1. Alif Lam Mim. Only Allah knows what these letters mean.

2. Allah. There is no god but Him, the Living, the Self-Sustaining.

3 . He has sent down to you, Muhammad, the Book (the Qur’an) with truth, which articulates the truth in its reports, confirming what was there of the Books before it. And He sent down the Torah and the Gospel, previously, before the Quran, as guidance away from misguidance for mankind who follow them, and He has sent down (“sent down” is repeated a third time because both the Torah and the Gospel were sent down each at one go, which was not the case with other Divine Revelations) the Discrimination (the Divine Books which distinguish the true from the false). It is mentioned after the three named Books in order to include others.

4. Those who reject Allah’s Signs (the Quran or any other Divine signs) will have a terrible punishment. Allah is Almighty in His command and nothing can prevent Allah carrying out His threat and promise, Exactor of Revenge. He possesses severe punishment, beyond anything anyone else is capable of, for all those who rebel against Him.

5. Allah is He from whom nothing is hidden, either in the earth or in heaven. He knows everything that occurs throughout all existence, both in general and in detail, but He mentions heaven and earth in particular because human perception does not extend beyond them.

6. It is He who forms you in the womb however He wills as male or female, white or black and all the other variations. There is no god but Him, the Almighty in His kingdom, the All-Wise in what He does.

7. It is He who sent down the Book to you from Him: ayats which are clearly explicit so that their judgements are clear – they are the Mother of the Book, the basis which is relied on when making judgement – and others are open to interpretation, those whose meanings are not immediately obvious, as is the case with the letters at the beginnings of suras. All are perfect in accordance with Allah’s words, “A Book whose verses are perfectly constructed” (11:1) meaning that there is no fault in them. They are open to interpretation according to His words, “a Book consistent” (39:23), meaning it resembles itself in respect of excellence and truthfulness. Those with deviation in their hearts who incline away from the Truth seek and follow what is open to interpretation in it, desiring conflict b y falling into doubtful and unclear things through their ignorance, and seeking its inner meaning. No one knows its inner meaning but Allah alone. Those firmly rooted in knowledge say, “We believe in it. We believe in all those unclear things whose meaning is only known by Allah and we do not know its meaning. All of it, the clearly explicit and that which is open to interpretation, is from our Lord.” But only people of intelligence pay heed. The next ayat gives the words of the intelligent when they see those who deviate in this way.

8. “Our Lord, do not make our hearts deviate and incline away from the truth by seeking an interpretation in a way which is not appropriate for us, as the hearts of those deviants do, after You have guided us to the truth. And give us mercy from you by making us firm. You are the Ever-Giving.

9. “Our Lord, You are the Gatherer of mankind to a Day about which there is no doubt, referring to the Day of Rising on which Allah will repay people for their actions as He has promised. In this ayat there is a change of case from the second to third person: Allah will not break His promise about the Resurrection.” These two ayats are a supplication which clarifies that the concern of these people is the Next World. That is why they ask to be made firm in respect of guidance so that they may obtain the reward based on what Muslim and al-Bukhari transmitted from ‘A’isha when she said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited the above verse and said, “When you see people who follow what is open to interpretation, know that those are the ones whom Allah has named, so beware of them.” At Tabarani related in al Kabir from Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I only fear three qualities for my community,” and one of them he mentioned was that the Book would be opened to them and believers would take it to seek its interpretation although its interpretation is only known by Allah and those firmly rooted in knowledge who say, “We believe in it. All of it is from our Lord. But only people of intelligence pay heed.”

10. As for those who disbelieve, their wealth and children will not help them or defend them against the punishment of Allah in any way. They are fuel for the Fire.

11. As was the case and custom with the people of Pharaoh and those before them such as those of ‘Ad and Thamud. They denied Our Signs so Allah seized them and destroyed them for their wrong actions. This sentence explains the one before it. Allah is Fierce in Retribution. This was revealed when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded the Jews to become Muslim after he returned from Badr. They said, “Do not be deluded by the fact that you killed a group of Quraysh who do not know how to fight.”

12. Say, Muhammad, to those of the Jews who disbelieve, “You will be overwhelmed (read as sa-tughlabuna “you will be overwhelmed” and in one reading sa-yughlabuna “ they will be overwhelmed”) in this world by being killed, being captured and paying jizya (which is what happened), and crowded in any case into Hell in the Next World and you will enter it. What an evil resting-place!”

13. There was a sign (lesson) for you (the verb “was” (kana) is used here to make a clear separation between this ayat and the preceding one) in the two parties which met together at the Battle of Badr, one party fighting in the Way of Allah (obeying Him), meaning the Prophet and his Companions – three hundred and thirteen men with two horses, six sets of armour, and eighty swords. Most were on foot, and the other unbelievers. They saw them (read as yarawnahum , “they saw them” and tarawnahum, “you saw them”) as twice their number with their own eyes, with clear sight. The unbelievers saw the Muslims as twice their number and they were about a thousand. Allah reinforces with His help whomever He wills. Allah helped them and Allah strengthens whomever He wishes. There is instruction in that which was mentioned for people of insight who reflect on it and have faith.

14. To mankind the love of worldly appetites (the things which the human self desires and calls for and which Allah makes attractive as an affliction or shaytan does so) is painted in glowing colours: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold and silver, and horses with fine markings, thoroughbred horses, and livestock, camels, cattle and sheep or goats, and fertile farmland. All that which has been mentioned is merely the enjoyment of the life of this world. These things are enjoyed in this world and then will vanish. The best destination is in the presence of Allah. The best destination refers to the Garden, and that is what should be desired.

15. Say, Muhammad, to your people, “Shall I tell you of something better than that (those appetites mentioned)?” It is a question which implies an affirmative answer. Those who are god-fearing and avoid shirk will have Gardens with their Lord, with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, forever, and when they enter them they will have purified wives, purified of menstruation and all other impurities, and the Pleasure (read as ridwan and rudwan, meaning great contentment) of Allah. Allah sees and knows His slaves, and will repay them all for their actions.

16. … those who say, “Our Lord, we believe and affirm Allah and His Messenger, so forgive us our wrong actions and safeguard us from the punishment of the Fire.”

17. The steadfast in obedience who avoid disobedience, the truthful in belief, the obedient to Allah, the givers who give sadaqa, and those who seek forgiveness of Allah before dawn, saying “O Allah, forgive us” at the end of the night which is the special time for dhikr because, for most people, it is a time of heedlessness and sleep.

18. Allah bears witness and makes it clear to His creation by evidence and signs that there is no god but Him, and nothing in existence can be truly worshipped but Him, as do the angels also bear witness by affirmation and the people of knowledge among the Prophets and the believers by belief and word, upholding justice by managing His creation in a just wa y. There is no god but Him, repeated for stress, the Almighty in His sovereignty, the All-Wise in what He does.

19. The only acceptable din in the sight of Allah is Islam, the Shari’ah brought by all the Messengers which is based on tawhid. Those given the Book (the Jews and Christians) only differed about the din, in that some of them declared Allah’s unity and some disbelieved, after knowledge of tawhid had come to them, envying one another. As for those who reject Allah’s Signs, Allah is Swift at Reckoning and in repaying people for what they have done.

20. If they (the unbelievers) argue regarding the din with you, Muhammad, say to them, “I have submitted my face completely to Allah and obey Him, as have all who follow me.” The word “face” is mentioned because it is the noblest part of the body and the rest follows it. Say to those given the Book (the Jews and Christians) and those who have no Book (the Arab idolaters), “Have you become Muslim?” If they become Muslim, they have been guided away from misguidance. If they turn away from Islam, you are only responsible for conveying the message. Allah sees His slaves and will repay people for their actions. This was before the command to fight came.

21. As for those who reject Allah’s Signs, and kill (or “fight” in one reading) the Prophets without any legal right, and kill those who command justice, give them good news of a painful punishment. Those referred to here are the Jews. It is reported that they killed forty-three Prophets; one hundred and seventy of their worshippers forbade them to do so, and they killed them on the same day. Allah mentions “good news” to mock them.

22. They are the ones whose actions come to nothing in this world and the Next World. Whatever good they have done, such as giving sadaqa and maintaining ties of kinship, is of no value. They will have no helpers to help them in the face of Allah’s punishment.

23. Do you not see those who have been given a portion of the Book (the Torah) being called upon to let Allah’s Book judge between them? But then a group of them turn away in aversion. They refuse to accept its rulings. Two of the Jews committed adultery and went for judgement to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he judged that they should be stoned. They refused to accept this and then the Torah was brought and the judgement was found in it and so they were stoned. This made the Jews angry.

24. That turning away is because they say, “The Fire will only touch us for a number of days.” They said that the Fire would only touch them for the number of days that their ancestors had worshipped the Calf, which was forty days. Their fabrications regarding this and other things have deluded them in their din.

25 But how will it be (what will their state be) when We gather them all together for a Day about which there is no doubt (the Day of Rising)? Every self (the People of the Book and others) will be paid in full for what it earned of actions, good or bad. They (people in general) will not be wronged by the slightest depreciation of a good action or exaggeration of an evil one.

26. This was revealed when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, promised his Community sovereignty over Persia and Byzantium and the hypocrites said, “How unlikely!” Say, “O Allah! Master of the Kingdom! You give sovereignty to whomever of your creatures You will. You take sovereignty from whomever You will. You exalt whomever You will. You abase whomever You will by taking sovereignty from him. All good and evil is in Your hands (subject to Your power). You have power over everything.

27. You merge the night into the day. You merge the day into the night by increasing or decreasing the one or the other. You bring out the living from the dead, as human beings come from drops of sperm or birds from eggs. You bring out the dead from the living such as the sperm and eggs from their living hosts. You provide for whom You will without any reckoning, meaning give them unlimited provision.”

28. The believers should not take unbelievers as friends and protectors rather than believers. Anyone who does that and befriends unbelievers has nothing whatsoever to do with the din of Allah –unless it is because you are afraid of them, unless it is dissimulation out of fear of them so that the befriending takes place with the tongue alone and not the heart. This was before Islam became mighty, when Islam had no power in the land. Allah advises and warns you to beware of Him and have fear of Him because He will become angry with you if you make friends with them. The final destination is to Allah and when you return to Him He will repay you for what you have done.

29. Say to them, “Whether you conceal what is in your hearts in your breasts of loyalty to them or make it known, Allah knows it. He knows everything in the heavens and everything in the earth. Allah has power over everything” and has the power to punish them for their attachment to unbelievers.

30. Remember the Day that each self finds the good it did and the evil it did present there in front of it, it will wish there were a great distance between it and them so that it would not reach him. Allah advises you to beware of Him. This is repeated here for added emphasis. Allah is All-Gentle with His slaves.

31. This was revealed when the idolaters said, “We only worship idols out of love of Allah so that they may bring us near to Him.” Say to them, O Muhammad, “If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you and reward you and forgive you for your wrong actions. Allah is Ever Forgiving, forgiving those who follow the Prophet for anything they did before that, Most Merciful.”

32. Say to them, “Obey Allah and the Messenger regarding the tawhid He commands you to implement.” Then if they turn away from obedience, Allah does not love (will punish) the unbelievers. The final sentence uses the noun “unbelievers” rather than the pro-noun “them” to make it absolutely clear what such people are.

33. Allah chose Adam and Nuh˛ and the family of Ibrahim and the family of ‘Imran over all other beings, placing Prophet Hood among their descendants –

34. … descendants one of the other. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

35. Remember when the wife of ‘Imran (Hanna) was old and wanted a child and prayed to Allah and, when she found that she was pregnant, said, “My Lord, I have pledged (consecrated) what is in my womb to You, devoting it completely to Your service, sincere and chaste, and free from the concerns of the world, to serve Your holy Temple. Please accept my prayer. You are the All-Hearing of people’s supplications, the All-Knowing of their intentions.” ‘Imran died during the period of her pregnancy.

36. When she gave birth to a girl while hoping for a boy since only boys could be consecrated in that way, she said to excuse herself, “My Lord! I have given birth to a girl” – and Allah knew very well what she had given birth to (read as wada‘at, “she had given birth to” and wada‘tu, “I have given birth to”), generally understood to be a Divine interpolation, for male which she had asked for is not like female which she was given. That is because she intended to devote her child to service which was not appropriate for a girl because females are weak and must be secluded and are subject to menstruation and the like. – “and I have named her Maryam and placed her and her children in Your safe keeping from the Accursed Shaytan.” It is related in ˛hadith that Shaytan pricks every child who is born on the day he is born and so it cries out – except for Maryam and her son. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

37. Her Lord accepted her with approval, Allah accepted Maryam from her mother, and made her grow in health and beauty. It is said that she grew in one day the amount a normal child grows in a year and her mother took her to the rabbis who were the temple custodians in Jerusalem and she said, “This vowed one is for you to care for,” and they argued about her because she was the daughter of their High Priest. Zakariyya said, “I am more entitled to be her guardian because I am married to her maternal aunt.” They said, “Not until we draw lots.” Twenty-nine of them would go to the river Jordan and throw their pens in and the one whose pen stayed put and rose to the surface would be entitled to care for her. It was the pen of Zakariyya which rose. So he took her and built a room for her in the temple with a stairway which only he used. He used to come and give her food and water and oil. He would find summer fruits with her in winter and winter fruits in summer. As Allah says, Zakariyya became her guardian (read askafalah or kaffalah) and she was entrusted to him. E very time Zakariyya visited her in the Upper Room (the noblest place in the temple) he found food with her. He said, “Maryam, how did you get this?” She, who was a child, said, “It is from Allah. He brought it to me from the Garden. Allah provides for whomever He wills without any reckoning, giving them unlimited provision without them doing anything to entitle them to it.”

38. When Zakariyya saw that, he realised that the One who has the power to bring fruit outside its time also had the power to give him a child in his old age. The people of his family had died out, so then and there Zakariyya called on his Lord when he entered the Upper Room to pray for a child in the night and said, “O Lord, grant me from Your favour an upright descendant. You are the Hearer of Prayer and answer it”

39. The angels (Jibril) called out to him while he was standing in prayer in the Upper Room in the temple: “Allah gives you the good news (read as yubashshika and yabshuruka) of Yahya , who will come to confirm a Word from Allah, Isa , who is the Spirit of Allah and is called a “Word” because he was created by the Divine Word “Be”, and will be a followed leader and a celibate, a Prophet and one of the righteous.” It is related that Yahya did not commit a wrong action nor was he ever suspected of doing so.

40. He said, “O Lord, how can I possibly have a son when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?” He was one hundred and twenty and his wife was ninety-eight. He said, “It (the command) will be so and Allah will create a son from the two of you. Allah does whatever He wills.” Nothing is beyond His power. It was the demonstration of this immense power which inspired his request so that it could be answered. When his soul yearned for swift good news, he said what is reported in the next ayat.

41. He said, “My Lord, appoint a Sign of my wife’s pregnancy for me.” He said, “Your Sign of it is that you will not speak to people for three days and nights, except by gesture. He was prevented from speaking to them, but not from invoking Allah. Remember your Lord frequently and glorify Him (pray to Him) in the evening and the early morning (at the beginning and end of the day).”

42. Remember when the angels (Jibril) said, “Maryam, Allah has chosen you and purified you of the touch of men and has chosen you over all other women of your time.

43. Maryam, obey your Lord and prostrate and bow with those who bow (pray with those who pray).”

44. This (what We have mentioned about Zakariyya and Maryam) is news from the Unseen, o f things which you did not see, Muhammad, which We reveal to you. You were not with them when they cast their reeds into the water to draw lots to see which of them should be the guardian of Maryam and have custody of her. You were not with them when they quarrelled about it. This news is Revelation.

45. Remember when the angels (Jibril) said, “Maryam, Allah gives you the good news of a Word (a child) from Him. His name is the Messiah, Isa, son of Maryam, addressing her to inform her that her child had no father since the custom is to ascribe male children to their father, of high esteem in this world, by reason of his Prophet hood, and the Next World, by reason of his intercession and high degree, and one of those brought near to Allah.

46. He will speak to people in the cradle, as an infant before the age of speech, and also when fully grown, and will be one of the righteous.”

47. She said, “My Lord! How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me, either within marriage or at any other time?” He said, “It (the matter) shall be so.” Allah is well able to create a child without a father. Allah creates whatever He wills. When He decides on creating something, He simply says to it, “Be!” and it is a n d then it comes into existence.

48. “He will teach (read as yu‘allimu, “He will teach” and nu‘allimu, “We will teach”) him the Book (writing) and Wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel,

49. as a Messenger to the Tribe of Israel, while still a child and after also puberty. Jibril breathed into the collar of Maryam’s shift and she became pregnant. More about this is mentioned in Surat Maryam. When Allah sent ‘ˆs to the tribe of Israel he said, ‘I am the Messenger of Allah to you. I have brought you a Sign of my truthfulness from your Lord. I will create and mould something like the form of a bird out of clay for you and then breathe into it and it will be a bird (read as tayran and ta’iran) by Allah’s permission (by Allah’s will). So he created a bat for them, for it is like a bird, and it flew while they were looking, vanished from their sight and fell down dead so that the action of the creature would be clearly distinguished from the action of the Creator, who is Allah, and so that it would be known that perfection belongs to Allah alone. I will heal the blind, people who are born blind, and lepers (the blind and lepers are mentioned because they had a defect, and Isa was sent at a time when medicine was very important; he would heal fifty thousand people in a day by supplication provided that they were already believers), I will bring the dead to life, by Allah’s permission (“Allah’s permission” is repeated to negate any assumption of divinity. Isa brought to life a friend of his, the son of an old woman who was the daughter of a tax-collector, and Sam, the son of Nuh, who died again immediately afterwards), I will tell you what you eat and what you store up in your homes which I have not seen. Thus he would tell a person what he had eaten and was going to eat. There is a Sign for you in that which has been mentioned if you are believers.

50. I come confirming the Torah I find already there, and to make lawful for you some of what was previously forbidden to you. What he made lawful were fish and birds which have no talons and the fat of cattle and sheep. It is also said that “some” means “all”. I have brought you a Sign from your Lord. This is repeated for stress. So be fearful of Allah and obey me in respect of what I command regarding the implementation of Allah’s unity and obedience to Him.

51. Allah is my Lord and your Lord so worship Him. That which I command you is a straight path.’” They denied him and did not believe in him.

52. When Isa sensed (was aware of) unbelief on their part and the fact that they wanted to kill him, he said, “Who will be my helpers on the journey to help the din of Allah?” The disciples said, “We are Allah’s helpers, in other words: “We will help Allah’s din.” They were the close friends of Isa, the first to believe in him and numbered twelve men. The word for “disciples”, hawwariyyun comes from hawar which means pure whiteness. It is said that they were fullers who bleached clothes, in other words made them white. They continued: “We believe in Allah. Bear witness, Isa that we are Muslims.

53. “Our Lord, we believe in what You have sent down of the Gospel and have followed the Messenger (Isa) so write us down among the witnesses, those who testify to Your oneness and sincerely follow Your Messenger.”

54. Allah Almighty says: They plotted and Allah plotted. The unbelievers of the Israelites plotted against Isa when they surrendered him to those who wanted kill to him. Allah plotted by substituting a likeness of Isa in his place so that those who wanted to kill him killed the likeness while Isa himself was raised to heaven. B u t Allah is the best of plotters and has better knowledge of the plotters.

55. Remember when Allah said, Isa, I will take you back and raise you up to Me from this world without your dying and purify you of and distance you from the people who disbelieve. And I will place the people who follow you and affirm your Prophet hood among the Muslims and Christians above, both in terms of physical force and conclusive argument, those (the Jews) who disbelieve i n you until the Day of Rising. Then you will all return to Me, and I will judge between you regarding the things about which you differed in respect of matters of the din.

56. As for those who disbelieve, I will punish them with a harsh punishment in this world by their being killed, being captured and paying the jizya, and the Next World by the Fire. They will have no helpers to defend them against it.”

57. As for those who believe and do right actions, He will pay them (read as yuwaffıhim, “He will pay them” and nuwaffıhim, “We will pay them”) their wages in full. Allah does not love wrongdoers, meaning He will punish them. It is related that Allah sent a cloud and raised Isa up and carried him to his mother. She wept and he said to her, “The Resurrection will reunite us.” That happened on the Night of Power in Jerusalem when he was thirty-three years old. His mother lived for six years after him. Al-Bukhari and Muslim relate a hadith to the effect that he will descend near the House (the Ka‘ba) and give judgements according to the Shari’ah of our Prophet, kill the Dajjal and pigs, and break the crosses and impose jizya. In a hadith reported by Muslim it says that he will remain on earth for seven years. A hadith from Abu Dawud at Tayalisi reports forty years. Then he will die and the funeral prayer will be said over him. It is possible that what is meant by the forty years is the total time he will remain on earth both before and after his being raised up to heaven.

58. That which has been mentioned about Isa is what We recite and recount to you, Muhammad, of the Signs and the wise Reminder (the Qur’an).

59. The likeness of Isa with respect to its great rarity in Allah’s sight is the same as Adam in that Isa was created without a father. The unusual is compared to the more unusual to reinforce the argument and to give it more weight. He created him from earth and then He said to him, “Be a human being!” and he was. That is like the creation of Isa in that Allah said, “Be” and he was.

60. It, what happened to Isa, is the truth from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters and doubt it.

61. If anyone of the Christians argues with you about him after the knowledge of the matter that has come to you, say to them, “Come then! Let us summon our sons and your sons, and our women and your women, and ourselves and yourselves and gather them together. Then let us make earnest supplication and call down the curse of Allah upon the liars,” saying, “O Allah, curse the one who lies about the matter of Isa” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, invited the delegation of Christians from Najran who had argued with him and they said, “We will think about it and then come back to you.” Those of influence among them said to them, “You have acknowledged his Prophet Hood. Anyone cursed by a Prophet is destroyed.” They came to him and he went out with al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Fatima and ‘Ali and said to them, “When I have made supplication, say ‘Amen’.” The Christians refused to perform the mutual curse and made peace based on paying the jizya. Abu Nu‘aym related it and Ibn ‘Abbas said, “If those people had come out to make the supplication, they would have returned and found neither money nor family.” It is said, “If they had gone out they would have been burned up.”

62. This which has been mentioned is the true account about which there is no doubt. There is no god besides Allah. Allah – He is the Almighty in His Kingdom, the All-Wise in what He does.

63. And if they turn away from belief, Allah knows the corrupters and will repay them.

64. Say, “O People of the Book (the Jews and Christians)! Come to a proposition which is the same for us and you – it is that we should worship none but Allah and not attribute any partners to Him and not take one another as lords besides Allah,” as they have done with their rabbis and monks. If they turn away from tawhid, say to them, “Bear witness that we are Muslims, declaring the oneness of Allah.”

65. When the Jews said that Ibrahim was a Jew and that they were following his din and the Christians said the same thing, this was revealed. O People of the Book! Why do you argue concerning Ibrahim and claim that he followed your religion when the Torah and Gospel were only sent down a long time after him and Judaism and Christianity only developed after their revelation? Why do you not use your intellect and see that what you say is false?

66. You are people arguing about something you have no knowledge of, when you argue about Musa and Isa and claim that you are following their din. Why do you argue about something you have no knowledge of regarding Ibrahim? Allah knows about the matter. You do not know. Allah then clears Ibrahim of what they say.

67. Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a man of pure natural belief, a hanif who inclines from all other religions to the Straight Din: a Muslim and affirmer of the Divine Unity. He was no idolater.

68. The people with the strongest claim to Ibrahim are those who followed him in his time and this Prophet, Muhammad, since he agrees with him in most of his Shari’ah, and those of his Community who believe. So they are more entitled to say that they are following the din of Ibrahim than others are. Allah is the Protector of the believers, helping and protecting them.

69. This was revealed when the Jews invited Mu‘ dh, Hudhayfa and ‘Ammar to their din. A group of the People of the Book would love to misguide you. They only misguide themselves because they incur the sin of their misguidance and the believers do not obey them, but they are not aware of it.

70. People of the Book! Why do you reject Allah’s Signs, meaning the Qur’an which includes the description of Muhammad, when you yourselves are there as witnesses that it is the truth?

71. People of the Book! Why do you mix up truth with falsehood by twisting and lying and concealing the description of the Prophet and knowingly conceal the truth when you know it is true?

72. A group of the People of the Book (some of the Jews) say to others of them, “At the beginning of the day believe in what was sent down to those who believe, meaning the Quran, and then at the end of the day reject it, so that perhaps they (the believers) will revert from their din, since they will say, ‘Why did these people revert after entering it? They possess knowledge. They must have done that because they know it to be false.’”

73. They also said: “Do not believe anyone except for those who follow your own din and agree with it.” Allah says: Say to them, “Allah’s guidance is true guidance. It is Islam and anything else constitutes misguidance. Then an interpolation follows: But you think it is impossible for anyone to be given the same as you were given, referring to the Book, wisdom, and excellence of character, or to argue with you before your Lord.” The Jews are warning people not to go near anyone of that description or they might follow their d ı n. It implies that the believers will defeat them on the Day of Rising because their din is sounder. Allah says: Say, “All favour is in Allah’s Hand and He gives it to whomever He wills. How can they say that no one will be given the same as they had been given? Allah is All-Encompassing with His bounty, All-Knowing of the people who merit it.

74. “He selects for His mercy whoever He wills. Allah’s favour is indeed immense.”

75. Among the People of the Book there are some who, if you entrust them with a pile of gold (a great deal of wealth), will return it to you, such as ‘Abdullah ibn Salam who kept twelve hundred uqiyyas of gold for a Qurayshi man and returned it to him. But there are others among them who, if you entrust them with a single dinar, will not return it to you because of their double-dealing, unless you stay standing over them and do not leave them. If you leave them, they deny any liability, as Ka‘b ibn al-Ashraf did. A Qurayshi entrusted a dinar to him and he denied it. That (not returning trusts) is because they say, “We are under no obligation where the Gentiles (the Arabs) are concerned.” The sin is that they say that they are allowed to be unjust to those who differ from their religion and attribute that to Allah. Allah says: They tell a lie against Allah when they ascribe that to Him and they know it.

76. The opposite is true. No, the truth is, if people honour their contracts for or against themselves by conveying trusts and other things, and show fear of Him by abandoning acts of disobedience and performing acts of obedience, Allah loves all god-fearing people and will reward them.

77. This was revealed about the Jews who altered the description of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and Allah’s contract with them in the Torah and about those of them who swore false oaths regarding their claims or when selling goods. Those who sell and exchange Allah’s contract with them to believe in the Prophet and fulfil their trusts and their own oaths, which they falsely swear by Allah, for a paltry price from this world, such people will have no portion in the Next World and on the Day of Rising Allah, out of anger, will not speak to them or look at them with mercy or purify them. They will have a painful punishment.

78. Among them is a group among the People of the Book, such as Ka‘b ibn al-Ashraf, who distort the Book with their tongues b y altering its recitation from what was actually revealed to their distortion of the description of the Prophet contained in it and other things so that you think it (the distortion) is from the Book which Allah revealed when it is not from the Book. They say, “It is from Allah,” but it is not from Allah. They tell a lie against Allah and they know it (know that they are lying).

79. This was revealed when the Christians of Najr n said that Isa had commanded them to take him as a Lord or, possibly, when one of the Muslims wanted to prostrate to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is not right for any human being that Allah should give him the Book and Judgement, meaning understanding of the Shari’ah, and Prophet Hood, and then that he should say to people, “Be slaves to me rather than Allah.” Rather he will say, “Be people of the Lord because of your knowledge of the Book (literally “by what you know”, ta‘lamuna, which is also read as tu‘allimuna, “what you teach”) and because you study.” The benefit of knowledge lies in acting by it.

80. He (Allah) would never command you to take the angels and Prophets as Lords. This is an addition to the previous ayat on account of the fact that the Sabaeans deified the angels, the Jews ‘Uzayr and the Christians Isa. Would He command you to disbelieve after being Muslim? He would never do that.

81 Remember when Allah made a covenant with the Prophets: “Now that I have given you (read astaytukum, “I have given you” and ataynakum, “We have given you”) a share of the Book and Wisdom and then a Messenger, meaning Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, comes to you confirming what is with you of the Book and Wisdom, you must believe in him and help him.” The covenant is that when they and their nations meet him, they must follow him. He (Allah) asked them, “Do you agree to that and undertake and accept My charge and covenant on that condition?” They replied, “We agree!” He said, “Bear witness against yourselves and your followers! I am with you as one of the witnesses against you and them.”

82. Any who turn away after that undertaking, they are the degenerate.

83. Is it other than the din of Allah that they desire (read as yabghuna, “they desire” or tabghuna, “you desire”) when everything in the heavens and earth, willingly or unwillingly, submits to Him and they will be returned (read as yurja‘una, “they will be returned” or turja‘una, “you will be returned”) to Him? The interrogative hamza at the beginning of the sentence implies a negative response.

84. Say to them, Muhammad, “We believe in Allah and what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to Ibrahim Ismail, Ishaq, and Ya‘qub and the Tribes, and what Musa and Isa and all the Prophets were given by their Lord. We do not differentiate between any of them by confirming some and denying others. We are Muslims submitting to Him.” We are sincere in our worship.

85. This was revealed about some people who apostatised and joined the unbelievers. If anyone desires anything other than Islam as a din, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Next World he will be among the losers because he will go to the Fire and remain in it forever.

86. How can Allah guide a people who have disbelieved after having had belief? This means that Allah will not guide them. They bore witness that the Messenger was true and that the Clear Signs which are the outward evidence of the truthfulness of the Prophet had come to them. Allah does not guide wrongdoing people. The wrongdoers are the unbelievers.

87. The repayment of such people is that Allah’s curse is on them, and that of the angels and of all mankind.

88. They will be under it, either the curse or the Fire, forever. Their punishment will not be lightened. They will be granted no reprieve,

89. Except for those who turn in repentance after that and put things right by acting righteously. Truly Allah is Ever-Forgiving to them, Most Merciful to them.

90. This was revealed about the Jews. Those who disbelieve in Isa after having had belief in Musa and then increase in their unbelief in Muhammad, their repentance will not be accepted when they die unbelievers. They are the misguided.

91. As for those who disbelieve and die while still unbelievers, the amount of the whole earth filled with gold would not be accepted from any of them if they were to offer it as a ransom. The consequential conjunction fa - introduces the second clause because the unacceptability of any ransom is a consequence of dying as an unbeliever. They will have a painful punishment. They will have no helpers and no one to avert the punishment from them.

92. You will not attain true goodness, meaning its reward, which is the Garden, until you give of what you love of your property. Whatever you give away, Allah knows it and will repay you for it.

93. The following ayat revealed when the Jews said, “You claim that you are following the religion of Ibrahim but he did not eat camel meat or drink camel milk.” All food was lawful for the Tribe of Israel except what Israel (Ya‘qub) made unlawful for himself before the Torah was sent down. He prohibited camel meat for him-self because of an illness he was suffering from. He vowed that if he was healed he would not eat it and so he made it unlawful for him-self. This was after Ibrahim, and so it had not been unlawful for Ibrahim in his time as they claimed. Say to them, “Bring the Torah and read it out to prove the truth of what they say if you speak the truth.” They were dumbfounded and did not do so. Then Allah makes the statement in the following ayat:

94. So any who, after this, after the production of the evidence that the prohibition came from Ya‘qub, not in the time of Ibrahim, invent a lie against Allah are indeed wrongdoers by transgressing against the truth in favour of falsehood.

95. Say, Muhammad, “Allah speaks the truth in this as in all reports, so follow the religion of Ibrahim, which I am following, a man of pure natural belief (a hanif, someone who inclines from all other religions to the din of Islam). He was no idolater.”

96. The following ayat was revealed when the Jews said, “Our qibla existed before your qibla.” The first House established for worship for mankind was that at Bakka, a place of blessing and guidance for all beings (the qibla for everyone). The use of Bakka rather than Makka reflects a Makkan dialect; it is called that because it bears down (Bakka) on the necks of tyrants. The angels built it before the creation of Adam whereas al-Aqsa in Jerusalem was built after that. There were forty years between them, as is reported in the two Sahih collections.

97. In it are Clear Signs – one of them is the Station of Ibrahim, which is the stone on which he stood when building the House. On it is the mark of his feet which can still be seen. Other signs are the multiplication of good deeds there and the fact that birds do not fly over it. All who enter it are safe from being killed, injustice, and other things. Hajj (read as Hijj and Hajj) to the House is a duty owed to Allah by all mankind those who can find a way to do it. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained that “can find a way” refers to provision and a mount (as in al-Hakim and others). But if anyone disbelieves in Allah and the obligation of Hajj, Allah is Rich beyond need of any being and has no need of jinn, men and angels worshipping Him.

98. Say, “People of the Book! Why do you reject Allah’s Signs (the Qur’an) when Allah is Witness of everything you do and will repay you?”

99. Say, “People of the Book! Why do you debar and divert those who believe from the Way of Allah (His din), by your denying the Prophet and concealing his blessing, desiring to make it crooked, attempting to make it deviate from the Truth, when you yourselves are witnesses to it and know that the straight din is the din of Islam as is clear in your own Books? Allah is not heedless of anything you do in terms of disbelief and denial.” He is deferring them to the time when He will repay them.

100. This ayat was revealed when a Jew passed by Aws and Khazraj and envied their cohesion. He mentioned the past differences they used to have in the time of the Jahiliyyah and they began to quarrel and almost fight. O you who believe! If you obey a group of those given the Book, they will make you revert to being unbelievers after you have believed.

101. How can you disbelieve, when Allah’s Signs are recited to you and the Messenger is there among you? This is a question of wonder and rebuke. Whoever holds fast to Allah has been guided to a straight path.

102. You who believe! Be fearful of Allah with the fear that is His due, by obeying Him: so do not disobey, but be thankful; do not show ingratitude, but remember and do not forget and do not die except as Muslims declaring Allah’s oneness.

103. Hold fast to the rope of Allah (His din) all together, and do not separate after having entered Islam. Remember Allah’s blessing upon you, Aws and Khazraj, when you were enemies before Islam became brothers by His blessing in the din and by political unity. You were on the very brink of a pit of the Fire and there was nothing to stop you falling into it and dying as disbelievers and He saved you from it by faith. Thus does Allah make His Signs clear to you, as in the case of this ayat, so that perhaps you will be guided.

104. Let there be a community among you who call people to the good, meaning Islam, and enjoin what is recognised as right, and forbid what is known to be wrong: those who do these this, they are the successful. This is partitive because what is mentioned is a fard kifaya. Not everyone is obliged to do it. The ignorant, for instance, are absolved from it.

105. Do not be like those who split up from their din and differed about it after the Clear Signs came to them. This is a reference to the Jews and Christians. They will have a terrible punishment…

106. …on the Day (the Day of Rising) when faces are whitened and faces are blackened. As for those whose faces are blackened, meaning the disbelievers who will be cast into the Fire and this is said to them by way of rebuke, “What! Did you reject after having belief when you accepted Allah’s covenant? Taste the punishment because you disbelieved!”

107. As for those whose faces are whitened (the believers), they are in the mercy of Allah (His Garden), remaining in it timelessly, forever.

108. These Signs are Allah’s Signs which We recite to you, Muhammad, with truth. Allah does not desire wrong for any being and would never punish anyone who had done no wrong.

109. Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Allah. All that exists is His property, His creation and His slaves. All matters return to Allah.

110. You, nation of Muhammad, are the best nation in the knowledge of Allah ever to be produced (to have appeared) before mankind. You enjoin what is recognised as right, and forbid what is known to be wrong, and believe in Allah. If the People of the Book believed as ‘Abdullah ibn Salam and his companions did, it (belief) would be better for them. Some of them are believers but most of them are degenerate and unbelievers.

111. They (the Jews) will not harm you, Muslims, except with abusive words (curses and threats). If they fight you, they will turn their backs on you in flight. Then they will not be helped against you, but you will have victory over them.

112. They will be plunged into abasement wherever they are found, and nowhere will they have any power or stability, unless they have a treaty with Allah and with the people (the believers). That means a treaty with the believers for security in exchange for paying the jizya. That is their only protection. They have brought down a n d returned with anger from Allah upon themselves, and they have been plunged into destitution. That was because they rejected Allah’s Signs and killed the Prophets without any legal right. That was because they disobeyed the command of Allah and went beyond the limits (beyond the lawful into the unlawful).

113. They (all the People of the Book) are not all the same. There is a community among the People of the Book who are upright (straight and holding firmly to the truth, such as ‘Abdullah ibn Salam and his companions). They recite Allah’s Signs throughout the hours of the night and they prostrate in prayer.

114. They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong, and compete in doing good; Those who are like that, they are among the righteous. Some of them are not like that and are not among the righteous.

115. They will not be denied (read as yukfaru, “they will not be denied” and tukfaru, “you will not be denied”) the reward for any good thing they do (read as yaf‘alu, “ they do” and taf‘alu, “you do”). With the ta’ (you), it is directed at the Muslim Community, and with the ya’ (they), it refers to the “upright Community”. In both cases the meaning is that far from not receiving a reward, you certainly will be rewarded for it. Allah knows the god-fearing.

116. As for those who disbelieve, their wealth and children will not help them or protect them against the punishment of Allah in any way. The masculine pronoun is used because men tend to protect themselves through their wealth and by seeking the help of their children. They will be the Companions of the Fire, remaining in it timelessly, forever.

117. The likeness of what they (the unbelievers) spend in their life in this world in enmity to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, whether it be charity or anything else, is that of a wind with an icy bite to it, a violent wind which might be hot or freezing, which strikes the crops of a people who have wronged themselves by their unbelief and disobedience to Allah and destroys them. So their giving does not benefit them and what they spent will be gone and will not help them. Allah did not wrong them by the loss of what they spent; rather it was themselves they wronged by the unbelief which brought that about.

118. You who believe! Do not take any outside yourselves as intimates (close friends who are acquainted with your secrets). They (others among the Jews, Christians and hypocrites) will do anything to damage you. They will not confine themselves to corrupting you. They love and hope for what causes you distress and is very harmful to you. Hatred and enmity towards you has appeared out of their mouths when they attack you and acquaint the idolaters with your secrets, but what (the enmity) their breasts hide is far worse. We have made the Signs of their enmity clear to you if you use your intellect, so do not befriend them.

119. There you, believers, are loving them because they are kin and friends when they do not love you because they differ from you in their din, even though you believe in all the Books, because they do not believe in your Book. When they meet you, they say, “We believe.” But when they go away they bite the ends of their fingers out of rage against you. They experience intense anger at what they see of your cohesion. “Biting fingers” metaphorically illustrates the strength of their anger. Say, “Die in your rage.” This means “Remain in it until your death. What you want to see will never hap-pen.” Allah knows what the hearts of those people contain.

120. If a good thing happens to you such as a victory or the acquisition of booty, it galls and upsets them. If a bad thing strikes you such as a defeat and or drought they rejoice at it. The gist of the ayat is that such people are hostile so one should not take them as friends; rather avoid them. But if you are steadfast in the face of the harm they wish you and god-fearing, fearing Allah regarding taking them as friends and other things, their scheming will not harm you (read as yadirkum and yadurrukum) in any way. Allah encompasses everything they do (read as ya‘malun, “they do” and ta‘malun, “you do”), and Allah will repay them for what they do.

121. Remember, Muhammad, when you left your family in Madina early in the day to settle the believers in their battle stations. Allah is All-Hearing of your words, All Knowing of your states. This is about the Battle of Uhud when the Prophet, peace be upon him, set out with nine hundred and fifty men while the unbelievers numbered three thousand. He camped by a ravine on Saturday 7th Shawwal 3 AH with his back and his army to the mountain of Uhud. He arranged the ranks and put a group of archers under the command of ‘Abdullah ibn Jubayr on the top of the mountain. He said, “Defend us with arrows and do not let any come at us from behind; do not leave your position, whether we are winning or losing.”

122. And when two of your clans (the Banu Salama and Banu Haritha) who remained on the flanks of the army, were on the point of losing heart, lacking the courage to fight and wanting to return when ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy the hypocrite and his companions retreated. He said, “We will fight for the sake of our lives and children.” He said to Abu Jabir as-Salami, “I swear by Allah in reference to your Prophet and your selves, that if there were to be fighting we would go with you.” But Allah made them firm and they did not leave. Allah was their Protector and Helper. Let the believers put their trust in Allah and no one else.

123. This ayat was revealed when they were defeated, to remind them of Allah’s blessing upon them. Allah helped you at Badr, a place between Makka and Madina when you were weak through having few weapons and small numbers, so be fearful of Allah, so that perhaps you will be thankful for Allah’s blessings upon you.

124. And, in victory, when you said to the believers, to promise them and encourage them, “Is it not enough for you that your Lord reinforced you with three thousand angels, sent down (read as “munzalin” and “munazzalin”)?”

125. Yes indeed, Allah will be enough for you! In Surat al-Anfal, there were a thousand angels because Allah helped them first with them; and then it became three thousand, then five thousand. But if you are steadfast in meeting the enemy, and god-fearing, fearing to oppose Allah, and they (the idolaters) come upon you suddenly, your Lord will reinforce you with five thousand angels, clearly identified (read as musawwimina and musawwamina). T hey were steadfast, and Allah fulfilled His promise: angels fought alongside them on horseback wearing yellow or white turbans whose ends hung between their shoulders.

126. Allah only did this (reinforced you) for it to be good news of victory for you and so that your hearts might be stilled by it and not be alarmed by the large number of the enemy and the smallness of your numbers – help comes from no one but Allah, the Almighty, the All-Wise who gives help to whomever He wishes and victory is not dictated by the size of the army.

127. …and so that He might cut off and destroy a group of those who disbelieve by killing or capture or crush them in defeat, and they might be turned back disappointed by not obtaining what they desired.

128. The following was revealed when the Prophet’s tooth, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, was broken and his face injured during the Battle of Uhud. He said, “How can a people be successful when they have stained the face of their Prophet with blood?” You have no part in the affair. The command belongs to Allah, so be steadfast. Either He will turn to them with Islam or He will punish them, for they are the wrongdoers by disbelieving.

129. Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Allah. All things are His domain, His creation and His slaves. He forgives whomever He wills and punishes whomever He wills. Allah is Ever-Forgiving to His friends, Most Merciful to the people who obey Him.

130. You who believe! Do not feed on usury, multiplied and then re-multiplied by a thousand or less, since the money owed increases at the end of the term if repayment is delayed. Be fearful of Allah by abandoning usury so that perhaps you will be successful.

131. Be fearful of the Fire which has been prepared for the punishment of those who disbelieve.

132. Obey Allah and the Messenger so that perhaps you will gain mercy.

133. Race each other (read with a preceding wa, “and” and without it) to forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden whose width is the heavens and the earth, as wide as them if they were put together, prepared for the godfearing: Allah prepares it as the reward for per-forming acts of obedience and abandoning acts of disobedience.

134. …those who give in obedience to Allah in times of both ease and hardship, those who control their rage and do not act on it when they might do so and pardon other people who have wronged them and do not punish them. Allah loves good-doers: by those actions and will reward them.

135. …those who, when they act indecently and commit an ugly sin like fornication, or wrong themselves by something less than that, like a kiss, remember Allah and His threat and ask forgiveness for their bad actions – who can forgive bad actions except Allah? –and do not knowingly persist, knowing it to be disobedience, i n what they were doing, but cease doing it.

136. Their recompense is forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, forever. This means that it is decreed that they will be in it for ever when they enter it. How excellent is the reward of those who act and obey Allah. This is their wage.

137. This was revealed after the setback at Uhud. Whole societies have passed away before your time, so travel the earth and see the end result of the deniers. “Whole societies” (sunan) means the ways of the unbelievers. It means that their punishment will be deferred and then they will be seized. Believers, travel and see the end of those who denied the Messengers: the end of their business wa s destruction. Therefore do not be grieved by their temporary victory. They are being left until to their time.

138. This Qur’an is a clear explanation for all mankind, and guidance from misguidance and admonition for the godfearing among them.

139. Do not give up and flag when fighting the unbelievers and do not be downhearted and sorrowful for what befell you at Uhud. You shall be uppermost by defeating them if you are truly believers.

140. If you have received a wound (read as qarh and qurh) at Uhud, they (the unbelievers) have already received a similar wound at Badr. We send such days to people in rotation, one day for one group and one for another so that they might be warned, so that Allah may know with outward knowledge those who believe and are sincere in their belief from others who do not, and may gather those who have been granted the honour of being martyrs from among you. Allah does not love wrongdoers, here meaning the unbelievers, and will punish them. Whatever blessings they enjoy in this world are simply to draw them on.

141. …and so that Allah can purge and purify those who believe from sins through affliction and wipe out and destroy the unbelievers.

142. Or did you imagine that you were going to enter the Garden without Allah knowing by outward manifest knowledge t h o s e among you who had struggled and knowing the steadfast in the face of affliction?

143. You were longing for death before you met it. You said, “Would that we could have a day like that of Badr so that we might obtain what the martyrs obtained then!” Now you have seen it (the fighting) with your own eyes. So why were you defeated? This was revealed about the Muslims’ defeat when word spread that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had been killed. The hypocrites said, “If he has been killed, then revert to your old religion.”

144. Muhammad is only a Messenger before whom other Messengers have passed away. If he were to die or be killed like others, would you turn on your heels and revert to unbelief? This sentence is a question that implies a negative answer. It means that he is not an object of worship so that you should revert if he dies. Those who turn on their heels do not harm Allah in any way, but only harms themselves. Allah will recompense the thankful for His blessings by their standing firm.

145. No self can die except with Allah’s permission, at a predetermined time which is decreed. Everyone has a lifespan that cannot be decreased or lengthened. Defeat does not avert death and standing firm does not end life. If anyone desires reward in this world through his actions, We will give him some of it, some of this world as a reward but nothing of the Next. If anyone desires the reward of the Next World, We will give him some of it as reward. We will recompense the thankful.

146. How many a Prophet has fought (read as qatala, “has fought” and qutila, “has been killed”) when there were many thousands with him. They did not become cowardly and give up in the face of what assailed them (wounds or the killing of their Prophets and companions) in the Way of Allah, nor did they weaken in their jihad, nor did they yield to the enemy as you did when it was said that the Prophet was killed. Allah loves the steadfast in affliction and will reward them.

147. All they said, when their Prophet was killed and they remained firm and steadfast, was, “Our Lord, forgive us our wrong actions and any excesses we have gone to by exceeding the limits in what we have done by way of causing harm because of the afflictions and oppression which have come to us and make our feet firm with strength in jihad and help us against the people who disbelieve.”

148. So Allah gave them the reward of this world through victory and booty, and the best reward of the Next World, the Garden whose good is greater than anything that can be deserve d. Allah loves good-doers.

149. You who believe! If you obey those who disbelieve in respect of what they command you to do, they will turn you on your heels and make you revert to disbelief and you will be transformed into losers.

150. No, Allah is your Protector and Helper, and He is the best of helpers; so obey Him, not them.

151. We will cast terror (read as ru‘b and ru‘ub) into the hearts of those who disbelieve when they resolved to return and eradicate the Muslims after Uhud but then became terrified and did not, because of their attributing partners to Allah and associating idols with Allah in their worship for which He has not sent down any authority or proof for worshipping them. Their shelter will be the Fire. How evil is the abode of the wrongdoers (the unbelievers).

152. Allah fulfilled His promise of victory to you when you were slaughtering them by His permission (by His will). But then you faltered when some were too cowardly to fight, disputing the command, and disobeyed the command of the Prophet to stay in place on the top of the mountain to shoot, after He (Allah) showed you what you love, meaning victory. Some of them said, “We will go. Our comrades are victorious.” Some did not disobey the order but others left their position to seek booty after Allah had made them think victory had been gained. Among you are those who want this world and left the position to seek booty and among you are those who want the Next World and stood firm until they were killed, such as ‘Abdullah ibn Jubayr and his companions. Then when defeat was decreed, He turned you from them (the unbelievers) in order to test you to see who would be sincere among you – but He has pardoned you for what you did. Allah possesses favour and pardon for the believers.

153. Remember when you were scrambling up the slope, trying to flee from the enemy, refusing to turn back for anyone, and the Messenger was calling to you from the rear, saying, “To me, slaves of Allah!” Allah rewarded you in requital for that with one distress (defeat) in return for another (your causing sorrow to the Messenger by disobeying his command) so you would not feel grief for what escaped you of booty and what assailed you of defeat. Allah is aware of everything you do.

154. Then He sent down to you, after the distress, security, restful sleep overcoming (read as yaghsh and taghsh) a group of you,(the believers) who grew drowsy and dropped their swords. Whereas another group became prey to anxious thoughts, being consumed by fear and only able to think of saving their own skins rather than of the safety of the Prophet and his Companions as a whole. They could not sleep. They were hypocrites, subject to thinking other than the truth about Allah – such thoughts belonging to the days of ignorance before Islam because they believed that the Prophet had been killed or would not be victorious as he had been promised – saying, “Do we have any say in the affair at all, meaning the victory which we have been promised?” Say to them, “The affair belongs entirely to Allah.” This is stressed. The Decree belongs to Allah and He does whatever He wills. They are concealing within themselves things which they do not disclose to you, saying, “If we had only had a say in the affair, none of us would have been killed here in this place.” By this they meant, “If we had had the choice, we would not have gone out to be killed, but we went out unwillingly.” Say to them, “Even if you had been inside your homes and among you were those whose death Allah had decreed, those people among you for whom being killed was decreed would have gone out to their place of death, to where they would fall and would be killed.” Staying at home would not have helped them because Allah’s decree must come to pass. Allah did what He did at Uhud so that Allah might test what is in your breasts, whether it is sincerity or hypocrisy, and purge and distinguish what is in your hearts. Allah knows all the hearts contain. Nothing in the heart is hidden from Him, but He puts people to the test so that their true state may become apparent to others.

155. Those of you who turned their backs fleeing from the fighting on the day the two armies clashed when the Muslims fought the unbelievers at Uhud and only twelve men of the Muslims stood firm – it was Shaytan who made them slip, by his whispering, for what they had done, for their sins, one of which was disobeying the command of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. But Allah has pardoned them. Allah is Ever - Forgiving to the believers, All-Forbearing by not rushing to the punishment of those who disobey.

156. You who believe! Do not be like those who disbelieve (meaning the hypocrites here) and say of their brothers when they are going on journeys and die or military expeditions during which they are killed, “If they had only been with us, they would not have died or been killed.” Do not say the same as they say. That is so that in the end of their affair Allah may make that anguish for them in their hearts. It is Allah Who gives life and causes to die, so remaining behind will not prevent death. Allah sees everything you do (read as ta‘lamuna, “you do” and ya‘lamuna, “they do”) and will repay you for it.

157. If you are killed in the Way of Allah in jihad or if you die (read as muttum or mittum) while on the journey, forgiveness for your wrong actions and mercy from Allah for you are better than anything which they can amass (read as yajma‘una, “they can amass” and tajma‘una, “you can amass”).

158. If you die or you are killed through jihad or any other cause, it is only to Allah that you will be gathered in the Next World, and He will repay you.

159. It is a mercy from Allah that you, Muhammad, were gentle with them and it is part of your character to make things easy when people disagree with you. If you had been rough and shown bad character or hard of heart and harsh with them, they would have scattered from around you. So pardon them for what they did and ask forgiveness for them for their sins until I forgive them, and consult with them for their opinions in the affair regarding matters concerning them, such as war and other things, in order to win over their hearts and so that doing that becomes an established sunna – the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, often consulted his Companions. Then when you have reached a firm decision and have resolved to carry out what you want to do after consultation, put your trust in Allah. Allah loves those who put their trust in Him.

160. If Allah helps you as He did against your enemies, as at the Battle of Badr, no one can vanquish you. If He forsakes you and fails to help you as at Uhud, who can help you after that (His abandonment of you)? So the believers should put their trust in Allah.

161. When a red saddle-cloth from the booty went missing at Uhud, some people said, “Perhaps the Prophet has taken it.” No Prophet would ever be guilty of misappropriation. It is not fitting for a Prophet to cheat in respect of the booty, so do not suspect him of doing so. Those who misappropriate, will arrive on the Day of Rising with what they have misappropriated, carrying it on their shoulders. Then every self will be paid in full for what it earned (did). They will not be wronged.

162. Is one who pursues the pleasure of Allah, obeying him and not misappropriating, the same as one who incurs displeasure from Allah by disobeying Him and misappropriating and whose refuge is Hell? What an evil destination!

163. They have different ranks and stations with Allah. Anyone who follows the pleasure of Allah will gain the reward and those who bring down anger on themselves will be punished. Allah sees everything they do and will repay them.

164. Allah showed great kindness to the believers when He sent a Messenger to them from among themselves, an Arab like them, to enable them to understand and to honour them, not a angel or a non-Arab, to recite His Signs (the Qur’an) to them and purify them of sins and teach them the Book (the Qur’an) and Wisdom (the Sunna), even though before that, before he was sent, they were clearly misguided.

165. Why is it that when a calamity happens to you, as at Uhud when seventy of you were killed, when you have already inflicted twice as much, since at Badr you killed seventy and captured seventy, you say in amazement, “How could this failure possibly happen when we are Muslims and the Messenger of Allah is among us?” Say to them in response to their question, “It has come from yourselves because you left your positions and that was the reason for your failure.” Allah has power over everything. Allah has power to give or deny victory and He repaid you for your disobedience to the command you were given.

166. What assailed you on the day the two armies met at Uhud was by Allah’s permission (His will) so that He would know the t r u e believers with clear and manifest knowledge…

167. …and so that He would know the hypocrites. They (‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy and his companions) were told when they left the fighting, “Come and fight Allah’s enemies in the Way of Allah or at least help defend us by reinforcing us with your numbers even if you do not fight.” They said, “If we knew how to fight (were good at it), we would certainly follow you.” But Allah refutes them: They were closer to unbelief that day than to belief, by showing their true colours and letting down the believers, when before that they had been closer to belief by their outward statements, saying with their mouths what was not in their hearts. If they had known any fighting would be involved, they would certainly not have followed you. And Allah knows best what (the hypocrisy) they are hiding.

168. Those who said of their brothers in the din, when they them -selves had stayed behind from jihad, “If they had only obeyed us, meaning the martyrs of Uhud, or their brothers, and stayed behind, they would not have been killed.” Say to them, “Ward off death then from yourselves if you are telling the truth.” So they are told to keep death away from themselves by staying at home if they can.

169. This was revealed about the martyrs. Do not suppose that those killed (read as qutilu, “killed” and quttilu “slaughtered”) in the Way of Allah, meaning for the sake of His din, are dead. No indeed! They are alive and well provided for in the very presence of their Lord… Their spirits are carried in the crops of green birds flying in the Garden wherever they wish, as the hadith states. They eat of the fruits of the Garden and delight in them.

170. … delighting in the favour Allah has bestowed on them, rejoicing over those they left behind (their brother believers), who have not yet joined them, feeling no fear, about those who have not joined them, and knowing no sorrow… in the Next World because they rejoice in their absolute security from all harm.

171. … rejoicing in blessings, His reward, and favour from Allah, and that Allah does not let the wage of the believers go to waste.

172. Those who did good by obeying him and were god-fearing and feared to oppose Allah among those who responded to Allah and the Messenger, when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, called on Khazraj to go out to fight when Abu Sufyan and his companions wanted to return and meet with the Prophet at the market of Badr the year after Uhud, after the wound had been inflicted on them will have an immense reward, which is the Garden:

173. … those, an appositive continuing on from the previous ayat, meaning Nu‘aym ibn Mas‘ud al-Ashja‘i, to whom people, meaning Abu Sufyan and his companions, said, “The people have gathered their forces against you to eradicate you, so fear them and do not go out against them.” But that statement merely increased them in belief and certainty and they said, “Allah is enough for us and the best of guardians and the One to Whom we entrust our affair.”They went out with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to the market of Badr and Allah cast terror into the heart of Abu Sufyan and his companions so that they did not keep their appointment. The Companions had goods with them which they sold, realising a profit. Thereupon Allah said:

174. So they returned from Badr with blessings and bounty from Allah, with peace and profit, and no evil by way of killing or wounding touched them. They pursued the pleasure of Allah by obeying Allah and His Messenger in going out. Allah’s favour is indeed immense towards those who obey Him.

175. He who actually said that to you was only Shaytan frightening you through his friends (the unbelievers). But do not fear them –fear Me and do not abandon My command if you are believers.

176. Do not let those who rush headlong into unbelief by resorting quickly to supporting the unbelievers, namely the people of Makka or the hypocrites, sadden you (read as yah zunuka and yuh zinuka). Do not be worried by their unbelief. They do not harm Allah in any way by what they do. They only harm themselves. Allah desires to assign no portion of the Garden to them in the Next World. That is how Allah will disappoint them. They will have a terrible punishment in the Fire forever.

177. Those who sell belief for unbelief (exchanging one for the other) do not harm Allah in any way by their unbelief. They will have a painful punishment.

178. Those who disbelieve should not imagine that the extra time, the delay, We grant to them by giving them longer to live in this world is good for them. “They should not imagine” (yah sabanna) is also read as “you should not imagine” (tah sabanna) in which case the meaning becomes: “You should not imagine that the extra time We grant to those who disbelieve…” We only allow them more time so they will increase in evil-doing by disobeying Allah. They will have a humiliating punishment in the Next World.

179. Allah will only leave the believers in the position you, people, now are in, where the sincere are mixed with others, so that He can sift out (read as yamiza and yumayyiza) and distinguish the rotten hypocrite from the good b e l i ever by clear and difficult obligations which will make that distinction clear, as He did on the Day of Uhud. Allah has not given you access to the Unseen enabling you to recognise the hypocrites from others before the sifting. But Allah chooses from His Messengers whomever He wills to acquaint with His Unseen, as He acquainted the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with the state of the hypocrites. So believe in Allah and His Messengers. If you believe and are god-fearing and fear hypocrisy you will have an immense reward.

180. Those who are stingy with the bounty Allah has given them, by being miserly about giving the zakat due on it, should not sup -pose that that (their miserliness) is better for them. No indeed, it (their miserliness) is worse for them! What they were stingy with (the zakat due on their property) will be hung around their necks on the Day of Rising, as a snake biting them, as we find in the hadith. Allah is the Inheritor of the heavens and the earth when the world ends, and Allah is aware of everything you do (read as ta‘maluna, “what you do” and ya‘maluna, “what they do”) and will repay you for that.

181. Allah has heard the words of those who say, “Allah is poor and we are rich.” It was the Jews who said this when the ayat “Who will lend Allah a good loan?” (2:245) was revealed. They said, “If He were rich, He would not ask for a loan.” We will write down (read as sa -naktubu , “ We will write”, and sa -yuktabu, “it will be written”) meaning command it to be written, what they said in the books of their actions so that they can be repaid for it and their killing of the Prophets without a legal right; and We will say, “ Taste the punishment of the Burning” by entering it. Allah will speak to them in the Next World on the tongues of the angels.

182. When they are thrown into the Fire, this will be said to them: That (punishment) is on account of what you did (lit. “what your hands advanced”). “Hands” are designated because most actions are done using them. Allah does not wrong His slaves by punishing them for anything other than their own wrong actions.

183. Those, meaning those described above, who say to Muhammad, “Allah has made a contract with us in the Torah that we should not believe in any Messenger until he brings us a sacrifice consumed by fire.” This refers to sacrifices which they used to make to Allah. The sign that the sacrifice was accepted was that a white fire would come down heaven and consume it while leaving the place untouched. That was a tradition in the tribe of Israel but not in the case of the Messiah and Muhammad. Say to them to rebuke them, “Messengers came to you before me with the Clear Signs (miracles) and with what you say, such as Zakariyya and Yahya, whom you killed.” This is addressed to those in the time of the Prophet, even though these things happened before their time, because they are happy with what happened then. “So why did you kill them if you are telling the truth when you say that you will believe when this happens?”

184. If they deny you, Messengers before you were also denied, who brought the Clear Signs and miracles and written texts such as the Pages of Ibrahim, and the Illuminating Book, Revelations like the Torah and Gospel. So be patient as they were patient.

185. E very self will taste death. You will be paid your wages f o r your actions in full on the Day of Rising. Anyone who is distanced from the Fire and admitted to the Garden has triumphed a n d obtained his greatest desire. Living the life of this world is only the enjoyment of false delusion and fleeting pleasure which will soon pass.

186. You will be tested in your wealth by obligatory expenses and losses of wealth and in your selves through the imposition of acts of worship and afflictions and you will hear many abusive words, cursing, attacking and insulting your women, from those given the Book (the Jews and Christians) before you and from those Arab idolaters who worship idols. But if you are steadfast in the face of that and god-fearing with respect to your obligations, that is the most resolute course to take. That is one of the things which should be resolved on.

187. Remember when Allah made a covenant with those given the Book, referring to His covenant with the Jews in the Torah: “You must make it (the Book), clear to people and not conceal it (the Book).” But they toss it (the covenant) in disdain behind their backs and do not act by it and sell it for a paltry price of this world, by selling their position of leadership in knowledge. They concealed the truth, fearing to miss out on this world. What an evil sale they make! This is a poor transaction.

188. Do not suppose (read as tah sabanna, “do not suppose” and yah sabanna, “they should not suppose” in two places) that those who exult in what they have done in misguiding others and love to be praised for what they have not done in holding to the truth when they are in fact misguided, do not suppose them to have escaped to a place where they are safe from the punishment of the Next World. They will be in the place where they will be punished: Jahannam. They will have a painful punishment.

189. The kingdom of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah. Allah possesses the treasures of rain, provision, plants and all other things. Allah has power over everything. He has power to punish the unbelievers and save the believers.

190. In the creation of the heavens and the earth and all the wonders which they contain, and the alternation of night and day, their coming and going and their shortening and lengthening, there are Signs which indicate the power of Allah for people of intelligence:

191. those who remember Allah standing, sitting and lying on their sides, in other words in every state, (According to Ibn ‘Abbas, it refers to praying in those positions when no other is possible) and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth which leads them to see the evidence of the power of their Creator throughout existence and so they say: “Our Lord, You did not create this creation which we see for nothing (to no purpose). Rather it indicates Your power, Glory be to You, exalted above fruitless action! Safeguard us from the punishment of the Fire.

192. Our Lord, those You cast into the Fire for eternity, You have indeed disgraced and humiliated. The wrongdoers (the unbelievers) will have no helpers. This is an example of the use of the explicit rather than the implicit – saying ‘wrongdoers’ rather than simply saying ‘They’ – and indicates that their disgrace will be personal. They will have no one to protect them from the punishment of Allah.

193. Our Lord, we have heard a caller (either Muhammad or the Qur’an) calling people to belief: ‘Believe in your Lord!’ and we have believed him. Our Lord, forgive us our wrong actions, erase our bad actions from us and do not punish us for them, and take us (our souls) back to You with the truly good (the righteous Prophets).

194. Our Lord, give us what You promised us through (on the tongues of) Your Messengers by way of mercy and bounty and the Messengers asking Allah for that for their followers. His promise will not fail even those who ask to be among them despite their uncertainty of being entitled to it. “Our Lord” is repeated to stress the entreaty. And do not disgrace us on the Day of Rising. You will not break Your promise of resurrection and repayment.”

195. Their Lord responds to them (to their supplication): “I will not let the deeds of any doer among you go to waste, male or female –you are both the same in that respect. Women and men are equal in rewards, blessings and actions. This was revealed when Umm Salama said, “Messenger of Allah, I do not hear women mentioned at all in respect of the Hijra.” Those who emigrated from Makka to Madina and were driven from their homes and suffered harm in My Way, for the sake of My din, and fought the unbelievers a n d were killed, I will erase their bad actions from them by cove ring them with My forgiveness and admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, as a reward from Allah. The best of all rewards and repayment is with Allah.”

196. This ayat was sent down when the Muslims said, “We see that the enemies of Allah are having a good time whereas we are in great difficulty. They move about the land trading and making money.” Do not be deceived by the fact that the people who disbelieve move freely about the earth trading and earning.

197. A brief enjoyment in this world which will then vanish; then their shelter will be Hell. What an evil resting-place!

198. But those who fear their Lord will have Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, forever: hospitality from Allah. Hospitality is what is prepared for the guest. It is accusative to make it adverbial. What is with Allah is better for the truly good than the enjoyment of this world.

199. Among the people of the Book there are some, such as ‘Abdullah ibn Salam and his companions and the Negus, who believe in Allah and what has been sent down to you (the Qur’an) and what was sent down to them (the Torah and Gospel) and who are humble before Allah. They do not sell Allah’s Signs which they have in the Torah and the Gospel about the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, being sent for a paltry price (a little of this world), seeking to conceal it out of fear of loss of leadership as other Jews did. Such people will have their reward for their actions with their Lord twice over, as is stated in Sura al-Qasas (28:54). And Allah is Swift at the Reckoning, which He will accomplish in less than half a day of this world.

200. O you who believe! Be steadfast in acts of obedience, hardship and not disobeying. Be supreme in steadfastness against the unbelievers so that they do not have more steadfastness than you. Be firm on the battlefield in jihad. And show fear of Allah in all your states – so that perhaps you will be successful and win the Garden and be safe from the Fire.