Verse 51
And now verily We have brought, We have explained [to], them the Word, the Qur’ān, that perhaps they might remember, [they might] be admonished and believe.
Verse 52
Those to whom We gave the Scripture before this, that is, [before] the Qur’ān, they believe in it, too. This was revealed regarding certain Jews who became Muslims, such as ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām and others, and [certain] Christians who had come from Abyssinia and Syria [who also became Muslims].
Verse 53
And, when it is recited to them, the Qur’ān, they say, ‘We believe in it. It is indeed the Truth from our Lord. Lo! [even] before it we had submitted’, we affirmed God’s Oneness.
Verse 54
Those will be given their reward twice over, for believing in both Scriptures, for the patience they showed, for having been steadfast in implementing [the prescriptions in] them; and they ward off, from themselves, evil with good, and expend, give as voluntary alms, of that which We have provided them.
Verse 55
And when they hear vanity, vile words and hurtful intent from the disbelievers, they disregard it and say, ‘To us [belong] our deeds and to you [belong] your deeds. Peace to you — a parting truce (salām mutāraka), in other words you are secure from any abuse or the like on our part. We do not desire [friendship with] the ignorant’, we do not seek companionship with them.
Verse 56
The following was revealed regarding the Prophet’s longing for his uncle Abū Tālib to embrace faith: You cannot guide whom you like, to be guided, but [it is] God [Who] guides whomever He will, and He knows best those who will be guided.
Verse 57
And they, his people, say, ‘If we were to follow the Guidance with you, we will be deprived from our land’, torn out of it swiftly. God, exalted be He, says: Have We not established for them a secure Sanctuary, [one] in which they are secure from the raids and killings that occur among the Arab tribes, to which are brought (read tujbā or yujbā) fruits of all kinds, [fruits] from every direction, as a provision, for them, from Us? But most of them do not know, that what We say is the truth.
Verse 58
And how many a town We have destroyed whose lifestyle was one of arrogant ungratefulness — by ‘town’ is meant the inhabitants thereof. Those are their dwellings, which have not been dwelt in after them except a little, by passers-by, for a day or part of it. And it was We Who were the [sole] inheritors, after them.
Verse 59
And your Lord never destroyed the towns, because of evildoing on their part, until He had raised up in their mother-town, that is, the major [town] among them, a messenger to recite Our signs to them. And We never destroyed the towns unless their inhabitants were committing evil, by denying the messengers.
Verse 60
And whatever things you have been given are [only] the [short-lived] enjoyment of the life of this world and an ornament thereof, in other words, [things] which you enjoy and adorn yourselves with for the days of your lives, after which they perish; and what is with God, in other words, His reward, is better and more lasting. Will you not understand? (ta‘qilūna; or read ya‘qilūna, ‘will they [not] understand’) that what lasts is better than what perishes.
Verse 61
Is he to whom We have given a fair promise, which he will receive, which he will attain, and that [promise] is Paradise, like him to whom We have given the enjoyment of the life of this world, [enjoyment] which will disappear soon, then on the Day of Resurrection he will be of those arraigned?, before the Fire. The former is the believer, the latter the disbeliever: in other words the two are not equal.
Verse 62
And, mention, the day when He, God, will call to them and say, ‘Where [then] are My partners, those whom you used to claim?’, were partners of Mine.
Verse 63
Those against whom the Word [of punishment] will have become due, the justified [Word], that they be admitted into the Fire — and these are the leaders of misguidance — they shall say, ‘Our Lord! These are the ones whom we led astray (hā’ūlā’i’lladhīna aghwaynā is both a subject and an adjectival qualification). We led them astray (aghwaynāhum, the predicate thereof) and they went astray, even as we went astray — we did not compel them to [follow] error. We declare our innocence, of them, before You; it was not us that they worshipped’ (mā, ‘not’, is for negation; the direct object [iyyānā, ‘us’] precedes [the verb ya‘budūna, ‘they worshipped’] in order to concord with the end-rhyme of the verses).
Verse 64
And it shall be said, ‘Call [now] to your associates!’, namely, the idols you alleged to be partners of God. So they will call to them, but they will not answer them, their call, and they, the former, will see, they will sight, the chastisement: [they will wish] if only they had been guided!, in this world, they would not have seen it in the Hereafter.
Verse 65
And, mention, the day when He will call to them and say, ‘What response did you give to those [messengers] who were sent?’, to you.
Verse 66
The tidings, the news of deliverance contained in the response, will be obscured to them on that day, in other words, they will not find any statement that might contain [hope of] deliverance for them; so they will not question one other, about this, and will fall silent.
Verse 67
But as for him who repents, of idolatry, and believes, in the affirmation of God’s Oneness, and acts righteously, he observes the duties [of religion], maybe he will be among the successful, those delivered according to God’s promise.
Verse 68
And your Lord creates whatever He will and chooses, whatever He will. They, the idolaters, do not have the choice, the right to choose anything. Glory be to God and exalted be He above what they associate, [above] their idolatry.
Verse 69
And your Lord knows what their breasts conceal, [what] their hearts keep secret of disbelief and otherwise, and what they proclaim, by their tongues of such things.
Verse 70
And He is God; there is no god except Him. To Him belongs [all] praise in the former, namely, the life of this world, and in the latter, Paradise. And to Him belongs the judgement, the decree effective in [the case of] all things, and to Him you will be returned, through resurrection.
Verse 71
Say, to the people of Mecca: ‘Have you considered, in other words, inform Me: if God were to make the night everlasting over you until the Day of Resurrection, what god other than God, as you [are wont to] claim, could bring you light?, daylight [hours] during which you could earn [a living]. Will you not then listen?’, to this in a way so as to understand it and so repent of your idolatry.
Verse 72
Say, to them: ‘Have you considered, if God were to make the day everlasting over you until the Day of Resurrection, what god other than God, as you [are wont to] claim, could bring you night wherein you rest?, from [any] weariness. Will you not then see?, the error you are upon when you ascribe partners [to God], and so repent of it.
Verse 73
And of His mercy, exalted be He, He has made for you night and day, that you may rest therein, in the night, and that you may seek, in the day, of His bounty, to earn [your livelihood], that perhaps you might give thanks’, for the grace [of God] during both of these [times].
Verse 74
And, mention, the day when He will call to them and say, ‘Where [now] are My associates those whom you used to claim?’ — this is mentioned again in order to expound upon it:
Verse 75
And We shall draw, bring forth, from every community a witness, and this will be their prophet, who will bear witness against what they say, and We shall say, to them: ‘Produce your evidence’, for [the justification of] the idolatry which you asserted. Then they will know that the right, to divineness, is God’s — none share it with Him. And that which they used to invent, in this world, of His having an associate, exalted be He [high] above such [associations], will fail them.
Verse 76
Indeed Korah belonged to the people of Moses — [being] his paternal and maternal cousin, and he had believed in him [in Moses] — but he became insolent towards them, through [his] disdain, haughtiness and great wealth. For We had given him so many treasures that [the number of] their keys would verily have burdened a group of strong men, in other words, they would have been too heavy for such [men] (the bā’ of [bi’l-‘usbati, ‘a group’] is to render transitive [the intransitive] verb); the number of such [men required] is estimated to be 70, 40 or 10; other estimates are also given. Mention, when his people, the believers among the Children of Israel, said to him, ‘Do not be exultant, in [your] great wealth, an exultation of insolence; truly God does not love the exultant, in such [things];
Verse 77
but seek, in that which God has given you, of wealth, the Abode of the Hereafter, by expending it in obedience to God, and do not forget your share of this world, that is, [do not forget] to strive in it for the sake of the Hereafter; and be good, to people, by [giving] voluntary alms, just as God has been good to you. And do not seek to cause corruption in the earth, by committing acts of disobedience. Surely God does not love the agents of corruption’, meaning that He will punish them.
Verse 78
He said, ‘In fact I have been given it, that is, [this] wealth, because of knowledge I possess’, in other words, in return for it — he was the most knowledgeable of the Children of Israel in the Torah, after Moses and Aaron. God, exalted be He, says: Does he not know that God had already destroyed before him generations, communities, of men stronger than him in might and greater in the amassing?, of wealth; in other words, he does know this. And God destroys them, and the guilty will not be questioned about their sins, because of God’s knowledge of these [sins], and so they will be admitted into the Fire without a reckoning.
Verse 79
So he, Korah, emerged before his people in his finery, with his large retinue [all of them] in procession dressed in gold and silk garments and mounted on adorned horses and mules. Those who desired the life of this world said, ‘O (yā is for drawing attention) would that we had the like of what Korah has been given, this world. Truly he enjoys great fortune’, abundant [fortune] in it.
Verse 80
But those to whom knowledge had been given, [knowledge] of what God had promised in the Hereafter, said, to them: ‘Woe to you! (waylakum, is an expression of reprimand) God’s reward, of Paradise in the Hereafter, is better for him who believes and acts righteously, than what Korah has been given in this world; and none will obtain it, namely, the Paradise that is given as a reward, except those who are steadfast’, in [their adherence to] obedience and [refrain] from disobedience.
Verse 81
So We caused the earth to swallow him, Korah, and his dwelling, and he had no host to help him besides God, that is, other than Him, to protect him from destruction, nor was he of those who can rescue themselves, from it.
Verse 82
And those who had longed to be in his place the day before, that is, only recently, were saying, ‘Alas! God expands provision for whomever He will of His servants and straitens [it], He restricts it for whomever He will (way-ka’anna: way is a noun of action, with the sense of ‘How astonished I am’, while the kāf functions as a [causative] lām, ‘because’). Had God not been gracious to us, He would have made us to be swallowed too’ (read active la-khasafa, or passive la-khusifa). Lo! indeed those who are ungrateful, for God’s grace, such as Korah, never prosper.
Verse 83
That is the Abode of the Hereafter, namely, Paradise, which We shall grant to those who do not desire to be haughty in the earth, through insolence, nor [to cause] corruption, by committing acts of disobedience. And the, praiseworthy, sequel will be for those who fear, God’s punishment, by performing deeds of obedience.
Verse 84
Whoever brings a good deed shall have better than it, as a reward, because of it, and this will be the like of it tenfold; while whoever brings an evil deed, those who commit evil deeds shall only be requited, the requital, for what they used to do, in other words, [only] the like of it.
Verse 85
Indeed He Who has prescribed for you the Qur’ān, [He Who] has revealed it, will surely restore you to a place of return, to Mecca — he had yearned for it. Say: ‘My Lord knows best him who brings guidance and him who is in manifest error’ — this was revealed in order to refute what the Meccan disbelievers had said to him: ‘Indeed, you are error’. In other words [God is saying that] he [the Prophet] is the one who has brought guidance, while they are the ones in error.
Verse 86
And you never expected that the Scripture, the Qur’ān, would be conferred on you; but it was, conferred on you, as a mercy from your Lord. So never be a supporter of the disbelievers, in that religion of theirs to which they summon you.
Verse 87
And never let them bar you (yasuddunnaka is actually yasuddūnannaka, but the nūn of the indicative [ending] has been omitted because of the apocopating particle [lā], as has the wāw of the [third person plural] subject of the verb because of its coming together with an unvocalised nūn) from God’s signs after they have been revealed to you, in other words, do not consult with them in such [matters], and summon, people, to your Lord, by affirming His Oneness and worshipping Him, and never be of the idolaters, by supporting them (lā takūnanna: the apocopating particle does not affect the [ending of the] verb here because of its invariability).
Verse 88
And do not call on, [do not] worship, another god with God; there is no god except Him. Everything will perish except His Countenance, except Him. His is the judgement, the effective decree, and to Him you will be brought back, by being raised from the grave.
Verse 1
Alif lām mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].
Verse 2
Do people suppose that they will be left to say, that is, [that they will be left alone] because of their saying, ‘We believe’, and they will not be tried?, tested with that which will reveal the sincerity of their belief. This [verse] was revealed regarding a group of individuals who when they became believers endured suffering at the hands of the idolaters.
Verse 3
And certainly We tried those who were before them. So God shall surely know those who are sincere, in their faith — a knowledge of direct vision — and He shall surely know those who are liars, regarding it.
Verse 4
Or do those who commit evil deeds, idolatry and acts of disobedience, suppose that they can elude Us?, so that We will not be able to requite them. Evil is that, judgement of theirs, which they judge!
Verse 5
Whoever expects to encounter God, [should know that] God’s [appointed] term, for this [encounter], will indeed come; so let him prepare for it. And He is the Hearer, of the sayings of His servants, the Knower, of their actions.
Verse 6
And whoever struggles, in war or against [the temptations of] his own soul, struggles only for his own sake, because the benefits [to be reaped] from his struggle will be for his sake and not for God’s. For truly God is Independent of [the creatures of] all the Worlds, mankind, jinn and angels, and [He is also without need] of their worship.
Verse 7
And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, We will surely absolve them of their misdeeds, by their performance of righteous deeds, and We will indeed requite them with the best of what they used to do, namely, their righteous deeds (it [ahsana] is in the accusative because the operator of the oblique [bi] has been omitted).
Verse 8
And We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents, that he should be dutiful towards them; but if they urge you to ascribe to Me as partner that of which you do not have any knowledge, [any knowledge] that accords with reality, and so is meaningless, then do not obey them, in [such incitements to] idolatry. To Me will be your return whereat I will inform you of what you used to do, and I will requite you for it.
Verse 9
And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, assuredly We shall admit them among the righteous, [among] the prophets and the saints, by gathering in the company of one another [at the Resurrection].
Verse 10
And among people there are those who say, ‘We believe in God’, but if such [a person] suffers hurt in God’s cause, he takes people’s persecution, that is, their harming of him, to be [the same] as God’s chastisement, in terms of his fear of it, and so he obeys them and behaves hypocritically. Yet if (la-in: the lām is for oaths) there comes help, to believers, from your Lord, and they take spoils, they will assuredly say (la-yaqūlunna: the [final] nūn [of the indicative] has been omitted because of the other nūn coming after it, and likewise the wāw, indicating the plural person [has been replaced by a damma], because of two unvocalised consonants coming together), ‘We were indeed with you’, in faith, so give us a share of the booty. God, exalted be He, says: Does God not know best what is in the breasts of all creatures?, [what is] in their hearts of faith or hypocrisy? Indeed [He does].
Verse 11
And God shall surely ascertain those who believe, in their hearts, and He shall surely ascertain the hypocrites, and He will requite each group accordingly (the lām in both verbs [la-ya‘lamanna, ‘He shall ascertain’] is for oaths).
Verse 12
And those who disbelieve say to those who believe, ‘Follow our path, our religion, and we will bear [responsibility for] your sins’, when you follow us, should there be any [such sins] (the imperative here functions as a predicate). God, exalted be He, says: But they will not [be able to] bear anything of their sins. Truly they are liars, in [saying] this.
Verse 13
And they shall certainly bear their [own] burdens, their sins, and other burdens along with their [own] burdens, [as punishment] for saying to believers: Follow our path [previous verse] and for their leading astray those who follow them [blindly]; and on the Day of Resurrection they shall surely be questioned concerning what they used to invent, [what] they used to fabricate of lies against God, a questioning of rebuke (the lām in both verbs [la-yahmilunna and la-yus’alunna] is for oaths; in both [verbs] the [plural] indicators of the subject, wāw and nūn [-ūna], have been omitted).
Verse 14
And verily We sent Noah to his people, when he was forty years of age or older, and he remained among them a thousand-less-fifty years, calling them to affirm God’s Oneness, but they denied him; so the Flood engulfed them, a deluge of water drifted against them, rising above them and drowning them, for they were wrongdoers, idolaters.
Verse 15
Then We delivered him, namely, Noah, and the occupants of the ship, those who were with him in it, and We made this a sign, a lesson, for all peoples, for [all] peoples that would come after them, should they disobey the messengers sent to them. Noah lived for a further sixty years or more after the Flood, until mankind multiplied [again].
Verse 16
And, mention, Abraham, when he said to his people, ‘Worship God and fear Him, fear His punishment; that is better for you, than the worship of idols which you practice, if you only knew, what is good from what is otherwise.
Verse 17
What you worship besides God, that is, other than Him, are only graven images and you fabricate a calumny, you speak lies [such as]: ‘[These] graven images are God’s partners’. Truly those whom you worship besides God have no power to provide for you. So seek your provision from God, request it from Him, and worship Him, and be thankful to Him; to Him you shall be returned.
Verse 18
But if you deny, that is, if you deny me, O people of Mecca, then [many] communities have denied before you, that is, before my time; and the messenger’s duty is only to communicate [the Message] clearly’. Both stories are meant to comfort the Prophet (s). And regarding his people, God, exalted be He, says:
Verse 19
Have they not seen (yaraw, or taraw, ‘have you not seen?’), observed, how God originates creation (yubdi’u, from [4th form] abda’a; a variant reading has yabda‘u from [1st form] bada’a, both with the same meaning: ‘He creates them originally’) then, He, restores it, namely, creation, just as He originated them? Surely that, which is mentioned of the first and the second [acts of] creation, is easy for God, so how can they deny the second one?
Verse 20
Say: ‘Travel in the land and observe how He originated creation, of those before you, and [how He] made them die. Then God shall bring about the other genesis (al-nashā’a, or al-nash’a). Truly God has power over all things, among them the origination [of creation] and the restoration [thereof].
Verse 21
He chastises whomever He will, to chastise, and has mercy on whomever He will, to have mercy, and to Him you shall be returned.
Verse 22
And you will never be able to thwart [Him], your Lord [and prevent Him] from catching up with you, on earth, or in the heaven, were you to be in it, in other words, you cannot elude Him; and you do not have besides God, that is, other than Him, any guardian, to defend you against Him, or any helper, to help you [escape] from His chastisement.
Verse 23
And those who disbelieve in God’s signs and the encounter with Him, namely, the Qur’ān and the Resurrection [respectively], they have despaired of My mercy, that is, [of attaining] My Paradise, and for those there shall be a painful chastisement.
Verse 24
God, exalted be He, says with regard to the tale of Abraham, peace be upon him: But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Slay him, or burn him!’ Then God delivered him from the fire, into which they threw him, by making it cool and harmless for him. Surely in that, namely, [in that] deliverance of him from it, there are signs — namely, the fact that it did not have any affect on him despite its greatness, and the fact that it was extinguished and that within a brief period meadows sprung up in its place — for a people who believe, [a people who] affirm the truth of God’s Oneness and His power, for they are the ones to benefit from these [signs].
Verse 25
And he, Abraham, said: ‘You have adopted mere idols besides God, which you worship (mā [of innamā] relates to the verbal noun) for the sake of [mutual] affection between you (mawaddatu baynikum: this is the predicate of inna [of innamā]; the accusative reading [mawaddata baynikum] would denote a direct object denoting reason, so that the mā would denote ‘entirety’) — in other words, you are friends of one another in your worship of them, in the life of this world. Then on the Day of Resurrection you will disown one another, the leaders will dissociate from those who followed [them]; and you will curse one another, those who followed will curse their leaders; and your abode, your destination all together, will be the Fire, and you will have no helpers’, to protect you against it.
Verse 26
And Lot believed in him, he affirmed the sincerity of Abraham, and he was his [paternal] nephew, from his brother Hārān, and he, Abraham, said, ‘Indeed I am migrating, away from my people, toward my Lord, to where my Lord commands. So he shunned his people and emigrated from the rural lands of Iraq to Syria. Indeed He is the Mighty, in His kingdom, the Wise’, in what He does.
Verse 27
And We gave him, after Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob, after Isaac; and We ordained among his descendants prophethood, thus all prophets after Abraham are descended from him, and the Scripture, meaning, the [Holy] Books, the Torah, the Gospels, the Psalms and the Criterion (al-furqān). And We gave him his reward in this world, which is fair praise [of him] by members of all the [Abrahamic] religions. And in the Hereafter he shall truly be among the righteous, for whom there shall be the highest degrees [of reward].
Verse 28
And, mention, Lot, when he said to his people ‘Truly you (read a-innakum, pronouncing both hamzas, or not pronouncing the second and inserting an alif between the two in either case and in both instances) commit lewdness, namely, [coming in unto] the rears of men, such as none in [all] the worlds, of jinn or men, has committed before you.
Verse 29
What! Do you come unto men, and cut off the way, the [travel] roads of passers-by, committing lewd acts with whoever passes your way, such that people ceased to pass by [where] you [live], and you discuss in your gatherings, in your conversations, indecency?’, [you discuss] committing lewd acts with one another. But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Bring us the chastisement of God, if you are truthful’, in your deeming such [acts] vile and that chastisement will befall those who do such things.
Verse 30
He said, ‘My Lord, help me, by making that of which I spoke come true regarding the sending down of chastisement, against the people who work corruption’, those who are disobedient, by coming unto men. So God answered his call.
Verse 31
And when Our messengers came to Abraham with the good tidings, of Isaac and Jacob after him, they said, ‘We shall assuredly destroy the people of this town, namely, the town of Lot, for truly its people are evildoers’, disbelievers.
Verse 32
He, Abraham, said, ‘Lo! Lot is in it.’ They, namely, the messengers, said, ‘We know very well who is in it. Assuredly We shall deliver him (read la-nunjiyannahu or la-nunajjiyannahu) and his family, except his wife: she is of those who will stay behind’, [of those] who will remain behind in the chastisement.
Verse 33
And when Our messengers came to Lot, he was distressed on their account, he was grieved because of them, and he was constrained [unable] to help them, because they had handsome faces, dressed as guests, and thus he feared for them from his people. So they informed him that they were the messengers of his Lord. But they said, ‘Do not be afraid, nor grieve. We shall surely deliver you (read munajjūka or munjūka) and your family, except your wife: she is of those who will remain behind (ahlaka, ‘your family’, is in the accusative as a supplement to the [suffixed direct object pronoun] kāf [of munajjūka, ‘We shall surely deliver you’]).
Verse 34
We are indeed going to bring down (read munzilūna or munazzilūna) upon the people of this town a scourge, a chastisement, from the heaven because of, on account of the acts of, their immorality’.
Verse 35
And verily We have left of that a clear sign, a manifest one — namely, the remains of its [the town’s] ruins — for a people who understand, [a people who] reflect.
Verse 36
And, We sent, to Midian, their brother Shu‘ayb. He said, ‘O my people! Worship God and anticipate the Last Day, fear it, namely, the Day of Resurrection; and do not be degenerate in the earth, working corruption’ (mufsidīna is a circumstantial qualifier, emphasising its operator [wa-lā ta‘thaw, ‘do not be degenerate’]; it [the verb] derives from ‘athiya, meaning afsada, ‘he corrupted’).
Verse 37
But they denied him, and so the earthquake, the violent tremor, seized them, and they ended up lying lifeless prostrate in their habitations, keeled over their knees, dead.
Verse 38
And, We destroyed, ‘Ād, and Thamūd (may be fully declined, or not [as diptotes], denoting both the district or the tribe [respectively])— it is indeed evident to you, their destruction, from their [former] dwellings, in al-Hijr and in Yemen. For Satan adorned for them their deeds, of disbelief and disobedience, and thus barred them from the Way, the way of truth, though they had been discerning, perceptive people.
Verse 39
And, We destroyed, Korah, and Pharaoh, and Hāmān! And verily Moses brought them, beforehand, clear signs, manifest proofs, but they acted arrogantly in the land; and they could not thwart Us, they could not elude Our chastisement.
Verse 40
So each, of those mentioned, We seized for his sin; and among them were some upon whom We unleashed a squall of stones, as in the case of the people of Lot, and among them were some who were seized by the Cry, such as Thamūd, and among them were some whom We made the earth swallow, such as Korah, and among them were some whom We drowned, like the people of Noah, Pharaoh and his people. And God never wronged them, by chastising them for [having committed] no sin, but they wronged themselves, by committing sins.
Verse 41
The likeness of those who choose besides God [other] patrons, namely, idols, from whom they hope to profit, is as the likeness of the spider that makes a home, for itself in which to shelter. And truly the frailest, the weakest, of homes is the home of the spider, for it neither protects it from heat nor cold — likewise, idols cannot benefit those who worship them — if they only knew, this, they would not worship them.
Verse 42
Truly God knows whatever thing (mā functions like alladhī) they call on, [what] they worship (read yad‘ūna, ‘they call on’, or tad‘ūna, ‘you call on’) besides Him, other than Him. And He is the Mighty, in His kingdom, the Wise, in what He does.
Verse 43
And such similitudes, in the Qur’ān, We strike them, We coin them, for [the sake of] mankind; but none understands them, [none] grasp them, except those who know, those who reflect.
Verse 44
God created the heavens and the earth with truth, that is, rightly. Surely in that there is a sign, indicating His power, exalted be He, for believers — they are specifically mentioned because they are the ones to benefit thereby in their faith, in contrast to disbelievers.
Verse 45
Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book, the Qur’ān, and maintain prayer; truly prayer prohibits lewd acts and indecency, [defined as such] according to the Law. In other words, that is its purpose provided that the person adheres to [observance of] it. And the remembrance of God is surely greater, than other acts of obedience, and God knows what you do, and He will requite you for them.