Verse 1
Tā sīn: God knows best what He means by these [letters]. Those, namely, these signs, are the signs of the Qur’ān, signs from it, and a Manifest Book, manifesting [what is] truth from [what is] falsehood (wa-kitābin, ‘Book’, is a supplement [to al-qur’ān] with the addition of an adjective [mubīn, ‘manifest’]).
Verse 2
It is, a guidance, guiding from error, and good tidings for the believers, who believe in it, of Paradise;
Verse 3
those who observe prayer, performing it in the way that it should be [performed], and give alms and who are certain of the Hereafter, knowing it [to be true] through the [many] proofs thereof (hum, ‘they’, is repeated because a separation has taken place between it [the first hum] and the predicate [yūqinūna]).
Verse 4
Truly those who do not believe in the Hereafter, We have adorned their, vile, deeds for them, by making such [deeds] seem sensuous so that they then deem them wholesome, and so they are bewildered, confused about why We deem these [deeds] to be vile.
Verse 5
Those are they for whom there is an awful chastisement, the worst [chastisement] in this world: being killed or being taken captive; and in the Hereafter they will be the greatest losers, because they will end up in the Fire which has been made everlasting for them.
Verse 6
And truly you — this is an address to the Prophet (s) — are receiving the Qur’ān, it is being transmitted to you intensely, from One Wise, Knowing, in such [transmission].
Verse 7
Mention, when Moses said to his family, [to] his wife, during his journey from Midian [back] to Egypt: ‘Assuredly I notice, I see in the distance, a fire. I will bring you news from there, about the [journey’s] route — for he had lost his way — or bring you a firebrand (read as a genitive annexation [bi-shihābi qabasin] as an explication [of shihāb, ‘flame’]; or read without [annexation, bi-shihābin qabasin] meaning, a flame of fire at the end of a wick or a wooden stick) that perhaps you might warm yourselves’, (tastalūn: the tā’ replaces the tā’ of the [8th verbal form] ifta‘ala [sc. istalā]; it derives from salaya or saliya, ‘to be exposed to the blaze of fire’), [that perhaps] you might warm yourselves from the cold.
Verse 8
But when he reached it, he was called [with the following words]: ‘Blessed is he, that is to say, God bless him, who is in the fire, namely, Moses, and who is around it, namely, the angels — or vice-versa ([the verb] bāraka may be followed immediately by the direct object or by a preposition and then the direct object; [a noun such as] makān, ‘location’, is implied after fī, ‘in’, [sc. man fī makāni’l-nār, ‘who is in the area of the fire’]); and Glory be to God, the Lord of the Worlds — this is included in the call, and is meant to declare that God is above all evil [associations].
Verse 9
O Moses, lo!, in other words, the fact is that, it is I, God, the Mighty, the Wise.
Verse 10
Throw down your staff’, and he threw it down. And when he saw it wriggling, moving, like a serpent, a slender snake, he turned his back in flight and did not come back. God, exalted be He, says: ‘O Moses, do not fear, it. Surely in My presence, before Me, the messengers do not fear, any snake or otherwise,
Verse 11
except him who has wronged, his soul, but then changed [his wrong] for good — he [then] performs [good deeds] — after [having done] evil, in other words, [he has] repented, then truly I am Forgiving, Merciful, I will accept his repentance and forgive him.
Verse 12
And insert your hand into your bosom, into the collar of your shirt, and it will emerge, not in its usual skin colour, but, white without any blemish, any [vestige of] leprosy, with a glare that dazzles the eyes, as one sign, among nine signs, with which you shall be sent [as God’s messenger], to Pharaoh and his folk; indeed they are an immoral lot’ .
Verse 13
But when Our signs came to them plain to see, illuminating and clear, they said, ‘This is manifest sorcery’, clear and evident [sorcery].
Verse 14
And they denied them, they did not affirm them, though, in reality, their souls had been convinced, in other words, [though] they were certain that these [signs] were from God, wrongfully and arrogantly, in defiance of believing in what Moses had brought ([these two adverbs] refer back to [the cause of] their denial). So behold, O Muhammad (s), how was the sequel for the agents of corruption, [a sequel] which you know: they were destroyed.
Verse 15
And verily We gave David and Solomon, his son, knowledge, of rendering [decisive] judgement between people, and [knowledge] of the speech of birds and of other things, and they said, giving thanks to God, ‘Praise be to God Who has favoured us, with prophethood and the disposal of jinn, humans and devils [to our service], over many of His believing servants’.
Verse 16
And Solomon inherited from David, prophethood and knowledge exclusively from among all his other children; and he said, ‘O people, we have been taught the speech of the birds, that is, the ability to understand their sounds, and we have been given of all things, given to prophets and kings. Indeed this, gift, is the manifest, the evident, favour’.
Verse 17
And, on one journey, Solomon’s hosts of jinn and humans and birds stood assembled for him as they were being arrayed, brought together [in groups] and marshalled.
Verse 18
When they came to the Valley of the Ants — which is [located] either in Tā’if or in Syria, and whose ants are either small or large — an ant, the queen ant, who had seen Solomon’s hosts, said, ‘O ants, enter your dwellings, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you while they are unaware!’ — the ants are likened to rational beings in their use of the latter’s speech.
Verse 19
Whereat he, Solomon, smiled (fa-tabassama, the beginning [of the sentence]) amused (dāhikan, the end [of the sentence]) at its words, which he had heard from three miles away and which was carried to him by the winds. When he was on the verge of [entering] their valley, he [Solomon] made his hosts halt until they [the ants] had entered their dwellings — on this journey his hosts consisted of cavalry and infantry. And he said, ‘My Lord, inspire me to be thankful for Your grace with which You have favoured me and my parents, and to do good that will please You, and include me, by Your mercy, among Your righteous servants’, the prophets and saints.
Verse 20
And he reviewed the birds, to see the hoopoe — which would locate water beneath the ground and indicate its location by pecking at it, whereupon the devils would extract it, for Solomon required it for when he prayed; but he could not see him — then he said, ‘Why is it that I do not see the hoopoe?, in other words, is there something preventing me from seeing him? Or is he among the absent?, and so I cannot see him because he is absent?’ And when he became certain [of the hoopoe’s absence],
Verse 21
He said, ‘Assuredly I will chastise him with a severe chastisement, by having [all] his feathers as well as his tail plucked and leaving him out in the sun, where he would not be able to escape from reptiles, or I will slaughter him, by slitting his throat, unless he brings me (read la-ya’tiyannī or la-ya’tinannī) a clear warrant’, plain manifest proof for his [having a valid] excuse.
Verse 22
But he did not remain (read fa-makutha or fa-makatha) long [in absence], in other words, [he was away only] for a short while, and came to Solomon humbly, with his head up and his wings and tail lowered. Solomon pardoned him and asked him about what he had encountered during his absence: and he said, ‘I have discovered something of which you have no knowledge, and I have brought you from Sheba (this may be read in declined form [min Saba’in] or left as indeclinable [min Saba’a]) — a tribe in Yemen, whose name is taken from the name of one of their ancestors (which is also the reason why it may be declined) — a verified report.
Verse 23
I found a woman ruling over them, in other words, she was their queen, her name Bilqīs; and she has been given [an abundance] of all things, that kings might require, in the way of machines and instruments, and she possesses a great throne — its length was 80 cubits, its width 40 cubits, its height 30 cubits, and was made of gold and silver, encrusted with pearls, rubies, chrysolite, and emeralds, with its legs made of rubies, chrysolite and emeralds, containing seven [inner] doors, the door of each chamber shut.
Verse 24
I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of God, and Satan has adorned for them their deeds and he has barred them from the Way, from the path of truth, so that they are not guided
Verse 25
to prostrate themselves to God (allā yasjudū should be read as an yasjudū: the lā is extra and with it has been assimilated the nūn of an, similar to [the construction] where God says, li-allā ya‘lama ahlu’l-kitābi, so that the People of the Scripture may know [Q. 57:29]; the sentence functions as the direct object of yahtadūna, ‘guided’, whose ilā, ‘to’, has been omitted); [He] Who brings forth the hidden (al-khab’ is a verbal noun, with the same meaning as al-makhbū’, ‘that which is hidden’) of rain and plants, in the heavens and the earth, and He knows what they conceal, within their hearts, and what they proclaim, with their tongues.
Verse 26
God — there is no god except Him, the Lord of the Mighty Throne’ (this clause constitutes an [independent] new sentence, which is a eulogy comprising [praise of] the Throne of the Compassionate One to counter the [description of the] throne of Bilqīs: between the two, however, is an unfathomable difference).
Verse 27
He, Solomon, said, to the hoopoe: ‘We shall see whether you have spoken the truth, in what you have informed us, or whether you are of the liars, that is, of their ilk — for [to say] that is rhetorically more powerful than [simply] saying ‘or whether you have lied’. He [the hoopoe] indicated to them the place of the water and it was extracted. They thus drank, performed their ablutions and prayed. Solomon then composed a letter in the following form: ‘From the servant of God, Solomon son of David, to Bilqīs, Queen of Sheba. In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful: Peace be upon those who follow Guidance. To wit: do not rise up against me [in defiance], but come to me in submission’. He then stamped it with musk and sealed it with his ring, and said to the hoopoe:
Verse 28
Take this letter of mine and deliver it to them, that is, to Bilqīs and her people, then turn away, withdraw, from them, but remain close by them, and see what [response] they shall return’, [and see] what kind of response they shall give. Thus, he took it and approached her [Bilqīs]. But as her soldiers were all around her, he cast it into her private chamber. When she saw it, she shuddered and was consumed by fear. She read what it said.
Verse 29
Then, she said, to the noblemen of her people: ‘O [members of the] council, lo! (read yā ayyuhā’l-mala’u innī, pronouncing [in the last two words] both hamzas; or by not pronouncing the second one and changing it into a wāw with kasra vowelling) a noble, a sealed, letter has been delivered to me.
Verse 30
It is from Solomon and lo! it is, in other words, its text says: “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Verse 31
Do not rise up against me [in defiance], but come to me in submission”’.
Verse 32
She said, ‘O [members of the] council, give me an opinion (read yā ayyuhā’l-mala’u aftūnī, pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second and changing it into a wāw), in other words, guide me, in this matter of mine. I never decide on a matter, I never conclude it, until you are present’.
Verse 33
They said, ‘We possess force and we possess great might, in other words, we are hardy in war. The matter is for you [to decide]. So see what you will command’, us, and we will obey you.
Verse 34
She said, ‘Indeed kings, when they enter a town, ruin it, with destruction, and reduce the mightiest of its inhabitants to the most abased. That is what they too will do, namely, the senders of this letter.
Verse 35
Now I will send them a gift and wait to see with what [response] the envoys return’, in the way of accepting the gift or rejecting it. If it be a king [to whom we have sent it], he will accept it; but if it be a prophet, he will reject it. Thus, she sent male and female servants, one thousand in total, together with five hundred bricks of gold, a crown studded with jewels, and musk, ambergris and other things with an envoy carrying a letter. The hoopoe thus hurried back to bring the news to Solomon, who ordered bricks of gold and silver to be made and laid out across a [vast] square the distance of nine parasangs from his seat and for a towering wall of gold and silver to be constructed around it, and for the most splendid creatures of the land and the sea, together with the children of the jinn, to be brought to line the right and left sides of the square.
Verse 36
But when he, the envoy, came to Solomon, with the gift and the servants, he said, ‘Are you supplying me with wealth? What God has given me, of prophethood and kingship, is better than what He has given you, of [the things of] this world. Nay, but it is you [and not I] who exult in your gift, for you pride yourselves upon [the possession of] the ornaments of this world!
Verse 37
Go back to them, with the gifts that you have brought, for We shall assuredly come to them with hosts which they will not be able to face and we shall expel them from there, from the land of Sheba (Saba’) — named [thus] after their tribal ancestor — humiliated, and they shall be utterly abased’, unless they come to me in submission. When the envoy returned to her with the gift, she had her throne placed inside seven doors inside her palace, with her palace inside seven palaces, and had all the doors locked with guards at them. She then prepared to make the journey to Solomon to see what he would command her. She departed with twelve thousand chieftains (qayl), each accompanied by thousands [of men] until when she came to within a parasang of him, he sensed her [arrival].
Verse 38
He said, ‘O [members of the] council, which of you (regarding the two hamzas read them in the way mentioned above [verse 32]) will bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?’, compliant and obedient? For I may only [rightfully] seize it before this [submission] and not afterwards.
Verse 39
An afreet from among the jinn — a [jinn who is] powerful and stalwart — said, ‘I will bring it to you before you rise from your place, the one in which you sit when adjudicating — the period from morning to midday. Indeed I have the strength for it, that is, for carrying it, and I am trustworthy’, over what it may contain of jewels and other [precious] things. Solomon said, ‘I want something faster than that!’
Verse 40
The one who had knowledge of the, revealed, Scripture — and this was [one] Āsif b. Barkhiyā, a righteous individual with knowledge of God’s Greatest Name, which when invoked [in supplication] for something it is [immediately] granted — said: ‘I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you, after you look at something. So he [the afreet] said to him, ‘Look up towards the heaven’, which he did, and when his glance returned [in front of him] he found it [Bilqīs’ throne] placed before him — for in the instance in which Solomon looked up to the heaven, Āsif supplicated by invoking the Greatest Name that God bring it [thereto]; and this was done by having it travel under the earth until it sprung up below Solomon’s seat (kursī). Then, when he saw it standing, still, before him, he said, ‘This, bringing it to me, is of my Lord’s bounty, that He may try me, test me, whether I give thanks (read a-ashkur, pronouncing both hamzas; or by replacing the second one with an alif; or by not pronouncing the second one, but inserting an alif between the one not pronounced and the other one or without [the insertion]) or am ungrateful, for the favour. And whoever gives thanks, gives thanks only for his own sake, because the reward for his thanks shall be his, and whoever is ungrateful, for the favour, [should know] then my Lord is surely Independent, with no need of his thanks, Generous’, by being bounteous to those who are ungrateful for it.
Verse 41
He said, ‘Disguise her throne for her — in other words, transform it such that when she sees it, it will be in an unrecognisable form — that we may see whether she will be guided, to recognising it, or be of those who cannot be guided’, to recognise when things are transformed around them. He [Solomon] sought thereby to test her mind, for it was said to have something wrong with it. Thus they transformed it by adding or taking away [certain things] and in other ways.
Verse 42
So when she came, it was said, to her: ‘Is your throne like this?’ She said, ‘It as though it is the one’. She had, in fact, recognised it; but she made a pretence to them just as they made a pretence to her, given that [when she was asked about the throne] it was not said, ‘Is this your throne?’, for had it been so, she would have replied, ‘Yes, it is’. When Solomon realised that she was perceptive and knowledgeable, he said: ‘And we were given the knowledge before her and we had submitted [to God].
Verse 43
And what she worshipped besides God, that is, other than Him, barred her, from the worship of God, for she belonged to disbelieving folk’.
Verse 44
It was, also, said to her, ‘Enter the palace [hallway]’ — this was a transparent white glass floor underneath which flowed sweet water that contained fish. Solomon had it made when he was told that her legs and feet resembled the shanks of a mule. And when she saw it, she supposed it to be a pool, of water, and so she bared her legs, to wade through it. Meanwhile Solomon was seated on his throne at the front part of the palace [hallway], and he saw that her legs and feet were [in fact] fair. He said, to her: ‘It is a hallway paved [smooth] with crystal’, and thereafter he called her to submit [to God]. She said, ‘My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, by worshipping other than You, and I submit with Solomon to God, the Lord of the Worlds’. He wanted to marry her but disliked the hair on her legs. So the devils made a [depilatory] lime mixture (nūra) and she removed it therewith. He married her and had [great] love for her. And he let her remain as ruler of her kingdom and would visit her once a month, staying for three days [every time]. Her reign came to an end at the same time as that of Solomon. It is reported that he became king at the age of 13 and died at the age of 53 — Glory be to the One whose enduring sovereignty will never end!
Verse 45
And verily We sent to Thamūd their brother, in terms of [his belonging to the same] tribe, Sālih, with the following [decree]: ‘Worship God!’, affirm His Oneness. And lo! they [then] became two parties quarrelling with one another, over religion, one party having become believers upon his arrival as messenger to them and the other party disbelievers.
Verse 46
He said, to the deniers: ‘O my people, why do you [seek to] hasten on evil before [seeking] good?, in other words, [why do you seek to hasten on] chastisement instead of mercy, when you say, ‘If what you bring us is true, then bring us the chastisement!’ Why do you not ask God to forgive you, [your] idolatry, so that you might be shown mercy?’, and not be chastised.
Verse 47
They said, ‘We augur evil (ittayyarnā is actually tatayyarnā, but the tā’ has been assimilated with the tā’, and a conjunctive hamza added) of you and of those who are with you’, namely, the believers — when they [the tribe of Thamūd] were deprived of rain and suffered hunger. He said, ‘Your evil augury is with God — He has given it to you; nay, but you are a people being tried’, being tested with good and evil [turns of fortune].
Verse 48
And there were in the city, the city of Thamūd, a band of nine men, that is, [nine] men, who were causing corruption in the land, with acts of disobedience, which included their corroding of dinar and dirham coins [rendering them worthless], and did not reform [their ways], through obedience [to God].
Verse 49
They said, that is, some said to others, ‘Swear to one another by God that we will attack him by night (la-nubayyitannahu; or [read] la-tubayyitunnahu, ‘that you will attack him by night’) together with his folk, that is, those who believed in him, in other words, [swear] that we will kill them at night; then we will surely say (la-naqūlanna; or [read] la-taqūlunna, ‘you surely will say’) to his heir, the avenger of his blood, that we did not witness, we were not present at, the destruction of his folk (read muhlika or mahlika, meaning ‘the destroying of them’ or ‘their death’ [respectively]), and so we do not know who killed them, and [that] indeed we are being truthful’.
Verse 50
So they plotted, thereby, a plot, but We [also] plotted a plot, in other words, We requited them by hastening on their punishment, while they were not aware.
Verse 51
So behold how was the consequence of their plot! For lo! We destroyed them and all their people, with Gabriel’s cry, or by the angels’ pelting them with stones, which they could see even though they could not see them [the angels].
Verse 52
So those then are their houses [lying] deserted (khāwiyatan is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier, the operator of which is the import of the demonstrative pronoun [tilka, ‘those’]) because of the evil which they did, that is, their disbelief. Surely in that there is a sign, a lesson, for a people who have knowledge, of Our power and are thus admonished.
Verse 53
And We delivered those who believed, in Sālih — and they numbered 4,000 — and were fearful, of idolatry.
Verse 54
And Lot (Lūtan is in the accusative because of an implied udhkur, ‘mention’, before it, and it [Lūtan] is substituted by [the following, idh qāla …]), when he said to his people, ‘What! Do you commit [such] abomination, namely, homosexual intercourse, while you watch?, that is to say, while you watch one another, [so] engrossed [are you] in the sinful act?
Verse 55
What! Do you (read a-innakum, pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second and inserting an alif between the two in both cases) come unto men in lust instead of women? Nay, but you are truly a people in ignorance’, of the consequence of your action.
Verse 56
But the only response of his people was that they said, ‘Expel Lot’s family from your town. They are indeed a folk who [prefer to] remain pure!’, from [coming unto] the rears of men.
Verse 57
So We delivered him and his family, except his wife — We decreed [for] her, We made her by Our decree, to be of those who remained behind, in the chastisement.
Verse 58
Then We rained on them a rain — these were the stones of baked mud [cf. Q. 15:74] — which destroyed them. And evil indeed was, their rain, the rain of those who were warned, against chastisement.
Verse 59
Say, O Muhammad (s): ‘Praise be to God, for the destruction of the disbelievers of past communities, and peace be on His servants whom He has chosen’. Is God (read a-Allāhu, pronouncing both hamzas; or by substituting an alif for the second one; or by not pronouncing the second one but inserting an alif between the one not pronounced and the other one or without [such an insertion]) better, for those who worship Him, or the partners which they ascribe? (read [either] tushrikūna, ‘you ascribe’, or yushrikūna, ‘they ascribe’), [they being] the people of Mecca, [the partners they ascribe] to Him, in other words, are such gods better for those who worship them?
Verse 60
Or He Who created the heavens and the earth, and sends down for you water from the heaven, whereby We cause to grow (there is a shift here from third person to that of the first person [plural]) splendid gardens (hadā’iq is the plural of hadīqa, which is an enclosed garden) whose trees you could never cause to grow?, because of you do not have the ability for it. Is there a god (a-ilāhun, here and in the seven instances in which it occurs, read by pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second, inserting an alif between the two in both cases) with God?, who has helped Him in [all of] this? In other words, there is no god with Him. Nay, but they are a people who ascribe equals [to Him], who associate with God others.
Verse 61
Or He Who made the earth an abode [of stability], that does not [constantly] shake beneath [the feet of] its inhabitants, and made rivers [to flow] throughout it and set firm mountains for it, with which He fixed the earth [in place], and set an isthmus between the two seas, between the sweet one and the salty one, the one not mixing with the other. Is there a god with God? Nay, but most of them have no knowledge, of His Oneness.
Verse 62
Or He Who answers the desperate one, the anguished person suffering harm, when he calls to Him and Who removes [his] distress, from him and from others, and makes you successors in the earth (the annexation [khulafā’a l-ardi, ‘successors of the earth’] has the same meaning as fī, ‘in’ [khulafā’a fī’l-ardi, ‘successors in the earth’]), in other words, each generation succeeding the one before it. Is there a god with God? Little do you remember, [little] are you admonished ([read] mā tadhakkarūna, ‘do you remember’; or [read] yadhdhakkarūna, ‘do they remember’, where [in both cases] the tā’ has been assimilated with the dhāl; the mā is extra, [used] to make less what is already ‘little’).
Verse 63
Or He Who guides you, shows you the way to your destinations, in the darkness of the land and the sea, by the stars at night, and by [the various] landmarks during the day, and Who sends forth the winds as harbingers of His mercy, ahead of the rain. Is there a god with God? Exalted be God [high] above what, others, they associate, with Him!
Verse 64
Or He Who originates creation, in the wombs, from a sperm-drop, then brings it back again, after death, as established by the proofs for this [resurrection], even if you do not acknowledge it; and Who provides for you from the heaven, rain, and [from] the earth, vegetation. Is there a god with God? In other words, none of the things mentioned is done by anyone other than God, and there is no god with Him. Say, O Muhammad (s): ‘Produce your proof, your definitive argument, if you are truthful’, about their being a god with Me who has done any of the things mentioned.
Verse 65
They [the disbelievers] also asked him when the Hour will come to pass, and the following was revealed: Say: ‘No one in the heavens or the earth knows, be it angels or human beings, the Unseen, namely, what is hidden from them, except God, He knows it, and they are not aware, the disbelievers of Mecca, like others, when, is the time in which, they will be resurrected.
Verse 66
Nay, has their knowledge come to comprise (read adraka, similar to the [4th verbal] form akrama, ‘he was kind to’; a variant reading has iddāraka, which is actually tadāraka, with the tā’ changed into a dāl and assimilated with the [other] dāl, and a conjunctive hamza added, meaning, ‘attained’ or ‘caught up with’) the Hereafter?, such that they [have reason to] ask about the time of its coming — not so: Nay, for they are in doubt of it. Rather they are blind to it (‘amūna, ‘blind’, as in blindness of the heart; this [statement] is rhetorically more powerful than the preceding one; the origin [of the term] is ‘amiyūn, but the damma vowel is deemed too heavy for the yā’ and has been moved to the mīm, after dropping its kasra vowel).
Verse 67
And the disbelievers say, also in rejecting the [idea of] resurrection: ‘What! When we and our fathers are dust shall we indeed be brought forth [again]?, from the graves.
Verse 68
Already we and our fathers have been promised this before. [But] these are just the [legendary] fables of the ancients’ (asātīr is the plural of ustūra, meaning ‘what has been written down [mā sutira] of lies’).
Verse 69
Say: ‘Travel in the land and see how was the sequel for the criminals’, because of their denials — and this [sequel] is that they were destroyed with punishment.
Verse 70
And do not grieve for them, and do not be distressed by their schemes — this is meant to comfort the Prophet (s), in other words, do not be concerned with their plotting against you, for We will grant you victory over them.
Verse 71
And they say, ‘When will this promise, of chastisement, be, if you are truthful?’, regarding it.
Verse 72
Say: ‘It may be that part of what you seek to hasten on is close behind you’ — so they were slain at Badr and the remaining chastisement will come to them after death.
Verse 73
And surely your Lord is bountiful to mankind, an example of which is His deferring chastisement for the disbelievers, but most of them are not thankful — disbelievers are not grateful for the deferring of chastisement since they reject [the fact] that it will ever come to pass.
Verse 74
And surely your Lord knows what their hearts conceal, [what these] hide, and what they proclaim, by their tongues.
Verse 75
And there is not a thing hidden in the heaven and the earth (the hā’ [tā’ marbūta] of ghā’ibatun is hyperbole, in other words, anything that is completely hidden from people) but it is in a manifest Book, namely, [in] the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfūz) and in God’s concealed knowledge, an example of which is the [time of the] chastising of the disbelievers.
Verse 76
Truly this Qur’ān recounts to the Children of Israel — those living at the time of our Prophet — [the means to resolve] most of that concerning which they differ, that is, by virtue of the fact that it expounds the said [differences] as they should be, eliminating any disagreements between them, if only they were to implement it and submit [to its prescriptions].
Verse 77
And truly it is a guidance, from error, and a mercy for believers, from chastisement.
Verse 78
Surely your Lord will decide between them, as [He will] with others on the Day of Resurrection, of His judgement, that is, His justice. And He is the Mighty, the Victor, the Knower, of what He judges, so that none will be able to oppose Him in the way that the disbelievers have opposed His prophets in this world.
Verse 79
So rely on God, trust in Him, for you are indeed upon the manifest truth, [upon] the manifest religion: the sequel shall be in your favour, with victory over the disbelievers. God then draws comparisons between them and the dead, the deaf and the blind, saying:
Verse 80
Indeed you cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when (al-du‘ā’a idhā, read by pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second one, eliding it with the yā’) they have turned their backs [upon you];
Verse 81
nor can you lead the blind out of their error. You can only make those hear — hear so as to comprehend and accept — who believe in Our signs — the Qur’ān — and have therefore submitted, [are therefore] sincere in their affirmation of God’s Oneness.
Verse 82
And when the word [of judgement] falls upon them, [when] they deserve that chastisement befalls them as well as all [other] disbelievers, We shall bring forth for them a beast from the earth which shall speak to them [saying], that is, which shall speak in Arabic to those who are alive at the time when it appears, among its other statements, it will say to them on Our behalf: ‘Indeed mankind (read tukallimuhum inna’l-nāsa; a variant has tukallimuhum bi-anna’l-nāsa, ‘to tell them that mankind’) had no faith in Our signs’, in other words, they did not believe in the Qur’ān and what it comprises [of the mention] of resurrection, reckoning and requital. With its [the beast’s] appearance the enjoining of decency and forbidding of indecency will cease, and thereafter no disbeliever will believe — just as God revealed to Noah [when He said to him]: None of your people will believe except he who has already believed [Q. 11:36].
Verse 83
And, mention, the day when We shall gather from every community a group of those who denied Our signs, namely, their leaders, the ones [whom they] followed, and they will be set in array, assembled, with the last of them brought together with the first and then led away,
Verse 84
until, when they arrive, at the site of the Reckoning, He, exalted be He, shall say, to them: ‘Did you deny, My prophets, by [denying], My signs without comprehending them, from the perspective of your denial, in knowledge, or what (ammā: the interrogative mā has been assimilated with am, ‘or’) was it (dhā is a relative pronoun, in other words [it is in fact] mā alladhī) that you did?, with the commands given to you.
Verse 85
And the word [of judgement] shall fall, the chastisement will be due, upon them because of the evil they committed, that is, [because of] what they associated [with God], and they will not speak, since they will have no [valid] argument.
Verse 86
Do they not see that We made, We created, the night that they, like others, may rest in it, and the day for sight?, meaning, [for people] to see in it, so that they may go about their business therein. Surely in that there are signs, indications of His power, exalted be He, for a people who believe — they [the believers] are singled out for mention because they benefit from such [signs] in their faith, in contrast to the disbelievers.
Verse 87
And the day when the Trumpet will be blown, the Horn [will be blown], the First Blast, by [the archangel] Isrāfīl, and whoever is in the heavens and the earth will be terrified, that is, a fright that brings about death — as is stated in another verse, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is in the earth will swoon [Q. 39:68] (the past tense [fazi‘a] is used to express the fact that such [events] will have occurred); except whom God will, namely, Gabriel, Michael, Isrāfīl and the Angel of Death. According to Ibn ‘Abbās, however, these [excepted individuals] are the martyrs who are [described as], living with their Lord, provided for [by Him]’ [Q. 3:169]. And all (kullun: the nunation compensates for the [missing] genitive annexation), in other words, and every one of them, after being brought back to life on the Day of Resurrection, will come to Him (read in the form of the verb [atawhu] or the active participle [ātūhu]) in [utter] humility, humbled (the past tense, atawhu, is used to express the fact that this will have happened).
Verse 88
And you see the mountains, you notice them, at the moment of the Blast, supposing them to be still, stationary in their place, because of their tremendous size, while they drift like passing clouds, [like the drifting of the] rain when it is blown around by the wind, in other words, they [the mountains] will be drifting in like manner until they [eventually] fall to the ground, whereby they are flattened before becoming like [tufts of] ‘wool’ [cf. Q. 101:5] and then ‘scattered dust’ [cf. Q. 56:6]. God’s handiwork (sun‘a, a verbal noun emphasising the import of the preceding sentence, and which has been annexed [in a genitive construction] to its agent [Allāhi, ‘God’] after the omission of its operator) Who has perfected everything, that He has made. Truly He is aware of what you do (taf‘alūna; or [read] yaf‘alūna, ‘[what] they do’), namely, His enemies, [what they do] in the way of disobedience, and His friends, in the way of obedience.
Verse 89
Whoever brings a good deed, namely, [the profession of] ‘there is no god but God’, on the Day of Resurrection, shall have good, [shall have] a reward, for it, because of it (this [khayrun] is not the comparative [‘better’], since there is no deed better [than a good deed]). In another verse [it is stated that] he shall have tenfold the like of it [Q. 6:160]; and they, namely, those who bring such [good deeds], shall be secure from the terror of that day (min faza‘i yawmi’idhin, if read as a genitive annexation; or min faza‘in yawma’idhin, ‘from terror on that day’).
Verse 90
And whoever brings an evil deed, namely, the ascribing of partners [to God], their faces shall be thrust into the Fire, having been oriented towards it — ‘faces’ are specifically mentioned here because of all the sensory organs it is where [a person’s] dignity resides, and so other parts [of the body] are more deserving [of punishment]. It shall be said to them in reproach: ‘Are you requited except, the requital, for what you used to do?’, in the way of idolatry and acts of disobedience.
Verse 91
Say to them: I have been commanded only to worship the Lord of this land, namely, Mecca, which He has made inviolable, which He has made a secure Sanctuary, one in which no human blood may be shed, no person may be wronged, none of its prey may be hunted and [a sanctuary] which is never deserted. Such were the graces bestowed [by God] upon its inhabitants, the [tribe of] Quraysh, [graces] whereby God has spared their land the suffering and civil strife common to all the [other] lands of the Arabs; and to Whom, exalted be He, all things belong, for He is their Lord, Creator and Possessor. And I have been commanded to be of those who submit, to God, by affirming His Oneness;
Verse 92
and to recite the Qur’ān, to you as a call to faith. So whoever is guided, to it, is guided only for his own sake, since the reward for his being guided will be his; and whoever goes astray, from faith and errs from the path of guidance, say, to him: ‘I am just one of the warners’, the threateners, and therefore my duty is only to deliver [the Message] — this was [revealed] before the command to fight [against the disbelievers].
Verse 93
And say: ‘Praise be to God. He will show you His signs and you will recognise them. Thus on the day of Badr God showed them how it was to be killed, to be taken prisoner and to be beaten by the angels on their faces and backs; and God hastened on for them the [punishment of the] Fire. And your Lord is not oblivious of what they do’ (ya‘malūna; or [read] ta‘malūna, ‘[what] you do’) but grants them respite until their [appointed] time [of requital].