Verse 1
Glorify the Name of your Lord, that is, exalt your Lord above what does not befit Him (ism [in isma rabbika, ‘the Name of your Lord’] is extra), the Most High (an adjective qualifying rabbika, ‘your Lord’),
Verse 2
Who created and proportioned, His creature, making it of well-proportioned parts, without irregularities,
Verse 3
and Who determined, what He wants, and guided, to what He had determined of good or evil,
Verse 4
and Who brought forth the pasture, [Who] caused herbage to grow,
Verse 5
then made it, after verdancy, blackened stubble, desiccated broken chaff.
Verse 6
We will have you recite, the Qur’ān, so that you will not forget, what you recite,
Verse 7
except what God may will, that you forget, by abrogating its recitation and its ruling — the Prophet (s) used to recite aloud while Gabriel recited, fearing to forget, and so it is as though it was said to him, ‘Do not hasten in it; you will not forget and so do not weary yourself by reciting it aloud’; assuredly He, exalted be He, knows what is overt, of words and deeds, and what is hidden, of both of these.
Verse 8
And We will ease your way to the easy way, the uncomplicated Law, namely, Islam.
Verse 9
So remind, admonish by the Qur’ān, in case the reminder should be of benefit, to the one whom you might remind, the one mentioned in [the following verse] ‘he [who fears] will be reminded’, in other words, even if it might not be of benefit, for it is of benefit to some but of no benefit to others.
Verse 10
He who fears, God, exalted be He, will be reminded, by it, as in the verse: So admonish by the Qur’ān him who fears My threat [Q. 50:45];
Verse 11
but the wretched one (al-ashqā means al-shaqī), that is to say, the disbeliever, will shun it, that is, the reminder, in other words, he will leave it aside, not looking at it,
Verse 12
he who will be roasted in the greater Fire, the Fire of the Hereafter, the lesser fire being that of this world;
Verse 13
then he will neither die therein, and find rest, nor live, a enjoyable life.
Verse 14
Successful, winner, indeed is he who purifies himself, [who] cleanses himself by means of [his adherence to] faith,
Verse 15
and mentions the Name of his Lord, saying Allāhu akbar, ‘God is Great’, and prays, the five prayers — and such are the concerns of [one working towards] the Hereafter, [concerns] which the Meccan disbelievers shun.
Verse 16
Nay, but you prefer (or read yu’thirūna, ‘they prefer’) the life of this world, to the Hereafter,
Verse 17
whereas the Hereafter, and the Paradise it entails, is better and more lasting.
Verse 18
Truly this, the success of those who purify themselves, and the Hereafter being better, is in the former scrolls, the ones revealed before the Qur’ān,
Verse 19
the scrolls of Abraham and Moses, the ten scrolls of Abraham and the Torah of Moses.
Verse 1
Has there — [there has] indeed — come to you the tiding of the Enveloper?, the Resurrection, [so called] because it ‘envelops’ creatures with its terrors.
Verse 2
Some faces on that day — they [faces] are used to represent the individuals in both instances — will be humbled, abject,
Verse 3
toiling, weary, tired and exhausted from the chains and fetters,
Verse 4
roasting (read taslā or tuslā) in a scorching fire,
Verse 5
made to drink from a boiling spring, one of extremely hot temperatures.
Verse 6
They will have no food except cactus (darī‘) — a type of thorn plant which no animal grazes on because of its vileness —
Verse 7
neither nourishing, nor availing against hunger.
Verse 8
Other faces on that day will be delicate, fair,
Verse 9
pleased by their efforts, in the [life of the] world [expended] in obedience, [pleased] in the Hereafter upon seeing the reward thereof;
Verse 10
in a lofty Garden, [lofty] in a physical as well as an abstract sense,
Verse 11
in which they will not hear (read lā yusma‘u, ‘will not be heard’, or lā tasma‘u, ‘they will not hear’) any vanity, any inane soul, speaking drivel;
Verse 12
therein is a running spring, of water, meaning ‘springs’;
Verse 13
therein are lofty couches, [lofty] in terms of their essence, their size and [physical] location,
Verse 14
and goblets, vessels without handles, set, around the edges of the springs prepared for them to drink with,
Verse 15
and cushions arrayed, one next to the other, against which they may lean,
Verse 16
and carpets, rugs of velvet-hair, spread out.
Verse 17
Will they, the Meccan disbelievers, not consider, by way of reflection, the camels, how they are created?
Verse 18
And the heaven, how it was raised?
Verse 19
And the mountains, how they were set?
Verse 20
And the earth, how it was laid out flat?, and thus infer from this the power of God, exalted be He, and His Oneness? The commencing with the [mention of] camels is because they are closer in contact with it [the earth] than any other [animal]. As for His words sutihat, ‘laid out flat’, this on a literal reading suggests that the earth is flat, which is the opinion of most of the scholars of the [revealed] Law, and not a sphere as astronomers (ahl al-hay’a) have it, even if this [latter] does not contradict any of the pillars of the Law.
Verse 21
So remind, them of God’s graces and the proofs affirming His Oneness. For you are only an admonisher;
Verse 22
you are not a taskmaster over them (a variant reading [for musaytir] has musaytir, that is to say, [not one who has been] given authority over them) — this was [revealed] before the command to struggle [against the disbelievers].
Verse 23
But he who turns away, [he who] rejects faith, and disbelieves, in the Qur’ān,
Verse 24
God will chastise him with the greater chastisement, the chastisement of the Hereafter, the lesser chastisement being that of this world, that of being killed or taken captive.
Verse 25
Truly to Us will be their return, their coming back after death,
Verse 26
then truly with Us will lie their reckoning, their requital, which We will never abandon.
Verse 1
By the dawn, that is to say, [by] the dawn of each day,
Verse 2
and [by] the ten nights, the [first] ten nights of Dhū’l-Hijja,
Verse 3
and [by] the even, the pair, and the odd (read watr or witr, two [alternative] forms), the single,
Verse 4
and [by] the night in motion, falling or receding:
Verse 5
Is there in that, oath, an oath for one of sense?, [one of] intellect (the response to the oath has been omitted, that is to say, [it is to be understood as something like], la-tu‘adhdhabunna yā kuffāra Makka, ‘you will assuredly be chastised O disbelievers of Mecca!’).
Verse 6
Have you not seen, [do you not] know O Muhammad (s), how your Lord dealt with ‘Ād,
Verse 7
Iram — these were the former [people of] ‘Ād (Irama is an explicative supplement or a substitution, and it is treated as a diptote because it is a proper noun and feminine) — of the towering ones, that is to say, the tall ones — the tallest one among them would reach four hundred cubits —
Verse 8
the like of which was not created in the land, in terms of their power of assault and strength,
Verse 9
and Thamūd, who hollowed, hewed, the rocks (sakhr is the plural of sakhra) in the valley, the Wādī al-Qurā, [rocks] which they used as dwellings,
Verse 10
and Pharaoh, the one of the tent-pegs: he used to fasten four pegs and tie to these the hands and feet of those whom he tortured —
Verse 11
those who were rebellious, became tyrannical, in the land,
Verse 12
and caused much corruption therein?, [by way of] slaying and otherwise.
Verse 13
So your Lord poured on them a scourge of chastisement.
Verse 14
Assuredly your Lord is ever on the watch, watching over the deeds of servants, nothing of which escapes Him, that He may then requite them for these [deeds].
Verse 15
And as for man, the disbeliever, whenever his Lord tests him and honours him, with wealth and other things, and is gracious to him, he says, ‘My Lord has honoured me’.
Verse 16
But when he tests him and restricts his provision for him, he says, ‘My Lord has humiliated me’.
Verse 17
No indeed! — a disavowal [of this notion], in other words, honour is not about wealth, nor is there any humiliation in poverty, rather it has to do with obedience and disobedience [respectively]; but the disbelievers of Mecca unmindful of this. Rather they do not honour the orphan, they do not treat him with kindness, despite their wealth, or [it means that] they do not give him what is his due from an inheritance,
Verse 18
and they do not urge, neither themselves nor others, the feeding of the needy;
Verse 19
and they devour inheritance (turāth means mīrāth) greedily (lamman), that is to say, voraciously, when they appropriate (lammuhum) the women’s and the young ones’ share of the inheritance together with their own share of it, or to their own wealth;
Verse 20
and they love wealth with abounding love, that is to say, greatly, and so they do not expend [any] of it (a variant reading in the case of all four verbs has the second person plural).
Verse 21
No indeed! — a deterrent for them from such [conduct]. When the earth is pulverised repeatedly, when it is shaken until every edifice has collapsed and is destroyed,
Verse 22
and your Lord, that is to say, His command, and the angels arrive rank on rank (saffan saffan is a circumstantial qualifier, meaning ‘standing in rows’ or ‘made up of many ranks’),
Verse 23
and Hell on that day is brought [near], pulled by seventy thousand sets of reins, each set of reins [pulled] by the hands of seventy thousand angels, as it groans and seethes in fury; on that day (yawma’idhin is a substitution for idhā, ‘when’, the response to which is [the following]) man, that is to say, the disbeliever, will remember, his prodigal conduct in it, but how will remembering avail him [now]? (the interrogative is meant as a denial, in other words, his remembering that will not be of any use to him).
Verse 24
He will say, as he remembers: ‘O (yā is for calling attention to something) would that I had sent ahead, good deeds and faith, for my life!’, [for] a good [life] in the Hereafter, or [it means] ‘during my life’ in the world.
Verse 25
Then on that day none shall mete out (read yu‘adhdhibu) His, God’s, chastisement, that is to say, He shall not delegate it to any other;
Verse 26
and, likewise, none shall bind (read yūthiqu) His bind (a variant reading has yu‘adhdhabu, ‘[none] shall be chastised’, and yūthaqu, ‘[none] shall be bound’, so that the [suffixed] pronoun of ‘adhābahu and wathāqahu refers to the [chastisement and the binds of the] disbeliever, the meaning then being, ‘none shall be chastised as he shall, and none shall be bound as he shall [be bound]’).
Verse 27
‘O soul at peace!, [the one] secure, namely, the believing one.
Verse 28
Return — this is said to it upon death — to your Lord, that is to say, return to His command and to His will, pleased, with the reward, pleasing, in God’s sight with your deeds; in other words [return O soul] combining both descriptions (both of which are circumstantial qualifiers). And it will be said to it at the Resurrection:
Verse 29
Then enter among My, righteous, servants!
Verse 30
And enter My Paradise!’, with them.
Verse 1
I swear (lā is extra) by this land, of Mecca,
Verse 2
and you, O Muhammad (s), have free disposal of, sanction for, this land, in that you will be given permission to fight in it — and indeed God fulfilled this promise to him on the day of the Conquest [of Mecca] (thus this is a parenthetical statement intervening between that by which the oath has been sworn and that which is a supplement thereto).
Verse 3
And [by] the begetter, that is, Adam, and that which he begat, that is, his descendants (mā, ‘that which’, [actually] means man, ‘whom’).
Verse 4
We certainly created man (al-insān: the generic noun) in travail, in [a state of] toil and hardship, struggling with the tribulations of this world and the calamities of the Hereafter.
Verse 5
Does he suppose, does the strong man of Quraysh, namely, Abū’l-Ashadd b. Kalada, presume, on account of his strength, that (an: softened in place of the hardened form, its subject omitted, that is to say, annahu) no one will have power over him? Yet God has power over him.
Verse 6
He says, ‘I have exhausted, in enmity of Muhammad (s), vast wealth!’, great [wealth], piles and piles of it.
Verse 7
Does he suppose that (an, in other words, annahu) no one has seen him?, with regard to what he has expended to know the quantity thereof; God knows the quantity thereof; but it is not [in reality that much so as] to be considered a great amount, and [in any case] He will requite him for his evil conduct.
Verse 8
Have We not given (an interrogative meant as an affirmative, in other words, ‘We have [certainly] given’) him two eyes,
Verse 9
and a tongue, and two lips,
Verse 10
and guided him to the two paths?, [did We not] point out to him the path of good and that of evil?
Verse 11
Yet why does he not assault the obstacle?, [why] does he [not] surmount it?
Verse 12
And what will show you, [what will] make known to you, what the obstacle is?, that he is to surmount — intended to emphasise its enormity (this statement is a parenthetical one). He explains the way to surmount it by saying:
Verse 13
the freeing of a slave, from bondage,
Verse 14
or to give food on a day of hunger,
Verse 15
to an orphan near of kin (maqraba means qarāba),
Verse 16
or a needy person in misery (matraba: [literally means] ‘clinging to the dust [turāb]’ because of his poverty; a variant reading has two verbal nouns in place of the two verbs [fakka, ‘he freed’, and at‘ama, ‘he fed’], the first being in a genitive construction, fakku raqabatin, ‘the freeing of a slave’, and the second with nunation, it‘āmun, ‘to give food’, in which case there is an implied iqtihāmu before al-‘aqaba, of which the said reading becomes the explication);
Verse 17
while being (thumma kāna is a supplement to iqtahama, ‘he assaulted’; thumma is for the ordering of things to be mentioned) in other words, [what is meant is that] at the point of the assault he was: one of those who believe and enjoin one another to steadfastness, in [pursuing] obedience and in refraining from disobedience, and enjoin one another to compassion (marhama means rahma), towards creatures.
Verse 18
Those, the ones described by the said attributes, are the ones of the right [side] (al-maymana means al-yamīn).
Verse 19
But those who disbelieve in Our signs, they are the ones of the left [side] (al-mash’ama means al-shimāl).
Verse 20
Over them will be an enclosing Fire (read mu’sada or mūsada), closed on top [of them].
Verse 1
By the sun and her morning light,
Verse 2
and [by] the moon when it follows her, rising after she has set,
Verse 3
and [by] the day when it reveals her, as it rises [high],
Verse 4
and [by] the night when it enshrouds her, covering her up with its darkness (idhā, ‘when’, in all three instances is an absolute adverbial, operated by the verbal action of the oath).
Verse 5
By the heaven and the One Who built it,
Verse 6
and [by] the earth and the One Who spread it, laid out flat.
Verse 7
and [by] the soul, that is to say, [by] all souls, and the One Who proportioned it, in its created form (mā in all three instances relates to the verbal action, or functions as man, ‘the one who’),
Verse 8
and inspired to discern its vices and piety, He pointed out to it the path of good and that of evil (the placing of taqwā, ‘piety’, second takes into account the [rhyme] endings of the verses; the response to the oath is [the following:])
Verse 9
Successful indeed (qad: the lām [of laqad, ‘indeed’] has been omitted from it for the sake of brevity) will be the one who purifies it, purges it of sins,
Verse 10
and he will indeed have failed he who eclipses it, he who obscures it with [acts of] disobedience (dassāhā is actually dassasahā, but the second sīn has been replaced with an alif for [phonetic] ease).
Verse 11
Thamūd denied, their messenger Sālih, because of their rebellious nature,
Verse 12
when the most wretched of them, whose name was Qudār, was dispatched, [when] he hastened, in order to hamstring the she-camel with their approval.
Verse 13
But then the messenger of God, Sālih, said to them, ‘[This is] the she-camel of God, so let her have her drink!’, her drink on her day — one day was hers, the next theirs.
Verse 14
But they denied him, with regard to his saying this [as being a command] from God — which if they contravened would immediately result in chastisement being sent down on them — then hamstrung her, they slew it in order to appropriate her [share of the] drinking water. So their Lord closed in on them, the chastisement, because of their sin, and meted it equally [among them], that is, the closing in on them, in other words, He subsumed them all by it, so that not one of them escaped.
Verse 15
And He does not (read wa-lā, or fa-lā) fear the consequence of it.
Verse 1
By the night as it enshrouds, with its darkness all that is between the heaven and the earth,
Verse 2
and [by] the day as it unveils, [as] it is revealed and becomes manifest (idhā, ‘as’, in both instances is an absolute adverbial, operated by the verbal action of the oath),
Verse 3
and [by] the One Who (mā either functions as man, ‘the One Who’, or it is related to a verbal action) created the male and the female, Adam and Eve, or every male and female — the hermaphrodite, although problematic for us, is [in fact] either male or female according to God, and therefore a person [actually] commits perjury if he speaks with one [thinking that] because he has sworn not to speak with a male or a female; [he may do so with a hermaphrodite].
Verse 4
Assuredly your efforts, your deeds, are dissimilar, with some working towards Paradise by means of obedience, while others [in effect] are working towards the Fire through [acts of] disobedience.
Verse 5
As for him who gives, what is due to God, and is fearful, of God,
Verse 6
and affirms the truth of the best [word], that is, [the truth] of ‘there is no god but God’ (in both places [here and below, verse 9]),
Verse 7
We shall surely ease his way to [the abode of] ease, to Paradise.
Verse 8
But as for him who is niggardly, with what is due to God, and deems himself self-sufficient, without need for His reward,
[92:9] and denies the best [word],
Verse 9
and denies the best [word],
Verse 10
We shall surely ease his way, We shall pave for him the way, to hardship, to the Fire;
Verse 11
And his wealth shall not (mā is or negation) avail him when he perishes, in the Fire.
Verse 12
Truly with Us lies [all] guidance, the pointing out of the path of guidance from that of error, so that Our command may be followed by adhering to the former [manner of conduct] and that Our prohibition [may also be heeded] by refraining from falling into the latter [manner of conduct].
Verse 13
And truly to Us belong the Hereafter and the first [life], that is to say, [that of] this world, and so whoever seeks either of the two from anyone other than Us has erred.
Verse 14
So I have warned you of, I have threatened you, O people of Mecca, [with], a raging fire (talazzā, ‘raging’: one of the two original tā’ letters [of tatalazzā] has been omitted; a variant reading retains it, tatalazzā, that is, ‘one that is flaming’),
Verse 15
which none shall enter but the wretched one (al-ashqā means al-shaqī),
Verse 16
he who denies, the Prophet, and turns away, from faith — this delimiting [of those who deserve to enter this fire] constitutes an interpretation of His saying, But He forgives other than that to whomever He will [Q. 4:48], which in turn suggests that what is meant is that entry [into the Fire] which will be everlasting.
Verse 17
The God-fearing one (al-atqā means al-taqī) shall be spared it, he will be removed far away from it,
Verse 18
he who gives his wealth to purify himself, offering it as a [means of self] purification before God, exalted be He, by making this payment for the sake of God, exalted be He, and not for show or the sake of reputation, so that he [or the offering] stands purified in the sight of God. This [verse] was revealed regarding the truthful one (al-siddīq) [Abū Bakr], may God be pleased with him, when he purchased Bilāl [the Ethiopian], who was being tortured on account of his faith, and then freed him, whereat the disbelievers said, ‘He only did this in return for a favour which he [must have] owed him’, and so the following was revealed:
Verse 19
and no one has any favour [outstanding] with him that must be requited;
Verse 20
but, he did this, only seeking the pleasure of his Lord the Most High, that is to say, only seeking [to secure] God’s reward;
Verse 21
and verily [soon] he shall [himself] be pleased, with the reward he will be given in Paradise. The verse applies [equally] to anyone who may do as he [Abū Bakr] did, may God be pleased with him, and such [a person] will thereby be removed far from the Fire and rewarded.
Verse 1
By the forenoon, that is to say, the first part of the day or all of it,
Verse 2
and [by] the night when it is still — or [sajā can mean] ‘when it envelops [all] in its darkness’.
Verse 3
Your Lord has neither forsaken you, He has [not] abandoned you, O Muhammad (s), nor does He hate you: this was revealed when, after the revelation had not come to him for fifteen days, the disbelievers said, ‘His Lord has parted with him and hates him’.
Verse 4
And verily the Hereafter shall be better for you, by virtue of the honours awaiting you thereat, than the first [life], this world.
Verse 5
And verily your Lord shall give you, in the Hereafter, of good things, a bounteous gift, and you shall be satisfied, with it — and so the Prophet (s) said, ‘In that case, I shall not be satisfied if a single person from among my community remains in the Fire’ (the response to the oath terminates here, with two affirmations and two negations).
Verse 6
Did He not find you an orphan (an interrogative meant as an affirmative, in other words, He did [indeed] find you [an orphan]), having lost your father before you were born or [shortly] thereafter, and shelter you?, by having your uncle Abū Tālib embrace you [as part of his household].
Verse 7
And did He not find you erring, from the [revealed] Law which you [now] follow, and guided you?, that is, and then guided you to it.
Verse 8
And did He not find you needy, poor, and enrich you?, [and] made you content with the spoils and other things which He gave you — in a hadīth [it is stated], ‘Wealth comes not from the proliferation of transient [worldly] goods, but wealth comes from the contentedness of the soul’.
Verse 9
So, as for the orphan, do not oppress [him], by appropriating his wealth or otherwise,
Verse 10
and as for the beggar, do not drive [him] away, [do not] repel him on account of his poverty,
Verse 11
and as for your Lord’s grace, to you, by way of prophethood and otherwise, proclaim [it], make it known. The omission in certain instances of the [suffixed] pronoun referring to the Prophet (s) from the end of the verbs is intended to sustain the end-rhyme of the verses.
Verse 1
Did We not expand (an interrogative meant as an affirmative, in other words, ‘We did [indeed] expand’) your breast for you, O Muhammad (s), by means of prophethood and otherwise,
Verse 2
and relieve you of your burden,
Verse 3
that which weighed down your back? — this is similar to where God says: that God may forgive you what is past of your sin [Q. 48:2].
Verse 4
Did We not exalt your mention? For you are mentioned where I [God] am mentioned in the call announcing [the time for] prayer (adhān), in the [second] call to perform the prayer (iqāma), in the witnessing [‘there is no god but God, Muhammad is His Messenger’] (tashahhud), in the Friday sermon and in other instances.
Verse 5
For truly with hardship comes ease.
Verse 6
Truly with hardship comes ease: the Prophet (s) suffered much hardship at the hands of the disbelievers, but then he enjoyed ease when he was assisted to victory [by God] over them.
Verse 7
So when you are finished, from [performing] prayer, toil, exert yourself in supplication [to God],
Verse 8
and seek, devote yourself humbly to, your Lord.
Verse 1
By the fig and the olive, that is, the two [edible] foods — or [these denote the names of] two mountains in Syria on which these two foods grow —
Verse 2
and [by] the Mount Sinai, the mountain on which God, exalted be He, spoke to Moses (sīnīn means ‘the one blessed’ or ‘the fair one with fruitful trees’),
Verse 3
and [by] this secure land: Mecca, as people were secure in it in the time of pagandom and [are still secure in it] in Islam.
Verse 4
Verily We created man (al-insān: the generic) in the best of forms, [in the best] proportioning of his shape.
Verse 5
Then, in the case of certain individuals of his [species], We reduced him to the lowest of the low — a metaphor for old age and weakness, at which point a believer’s deeds are fewer than when he was young; but he will still have his reward, as God, exalted be He, says:
Verse 6
except those who believe and perform righteous deeds, for they shall have an unfailing reward, one unending — in a hadīth [it is stated], ‘When a believer reaches that stage of old age which prevents him from performing [good] deeds, then what he used to do is recorded in his favour [instead]’.
Verse 7
So what makes you deny, O disbeliever, thereafter — after the mention of man being created in the best of forms and his being reduced to the vilest of age, all of which indicates the power [of God] to resurrect — the Judgement?, the Requital that will be preceded by the Resurrection and the Reckoning. In other words, what makes you disbelieve in all this? Nothing does!
Verse 8
Is not God the fairest of all judges?, the most just of all judges. His passing judgement by means of [the process of] requital is one such example. In a hadīth [it is stated], ‘Whoever recites [sūrat] wa’l-tīni, ‘By the fig’, to the end of it, let him then say, “Yes Indeed! And I am of those who bear witness to this!” ’
Verse 1
Recite, bring recitation into existence, beginning with: In the Name of your Lord Who created, all creatures;
Verse 2
created man (al-insān: the generic) from a blood-clot (‘alaq is the plural of ‘alaqa, which is a small quantity of congealing blood).
Verse 3
Recite: (reiterating the first one) and your Lord is the Most Generous, having no counterpart in terms of His generosity (wa-rabbuka’l-akram is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject [of the verb] iqra’, ‘recite’),
Verse 4
Who taught, [the art of] script, by the pen — the first to write with it was [the prophet] Enoch (Idrīs), peace be upon him —
Verse 5
taught man (al-insān: the generic) what he did not know, before he was taught, in the way of guidance, [the art of] writing, crafts and so on.
Verse 6
Nay, but verily man is [wont to be] rebellious,
Verse 7
when he sees it, that is to say, his own soul, to be self-sufficient, in terms of wealth — this was revealed regarding Abū Jahl (ra’ā, ‘sees’, means [to see] mentally; istaghnā, ‘self-sufficient’, is the second direct object; an ra’āhu, ‘when he sees it’, is an object denoting reason).
Verse 8
Surely to your Lord, O man, is the return — [meant as] a threat for him — and so He will requite the rebellious one with what he deserves.
Verse 9
Have you seen (a-ra’ayta in all three instances [here and below] is an exclamation of wonder) him, namely, Abū Jahl, who forbids
Verse 10
a servant, namely, Muhammad (s), when he prays?
Verse 11
Have you considered what if he, the one forbidden, should be upon [a path of] guidance,
Verse 12
or (aw is for division) be bidding [others] to fear of God?
Verse 13
Have you considered what if he, the one forbidding the Prophet, should be denying [God’s guidance] and turning away?, from faith.
Verse 14
Is he not aware that God sees?, what has issued from him, that is to say, He does [indeed] know it and will requite him for it. In other words, ‘Marvel, O you being addressed, at the way in which he forbids prayer, and at the fact that the one being forbidden is actually the one upon guidance, bidding to fear of God, while the one forbidding is a denier, disregarding faith’.
Verse 15
No indeed! — a repudiation of him — Assuredly if (la-in: the lām is for oaths) he does not desist, from the disbelief that he is upon, We shall seize him by the forelock, We shall drag him to the Fire by his forelock,
Verse 16
a lying, iniquitous forelock! (nāsiyatin: an indefinite noun substituting for a definite) — the description of this [forelock] in such terms is meant figuratively, and what is actually meant is that individual.
Verse 17
Let him, then, call upon [the henchmen of] his council, the members of his council (nādin) — a place of assembly where people gather to talk. He [Abū Jahl] had said to the Prophet (s) in reproof, having forbidden him from prayer, ‘You are well aware that there is none in this [town] who has [recourse to] as large a council [of men] as I do. Verily, I shall fill this [entire] valley with mature steeds and young men [in battle] against you if you so wish!’
Verse 18
We shall call the Zabāniya, the grim stern angels to destroy him, as [stated] in the hadīth, ‘Had he called his council [of henchmen] together, the Zabāniya would have seized him right before his own eyes!’.
Verse 19
No indeed! — a repudiation of him — Do not obey him, O Muhammad (s) and abandon prayer, and prostrate yourself, perform prayer to God, and draw near, to Him through obedience to Him.
Verse 1
Lo! We revealed it, that is, the Qur’ān, in its entirety, [sending it down] from the Preserved Tablet to the heaven of this world, on the Night of Ordainment, that is, [the Night] of great eminence.
Verse 2
And what will show you, [what] will make known to you, O Muhammad (s), what the Night of Ordainment is? — [intended] to emphasise its great status and to provoke marvel at it.
Verse 3
The Night of Ordainment is better than a thousand months, in which there is no Night of Ordainment, for a righteous deed on that Night is better than one [performed] for a thousand months without it.
Verse 4
The angels and the Spirit, namely, Gabriel, descend (tanazzalu: one of the two original tā’ letters [of tatanazzalu] has been omitted) in it, on that night, by the leave of their Lord, by His command, with every command, that God has decreed from that year to the following one (min is causative functioning as bi, ‘with’).
Verse 5
It is peaceful (salāmun hiya: a predicate preceding the subject) until the rising of the dawn (read matla‘ or matli‘), until the time it rises: it is peaceful because of the numerous salutations [of peace] (salām) spoken in it by the angels, who, every time they come across a believing man or believing woman, bid him peace.
Verse 1
The disbelievers from among (min: explicative) the People of the Scripture and the idolaters, that is, the idol-worshippers (wa’l-mushrikīna is a supplement to ahl, ‘the People of’) were not going to leave off (munfakkīna is the predicate of yakun, ‘were’), that is to say, they were not going to abandon their ways, until the clear proof, namely, Muhammad (s), should come to them, that is, [until] it came to them;
Verse 2
a messenger from God (rasūlun mina’Llāhi substitutes for al-bayyinatu, ‘the clear proof’), namely, the Prophet (s), reciting pages purified, of [all] falsehood,
Verse 3
wherein are upright precepts, written rulings that are upright, that is to say, one who recites what contains all that, and that is the Qur’ān. Thus some of them believed in it, while others disbelieved.
Verse 4
And those who were given the Scripture did not become divided, regarding belief in him [the Prophet] (s), except after the clear proof had come to them, namely, the Prophet (s) — or the Qur’ān which he brought as his miracle. Before his (s) arrival they had all agreed to believe in him when he would come; then those who disbelieved in him from among them became envious of him.
Verse 5
And they were only commanded, in their Scripture, the Torah and the Gospel, to worship God (illā li-ya‘budū means illā an ya‘budū, an having been omitted and the lām added) devoting religion purely to Him, [free] of any idolatry, as hanīfs, upright in [following] the religion of Abraham and the religion of Muhammad (s), when he would come — so how is it that they disbelieved in him?, and to establish prayer and pay the alms. That is the upright religion, the upright creed.
Verse 6
Truly the disbelievers from among the People of the Scripture and the idolaters shall be in the fire of Hell, to abide therein (khālidīna: an implied circumstantial qualifier, in other words, it will be decreed for them by God, exalted be He, to abide therein) — those are the worst of creatures.
Verse 7
Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds — they are the best of creatures (al-bariyya means al-khalīqa).
Verse 8
Their reward with their Lord will be Gardens of Eden, as a residence, underneath which rivers flow, wherein they shall abide forever. God is pleased with them, because of [their] obedience of Him, and they are pleased with Him, because of His reward. That is [the reward] for him who fears his Lord, [for him] who fears His punishment and hence desists from disobeying Him, exalted be He.
Verse 1
When earth is shaken, [when] it is rocked for the rising of the Hour, with its [final] quake, with its most violent rocking, one that befits its magnitude,
Verse 2
and the earth brings forth its burdens, its hidden treasures and its dead, casting them onto its surface,
Verse 3
and man, the disbeliever in resurrection, says, ‘What is wrong with it?’ — in denial of that situation.
Verse 4
On that day (yawma’idhin substitutes for, and is the response to, idhā, ‘when’) it shall relate its chronicles, it shall inform of the good and evil deeds committed in it,
Verse 5
for its Lord will have inspired it, that is, He will have commanded her to [do] this — in a hadīth [it is stated], ‘It [the earth] shall testify to every single deed committed by every servant and handmaiden upon its surface’.
Verse 6
On that day mankind shall issue forth, they will depart from the site of the Reckoning, in separate groups, divided up, so that those taking it [their book] by the right hand will go to Paradise, while those taking it by the left hand will go to the Fire, to be shown their deeds, that is, the requital for them, in [either] Paradise or the Fire.
Verse 7
So whoever does an atom’s weight of good shall see it: he shall see its reward,
Verse 8
and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil shall see it: he shall see its requital.
Verse 1
By the chargers, the steeds that charge in attack and snort [with a], snorting — this being the [name of the] sound which they emit from inside them when they charge;
Verse 2
by the strikers, the steeds that strike fire [by way], of sparks, with their hoofs, when they gallop across rocky terrain by night;
Verse 3
by the dawn-raiders, the steeds that make raids against the enemy at dawn at the hands of their riders,
Verse 4
raising, stirring up, therein, in the place of their charge or at that time [of dawn], a trail of dust, by the power of their movement,
Verse 5
cleaving therewith, with the dust, a host, of the enemy, that is to say, cutting right into their centre! (the verb is supplemented to the noun [in the above instances] because it serves to explain the verbal action, in other words, wa’llātī ‘adawna fa-awrayna fa-agharna, ‘by those that charge, then strike sparks, then raid’).
Verse 6
Verily man, the disbeliever, is ungrateful to his Lord, thankless, denying [the reality of] His graces, exalted be He,
Verse 7
and verily to that, ingratitude of his, he is a witness, bearing witness against himself to his own actions.
Verse 8
And verily in the love of wealth he is avid, and is therefore niggardly with it.
Verse 9
Does he not know that, when that which is in the graves, in the way of the dead, is strewn, when it is turned over and brought out, that is to say, [that when] they are raised,
Verse 10
and that which is in the breasts, the hearts, of disbelief or faith, is obtained, [when] it is revealed and examined,
Verse 11
on that day their Lord will indeed be Aware of them, Knower [of them] and will requite them for their disbelief (the pronoun reverts to the plural because of the [collective] import of the term ‘man’; this sentence indicates the direct object of [the verb] ya‘lamu, ‘[does he not] know’, that is to say, ‘We will requite him at the time mentioned’; khabīrun, ‘Aware’, is semantically connected to yawma’idhin, ‘on that day’, even though [in fact] God is ever Aware, because that is the Day of Requital.
Verse 1
The Clattering Blow, the Resurrection that will make hearts clatter by its terrors.
Verse 2
What is the Clattering Blow? — [intended] to emphasise its awesomeness (mā’l-qāri‘a: both of these [elements] constitute a subject and a predicate, and [together] the predicate of [the first] al-qāri‘a).
Verse 3
And what will show you, [what] will make known to you, what the Clattering Blow is? — additional emphasis of its awesomeness (the first mā is a subject, and what follows it is its predicate; the second mā and its predicate also function together as the second direct object of [the verb] adrā, ‘show’).
Verse 4
The day (yawma: that which renders it accusative is [the verb] indicated by al-qāri‘a, in other words, [by the implied] taqra‘u, ‘it clatters’) mankind will be like scattered moths, like a throng of scattered locusts surging into each other in confusion, until they are summoned to the Reckoning,
Verse 5
and the mountains will be like tufts of wool, like carded wool in terms of the lightness with which it floats [in the air] until it comes to settle upon the earth.
Verse 6
Then as for him whose scales weigh heavy, in that his good deeds outweigh his misdeeds,
Verse 7
he will enjoy a pleasant life, in Paradise, that is to say, a pleasing one, for he will be pleased with it, that is, it will be pleasing to him;
Verse 8
but as for him whose scales weigh light, in that his evil deeds outweigh his good ones,
Verse 9
his home will be the Abyss.
Verse 10
And what will show you what it is?, that is to say, what the Abyss is.
Verse 11
It is: A scorching fire, of extremely hot temperature (the hā’ of hiya is for [consonantal] quiescence, and is retained when reciting without a [subsequent] pause or with; some omit it when reciting without a pause).
Verse 1
Rivalry [in worldly things], mutual vainglory about wealth, children and men, distracts you, preoccupies you [diverting you] from obedience to God,
Verse 2
until you visit the graves, [either] in that you have died and then been buried in them, or [it means] to the extent that you [actually] count the dead as a something to rival one another by.
Verse 3
No indeed! — a disavowal. You will come to know!
Verse 4
Again, no indeed! You will come to know, the evil consequences of your mutual vainglory at the moment of the extraction [of the soul], then [you will come to know] in the grave.
Verse 5
No indeed! — verily — Were you to know with certain knowledge, the consequences of your vainglory, you would not preoccupy yourselves with it, [for]
Verse 6
you would surely see hell-fire, the Fire (la-tarawunna’l-jahīma: this is the response to an omitted oath; the third consonant of the root of the verb [r-’-y] together with the second have been omitted, and its vowel has been transposed onto the rā’).
Verse 7
Again, you will surely see it — [repeated] for emphasis — with the eye of certainty (‘ayna is a verbal noun, as both ra’ā and ‘āyana have the same meaning).
Verse 8
Then, on that day, the day you see it, you will assuredly be questioned (la-tus’alunna: the nūn of the indicative has been omitted because of one nūn coming after the other; likewise [omitted] is the wāw indicating the plural person [of the verb] because of two unvocalised consonants coming together) about the comforts [of the world], the health, leisure, security, food, drink and other things which one enjoys in this world.
Verse 1
By Time! — or [it ‘asr can mean the period] from the declining of the sun to sunset, or [it may denote] the afternoon prayer.
Verse 2
Verily man (al-insān: the generic) is in [a state of] loss, in all his bargaining,
Verse 3
except those who believe and perform righteous deeds, they are not in [a state of] loss, and enjoin one another to [follow] the truth, faith, and enjoin one another to patience, in [maintaining] obedience and in refraining from [acts of] disobedience.
Verse 1
Woe (waylun: an expression implying chastisement) to every backbiter, [who is a] slanderer, frequently engaging in backbiting and slander, that is to say, defamation — this was revealed regarding those who slandered the Prophet (s) and the believers, the likes of Umayya b. Khalaf, al-Walīd b. al-Mughīra and others —
Verse 2
who amasses (read jama‘a or jamma‘a) wealth and counts it over, keeping count of it and stores it aside as a provision against the [unforeseeable] calamities of time.
Verse 3
He thinks, in his ignorance, that his wealth will make him immortal, never to die.
Verse 4
Nay! — a repudiation — He will surely be flung (la-yunbadhanna is the response to an omitted oath), that is, he will be hurled down, into the Crusher, that crushes everything that is thrown into it.
Verse 5
And what will show you, [what] will make known to you, what the Crusher is?
Verse 6
[It is] the fire of God, kindled, set ablaze,
Verse 7
which peers over the hearts, to burn them — the pain of which is much more severe than any other because of the delicate nature [of the heart].
Verse 8
Lo! it will be closed in (mu’sada or mūsada) on them (‘alayhim, ‘on them’: the plural pronoun takes into account the [plural] import of kull, ‘every’),
Verse 9
in outstretched (mumaddadatin is an adjective qualifying the preceding [noun, ‘amadin]) columns (read ‘umudin or ‘amadin), and will therefore be inside the columns.
Verse 1
Have you not considered (an interrogative meant to provoke marvel, in other words, ‘marvel at’) the way in which your Lord dealt with the Men of the Elephant?, who was named Mahmūd, and the men were Abraha, King of Yemen and his troops. He had built a church in San‘ā’ in order to divert pilgrims away from Mecca to it. A man from among the Banū Kināna defecated in it and stained its prayer niche with a deflowered virgin’s blood, in contempt of it. Abraha then swore that he would knock down the Ka‘ba. So he approached Mecca with his troops riding Yemeni elephants with Mahmūd at the vanguard. But when they turned to destroy the Ka‘ba, God unleashed upon them what He relates in His words:
Verse 2
Did He not make — that is to say, He did [indeed] make — their stratagem, to destroy the Ka‘ba, go astray, [ending up] in failure and destruction,
Verse 3
and unleashed upon them swarms of birds, [birds] in droves, one following the next (it is said there is no singular form for it [abābīl], like asātīr; but some say that the singular is abūl or ibāl or ibbīl, similar [in constructed pattern] to ‘ajūl, miftāh and sikkīn),
Verse 4
pelting them with stones of baked clay,
Verse 5
thus making them like devoured blades?, like the leaves of crops which have been consumed, trampled and destroyed by animals. God destroyed each one of them with his own stone, inscribed with his name, larger than a lentil [in size] but smaller than a chick-pea, able to pierce through an egg, a man, or an elephant and go through the ground. This took place in the year of the Prophet’s birth (s).
Verse 1
[In gratitude] for the security of Quraysh,
Verse 2
their security (īlāfihim: repeated for emphasis; it is a verbal noun from [the verb] ālafa) for the journey of winter, to Yemen, and, the journey, of summer, to Syria, every year: they made use of these two journeys to provide for their trade at the station [of Abraham] in Mecca, in order to attend to the House [of God], which was their source of pride; they [Quraysh] were the descendants of al-Nadr b. Kināna;
Verse 3
let them worship (fa’l-ya‘budū is semantically connected to li-ilāfi, ‘for the security’, the fā’ being extra) the Lord of this House,
Verse 4
Who has fed them against, that is, on account of, hunger and made them secure from, that is, on account of, fear: they used to suffer hunger in Mecca due to the lack of crops and they feared the army of the Elephant.
Verse 1
Have you seen him who denies the Judgement?, the Requital and the Reckoning, that is to say, ‘Do you know who he is?’ If you do not know him then:
Verse 2
That is he (read an implied huwa after the fā’ [of fa-dhālika]) who repels the orphan, that is to say, [who] violently drives him away from what is his due,
Verse 3
and does not urge, either himself or others [to], the feeding of the needy: this was revealed regarding al-‘Āsī b. Wā’il or al-Walīd b. al-Mughīra.
Verse 4
So woe to them who pray,
Verse 5
those who are heedless of their prayers, neglectful, delaying them from their appointed times,
Verse 6
those who make a pretence, with prayers and otherwise,
Verse 7
and deny aid, as [insignificant as] a needle, a hatchet, a cooking pot or a bowl.
Verse 1
We have assuredly given you, O Muhammad (s), Abundance — [the name of] a river in Paradise and his [the Prophet’s] pool around which his community shall gather; al-kawthar also means the abundant good [that has been given to the Prophet], such as prophethood, the Qur’ān, intercession, and the like.
Verse 2
So pray to your Lord, the prayer of the Festival of Immolation (‘īd al-nahr), and sacrifice, your offering.
Verse 3
Indeed it is your antagonist, your hater, who is the severed one, refraining from all [acts of] good, or the one whose line of offspring will be severed [by his not having any]: this was revealed regarding al-‘Āsī b. Wā’il, who called the Prophet (s) al-abtar, ‘the severed one’, when his son al-Qāsim died.
Verse 1
Say: ‘O disbelievers!
Verse 2
I do not worship, at present, what you worship, of idols,
Verse 3
and you do not worship, at present, what I worship, and that is God, exalted be He, alone,
Verse 4
nor will I worship, in the future, what you have worshipped,
Verse 5
nor will you worship, in the future, what I worship: God knew that they would never become believers (the use of [the inanimate] mā, ‘what’, to refer to God is meant to counter [the reference to ‘what thing’ they worship]).
Verse 6
You have your religion, idolatry, and I have a religion’, Islam: this was [revealed] before he was commanded to wage war [against the idolaters] (all seven Qur’ānic readers omit the yā’ of the genitive possessive construction [in wa-liya dīni] whether with a pause or without; Ya‘qūb, however, retains it in both cases).
Verse 1
When the help of God, for His Prophet (s), against his enemies, comes together with victory, the victory over Mecca,
Verse 2
and you see people entering God’s religion, that is to say, Islam, in throngs, in large droves, after they had been entering one by one — this was after the conquest of Mecca, when the Arabs from all corners of the land came to him willingly [in obedience to his command] —
Verse 3
then glorify with praise of your Lord, that is, continuously praising Him, and seek forgiveness from Him; for verily He is ever ready to relent. The Prophet (s), after this sūra had been revealed, would frequently repeat the words subhāna’Llāhi wa bi-hamdihi, ‘Glory and praise be to God’, and astaghfiru’Llāha wa-atūbu ilayhi, ‘I seek forgiveness from God and I repent to Him’; with [the revelation of] this [final sūra] he realised that his end was near. The victory over Mecca was in Ramadān of year 8; the Prophet (s) passed away in Rabī‘ I of the year 10.
Verse 1
Perish, ruined be, the hands of Abū Lahab, in other words, all of him — the use of ‘hands’ here to denote [all of] him is figurative, and is because most actions are performed by them; the statement is an invocation — and perish he!, may he be ruined! (this [tabba] is a predicate, as where one says, ahlakahu’Llāhu wa-qad halak, ‘God destroyed him and he indeed is destroyed’. When the Prophet threatened him with the chastisement, he said, ‘If what my brother’s son says is true, then I shall ransom [myself] from it with my wealth and sons!’; so the following was revealed:
Verse 2
His wealth will not avail him, nor what he has earned (wa-kasab means wa-kasbihi, that is to say, his sons; mā aghnā means [mā] yughnī).
Verse 3
He will [soon] enter a Fire of flames, that is to say, [a fire that is] flaming and ignited (this [statement] is the source of his nickname, [which was given to him] on account of his flaming reddish fair face),
Verse 4
and his wife (wa’mra’atuhu is a supplement to the person [of the verb] yaslā, ‘he will enter’, separated by the clause of the direct object and its qualification) — and this was Umm Jamīl — the carrier (read hammālatu or hammālata) of firewood, cactus and thorns which she used to fling into the path of the Prophet (s).
Verse 5
with a rope of palm-fibre around her neck (fī jīdihā hablun min masadin is a circumstantial qualifier referring to hammālata’l-hatab, which in turn is [either] a description of imra’atahu, ‘his wife’, or the predicate of an implied subject).
Verse 1
Say: ‘He is God, One (Allāhu is the predicate of huwa, ‘He is’, and ahadun is its substitution or a second predicate).
Verse 2
God, the Self-Sufficient, Besought of all (Allāhu’l-samad constitute a subject and a predicate) [al-samad means] the One Who is always sought at times of need,
Verse 3
He neither begot, for no likeness of Him can exist, nor was begotten, since createdness is precluded in His case.
Verse 4
Nor is there anyone equal to Him’, neither match nor comparison (lahu, ‘to Him’, is semantically connected to kufuwan, ‘equal’, but precedes it because it is the object of the intended negation; ahadun, ‘anyone’, which is the subject of yakun, ‘is there’, has been placed after the predicate of the latter [kufuwan, ‘equal’] in order to retain the harmony of the end-rhyme [of the verses]).
Verse 1
Say: ‘I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak, the morning,
Verse 2
from the evil of what He has created, of obligated animate beings and non-obligated ones and from all inanimates, such as poison and so on;
Verse 3
and from the evil of darkness when it gathers, that is, [from] night when it becomes dark and the moon when it is absent,
Verse 4
and from the evil of the women-blowers, sorceresses who blow, on knots, which they knot into strings, blowing into them [certain] words, but without spittle; however, al-Zamakhsharī says, ‘with this [spittle]’ — [sorceresses] such as the daughters of the said Labīd —
Verse 5
and from the evil of an envier when he envies’, [when] he manifests his envy and behaves in accordance with it — such as the mentioned Labīd from among the Jews who were envious of the Prophet (s); the mention of these three [elements of evil] which are [already] subsumed by [the statement] ‘of what He has created’, is because of the severity of their evil.
Verse 1
Say: ‘I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, their Creator and their Possessor: they [mankind] have been singled out for mention here in order to honour them, and a preface to seeking refuge from the evil of the one who whispers in their hearts;
Verse 2
the King of mankind,
Verse 3
the God of mankind (both [maliki’l-nās and ilāhi’l-nās] are either substitutions or adjectival qualifications or explicative supplements; the repetition of the annexed word [al-nās] is meant as an additional explication),
Verse 4
from the evil of the slinking whisperer, Satan — he is referred to by the name of the action [waswasa] on account of his repeated engaging in it — who slinks [away] and recoils from the heart whenever God is mentioned,
Verse 5
who whispers in the breasts of mankind, in their hearts — whenever they neglect to remember God,
Verse 6
of the jinn and mankind’ (mina’l-jinnati wa’l-nāsi: an explication for the whispering Satan being of the jinn and [also] of the humans, similar to God’s saying, the devils of humans and jinn [Q. 6:112]; or, mina’l-jinnati, ‘of the jinn’, is an explication for him [Satan], wa’l-nāsi, ‘and [of] mankind’ being a supplement to al-waswās, ‘the whisperer’). Both [explanations] apply to the evil of the mentioned Labīd and his daughters; the objection to the first opinion is that humans do not ‘whisper’ in the hearts of [other] humans, but that it is the jinn who whisper in their hearts: I would respond by saying that human beings also ‘whisper’ in a manner appropriate to them, [beginning] externally, whereafter their whispers reach the heart and establish themselves in it in the way in which this [customarily] happens. But God knows best what is correct, and to Him shall be the return and the final destination, and may God bless our Master Muhammad and his family and Companions, and grant [them all] much peace, forever and always. God suffices for us and [what] an excellent guardian [is He]! And there is no power or might except in God, the Sublime, the Tremendous.