An-Nisa--Women O mankind! Be mindful of your Lord, who had created you out of one single man, and out of him created He his mate and from the twain hath spread so many men and women. Be careful of your duty to God in whose name you claim your rights of one over the other and respect the rights of relationship. God is watchful over you. Give unto orphans what belongs to them and do not substitute worthless stuff for their valuable goods and consume not their property along with your own for this is a serious crime. And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly with the orphan wards under you, marry other women you like up to two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably then marry only one free or captive under your charge. Offer the woman their dower ungrudgingly but if they remit aught thereof, you can use it as you like. And entrust not the weak of understanding the property which god hath placed with you for their support and maintain them herewith and clothe them and speak to them gently. Keep on testing the orphans till they attain marriageable age, when ye perceive in them signs of understanding, hand over their property to them; do not expend it wastefully or in haste lest they should come of age. And let him who is above want abstain from charging anything for his stewardship but he who is not above want, can-charge something reasonable. Deliver their goods in the presence of witnesses. Those who devour the wealth of orphans unjustly, only swallow down fire into their bellies and anon shall be exposed to a blazing fire. Men and women both have a share in what their parents or kindred leave behind. And when at the division appear kinsfolk and orphans and those in want make some provision for them and speak to them in a gentle manner. In respect of inheritance God commandeth you to give the male the portion of two females, and if they be only females, two or more, they shall together have two-thirds of what the deceased has left, but if only one, she shall have half. If the deceased has left children, hid father and mother each shall have sixth part of the inheritance, but if he has no child, his mother shall have one-third (and the father two-thirds) but if he has brothers and sisters, his mother shall have the sixth. The entire arrangement is valid after paying the bequests, which he had bequeathed, and his debts. And your wives shall have a fourth of what you leave if you have no issue but one-eight if there are issues. And if the man or the woman leaving the heritage have neither parent nor children, but hath a brother or sister, either shall have a sixth, and if more than one they shall alike have a third, after the payments of bequests or debts. This is the ordinance of God and God is Knowing Gracious. If any of you woman is accused of immorality, then call for four witnesses against them from among yourselves, then, if they bear witness, restrict their movements by confining them to their houses for life or until God opens out a way for them. And if two men among you are found guilty of it then subject them to duress; but if they repent and amend, then leave them alone. Verily, God is Relenting, Merciful. But repentance of those is of no avail who persist in evil till death stareth any one of them in the face nor of those who die in state of unbelief. O ye who believe! It is not lawful for you to forcibly appropriate woman as part of heritage nor should you subject them to duress for taking away part of what you have given them unless they are guilty of open immorality, and should live with them in an appropriate manner. If ye dislike them in any manner, maybe you have disliked that in which God hath placed abundant good for you. If you have given her even a talent of gold, do not take back aught of it from the wife you divorce. Would you have it by slandering her or charging her with an open sin? And marry not women whom your fathers have married, for this is a shameful, hateful and an evil way. Forbidden to you in marriage are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your father's sisters and your mother's sisters and your brother's daughters and your sister's daughter and the mothers who have fostered you and your foster-sisters and the mothers of your wives and your step-daughters whom you have brought up, the wives of your sons and two sisters together. And forbidden to you are all married women other than those you rightfully possess (through wedlock). This is God's ordinance to you. But all the rest are lawful to you in wedlock by paying the dower and not to satisfy mere lust. And those of you who owing to circumstances, are not in a position to wed free believing women, they can marry believing captive maidens with the leave of their custodians and give them customary dower. Only see to it they are chaste, not debauched, nor given to secret amours. If they are guilty of immoral conduct after marriage, their punishment is half of that prescribed for the married woman. This permission to marry slave-girls is for those who otherwise fear to fall into sin. But it is much better for you to practice continence till things get easy for you. God desireth to make this clear to you, and direct you to the way of righteous, to be indulgent towards you and to lighten your burden, for man is born weak. O ye who believe! Squander not your wealth among yourselves in vanity, except it be a trade by mutual consent, and kill not one another. Should you abstain from enormities which you are forbidden to commit God will efface your minor evil deeds and will accord you an honourable station. And covet not that God hath given to some more than to some others. Men shall have what they have earned and women shall have what they have earned. Men stand above women on account of the qualities they have been gifted with and on account of what they spend over them from their substance. The virtuous women are dutiful carefully protecting in their husband's absence what God would have them protect. As for those women who seem to have gone refractory, first admonish them and then if necessary remove them to separate beds and (if this fails) give them a shaking. If they return to obedience seek not to harm them. If you fear a breach between the couple, appoint an arbiter from the man's family and an arbiter from the woman's family. If the two desire to reach a settlement, God may effect reconciliation between them. Serve ye God and join not aught with Him. And be good to parents, to kinsfolk, to orphans, to the needy, to the neighbour who is of kin and to the neighbour who is not of kin and to the fellow-traveller and wayfarer and to those under your care and control (slaves). Verily, God loveth not the proud and the boastful who themselves being niggardly bid others to be niggardly. What would they have lost, had they believed in God and in the Last Day and given to others in charity out of what God had given them? For any goodness done He will requite two-fold and of His own accord will he bestow a great reward. That day the unbelievers and those who rebelled against the Apostle shall wish they were levelled with the earth. O ye who believe! Come not to the prayer in a drunken state until you know what you utter nor when you have had a seminal discharge until you have had a bath. But if ye be sick or on a journey or ye have come from the privy or have touched a woman, and ye find not water, then seek clean earth and wipe with it your faces and your hands. Of the Jews there are some who displace words of Scripture and say, 'We have heard and we have not obeyed' instead of saying 'we have heard and we have obeyed' making a play with their tongues and implying that the true faith is false. But God has rejected them because of their refusal to acknowledge the truth--for it is in but few things that they believe. O you who have been granted revelation afore time! Believe in what God hath (now) revealed in confirmation of what you possess ere God makes you loose face and turns you back or cast you away as He cast away Sabbath breakers and God's command is always done. Verily, God does not forgive the ascribing of divinity to anything besides Him although He forgives any lesser sin unto whomever He wills; for he who ascribes divinity to anything beside God has indeed contrived to an awesome sin. Behold how they invent lies about God--than which there is no sin more obvious. Art thou not aware of those who, having been granted their share of divine writ, now believe in baseless mysteries and in the powers of evil and maintain that those who are bent on denying the truth are more surely guided than those who believe? It is they God hath rejected; and he whom God rejects shall find none to succour him. If it could be so, they would not give to other people as much as would fill the groove of a date-stone. Do they envy other people for what God has granted them out of His bounty? But then God did grant revelation and wisdom onto the House of Abraham, and God did bestow on them a mighty kingdom. Some believed in him and some turned away from him. And nothing could be as burning as hell. Verily, those who are bent on denying the truth of Revelations, God shall replace them with new skins so that they may go on testing the torment. But those who believe and do righteous deeds, God shall admit them into gardens through which streams flow, therein to abide forever, and there shall have spouses of stainless purity and God shall bring them unto happiness abounding. God bids you to restore trusts to their owners and when ye judge between men, to judge with fairness. Verily, most excellent is what God exhorts you to do and God is all-hearing, all-seeing! O you who believe! Obey God and His Apostle and those of you invested with authority. And if in anything you differ, refer it to God and the Apostle and abide by their decision. This is the best for you and the best in the end. The hypocrites evade it and when any misfortune befalls them, they come to you swearing that they meant only good-will and concord. God knows that they hide in their hearts; so leave them alone and instruct them and speak to them in appealing terms. They shall not be taken as believers until they make thee (O Prophet) a judge in matters they differ and willingly accept thy decisions. And they who obey God and the Apostle shall have the companionship of those whom God hath blessed, the prophets, and the steadfast in truthfulness, and the martyrs and the upright, --a goodly fellowship indeed! O ye who believe! Be prepared fully against danger, whether you go to war in detachments or advance in a body. Let them fight in God's cause--all who are willing to barter the life of this world for the life to come; for unto him who fights in God's cause, whether he be slain or victorious, God shall in time grant a great reward. And how could you refuse to fight in the cause of God and of the utterly helpless men and women and children who are crying "O our Lord! Take us out of this land whose people are oppressors and raise for us out of Thy grace a protector and one who will bring us succour." Those who believe fight in the cause of God and those who believe not fight in the cause of evil. Fight, then, the friends of Satan and verily Satan's guile is weak indeed. Art thou not aware of those who have been told "Withhold your hands for a while from war and observe prayer and pay the poor-due." But when fighting in God's cause was required of them, some of them feared men as one fears God or with a greater fear saying 'Couldst Thou not have given us respite for a little further term?" Say, O Prophet, to hem! "Brief is the enjoyment of this world. Whereas the life to come is the best for the righteous. You shall not be wronged by even a hair's breadth. Wherever you may be death shall death shall overtake you even though you be in massive towers." If good betide them, they say, "This is from God" and if evil befalls them they say "This is because of thee" Say, "All is from God." What hath come to these people that they even do not understand this much. Say, "Whatever good happens to thee is from God and whatever evil befalls thee is from thyself. And we have sent the (O Prophet) as an apostle unto mankind and all-sufficing is God as witness. Whosoever obeyeth the Apostle, he, indeed, obeyeth God and as for those who turn away We have not sent thee as keeper." Will they not, then, try to understand the Qur'an? Were it from any other than God, they would surely have found it in many inconsistencies. And if any secret matter pertaining to peace or war comes within their ken, they spread it abroad--whereas if they had only carried to the Apostle or to those in authority among them, they would know what to do about it. Were it not for God's goodness and graciousness towards you, all except a few of you would have followed Satan. Fight them in the cause of God and urge on the faithful to fight. Maybe, God will soon check the onslaught of the unbelievers. For God is stronger in might and stronger to punish. Whoso rallies to a good cause shall share its good result and whosoever rallies to an evil cause shall be answerable for his part in it. When you are greeted with a greeting, answer with an even better greeting or at least with the like thereof. God keeps count of everything. They desire you to be faithful even as they are, and be on level with them. Take not therefore any of them for friends till they have forsaken their homes in the cause of God, but if they turn traitors catch them and put them down wherever you find them. And do not take any of them as your ally except those who have sought an asylum with a people betwixt whom and you there is alliance, or have come over to you because their hearts shrink from making war either on you or their own folk. If they leave you alone and make not war upon you and offer you peace, then God alloweth you no cause to proceed against them. It is not for a believer to slay believer except by mishap. And whoso slayeth a believer by mishap shall set free a believing bondsman and pay blood-money to his family unless they themselves forego it. But whoever shall kill a believer intentionally, his recompense shall be Hell to abide therein; God's displeasure shall rest on him and He shall reject him and prepare for him a great chastisement. The believers who sit at home barring the disabled and those who fight in the cause of God with their property and persons cannot be esteemed alike. Although God has promised the ultimate good unto all believers, yet has God exalted those who strive hard above those who sit at home by giving them a greater recompense--ranks, forgiveness and favours from Him; and verily God is Indulgent, Merciful! While taking the souls of those who were engaged in pursuits hurtful to themselves, the angels will ask them: "What was wrong with you?" They will answer: "We were too weak on earth." They will rejoin, "Was not God's earth wide enough for you to migrate elsewhere." For such, then, the goal is hell--and how evil a journey's end except for those feeble among men and women and children who had not the ability to seek means of escape and did not know whither to go. And he who forsakes his home in the cause of God shall find in the earth many a place of refuge and plentiful resources and if death overtakes him in the way--his reward is ready with God. And when you travel in land it will not be sin in on your part to shorten your prayers, if you fear that the unbelievers may attack you. In truth the unbelievers are an open enemy to you. While confronting enemy forces your men should divide themselves in two ranks--one saying its prayers and the other providing cover and saying its prayers after the first has finished both being armed all the while. The unbelievers want you to be careless of your arms and baggage so that they may suddenly fall upon you. And when you have finished your prayers, remember God standing and sitting and lying down and when you are once again secure, observe full prayers. Verily, for all believers prayer is indeed a sacred duty to be observed at stated hours. O Prophet! God has sent thee the Book so that thou mayst judge between men according to the light God has given thee, and be not an advocate for the dishonest. You can pray to God to forgive them but do not argue on behalf of those who are false to their own selves. God does not love those who betray their trust and persist in sinful ways. They would conceal their doings from men but from God they cannot conceal them for He is present when they hold nightly counsels displeasing to Him and He encompasses whatever they do. Yet he who does evil or sins against himself and thereafter seeks pardon shall find God much-forgiving, Merciful. And whoever commiteth a sin doth so to his hurt and whoever commiteth a fault or crime and foisteth it on innocent, hath indeed taken upon himself the added burden of calumny and manifest sin. As for him who sets himself against the Apostle after guidance has been vouchsafed to him and follows a path other than that of the believers-him shall God leave unto that which he himself has chosen and shall cast him into hell--an evil destination indeed. Beside God they call upon goddesses and invoke the rebel Satan who hath said, 'I shall draw to myself a certain number of thy servants and I will lead them astray and fill them with vain desires and I will command them to corrupt God's creation.' He maketh them promises and filleth them with vain hopes and what Satan promiseth is nothing but delusion. Such as these have hell for their goal. It is not your wishes or the wishes of the people of the Book, which matter. He who doth evil shall reap the consequence thereof and he shall not find for himself save God a friend or a helper. But whoso shall do good deeds shall enter the garden of bliss. If a woman fears from her husband ill-treatment or estrangement, then no fault shall lie if they settle things amicably; an amicable settlement is always good. The human mind is prone to emphasize self-interest. But if you act with an eye on the interest of others and be mindful of God, your actions will not go un-noticed by God. It will not be possible for you to hold the balance evenly between your wives, however keenly you may desire it and so do not allow yourself to incline wholly to one leaving another like one in suspense. Observe fairness and avoid excesses. O ye people! If it pleased God, He can remove you altogether and bring forth other beings in your stead. O you who believe! Be ever steadfast in upholding justice, and for sake of God be truthful in giving evidence though it be against your own selves or your parents or kinsfolk, whether the party be rich or poor, God safeguards the interest of both. Therefore follow not your inclinations lest you swerve from justice. If you prevaricate or decline to speak the truth, God is aware of what you do. Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe again and disbelieve, and wax in unbelief, God does not forgive them nor direct them to the right way. And indeed God has enjoined upon you in this divine writ that whenever you hear people deny the truth of God's message and mock at them, you shall avoid their company until they begin to talk other things or else you will become like them. Verily, God will gather together in Hell all hypocrites and unbelievers. The hypocrites attempt to deceive God: but He over-reaches them; when they stand up for prayer grudgingly, only to be seen of men, and give to God little thought. And for him whom God hath discarded (for his inordinacy) thou shall never find a way. Why should God deal out chastisement for you if you appreciate Divine favours, and are obedient, for God is Himself the Appreciator of every good deed and the Knower of everything. God does not like any evil to be talked about publicly unless one hath been wronged! And God is indeed all-hearing, all-knowing whether you do good openly or in secret or pardon others for evil done to you. Lo! Those who disbelieve in God and His messengers, and seek to make distinction between God and His messengers and say "We believe in some and disbelieve in others" and seek to pursue a path in-between, it is they who are disbelievers for whom a humiliating chastisement has been prepared. The People of Book ask of thee to cause a book to be sent down to them from heaven. An even greater thing than this they demanded of Moses when they said, "Make us see God with our own eyes" whereupon a thunderbolt seized them for their in-ordination. And so God punished them for their breaking of pledges, their refusal to acknowledge God's messages and their slaying of prophets against all right and the awesome calumny they uttered against Mary, and for their boast that they slew Christ Jesus, son of Mary, although they slew him not, they crucified him not. It was only an illusion for them. Verily those who hold conflicting views about this matter are indeed confused having no real knowledge thereof and follow mere conjecture. For, of a certainty, they did not slay him: nay, God exalted him unto Himself. For the wickedness of the Jews God forbade them certain goodly things which hitherto had been lawful to them and also because of their having so often turned away from the path of God and for having taken to usury and devouring wrongfully others' properties. For the unbelievers among them has been prepared a grievous chastisement. But those among them who make a right approach to knowledge and the believers who have faith in what hath been sent down to thee and that was sent down before thee, and who observe prayer and pay the poor due and who have faith in God an the Day after, God will anon give them a great reward. Verily, God inspired in thee (O Prophet) His word as He inspired in Noah and in the prophets after him--Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and their progeny Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron and Solomon and David--apostles all, who had been bearers of glad tidings and warners in order that men may have no plea against God after the prophets had come. O ye men! Now that an apostle hath come to you bearing the truth from your Lord, believe in him for your own good, but if ye believe not, then mark, unto God belongeth all that is in the heavens and the earth and God is all-knowing, the Wise. O Followers of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds of truth in your religious beliefs and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was but God's apostle, and His promise, which he conveyed to Mary, and a soul created by Him. Believe, therefore, in God and His apostles and call Him not a Trinity. Forebear for your own good. Verily! God is the only God worthy of worship; utterly remote is He, in His glory from having a son; unto Him belongs all that is in the heaven and the earth. O Mankind! A manifestation of the truth has now come unto you from your Lord, and He hath sent down unto you a clear light. Wherefore those who believe in God and hold fast unto Him--soon will He cover them with His mercy and grace and guide them unto Himself by a straight way. O ye who believe! Fulfill your engagements. Co-operate one with another in goodness and piety and do not co-operate in sin and transgression and avoid displeasure of God for He is strict in dealing out chastisement. Made lawful for your food are animals that feed on plants and forbidden to you are carrion, and blood and swine's flesh and whatever that hath been sacrificed in the name of any other than God, and also the strangled and that which is killed by a blow or a fall or by goring and anything that hath been partaken of by a beast of prey and that which hath been slain on any altar or hath been apportioned by means of divining arrows. As for him, however, who is driven by hunger to partake of anything forbidden without being inclined on sin, God is forgiving, Merciful. And you can also eat that hunting animals trained by you seize for you and mention God's name over it and be mindful of God. Now the unbelievers have given hope of turning you from your faith: do not then fear them but stand in awe of God. Today God hath perfected your religion for you and hath bestowed upon you the full measure of His blessings and hath been pleased to assign for you Islam as your religion. Today every wholesome thing has been made lawful for you. And the food of those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime is lawful for you and your food is lawful to them. And lawful to you are chaste believing women and chaste believing women from amongst those who received the book aforetime, provided you give them their dowers and enter into wedlock with them with no thought of mere sexual satisfaction or keeping them as concubines. Vain the work of him who renounces the faith; and in the Life-hereafter, he shall be amongst the lost. O believers! When you want to pray, wash your faces and your hands up to elbows and wipe your heads and wash your feet up to the ankles. If you have had a seminal discharge, then take a full bath. But if ye be sick or are travelling or have just satisfied a want of nature or have cohabited with a woman and can find no water, then take resort to pure dust passing there with lightly over your face and hands. And always remember the blessings God has bestowed upon you and the solemn pledge you made to Him saying, "We have heard and will obey," and be mindful of God. O you who believe! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and never let hatred of anyone lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God conscious. And do remain conscious of God. And recollect the favour of God shown to you when hostile people were about to lay hands on you and He stated their hands from you. Be mindful of God and in God let the faithful repose their trust. And, indeed, God accepted a similar solemn pledge from the children of Israel and raised up from among them twelve leaders and said, "Truly I am with you if you observe prayer and pay the poor-due and believe in My apostles and give them assistance and lend God a goodly loan (by helping the poor) I will surely efface your bad deeds and bring you into gardens wherein streams flow. But whoever turneth back after this, he hath indeed drifted from the right path." Then for their having broken the covenant, God disowned them and hardened their hearts. They tampered with Divine Scripture and neglected to profit by what was commanded to them and from all but a few of them thou wilt always experience acts of treachery. But pardon them and forgive: verily, God loves the doers of good. And likewise for those who say they are Christians, God accepted a solemn pledge but they too have neglected to profit by what was commanded to them. So God let them develop enmity and spite between them to last until Resurrection Day and in time God will let them know what they contrived. O followers of Bible! Now hath an apostle come to you to clear up much that you were wont to conceal from out of the Scripture and to over look many of your shortcomings. Now there has come to you from God a light, and a book of illumination by which He will guide those who seek His pleasure to path of salvation and will, as He likes, bring them out of darkness into light and direct them to the straight path. They indeed commit blasphemy who say that Messiah, son of Mary is God. Say, "Who could have prevailed with God had He chosen to destroy the Messiah, son of Mary, and his mother and all who were on the earth?" The Jews and Christians say, "We are the sons of God and are the loved of Him." Say, "Why then doth He chastise you for your sins?" Nay! Ye are but as other men whom He hath created. He pardoneth whom He pleaseth and chastiseth whom He pleaseth." Call to mind when Moses addressed his people, "O my people! Remember the favour of God shown to you by raising prophets among you and giving you sovereign status. Enter boldly the holy land God hath assigned to you." They said, "O Moses! Never shall we enter while there remain the powerful people. On our part, we shall sit down here." God said to Moses, "Then they shall not enter the holly land for forty years. They shall wander in the wilderness in utter distraction. Fret not thyself for these unruly folk." Relate to them the story of the two sons of Adam who had offered each an offering to God. The offering of one of them (Abel) was accepted while that of the other (Cain) was not accepted. Out of spite Cain slew Abel and became of those deprived of Divine grace. Then God sent a raven which scratched the ground to show how he might hide the corpse of his brother and he felt deeply ashamed of himself. So God laid down that if anyone slayeth another for other than man-slaughter or for spreading disorder in the land, it shall be as if he hath slain all mankind. But if one saveth the life of a single person, it will be as if he hath saved the life of all mankind. The recompense for those who rise against God and His Apostle and go about spreading disorder in the land is naught but that they should be slain or crucified or have their alternate hands and feet cut off or be banished from the land. There is for them disgrace in this world and in the next severe chastisement. Whether a thief be a man or a woman, cut off his or her hand as punishment from God for what one hath done. But he who shall repent after his transgression and amend, then verily God will turn to him in forgiveness. O ye who believe! Be mindful of God and seek the means of approach to Him and strive earnestly in His path for your own good. Even if those who reject the Faith ever posses all that is in the earth and as much again, and offer this as a ransom on the Day of Resurrection to save themselves from chastisement, it will not be accepted from them and for them will be a severe chastisement. O Apostle! Let not those grieve thee who hasten towards unbelief. Eavesdroppers coining lies, greedy, devourers of forbidden, if these come to thee, decide fairly between them or leave them alone. But if you have to decide, judge fairly between them. Verily, God sent down Torah affording guidance and light wherein is laid down the law "Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose and ear for ear, and tooth for tooth and for other hurts likewise but who so shall forego retaliation in kindliness shall have done an act of expiation." In the line of prophets came Jesus, son of Mary, to confirm what was in Torah. God gave him Evangel with guidance and light afforded therein. Let the followers of Torah and the Evangel administer justice in accordance with what God revealed therein and those who do not do so are transgressors. To you also--O Prophet--God sent down the book in proper form conforming the Scriptures already delivered and determining what is true in the later. Judge, then, between the followers of earlier revelation in accordance with what God has revealed, and do not follow their errant views, forsaking the truth that has come unto thee. Unto every people God appointed a law and way of life. And if God has so willed, He could have sure made you all a single community, but (He willed it otherwise) in order to test you by means of what He has vouchsafed unto you. Vie, then, with one another in doing good works! Unto God you must all return; and then He will make you understand all that on which you were wont to differ. O believers! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for your allies: they are but allies of one another and whoever of you allies himself with them becomes one of them and behold God does not bestow His guidance upon such wrongdoers. And all those who ally themselves with God and His Apostles and those who believe--they are truly helpers of God; and they shall be victorious. The Jews say, "The hand of God is tied up." Tied up shall be their own hands and condemned shall they stand for what they say. Aye, wide open are both his hands, He grants as He wills. And what hath been revealed to thee from thy Lord will assuredly cause greater disdainfulness and disbelief on their part. As oft they kindle the fire of war, doth God put it out. They run about spreading the mischief in the land: but God liketh not the mischief-mongers. O Apostle! Preach what hath been delivered to the from thy Lord. And God will certainly protect thee from men. Verily, they who believe in this message and they are who are Jews and Sabians and Christians--whoever believeth in God and the Day to come and doeth what is right--shall have their recompense from their Lord: fear shall not come upon them neither shall they grieve. They surely are not believers in God who say that Messiah, son of Mary, is God, whereas the Messiah himself hath said, "O children of Israel! Serve God who is my Lord and your Lord." They surely are not believers in God who say that 'God is the Third of Three.' Whosoever takes for God anyone other than He, surely to him God denieth Paradise, and Fire shall be his abode. The unjust shall not have any helpers. The Messiah, son of Mary, was but an apostle. Surely apostles before him have passed away, and his mother was a truthful person. The two did live on food like other mortals. Say, "Will you, beside God, serve aught that hath no power either to harm you or benefit you, when it is God alone who hears (one's prayers) and knows (the needs of every one)." Say, 'O followers of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds of truth in your religious beliefs; and do not follow the errant views of people who have gone astray aforetime and have led many others astray, and are still straying from the right path.' O you who believe! Do not treat as unlawful the goodly things of life made lawful to you and do not transgress the bounds of what is right. Then, partake of the lawful wholesome things which God grants you as sustenance and be mindful of God in whom you believe. God will not take you to task for oaths you may have uttered without thought but He will take you to task for oaths sworn in earnest. Atonement for breaking an oath is the feeding of ten needy persons with food you normally take or by clothing them or by freeing a bondsman and he who has not the wherewithal shall fast for three days. O you who believe! Intoxications, games of chance, and idolatrous practices and of divining of future are but a loathsome evil of Satan's doing. So shun them that ye may prosper. Verily Satan desireth to breed enmity and spite among you by means of wine and games of chance and turn you aside from prayer. Obey God and obey the Apostle and be on your guard. But if ye turn away, then know, that the Apostle has only to deliver the message plainly. Say, "The evil and the good shall not be valued alike, even though very many of the evil things may seem attractive to you. Fear God, ye men of understanding so that you might be graced with good everlasting. O believers! Do not ask of things which if declared to you will only harm you; but if ye ask do of them when the Qur'an is being revealed, your questions will certainly be answered. God in the past hath overlooked such questioning. God has not sanctioned anything in the nature of bahirah nor a saibah nor a wasilah nor a ham (i.e. the practice of dedicating certain kinds of cattle to deities and setting them free to pasture and prohibiting their use or slaughter). But the unbelievers have foisted this superstition on God and most of them lack understanding. O you believe! It is for your own selves that you are responsible: those who go astray cannot harm you if you are on the right path. O believers! If on death approaching you wish to make a bequest, let there be two upright men as witnesses who shall give testimony on oath after saying their prayers. But if afterwards it is found that they have perjured let two among the heirs deprived of their rights swear in all solemnity. Thus it will be more likely that they will be true to facts fearing contradiction by an equally solemn oath. On the Day God will assemble all the apostles and question them. He will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary! Remember the blessing I bestowed on thee and thy mother--how I strengthened thee with holy inspiration so that thou will speak unto men in the early childhood and as grown man, and I imparted unto the Book and the Wisdom, including the Torah and the Gospel; and how by My leave thou didst fashion out of clay a thing like a bird, thou didst breathe into it, and by My leave it became, a bird and how thou didst heal the blind-born and the leper by My leave; and how I prevented the children of Israel from harming thee as thou brought to them clear sign (of thy mission) and when such of them as believed not said: "This is nothing but plain sorcery," and when I bade thy companions "Believe in Me and My apostles," They said, "we believe and bear thou witness that we have surrendered unto Thee." And when God will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say to men, 'Worship me and my mother as deities beside God." He will say, "Transcendent art Thou! It ill-becomes me to say that which I know to be not the truth. Had I said this, surely thou wouldst have known it…..I said nothing to them except what thou didst bid me to say, "Serve God, my Lord, and your Lord . . ." If Thou chastise them, they are Thy servants; and if Thou forgive them then verily Thou art the Mighty, the Wise." God will say, "This is the day when the truthfulness of the truthful shall stand in good stead……God is pleased with them and they with Him. This indeed is the highest bliss." All praise belongs to God who has created heavens and the earth, and brought into being darkness and light. Yet those who disbelieve set up peers for God and treat His revelation as lie. Have they not seen how many generations before them God had destroyed who had been given a bountiful place on earth the like of which has not been given to you, yet God destroyed them for their sins and gave rise to other people in their stead. They say, "Why has not an angel been sent down to him." But had God sent down an angel, all would have been indeed decided, and they would have allowed no respite for repentance. Even if an angel had been appointed as message bearer, he would have appeared as man leading to doubts much in the same way as they are now confusing themselves. And apostles before thee have been likewise laughed to scorn but what they derided inevitably recoiled on them. Say: Go through the land; then see what hath been the end of those who rejected (the apostles). God hath made the exercise of Mercy incumbent upon Himself. It is only those who seek their own ruin that will never believe. If God causes thee affliction there is none to remove it but He; and if He brings the good, it is He who hath power over everything. And it is He who has a supreme hold over His servants. This He doeth with wisdom, fully aware of their condition. Who is more wicked than he who foisteth a lie on God or who treateth His signs as lies? Surely, the wicked will not prosper. The unbelievers themselves do not listen to Qur'an and keep others away from listening to it. They say it is nothing but the self-same ancient talks. But (O man!) if thou were to see when they shall be set before the Fire, they will say, "Oh! Would that we were sent back we would not treat the signs of our Lord as false and be the believers." They also say, "We have no life other than the life of this world and for us there is no life hereafter." They shall get to know the truth when they will face the Day of Judgment while bearing their burdens up on their back. How hurtful is what they bear. The life of this world is nothing but a play of pastime and the life of Hereafter is the bliss for the virtuous. O Prophet! God knoweth that what they say grieves thee; but it is not thee they charge with falsehood! It is the signs of God, which is in fact these reprobates hold to ridicule. Even before thee the messengers have been charged with falsehood. But they bore the wrong done them with patience till God's help came to them. They alone will respond who have the willingness to hear. The dead (of heart) God will raise up, for to Him they shall return. There is not an animal that moveth on the earth or a bird that flieth with its wings that doth not live in a community its own even like yours. Nothing has been missed in the scheme of creation. Then to their Lord will they be all gathered? And they who gainsay God's message are like deaf and dumb and grope in darkness deep. Whomever God wills, He lets go astray and whomever He wills, He places upon a straight way. Say (to them O Prophet!) 'What think ye? If the chastisement of God befalls you or if the last hour were to come upon you, will ye cry to any other than God? (Answer) if you could speak the truth. Surely, to Him alone will you cry; and if He pleases, He will remove the ill which cause you to cry unto Him and you will have forgotten all those whom you join with Him." Messengers were sent to all communities before thy time and (when they were rejected) misfortune and hardship visited them so that they might humble themselves but their hearts grew hard for Satan had inured them to the course of conduct they followed. Say: What think ye? If God should take away your hearing and sight and seal your hearts-what deity besides God can restore them to you. Say to them: I do not assert that I posses the treasures of God neither do I assert I know the things unseen nor that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me. Say: Can the blind and the seeing be deemed equal? Will you not, then, take thought? Warn hereby those who fear meeting their Lord: haply they may take heed. And do not keep away from thee who at morn and evening invoke their Lord seeking His countenance. Thou art in no wise accountable for them--just as they are in no wise accountable for thee. The affluent taunt the poor, "Are these they to whom God hath chosen for His grace from amongst us." Tell them: "Doth not God know those who appreciate the graciousness of God." So clearly doth God set forth His revelation in order that the way of the wicked might become easily distinguishable from that of righteous. Say to deniers of truth, "I am forbidden to worship those whom you invoke instead of God. I do not follow your errant views or else I should have gone astray." Say: Behold, I take my stand on a clear evidence from my Lord which you treat as false. You ask fro immediate decision from God, but what ye ask is not my power to hasten; the final word resteth with none but God. Had it been in my power the matter between you and me would have been long before settled. And with Him are the keys of the Unseen; none knoweth them but He. He knoweth whatsoever is in the land or in the sea; not a leaf falleth but He knoweth it; and there is not a grain in the earth's deep darkness nor anything living or dead, but is recorded in His clear decree. And it is He who layeth you to rest in the night and knoweth what you work in daytime, and He brings you back to life each day that the prescribed term of life be fulfilled. Then unto Him you will return and He alone holds sway over His servants. And He sends forth heavenly God's messengers cause him to die and fail not. Say, "Who rescueth you from the dark dangers of land and sea when you call unto Him humbly and in secrecy of your hearts, "If He will save us from this distress, we shall most certainly be grateful." Say: God alone can save you from every distress--and still you ascribe divinity to other things besides Him. Behold in how many ways God doth explain His message so that they might understand the truth. And whenever thou meet such as indulge in blasphemous talk about God's messages, turn thy back upon them until they begin to talk of other things. No responsibility lieth on the righteous except to admonish them that haply they may abstain. And (O prophet!) leave alone those who have made of their religion a sport and a pastime and whom the life of this world hath deluded, but remind them herewith that in the life to come every human being will be held in pledge for whatever wrong be has done and shall have none to protect him from God and none to intercede for him. Say: Verily God's guidance is the only guidance. He it is who, when He sayeth, 'Be', there it is. His word is the truth; and His the sovereignty on the Day when the trumpet shall blow--knower alike of the seen and the unseen and He is the wise, the cognizant. And, lo, (thus) spoke Abraham unto his father Azar: Takest thou idols for gods? Verily, I see that thou and thy people have gone astray! And thus God gave Abraham (his first) insight into God's mighty dominion over the heavens and the earth so that he might become one of those fully convinced. Then when the nights spread its darkness over him, he beheld a star and exclaimed: This is my Lord! But when it went down he said, "I love not the things that set." Likewise he took the moon when it arose but when it went down he said, "Indeed, If my Lord guides me not, I will most certainly become one of the people who go astray! Then when he beheld the Sun shining forth he exclaimed, 'This is my Lord: this is the greatest,' but when it set, he said, 'O my people! I disassociate myself from joining others with God. Single-mindedly do I now turn my face towards Him who originated the heavens and the earth and I am not of the polytheists. But when his people remonstrated with him, he said, "Why should I fear them whom you have joined with God when you fear not to join them with Him without any authority." They who believe and have not tarnished their faith with wrong-doing for them is peace and security and they have found the right path. And God gave him Isaac and (to Isaac his son) Jacob who were guided aright even as Noah was guided afore time and so were guided in later times hid descendants, David and Solomon, and Job and Joseph, Moses and Aaron. And likewise was guided Zechariah and John and Jesus and Elias and also Ismael, Elishah, Jonah and Lot. All these God favoured and exalted them above the rest of mankind. And they ascribed divinity to anything beside Him--in vain, indeed, would have been all the good that they ever did. To them was vouchsafed revelation, sound judgment and prophet hood. Say: No reward do I ask of you for this truth (Qur'an). Behold! It is but an admonition unto all mankind! No true understanding of God have they when they say, 'Never has God revealed anything unto man.' Ask them, 'Who sent down the Book which Moses presented to the world, a light and guidance to man which you treat as mere leaves of paper, revealing a part and concealing much.' And who does greater wrong than one who invents a lie about God or says that a revelation hath come to me when nothing has come or who says 'I can reveal the like of what hath been revealed.' Couldst thou but see when these wrong doers are in the throes of death and angels take out their souls saying 'this day shall ye be recompensed with a humiliating chastisement for imputing to God what was untrue and scorning His messages in arrogance." And God shall say, "And now, indeed, you have come unto Us all by yourself, even as we created you, leaving behind you all that we bestowed on you. And We do not see with you those intercessors of yours whom you imagined to be associated with God in all your concerns. Indeed all the bonds between you and your earthly life are severed and all your fancies have forsaken you!" Verily, it is God who cleaves the grain and the fruit-kernel asunder, bringing forth the living out of that which is dead and the dead out of the living. This then is God: and yet, how perverted are your minds. He causeth the dawn to break and hath made he night for rest, and the sun and the moon to run their appointed courses and hath set for you stars that ye may be guided in the darkness of land and sea. And He it is who has brought you all into being out of one living entity and has appointed a time limit on earth and a resting place after death. He hath made His signs clear for those who understand. And He is who has caused waters to come down from the sky and by its means brings forth buds of plants and from them green foliage and then close packed ears of corn and palm trees with dates in thick clusters and gardens of vines, and the olive tree and the pomegranate; all so alike, and yet so different. Behold their fruit when it grows and ripens. Truly herein are signs for a people who believe. And they set up Jinn as peers for God and in ignorance ascribe to Him falsely sons and daughters. Transcendent is He and far above that which they attribute to Him, Originator of the heavens and of the earth! How can there be an offspring for Him when there never was for Him a mate? Every thing hath he created and He is the Guardian of all things. No vision can encompass Him, whereas He encompasses all vision, for He is unfathomable, all-aware. Say, "Now are things clearly disclosed to reflect on. Should anyone take note of them that will be to his own advantage, and should one choose to remain blind that will be to his own disadvantage. Remember: I am not your keeper." Had God pleased, they would not have ascribed divinity to anything beside Him and He had not appointed the Prophet as a keeper or guardian over them. O believers! Revile not those whom they call upon besides God lest they in their ignorance revile God by way of rejoinder. God has made the actions of every people seem fair to them. After all, they are to return to their Lord when He will declare to them the nature of deeds they have done. Those people swear solemnly that they would believe if a miracle were shown to them but for all you know, they would not believe even if a miracle was shown to them. God shall leave them in their overweening arrogance blindly stumbling to and fro. Be sure that even if God were to send down angels to them and even if the dead were to speak to them and all things were assembled before them, they would still not believe unless God directed otherwise. Most of them are ignorant. And so it is that against every prophet rose enemies from among men and Jinn--the evil minded who whisper unto one another glittering half-truths to delude the mind. Wert thou to follow the majority in the land (who have gone astray), they would lead thee away from the path of God; they but follow their fancies and indulge in guesses. The Lord knoweth best who has strayed from His path and knoweth those who are rightly guided. Do not indulge in sin either openly or in secret. Those who commit sin will one day reap the result thereof. Goodly seem all their own doings to those who deny the truth. And it is in this way that God causes the big people in every land to become its greatest evil doers, there to weave their schemes. Yet is only against themselves that they scheme--and they perceive it not. Abasement in the sight of God and a severe chastisement will be their recompense. And whomsoever God willeth to guide, his breast will He open to Islam but whomsoever He willeth to let go astray, his breast will He make strait and constricted. Thus God imposes chastisement upon those who believe not. "Clearly, indeed, have We spelled out Our Message unto people who heed. Theirs shall be an abode of peace with their Lord; and He shall be near unto them." And as for the evil-doers, fire shall be their abode, therein to abide, unless God wills it otherwise. The life of this world had deluded them but on the Day of Reckoning they shall bear witness against themselves. Everyone is assigned a place according to what he has wrought, and thy Lord is not inattentive to what they do. The wrong-doers assign to God, from the tilth and cattle that He has produced, a portion and say "This is for God"--so deem they--and this for our associate gods. But that which is assigned to their associate gods will not go to God (or be spent for the poor), while that which is assigned to God goes to their associate gods. How fanciful is their settlement! And, like-wise, their belief in associate gods makes even the sacrifice of their children seem goodly to many polytheists thus bringing them to ruin and confusing them in their faith. And they say such and such cattle and produce of fields are sacred and are not to be partaken without their permission and such and such cattle are not to be loaded with burden and name of God not to be pronounced on some and they falsely attribute these directions to him. Soon will they be requited. He is who hath produced wine gardens, trellised and un-trellised, palm trees, corn of different kinds, olives and pomegranates, resembling one another yet so different. Eat of their fruit and give to the poor their due on harvest day and do not waste for God liketh not the wasteful. Of the cattle reared for work and those of slender build reared for sake of their flesh, eat whatever God has provided you as sustenance and follow not Satan's footstep for he is your open foe. Those who set up peers for God will say, 'Had God so willed, we should not have set up peers for Him nor would have our forefathers done so and neither would we have declared any thing forbidden (that He has allowed). Even so, did those who lived before them give the lie to the truth until they tasted the punishment. Say (O Prophet), "Have you any authority which you can produce before us? Ye but follow fancies and indulge in sheer guesses." Say, "Come, I will rehearse what your Lord hath made binding on you--that ye associate naught with Him and that ye be good to your parents; and that ye slay not your children because of poverty; for them and for you We will afford provision--that ye draw not near indecencies--either open or secret, and do not slay any human being except in pursuit of justice. And do not touch the property of a n orphan, save to improve it, until he comes of age; and use your measure and balance with due sense of justice and when ye speak be just even though it affects a kinsman and observe your bond with God. And know that this is the way leading straight unto Me; follow it then; and follow not other ways, lest they cause you to deviate from His way." God gave Moses the Book; He has sent this Book also lest ye should say, The Book was sent down only on two people (the Jews and the Christians) before us…and had it been sent to us we should have followed its guidance better then they. Now a clear exposition has come to you from your Lord, a guidance and a mercy. Who then is more wicked than he who treateth the Revelation of God as lies and turneth away from them? Await they to see any angels coming down to them or thy Lord Himself or some of thy Lord's (final) portents to appear? But on the Day thy Lord's portents do appear, believing will be no avail to any human being who did not believe before, or who while believing hath not done any good deeds." Verily these are those who have split their religion and divided themselves into sects. Thou hast nothing to do with them. Behold, their case rests with God: in time He will make them understand what they have been doing. Whoever shall come before God with a good deed will receive ten times the like thereof; but whoever shall come with a bad deed will be requited with no more than the like thereof; and none shall be wronged. Say: Behold, my Lord has guided me unto a straight way through an ever-true faith--the way of Abraham, who was wholly devoted to God and was not of those who ascribe divinity to any besides Him. Say, 'my prayer, my all acts of worship, my living and my dying are all for God, the Lord of all domains of existence. He hath no partner whatsoever. Thus have I been bidden--and I shall be foremost among those who surrender themselves unto Him.' Say: Am I, then, to seek a sustainer other than God, when He is sustainer and cherisher of all things. He it is who has made you
to inherit the earth, and has raised some of you by degrees above others
so that He might try you by means of what He has bestowed on you. Verily,
the Lord is swift in retribution but, behold, He is indeed Forgiving, Merciful.
Al-A’raf—The Heights Alif Lam Sad. This Divine Book has been revealed unto thee—and let there be no doubt about this in thy heart, in order that thou mayest warn the erring thereby and admonish the believers. Follow what has been revealed to you and follow no patrons apart for Him. And how many a rebellious community God destroyed and they had nothing to say for themselves. Everyone will be called to account on the day of judgment and God will, through His knowledge, recount to them their deeds. For never has He been absent from them. The weighing of one’s deeds that day is a matter of certainty. They who weigh heavy in the scales will alone prosper while those whose scales are light—they are those who have lost their souls having disregarded God’s messages. God has given you habitation on earth, and also provided for you means of livelihood, and yet seldom are you grateful! Indeed God created you and gave you shape, and on His command the angels bowed to Adam except Iblis who thought he was a higher creature, having been created out of fire, while Adam was made of clay. Iblis was turned away and became one of the despised. On his request, respite was granted to him till the Day of Resurrection. Whereupon he said: "Now that Thou has turned me away, I shall most certainly lie in ambush for them all along Thy straight way and shall come upon them from all directions and by all possible means and Thou shalt find few of them truly loyal." And God said, “Go forth from here, disgraced and disowned! As for such of them as shall follow thee I will most certainly fill hell with all you all.” Adam and his wife were allowed to dwell in the garden of heaven and to eat whatever they wished, but were directed not to approach a particular tree lest they became wrongdoers. As soon as both had tasted the fruit of the forbidden tree under the guile of Satan, their nakedness dawned upon them and they began to cover themselves up with pieced-together leaves from the garden. They were directed to descend from heaven and to have earth as their abode and livelihood for awhile, to live and die there till they are brought forth. O children of Adam! God gave you the knowledge to prepare garments to hide your nakedness and to serve as an adornment but the garment of God—consciousness is the best of all. O children of Adam! Do not allow Satan to seduce you for he and his tribe are lying in wait for you where you cannot perceive them. Say my Lord hath enjoined what is right. Be steadfast and fervent in your worship and call upon Him in sincere devotion to Him. Some of you He will have graced with His guidance while some will deservedly be left in error. For they took Satans as their masters in preference to God and fancied that they had been guided aright. O children of Adam! Adorn yourself for every act of worship and eat and drink permitted things, but do not waste, for God does not love the wasteful. Say: 'Verily, my lord has forbidden shameful deeds, be they open or secret, and sinning and unjust rebellion and ascribing divinity to any beside Him.' Every people have a term set for them; when the appointed time comes they can neither delay it nor can they hasten it. Those who follow the directives of God will be blessed but those who discredit them and feel too proud to yield to them shall be the inmates of Fire. When God’s agents will question them at the time of their death, “Where are they [whom] ye had invoked besides God?” they will answer, “They have forsaken us” and will admit that they were foolishly unyielding. For them the gates of heavens shall not be opened; it is not possible for them to enter Paradise even as it is not possible for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. For them Hell shall serve both as bed and a covering and thus are the unjust requited. But they who have believed in God and done what is right shall be the inmates of the Garden. God shall remove from their breasts every sense of rancour towards anyone and cause streams to roll before them and they shall be grateful for God's guidance. And between the inmates of Paradise and [the] inmates of [the] Fire there shall be a partition; and on the Heights shall be men who will recognise people on either side by their visage. They will hail the people of Paradise having not entered it themselves but ardently expecting to do so and praying that they may not be placed along with inmates of the Fire. They will enquire from later, “What have your amassings and your pride availed you? They had made religion but a sport and a pastime and enticed themselves in the life of the world. And God will say, “Will We this day take no notice of them even as they had failed to remember that they were to face this Day and knowingly had lightly treated our messages.” Verily your Lord is God who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, and is established on the throne of His almightiness. He covers the day with the night in swift pursuit, with the Sun, the moon and the stars subservient to His command. Oh, verily, His is all creation and all command. Blessed be God, the Lord of all domains of Existence. Call unto your Lord humbly and silently. He loveth not those who do not observe proprieties: hence, do not spread corruption on earth after it has been so well ordered. And call unto Him with fear and longing: verily, God’s grace is always near unto the doers of good. And He it is who sendeth forth the winds spreading the tidings of blessings to follow, till they bring up the laden clouds to move towards dead land to pour water thereupon to cause up growth of all kind of fruits. In like manner doeth God revive those who are lost to life, if only ye can reflect over. In good land vegetation springs forth in abundance by the will of its Lord whereas in the bad the growth is but scanty. Noah preached to his people to worship God alone and cautioned them against the chastisement of the great Day but they treated him as a liar; so when the deluge came, God rescued him and his companions in the ark and drowned the deniers of the messages. And Hud was sent to the tribe of Ad with the same message, but he too was belied and his people said, “Art thou come to us to make us serve one God only, and give up the gods that our fathers were worshiping. Then bring upon us that with which thou threatenest us, if thou be a man of truth.” So God saved him and those who stood by him and wiped out those who had denied the message and would not believe. And to the tribe of Thamud was sent one of their kinsfolk, namely Saleh. Said he to them, ‘O my people! serve God, ye have no god other than Him. A clear guidance of truth has now come to you from your Lord. Yonder she-camel dedicated to God shall be token for you. Leave her to pasture on God’s earth and cause her no harm, lest a grievous chastisement seize you. And remember how God had made you successors to the tribe of Ad, and settled you firmly in the land so that you build castles in the plains and hew out mountains as dwellings: remember, then, God’s favours and spread no disorder in the land by your high-handedness. In arrogant pride the chiefs of the people refused to believe and slaughtered the she-camel. Thereupon an earthquake seized them unaware and they lay dead in their very homes. Lot remonstrated with his people that they committed the obscene crime of homosexuality, which no body before had committed in the world but they decided to turn away Lot and his followers who were making a show of purity. God rescued him and his household except his wife and rained a rain of destruction upon the people. Behold what was the end of the wicked! And unto Madyan was sent their brother Shu’aib who also exhorted the people to believe in and worship one God, to give full measure and weight and not to deprive people of what is rightfully theirs and not to spread corruption on earth for their own good. He asked them not to attempt to turn away people from the path of God by distorting it. And if there be some who believed in the message and some who denied it, they should wait till God judged between them; for He is the best of judges. Said the leader of his people who were puffed up with pride, ‘O Shu’aib! We shall expel thee and thy followers from the city unless you return to our faith.’ Said Shu’aib, ‘Why, even though we abhor it? We should be guilty of blaspheming against God if we were to return to your ways after God has saved us from them. In God do we place our trust who would decide between us.’ Thereafter an earthquake overtook them and they were annihilated as if they had never dwelt [there]. And whenever God sent a prophet to any place, He let the people thereof go through trials and tribulations in order that they might humble themselves. Then He transformed their affliction into ease. In their altered condition of prosperity they began to upbraid, ‘Even our fathers were touched with both joy and sorrow’ and made light of the relief till chastisement overtook them. Had these people believed in God and abstained from evil, God would have opened out for them the doors of the heavens and the earth to afford them His bounties. But they were taken to task through what they themselves had been doing. Can, then, the people of any community feel secure that God’s punishment will not come upon them by night or by day. Stories of some cities are now related which had flourished in days gone by. To every one of these had come apostles with clear proofs of their mission but they were rejected. Moses was sent with clear signs but Pharaoh asked him to demonstrate his signs. Moses cast down his staff and it became a serpent and he drew forth his hand, and it appeared brilliantly white. Pharaoh and his nobles, however, took it only as sorcery and they got all the sorcerers of the land assembled. The magicians threw down their rods and ropes and cast a spell upon the people’s eyes and struck them with awe. God inspired Moses to throw down his staff and lo! it swallowed up all their deceptions. Thus did the truth prevail and all they had wrought came to naught. And down fell the sorcerers prostrating themselves in adoration of God of Moses and Aaron. Enraged did Pharaoh say to them, “You have believed in him without my permission. Surely, this is a plot, which you have planned to drive out from my city the people living therein. But anon shall know my revenge. Most certainly I shall cut off your hands and crucify you.” They said, “Be it so. After all we have to return to our Lord,” and they prayed, “Lord! Grant us constancy in faith and call us back in a state of absolute trust in Thee.” The nobles said to Pharaoh, “Wilt thou let Moses and his people go to spread corruption on earth and flout they thy gods.” Pharaoh replied, “We shall slay their sons in great numbers and shall spare only their women: for verily, we hold sway over them.” And Moses said unto his people, “Turn unto God for aid and have patience in adversity. Verily, all the earth belongs God: He gives it as heritage to such of His servants as He wills; and the future belongs to the God-conscious. It may well be that your Lord will destroy your foe and make you inherit the earth and see how you act.” God chastised the people of Pharaoh with years of famine and scarcity of fruits that haply they might make amends for their evil past but they ascribed good fortune to their desserts and suffering to the evil influence of Moses and his followers. God sent upon them flood, locust, vermin, frogs and blood as clear signs of warning but they persisted in their arrogance. Whenever punishment visited them they would beseech Moses to pray to God promising that they would accept the faith on lifting the travail but they would break the pledges as often as they were made. Ultimately they were effaced by drowning and their gardens and castles were totally destroyed. The children of Israel were brought across the sea to a place where idolatry prevailed. Having appointed his brother Aaron to take his place and advising him to act righteously and not to follow the path of the wicked, Moses went to Mount Sinai to commune with God for forty nights. In his ecstasy Moses cried out, “O Lord! Show me Thy countenance that I may behold it.” He said, ‘Thou shall not see Me, but look towards the mountain and if that (could bear the effulgence of My countenance and) could remain firm in its place, then alone thou shall see Me.’ When God manifested His glory before the mountain it turned into dust and Moses fell down in a swoon. When Moses came to himself, he said, “Limitless art Thou in Thy glory! Unto Thee do I return in repentance, and I shall be foremost among those who believe in Thee.” Said God, ‘O Moses, I have exalted thee by allowing the privilege of conversing with Me and by entrusting My message to thee. So hold fast unto what I have vouchsafed thee and be among the grateful.’ He was asked to follow the commandments inscribed in the tablets given to him and to ask his people to follow them implicitly. In his absence, the people of Moses took to worshiping the effigy of a calf made of their ornaments even though it could neither speak to them nor guide them. And when Moses returned to his people, full of wrath and sorrow, he exclaimed, ‘Vile is the course you have adopted in my absence!’ and he threw down the tablets and seized his brother by the tuft of his head and pulled him. Said his brother to him, ‘Your people regarded me as of no consequence and almost slew me, so let not my enemies rejoice at my affliction and count me not among wrongdoers.’ Moses prayed for forgiveness for himself, and his brother and said, ‘The displeasure of the Lord shall rest on those who had worshipped the calf and ignominy will be their lot in the life of this world. When his anger subsided, he took up the tablets and chose seventy men to collect at settled time. When an earthquake shook them, he prayed to God to have mercy on them. God answered, ‘With My chastisement do I afflict whom I will, but My grace overspreads everything, and so I shall ordain for all who are conscious of Me, pay the poor-due and believe in Our messages; who shall follow the Apostle, the unlettered prophet, whose advent is foretold in Torah and the Evangel. He will enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and free them of the burdens under which they groan.” The Israelites were divided into twelve tribes and they asked Moses for water. God inspired him to strike the rock with his staff whereupon twelve springs gushed forth from it. God caused the clouds to comfort them with their shade and sent down on them manna and salva and permitted them to settle in a city. And (O Prophet) ask them of the town that stood by the sea where fish came up to the shore on the Sabbath day and not on other days. Thus were they tried as they were transgressors. When the people disregarded the warnings a severe chastisement was inflicted upon them and on their persistence God said to them, “Be ye like apes despised.” They were dispersed as groups upon the earth, some of them upright and some not. And they had for their successors unworthy generations to inherit the Book. They seize only the vain things of this passing world and they will continue to do so whenever they get a chance to barter the truth. Was not the condition laid upon them by their Scripture not to attribute to God anything but what is true? Do they not study the book? For those who live righteously the abode of the next world is of greater value. Cannot this simple truth be realised by them? And (O Prophet!) when thy Lord brought forth from the loins of the children their progeny to be, and made them vouch for themselves whether He was not their Lord, they said, “Yes we admit.” And this God did lest ye should say on the day of Resurrection, “Truly, of this were we uninformed.” How evil is the example they have set of those who reject his signs. They have injured none but themselves by what they have done. He who desireth to be rightly guided, him God guideth and those who disdain to be guided, God declineth to guide. How many men and Jinn are there not who have been marked out for Hell—men who have hearts with which they fail to grasp the truth, eyes with which they fail to see, and ears with which they fail to hear. They are just like cattle and indeed worse than those. Those who treat God’s signs as lies, He will by degrees bring them down in ways they hardly perceive, and although God gives them respite, the law of retribution is careful enough to overtake them inevitably. Cannot they mark the God’s dominion over the heavens and the earth and all the things He has created and ask themselves whether possibly the end of their own term might already have drawn near? In what other message then, will they, after this, believe? O Prophet! they ask thee when after all is the Hour of Judgement to come. Say: Verily, knowledge thereof rests with my Lord alone. It will be a catastrophe, which will overtake the heavens, and the earth and it will come upon you suddenly. (O Prophet!) Tell them, ‘It is not within my power to bring benefit to, or avert harm from myself, except as God may please. And if I knew that which is beyond the reach of human perception, abundant good fortune would surely have fallen to my lot, and no evil would ever have touched me. I am nothing but a warner unto men and herald of glad tidings unto those who believe.’ He it is who created you all from a single individual and from him brought forth his mate that the two might dwell in mutual comfort. Yet instead of being grateful they join with Him those who cannot create anything and are themselves created, who have no power to help others or help themselves and if you pray to them for guidance they do not respond to you. Have they (the idols) feet to walk with, eyes to see with and ears to hear with. Say (O Prophet): Summon to your aid all those whom you join with God and contrive anything against me, and give me no respite (and see what is the result). Verily, my protector is God who hath revealed this Book and He befriends the righteous. Exercise forbearance, and enjoin what is right and turn away from those who decline to understand. If any provocation is given by Satan, turn to God for refuge. He verily heareth, knoweth. And remember thy Lord silently, morn and evening, in awe and humility and do not be un-heedful. They ask the (O Prophet!) about the spoils of war. Say: All spoils of war belong to God and the apostle. Therefore be mindful of God and the apostle. Therefore be mindful of God without quarrelling among yourselves and obey God and the prophet if ye be true believers. They alone are believers whose hearts thrill whenever the name of God is mentioned; and whose faith is strengthened whenever His messages are conveyed to them; and who place implicit trust in their Lord; who observe the prayers and spend on others. Theirs shall be great dignity in their Lord's sight as well as His forgiveness and a most excellent sustenance. Remember how thy Lord caused thee to go forth from thy home in the cause of truth (to Badr) and how some of the believers were averse to it and thought they were being led forth to death with open eyes. And remember when God promised you that one of the two enemy parties should fall in your hands, the believers desired that the unarmed party should fall in their hands but God proposed to root out the armed unbelievers that He might prove that the truth always prevails and falsehood comes to nought. In the battle of Badr, God aided the Muslims and they were victorious in spite of smallness of their numbers. God directed, "O ye who believe! When you meet the marshaled hosts of the unbelievers, do not turn your back on them. He who shall turn his back on them that day, unless he turns aside to fight or to rally some other troop, shall incur the displeasure of God. Hell shall be his abode, a wretched destination. O Meccans! if you had sought to force a decision, that decision hath now come to you. It will be better if you desist, for your forces thought they may be many, shall avail you not for God for God is on the side of the believers." O ye believers! Obey God and His Apostle, and turn not away from him now that you have the truth and be not like those who say "We are listening" and yet they do not, for the vilest beast in the sight of God are those deaf and dumb ones who decline to understand. If God had seen any good in them, He would certainly have made them hearken the truth. Know that God intervenes between man and (the desire of) his heart and that unto Him you shall be gathered and beware of temptation to evil, which by no means cometh to wicked alone, and know that God is severe in chastisement. O ye who believe! Deal not falsely with God and His Apostle and do not betray your trusts knowingly. And know that your worldly goods and your children are but a trial and a temptation and that with God there is tremendous reward. And (call to mind O Prophet) how the unbelievers plotted to imprison thee or to kill thee or to banish thee, but God had His own plan and He is best of the planners. They said, "God! If this be the very truth from thee, rain down stones upon us or lay on us some severe chastisement." But God chose not to chastise them while thou wast in their midst nor would He chastise them while they seek forgiveness. But now what plea can they advance that God should not chastise them for having debarred the faithful from entering the Holy mosque. (O Prophet!) Say to the unbelievers
that if they should desist, that which is past will be forgiven them and
if they revert (to their wrongdoing), let them remember what happened to
the likes of them in the times gone by. And fight against them until there
is no more oppression and all worship is devoted to God alone. Know that
God is your Lord Supreme, and how Excellent Protector is He and How Excellent
Helper.
And know ye that whatever spoils of war ye obtain, one-fifth thereof is for God and the apostle and for the near of kin, the orphans, the needy and the wayfarer. On the day of battle of Badr, God led you into action to accomplish what He had already decreed. When you confronted the enemy, He made them appear to your eyes as few just as He made you appear as of little account in their eyes. Those who were perishing realised that God was not on their side and they who were winning realised that God was on their side. O Believers, when you confront the enemy force, stand firm and remember God intently that it may be fare well with you. And obey God and His Apostle and do not quarrel among yourselves, lest you become faint-hearted and weak. And be not like those (unbelievers) who went forth from their homelands full of self-conceit and a desire to be seen and praised by men. For they were trying to turn others away from the path of God. And if thou couldst but see when He causes the unbelievers to die: the angels will strike their faces and backs and will say taste the chastisement of burning for what your own hands have wrought and know that God never does the least wrong to His creatures. God never changes the blessings with which He has graced a people so long as they do not alter themselves. The vilest creatures in the sight of God are those who have denied the truth. Punish those who repeatedly break their covenants with thee so severely that those who back them secretly may take to heels be warned for the future. If you fear treachery from a people who have covenanted with you, throw back the covenant at them. Truly God does not like the treacherous. And let not the disbelievers fancy that they shall escape God: behold, they can never frustrate (His purpose). Keep ready then against them what force you can muster together with strong squadrons whereby you may strike terror into the enemy. But if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it and repose thy trust in God. But if they seek to dupe thee, God is All-sufficient for thee. He it is who hath strengthened thee with His help and hath instilled in the hearts of the faithful the feeling of oneness. Hadst thou spent all the riches of the earth, thou could have not united their hearts but God united them in affection. O Prophet! Exhort the believers to fight. Twenty of them firm in faith will be able to vanquish two hundred of the enemy and a hundred of them a thousand of the enemy. For the time being, however, God has lightened your task--those who stand resolutely by their faith shall be able to vanquish double the number of their enemies. It is not meet [i.e. appropriate] for a prophet to take enemy ranks as captives until he had given them a severe punishment. You may desire the fleeting good of this world (ransom money) but God desireth for you the good of life to come. O Prophet say unto the captives in your hands: 'if God finds any good in your hearts, He will give you something better than what has been taken away from you and will forgive you your sins.' And should they seek to play false with thee, well, they were false to God Himself ere this but He gave the believers mastery over them. Believers who have forsaken their homes and have staked their lives and wealth in the cause of God as also those who have given help and shelter to them are friends of one another. You are in no wise responsible for protection of those believers who have not migrated unless they ask for it in the name of faith and, that too, not against a people with whom you have entered into a treaty. Those who are united by ties of blood have the first claim on one another in accordance with God's decree. The unbelievers lend one another mutual help and unless you act likewise oppression will reign on earth and great mischief done to you. Disavowal by God and His Apostle is herewith announced to the polytheists with whom you (O believers) have made a covenant. Announce unto them: Go, then, freely about the earth for four months but know that you cannot frustrate the will of God and that, verily, God shall bring disgrace upon all who refuse to acknowledge the truth! And a proclamation from God and His Apostle is herewith made unto mankind on this day of the greatest pilgrimage: God and His Apostle disavow all polytheists and a great chastisement awaits them. But excepted shall be those with whom you have made a covenant and who have not breached it and aided anyone against you: observe, then, your covenant with them till the end of the term agreed upon. And so, when the sacred months are over, slay the polytheists wherever you come upon them and take them captive, and besiege them and ambush them. But if they repent and take to prayer and render the purifying dues, let them go their way. And if any of them seeks protection, grant him asylum and give him safe conduct to his place of security. The polytheists are a people who, whenever they get the better of you, respect neither the ties of kinship nor any engagement they have entered into. They seek to please you with their mouths while their hearts belie them and most of them are iniquitous. God's message they have bartered away for a trifling gain, and have thus turned away from His path. Evil is all that they are wont to do. If after taking the oaths of alliance with you, they break them and revile your religion, then fight against those archetypes of faithlessness so that they may desist from aggression. Would you, perchance, fail to fight against people who have broken their solemn pledges and tried to expel the Apostle and attacked you first! Do you hold them in awe? Nay, it is God alone who should be held in awe. Fight against them! God will chastise them by your hands and will bring disgrace upon them and will succour you. O believers! Do you think you will not be tried for ascertaining as to who will successfully bear the trials ahead of you and reckon as friends none except God and His Apostle? It is not for the polytheists to visit and tend God's houses of worship [all] the while they hold to their unbelief. Their works shall come to naught and in fire shall they abide. Do you place him who gives drink to the pilgrims and attends the Holy Place of Prayer on the same level with him who believes in God and the Last Day and striveth in the way of God? They are certainly not equal. The latter rank high in the estimation of God and shall attain success. Their Lord gives them the glad tidings of grace and blessing from Him, and of His good pleasure and of the gardens of lasting bliss wherein they shall abide forever. O believers! Do not take your fathers and brothers for friends if they prefer unbelief to belief. If you do so you will be wrongdoers. If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kith and kin, your wealth and merchandise and your dwellings are dearer to you than God and His Apostle and striving in the way of God, then wait until God makes manifest His will; and know that God does not guide the impious. O believers! God hath helped you on many occasion and on the day of Hunain, when your numbers availed you not and the earth with all its vastness had straitened on you and you had to turn back in retreat. It was then that God infused into the prophet and the faithful, the spirit of steadiness and self assurance and succoured them with unseen hosts and defeated the unbelievers. O ye believers! Surely those who ascribe partners to God are an unclean lot. Let them not after this year approach the Holy Mosque. And if you apprehend poverty by loss of business, God will, if He please, give you riches out of His abundance. The Jews declare Ezra to God's son and the Nazarenes declare Messiah to be God's son. This is what they say. Similar assertions were made by unbelievers gone before. The malison [curse] of God on them! Whither are they tending? How perverted are their minds? They have taken their rabbis and monks, Christ son of Mary, for their lords beside God, although they were bidden to worship none but the One God save whom there is no deity. They want to extinguish God's guiding light with their utterances, but God will not allow this to pass, for he has willed to spread His light in all its fullness. He hath sent His Apostle with guidance and true religion to the end that He make it prevail over every religion, however hateful it may be to the polytheists. As for all who lay up treasures of gold and silver and do not spend them for sake of God, give them the tidings of grievous suffering on the Day their hoarded wealth shall be heated in fire and their foreheads, their sides and their backs branded therewith. Behold, the number of months in the sight of God is twelve. Out of these, four are sacred (Rajab, Ziqada, Zil-Hajja and Muharram). Wrong not yourselves by initiating any warfare in this period. But if the polytheists attack you, notwithstanding the sacred character of these months, do ye also strike back in a body. The polytheists intercalate the months and consider it permissible in one year and forbidden in another. This evil way of theirs is fair seeming to them. O believers if you don't march forth in the way of God, you will be severely punished and replaced by another set of people. If you assist not your Prophet, God will assist him. You know that God had assisted him on a previous occasion when the disbelievers had driven him out of Mecca with only a second by his side (Abu Bakr) and the two had repaired to a cave and the prophet had to say to his companion, "Sorrow not; be certain God is with us." The vauntings [bragging] of the disbelievers fell to the ground and the assurance of God triumphantly prevailed. March ye forth (O Muslims) with whatever equipment you have, light or heavy, and strive with all your possessions and your lives in the way of God. Had the hypocrites been assured of a speedy gain and a short journey, they would readily have agreed to follow thee. But with a long journey ahead, they try to find excuses and swear falsely that they would have gone forth had they been able to do so. Those who seek exemption are only those who have no faith in God or in the Last Day and whose hearts are filled with doubts. God was averse to their marching forth for had they taken the field with you, they would have been only a burden sowing disaffection among your ranks. If success betide thee it will grieve them; if a reverse overtakes thee, they applaud their caution and turn away rejoicing. Say: nothing will befall us except what God hath destined for us. He is our Supreme Lord and in God let the believers place their trust. Say: You may spend anything willingly or unwillingly [but] it shall never be accepted from you, for you do not believe in God and His prophet, never pray without reluctance, and never spend without resentment. Let not their worldly goods and their children excite thy admiration. Even by these means God chastises them in the life of this world. And they swear by God that they are indeed of you while they are not of you. Indeed if they could find a place of refuge or any cavern or any crevice, they would go to it in headlong haste. Some of them are not satisfied with the distribution of Sadaqat or alms. If they are not given anything they get infuriated. Alms [which here mean Zakat or compulsory levy by the State] are meant only for the poor and the needy, those appointed to collect alms, and those whose hearts are to be won over, and for redemption of slaves, for clearance of debts of those who are unable to pay and for those striving in God's cause, and for the wayfarer. And among the hypocrites are some who wish to malign the Prophet. A grievous suffering awaits them in the life to come. Do they not know that for him who sets himself against God and His Apostle there is in the store fire of Hell. The hypocrites are afraid that a full chapter of Qur'an may not be sent disclosing what lies in their hearts. If thou wert to question them why it is they jest at thee, they would say, 'We were only amusing ourselves in a light talk.' 'Do you amuse yourselves at the expense of God and His revelations and His Apostle.' For certain, they have gone back after having professed belief. The hypocrites, whether men or women, go but one way. They enjoin what is evil and forbid what is good and are close-fisted. They are unmindful of God and so God has left them in neglect. God has rejected them and long-lasting suffering awaits them. Have they not heard of those who had gone before them--of the people of Noah and of Aad and of Thamud and of people of Abraham and the residents of Madian and the uprooted cities. The believers, men and women, are close to one another--they enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil. They observe prayer and pay the poor-due and they obey God and His Apostle. God will bestow His grace upon them. O Prophet! Strive against the infidels and the hypocrites and be strict with them. Some of them had pledged with God that if they were given His bounty, they would give alms and live righteously, but they acted otherwise when God gave them affluence. Hypocrisy has taken root in their hearts to remain till the day they meet their Lord. The hypocrites scoff at believers who spend generously and also at those who, for lack of means, offer only their services instead of alms. God will not forgive them. The hypocrites were averse to striving in the cause of God and stayed back (from the Tabuk Campaign) and instigated others not to join the expedition in the heat of season. The fire of hell is hotter by far. Had they but grasped the truth. Let them laugh a little for they will weep a lot in return for what they have earned. And never shalt thou pray over any of them that has died and never shalt thou stand by his grave. They denied God and died in their iniquity. But no blame shall attach to the weak, nor to the sick nor to those who have no means to equip themselves (if they could not join the expedition) provided that they are sincere towards God and his Apostle. Only they may be rightly reproached who asked thee for exemption even thought they were fully able to go an preferred to stay at home. Their hearts have been sealed and they understand not. But when you return to them from your expedition, they will come forward to offer apologies. Say to them (O Prophet), "Offer no apologies, by no means can we now believe you. God hath already posted [informed] us with everything about you." Better it is that you leave them alone for they are an unclean lot. Their destination is hell. The Bedouins are very unyielding lot and incapable of appreciating the character of ordinances of God sent down to the Apostle. Of them there are some who reckon what they give away in [the] cause of God as a fine and wait for some change of fortune to befall you. It is they whom evil fortune shall encompass. But among them are some who believe in God and the Day Hereafter and deem their spending in the way of God as a means of securing nearness of God and the blessings of the Prophet. Indeed as a means of nearness will it serve them. Those from among the Muhajirin and the Ansar who were the foremost in accepting Islam and those also who followed their noble example, God is pleased with them and they are pleased with God. They are to live forever in gardens in high felicity. And among Bedouins some are hypocrites and even among the people of Madina, there are some adepts in hypocrisy. God will chastise them two-fold. There are some who have done both good and evil deeds. God may accept their repentance. Accept their contributions for the poor (Sadaqa) in order to cleanse them and pray for their welfare. And there are yet others whose cases are deferred until God wills to judge them. He may chastise them or turn unto them in mercy. And there are hypocrites who have established a house of worship in order to create mischief, and to promote apostasy and disunity among the believers and to provide an outpost for all who have been from the beginning warring against God and His Apostle. O prophet! never step into it. More worthy for you to enter is that mosque, the foundation of which has been laid in piety from its very first day, and to which repair those who aspire to purity, and God loves those who purify themselves. Which of the two is better, he who hath laid the foundation of his edifice on devotion to God and desires to please Him, or who hath raised it on the brink of a crumbling bank which is bound to drag him into the fire of Hell. Surely, God doth not guide those who commit excesses. Verily, God hath (so to say) purchased of the faithful their very persons and their worldly possessions in return for Paradise. They shall fight in the cause of God and slay and be slain. Ad the promise of Paradise is binding on Him even as similar promises were held out in the Torah and the Evangel: These are they who in penitence serve and praise Him, and go on seeking God's pleasure and prostrate themselves in adoration, who enjoin what is right and forbid what is evil, and live within the bounds prescribed by God. Give the glad tidings of God's promise to all such believers. It is not for the Prophet and the believers to pray for the forgiveness of those who set up peers for God even though they be near of kin, once it has become clear to them that such people are to be inmates of Hell. It is not the way of God to condemn a people after having invited them to His guidance, before they are reminded of what they have to guard themselves against. Indeed, God had mercifully shown consideration to the Prophet as well as to the Migrants (Muhajirin) and the Helpers (Ansar) despite the fact that the hearts of some of the latter had well-nigh failed them. Likewise hath He mercifully turned unto those three persons also who had been left in suspense, and who had felt that the spacious earth had become too strait [difficult] for them and their lives had become a burden unto them and who had realised that there was no refuge from God except in Himself. It does not behoove [i.e. is not proper] the people of Prophet's city and [the] Bedouins living around to refrain from following God's apostle or to care for their own selves more than for him. Whenever they suffer from thirst or weariness or hunger and whenever they take measures to thwart the unbelievers, a good deed is recorded in their favor. Verily, God does not fail to requite the doers of good! With all this, it is not desirable that all the believers should march forth to war. Some of them should engage themselves in acquiring deeper knowledge of religion so that they can instruct their homecoming brethren for guarding themselves against evil. Now hath come to you an Apostle from amongst yourselves, your suffering weighs heavily upon him, ardently desirous is he of your welfare and to the believers he is compassionate merciful. Even then, if they turn away, (O Prophet), say to them, "God sufficeth, there is no god but He; in Him alone do I place my trust; and He is the Lord of the Universe, enthroned in His almighty glory." These are the verses of the Book full of wisdom. O ye people! Verily your Lord is God who created the heavens and the earth in six periods and has supreme authority over all things. Without His permission none can intercede with Him. Therefore, serve Him. Will ye not be mindful of Him in all that you do? Unto Him shall ye all have to return; truly the promise of God holds good. He will reward those who have believed in Him and acted righteously. The unbelievers shall have a draught that boileth and chastisement, which is painful. He it is who that fashioned the Sun for brightness and the Moon to reflect light, and marked for her stations that ye may reckon time and mark the number of years. God hath not created all this except in proper form and with right intent. Verily, in the alteration of night and day and in His creation are signs for those who are mindful of God. Should God hasten [the] recompense for evil on men with the alacrity they show for securing what is gainful for them, they would have forthwith met with the end marked for them. God leaves those who do not expect to return into His presence, to indulge in their excesses. When any affliction toucheth a man, he crieth to God, whether sitting, standing or lying down but when He gives him relief he passeth by God as if he hath never called on Him. Such behaviour is fair seeming to them! Some of the polytheists say, "Bring a different Qur'an or alter some of its provisions." Say "It is not for me to make any changes in it. I follow only that which is revealed to me. Indeed, I fear the chastisement of the Great day if I go against my Lord." Already have I dwelt among you for years before the Divine revelations began to come (but I said nothing like this). Can you not understand this much? Who can be more unjust than one who either invententh a lie against God or treateth His revelations as lies? Mankind were at first but one united people; they then fell at variance (and resolved themselves into different communities). Had not a decree of respite from thy Lord gone forth, their differences would have borne their natural results. Verily, the life of present is like the rain which causes vegetation to grow and decks out the earth so that dwellers consider it is fully in their grasp when suddenly goes forth the decree of God and the crop is reduced to more stubble. Thus are made clear God's ways to those inclined to understand. And God beckoneth men to the Abode of Peace and He directeth whom He will to the straight path. His way is to afford goodness to those who do good. Never shall their faces be covered with shame or disgrace. But those who have wrought evil there shall be no one to protect them from God. Shame shall cover their faces, as if darkness of night has draped their countenance. On the day of Resurrection everyone will realize what he had done before; and they shall be brought back to their God and all the images of fancy they had created for themselves shall disappear from their view. Ask them (O Prophet!) "Who nourisheth you out of the bounties of the heavens and the earth, who hath power over your hearing and seeing, and who bringeth forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living and who regulated the affairs of existence?" They will promptly answer "God". Then say to them, "if so, will you not be mindful of Him?" Most of them are perverted and follow mere fancies but surely fancy cannot avail against truth. The Qur'an is not such as could be conceived by anyone except God. It not only confirmeth what was revealed before it, but offers an apt elucidation of them. Do they say the prophet has fashioned it himself? Say to them, "If you think so, then bring forth even a 'Sarah' (chapter) like it and call anyone for your assistance." But the fact is that they have charged with false hood what they cannot comprehend and even before its reality dawned on them. Even in like manner the people of yore had brought charges of imposture against prophets of their time. You cannot show the way to the deaf and the blind. On the day when he will gather them together, it will seem to them that they had tarried in this world but for an hour of the day just to recognize each other. Those who had refused to believe will be at a great loss. Every people have had their apostle; and when their apostle came to them, the issue between them was decided and they were not wronged. Every people have a term set for them and when it is to expire, they cannot retard or advance it by a moment. O man! Now hath an admonition come to you from your Lord, and a healing for the ailments of your hearts, and guidance and mercy for those who pay heed. Truly, God is full of bounty to men but most of them are ungrateful. There is no work in which thou art engaged or any verse thou reciteth out of Qur'an and there is nothing ye man do over which God does not keep His watch. And remember, nothing, not even an atom in the earth or heavens escapeth His notice and there is absolutely nothing small or great, which is not noted in the perspicacious knowledge of God. And (O Prophet!) do not let the babbling of thy enemies grieve thee. Power belongs to God alone. He hears what they say and knows what they do. Remember! Whatever is in the heavens or in the earth is subject to His control. He it is who hath ordained for you the night wherein to rest and the day to move about in the light. They say that God has taken to Himself a son. No! by His glory He is self-sufficient; whatever is in the heavens and in the earth is His! Have you any warranty to make such a statement. Do you attribute to God what ye know not? They may enjoy what there is in this world but they shall taste the chastisement for having blasphemed against God. O Prophet! Relate to them the story of Noah who said to his people, "O my people, if my dwelling with you and admonishing you is unpleasant to you, then I can only fall back upon my God. You may go on designing against me in cooperation with your partners and leave no stone unturned and delay not in carrying out your decision. For my part, I ask no reward from you. My reward is with God alone." But they still treated him as a liar. Therefore, God rescued him and his companions in the ark and caused them to succeed in authority those who had treated God's signs as false and who were drowned. Likewise, the people of Pharaoh were drowned and when they refused to listen to Moses and Aaron and falsified God's signs. Were there any people of any city who accepted faith and enjoyed the resultant benefits before any doom overtook them except the people of Jonah? God saved them from chastisement and provided them with means of comfortable living. But (O prophet!) if thy Lord had pleased, surely all the dwellers of the earth could not b |
