1. Alif Lam Ra. Allah knows best what the letters mean. This Qur’an is a Book We have sent down to you, Muhammad, so that you may bring mankind from the darkness of unbelief to the light of faith by the permission (command) of their Lord, to the Path of the Almighty, the Praiseworthy.

2. Allah is He to Whom everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs. Everything in the world is His kingdom: creatures and people. Woe to the unbelievers because of a terrible punishment –

3. …those who prefer and choose the life of this world to the Next World, and bar people access to the Way of Allah – the din of Islam – wanting to make it (the Way) crooked; they are greatly misguided from the Truth.

4. We have not sent any Messenger except with the language of his people so that he might make things clear to them – bring them to understanding of what he has brought. Allah misguides anyone He wills and guides anyone He wills. He is the Almighty in His kingdom, the All-Wise in what He does.

5. We sent Musa with Our Nine Signs and We said to him: ‘Bring your people (the tribe of Israel) from the darkness of unbelief to the light of faith and remind them of the Days (blessings) of Allah.’ There are certainly Signs in that reminder for everyone who is steadfast in obedience, thankful for blessings received.

6. Remember when Musa said to his people, ‘Remember Allah’s blessing upon you when He rescued you from the people of Pharaoh. They were inflicting an evil punishment on you, slaughtering your sons and letting your women live. This was a result of one of the soothsayers saying that a child would be born among the tribe of Israel who would bring about the loss of the kingdom of Pharaoh. In that deliverance or punishment there was a tremendous trial – of either blessing or affliction – from your Lord.

7. And when your Lord announced: ‘If you show gratitude for My blessing by affirming My oneness and being obedient to Me I will certainly give you increase, but if you show ingratitude for My blessing by unbelief and disobedience, I will punish you for it. My punishment is severe.’

8. Musa said to his people, ‘If you were to be ungrateful, you and everyone on the earth, Allah is Rich Beyond Need of His creation, Praiseworthy in what He does to them.’

9. Has news not reached you of those who came before you, the peoples of Nuh and ‘Ad (the people of Hud) and Thamud (the people of Salih) and those who came after them who are known to no one but Allah – because there are so many of them? This is a question demanding an affirmative response. Their Messengers came to them with Clear Signs – clear evidence that they were speaking the truth – but they (these nations) put their hands to their mouths to bite on them because of their intense frustration, saying, ‘We reject what you claim you have been sent with. We have grave doubts about what you are calling us to.’

10. Their Messengers said, ‘Is there any doubt about Allah, the Bringer into Being of the heavens and the earth? This question demands a negative response. In other words, there is no doubt about Allah’s unitary existence because of the evident proofs of it. He summons you to obedience in order to forgive you for your wrong actions – as becoming a Muslim results in forgiveness for anything that happened before it. The words “min” is used before “wrong actions” to make it selective because responsibility for rights owed to other human beings is not removed – and to defer punishment from you until a specified time (your death).’ They said, ‘You are nothing but human beings like ourselves who want to debar us from what (the idols) our fathers worshipped; so bring us a clear authority – clear evidence that you are speaking the truth.’

11. Their Messengers told them, ‘We are nothing but human beings like yourselves as you have said. But Allah shows favour – by granting Prophethood – to any of His slaves He wills. It is not proper for us to bring you an authority except by Allah’s permission (command) because we are slaves subject to Him. So let the believers put their trust in Allah.

12. And why indeed should we not put our trust in Allah when He has guided us to our ways? There is nothing to stop us from trusting in Him. We will be steadfast however much you harm us. Those who trust put their trust in Allah.’

13. Those who disbelieved said to their Messengers, ‘We will drive you from our land unless you return to our religion.’ Their Lord revealed to them, ‘We will destroy those who do wrong (the unbelievers).

14. We will leave you the land (their homeland) to live in after them after they have been destroyed. That – victory and inheritance of the land – is the reward of those who fear My station – standing before Me – and fear My threat of punishment.’

15. They asked for Allah’s victory – they asked their Messengers for Allah to give them victory over the unbelievers of their people – and every obdurate tyrant who rejected the truth and refused to obey Allah failed.

16. And beyond him is Hell, which he will enter, where he will be given pus – which will exude from the bellies of the people of the Fire as a mixture of pus and blood – to drink.

17. He gulps at it – tries to swallow it down again and again, unable to because of its bitterness – but can hardly swallow it down because of its foulness and disgusting taste. Death – forms of punishment which would normally result in death – comes at him from every side but he does not die. And beyond him after that punishment is relentless – severe and continuous – punishment.

18. The metaphor of those who disbelieve in their Lord is that their righteous actions such as maintaining ties of kinship and almsgiving are like ashes – and therefore of no use to them whatsoever – scattered by strong winds on a stormy day which disperse the dust, and about which nothing can be done. They (the unbelievers) have no power at all over anything they have earned in this world. They will have no reward because the necessary condition for it, that of true faith, is lacking. That is extreme misguidance.

19. Do you not see that Allah has created the heavens and the earth with truth? If He wished He could eliminate you, mankind, and bring about a new creation.

20. That is not difficult for Allah.

21. They will all parade before Allah. All creatures will be made to appear. The past tense is used because its occurrence is a matter of certainty – and the weak followers will say to those who were arrogant – those who they followed – ‘We followed you, so can you help us at all against the punishment of Allah?’ They will say, ‘If Allah had guided us, we would have guided you – we would have called you to guidance. It makes no difference whether we cannot stand it or bear it patiently: we have no way of escape.’ There is no refuge for us now.

22. When the affair is decided – and the people of the Garden enter the Garden and the people of the Fire enter the Fire and they gather in it – Shaytan (Iblıs) will say, ‘Allah made you a promise – of resurrection and repayment and spoke the truth to you – a promise of truth, and I made you a promise but broke my promise. I had no authority over you to compel you to follow me except that I called you and you responded to me. Do not, therefore, blame me but blame yourselves for responding to me. I cannot come to your aid nor you to mine (read as musrikhiyya and musrikhyi). I reject the way you associated me and made me a partner with Allah before (in the world).’ Then Allah will say that the wrongdoers (unbelievers) will have a painful punishment.

23. Those who believed and did right actions will be admitted into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, for ever by the permission of their Lord. Their greeting there from the angels and between themselves is ‘Peace!’

24. Do you do not reflect and see how Allah makes a metaphor of a good word – said to be the statement: “There is no god but Allah”: a good tree – such as a palm tree – whose roots are firm in the earth and whose branches are in heaven?

25. It bears fruit regularly by its Lord’s permission (by the will of Allah). In the same way the word of faith is fixed firmly in the heart of the believer, his actions rise to heaven, and he obtains their blessing and reward every moment. Allah makes metaphors for people – to make things clear – so that perhaps they will pay heed – be warned and believe.

26. The metaphor of a corrupt word – the expression of unbelief – is that of a rotten tree – such as a colocynth – uprooted on the surface of the earth. It has no staying-power. Since its roots are on the surface, it has no firmness or stability. Similarly the word of unbelief has no firmness or branches or blessing.

27. Allah makes those who believed firm with the Firm Word – the statement: “There is no god but Allah” – in the life of this world and the Next World. This takes place in the grave when the two angels question them about their Lord, their dın and their Prophet and they answer correctly, as in the hadith recorded by both al-Bukhari and Muslim. But Allah misguides the wrongdoers (unbelievers) so that they are not guided to what is correct and instead have to say, “I do not know,” as in the hadith. Allah does whatever He wills.

28. Do you not see those (the unbelievers of Quraysh) who have exchanged thankfulness for Allah’s blessing for unbelief, and moved their people to the abode of ruin – brought their people to destruction by misguiding them:

29. Hell, where they will roast? They will enter the Fire. What an evil place to stay!

30. They have made others (idols) equal to Allah to misguide (read as yudillu and yadillu) people from His Way (Islam). Say to them: ‘Enjoy yourselves in this world for a short time! Your destination is the Fire!’

31. Tell My slaves who believe that they should establish the prayer and give from what We have provided for them, secretly and openly, before a Day arrives on which there will be no trading – to enable them to ransom themselves – and no friendship that will be of benefit to them. This is a reference to the Day of Rising.

32. Allah is He who created the heavens and the earth and sends down water from the sky and by it brings forth fruits as provision for you. He has made the ships subservient to you to run upon the sea to transport you and your cargo by His command – with His permission – and He has made the rivers subservient to you;

33. …and He has made the sun and moon subservient to you, holding steady to their courses – revolving unfailingly in their orbits – and He has made the night – for you to rest in – and day – for you to strive for His bounty – subservient to you.

34. He has given you everything you have asked Him for in accordance with your best interests. If you tried to number Allah’s blessings, you could never count them. Man – when he is an unbeliever – is indeed wrongdoing, ungrateful – doing great wrong to himself by disobeying Allah and being ungrateful for the blessings of his Lord.

35. Remember when Ibrhım said, “My Lord, make this land (Makka) a place of safety and security – and Allah answered his prayer and made it a haram in which no human blood may be shed and no one may be wronged, no game may hunted and no plants uprooted, and keep me and my sons from worshipping idols.

36. My Lord, they (the idols) h a ve misguided many of mankind through their worship of them. If anyone follows me in affirming the unity of Allah he is with me – one of the people of my din – but if anyone disobeys me, You are Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. This was said before he knew that Allah does not forgive shirk.

37. Our Lord, I have settled some of my offspring – Ishaq and his mother Hajar – by Your Sacred House – which was there before the Flood – in an uncultivated valley ( Makka). Our Lord, let them establish the prayer! Make the hearts of mankind incline towards them – Ibn ‘Abbas said that if Allah had said, ‘af’idata’n-nas’ rather than ‘af’idatan min an-nas’, then Persia, Rome and all mankind would have inclined to it – and provide them with fruits, so that perhaps they will be thankful. People brought fruits there when they came to visit.

38. Our Lord, You know what we keep hidden and what we divulge. Nothing is hidden from Allah either on the earth or in heaven. It is possible that the words “Nothing is hidden from Allah…” are direct words of Allah rather than words attributed to Ibrahim.

39. Praise be to Allah Who, despite my old age, has given me Ismail – he was ninety-nine years old at the time of his birth – and Ishaq – when he was one hundred and twelve years old. My Lord is the Hearer of Prayer.

40. My Lord, make me and my descendants people who establish the prayer – he uses the partitive particle min before “descendants” because he knows that some of them will be unbelievers. My Lord, accept my prayer.

41. Our Lord, forgive me and my parents (read as walidayya and also walidi, in the singular). This was before the enmity of his parents to Allah was made clear to him. It is said that his mother became Muslim – and the believers on the Day the Reckoning takes place.’

42. Allah continues: Do not consider Allah to be unaware of what the wrongdoers – the unbelievers of the people of Makka – perpetrate. He is merely deferring them – delaying their punishment – to a Day on which their sight will be transfixed by the terror of what they see. This term is used when a person’s eyes are fixed open without being closed.

43. … rushing headlong, heads back – their heads facing upwards to the sky, eyes vacant, hearts hollow – empty of understanding, due to their terror.

44. Warn, Muhammad, mankind – the unbelievers among them – of the Day (the Day of Rising) when the punishment will reach them. Those who did wrong and disbelieved will say, ‘Our Lord, reprieve us for a short time – and return us to the world. We will respond to Your call to affirm Allah’s unity and follow the Messengers.’ They will be rebuked: ‘But did you not swear to Me before in the world that you would never meet your downfall – removed from this world to the Next World

45. …even though you inhabited the houses of those of past nations who had wronged themselves by unbelief and it was made clear to you how We had dealt with them – that We punished them, so will you not be restrained? – and We gave you many clear examples in the Qur’an?’ Will you not reflect?

46. They concocted their plots against the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when they wanted to kill, imprison, or expel him; but their plots were with Allah – a reference to His knowledge or His repayment – even if they were such – and so immense – as to make the mountains vanish (read as li-tazula and la-tazula). This means that Allah pays no attention to them and they only harm themselves. By “mountains” here, it is said that actual mountains are meant; but it is also said that religions are meant, which can be said to resemble mountains with respect to stability and firmness. Some say that what is meant is to exalt their plotting and some say that it means their unbelief. The second meaning is appropriate according to a second yat, “The heavens are all but rent apart and the earth split open and the mountains brought crashing down.” (19:90)

47. Do not imagine that Allah will break His promise of help to His Messengers. Allah is Almighty, having the power to do anything He wants, Exactor of Revenge against those who disobey.

48. On the Day the earth is changed to other than the earth, and the heavens likewise, a reference to the Day of Rising when people will be gathered on a white empty earth as in the ˛adıth recorded in the two sahih Collections. Muslim also related the hadith: “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked, ‘Where will people be on that day?’ He replied, ‘On the Narrow Bridge.’” – and they parade – they will be brought out of their graves – before Allah, the One, the All-Conquering;

49. …that Day, Muhammad, you will see the evildoers (the unbelievers) yoked together to their Shaytans in chains and shackles,

50. …wearing shirts of tar to increase the burning of the Fire, their faces enveloped in the Fire –

51. so that Allah may repay every self for what it earned – of good and evil. Allah is swift at reckoning. The Reckoning of all creation will take place in the space of time of about half a day by the calculation of this world, as the hadith states.

52. This Qur’an is a communication to be transmitted to mankind so that they may be warned by it and so that they may know by clear evidence that He is One God, and so that people of intelligence will pay heed.