Quran English Translation

This Surah is named AL-FATIHAH because of its subject-matter. Fatihah is that which opens a subject or a book or any other thing. In other words, Al-Fatihah is a sort of preface.

It is one of the very earliest Revelations to the Holy Prophet. As a matter of fact, we learn from authentic Traditions that it was the first complete Surah which was revealed to Muhammed (Allah's peace be upon him). Before this, only a few miscellaneous verses were revealed which form parts of `ALAQ, MUZ-ZAMMIL, MUD-DATH-THIR, etc.

This Surah is in fact a prayer which Allah has taught to all those who want to make a study of His book. It has been placed at the very beginning of the book to teach this lesson to the reader: if you sincerely want to benefit from the Quran, you should offer this prayer to the Lord of the Universe.

This preface is meant to create a strong desire in the heart of the reader to seek guidance from the Lord of the Universe, Who alone can grant it. Thus AL-FATIHAH indirectly teaches that the best thing for a man is to pray for guidance to the straight path, to study the Quran with the mental attitude of a seeker- after-truth and to recognize the fact that the Lord of the Universe is the source of all knowledge. He should, therefore, begin the study of the Quran with a prayer to him for guidance.

From this theme, it becomes clear that the real relation between AL-FATIHAH and the Quran is not that of an introduction to a book but that of a prayer and its answer. AL-FATIHAH is the prayer from the servant and the Quran is the answer from the Master to his prayer. The servant prays to Allah to show him guidance and the Master places the whole of the Quran before him in answer to his prayer, as if to say, "This is the Guidance you begged from Me."

(1:1) In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate (1:2) Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the entire universe. (1:3) The Merciful, the Compassionate (1:4) The Master of the Day of Recompense. (1:5) You alone do we worship, and You alone do we turn for help (1:6) Direct us on to the Straight Way, (1:7) The way of those whom You have favoured, who did not incur Your wrath, who are not astray.

(2:1) Alif, Lam, Mim. (2:2) This is the Book of Allah, there is no doubt in it; it is a guidance for the pious, (2:3) for those who believe in the existence of that which is beyond the reach of perception, who establish Prayer and spend out of what We have provided them, (2:4) who believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you, and have firm faith in the Hereafter. (2:5) Such are on true guidance from their Lord; such are the truly successful. (2:6) As for those who have rejected (these truths), it is all the same whether or not you warn them, for they will not believe. (2:7) Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and a covering has fallen over their eyes. They deserve severe chastisement.(2:8) There are some who say: ?We believe in Allah and in the Last Day,? while in fact they do not believe. (2:9) They are trying to deceive Allah and those who believe, but they do not realize that in truth they are only deceiving themselves. (2:10) There is a disease in their hearts and Allah has intensified this disease. A painful chastisement awaits them for their lying. (2:11) Whenever they are told: ?Do not spread mischief on earth,? they say: ?Why! We indeed are the ones who set things right.? (2:12) They are the mischief makers, but they do not realize it. (2:13) Whenever they are told: ?Believe as others believe,? they answer: ?Shall we believe as the fools have believed?? Indeed it is they who are the fools, but they are not aware of it. (2:14) When they meet the believers, they say: ?We believe,? but when they meet their evil companions (in privacy), they say: ?Surely we are with you; we were merely jesting.? (2:15) Allah jests with them, leaving them to wander blindly on in their rebellion. (2:16) These are the ones who have purchased error in exchange for guidance. This bargain has brought them no profit and certainly they are not on the Right Way. (2:17) They are like him who kindled a fire, and when it lit up all around him, Allah took away the light (of their perception) and left them in utter darkness where they can see nothing. (2:18) They are deaf, they are dumb, they are blind; they will never return (to the Right Way). (2:19) Or they are like those who encounter a violent rainstorm from the sky, accompanied by pitch-dark clouds, thunder-claps and flashes of lightning: on hearing thunder-claps they thrust their fingers into their ears in fear of death. Allah encompasses these deniers of the Truth. (2:20) It is as if the lightning would snatch their sight; whenever it gleams a while for them they walk a little, and when darkness covers them they halt. If Allah so willed, He could indeed take away their hearing and their sight. Surely Allah is All-Powerful. (2:21) O mankind, serve your Lord Who has created you as well as those before you; do so that you are saved. (2:22) It is He Who has made the earth a resting-place for you, and the sky a canopy, and sent down water from above wherewith He brought forth fruits for your sustenance. Do not, then, set up rivals to Allah when you know (the Truth). (2:23) If you are in any doubt whether it is We Who have revealed this Book to Our servant, then produce just a surah like it, and call all your supporters and seek in it the support of all others save Allah. Accomplish this if you are truthful. (2:24) But if you fail to do this ? and you will most certainly fail ? then have fear of the Fire whose fuel is men and stones and which has been prepared for those who deny the Truth......

(3:1) Alif, Lam, Mim. (3:2) Allah, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, Who sustains the entire order of the universe - there is no God but He. (3:3) He has revealed this Book to you, setting forth the truth and confirming the earlier Books, and earlier He revealed the Torah and Gospel (3:4) for the guidance of mankind; and He has also revealed the Criterion (to distinguish truth from falsehood). A severe chastisement lies in store for those who deny the signs of Allah. Allah is All-Mighty; He is the Lord of Retribution. (3:5) Nothing in the earth and in the heavens is hidden from Allah. (3:6) It is He Who fashions you in the wombs as He wills. There is no God but He; the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. (3:7) It is He Who has revealed the Book to you. Some of its verses are absolutely clear and lucid, and these are the core of the Book. Others are ambiguous. Those in whose hearts there is perversity, always go about the part which is ambiguous, seeking mischief and seeking to arrive at its meaning arbitrarily, although none knows their true meaning except Allah. On the contrary, those firmly rooted in knowledge say: 'We believe in it; it is all from our Lord alone.' No one derives true admonition from anything except the men of understanding. (3:8) They pray to Allah: 'Our Lord! Do not let our hearts swerve towards crookedness after You have guided us to the right way, and. bestow upon us Your mercy. Surely You, only You, are the Munificent Giver! (3:9) Our Lord! You surely will gather mankind together one Day, a Day about (the coming of which) there is no doubt. Surely Allah never goes against His promise.' (3:10) Those who disbelieve, neither their wealth nor their offspring will avail them at all against Allah, and it is they who will be the fuel of the Fire (3:11) (To them shall happen) the like of what happened to the people of Pharaoh, and those before them. They rejected Our signs, so Allah seized them for their sins. Allah indeed is severe in punishment. (3:12) Tell those who disbelieved: 'You shall soon be overpowered and mustered to Hell - and that is an evil resting place!' (3:13) You have already come across an instructive sign in the two hosts that encountered each other in battle (at Badr): one host fighting in the way of Allah, and the other that of unbelievers. They saw with their own eyes that one host was twice the number of the other. But (the result of the battle has proved that) Allah succours with His victory whomsoever He wills. In this there is surely a lesson for all who have eyes to see. (3:14) Men are naturally tempted by the lure of women, children, treasures of gold and silver, horses of mark, cattle and plantations. These are the enjoyments in the life of this world; but with Allah lies a goodly abode to return to. (3:15) Say: 'Shall I tell you of things better than these? For the God-fearing there are, with their Lord, gardens beneath which rivers flow; there they will abide for ever, will have spouses of stainless purity as companions, and will enjoy the good pleasure of Allah.' Allah thoroughly observes His servants. (3:16) These are the ones who pray: 'Our Lord! We do indeed believe, so forgive us our sins and keep us safe from the chastisement of the Fire'; (3:17) men who are steadfast, truthful, obedient, spend (in the way of Allah) and implore the forgiveness of Allah before daybreak. (3:18) Allah Himself bears witness that there is no God but He; and likewise do the angels and the men possessed of knowledge bear witness in truth and justice that there is no God but He, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.....

(4:1) O men! Fear your Lord Who created you from a single being and out of it created its mate; and out of the two spread many men and women. Fear Allah in Whose name you plead for rights, and heed the ties of kinship. Surely, Allah is ever watchful over you. (4:2) Give orphans their property, and do not exchange the bad for the good, and do not eat up their property by mixing it with your own. This surely is a mighty sin. (4:3) If you fear that you might not treat the orphans justly, then marry the women that seem good to you: two, or three, or four. If you fear that you will not be able to treat them justly, then marry (only) one, or marry from among those whom your right hands possess. This will make it more likely that you will avoid injustice. (4:4) Give women their bridal-due in good cheer (considering it a duty); but if they willingly remit any part of it, consume it with good pleasure. (4:5) Do not entrust your properties - which Allah hasmade a means of support for you - to the weak of understanding, but maintain and clothe them out of it, and say to them a kind word of admonition. (4:6) Test the orphans until they reach the age of marriage, and then if you find them mature of mind hand over to them their property, and do not eat it up by either spending extravagantly or in haste, fearing that they would grow up (and claim it). If the guardian of the orphan is rich let him abstain entirely (from his ward's property); and if he is poor, let him partake of it in a fair measure. When you hand over their property to them let there be witnesses on their behalf. Allah is sufficient to take account (of your deeds). (4:7) Just as there is a share for men in what their parents and kinsfolk leave behind, so there is a share for women in what their parents and kinsfolk leave behind - be it little or much - a share ordained (by Allah). (4:8) If other near of kin orphans and needy are pre sent at the time of division of inheritance give them some thing of it and speak to them kindly. (4:9) And let them fear, those who, if they would themselves leave behind helpless offspring, they would surely have been fearful on their account. Let them, then, fear Allah and make the right statement. (4:10) Behold, those who wrongfully devour the properties of orphans only fill their bellies with fire. Soon they will burn in the Blazing Flame. (4:11) Allah thus commands you concerning your children: the share of the male is like that of two females. If (the heirs of the deceased are) more than two daughters, they shall have two-thirds of the inheritance; and if there is only one daughter, then she shall have half the inheritance. If the deceased has any offspring, each of his parents shall have a sixth of the inheritance; and if the deceased has no child and his parents alone inherit him, then one-third shall go to his mother; and if the deceased has brothers and sisters, then one-sixth shall go to his mother. All these shares are to be given after payment of the bequest he might have made or any debts outstanding against him.

You do not know which of them, your parents or your children, are more beneficial to you. But these portions have been determined by Allah, for He indeed knows all, is cognizant of all beneficent considerations. ....

(5:1) Believers! Honour your bonds! All grazing beasts of the flock are permitted to you except those which are recited to you hereinafter, but you are not allowed to hunt in the state of Ihram (a state of pilgrim sanctity). Indeed Allah decrees as He wills. (5:2) Believers! Neither desecrate the symbols of (devotion to) Allah, nor the holy month, nor the animals of offering, nor the animals wearing collars indicating they are for sacrifice, nor ill-treat those who have set out for the Holy House seeking from their Lord His bounty and good pleasure. But once you are free from Pilgrimage obligations, you are free to hunt. Do not let your wrath against the people who have barred you from the Holy Mosque move you to commit undue transgressions; rather, help one another in acts of righteousness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and transgression. Fear Allah. Surely Allah is severe in retribution. (5:3) Forbidden to you are carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, the animal slaughtered in any name other than Allah's, the animal which has either been strangled, killed by blows, has died of a fall, by goring or that devoured by a beast of prey - unless it be that which you yourselves might have slaughtered while it was still alive - and that which was slaughtered at the altars.- You are also forbidden to seek knowledge of your fate by divining arrows. All these are sinful acts. This day the unbelievers have fully despaired of your religion. Do not fear them; but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion, and have bestowed upon you My bounty in full measure, and have been pleased to assign for you Islam as your religion. (Follow, then, the lawful and unlawful bounds enjoined upon you.) As for he who is driven by hunger, without being wilfully inclined to sin, surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (5:4) They ask you what has been made lawful to them. Say: 'All clean things have been made lawful to you, and such hunting animals as you teach, training them to hunt, teaching them the knowledge Allah has given you - you may eat what they catch for you - but invoke the name of Allah on it. Have fear of Allah (in violating His Law). Allah is swift in His reckoning.' (5:5) This day all good things have been made lawful to you. The food of the People of the Book is permitted to you, and your food is permitted to them. And permitted to you are chaste women, be they either from among the believers or from among those who have received the Book before you,provided you become their protectors in wedlock after paying them their bridal-due, rather than go around committing fornication and taking them as secret-companions. The work of he who refuses to follow the way of faith will go waste, and he will be among the utter losers in the Hereafter. (5:6) Believers! When you stand up for Prayer wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and wash your feet up to the ankles. And if you are in the state of ritual impurity, purify yourselves (by taking a bath). But if you are either ill, travelling, have satisfied a want of nature or have had contact with women and find no water then have recourse to clean earth and wipe your faces and your hands therewith. Allah does not want to lay any hardship upon you; rather He wants to purify you and complete His favours upon you so that you may give thanks. (5:7) Remember Allah's favour upon you and His covenant which He made with you when you said: 'We have heard and we obey.' So do fear Allah. Allah has full knowledge even of that which is hidden in the breasts of people. (5:8) Believers! Be upright bearers of witness for Allah, and do not let the enmity of any people move you to deviate from justice. Act justly, that is nearer to God-fearing. And fear Allah. Surely Allah is well aware of what you do....

(6:1) All praise is for Allah alone, Who created the heavens and the earth, and brought into being light and darkness, and yet those who have rejected the call of the Truth ascribe others to be equals to their Lord. (6:2) He it is Who has created you out of clay, and then decreed a term (of life), and has also appointed another term, a term determined with Him. Yet you are in doubt! (6:3) And He it is Who is One True God in the heavens and in the earth. He knows your deeds - both secret and open - and knows fully whatever you earn. (6:4) Yet every time a sign of their Lord comes to them, they turn away from it, (6:5) and thus they gave the lie to the Truth that has now come to them. Soon they will come upon some news concerning what they had mocked at. (6:6) Have they not seen how many a people We have destroyed before them? People whom We had made more powerful in the earth than you are and upon them We showered from the heavens abundant rains, and at whose feet We caused the rivers to flow? And then (when they behaved ungratefully) We destroyed them for their sins, and raised other peoples in their place. (6:7) (O Messenger!) Had We sent down to you a book incribed on parchment, and had they even touched it with their own hands, the unbelievers would still have said: 'This is nothing but plain magic.' (6:8) They also say: 'Why has no angel been sent down to this Prophet?' Had We sent down an angel, the matter would surely have long been decided and no respite would have been granted them. (6:9) Had We appointed an angel, We would have sent him down in the form of a man - and thus We would have caused them the same doubt which they now entertain. (6:10) And indeed before your time (O Muhammad!) many a Messenger has been scoffed at; but those who mocked at them were encompassed by the Truth they had scoffed at. (6:11) Say: 'Go about journeying the earth, and behold the end of those who gave the lie (to the Truth).' (6:12) Ask thern: 'To whom belongs all that is in the heavens and on the earth?' Say: 'Everything belongs to Allah.' He has bound Himself to the exercise of mercy (and thus does not chastise you for your disobedience and excesses instantly). Surely He will gather you all together on the Day of Resurrection - the coming of which is beyond doubt; but those who have courted their own ruin are not going to believe. (6:13) And to Him belongs all that dwells in the night and the day. He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (6:14) Say: 'Shall I take for my guardian anyone other than Allah - the Originator of the heavens and earth; He Who feeds and Himself is not fed?' Say: 'Surely I have been commanded to be the first among those who submit (to Allah) and not to be one of those who associate others with Allah in His divinity (even though others may do so).' (6:15) Say: 'Surely do I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the chastisement of an awesome Day. (6:16) Whosoever has been spared chastisement on that Day, Allah has bestowed His mercy upon him. That is the manifest triumph. (6:17) Should Allah touch you with affliction, there is none to remove it but He; and should He touch you with good, He has the power to do everything. (6:18) He has the supreme hold over His servants. He is All-Wise, All-Aware. (6:19) Ask them: 'Whose testimony is the greatest?' Say: 'Allah is the witness between me and you; and this Qur'an was revealed to me that I should warn you thereby and also whomsoever it may reach.' Do you indeed testify that there are other gods with Allah? Say: 'I shall never testify such a thing.' Say: 'He is the One God and I am altogether averse to all that you associate with Him in His divinity.' (6:20) Those whom We have given the Book will recognize this just as they recognize their own ofspring; but those who have courted their own ruin will not believe.....

(7:1) Alif-Lam-Mim-Sad. (7:2) This is a Book revealed to you. Let there be no impediment in your heart about it. (It has been revealed to you) that you may thereby warn [the unbelievers], that it may be a reminder to the believers. (7:3) [0 men!] Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord and follow no masters other than Him. Little are you admonished. (7:4) How many a township We have destroyed! Our scourge fell upon them at night, or when they were taking midday rest. (7:5) And when Our scourge fell upon them their only cry was: 'We are indeed transgressors.' (7:6) So We shall call to account those to whom Messengers were sent, and We shall call to account the Messengers (to see how dutifully they conveyed the Message, and how people responded to it). (7:7) Then We shall narrate to them with knowledge the whole account. For surely, We were not away from them. (7:8) The weighing on that Day will be the true weighing: those whose scales are heavy will prosper. (7:9) and those whose scales are light will be the losers, for they, are the ones who have been unjust to Our signs. (7:10) We assuredly established you in the earth and arranged for your livelihood in it. Little do you give thanks. (7:11) We initiated your creation, then We gave you each a shape, and then We said to the angels: 'Prostrate before Adam.') They all prostrated except Iblis: he was not one of those who fell Prostrate. (7:12) Allah said: 'What prevented you from prostrating, when I commanded you to do so?' He said: 'I am better than he. You created me from fire, and him You created from clay.' (7:13) Allah said: 'Then get you down from here. It does not behove you to be arrogant here. So be gone. You will be among the humiliated.' (7:14) Satan replied: 'Give me respite till the Day they shall be raised.' (7:15) Allah said: 'You are granted respite.' (7:16) Satan said: 'Since You have led me astray, I shall surely sit in ambush for them on Your Straight Path. (7:17) Then I will come upon them from the front and from the rear, and from their right and from their left. And You will not find most of them thankful.' (7:18) Allah said: 'Go away from here - disgraced and expelled. I shall fill the Hell with all those that follow you. (7:19) 0 Adam! Live you and your spouse in the Garden and both of you eat from it wherever you will, but never approach the tree or you shall become wrongdoers.' (7:20) But Satan made an evil suggestion to both of them that he might reveal to them their shame that had remained hidden from them. He said: 'Your Lord has forbidden you to approach this tree only to prevent you from becoming angels or immortals.' (7:21) And he swore to them both: 'Surely I am your sincere adviser.' (7:22) Thus Satan brought about their fall by deceit. And when they tasted of the tree, their shame became vislible to them, and both began to cover themselves with leaves from the Garden. Then their Lord called out to them: 'Did I not forbid you from that tree, and did I not warn you that Satan 'is your declared enemy?' (7:23) Both cried out: 'Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and do not have mercy on us, we shall surely be among the losers.' (7:24) Allah said: 'Go down; you are enemies one of the other. For you there is dwelling and provision on the earth for a while.' (7:25) He continued: 'You shall live there, and there shall you die, and from it you shall be raised to life.'....

(8:1) They ask you concerning the spoils of war? Tell them: 'The spoils of war belong to Allah and the Messenger. So fear Allah, and set things right between you, and obey Allah and His Messenger if you are true believers. (8:2) The true believers are those who, when Allah's name is mentioned, their hearts quake, and when His verses are recited to them their faith grows, and who put their trust in their Lord; (8:3) who establish Prayer and spend out of what We have provided them. (8:4) Such people are indeed true believers. They have high ranks with their Lord, and forgiveness for their sins and an honourable sustenance. (8:5) (Now with regard to the spoils the same situation exists as when) your Lord brought you forth from your home in a righteous cause while a party among the believers were much averse to it. (8:6) They disputed with you about the truth after that had become evident, as if they were being driven to death with their eyes wide open. (8:7) And recall when Allah promised you that one of the two hosts would fall to you, and you wished that the one without arms should fall into your hands. But Allah sought to prove by His words the truth to be true and to annihilate the unbelievers to the last remnant (8:8) that He might prove the truth to be true and the false to be false, however averse the evil-doers might be to it. (8:9) And recall when you implored your Lord for help and He responded to you: 'I will indeed reinforce you with a thousand angels, coming host after host.' (8:10) Allah meant this as glad tidings and that your hearts may be set at rest. For every help comes from Allah alone. Surely Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. (8:11) And recall when Allah brought on you drowsiness, giving you a feeling of peace and security from Him, and He sent down rain upon you from the sky that He might cleanse you through it and take away from you the pollution of Satan and strengthen your hearts, and steady your feet through it. (8:12) And recall when your Lord inspired the angels: 'I am certainly with you. So make firm the feet of those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. So strike at their necks and strike at every pore and tip. (8:13) This is because they defied Allah and His Messenger. Whoever defies Allah and His Messenger must know that Allah is severe in punishment. (8:14) That is your punishment (from Allah). So taste this punishment, and know that for the unbelievers is the punishment of the Fire. (8:15) Believers, whenever you encounter a hostile force of unbelievers, do not turn your backs to them in flight. (8:16) For he who turns his back on them on such ar occasion - except that it be for tactical reasons, or turning to join another company - he shall incur the wrath of Allah and Hell shall be his abode. It is an evil destination. (8:17) So the fact is that it was not you, but it was Allah Who killed them; and it was not you when you threw [sand at them], but it was Allah Who threw it, (and the believers were employed for the task) that He might cause the believers to successfully pass through this test. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (8:18) This is His manner of dealing with you. As for the unbelievers, Allah will surely undermine their designs. (8:19) (Tell the unbelievers:) 'If you have sought a judgement, then surely a judgement has come to you. And if you desist from disobedience, it is all the better for you. But if you revert to your mischief, We will again chastise you; and your host, howsoever numerous, will never be of any avail to you. Know well, Allah is with the believers.'.....

[9:1] This is a declaration of disavowal by Allah and His Messenger to those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity and with whom you have made treaties: [9:2] "You may go about freely in the land, for four months, but know well that you will not be able to frustrate Allah, and that Allah will bring disgrace upon those who deny the Truth." [9:3] This is a public proclamation by Allah and His Messenger to all people on the day of the Great Pilgrimage: "Allah is free from all obligation to those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity; and so is His Messenger. If you repent, it shall be for your own good; but if you turn away, then know well that you will not be able to frustrate Allah. So give glad tidings of a painful chastisement to those who disbelieve. [9:4] In exception to those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity are those with whom you have made treaties and who have not violated their treaties nor have backed up anyone against you. Fulfil your treaties with them till the end of their term. Surely Allah loves the pious." [9:5] But when the sacred months expire slay those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity wherever you find them; seize them, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them. But if they repent and establish the Prayer and pay Zakah, leave them alone. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful. [9:6] And if any of those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity seeks asylum, grant him asylum that he may hear the Word of Allah, and then escort him to safety for they are a people who do not know. [9:7] How can there be a covenant with those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity be binding upon Allah and His Messenger, excepting those with whom you made a covenant near the Sacred Mosque? Behave in a straight manner with them so long as they behave with you in a straight manner for Allah loves the Godfearing. [9:8] How can there be any covenant with the other polytheists for were they to prevail against you, they will respect neither kinship nor agreement. They seek to please you with their tongues while their hearts are averse to you, and most of them are wicked. [9:9] They have sold the revelations of Allah for a paltry price and have firmly hindered people from His Path. Evil indeed is what they have done. [9:10] They neither have any respect for kinship nor for agreement in respect of the believers. Such are indeed transgressors. [9:11] But if they repent and establish Prayer and give Zakah they are your brothers in faith. Thus do We expound Our revelations to those who know. [9:12] But if they break their pledges after making them and attack your faith, make war on the leaders of unbelief that they may desist, for they have no regard for their pledged words. [9:13] Will you not fight against those who broke their pledges and did all they could to drive the Messenger away and initiated hostilities against you? Do you fear them? Surely Allah has greater right that you should fear Him, if you are true believers. [9:14] Make war on them. Allah will chastise them through you and will humiliate them. He will grant you victory over them, and will soothe the bosoms of those who believe, [9:15] and will remove rage from their hearts, and will enable whomsoever He wills to repent. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. [9:16] Do you imagine that you will be spared without being subjected to any test? Know well that Allah has not yet determined who strove hard (in His cause), and has not taken any others instead of His Messenger and the believers as his trusted allies? Allah is well aware of all that you do.....

(10:1) Alif. Lam. Ra. These are the verses of the Book overflowing with wisdom. (10:2) Does it seem strange to people that We should have revealed to a man from among themselves, directing him to warn the people (who lie engrossed in heedlessness); and to give good news to the believers that they shall enjoy true honour and an exalted status with their Lord? (Is this so strange that) the deniers of the truth should say: 'This man is indeed an evident sorcerer'? (10:3) Surely your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself on the Throne (of His Dominion), governing all affairs of the universe. None may intercede with Him except after obtaining His leave. Such is Allah, your Lord; do therefore serve Him. Will you not take heed? (10:4) To Him is your return. This is Allah's promise that will certainly come true. Surely it is He Who brings about the creation of all and He will repeat it so that He may justly reward those who believe and do righteous deeds; and that those who disbelieve may have a draught of boiling water and suffer a painful chastisement for their denying the truth. (10:5) He it is Who gave the sun radiance and the moon light, and determined the stages (for the waxing and waning of the moon) that you may learn the calculation of years and the reckoning of time. Allah has created all this with a rightful purpose (rather than out of play). He expounds His signs for the people who know. (10:6) Surely in the alternation of the night and the day and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth there are signs for the people who seek to avoid (error of outlook and conduct). (10:7) Surely those who do not expect to meet Us, who are gratified with the life of the world and content with it, and are heedless of Our signs, (10:8) their abode shall be the Fire in return for their misdeeds, (10:9) Surely those who believe (in the truths revealed in the Book) and do righteous deeds their Lord will guide them aright because of their faith. Rivers shall flow beneath them in the Gardens of Bliss. (10:10) Their cry in it will be: 'Glory be to You, Our Lord!', and their greeting: 'Peace!'; and their cry will always end with: 'All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the universe. (10:11) Were Allah to hasten to bring upon men (the consequence of) evil in the way men hasten in seeking the wealth of this world, their term would have long since expired. (But that is not Our way.) So We leave alone those who do not expect to meet Us that they may blindly stumble in their transgression. (10:12) And (such is man that) when an affliction befalls him, he cries out to Us, reclining and sitting and standing. But no sooner than We have removed his affliction, he passes on as though he had never cried out to Us to remove his affliction. Thus it is that the misdeeds of the transgressors are made fair-seeming to them. (10:13) Surely We destroyed the nations (which had risen to heights of glory in their times) before you when they indulged in wrong-doing and refused to believe even when their Messengers brought clear signs to them. Thus do We recompense the people who are guilty. (10:14) Now We have appointed you as their successors in the earth to see how you act. (10:15) And whenever Our clear revelations are recited to them, those who do not expect to meet Us say: 'Bring us a Qur'an other than this one, or at least make changes in it. Tell them (O Muhammad): 'It is not for me to change it of my accord. I only follow what is revealed to me. Were I to disobey my Lord, I fear the chastisement of an Awesome Day. (10:16) Tell them: 'Had Allah so willed, I would not have recited the Qur'an to you, nor would Allah have informed you of it. I have spent a lifetime among you before this. Do you, then, not use your reason? (10:17) Who, then, is a greater wrong-doer than he who forges a lie against Allah or rejects His signs as false? Surely the guilty shall not prosper.....

(11:1) Alif. Lam. Ra. This is a Divine Command whose contents have been made firm and set forth in detail from One Who is All-Wise, All-Aware (11:2) that you may worship none but Allah. Verily, I have come to you as a warner and a bearer of good news from Him (11:3) that you may seek forgiveness of your Lord and turn to Him in repentance whereupon He will grant you a fair enjoyment of life until an appointed term, and will bestow favour on everyone who merits favour. But should you turn away (from the truth), I fear for you the chastisement of an Awesome Day. (11:4) Unto Allah is your return, and He has power to do everything. (11:5) Lo! They fold up their breasts that they may conceal themselves from Him. Surely when they cover themselves up with their garments Allah knows well what they cover and what they reveal. Indeed He even knows the secrets hidden in the breasts. (11:6) There is not a single moving creature on the earth but Allah is responsible for providing its sustenance. He knows where it dwells and where it will permanently rest. All this is recorded in a clear Book. (11:7) And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six days - and [before that] His Throne was upon the water that He may test you, who of you is better in conduct If you were to say (O Muhammad): 'All of you will surely be raised after death', then those who disbelieve will certainly say: 'This is nothing but plain sorcery. (11:8) And were We to put off the chastisement from them for a determined period, they will cry out: 'What withholds Him from chastising?' Surely when the day of the chastisement will come, nothing will avert it and the chastisement which they had ridiculed shall encompass them. (11:9) If We ever favour man with Our Mercy, and then take it away from him, he becomes utterly desperate, totally ungrateful. (11:10) And if We let him taste favour after harm has touched him, he says: 'All my ills are gone', and he suddenly becomes exultant and boastful, (11:11) except those who are patient and act righteously. Such shall have Allah's forgiveness and a great reward. (11:12) (O Messenger!) Let it not happen that you omit (to expound) a portion of what was revealed to you. And do not be distressed that they will say: 'Why was a treasure not bestowed upon him?' or 'Why did no angel accompany him?' For you are merely a warner, whereas Allah has control over everything. (11:13) Do they say: 'He has invented this Book himself?' Say: 'If that is so, bring ten surahs the like of it of your composition, and call upon all (the deities) you can other than Allah to your help. Do so if you are truthful.' (11:14) Then if (your deities) do not respond to your call for help then feel assured that this Book was revealed with the knowledge of Allah, and that there is no true god but Him. Will you, then, surrender (to this truth)? (11:15) Those who seek merely the present world and its adornment. We fully recompense them for their work in this world, and they are made to suffer no diminution in it concerning what is their due. (11:16) They are the ones who shall have nothing in the Hereafter except Fire. (There they shall come to know) that their deeds in the world have come to naught; and that whatever they have done is absolutely useless.....

(12:1) Alif. Lam. Ra'. These are the verses of a Book that clearly expounds the truth. (12:2) We have revealed it as a Recitation in Arabic that you may fully understand. (12:3) (O Muhammad), by revealing the Qur'an to you We narrate to you in the best manner the stories of the past although before this narration you were utterly unaware of them. (12:4) Call to mind when Joseph said to his father: "My father! I saw (in a dream) eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrating themselves before me." (12:5) His father said: "My son! Do not relate your dream to your brothers lest they hatch a plot to harm you. Indeed Satan is man's open enemy. (12:6) (As you have seen in the dream), so will your Lord choose you (for His task) and will impart to you the comprehension of the deeper meaning of things and will bestow the full measure of His favour upon you and upon the house of Jacob even as He earlier bestowed it in full measure upon your forefathers, Abraham and Isaac. Surely your Lord is All- Knowing, All-Wise." (12:7) Verily in the story of Joseph and his brothers there are many signs for those who inquire (about the truth). (12:8) And call to mind when the brothers of Joseph conferred together and said: "Surely Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we are, although we are a group of so many. Our father is clearly mistaken. (12:9) So either kill Joseph or cast him into some distant land so that your father's attention may become exclusively yours. And after so doing become righteous." (12:10) Thereupon one of them said: "Do not kill Joseph, but if you are bent upon doing something, cast him down to the bottom of some dark pit, perhaps some caravan passing by will take him out of it." (12:11) After so deciding they said to their father: "Why is it that you do not trust us regarding Joseph although we are his true well-wishers?" (12:12) Send him out with us tomorrow that he may enjoy himself and play while we will be there, standing guard over him." (12:13) Their father answered: "It grieves me indeed that you should take him with you for I fear that some wolf might eat him up while you are negligent of him." (12:14) They said: "Should a wolf eat him, despite the presence of our strong group, we would indeed be a worthless lot!" (12:15) So when they went away with Joseph and decided to cast him in the bottom of the dark pit, We revealed to Joseph: "Surely a time will come when you will remind them of their deed. They know nothing about the consequence of what they are doing." (12:16) At nightfall they came to their father weeping (12:17) and said: "Father! We went racing with one another and left Joseph behind with our things, and then a wolf came and ate him up. We know that you will not believe us howsoever truthful we might be." (12:18) And they brought Joseph's shirt, stained with false blood. Seeing this their father exclaimed: "Nay (this is not true); rather your evil souls have made it easy for you to commit a heinous act. So I will bear this patiently, and in good grace. It is Allah's help alone that I seek against your fabrication." (12:19) And a caravan came, and they sent their water drawer to draw water. As he let down his bucket in the well he (observed Joseph) and cried out: "This is good news. There is a boy." They concealed him, considering him as part of their merchandise, while Allah was well aware of what they did. (12:20) Later they sold him for a paltry sum - just a few dirhams; they did not care to obtain a higher price....

(13:1) Alif. Lam. Mim. Ra'. These are the verses of the Divine Book. Whatever has been revealed to you from your Lord is the truth, and yet most (of your) people do not believe. (13:2) It is Allah Who has raised the heavens without any supports that you could see, and then He established Himself on the Throne (of Dominion). And He it is Who has made the sun and the moon subservient (to a law), each running its course till an appointed term. He governs the entire order of the universe and clearly explains the signs that you may be firmly convinced about meeting your Lord. (13:3) He it is Who has stretched out the earth and has placed in it firm mountains and has caused the rivers to flow. He has made every fruit in pairs, two and two, and He it is Who causes the night to cover the day. Surely there are signs in these for those who reflect. (13:4) And on the earth there are many tracts of land neighbouring each other. There are on it vineyards, and sown fields, and date palms: some growing in clusters from one root, some standing alone. They are irrigated by the same water, and yet We make some excel others in taste. Surely there are signs in these for a people who use their reason. (13:5) And were you to wonder, then wondrous indeed is the saying of those who say: "What! After we have been reduced to dust, shall we be created afresh?" They are the ones who disbelieved in their Lord; they are the ones who shall have shackles around their necks. They shall be the inmates of the Fire, wherein they will abide for ever. (13:6) They challenge you to hasten the coming of evil upon them before the coming of any good, although people who followed a like course before had met with exemplary punishment (from Allah). Verily your Lord is forgiving to mankind despite all their wrong-doing. Verily your Lord is also severe in retribution. (13:7) Those who refused to believe in you say: "Why has no (miraculous) sign been sent down upon him from his Lord?" You are only a warner, and every people has its guide. (13:8) Allah knows what every female bears; and what the wombs fall short of (in gestation), and what they may add. With Him everything is in a fixed measure. (13:9) He knows both what is hidden and what is manifest. He is the Supreme One, the Most High. (13:10) It is all the same for Him whether any of you says a thing secretly, or says it loudly, and whether one hides oneself in the darkness of night, or struts about in broad daylight. (13:11) There are guardians over everyone, both before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's command. Verily Allah does not change a people's condition unless they change their inner selves. And when Allah decides to make a people suffer punishment, no one can avert it. Nor can any be of help to such a people against Allah. (13:12) He it is Who causes you to see lightning that inspires you with both fear and hope, and He it is Who whips up heavy clouds. (13:13) The thunder celebrates His praise and holiness, and the angels, too, celebrate His praise for awe of Him. He hurls thunderbolts, striking with them whom He wills while they are engaged in disputation concerning Allah. He is Mighty in His contriving. (13:14) To Him alone should all prayer be addressed, for those to whom they do address their prayers beside Him are altogether powerless to respond to them. The example of praying to any other than Allah is that of a man who stretches out his hands to water, asking it to reach his mouth, although water has no power to reach his mouth. The prayers of the unbelievers are a sheer waste.....

(14:1) Alif. Lam. Ra'. This is a Book which We have revealed to you that you may bring forth mankind from every kind of darkness into light, and direct them, with the leave of their Lord, to the Way of the Mighty, the Innately Praiseworthy, (14:2) (to the Way of) Allah to Whom belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. Woe be to those who reject the Truth for a severe chastisement, (14:3) to those who have chosen the life of the world in preference to the Hereafter, who hinder people from the Way of Allah, and seek to make it crooked. They have gone far astray. (14:4) Never have We sent a Messenger but he has addressed his people in their language that he may fully expound his Message to them. (And after the Message is expounded), Allah lets go astray whomsoever He wills, and guides to the Right Way whomsoever He wills. He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. (14:5) We indeed sent Moses with Our Signs, saying: "Lead your people out of all kinds of darkness into light, and admonish them by narrating to them anecdotes from the Days of Allah." Verily in it there are great Signs for everyone who is patient and gives thanks (to Allah). (14:6) And call to mind when Moses said to his people: "Remember Allah's favour upon you when He delivered you from Pharaoh's people who afflicted you with a grievous chastisement, slaughtering your sons, while letting your women live. In it there was a terrible trial from your Lord."(14:7) Also call to mind when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks, I will certainly grant you more; but if you are ungrateful for My favours, My chastisement is terrible. (14:8) Moses said: "Were you to disbelieve - you and all those who live on earth - Allah is still Self-Sufficient, Innately Praiseworthy." (14:9) Have the accounts of your predecessors not reached you: the people of Noah, the Ad, the Thamud, and those who came after them - they whose number is not known to any except Allah? Their Messengers came to them with Clear Signs, but they thrust their hands in their mouths, and said: "We do surely reject the Message you have brought, and we are in disquieting doubt about what you are summoning us to." (14:10) Their Messengers said: "Can there be any doubt about Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth? He invites you that He may forgive you your sins and grant you respite till an appointed term." They replied: "You are only a human being like ourselves. You seek to prevent us from serving those whom our forefathers have been serving all along. If that is so, produce a clear authority for it." (14:11) Their Messengers told them: "Indeed we are only human beings like yourselves, but Allah bestows His favour on those of His servants whom He wills. It does not lie in our power to produce any authority except by the leave of Allah. It is in Allah that the believers should put their trust. (14:12) And why should we not put our trust in Allah when it is indeed He Who has guided us to the ways of our life? We shall surely continue to remain steadfast in face of your persecution. All those who have to put trust, should put their trust only in Allah.".....

(15:1) Alif. Lam. Ra'. These are the verses of the Book, and a Clear Qur'an. (15:2) Soon will the time come when the unbelievers will wish they were Muslims. (15:3) Leave them to eat and enjoy life and let false hopes amuse them. They will soon come to know. (15:4) Whenever We destroyed a town, a definite term had previously been decreed for it. (15:5) No people can outstrip the term for its destruction nor can it delay it. (15:6) They say: "O you to whom the Admonition has been revealed, you are surely crazed. (15:7) Why do you not bring down angels upon us if you are indeed truthful?" (15:8) We do not send down the angels (in frivolity); and when We do send them down, We do so with Truth; then people are granted no respite. (15:9) As for the Admonition, indeed it is We Who have revealed it and it is indeed We Who are its guardians. (15:10) (O Muhammad), certainly We did send Messengers before you among the nations which have gone by. (15:11) And whenever a Messenger came to them, they never failed to mock him. (15:12) Even so We make a way for it (that is, the Admonition) in the hearts of the culprits (like a hot rod); (15:13) they do not believe in it. This has been the wont of people of this kind from ancient times. (15:14) If We were even to open for them a way to the heavens, and they could continually climb up to it in broad daylight, (15:15) they would still have said: "Surely our eyes have been dazzled; rather, we have been enchanted." (15:16) We have indeed set constellations in the heavens and have beautified them for the beholders, (15:17) and have protected them against every accursed satan (15:18) save him who may eavesdrop, and then a bright flame pursues him. (15:19) As for the earth, We have stretched it out and have cast on it firm mountains, and have caused to grow in it everything well-measured. (15:20) And We have provided sustenance for you on it and also for those of whom you are not the providers. (15:21) There is nothing except that its treasuries are with Us and We do not send it down except in a known measure. (15:22) We send fertilizing winds, and then cause rain to descend from the sky, providing you abundant water to drink even though you could not have stored it up for yourselves. (15:23) It is indeed We Who grant life and cause death and it is We who shall be the sole Inheritors of all. (15:24) Surely We know those of you who have passed before and those who will come later. (15:25) Indeed your Lord will gather them all together. Surely He is All-Wise, All-Knowing. (15:26) Surely We brought man into being out of dry ringing clay which was wrought from black mud, (15:27) while We had brought the jinn into being before out of blazing fire. (15:28) Recall when your Lord said to the angels: "I will indeed bring into being a human being out of dry ringing clay wrought from black mud. (15:29) When I have completed shaping him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall you down before him in prostration." (15:30) So, the angels - all of them - fell down in prostration, (15:31) except Iblis; he refused to join those who prostrated. (15:32) The Lord inquired: "Iblis! What is the matter with you that you did not join those who prostrated?" (15:33) He said: "It does not behove of me to prostrate myself before a human being whom You have created out of dry ringing clay wrought from black mud." (15:34) The Lord said: "Then get out of here; you are rejected, (15:35) and there shall be a curse upon you till the Day of Recompense." (15:36) Iblis said: "My Lord! Grant me respite till the Day when they will be resurrected." (15:37) Allah said: "For sure you are granted respite ?.

(16:1) Allah's judgement has (all but) come; do not, then, call for its speedy advent. Holy is He, and far above their associating others with Him in His Divinity. (16:2) He sends down this spirit(of prophecy) by His command through His angels on any of His servants whom He wills, (directing them): "Warn people that there is no deity but Me; so hold Me alone in fear." (16:3) He created the heavens and the earth with Truth. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Allah in His Divinity. (16:4) He created man out of a mere drop of fluid, and lo! he turned into an open wrangler. (16:5) He created the cattle. They are a source of clothing and food and also a variety of other benefits for you. (16:6) And you find beauty in them as you drive them to pasture in the morning and as you drive them back home in the evening; (16:7) and they carry your loads to many a place which you would be unable to reach without much hardship. Surely your Lord is Intensely Loving, Most Merciful. (16:8) And He created horses and mules and asses for you to ride, and also for your adornment. And He creates many things (for you) that you do not even know about. (16:9) It rests with Allah alone to show you the Right Way, even when there are many crooked ways. Had He so willed, He would have (perforce) guided you all aright. (16:10) He it is Who sends down water for you from the sky out of which you drink and out of which grow the plants on which you pasture your cattle, (16:11) and by virtue of which He causes crops and olives and date-palms and grapes and all kinds of fruit to grow for you. Surely in this there is a great Sign for those who reflect. (16:12) He has subjected for you the night and the day and the sun and the moon and the stars have also been made subservient by His command. Surely there are Signs in this for those who use their reason. (16:13) And there are also Signs for those who take heed in the numerous things of various colours that He has created for you on earth. (16:14) And He it is Who has subjected the sea that you may eat fresh fish from it and bring forth ornaments from it that you can wear. And you see ships ploughing their course through it so that you may go forth seeking His Bounty and be grateful to Him. (16:15) And He has placed firm mountains on the earth lest it should move away from you, and has made rivers and tracks that you may find your way, (16:16) and He has set other landmarks in the earth. And by the stars too do people find their way. (16:17) Is then the One Who creates like the one who does not create? Will you not, then, take heed? (16:18) For, were you to count the favours of Allah, you will not be able to count them. Surely Allah is Ever Forgiving, Most Merciful. (16:19) Allah knows all that you conceal and all that you disclose. (16:20) Those whom they call upon beside Allah have created nothing; rather, they themselves were created; (16:21) they are dead, not living. They do not even know when they will be resurrected. (16:22) Your God is the One God. But the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter are steeped in rejection of the Truth, and they are given to arrogance. (16:23) Surely Allah knows all that they conceal and all that they disclose. He certainly does not love those who are steeped in arrogance. (16:24) When they are asked: "What is it that your Lord has revealed?" They answer: "They are merely tales of olden times!" (16:25) (They say so) that they may bear the full weight of their burdens on the Day of Resurrection and also of the burdens of those whom they misled on account of their ignorance. What a heavy burden are they undertaking to bear!....

(17:1) Holy is He Who carried His servant by night from the Holy Mosque (in Makkah) to the farther Mosque (in Jerusalem) whose surroundings We have blessed that We might show him some of Our Signs. Indeed He alone is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (17:2) We gave Moses the Book, and made it a source of guidance for the Children of Israel, commanding: "Take no other Guardian beside Me." (17:3) You are the descendants of those whom We carried (in the Ark) with Noah. He was truly a thankful servant. (17:4) Then We clearly declared to the Children of Israel in the Book: "Twice you will make mischief in the land and will commit transgression." (17:5) So, when the occasion for the first of the transgressions arrived, We raised against you some of Our creatures who were full of might, and they ran over the whole of your land. This was a promise that was bound to be fulfilled. (17:6) Then We granted you an upper hand against them, and strengthened you with wealth and children, and multiplied your numbers. (17:7) Whenever you did good, it was to your own advantage; and whenever you committed evil, it was to your own disadvantage. So, when the time of the fulfilment of the second promise arrived, (We raised other enemies that would) disfigure your faces and enter the Temple (of Jerusalem) as they had entered the first time, and destroy whatever they could lay their hands on. (17:8) Your Lord may well show Mercy to you, but if you revert to your evil behaviour, We shall revert to chastising you. We have made Hell a prison for those who are thankless of Allah's bounties. (17:9) Verily this Qur'an guides to the Way that is the Straight most. To those who believe in it, and do righteous works, it gives the good news that a great reward awaits them, (17:10) and warns those who do not believe in the Hereafter that We have prepared for them a grievous chastisement. (17:11) Man prays for evil in the manner he ought to pray for good. Man is ever hasty. (17:12) We have made night and day as two signs. We made the sign of the night devoid of light, and made the sign of the day radiant that you may seek the bounty of your Lord and know the computation of years and numbers. Thus We have expounded everything in detail to keep everything distinct from the other. (17:13) We have fastened every man's omen to his neck. On the Day of Resurrection We shall produce for him his scroll in the shape of a wide open book, (saying): (17:14) "Read your scroll; this Day you suffice to take account of yourself." (17:15) He who follows the Right Way shall do so to his own advantage; and he who strays shall incur his own loss. No one shall bear another's burden. And never do We punish any people until We send a Messenger (to make the Truth distinct from falsehood). (17:16) When We decide to destroy a town We command the affluent among them, whereupon they commit sins in it, then the decree (of chastisement) becomes due against them and thereafter We destroy that town utterly. (17:17) Many a generation has been destroyed by Our command since Noah's time. Your Lord is well aware and fully observant of the sins of His servants. (17:18) If anyone desires immediate benefits, We hasten to grant whatever benefits We will in the present life to whomsoever We please, but thereafter We decree for him Hell wherein he shall burn, condemned and rejected.....

(18:1) Praise be to Allah Who has revealed to His servant the Book devoid of all crookedness; (18:2) an unerringly Straight Book, meant to warn of a stern punishment from Allah, and to proclaim, to those who believe and work righteous deeds, the tiding that theirs shall be a good reward (18:3) wherein they shall abide for ever; (18:4) and also to warn those who say: "Allah has taken to Himself a son," (18:5) a thing about which they have no knowledge, neither they nor their ancestors. Dreadful is the word that comes out of their mouths. What they utter is merely a lie. (18:6) (O Muhammad), if they do not believe in this Message, you will perhaps torment yourself to death with grief, sorrowing over them. (18:7) Surely We have made all that is on the earth an embellishment for it in order to test people as to who of them is better in conduct. (18:8) In the ultimate, We shall reduce all that is on the earth to a barren plain. (18:9) Do you think that the people of the Cave and the Inscription were one of Our wondrous signs? (18:10) When those youths sought refuge in the Cave and said: "Our Lord! Grant us mercy from Yourself and provide for us rectitude in our affairs." (18:11) We lulled them to sleep in that cave for a number of years (18:12) and then roused them so that We might see which of the two parties could best tell the length of their stay. (18:13) We narrate to you their true story. They were a party of young men who had faith in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance (18:14) and strengthened their hearts when they stood up and proclaimed: "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We shall call upon no other god beside Him; (for if we did so), we shall be uttering a blasphemy." (18:15) (Then they conferred among themselves and said): "These men, our own people, have taken others as gods beside Him: why do they not bring any clear evidence that they indeed are gods? Who can be more unjust than he who foists a lie on Allah? (18:16) And now that you have dissociated yourselves from them and from whatever they worship beside Allah, go and seek refuge in the Cave. Your Lord will extend His mercy to you and will provide for you the means for the disposal of your affairs." (18:17) Had you seen them in the Cave it would have appeared to you that when the sun rose, it moved away from their Cave to the right; and when it set, it turned away from them to the left, while they remained in a spacious hollow in the Cave. This is one of the Signs of Allah. Whomsoever Allah guides, he alone is led aright; and whomsoever Allah lets go astray, you will find for him no guardian to direct him. (18:18) On seeing them you would fancy them to be awake though they were asleep; and We caused them to turn their sides to their right and to their left, and their dog sat stretching out its forelegs on the threshold of the Cave. Had you looked upon them you would have certainly fled away from them, their sight filling you with terror. (18:19) Likewise, We roused them in a miraculous way that they might question one another. One of them asked: "How long did you remain (in this state)?" The others said: "We remained so for a day or part of a day." Then they said: "Your Lord knows better how long we remained in this state. Now send one of you to the city with this coin of yours and let him see who has the best food, and let him buy some provisions from there. Let him be cautious and not inform anyone of our whereabouts. (18:20) For if they should come upon us, they will stone us to death or force us to revert to their faith whereafter we shall never prosper."....

(19:1) Kaf. Ha'. Ya'. Ayn. Sad. (19:2) This is an account of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah (19:3) when he cried to his Lord in secret. (19:4) He said: "Lord! My bones have grown feeble and my head is glistening with age; yet, never have my prayers to You, my Lord, been unfruitful. (19:5) I fear evil from my kinsmen after I am gone; and my wife is barren, so grant me an heir out of Your special grace, (19:6) one that might be my heir and the heir of the house of Jacob; and make him, Lord, one that will be pleasing to You. (19:7) (He was told): "Zechariah, We bring you the good news of the birth of a son whose name shall be Yahya (John), one whose namesake We never created before." (19:8) He said: "My Lord! How can I have a boy when my wife is barren and I have reached an extremely old age?" (19:9) He answered: "So shall it be." Your Lord says: "It is easy for Me," and then added: "For beyond doubt, I created you earlier when you were nothing." (19:10) Zechariah said: "Lord, grant me a Sign." Said He: "Your Sign is that you shall not be able to speak to people for three nights, though you will be otherwise sound." (19:11) Thereupon Zechariah came out from the sanctuary and directed his people by gestures to extol His glory by day and by night. (19:12) "O John! Hold the Book with all your strength." We had bestowed wisdom upon him while he was still a child; (19:13) and We also endowed him with tenderness and purity, and he was exceedingly pious (19:14) and cherishing to his parents. Never was he insolent or rebellious. (19:15) Peace be upon him the day he was born, and the day he will die, and the day he will be raised up alive. (19:16) (O Muhammad), recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east; (19:17) and drew a curtain, screening herself from people whereupon We sent to her Our spirit and he appeared to her as a well-shaped man. (19:18) Mary exclaimed: "I surely take refuge from you with the Most Compassionate Lord, if you are at all God-fearing." (19:19) He said: "I am just a message-bearer of your Lord, I have come to grant you a most pure boy." (19:20) Mary said: "How can a boy be born to me when no man has even touched me, nor have I ever been unchaste?" (19:21) The angel said: "Thus shall it be. Your Lord says: 'It is easy for Me; and We shall do so in order to make him a Sign for mankind and a mercy from Us. This has been decreed.' " (19:22) Then she conceived him and withdrew with him to a far-off place. (19:23) Then the birth pangs drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree and she said: "Oh, would that I had died before this and had been all forgotten." (19:24) Thereupon the angel below her cried out: "Grieve not, for your Lord has caused a stream of water to flow beneath you. (19:25) Shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards yourself and fresh and ripe dates shall fall upon you. (19:26) So eat and drink and cool your eyes; and if you see any person say to him: 'Verily I have vowed a fast to the Most Compassionate Lord, and so I shall not speak to anyone today.'...

(20:1) Ta' Ha' (20:2) We did not reveal the Qur'an to you to cause you distress; (20:3) it is only a reminder for him who fears Allah; (20:4) a revelation from Him Who created the earth and the high heavens. (20:5) The Most Compassionate Lord is settled on the Throne (of the Universe). (20:6) To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and all that is in between, and all that is beneath the soil. (20:7) Whether you speak out aloud (or in a low voice), He knows what is said secretly, and even that which is most hidden. (20:8) Allah - there is no god but He. His are the most excellent names. (20:9) Has the story of Moses reached you? (20:10) When he saw a fire and said to his family: "Hold on! I have just perceived a fire; perhaps I will bring a brand from it for you, or I will find some guidance at the fire about the way to follow." (20:11) When he came to it, a voice called out: "Moses! (20:12) Verily I am your Lord! Take off your shoes. You are in the sacred valley, Tuwa! (20:13) I Myself have chosen you; therefore, give ear to what is revealed. (20:14) Verily I am Allah. There is no god beside Me. So serve Me and establish Prayers to remember Me. (20:15) The Hour of Resurrection is coming. I have willed to keep the time of its coming hidden so that everyone may be recompensed in accordance with his effort. (20:16) Let him who does not believe in it and follows his lust not turn your thought away from it, lest you are ruined. (20:17) And what is in your right hand, O Moses?" (20:18) Moses answered: "This is my staff. I lean on it (when I walk), and with it I beat down leaves for my flock, and I have many other uses for it." (20:19) He said: "Moses, throw it down." (20:20) So he threw it down, and lo! it was a rapidly moving snake. (20:21) Then He said: "Seize it and have no fear. We shall restore it to its former state. (20:22) And place your hand in your armpit, it will come forth shining white, without blemish. This is another Sign of Allah, (20:23) for We shall show you some of Our greatest Signs. (20:24) And go to Pharaoh now for he has transgressed all bounds." (20:25) Moses said: "Lord! Open my breast for me; (20:26) and ease my task for me, (20:27) and loosen the knot from my tongue (20:28) so that they may understand my speech; (20:29) and appoint for me, from my household, someone who will help me bear my burden - (20:30) Aaron, my brother. (20:31) Strengthen me through him (20:32) and let him share my task (20:33) that we may abundantly extol Your glory; (20:34) and may remember You much. (20:35) Verily, You have always watched over us." (20:36) He said: "Moses, your petition is granted. (20:37) We have again bestowed Our favour upon you. (20:38) Recall, when We indicated to your mother through inspiration: (20:39) 'Put the baby into a chest and then throw him in the river. The river will throw him up on the shore, and then an enemy of Mine and an enemy of his will take him.' And I spread My love over you in order that you might be reared in My sight....

(21:1) The time of people's reckoning has drawn near, and yet they turn aside in heedlessness. (21:2) Whenever any fresh admonition comes to them from their Lord they barely heed it and remain immersed in play, (21:3) their hearts being set on other concerns. The wrong-doers whisper to one another: "This person is no more than a mortal like yourselves. Will you, then, be enchanted by sorcery while you see?" (21:4) He said: "My Lord knows well all that is spoken in the heavens and the earth. He is All-Hearing, All- Knowing." (21:5) They say: "Nay, these are confused dreams; nay, he has forged it; nay, he is a poet. So let him bring us a sign, even as the Messengers of the past were sent with signs." (21:6) Not one township that We destroyed before them believed. Would they, then, believe? (21:7) (O Muhammad), even before you We never sent any other than human beings as Messengers, and to them We sent revelation. Ask the People of the Book if you do not know. (21:8) We did not endow the Messengers with bodies that would need no food; nor were they immortals. (21:9) Then We fulfilled the promise We had made to them: We rescued them and those whom We wished, and We destroyed those who exceeded all bounds. (21:10) We have bestowed upon you a Book that mentions you. Do you not understand? (21:11) How many a wrong-doing town did We shatter and then raise up another people. (21:12) Then, when they perceived Our chastisement they took to their heels and fled. (21:13) (They were told): "Flee not, but return to your comforts and to your dwellings. You are likely to be questioned." (21:14) They said: "Woe to us; surely we were wrong-doers." (21:15) They did not cease to cry this until We reduced them to stubble, still and silent. (21:16) We did not create in sport the heavens and the earth and all that lies between the two. (21:17) Had it been Our will to find a pastime, We would have found one near at hand; if at all We were inclined to do so. (21:18) Nay, We hurl the Truth at falsehood so that the Truth crushes falsehood, and lo! it vanishes. Woe to you for what you utter! (21:19) To Him belongs whosoever dwells in the heavens and on earth. Those (angels) that are with Him neither disdain to serve Him out of pride, nor do they weary of it. (21:20) They glorify Him night and day, without flagging. (21:21) Have they taken earthly gods who are such that they raise up the dead to life? (21:22) Had there been any gods in the heavens and the earth apart from Allah, the order of both the heavens and the earth would have gone to ruins. Glory be to Allah, the Lord of the Throne, Who is far above their false descriptions of Him. (21:23) None shall question Him about what He does, but they shall be questioned. (21:24) Have they taken gods other than Him? Say, (O Muhammad): "Bring forth your proof! Here is the Book with admonition for those of my time and there are also scriptures with admonition for people before me." But most people do not know the Truth, and have, therefore, turned away from it. (21:25) Never did We send any Messenger before you to whom We did not reveal: "There is no god but Me. So serve Me alone." (21:26) They say: "The Most Compassionate Lord has taken to Himself a son." Glory be to Him! Those whom they so designate are only His honoured servants. (21:27) They do not outstrip Him in speech and only act as He commands. (21:28) He knows whatever is before them and whatsoever is remote from them and they do not intercede except for him, intercession on whose behalf pleases Him, and they stand constantly in awe of Him. (21:29) And if anyone of them were to claim: "Indeed I am a god apart from Him," We shall recompense both with Hell. Thus do We recompense the wrong-doers....

(22:1) O mankind, fear the (wrath of) your Lord! Indeed, the earthquake of the Hour (of Judgement) will be an awesome thing. (22:2) On the Day when you witness it, the suckling woman shall utterly neglect the infant she suckles, and every pregnant woman shall cast her burden, and you will see people as though they are drunk, when they are not drunk; but dreadful shall be Allah's chastisement. (22:3) Among people there are some who wrangle about Allah without knowledge and follow every rebellious devil, (22:4) although it is decreed about him that he shall lead into error whosoever takes him for a friend, and will direct him to the torment of the Fire. (22:5) O mankind! If you have any doubt concerning Resurrection, then know that it is surely We Who created you from dust, then from a drop of sperm, then from a clot of blood, then from a little lump of flesh, some of it shapely and other shapeless. (We are rehearsing this) that We may make the reality clear to you. We cause (the drop of sperm) that We please to remain in the wombs till an appointed time. We bring you forth as infants (and nurture you) that you may come of age. Among you is he that dies (at a young age) and he who is kept back to the most abject age so that after once having known, he reaches a stage when he knows nothing. You see the earth dry and barren and then no sooner than We send down water upon it, it begins to quiver and swell and brings forth every kind of beauteous vegetation. (22:6) All this is because Allah, He is the Truth, and because He resurrects the dead, and because He has power over everything, (22:7) (all of which shows that) the Hour shall surely come to pass - in this there is no doubt - and Allah shall surely resurrect those that are in graves. (22:8) And among people are those that wrangle about Allah without knowledge, without any true guidance, and without any scripture to enlighten them. (22:9) They wrangle arrogantly, intent on leading people astray from the Way of Allah. Such shall suffer disgrace in this world and We shall cause them to taste the chastisement of burning (in the Next). (22:10) That is the outcome of what your own hands have wrought, for Allah never wrongs His creatures. (22:11) And among people is he who worships Allah on the borderline; if any good befalls him, he is satisfied; but if a trial afflicts him, he utterly turns away. He will incur the loss of this world and the Hereafter. That indeed is a clear loss. (22:12) He invokes, instead of Allah, those who can neither harm nor benefit him. That indeed is straying far away. (22:13) He invokes those that are more likely to cause him harm than benefit. Such is surely an evil patron, and an evil associate. (22:14) (In contrast) Allah will assuredly cause those who believe and act righteously to enter Gardens beneath which rivers flow. For, most certainly, Allah does whatever He pleases. (22:15) Anyone who fancies that Allah will not support him in this world and in the Hereafter, let him reach out to heaven through a rope, and then make a hole in the sky and see whether his device can avert that which enrages him. (22:16) Even so We have revealed the Qur'an with Clear Signs. Verily Allah guides whomsoever He wills. (22:17) On the Day of Resurrection Allah will most certainly judge among those who believe, and those who became Jews, and Sabaeans, and Christians, and Magians, and those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity. Surely Allah watches over everything....

(23:1) The believers have indeed attained true success: (23:2) those who, in their Prayers, humble themselves; (23:3) who avoid whatever is vain and frivolous; (23:4) who observe Zakah; (23:5) who strictly guard their private parts (23:6) save from their wives, or those whom their right hands possess; for with regard to them they are free from blame " (23:7) As for those who seek beyond that, they are transgressors" (23:8) who are true to their trusts and their covenants, (23:9) and who guard their Prayers. (23:10) Such are the inheritors (23:11) that shall inherit Paradise; and in it they shall abide for ever. (23:12) We created man out of the extract of clay, (23:13) then We made him into a drop of life-germ, then We placed it in a safe depository, (23:14) then We made this drop into a clot, then We made the clot into a lump, then We made the lump into bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, and then We caused it to grow into another creation. Thus Most Blessed is Allah, the Best of all those that create. (23:15) Thereafter you are destined to die, (23:16) and then on the Day of Resurrection you shall certainly be raised up. (23:17) We have indeed fashioned above you seven paths. Never were We unaware of the task of creation. (23:18) We sent down water from the sky in right measure, and caused it to stay in the earth, and We have the power to cause it to vanish (in the manner We please). (23:19) Then through water We caused gardens of date-palms and vines to grow for you wherein you have an abundance of delicious fruits and from them you derive your livelihood. (23:20) And We also produced the tree which springs forth from Mount Sinai, containing oil and sauce for those that eat. (23:21) And indeed there is also a lesson for you in cattle. We provide you with drink out of what they have in their bellies; and you have many other benefits in them: you eat of them, (23:22) and are carried on them and also on ships. (23:23) We sent Noah to his people, and he said: "My people! Serve Allah; you have no deity other than He. Do you have no fear?" (23:24) But the notables among his people had refused to believe, and said: "This is none other than a mortal like yourselves who desires to attain superiority over you. Had Allah wanted (to send any Messengers) He would have sent down angels. We have heard nothing like this in the time of our forebears of old (that humans were sent as Messengers). (23:25) He is a person who has been seized with a little madness; so wait for a while (perhaps he will improve)." (23:26) Noah said: "My Lord! Come to my help at their accusation that I am lying." (23:27) Thereupon We revealed to him, saying: "Build the Ark under Our eyes and according to Our revelation. And when Our command comes to pass and the oven boils over, take on board a pair each from every species, and also take your household except those of them against whom sentence has already been passed and do not plead to Me on behalf of the wrong-doers. They are doomed to be drowned. (23:28) And then when you and those accompanying you are firmly seated in the Ark, say: "Thanks be to Allah Who has delivered us from the wrong-doing people." (23:29) And say: "My Lord! Make my landing a blessed landing, for You are the Best of those Who can cause people to land in safety." (23:30) There are great Signs in this story; and surely We do put people to test. (23:31) Then, after them, We brought forth another generation; (23:32) and We sent among them a Messenger from among themselves, saying: "Serve Allah; you have no god other than He. Do you have no fear?"....

(24:1) This is a surah which We have revealed, and which We have made obligatory; We have revealed in it clear instructions so that you may take heed. (24:2) Those who fornicate - whether female or male - flog each one of them with a hundred lashes. And let not tenderness for them deter you from what pertains to Allah's religion, if you do truly believe in Allah and the Last Day; and let a party of believers witness their punishment. (24:3) Let the fornicator not marry any except a fornicatress or idolatress and let the fornicatress not marry any except a fornicator or an idolater. That is forbidden to the believers. (24:4) Those who accuse honourable women (of unchastity) but do not produce four witnesses, flog them with eighty lashes, and do not admit their testimony ever after. They are indeed transgressors, (24:5) except those of them that repent thereafter and mend their behaviour. For surely Allah is Most Forgiving, Ever Compassionate. (24:6) As for those who accuse their wives (of unchastity), and have no witnesses except themselves: the testimony of such a one is that he testify, swearing by Allah four times, that he is truthful (in his accusation), (24:7) and a fifth time, that the curse of Allah be on him if he be lying (in his accusation). (24:8) And the punishment shall be averted from the woman if she were to testify, swearing by Allah four times that the man was lying, (24:9) and a fifth time that the wrath of Allah be on her if the man be truthful (in his accusation). (24:10) Were it not for Allah's Bounty and His Mercy unto you and that Allah is much prone to accept repentance and is Wise, (you would have landed yourselves into great difficulty on the question of unsubstantiated accusation of your spouses). (24:11) Surely those who invented this calumny are a band from among you. Do not deem this incident an evil for you; nay, it is good for you. Every one of them has accumulated sin in proportion to his share in this guilt; and he who has the greater part of it shall suffer a mighty chastisement. (24:12) When you heard of it, why did the believing men and women not think well of their own folk and say: "This is a manifest calumny?" (24:13) Why did they not bring four witnesses in support of their accusation? Now that they have brought no witnesses, it is indeed they who are liars in the sight of Allah. (24:14) Were it not for Allah's Bounty and His Mercy unto you in the world and in the Hereafter a grievous chastisement would have seized you on account of what you indulged in. (24:15) (Just think, how wrong you were) when one tongue received it from another and you uttered with your mouths something you knew nothing about. You deemed it to be a trifle while in the sight of Allah it was a serious matter. (24:16) And why, no sooner than you had heard it, did you not say: "It becomes us not even to utter such a thing? Holy are You (O Allah)! This is a mighty calumny." (24:17) Allah admonishes you: If you are true believers, never repeat the like of what you did. (24:18) Allah clearly expounds to you His instructions. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (24:19) Verily those who love that indecency should spread among the believers deserve a painful chastisement in the world and the Hereafter. Allah knows, but you do not know. (24:20) Were it not for Allah's Bounty and His Mercy unto you, and that Allah is Most Forgiving and Wise, (the evil that had been spread among you would have led to terrible consequences)....

(25:1) Most blessed is He Who sent down this Criterion on His servant, to be a warner to all mankind; (25:2) He to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; Who has taken to Himself no son nor has He taken any partner in His kingdom; Who created everything and then determined its destiny. (25:3) Yet people have taken, instead of Him, other deities; those that create nothing but are themselves created; who do not have the power to hurt or benefit even themselves; who have no power over death, nor over life, nor over the resurrection of the dead. (25:4) Those who disbelieve in the Message of the Prophet say: "This (Criterion) is nothing but a lie which he has forged with the help of others." Such have indeed resorted to a grievous wrong and sheer falsehood. (25:5) They say: "These are merely fairy tales of the ancients which he has got inscribed and they are then recited to him morning and evening." (25:6) Say to them (O Muhammad): "It is He Who knows the secrets of the heavens and the earth Who has sent down this Book. Indeed, He is Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate." (25:7) They say: "What sort of a Messenger is this: he eats food and walks about in the markets? Why was an angel not sent down to him so that he may remain with the Messenger and warn those that do not believe in him? (25:8) Why was a treasure not bestowed upon him, or a garden whereof he might obtain his sustenance?" The evil-doers say: "You are simply following a bewitched man." (25:9) See what specious arguments they put forth before you: they are so strayed that they will not find their way to anything sound.(25:10) Most blessed is He Who, if He wills, can grant you even better than what they propose: Gardens beneath which rivers flow, and stately mansions. (25:11) Nay, the truth is that it is the Hour to which they give the lie.; We have kept a Blazing Fire ready for him who denies the Hour. (25:12) When it sees them from a place afar, they will hear its raging and roaring, (25:13) and when they are flung, chained together, into a narrow place in it, they will fervently call there for annihilation. (25:14) (They will then be told): "Do not call for a single annihilation, but for many an annihilation." (25:15) Ask them: "Is this state better or the Garden of Eternity which the God-fearing have been promised?" It shall be their recompense and the end-point of their journey; (25:16) the Garden wherein whatever they desire will be fulfilled. In it they shall abide for ever. This is a promise whose fulfilment Your Lord has made incumbent on Himself. (25:17) On the Day when He will muster together all the unbelievers as well as the deities that they worship beside Allah, and He will ask them: "Was it you who caused these servants of Mine to stray away, or did they themselves stray away from the Right Path?" (25:18) They will say: "Glory be to You! It did not behove us to take any other than You as our guardians, but You lavished the pleasures of life upon them and their forefathers until they forgot the Admonition and became doomed to destruction." (25:19) Thus will those deities give the lie to all what you now say, and you will not be able to avert your doom, nor obtain any succour. We shall cause whoever of you commits wrong to taste an enormous chastisement. (25:20) (O Muhammad), We never sent any Messengers before you but they ate food and walked about in the markets. We made some of you a means to test each by the other to see whether you remain patient. Your Lord is All-Seeing?.

(26:1) Ta'. Sin. Mim. (26:2) These are the verses of the Clear Book. (26:3) (O Muhammad), you will perhaps grieve yourself to death because these people do not believe. (26:4) If We will, We can send down a Sign to them from heaven, so their necks will be humbled to it. (26:5) Never does there come to them an admonition from the Merciful Lord but they turn away from it. (26:6) They will soon come to know the truth of that which they have been scoffing at. (26:7) Do they not look at the earth, how We caused a variety of fine vegetation to grow from it (in abundance)? (26:8) Surely there is a Sign in this, but most of them would not believe. (26:9) Verily Your Lord is Infinitely Mighty, Most Compassionate. (26:10) (Recount to them about the time) when Your Lord called Moses: "Go to the wrong-doing people, (26:11) the people of Pharaoh: do they have no fear?" (26:12) He said: "My Lord! I fear that they will brand me a liar. (26:13) My breast is constricted and my tongue is not fluent, so endow Messengership on Aaron. (26:14) As for me, they hold the charge of a crime against me. I fear they will put me to death." (26:15) He said: "Certainly not! So go both of you with Our Signs. We shall be with you listening to everything. (26:16) Go, then, to Pharaoh and say to him: 'The Lord of the Universe has sent us (26:17) that you let the Children of Israel go with us.'" (26:18) Pharaoh said: "Did we not bring you up among us when you were a child? (26:19) You spent many years of your life among us and then you committed that deed of yours. You are very ungrateful indeed." (26:20) Moses replied: "I committed that act erringly. (26:21) Then I fled for fear of you. Then my Lord bestowed wisdom and authority on me and made me one of the Messengers. (26:22) Now this is the favour that you tauntingly remind me of: that you enslaved the Children of Israel!" (26:23) Pharaoh said: "And who is this Lord of the Universe?" (26:24) Moses answered: "The Lord of the heavens and the earth and of all that is between them, if you were only to believe." (26:25) Pharaoh said to those around him: "Do you hear (what he says)?" (26:26) Moses said: "(He is) Your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers of yore." (26:27) Pharaoh said to the audience: "This Messenger of yours who has been sent to you is simply mad." (26:28) Moses continued: "(He is) the Lord of the east and the west, and all between them. If you only had any understanding!" (26:29) Pharaoh said: "If you take any god other than me, I will certainly make you one of those (who are rotting) in prison." (26:30) Moses said: "Even if I were to bring a Clear Sign to you?" (26:31) Pharaoh said: "Then bring it if you are truthful at all." (26:32) (No sooner had he said this than) Moses threw down his rod and behold, it was a veritable serpent, (26:33) and he drew his hand (out of his armpit) and lo! it had become a shining object to the beholders?.

(27:1) Ta'. Sin. These are the verses of the Qur'an and a Clear Book; (27:2) a guidance and good tidings for the believers (27:3) who establish Prayer and give Zakah, and have firm faith in the Hereafter. (27:4) As for those who do not believe in the Hereafter, We have made their deeds seem attractive to them so they stumble around in perplexity. (27:5) It is they for whom a grievous chastisement lies in store; it is they who shall be the greatest losers in the Hereafter. (27:6) As for you, (O Muhammad), you are receiving the Qur'an from the Most Wise, the All-Knowing. (27:7) (Recount to them) when Moses said to his family: "I perceive something like fire: soon will I bring to you some information from there, or I will bring you a burning brand that you may warm yourselves." (27:8) But when Moses came to the fire, a call was sounded: "Blessed is He Who is in the fire and whatever is around it. Glory be to Allah, the Sustainer of all in the Universe. (27:9) O Moses, verily this is Me, Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise! (27:10) Now cast your rod!" But when he saw the rod writhing as though it were a serpent, he turned his back in retreat and did not even look behind. "O Moses, have no fear. Messengers have no fear in My presence, (27:11) except he who has committed some wrong. But if he substitutes good in place of evil, I am Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate. (27:12) Now put your hand into your bosom, and it will come forth shining without any blemish. (These are two of the) nine Signs to be carried to Pharaoh and his people. They are surely a wicked people." (27:13) But when Our Clear Signs came to them, they said: "This is plain magic." (27:14) They denied those Signs out of iniquity and arrogance although their hearts were convinced of their truth. So see how evil was the end of those mischief-makers! (27:15) (On the other hand), We granted knowledge to David and Solomon and they said: "All praise be to Allah Who has exalted us above many of His believing servants!" (27:16) And Solomon succeeded David and said: "O people, we have been taught the speech of birds and we have been endowed with all kinds of things. Surely this is a conspicuous favour (from Allah)." (27:17) Hosts of jinn and humans and birds were marshalled for Solomon and were kept under full control. (27:18) (Solomon was once on the move with them) until when they reached a valley of ants one of the ants said: "O ants, get into your holes, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you (under their feet) without even knowing." (27:19) Smiling at the ant's utterance, Solomon burst into laughter and said: "My Lord! Hold me under (Your) control that I may render thanks for the favour which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may act righteously in a manner that would please You. Include me, out of Your Mercy, among Your righteous servants." (27:20) (On another occasion) Solomon inspected the birds and said: "Why is it that I do not see the hoopoe? Is he among the absentees? (27:21) I will inflict a severe punishment on him or maybe even slaughter him unless he comes forth with a convincing reason (for his absence)." (27:22) Not before long the hoopoe came up and said: "I have obtained a knowledge which you could not. I have brought for you sure news about Sheba. (27:23) I found there a woman ruling over them, one who has been endowed with all things and has a mighty throne. (27:24) I found that she and her people prostrate themselves before the sun rather than Allah." Satan has made their deeds appear attractive to them and has, thus, debarred them from the Right Path so they do not find true guidance (27:25) that they would prostrate themselves before Allah Who brings to light all that is hidden in the heavens and the earth and knows all that you conceal and all that you reveal. (27:26) Allah - none is worthy of worship save He; He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne. ..

(28:1) Ta'. Sin. Mim (28:2) These are the verses of the Clear Book. (28:3) We recount to you with truth some parts of the story of Moses and Pharaoh for the benefit of those who believe. (28:4) Indeed Pharaoh transgressed in the land and divided its people into sections. One group of them he humiliated, and slew their sons and spared their daughters. Truly he was among the mischief-makers. (28:5) We wanted to bestow favour on those who were oppressed in the land. We wanted to make them leaders and heirs (28:6) and to grant them power in the land, and make Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts see what they had feared. (28:7) We suggested to the mother of Moses: "Suckle your child, but when you fear for his life cast him into the river and be not fearful nor grieve, for We shall restore him to you and make him one of the Messengers." (28:8) Then Pharaoh's household picked him up (from the river) that he may be their adversary and be a cause of sorrow to them. Surely Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts erred (in their scheming). (28:9) The wife of Pharaoh said: "Here is a delight of the eye to me and to you. Do not kill him. Maybe he will prove useful for us, or we may adopt him as a son." They were unaware of the end of it all. (28:10) On the other hand, the heart of Moses' mother was sorely distressed. Had We not strengthened her heart that she might have full faith (in Our promise), she would have disclosed the secret. (28:11) She told the sister of Moses: "Follow him." So she kept watch over him unperceived (by the enemies). (28:12) And We had already forbidden the breasts of the nurses for the child. (So seeing the girl) said: "Shall I direct you to the people of a household that will rear him with utter sincerity?" (28:13) Thus did We restore Moses to his mother that her eyes might be comforted and she might not grieve, and realise that the promise of Allah was true. But most people are unaware of this. (28:14) When Moses reached the age of full youth and grew to maturity, We bestowed upon him wisdom and knowledge. Thus do We reward those who do good. (28:15) Once he entered the city at a time when its people were heedless, and he encountered two men fighting, one of whom belonged to his own people and the other to his foes. Now the man belonging to Moses' own people cried out to him for help against the man from the foes, and Moses struck him with his fist and finished him. Moses said: "This is an act of Satan. Surely he is an enemy who openly misleads." (28:16) Then he prayed: "My Lord! I have indeed inflicted wrong on myself, so do forgive me," wherefore Allah forgave him for He is Ever Forgiving, Most Merciful. (28:17) Thereupon Moses vowed: "My Lord, because of the favour that You have done me I shall never support the guilty." (28:18) The next morning he proceeded to the city in fear and looking around as one apprehensive of danger when all of a sudden, the man who had sought his help the day before again called out to him for his help. Moses said to him: "Clearly, you are a very misguided fellow." (28:19) And when Moses decided to lay his violent hands on the man belonging to the enemy, he cried out: "Moses, do you intend to kill me as you killed a person yesterday?" You simply want to live in the land as a tyrant, and do not wish to set things right." (28:20) Then a man came running from the farther end of the city and said: "O Moses, the nobles are deliberating about you that they may put you to death. So do be gone. I am one of your well-wishers." (28:21) Soon after hearing this Moses departed in a state of fear, looking around as one in apprehension and prayed: "My Lord, deliver me from these unjust people."?

(29:1) Alif. Lam. Mim. (29:2) Do people think that they will be let go merely by saying: ?We believe,? and that they will not be tested, (29:3) for We indeed tested those who went before them? Allah will most certainly ascertain those who spoke the truth and those who lied. (29:4) Do the evil-doers suppose that they will get the better of Us? How evil is their judgement! (29:5) Let him who looks forward to meeting Allah know that Allah's appointed term will surely come to pass. He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (29:6) Whosoever strives(in the cause of Allah) does so to his own good. Surely Allah stands in no need of anyone in the whole Universe. (29:7) Those who believe and do good deeds, We shall cleanse them of their evil deeds and reward them according to the best of their deeds. (29:8) We have enjoined upon man kindness to his parents, but if they exert pressure on you to associate with Me in My Divinity any that you do not know (to be My associate), do not obey them. To Me is your return, and I shall let you know all that you have done. (29:9) As for those who believed and acted righteously, We shall certainly admit them among the righteous. (29:10) Among people there are some who say: ?We believe in Allah.? But when such a person is made to endure suffering in Allah's cause, he reckons the persecution he suffers at the hands of people as though it is a chastisement from Allah. But if victory comes from your Lord, the same person will say ?We were with you.? Does Allah not know whatever is in the hearts of the people of the world? (29:11) Allah will surely ascertain who are the believers and who are the hypocrites. (29:12) The unbelievers say to the believers: ?Follow our way and we will carry the burden of your sins.? (They say so even though) they are not going to carry any part of their sins. Surely they are lying. (29:13) They will certainly carry their own burdens and other burdens besides their own. They will assuredly be called to account on the Day of Resurrection concerning the fabrications which they contrived. (29:14) We did indeed send Noah to his people and he lived among them a thousand years save fifty. Eventually the Flood overtook them while they were engaged in wrongdoing. (29:15) Then We rescued Noah together with the people in the Ark and made it (that is, the Ark) a lesson for all people. (29:16) We sent Abraham and he said to his people: ?Serve Allah and fear Him.This is better for you if you only knew. (29:17) Those that you worship instead of Allah are merely idols, and you are simply inventing lies (about them). Indeed those whom you worship beside Allah have no power to provide you with any sustenance. So seek your sustenance from Allah and serve only Him and give thanks to Him alone. It is to Him that you will be sent back. (29:18) And if you give the lie (to the Messenger), then many nations before you also gave the lie (to their Messengers). The Messenger is charged with no other duty than to deliver the Message in clear terms.? (29:19) Have they never observed how Allah creates for the first time and then repeats it? Indeed (to repeat the creation of a thing) is even easier for Allah (than creating it for the first time). (29:20) Say: ?Go about the earth and see how He created for the first time, and then Allah will recreate life.? Surely, Allah has power over everything. (29:21) He chastises whom He will and forgives whom He will. To Him all of you will be sent back. (29:22) You cannot overpower Allah, neither on the earth nor in the heaven. None can protect you from Allah nor come to your aid against Him?.

(30:1) Alif. Lam. Mim. (30:2) The Romans have been defeated (30:3) in the neighbouring land; but after their defeat they shall gain victory in a few years. (30:4) All power belongs to Allah both before and after. On that day will the believers rejoice (30:5) at the victory granted by Allah. He grants victory to whomsoever He pleases. He is the Most Mighty, the Most Compassionate. (30:6) This is Allah's promise and He does not go back on His promise. But most people do not know. (30:7) People simply know the outward aspect of the worldly life but are utterly heedless of the Hereafter. (30:8) Do they not reflect on themselves? Allah created the heavens and the earth and whatever lies between them in Truth and for an appointed term. Yet many people deny that they will meet their Lord. (30:9) Have they not travelled through the earth that they may observe what was the end of their predecessors who were far mightier and tilled the land and built upon it more than these have ever built? And Allah's Messengers came to them with Clear Signs. It was not Allah Who wronged them, but it is they who wronged themselves. (30:10) Evil was the end of those evil-doers, for they gave the lie to Allah's Signs and scoffed at them. (30:11) Allah creates in the first instance and will later repeat it. Thereafter it is to Him that you shall be sent back. (30:12) On that Day when the Hour will come to pass, the criminals shall be dumbfounded. (30:13) None whom they had associated with Allah in His Divinity will intercede on their behalf; rather, they will disown those whom they had set up as Allah's associates in His Divinity. (30:14) On that Day when the Hour will come to pass, people will be split into groups. (30:15) Then those who believed and acted righteously will be placed in a Garden and will be happy and jubilant. (30:16) As for those who disbelieved and gave the lie to Our Signs and to the encounter of the Hereafter, they will be arraigned for chastisement. (30:17) So glorify Allah in the evening and the morning. (30:18) His is all praise in the heavens and in the earth; (and glorify Him) in the afternoon and when the sun begins to decline. (30:19) He brings forth the living from the dead and brings forth the dead from the living, and revives the earth after it is dead. Likewise will you be raised to life (after you die).

(30:20) And of His Signs is that He created you from dust and behold, you became human beings, and are multiplying around (the earth). (30:21) And of His Signs is that He has created mates for you from your own kind that you may find peace in them and He has set between you love and mercy. Surely there are Signs in this for those who reflect. (30:22) And of His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colours. Indeed there are Signs in this for the wise. (30:23) And of His Signs is your sleeping at night and your seeking His Bounty during the day. Indeed there are Signs in this for those who hearken. (30:24) And of His Signs is that He shows you lightning, arousing both fear and hope, and sends down water from the sky and revives the earth after it is dead. Indeed there are Signs in this for those who use their reason. (30:25) And of His Signs is that the sky and the earth stand firm by His command. Then no sooner than He summons you out of the earth you will come forth. (30:26) To Him belong all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth. All are in obedience to Him. (30:27) It is He Who creates in the first instance and it is He Who will repeat the creation, and that is easier for Him. His is the loftiest attribute in the heavens and the earth. He is the Most Mighty, the Most Wise....

(31:1) Alif. Lam. Mim. (31:2) These are the verses of the Wise Book, (31:3) a guidance and mercy for the doers of good, (31:4) who establish Prayer and pay Zakah, and have firm faith in the Hereafter. (31:5) It is they who are on true guidance from their Lord, and it is they who shall prosper. (31:6) There are some human beings who purchase an enchanting diversion in order to lead people away from the way of Allah without having any knowledge, who hold the call to the Way of Allah to ridicule. A humiliating chastisement awaits them. (31:7) When Our verses are recited to such a person, he arrogantly turns away, as though he had not heard them, or as though there was a deafness in his ears. So announce to him the tidings of a grievous chastisement. (31:8) Surely those who believe and do good deeds shall have Gardens of Bliss. (31:9) They shall abide in them forever. This is Allah's promise that shall come true. He is the Most Powerful, the Most Wise. (31:10) He created the heavens without any pillars visible to you and He placed mountains in the earth as pegs lest it should turn topsy turvy with you, and He dispersed all kinds of animals over the earth, and sent down water from the sky causing all kinds of excellent plants to grow on it. (31:11) Such is Allah's creation. Show me, then, what any others, apart from Allah, have created. Nay, the fact is that the wrong-doers are in manifest error. (31:12) We bestowed wisdom upon Luqman, (enjoining): ?Give thanks to Allah.? Whoso gives thanks to Allah, does so to his own good. And whoso disbelieves (let him know that) Allah is All-Sufficient, Immensely Praiseworthy. (31:13) And call to mind when Luqman said to his son while exhorting him: ?My son, do not associate others with Allah in His Divinity. Surely, associating others with Allah in His Divinity is a mighty wrong.? (31:14) We enjoined upon man to be dutiful to his parents. His mother bore him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning lasted two years. (We, therefore, enjoined upon him): ?Give thanks to Me and to your parents. To Me is your ultimate return. (31:15) But if they press you to associate others with Me in My Divinity, (to associate) those regarding whom you have no knowledge (that they are My associates), do not obey them. And yet treat them well in this world, and follow the way of him who turns to Me in devotion. Eventually it is to Me that all of you shall return, and I shall then tell you all that you did.? (31:16) (Luqman said): ?Son, Allah will bring forth everything even if it be as small as the grain of a mustard seed even though it be hidden inside a rock or (anywhere) in the heavens or earth. Allah is Most Subtle, All-Aware. (31:17) Son, establish Prayer, enjoin all that is good and forbid all that is evil, and endure with patience whatever affliction befalls you. Surely these have been emphatically enjoined. (31:18) Do not (contemptuously) turn your face away from people, nor tread haughtily upon earth. Allah does not love the arrogant and the vainglorious. (31:19) Be moderate in your stride and lower your voice. Verily the most disgusting of all voices is the braying of the donkey.??

(32:1) Alif. Lam. Mim. (32:2) This Book, beyond all doubt, was revealed by the Lord of the Universe. (32:3) Or do they say: ?He has fabricated it?? Nay, it is the Truth from your Lord so that you may warn a people to whom no warner came before you; perhaps they will be guided to the Right Way. (32:4) It is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between the two, in six days, and then He established Himself on the Throne. You have no guardian or intercessor other than He. Will you, then, not take heed? (32:5) He governs from the heaven to the earth and then the record (of this governance) goes up to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years in your reckoning. (32:6) He knows all that is beyond as well as all that is within a creature's sense-perception. He is the Most Mighty, the Most Compassionate, (32:7) He Who excelled in the creation of all that He created. He originated the creation of man from clay, (32:8) then made his progeny from the extract of a mean fluid, (32:9) then He duly proportioned him, and breathed into him of His spirit, and bestowed upon you ears and eyes and hearts. And yet, little thanks do you give. (32:10) They say: ?Shall we be created afresh after we have become lost in the earth?? Nay, the fact is that they deny that they will meet their Lord. (32:11) Tell them: ?The angel of death who has been charged with your souls shall gather you, and then you shall be brought back to your Lord.?(32:12) Would that you could see the guilty standing before their Lord with their heads downcast, (saying to Him): ?Our Lord, we have now seen and heard, so send us back (to the world) that we might act righteously. For now we have come to have firm faith.? (32:13) (They will be told): ?If We had so willed, We could have bestowed guidance on every person. But the Word from Me that I will fill Hell with men and jinn, all together, has been fulfilled. (32:14) So taste the chastisement on account of your forgetting the encounter of this Day. We, too, have forgotten you. Taste the eternal chastisement as a requital for your misdeeds.? (32:15) None believes in Our Signs except those who, when they are given good counsel through Our verses, fall down prostrate and celebrate the praise of their Lord and do not wax proud. (32:16) Their sides forsake their beds, and they call upon their Lord in fear and hope, and expend (in charity) out of the sustenance We have granted them. (32:17) No one knows what delights of the eyes are kept hidden for them as a reward for their deeds. (32:18) Would a true believer be like him who was an evil-doer? Surely they are not equal. (32:19) As for those who believe and act righteously, theirs shall be Gardens to dwell in, a hospitality to reward them for their deeds. (32:20) As for the evil-doers, their refuge shall be the Fire. Every time they want to escape from it they shall be driven back and shall be told: ?Taste the chastisement of the Fire which you used to reject as a lie.? (32:21) We shall certainly have them taste some chastisement in this world in addition to the greater chastisement (of the Hereafter); perhaps they will retract (from their transgression). (32:22) And who is more unjust than he who is given good counsel through the Signs of his Lord and yet he turns away from them? Surely We will exact full retribution from such criminals.....

(33:1) O Prophet, fear Allah and do not obey the unbelievers and the hypocrites. Verily Allah is All-Knowing, Most Wise. (33:2) Follow that which is revealed to you from your Lord. Verily Allah is fully aware of all that you do. (33:3) Put your trust in Allah: Allah is sufficient as Guardian. (33:4) Allah has never put two hearts within one person's body; nor has He made your wives, whom you compare to your mothers' backs (to divorce them), your true mothers; nor has He made those whom you adopt as sons your own sons. These are only words that you utter with your mouths. But Allah proclaims the Truth and directs you to the Right Path. (33:5) Call your adopted sons after their true fathers; that is more equitable in the sight of Allah. But if you do not know their true fathers, then regard them as your brethren in faith and as allies. You will not be taken to task for your mistaken utterances, but you will be taken to task for what you say deliberately. Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate. (33:6) Surely the Prophet has a greater claim over the believers than they have over each other, and his wives are their mothers. According to the Book of Allah, blood relatives have greater claim over each other than the rest of the believers and the Emigrants (in the cause of Allah), except that you may do some good to your allies (if you so wish). This is inscribed in the Book of Allah. (33:7) And call to mind, (O Prophet), when We took the covenant from all Prophets; and also from you and Noah and Abraham, Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary. We took from them a solemn covenant (33:8) so that (their Lord) may question the truthful about their truthfulness. As for the unbelievers, He has kept a painful chastisement in store for them. ....

(34:1) All praise be to Allah to Whom belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and all praise be to Him in the World to Come. He is Most Wise, All-Aware. (34:2) He knows what penetrates into the earth and what goes forth from it, what descends from the heaven and what ascends to it. He is the Most Merciful, the Most Forgiving. (34:3) The unbelievers say: ?How come the Hour is not coming upon us!? Say to them: ?Yes indeed, by my Lord, by Him Who fully knows the realm beyond the ken of perception, that the Hour shall inevitably come upon you.Nothing escapes Him, not even the smallest particle in the heavens or the earth; nor is anything smaller or bigger than that but is in a Manifest Book.? (34:4) (The Hour shall come) that He may reward those who believe and do righteous deeds. Theirs shall be forgiveness and a generous provision. (34:5) As for those who worked against Our Signs in order to frustrate them, they shall suffer a painful chastisement. (34:6) (O Prophet), those who have knowledge see clearly that what has been revealed to you from your Lord is the Truth and directs to the Way of the Most Mighty, the Immensely Praiseworthy Lord. (34:7) The unbelievers say: ?Shall we direct you to the man who tells you that when you have been utterly broken to pieces, you will be raised to life again? (34:8) Has he forged a lie against Allah, or is he afflicted with madness?? Nay, but those who do not believe in the Hereafter are doomed to be chastised and are far gone in error. (34:9) Do they not see how the heavens and the earth encompass them from the front and the rear? We could, if We so wished, cause the earth to swallow them or let fragments of the sky fall upon them. Verily there is a Sign in this for every servant (of Allah) who penitently turns to Him. (34:10) We bestowed Our favour upon David. (We commanded): ?O mountains, sing Allah's praises with him?; (and so did We command) the birds. We softened the iron for him, (saying): (34:11) ?Fashion coats of mail and measure their links with care and act righteously. I am watching over whatever you do.? ....

(35:1) All praise be to Allah, the Fashioner of the heavens and earth, Who appointed angels as His message bearers, having two, three, four wings. He adds to His creation whatever He pleases. Verily Allah has power over everything. (35:2) Whatever Mercy Allah accords to people, none can withhold; and whatever He withholds, no other will be able to release after Him. He is Most Mighty, Most Wise. (35:3) O people, remember Allah's favour upon you. Is there any creator, apart from Allah, who provides you your sustenance out of the heavens and earth? There is no god but He. Whither are you, then, being misdirected? (35:4) (O Prophet), (there is nothing novel in it) if they cry lies to you;Messengers before you were also cried lies to. To Allah shall all matters be sent back. (35:5) O people, assuredly Allah's promise is true. So let the life of the world not delude you, and let not the Deluder delude you concerning Allah. (35:6) Surely Satan is an enemy to you. Therefore, do take him as an enemy. He calls his followers to his way so that they may be among the inmates of the Fire. (35:7) A severe chastisement lies in store for those that disbelieve, but there is pardon and a great reward for those that believe and work righteous deeds. (35:8) (How awful is the straying of the person) for whom his evil deed has been embellished so that it looks fair to him? The fact is that Allah causes whomsoever He will to fall into error and shows the Right Way to whomsoever He will. So, (O Prophet), let not your life go to waste sorrowing over them. Allah is well aware of all that they do. (35:9) It is Allah Who sends forth winds which then set the clouds in motion, which We drive to some dead land giving a fresh life to earth after it had become dead. Such will be the resurrection of the dead. (35:10) He who seeks glory, let him know that all glory belongs to Allah alone. To Him do good words go up, and righteous action uplifts them. But those who contrive evil deeds, a severe punishment lies in store for them, and their contriving will come to naught. (35:11) Allah created you from dust, then from a drop of sperm, then He made you into pairs. No female conceives, nor delivers (a child) except with His knowledge. None is given a long life nor is any diminished in his life but it is written in a Book. Surely that is quite easy for Allah. (35:12) The two masses of water are not alike. The one is sweet, sates thirst, and is pleasant to drink from, while the other is salt, bitter on the tongue. Yet from both you eat fresh meat, and extract from it ornaments that you wear; and you see ships cruising through it that you may seek of His Bounty and be thankful to Him. (35:13) He causes the night to phase into the day and the day into the night, and He has subjected the sun and the moon, each running its course to an appointed term. That is Allah, your Lord; to Him belongs the Kingdom; but those whom you call upon, apart from Allah, possess not so much as the skin of a date-stone. (35:14) If you call upon them, they cannot hear your prayer. And if they hear it, they cannot answer it. On the Day of Resurrection they will disown you for associating others with Allah in His Divinity. No one can inform you of the truth save the All-Aware....

(36:1) Ya'. Sin. (36:2) By the Wise Qur'an, (36:3) you are truly among the Messengers, (36:4) on a Straight Way, (36:5) (and this Qur'an) is a revelation from the Most Mighty, the Most Compassionate (36:6) so that you may warn a people whose ancestors were not warned before wherefore they are heedless. (36:7) Surely most of them merit the decree of chastisement; so they do not believe. (36:8) We have put fetters around their necks which reach up to their chins so that they are standing with their heads upright, (36:9) and We have put a barrier before them and a barrier behind them, and have covered them up, so they are unable to see. (36:10) It is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them for they shall not believe. (36:11) You can warn only him who follows the Admonition and fears the Merciful Lord without seeing Him. Give such a one good tidings of forgiveness and a generous reward. (36:12) We shall surely raise the dead to life and We record what they did and the traces of their deeds that they have left behind. We have encompassed that in a Clear Book. (36:13) Recite to them, as a case in point, the story of the people of the town when the Messengers came to them. (36:14) We sent to them two Messengers and they rejected both of them as liars. Then We strengthened them with a third (Messenger). (36:15) They said: ?We have been sent to you as Messengers.? The people of the town said: ?You are only human beings like ourselves, and the Merciful Lord has revealed nothing. You are simply lying.? (36:16) The Messengers said: ?Our Lord knows that we have indeed been sent to you (36:17) and our duty is no more than to clearly convey the Message.? (36:18) The people of the town said: ?We believe you are an evil omen for us. If you do not desist, we will stone you or you will receive a grievous chastisement from us.? (36:19) The Messengers replied: ?Your evil omen is with you. (Are you saying this) because you were asked to take heed? The truth is that you are a people who have exceeded all bounds.? (36:20) In the meantime a man came running from the far end of the town, saying: ?My people, follow the Messengers; (36:21) follow those who do not ask any recompense from you and are rightly-guided. (36:22) Why should I not serve the One Who created me and to Whom all of you shall be sent back? (36:23) What! Shall I take any deities apart from Him whose intercession will not avail me the least were the Merciful One to bring any adversity upon me, nor will they be able to rescue me? (36:24) Surely in that case I should indeed be in evident error. (36:25) I believe in your Lord; so listen to me.? (36:26) (Eventually they killed him and he was told): ?Enter Paradise.? The man exclaimed: ?Would that my people knew (36:27) for what reason Allah has forgiven me and placed me among the honoured ones.?....

(37:1) By those who range themselves in rows; (37:2) by those who reprove severely, (37:3) and those who recite the Exhortation; (37:4) surely your God is One, (37:5) the Lord of the heavens and the earth and of whatever lies between the two, the Lord of the Easts. (37:6) We have adorned the lower heaven with the adornment of the stars (37:7) and have protected it from every rebellious satan. (37:8) These satans cannot listen to what transpires in the High Council for they are pelted away from every side (37:9) and are repelled. Theirs is an unceasing chastisement. (37:10) And if any is able to snatch a fragment, he is pursued by a piercing flame. (37:11) So ask them (that is, human beings): ?Were they harder to create than the objects We created?? We created them from sticky clay. (37:12) You marvel (at the wondrous creations of Allah) and they scoff at it, (37:13) and when they are admonished, they pay no heed; (37:14) and if they see any Sign, they laugh it away (37:15) and say: ?This is nothing but plain sorcery. (37:16) Is it ever possible that after we die and are reduced to dust and (a skeleton of) bones, we will be raised to life? (37:17) And so also shall our forefathers of yore be raised to life?? (37:18) Tell them: ?Yes; and you are utterly helpless (against Allah).? (37:19) There will be a single stern rebuff and lo, they will be observing with their own eyes (all that they had been warned against). (37:20) They will then say: ?Woe for us. This is the Day of Judgement.? (37:21) ?Yes, this is the Day of Final Decision that you used to deny as a lie.? ,,..........

(38:1) Sad, and by the Qur'an full of exhortation! (38:2) Nay, but the unbelievers are steeped in arrogance and stubborn defiance. (38:3) How many a nation did We destroy before them! (When they approached their doom) they cried out (for deliverance), but the time for deliverance was already past. (38:4) They wondered that a warner had come to them from among themselves,and the deniers of the Truth said: ?This is a sorcerer, and a big liar. (38:5) Has he made the gods one single God? This is truly astounding.? (38:6) And the elders among them went forth saying: ?Go ahead and be steadfast in adhering to your deities. What is being said is with a design.? (38:7) We have not heard this in the religious community close to our time. This is nothing but a fabrication. (38:8) Has this Exhortation been sent down among us only to him, to the exclusion of all others?? Nay, they are in doubt regarding My Exhortation, and are saying all this because they have not yet had any taste of My chastisement. (38:9) Do they possess the treasures of your Lord, the Most Mighty, the Great Bestower? (38:10) Or do they possess the dominion of the heavens and the earth and of all that is in between them? If so, let them ascend the heights of the realm of causation and see! (38:11) This is only a small army out of the several armies that will suffer defeat here. (38:12) Before them the people of Noah, Ad, and Pharaoh of the tent-pegs gave the lie (to the Messengers) (38:13) and so did Thamud and the people of Lot and the people of Aykah. These were all leagued together. (38:14) Each of them gave the lie to Messengers and My decree of chastisement came upon them. (38:15) They are waiting for nothing except a single Cry, after which there will be no second Cry. (38:16) They say: ?Our Lord, hasten to us our share (of chastisement) before the Day of Reckoning.? (38:17) (O Prophet), bear with patience what they say, and call to mind Our servant David, who was endowed with great strength and who constantly turned (to Allah). (38:18) With him We had subjected the mountains that they join him in celebrating Allah's glory, evening and morning, (38:19) and the birds, too, in their flocks, and turn again and again to celebrating Allah's glory. (38:20) And We strengthened his kingdom and endowed him with wisdom and decisive judgement. (38:21) Has the story of the litigants reached you of those who entered his private chambers by climbing over the wall? (38:22) As they came upon David and he was frightened of them they said: ?Be not afraid. We are just two litigants: one of us has committed excess against the other. So judge rightly between us, and be not unjust; and guide us to the Right Way. (38:23) Behold, this is my brother; he has ninety-nine ewes and I have only one ewe.? And yet he said: ?Give her into my charge,? and he got the better of me in argument. (38:24) David said: ?He has certainly wronged you in seeking to add your ewe to his ewes; and indeed many who live together commit excesses, one to the other, except those that believe and act righteously; and they are but few.? (While so saying) David realized that it is We Who have put him to test; therefore, he sought the forgiveness of his Lord, and fell down, bowing and penitently turning (to Him). (38:25) Thereupon We forgave him his shortcoming and indeed (an exalted position of) nearness awaits him, and an excellent resort. (38:26) (We said to him): ?O David, We have appointed you vicegerent on earth. Therefore, rule among people with justice and do not follow (your) desire lest it should lead you astray from Allah's Path. Allah's severe chastisement awaits those who stray away from Allah's Path, for they had forgotten the Day of Reckoning....

(39:1) The revelation of this Book is from Allah, the Most Mighty, the Most Wise. (39:2) (O Prophet), it is We Who have revealed this Book to you with Truth. So serve only Allah, consecrating your devotion to Him. (39:3) Lo, religion is exclusively devoted to Allah. Your religion is entirely consecrated to Him. As for those who have taken others than Allah for their guardians, (they say): ?We worship them only that they may bring us nearer to Allah.? Allah will judge between them concerning what they differ about. Verily Allah does not guide anyone who is given to sheer lying, is an utter unbeliever. (39:4) If Allah had wanted to take to Himself a son, He could have chosen anyone He wanted out of those whom He creates. Glory be to Him (that He should have a son). He is Allah: the One, the Overpowering. (39:5) He created the heavens and the earth with Truth, and He folds up the day over the night and folds up the night over the day. He has subjected the sun and the moon, each is running its course until an appointed time. Lo, He is the Most Mighty, the Most Forgiving. (39:6) He it is Who created you from a single being, and He it is Who made from it its mate. He it is Who created for you eight heads of cattle in pairs. He creates you in your mothers' wombs, giving you one form after another in threefold depths of darkness. That, then, is Allah, your Lord. His is the kingdom. There is no god but He. So, whence are you being turned astray? (39:7) If you disbelieve, know well that Allah has no need of you. Yet He does not like unbelief in His servants. But if you are thankful, your thankfulness will please Him. No one shall bear another's burden. You are destined to return to your Lord and He will tell you what you used to do. He is well aware even of what lies hidden in your breasts. (39:8) When any affliction befalls man, he cries out to his Lord, penitently turning to Him. But when his Lord bestows His favour upon him, he forgets the affliction regarding which he had cried out and sets up compeers to Allah that they may lead others astray from His Path. Say, (O Prophet): ?Enjoy your unbelief for a while. Surely you will be among the inmates of the Fire.? (39:9) Is such a person (preferable or he) who is obedient, and prostrates himself in the watches of the night, stands (in Prayer), is fearful of the Hereafter, and looks forward to the mercy of His Lord? Ask them: ?Are those who know equal to those who do not know?? Only those endowed with understanding take heed............

(40:1) Ha'. Mim. (40:2) This Book is a revelation from Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing; (40:3) the Forgiver of sins, the Accepter of repentance, the Stern in retribution, the Bountiful. There is no god but He. To Him are all destined to return. (40:4) None but the unbelievers dispute regarding the Signs of Allah. So let not their strutting about in the land delude you. (40:5) Before them the people of Noah also gave the lie (to Messengers), and so did many parties after them. Each nation sallied forth against its Messenger to seize him, and they disputed with false arguments seeking therewith to repudiate the Truth. Then I seized them; and behold, how woeful was My retribution! (40:6) Thus has the decree of your Lord become due against the unbelievers. They are destined for the Fire. (40:7) The angels that bear the Throne and those that are around to extol your Lord's glory with His praise, they believe in Him, and ask forgiveness for the believers,saying: ?Our Lord! You encompass everything with Your Mercy and Knowledge. So forgive those that repent and follow Your Path, and guard them against the chastisement of Hell. (40:8) Our Lord, admit them to the everlasting Gardens You have promised them and those of their fathers and spouses and progeny that were righteous. Surely You alone are Most Mighty, Most Wise; (40:9) and guard them against all ills. He whom You guard against ills on that Day, to him You have surely been Most Merciful. That is the great triumph.? (40:10) It will be announced to the unbelievers (on the Day of Resurrection): ?Surely Allah's abhorrence of you when you were called to believe but you disbelieved was greater than is your abhorrence of yourselves today.? (40:11) They will say: ?Our Lord, twice have You caused us to die and twice have You given us life. We have now confessed our sins. Is there, then, any way out?? (40:12) (They will be told): ?(The cause of your present state is that) when Allah alone was invoked, you disbelieved; and when others instead of Him were invoked, you believed. Today all judgement lies with Allah, the Most High, the All-Great.? (40:13) He it is Who shows you His Signs and sends down provision for you from the sky. Yet none takes heed except he who constantly turns to Allah. (40:14) So call upon Allah, consecrating all your devotion to Him, howsoever much the unbelievers may dislike it. (40:15) Exalted in Rank, Lord of the Throne: He causes the spirit to descend on whomsoever of His servants He pleases so as to warn them of the Day of Encounter; (40:16) the Day when they will emerge and nothing of them shall be hidden from Allah. (On that Day they will be asked): ?Whose is the kingdom today?? (The whole world will cry out): ?It is Allah's, the One, the Overpowering.? (40:17) (It will then be said): ?Today shall everyone be fully recompensed for his deeds. None shall be wronged today. Surely Allah is Swift in Reckoning.? (40:18) (O Prophet), then warn them of the Day that has drawn near, the Day when hearts full of suppressed grief will leap up to the throats and the wrong-doers shall neither have any sincere friend nor intercessor whose word will be heeded. (40:19) He knows even the most stealthy glance of the eyes and all the secrets that hearts conceal. (40:20) Allah will judge with justice, whereas those whom they call upon beside Him cannot judge at all. Surely Allah and He alone is All- Hearing, All-Seeing....

(41:1) Ha'. Mim. (41:2) This is a revelation from the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, (41:3) a Book whose verses have been well-expounded; an Arabic Qur'an for those who have knowledge, (41:4) one bearing good news and warning. Yet most of them turned away and are not wont to give heed. (41:5) They say: ?Our hearts are securely wrapped up against what you call us to, and in our ears is a heaviness, and between you and us there is a veil. So act; we too are acting.? (41:6) Tell them, (O Prophet): ?I am only a human being like you. It is revealed to me that your God is One God; so direct yourselves straight to Him, and seek His forgiveness. Woe to those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity, (41:7) who do not pay Zakah, and who deny the Hereafter. (41:8) As to those who have faith and do good works, surely theirs shall be a never-ending reward.

(41:9) Tell them, (O Prophet): ?Do you indeed disbelieve in Him and assign compeers to Him Who created the earth in two days? He is the Lord of all beings of the Universe. (41:10) (After creating the earth) He set up firm mountains on it, blessed it, and provided it with sustenance in proportion to the needs of all who seek (sustenance). All this was done in four days. (41:11) Then He turned to the heaven while it was all smoke. He said to the heaven and the earth: ?Come (into being), willingly or unwillingly.? They said: ?Here we come (into being) in willing obeisance.? (41:12) Then He made them seven heavens in two days and revealed to each heaven its law. And We adorned the lower heaven with lamps, and firmly secured it. All this is the firm plan of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing. (41:13) But if they turn away, tell them: ?I warn you against a sudden scourge like that which struck Ad and Thamud.? (41:14) When the Messengers (of Allah) came to them from the front and from the rear, saying: ?Do not serve any but Allah?; they said: ?Had our Lord so willed, He would have sent down angels. So we deny the Message you have brought.? (41:15) As for Ad, they waxed proud in the land without justification and said: ?Who is greater than we in strength?? Did they not see that Allah, Who created them, is greater in strength than they? They continued to deny Our Signs, (41:16) whereupon We sent upon them a fierce wind on inauspicious days that We might make them taste a degrading chastisement in the life of this world. And surely the chastisement of the Hereafter is even more degrading. There will be none to help them there. (41:17) As for Thamud, We bestowed guidance upon them, but they preferred to remain blind rather than be guided. At last a humiliating scourge overtook them on account of their misdeeds. (41:18) Yet We delivered those who believed and were God-fearing. (41:19) Imagine the Day when Allah's enemies will be mustered to the Fire, and the people of the former times will be detained until the arrival of people of the later times, (41:20) and when all have arrived, their ears, their eyes, and their skins shall bear witness against them, stating all that they had done in the life of the world....

(42:1) Ha'. Mim. (42:2) Ayn. Sin. Qaf. (42:3) Thus does Allah, the Most Mighty, the Most Wise reveal to you even as (He revealed) to those (Messengers) who preceded you. (42:4) His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth; He is the Most High, the All-Great. (42:5) The heavens may well nigh rend asunder from above while the angels proclaim the praise of their Lord and ask forgiveness for those on earth. Lo, it is Allah, and He alone, Who is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. (42:6) Those who have taken others than Him as their protectors beside Him, it is Allah Who oversees them; you are no guardian over them. (42:7) And thus did We reveal this Arabic Qur'an to you that you may warn the people of the Mother of Cities (to wit, Makkah) and those who dwell around it; and warn them of the Day of Gathering concerning which there is no doubt: whereon some will be in Paradise, and some in the Blazing Fire. (42:8) If Allah had so willed, He could have made them all a single community. But He admits whomsoever He pleases into His Mercy. As to those given to wrong-doing, they shall have none as protector or helper. (42:9) (Are they so foolish that) they have chosen others rather than Allah as their protectors? Yet it is Allah Who is the Protector and Who resurrects the dead and Who has power over everything. (42:10) The judgement on whatever you differ rests with Allah. Such is Allah, my Lord; in Him I have put all my trust and to Him I always turn in devotion. (42:11) The Originator of the heavens and the earth, He has appointed for you pairs of your own kind, and pairs also of cattle. Thus does He multiply you. Naught in the universe is like Him. He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (42:12) His are the keys of the heavens and the earth. He enlarges and straitens the sustenance of whomsoever He pleases. Surely He has knowledge of everything. (42:13) He has prescribed for you the religion which He enjoined upon Noah and which We revealed to you (O Muhammad), and which We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus, commanding: ?Establish this religion and do not split up regarding it.? What you are calling to is very hard upon those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity. Allah chooses for Himself whomsoever He pleases and guides to Himself whoever penitently turns to Him. (42:14) They did not split up except after knowledge had come to them, and then only because they wished to commit excesses against each other. Had your Lord not already decreed that judgement would be made later at an appointed time, the matter between them would surely have been decided once and for all. Indeed those who were later made the heirs of the Book are in disquieting doubt about it. (42:15) (This being so, O Muhammad), call people to the same religion and be steadfast about it as you were commanded, and do not follow their desires, and say (to them): ?I believe in the Book Allah has sent down. I have been commanded to establish justice among you. Allah is our Lord and your Lord. We have our deeds and you have your deeds. There is no contention between us and you. Allah will bring us all together. To Him all are destined to return.? (42:16) Those who contend concerning Allah (after His call has been responded to), their contention is absolutely void in the sight of their Lord. Allah's wrath is upon them and a grievous chastisement awaits them. (42:17) Allah it is Who sent down this Book with the Truth and the Balance. And what would make you know that the Hour (of Judgement) has drawn near? (42:18) Those who do not believe in it seek to hasten its coming. But those who believe (in it) hold it in dread and know that the Hour (of Judgement) is bound to come. Lo, those who dispute concerning the coming of the Hour are gone far in error. (42:19) Allah is Most Gentle to His servants and grants sustenance to whomsoever He pleases. He is All-Strong, Most Mighty....

(43:1) Ha'. Mim. (43:2) By the Clear Book; (43:3) verily We have made it an Arabic Qur'an that you may understand. (43:4) Indeed it is transcribed in the Original Book with Us; sublime and full of wisdom. (43:5) Should We divert this Good Counsel from you because you are a people immersed in extravagance? (43:6) How many a Prophet did We send to the earlier peoples! (43:7) Yet never did a Prophet come to them but they mocked him. (43:8) We utterly destroyed them although they were greater in might than these. The examples of ancient peoples have gone before. (43:9) Yet if you were to ask them: ?Who created the heavens and the earth?? they will certainly say: ?The All-Mighty, the All-Knowing has created them.? (43:10) He it is Who made this earth for you a cradle and made in it pathways for you that you may find the way to your destination; (43:11) He Who sent down water from the sky in a determined measure, and thereby We revived a dead land: likewise will you be raised up (from the earth) (43:12) He Who created these pairs, all of them, and provided you ships and cattle on which you ride, (43:13) so that when you are mounted upon them you may remember the bounty of your Lord, and say: ?Glory be to Him Who has subjected this to Us whereas we did not have the strength to subdue it. (43:14) It is to our Lord that we shall eventually return.? (43:15) Yet they have made some of His servants a part of Him. Indeed man is most evidently thankless. (43:16) Has Allah taken for Himself daughters out of those whom He creates and has chosen you to have sons? (43:17) (They believe so although when) any of them is given tidings of the birth of a female child the like of which he assigns to the Merciful One, his countenance darkens and he is choked with grief. (43:18) Do they assign to Allah one who grows up amidst ornaments and is not well-versed in the art of disputation? (43:19) They claim that angels, who are Allah's chosen servants, are females. Did they witness how their body is constituted? Their testimony shall be written and they shall be called to account. (43:20) They say: ?Had the Merciful One so willed, we would never have worshipped these deities.? But they have no knowledge of the matter and are simply conjecturing. (43:21) Or did We bestow upon them a Book before on whose authority they are holding on (to angel-worship)? (43:22) Nay; they simply claim: ?We found our forefathers on a way, and we continue to find guidance in their footsteps.? (43:23) And thus it is: whenever We sent any warner to a city its affluent ones said: ?We found our forefathers on a way and we continue to follow in their footsteps.? (43:24) Each Prophet asked them: ?Will you do so even if we were to show you a way better than the way of your forefathers?? They answered: ?We disbelieve in the religion with which you have been sent.? (43:25) Then We exacted retribution from them. So do consider the end of those who gave the lie (to the Prophets).....

(44:1) Ha'. Mim. (44:2) By the Clear Book. (44:3) We revealed it on a Blessed Night, for We were intent on warning; (44:4) (We revealed it on the Night) wherein every matter is wisely determined (44:5) by Our command. Verily, We were set to send a Messenger (44:6) as a Mercy from your Lord. Surely He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing, (44:7) the Lord of the heavens and the earth and of all that is between them: if you would only have sure faith. (44:8) There is no god but He: He gives life and causes death. He is your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers of yore. (44:9) (But the fact is, they lack certainty) and frolic about in doubt. (44:10) So watch for the Day when the sky will come down with a pall of smoke, (44:11) enveloping people. That will be a grievous scourge. (44:12) (People will then say): ?Our Lord, remove this scourge from us; we shall believe.? (44:13) But how will they take heed? Such are they that a Messenger came to them clearly expounding the Truth, (44:14) yet they turned away from him and said: ?This is a well-tutored madman.? (44:15) Yet We will hold the scourge back for a while, (but no sooner than We will do so) you will revert to your old ways. (44:16) The Day when We shall seize them with a mighty seizing, that will be the Day on which We shall inflict upon you full retribution. (44:17) Indeed before that We subjected the Pharaonites to the same test. A noble Messenger came to them (44:18) (and said): ?Deliver to me Allah's servants. I am a trustworthy Messenger to you, (44:19) and do not exalt yourselves in defiance of Allah. I have come to you with a clear authority (as a Messenger). (44:20) I have taken refuge with my Lord and your Lord lest you should attack me with stones. (44:21) But if you do not believe what I say, leave me alone (and desist from laying hands on me).? (44:22) Then he called upon his Lord: ?These are a criminal people.? (44:23) (He was told): ?Set out with My servants by night for you will certainly be pursued. (44:24) And leave the sea behind you as calm as ever. Surely they are an army that is doomed to be drowned.? (44:25) How many gardens did they leave behind, and how many fountains (44:26) and sown fields and splendid mansions, (44:27) and the life of ease in which they took delight! (44:28) Thus it was; and We made another people inherit all that. (44:29) Then neither the sky shed tears over them nor the earth. They were granted no respite.

(45:1) Ha'. Mim. (45:2) This Book is a revelation from the Most Mighty, the Most Wise. (45:3) Behold, for those who believe there are (myriad) Signs in the heavens and the earth (45:4) and in your own creation; and in the animals which He spreads out over the earth too there are Signs for those endowed with sure faith; (45:5) and in the succession of night and day, and in the provision that Allah sends down from the sky wherewith He gives life to the earth after it had been lifeless, and in the change of the winds: (in all these) there are Signs for people who use reason. (45:6) These are Allah's Signs that We rehearse to you in Truth. In what kind of discourse after Allah and His Signs will they, then, believe? (45:7) Woe to every guilty impostor (45:8) who hears Allah's Signs being rehearsed to him, and yet persists in his pride, as though he had not heard it. Announce to him, then, the tidings of a grievous chastisement. (45:9) Whenever he comes to know anything of Our Signs, he makes them an object of jest. For such there awaits a humiliating chastisement. (45:10) Hell is behind them. Their worldly earnings shall not avail them, nor those whom they took as protectors instead of Allah. An awesome chastisement lies in store for them. (45:11) This (Qur'an) is the true guidance. Those who deny the Signs of their Lord shall suffer the torment of a woeful scourge. (45:12) Allah it is Who has subjected the sea to you so that ships may sail upon it at His bidding and you may seek of His Bounty and give thanks to Him. (45:13) He has subjected to you all that is in the heavens and the earth, all being from Him. Verily there are Signs in this for those who reflect. (45:14) (O Prophet), tell the believers to indulge those who have no fear of any evil days coming upon them from Allah so that Allah may Himself requite them for their deeds. (45:15) Whoever acts righteously, does so to his own good; and whoever commits an evil will suffer its consequence. All of you will then be sent back to your Lord. (45:16) Indeed We endowed the Children of Israel with the Book and Wisdom and Prophethood, and provided them with good things as sustenance, and exalted them above the peoples of the whole world. (45:17) We gave them clear directions in matters pertaining to religion. Yet they differed among themselves (not out of ignorance but) after knowledge had come to them; and they did so out of the desire to commit excesses against one another. On the Day of Resurrection Allah will judge among them regarding what they had differed. (45:18) And then We set you, (O Prophet), on a clear high road in religious matters. So follow that and do not follow the desires of those who do not know. (45:19) Surely they will be of no avail to you against Allah. Indeed the wrong-doers are friends of each other, whereas Allah is the friend of the God-fearing. (45:20) These are the lights of discernment for people and guidance and mercy for those endowed with sure faith. (45:21) Do the evil-doers imagine that We shall make them equal to those who believe and do good, making their lives and deaths alike? How vile is their judgement! (45:22) Allah created the heavens and the earth in Truth that each person may be requited for his deeds. They shall not be wronged. (45:23) Did you ever consider the case of him who took his desire as his god, and then Allah caused him to go astray despite knowledge, and sealed his hearing and his heart, and cast a veil over his sight? Who, after Allah, can direct him to the Right Way? Will you not take heed?...

(46:1) Ha'. Mim. (46:2) The revelation of this Book is from Allah, the Most Mighty, the Most Wise. (46:3) We have created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in Truth and for an appointed term. But those who disbelieve have turned away from what they were warned against. (46:4) Tell them, (O Prophet): ?Did you consider those whom you call upon beside Allah? Show me, which part of the earth they created? Or do they have any share in creating the heavens? Bring to me any Scripture earlier than this one, or any vestige of knowledge (in support of your belief) if you are truthful. (46:5) Who is farther strayed from the Right Path than he who calls upon others than Allah that cannot answer his call till the Day of Resurrection, the while they are not even conscious that callers are calling upon them? (46:6) When all human beings will be gathered together those who had been called upon will become the enemies to their votaries and will disown their worship. (46:7) When Our Clear Messages are rehearsed to them, the unbelievers exclaim about the Truth when it came to them: ?This is plain sorcery.? (46:8) Do they claim that the Messenger himself has fabricated it? (If so), tell them: ?If I have fabricated it, then you have no power to protect me from Allah's chastisement. He knows well the idle talk in which you indulge. He suffices as a witness between me and you. He is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.? (46:9) Tell them: ?I am not the first of the Messengers; and I do not know what shall be done with me or with you. I follow only what is revealed to me, and I am nothing but a plain warner.? (46:10) Tell them, (O Prophet): ?Did you consider (what would be your end) if this Qur'an were indeed from Allah and yet you rejected it? And this even though a witness from the Children of Israel has testified to the like of it. But he believed, while you waxed arrogant. Verily Allah does not guide such wrong-doers to the Right Way. .....

(47:1) Allah has caused the works of those who disbelieve and hinder people from the way of Allah to go to waste. (47:2) As for those who attained to faith and did righteous works and believed in what was revealed to Muhammad which indeed is the Truth from their Lord Allah has remitted their evil deeds and has set their condition right. (47:3) That is because those who disbelieved followed falsehood whereas those who believed followed the Truth that came to them from their Lord. Thus does Allah set forth to people parables showing their true state. (47:4) When you meet the unbelievers (in battle), smite their necks until you have crushed them, then bind your captives firmly; thereafter (you are entitled to) set them free, either by an act of grace, or against ransom, until the war ends. That is for you to do. If Allah had so willed, He would have Himself exacted retribution from them. (But He did not do so) that He may test some of you by means of others. As for those who are slain in the way of Allah, He shall never let their works go to waste. (47:5) He will guide them and set their condition right (47:6) and will admit them to Paradise with which He has acquainted them. (47:7) Believers, if you aid Allah, He will come to your aid and will plant your feet firmly. (47:8) As to those who disbelieve, perdition lies in store for them and Allah has reduced their works to nought. (47:9) That was because they were averse to what Allah had revealed; so He let their works go to waste. (47:10) Have they not journeyed through the land to see the end of those who went before them? Allah utterly destroyed them. These unbelievers are doomed to the same end. (47:11) That is because Allah is the Protector of the believers whereas the unbelievers have none to protect them. (47:12) Allah shall admit those who believe and do righteous works to the Gardens beneath which rivers flow. As for the unbelievers, they enjoy the pleasures of this transient life and eat as cattle eat. The Fire shall be their resort. (47:13) (O Prophet), how many are the cities that had greater power than your city that drove you out? We destroyed them and there was none to protect them. (47:14) Then, can he, who is on a Clear Guidance from His Lord, be like him whose evil deeds have been embellished to him, and who pursued their lusts? (47:15) Here is the parable of Paradise which the God-fearing have been promised: in it shall be rivers of incorruptible water, rivers of milk unchanging in taste,and rivers of wine, a delight to those that drink; and rivers of pure honey. In it they will have every kind of fruit as well as forgiveness from their Lord. Can such be like those who will abide in the Fire and will be given a boiling water to drink that will tear their bowels apart? (47:16) Among them some give ear to you. But no sooner do they leave your presence than they ask those endowed with knowledge: ?What is it that he said just now?? Such are those whose hearts Allah has sealed and who pursue their lusts. (47:17) As for those who were led to the Guidance, Allah increases them in their guidance and causes them to grow in God-fearing. (47:18) Are they waiting, then, for anything else than the Last Hour to suddenly come upon them? Already some of its tokens have come. But when it does actually come upon them, where will any time be left for them to take heed? (47:19) Know, therefore, (O Prophet), that there is no god but Allah, and ask forgiveness for your shortcomings and also for (the shortcomings of) believing men and believing women. Allah knows the places where you move about and where you dwell....

(48:1) (O Prophet), surely We have granted you a clear victory (48:2) so that Allah may forgive you your shortcomings, whether earlier or later, and may complete His favours upon you and guide you to the Straight Way, (48:3) and that Allah may bestow upon you a mighty help. (48:4) He it is Who bestowed inner peace on the hearts of the believers so that they may grow yet more firm in their faith. To Allah belong the legions of the heavens and the earth; Allah is All-Knowing, Most Wise. (48:5) (He did this) to admit the believers, both men and women, to Gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they shall abide, and to efface their evil deeds from them. That, in Allah's sight, is the supreme triumph. (48:6) (He also did this) to chastise the hypocrites, both men and women, and those who associate others in His Divinity, both men and women, and who harbour evil thoughts about Allah. They shall be afflicted with misfortune, Allah is wroth with them. He has laid His curse upon them and has prepared for them Hell. What an evil end! (48:7) To Allah belong the legions of the heavens and the earth. Allah is Most Mighty, Most Wise. (48:8) (O Prophet), We have sent you forth as a witness, as a bearer of good news, and as a warner (48:9) so that (all of) you may all believe in Allah and His Messenger, and support him, and revere him, and celebrate Allah's glory, morning and evening. (48:10) Those who swore fealty to you, (O Prophet), in fact swore fealty to Allah. The Hand of Allah is above their hands. So whoever breaks his covenant breaks it to his own hurt; and whoever fulfils the covenant that he made with Allah, He will bestow on him a great reward.(48:11) (O Prophet), the bedouins who were left behind say to you: ?We were occupied with our goods and families. So ask forgiveness for us.? They say with their tongues what is not in their hearts. Say to them: ?Who can be of any avail to you against Allah if He should intend to cause you any harm or confer upon you any benefit?? Allah is well aware of all that you do. (48:12) (But the truth is not what you say.) You had imagined that the Messenger and the believers would never return to their families, and this notion was embellished in your hearts. You harboured an evil thought, and you are an immensely evil people.? (48:13) As for those who do not believe in Allah and His Messenger, for such unbelievers We have prepared a Blazing Fire. (48:14) To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He forgives whom He pleases and chastises whom He pleases. He is Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate. (48:15) When you press forth for the spoils, those who were left behind will say: ?Let us accompany you.? They want to change the command of Allah. Say to them (in clear words): ?You shall not accompany us. Thus has Allah already said.? Then they will say: ?Nay; but you are jealous of us.? The truth is that they understand little. (48:16) Say to the bedouins who were left behind: ?You will be called against those who possess great might and be asked to fight against them unless they surrender. If you obey (the command to fight), Allah will bestow upon you a goodly reward. But if you turn away, as you turned away before, He shall inflict upon you a grievous chastisement.? (48:17) There is no blame on the blind, nor on the lame, nor on the sick (if they do not go forth to fight). Allah will admit those who obey Allah and His Messenger to the Gardens beneath which rivers flow and will inflict a grievous chastisement on those who turn away.....

(49:1) Believers, do not advance before Allah and His Messenger, and fear Allah. Verily Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (49:2) Believers, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet and when speaking to him do not speak aloud as you speak aloud to one another, lest all your deeds are reduced to nothing without your even realising it. (49:3) The ones who lower their voices in the presence of the Messenger of Allah are those whose hearts Allah has tested for God-fearing. Theirs shall be forgiveness and a great reward. (49:4) Surely most of those who call out to you, (O Prophet), from behind the apartments, are devoid of understanding. (49:5) If they were patient until you went out to them, that would have been better for them. Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. (49:6) Believers, when an ungodly person brings to you a piece of news, carefully ascertain its truth, lest you should hurt a people unwittingly and thereafter repent at what you did. (49:7) Know that Allah's Messenger is among you. Were he to follow you in many an affair, you yourselves would suffer. But Allah has endeared faith to you and has embellished it in your hearts, and has made unbelief and evil-doing and disobedience abhorrent to you. Such are those who are rightly guided, (49:8) by Allah's favour and bounty. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (49:9) If two parties of the believers happen to fight, make peace between them. But then, if one of them transgresses against the other, fight the one that transgresses until it reverts to Allah's command. And if it does revert, make peace between them with justice, and be equitable for Allah loves the equitable. (49:10) Surely the believers are none but brothers unto one another, so set things right between your brothers, and have fear of Allah that you may be shown mercy. (49:11) Believers, let not a group (of men) scoff at another group, it may well be that the latter (at whom they scoff) are better than they; nor let a group of women scoff at another group, it may well be that the latter are better than they. And do not taunt one another, nor revile one another by nicknames. It is an evil thing to gain notoriety for ungodliness after belief. Those who do not repent are indeed the wrong-doers. (49:12) Believers, avoid being excessively suspicious, for some suspicion is a sin. Do not spy, nor backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would surely detest it. Have fear of Allah. Surely Allah is much prone to accept repentance, is Most Compassionate. (49:13) Human beings, We created you all from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Verily the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-fearing of you. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (49:14) The Bedouins say: ?We believe.?(O Prophet), say to them: ?You do not believe; you should rather say: 'We have submitted'?; for belief has not yet entered your hearts. If you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not diminish anything from the reward of any of your deeds. Surely Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate. (49:15) Indeed the ones possessed of true faith are those who believed in Allah and His Messenger and then they did not entertain any doubt and strove hard in the Way of Allah with their lives and their possessions. These are the truthful ones. (49:16) Say, (O Prophet), (to these pretenders to faith): ?Are you apprising Allah of your faith? Allah knows all that is in the heavens and the earth. Allah has full knowledge of everything.? (49:17) They count it as a favour to you that they accepted Islam. Say: ?Do not regard your (accepting) Islam as a favour to me; rather, Allah has bestowed a favour on you by guiding you to faith, if you are truthful (in your claim to be believers). (49:18) Surely Allah knows every hidden thing of the heavens and the earth. Allah sees all that you do...

(50:1) Qaf. By the glorious Qur'an. (50:2) Nay; they wondered that a warner should have come to them from among themselves. The unbelievers said: ?This indeed is a strange thing. (50:3) What! When we are dead and reduced to mere dust, (shall we be raised to life)? Such a return is far-fetched.? (50:4) (Thus do they imagine, although) We know well what the earth takes away from them. With Us is a Record that preserves everything. (50:5) They gave the lie to the Truth when it came to them. So they are now in a state of great perplexity. (50:6) Did they never observe the sky above them: how We built it and beautified it; and it has no cracks; (50:7) and We have spread out the earth, and have set upon it firm mountains, and have caused it to bring out plants of all beauteous kinds? (50:8) All these are to serve as eye openers and as a lesson to every being who is prone to turn (to the Truth). (50:9) We also sent down blessed water from the heaven, wherewith We caused gardens and harvest-grain to grow, (50:10) and tall palm-trees with their thickly-clustered spathes; (50:11) all this as sustenance for Our servants. And thus We do bring the dead land back to life with water. Such shall be the coming forth (of human beings from the earth). (50:12) In the past Noah's people, and the people of Rass and Thamud gave the lie (to Messengers), (50:13) and so did 'Ad, and Pharaoh and Lot's brethren, (50:14) and the people of Aykah, and the people of Tubba'. They all gave the lie to the Messengers. Thereafter My threat of chastisement against them was fulfilled. (50:15) Did We, then, become worn out by the first creation? Not at all; but they are in doubt about a fresh creation. (50:16) Surely We have created man, and We know the promptings of his heart, and We are nearer to him than even his jugular vein. (50:17) Moreover, there are two scribes, one each sitting on the right and the left, recording everything. (50:18) He utters not a word, but there is a vigilant watcher at hand. (50:19) Lo, the agony of death has indeed come with the Truth. That is what you had sought to avoid. (50:20) And then the Trumpet was blown. This is the day of the promised chastisement. (50:21) Everyone has come, each attended by one who will drive him on, and another who will bear witness. (50:22) You were heedless of this. Now We have removed your veil and so your vision today is sharp. (50:23) His companion said:? Here is he who was in my charge.? (50:24) The command was given: ?Cast into Hell every hardened, stubborn unbeliever, (50:25) who hinders good, exceeds the limits, is immersed in doubts, (50:26) and has set up another deity with Allah. Hurl him into the grievous torment.? (50:27) His companion said:? I did not incite him to rebel; he was far gone into error of his own accord.? (50:28) (It was said): ?Do not remonstrate in My presence. I had warned you. (50:29) My Word is not changed; and never do I inflict the least wrong upon My servants.? ..............