Verse 24
And, forbidden to you are, wedded women, those with spouses, that you should marry them before they have left their spouses, be they Muslim free women or not; save what your right hands own, of captured [slave] girls, whom you may have sexual intercourse with, even if they should have spouses among the enemy camp, but only after they have been absolved of the possibility of pregnancy [after the completion of one menstrual cycle]; this is what God has prescribed for you (kitāba is in the accusative because it is the verbal noun). Lawful for you (read passive wa-uhilla, or active wa-ahalla), beyond all that, that is, except what He has forbidden you of women, is that you seek, women, using your wealth, by way of a dowry or a price, in wedlock and not, fornicating, in illicitly. Such wives as you enjoy thereby, and have had sexual intercourse with, give them their wages, the dowries that you have assigned them, as an obligation; you are not at fault in agreeing together, you and they, after the obligation, is waived, decreased or increased. God is ever Knowing, of His creatures, Wise, in what He has ordained for them.
Verse 25
And whoever has not the means wherewith, [whoever] is not wealthy enough, to be able to marry believing (al-mu’mināt, ‘believing’, is in accordance with the prevalent practice, and does not add to the import), free, women in wedlock, let him take, in marriage, believing maids whom your right hands own. God knows very well your faith, so suffice yourself with its outward manifestation and leave the innermost matters to Him, for He is the One to know her [true] merit: many a slavegirl may be more excellent [in faith] than a free woman, and this is meant to encourage marriage with slavegirls; the one of you is as the other, being equal in religion, so do not disdain to marry with them. So marry them, with the permission of their folk, their guardians, and give them their wages, their dowries, honourably, without procrastination or diminution, as women in wedlock (muhsanāt, a circumstantial qualifier), in decency, not illicitly, openly fornicating, or taking lovers, companions fornicating in secret. But when they are given in wedlock, [when] they are married off (a variant reading [for the passive uhsinna, ‘they are given in wedlock’] has the active ahsanna, ‘they enter into wedlock’), if they commit lewdness, such as adultery, they shall be liable to half the chastisement, the legal punishment, of married, free, virgin, women, who commit adultery, and are thus given fifty lashes and banished for half a year; [male] slaves by analogy are liable to the same punishment. Here, God has not made wedlock the precondition for the prescribed punishment to show that stoning does not apply in their case [sc. slavegirls]. That, marrying of slavegirls on account of insufficient means, is for those of you who fear the distress of sin, fornication (al-‘anat originally means distress, but is used to mean zinā, ‘fornication’, because of the distress that it causes in the way of the punishment in this world and in the Hereafter), as opposed to those of you who might not have such a fear [of distress] with regard to their free women and for whom it is unlawful to marry her [the slavegirl]; likewise for one who has sufficient means to marry a free woman [it is unlawful for him to marry a slavegirl instead]: this is the opinion of al-Shāfi‘ī. Moreover, God’s words ‘believing maids’ precludes unbelieving women, whom it is unlawful to marry, even if one should find no believing women and fear [the distress of fornication]; yet it is better for you to be patient, and abstain from marrying slavegirls, lest the child should become enslaved also. God is Forgiving, Merciful, by allowing room for manoeuvre in these matters.
Verse 26
God desires to make clear to you, the laws of your religion and what is in your best interests, and to guide you in the ways, the paths, of those, prophets, before you, in the way of what is lawful and what is unlawful, so that you might follow them, and to turn [in forgiveness] towards you, bringing you back from the disobedience which you practised, to obedience to Him; God is Knowing, of you, Wise, in what He has ordained for you.
Verse 27
And God desires to turn [forgivingly] towards you (He repeats this in order to expand upon it), but those who follow their passions, the Jews and Christians, or the Magians and adulterers, desire that you deviate with a terrible deviation, transgressing what is right by committing what has been forbidden you, so that you might be like them.
Verse 28
God desires to lighten things for you, and make the rulings of the Law easier for you; for man was created weak, unable to abstain from women and passions.
Verse 29
O you who believe, consume not your goods between you wrongly, unlawfully according to the Law, through usury or usurpation, except it be trading (tijāratan, also read tijāratun), so that the goods be from trade effected, through mutual agreement, through mutual good-will: such [goods] you may consume. And kill not yourselves, by committing what leads towards destruction on account of some affiliation, be it in this world or the Hereafter. Surely God is ever Merciful to you, when He forbids you such things.
Verse 30
And whoever does that, which he has been forbidden, through aggression (‘udwānan, a circumstantial qualifier), transgressing what is lawful, and injustice (zulman, [reiterated] for emphasis), him We shall certainly expose, admit, to a fire, wherein he shall burn; and that for God is an easy matter.
Verse 31
If you avoid the grave sins that are forbidden you, those for which the threat of punishment has been prescribed, like murder, fornication or theft — according to Ibn ‘Abbās, these number as much as seven hundred — We will absolve you of your, minor, evil deeds, on account of your acts of obedience, and admit you by an honourable gate (read mudkhalan or madkhalan), that is, [by an honourable] admittance or location, namely, Paradise.
Verse 32
Do not covet that in which God has preferred some of you above others, in the way of worldly affairs or religion, lest it lead to mutual envy and hatred. To men a share from, a reward for, what they have earned, for their acts in the struggle and so on, and to women a share from what they have earned, by way of being obedient to their spouses and guarding their private parts: this was revealed when Umm Salama said: ‘Would that we were men, so that we could join the struggle and receive the reward they receive!’ And ask (read wa-s’alū or wa-salū) God of His bounty, what you need and He will give it to you; God is ever Knower of all things, including where merit is deserved and that for which you ask.
Verse 33
To each, man and woman, We have appointed heirs, relations to be given, of that, property, which parents and kinsmen leave, for them, and to those to whom your right hands (aymān, plural of yamīn, meaning ‘oath’ or ‘hand’) were pledged (read ‘āqadat or ‘aqadat), that is, those allies with whom before the coming of Islam you made covenants of mutual assitance and inheritance. So give them, now, their share, their portions of the inheritance, which is a sixth. God is ever Witness over everything, [ever] aware [of it], including your circumstances: this verse was abrogated by His words, But those related by blood are nearer to one another [Q. 8:75 and 33:6].
Verse 34
Men are in charge of, they have authority over, women, disciplining them and keeping them in check, because of that with which God has preferred the one over the other, that is, because God has given them the advantage over women, in knowledge, reason, authority and otherwise, and because of what they expend, on them [the women], of their property. Therefore righteous women, among them, are obedient, to their husbands, guarding in the unseen, that is, [guarding] their private parts and otherwise during their spouses’ absence, because of what God has guarded, for them, when He enjoined their male spouses to look after them well. And those you fear may be rebellious, disobedient to you, when such signs appear, admonish them, make them fear God, and share not beds with them, retire to other beds if they manifest such disobedience, and strike them, but not violently, if they refuse to desist [from their rebellion] after leaving them [in separate beds]. If they then obey you, in what is desired from them, do not seek a way against them, a reason to strike them unjustly. God is ever High, Great, so beware of Him, lest He punish you for treating them unjustly.
Verse 35
And if you fear, become aware of, a breach, a dispute, between the two, the married couple (the genitive construction shiqāqa baynihimā, ‘[any] breach between the two’, is for a range [of alternatives], in other words: shiqāqan baynihimā [is the normal construction]) send forth, for them with their consent, an arbiter, a just man, from his folk, his kinsmen, and an arbiter from her folk: the husband delegates to his arbiter the [matter of] divorce or the acceptance of compensation in its place, while she delegates to her arbiter the [matter of] separation. The two arbiters do their best and bid the one guilty of the injustice to desist, or they suggest separation if they see fit. God, exalted be He, says, if they, the two arbiters, desire to set things right, God will grant them, the married couple, success, determining for them what constitutes [an act of] obedience, be it reconciliation or separation. Surely God is ever Knower, of everything, Aware, of what is hidden and what is manifested.
Verse 36
And worship God, declare His Oneness, and associate nothing with Him. Be kind to parents, being dutiful and gentle-mannered, and near kindred, and to orphans, and to the needy, and to the neighbour who is near, to you in terms of [physical] vicinity or kinship, and to the neighbour who is a stranger, the one far from you in terms of [physical] vicinity or kinship; and to the friend at your side, a travelling companion, or a colleague at work, and, it is also said, one’s wife; and to the wayfarer, the one cut off during a journey, and to what your right hands own, of bondsmen. Surely God loves not the conceited, the arrogant, and the boastful, [the one who boasts] before people of what he has been given.
Verse 37
Those (alladhīna, the subject) who are niggardly, in their duty, and bid other people to be niggardly, in the same, and conceal what God has bestowed upon them of His bounty, in the way of knowledge and property: these are the Jews (the predicate of the [said] subject is [an implied] lahum wa‘īdun shadīd, ‘for them there is a promise of severe punishment’). And We have prepared for those that disbelieve, in this and other matters, a humbling chastisement, one of humiliation.
Verse 38
And those (wa’lladhīna, a supplement to the previous alladhīna, ‘those’) who expend of their substance to show off to people, to be seen of them, and believe not in God and the Last Day, the likes of the hypocrites and the Meccans. Whoever has Satan for a comrade, for a companion, whose command he follows, as these do, then an evil comrade has he.
Verse 39
And what burden is on them if they were to believe in God and the Last Day, and expend of what God has provided them?, that is to say, what harm would this cause them? In other words, there is no harm therein. Rather, harm lies in what they follow (the interrogative is meant as a disavowal; the law [of law āmanū, ‘if they were to believe’] conveys the sense of the verbal noun [sc. mādhā ‘alayhim īmānuhum, ‘what burden would their belief be upon them?’]). God is ever Aware of them, and will requite them for what they have done.
Verse 40
Surely God shall not wrong, anyone, so much as the weight of an atom, [the weight of] the smallest ant, by diminishing thereby a person’s good deeds or increase thereby his evil deeds; and if it, the atom, be a good deed (in taku hasanatan, ‘if it be a good deed’, is also read in taku hasanatun, in which case the kāna [construction] is [syntactically] complete), from a believer, He will double it (yudā‘ifuhā, also read yuda‘‘ifuhā), from ten times up to more than seven hundred times, and give from Himself, in addition to the doubling, a great wage, that no one can estimate.
Verse 41
So how shall it be, the predicament of the disbelievers, when We bring forward from every community a witness, to testify against it regarding its deeds, and this shall be its prophet; and We bring you, O Muhammad (s), as witness against these?
Verse 42
Upon that day, the day of bringing forward; the disbelievers, those who have disobeyed the Messenger, will wish that (law, ‘if’, means an, ‘that’) the earth might be levelled with them (read passive tusawwā, or active tasawwā, or tassawwā), so that like it they might also become dust, [and this is] because of the terror of that day, as is stated in another verse: The disbeliever shall say, ‘O would that I were dust!’ [Q. 78:40]. And they will not hide from God any talk, of what they did, although at another stage they do actually hide it and say, ‘By God, our Lord, we never associated anything with You’ [Q. 6:23].
Verse 43
O you who believe, draw not near to prayer, that is, do not perform prayer, whilst you are inebriated, by a drink: this was revealed concerning being drunk during the congregational prayer; until you know what you are saying, when you have sobered up; nor whilst you are defiled, as a result of [sexual] penetration or ejaculation (junuban, ‘defiled’, is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier, and may be used to refer to the singular or plural) — unless you are traversing, crossing, a way, a route, that is, [unless] you are travelling — until you have washed yourselves, in which case you may perform prayer: a proviso is made for the traveller because a different stipulation applies to him, as will follow. It is said that the purpose [of this verse] is to prohibit the approach to places of prayer, that is, mosques, the exception being if one were merely passing through and not staying. But if you are sick, with an illness made worse by [contact with] water, or on a journey, that is, [or] travelling whilst you are [ritually] defiled or impure, or if any of you comes from the privy (al-ghā’it), a place designated for relieving nature, that is to say, [or if any of you] have defecated, or you have touched women (lāmastum, a variant reading has lamastum: both mean lams, that is, ‘touching with the hand’, as stated by Ibn ‘Umar; this is also the opinion of al-Shāfi‘ī, and it extends to touching with other parts of the skin; according to Ibn ‘Abbās, however, it is [referring to] sexual intercourse); and you can find no water, with which to purify yourselves for prayer, having made the effort to seek it out and search for it — the sick being exempt in this case — then resort to, seek, when the time [for the prayer] has commenced, wholesome soil, clean earth, strike it twice, and wipe your faces and your hands, with it, up to the elbows (the verb masaha, ‘to wipe’, may stand on its own with a direct object or take a particle [before the direct object, sc. masaha bi-]). God is ever Pardoning, Forgiving.
Verse 44
Have you not seen those who were given a share, a portion, of the Book, namely, the Jews, purchasing error, with guidance, and desiring that you should err from the way?, that you should stray from the path of truth and be like them.
Verse 45
God has better knowledge of your enemies, than you do, and He informs you of them in order that you avoid them. God suffices as a Protector, a Preserver of you from them, God suffices as a Helper, defending you against their plotting.
Verse 46
Some, group, from among the Jews distort, alter, the words, that God revealed in the Torah pertaining to the descriptions of Muhammad (s), from their contexts, those [contexts] in which they were placed, and they say, to the Prophet (s), when he commands them something, ‘We have heard, your words, and we disobey, your command; and hear as one who does not hear’ (wa’sma‘ ghayr musma‘in is a circumstantial qualifier, functioning as an invocation, in other words, ‘And may you not hear!’) and, they say to him, ‘Mind us’ (rā‘inā), [a term] with which it had been forbidden to address him, being a curse word in their language; twisting, distorting, with their tongues and slandering, defaming, religion, Islam. If they had said, ‘We have heard and obey’, instead of ‘And we disobey’, and, only, ‘Hear’, and ‘Consider us,’ (unzur ilaynā) instead of rā‘inā, it would have been better for them, than what they said, and more upright, more just than that, but God has cursed them, removing them from His mercy, for their unbelief, so they believe not except a few, among them, such as ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām and his companions.
Verse 47
O you who have been given the Scripture, believe in what We have revealed, of the Qur’ān, confirming what is with you, of the Torah, before We obliterate faces, erasing the eyes, noses and eyebrows in them, and turn them inside out, and make them like the napes of the neck, a flat plate, or curse them, by transforming them into apes, as We cursed, [as] We transformed, those of the Sabbath, among them, and God’s command, His decree, is done: after this was revealed, ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām converted to Islam, and so it was said that this had been a conditional threat of punishment, so that when some of them converted to Islam, it [the threat] was lifted. It is also said that obliteration and transformation will take place before the rising of the Hour.
Verse 48
God forgives not that anything should be associated with Him. But He forgives other than, save, that, of sins, to whomever He wills, forgiveness for, by admitting him into Paradise without punishment. And whomever He wills of the believers He punishes for their sins, and then admits them into Paradise. Whoever associates anything with God, then he has indeed invented a tremendous, a great, sin.
Verse 49
Have you not seen those who praise themselves for purity? namely, the Jews, when they say, ‘We are God’s children and His beloved’, in other words, it is not a matter of their purifying themselves. Nay, God purifies whom He will, through faith, and they shall not be wronged, they shall not be diminished of their deeds, a single date-thread, as much as the peel on a date-stone.
Verse 50
Consider, in amazement, how they invent falsehood against God, in that way, and that suffices for a clear, an evident, sin.
Verse 51
The following was revealed regarding Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf and other such scholars from among the Jews, when they came to Mecca and saw those killed at Badr, and began to incite the idolaters to avenge them [their dead] by waging war against the Prophet (s): Have you not seen those who were given a share of the Book, how they believe in al-Jibt and al-Tāghūt, two idols belonging to Quraysh, and say to the disbelievers, to Abū Sufyān and his companions, when they [the latter] said to them: ‘Are we, who are the guardians of the House, who give drink to the pilgrim, offer hospitality to the guest, set free the captive, and do such and such … not more rightly guided than Muhammad, he who has contravened the religion of his forefathers, severed the ties of kinship, and abandoned the Sanctuary?’, ‘These, in other words, you, are more rightly guided, upon a more upright way, than the believers’?
Verse 52
Those are the ones whom God has cursed; and he whom God has cursed, you will never find for him any helper, anyone to protect him from His chastisement.
Verse 53
Or have they a share in the Kingdom?, that is to say, they have no share in it whatever, and even if they did, then they would not give the people a single date-spot, that is, [not even] something as worthless as the tiny spot on the back of a date-pit, because of the extent of their niggardliness.
Verse 54
Or, nay, are they jealous of people, namely, of the Prophet (s), for the bounty that God has bestowed upon them, in the way of prophethood and abundance of women? In other words, they wish that he be deprived of such things, saying, ‘If he were truly a prophet, he would not be concerned with women’. For We gave the House of Abraham, his forefather, the likes of Moses, David and Solomon, the Book and wisdom, and prophethood, and We gave them a mighty kingdom: David had ninety–nine women, and Solomon had a thousand, free women and slavegirls.
Verse 55
And there are some of them who believe in him, in Muhammad (s), and some of them who bar from him, [who] reject [him] and do not believe. Hell suffices for a blaze, as a chastisement for those who do not believe.
Verse 56
Surely those who disbelieve in Our signs — We shall expose them, We shall admit them, to a Fire, wherein they shall burn; as often as their skins are consumed, burnt, We shall replace them with other skins, restoring them to their initial unburnt state, that they may taste the chastisement, that they may suffer its severity. Surely God is ever Mighty, nothing being beyond His power, Wise, in His creation.
Verse 57
And those that believe, and perform righteous deeds, We shall admit them to Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide: they shall have therein spouses purified, of menstruation and every impurity, and We shall admit them to plenteous shade, that is everlasting [shade], never replaced by any sun, and this is the shade of Paradise.
Verse 58
Verily, God commands you to restore trusts, that is, the rights entrusted [to you by others], back to their owners: this was revealed when ‘Alī, may God be pleased with him, took the key of the Ka‘ba from its keeper, ‘Uthmān b. Talha al-Hajabī, by force, upon the arrival of the Prophet (s) in Mecca in the year of the Conquest, after he [‘Uthmān] had tried to prevent him [‘Alī from taking it] saying, ‘If I had known that he was the Messenger of God, I would not have prevented him’. The Messenger of God (s) then ordered him [‘Alī] to give it back to him [‘Uthmān] saying to him, ‘Here you are, [it is yours] now and always’. He [‘Uthmān] was amazed by this, whereupon ‘Alī recited to him this verse, and he accepted Islam. Upon his death, he [‘Uthmān] gave it [the key] to his brother, Shayba, and thus it remained in [the keep of] his descendants. Although the verse was revealed regarding a specific occasion, it holds true in general on account of the plural person [to which it is addressed]. And when you judge between people, He commands, that you judge with justice. Excellent is (ni‘immā, the mīm of ni‘ima has been assimilated with the indefinite particle mā, which is the object described, in other words, na‘ima shay’an, ‘an excellent thing [is]’) the admonition God gives you, to restore a trust and to judge with justice. God is ever Hearer, of what is said, Seer, of what is done.
Verse 59
O you who believe, obey God, and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you, that is, rulers, when they command you to obey God and His Messenger. If you should quarrel, disagree, about anything, refer it to God, that is, to His Book, and the Messenger, while he lives, and thereafter [refer] to his Sunna: in other words examine these [disputes] with reference to these two [sources], if you believe in God and the Last Day; that, reference to the two [sources], is better, for you than quarrelling or [adhering to] personal opinions, and more excellent in interpretation, in the end.
Verse 60
The following verse was revealed when a Jew and a hypocrite fell into a dispute. The hypocrite called on Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf, to arbitrate between them, while the Jew called on the Prophet (s). When they came to him, the Prophet ruled in favour of the Jew. But the hypocrite was not satisfied, and so they went before ‘Umar. The Jew told him what had happened, whereupon he [‘Umar] turned to the hypocrite and asked him, ‘Is this true?’, and when he replied, ‘Yes’, he [‘Umar] killed him. Have you not seen those who claim that they believe in what has been revealed to you, and what was revealed before you, desiring to take their disputes to a false deity (tāghūt), one excessive in tempting [others] to falsehood (tughyān), namely, Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf, when they have been commanded to renounce him?, and not to associate with him. But Satan desires to mislead them, far astray, from the truth.
Verse 61
And when it is said to them, ‘Come to what God has revealed, as regards rulings in the Qur’ān, and the Messenger’, that he may judge between you, you see the hypocrites turn away from you vehemently, to others.
Verse 62
How would it be, [what] would they do, when an affliction, a punishment, befalls them for what their own hands have sent before them, of unbelief and acts of disobedience, that is to say, would they then be able to turn away and escape it? No! They then come to you (thumma jā’ūka, a supplement to yasuddūn, ‘they turn away’ [of the previous verse]), swearing by God that, in turning to other than you for arbitration, ‘We sought only virtue, settlement, and harmony’, reconciliation between the disputing parties by [any] approximate judgement without regard for the painful truth.
Verse 63
Those — God knows what is in their hearts, in the way of hypocrisy and the mendacity of their excuses; so turn away from them, with forgiveness, and admonish them, make them fear God, and say to them regarding, the issue of, their souls penetrating words, affecting them, in other words, reprimand them so that they repent of their unbelief.
Verse 64
We never sent any Messenger, but that he should be obeyed, in what he commands and judges, by the leave, by the command, of God, and not that he should be disobeyed or opposed. If, when they had wronged themselves, by seeking the judgement of the false idol, they had come to you, repentant, and asked forgiveness from God, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them (there is a shift from the second [to the third] person in this address, in deference to his [the Prophet’s (s)] status); they would have found God Relenting, to them, Merciful, to them.
Verse 65
But no, (fa-lā, the lā is extra) by your Lord! They will not believe until they make you judge over what has broken out, has become mixed up, between them and find in themselves no inhibition, [no] constraint or doubt, regarding what you decide, but submit, [but] comply with your ruling, in full submission, without objection.
Verse 66
And had We prescribed for them: (the particle an, ‘that’, is explicative) ‘Slay yourselves’ or ‘Leave your habitations’, as We did for the Children of Israel, they would not have done it, that is, what has been prescribed for them, save a few (read nominative qalīlun, as a substitution; or read accusative qalīlan, as an exceptive clause) of them; yet if they had done what they were admonished to do, of obedience to the Messenger (s), it would have been better for them, and stronger in establishing, [a stronger] confirmation of their faith.
Verse 67
And then, that is, had they confirmed themselves, We would have surely given them from Us a great wage, that is, Paradise.
Verse 68
And We would have guided them to a straight path. Some Companions said to the Prophet (s): ‘How will we be able to see you in Paradise, when you will be in the highest stations and we will be lower than you?’, and so the following was revealed:
Verse 69
Whoever obeys God and the Messenger, in what he commands, they are with those whom God has blessed of the prophets and the truthful, that is, the most excellent of the Prophet’s Companions, because of the fullness of their truthfulness and their affirmation of the truth; and the martyrs, those slain in the path of God; and the righteous, [all those] other than the ones mentioned. What fine companions they are!, in Paradise, since in it one will enjoy seeing them, visiting them and being in their presence, even though they will be in the highest stations in relation to others.
Verse 70
That, namely, their being with those mentioned (dhālika, ‘that’, is the subject, the predicate of which is [the following]) is bounty from God, with which He has favoured them, and not because they have earned it through their obedience. God suffices as Knower, of the reward of the Hereafter, in other words, trust in what He has told you: None can tell you like One Who is aware [Q. 35:14].
Verse 71
O you who believe, take your precautions, against your enemy, that is, be wary of him and be vigilant against him; then move forward, prepare to fight him, in companies, in separate groups, one raiding party followed by the next; or move forward all together, in one assembly.
Verse 72
Verily, there are some of you who tarry, who indeed hesitate to join the fighting, such as ‘Abd Allāh b. Ubayy, the hypocrite, and his companions — counting him [the one who tarries] as one of them [the Muslims] is from the perspective of outward appearances — (the lām in the verb [la-yubatti’anna, ‘verily … who tarry’] is for oaths); then, if an affliction befalls you, such as slaughter or defeat, he says, ‘God has been gracious to me, for I was not a witness with them’, present [at the fighting], lest I should be hurt.
Verse 73
But if (wa-la-in, the lām is for oaths) a bounty from God befalls you, such as a conquest or booty, he will surely cry, in regret, as if (ka’an is softened, its subject having been omitted, in other words [it should be] ka’annahu) there had never been (read lam yakun, or lam takun) any affection, any acquaintance or friendship, between you and him: this [statement] refers back to the words [in the previous verse] ‘God has been gracious to me’, and comes as a parenthesis between the statement ‘that he will cry’ and the very words he cries, which are: ‘Oh (yā, is for exclamation), would that I had been with them, so that I might have won a great triumph!’, that is, [that] I might have taken a good share of the booty.
Verse 74
God, exalted be He, says: So let them fight in the way of God, to elevate His religion, those who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of God and is slain, dies a martyr, or conquers, overcomes his enemy, We shall give him a great wage, a plentiful reward.
Verse 75
What is wrong with you, that you do not fight: this is an interrogative of rebuke, in other words, there is nothing to prevent you from fighting, in the way of God, and for, the deliverance of, the oppressed men, women, and children, whom the disbelievers persecuted and prevented from emigrating. Ibn ‘Abbās, may God be pleased with him and his father, said, ‘My mother and I were among them’; who say, supplicating, ‘O, our Lord, bring us forth from this town, Mecca, whose people are evildoers, through unbelief, and appoint for us a protector from You, to take charge of our affair, and appoint for us from You a helper’, to defend us against them. God responded to their supplication and facilitated escape for some of them, while others remained behind until Mecca was conquered — in charge of them the Prophet (s) placed ‘Attāb b. Asīd, who proceeded to seek justice for the wronged from those that had wronged them.
Verse 76
Those who believe fight in the way of God, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of a false deity, Satan. Fight therefore against the friends of Satan, the supporters of his religion and you will defeat them with the strength you draw from God; surely the plotting of Satan, against believers, is ever feeble, of no substance, and cannot stand up to God’s plotting against the disbelievers.
Verse 77
Have you not seen those to whom it was said, ‘Restrain your hands, from fighting the disbelievers when they desired it at Mecca, because of the harm the disbelievers had inflicted upon them — and these were a group from among the Companions — and establish the prayer, and pay the alms’? Then, as soon as fighting was prescribed, was made obligatory, for them, lo, a party of them fear people, the disbelievers, that is, [they fear] punishment at their hands through death, as they would fear, the punishment of, God, or with more fear, than their fear of Him (ashadda, ‘more’, is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier; the response to the lammā, ‘as soon as’, is indicated by idhā, ‘lo’, and what follows), in other words, they are taken aback by fear, and they said, frightened of death, ‘Our Lord, why have You prescribed fighting for us? Why not (lawlā is [to be understood as] hallā) defer us to a near term?’ Say, to them: ‘The enjoyment of this world, that which is enjoyed therein, or enjoying it [the world], is trifling, it will end up by perishing; and the Hereafter, Paradise, is better for him who fears God’s punishment by avoiding disobedience to Him; and you shall not be wronged (lā tuzlamūna, may also be read lā yuzlamūna, ‘they shall not be wronged’) you shall not be diminished of your deeds, a single date-thread, as much as the peel on a date-stone, so struggle [in the way of God].
Verse 78
Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, though you should be in raised-up, lofty, towers’, forts, so do not shrink from fighting for fear of death. And if a good thing, such as fertility and abundance, befalls them, the Jews, they say, ‘This is from God’; but if an evil thing, such as drought or misfortune, befalls them, as it did with them when the Prophet (s) arrived in Medina, they say, ‘This is from you’, O Muhammad (s), that is, from the bad luck [you bring]. Say, to them: ‘Everything, good and evil, is from God.’ What is wrong with this people that they do not understand, that is, they do not come close to comprehending, any words, delivered to them (the mā, ‘what’ [of mā li-hā’ūlā’, ‘what is wrong with these’] is an interrogative intended to provoke amazement at their extreme ignorance; to state that one cannot even come close to doing something is [rhetorically] more intense than saying that he cannot do it).
Verse 79
Whatever good (hasana means khayr) befalls you, O man, it is from God, it has come to you from His bounty; whatever evil, misfortune, befalls you is from yourself, it has come to you as a necessary consequence of sins you have committed. We have sent you, O Muhammad (s), to people as a messenger (rasūlan, is a circumstantial qualifier for emphasis), and God suffices as Witness, of your Mission.
Verse 80
Whoever obeys the Messenger, verily obeys God; and whoever turns his back, [whoever] avoids obedience to you, do not be concerned with them: We have not sent you as a watcher over them, to keep watch over their deeds, but as a warner. Their affair is Ours [to deal with] and We will requite them. This [statement] was before the command to fight [them was revealed].
Verse 81
They say, that is, the hypocrites [say] when they come to you, ‘Our affair is [all about] Obedience, to you’; but when they sally forth, [when] they depart, from you, a party of them harbour (the [final] tā’ [of the feminine-ending in bayyatat, ‘harbour’] can either be elided with the following tā’ [of tā’ifa, ‘a party’] or simply omitted) they entertain secretly [feelings], other than what they say, to you in your presence in the way of [their] obedience, in other words, [they hide] disobedience to you. God writes down, He commands that it be written, what they harbour, in their scrolls [of deeds], so that they will be requited for it. So turn away from them, in forgiveness, rely on God, put your trust in Him, for He will suffice you; and God suffices as a Guardian, to Whom matters are entrusted.
Verse 82
What, do they not ponder, do they [not] contemplate, the Qur’ān?, and the marvellous truths contained in it. If it had been from other than God surely they would have found therein much inconsistency, [much] contradiction in meaning and irregularity in arrangement.
Verse 83
And when there comes to them an issue, [news] concerning the raiding parties sent by the Prophet (s) and what has happened to them, be it of security, through victory, or of fear, through defeat, they broadcast it, they make it widely-known: this was revealed regarding a group from among the hypocrites, or from among the feeble believers, who used to do this, and so the hearts of the believers would lose courage and the Prophet (s) would become distressed. If they had referred it, the news, to the Messenger and to those in authority among them, that is, the judicious elders among the Companions, in other words, if they had kept quiet about it until they were fully informed; those among them who are able to think it out, [those who] follow it up and seek knowledge of it, the ones who broadcast it, would have known it, and whether it is a matter that ought be broadcast or not, from them, from the Prophet (s) and those of authority. And but for the bounty of God to you, through Islam, and His mercy, to you through the Qur’ān, you would surely have followed Satan, in the abominations to which he commands you, except a few [of you].
Verse 84
So fight, O Muhammad (s), in the way of God; you are charged only with yourself, so do not be concerned with their failing to join you, the meaning being: fight, even if you are on your own, for you have been promised victory. And urge on the believers, incite them to fight and make them desire it; maybe God will restrain the might, the war, of the disbelievers; God is mightier, than them, and more severe in castigation, in punishment, than them. And so the Messenger of God (s) said: ‘By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, I shall sally forth [to fight], even if [I go] alone’. Thereupon, he sallied forth with seventy cavalrymen to the first [battle at] Badr, where God restrained the might of the disbelievers by casting terror into their hearts and preventing Abū Sufyān from sallying forth, as has already been mentioned in [sūrat] Āl ‘Imrān [Q. 3:151].
Verse 85
Whoever intercedes, between people, with a good intercession, one in accordance with the Law, shall receive a share of, the reward for, it, because of it; and whoever intercedes with an evil intercession, one in contravention of it [the Law], shall receive the like, the share of the sin, from it, because of it. God conserves, He has power over, all things, and so requites every person according to his deeds.
Verse 86
And when you are greeted with a greeting, as when it is said to you, ‘Peace be upon you’, greet, the one that greeted you, with better than it, by responding to him with, ‘Peace be upon you, and God’s mercy and blessings’, or return it, by saying back to him what he said; in other words, it is a duty to greet in one of these two ways, the former being the preferred one. Surely God keeps count of, He holds [you] accountable for, all things, and requites accordingly, including things such as returning a greeting. The Sunna specifies that one should not return the greeting of an disbeliever, an innovator, a wicked person, and of the one that greets a person who is in the act of relieving himself, or one in the bath, or one eating — indeed it is actually disapproved with the exception of the last. To the disbeliever [who says ‘peace be upon you’] one should simply say, ‘And upon you’.
Verse 87
God — there is no god except Him, and by God, He will surely gather you, from your graves, to, on, the Day of Resurrection whereof there is no doubt, no uncertainty. And who is truer in statement, in speech, than God?, that is, no one is.