Verse 15
Say, O Muhammad (s) to your people, ‘Shall I tell you, shall I inform you, of something better than that?, [that] which has been mentioned of lusts (this interrogative is meant as an affirmative). For those that are fearful, of idolatry, with their Lord (‘inda rabbihim is the predicate, the subject being [the following jannātun…]’) are Gardens underneath which rivers flow, abiding therein, decreed for them [therein] is eternal life, when they enter it, and spouses purified, of menstruation and other impurities, and beatitude (read ridwān or rudwān, meaning ‘much pleasure’) from God; and God is Seer, knower, of His servants, requiting each of them according to his deeds.
Verse 16
Those (alladhīna is either an adjectival qualification of, or a substitution for, the previous alladhīna) who say: “O, Our Lord, we believe, in You and in Your Prophet; so forgive us our sins, and guard us from the chastisement of the Fire”.
Verse 17
The patient, in obedience and against disobedience (al-sābirīna, ‘the patient’, is an adjectival qualification [of alladhīna, ‘those’]), truthful, in their faith, obedient, compliant before God, expenders, of charity, imploring God’s pardon, by saying, ‘Lord, forgive us’ at daybreak’, in the last part of the night, singled out here for mention because it is the time of unawareness and of the joy of sleep.
Verse 18
God bears witness, [that is to say] He has made it clear to His creation through proofs and signs, that there is no god, none that is truly worshipped in existence, except Him, He has borne witness to this, and the angels, [have also borne witness to this] by affirming it, and those of knowledge, from among the prophets and the believers, through [their] conviction and in words; upholding, constantly and uniquely maintaining His creations with justice, (qā’iman, ‘upholding’, is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier and is governed by the import of the statement [implied to be something like] tafarrada, ‘He alone is [upholding]…’); there is no god except Him (He has repeated it for emphasis); the Mighty, in His Kingdom, the Wise, in His actions.
Verse 19
Lo!, the religion with God, pleasing [to Him], is submission [to the One God], (al-islām), that is to say, the Divine Law with which the messengers were sent, founded upon the affirmation of God’s Oneness (a variant reading [for inna, ‘lo!’] has anna, ‘that’, as an inclusive substitution for annahu to the end [of that verse, sc. shahida Llāhu … anna l-dīna ‘inda Llāhi l-islām, ‘God bears witness that religion with God is Islām]). Those who were given the Scripture, the Jews and the Christians, differed, in religion, some affirming God’s Oneness, others rejecting it, only after the knowledge, of Oneness, came to them through transgression, on the part of the disbelievers, among themselves. And whoever disbelieves in God’s signs, God is swift at reckoning, that is, at requiting him.
Verse 20
So if they, the disbelievers, dispute with you, O Muhammad (s), concerning religion, say, to them: ‘I have surrendered my countenance to God, [that is to say] I have submitted to Him, I, and whoever follows me’ (wajh, ‘countenance’, is chosen here because of its noble character, for the other [parts of the body] will just as soon [surrender once the countenance has]); and say to those who have been given the Scripture, the Jews and the Christians, and to the uninstructed, the Arab idolaters: ‘Have you submitted?’, that is to say, ‘Submit!’ And so if they have submitted, they have been guided, from error, but if they turn their backs, to Islam, your duty is only to deliver, the Message; and God sees His servants, and so requites them for their deeds — this [statement] was [revealed] before the command to fight [them] had been revealed.
Verse 21
Those who disbelieve in the signs of God and slay (yaqtulūna, is also read as yuqātilūna, ‘they fight against’) the prophets without right, and slay those who enjoin to equity, to justice, and these are the Jews, who are reported to have killed forty–three prophets and to have been forbidden this by a hundred and seventy devout worshippers among them, each of whom was killed immediately. So give them good tidings, let them know, of a painful chastisement. The use of ‘good tidings’ here is meant as a sarcastic ridicule of them (the fā’ [of fa-bashshirhum, so give them good tidings] is considered part of the predicate of inna because its noun, that is, its relative clause, resembles a conditional [sc. in yakfurūna, ‘if they disbelieve…’, fa-bashshirhum, ‘then, give them good tidings…’]).
Verse 22
Those are the ones whose works, what good they did in the way of charity and kindness to kin, have failed, [whose works] are invalid, in this world and the Hereafter, and so they have nothing to reckon with, since these [works] are of no consequence; they have no helpers, [no] protectors from the chastisement.
Verse 23
Have you not seen those who were given a portion, a share, of the Book, the Torah, being called to the Book of God (yud‘awna, ‘being called’, is a circumstantial qualifier), that it might decide between them, and then a party of them turned away, opposed? to the acceptance of its rulings. This was revealed concerning the Jews: two of them fornicated and they [the Jews] asked the Prophet (s) to adjudicate the case. He ruled that they be stoned, but they [the Jews] refused to do so. When the Torah was brought and consulted, the same verdict was found, and so the two were stoned, but they [the Jews] became wrathful.
Verse 24
That, turning away and rejection was, because they said, ‘the Fire shall not touch us, except for a number of days’, that is, for forty days [only], the length of time their forefathers worshipped the calf, after which it would end; and the lies they used to invent, in their saying this, have deluded them in their religion (wa-gharrahum fī dīnihim, ‘it has deluded them in their religion’, is semantically connected to mā kānū yaftarūna, ‘the lies which they used to invent’).
Verse 25
But how will it be, their predicament, when We gather them for a day, that is to say, on a day, of which there is no doubt, no uncertainty, that is, the Day of Resurrection; and every soul, from among the People of the Scripture and others, shall be paid in full, the requital of, what is has earned, [what] it has done of good or evil, and they, that is, people, shall not be wronged?, in that no good deed shall be diminished, and no evil deed shall be increased.
Verse 26
When the Prophet (s) promised his community sovereignty over the lands of Persia and Byzantium, the hypocrites said, ‘How preposterous!’, and so the following was revealed, Say: ‘O God, Master of the Kingdom, you give the Kingdom to whom You will, from among your creatures, and seize the Kingdom from whom You will; You exalt whom You will, by giving it [the kingdom] to him, and You abase whom You will, by seizing it from him; in Your hand, in Your power, is good, that is, as well as evil. You are Able to do all things.
Verse 27
You make the night to pass, to enter, into the day and You make the day to pass, to enter, into the night, each of them increasing by the amount by which the other decreases; You bring forth the living from the dead, such as humans and birds, from sperm-drops and eggs [respectively]; and You bring forth the dead, the sperm-drop and the egg, from the living, and You provide, with abundant provision, whom You will without reckoning’.
Verse 28
Let not the believers take the disbelievers as patrons, rather than, that is, instead of, the believers — for whoever does that, that is, [whoever] takes them as patrons, does not belong to, the religion of, God in anyway — unless you protect yourselves against them, as a safeguard (tuqātan, ‘as a safeguard’, is the verbal noun from taqiyyatan), that is to say, [unless] you fear something, in which case you may show patronage to them through words, but not in your hearts: this was before the hegemony of Islam and [the dispensation] applies to any individual residing in a land with no say in it. God warns you, He instills fear in you, of His Self, [warning] that He may be wrathful with you if you take them as patrons; and to God is the journey’s end, the return, and He will requite you.
Verse 29
Say, to them: ‘Whether you hide what is in your breasts, in your hearts, of patronage to them, or disclose it, manifest it, God knows it and, He, knows what is in the heavens and what is in the earth; and God is Able to do all things, and this includes punishing those who patronise them.
Verse 30
And remember, the day every soul shall find what it has done of good present before it, and what it has done of evil (the [last statement constitutes the] subject, the predicate of which is [what follows]), it will wish that between it and that there were a great distance, an extremely lengthy distance so that it [the evil] could never reach it. God warns you of His Self (this is repeated for emphasis), and God is Kind to His servants.
Verse 31
When they said, ‘We only worship idols out of our love for God, that they might bring us close to Him’, the following was revealed: Say, O Muhammad (s), ‘If you love God, follow me, and God will love you, meaning that He will reward you, and forgive you your sins; God is Forgiving, as regards the sins, committed previously, by one who [now] follows me; Merciful, to him.
Verse 32
Say, to them: ‘Obey God, and the Messenger’, as regards the [belief in the] Oneness of God which he enjoins upon you. But if they turn their backs, [if they] object to obedience, God loves not the disbelievers, meaning that He will chastise them (the [third person] pronominalisation [‘they’] is replaced by the overt noun [‘the disbelievers’]).
Verse 33
Lo! God preferred, He has chosen, Adam and Noah and the House of Abraham and the House of ‘Imrān, meaning [He preferred] their selves [sc. Abraham and ‘Imrān], above the worlds, by making prophethood reside in [them and] their progeny:
Verse 34
the seed of one, offspring from, another, of them; God is Hearer, Knower.
Verse 35
Mention, when the wife of ‘Imrān, Hanna, said, after she had reached old age and longed for a child, and supplicated to God and sensed that she was carrying child, ‘O, Lord, I have vowed to, offer, You what is within my womb as a consecration, [one] liberated and delivered from the distractions of this world for the service of Your Holy House [in Jerusalem]. Accept this from me. Lo! It is You Who are the Hearer, of petition, the Knower, of intentions. ‘Imrān died while she was still pregnant.
Verse 36
And when she gave birth to her, a girl, and she had been hoping for a boy, since only males were consecrated to the service of God, she said, apologetically, ‘O, Lord, I have given birth to a female’ — and God knew very well what she had given birth to: a parenthetical statement constituting God’s speech (a variant reading [for wada‘at, ‘she gave birth’, has wada‘tu, ‘I gave birth’ [making these Hanna’s words, sc. ‘and God knows very well what I have given birth to’]); the male, that she had asked for, is not as the female, that was bestowed upon her, because he is designed for the service [of God], while she would not be suitable on account of her lesser physical ability, her private parts, the effects of menstruation on her, and so on. ‘And I have named her Mary, and commend her to You with her seed, her children, to protect them from the accursed, the outcast, Satan’. In a hadīth [it is stated]: ‘Every new-born is touched by Satan and begins [life] by crying, except for Mary and her son’, as reported by the two Shaykhs [Bukhārī and Muslim].
Verse 37
Her Lord accepted the child, that is, He received Mary from her mother, with gracious acceptance, and made her grow excellently, He made her grow up with excellent character. She would grow in a day by as much as a new-born grew during a year. Her mother took her to the priests, the keepers of the Holy House [of Jerusalem] and said: ‘This here before you is the dedication [I offered]’. They competed for [guardianship of] her, because she was the daughter of their religious leader, at which point Zachariah said, ‘I am most worthy of her, for, her maternal aunt lives with me’. The others said, ‘No, [not until] we have cast lots’. Thus, all twenty nine of them departed to the River Jordan, where they cast their quills, agreeing that the one whose quill remained fast and floated to the surface of the water would be most worthy of [being guardian over] her. Zachariah’s quill remained fast [and surfaced]. He took [charge of] her and built for her a gallery-room with a ladder in the temple, and none apart from him went up to her. He used to bring her food, drink and oil, and would find her with summer fruits in winter, and winter fruits in summer, just as God says, and Zachariah took charge of her, he took her to him (a variant reading [of kafalahā, ‘he took charge of her’] is kaffalahā, ‘He [God] gave Zachariah charge of her’, with Zakariyyā’, or Zakariyyā, in the accusative and ‘God’ as the subject of the verb). Whenever Zachariah went into the sanctuary, that is, the room, the most noble seat [in the temple], where she was, he found her with provisions. ‘O Mary,’ he said, ‘Whence comes this to you?’ She, still very young, said, ‘From God, He sends it to me from Paradise,’ ‘Truly God provides, abundant provision, for whomever He will without reckoning’, without consequence.
Verse 38
Then, when Zachariah had seen this and realised that the One with power to bring something about in other than its [natural] time, is able to bring about a child in old age, and with those of his family line all deceased, Zachariah prayed to his Lord, when he entered the sanctuary to pray in the middle of the night, saying, ‘Lord, bestow upon me from You a goodly offspring, a righteous son, verily, You are the Hearer of, [You are] the One Who answers, supplication’.
Verse 39
And the angels, namely, Gabriel, called to him, standing in the sanctuary, in the temple, at worship that (anna, means bi-anna; a variant reading has inna, implying a direct speech statement) ‘God gives you good tidings (read yubashshiruka, or yubshiruka) of John, who shall confirm a Word, being, from God, namely, Jesus, that he is God’s Spirit; he is referred to as [God’s] ‘Word’, because he was created through the word kun, ‘Be’; a lord, with a following, and one chaste, forbidden from women, and a prophet of the righteous’: it is said that he never sinned and never so intended.
Verse 40
He said, ‘My Lord! How shall I have a boy, a son, when old age has overtaken me, that is, [after] I have reached extreme [old] age, 120 years [old]; and my wife is barren?’, having reached the age of 98. He said, ‘So it, the matter, will be’, with God creating a boy from both of you. ‘God does what He will’, nothing can prevent Him therefrom, and in order to manifest this great power he was inspired with the question so that he would be answered through it [this great power]. And when his soul longed for the swift fulfilment of that of which good tidings had been given:
Verse 41
He said, ‘My Lord! Appoint for me a sign’, that is, an indication of my wife’s pregnancy. He said, ‘Your sign, for this, is that you shall not speak to men, that is, you shall refrain from speaking to them, but not from remembrance of God, save by tokens, gestures, for three days, and nights. And remember your Lord often, and glorify, perform prayer, at evening and dawn’, at the end of the day and at its beginning.
Verse 42
And, mention, when the angels, namely, Gabriel, said, ‘O Mary, God has preferred you, He has elected you, and made you pure, of the touch of men; He has preferred you above all women of the worlds, that is, the inhabitants of your time.
Verse 43
O Mary, be obedient to your Lord, be compliant before Him, prostrating and bowing with those who bow’, that is, pray with those who pray.
Verse 44
That, which has been mentioned of the matter of Zachariah and Mary, is of the tidings of the Unseen, of the news of what was unknown to you. We reveal it to you, O Muhammad (s), for you were not with them, when they were casting quills, in the water, drawing their lots so that it be manifested to them, which of them should have charge of, [which of them should] bring up, Mary; nor were you with them, when they were disputing, about the custodianship of Mary, such that you might have known it and related it; but truly you know it only through revelation.
Verse 45
Mention, when the angels, namely, Gabriel, said, ‘O Mary, God gives you good tidings of a Word from Him, that is, a boy, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, He addresses her attributing him to her in order to point out that she will give birth to him without a father, for, the custom is to attribute the child to its father, honoured shall he be in this world, through prophethood, and the Hereafter, through [his] intercession and the high stations [al-darajāt al-‘ulā, cf. Q. 20:75], and of those brought close, to God.
Verse 46
He shall speak to mankind in the cradle, that is to say, as a child before the age of speech, and in his manhood, and he is of the righteous’.
Verse 47
She said, ‘Lord, how shall I have a child when no mortal has touched me?’, neither through conjugality or otherwise; He said, the command, ‘It is such, that God will create from you a child without a father. God creates what He will. When He decrees a thing, willing its creation, He says to it only: “Be”, and it is, that is, [and] ‘he is’.
Verse 48
And We will teach him (read nu‘allimuhu, or, yu‘allimuhu, ‘He will teach him’) the Book, that is, script, wisdom, and the Torah, and the Gospel.
Verse 49
And He will make him, to be a messenger to the Children of Israel, during his tender years, or after puberty. Gabriel breathed into the opening of her garment and she became pregnant. What happened to her after this is mentioned later in sūrat Maryam [Q. 19:21ff]. Thus, when God sent him to the Children of Israel, he said to them, ‘I am God’s Messenger to you’, and, ‘I have come to you with a sign, an indication of my truthfulness, from your Lord, and it is that, I will create (a variant reading for [the particle introducing the relative clause] annī, ‘that I’, has innī, ‘truly I’, indicating a new [independent] sentence) [that] I will fashion, for you out of clay like the shape of a bird (ka-hay’at, ‘something like the shape of’: the kāf is the subject of a passive participle) then I will breathe into it (fīhi, the [suffixed] pronoun [-hi] refers to the [preceding] kāf), and it will be a bird (tayran, is also read tā’iran) by the leave, the will, of God. So he created for them a bat, being the most perfectly-created of birds, and they would watch it flying, but when it went out of sight, it would fall dead — so that the work of a creature [sc. Jesus] may be distinguished from the work of the Creator, namely, God, exalted be He, and that he might know that perfection belongs to God [alone]. I will also heal the blind (akmah is one that is blind from birth) and the leper; these two are singled out for mention because with both afflictions the person is completely helpless. He [Jesus] was sent in an age of [characterised by] medicinal science, and he cured, through supplication, fifty thousand in one day on the condition that each person would become a believer; and I bring to life the dead, by the leave of God — He repeats this to preclude any false attributions of divinity to him — he brought back to life his friend ‘Āzar, the son of an old woman, and the daughter of the tithe-collector, all of whom lived on and produced offspring, and [he also brought back to life] Shem, son of Noah, but he died [again] immediately. I will inform you too of what things you eat, and what you treasure up, store, in your houses, and what I have never seen, and he would inform people what they had eaten and what they would eat. Surely in that, mentioned, is a sign for you, if you are believers.
Verse 50
Likewise, I have come to you, confirming that which was before me of the Torah, and to make lawful for you some of that which was forbidden to you, in it. Thus he made lawful for them fish and birds which had no spikes; it is also said that he made it all lawful for them, so that ba‘d, ‘some’, means, kull, ‘all’). I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, He has repeated it for emphasis and to expand upon it: so fear God, and obey me, in what I command you of affirming God’s Oneness and being obedient to Him.
Verse 51
Surely God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This, that which I enjoin upon you, is a straight path’. But they rejected him and did not believe in him.
Verse 52
And when Jesus sensed, [when] he became aware of, their disbelief, and they plotted to kill him, he said, ‘Who will be my helpers, departing, unto God?’, to help His religion; The disciples said, ‘We will be helpers of God, those who assist His religion: they were Jesus’s intimates and the first to believe in him. [They were] twelve men who were of pure white complexion (hawar); but some say that they [were called hawāriyyūn because they] were bleachers of clothes (qassārūn); we believe in, we accept the truth of, God; witness, O Jesus, that we have submitted.
Verse 53
Lord, we believe in what You have revealed, of the Gospel, and we follow the Messenger, Jesus; inscribe us therefore with those who bear witness’, to Your Oneness and to the truthfulness of Your Messenger.
Verse 54
God says: And they, the disbelievers among the Children of Israel, schemed, against Jesus, by assigning someone to assassinate him; and God schemed, by casting the likeness of Jesus onto the person who intended to kill him, and so they killed him, while Jesus was raised up into heaven; and God is the best of schemers, most knowledgeable of him [Jesus].
Verse 55
And mention, when God said, ‘O Jesus, I am gathering you, seizing you, and raising you to Me, away from the world without death, and I am cleansing you of, removing you far away from, those who disbelieved, and I am setting those who follow you, those Christians and Muslims who believed in your prophethood, above those who disbelieved, in you, namely, the Jews, becoming above them through [definitive] argument and the sword, until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me shall be your return, and I will decide between you, as to what you were at variance about, as regards religion.
Verse 56
As for the disbelievers, I will chastise them with a terrible chastisement in this world, through being killed, taken captive and made to pay the jizya, and the Hereafter, in the Fire; they shall have no helpers, none to protect them from it.
Verse 57
But as for the believers, who do righteous deeds, He will pay them in full (yuwaffīhim, is also read nuwaffīhim, ‘We will pay them in full’) their wages. God loves not the evildoers, that is, He will chastise them. It is reported that God, exalted be He, sent him [Jesus] a cloud which raised him up, but his mother clutched to him in tears. He then said to her, ‘Verily, the Resurrection shall bring us together again’. This took place on the Night of Ordainment (laylat al-qadr) in the Holy House [of Jerusalem], when he was thirty three years old. His mother lived on after him for six years. The two Shaykhs [Bukhārī and Muslim] narrate a hadīth [in which it is stated] that he [Jesus] will descend when the Hour is nigh and will rule according to the Law of our Prophet [Muhammad], and that he will slay the false messiah and the swine, break the cross and impose the jizya. In a hadīth recorded by Muslim, he will remain for seven years; according to Abū Dāwūd al-Tayālisī, [he will remain for] forty years, and he will die and have prayers performed over him. It is possible that what is meant [by the forty years] is the total time he will have spent on earth, before he was raised and afterwards.
Verse 58
This, what is mentioned of the matter of Jesus, We recite to you, narrate to you, O Muhammad (s), of verses and wise, clear, remembrance, namely, the Qur’ān (min al-āyāt, ‘of verses’ is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the [suffixed pronoun] hā’ of natlūhu, and its operator is the demonstrative import of dhālika, ‘this’).
Verse 59
Truly, the likeness of Jesus, his remarkable case, in God’s sight, is as Adam’s likeness, as the case of Adam, whom God created without father or mother: this is a comparison of one remarkable thing with another more remarkable, so that it convinces the disputer and establishes itself in one’s mind more effectively. He created him, Adam, that is, his form, of dust, then said He to him, ‘Be,’, a human being, and he was; similarly, He said to Jesus, ‘Be’ — without a father — and he was.
Verse 60
The truth is from your Lord (al-haqqu min rabbik, the predicate of a missing subject, which is [implied to be] amr ‘Īsā [‘the matter concerning Jesus’]); be not of those who waver, those who are uncertain about it.
Verse 61
And whoever, from among the Christians, disputes with you concerning him, after the knowledge, of his affair, that has come to you, say, to them: ‘Come! Let us call our sons and your sons, our wives and your wives, our selves and your selves, and gather them together, then let us humbly pray and invoke God’s curse upon those who lie’, by saying: ‘Lord, curse the one that tells lies concerning the affair of Jesus’. The Prophet (s) had called upon the Najrān delegation to do this when they disputed with him about Jesus. They said, ‘Let us think about it and we will come back to you’. The judicious one among them said, ‘You know that he is a prophet, and that every people that has ever challenged a prophet to a mutual imprecation has been destroyed’. They left him and departed. When they went to see the Prophet (s), who had set out with al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Fātima and ‘Alī, he said to them [the Najrān delegation], ‘When I supplicate, you say ‘Amen’; but they refrained from this mutual imprecation and made peace with the Prophet on the condition that they pay the jizya, as reported by Abū Nu‘aym. According to Ibn ‘Abbās [the Prophet] said, ‘Had they set out and performed the mutual cursing, they would have gone home and found neither possessions nor family’. It is also reported that had they set out with this intention, they would have been consumed by fire.
Verse 62
This, mentioned above, is the true story, the report free of any doubt. There is no god but God, and assuredly God is Mighty, in His Kingdom, Wise, in His actions.
Verse 63
And if they turn their backs, rejecting faith, assuredly God knows the agents of corruption, and will requite them (here the [third person] pronominalisation has been replaced with the overt noun [al-mufsidūn, ‘the agents of corruption’]).
Verse 64
Say: ‘O People of the Scripture!, Jews and Christians, come now to a word agreed upon (sawā’, is the verbal noun, meaning mustawin amruhā, ‘[a word] regarding which the matter is upright’) between us and you, and it is, that we worship none but God (allā is [made up of] an-lā, ‘that…not’) and that we do not associate anything with Him, and do not take each other for lords, beside God’, as you have taken rabbis and monks; and if they turn their backs, in rejection of God’s Oneness, say, you to them: ‘Bear witness that we have submitted’, [that we are of] those who affirm the Oneness of God.
Verse 65
When the Jews claimed that Abraham was Jewish and that they were following his religion, and the Christians made a similar claim, the following was revealed: O People of the Scripture! Why do you argue about, dispute over, Abraham?, claiming that he belonged to one of your [two] religions, when the Torah was not revealed, neither the Gospel, but, a very long time, after him, and it was only after these two were revealed that Jewry and Christianity came into being. What, do you not comprehend?, the falsehood of what you say?
Verse 66
Lo! (hā, ‘lo’, is for calling attention to something), You (antum, ‘you’, is the subject) are those (the predicate is [what follows]) who dispute about what you know, concerning the affair of Moses and Jesus, and your claim to be adhering to their religions: why do you then dispute concerning that of which you have no knowledge?, of Abraham’s circumstances; and God knows, his circumstances, and you know not.
Verse 67
God, in order to dissociate Abraham [from their claims], said: No; Abraham in truth was not a Jew, neither a Christian, but he was a Muslim, professing the Oneness of God, and a hanīf, who inclined away from all other religions towards the upright one; and he was never of the idolaters.
Verse 68
Surely the people with the best claim, most worthy of, Abraham are those who followed him, during his time, and this Prophet, Muhammad (s) on account of his according with him as regards most [of the rulings] of his Law, and those who believe, from among his community, they are the ones that ought to say, ‘We follow his religion’, and not you; and God is the Protector of the believers, their Helper and Preserver.
Verse 69
When the Jews called Mu‘ādh [b. Jabal], Hudhayfa [b. al-Yamān] and ‘Ammār [b. Yāsir] to [join] their religion, the following was revealed: There is a party of the People of the Scripture who yearn to make you go astray; yet they cause none to stray, except themselves, because the sin for their leading [others] astray falls upon them, while the believers do not heed them in this; but they are not aware, of this.
Verse 70
O People of the Scripture! Why do you disbelieve in God’s verses, the Qur’ān, that includes all the descriptions of Muhammad (s), when you yourselves bear witness?, [when] you know that it is the truth.
Verse 71
O People of the Scripture! Why do you confound, [why do] you mix, truth with falsehood, by distorting and falsifying [scripture], and conceal the truth, the descriptions of the Prophet, while you know?, that it is the truth?
Verse 72
A party of the People of the Scripture, the Jews, say, to some among them, ‘Believe in what has been revealed to those who believe, that is, the Qur’ān, at the beginning of the day, and disbelieve, in it, at the end of it, so that they, the believers, might then turn back, from his [Muhammad’s] religion, and that they [the believers] will then say: these [Jews] are knowledgeable and they could only have turned away from it after accepting it because they know it to be false.
Verse 73
And they also said: And do not believe except in one who (the lām of li-man, ‘in one who’, is extra) follows, accords with, your religion’. God, exalted be He, says, Say, to them, O Muhammad (s): ‘True guidance is God’s guidance, that is Islam, everything else being error (this statement is parenthetical) — that (an [and what follows] is the direct object of the verb wa-lā tu’minū, ‘do not believe’) anyone should be given the like of what you have been given, of the Book, wisdom, and of the virtues (the term ahad, ‘anyone’, from whom the exclusion is being made, precedes that which is being excluded, ‘the like of what you have been given’, the meaning being: ‘Do not affirm that anyone should be given this unless they follow your religion’); or that they, the believers, should dispute with you, [that they should] prevail over you, before your Lord’, on the Day of Resurrection, for you have the sounder religion (a variant reading has a-an, ‘such that’, the extra hamza denoting rebuke) in other words, [the Jews say do not believe] that another has been given the like of it, such that you might affirm it. God, exalted be He, says, Say: ‘Surely bounty is in God’s Hand; He gives it to whomever He will, so how can you say that no one else will be given what you have been given? God is Embracing, of ample bounty, Knowing, those who deserve it.
Verse 74
He singles out for His mercy whom He will; God is of bounty abounding’.
Verse 75
And of the People of the Scripture is he who, if you trust him with a hundredweight, that is, with much money, he will return it to you, on account of his trustworthiness, the like of ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām to whom a man entrusted 1200 plates of gold, which he then returned to him; and of them is he who, if you trust him with one dinar, will not return it to you, on account of his treachery; unless you keep standing over him, not leaving him for one minute, for as soon as you leave him, he will deny it, as was the case with Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf, to whom a man from Quraysh entrusted a dinar and later denied it. That, refusal to return things, is because they say, ‘We have no duty towards, namely, [no possibility of acquiring] sin because of, the Gentiles’, the Arabs; for they considered it lawful to be unjust towards any person of a different religion, and they attributed [the source of] this conviction to God, exalted be He. God, exalted be He, says, They speak falsehood against God, by attributing such things to Him, while they are aware, that they are liars.
Verse 76
Nay, there is a duty incumbent over them in this regard; but whoever fulfils his covenant, the one he has made or the covenant of God, by restoring a trust and other such things, and has fear, of God, by refraining from disobedience and performing deeds of obedience, for truly God loves the God-fearing: ‘He loves them’ means that He will reward them (the overt noun [al-muttaqīn, ‘the God-fearing’] has replaced the [third person] pronominalisation).
Verse 77
The following was revealed with regard to the Jews when they distorted the descriptions of the Prophet (s) and God’s covenant with them in the Torah, and [God’s covenant with them] regarding one that swears an oath to a falsehood when bearing witness or when selling merchandise: Those that sell, exchange, God’s covenant, with them that they believe in the Prophet and return faithfully what has been entrusted to them, and their own oaths, their invoking God’s name in mendacity, for a small price, of this world, there shall be no share, [no] lot, for them in the Hereafter; and God shall not speak to them, out of wrath against them, nor look upon them, [nor] have mercy upon them, on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them, cleanse them, and theirs will be a painful chastisement.
Verse 78
And there is a group, a party, of them, the People of the Scripture, like Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf, who twist their tongues with the Book, altering it by reciting it not according to the way in which it was revealed, but according to the way in which they have distorted it, as in the case of the descriptions of the Prophet (s) and other similar matters; so that you may suppose it, such distortion, as part of the Book, that God revealed; yet it is not part of the Book; and they say, ‘It is from God’, yet it is not from God, and they speak falsehood against God, while they know, that they are liars.
Verse 79
When the Christians of Najrān claimed that Jesus had commanded them to take him as a Divinity, and some Muslims asked that they should be permitted to prostrate themselves before him, the Prophet (s), the following was revealed: It belongs not to any mortal that God should give him the Book, the Judgement, the understanding of the Divine Law, prophethood, then that he should say to men, ‘Be servants to me instead of God.’ Rather, he should say, ‘Be masters, scholars, labouring (rabbāniyyūn, ‘those of the Lord’, is derived from rabb, ‘lord’, with the extra alif and nūn, as a superlative [of rabbiyyūn]), by virtue of what you know (ta‘lamūn, also read as tu‘allimūn, ‘you teach’) of the Book and in what you study’, that is, on account of the fact that you used to do this, for its benefit is that you engage in action.
Verse 80
He would never order you (read lā ya’murukum, to denote a new clause, meaning ‘God [would not order you]’; or if read lā ya’murakum, it would be a supplement to yaqūla, ‘he should say’, meaning ‘[it belongs not that…] a mortal [should order you]’); to take the angels and the prophets as lords, in the way that the Sabaeans have taken the angels, the Jews, Ezra, and the Christians, Jesus. Would He order you to disbelieve, after you have submitted? He would not do this.
Verse 81
And, mention, when God made a covenant with the prophets, ‘What (if read lamā, it would be introducing a subject clause, and emphasising the aspect of the oath in this ‘making of the covenant’; if it is read limā, it would then be connected to the verb akhadha, ‘He took’; the mā, ‘what’, is a relative particle in both cases, meaning la’lladhī [or li’lladhī respectively]) I have given you (ātaytukum, or in a variant reading, ātaynākum, ‘We have given you’) of the Book and wisdom; then there shall come to you a messenger confirming what is with you, of the Book and wisdom, and that is Muhammad (s) — you shall believe in him and you shall help him’ (this constitutes the response to the oath), if you reach his time and perceive him, and their communities [of descendants] follow them [in what is incumbent upon them]. He, God, exalted be He, said to them, ‘Do you affirm, this? And do you take, [do you] accept, My load, My covenant, on you on that condition?’ They said, ‘We affirm’. He said, ‘Then bear witness, to this before your own souls and [those of] your followers, and I shall be with you among the witnesses’, before you and them.
Verse 82
Then whoever turns his back, in rejection, after that, covenant, they are the wicked.
Verse 83
What! Do they, the ones who turn away, desire (yabghūna, is also read tabghūna, ‘[do] you desire?’) other than God’s religion, when to Him has submitted, [to Him] has yielded, whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly, without refusal, or unwillingly, by the sword and by seeing what it [such refusal] results in, and to Him they shall be returned? (yurja‘ūna, may also be read turja‘ūna, ‘you shall be returned’; the hamza at the beginning of the verse [a-fa-ghayra, ‘what…other’] denotes a disavowal).
Verse 84
Say, to them, O Muhammad (s): ‘We believe in God, and that which has been revealed to us, and that which has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, and Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes, the latter’s sons; and in that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord; we make no division between any of them, by believing [in some] and disbelieving [in others]; and to Him we submit’, devoting worship sincerely [to Him].
Verse 85
The following was revealed regarding those who apostatized and became disbelievers: Whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him and in the Hereafter he shall be among the losers, because he will end up in the Fire, made everlasting for him.
Verse 86
How shall God guide, that is to say, [He shall] not [guide], a people who have disbelieved after their belief, and bore witness, that is, [and after] their bearing witness, that the Messenger is true, and after the clear signs, the manifest proofs of the truth of the Prophet, had come to them? God guides not the evildoing, that is, the disbelieving, folk.
Verse 87
Those — their requital is that there shall rest on them the curse of God and of the angels and of men altogether.
Verse 88
Abiding therein, that is, in the curse, or in the Fire implied by it [the curse]; the chastisement shall not be lightened for them and they shall not be reprieved, they shall [not] be given any respite.
Verse 89
But those who repent thereafter, and make amends, in their actions, then truly God is Forgiving, Merciful, to them.
Verse 90
The following was revealed regarding the Jews: Surely those who disbelieve, in Jesus, after they have believed, in Moses, and then increase in unbelief, in Muhammad (s) — their repentance shall not be accepted, when they are drawing their last gasps of life, or when they have died as disbelievers; those are the ones who go astray.
Verse 91
Surely those who disbelieve, and die disbelieving, the whole earth full, the amount needed to fill it up, of gold shall not be accepted from any one of them (the fā’ [of fa-lan yuqbala, ‘it shall not be accepted’] has been included in the predicate of the inna clause, because the statement about alladhīna, ‘those [who disbelieve]’, resembles a conditional statement; and as a declaration of the reason for it [repentance] not being acceptable in the case of one who dies in unbelief) if he would ransom himself thereby; for them awaits a painful chastisement (alīm is [the same as] mu’lim, ‘painful’), and they shall have no helpers, to protect them from it.
Verse 92
You will not attain piety, that is, the reward for it, which is Paradise, until you expend, [until] you give voluntary alms, of what you love, of your wealth; and whatever thing you expend, God knows of it, and He will requite it accordingly.