Verse 253
Those (tilka is the subject) messengers (al-rusul is either an adjective or the predicate) some We have preferred above others, by assigning a particular trait to one not found in the other; some there are to whom God spoke, such as Moses, and some He raised in rank, namely, Muhammad (s), on account of his call being to all peoples, his being the Seal of the Prophets, on account of the superiority of his community to all others, the sundry miracles and the many special qualities. And We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear proofs, and confirmed him, strengthened him, with the Holy Spirit, namely, Gabriel who would accompany him wherever he went. And had God willed, that all people be guided, those who came after them, after the messengers, that is, their communities, would not have fought against one another after the clear proofs had come to them, because of their disagreement and their leading one another astray; but they fell into variance, as He willed, and some of them believed, and adhered firmly to his faith, and some disbelieved, as the Christians did after Jesus (al-Masīh), and had God willed they would not have fought against one another (repeated here for emphasis), but God does whatever He desires, giving success to whomever He will and disappointment to whomever He will.
Verse 254
O you who believe, expend of what We have provided you with, what is due of it as alms, before there comes a day in which there shall be neither commerce, ransom, nor friendship, that can be of any benefit, nor intercession, without His permission (a variant reading has all three nouns in nominative inflection bay‘un, khullatun, shafā‘atun [as opposed to lā bay‘a, lā khullata, lā shafā‘ata]): this is the Day of Resurrection. And the disbelievers, those that disbelieve in God or in the obligations He has imposed on them — they are the evildoers, for not respecting God’s command.
Verse 255
God, there is no god, that is, there is none worthy of being worshipped in [all] existence, except Him, the Living, the Everlasting, the Eternal Sustainer, the One constantly engaged in the management of His creation. Slumber does not seize Him, neither sleep; to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth, as possessions, creatures and servants; who is there, that is to say, none is there, that shall intercede with Him save by His leave?, in this for him. He knows what lies before them, that is, creation, and what is after them, of the affairs of this world and the Hereafter; and they encompass nothing of His knowledge, that is, they know nothing of what He knows, save such as He wills, to inform of it by way of His messengers. His throne subsumes the heavens and the earth, it is said that His knowledge encompasses them both; it is also said that the kursī (‘throne’) itself subsumes them on account of its vastness, as in the hadīth, ‘The seven heavens compared to the kursī are like seven silver coins lying in a metal shield [of armour]’; the preserving of them, the heavens and the earth, wearies Him not, does not burden Him; He is the Sublime, above His creation by virtue of His subjugation [of them], the Tremendous, the Great.
Verse 256
There is no compulsion in, entering into, religion. Rectitude has become clear from error, that is say, through clear proofs it has become manifest that faith is rectitude and disbelief is error: this was revealed concerning the Ansār [of Medina] who tried to compel their sons to enter into Islam; so whoever disbelieves in the false deity, namely, Satan or idols (tāghūt, ‘false deity’, is used in a singular and plural sense), and believes in God, has laid hold of the most firm handle, the tight knot, unbreaking, that cannot be severed; God is Hearing, of what is said, Knowing, of what is done.
Verse 257
God is the Protector, helper, of the believers; He brings them forth from the shadows, of unbelief, into the light, of faith. And the disbelievers — their protectors are false deities, that bring them forth from the light into the shadows: the repetition of ‘bringing forth from’ here is either to be taken as a reflection of His [previous] words, “He brings them forth from the shadows”, or as a reference to all those Jews who believed in the Prophet before he was sent, but then rejected him, those are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein they shall abide.
Verse 258
Have you not seen him who disputed with Abraham, concerning his Lord, because of the fact, that God had given him the kingship?, that is, his arrogance towards this very grace of God: this was Nimrod (Nimrūd). When (idh is a substitution for hājja, ‘disputed’) Abraham, in response to the other’s question, ‘Who is this Lord of yours to whom you are calling us?’, said: ‘My Lord is He who gives life, and makes to die’, the One that creates life and death in bodies; he [Nimrod] said, ‘I give life, by sparing, and make to die’, by killing. He then had two men brought before him, killed one and spared the other. When Abraham realised that this man was a fool, Abraham, resorting to a more sophisticated argument, said: ‘God brings the sun from the east; so bring, you, it from the west.’ Then the disbeliever was confused, perplexed and amazed; and God guides not the folk who do evil, disbelieving, to the art of argument.
Verse 259
Or, did you see, such as he, Ezra (‘Uzayr), who (the kāf of ka’lladhī, ‘such as he who’, is extra) passed by a city, namely, the Holy House [sc. Jerusalem], riding on an ass and carrying with him a basket of figs and a cup of juice, [a city] that was fallen down, collapsed, upon its turrets, its roof tops: after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it; he said, ‘How (annā means kayfa, ‘how’) shall God give life to this now that it is dead?’, challenging the power of the exalted One, so God made him die, and remain dead for, a hundred years, then he raised him up, brought him back to life to show him how this could be done; He, God, said, ‘How long have you tarried?’, been here?; he said, ‘I have tarried a day, or part of a day’, because he fell asleep before noon, and was made dead and then brought back to life again at sunset, and thus he thought it was a day’s sleep; He said, ‘Nay; you have tarried a hundred years. Look at your food, the figs, and drink, the cup of juice, it has not spoiled, despite the length of time (the final hā’ of yatasannah, ‘to spoil’, is said to belong to the original root, s-n-h; but it is also said to be silent, in which case the root would be s-n-y; a variant reading omits the final hā’); and look at your ass, how it is, and he saw that it had died, and all that remained were its withered white bones. We did this so that you would know and, so that We would make you a sign, of [the truth of] the Resurrection, for the people. And look at the bones, of the ass, how We shall set them up, how We shall raise them back to life (nunshiruhā, or nanshiruhā, derived from the two expressions, nashara and anshara; a variant reading has nunshizuhā, meaning ‘How We shall move it and make it stand’); and then clothe them with flesh’, and when he looked at it, he saw that [the bones] had been reconstituted and clothed with flesh, and that the Spirit had been breathed into it, making it bray. So, when it was made clear to him, as a result of witnessing it, he said, ‘I know (a variant reading for a‘lam, ‘I know’, has [the imperative] i‘lam, ‘know!’, thus making it a command from God), with the knowledge of direct vision, that God has power over all things’.
Verse 260
And, mention, when Abraham said, ‘My Lord show me how You give life to the dead,’ He, God, exalted be He, said, to him, ‘Why, do you not believe?’, in My power to revive; God asks him this even though He knows of his belief in this [power], as a response to his request, and so that the ones listening will know the purpose [of the request]; ‘Yes,’, I do believe, he said, ‘but, I ask You, so that my heart may be re-assured’, [so that it may be] at peace, through direct vision, in addition to that [certainty] which is sought through logical reasoning. Said He, ‘Take four birds, and twist them to you (sirhunna, or surhunna), turn them towards you, cut them up and mix together their flesh and feathers, then set a part of them on every hill, in the land around you, then summon them, to you, and they will come to you in haste. And know that God is Mighty, that nothing is beyond Him, Wise’, in His actions. Abraham took a peacock, an eagle, a raven and a cock and did with them as has been mentioned, but kept their heads with him. He called them, and all the parts began to fly back together, combining until they were whole and returning to their heads.
Verse 261
The likeness, of the quality of the expenditure, of those who expend their wealth in the way of God, that is, in obedience of Him, is as the likeness of a grain of corn that sprouts seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains: likewise what they expend will be multiplied seven hundred times; so God multiplies, even more than this, for whom He will; God is Embracing, in His bounty, Knowing, those who deserve such multiplications.
Verse 262
Those who expend their wealth in the way of God then do not follow up their expenditure with reminder of their generosity, of the one on whom they expended, for example, by saying, ‘I was good to him and restored his affairs’; and injury, to that person, by mentioning this to people whom he would prefer not to know about it; their wage, the reward for their expenditure, is with their Lord, and no fear shall befall them, neither shall they grieve, in the Hereafter.
Verse 263
Honourable words, kind talk and a generous reply to the beggar, and forgiveness, towards him for his persistence, are better than a voluntary almsgiving followed by injury, through reproach and deriding him for his begging; and God is Independent, of the voluntary almsgiving of His servants, Forbearing, in His delaying the punishment of the reproachful and injurious one.
Verse 264
O you who believe, annul not, the rewards of, your voluntary almsgivings with reproach and injury, as, in the manner of the annulment of the expenditure of, one who expends of his substance to show off to men and believes not in God and the Last Day: this is the hypocrite. The likeness of him is as the likeness of a smooth rock on which is soil, and a torrent, of intense rain, smites it, and leaves it barren, and smooth with nothing on it. They have no power (lā yaqdirūna is a resumption of the statement about the likeness of the one that expends for show; the person becomes plural on account of the [potential plural] implication of alladhī, ‘the one who’) over anything that they have earned, that they did, in other words, they find no reward for it in the Hereafter, just as one finds nothing of the dust that was on the surface of the smooth rock, after the rain has washed it away. God guides not the disbelieving folk.
Verse 265
But the likeness, of the expenditure, of those who expend their wealth, seeking God’s good pleasure, and to confirm themselves, that is, to realise the reward thereof, in contrast to the hypocrites who do not hope for it, since they do not believe in it, is as the likeness of a garden, an orchard, upon a hill, (read rabwa or rubwa) a high ground; a torrent smites it and it yields, gives forth, its produce (read ukulahā or uklahā), its fruits, twofold, twice the fruits of another [garden]; if no torrent smites it, then dew, (tall, a light drizzle) which falls on it and suffices it on account of its altitude. In other words, it grows and bears fruit, regardless of how much rain falls; likewise are the expenditures of those mentioned: they will increase with God, regardless of how much they were; and God sees what you do, and He will requite you for it.
Verse 266
Would any of you wish to have a garden, an orchard, of date-palms and vines, with rivers flowing beneath it, for him there is in it all manner of fruit, then old age smites him, and makes him too weak to profit from it, and he has seed, but they are weak, young children who cannot manage it; then a whirlwind (i‘sār are violent winds) with fire smites it, and it is consumed?, so that he loses what he is most in need of, and now he and his children have become incapacitated, confused, without any resources. This is a similitude of how the expenditure of the one expending for show, or the one who reproaches [after having expended], vanishes and how it is of no avail when he will be most in need of it in the Hereafter (the interrogative [a-yawaddu, ‘would any wish’] is intended as a denial). According to Ibn ‘Abbās, this is the person who performs deeds of obedience, but when Satan comes to him, he begins to work disobedience, until all his good deeds have been consumed. So, in the way that He has explained what has been mentioned, God makes clear the signs to you, so that you might reflect, and take heed.
Verse 267
O you who believe, expend of, that is to say, purify, the good things you have earned, of property, and, the good things, of what We have produced for you from the earth, of grains and fruits, and seek not (lā tayammamū, means lā taqsudū) the corrupt, the vile, of it, the above-mentioned, for your expending, it as alms (tunfiqūna, ‘you expend’, is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person of [the verb] tayammamū, ‘seek’); for you would never take it, the vile part, yourselves, if you were given it as something due to you; without closing your eyes to it, by being careless and mindless, so how do you expect to give what is due to God from this?; and know that God is Independent, of your expenditures, Laudable, praised in every situation.
Verse 268
Satan promises you poverty, by making you fear [loss] when you make a voluntary almsgiving, and so you withhold it, and enjoins you to indecency, niggardliness and the impeding of almsgiving; but God promises you, in return for your expenditure, His pardon, for your sins, and His bounty, as sustenance from Him; and God is Embracing, in His bounty, Knowing, the one who expends.
Verse 269
He gives wisdom, that is, the profitable knowledge that leads to [righteous] action, to whomever He will, and he who is given wisdom, has been given much good, because he will end up in perpetual bliss; yet none remembers (the tā’ of yadhdhakkar has been assimilated with the dhāl), that is to say, [none] is admonished, but the people of pith, possessors of intellects.
Verse 270
And whatever expenditure you expend, be it as alms or a voluntary almsgiving, and whatever vow you make, and fulfil, surely God knows it, and will requite you for it. For the evildoers, who prevent almsgiving and vows, or expend other than the way they should, in disobedience to God, they have no helpers, to protect them from His chastisement.
Verse 271
If you proclaim, make manifest, your voluntary almsgivings, that is, your supererogatory deeds, it is a fine thing, to show them; but if you conceal them, and give them to the poor, that is even better for you, than making them manifest or giving it to the rich. As regards the obligatory almsgiving, it is better to make it manifest, so that it serves as an example and so that one is not accused [falsely of not giving]; as regards giving it to the poor, this is obligatory; and it will absolve you of, some of, your evil deeds (read yukaffir, ‘it will absolve’, or nukaffir, ‘We will absolve’, either in apocopated form [with no final vowel, yukaffir, nukaffir], being a supplement to the locus of fa-huwa, ‘that is’, or with nominative inflection [yukaffiru, nukaffiru], indicating the beginning of a new sentence). God is aware of what you do, knowing its inner and outer aspects, nothing of it being hidden from Him.
Verse 272
When the Prophet (s) was prohibited from giving voluntary alms to idolaters [as an incentive] for them to embrace Islam, the following was revealed: You are not responsible for guiding them, that is to say, for people, that they should embrace Islam, [you are responsible] only for conveying the Message [to them]; but God guides, with His guidance, whomever He will, to embrace Islam. And whatever good, property, you expend is for yourselves, since the reward is for you; for then you are expending, desiring only God’s Face (this clause is the predicate, denoting a prohibition), that is to say, His reward and not any other transient object of this world, and whatever good you expend, its requital, shall be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged, you will not suffer any diminishment of it (both [of the last two] sentences emphasise the first one).
Verse 273
For the poor (this is the predicate of the missing subject, al-sadaqāt, ‘voluntary almsgiving’), who are constrained in the way of God, those who have confined themselves [in preparation] for the struggle: this was revealed concerning the people of Suffa, consisting in some four hundred of the Emigrants (muhājirūn), set apart [from the other Muslims] for the study of the Qur’ān and to take part in raids; and they are unable to journey (darban, means safaran) in the land, to engage in commerce and earn their living, since they are fully engaged in the struggle; the ignorant man supposes them, on account of the way they behave, rich because of their abstinence, that is, their refraining from asking for things; but you, the one being addressed, shall know them by their mark, by the signs of their humility and exertion; they do not beg of men, and make urgent demands, importunately, that is to say, they do not beg in the first place, so there is no question of persistence. And whatever good you expend, surely God has knowledge of it, and will requite it accordingly.
Verse 274
Those who expend their wealth night and day, secretly and openly, their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall befall them, neither shall they grieve.
Verse 275
Those who devour, that is, [those who] seize by way of, usury, which is an excess [levied] in transactions of money or foodstuffs either on their value or on credit, shall not rise again, from their graves, except, rising, as one whom Satan has made prostrate, demented, from touch, [through] madness (min al-mass, ‘from touch’, is semantically connected to yaqūmūna, ‘they rise’); that, which befalls them, is because, of the fact that, they say, ‘Trade is like usury’, in terms of permissibility: this [statement] is a type of reversed simile used for intensity [sc. ‘usury is like trade’ is the expected word order]. God responds to them saying that: God has permitted trade, and forbidden usury. Whoever receives an admonition from his Lord and desists, from devouring it, he shall have his past gains, those made before the prohibition and which cannot be reclaimed from him, and his affair, with regard to pardoning him, is committed to God; but whoever reverts, to devouring it, treating it like trade in terms of lawfulness — those are the inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein.
Verse 276
God effaces usury, diminishing it and eliminating any blessing in it, but He augments voluntary almsgivings with interest, increasing them, making them grow and multiplying their reward. God loves not, that is to say, He will requite, any guilty, profligate devouring it, ingrate, who deems usury licit.
Verse 277
Those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and establish the prayer, and pay the alms — their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall befall them, neither shall they grieve.
Verse 278
O you who believe, fear God, and give up, abandon, the usury that is outstanding, if you are believers, true to your faith, since it is expected of the believer that he adhere to God’s command: this was revealed when some of the Companions, after the prohibition, wanted to reclaim some of the usury from before.
Verse 279
But if you do not, do what you have been commanded, then be warned, have knowledge, of war from God, and His Messenger, against you: herein is a grave threat for them. When it was revealed, they said, ‘What power can we have in a war against Him!’ Yet if you repent, and forgo it, you shall have your principal sums, the original amounts, not being unjust, by charging interest, and no injustice being done to you, by way of any diminution.
Verse 280
And if any man, in debt, should be in difficulties, then, let him have, respite, a postponement, till things are easier (read maysara or maysura, meaning ‘a time of ease’); but that you should give (tassaddaqū, where the second tā’ of the softened form, tatasaddaqū, has been assimilated with the sād), the one in difficulty, a voluntary almsgiving, by waiving his debt, is better for you, did you but know, [if you know] that it is better for you, then do it. In a hadīth it is said, ‘Whoever gives respite to one in difficulty, or waives his debt, God will place him under His shade, on a day when there shall be no shade except God’s’, as reported by Muslim.
Verse 281
And fear a day wherein you shall be returned to God, namely, the Day of Resurrection (read the passive [turja‘ūna] meaning, ‘you shall be returned’, or the active [tarji‘ūna] meaning ‘you shall return’), and every soul, on that day, shall be paid in full, the requital of, what it has earned, what it has done of good or evil; and they shall not be wronged, through any loss of a good deed or the incurring of an extra evil deed.
Verse 282
O you who believe, when you contract, when you are dealing with, a debt, such as in prepayment for (future) delivery of goods or a loan, one upon another for a stated, a known, term, write it down, as confirmation and security against any dispute; and let a writer write it, the contract of debt, down between you justly, accurately, not increasing or decreasing the amount or the terms; and let not any writer refuse to write it down, if he is requested for such a task, as God has taught him (the kāf of ka-mā, ‘as’, is semantically connected to the verb ya’ba, ‘refuse’), that is, just as He has given him the advantage of knowing how to write, he should not be niggardly in this respect; so let him write (repeated for emphasis), and let the debtor dictate, to the one writing the contract, for he is the one being witnessed, and must be fully aware of his obligations; and let him fear God his Lord, when dictating, and not diminish anything of it, of the debt due. And if the debtor be a fool, a squanderer, or weak, not up to dictating on account of old age or immaturity, or unable to dictate himself, on account of being dumb, or not knowing the language and so forth, then let his guardian, the one in charge of his affairs, be it a parent, an executor, a custodian or an interpreter, dictate justly. And summon to bear witness, the debt, two witnesses, men, mature Muslim free men; or if the two, witnesses, be not men, then one man and two women, to bear witness, such witnesses as you approve of, on account of their piety and probity; the number of women is because of the fact, so that if one of the two women errs, forgets the testimony, given their lesser astuteness and accuracy; the other, the one remembering, will remind her (read fa-tudhakkira or fa-tudhkira), the one that has forgotten — the ‘reminding’ clause is the reason [for the choice of two women], that is to say, so that she may be reminded if she errs or strays into error, because this [forgetfulness] is the cause of it (a variant reading [for an, ‘that’] has the conditional in, ‘if’, with [the verb inflected as] tudhakkiru, ‘she will remind’, making it a new sentence, the response to which [follows]); and let the witnesses not refuse, whenever (the mā of idhā mā, ‘whenever’, is extra) they are summoned, to bear witness and take responsibility for the testimony; and be not disdainful, lazy, to write it down, that which you have witnessed in truth (for this frequently occurred), be it, small or great, a little or much, with its term, that is, the date on which it is due (ilā ajlihi is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the [pronominal suffix] hā’ of taktubū-hu, ‘you write it down’); that, writing down, is more equitable, more just, in God’s sight, more upright for testimony, that is to say, [that is] more helpful in summoning witness, because it contains the reminder; and nearer, closer to attaining [the desired state] that you will not be in doubt, with regard to the amount and the due dates; unless it be, [that] there is, trade carried out there and then (tijāratun hādiratun: a variant reading has tijāratan hādiratan, in which case the nominal sentence is missing its subject, and must be the pronoun for tijāra, ‘trade’, that is, hiya, ‘it [fem. pronoun]’) that you give and take between you, without there being a time-frame, then you will not be at fault if you do not write it, the merchandise itself, down. And take witnesses, over it, when you are trading with one another, for this is a better means of preventing dispute. The provisions here are delegated (to the personal choice of the people involved). And let not either writer or witness, the creditor and the debtor, be pressed, to distorting [the agreement], being prevented from testimony or dictation; nor should the creditor press them by charging them with what is not suitable for the testimony or the dictation; and if you do, what is prohibited to you, that is sinfulness, a rebellion against obedience, and lack of truth, in you. And fear God, in what He commands and prohibits. God teaches you (wa-yu‘allimukumu Llāhu, is an implied circumstantial qualifier or it denotes the beginning of a new clause), what is in your best interests, and God knows all things.
Verse 283
And if you are upon a journey, travelling and you contract a debt, and you do not find a writer, then a pledge (ruhun or rihān, plural of rahn) in hand, as a guarantee for you. The Sunna clarifies the permissibility of making pledges in towns, where writers may be forthcoming; but the stipulation is made in the event of travel because in this case it is more important to have a guarantee; God’s reference to it being ‘in hand’ (maqbūda) is a condition for the pledge given to be valid, and to satisfy the pledgee or his representative. But if one of you, the creditor, trusts another, the debtor, over the debt and does not require a pledge, let him who is trusted, the debtor, deliver his trust, the debt; and let him fear God his Lord, when delivering it. And do not conceal the testimony, if you are summoned to give it; whoever conceals it, his heart is sinful: the heart is mentioned because it is the locus of the testimony, and because if it sins, there are other sinful consequences, and so the person will be punished as though he were a sinner; and God knows what you do, nothing of which can be hidden from Him.
Verse 284
To God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Whether you disclose, manifest, what is in your hearts or hide it, of evil and resolve for it, God shall take you to account for it, informing you of it on the Day of Resurrection. Then He will forgive whom He will, to forgive, and chastise whom He will, to chastise (both verbs are apocopated [fa-yaghfir, ‘he will forgive’, wa-yu‘adhdhib, ‘he will chastise’] if taken as the responses to the conditional, in tubdū, ‘if you proclaim’; but they may also be read with a final nominative inflection [yaghfiru, yu‘adhdhibu] in which case, it would [constitute a new clause and] follow on from an implicit fa-huwa, ‘then He’). And God has power over all things, including reckoning with you and requiting you.
Verse 285
The Messenger, Muhammad (s) believes in, affirms the truth of, what was revealed to him from his Lord, namely, the Qur’ān, and the believers (wa’l-mu’minūna is a supplement to al-rasūlu, ‘the Messenger’); each one (the tanwīn of kullun stands in place of the second noun in an annexation [sc. kullu wāhidin]) believes in God and His angels, and in His Books, all of them and each of them, and His messengers, and they say, ‘we make no distinction between any of His messengers’, believing in some and disbelieving in others, in the manner of the Jews and the Christians. And they say, ‘We hear, what we have been enjoined to hear and accept, and obey; we ask you: Your forgiveness, our Lord; to You is the homecoming’, that is, the return at the Resurrection. When the previous verse was revealed, the believers complained of evil whisperings and it grieved them that they should be taken to account according to [the principle expressed in] it, and so the following was revealed:
Verse 286
God charges no soul save to its capacity, that is, what it is capable of bearing; for it is what it has merited, of good and its reward, and against it is what it has earned, of evil and its burden: no person shall be requited for another’s sin or for what he has not earned, even if he was tempted to do it. Say: Our Lord, take us not to task, by way of chastisement, if we forget, or err, by straying from the right path unknowingly — as You used to take to task those before us: God has lifted this [burden] from this community, as reported in hadīth. The petition here, then, is a way of acknowledging God’s favour; our Lord, burden us not with a load, an affair which we cannot bear, such as You did lay upon those before us, namely, upon the Children of Israel, as for example, the killing of oneself in repentance, the paying of a quarter of one’s property for alms, and the severing of the impure part. Our Lord, do not burden us beyond what we have the power, the strength, to bear, of obligations and trials; and pardon us, effacing our sins, and forgive us, and have mercy on us, with mercy added to Your forgiveness; You are our Patron, our Master and the Guardian of our affairs; so grant us assistance against the disbelieving folk, by establishing definitive proof [for us] and victory over them in battle, for it is expected of a patron that he assist his clients against their enemies. In a hadīth it is stated that when this verse was revealed and the Prophet (s) was reciting it, after each word it was said to him, “Granted”.
Verse 1
Alif Lām Mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].
Verse 2
God! There is no god except Him, the Living, the Eternal.
Verse 3
He has revealed to you, O Muhammad (s), the Book, the Qur’ān, enveloped, by the truth, with veracity, in what it announces, confirming what was before it, of Books; and He revealed the Torah and the Gospel
Verse 4
before, that is to say, before revealing it [the Qur’ān], as guidance (hudan, a circumstantial qualifier meaning, hādiyīn, ‘guides from error’) to people, to those who followed these two [Books] (He uses the word anzala for the revelation of these two, and nazzala for that of the Qur’ān, for the latter entails repetition, whereas the two Books were revealed in one instance); and He revealed the Criterion (al-furqān), meaning the Scriptures that discriminate between truth and falsehood. He mentions this [Criterion] after He has mentioned the three Scriptures so that it encompasses all [revealed Scriptures] besides these. As for those who disbelieve in God’s signs, the Qur’ān or any other [revelation], for them awaits a terrible chastisement; God is Mighty, victorious in His affair, so that nothing can prevent Him from effecting His promise and His threat; Lord of Retribution, with a severe punishment for those that disobeyed Him, the like of which none can do.
Verse 5
Nothing, no existent thing, whatever is hidden in heaven and earth from God, on account of His knowledge of universals and particulars. God specifies them [heaven and earth] because sensory perception does not go beyond these.
Verse 6
He it is Who forms you in the wombs as He will, as males or females, white, black or otherwise. There is no god except Him, the Mighty, in His Kingdom, the Wise, in His actions.
Verse 7
He it is Who revealed to you the Book, wherein are verses [that are] clear, lucid in proof, forming the Mother Book, the original basis for rulings, and others allegorical, whose meanings are not known, such as the opening verses of some sūras. He [God] refers to the whole [Qur’ān] as: 1) ‘clear’ [muhkam] where He says [A Book] whose verses have been made clear [Q. 11:1], meaning that it contains no imperfections; and as 2) ‘allegorical’ [mutashābih], where He says A Book consimilar [Q. 39:23], meaning that its parts resemble each other in terms of beauty and veracity. As for those in whose hearts is deviation, inclination away from truth, they follow the allegorical part, desiring sedition, among the ignorant of them, throwing them into specious arguments and confusion, and desiring its interpretation, its explanation, and none knows its interpretation, its explanation, save God, Him alone. And those firmly rooted, established and capable, in knowledge (al-rāsikhūna fī’l-‘ilm is the subject, the predicate of which is [what follows]) say, ‘We believe in it, the allegorical part, that it is from God, and we do not know its meaning; all, of the clear and the allegorical, is from our Lord’; yet none remembers (yadhdhakkar, the initial tā’ [of yatadhakkar] has been assimilated with the dhāl), that is, none is admonished, but people of pith, possessors of intellect, who, when they see those following that [allegorical part only], also say:
Verse 8
Our Lord, do not cause our hearts to deviate, do not cause them to incline away from the truth, in [their] desire to interpret it, such as is inappropriate for us — as You caused the hearts of those [others] to deviate — after You have guided us, [after] You have shown us the way to it; and give us mercy from You, as a strengthening; You are the Bestower.
Verse 9
Our Lord, You shall gather mankind for a day, that is, on a day, of which there is no doubt, no uncertainty, that is, the Day of Resurrection, when You will requite them for their deeds as You had promised; verily God will not fail the tryst, His promise of the Upraising: there is a shift of address here from the second [to the third] person and these [last words] could constitute God’s speech. The purpose of their supplication in this way is to show that their concern is with the matter of the Hereafter, and for this reason they ask [God] for adherence to the path of guidance, in order to attain its reward. The two Shaykhs [Bukhārī and Muslim] reported that ‘Ā’isha, may God be pleased with her, said, ‘The Messenger of God (s) recited this verse: It is He Who revealed to you the Book, wherein are verses clear [to the end of] the verse, and said, “When you see those pursuing the allegorical parts, [know that] these are the ones God refers to [in this verse], so beware of them” ’. Al-Tabarānī reported in his al-Kabīr that Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī heard the Prophet (s) say, ‘I fear nothing for my community except three faults’, and he mentioned that one of these would be when the Book is opened in front of them, and the believer will desire to interpret it, and yet none knows its interpretation, save God; and those firmly rooted in knowledge say, ‘We believe in it, all is from our Lord; yet none remembers but people of pith’ [Q. 3:7] [end of the] hadīth.
Verse 10
As for the disbelievers, neither their riches nor their children will avail, will protect, them against God, that is, [against] His chastisement; those — they shall be fuel for the Fire, [they shall constitute] what the Fire will be fuelled by (read waqūd [as opposed to wuqūd], ‘fuel’).
Verse 11
Their way is, as the way, as the habit, of Pharaoh’s folk, and the, communities of people before them, such as ‘Ād and Thamūd, who denied Our signs; God seized them, He destroyed them, for their sins (this statement explains the previous one); God is severe in retribution.
Verse 12
When the Prophet (s) enjoined the Jews to enter into Islam, after his return from Badr, they said, ‘Do not fool yourself just because you killed a few men of Quraysh, inexperienced and knowing nothing about fighting’, whereupon the following was revealed: Say, O Muhammad (s), to the disbelievers, from among the Jews, ‘You shall be vanquished (sa-tughlabūn, or [read] sa-yughlabūn, ‘they shall be vanquished’), in this world, through being killed or taken captive and made to pay the jizya (which actually took place), and mustered, ([read] in both ways [wa-tuhsharūna, ‘you will be mustered’, or wa-yuhsharūna, ‘they will be mustered’]), in the Hereafter, to Hell, which you shall enter — an evil cradling!’, [an evil] resting place.
Verse 13
There has already been a sign, an example (the verb qad kāna, ‘there has been’, is used to separate [the statement to follow from the previous one]), for you in two hosts, two parties, that met, one another in battle, on the day of Badr; one company fighting in the way of God, in obedience to Him, namely, the Prophet and his Companions, who numbered three hundred and thirteen men, most of them on foot, with two horses, six plates of armour and eight swords; and another unbelieving; they, the disbelievers, numbering almost a thousand, saw them, the Muslims, twice the like of them, that is, more numerous than themselves, as the eye sees, in manifest vision, witnessing; and God granted them victory despite their fewer number; for God confirms, He strengthens, with His help whom He will, granting him victory. Surely in that, which is mentioned, is a lesson for people of vision, those who are discerning: so will you not be warned by this and become believers?
Verse 14
Beautified for mankind is love of lusts, that which the self lusts after and calls for, beautified by Satan, or by God as a test — of women, children, stored-up heaps of gold and silver, horses of mark, fine [horses], cattle, namely, camels, cows and sheep, and tillage, the cultivation of land. That, which is mentioned, is the comfort of the life of this world, enjoyed while it lasts, but then perishes; but God — with Him is the more excellent abode, place of return, which is Paradise, and for this reason one should desire none other than this [abode].