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!
Verse 1
‘They question you, O Muhammad (s), concerning the spoils of war — the booty — to whom do they belong? Say, to them: ‘The spoils of war belong to God, Who places them where He will, and the Messenger, who divides them according to God’s command. The Prophet (s) divided these [spoils] between them equally, as reported by al-Hākim in his al-Mustadrak. So fear God and set things right between you, that is, [set right] the reality of that [state of affairs] which is between you, through mutual affection and the refraining from quarrelling; and obey God and His Messenger, if you are, truly, believers’.
Verse 2
The believers, those whose faith is complete, are only those who, when God is mentioned, that is, when His threat of punishment [is mentioned], their hearts tremble, fear, and when His verses are recited to them, they increase their faith, their acceptance of the truth, and who rely upon their Lord, [who] put their trust in Him [alone], and not in any other.
Verse 3
Those who observe the prayers, performing them as they ought to be [performed], and who expend, in obedience to God, from that with which We have provided them.
Verse 4
Those, described in the way mentioned, are the true, the real, believers, without doubt. For them are ranks, stations in Paradise, with their Lord, and forgiveness, and generous provision, in Paradise.
Verse 5
As your Lord brought you forth from your home with the truth (bi’l-haqq is semantically connected to akhraja, ‘He brought forth’), and indeed a party of the believers were averse, to going forth (the [last] sentence is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the [suffixed pronoun] kāf in akhrajaka, ‘He brought you forth’; kamā, ‘as’, is the predicate of an omitted subject, in other words: their aversion to this state [of affairs of the booty being God’s and the Prophet’s] is similar to their aversion when you were brought forth [to fight], which had actually been better for them: likewise is this [state of affairs better for them]). It happened that Abū Sufyān was returning from Syria with a caravan. The Prophet (s) and his followers went forth to plunder it; but Quraysh became aware of this, and so Abū Jahl and some Meccan fighters rode out to defend it — these constituted the ‘band’. Abū Sufyān drove the caravan via the coastal route and it managed to escape. Abū Jahl was then advised to return, but he refused and marched on towards Badr. The Prophet (s) consulted with his followers, saying to them, ‘God has promised me one of the two parties’. So they agreed with him to attack the [Meccan] band, but some of them were averse to this, complaining, ‘We have not come prepared for this!’, as God, exalted be He, says:
Verse 6
They dispute with you concerning the truth, [the order] to fight, after it had become clear, [after it had] become evident to them, as though they were being driven to death while they looked, at it [death] with their very eyes, utterly averse to it.
Verse 7
And, remember, when God promised you one of the two parties, either the caravan or the band [of Meccan fighters], that it should be yours, and you longed, you were wishing, that other than the armed one, that is, [other than] the fighting one with the weapons, in other words, [you longed that] the caravan, should be yours, because it had fewer men and less reinforcements than the band [of Mecca fighters]; but God willed that the truth be realised, [He willed] to manifest it, by His, preceding, words, that Islam should triumph; and to cut the root of the disbelievers, to the very last man, by extirpating them, and so He commanded you to fight against the band.
Verse 8
And that He might cause the truth to be realised and annul, efface, falsehood, disbelief, however much the sinners, the idolaters, were averse, to that.
Verse 9
When you sought help from your Lord, asking Him to help you by granting you victory over them, and He answered you [saying]: ‘I shall reinforce you, I shall assist you, with a thousand angels, rank upon rank’, one rank following after the next: God promised them this [number] at first, but it then became three thousand, and then five thousand, as stated in [sūrat] Āl ‘Imrān [Q. 3:124-125] (a variant reading [of alf, ‘thousand’] has the plural āluf, ‘thousands’, similar [in pattern] to aflus, ‘coins’).
Verse 10
And God appointed it, that is, the reinforcement, only as good tidings, and that your hearts might thereby be reassured. Victory comes only from God: surely God is Mighty, Wise.
Verse 11
Remember, when He caused slumber to overcome you as security, against the fear that had befallen you, from Him, from God, and sent down upon you water from the heaven, to purify you thereby, from minor and major ritual impurities; and to remove from you the evil of Satan, his whisperings to you that, had you been on the right path, you would not have been thirsty and impure, while the idolaters enjoyed [access to] water; and to strengthen, to seal, your hearts, with certainty and endurance; and to make firm your feet, lest they sink in the sand.
Verse 12
When your Lord inspired the angels, with whom He reinforced the Muslims, [saying]: ‘I am with you, with assistance and victorious help, so make the believers stand firm, by helping [them] and giving [them] good tidings. I shall cast terror, fear, into the hearts of the disbelievers; so smite above the necks, that is, the heads, and smite of them every finger!’, that is, [smite] the extremities of their hands and feet: thus, when one of them went to strike an disbeliever’s head, it would roll off before his sword reached it. The Prophet (s) threw a handful of pebbles against them and every single idolater was struck in his eye, and thus they were defeated.
Verse 13
That, chastisement befalling them is, because they had contended with, they had opposed, God and His Messenger: whoever contends with God and with His Messenger, surely God is severe in retribution, against him.
Verse 14
That, chastisement, is for you, so taste it, O disbelievers, in this world; and [know] that for the disbelievers, in the Hereafter, is the chastisement of the Fire.
Verse 15
O you who believe, when you encounter the disbelievers inching forward, that is, amassed, advancing slowly because of their large numbers, do not turn your backs to them, fleeing.
Verse 16
Whoever turns his back to them on that day, the day of the encounter with them, unless manœuvring, turning around, for battle — by pretending to be in flight, as a trick, while actually intending to relaunch an attack — or joining another detachment, a company of Muslims, calling on it for assistance, he has truly incurred the wrath of God, and his abode will be Hell — an evil journey’s end!, [an evil] return it is. This [threat] applies so long as the [numbers of] disbelievers do not surpass twice [that of the believers].
Verse 17
You did not slay them, at Badr by your own might, but God slew them, by giving you assistance, and you threw not, O Muhammad (s), [against] the eyes of the [unbelieving] folk, when you threw, the pebbles, for a handful of pebbles thrown by a human being cannot strike the eyes of [every person in] a large troop, but God threw, by making that [throw] reach them. He did this in order to vanquish the disbelievers, and that He might try the believers with a fair test, a [fair] gift, namely, booty; surely God is Hearing, of their sayings, Knowing, of their conditions.
Verse 18
That is, the true gift, for you, and [know] that God weakens the plan of the disbelievers.
Verse 19
If you have sought a judgement, O disbelievers, if you have sought a decisive conclusion [of this battle] — Abū Jahl had said, ‘O God! Whoever among [the two of] us is the one who has severed the ties of kinship and brought us what we had never known, destroy them today!’ — the judgement, the decisive conclusion, has now come to you, by the fact that the one so described has [already] perished: this was Abū Jahl and those killed with him, and not the Prophet (s) and the believers; and if you desist, from unbelief and waging war, it will better for you. But if you return, to fight against the Prophet (s), We shall return, to assist him against you, and your host, your troops, will not avail, will not protect, you in any way, however numerous it be; and verily God is with the believers (read thus inna, indicating a new sentence; or read anna, with an implicit lām [li-anna‘Llāha ma‘a’l-mu’minīn, ‘because God is with the believers’]).
Verse 20
O you who believe, obey God and His Messenger, and do not turn away from Him, by contravening His command, while you are listening, to the Qur’ān and the admonitions.
Verse 21
And do not be as those who say, ‘We hear,’ and they hear not, in such a way as to reflect and heed admonition — these are either the hypocrites or the idolaters.
Verse 22
Surely the worst of beasts in God’s sight are those who are deaf, to hearing the truth, and dumb, [unable] to utter it, those who do not understand.
Verse 23
For had God known of any good in them, any righteousness, were they to listen to the truth, He would have made them hear, in such a way as to understand; and had He made them hear — hypothetically speaking — already knowing that there is no good in them, they would have turned away, from it, averse, to accepting it, out of obstinacy and in denial.
Verse 24
O you who believe, respond to God and the Messenger, with obedience, when He calls you to that which will give you life, in the matter of religion, for it will be the source of everlasting life [for you]; and know that God comes in between a man and his heart, so that he cannot believe or disbelieve except by His will; and that it is to Him that you shall be gathered, and He will requite you for your deeds.
Verse 25
And be afraid of a trial which, if it were to fall upon you, would certainly not fall exclusively upon the evildoers among you, but would encompass them and others, and the way to guard against it is to repudiate that evil which necessarily results in [precipitating] it; and know that God is severe in retribution, against those who oppose Him.
Verse 26
And remember when you were few and oppressed in the land, the land of Mecca, and were fearful lest men should snatch you away, [lest] the disbelievers should seize you swiftly; how He gave you refuge, in Medina, and reinforced you, strengthened you, with His help, on the day of Badr, with the angels, and provided you with the good things, the spoils, that you might be thankful, for His graces.
Verse 27
The following was revealed regarding Abū Lubāba Marwān b. ‘Abd al-Mundhir: the Prophet (s) had dispatched him to the Banū Qurayza so that they would submit to his [the Prophet’s] authority. But they [Banū Qurayza] consulted with him [as to whether they should cede], and he pointed out to them that a slaughter would ensue — for members of his family and his property were among them: O you who believe, do not betray God and the Messenger, and, do not, betray your trusts, that which has been entrusted to you, in the way of religion or otherwise, while you are aware.
Verse 28
And know that your wealth and your children are a trial, for you, impeding you from the concerns of the Hereafter; and that with God is a tremendous wage, so do not forfeit it by giving [undue] attention to wealth and children, acting treacherously for the sake of [preserving] them.
Verse 29
The following was revealed regarding his [Abū Lubāba’s] repentance: O you who believe, if you fear God, by turning [in repentance] to Him and in other ways, He will grant you a [means of] separation, between yourselves and what you fear, so that you will be delivered, and absolve you of your evil deeds, and forgive you, your sins; and God is of tremendous bounty.
Verse 30
And, remember, O Muhammad (s), when the disbelievers — who had gathered to discuss your affair at the council assembly — were plotting against you, to confine you, to chain you up and imprison you, or slay you — all of them [acting as] assassins of one man — or to expel you, from Mecca, and they were plotting, against you, and God was plotting, against them, by devising a way [out] for you, when He revealed to you what they had devised and commanded you to leave [Mecca]; and God is the best of those who plot, the most knowledgeable among them about it.
Verse 31
And when Our verses, namely, the Qur’ān, were being recited to them, they said, ‘We have already heard! If we wish we can speak the like of this — al-Nadr b. al-Hārith said this, for he used to travel on trading business to al-Hīra, where he would buy books containing the tales of the Persians, and would recount these to the Meccans; this, Qur’ān, is nothing but the fables, the lies, of the ancients’.
Verse 32
And when they said, ‘O God! If this, that Muhammad (s) recites, be indeed the truth, revealed, from You, then rain down stones upon us from the heaven, or bring on us a painful chastisement’, in return for [our] denial of it: this was said by al-Nadr and others, in mockery and in delusion that he had some insight and certainty about it [the Qur’ān] being false.
Verse 33
God then says: But God was not about to chastise them, for what they requested, while you were among them, for when chastisement is sent down it is all-encompassing, and no community was ever chastised except after its prophet and the believers had departed from it; nor was God about to chastise them while they sought forgiveness, crying, as they performed the circumambulations: ‘Your forgiveness! Your forgiveness!’; it is also said that this [last clause] refers to those oppressed believers among them, similar to where God says Had they been clearly separated, verily We would have chastised the disbelievers among them with a painful chastisement [Q. 48:25].
Verse 34
But what [plea] have they now, that God should not chastise them, with the sword, after your departure and that of the oppressed [believers] — if this [verse] is understood in accordance with the first opinion [that it refers to the idolaters asking forgiveness], then it abrogates the previous one, for God had chastised them at Badr and in other instances — when they bar, prevent the Prophet (s) and the Muslims, from the Sacred Mosque, [from] performing circumambulations there, though they are not its guardians?, as they claim? Its only [rightful] guardians are the God-fearing, but most of them do not know, that they have no [rightful] custodianship over it.
Verse 35
And their prayer at the [Sacred] House is nothing but whistling and hand-clapping: in other words they do this in place of the prayer which they were ordered to perform — therefore taste now, at Badr, the chastisement for your unbelief!
Verse 36
The disbelievers expend their wealth, in waging war against the Prophet (s), in order to bar from God’s way, and they will expend it until, in the end, it will be a source of anguish for them, a regret, for having lost it and lost what they had intended [by expending it]; then they will be defeated, in this world, and the disbelievers, among them, will be gathered, driven, into Hell, in the Hereafter,
Verse 37
that God may distinguish (read li-yamīza, or li-yumayyiza, is semantically connected to takūnu, ‘it will be’ [from the previous verse]) the wicked, the disbeliever, from the good, the believer, and place the wicked one upon another, and heap them up all together and put them in Hell: those, they are the losers.
Verse 38
Say to the disbelievers, such as Abū Sufyān and his companions, that if they desist, from unbelief and from waging war against the Prophet (s), that which is past, of their deeds, will be forgiven them; but if they return, to waging war against him, the way of [dealing with] the ancients has already gone before!, that is, Our way [in dealing] with them, by destroying them: We will do the same with these ones.
Verse 39
And fight them until sedition, idolatry, is, exists, no more and religion is all for God, alone, none other being worshipped; then if they desist, from unbelief, surely God sees what they do, and will requite them for it.
Verse 40
But if they turn away, from belief, know that God is your Protector, your Helper and the One Who takes charge of your affairs — an excellent Protector, is He, and an excellent Helper!, [He is] for you.