1. Praise – an established quality – belongs to Allah: this is either to express belief in Him or to praise Him, or to do both at the same time, and is also discussed at the beginning of Sura al-Kahf (18) –who created the heavens and the earth – mentioned because they are the largest visible aspect of creation for those who look, a n d appointed the creation of every darkness and light. Allah puts darkness in the plural because there are many things which cause it and that is evidence of His oneness. Then those who disbelieve make others equal to their Lord! Even though the proof is established, the unbelievers give others equal status to Allah in their worship.

2. It is He who created you from clay by creating your father Adam from it, and then decreed a fixed term – a pre-appointed time when you die and your life comes to an end – and another fixed term is specified with Him for your resurrection. And yet still you, unbelievers, have doubts about the resurrection when you know that Allah created you in the first place. The One Who has originated some-thing from nothing is well able to bring it back to life again.

3. He is Allah and deserves to be worshipped in the heavens and in the earth. He knows what you keep secret and what you make public between you and He knows what you earn and do of good or evil.

4. Not one of their Lord’s Signs (the Quran) comes to them (the people of Makka) without their turning away from it.

5. They deny the truth (the Quran) each time it comes to them but news (the results) of what they were mocking will certainly reach them.

6. Have they not seen during their journeys to Syria and elsewhere how many generations (nation after nation in the past) We destroyed before them which We had established on the earth, with strength and expansive territories, far more firmly than We have established you? There is a change of pronoun from “they” to “you”. We sent down heaven (precipitation) on them in abundant rain (time after time) and made rivers flow under them – under their homes. But We destroyed them for their wrong actions (denial of their Prophets) and raised up further generations after them.

7. Even if We were to send down a book to you written on parchment pages as they have demanded and they were actually to touch it with their own hands – making it even harder to doubt than just seeing it – those who disbelieve would still say out of their obstinacy “This is nothing but outright magic.”

8. They say, “Why has an angel not been sent down to him (Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to affirm him?” If We were to send down an angel as they asked, they would still not believe and that would be the end of the affair and they would not be reprieved. They would be destroyed immediately with no chance for repentance or excuse, as was the custom of Allah with people of the past who were destroyed when what they asked for appeared and they failed to have faith.

9. And if We had made him (the one who descended to them) an angel We would still have made him in the form of a man in order to enable them to see him, since human beings do not have the ability to see angels in their natural state; and if We had sent him down and made him a man, We would have further confused for them the very thing they are confused about because they would then have said, “This is just a man like us.”

10. The following contains solace for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, Messengers before you were also mocked, but those who jeered were engulfed by what they mocked. It was the punishment they had been mocking that enveloped them.

11. Say to them: “Travel in the earth and see the end result of the deniers,” – those who denied the Messengers, and their destruction by the punishment they received. This is so they can reflect.

12. Say: “To whom does everything in the heavens and earth belong?” Say: “To Allah. If they do not say this, there is no other answer. He has made mercy incumbent on and prescribed it for Himself as a favour from Him and graciousness in calling them to believe. He will gather you to the Day of Rising – to repay you for your actions – of which there is no doubt. As for those who have ruined their own souls by exposing themselves to the punishment, they do not believe.”

13. All that inhabits the night and the day belongs to Him. Allah is the Lord, Creator and Master of everything. He is the All-Hearing of what is said, the All-Knowing of what is done.

14. Say to them: “Am I to take other than Allah as my protector and worship other than Him, the Bringer into being and Originator of the heavens and the earth, He who feeds (gives provision) and is not fed (provided for)?” Say: “I am commanded to be the first of the Muslims of this Community who submit to Allah, and I have been told, ‘Do not be among the idolaters who ascribe partners to Allah.’”

15. Say: “I fear, were I to disobey my Lord, by worshipping other than Him, the punishment of a dreadful Day (the Day of Rising).”

16. Anyone from whom punishment is averted by Allah on that Day has had great mercy shown him by Allah, who desires good for Him. That is the Clear Victory and manifest salvation.

17. If Allah touches you with any harm, such as illness or poverty, no one can remove it but Him. If He touches you with any good, such as health and wealth, He has power over everything. One aspect of this power is the ability to inflict harm and bestow good, and when it comes no one can avert it from you or anyone else.

18. He is the Absolute Master over His slaves. He has power which no one is able to countermand. He is the All-Wise about His creation, the All-Aware, knowing their inward and their outward. This was revealed when the unbelievers said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “Bring us someone who will attest to your Prophet hood. The People of the Book deny you.”

19. Say to them: “What thing is greatest as a witness?” Say: “Allah. If they do not say this, there is no other answer. He is Witness between me and you to my truthfulness. This Qur’an has been revealed to me so that I may warn you and frighten you by it, people of Makka, and anyone else it (the Quran) reaches among jinn or men. Do you then bear witness that there are other gods together with Allah?” This question is an objection. Say to them: “I do not bear witness to that.” Say: “He is only One God, and I am free of all the idols you associate with Him.”

20. Those We have given the Book recognise it – or recognise Muhammad from his description in their Book – as they recognise their own children. As for those of them who have lost their own selves, they do not believe in him.

21. Who could do greater wrong – no one does greater wrong –than someone who invents lies against Allah by ascribing a partner to Him, or denies His Signs (the Qur’an)? The wrongdoers who do that are certainly not successful.

22. Remember that on the Day We gather them all together, We will say in rebuke to those who attributed partners to Allah, “Where are your partner-gods, for whom you made such claims about being partners with Allah?”

23. Then they will have (read as takun or yakun) no other recourse or excuse than to say, “By Allah our Lord (read as Rabbin and Rabban), We were not idolaters.”

24. Allah says: See, Muhammad, how they lie against themselves by denying their idolatry and how what they invented has forsaken them! Their falsely ascribed gods have abandoned them.

25. Some of them listen to you when you recite, but We have placed covers on their hearts, preventing them from understanding it (the Qur’an), and heaviness (deafness) in their ears so that they do not hear and accept it. Though they see every Sign, they still do not believe it. So that when they come to you, disputing with you, those who disbelieve say, “This Qur’an is nothing but lies, like the myths of earlier peoples!”

26. They keep others (other people) from it – from following the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace – and avoid it themselves b y distancing themselves from it so that they do not believe in him. It is said that this was revealed about Abu Talib, whom prevented people harming the Prophet while not believing in him, in which case “it” should be read as “him.” – They are only destroying themselves by being far from it, because that harms them, but they are not aware of it.

27. If you, Muhammad, could only see when they are standing before the Fire – when they are confronted with it – and saying, “Oh! If only we could be sent back again to this world, we would not deny the Signs of our Lord and would be among the believers.”

28. Allah Almighty says: No, rejecting the desire for belief they were apparently expressing; it is simply that what they were concealing before by maintaining that Allah was their Lord and that they were not idolaters has been shown to them when their limbs testify against them, which is when they make this wish; and if they were sent back to this world they would merely return to what (the shirk) they were forbidden to do. Truly they are liars regarding their promise to believe.

29. They say, denying the Resurrection, “There is nothing but this life and we will not be raised again.”

30. If you could only see when they are standing before and presented to their Lord, you would see something terrible. He will say to them on the tongue of the angels to rebuke them, “Is this Resurrection and Reckoning not the Truth?” They will say, “Yes indeed, by our Lord! It is the Truth!” He will say, “Then taste the punishment because of your unbelief in this world.”

31. Those who completely deny the meeting with Allah (the Resurrection) have lost, until, when the Hour (the Day of Rising) comes upon them suddenly, they will say out of intense pain, “Alas for what we neglected there in this world!” The word “alas” expresses their pain at that time. They will bear their burdens on their backs – which will come to them on the Day of Rising in the ugliest of forms and with the foulest stink and will be borne by those responsible for them. How evil is what they bear!

32. The life of this world – occupation with it – is nothing but a game and a diversion. What is better are acts of obedience and what helps one to do them. The Next World (the Garden) is better for those who are godfearing and fear idolatry. Will you not then use your intellect (read as ta‘qiluna and also as ya‘qiluna, in which case the meaning is “Will they not then use their intellect?”) and believe?

33. We know that what they say to you in denial distresses you. It is not that they are denying you” (yukadhdhibuna) in secret because they know that he is speaking the truth. Another reading is yukd-hibuka, which gives the meaning “It is not that they are calling you a liar.” The wrongdoers are just refuting and denying Allah’s Signs (the Quran).

34. The following is also to give solace to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Messengers before you were also denied but they were steadfast in the face of the denial and injury they suffered until Our help arrived in the form of the destruction of their hostile peoples. So be patient until victory comes through the destruction of your people. There is no changing the Words of Allah (His promises). And news of other Messengers has come to you – which should set your heart at rest.

35. If their turning away from Islam is hard on you because you are eager for them to become Muslim then if you can, go down a tunnel deep into the earth, or climb up a ladder into heaven, and bring them a Sign which they ask for. The implied meaning is that you will not be able to do that, so be patient until Allah judges. If Allah had willed for them to be guided – He would have gathered them all to guidance, but He did not and so they did not believe. Do not then be among the ignorant by behaving like that.

36. Only those who can hear and understand respond to the call to believe. As for the dead – the unbelievers who resemble the dead in that they cannot hear – Allah will raise them up in the Next World, then to Him they will be returned and He will repay them for their actions.

37. They (the unbelievers of Makka) say, “Why is no Sign such as the she-camel of Salih, the staff of Musa, or the Table of Isa sent down to him from his Lord?” Say to them, “Allah has the power to send down (read as yunzila and yunazzila) a Sign which they ask for.” But most of them do not know that its descent would be a trial for them and would bring their destruction if they denied it.

38. There is no creature crawling on the earth or flying creature, flying on its wings, who are not nations just like yourselves in respect of the management of their creation, provision and states. We have not omitted anything from the Book (the Preserved Tablet) but have recorded everything. Then they will be gathered to their Lord. Their Lord will decide between His animal creatures regarding every point of difference they have; even between the horned and hornless sheep. Then He will tell them to be dust.

39. Those who deny Our Signs (the Quran) are deaf to hearing and accepting it and dumb to speaking the truth in utter darkness o f unbelief. Allah misguides whomever He wills, and guides and puts whomever He wills on a Straight Path (the Din of Islam).

40. Say, Muhammad, to the people of Makka: “Tell me: What would you think if Allah’s punishment were to come upon you in this world or the Hour – the Day of Rising which includes the Final Hour, suddenly? Would you call on other than Allah if you are being truthful about the idols being able to help you? Call on them then.” The truth is that you would not.

41. It is Him alone you call on in times of hardship and, if He wills, He will remove harm and difficulties from you and deliver you from whatever it was that made you call on Him; and you will forget and abandon the partners you ascribed to Him, the idols which you should not call upon.

42. We sent Messengers to nations before you but they denied them; and We afflicted those nations with hardship (intense poverty) and distress (illness) so that perhaps they would humble themselves and believe.

43. If only they had humbled themselves when Our violent force (Our punishment) came upon them! In other words, they did not do that when that was what was necessary. However, their hearts were hard – and not softened to belief – and Shaytan made what (the acts of disobedience) they were doing of appear good to them and so they persisted in them.

44. When they forgot and abandoned what they had been reminded of and cautioned about regarding hardship and distress and they did not heed the warning, then We opened up (read as fatahna and fattahna) the doors to everything for them – all manner of blessings to draw them on – until, when they were proud and exulting in what they had been given, We suddenly seized them with the punishment and at once they were in despair and gave up all hope of any future good.

45. So the last remnant of the people who did wrong was cut off and eradicated. Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds for helping the Messengers and destroying the unbelievers!

46. Say to the people of Makka: “Tell me: what would you think if Allah took away your hearing (made you deaf) and your sight (made you blind) and sealed up and stamped your hearts so you cannot recognise anything; what god is there, other than Allah, who could give them back to you after He has taken them from you, as they claim?” Look how We vary the Signs and make them clear and they are proofs of Our Oneness. Yet still they turn away from it and do not believe.

47. Say to them: “What would you think if Allah’s punishment were to come upon you suddenly by night or openly by day, would any but the wrongdoing people (the unbelievers) be destroyed?” This means that only they would be destroyed.

48. We do not send the Messengers except to bring good news of the Garden to those who believe, and to give warning of the Fire to those who disbelieve. As for those who believe and put things right with righteous action, they will feel no fear and know no sorrow in the Next World.

49. The punishment will fall on those who deny Our Signs because they were degenerate and abandoned obedience.

50. Say to them: “I do not say to you that I possess the treasuries of Allah from which the provision of all creatures come, nor do I know the Unseen – which is hidden from me and not revealed to me – nor do I say to you that I am an angel. I only follow what has been revealed to me.” Say: “Are the blind (the unbelievers) t h e same as those who see (the believers)? Will you not reflect on that and believe?”

51. Warn and alarm by it (the Qur’an) those who fear they will be gathered to their Lord – meaning the rebellious believers – having no protector to help them or intercessor to intercede for them apart from Him, so that perhaps they will be godfearing, which will remove them from the state they are in and so they will perform acts of obedience.

52. Do not chase away those who call on their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face by their worship, desiring nothing of the goods of this world. They are the poor. The idolaters attacked them and demanded of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to drive them away so that they could sit with him. He did so, out of the desire for them to become Muslim. Their reckoning is in no way your responsibility if their inward is not pleasing and your reckoning is in no way their responsibility. Indeed if you did chase them away, you would be among the wrongdoers for doing that.

53. Thus do We try some of them by means of others – the noble through the lowly and the rich through the poor, by making the latter believe first, until they (the nobles and rich) will say in objection, “Are these (the poor) the people among us to whom Allah has shown His favour by guiding them?” “If what they have is really guidance, we would have been granted it first.” Allah says: Does not Allah know best those who are thankful to Him and so guide them? Indeed He does!

54. When those who believe in Our Signs come to you, say to them, “Peace be upon you!” Your Lord has made mercy incumbent on Himself and decreed it for Himself. If (read as annahu and innahu) anyone among you does evil out of ignorance and then afterwards repents and puts things right by righteous actions. He is Ever-Forgiving to him, Most Merciful to him.

55. In that way – as We have made clear in what has been mentioned – We make the Signs (the Qur’an) plain and clear so that the truth appears and can be acted on, so that the path of the evil-doers may be clearly seen. (sabilu, “path”, is also read as sabila, in which case the meaning is “so that you may see clearly the path of the evil -doers,” this being addressed to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.)

56. Say: “I am forbidden to worship those you call upon and worship besides Allah.” Say: “I do not follow your whims and desires in my worship. If I did follow them, I would go astray and not be among the guided.”

57. Say: “I stand on a Clear Sign from my Lord and yet you have denied it – denied my Lord by associating others with Him. I do not have in my possession what you are in such haste to bring about – meaning punishment. Jurisdiction over it and other things belongs to Allah alone. He decides (read as yaqdi and also yaqussu, in which case the meaning is “He tells”) the truth and He is the best of Deciders and Judges.”

58. Say to them: “If I did have in my possession what you are in such haste to bring about, the affair between me and you would have been decided because I would bring it about and then have nothing more to do. But it is up to Allah. Allah has best knowledge of the wrongdoers” and will punish them.

59. The keys to the Unseen – His treasures or the paths leading to His knowledge – are in His possession. No one knows them but Him. There are five such things, as in the ayat: “Allah has knowledge of the Hour” (31-34) and in the hadith reported by al-Bukhari. He knows everything that happens in the land in deserts, and sea in towns on the coast. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the earth, and nothing moist or dry which is not in a Clear Book (the Preserved Tablet).

60. It is He who takes you back to Himself at night, taking your souls when you sleep, while knowing the things you perpetrate by day, and then wakes you up again – restoring your souls to life – so that a specified term of life may be fulfilled. Then you will return to Him at the Resurrection. Then He will inform you about what you did and repay you for it.

61. He is the Absolute Master with total power over His slaves. He sends recording angels to watch over you and record people’s actions. Then when death comes (read as tawaffat-hu and tawaf hu) to one of you, Our messengers – the angels who are charged with taking the soul – take him, and they do not fail in their duty but confine themselves to doing what they are commanded.

62. Then they (the slaves) are returned to Allah, their Master, the Real, who is firm in His justice and will repay them for their actions. Jurisdiction and judgement which will be carried out on them –belongs to Him alone and He is the Swiftest of Reckoner. He will reckon all of creation in half a day going by the measure of the days of this world, according to hadith.

63. S a y, Muhammad, to the people of Makka: “Who rescues you from the terrors of the darkness of the land and sea during your journeys? When you call on Him humbly in public and secretly, saying: ‘If He rescues us (read as anjana and anjaytan , “you rescue us”) from this (this darkness and hardship) we will truly be among the thankful believers.’”

64. S a y to them: “Allah rescues you (read as yunajjıkum and yunjikum) from it, and from every distress and sorrow. Then you associate others with Him.”

65. Say: “He possesses the power to send you punishment from above your heads out of heaven, as in the case of stones and the Shout, or from underneath your feet as when the earth collapses under them, or to confuse you in sects – different groups with different whims – and make you taste each other’s violence by fighting.” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said when this was revealed: “This is easier,” and when what was before it was revealed, he said, “I seek refuge with Your face.” (al-Bukhari) Muslim reports the hadith: “I asked Allah that my community should not be subject to mutual violence but He refused to grant that.” In another hadith, “When this was revealed, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, ‘Either they already exist or they have not yet come about.’” Look how We vary the Signs (evidence of Our power) – and make them clear to them – so that perhaps they will under -stand and know that what they have is false.

66. Your people deny it (the Qur’an) and yet it is the Truth. Say to them: “I am not here as your guardian in that your punishment is in my hands. I am merely a warner and what happens to you is Allah’s business.” This was before the command to fight.

67. Every tiding has its time – a time at which it will occur when He will punish you – and you will certainly come to know.” This is a threat.

68. When you see people involved in mockery of Our Signs (the Qur’an), turn from them and do not sit with them until they get involved in other talk. And if Shaytan should ever cause you to forget (read as yunsiyannaka and yunassinnaka) and you sit with them, once you remember, do not stay sitting with the wrongdoers. The Muslims said, “If we get up and go whenever they are talking, we will not be able to sit in the mosque or do tawaf.” Then the following was revealed:

69. Their reckoning – that of those who get involved with such talk – is in no way the responsibility of those who are godfearing when they sit with them. But they must remind them and admonish them so that perhaps they will be godfearing and fear becoming involved in that.

70. Abandon those who have made their d ı n for which they are responsible into a game and a diversion by mocking it, and who have been deluded by the life of this world. Do not pay any attention to them. This was revealed before the command to fight. Remind and admonish people by it (the Quran) lest a person be delivered up to destruction for what he has earned (his actions) with no protector or helper or intercessor to defend him from the punishment besides Allah. Were he to offer every kind of compensation as ransom, it (that ransom) would not be accepted from him. Such people are delivered up to destruction for what they have earned. They will have scalding water to drink and a painful punishment because they disbelieved (on account of their unbelief).

71. Say: “Are we to call on and worship something besides Allah which can neither help us through our worship nor harm us if we do not worship them, meaning idols, and to turn on our heels and revert to being idolaters after Allah has guided us to the din o f Islam, like someone the shaytans have misguided and lured away in the earth, leaving him confused and bewildered – not knowing which way to go – despite the fact that he has companions calling him to guidance, trying to guide him to the Path and saying, ‘Come with us!’?” But he does not respond to them and is destroyed by his refusal to do so. The question is an objection. Say: “Allah’s guidance, that is true guidance and anything else is misguidance. We are commanded to submit to the Lord of all the worlds…

72. …and to establish the prayer and be fearful of Him. It is He to Whom you will be gathered on the Day of Rising for the Reckoning.”

73. It is He who created the heavens and the earth with truth. Remember the day He says to the thing, “Be!” it is. That is a reference to the Day of Rising when Allah will say to creation, “Rise!” and they will rise. His speech is Truth, which means that it must be so and must take place. The Kingdom will be His the Day the Trumpet is blown. This refers to the Second Blast of the Trumpet by Israfil: no one will have any dominion on that Day but Him: “To whom belongs dominion today? To Allah.” (40:16) The Knower of the Unseen and the Visible – whatever is hidden and whatever is seen. He is the All-Wise in His creation, the All-Aware of the inward as well as the outward of all things.

74. Remember when Ibrahim said to his father, Azar – his title, his name being Terakh – “Do you take idols as gods? He censured him for worshipping idols. This question is meant as a rebuke. I see that you and your people are clearly misguided” by adopting them, they are plainly misguided from the truth.

75. Because of that – Our demonstration to him of the misguidance of his father and his people – We showed Ibrahim the realms of the heavens and the earth to indicate evidence of Allah’s Oneness, so that he might be one of the people of certainty regarding that. This sentence is an interpolation into the narrative.

76. When night covered him and it became dark round him he saw a star, said to be Venus, and said to his people, who were astrologers: “This is my Lord as you claim!” Then when it set and disappeared, he said, “I do not love what sets” by taking them as lords, because the true Lord cannot change or pass away, those being qualities belonging to temporal things.

77. Then when he saw the moon rise he said to them, “This is my Lord!” Then when it set he said, “If my Lord does not guide me, I will be one of the misguided people.” Then he would be exposed to the misguidance of His people and not be successful.

78. Then when he saw the sun rise he said, “This is my Lord! This is greater than the stars and the moon!” Then when it set – and the proof was sufficiently strong for him even if his people would not recant – he said, “O my people! I am free of what you associate with Allah: from all objects of worship subject to time and space, preferring the One who brings them into existence.

79. He said: I have turned my face to Him (Allah) in my worship, who created and brought the heavens and earth into being a pure natural believer – a hanif who is someone who naturally inclines to the Straight Din. I am no idolater and associate no one else with Him.”

80. His people argued with him about his din and threatened him by saying that the idols would cause him harm if he abandoned them. He said, “Are you arguing (read as tuhjjunni and tuhjjuni) with me about the Oneness of Allah when He has guided me to it? I have no fear of any partner among the idols you ascribe to Him causing me any evil since they have no power to do anything unless my Lord should will such a disliked thing to happen to me, in which case it must happen. My Lord encompasses everything in His knowledge, so why do you not pay heed to this and believe?

81 Why should I fear the partners you have ascribed to Allah, which possess no power to either bring benefit or cause harm, when you yourselves apparently have no fear of ascribing partners to Allah in worship for which worship He has sent down no authority (evidence or proof) to you? He has power over all things. Which of the two parties, we or you, is more entitled to feel safe, if you have any knowledge – of the one with the greater right? We are, so follow that. Allah continues:

82. Those who believe and do not mix their belief with any wrong -doing (shirk), as explained in a hadith in the two Sahih Collections, they are the ones who are safe from the punishment; it is they who are guided.”

83. This is the argument We gave to Ibrahim and by which We guided him, and which he used against his people when he argued in favour of the Oneness of Allah by the setting of the star and the rest of it. We raise the rank in knowledge and wisdom of anyone We will. Your Lord is All-Wise in what He does, All-Know i n g of His creation.

84. We gave him Ishaq and Ya’qub, each of whom We guided. And before him (Ibrahim) We had guided Nuh. And among his (Nuh’s) descendants were Dawud and Sulayman, and Ayyub, Yusuf, Musa and Harun. That is how We recompense good-doers.

85. And Zakariyya, his son Yahya, Isa son of Maryam and Ilyas, son of Harun. All of them were among the righteous.

86. And Ismail, al-Yasa‘, Yunus and Lut. All of them We favoured over all beings with Prophet hood.

87. And some (The partitive word “some” (min) is used to qualify the adjective “all” in the previous ayat because some of them had no children and some had unbelievers among their children) of their forebears, descendants and brothers, We chose them and guided them to a straight path.

88. That to which they were guided is Allah’s guidance. He guides by it those of His slaves He wills. If they – theoretically, because they did not – had attributed partners to Him, nothing they did would have been of any use.

89. They are the ones to whom We gave the Book, used generically to cover all the Divine Books, Judgement (wisdom) and Prophet-hood. If these people (the people of Makka) reject it, We have already entrusted it to a people who did not (the Muhajirun and the Ansar).

90. They are the ones Allah has guided, so be guided (read as iqtadih and iqtadi) by their guidance because their Path is one of tawhid and steadfastness. Say to the people of Makka, “I do not ask you for any wage for it (the Qur’an). It is simply a reminder and warning to all beings (men and jinn).”

91. They (the Jews) do not measure Allah with His true measure –do not esteem Him as He should be esteemed or recognise Him as He should be recognised – when they say to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when they debated with him about the Qur’an “Allah would not send down anything to a mere human being.” Say to them: “Who then sent down the Book which Musa brought as a Light and Guidance for the people?” You put (read as taj‘alunahu and also yaj‘alunahu, “they put”) it down on sheets of paper (separate notebooks) to display (read as tubduna and yubduna) what you want to display of it while concealing (read as tukhfuna and yakhfuna) much of what is in it, like the description of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. You, Jews, were taught things in the Qur’an you did not know of in the Torah, neither you nor your forefathers – making clear that which was unclear for you and about which you disagreed. Say: “Allah!” This wa s revealed when they did not say it and there is no other answer. Then leave them engrossed in playing their false games.

92. This (Qur’an) is a Book We have sent down and blessed, confirming what (Divine Books) came before it, so that you can warn (read as tundhira and also yundhira, in which case the meaning is “it (the Qur’an) can warn) the Mother of Cities (Makka) and the people (the rest of mankind) around it. Those who believe in the Next World believe in it and safeguard their prayers out of fear of the punishment there.

93. Who (no one) could do greater wrong than someone who invents lies against Allah by laying claim to Prophet hood when he is not a Prophet – or who says, “It has been revealed to me,” when nothing has been revealed to him – and this was revealed about Musaylima; or someone who says, “I will send down the same as Allah has sent down”? They are the mockers. They said, “If we had wished, we could have said the like of this.” If you, Muhammad, could only see the (these) wrongdoers in the throes of death when the angels are stretching out their hands to them with blows and punishment and saying harshly to them: “Disgorge your own selves – to us so that we can seize them! Today you will be repaid with the punishment of humiliation for saying other than the truth about Allah by their false claim of Prophet hood and Revelation, and being arrogant about His Signs by being too proud to believe,” then you would indeed have seen a terrible sight.

94. When they are resurrected, they will be told, “You have come to us all alone – without property, family or children – just as We created you at first – naked, barefoot and uncircumcised – leaving behind you everything We bestowed on you – in this world without your choice. It will be said to them in rebuke: We do not see your intercessors (idols) accompanying you, those you claimed were partners for you with Allah – and entitled to your worship. The link between you (read as baynakum and baynukum) is severed – there is no longer a connection between them. Those you made such claims for in this world, when you claimed that they would intercede for you, have forsaken you.”

95. Allah is the Splitter of the seed (of plants) and kernel (of palms). He brings forth the living from the dead – like living mammals and birds from dead sperm and eggs – and produces the dead out of the living – like sperm and eggs from live animals. That Splitter and Producer is Allah, so how are you perverted? How can you turn aside from Islam when the proof is established?

96. He is the Splitter of the sky at dawn, making the light of dawn appear out of the darkness of night, the Appointer of the night as a time of stillness, a time when creation rests from toil, and of the sun and moon as a means of reckoning time, as evidenced in Sura ar-Rahman “The sun and moon both run with precision…” (55:5). That which is mentioned is what the Almighty in His kingdom, the All-Knowing of His creation has ordained.

97. It is He who has appointed the stars for you so you might be guided by them on your journeys in the darkness of the land and sea. We have made the Signs which indicate Our power clear and plain for people who know and reflect.

98. It is He who first created and produced you from a single self (Adam) then in a resting-place (read as mustaqarr and mustaqirr) in the womb and a repository in the loins. We have made the Signs plain for people who understand what is said to them.

99. It is He who sends down water from the sky from which We (a change from third person singular to the first person plural) bring forth growth of every kind, and from that (the plants) We bring forth green shoots and from them (the shoots) We bring forth close-packed seeds piled on top of one another, as in ears of wheat and similar plants, and from the spathes (the new growth) of the date palm, date clusters hanging down near to one another a n d from water We produce gardens of grapes and olives and pomegranates, both similar in terms of leaves and dissimilar i n terms of fruits. Look, you who are addressed, at their fruits (read as thamar and thumur) as they bear fruit and ripen, and reflect. There are Signs in that – of the power of Allah to regenerate, and other things – for people who believe. Believers are singled out for mention because they are the ones who benefit by these signs in faith as opposed to the unbelievers, who do not.

100. Yet they make the jinn co-partners with Allah, since they obey them by worshipping idols, when He created them – so how can they be His partners? And they attribute (read as kharaqu and khar -raqu) sons and daughters to Him without any knowledge when they say that ‘Uzayr and Isa are the sons and that the angels are the daughters of Allah. Glory be to Him! He is far beyond what they describe Him – as having a child!

101. He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth without having any prior example. How could He have a son when He has no wife? He created everything and He has knowledge of everything.

102. That is Allah, your Lord. There is no god but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him and affirm His Unity. He is Responsible for everything – the Protector of everything.

103. Eyesight cannot perceive Him – eyes are unable to see Allah, and the vision of Him is confined to the believers in the Next World. The hadith about this in the two Sahih Collections says: “You will see your Lord as you see the moon on the night of the full moon.” It is said that what is meant is that they cannot encompass Him – but He perceives eyesight. He sees them and they do not see Him. It is not permitted for other than Him to perceive sight or to perceive Him, or for Him to be perceived by knowledge either. He is the All-Penetrating – kind to His friends – the All-Aware of them.

104. Say to them, Muhammad, “Clear insights (proofs) have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees them clearly and believe s, does so to his own benefit when he sees, because he will have the reward of his seeing. Whoever is blind to them and so misguided, it (the evil effect of his misguidance) is to his own detriment? I am not here as your keeper. I do not watch over your actions. I am a warner.”

105. That – the clarification which was mentioned – is how We vary the Signs and make them clear so that they can reflect, so that they (the unbelievers) say at the end of the affair, “You have been studying (read as darasta which implies discussing this with the People of the Book, or darasta which implies consulting past Books and extracting this from them),” and so We can make it clear to people who know.

106. Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord (the Quran) – there is no god but Him – and turn away from the idolaters.

107. If Allah had willed, they would not have attributed partners to Him. We did not appoint you over them as their keeper to watch over them and repay them for their actions, and you are not set over them as their guardian so as to compel them to believe. This was revealed before the command to fight.

108. Do not curse those they call upon besides Allah (their idols) in case that makes them curse Allah in animosity (through transgression and injustice) without knowledge (out of ignorance of Allah). Thus – by making what those people were doing seem good to them – do We make the actions of every nation, both good and evil, appear to be good to them and so they do them. Then they will return to their Lord in the Next World and He will inform them about what they did and will repay them.

109. They (the unbelievers of Makka) have sworn by Allah with their most earnest oaths that if a Sign which they have asked for comes to them they will believe in it. Say to them: “The Signs are in Allah’s hands alone. He sends them down as He wishes. I am merely a warner.” What will make you realise – even though you will not – that even when a Sign does come, they still will not believe (read as yu’minuna and also tu’minuna, “you will not believe” addressed to the unbelievers) – since that is part of My prior knowledge?

110. We will overturn their hearts, preventing them from perceiving the truth so that they do not understand it, – and sight – so that they do not see it and do not believe – just as when they did not believe in it at first – referring to the Signs which were sent down – and We will abandon them and leave them to wander blindly in their overweening insolence; bewildered in confusion and misguidance.

111. Even if We sent down angels to them, and the dead spoke to them in the way they were asking for and We gathered together everything in front of them right before their eyes (read as qubulan meaning “wave after wave” and qibalan meaning directly visible in front of them) to make them testify to your truthfulness, they still would not believe – because their unbelief is preordained in the knowledge of Allah – unless Allah willed that they believe, in which case they would believe. The truth is that most of them are ignorant of that.

112. Thus – in the same way that We have made these people your enemies – We have appointed as enemies to every Prophet shay† ns from both mankind and from the jinn, who whisper and inspire each other with delusion by means of specious words in order to beguile them. If your Lord had willed, they would not have done it (the whispering), so abandon them (the unbelievers) and all they fabricate in terms of unbelief and other things which are made to seem attractive to them. This was before the command to fight.

113. …so that the hearts of those who do not believe in the Next World incline towards them in delusion and are pleased with them and perpetrate whatever wrong actions they perpetrate for which they will be punished.

114. The following was revealed when the non-Muslims asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to give a judgement between him and them. Say: “Am I to desire and look for other than Allah as a judge between me and you when it is He who has sent down the Book (the Quran) to you making everything plain, distinguishing the true from the false?” Those We have given the Book (the Torah) – such as ‘Abdullah ibn Salam and his companions – know it has been sent down (read as munazzil and munzil) from your Lord with truth, so on no account be among the doubters, those who doubt the Book. The purpose of this is to affirm to those who deny it that the Qur’an is true.

115. The Words of your Lord are perfect in His judgements and admonitions in truthfulness and justice. No one can change His Words by making them different or decreasing them. He is the All-Hearing of what is said, the All-Knowing of what is done.

116. If you obeyed most of those on earth (the unbelievers) t h e y would misguide you from Allah’s Way (His din). They follow nothing but conjecture when they argue with you about carrion and say that what Allah has killed has as much right to be eaten as what you kill. They are only guessing – and that is tantamount to denial.

117. Your Lord: He knows best who is misguided from His Wa y and He knows best the guided and will repay each of them.

118. Eat that over which the name of Allah has been mentioned –and slaughter it in His Name – if you believe in His Signs.

119. What is the matter with you that you do not eat properly slaughtered animals, that over which the name of Allah has been mentioned, when He has made plain to you what He has forbidden you in the ayat which prohibits carrion in Sura al-Ma’ida (5:3) –except when you are forced to eat it? In that case it is lawful for you. There is nothing to prevent you from eating what has been mentioned. What it is unlawful to eat has been made clear to you. Many people misguide (read as yudilluna and yadilluna) others by their whims and desires – which their selves have prompted in making carrion and other things lawful – without any knowledge on which they can rely. Your Lord knows best those who overstep the limits: who go beyond the unlawful to the lawful.

120. Abandon wrong action, outward and inward (public and secret). Those who commit wrong action – said to refer here to fornication and is also said to mean any act of disobedience – will be repaid in the Next World for what they perpetrated and earned.

121. Do not eat anything over which the name of Allah has not been mentioned – if it has died by itself or is killed in the name of something other than Allah. However, if a Muslim slaughters an animal and fails to say the name of Allah either deliberately or through forgetfulness, it is lawful. Ibn ‘Abbas said that and ash-Shafi takes the same position. To do so – to eat from it – is sheer degeneracy (fisq), which here means stepping outside the bounds of the lawful. The shaytans whisper and inspire their friends (the unbelievers) to dispute with you about making carrion lawful. If you obeyed them regarding it, you would be idolaters.

122. The following was revealed about Abu Jahl and others. I s someone who was dead through unbelief and whom We brought to life through guidance, supplying him with a light by which to walk among people – enabling him to distinguish the Truth from other than it, thus making him a believer – the same as someone who is in utter darkness (an unbeliever) unable to emerge from it? That – in the same way that He has made belief attractive to the believers – is how what they were doing, the unbelief and acts of disobedience, is made to appear good to the unbelievers.

123. And likewise – by making the great men in Makka wrongdoers – in every city We set up its greatest wrongdoers to plot in it. They plot against themselves alone by barring others from belief, because its effect comes back on them; but they are not aware of it.

124. When a Sign indicating the truthfulness of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, comes to them (the people of Makka) they say, “We will not believe in him until we have been given the same as the Messengers of Allah were given – in terms of Message and Revelation, because we are wealthier and older than him.” Allah says: Allah knows best where to place His Message (read in the singular and plural), meaning that Allah knows the proper place to put it and does so and those people are not worthy of it. Debasement in the sight of Allah and a severe punishment will strike those who did wrong for the plots that they devised.

125. When Allah desires to guide someone, He expands his breast to Islam by putting light into his heart and making it expand for him so that he accepts Islam, as we find in hadith. When He desires to misguide someone, He makes his breast narrow (read as dayyiqan and dayqan) so that he does not accept it and constricted (read as haraj and harij) as if he were climbing (read as yassa‘ ‘ aduandyassa ‘ adu) up into the sky. When someone like that is obliged to believe, it is very difficult for him. That is how Allah casts defilement on those who do not believe. “Defilement” (rijs) means punishment or Shaytan, meaning that he has control of such people.

126. This – the path which you are on, Muhammad – is the path of your Lord – straight, without any deviation. We have made the Signs plain for people who remember: those who are warned and profit from the warning.

127. They will have the Abode of Peace (the Garden) with their Lord. He is their Protector because of what they have done.

128. On the Day – implying “Remember the Day” – He gathers (read as yah shuru and nah shuru, “We gather”) them (creation) all together and it will be said to them: “O company of jinn! You gained many followers among mankind by misleading them.” And their friends among mankind who obeyed them will say, “Our Lord, we took benefit from each other – human beings benefit from the jinn when they make the fulfilment of their appetites seem good to them and the jinn benefit by people obeying them – and now we have reached the term (the Day of Rising) which You determined for us.” This is an expression of regret by them. He (Allah) will say to them on the tongue of the angels, “The Fire is your home. You will be in it timelessly, forever, except as Allah wills” – except for the times when they emerge from it to drink boiling water which is outside of it, as He says, “Then their destination will be the Blazing Fire.” (37:68) Ibn ‘Abbas said that the exception is for those whom Allah knows to have some belief in their hearts. Your Lord is All-Wise in what He does, All-Knowing of His creation.”

129. In that way – by making rebellious men and jinn support one another – We make the wrongdoers friends of one another because of what (the acts of disobedience) they have done.

130. “O company of jinn and men! Did not Messengers come to you from among you from among the whole of mankind, meaning that some of you believed other human beings or messengers of the jinn who have listened to the words of the Messengers and conveyed them to their people, relating My Signs to you and warning you of the encounter of this Day of yours?” They will say, “We testify against ourselves that it was conveyed to us.” The life of this world deluded them so that they did not believe and they testify against themselves that they were unbelievers.

131. That sending of Messengers was because their Lord would never have destroyed the cities unjustly while their people were un-warned. Did He not send a Messenger to them to make things clear to them?

132. All who act have ranks of repayment according to what (the good and evil) they did. Your Lord is not heedless of anything they do (read as ya‘maluna and also ta‘maluna, “you do”).

133. Your Lord is the Rich beyond need of His creatures or their worship, the Possessor of mercy. If He willed, He could remove you, people of Makka, by destroying you and replace you with any -thing else (other creatures) He willed, just as He produced you from the descendants of another people whom He removed; but He lets you continue out of mercy to you.

134. What you are promised in terms of the Final Hour and the punishment will come about and must come about and you can do nothing to prevent it or escape Our punishment.

135. Say to them: “My people! Do as you are doing, just as I am doing. You will certainly come to know who will have the best Home in the end – a praiseworthy outcome in the Next World: you or us. The wrongdoers (unbelievers) will certainly not be successful or happy.”

136. They (the unbelievers of Makka) assign to Allah a share of the crops and live stock He has created – diverting other portions to their guests and the poor, and to their idols which they give to their keepers – saying, “This is for Allah,” as they allege (read za‘m and zu‘m) “and this is for our idols.” If any of the shares of the idols fell to Allah they would take it away; but if any of Allah’s shares fell to the idols they would leave it with them, saying that Allah has no need of it, as Allah says. Their idols’ share does not reach Allah whereas Allah’s share reaches their idols! What an evil judgement they make in this!

137. In the same way as the other things were made to seem attractive, their associates of the jinn have made killing their children by burying their baby daughters alive appear good (read as zayyana and zuyyina, when the meaning would be, “Killing their children has been made to seem too good to many of them by their associates.”) to many of the idolaters, in order to destroy them and confuse them in their din. If Allah had willed, they would not have done it; so abandon them and what they fabricate.

138. They say, “These animals and crops are sacrosanct. No one may eat them except for those servants of the idols and others we will,” – as they allege without any evidence – and animals on whose backs it is forbidden to ride – like the s ’iba and the hami and animals over which they do not mention Allah’s name when they are slaughtered, mentioning instead the names of their idols and ascribing them falsely to Allah, inventing falsehood against Him. He will repay them for the inventions they have devised.

139. They say, “What is in the wombs of these animals is law f u l exclusively for our men and forbidden to our wives – referring to the sa’iba and bahira (see 5:103). But if it is stillborn (read as may -tatan and maytatun) they are partners in it.” He (Allah) will repay them for their false depiction in making things lawful and unlawful. He is All-Wise in what He does, All-Knowing of His creation.

140. Those who kill (read as qatalu and qattalu) their children foolishly without knowledge – out of ignorance, by burying their daughters alive – and make what Allah has provided for them unlawful, inventing lies against Allah, such people are lost. They are misguided. They are not guided.

141. It is He who creates and produces gardens, both cultivated –crops which spread out on the surface of the earth like melons – and wild – plants which rise on trunks like palm-trees – and palm-trees and crops of diverse kinds – fruits and seeds of different shapes and tastes – and olives and pomegranates, both similar in respect of leaves and dissimilar in respect of taste. Eat of their fruits when they bear fruit before they are over-ripe, and pay their due (their zakat) on the day of their harvest (read as hasadihi or hisadihi) – a tenth or a twentieth according to the type of irrigation used – and do not be profligate by giving your whole harvest away so that nothing is left for your family. He does not love the profligate who exceed the limits He has laid down for them.

142. And also animals for riding and for haulage – those suited to bearing things, such as large camels – and animals for slaughtering and for wool – those not fit for haulage, such as small camels and sheep; these are called farsh because their bodies are fine and close to the farsh, the ground. Eat what Allah has provided for you and do not follow in the footsteps of Shay† n – his way of making certain things lawful and unlawful. He is your clear-cut enemy: his hostility towards you is evident.

143. There are eight categories of animals which may be used for haulage and slaughter in pairs – male and female: A pair of sheep and a pair of goats (read as ma‘z and ma‘az). Say, Muhammad, to those who sometimes make the females unlawful and other times the males, and then ascribe that to Allah: “Is it the two males of sheep and goats He has made unlawful for you, or the two females, or what the wombs of the two females contain – male or female? In form me of how that prohibition came about with knowledge if you speak the truth.” Was it on account of the males, so that all males are unlawful, or the females, so that all females and what their wombs contain are unlawful? How was that specified? The question is one which implies rejection.

144. And a pair of camels and a pair of cattle – Say: “Is it the two males He has made unlawful, or the two females, or what the wombs of the two females contain? Were you then witnesses (pre-sent) when Allah gave you this instruction about this prohibition, so that you rely on it, or are you in fact merely liars?” Who (no one) could do greater wrong than someone who invents lies against Allah by saying that, thus leading people astray without any knowledge? Allah does not guide the people of the wrongdoers.

145. Say: “I do not find, in what has been revealed to me, any food unlawful to be eaten except for carrion, flowing blood – discounting what is in the liver or spleen – and pork – for that is unclean (unlawful) – or some deviance consecrated to other than Allah: sacrificed in other than the name of Allah. But if anyone is forced to eat it – any of the things which have been mentioned – without desiring to or going to excess in it, your Lord is Ever – Forgiving about what he has eaten, Most Merciful to him. The other things made clear by the Sunna, including all wild animals with claws and birds with talons, should be added to the list of what is unlawful.

146. We made unlawful for the Jews every animal with an undivided hoof such as camels and ostriches. And in respect of cattle and sheep, We made their fat unlawful for them – meaning the fat round the kidneys – except what is attached to their backs or entrails or mixed up with bone. That prohibition is how We repaid them for their insolence for their wrongdoing which was mentioned in Sura an-Nisa’ (4:160). And We certainly speak the truth in Our reports and promises.

147. If they call you a liar regarding what you say, s a y to them: “Your Lord possesses boundless mercy by not hastening their punishment, and His kindness is demonstrated by His calling them to belief, but His violent force (punishment) cannot be averted – when it comes – from the people of the evil-doers.”

148. Those who attribute partners to Allah will say, “If Allah had willed we would not have ascribed partners to Him, nor would our fathers; nor would we have made anything unlawful.” “Our idolatry and making things unlawful is by Allah’s will, and that must mean that He is pleased with that.” Allah said: In the same way that they have denied, the people before them denied Our Messengers until they felt Our violent force (punishment). Say: “Do you have some knowledge you can produce for us? You are following –regarding the claim you have made – nothing but conjecture. You are only guessing and in fact lying.”

149. Say: “Since you have no argument Allah’s is the conclusive and complete argument. If He had willed He could have guided every one of you.”

150. Say: “Produce your witnesses to testify in respect of what you have made unlawful, that Allah made this unlawful.” If they do testify, do not testify with them and do not follow the whims and desires of people who deny Our Signs, and who do not believe in the Next World and make others equal to their Lord, committing shirk by doing so.

151. Say: “Come and I will read and recite to you and explain what your Lord has commanded you: that you do not attribute any partners to Him; that you are good to your parents; that you do not kill your children by burying them alive because of poverty. Do not fear poverty. We will provide for you and them; that you do not approach indecency – major wrong actions like fornication – out -ward or inward – publicly or in secret; that you do not kill any person Allah has made inviolate – except by right – in other words in retaliation for someone killed or the implementation of the death penalty for apostasy or the stoning of adulterers. That which has been mentioned is what He instructs you to do so that perhaps you will use your intellect and reflect.

152. That you do not go near the property of an orphan before he reaches maturity – becomes an adult – except in a good way –which means dealing with it in a proper way to make it grow; that you give full measure and full weight with justice – not cheating or reducing the weight – We charge no self beyond what it can bear –so if you err accidentally with regard to weights and measures, and Allah knows that your intention was sound, you will not be punished for it as is stated in hadith; that you are equitable and speak the truth when you speak in a court of justice or elsewhere – even if a near relative is concerned, whether your testimony is for or against him; and that you fulfil Allah’s contract. That is what He instructs you to do, so that perhaps you will pay heed (read as tadhakkaruna and tadhdhakkaruna).

153. This instruction to you is my Path – straight – so follow it. Do not follow other ways which differ from that or you will become cut off from His Way (His din). That is what He instructs you to do, so that perhaps you will be godfearing.

154. Then We gave Musa the Book (the Torah) complete in blessing and perfect for him who does good and implements it, elucidating everything needed in the din, and a guidance and a mercy, so that perhaps they (the tribe of Israel) will believe in the encounter with their Lord at the Resurrection.

155. And this (the Quran) is a Book We have sent down and blessed, people of Makka, so follow it by acting on what it contains and be godfearing, fearing unbelief, so that perhaps you will receive mercy.

156. We sent it down so you cannot say: “The Book was only sent down to the two groups (the Jews and Christians) before us and we were ignorant of their studies because it is not in our language and could not read it.”

157. Nor can you say: “If the Book had been sent down to us, We would have been better guided than them because we are more intelligent than them.” For a Clear Sign has come to you from your Lord, and guidance and mercy for whoever who follows it. Who (no one) could do greater wrong than someone who denies Allah’s Signs and turns away from them? We will repay those who turn away from Our Signs with the worst kind of punishment because they turned away.

158. What are they (the deniers) waiting for but for the angels to come (read as ta’tihim and ya’tihim) to them to take their souls or for the command of your Lord (the punishment) to come, or for one of your Lord’s Signs – the signs which indicate the Final Hour – to come? On the Day that one of your Lord’s Signs does come, such as the rising of the sun from the West as we find in the two sahih collections, no belief a self professes will be of use to it if it did not believe before or earn good in its belief. By that time repentance will be of no use, as is stated in the hadith. Say: “Wait, then for one of these things. We too are waiting for that.”

159. As for those who divide their din because of the disagreements they have and form into sects (read as farraqu and fariqu) – taking some of their din and leaving some – you have nothing whatsoever to do with them and should not turn to them. Their case will go b a ck to Allah and then He will inform them in the Next World about what they did and repay them for it. This was abrogated by the Sword Verse.

160. Those who produce a good action such as saying, “La ilaha illa’llah”, will receive ten like it in repayment. But those who produce a bad action will only be repaid with its equivalent, and they will not be wronged by having their reward decreased in any way.

161. Say: “My Lord has guided me to a Straight Path, a correct din, the religion of Ibrahim, a man of pure natural belief. He was no idolater.”

162. Say: “My prayer and my rites – referring to acts of worship in the hajj and elsewhere – my living (my life) and my dying (my death) are for Allah alone, the Lord of all the worlds…

163. ...who has no partner in that? I am commanded to be like that in respect of affirming tawhid and I am the first of the Muslims of this community.”

164. Say: “Am I to desire other than Allah as Lord and God when He is the Lord and Master of everything?” What each self earns in terms of wrong action is for itself alone. No (soul) bearer of any burden can bear that of any other. Then you will return to your Lord, and He will inform you regarding the things about which you differed.

165. It is He who appointed you successors on the earth and raised some of you above others in rank in terms of wealth, position and other things so He could test you regarding what He has given you to see whether you are disobedient or obedient. Your Lord is Swift in Retribution against those who disobey Him, and He is Ever -Forgiving to the believers, Most Merciful.