Verse 145
Then We cast him, We flung him out of the belly of the whale, onto the barren land, onto the face of the earth, that is, onto the shore on that same day — or three, or seven, or twenty, or forty days later — and he was sick, ailing like a [newly-born] featherless chick.
Verse 146
And We made a gourd plant to grow above him, to provide shade for him with its stem, which is not the case usually with gourds, as a miracle for him; a mountain goat would come to him in the morning and in the evening and he would drink its milk, until he finally regained his strength.
Verse 147
And We sent him, afterwards — as [We had done] before, to a people in Nineveh, in the region of Mosul — to a [community of a] hundred thousand or, in fact, more — [a community of] twenty, thirty or seventy thousand.
Verse 148
And they believed, after they saw [with their own eyes] the chastisement which they had been promised. So We gave them comfort, We kept them alive to enjoy their wealth, for a while, until their terms [of life] would be concluded [while they took comfort] therein.
Verse 149
So ask them, inquire of the Meccan disbelievers, by way of reproach: are daughters to be for your Lord, after their claim that the angels were God’s daughters, while sons are to be for them?, so that the best becomes exclusively theirs?
Verse 150
Or did We create the angels females while they were witnesses?, to Our [act of] creation, that they might then say such a thing?
Verse 151
Lo! it is indeed out of their [own] mendacity, their [own] lies, that they say,
Verse 152
‘God has begotten’, when they say that the angels are God’s daughters. And verily they are liars, in this [respect].
Verse 153
Has He preferred daughters to sons? (read a’stafā, ‘has He preferred’, indicating an interrogative [hamza], which stands in place of the omitted conjunctive hamza).
Verse 154
What is wrong with you? How do you judge?, [how do you make] such a depraved judgement?
Verse 155
Will you not then remember? (tadhakkarūna: the tā’ [of tatadhakkarūna] has been assimilated with the dhāl), that He, glory be to Him, is exalted above having a child?
Verse 156
Or do you have a clear warrant?, plain definitive proof that God has a child?
Verse 157
Then produce your scripture, the Torah, and show Me this [as it is mentioned] in it, if you are being truthful, about this statement of yours.
Verse 158
And they, namely, the idolaters, have set up between Him, exalted be He, and the jinn, namely, the angels (jinna: they are so called because they are hidden [ijtinān] from vision) a kinship, by saying that they are God’s daughters, while the jinn certainly know that they, that is, those who say this, shall indeed be arraigned, into the Fire, to be chastised therein.
Verse 159
Glory be to God, affirming that He is exalted, above what they attribute, [to Him] in the way of His having a child,
Verse 160
— [all] except God’s devoted servants, namely, believers (the exceptive clause here is discontinuous) in other words, [that is] because they declare that God transcends what such individuals attribute [to Him].
Verse 161
For indeed you and what you worship, of idols,
Verse 162
— you cannot tempt, anyone, thereto, that is, to [incline to] your [worshipped] idols (‘alayhi, ‘thereto’, is semantically connected to His saying [bi-fātinīna], ‘you cannot tempt’),
Verse 163
except him who will burn in Hell, in God’s knowledge, exalted be He.
Verse 164
Gabriel said to the Prophet (s): And there is not one of us, [us] the company of angels, but has a known station, in the heavens, in which he worships God and which he does not transgress.
Verse 165
And indeed it is we who are the rangers, of our feet in prayer.
Verse 166
And indeed it is we who give glory, [it is we] who declare that God transcends what does not befit Him.
Verse 167
And indeed (in, is softened in place of the hardened one) they, the Meccan disbelievers, used to say,
Verse 168
‘If we had but a reminder, a scripture, from the ancients, that is, from among the scriptures of past communities,
Verse 169
we would have surely been God’s devoted servants’, [devoting] worship purely to Him.
Verse 170
God, exalted be He, says: Yet they disbelieved in it, in other words, in the Book that came to them, namely, the Qur’ān, more glorious than [all] those other scriptures; but they will come to know, the consequences of their disbelief.
Verse 171
And verily Our Word, [containing the promise] of victory, has gone beforehand in favour of Our servants, the messengers: and that [Word] is, I shall assuredly prevail, I and My messengers [Q. 58:21] —
Verse 172
or it is His [following] saying — assuredly they shall be helped,
Verse 173
and assuredly Our hosts, namely, the believers, they will indeed be the victors, over the disbelievers by [their being given] the definitive proofs and assistance against them in this world. And if some of these [believers] are not victorious over them in this world, then assuredly in the Hereafter [they will be so].
Verse 174
So leave them, in other words, shun the Meccan disbelievers, for a while, until [such time as] you are commanded to fight them;
Verse 175
and watch them, when the chastisement is sent down on them; for they will [soon] see, the consequences of their disbelief.
Verse 176
They then said in mockery, ‘When will this chastisement be sent down?’ God, exalted be He, threatens them by saying: Do they seek to hasten Our chastisement?
Verse 177
But when it descends in their courtyard — al-Farrā’ said that the Arabs find it sufficient to refer to a people by referring to ‘their courtyard’ — how awful, how terrible a morning, will be the morning for those who were warned (the overt noun [al-mundharīn] has replaced the [third person] pronominalisation [in sāhatihim]).
Verse 178
So leave them for a while,
Verse 179
and watch; for they will [soon] see — this [statement] is repeated in order to emphasise the threat made to them and to reassure the Prophet (s).
Verse 180
Glory be to your Lord, the Lord of Might, of Triumph, [exalted is He] above what they allege!, in the way of His having a child.
Verse 181
And peace be to the messengers, who convey from God the Message of the Oneness [of God] and [His] Laws.
Verse 182
And praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, for granting these [messengers] victory and destroying the disbelievers.
Verse 1
Sād: God knows best what He means by this [letter]. By the Qur’ān bearing the Remembrance, that is, [bearing] the Pronouncement; or [what is meant is that the Qur’ān is a Book] of renown (the response to this oath has been omitted, in other words: ‘It is not as the Meccan disbelievers say, that there are many gods’).
Verse 2
Nay, but those who disbelieve, from among the people of Mecca, dwell in conceit, in self-glory and [in] disdain of faith, and defiance, disagreement with, and enmity towards, the Prophet (s).
Verse 3
How many — in other words, many — a generation, a community of past communities, We have destroyed before them, and they cried out, when the chastisement was sent down on them, when it was no longer the time for escape, that is to say, the time was not one for fleeing (the [suffixed] tā’ [of wa-lāta] is extra; the sentence is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject of [the verb] nādaw, ‘they cried out’) in other words, they called for help but the situation was such that there could be no escape or deliverance; but still the Meccan disbelievers have not taken heed from their example.
Verse 4
And they marvel that a warner has come to them from among themselves, a messenger from among their number, to warn them and to threaten them with [the punishment of] the Fire after resurrection — and this [warner] is the Prophet (s). And those who disbelieve (the overt noun [al-kāfirūnā] has replaced the [third person] pronominalisation) say, ‘This is a sorcerer, a liar.
Verse 5
Has he made the gods One God? — for he had said to them, ‘Say: there is no god except God’ — in other words [they objected]: how could one god suffice for all of creation? Lo! that is indeed a curious thing’.
Verse 6
And the council from among them go about, from the place of their assembly at the house of Abū Tālib and [the place] where they heard the Prophet (s) say, ‘Say: there is no god except God’, saying, ‘Go!, they say to one another, go, and stand by your gods, adhere firmly to worship of them; lo! this, that has been mentioned concerning the Oneness of God, is indeed a thing sought, from us.
Verse 7
We never heard of this in the latter-day creed, namely, the creed of Jesus. This is surely [nothing] but an invention, [mere] lies.
Verse 8
Has the Remembrance, the Qur’ān, been revealed to him, Muhammad (s), out of [all of] us’, when he is neither the elder nor the noblest among us? In other words, it could not have been revealed to him (read a-unzila pronouncing both hamzas, or not pronouncing the second one, but in both cases inserting an intervening alif or without [this insertion]). God, exalted be He, says: Nay, but they are in doubt concerning My Remembrance, My revelation, that is, the Qur’ān, for they deny the one who has brought it. Nay, but they have not yet tasted My chastisement, and if they were to taste it, they would certainly believe the Prophet (s) in what he has brought — but then [in such a case] their belief [in the Prophet] would be of no benefit to them.
Verse 9
Or do they possess the treasuries of your Lord’s mercy, the Mighty, the Victor, the Bestower?, [treasuries] such as prophethood and otherwise, so that they might give it to whomever they want?
Verse 10
Or do they possess the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them? If this is what they claim: Then let them ascend by the means, [of ascension] that lead to the heaven and bring [down] some revelation (wahy) and then assign it exclusively to whomever they wish (am in both verses represents the [rhetorical] hamza of denial).
Verse 11
A routed (mahzūmun is an adjectival qualification of jundun, ‘host’) host [is all that they are], in other words, they are [nothing but] a despicable host, nothing more — in their denial of you — from among the factions (mina’l-ahzābi, also an adjectival qualification of jundun) in other words, [they are] like those hosts of factions who were in confederation against prophets before you: these were defeated and destroyed, and likewise We shall destroy these [people].
Verse 12
Before them the people of Noah denied (the inflection of [the verb kadhdabat, ‘denied’, that is governed by] qawmu, ‘people’, is in the feminine person because of the [implicit] sense), and [so did those of] ‘Ād and Pharaoh, he of the stakes — he used to fix four stakes for the person who incurred his wrath and tie to these [stakes] that person’s hands and feet and then torture him —
Verse 13
and Thamūd and the people of Lot and the dwellers in the wood, a small forest, namely, the people of Shu‘ayb, peace be upon him — those were the factions.
Verse 14
Each one, of the factions, did not but deny the messengers, for when they deny one, they have [in effect] denied them all, since their call [to God] is [the same] one, namely, the call to [affirmation of] His Oneness. So My retribution was justified, [it was] necessary.
Verse 15
And these, that is, the disbelievers of Mecca, do not await but a single Cry, namely, the Blast of the Resurrection that will herald chastisement for them, for which there will be no revoking (read fawāq or fuwāq).
Verse 16
And they said — after the following [verse] was revealed, As for him who is given his book in his right hand … to the end [of the verse, Q. 69:19] — ‘Our Lord, hasten on for us the record of our deeds before the Day of Reckoning’ — they said this mockingly.
Verse 17
God, exalted be He, says: Bear patiently what they say and remember Our servant David, the one of fortitude, that is to say, [the one] of fortitude in worship: he used to fast every other day and keep vigil for half the night, sleep for a third and then keep vigil for the [last] sixth. Indeed he was a penitent [soul], always returning to what pleases God.
Verse 18
Truly We disposed the mountains to glorify [God] with him, with the same glorification, at evening, at the time of the night prayer, and at sunrise, at the time of the morning prayer, which is when the sun has fully risen with its light extending everywhere.
Verse 19
And, We disposed, the birds, mustered [in flocks], gathered before him, glorifying with him; each, of the mountains and birds, turning to him, reverting to obedience of him by glorifying [God with him].
Verse 20
And We strengthened his Kingdom, We reinforced it with guards and hosts: every night there thirty thousand men would be standing guard at his sanctuary; and gave him wisdom, prophethood and sound judgement in [all] matters, and decisive speech, [the ability to formulate] a satisfactory statement [for a decision] in any endeavour.
Verse 21
And has there come to you, O Muhammad (s) (the purpose of the interrogative [indicated by hal] here is to provoke curiosity and a desire to listen to what will follow) the tale of the disputants, when they scaled the sanctuary?, David’s sanctuary, that is, his place of prayer, for they had been prohibited from entering by the [front] gates because of his being engaged in worship, in other words, [has it come to you] their tale and their account?
Verse 22
When they entered upon David, and he was frightened by them. And they said, ‘Do not fear; we are, two disputants (some say that this means ‘two groups’, in order to agree with the plural person [of the verb dakhalū, ‘they entered’]; others say, ‘two individuals’ with the plural person actually denoting these two; al-khasm may refer to a one or more individuals. These two were angels who had come in the form of two disputants, between whom there [was supposed to have] occurred the situation mentioned — [but] only hypothetically — in order to alert David, peace be upon him, to what he had done: he had ninety nine women but desired the woman of a man who had only her and no other. He [David] had married her and consummated the marriage. One of us has infringed upon the [rights of the] other, so judge justly between us and do not transgress, [do not] be unjust, and guide us, direct us, to the right path’, the correct way.
Verse 23
‘Behold, this brother of mine, in other words, my fellow co-religionist, has ninety-nine ewes — here used to represent the women — while I have a single ewe; yet he said, “Entrust it to me”, in other words, make me in charge of it, and he overcame me in speech’, in other words, in the argument; so the latter conceded charge of it to him.
Verse 24
He said, ‘He has certainly wronged you by asking for your ewe that he may add it to his sheep. And indeed many associates infringe upon [the rights of] one another, except such as believe and perform righteous deeds, but few are they!’ (mā emphasises the ‘fewness’). As the two angels were ascending to the heaven one said to the other, ‘He has certainly passed judgement on himself!’ David was thus alerted [to his deed]. God, exalted be He, says: And David thought, in other words, he became certain, that We had indeed tried him, that We had caused him to fall into a trial, that is, a test, through his love for that woman. So he sought forgiveness of his Lord and fell down bowing, in other words, prostrate, and repented.
Verse 25
So We forgave him that and indeed he has [a station of] nearness with Us, that is, [even] more good [things] in this world, and a fair return, in the Hereafter.
Verse 26
‘O David! We have indeed made you a vicegerent on the earth, managing the affairs of people; so judge justly between people and do not follow desire, that is, the desires of the soul, that it then lead you astray from the way of God, that is to say, from the proofs that indicate [the truth of] His Oneness. Truly those who go astray from the way of God, in other words, from belief in God — for them there will be a severe chastisement because of their forgetting the Day of Reckoning’, as a result of their having neglected faith. For had they been certain of [the truth of] the Day of Reckoning, they would have [first] been believers in this world.
Verse 27
And We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in vain, frivolously. That, namely, the creation of what has been mentioned as being for no [particular] purpose, is the supposition of those who disbelieve, from among the people of Mecca. So woe — a valley [in hell-fire] — to the disbelievers from the Fire!
Verse 28
Or shall We treat those who believe and perform righteous deeds like those who cause corruption in the earth; or shall We treat the God-fearing like the profligate? This was revealed when the Meccan disbelievers said to the believers, ‘In the Hereafter we will receive the same [reward] as that which you will receive’ (am, ‘or’, contains the [rhetorical] hamza of denial).
Verse 29
A Book (kitābun, the predicate of a missing subject, namely, hādhā, ‘this is’) that We have revealed to you, full of blessing, that they may contemplate (yaddabbarū is actually yatadabbarū, but the tā’ has been assimilated with the dāl) its signs, [that] they may reflect upon its meanings and become believers, and that they may remember, that they may be admonished — those people of pith, those possessors of intellect.
Verse 30
And We bestowed on David, Solomon, his son — what an excellent servant!, that is, Solomon. Truly he was a penitent [soul], always returning [to God] with glorification and remembrance at all times.
Verse 31
When one evening — which is the period after midday — there were displayed before him the prancing steeds (al-sāfināt, ‘horses’, is the plural of sāfina, which denotes [a horse] standing on three legs with the fourth supported on the edge of the hoof, and derives from [the verb] safana, yasfinu sufūnan; al-jiyād is the plural of jawād, which is a ‘racer’; the meaning is that these [horses] are such that when they are halted they stand still and when they run they surpass [others] in speed). One thousand horses were displayed before him after he had performed the midday prayer, for he had wanted to use them in a holy struggle (jihād) against an enemy. But when the display reached the nine-hundredth [horse], the sun set and he had not performed the afternoon prayer. So he was greatly distressed.
Verse 32
He said, ‘Lo! I have loved, I have desired, the love of [worldly] good things, that is, [of] horses, over the remembrance of my Lord’, that is, [over] the afternoon prayer, until it, that is, the sun, disappeared behind the [night’s] veil, [until] it was concealed by that which veils it from sight.
Verse 33
Bring them back to me!, that is, the horses that were displayed; and they so brought them back. Then he set about slashing, with his sword, [their] legs (al-sūq is the plural of sāq) and necks, in other words, he slaughtered them and cut off their legs as an offering [of atonement] to God, exalted be He, for having been distracted by them from the prayer. He gave all the meat thereof as voluntary alms and so God compensated him what was better and faster that these [horses], and this was the wind, which blew at his command as he wished.
Verse 34
And We certainly tried Solomon: We tested him by wresting his kingdom from him, because he had married a woman [solely] out of his desire for her. She used to worship idols in his [own] home without his knowledge. Now, [control of] his kingdom lay in his ring. On one occasion, needing to withdraw [to relieve himself], he took it off and left it with this woman of his, whose name was al-Amīna, as was his custom; but a jinn, [disguised] in the form of Solomon, came to her and seized it from her. And We cast upon his throne a [lifeless] body, which was that [very] jinn, and he was [the one known as] Sakhr — or it was some other [jinn]; he sat upon Solomon’s throne and so [as was the case with Solomon] the birds and other [creatures] devoted themselves to him [in service]. When Solomon came out [of his palace], having seen him [the jinn] upon his throne, he said to the people, ‘I am Solomon [not him]!’ But they did not recognise him. Then he repented — Solomon returned to his kingdom, many days later, after he had managed to acquire the ring. He wore it and sat upon his throne [again].
Verse 35
He said, ‘My Lord! Forgive me and grant me a kingdom that shall not belong to anyone after me, in other words, other than me (this [use of min ba‘dī to mean ‘other than me’] is similar to [Q. 45:23] fa-man yahdīh min ba‘di’Llāh, ‘who will guide him other than God?’). Truly You are the Bestower’.
Verse 36
So We disposed for him the wind, which blew softly, gently, at his command wherever he intended.
Verse 37
And the devils [also We disposed], every builder, building marvellous edifices, and diver, in the sea, bringing up pearls,
Verse 38
and others too, from among them, bounded together in fetters, in shackles with their hands tied to their necks.
Verse 39
And We said to him: ‘This is Our gift. So bestow, grant thereof to whomever you wish, or withhold, from giving, without any reckoning’, in other words, without your being called to account for any of this.
Verse 40
And indeed he has [a station of] nearness with Us and a fair resort — a similar [statement] has already appeared [in another verse above].
Verse 41
And mention also Our servant Job, when he called out to his Lord, [saying], ‘Lo! Satan has afflicted me with hardship, harm, and suffering’, pain: he attributes all this to Satan, even though all things are from God, to show reverence [in his call] to Him, exalted be He.
Verse 42
And it was said to him: ‘Stamp your foot, on the ground — and he stamped [it] and a spring of water gushed forth, and it was said: This is a cool bath, [cool] water for you to wash with, and a drink’, for you to drink of. So he washed himself and drank [from it] whereat every ailment that had affected him internally and externally disappeared.
Verse 43
And We gave him [back] his family along with others like them, that is, God brought back to life all the children of his that had died and provided him with as many [in addition to them], as a mercy, a grace, from us, and a reminder, an admonition, to people of pith, possessors of intellect.
Verse 44
And [We said to him], ‘Take in your hand a bunch of twigs, or some blades of grass, and smite therewith, your wife — for he had sworn to smite her a hundred times on one occasion when she was late in coming to him — and do not break [your] oath’, by not smiting her: so he took a hundred rushes and smote her with them once [and that sufficed to fulfil his oath]. Truly We found him to be steadfast. What an excellent servant!, [was] Job. Indeed he was a penitent [soul], always returning to God, exalted be He.
Verse 45
And mention [also] Our servants Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob — men of fortitude, vigorous in their worship, and insight, deep understanding of religion (a variant reading [for ‘ibādanā, ‘Our servants’] has [singular] ‘abdanā, ‘Our servant’, with Ibrāhīma as the explication thereof, and what follows as being a supplement to ‘abdanā, ‘Our servant’).
Verse 46
Assuredly We purified them with an exclusive [thought], namely, the remembrance of the Abode, of the Hereafter: in other words to [always] remember it and to work for it (a variant reading [for bi-khālisatin dhikrā’l-dār] has the genitive construction [bi-khālisati dhikrā’l-dār], making this [dhikrā al-dār, ‘remembrance of the Abode’] the explicative thereof).
Verse 47
And indeed in Our sight they are of the elect, the excellent (akhyār is the plural of khayyir).
Verse 48
And mention [also] Our servants Ishmael, and Elisha, who was a prophet (the lām [here in al-Yasa‘] is extra) and Dhū’l-Kifl — there is disagreement over whether he was a prophet; it is said that [he was so called because] he looked after (kafala) a hundred prophets who had sought refuge with him from being killed. Each, that is, every one of them, was among the excellent (akhyār is the plural of khayyir).
Verse 49
This is a remembrance, of them, [made] by [the mention of] fair praise [of them] here; and indeed for the God-fearing, who comprise them, there will truly be a fair return, in the Hereafter —
Verse 50
Gardens of Eden (jannāti ‘Adnin is either a substitution for, or an explicative supplement to, husna ma’ābin, ‘a fair return’) whose gates are [flung] open for them;
Verse 51
reclining therein, on couches; therein they call for plenteous fruit and drink.
Verse 52
And with them [there] will be maidens of restrained glances, restricting their eyes to their spouses, of a like age, of the same age, girls who are thirty three years of age (atrāb is the plural of tirb).
Verse 53
‘This, that is mentioned, is what you are promised, by way of the unseen (there is a shift in the address away from the third [to the second] person]) for the Day of Reckoning.
Verse 54
This is indeed Our provision, which will never be exhausted’, in other words, one which will never cease (this [last] sentence [mā lahu min nafādin] is a circumstantial qualifier referring to rizqunā, ‘Our provision’; or it is a second predicate of inna, ‘indeed’, meaning that it will be ‘everlasting’).
Verse 55
That, which is mentioned, will be [the reward] for the believers [is so]; but for the insolent (this is a new sentence) there will surely be an evil [place of] return —
Verse 56
Hell, which they will enter — an evil resting place!
Verse 57
This, chastisement — inferred [as so] by what follows — let them then taste it: burning hot water and pus (read ghasāq or ghassāq), the festering matter excreted by the inhabitants of the Fire;
Verse 58
and other (ākhar may be plural or singular) kinds [of torment] resembling it, in other words, like the boiling water and pus mentioned, in pairs, of all sorts, in other words, their chastisement will consist of various kinds.
Verse 59
And it will be said to them as they enter the Fire with their followers: ‘This is a horde about to plunge, to enter, with you, into the Fire violently — at which point those who used to be followed say: no welcome [is there] for them [here]!, in other words, [they will find] no comfort for them [here]. They will indeed roast in the Fire’.
Verse 60
They, the followers, say, ‘Nay, but for you [there is] no welcome! You prepared this, that is, disbelief, for us. So what an evil abode!’, for us and for you, is the Fire.
Verse 61
They, also, say, ‘Our Lord, whoever prepared this for us, give him double his chastisement, that is, [give him in addition] the like of his chastisement, for his disbelief, in the Fire!’
Verse 62
And they, the disbelievers of Mecca, say, while they are in the Fire: ‘What is the matter with us that we do not see [here] men whom we used to count, in the world, among the wicked?
Verse 63
Did we treat them mockingly? (read sukhriyyan, or sikhriyyan), did we use to deride them in [the life of] the world (the [final] yā’ [in sikhriyyā] is attributive). In other words, are they missing? Or have [our] eyes missed them [here]?’, so that we have not caught sight of them. Such [men] were the poor among the Muslims, like ‘Ammār [b. Yāsir], Bilāl [al-Habashī], Suhayb [al-Rūmī] and Salmān [al-Fārisī].
Verse 64
Assuredly that is true: such [a scene] will necessarily take place, which is, the wrangling of the inhabitants of the Fire — as shown above.
Verse 65
Say, O Muhammad (s), to the disbelievers of Mecca: ‘I am only a warner, to threaten [disbelievers] with [punishment in] the Fire. And there is no god except God, the One, the All-Compelling, of [all] His creatures;
Verse 66
Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, the Mighty, Whose way [always] prevails, the [ever] Forgiving’, of His friends.
Verse 67
Say, to them: ‘It is a tremendous tiding
Verse 68
from which you are turning away, namely, the Qur’ān, of which I have informed you and in which I have brought you what can only be known by revelation, and that is God’s saying:
Verse 69
I had no knowledge of the High Council, that is to say, [of] the angels, when they disputed, in the matter of Adam, when God, exalted be He, said [to them]: ‘I am appointing on earth a vicegerent’, to the end [of the verse, Q. 2:30].
Verse 70
All that is revealed to me is that I am just a plain warner’, one whose warning is clear.
Verse 71
Mention, when your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am about to create a human being out of clay, and this was Adam.
Verse 72
So when I have proportioned him, completed him, and breathed in him, [when I have] caused to flow [therein], My spirit, so that he becomes a living [being] — the addition of ‘the spirit’ to Adam is an honour for him; the ‘spirit’ is a subtle body that gives life to a human being by permeating him — then fall down in prostration before him!’ — a prostration of salutation [that is actually] a bow.
Verse 73
Thereat the angels prostrated, all of them together (there are two emphases here [kulluhum and ajma‘ūn]);
Verse 74
except Iblīs, the father of the jinn, who was among the [audience of] angels; he was disdainful and he was one of the disbelievers, according to God’s knowledge, exalted be He.
Verse 75
He said, ‘O Iblīs! What prevents you from prostrating before that which I have created with My own hands?, in other words, whose creation I [Myself] have undertaken. This [in itself] is an honour for Adam, as God has [Himself] undertaken the [unmediated] creation of all creatures. Are you being arrogant, now, in refraining from prostrating (an interrogative meant as a rebuke); or are you of the exalted?’, of the proud, and have therefore disdained to prostrate yourself, because you are one of them?
Verse 76
He said, ‘I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay’.
Verse 77
He said, ‘Then begone hence, that is, from Paradise — or, it is said, [begone] from the heavens — for you are indeed accursed, outcast.
Verse 78
And indeed My curse shall be on you until the Day of Judgement’, [the Day] of Requital.
Verse 79
He said, ‘My Lord, then reprieve me until the day when they, mankind, will be raised’.
Verse 80
He said, ‘Then you will indeed be among the reprieved
Verse 81
until the day of the known time’, the time of the First Blast.
Verse 82
He said, ‘Now, by Your might, I shall surely pervert them all,
Verse 83
except those servants of Yours among them who will be saved’, namely, the believers.
Verse 84
He said, ‘So the truth is — and the truth I [always] speak (read both [words] in the accusative [fa’l-haqqa wa’l-haqqa]; or with the first in the nominative and the second in the accusative because of the verb [aqūlu, ‘I speak’] that follows. As for reading the first one in the accusative, this would be on account of the mentioned verb [qāla, ‘he said’]; but it is also said to be on account of its being a verbal noun, the sense being uhiqqu l-haqqa, ‘I establish the truth’; or [it is in the accusative by implication] if the particle for the oath [fa] is removed. It [the first haqq] could also be in the nominative because of its being the subject of a missing predicate, as in fa’l-haqqu minnī, ‘truth [comes] from Me’. It is also said that [the sentence means] fa’l-haqqu qasamī, ‘the truth is [this] oath from Me’, the response to which is the following [la-amla’anna …]) —
Verse 85
I shall assuredly fill Hell with you, by way of [filling it with] your progeny, and with whoever of them follows you, that is, of mankind, all together’.
Verse 86
Say: ‘I do not ask of you, in return for this, for delivering the Message [to you], any reward, any fee; nor am I an impostor, so as to make up the Qur’ān myself.
Verse 87
It is only, in other words, the Qur’ān is only, a reminder, an admonition, for all worlds, [those of] humans, jinn and [other] rational beings, [but] excluding the angels.
Verse 88
And you will assuredly come to know, O disbelievers of Mecca, its tiding, the news of its truth, in [due] time’, that is to say, on the Day of Resurrection (‘ilm, ‘knowing’, is here being used in the sense of ‘urf, ‘experience’; the prefixed lām [in la-ta‘lamunna, ‘you will assuredly know’] is for an implicit oath, in other words [what is meant is] wa’Llāhi [la-ta‘lamunna, ‘By God you will assuredly know’]).
Verse 1
The revelation of the Book, the Qur’ān (tanzīlu’l-kitābi, the subject) is from God (mina’Llāhi, its predicate) the Mighty, in His kingdom, the Wise, in His handiwork.
Verse 2
Indeed We have revealed to you, O Muhammad (s), the Book with the truth (bi’l-haqqi is semantically connected to anzalnā, ‘We have revealed’); so worship God, devoting your religion purely to Him, [pure] of any idolatry, in other words, affirming His Oneness.
Verse 3
Surely to God belongs pure religion, none other than Him being deserving of it. And those who take besides Him, the idols [as], patrons: and they are the disbelievers of Mecca — they say: ‘We only worship them so that they may bring us near to God’ (zulfā, a verbal noun, with the sense of taqrīban, ‘for the sake of nearness’). God will indeed judge between them, and the Muslims, concerning that about which they differ, of religion, and so admit the believers into Paradise, and the disbelievers into the Fire. Truly God does not guide one who is a liar, attributing a child to Him, a disbeliever, worshipping other than God.
Verse 4
Had God wanted to take a son — as they allege [that He has], ‘The Compassionate One has taken [to Himself] a son’ [Q. 19:88], He could have chosen from what He has created whatever He willed, and taken it as a child, instead of the angels whom they claim to be God’s daughters, or [their claim] that ‘Ezra is the son of God’, or that ‘Jesus is the son of God’ [cf. Q. 9:30]. Glory be to Him, in exaltation of Him as being above that He should take a child. He is God, the One, the All-Compelling, over all His creatures.
Verse 5
He created the heavens and the earth with the truth (bi’l-haqqi is semantically connected to khalaqa, ‘He created’). He turns the night into day, so that it grows, and turns the day into night, so that it grows, and He has disposed the sun and the moon, each running, in its course, for an appointed term, until the Day of Resurrection. Verily it is He Who is the Mighty, Whose way [always] prevails, Requiter of His enemies, the [ever] Forgiving, of His friends.
Verse 6
He created you from a single soul, namely, Adam, then made from it its mate, Eve; and He sent down for you of the cattle, [of] camels, cows, small cattle, sheep and goats, eight kinds, of each kind a male and a female — as He makes clear in sūrat al-An‘ām [Q. 6:143f.]. He creates you in your mothers’ wombs, creation after creation, that is to say, as a sperm-drop, then a blood clot, then a foetus, in a threefold darkness, that is, the darkness of the belly, that of the womb and that of the placenta. That is God, your Lord. To Him belongs [all] sovereignty. There is no god except Him. Why then are you being turned away?, from worshipping Him to worshipping [things] other than Him?
Verse 7
If you are ungrateful, indeed God is Independent of you, though He does not approve of ingratitude for His servants, even if He should will it [to manifest itself] in some of them. And if you give thanks, to God and thus become believers, He will approve of it (read yardah, or yardahu, either lengthening the vowel or not), that is, [of such] thankfulness, for you. And no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another [soul], in other words, it will not bear [the responsibility for] it. Then to your Lord will be your return, whereat He will inform you of what you used to do. Indeed He is Knower of what is in the breasts, of what is in the hearts [of men].
Verse 8
And when distress befalls a person, that is, the disbeliever, he supplicates his Lord, he implores, turning, returning, to Him penitently. Then, when He bestows on him a grace from Himself, he forgets, he neglects, Him Whom he had supplicated, implored, before, namely, God (in other words mā functions as min, ‘whom’) and sets up equals, associates, with God, that he may lead [others] astray (read li-yadilla or li-yudilla) from His way — [from] the religion of Islam. Say: ‘Revel in your ingratitude for a while — for the remainder of your term [of life]. You shall indeed be among the inhabitants of the Fire’.
Verse 9
Or is he who (read, softened, a-man) devotes himself [in worship], observing duties of obedience, in the watches of the night, [during] its hours, prostrating and standing, in prayer, apprehensive of the [eventuality of the] Hereafter, in other words, fearing its chastisement, and hoping for the mercy, the Paradise, of his Lord … ?, like one who is disobedient through disbelief or otherwise? (a variant reading has am-man, pronouncing the hamza, so that am has the sense of bal, ‘rather’). Say: ‘Are those who know equal with those who do not know?’, in other words, they are not equal, just as the person of knowledge is not equal to the ignorant one. Only people of pith, possessors of intellect, remember, [only they] are admonished.
Verse 10
Say: ‘O servants of Mine who believe! Fear your Lord, that is to say, [fear] His chastisement, by being obedient to Him. For those who are virtuous in this world, through obedience, there will be good, and that is Paradise, and God’s earth is vast, so emigrate throughout it, away from the [company of] disbelievers and the sight of indecencies. Truly the steadfast, in [their] obedience [of God] and in [enduring] whatever [hardship] they may be tested with, will be paid their reward in full without any reckoning’, without any measure or any scales [to work it out].
Verse 11
Say: ‘Indeed I have been commanded to worship God devoting [my] religion purely to Him, [pure] of any idolatry,
Verse 12
and I have been commanded to be the first of those who submit’, from this community.
Verse 13
Say: ‘Indeed, should I disobey my Lord, I fear the chastisement of a tremendous day’.
Verse 14
Say: ‘God [alone] I worship, devoting [my] religion purely to Him, [pure] of any idolatry.
Verse 15
So worship whatever you wish besides Him’, other than Him — herein is a threat for them as well as a declaration [of the fact] that they do not worship God, exalted be He. Say: ‘Indeed the losers are those who [will] have lost their souls and their families on the Day of Resurrection, by condemning their souls to abide [forever] in the Fire, and their failure to attaining [the bliss promised among] the black-eyed virgins who would have been prepared for them in Paradise had they been believers. Truly that is the manifest loss!’
Verse 16
Above them they will have canopies, layers, of fire, and beneath them [they will have [similar] canopies, of fire. That is what God frightens His servants with, that is, the believing ones, that they may have fear of Him — this [sense of the verse] is suggested by [what follows]), “So, O servants of Mine, fear Me!”’
Verse 17
As for those who steer clear of the worship of false deities, graven images, and turn penitently, apply themselves, to God, there are good tidings for them, of Paradise. So give [such] good tidings to My servants,
Verse 18
who listen to the words [of God] and follow the best [sense] of it, which is that which contains [the means to] righteousness for them. Those, they are the ones whom God has guided; and those, they are the people of pith, the possessors of intellect.
Verse 19
Can he against whom the word of chastisement has been fulfilled …?, namely [the words], I will surely fill Hell [with jinn and mankind together] [Q. 11:119]; Will you deliver, bring out, one who is in the Fire? (this is the response to the conditional clause, in which the overt qualification [man fī’l-nār, ‘one who is in the Fire’] replaces the pronominalisation [a-fa-man, ‘he … whom’]; the hamza [in a-fa-anta, ‘will you’] is for rejection, in other words [the sense is that] you will not be able to guide him and therefore deliver him from the Fire).
Verse 20
But as for those who fear their Lord, and therefore obey Him — for them there will be lofty abodes with [other] lofty abodes built above them, with rivers flowing beneath them, that is, beneath [both] the upper and the lower abodes — a promise of God (wa‘da’Llāhi, in the accusative because of an implied verb governing it). God does not fail the tryst, [He does not break] His promise.
Verse 21
Have you not seen, realised, that God sends down water from the heaven, then conducts it as springs, making it enter points of springs, in the ground? Then with it He brings forth crops of diverse hues. Then they wither, they become dried-out, and you see them, for example, after having been green, turning yellow. Then He turns them into chaff. Truly in that there is a reminder for people of pith, possessors of intellect, by which they may be reminded, for it is an indication of God’s Oneness and His power.
Verse 22
Is he whose breast God has opened to Islam, and becomes guided, so that he follows a light from his Lord …?, like he whose heart He has sealed [with disbelief]? — this [understanding of the ellipsis] is indicated by [what follows]. So woe — an expression indicating ‘chastisement’ — to those whose hearts have been hardened against the remembrance of God, that is, [hardened] against the acceptance of the Qur’ān. Such are in manifest error.
Verse 23
God has revealed the best of discourses, a Book (kitāban, substitutes for ahsana, ‘the best’) namely, a Qur’ān, consimilar, in other words, some of its parts are similar to others in terms of [their] arrangement and otherwise, in coupled phrases — [a Book] in which the Promise [of reward] is coupled with the Threat [of punishment], together with other such [couplings] — whereat quiver, at the mention of whose Threat shiver, the skins of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts soften to, they are reassured by, the remembrance of God, that is, at the mention of His Promise. That, Book, is God’s guidance, by which He guides whomever He will, of His servants; and whomever God leads astray, for him there is no guide.
Verse 24
Is he who will be fending off, [is he] who will encounter, with his face the awful chastisement on the Day of Resurrection …?, that is, the most severe [chastisement], when he is flung into the Fire with his hands bound to his neck in fetters, [is he] like one who will be secure from it by entering Paradise? And it will be said to the wrongdoers, namely, the disbelievers of Mecca: ‘Taste [now] what you used to earn’, that is, [taste] the requital for it.
Verse 25
Those who were before them denied, their messengers with regard to the coming of the chastisement; and so the chastisement came on them whence they were not aware, in a way that would never have occurred to them.
Verse 26
So God made them taste disgrace, abasement and humiliation, in the way of being transformed [into swine] and being killed and otherwise, in the life of this world. And the chastisement of the Hereafter will surely be greater, had they, that is, the deniers, known, [the nature of] the chastisement thereof, they would not have denied.
Verse 27
And verily We have struck, coined, for mankind in this Qur’ān every [kind of] similitude, that perhaps they may remember, [that perhaps] they may be admonished —
Verse 28
an Arabic Qur’ān (qur’ānan ‘arabiyyan, a circumstantial qualifier for emphasis) without any deviation, that is, [without] any contradiction or variance, that perhaps they may guard themselves, against disbelief.
Verse 29
God strikes, for the idolater and the believer in God’s Oneness, a similitude: a man (rajulan, substitutes for mathalan, ‘a similitude’) shared by several [masters], quarrelling, disputing, ill-mannered, and a man belonging exclusively to one man. Are the two equal in comparison? (mathalan, for specification), in other words, the slave of many [masters] is not the same as the slave of a single person. For in the case of the former, if all of his masters were to demand his service simultaneously, he would be confused as to whom of them he should serve — which is the similitude of the idolater; the latter [the slave of one] is the similitude of the one who believes in the One God. Praise be to God!, alone. Nay, but most of them, that is, the people of Mecca, do not know, the chastisement in which they will end up and so they associate others with God.
Verse 30
You — an address to the Prophet (s) — will indeed die, and they [too] will indeed die, and so there is no satisfaction to be gained from [another’s] death: this was revealed because they kept waiting for the Prophet (s) to die.
Verse 31
Then you will indeed, O mankind, concerning the injustices you committed towards one another, be contending before your Lord on the Day of Resurrection.