lead] the clouds (herein is a shift from the third [to the first] person), to a dead land, one devoid of any vegetation, in other words, [We lead it there] in order to revive it, and then We send down thereon, on that land, and bring forth thereby, by this water, fruits of every kind. Like that, bringing forth, We shall bring forth the dead, from their graves, through revivification, so that you might remember, and believe.

Verse 58

As for the good land, the one of rich soil, its vegetation comes forth, wholesomely, by permission of its Lord — this is a similitude of the believer who, when he hears an admonition, he [heeds it and] benefits from it. While as for the, one whose soil is, bad — the vegetation in, it comes forth only miserably, laboriously and with difficulty — this is the similitude of the disbeliever. Even, as We have made clear what has been mentioned, so We dispense, We make clear, the signs for a people who are thankful, to God and so believe.

Verse 59

Verily (laqad is the response to an oath that has been omitted) We sent Noah to his people, and he said, ‘O my people, worship God! You have no god other than Him (read ghayrihi as an adjective of ilāh, ‘god’, or ghayruhu as a substitution in its place [sc. instead of min ilāhin, ‘any god’). Truly, I fear for you, if you worship other than Him, the chastisement of an Awful Day’, that is, the Day of Resurrection.

Verse 60

The council, of the respected elders, of his people, said: ‘Truly We see you in manifest error’.

Verse 61

He said, ‘My people, there is no error in me (dalāla is more general than al-dalāl, ‘misguidance’, and so to deny it is more effective than to deny the latter), but I am a messenger from the Lord of the Worlds.

Verse 62

I convey to you (read ublighkum or uballighukum) the Messages of my Lord, and I am advising you, I desire good [for you], for I know from God what you know not.

Verse 63

Do you then, deny, marvel that a reminder, an admonition, from your Lord should come to you through, the tongue of, a man from among you, that he may warn you, of chastisement if you do not believe, and that you may fear, God, and that you might be shown mercy’, by it?

Verse 64

But they denied him, and so We delivered him and those with him, from drowning, in the Ark, [in] the ship, and We drowned those who denied Our signs, by means of the Flood. Truly they were a people blind, to the truth.

Verse 65

And, We sent, to, the earlier, ‘Ād their brother Hūd. He said, ‘O my people, worship God, affirm His Oneness! You have no god other than Him. Will you not fear?’, will you [not] fear Him, and so believe?

Verse 66

The council, those of his people who disbelieved, said: ‘We truly see you in folly, ignorance, and we truly deem you of the liars’, in your Message.

Verse 67

He said, ‘O my people, there is no folly in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the Worlds.

Verse 68

I convey to you the Messages of my Lord, and I am your truthful adviser, trustworthy in the Message [I convey].

Verse 69

Or do you marvel that a reminder from your Lord should come to you through, the tongue of, a man from among you, that he may warn you? And remember when He made you vicegerents, on earth, after the people of Noah, and increased your stature in extension, in strength and in height — (the tallest of them measured 100 feet, the shortest, 60). Remember then God’s bounties, His graces, so that you might prosper’, triumph.

Verse 70

They said, ‘Have you come to us that we should worship God alone, and forsake, abandon, what our fathers worshipped? Then bring upon us what you promised us, of chastisement, if you are of the truthful’, in what you say.

Verse 71

He said, ‘Already, terror, chastisement, and wrath from your Lord have fallen, [they] must be [sent down], on you. Do you dispute with me concerning names which you have named, that is, with which you, you and your fathers, have named idols that you worship, for which, that is, for the worship of which, God has not revealed any warrant?, any definitive argument or proof? Then await, the chastisement. Truly I shall be with you waiting’, for that, on account of your denial of me: thus a blighting wind was unleashed against them [cf. Q. 51:4].

Verse 72

So We delivered him, namely, Hūd, and those with him, from among the believers, by a mercy from Us, and We cut the root of those, people, who denied Our signs, that is, We extirpated them, and were not believers (wa-mā kānū mu’minīna is a supplement to kadhdhabū, ‘[those who] denied’).

Verse 73

And, We sent, to Thamūd (Thamūda, read without declining [the noun], as denoting the tribe [of Thamūd] itself) their brother Sālih. He said, ‘O my people, worship God! You have no god other than Him. Truly there has come to you a clear proof, an illustration, from your Lord, of my truthfulness, this is the she-camel of God, a sign for you (lakum āyatan is a circumstantial qualifier operated by the import of the demonstrative noun [hādhihi, ‘this’]), they had asked him to make it come out of a [specific] rock which they had designated. So leave her to feed throughout God’s earth, and do not touch her with harm, either by hamstringing or beating her, lest you be seized by a painful chastisement.

Verse 74

And remember how He made you vicegerents, on earth, after ‘Ād, and gave you habitations in the land, making castles in its plains, in which you lodge during summer, and hewing its mountains into houses, in which you lodge during winter (buyūtan, ‘houses’, is in the accusative because of the implied circumstantial qualifier). So remember God’s bounties and do not be degenerate in the earth, seeking corruption’.

Verse 75

Said the council of those of his people who waxed proud, [who] disdained belief in him, to those who were oppressed, to such of them as believed, that is, from among his people (li-man āmana minhum, ‘to such of them as believed’, is a substitution for the preceding clause [li’lladhīna istud‘ifū, ‘to those who were oppressed’], repeating the preposition [li-, ‘to’]): ‘Are you aware that Sālih has been sent, to you, from his Lord?’ They said, ‘Yes! Truly we believe in the Message with which he has been sent.’

Verse 76

Said the ones who were proud, ‘Truly we are disbelievers of that which you believe!’

Verse 77

The she-camel was given the water one day and then, another; but they soon tired of this: So they hamstrung the she-camel — Qudār hamstrung her by their command, killing her with a sword — and flouted the commandment of their Lord, and said, ‘O Sālih, bring upon us that which you promised us, in the way of chastisement for [our] killing it, if you are indeed a messenger’.

Verse 78

So the Trembling, a violent earthquake and a cry from the heaven, seized them, and they lay lifeless prostrate in their habitations, keeled over their knees, dead.

Verse 79

So he turned his back on them, Sālih left [them], and said, ‘O my people, I have conveyed to you the Message of my Lord and gave you sincere advice, but you do not love sincere advisers’.

Verse 80

And, mention, Lot (Lūtan is substituted by [the following, idh qāla]) when he said to his people, ‘Do you commit abomination, that is, [penetrating] the rears of men, such as no one in all the worlds ever committed before you, humans or jinn?

Verse 81

Do you (read a-innakum, pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second one, but in both cases inserting an alif between the two; a variant reading has innakum, ‘indeed you … ’) come lustfully to men instead of women? Nay, you are a wanton folk’, transgressing [the bounds], [going] from what is lawful to what is unlawful.

Verse 82

And the response of his people was only that they said, ‘Expel them, that is, Lūt and his followers, from your city. Surely they are folk who would be pure!’, from [the abomination of penetrating] the rears of men.

Verse 83

So We delivered him and his family, except his wife: she was of those who stayed behind, who remained in the chastisement.

Verse 84

And We rained upon them a rain, the stones of baked clay (hijārat al-sijjīl), and it destroyed them. So behold what was the end of the sinners!

Verse 85

And, We sent, to Midian their brother Shu‘ayb. He said, ‘O my people, worship God! You have no god other than Him. Verily there has come to you a clear proof, a miracle, from your Lord, to [prove] my truthfulness. So give full measure and weight and do not defraud, diminish [the value of], people’s goods, and do not work corruption in the earth, by way of unbelief and acts of disobedience, after it has been set right, through the sending of messengers [thereto]. That, mentioned, is better for you, if you are believers, [if you are] seekers of faith, so hasten to it.

Verse 86

And do not sit in every path, [every] route, threatening, terrifying people by seizing their garments, or by charging them excise [tax], and barring, driving away, from God’s way, [from] His religion, those who believe in Him — when you threaten to kill them — and desiring that it, seeking that the path, be crooked. And remember when you were but few, and then He multiplied you. And behold what was the end of the agents of corruption, before you, for denying their messengers, that is, [behold] how destruction was the conclusion of their affair.

Verse 87

And if there is a party of you who believe in that with which I have been sent, and a party who do not believe, in it, then be patient, wait, until God judges between us, and you, by delivering the affirmer [of this truth] and destroying the denier [of it]. He is the best of judges’, the fairest of them.

Verse 88

Said the council of those of his people who were disdainful, of believing: ‘Surely we will expel you, O Shu‘ayb, and those who believe with you, from our city, unless you return to our creed’, our religion (the plural person predominates over the singular in their address [to Shu‘ayb] because Shu‘ayb was never part of their religious community; and so in the same [plural] way he responded:) He said, ‘What, should we return to it, even though we are averse, to it? (the interrogative is meant as a disavowal).

Verse 89

We would be forging a lie against God if we were to return to your creed, after God has delivered us from it. It is not, right, for us to return to it, unless God our Lord wills, that [it be so] and forsakes us. Our Lord embraces all things through His knowledge, that is to say, His knowledge embraces all things, including my situation and yours. In God we have put our trust. Our Lord, decide, adjudicate, between us and our people, for You are the best of deciders’, adjudicators.

Verse 90

Said the council of those of his people who disbelieved, that is, some said to others: ‘Verily if (la-in: the lām is for oaths) you follow Shu‘ayb, you shall indeed be losers’.

Verse 91

So the Trembling, the violent earthquake, seized them, and they lay lifeless prostrate in their habitations, keeled over their knees, dead.

Verse 92

Those who denied Shu‘ayb (alladhīna kadhdhabū Shu‘ayban, this constitutes the subject [of the sentence], the predicate of which is [introduced by the following ka-an, ‘as if’]), it is as if (ka-an, has been softened, its subject omitted, in other words [understand it as] ka-annahum) they had never dwelt, [never] had residence, there, in those dwelling-places of theirs; those who denied Shu‘ayb, they were the losers (the emphasis effected by the repetition of the relative clause [alladhīna kadhdhabū Shu‘ayban, ‘those who denied Shu‘ayb’] and what follows it is intended as a refutation of what they had said previously [sc. ‘if you follow Shu‘ayb, you shall indeed be losers’]).

Verse 93

So he turned back on them, and said, ‘O my people, I have conveyed to you the Messages of my Lord and advised you sincerely, but you believe not: so why should I grieve for a disbelieving people?’ (the interrogative is meant [rhetorically] as a negation).

Verse 94

And We did not send a prophet to any city but that, when they denied him, We seized, We punished, its people with misery, abject poverty, and hardship, illness, so that they might be humble, [so that they might be] self-effaced, and so believe.

Verse 95

Then We gave them in place of evil, the chastisement, good, wealth and health, until they multiplied, and said, out of ingratitude towards this grace: ‘Hardship and happiness befell our fathers before’, just as it has befallen us, and this is nothing but the habit of time, and not the consequence of God, so remain firm in what you follow. God, exalted be He, says: So We seized them, with the chastisement, suddenly, while they perceived not, beforehand the time of its coming.

Verse 96

Yet had the people of the towns, the deniers, believed, in God and the messengers [sent] to them, and been fearful, of unbelief and acts of disobedience, We would have indeed opened upon them (read la-fatahnā or la-fattahnā) blessings from the heaven, by way of rain, and earth, by way of vegetation; but they denied, the messengers, and so We seized them, We punished them, on account of what they used to earn.

Verse 97

Do the people of the towns, the deniers, feel secure from the coming of Our might, Our chastisement, upon them at night while they are sleeping?, unaware of it?

Verse 98

Or, do the people of the towns feel secure from the coming of Our might upon them in the daytime while they are playing?

Verse 99

And so do they feel secure from God’s plotting?, that is, His drawing them on by degrees, through graces, and then seizing them suddenly. None feels secure from God’s plotting but the people who are losers.

Verse 100

Has it not been shown, [has it not] become clear, to those who inherit the earth, as a [place of] habitation, after, the destruction of, those who inhabited it that, (an is the softened form and constitutes the subject [of the verb], its noun having been omitted, in other words [understand it as] annahu), if We will, We could smite them, with chastisement, for their sins?, as We smote those before them? (the hamza in the four instances are meant to indicate rebuke, and the [particles] fa, ‘so’, and wa, ‘and’, which have been inserted in two instances [each], are meant to indicate a supplement; a variant reading [for a-wa-amina] has aw amina, ‘or do [they] feel secure’, in the [second] instance, as a supplement). And, We, seal up their hearts so that they do not hear, the admonition, in a way so as to reflect.

Verse 101

Those towns, which have been mentioned, We relate to you, O Muhammad (s), some of their tidings, [some of] the stories of their peoples. Verily their messengers brought them clear proofs, manifest miracles, but they would not believe, when these [signs]came to them, in what they had denied, disbelieved in, before, before these [signs] came to them; nay, they persisted in disbelief. Thus does God seal up the hearts of the disbelievers.

Verse 102

And We did not find in most of them, that is, people, any covenant, that is, any loyalty to a covenant from the day the pledge was made. Nay (wa-in: in is softened) We found that most of them were indeed wicked.

Verse 103

Then We sent, after them, that is, [after] the messengers mentioned, Moses with Our, nine, signs to Pharaoh and his council, his folk, but they mistreated, they disbelieved in, them. So behold what was the end of those who work corruption, by way of disbelief, when they were destroyed.

Verse 104

And Moses said, ‘O Pharaoh, I am a messenger from the Lord of the Worlds, to you, but he denied him. So he [Moses] said:

Verse 105

I am, one for whom it is right, [for whom] it is appropriate, to say nothing but the truth about God (a variant reading [for ‘alā] has ‘alayya, ‘for me’, in which case, haqīqun, ‘it is right’, is the subject [of the sentence], its predicate being an, ‘that’, and what follows it [sc. ‘I say nothing but the truth about God’]). Truly I have come to you with a clear proof from your Lord. So send forth with me, to Syria, the Children of Israel’: he [Pharaoh] had enslaved them.

Verse 106

Said he, Pharaoh, to him: ‘If you have come with a sign, as you claim, then produce it, if you are of those who speak the truth’, in this.

Verse 107

Then he cast down his staff and lo! it was a serpent, manifest [for all to see], an enormous snake.

Verse 108

And he drew forth his hand, he took it out from his bosom, and lo! it was white, radiant, for the beholders, and not its usual skin colour.

Verse 109

The council of Pharaoh’s folk said, ‘Surely this man is a cunning sorcerer, outstanding in the art of magic, in [sūrat] al-Shu‘arā’ [Q. 26:34], these are actually Pharaoh’s words, and so it is as if they said it in consultation with him,

Verse 110

who would expel you from your land. So what do you command?’

Verse 111

They said, ‘Put him and his brother off a while, postpone [any decision regarding] their affair, and send into the towns summoners, gatherers,

Verse 112

to bring you every cunning sorcerer’ (sāhir: a variant reading has sahhār) to outdo Moses in the art of magic. And so they summoned [them].

Verse 113

And the sorcerers came to Pharaoh, saying, ‘Surely (a-inna: read pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second one, but inserting an alif between the two in both cases) there will be a wage for us if we are the victors?’

Verse 114

He said, ‘Yes, and indeed you shall be of those brought near’.

Verse 115

They said, ‘O Moses, either you cast, your staff, or we shall be the casters!’, of what we have.

Verse 116

He said, ‘Cast!’, this is a command permitting them to cast first, as a means to manifesting the truth. And when they cast, their ropes and staffs, they put a spell upon the people’s eyes, misleading them from perceiving the real state of these [ropes and staffs], and overawed them, scared them, by making them appear to be slithering snakes, and produced a mighty sorcery.

Verse 117

And We revealed to Moses [saying]: ‘Cast your staff.’ And lo! it swallowed up (read talaqqafu, with one of the original tā’ letters [of tatalaqqafu] omitted) the illusion they were creating, that which they were transforming by delusion.

Verse 118

Thus did the truth come to pass, [thus was it] confirmed and made manifest; and that which they were doing, in the way of sorcery, was proved false.

Verse 119

Thus were they, that is, Pharaoh and his folk, there defeated, becoming humiliated — they ended up abased.

Verse 120

And the sorcerers fell down in prostration.

Verse 121

They said, ‘We believe in the Lord of the Worlds,

Verse 122

the Lord of Moses and Aaron’, for they realised that what they had witnessed of the staff could not be done through sorcery.

Verse 123

Pharaoh said, ‘Have you believed (a-āmantum, read pronouncing both hamzas, and replacing the second one with an alif) in him, in Moses, before I gave you leave? Surely this, that you have done, is a plot you have plotted in the city that you may expel its people from it. But you shall come to know, what I will do to you!

Verse 124

I shall assuredly have your hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, that is, the right hand and the left foot of every one, then I shall have every one of you crucified’.

Verse 125

They said, ‘Surely to our Lord, after our death, however it come about, we shall be restored, we shall return, in the Hereafter.

Verse 126

You are vindictive, spiteful, towards us only because we have believed in the signs of our Lord when they came to us. Our Lord, pour out onto us patience (and constancy), when that with which he has threatened us comes to pass, lest we revert to unbelief; and take us to You as men who have submitted’.

Verse 127

Then the council of Pharaoh’s folk said, to him [to Pharaoh]: ‘Will you leave Moses and his people to work corruption in the land, by calling to disobedience against you, and flout you and your gods?’ — he had fashioned small idols for them to worship, and had said to them, ‘I am your lord and their lord’, which is why he says, I am your lord the highest [Q. 79:24]. He said, ‘We shall slaughter (read nuqattilu or naqtulu) their, new-born, sons and spare their women, keeping them alive [for us], as we did with them before. For surely we have [irresistible] power over them!’, and they did this to them, and so the Children of Israel grieved.

Verse 128

Moses said to his people, ‘Seek help in God and be patient, their persecution. Surely the earth is God’s and He bequeaths it, He gives it, to whom He will from among His servants. The, praiseworthy, sequel belongs to those who are wary, of God’.

Verse 129

They said, ‘We suffered harm before you came to us, and since you have come to us.’ He said, ‘Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you successors in the land, that He may observe how you shall act’, in it.

Verse 130

And verily We seized Pharaoh’s folk with the years, of drought, and dearth of fruits, so that they might remember, [that they might] heed the admonition, and become believers.

Verse 131

But whenever a good thing, [such as] fertility and abundance, befell them, they said, ‘This belongs to us’, that is, we deserve it, and they did not give thanks for it; and whenever an evil thing, [such as] drought or hardship, smote them, they would augur ill of Moses and those, believers, with him. Surely their ill augury is with God, Who brings it upon them, but most of them do not know, that whatever befalls them is from Him.

Verse 132

And they said, to Moses, ‘Whatever sign you bring us, to cast a spell upon us therewith, we will not believe in you’, and so he [Moses] invoked God against them.

Verse 133

So We unleashed upon them the flood, of water, which penetrated their houses and which for seven days would come up to people’s necks as they sat; and the locusts, which consumed their crops and fruits, likewise [engulfing them for seven days]; and the lice (al-qummal is like al-sūs, ‘woodworm’, or al-qurād, ‘ticks’), which would follow [and consume] what the locusts left behind; and the frogs, such that they infested their houses and food supplies; and the blood, [flowing] in their water, distinct, clear, signs: but they were too scornful, to believe in them, and were a sinful folk.

Verse 134

And when the terror, the chastisement, fell upon them, they said, ‘O Moses, pray to your Lord for our sake by the covenant which He has made with you, to remove the chastisement from us if we believe. Indeed if (la-in: the lām is for oaths) you remove from us the terror, verily we will believe in you and let the Children of Israel go with you’.

Verse 135

But when We removed, through the supplication of Moses, the terror from them to a term which they should reach, lo! they were already reneging, breaking their covenant and persisting in their disbelief.

Verse 136

So We exacted retribution from them and therefore We drowned them in the sea (al-yamm denotes salty waters) for, the reason, that they denied Our signs and were heedless of them, not reflecting upon them.

Verse 137

And We bequeathed upon the people who were oppressed, through bondage, namely, the Children of Israel, the eastern parts of the land and the western parts thereof which We had blessed, with water and trees (allatī bāraknā fīhā, ‘which We had blessed’, is an adjectival qualification of al-ard, ‘the land’), and this was Syria, and the fair word of your Lord was fulfilled, which was His saying, exalted be He: Yet We desired to be gracious to those who were oppressed in the land ... to the end [of the verse, Q. 28:5], for the Children of Israel because they endured patiently, persecution at the hands of their enemy; and We destroyed utterly what Pharaoh and his folk had been creating, by way of architecture, and what they had been erecting (read ya‘rishūn or ya‘rushūn), [what they had been] raising of edifices.

Verse 138

And We brought the Children of Israel across the sea, and they came upon, they passed by, a people cleaving in devotion (read ya‘kufūn or ya‘kifūn) to idols they had, constantly worshipping them. They said, ‘O Moses, make for us a god, an idol for us to worship, just as they have gods.’ He said, ‘Truly you are an ignorant folk, for repaying God’s grace to you with what you have said.

Verse 139

Truly as for these, their way will be destroyed and what they have been doing is in vain’.

Verse 140

He said, ‘Shall I seek other than God as a god for you, to worship (abghīkum, ‘[shall] I seek for you’, is originally abghī lakum), when He has favoured you above all the worlds?’, of your time, in the ways He has mentioned in His sayings?

Verse 141

And, remember, when We delivered you (anjaynākum: a variant reading has anjākum, ‘He delivered you’) from Pharaoh’s folk who were inflicting upon you, [who were] burdening you and making you taste, terrible chastisement, the worst kind [of chastisement], namely, slaying your sons and sparing, retaining, your women; and therein, [in that] deliverance or chastisement, was a tremendous trial, [either] a grace or a tribulation, from your Lord, so will you not heed the admonition and desist from what you are saying?

Verse 142

And We appointed (read wa-wā‘adnā or wa-wa‘adnā) for Moses thirty nights, at the end of which We would speak to him, after he has fasted [during that period]; that was the month of Dhū’l-Qa‘da. He completed the fast. But when it came to an end, he disliked the [bad] odour of his mouth and so cleaned his teeth. God then commanded him [to fast for] another ten nights so that He may speak to him despite the odour in his mouth: as God says, and completed them with ten, nights of Dhū’l-Hijja. Thus was the time appointed by his Lord concluded, the time at which God had promised him to speak to him, as forty (arba‘īna is a circumstantial qualifier) nights (laylatan is for specification); and Moses said to his brother Aaron, when he was departing to the Mount for the communion [with his Lord]: ‘Succeed me, be my deputy, over my people, and be righteous, [among them] with regard to their affair, and do not follow the way of the agents of corruption’, by consenting with them to acts of disobedience.

Verse 143

And when Moses came at Our appointed time, that is, the time at which We had promised to speak to him, and his Lord spoke with him, without any intermediary, with speech which he heard from all directions, he said, ‘My Lord! Show me, Yourself, that I may behold You!’ Said He, ‘You shall not see Me, that is to say, you do not have the power to see me, the use of this expression [lan tarānī, ‘you shall not see Me’] instead of lan urā, ‘I shall not be seen’, implies that it is possible to see God, exalted be He; but behold the mountain, which is stronger than you are, and if it remains, stays fixed, in its place, then you shall see Me’, that is, [then] you shall remain fixed [able] to see Me, otherwise, you will not have the capacity [for it]. And when his Lord revealed Himself, that is, [when] He manifested of His Light the equivalent of half a nail of a little finger, as stated in one hadīth verified by al-Hākim, to the mountain He levelled it to the ground (read dakkan or dakkā’a, meaning madkūkan) and Moses fell down senseless, having lost consciousness at the awesomeness of what he had seen. And when he recovered his senses he said, ‘Glory be to You!, in Your transcendence. I repent to You, for having asked You what I was not commanded [to ask], and I am the first of the believers’, of my time.

Verse 144

He, God, said, to him: ‘O Moses, I have elected you, chosen you, from among mankind, the people of your time, for My Messages (read plural, bi-risālātī, or singular, bi-risālatī, ‘for My Message’) and My Speech, that is, [for] My having spoken to you. So take what I have given you, of bounty, and be of the thankful’, of My favours.

Verse 145

And We inscribed for him in the Tablets, that is, the Tablets of the Torah — these were made from the Lote-tree of Paradise, or of chrysolite or emerald, and they were either seven or ten — about all things, one needs in religion, as an admonition and a detailing, an explanation, of all things (li-kulli shay’in substitutes for the previous genitive construction [min kulli shay’, ‘about all things’]). ‘Take it then (there is an implicit qulnā, ‘We said’, before this [fa-kudhhā, ‘take it then’]) firmly, seriously and earnestly, and enjoin your people to adhere to the fairest [precepts] in it. I shall show you the abode of the wicked, [of] Pharaoh and his followers, and that is Egypt, that you may take an example from them.

Verse 146

I shall turn away from My signs, the proofs of My power, in the way of creations and otherwise, those who behave arrogantly in the earth without right, by humiliating them so that they do not magnify themselves; and if they see every sign do not believe in it, and if they see the way, the path, of rectitude, the guidance that has come from God, do not adopt it as a way, to follow, and if they see the way of error, misguidance, adopt it as a way. That, turning [of them] away, is because they have denied Our signs and were heedless of them. A similar statement has been made above.

Verse 147

Those who deny Our signs and the encounter in the Hereafter, the Resurrection and so on. their works, the good deeds they performed in the world, such as the maintenance of kinship ties or voluntary almsgivings, have failed, are invalid, and will not be rewarded, since they are not binding [in this case]. Shall they, they shall not, be requited anything but, the requital [for], what they used to do?’, in the way of denial and acts of disobedience?

Verse 148

And the people of Moses, after him, that is, after he had departed for the communion [with God], made of their ornaments, which they had borrowed from Pharaoh’s folk on the pretext of a wedding celebration, and which remained in their possession, a calf, which the Samaritan had fashioned for them therefrom; a [mere] living body (jasadan is a substitution [for ‘ijlan, ‘a calf’]), of flesh and blood, which lowed, that is, [which] made audible sounds [like a cow]: it [the calf] was transformed in this way when the dust, which he [the Samaritan] had collected from [where] the hoof of Gabriel’s steed [had trodden], was placed in its mouth, for it has the effect of [giving] life to that in which it is placed (the second direct object of the verb ittakhadha, ‘[they] made’, has been omitted, but it would be ilāhan, ‘[as] a god’). Did they not see that it spoke not to them, nor guided them to any way?, so how can it be taken as a god? Yet they took it as such, a god, and were evildoers, for taking it so.

Verse 149

And when they became at a loss, that is, [when] they became remorseful for having worshipped it, and saw, [and] realised, that they had gone astray, thereby, and this was after Moses’s return [from the communion], they said, ‘Unless our Lord is merciful to us and forgives us (read both [verbs] either in the third person singular or in the second person singular), verily we shall be among the losers’.

Verse 150

And when Moses returned to his people, angry, because of them, and bitterly grieved, he said, to them: ‘Evil is that, that is, evil is the [manner of] succession, which you have followed in my place, after I had gone, this idolatry of yours. Would you hasten on the judgement of your Lord?’ And he cast down the Tablets, the Tablets of the Torah, angry for the sake of his Lord, and they were broken into pieces, and he seized his brother by the head, that is, by the hair, with his right hand, and [seized him] by the beard, with his left hand, dragging him toward him, in anger. He said, ‘O, son of my mother! (read either ibna ummi or ibna umma, by which he meant [the standard form of saying ‘my mother’] ummī: the mention of her is more affectionate [in appealing] to his heart), Truly the people judged me weak and they were close to killing me. Do not make my enemies gloat over my misfortune, to rejoice thereat, by your humiliating me, and do not count me among the folk who have done evil’, by worshipping the calf, in [your] reproach [of them].

Verse 151

He said, ‘My Lord, forgive me, what I have done to my brother, and my brother, he includes him in the supplication in order to reconcile him and to fend off any gloating over his misfortune, and admit us into Your mercy, for You are the Most Merciful of the merciful’.

Verse 152

God, exalted be He, says, ‘Surely those who chose the calf, as a god. wrath, chastisement, and abasement shall come upon them from their Lord in the life of this world: and so they were punished [for this deed] by the command to slay themselves, and abasement was stamped upon them until the Day of Resurrection. Even, as We have requited them, so We requite those who invent lies, against God by way of idolatry and otherwise.

Verse 153

But those who commit evil deeds and repent, desist from them, thereafter and believe, in God — indeed your Lord thereafter, that is, after repentance, is truly Forgiving, Merciful’, towards them.

Verse 154

And when Moses’s anger abated, subsided, he took the Tablets, which he had cast down, and in their copy, that is, [in] what was inscribed upon them — in other words, it was written that: there was guidance, from error, and mercy for all those who hold their Lord in awe, [who] have fear [of Him] (the lām [in li-rabbihim, ‘their Lord’] has been inserted into the direct object because it [the direct object] has preceded [the verb]).

Verse 155

And Moses chose of his people seventy men, from among those who had not worshipped the calf, by God’s command, for Our appointed time, that is, for the time at which We promised him that they should come and apologise for their comrades’ worship of the calf. He [Moses] then departed with them; but when the Trembling, a violent earthquake, seized them, Ibn ‘Abbās said, ‘[That earthquake was] because they did not separate themselves from their people when the latter took to worshipping the calf’; he [Ibn ‘Abbās] added, ‘These [people] were not the same ones who asked to see God and were struck by the thunderbolt [cf. Q. 2:55]’, he, Moses, said, ‘My Lord, had You willed You would have destroyed them long before, that is, before my departure with them, so that the Children of Israel might see this and not make [false] accusations against me, and me [with them]. Will You destroy us for what the foolish ones among us have done? (this interrogative is meant as a plea for compassion, in other words, ‘Do not punish us for the sins of others’). It, that is, the trial which the ignorant ones underwent, is but Your trial, Your test, whereby You send astray whom You will, to lead stray, and guide whom You will, to guide. You are our Protector, looking after our affairs, so forgive us and have mercy on us, for You are the Best of all who show forgiveness.

Verse 156

And prescribe for us, grant [us], in this world good and in the Hereafter, good. We have turned, repented, to You’. He, God, says: ‘My chastisement — I smite with it whom I will, to chastise, and My mercy embraces, subsumes, all things, in this world, and so I shall prescribe it, in the Hereafter, for those who are God-fearing and pay the alms, and those who believe in Our signs;

Verse 157

those who follow the Messenger, the uninstructed Prophet, Muhammad (s) whom they will find inscribed in their Torah and Gospel, in name and description, enjoining them to decency and forbidding them indecency, making lawful for them the good things, which were forbidden [to them] by their Law, and making unlawful for them the vile things, such as carrion and the like, and relieving them of their burden, their onus, and the shackles, the hardships, that they used to bear, such as [the requirement] to kill oneself as a repentance and the severing of that part that had come into contact with any impurity. Then those who believe in him, from among them, and honour, revere, him, and help him, and follow the light that has been revealed with him, namely, the Qur’ān, they are the ones who will prosper’.

Verse 158

Say, addressing the Prophet (s) here: ‘O mankind, I am the Messenger of God to you all, [the Messenger] of Him to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth. There is no god but Him. He gives life and makes to die. Believe, then, in God and His Messenger, the uninstructed Prophet, who believes in God and His words, the Qur’ān, and follow him, so that you might be guided, led aright.

Verse 159

And among the people of Moses there is a community, a group, who guide, people, by the truth and act justly according to it, when passing judgements.

Verse 160

And We divided them, We separated the Children of Israel, into twelve (ithnatay ‘asharata is a circumstantial qualifier) tribes (asbātan substitutes for this [previous circumstantial qualifier]) communities (umaman substitutes for the preceding [asbātan, ‘tribes’). And We revealed to Moses, when his people asked him for water, in the wilderness, [saying]: ‘Strike the rock with your staff’, and he struck it, and there gushed forth, burst forth, from it twelve fountains, equal to the number of tribes, each people, [each] tribe among them, now knew their drinking-place. And We made the cloud overshadow them, in the wilderness, from the heat of the sun, and We sent down to them manna and quails — which are [respectively, a type of citrus] turunjabīn, and the quail and We said to them: ‘Eat of the good things We have provided for you.’ And they did not wrong Us, but they wronged themselves.

Verse 161

And, mention, when it was said to them, ‘Dwell in this city, the Holy House [of Jerusalem], and eat therein wherever you will, and say, ‘our concern is for [an], Exoneration,’ and enter the gate, that is, the gate of the city, prostrating, a prostration that is [actually] a bow. We shall forgive (read naghfir, or the passive tughfar) you your transgressions; We shall give more to those who are virtuous, through obedience, in terms of reward.

Verse 162

But the evildoers among them substituted a saying other than that which had been said to them, they said instead, ‘A grain inside a hair’ and entered [the gate] dragging themselves on their rears. So We sent down upon them terror, a chastisement, from the heaven for their evildoing.

Verse 163

And question them, O Muhammad (s), in rebuke, about the city that was by the sea, bordering the Red Sea (bahr al-qulzum), and this was Eilat, [about] what befell its inhabitants, how they would transgress, violate, the Sabbath, by fishing, which they had been commanded not to do on that [day]; how (idh is an adverbial qualifier of ya‘dūn, ‘they [would] transgress’) their fish would come to them on the day of their Sabbath floating at the surface, visible at the surface of the water; but on the day they did not observe the Sabbath, when they would not consecrate the Sabbath over the other days, they would not come to them, as a trial from God. Thus were We trying them for their wickedness. And when they went to fish, the city split into three: one third joined the fishing party, another prohibited them, while a third abstained from both fishing and prohibiting.

Verse 164

And when (wa-idh is a supplement to the preceding idh, ‘how’) a community among them, who neither fished nor prohibited it, said, to those who prohibited it: ‘Why do you preach [admonition] to a folk whom God is about to destroy or chastise with a severe chastisement?’ They said, our admonishing [them] is, ‘As an exculpation, by which we excuse ourselves, before your Lord, lest we are reproached for failing to prohibit [them] in any way; and so that they might be wary, of fishing’.

Verse 165

And when they forgot, when they overlooked, that whereof they had been reminded, [that for which they had been] admonished, and did not desist, We delivered those who forbade evil, and seized those who did wrong, through transgression, with a grievous, terrible, chastisement for their wickedness.

Verse 166

And when they disdained, to desist from, that which was prohibited to them, We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised!’, abased, and they became so: this is an explication of what preceded [with regard to the details of their ‘grievous chastisement’]. Ibn ‘Abbās said, ‘I do not know what befell the group that abstained’. ‘Ikrima said, ‘That group was not destroyed because they had been averse to what the others did and had said, ‘Why do you preach (admonition) …’ Al-Hākim reported [in a hadīth] that he [‘Ikrima] referred this opinion to Ibn ‘Abbās, who was delighted by it.

Verse 167

And when your Lord proclaimed, made it known, that He would send against them, that is, the Jews, to the Day of Resurrection, those who would inflict on them grievous torment, through humiliation and the exacting of the jizya-tax [from them]. Thus, God sent Solomon against them, and after him, Nebuchadnezzar, who slaughtered [some of] them and took [others among] them captive, and imposed the jizya-tax on them. They continued to pay this [tax] to the Magians up until the [time of the] sending of our Prophet (s), who [also] imposed it on them. Lo! verily your Lord is swift in requital, of those who disobey Him. And lo! verily He is Forgiving, to those who obey Him, Merciful, [in dealing] with them.

Verse 168

And We divided them, We separated them, into communities, sects, in the earth. Some of them are righteous, and some of them, people [who], are otherwise, disbelievers and wicked individuals. And We tried them with good things, with graces, and evil things, with misfortunes, so that they might revert, from their wickedness.

Verse 169

And there succeeded after them a generation who inherited the Scripture, the Torah, from their forefathers, choosing the transient things of this inferior [life], that is, the ephemeral aspects of this lowly thing that the world is, in the way of what is lawful and what is unlawful, and saying, ‘It will be forgiven us’, what we have done; and yet if similar transient things were to come to them, they would take them (wa-in ya’tihim ‘aradun mithluhu ya’khudhūhu: this sentence is a circumstantial qualifier), in other words, they hope for forgiveness whilst committing the same offence again and persisting in it: and in the Torah there is no [such] promise about forgiveness for persistence [in sin]. Has not the covenant of the Scripture (mīthāqu l-kitābi, the annexation functions in place of fī, ‘in’ [sc. ‘the covenant in the Scripture’]) been taken (a-lam yu’khadh, ‘has [it] not been taken’, is an interrogative meant as an affirmative) from them that they should not say about God anything but the truth? And they have studied (wa-darasū, is a supplement to yu’khadh, ‘has it [not] been taken?’), they have read, what is in it, so why do they impute lies to it [the Scripture] by ascribing to it [the idea of] forgiveness for persistence [in sin]? And the Abode of the Hereafter is better for those who are wary, of what is unlawful. Do they not understand? (ya‘qilūn, may also be read as ta‘qilūn, ‘[do] you [not] understand?’) that it is better and so prefer it to [the abode of] this world?

Verse 170

And those who adhere (read yumassikūn or yumsikūn) to the Scripture, from among them, and have established prayer, the likes of ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām and his companions, verily We shall not let the wages of reformers go to waste (innā lā nudī‘u ajra l-muslihīn: the sentence is the predicate of alladhīna, ‘those who’; also there is here the replacing of the [third person] pronominalisation [alladhīna, ‘those who’] with an overt noun [al-muslihīna, ‘reformers’], in other words, their wages).

Verse 171

And, mention, when We wrenched the mountain above them, We lifted it up [unearthing it] from its root, as if it were a canopy, and they thought, they were certain, that it was about to fall upon them, because of God’s threat to them that it would fall upon them if they refused to accept the rulings contained in the Torah, they had [initially] refused [to accept] them because of their being burdensome, but then accepted them, and We said to them: ‘Take firmly, seriously and earnestly, what We have given you, and remember what is in it, by acting in accordance with it, that you might be God-fearing’.

Verse 172

And, remember, when your Lord took from the Children of Adam, from their loins (min zuhūrihim, is an inclusive substitution for the preceding [clause: min banī Ādama, ‘from the Children of Adam’], with the same preposition [min, ‘from’]) their seed, by bringing forth one from the loins of the other, [all] from the loins of Adam, offspring after offspring, in the way that they multiply, [looking] like small ants at [the valley of] Na‘mān on the Day of ‘Arafa [because of their multitude]. God set up proofs of His Lordship for them and endowed them with [the faculty of] reason, and made them testify against themselves, saying, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said, ‘Yea, indeed, You are our Lord, we testify’, to this, and this [taking of] testimony is, lest they should say (in both instances, read third person [yaqūlū, ‘they say’] or second person [taqūlū, ‘you say’]) on the Day of Resurrection, ‘Truly, of this, Oneness of God, we were unaware’, not knowing it!

Verse 173

Or lest you should say, ‘It is merely that our fathers were idolaters before, that is, before our time, and we were descendants of theirs, and so we followed their example. Will You then destroy us, chastise us, for that which those who follow falsehood did?’, from among our forefathers, by [their] establishing idolatry? The meaning is: they cannot use such arguments when they have been made to testify before their very selves to God’s Oneness. To effect this reminder by the tongue of the bearer of the miracle [Muhammad (s)] equally serves [as a reminder] for every soul to remember this within itself.

Verse 174

Thus We detail the signs, We explain them even as We have explained the covenant, that they might reflect on them, and that they might revert, from their disbelief.

Verse 175

And recite, O Muhammad (s), to them, that is, the Jews, the tidings, the tale, of him to whom We gave Our signs, but he cast them off, emerging in his disbelief in the same way that a snake emerges from its [shed] skin, he rebelled in disbelief, this was Bal‘am b. Bā‘ūrā’, a scholar from among the Children of Israel, who had been given some knowledge [of the Scriptures], and who was asked [by them] to invoke God against Moses. And when he did, the invocation turned against him and his tongue fell out onto his chest, and Satan pursued him, catching up with him and so he became his comrade, and he became of the perverse.

Verse 176

And had We willed, We would have raised him up, to the ranks of the scholars, thereby, by facilitating his way to [good] deeds; but he was disposed to, at peace [in], the earth — that is, this world — and inclined to it, and followed his whims, by calling [others] to them, and so We abased him. Therefore his likeness, his description, is as the likeness of a dog: if you attack it, by driving it away or curbing it, it lolls its tongue out, and if you leave it, it lolls its tongue out, and no other animal is like it in this way (both conditional sentences constitute a circumstantial qualifier, that is to say, it has its tongue lolling out despicably in all circumstances. The purpose here is to point out the similarity [between the one who follows his whims and a dog] in terms of condition and vileness, judging by the [contextualising] fā’ [of fa-mathaluhu, ‘therefore his likeness’], which relates what comes after it to what came before it in the way of ‘inclining towards this world and following whims’, and judging by God’s saying: That, likeness, is the likeness of those people who deny Our signs. So recount the tale, to the Jews, that they might reflect, upon it and so believe.

Verse 177

Evil as an example are the people, evil is the example of the people, who denied Our signs, and were wont to wrong themselves, through denial.

Verse 178

He whom God guides, he is guided, and he whom He sends astray — truly they are the losers.

Verse 179

And We have indeed urged unto Hell many of the jinn and mankind, having hearts wherewith they do not understand, the truth, and having eyes wherewith they do not perceive, the proofs of God’s power with a perception that entails reflection, and having ears wherewith they do not hear, the signs or the admonitions, in a way so as to reflect and take heed. These, they are like cattle, in their failure to understand, perceive or listen — nay, rather they are further astray, than cattle, because [at least] they [cattle] seek what is beneficial to them and stay away from what is harmful to them: these individuals, on the other hand, are proceeding towards the Fire, out of [sheer] obstinacy. These — they are the heedless.

Verse 180

And to God belong the, ninety nine, Most Beautiful Names — mentioned in hadīth — (al-husnā is the feminine for al-ahsan) so invoke, name, Him by them, and leave those who blaspheme His Names (yulhidūn, ‘they blaspheme’, from [fourth form] alhada or [first form] lahada, meaning ‘those who incline away from the truth’), by deriving from them names for their gods, as in the case of al-Lāt, from Allāh (‘God’), al-‘Uzzā, from al-‘Azīz (‘Mighty’), and Manāt, from al-Mannān (‘Lord of Favours’). They will be requited, in the Hereafter, the requital, for what they did — this was [revealed] before the command to fight [them].

Verse 181

And of those whom We created there is a community who guide by the truth, and act justly therewith: this is the community of Muhammad (s), as stated in a hadīth.

Verse 182

And those who deny Our signs — the Qur’ān — from among the people of Mecca, We will draw them on by degrees, We will lead them on gradually, whence they do not know.

Verse 183

And I will respite them — assuredly My scheme is strong, powerful, and cannot be withstood.

Verse 184

Have they not considered, and so realised that, that there is no madness in their comrade, Muhammad (s)? He is but a clear warner, one whose warning is evident.

Verse 185

And have they not reflected upon the dominion, the kingdom (malakūt is mulk) of the heaven and of the earth, and, upon, what things God has created (min shay’in is an explication of the preceding mā, ‘what’), so that they are able to infer the power of their Creator and His Oneness, and, upon, that, [upon] the fact that, it may be that their term is already near, so that they might hasten to believe, lest they die as disbelievers and move towards the Fire? In what fact then after this, that is, the Qur’ān, will they believe?

Verse 186

Whomever God sends astray, he has no guide. And He leaves them (read in the imperfect indicative wa-yadharuhum or wa-nadharuhum, ‘and We leave them’, as the beginning of a new sentence; or [the same verbs] in the imperfect jussive [apocopated form] wa-yadharhum, or wa-nadharhum, as a supplement to what comes after fā’ [of fa-lā hādiya lahu, ‘so he has no guide’]) in their insolence to wander on blindly, hesitating, out of perplexity.

Verse 187

They, that is the people of Mecca, will question you about the Hour, the Resurrection, when it shall come to pass. Say, to them: ‘The knowledge of, when, it, shall be, is only with my Lord. He alone shall reveal it, manifest it, at its proper time (li-waqtihā: the lām here functions as fī, ‘at’). It weighs heavily, tremendously, in the heavens and the earth, upon their inhabitants, because of its awesomeness. It will not come on you save all of a sudden’. They will question you, as if you were preoccupied with, obsessed with inquiring about, it, such that you have come to acquire knowledge of it. Say: ‘Knowledge of it is only with God (innamā ‘ilmuhā ‘inda’Llāhi is for emphasis), but most people do not know’, that knowledge of it lies with God, exalted be He.

Verse 188

Say: ‘I have no power to bring benefit, to attract it to, myself, or hurt, to repel it, except as God wills. Had I knowledge of the Unseen — that which is hidden from me, I would have acquired much good, and adversity, in the way of impoverishment and otherwise, would not touch me, since I would take precautions against such [adversity] by avoiding what is harmful. I am but a warner, to disbelievers, of the Fire, and a bearer of good tidings, of Paradise, to a people who believe’.

Verse 189

He, that is, God, it is Who created you from a single soul, namely, Adam, and made, created, from him his spouse, Eve, that he might take rest in her, and become intimate with her. Then, when he covered her, when he had sexual intercourse with her, she bore a light burden, namely, the sperm-drop, and moved to and fro with it, that is, she came and went [easily] on account of its lightness; but when she became heavy, because of the child growing inside her, and they became anxious that it should be a dumb child, they cried to God their Lord, ‘If You give us one, a child, that is sound, unimpaired, we indeed shall be of the thankful’, to You for it.

Verse 190

But when He gave them a sound one, [a sound] child, they ascribed to Him associates (shurakā’a: a variant reading has shirkan, meaning sharīkan, ‘an associate’) in that which He had given them, by naming it ‘Abd al-Hārith, ‘servant of al-Hārith’, when it is not right to be a ‘servant’ (‘abd) of any one but ‘God’ [sc. ‘Abd Allāh], but this [namesake ‘Abd] is not an association [of another with God] in terms of servitude, for Adam was immune [from a sin such as associating others in worship with God]. Samura [b. Jundub] reported that the Prophet (s) said, ‘On one occasion when Eve gave birth — all the children she bore had failed to survive — Satan visited her and said [to her], “Name it [the child] ‘Abd al-Hārith, and it will live.” She named it so and it lived. This [affair] was the result of Satan’s inspiration and his doings’: reported by al-Hākim, who deemed it [the report] ‘sound’ (sahīh), and [also reported] by al-Tirmidhī, who considered it ‘fair-uncommon’ (hasan gharīb); but exalted is God above what they, the people of Mecca, associate, in the way of idols (this sentence is consequent, a supplement to [the one beginning with] khalaqakum, ‘He created you’, so that what comes between the two is a parenthetical statement).

Verse 191

Do they associate, with Him, in worship, those who cannot create anything, but are themselves created,

Verse 192

and who are not able to give them, that is, those who worship them, any help, nor can they help themselves?, by defending themselves against someone intending to damage them, by breaking them or otherwise (the interrogative is meant as a rebuke).

Verse 193

And if you call them, that is, the idols, to guidance, they will not follow you (read yatba‘ūkum or yattabi‘ūkum). It will be the same [response] for you, whether you call them, to it, or whether you are silent, [refraining] from calling them, they will not follow it, because they cannot hear.

Verse 194

Truly those on whom you call, [whom] you worship, besides God are servants, owned, like you; call them then and let them answer you, your call, if you are truthful, in [claiming] that they are gods: God then illustrates their utter incapacity and the superiority which their worshippers possess over them, saying:

Verse 195

Have they feet wherewith they walk or, indeed, have they hands (aydin is the plural of yad) wherewith they can grasp or, indeed, have they eyes wherewith they can see or, indeed, have they ears wherewith they give ear? (an interrogative of rejection), in other words, they have none of these things, which you have, so why do you worship them when you are more complete in being than they are? Say, to them, O Muhammad (s): ‘Call upon your associates, to destroy me; then scheme against me, and waste no time, [do not] give me any respite, for I am not concerned with you.

Verse 196

Truly my Protector, the One in charge of my affairs, is God Who reveals the Book, the Qur’ān, and He takes charge of the righteous, by protecting them.

Verse 197

And as for those on whom you call besides God, they have no power to help you, nor can they help themselves’, so why should I be concerned with them?

Verse 198

And if you call upon them, that is, the idols, to guidance, they do not hear; and you see them, that is, the idols, O Muhammad (s), staring at you, looking toward you, as a person looks, but they do not perceive.

Verse 199

Indulge [people] with forgiveness, [accepting] what issues spontaneously from people’s manners [of behaviour], and do not scrutinise them, and enjoin kindness, decency, and turn away from the ignorant, and do not counter their stupidity with the like.

Verse 200

And if (immā: the letter nūn of the conditional particle in, ‘if’, has been assimilated with the extra mā, ‘any’) any insinuation from Satan should provoke you, that is, if anything should turn you away from that which you have been commanded to do, then, seek refuge in God (fa’sta‘idh bi’Llāh is the response to the conditional clause, with the response to the command being omitted), and He will ward it off from you, He is Hearing, of what is said, Seeing, of what is done.

Verse 201

Truly the God-fearing, when a visitation from Satan touches them, befalls them (tayfun: a variant reading has tā’ifun), that is, [when] something [of the sort] overcomes them, they remember, God’s punishment and His reward, and then see clearly, [distinguishing] the truth from what is other than it, and so they return [to God].

Verse 202

And their brothers, that is, the brothers of devils from among the disbelievers, they, the devils, lead them further into error, and, they, do not stop short, [do not] desist from it, by seeing clearly, in the way that those who are God-fearing come to see clearly.

Verse 203

And when you do not bring them, that is, the people of Mecca, a sign, from among those which they request, they say, ‘Why have you not chosen one?’, [why have you not] produced one [all by] yourself? Say, to them: ‘I follow only that which is revealed to me from my Lord, and it is not for me to bring anything from myself; this, Qur’ān, is insight, proofs, from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe’.

Verse 204

And when the Qur’ān is recited, listen to it and pay heed, [refraining] from speech, so that you might find mercy: this was revealed regarding [the requirement of] refraining from speech during the [mosque] sermon, which here has been expressed by [the recital of] ‘the Qur’ān’, because it [the sermon] comprises it; others say that it was revealed regarding the [requirement of silence and attention during the] recitation of the Qur’ān in general.

Verse 205

And remember your Lord within yourself, that is, secretly, humbly, submissively, and fearfully, in awe of Him, and, louder than [speaking] in secret, more quietly than speaking out loud, that is, a middle way between the two, at morning and evening, at the beginning of the day and at its end. And do not be among the heedless, of God’s remembrance.

Verse 206

Surely those who are with your Lord, namely, the angels, are not too proud, they do [not] disdain, to worship Him; they glorify Him, exalting Him as being transcendent above what does not befit Him, and to Him they prostrate, that is, they devote their submission and worship exclusively to Him: so be like them!

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Surah AL-ARAF / The Heights in English | Surah 7

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