1. Mankind (people of Makka)! Be fearful of your Lord and His punishment by obeying Him who created you from a single self (Adam) and created its mate (Hawwa’) from it, from one of his left ribs, and then disseminated and spread out many men and women from the two of them (Adam and Hawwa’). Be fearful of Allah, in whose name you make demands on one another (read as tas ’aluna and tass ’aluna), asking one another for things saying, “I ask you by Allah”, and also be fearful of Him in respect of your families (your relatives): in other words, fear becoming alienated from them. The Arabs used to swear by their lineages. Allah watches over you continually. Allah observes your actions and will repay you for them; and He always does so.

2. This was revealed about an orphan who asked for his property from his guardian, who refused to give it to him. Give orphans (young children with no father) their property when they come of age, and do not substitute bad (unlawful) things for good (lawful), as people used to do by taking good property and then replacing it with something inferior. Do not assimilate their property into your own by consuming it. To do that is a serious crime (an immense sin). When this was revealed, people stopped taking on the guardian-ship of orphans. Some of them had eight or ten wives and were not fair between them, and so the following ayat was revealed:

3. If you are afraid of not behaving justly towards orphans a n d seek not to be constricted in respect of their affairs and also fear that you will not be fair between your wives, then marry other permissible women, two, three or four. Do not marry more than four. But if you are afraid of not treating them equally in respect of maintenance and division, then marry only one, or c o n fine yourself to those you own as slaves who do not have the rights that wives have. That (marrying no more than four or marrying just one) makes it more likely that you will not be unfair.

4. Give women their dowry as an outright gift cheerfully and with-out reservation. But if they are happy to give you some of it (the dowry) and give it to you, make use of it with pleasure and good –will to a praiseworthy end. There is no harm for you in the Next World in doing this. This was revealed to refute those who disapproved of doing so.

5. Do not, guardians, hand over to the simple-minded (spendthrift men, women or children) any property of theirs in your possession for which Allah has made you responsible (read as qiyaman and qiyaman) which you manage on their behalf knowing that they will waste it; but provide for them and feed and clothe them out of it, and speak to them correctly and courteously and give them their property when they are capable of dealing with it sensibly.

6. Keep a close check on orphans and test them before they reach adulthood and the age of responsibility in terms of their din and the disposal of their worldly affairs until they reach a marriageable age and reach puberty or the age of marriage, which is fifteen according to ash-Shafi; then if you perceive that they have sound judgement with regard to their din and ability to manage property, hand over their property to them. Do not, guardians, consume it extravagantly, illicitly and precipitately, before they come of age, hurrying to spend it out of the fear that they will grow up and you will have to hand it over. Those guardians who are wealthy should abstain from it altogether and should not spend any of it. Those who are poor should use it sensibly and correctly, taking some in payment for their guardianship. When you hand over their property to them (the orphans), ensure that there are witnesses on their behalf when you return their property to the orphans in your charge and are free of it so that there should not be any dispute and there will be evidence to it. This is guidance. Allah is enough as a Reckoner. He will call His creation to account and He knows their actions.

7. This was revealed to refute the custom in pre-Islamic times where-by women and children did not inherit. Men (sons and relatives) receive a share of what their deceased parents and relatives leave and women receive a share of what their parents and relative s leave – a fixed share, whether it be a little or a lot. They receive a defined share to relieve them of anxiety.

8. If other relatives who do not inherit or orphans or poor people attend the sharing-out of the inheritance, provide for them from it (give them something) and speak to them correctly and courteously, making the excuse to them that you do not own the property and that it is mainly for the children of the deceased. It is said that the judgement in this ayat has been abrogated and it is also said that it has not. But people are remiss if they fail to act on it. It is generally said to be recommended, although Ibn ‘Abbas says that it is mandatory.

9. People should show concern for orphans in the same way that they would fear for their own small children if they were to die leaving them behind, fearing destitution for them. They should be fearful of Allah regarding orphans and treat them as they would like their own descendants to be treated after them, and say words that are appropriate. Those present with someone who is dying should speak correctly to him by counselling him to give sadaqa of less than one third of his wealth and to leave the rest for his heirs so that they are not destitute.

10. People who consume the property of orphans wrongfully (with-out legal right) consume nothing in their bellies except fire, because that will lead them to it. They will roast in a Searing Blaze, a fierce fire in which they will burn.

11. Allah instructs and commands you regarding your children as was mentioned: a male among them gets the same as the share of two females. When they are together the male has half and the females share half between them. If there is one daughter, she has a third and the son has two-thirds. If he is the only child he gets the lot. If there are more than two daughters they get two-thirds of what you leave. If there are only daughters, even if there are only two, they receive two-thirds in accordance with the ayat, “If there are two sisters they receive two-thirds of what he leaves” (4:176) and also because a daughter is entitled to a third when she has one brother and so it is more fitting for to her receive the same when she has one sister. If she is one on her own she gets a half. Each of your parents get a sixth of what you leave if you have children, male or female. The term “parents” refers to both mothers and fathers, each of whom receives one sixth. Grandsons are equated with children and grandparents with parents. If you are childless and on your own or with a spouse, and your heirs are your parents, your mother gets a third after the spouses have taken their share and then the residue goes to the father. If you have brothers or sisters, more than one, male or female, your mother gets a sixth, and the father gets the rest, the siblings of the deceased receiving nothing, after paying any bequest you make or settling any debts. Bequests are paid before debts even if the debt was incurred after the bequest was made. With regard to your fathers and your sons, you do not know which of them is going to benefit you more in this world and the Next. It may be that a person thinks that their son is more beneficial and gives him the inheritance but then the father proves to be more beneficial, or vice versa. Allah is the One who knows that, and so allot them their due inheritance. These are obligatory shares from Allah. Allah is All-Knowing about His creation, All-Wise in managing it for them.

12. You get half of what your wives leave if they are childless, whether by you or other husbands. If they have children you get a quarter of what they leave after any bequest they make or any debts. There is consensus that this extends to the grandchildren. They (wives) get a quarter of what you leave if you are childless. If you have children, whether by them or other women, they get one eighth of what you leave after any bequest you make or any debts. There is consensus that this extends to the grandchildren. If a man or woman has no direct heirs, either parent or child, but has a brother or sister by the same mother (min umm, “from the mother” was actually read by Ibn Mas‘ud and others), each of them gets one sixth of the estate. If there are more (siblings by the mother) than that (one) they share in one third, brothers and sisters taking equal amounts, after any bequest you make or any debts, making sure that no one’s (none of the heirs‘) rights are prejudiced by a bequest of more than a third. This is an instruction from Allah which He commands you. Allah is All-Knowing of how to manage His creation in shares of inheritance, All- Forbearing by deferring punishment from those who oppose Him. The Sunna specifies that inheritance is withheld in the event of homicide, difference of religion or slavery.

13. These (judgements mentioned about orphans and inheritance) are Allah’s limits, the laws of Allah which He has defined for His slaves so that they should act by them and not overstep them. As for him who obeys Allah and His Messenger in His decrees, He will admit him (read as yu dkhilhu, “He will admit him” and nu khilhu, “We will admit him”) into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, forever. That is the Great Victory.

14. As for him who disobeys Allah and His Messenger and over -steps His limits, He will admit (a gain read as yu dkhilhu, “He will admit him” and nukhilhu, “We will admit him”) him into a Fire, to remain in it timelessly, forever. He will have a humiliating punishment.

15. If any of your women commit fornication, four of you (Muslim men) must be witnesses against them that they have committed it. If they bear witness, detain them in their homes and keep them from socialising with people until death releases them when the angels take their souls or Allah ordains another procedure for their case, some other way to emerge from their imprisonment. The Muslims were commanded to do that at the beginning of Islam and then Allah ordained flogging with one hundred lashes for virgins who fornicate and exiling them for a year, and for married women He prescribed stoning. A hadith clarified the penalty when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Take it from me. Allah has ordained another procedure for them.” (Muslim)

16. If two men (read as alladhni and alladhanni) commit a like abomination (fornication or sodomy), punish them by cursing them and beating them with sandals, and if they repent of it and reform their behaviour, leave them alone and do not harm them. Allah is Ever-returning towards those who repent, Most Merciful to them. This ayat was abrogated by the hadd punishment for fornication. That also applies to sodomy, according to ash-Shafi, but one who is guilty of it is not to be stoned, in his view, even if he has been married. He is to be flogged and exiled. The meaning here is more likely to be sodomy because of the grammatical use of the dual; but fornication is not excluded. They are alike in harm, and in the need for repentance and turning away. Men in particular are mentioned, because imprisonment for women was mentioned in the previous ayat.

17. Allah has prescribed for Himself that by His bounty He only accepts the repentance of those who do evil (an act of disobedience) in ignorance when they did not know that what they were doing was disobedience and then quickly repent of doing it before they die. Allah turns towards such people and accepts their repentance. Allah is All-Knowing of His creation, All-Wise in what He does to them.

18. There is no repentance for people who persist in doing evil (wrong actions) until death appears to them and they are on the point of death, and who then say when they see that they are dying, “Now I repent,” which is of no use and is not accepted, nor for people who die as unbelievers and who repent in the Next World when they see the punishment. That will certainly not be accepted from them. We have prepared for them a painful punishment.

19. You who believe! It is not lawful for you to inherit women by force (read as karhan and kurhan) if the women concerned object to it. In the time of Jahiliyyah people inherited their relatives’ wives. If they wished, they married them without dowry or married them and took their dowry and let them ransom themselves with what they inherited, or they would inherit from them when they died. They were now forbidden to do that. Nor may you treat them harshly by preventing such women from marrying others by keeping hold of them or having any desire to cause harm to them, so that you can make off with part of what you have given them by taking their dower – unless they commit an act of flagrant (read as mubayyina and mubayyana) indecency, unless they clearly commit adultery or disobey you, in order to force them to ransom themselves through akhul‘divorce. Live together with them correctly and courteously, with good words and giving them their maintenance and a place to live. If you dislike them, be patient, it may well be that you dislike something when Allah has placed a lot of good in it. Perhaps it is through them that you will have the blessing of a righteous child.

20. If you desire to exchange one wife for another through divorce, and have given your original wife a large amount in dowry, do not take any of it. Would you take it by means of slander (injustice) and downright crime (clear and evident wrongdoing)? The question in the following ayat is by way of rebuke and objection.

21. How could you take it in any way when you have been intimate with each other through sexual intercourse, which obliges payment of the dowry, and they have made a binding contract with you? The “contract” here refers to what Allah has commanded about keeping them correctly or letting them go with kindness.

22. Do not marry any women your fathers have already married –except for what took place in the past, which is overlooked. That (marrying them) is an indecent act, a loathsome thing and an evil way which incurs Allah’s anger and is evil behaviour.

23. Unlawful for you to marry are: your mothers, (and grandmothers on either side) your daughters (and granddaughters) and your sisters through either parent; your maternal aunts, the sisters of your mothers and grandmothers, and paternal aunts, the sisters of your fathers and grandfathers, your brothers’ daughters and your sisters’ daughters, including their children, your foster mothers who have suckled you, referring to suckling before the child is two years old at least five times, as the hadith states, your foster sisters by suckling, and the Sunna adds their daughters, and aunts and nieces according to the hadith, “Suckling makes unlawful what marriage makes unlawful” (al-Bukhari and Muslim), your wives’ mothers, your stepdaughters, daughters of your wife by a previous husband, who are under your protection and whom you are bringing up; the daughters of your wives you have had sexual relations with though if you have not had sexual relations with them there is nothing blameworthy for you in it then in marrying their daughters if you have divorced them; the wives of your sons whom you have fathered, not those you have adopted and cared for whose ex-wives you can marry, and marrying two sisters at the same time whether they are by blood or nursing, and the Sunna adds to this, marriage with a woman and her aunt although it is permitted to marry one on divorcing the other and to own two sisters as slaves provided you only have relations with one – except for what took place in the past before Islam, and you incur no sin in respect of that. Allah is Ever - Forgiving of what took place before the prohibition, Most Merciful to you in that respect.

24. And also forbidden to you are married women before their husbands have divorced them, free Muslims or not, except for slaves –except those you have taken in war as slaves. You may have relations with them if they have husbands in the Abode of War after istibra’ (the waiting period to ascertain whether they are pregnant). This is what Allah has prescribed for you. Apart from that He has made all other women lawful for you provided you seek them with your wealth through a dowry or ownership, in marriage and not in fornication. When you consummate your marriage with them, give them their prescribed dowry. There is nothing wrong in any further agreement you might come to with them after the dowry has been given which may involve lowering or increasing the amount of dowry agreed upon. Allah is All-Knowing of His creation, All-Wise in how He manages them.

25. If any of you do not have the means, in other words does not have sufficient money, to marry believing free women, you may marry believing slave girls. Allah knows best about your belief. It is enough in this context that belief consists of outward affirmation. Inward convictions are left to Allah, who alone knows what they are. This is to give consolation for having to marry slave girls. You are all the same in that respect (in respect of the din). You are equal in the din so do not be too proud to marry them. Marry them with their owners’ permission and give them their dowries correctly and courteously, without delay or decrease, as chaste married women, not in open fornication or taking them as secret lovers in fornication. When they are married (read as uhsinna and ahsanna), if they commit fornication they should receive half the punishment of free women. Slaves, male and female, receive half the punishment, so they receive fifty lashes and are exiled for six months. They are not to be stoned. This (marrying slave girls when lacking wealth) is for those of you who are afraid of committing fornication (‘anat). The root of ‘anat means “hardship” and fornication is so called that because it is the reason for the hadd and punishment in the Next World. The words “those of you” excludes those free men who do not fear fornication, and so it is not lawful for those who do not fear committing it to marry slaves, or for those with enough wealth to marry a free woman. That is the position of ash-Shafi. “Believing slave girls” excludes disbelieving women, whom it is not lawful to marry even if one lacks the financial means to marry and fears fornication. But being patient is better for you than marrying slave girls so that your child is not born as a slave. Allah is Ever- Forgiving, Most Merciful in granting you scope in that.

26. Allah desires to make things (the laws of your din and what is in your best interests) clear to you and to guide you to the practices of those Prophets before you who made things lawful and unlawful and so that you follow them as well, and to turn towards you to bring you back from disobedience to obedience. Allah is All-Knowing of you, All-Wise in what He manages for you.

27. Allah desires to turn towards you, but those who pursue their lower appetites among the Jews, Christians, Magians or fornicators desire to make you deviate completely and turn from the truth and commit what is forbidden to you, so that you will be the same as them.

28. Allah desires to make things lighter for you. He desires to light-en the decrees of the Shari’ah for you. Man was created too weak to refrain from women or the indulgence of his lower appetites.

29. You who believe! Do not consume one another’s property by false means, in other words in a way that is haram in the Shari’ah such as usury and misappropriation, but only by means of goods exchanged in mutually agreed trade. And do not kill yourselves by committing what will lead to your destruction in this world or the Next. Allah is Most Merciful to you in forbidding you to do that.

30. As for anyone who does that (the prohibited transactions referred to above) in enmity (purposefully transgressing the lawful) and wrongdoing out of injustice, We will roast him in a Fire which We will make him enter so that he burns in it. That is an easy matter for Allah.

31. If you avoid the serious wrong actions you have been forbidden to do, those which are reported with a threat, such as killing, fornication and theft and Ibn ‘Abbas said, “They are closer to seven hundred”, We will erase your bad actions (minor wrong actions) from you through your obedience, and admit (read as madkhalan or mudkhalan, meaning the action of admitting you or the place to which you are admitted, which is Paradise) you by a Gate of Honour.

32. Do not covet what Allah has given to some of you in preference to others in either this world or the din, so as not to allow that to lead to mutual envy and hatred – men have a portion of what they acquire by jihad and other things and women have a portion of what they acquire, as a reward for obeying their husbands and guarding their private parts. This was revealed when Umm Salama said, “We wish we had been men so we could perform jihad and have a reward like that of men.” But ask Allah for His bounty which you need. Allah has knowledge of everything, including where to bestow bounty and what you ask for.

33. We have appointed heirs for everything that parents and relatives leave. ‘Asaba are paternal kin and they inherit what is left over of the estate. If you have a bond (read as ‘aqadat and ‘aqadat) with people, give them their share. “A bond” refers to an alliance formed with people in pre-Islamic times for help and inheritance. Their share is a sixth. Allah is Witness of everything. He is aware of you and your states. This ruling was abrogated by Allah’s later words about inheritance.

34. Men have charge of women by teaching and taking charge because Allah has preferred the one above the other in terms of knowledge, intelligence and custody, and because they (men) spend their wealth on them (women) in maintenance. Right-acting women are obedient to their husbands, safeguarding their husbands’ interests and their private parts in their absence as Allah has guarded them through their husbands when they are there. If there are women whose disobedience you fear, you may admonish them and make them fear Allah, refuse to sleep with them and go to another bed, and then beat them, but not hard if the other courses of action do not work. But if they obey you do not look for a way to punish them (beating them unjustly). Allah is All-High, Most Great. Beware lest Allah punish you for behaving unjustly towards them.

35. If you fear or know of a breach between a couple, send with their consent an arbiter who is fair from his people (his relatives) and an arbiter from her people. The husband delegates to his arbiter authority to carry out the divorce or to accept compensation, and the wife delegates to her arbiter authority to carry out khul‘. The arbiters argue it out and command the one in the wrong to desist, or else they disagree. Allah says: If the two of them (the arbiters) desire to put things right, Allah will bring about reconciliation between them (the couple) in other words enable them to obey by putting things right or separating. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware of the inward and outward of people.

36. Worship Allah and affirm His oneness and do not attribute partners to Him. Be good and dutiful and gentle to your parents and relatives and to orphans and the very poor, and to neighbours who are related to you or close to you, and neighbours who are not related to you or are far from you, and to companions, friends on a journey or at work or a wife, and travellers and your slaves. Allah does not love anyone vain or boastful to others about what they have been given.

37. As for those who are stingy in respect of what they are obliged to give and command other people to be stingy, and hide the bounty Allah has given them of knowledge and wealth (the Jews), We have prepared a humiliating punishment for those who disbelieve… It is a strong threat against them.

38. …and also for those who spend their wealth to show off to people, not believing in Allah and the Last Day, such as the hypocrites and the people of Makka. Anyone who has Shaytan as his comrade and acts by his command like these people, what an evil comrade he is!

39. What harm would it have done them to believe in Allah and the Last Day and give of what Allah has provided for them? The question implies a negative answer, meaning that there would, of course, be no harm. Allah knows everything about them and will repay them for what they do.

40. Allah does not wrong anyone by so much as the weight of the smallest mote (the smallest ant), meaning that their good actions will not be decreased in the slightest or their evil actions increased. And if there is a good deed, even the size of a mote, done by a believer, Allah will multiply it (read as yud‘ifh and yuda’ifh) between ten and seven hundred times and as well as that will pay out an immense reward directly from Him which no one can calculate.

41. How will it be when We bring a witness from every nation and bring you, Muhammad, as a witness against them? What will the state of the unbelievers be when We bring a Prophet from their community who will testify against them?

42. On that day when it arrives, those who disbelieved and disobeyed the Messenger will wish that they were one with the level earth. They will wish that they were dust like the earth because of the terrible terror, as we read in another ayat, “And the unbeliever will say, “Oh, if only I were dust!” (78:40). They will not be able to hide any occurrence from Allah. Then they will not be able to con-ceal anything they did even though they may have done so from others when they first did it.

43. O you who believe! Do not approach the prayer, in other words do not pray, when you are drunk so that you know what you are saying (until you are sober) … The reason this ayat was revealed was that some people would join the group prayer while drunk. …or in a state of major impurity due to sexual intercourse or ejaculation – unless you are travelling on a journey – until you have washed yourselves completely. Then you can pray. An exception is made for travellers because they have a different ruling, which will be mentioned. It is also said that what is meant is entering places of worship, such as mosques, in that state, except while travelling or passing through without staying. If you are ill in such a way that using water will be harmful to you or on a journey and you are in janaba or have broken wudu’, or any of you have come from the lavatory or touched (read as l mastum and lamastum) women, and both words mean touching with the hand, as Ibn ‘Umar said and ash-Shafi believes, and that extends to the rest of the skin. Ibn ‘Abbas says that it means sexual intercourse, and you cannot find any water with which to purify yourself for the prayer after having looked for it and searched thoroughly (except in the case of the person who is ill), then do tayammum with pure earth when the time for prayer has arrived, wiping your faces and your hands to the elbows. Allah is Ever-Pardoning, Ever-Forgiving.

44. Do you not see those who were given a portion of the Book (the Jews) trading in misguidance (exchanging guidance for it) and wanting you to be misguided from the way so that you would be like them?

45. Allah knows best who your enemies are. He informs you of them so that you can avoid them. Allah is enough for you as Protector against them. Allah is enough as Helper to defend you against their devices.

46. Some of the Jews distort and change the true meaning of words which Allah revealed in the Torah about the description of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when he commands them to do something, “We hear what you say and disobey your order,” and “Listen without listening,” in other words “I have not heard,” and they say to him, “Ra‘ina!” an expression which they were forbidden to use to address him since it was a curse in their language, twisting them with their tongues, disparaging and attacking the din of Islam. If they had said, “We hear and we obey,” instead of “disobey” and only “Listen,” and, “Undhurna!” instead of “Ra‘ina!” that would have been better for them than what they said and more upright and just. But Allah has cursed them and put them far from His mercy for their unbelief. Very few of them, such as‘Abdullah ibn Salam and his companions, are believers.

47. You who have been given the Book! Believe in what We have sent down (the Qur’an) confirming what is with you (the Torah), before We obliterate faces, eyes, nose and eyebrows, turning them inside out and make the face like a blank sheet, or We curse you by transforming you into monkeys as We cursed the Companions of the Sabbath by so transforming them. Allah’s command is always carried out. When this was revealed ‘Abdullah ibn Salam became Muslim. It is said that it is a conditional threat and that when some of them became Muslim that threat was removed. It is said that the obliteration and transmogrification it refers to will take place at the end of time.

48. Allah does not forgive partners being attributed to Him; but He forgives whomever He wills to be forgiven for anything (wrong actions) apart from that, so that he enters the Garden without punishment, and He will punish any of the believers He wishes for their sins and then admit them to the Garden after that. Anyone who attributes partners to Allah has committed a terrible crime.

49. Do you not see those who claim to be purified? This refers to the Jews who say, “We are the sons of Allah and His loved ones.” (5:18), signifying that they do not need to be purified. No, Allah purifies whomever He wills through true belief. They will not be wronged by so much as the smallest mote. They will not be wronged in any way at all.

50. Look in amazement at how they invent lies against Allah by doing that. That is enough as an outright and clear felony.

51. This was revealed about Ka‘b ibn al-Ashraf and other Jewish scholars when they went to Makka and were made aware of those killed at Badr, and they encouraged the idolaters to take revenge and fight the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Do you not see those who were given a portion of the Book believing in idols and false gods, the idols of Quraysh, and saying of those who disbelieve, referring to Abu Sufyan and his people when they said to them, “Who is more guided: us, when we are the guardians of the House and give water to pilgrims, hospitality to guests and ransom captives, or Muhammad, who opposes the din of his fathers and cuts himself off from his own kin?” “These people (you) are better guided and straighter on their path than the believers?”

52. Those are the ones Allah has cursed. And if someone is cursed by Allah you will not find any helper for him against the punishment of Allah when it comes.

53. Or do they indeed really own a portion of the Kingdom? They possess none of the kingdom at all. In that case they do not give so much as a scrap to other people because of their extreme miserliness! “A scrap” (naqır) is something insignificant. The word means the spot on the back of a date-stone and is used to designate the smallest of things.

54. Or do they in fact envy other people (the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace) for the bounty Allah has granted them? This means Prophet hood and having many wives, meaning that they wanted to remove Prophet hood from him and say, “If he was really a Prophet, he would not be occupied with women.” We gave the family of Ibrahim such as Musa, Dawud and Sulayman, the Book and Wisdom and Prophet hood, and We gave them an immense kingdom. Dawud had ninety-nine wives and Sulayman had a hundred.

55. Some of them believe in him (Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and some bar access to him, turning away and refusing to believe in him. Hell will be enough as a Searing Blaze, the punishment for those who do not believe.

56. As for those who reject Our Signs, We will roast them in a Fire and put them into it, where they will burn. Every time their skins are burned off, We will replace them with new skins, making them revert to their unburned state, so that they can taste the punishment and so that it will be even severer for them. Allah is Almighty and has the power to do anything, All-Wise in His creation.

57. But as for those who believe and do right actions, We will admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, forever without end. In them they will have spouses of perfect purity, purified of menstruation and every other kind of impurity, and We will admit them into cool, refreshing shade. The shade of the Garden is constant and not changed by the sun; it lasts forever.

58. Allah commands you to return to their owners the things you hold on trust, the rights which one has been entrusted with. This ayat was revealed when ‘Ali seized the key of the Ka‘ba from ‘Uthman ibn Talha, its keeper, when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, conquered Makka at the Conquest and he refused to give it to him. ‘Uthman said, “If I had recognised him as the Messenger of Allah, I would not have refused to give it to him.” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered ‘Ali to return it to him and said, “That prerogative is yours forever.” ‘Uthman liked that and then the Prophet recited this ayat to him and he became Muslim. When he died, he gave the key to his brother Shayba and it remained with his descendants. Although there was a particular reason for the revelation of this ayat, its meaning is made general by the use of the plural. And, when you judge between people, to judge with justice. He commands you to judge. How excellent is what Allah exhorts you to do! Allah’s command regarding handing over trusts and judging with justice is excellent. Allah is All-Hearing of what is said, All-Seeing of what is done.

59. You who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in command among you (rulers when they command you to obey Allah and His Messenger). If you have a dispute and disagree about something, refer it back to the Book of Allah and the Messenger himself, while he was alive, and then to his Sunna, in order to search out the right answer, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. That (referring to the Book and Sunna) is the best thing to do and has the best result. That is better than dispute and speaking from mere opinion.

60. This ayat was revealed when a Jew and hypocrite quarrelled and the hypocrite called for Ka‘b ibn al-Ashraf to judge between them and the Jew called on the Prophet. They came to him and he judged for the Jew, but the hypocrite was not satisfied. They went to ‘Umar with the same question and the Jew mentioned the Prophet’s judgement to him. He asked the hypocrite “Is that true?” “Yes,” he replied, and so ‘Umar killed him. Do you not see those who claim that they believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you, still desiring to turn to a satanic source for judgement, with great transgression, namely to Ka‘b ibn al-Ashraf, in spite of being ordered to reject it and not to follow it? Shaytan wants to misguide them far away from the truth.

61 When they are told, “Come to what Allah has sent down, of the judgement of the Qur’an, and to the Messenger to judge between you,” you see the hypocrites turning away from you completely and turning to others.

62. How will it be and what will they do when a disaster and punishment strikes them because of what they have done by way of disbelief and disobedience: will they then be able to turn away and flee from it? No. They turn away and then they come to you swearing by Allah, “By taking judgement to someone else, we desired nothing but good and reconciliation between two opponents by making the judgement easy rather than burdensome.”

63. Allah knows what is in such people’s hearts of hypocrisy and lies in their excuses, so turn away from them and overlook and warn them and make them fear Allah, and speak to them with words that have an effect on them so as to make them revert from their unbelief.

64. We sent no Messenger except to be obeyed in his commands and decrees by Allah’s permission and His command. So he should not be disobeyed or opposed. If only when they wronged themselves by going to a satanic source for judgement (see 4:60 above), they had come to you in repentance and asked Allah’s forgiveness and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Ever-returning to them, Most Merciful towards them.

65. No, by your Lord, they are not believers until they make you their judge in the disputes that break out between them, and then find no resistance, nor any doubt or constriction, within themselves to what you decide but submit themselves completely and will obey your judgements without objection.

66. If We had prescribed for them to kill themselves or leave their homes, as We had prescribed for the tribe of Israel, they would not have done so (what was prescribed for them) except for a very few. But if they had done what they were urged to do (obey the Messenger), it would have been better for them and far more strengthening for their faith.

67. In that case (if they had been firm), We would have paid them an immense reward from Us (the Garden).

68. And We would have guided them on a straight path. Some of the Companions asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “How will we see you in the Garden when you are in the high degrees and we are in the lower?” Then the following ayat was revealed.

69. Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger in what he commands will be with those whom Allah has blessed: the Prophets, the men of truth, who are the best Companions of the Prophets because of their great truthfulness and sincerity, the martyrs killed in the Way of Allah, and the righteous not in the above categories. What excellent company such people are! They are companions in the Garden because in it they will enjoy seeing them and visiting them and being together with them. They abide in higher degrees than those who visit them there.

70. That (being with those companions) is favour from Allah bestowed on them because of their obedience to Him. Allah is enough as a Knower of the reward of the Next World, so trust in what He tells you about it. None can inform as well as someone who is fully aware.

71. You who believe! Take all necessary precautions against the enemy, meaning beware of them and be always on the alert regarding them, then go out to fight in separate groups one after another or go out together as one body.

72. Among you are people who hang back from fighting, such as ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy the Hypocrite and his companions, and if you encounter a setback such as loss of life or defeat, they then say, “Allah has blessed me in that I was not there with them and was not wounded.”

73. But if you encounter favour from Allah such as a victory or booty, they say in regret, as if there were (read as takun and yakun) no friendship, recognition and friendship, between you and them, referring back to “Allah has blessed me…” This is an interjection. “Oh! If only I had been with them so that I too might have won a great victory and received a large share of booty.”

74. So let those who sell the life of this world for the Next World fight in the Way of Allah to make the din of Allah victorious. If someone fights in the Way of Allah, whether he is killed and martyred or is victorious over the enemy, We will pay him an immense reward.

75. This is an example of a question which is reality a rebuke, meaning there is nothing that could justifiably keep you from fighting. What reason could you have for not fighting in the Way of Allah, and for the sake of delivering those men, women and children who are oppressed and are kept by the unbelievers from emigrating and Ibn ‘Abbas said, “I and my mother were among them,” and say in supplication, “Our Lord, remove us from this city (Makka) whose inhabitants are wrongdoers by their disbelief! Give us a protector from You to take care of us! Give us a helper from You to defend us against our oppressors!” Allah answered their supplication and made it easy for some of them to leave; the rest remained until Makka was conquered. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, appointed ‘Attab ibn Usayb to redress the injustices they had suffered.

76. Those who believe fight in the Way of Allah. Those who disbelieve fight in the way of false gods (Shaytan). So fight the friends of Shaytan and be helpers of Allah’s din so that you can overcome them, since your strength is by Allah. Shaytan’s scheming against the believers is always feeble, weak in the face of Allah’s scheming against the unbelievers.

77. Do you not see those who were told: “Hold back from fighting the disbelievers,” when a group of Companions asked the Prophet in Makka to give them permission to injure the disbelievers which was not granted, “but establish the prayer and pay zakat”? Then when fighting is prescribed for them, a group of them fear people’s punishment (that the unbelievers would kill them) as the punishment of Allah should be feared, or even more than that. They say in fear of death, “Our Lord, why have you prescribed fighting for us? If only You would give us just a little more time!” Say to them, “The enjoyment of this world (referring to things enjoyed in it or to the enjoyment itself) is very brief and soon vanishes. The Next World, meaning the Garden, is better for those who are god fearing and fear the punishment of Allah, abandoning disobedience. You will not be wronged (read as tuzlamuna, “ You will not be wronged” and yuzlamuna, “they will not be wronged) by so much as the smallest mote.” The reward for your actions will not be decreased in the least, so strive your hardest.

78. Wherever you are, death will catch up with you, even if you are in impregnable fortresses. So do not fear fighting for fear that you might be killed. If a good thing happens to them (the Jews), such as a good harvest and wealth, they say, “This has come from Allah.” If a bad thing happens to them, such as drought and poverty, which happened when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to Madina, they say, “This has come from you, Muhammad, because you bring bad luck.” Say to them, “Everything, both good and bad, comes from Allah.” What is the matter with these people that they scarcely understand a single word? Why do these people almost not understand anything said to them? This question demonstrates astonishment at their excessive ignorance.

79. Any good thing that happens to you, O human being, comes from Allah as a favour to you. Any bad thing, any affliction, that happens to you comes from yourself because of your wrong actions which have brought it on you. We have sent you, Muhammad, to mankind as a Messenger. Allah is enough as a Witness to your Message.

80. Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah. If anyone turns away from obeying you, do not be concerned with him, We did not send you to them as their keeper over their actions. You are a warner, what happens to them is up to Us, and We will repay them. This applied before the command came to fight.

81. When Allah’s command comes to them, they (the hypocrites) have the words “Obedience to you!” on their tongues, but when they leave your presence, a group of them spend the night plotting to do something other than what you say. [Or it could mean, what they (the group) say in your presence.] Allah is recording (commanding that it be recorded) their nocturnal plotting in their pages so that they can be repaid. So let them be and excuse them and put your trust in Allah. Allah is enough as a Guardian so entrust your affairs to Him.

82. Will they not reflect on the Qur’an and consider the wondrous meanings it contains? If it had been from someone other than Allah, they would have found many inconsistencies in it regarding its meanings and multi-faceted order.

83. When news of any matter about the expeditions of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reaches them they spread it about and make it known, whether it is of a reassuring (a victory) or disquieting nature (a defeat). This was revealed about a group of hypocrites or weak believers who used to blurt things out when they heard them, to weaken the hearts of the believers and injure the Prophet. If they had only referred it (the news) to the Messenger and those in command among them, those with influence among the great Companions, remaining silent until they had been told about it, those among them able to discern the truth about it, meaning the Messenger and those in command, would have had proper knowledge of it. If it were not for Allah’s favour to you through Islam and His mercy through the Qur’an, all but a very few of you would have followed Shaytan in the foul actions he commands.

84. So fight, Muhammad, in the way of Allah. You are only answerable for yourself. Do not be concerned if they stay behind you. The meaning is: “Fight, even if you have to do it on your own. You are promised victory.” And spur on the believers to fight and encourage them to do it. It may well be that Allah will curb the force (warring) against you of those who disbelieve. Allah has greater force than them and greater power to punish them. T h e Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “By the One who has my life in His hand, I will go out, even alone.” So seventy riders went to Lesser Badr and Allah lessened the danger from the unbelievers by casting fear into their hearts so that Abu Sufyan refused to go out, as was mentioned in Sura al‘Imran.

85. Those people who join forces for the good which is in accordance with the Shari’ah will receive a reward for it. Those who join forces for the bad will be answerable for it and have a portion of the burden. Allah gives everything what it deserves, and repays every-one for what they did.

86. When you are greeted with a greeting, as when someone says “Peace be upon you” to you, greet the one who greeted you with one better than it or return it, by saying, “Peace be upon you and the mercy and blessings of Allah,” or you can simply reply the same, but the more ample greeting is better. Allah takes account of everything and repays it; and that includes returning greetings. The sunna specifies that you should not return the greeting of an unbeliever, innovator, deviant, or someone who greets you while you are answering a call of nature; and those in the bath or eating are also absolved from replying. It is said that replying is disliked in other than the last case. One says to the unbeliever, “And on you.”

87. Allah – there is no god but Him. He will gather you from your graves to the Day of Rising about which there is no doubt. And whose speech could be truer than Allah’s? No one’s speech is more truthful.

88. When the people returned from Uhud, they differed about the hypocrites. Some said that they should be killed and others said no. Then this ayat was revealed. Why is it that you have become two parties regarding the hypocrites, when Allah has returned them to unbelief for what they did of unbelief and disobedience? Do you desire to guide people Allah has misguided, meaning to consider them among the guided? Both questions in this ayat imply a negative reply. When Allah misguides someone, you will not find a way to guidance for him.

89. They would like and wish you to disbelieve as they have disbelieved so that you and them would all be the same in respect of unbelief. Do not take any of them as friend’s eve n if they display belief until they have emigrated in the Way of Allah with a genuine emigration which verifies their faith. But if they run away and stay as they are, then seize them as captives and kill them wherever you find them. Do not take any of them either as a friend or as a helper to help you against your enemy.

90. Except for those who seek shelter with people with whom you have a treaty which gives security to them and those who seek refuge with them; which is the kind of treaty the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made with Hilal ibn ‘Umaymir al-Aslami, or who come to you with their breasts constricted at the thought of fighting either you with their people or their own people with you, and so they do not fight you. Do not turn towards them with the intention of capture or killing. The next part of the verse was abrogated by the Ayat of the Sword. If Allah had willed, He could have given them the upper hand over you by making their hearts strong and then they would have fought you, but He did not and instead cast fear into their hearts. If they keep away from you and do not fight you, offering a truce, and submit to you, Allah has not given you any way against such people to seize and kill them.

91. You will find others who desire to be safe from you by making a display of belief among you and safe from their own people b y claiming to be unbelievers when they return to them. The people referred to here were Asad and Ghatafan. Each time they are returned to idolatry (fitna, meaning shirk) they are overwhelmed by it and are in a worse position. If they do not keep away from you by not fighting you or submit to you or refrain from fighting y o u, seize them by taking them into captivity and kill them wherever you find them. Over such people We have given you clear authority, clear evidence to kill them because of their treachery.

92. A believer should never kill another believer unless it is by mistake. Homicide of a believer must only take place unintentionally, such as might happen when hunting or by hitting someone with what would normally be a non-fatal blow. In that case, anyone who kills a believer by mistake should free a believing slave and pay blood-money to his family, the heirs of the victim, unless they forgo it as sadaqa and pardon the killer. It is clear that the Sunnis consider the amount of blood money to be one hundred camels: twenty two year old camels, twenty three year old females, twenty three year old males, twenty four year olds, and twenty five year olds. They are paid by the tribe (‘aqila) of the killer, who are his male relatives (‘asaba), and are distributed over three years. The wealthy pay half a dinar and the moderately wealthy a quarter every year. If that is impossible, then the wrongdoer must pay it. If he is from a people who are your enemies and is a believer, you should free a believing slave. The killer then owes kaffara rather than blood money paid to the family since they are enemies. If he (the victim) is from a people with whom you have a treaty, as with the people of the dhimma, then blood money should be paid to his family, and the blood money is one third of that of a believer if the victim is a Jew or Christian, and three tenths if it is a Magian, and you (the killer) should free a believing slave. If one cannot free a slave, then any -one who cannot find the means should fast for two consecutive months as kaffara for it. Allah did not mention moving on to feeding as in the zihar divorce. Ash-Shafi takes that in the sounder of two positions. This is a concession from Allah. Allah is All-Knowing of His creation, All-Wise in how He manages them.

93. As for anyone who kills a believer deliberately, with the intention of doing so and knowing that he is a believer, his repayment is Hell, remaining in it timelessly, forever. Allah is angry with him and has cursed him, and has put him far from His mercy by His curse, and has prepared for him a terrible punishment in the Fire. This is interpreted as applying to anyone who desired it or as being his repayment if he is repaid. There is no contradiction here of Allah’s words: “He forgives what is less than that for whomever He wishes.” (4:48) Ibn ‘Abbas said that this threat should be taken literally but that it is mitigated by other ayats of forgiveness. The ayats of Sura al-Baqara about murder (2:178-9) make it clear that a deliberate murderer should be killed in retaliation for his crime but that blood money is acceptable if he is pardoned. The amount is clear. The Sunna clarifies what happens if the homicide is quasi-deliberate or by mistake, which is when someone is killed in a way which would not normally prove fatal, in which case there is no retaliation and blood money is paid.

94. This is a reference to an occasion when some Companions stopped a man of the Banu Sulaym who was driving some sheep. He greeted them, but they said, “You have only said you are Muslim out of fear,” and killed him and drove off his sheep. O you who believe! When you go out to fight in jihad in the Way of Allah verify things carefully (read as tabayyanu and in one case tathabbatu). Do not say, “You are not a believer”, accusing him of declaring himself a Muslim merely to protect his life and property, to someone who greets you as a Muslim (lit. gives you the salam or salam), simply out of desire for the goods of this world, killing him out of desire for booty. The Muslim greeting, or saying the shahada, are sufficient evidence that a person is Muslim. In Allah’s keeping there is booty in abundance. Allah’s abundant generosity will dispense with your having to kill people like that for their property. That is the way you were before; protecting your lives and property by simply saying the shahada, but Allah has been kind to you by making belief and righteousness the norm. So verify things carefully. Take stock of the situation before acting, in case you kill a believer and act towards someone who has entered Islam as you used to do in the days before Islam. Allah is aware of what you do and will reward you.

95. Those believers who stay behind from jihad – other than those forced by necessity due to chronic illness, blindness and the like –are not the same as those who do jihad in the way of Allah, sacrificing their wealth and themselves. Allah has given those who do jihad with their wealth and themselves a higher rank than those who stay behind except for those who do so out of necessity, since they are equal in the intention with those who go out. Allah has promised the Best (the Garden) to both groups, but Allah has preferred those who do jihad over those who stay behind without necessity by an immense reward:

96. … high ranks, one above the other, conferred by Him as well as forgiveness and mercy. Allah is Ever - Forgiving to His friends, Most Merciful to those who obey Him.

97. This was revealed about a group who became Muslim and did not emigrate and then were killed at Badr with the unbelievers. The angels ask in rebuke those they take while they are wronging them -selves by staying among unbelievers and not making hijra “What were your circumstances?” “What were you doing about your din?” They reply to excuse themselves, “We were oppressed on earth, unable to establish the din in Makka.” They (the angels) say to censure them, “Was Allah’s earth not wide enough for you to have emigrated elsewhere in it, to have left the land of the unbelievers for another land as others did?”Allah Almighty says: The shelter of such people will be Hell. What an evil journey’s end!

98 . Except for those men, women and children who really are oppressed and do not have any other possibility, such as the physical capacity to emigrate or sufficient funds, and are not guided to any way to emigrate.

99. It may well be that Allah will pardon them. Allah is Ever -Pardoning, Ever-Forgiving.

100. Those who emigrate in the Way of Allah will find many places of refuge in the earth to which to emigrate and ample sustenance and provision. If anyone leaves his home, emigrating to Allah and His Messenger, and death catches up with him on the way, as it did with al-Jundu‘ ibn Damra al-Laythi, it is Allah who will reward him. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

101. When you are travelling in the land, there is nothing wrong in your shortening the prayer, by turning four rak‘ats into two, if you fear that those who disbelieve might harass you, that an enemy will harm you. The unbelievers are your manifest enemies. The unbelievers are mentioned to clarify the situation. The Sunna makes it clear that this only applies to a journey of forty-eight miles or more, which are two stages. The use of the expression “nothing wrong” means that this is a dispensation (rukhsa), which is the position of ash-Shafi.

102. When you are with them and you fear the enemy, and you are leading them in the prayer, a group of them should stand with you while the other group stands behind, while those standing with you are keeping hold of their weapons. When they prostrate in the prayer, the others should be behind you on guard until this group finish the prayers. Then those who have prayed go to guard, and then the other group who have not prayed should come and pray with you. They too should be careful and keep hold of their weapons until they finish the prayer. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed like that at Batn Nakhl as both Muslim and al-Bukhari relate. Those who disbelieve would like you to be negligent of your arms and equipment when you pray so that they can swoop down on you in attack once and for all. This is the reason for the command to keep your weapons. There is nothing wrong, if you are bothered by rain or you are ill, in laying your weapons down and not holding them. This means it is obligatory to keep them by you when there is no excuse. That is one of the two opinions of ash-Shafi. The second is that it is sunna, which has more weight. But take every precaution against the enemy as much as you can. Allah has prepared a humiliating punishment for the unbelievers.

103. When you have finished the prayer remember Allah by saying “la ilaha illa ’llah” and glorifying Him standing, sitting and lying on your sides; in other words in every state. When you are safe again do the prayer in the normal way. The prayer is prescribed for the believers at set times and should not be delayed. It was revealed when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent a group to look for Abu Sufyan and his companions when they returned from Uhud and were suffering from wounds.

104. Do not relax and weaken in pursuit of the enemy, (the unbelievers) in seeking to fight them. If you feel pain from wounds, they too are feeling it just as you are from the wounds they suffered in fighting you, but you hope for something from Allah they cannot hope for: victory and reward. So you have more than they have and should be more eager than they are for the fight. Allah is All-Knowing of all things, All-Wise in what He does.

105. Ta’ma ibn Abayriq stole some armour and hid it with a Jew. When it was found in his possession, Ta’ma accused him of stealing it and swore that he himself had not stolen it. His clan asked the Prophet to argue for him to prove his innocence, and then this was revealed. We have sent down the Book (the Quran) to you with the Truth so that you can judge between people according to what Allah has shown to you and taught you. But do not be an advocate for the treacherous like Ta‘ma.

106. And ask Allah’s forgiveness for what was intended. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

107. Do not argue on behalf of those who betray themselves by acts of rebellion, the effects of which will rebound on them. Allah does not love any evildoing traitors. He will punish them.

108. They (Ta‘ma and his cronies) try to conceal themselves out of shame from people, but they cannot conceal themselves from Allah. He is with them with His knowledge when they spend the night saying things which are not pleasing to Him. That situation occurred when they resolved to lie about stealing and attribute it to the Jew. Allah encompasses everything they do in knowledge.

109. Here you (Ta‘ma’s clan) are arguing on their behalf (Ta‘ma and his cronies) in this world, but who will argue with Allah on their behalf on the Day of Rising when He punishes them? W h o will act as guardian for them then? Who will look after them and protect them? No one will be able to.

110. Anyone who does evil by which he wrongs another, as Ta‘ma did in accusing the Jew, or wrongs himself by committing a wrong action which is confined to himself, and then repents and asks Allah’s forgiveness for it will find Allah Ever - Forgiving, Most Merciful to him.

111. If anyone commits an evil action, the responsibility for it is his alone because it rebounds on him and does not harm any o n e else. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise in what He does.

112. Anyone who commits an error (a minor wrong action) or an evil action (a major wrong action) and then ascribes it to someone who is innocent bears the weight of slander and clear wrongdoing for what he did.

113. Were it not for Allah’s favour to you, Muhammad, and His mercy, meaning protection here, a group of them, the people with Ta‘ma, would almost have managed to mislead you from judging by the truth by confusing you about what happened. But they mislead no one but themselves and do not harm you at all because the evil effects of their misguidance will rebound back on themselves. Allah has sent down the Book (the Quran) and Wisdom (the rulings it contains) to you and taught you what you did not know before, referring to rulings and matters of the Unseen. Allah’s favour to you by doing that and other things is indeed immense.

114. There is no good in much of their secret talk – what people gather together to talk about privately – except in the case of those who enjoin sadaqa, or what is right, or putting things right between people. If anyone does that, seeking the pleasure of Allah and none of the rewards of this world, We will give him an immense r e ward (read as nu’tihi, “We will give him” and yu’tihi, “He will give him”).

115. But if anyone opposes the Messenger regarding what Allah has revealed of the Truth after the guidance and Truth has become clear to him through the witnessing of miracles, and, by disbelieving, follows other than the path of the believers, which is that of following the din, We will hand him over to whatever he has turned to, to his misguidance and leave him to it in this world, and We will admit him to the Fire in the Next World and roast him in Hell. What an evil destination to return to!

116. Allah does not forgive partners being attributed to Him, but He forgives whomever He wills for anything apart from that. Anyone who attributes partners to Allah has gone far from the Truth into misguidance.

117. What they call on and what the idolaters worship apart from Him are female idols such as al-Lat, al-‘Uzza and al-Manat. What they call on in their worship is an arrogant disobedient shaytan (Iblis) whom they follow in his disobedience to Allah …

118. …whom Allah has cursed, putting him far from Allah’s mercy. He (Shaytan) said, “I will take a definite portion of Your slaves whom I will call to obey me.

119. I will lead them astray from the truth by whisperings and fill them with false hopes, filling their hearts with desire for long life and to be resurrected without reckoning. I will command them and they will cut off the ears of cattle following the superstition of the bahira (see Glossary). I will command them and they will change Allah’s creation, change Allah’s din by unbelief and by making lawful what Allah has made unlawful and unlawful what is lawful.” Anyone who takes Shaytan as his protector and obeys Shaytan instead of Allah has clearly lost everything and will certainly end up eternally in the Fire.

120. He makes promises to them of long lives and fills them with false hopes of this world and that there will no resurrection or reckoning. But what Shaytan promises them in that way is nothing but false delusion.

121. The shelter of such people will be Hell. They will find no escape route from it.

122. But as for those who believe and do right actions, We will admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, forever without end. Allah’s promise is true. Allah’s promise is a true promise which will certainly come to pass. Whose speech could be truer than Allah’s?

123. This was revealed when the Muslims and People of the Book were boasting against one another. It is not a matter of wishful thinking on your part and not theoretical, or of the wishful thinking of the People of the Book. It is by righteous action. Anyone who does evil will be repaid for either in the Next World or in this world by affliction through trials, as is reported in hadiths. He will not find any protector to preserve him or helper to defend him besides Allah.

124. Anyone, male or female, who does right actions and is a believer, will enter the Garden. They will not be wronged by as much as the tiniest mote. “Tiniest mote” (naqir) refers to the size of the spot on a date stone.

125. Who, here meaning no one, has a better din than someone who submits himself completely to Allah and makes his actions sincere and is a good-doer (someone who affirms the unity of Allah) and follows the religion of Ibrahim, which is in harmony with the din of Islam, a man of pure natural belief, inclining from all other religions to the true din. Allah took Ibrahim as an intimate friend. An “intimate friend” is one who is sincere in his love.

126. Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Allah. It is all His property, His creation and His creatures. Allah encompasses everything in knowledge and power. Such is His constant attribute.

127. They will ask you for a definitive ruling, a fatwa about women and their inheritance. Say to them, “Allah gives you a definitive ruling about them; and also what is recited to you in the Book (the Qur’an) of the ayats of inheritance, and He also gives you a ruling about orphan girls to whom you do not give the inheritance they are owe d in the way prescribed for them, while at the same time desiring to marry them, and you, guardians, do not desire to marry them because they are unattractive but want to prevent them from marrying because you desire their inheritance. He gives you a d e finite ruling that you should not do that, and also about young children who are denied their rights; and He also commands that you should act justly with respect to orphans regarding inheritance and dowries.” Whatever good you do, Allah knows it and will repay you for it.

128. If a woman fears cruelty, referring to unkindness perpetrated by her husband by not sleeping with her and refusing to give her sufficient maintenance for her needs because he dislikes her and has his eye on someone more beautiful, or aversion on her husband’s part, there is nothing wrong in the couple becoming reconciled (read as yuslih and yassala˛ ) in terms of agreeing to equitable division of time and maintenance, although it is also possible for a woman to forgo something if she agrees to that in exchange for the continued companionship of her husband. Otherwise the husband must give her full due or divorce her. Reconciliation is better than separation or aversion. Allah then clarifies the natural tendencies of the human character: But people are prone to selfish greed (intense miserliness which is intrinsic to human beings). What is being referred to is a kind of quality that is an inseparable part of the human character. It means that it is very difficult for a woman to forgo her portion and very difficult for a man to give it up when he loves another. If you do good to women and are god-fearing, fearing to be unjust to them, Allah is aware of everything you do and will repay you for it.

129. You will not be able to be completely fair between your wives with respect to love, however hard you try to do so. But do not be completely partial to the one you love more regarding division of time and maintenance so as to leave a wife, as it were, suspended in midair, like a widow rather than a married woman. And if you make amends by being just in the division and are god fearing by avoiding injustice, Allah is Ever - Forgiving about the bias which happened before, Most Merciful to you in that regard.

130. If a couple do separate by divorce, Allah will enrich each of them so that he or she has no need of the other from His boundless wealth, providing her with another husband and him with another w i f e. Allah is AllEncompassing with vast favour to His creation, All-Wise in His management.

131. Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Allah. We have instructed those given the Book (generic, meaning Revealed Books) before you (the Jews and the Christians) and you yourselves (the people of the Qur’an) to be fearful of Allah and fear His punishment by obeying Him and We said to them and you: but if you disbelieve and reject what you have been commanded to do, everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Allah as His creation, property and slaves, and so your unbelief will not harm Him. Allah is Rich beyond need of His creatures’ worship, Praiseworthy in what He does to them.

132. Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Allah. This is repeated to stress the necessity for fear of Allah. Allah is enough as a guardian. He is a witness over all in the heaven and the earth.

133. If He willed, O mankind, He could remove you altogether and produce others instead, putting them in their place. Allah certainly has the power to do that.

134. If anyone desires the reward of this world in return for his actions, the reward of this world and the Next World is with Allah for those who desire them, and is not found to be with anyone else. So no one should limit their seeking to the inferior. Rather they should raise their sights to the highest possibility with sincerity, since all good is with Him alone.

135. You who believe! Be upholders of justice, bearing witness for Allah alone by acknowledging the truth and not concealing it, even against your selves or your parents and relatives. Whether they, those against whom you testify, are rich or poor, Allah is well able to look after them and knows better what is best for them. Do not follow your own desires in your testimony by trying to please the rich or out of mercy for the poor and deviate from the truth. If you twist (read as talwu and talu) the testimony or turn away by not giving it, Allah is aware of everything you do and Allah will repay you for it.

136. You who believe! Continue to believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Book (the Quran) He has sent down (read asnazzala, “He has sent down ” and nuzzila, “which has been sent d own”) to His Messenger (Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the Book (generic, referring to all previous Revealed Books) He sent down (read as anzala, “He sent down” and unzila, “which was sent down”) on Messengers before. Anyone who disbelieves in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Last Day has gone far into misguidance from the Truth.

137. Those who believe in Musa (the Jews) and then disbelieve by worshipping the Calf, and then believe after that and then disbelieve in Isa , and then increase in unbelief by then disbelieving in Muhammad, Allah will not forgive them for what they did or guide them on any path to the truth.

138. Give news, Muhammad, to the hypocrites that they will have a painful punishment (the Fire).

139. Do those who take the people who disbelieve (the hypocrites) as protectors, rather than the believers, since they suppose that the unbelievers have power, hope to find power and strength with them? This is a question which negates their action: in other words, they will not find it with them. Power and strength belong entirely to Allah in this world and the Next, and only His friends obtain it.

140. He has sent down (read asnazzala, “He has sent down ” and nuzzila, “It has been sent down”) to you in the Book in the Quran in Sura al-A‘nam (6:68) that when you hear Allah’s Signs (the Quran) being disbelieved and mocked at by people, you must not sit with them (the unbelievers and mockers) until they start to talk of other things; if you did sit with them, you would be just the same as them and share in the sin they commit. Allah will gather all the hypocrites and unbelievers into Hell as they were gathered together in unbelief and mockery in this world.

141. Those who anticipate the worst fortune for you say, “Were we not with you with regard to the din and jihad?” whenever you gain a victory and booty from Allah. They say this because they want some of the booty. But if the unbelievers have a success over you, they say to them, “Did we not have the upper hand over you and yet in spite of that keep the believers away from you?” meaning : “We could have captured you and killed you but we kept the believers from attacking and defeating you and seizing you, and we send information about them to you; so you owe us a favour.” Allah Almighty says: Allah will judge between you and them on the Day of Rising by admitting the believers to the Garden and the unbelievers to the Fire. Allah will not give the unbelievers any way against the believers, to wipe them out.

142. The hypocrites think that they deceive Allah by outwardly displaying the opposite of the unbelief inside them in order to save themselves from worldly judgements against them, but He is deceiving them. He will repay them for their deceit and they will be disgraced in this world since Allah will acquaint His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with what is inside them and they will also be punished in the Next World. When they get up to pray with the believers, they get up lazily, showing off their prayer to people, and only remembering Allah a little, praying to show off.

143. They vacillate between the two, belief and unbelief – not joining these, the unbelievers, or joining those, the believers. If Allah misguides someone, you will not find any way for him to be guided.

144. You who believe! Do not take those who disbelieve as friends rather than the believers. Do you want to give Allah clear proof against you of your hypocrisy by taking them as friends?

145. The hypocrites are in the lowest level of the Fire (its deepest depth). You will not find any helper for them to protect them from the punishment;

146. Except those who repent of hypocrisy and put things right by acting righteously and hold fast to Allah and trust in Him and dedicate their din to Allah alone, free of showing off. They are with the believers in what they do and Allah will give the believers an immense reward in the Next World (the Garden).

147. Why should Allah punish you if you are thankful for His blessings to you and believe in Him? The question implies a negative response. Allah is All-Thankful for the actions of the believers by rewarding them, All-Knowing of His creation.

148. Allah does not like evil words to be voiced out loud by anyone and will punish them for it, except in the case of someone who has been wronged, who is not to be blamed for speaking out loud in strong terms about the injustice he has suffered and calling for redress against the perpetrator. Allah is All-Hearing of what is said, All-Knowing of His creation.

149. If you reveal a good act, which you have done, or keep it hidden, or pardon an evil act of injustice, Allah is Ever - Pardoning, All-Powerful.

150. Those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messengers and desire to make division between Allah and His Messengers by believing in some and disbelieving in others, saying, “We believe in some Messengers and disbelieve in some of them,” wanting to take a pathway they can follow in between (between belief and unbelief),

151. …such people are the true unbelievers. This confirms what comes before it. We have prepared a humiliating punishment (the Fire) for the unbelievers.

152. Those who believe in Allah and all His Messengers and do not differentiate between any of them, We will pay them (read as nu’tihim, “We will pay them” and yu’tihim, “He will pay them”) their wages as a reward for their actions. Allah is Ever-Forgiving of His friends, Most Merciful to the people who obey Him.

153. The People of the Book (the Jews) will ask you, O Muhammad, out of obduracy, to bring down a Book from heaven to them all at once, as it was sent down to Musa . If you think that is terrible, they, i.e. their ancestors asked Musa for even more than that. They said, “Let us see Allah with our own eyes.” So the lightning-bolt struck them down and killed them as a punishment for their wrongdoing because they were exigent in their asking. Then they adopted the Calf as a god after the Clear Signs, the miracles which prove d Allah’s Oneness, had come to them; but We pardoned them for that and did not eradicate them and gave Musa clear authority over them, as is shown by the fact that he commanded them to kill them-selves and they obeyed him.

154. We lifted up the Mount above their heads in accordance with the covenant they had made, to force them to take on the covenant which they had accepted out of fear, and We said to them, “Enter the gate of the city prostrating, bowing,” and We said to them, “Do not break (read as ta‘du and ta‘adu) the Sabbath,” by fishing, and We made a binding covenant with them but they broke it.

155. (There is clearly something elided here so that the meaning is something like “Allah cursed them because…”) Because of the fact that they broke their covenant, and rejected Allah’s Signs, and killed the Prophets without any right and said, to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “Our hearts are uncircumcised and do not understand what you say,” Allah has stamped them and sealed them with unbelief and so they do not pay any attention to warnings. So they do not believe, except for a few o f them like ‘Abdullah ibn Salam and his companions.

156. And for their second unbelief in Isa, and their utterance of a monstrous slander against Maryam, accusing her of fornication,

157. …and their boastfully saying, “We killed the Messiah, Isa, son of Maryam, Messenger of Allah” as they claim. They are punished for affirming that, although Allah then denies that they killed him: They did not kill him and they did not crucify him but it was made to seem so to them. The person killed and crucified was a companion of Isa who was made to look like him so that they thought that it was him. Those who argue about him (Isa) are in doubt about it, about killing him, as one of them said when he saw the body of the person who had been killed, “It is the face of Isa but not his body. It is not him.” Others said, “It is him.” They have no real knowledge of it (his killing), just conjecture. They follow the supposition which they imagine to be the case. But they certainly did not kill him. This stresses its negation.

158. Allah raised him up to Himself. Allah is Almighty in His kingdom, All-Wise in what He does.

159. There is not one of the People of the Book who will not believe in him before he (the Person of the Book or possibly Isa) dies at the time they see the angels of death and then their belief will not help them, or, possibly, before the death of Isa after he descends shortly before the Final Hour as reported in the hadith; and on the Day of Rising, he (i.e. Isa) will be a witness against them about what they did when he was sent to them.

160. Because of wrongdoing on the part of the Jews, We made unlawful for them some good things which had previously been lawful for them which is clarified in Allah’s words, “We made unlawful for the Jews every animal with an undivided hoof…” (6:146); and because of their obstructing many people from the way of Allah (from the true din).

161. …and because of their practising usury when they were for -bidden to do it in the Torah and because of their consuming people’s wealth by wrongful means, employing bribery to obtain favourable judgement, We have prepared a painful punishment for those among them who disbelieve.

162. But those of them who are firmly rooted in knowledge (such as ‘Abdullah ibn Salam) and the believers (the Muhajirun and Ansar) believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you by way of Divine Books: those who perform the prayer and pay zakat, and believe in Allah and the Last Day – We will pay (read as nu’tihim, “We will pay them” and yu’tihim, “He will pay them”) such people a huge wage (the Garden).

163. We have revealed to you as We revealed to Nuh and the Prophets who came after him. And We revealed to Ibrahim and his sons, Ismail and Ishaq, and Ya‘qub and the Tribes, and Isa and Ayyub and Yunus and Harun and Sulayman. And We gave Dawud the Zabur. The Zabur was the book given to Dawud. It is also read as the verbal noun zubur, which means “written”.

164. We have sent Messengers We have already told you about and Messengers We have not told you about. It is related that Allah sent eight thousand Prophets: four thousand from the tribe of Israel and four thousand from other peoples. This will be further mentioned in the commentary on Sura Ghafir (40). And Allah spoke directly to Musa without any intermediary.

165. Messengers bringing good news of the reward for belief and giving warning of the punishment for those who disbelieve – We sent them so that people would have no argument against Allah after the coming of the Messengers, so that they would not be able to say, “Our Lord, if only You had sent us a Messenger we would have been believers.” We sent them so that they would have no excuse. Allah is Almighty in His kingdom, All-Wise in what He does.

166. This was revealed when the Jews asked about the Prophet Hood of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and then denied it. But Allah bears witness (and makes his Prophet hood clear) to what He has sent down to you of the Inimitable Quran. He has sent it down with His knowledge. He knows it or what is in it. The angels bear witness as well. And Allah is enough as a witness to that.

167. Those who disbelieve in Allah and bar access to people to the way of Allah, the din of Islam, by concealing the description of Muhammad, meaning the Jews, have gone far into misguidance from the Truth.

168. Allah wills not forgive those who disbelieve in Allah and do wrong to His Prophet by concealing his description, or guide them on any path…

169. …except the path of Hell, the path which leads to it, remaining in it timelessly, once they enter it, forever without end. That is easy for Allah.

170. O Mankind! (People of Makka) The Messenger Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has brought you the truth from your Lord, so it is better for you than what you do now to believe in it. But if you disbelieve in it, everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah. All are His property, His creation and His creatures and so your unbelief will not harm Him. Allah is All-Knowing about His creation, All-Wise in what He does to them.

171. O People of the Book! (Here meaning Christians) Do not go to excess concerning your din and exceed the limits. Say nothing but the truth about Allah, placing Allah far beyond having a partner or child. The Messiah, Isa son of Maryam, was only the Messenger of Allah and His Word, which He cast into Maryam and a Spirit (someone possessing a spirit) from Him. The Spirit is ascribed to Allah to honour Isa. The fact that he is called Spirit does not, as they claim, make him the son of God or a god together with Him or one of a divine trinity. Allah is free of any such combination or ascription of that to Him. So believe in Allah and His Messengers. Do not say, “Three gods: Allah, Isa and his mother.” It is better that you stop saying these things. Affirming the Divine Unity better. Allah is only One God. He is too Glorious to have a son! Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Him. All are His creation, kingdom and slaves. Allah is enough as a Guardian and witness to that.

172. The Messiah whom you claim as a god would never disdain (be too arrogant or proud) to be a slave to Allah, nor would the angels near to Him be too arrogant to be slaves. This is part of a slight digression in which Allah refutes those who claim that Isa was a god and that the angels are daughters of Allah. This addressed to the Christians who made that claim. If any do disdain to worship Him and grow arrogant, He will in any case gather them all to Him in the Next World.

173. As for those who believe and do right actions, He will pay them their wages in full (the reward for their actions) and will give them increase from His favour: which is as the hadith says: “what the eye has not seen nor the ear heard and has not occurred to the heart of man.” As for those who show disdain and grow too arrogant to worship Him, He will punish them with a painful punishment (the Fire). They will not find any protector to defend them or any helper for themselves besides Allah.

174. O Mankind! A clear proof has come to you from your Lord that Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the Prophet of Allah. We have sent down a Clear Light to you (the Qur’an).

175. As for those who believe in Allah and hold fast to Him, He will admit them into mercy and favour from Him, and will guide them to Him on a Straight Path (the din of Islam).

176. They will ask you for a definitive ruling about someone who dies without a direct heir, which means with neither children nor parents. Say: “Allah gives you a definitive ruling about people who die without direct heirs: if a man dies childless but has a sister, meaning both a full sister by both parents and also just by the father, she gets half of what he (her brother) leaves, and he is her heir if she dies childless. Her brother inherits all she leaves. If she has a male child, he gets nothing. If she has a daughter, he gets what is left after her share. If there is a brother or sister by the mother, the share is a sixth, as mentioned at the beginning of the sura. If there are two sisters or more, they get two-thirds of what he (the brother) leaves (this was revealed about Jabir, who died leaving sisters). If there are brothers and sisters as heirs, the males get the share of two females. Allah makes things clear to you and clarifies the laws of His din so you may not go astray. Allah has knowledge of everything. Part of that is inheritance. The two Sahih collections report from al-Bara’ that this was the last ayat to be revealed concerning the shares of inheritance.