Verse 22
And whoever surrenders his purpose to God, that is, [whoever] takes to obeying Him, and is virtuous, a believer in [His] Oneness, has certainly grasped the firmest handle, the stronger end, which is not in danger of being severed, and to God belongs the sequel of all matters, their [ultimate] return.
Verse 23
And whoever disbelieves, then do not let his disbelief grieve you, O Muhammad (s), do not be concerned with his disbelief. To Us shall be their return and We shall inform them of what they did. Truly God knows [best] what is in the breasts, just as [He knows] other things, and so He will requite [them] accordingly.
Verse 24
We will give them comfort, in this world, for a little [while], for the [duration of the] days of their lives, then We will drive them, in the Hereafter, to a harsh chastisement, namely, the chastisement of the Fire from which they will find no escape.
Verse 25
And if (wa-la-in, the lām is for oaths) you were to ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’, they will surely say, ‘God’ (la-yaqūlunna, ‘they will surely say’, the indicative nūn has been omitted because of the like [sc. the nūn] coming after it, and likewise the wāw of the [plural] person, because of two unvocalised consonants coming together). Say: ‘Praise be to God’, for the manifestation of the definitive argument against them by the affirmation of the Oneness [of God]. Nay, but most of them do not realise, that this [affirmation] is an obligation upon them.
Verse 26
To God belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth, as possessions, creatures and servants, and so none other than Him deserves to be worshipped in them. Indeed God, He is the Independent, [without need] of His creatures, the Praised, in His actions.
Verse 27
And if all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea (wa’l-bahru is a supplement to [mā] the subject of anna) replenished with seven more seas, were ink, the Words of God would not be spent, [those words] expressing all the things He knows, written in those pens with that [amount of] ink or with even more [ink] than that [would not be spent], for His knowledge, exalted be He, is infinite. Truly God is Mighty, nothing being beyond Him, Wise, from Whose knowledge and wisdom nothing escapes.
Verse 28
Your creation and your resurrection are only as [that of] a single soul, in terms of creation and resurrection, because it is the result of the words kun fa-yakūn, ‘“Be!” and it is!’ Truly God is Hearer, hearing everything that may be heard, Seer, seeing everything that may be seen, nothing able to distract Him from anything else.
Verse 29
Have you not seen, have you [not] realised, O you being addressed, that God makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night, such that the increase of the one is relative to the decrease of the other, and He has disposed the sun and the moon, each, of the two, running, in its course, to an appointed term, namely, [to] the Day of Resurrection, and that God is Aware of what you do?
Verse 30
That, which is mentioned, is [so] because God, He is the Truth, the established [truth], and whatever they call on (read yad‘ūna; or tad‘ūna, ‘you call on’) whatever they worship, besides Him is, evanescent, falsehood, and because God is the High [Exalted], above His creation by virtue of [His] subjugation [of them], the Great, the Mighty.
Verse 31
Have you not seen that the ships run upon the sea by the grace of God, that He may show you, O you who are being addressed in this [statement], some of His signs? Surely in that there are signs, lessons, for every [servant who is] steadfast, [in abstaining] from acts of disobedience to God, grateful, for His grace.
Verse 32
And if waves cover them, that is, [if] these rise above the disbelievers, like awnings, like mountains that act as awnings over those below them, they call on God, sincere before Him in their faith, that is, [in their] supplication, that He may deliver them, in other words, they do not call on any other [god] with Him; but when He delivers them to land, some of them compromise, middling between belief and disbelief, while others persist in their disbelief. And none denies Our signs, an example of which is Our delivering [them] from [such treacherous] waves, except every perfidious ingrate, [ungrateful] for God’s graces, exalted be He.
Verse 33
O people, namely, [such as] the people of Mecca, fear your Lord and fear a day when no parent shall avail a child, thereon in any way; and no child, thereon, shall avail its parent in any way. Surely God’s promise, of resurrection, is true. So do not let the life of this world deceive you, [and divert you] from Islam, and do not let the Deceiver, Satan, deceive you concerning God, because of His forbearance and granting [people] respite.
Verse 34
Lo! God, with Him lies knowledge of the Hour, when it will come to pass; and He sends down (read yunzilu, or yunazzilu) the rain, at times which [only] He knows; and He knows what is in the wombs, whether it is a male or a female; and not one of the three things is known by anyone other than God, exalted be He. And no soul knows what it will earn tomorrow, of good or evil, but God, exalted be He, knows this; and no soul knows in what land it will die, but God, exalted be He, knows this. Truly God is Knower, of all things, Aware, of the inward and outward aspects thereof. Al-Bukhārī reported [by way of an isnād] from [‘Abd Allāh] Ibn ‘Umar the following hadīth: ‘The Keys of the Unseen are five: Lo! God, with Him lies knowledge of the Hour … to the end of the sūra’ [above].
Verse 1
Alif lām mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].
Verse 2
The revelation of the Book, the Qur’ān (tanzīlu’l-kitābi, the subject) whereof there is no doubt (lā rayba fīh, the first predicate) from the Lord of the Worlds (min rabbi’l-‘ālamīna, the second predicate).
Verse 3
Or do they say, ‘He, Muhammad (s), has invented it’? Nay, but it is the truth from your Lord, that you may warn, thereby, a people to whom no warner came before you (mā is for negation) that perhaps they may find [right] guidance, by your warning.
Verse 4
God is He Who created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in six days, the first of which was Sunday and the last of which was Friday, then He presided upon the Throne (al-‘arsh in the [classical Arabic] idiom denotes the seat of a king), a presiding worthy of Him. You do not have, O disbelievers of Mecca, besides Him, in other words, other than Him, any protector (min waliyyin is the subject of the particle mā with the min added [extra]) in other words, [any] helper, or intercessor, to ward off His chastisement from you. Will you not then remember?, this and become believers.
Verse 5
He directs the command from the heaven to the earth, for the duration of this world, then it ascends, then the command and the direction [thereof] returns, to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years by your reckoning, in this world. In sūrat sa’ala, [An asker] asked [the measure is said to be]: ‘fifty thousand years’ [Q. 70:4] — and this [day] is the Day of Resurrection, [reckoned so] because of the severity of its terrors for the disbeliever. As for the believer, however, for him it will be easier than performing any one of [his] obligatory prayers in this world — as is stated in hadīth.
Verse 6
That, Creator and Director, is the Knower of the Unseen and the visible, that is, what is hidden from creatures and what is present before them, the Mighty, the Invincible in His kingdom, the Merciful, to those who are obedient to Him,
Verse 7
Who perfected everything that He created (read khalaqahu, as a past tense functioning as an adjectival qualification [of what He perfected]; or khalqahu, ‘its creation’, as an inclusive substitution [for kulla shay’in, ‘everything’]). And He began the creation of man, Adam, from clay,
Verse 8
then He made his progeny, his offspring, from an extract, a blood clot, of a base, delicate, fluid, namely, the sperm-drop;
Verse 9
then He proportioned him, that is to say, He created Adam, and breathed into him of His spirit, in other words, He made him a living sensory being after having been an inanimate thing. And He made for you, in other words, for [you] his descendants, hearing, meaning, ears, and sight and hearts. Little thanks do you give (mā here is extra, emphasising the ‘littleness’ [of the thanks]).
Verse 10
And they, namely, the deniers of resurrection, say, ‘When we are lost beneath the earth, [when] we have gone thereunder, having become dust mixed with its dust, shall we be indeed created anew?’ (an interrogative of denial; [read a-innā] by pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second one and inserting an alif between them either way, in both places). God, exalted be He, says: Nay, but they disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord, through resurrection.
Verse 11
Say, to them: ‘The Angel of death, who has been charged with you, shall receive you [in death], in other words, he shall seize your spirits, then to your Lord you shall be returned’, alive, whereat He will requite you for your deeds.
Verse 12
And if could you but see the guilty, the disbelievers, hanging their heads [low] before their Lord, lowering them in shame, saying: ‘Our Lord! We have seen, the resurrection that we denied, and heard, from You the confirmation of [the truth of] the messengers concerning that in which we used to call them liars. So send us back, to the world, so that we may act righteously, therein, for indeed we are convinced’, now. But none of this is of any use to them and they will not be sent back (the response to [the conditional clause beginning with] law, ‘if’, is [an implicit] ‘you would see a terrible thing’).
Verse 13
God, exalted be He, says: ‘And had We [so] willed, We could have given every soul its [means to] guidance, so that it may be guided through faith and obedience, through its own choice, but My Word became due, and it is that: “Verily I shall fill Hell with jinn and mankind together”.
Verse 14
When they enter [Hell] its Keepers shall say to them: So taste [now], the chastisement, for your having forgotten the encounter of this day of yours, in other words, for your having neglected to believe in it. We [too] shall forget you, we shall abandon you in the chastisement. And taste [now] the everlasting chastisement for what you used to practise’, of disbelief and denial.
Verse 15
Only those believe in Our signs, [such as] the Qur’ān, who, when they are reminded of them, admonished [with them], fall down in prostration and make glorifications, ensconced, in praise of their Lord, in other words, they say, ‘Glory be to God through His praise’ (subhāna’Llāh wa-bi-hāmdihi), and they do not disdain, to believe and to obey.
Verse 16
Their sides withdraw, they rise, from their lying places, the places for lying down [to sleep] together with the bedding, in order to spend the night in prayer (tahajjud), to supplicate to their Lord in fear, of His punishment, and in hope, of His mercy, and they expend of what We have provided them, they give voluntary alms.
Verse 17
For no soul knows what has been kept hidden for them in the way of joyous sights (a variant reading [for ukhfiya] has the imperfect tense ukhfī) as a reward for what they used to do.
Verse 18
Is he who is a believer like him who is a transgressor? They are not equal, namely, the believers and the transgressors.
Verse 19
As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, for them shall be the Gardens of the Abode — a hospitality (nuzul is what is prepared for a guest) for what they used to do.
Verse 20
But as for those who transgressed, by disbelieving and denying, their abode shall be the Fire. Whenever they seek to exit from it, they shall be brought back into it, and it shall be said to them, ‘Taste the chastisement of the Fire which you used to deny’.
Verse 21
And We shall surely make them taste the nearer chastisement, that is, the chastisement of this world — in their being killed or taken captive, or [through] years of drought and disease — before the greater chastisement, the chastisement of the Hereafter, that perhaps they, namely, those remaining of them, may return, to belief.
Verse 22
And who does greater wrong than he who is reminded of the signs of his Lord, [such as] the Qur’ān, but then turns away from them?, in other words, none does greater wrong than such [a person]. Assuredly We shall take vengeance upon the criminals, the idolaters.
Verse 23
And verily We gave Moses the Scripture, the Torah; so do not be in doubt concerning the encounter with Him, and indeed he and He met on the Night of the Journey; and We appointed him, namely, Moses — or [read ‘We appointed it’] the Scripture, a guidance for the Children of Israel.
Verse 24
And We appointed among them leaders (read a-immatan by pronouncing both hamzas, or by substituting the second one with a yā) who guided, people, by Our command, when they had endured [patiently], in [observing] their religion, and against the hardships [they suffered] because of their enemies (lammā, ‘when’: a variant reading has limā, ‘because’) and had conviction in Our signs, [the ones] indicating Our power and Our Oneness.
Verse 25
Surely your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that wherein they used to differ, in matters of religion.
Verse 26
Or is it not an indication for them how many generations, communities, on account of their disbelief, We destroyed before them, that is to say, has [not] Our destruction of many [generations] become clear to the disbelievers of Mecca, amid whose dwellings they walk (yamshūna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person of the pronoun lahum, ‘for them’) during their travels to Syria and other places, so that they might take heed? Surely in that there are signs, indications of Our power. Are they not able to hear?, in a way so as to reflect and be admonished.
Verse 27
Or have they not seen how We drive the water to barren land (juruz), [this] is arid land that contains no vegetation), and therewith bring forth crops whereof their cattle and [they] themselves eat? Can they not see?, this and so realise that We have the power to bring them back [to life after death].
Verse 28
And they say, to the believers: ‘When will this [decisive] Judgement, between us and yourselves, be, if you are truthful?’
Verse 29
Say: ‘On the day of [this] Judgement, [which will be effected] by sending the chastisement on them, their [newly found] faith [then] shall not benefit those who had been disbelievers, nor shall they be given respite, to make repentance or [offer] excuses.
Verse 30
So turn away from them, and wait, for the chastisement to be sent down on them. They too are waiting, for your death to take place or [for you] to be killed and so be rid of you — this was [revealed] before the command to fight them.
Verse 1
O Prophet! Fear God, remain in fear of Him, and do not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites, [and so follow them] in what contravenes your Law. Truly God is Knower, of what will happens before it happens, Wise, in what He creates.
Verse 2
And follow what is revealed to you from your Lord, namely, the Qur’ān. Truly God is Aware of what you do (ta‘malūna; a variant reading has ya‘malūna, ‘[what] they do’).
Verse 3
And put your trust in God, regarding this affair of yours; and God suffices as Guardian, to preserve you. And [the members of] his [the Prophet’s] community are subject to the same [admonitions] in all of the above.
Verse 4
God has not placed two hearts inside any man: [this was revealed] in order to refute those disbelievers who said that they each had two hearts with which they could reason better than Muhammad’s single mind; nor has He made your wives whom (read as allā’ī, or allā’) you repudiate by zihār (read tazzahharūna, or tuzāhirūna; the original tā’ [of tatazāharūna] has been assimilated with the zā’) — a man would say to his wife for example, ‘You are for me as [untouchable as] my mother’s back’ — your mothers, in other words, [He has not made you wives] like [your] mothers, so that they are illicit [for conjugality] in that respect, [a practice] which in pre-Islamic times was considered a [valid form of] divorce. An atonement with [necessary] conditions is necessary in such a case, as mentioned in sūrat al-Mujādila [Q. 58:2-3]. Nor has He made those whom you claim as [adopted] sons (ad‘iyā’, the plural of da‘iyy, which is one claimed as the son of one who is not his [biological] father) your sons, in reality. That is a mere utterance of your mouths, namely, [of] the Jews and the hypocrites. When the Prophet (s) married Zaynab bt. Jahsh, who had been Zayd b. Hāritha’s wife, the adopted son of the Prophet (s), they said, ‘Muhammad married his son’s wife!’, and so God proved them liars in this. But God speaks the truth, in this [matter], and He guides to the way, the way of truth.
Verse 5
Instead, attribute them to their [true] fathers. That is more equitable, [that is] more just, in the sight of God. If you do not know their [true] fathers, then they are your brethren in religion and [as] your associates. And you would not be at fault for any mistake you make, in this respect, except, in, what your hearts may premeditate, after the prohibition [has been issued]. And God is Forgiving, of whatever you said before the prohibition [was issued], Merciful, to you in this respect.
Verse 6
The Prophet is closer to the believers than their [own] souls, in terms of what he calls them to and what their own souls have called them to contravene, and his wives are their mothers, insofar as they [the believers] are forbidden to marry them. And those related by blood, kinsmen, are more entitled, to inherit [from], one another in the Book of God than the [other] believers and the Emigrants, in other words, than inheriting on account of [their sharing] faith and the Emigration, which had been the case at the beginning of Islam but was then abrogated; barring any favour you may do your friends, by [making] a bequest, which is permissible. This, namely, the abrogation of inheritance on account of [shared] faith and Emigration by the inheritance on account of kinship, is written in the Book — in both instances al-kitāb, ‘the Book’, denotes the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfūz).
Verse 7
And, mention, when We took a pledge from the prophets, at the point when they were brought forth from the loins of Adam, the size of atoms, and from you, and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus son of Mary, that they worship [only] God and call others to worship Him (the mention of the five [names] is an instance of supplementing the specific to the general). And We took from them a solemn pledge, a solid [one], that they fulfil what they have been charged with, and this was [effected] by [swearing] an oath to God, after which the pledge was consummated;
Verse 8
that He, God, may question the truthful about their truthfulness, in delivering the Message, as a way thereby to [justifiably] reproach the disbelievers; and He, exalted be He, has prepared for those who disbelieve, in them, a painful chastisement (‘adhāban alīman is a supplement to akhadhnā, ‘We took’).
Verse 9
O you who believe! Remember God’s favour to you when hosts, of disbelievers, came against you, as confederates, at the time the Ditch (al-khandaq) was being dug, and We unleashed against them a [great] wind and hosts, of angels, you did not see. And God is ever Seer of what you do (read ta‘malūna to imply ‘in the way of [your] digging of the ditch’; or read ya‘malūna, ‘[of what] they do’, to imply ‘the idolaters’ forming of a confederation’).
Verse 10
When they came at you from above you and from below you, in other words, from the higher side of the valley and from its lower side, from the east and from the west, and when the eyes turned away [in fear], from everything, to [gaze at] their enemies [approaching] from every side, and the hearts lept to the throats (hanājir, the plural of hunjura, which lies at the bottom of the gullet) out of intense fear, while you entertained all sorts of, different, thoughts concerning God, [some] of assistance, some of despair;
Verse 11
it was there that the believers were [sorely] tried, [there] they were tested, to distinguish the sincere individual from the one otherwise, and were shaken with a mighty shock, because of the severity of the terror.
Verse 12
And, mention, when the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is sickness, namely, weakness of conviction, were saying, ‘What God and His Messenger promised us, of assistance [to victory], was [nothing] but delusion’, falsehood.
Verse 13
And when a party of them, namely, the hypocrites, said, ‘O people of Yathrib!, namely, the region of Medina (it [Yathriba] is a diptote because of its being a proper noun and because of the [morphological similarity it bears to a] verbal form) there is not a stand [possible] (read muqām or maqām) for you [here], in other words, no place to stay and no [strategic] position, so turn back, to your dwellings in Medina — they had set out with the Prophet (s) towards the foot of a mountain outside Medina for battle. And a group of them [even] sought the permission of the Prophet, to turn back, saying, ‘Our homes are exposed, unprotected and we fear for them’. God, exalted be He, says: although they were not exposed. They only sought to flee, from battle.
Verse 14
And had they been invaded in it, namely, Medina, from all sides and had they been exhorted, in other words, had the invaders exhorted them, to treachery, [a return to] idolatrous ways, they would have committed it (read la-ātawhā, or la-atawhā, meaning, ‘they would have offered it’, or ‘they would have committed it’ [respectively]) and would have hesitated thereupon but a little.
Verse 15
Though they had assuredly pledged to God before that, that they would not turn their backs [to flee]; and a pledge given to God must be answered for, regarding whether it was fulfilled [or not].
Verse 16
Say: ‘Flight will not avail you should you flee from death or [from] being slain, and then, if you were to flee, you would not be extended comfort, in this world, after you have fled, except a little’, [except for] the remainder of your terms [of life].
Verse 17
Say: ‘Who is it that can protect you, grant you sanctuary, from God should He desire [to cause] you ill, [whether it be] destruction or defeat, or, [who is it that] can cause you ill, should He, God, desire for you mercy?’, good. And they shall not find for themselves besides God, in other words, other than God, any protector, to avail them, or helper, to ward off harm from them.
Verse 18
Indeed God already knows the hinderers among you and those who say to their brethren, ‘Come to us’, and they do not engage in the battle except a little, for show and for [the sake of their] reputation,
Verse 19
grudging to you, in their help (ashihha, ‘grudging’, is the plural of shahīh, and is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject [of the verb] ya’tūna, ‘they engage’). And when there is a panic, you see them looking at you, their eyes rolling like one, that is, like the look of one, or the rolling of one, fainting at death, in other words, [one] in the throes thereof; but when the panic subsides, and the spoils have been secured, they scald you, they hurt you, or they smite you, with [their] sharp tongues, in their greed for the riches, in other words, for the spoils, which they demand [greedily]. Those, they never believed, really. Therefore God has invalidated their works, and that, invalidation, is easy for God, by His will.
Verse 20
They suppose that the confederates, of disbelievers, have not [yet] departed, to Mecca, because of their fear of them, and were the confederates to come, a second time, they would wish that they were in the desert with the Bedouins asking about your news, your encounters with the disbelievers. And if they were among you, this second time, they would fight but a little, for show and for fear of being reviled.
Verse 21
Verily there is for you a good example (read iswa or uswa) in the Messenger of God, to emulate in combat and in holding one’s ground [therein], for whoever (li-man substitutes for lakum, ‘for you’) hopes for [the encounter with] God, fears Him, and the Last Day, and remembers God often, in contrast to those who do not.
Verse 22
And when the believers saw the confederates, of disbelievers, they said, ‘This is what God and His Messenger promised us, in the way of trial and [assistance to] victory, and God and His Messenger were truthful’, about the promise. And that only increased them in faith, in belief in God’s promise, and submission, to His command.
Verse 23
Among the believers are men who are true to the covenant they made with God, in steadfastly remaining alongside the Prophet (s). Some of them have fulfilled their vow, having died or been killed [fighting] for God’s cause, and some are still awaiting, for this [fate], and they have not changed, [their commitment to] the covenant, in the least, and they stand in contrast to the situation with the hypocrites;
Verse 24
that God may reward the truthful for their truthfulness and chastise the hypocrites, if He will, by causing them to die in [a state of] hypocrisy, or relent to them. Surely God is Forgiving, to he who repents, Merciful, to him.
Verse 25
And God repulsed those who were disbelievers, namely, the confederates, in their rage, without their attaining any good, [without achieving] their desire in any way to triumph over the believers. And God spared the believers from fighting, by [unleashing] the wind and the angels. And truly God is Strong, in bringing about what He wants, Mighty, prevailing with His way.
Verse 26
And He brought down those of the People of the Scripture, namely, the [Banū] Qurayza, who had supported them from their strongholds (sayāsī is the plural of sīsa, and is that in which one fortifies himself [against an enemy]) and He cast terror into their hearts, [so that] some, of them, you slew, and these were the combatants, and some, of them, you took captive, namely, their children.
Verse 27
And He made you inherit their land and their homes and their possessions, and a land you had not trodden, thitherto, and this was [the territory of] Khaybar, which was captured after [that of] Qurayza. And God has power over all things.
Verse 28
O Prophet! Say to your wives: — who were nine, and they had asked him for some of the adornments of this world, which he did not possess — ‘If you desire the life of this world and its adornment, come [now], I will provide for you, in other words, the compensation [to be provided] for divorce, and release you in a gracious manner, I will divorce you and will not coerce [you to stay].
Verse 29
But if you desire God and His Messenger and the Abode of the Hereafter, namely, Paradise, then God has indeed prepared for the virtuous among you, [virtuous for] desiring the Hereafter, a great reward’, namely, Paradise: so choose the Hereafter over [the life of] this world.
Verse 30
O wives of the Prophet! Whoever of you commits manifest indecency (read mubayyana, or mubayyina, meaning [respectively], ‘it has become evident’, meaning, ‘one that is evident’) the chastisement shall be doubled (yudā‘af: a variant reading has [2nd form] yuda‘‘af, and still another has nuda‘‘if, ‘We shall double’, in which case [read] al-‘adhāba, as accusative) for her, in other words, twice the chastisement for other women; and that is easy for God.