1. It is the believers who are successful – this is a definite statement:

2. …those who are humble in their prayer;

3. …those who turn away from worthless talk and other worthless activities;

4. …those who pay zakat;

5. …those who guard their private parts from doing what is unlawful –

6. …except from their wives or those they own as slaves, in which case they are not blameworthy in approaching them,

7. …but those who desire anything more than that – than wives and slaves, or masturbation – are people who have gone beyond the limits to what is not lawful for them;

8. …those who honour their trusts (read as amanatihim and amanatihim) and their contracts – contracts made one with another, and also the contract between themselves and Allah in respect of the prayer and other duties;

9. …those who safeguard their prayers (read as Salawatihim and Salatihim) and perform them at their times.

10. Such people are the inheritors – and no others –

11. …who will inherit Firdaws, one of the gardens of Paradise, remaining in it timelessly, for ever in the Next World.

12. We created man (Adam) from the purest kind of clay – the word for “purest kind,” sulala, is what is extracted from a thing, its quintessence,

13. …then made him (the progeny of Adam) a drop in a secure receptacle (the womb);

14. …then formed the drop into a clot of congealed blood and formed the clot into a lump of flesh, and formed the lump into bones (read as ‘izm and ‘azm), and clothed the bones (read again as ‘izm and ‘azm) in flesh; and then brought him into being as another creature by breathing the ruh into him. So blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators – the Best of Determiners in his knowledge!

15. Then subsequently you will certainly die.

16. Then on the Day of Rising you will be raised again for the Reckoning and the Repayment.

17. We created above you seven levels (heavens) – the paths of the angels – and We were not unaware of the creation of what was under them, and would not allow them to come unravelled. Allah holds them in place, as is stated in the ayat, “He holds back the heaven, preventing it from falling to the earth.” (22:65)

18. We sent down a measured amount of water from heaven – which will be enough for mankind – and lodged it firmly in the earth; and We are well able to remove it. In that case they and their animals would die of thirst.

19. By means of it We produce gardens of dates and grapes for you – the kinds which in the eyes of the Arabs contain the greatest amount of fruit – in which there are many fruits for you, and from which you eat in both summer and winter;

20. …and We created a tree springing forth from Mount Sinai (read as sayna’ and sina’. It is not declined since it is a place) yielding oil and a seasoning to those who eat. This is the olive tree, whose oil is used as a condiment as well as being an oil for cooking and other things.

21. And there is certainly a lesson – a warning which should be heeded – for you in your livestock – camels, cattle, sheep and goats. We give you to drink (read as tusqıkum and tasqıkum) from what is in their bellies (milk) and there are many ways in which you bene - fit from them, making use of their wool, hair, fur, skin and other things, and some of them you eat;

22. …and you are conveyed on them (camels) and on ships as well.

23. We sent Nuh to his people and he said, ‘My people, worship Allah: obey Allah and affirm His unity. You have no god other than Him. So will you not be godfearing?’ Do you not fear His punishment when you worship other than Him?’

24. The ruling circle of those of his people who disbelieved said to their followers: ‘This is nothing but a human being like yourselves who simply wants to gain ascendancy over you so that he is followed and you become his followers. If Allah had wished that no one but Himself be worshipped, He would have sent angels down for that, rather than human beings. We never heard of anything like this religion to which Nuh calls among our ancestors, the earlier peoples (past nations).

25. He (Nuh) is nothing but a man possessed (mad), so wait a while and see what happens to him.’ You will see that he will die.

26. He (Nuh) said, ‘My Lord, help me a gainst them because of their calling me a liar – their denial of Me and assertion that You will never destroy them!’

27. We revealed to him: ‘Build the Ship under Our supervision and Our protection and as We reveal and commanded. When Our command to destroy the unbelievers comes and water bubbles up fromthe earth – or, in one interpretation, from a bread oven, and water emerging from it was a sign for Nuh, load into it (the Ship) a pair (male and female) of every species (read as min kulli zawjan and min kullin zawjan) – the story is recounted that Allah gathered for Nuh the wild animals, birds and all other creatures and he patted each species with his hand, putting his right hand on the male and left on the female, and loaded them in the Ship – and your family (wife and children) – except for those among them against whom the word of destruction has already gone ahead. That is a reference to his wife and his son, Kan’an but not his sons Sam, Ham, and Yafith: those three and their wives were in the Ship. Allah says in Surat Hud, “… and all who believe. But those who believed with him were only a few.” (11:40) It is also said that there were six men and their wives, and it is said that there were a total of seventy-eight people in the Ship, half of whom were men and half women. And do not address Me concerning those who do wrong, asking for those who disbelieved not to be destroyed. They shall be drowned.

28. When you and those with you are settled in the Ship, then say: “Praise be to Allah who has rescued us from the people of the wrongdoers (the unbelievers) and destroyed them!”

29. And say – when you alight from the Ship – “My Lord, land me in a blessed landing-place (read as munzal and m anzil). This may mean either that the landing itself or that the place where the landing took place is blessed. You are the best Bringer to Land.”’

30. There are Signs in that which has been mentioned about Nuh and the Ship and the destruction of the unbelievers, which indicate the power of Allah Almighty. We are always putting people to the test – in this case, testing them by sending Nü˛ to them and his warning them.

31. Then We raised up another generation after them – the people of ‘Ad –

32. …and sent a Messenger (Hüd) to them from themselves: ‘Worship Allah. You have no god other than Him! So will you not be godfearing?’ Will you not fear His punishment and believe?

33. The ruling circle of his people – those who disbelieved and denied the encounter of the Next World – and the journey to it – and whom We had given opulence and blessings in this world – said, ‘This is nothing but a human being like yourselves who eats what you eat and drinks what you drink.

34. If you were to obey a human being like yourselves, you would, in that case definitely be the losers (deluded).

35. Does he promise you that when you have died and become dust and bones you will be brought forth again? This stresses their denial of what he has promised because of the length of time involved.

36. What you have been promised is sheer nonsense!

37. What is there – any life – but our life in this world? We die and we live and we will not be raised again. We only live on through our children.’

38. What is he (the Messenger) but a man who has invented a lie against Allah? We do not believe in him – nor do we believe that we will resurrected after death.’

39. He said, ‘My Lord, help me because of their calling me a liar!’

40. He said, ‘In a short while they will be full of regret – for their unbelief and denial.’

41. The Great Blast – involving their punishment and destruction – seized hold of them inexorably – so that they died – and We turned them into dirty scum: the film formed from crumbled dried plants found on the surface of floodwater. Away with the people of the wrongdoers! The wrongdoers are far away from Allah’s mercy.

42. Then We raised up other generations of people after them.

43. No nation can advance its appointed time, nor can they delay it. They will not die before it or later than it.

44. Then We sent Our Messengers one after another (read as tatra and tatran) at intervals, with a long period between each. Each time its Messenger came to a community they called him a liar, so We made them follow one another too – with regard to their respective destructions – and turned them into myths and legends. Away with the people who do not believe!

45. Then We sent Musa and his brother Harun with Our Signs and clear authority, in the form of the White Hand and other signs,

46. …to Pharaoh and his ruling circle. But they were too proud to believe and were a haughty people. They overpowered the tribe of Israel through injustice.

47. They said, ‘What! Should we believe in two human beings like ourselves when their people are our slaves – humble and subjected to us?’

48. They denied them (Musa and Harun) so they were destroyed.

49. We gave Musa the Book (the Torah) so that perhaps they (his people, the tribe of Israel) would be guided from misguidance. They were given that after the destruction of Pharaoh and his people.

50. And We made Isa the son of Maryam and his mother a Sign – the two of them are considered to be a single sign, in that she gave birth to him without a father – and gave them shelter on a mountainside – the word rabwa means an elevated place, and it was situated in Jerusalem, Damascus, or Palestine – where there was a meadow – the word qarar means a level area which stretches out to a sufficient extent for people to be able to settle on it – and a flowing spring, one which people can see.

51. Messengers, eat of the good and lawful things and act rightly, performing both obligatory and supererogatory actions. I most certainly know what you do and will repay you for it.

52. Know that this faith of yours – the religion of Islam – is a single faith – your dın, you who are addressed, is the one which you must follow – and I am your Lord, so be fearful of Me.

53. But they (the people of religion) disagreed about their din and split up, dividing into sects – different disputing parties, as happened with the Jews, Christians and others – each party exulting in what it had of the din.

54. So leave them (the unbelievers of Makka) in their glut of ignorance (misguidance) for a while until they die.

55. Do they imagine that in the wealth and children We extend to them – in this world –

56. We are hastening to them with good things? No indeed; but they have no awareness that Allah is drawing them on.

57. Those who are filled with the fear of the punishment of their Lord;

58. …those who believe the Signs of their Lord (the Qur’an)…

59. …those who do not associate anything with their Lord in their worship;

60. …those who give what they have given both by way of sadaqa and righteous actions, their hearts fearful of their return to their Lord – fearing that they will not be acceptable, and knowing that they will be returned to Allah –

61. …such people are truly racing towards good things, and they are the first to reach them in the knowledge of Allah.

62. We do not impose on any self any more than it can stand – oblige it to do anything beyond its ability; so whoever cannot pray standing, prays sitting and whoever cannot fast, breaks the fast. With Us there is a Book that speaks the truth about what they have done. This is the Preserved Tablet on which all actions are written. They – the souls which act – will not be wronged in any way, so the reward for good actions will not be decreased and evil deeds will not be exaggerated.

63. But their (the unbelievers’) hearts are overwhelmed by ignorance about this matter (the Qur’an) and they do other things as well to the believers, for which they will be punished.

64. But then when We seize the affluent – the wealthy and leading people – among them, with the punishment – by means of the sword at the Battle of Badr – they will suddenly start praying fervently.

65. They will be told: ‘Do not pray fervently today. You will not get any help from Us. Their praying then will not help them.

66. My Signs (the Qur’an) were recited to you and you turned round on your heels away from it

67. …arrogant towards it – too proud to believe, full of arrogance because they are the inhabitants of the haram of Makka and for that reason have a degree of security far beyond what most other people experience in their homes, talking arrant nonsense all night long while they are around the Ka‘ba, when they reject the Qur’an and say things that are not true about the Prophet and the Qur’an.’

68. So Allah says: Do they not ponder these words (the Qur’an) which demonstrate the truthfulness of the Prophet? Has anything come to them that did not come to their ancestors, the previous peoples?

69. Or is it that they do not recognise their Messenger and therefore do not acknowledge him?

70. Or do they say, ‘He is a man possessed,’ when he has brought the truth to them? He has brought the truth to those who believe in that which he has brought; and what the Messengers brought to past communities is the truth, and in that he is not mad. He brought the Qur’an which contains knowledge of Allah and the laws of Islam. But most of them hate the truth.

71. If the truth (the Qur’an) were to follow their whims and desires – for instance their attribution to Allah of a partner and child, when He is greatly exalted above that – the heavens and the earth and everyone in them would have been brought to ruin. Their order would have been disrupted, in view of the conflict which inevitably occurs in situations when there is more than one ruler. No indeed! We have given them their Reminder (the Qur’an) – which contains mention of them and honours them – but they have turned away from it.

72. Are you asking them for payment (read as both kharjan and kharajan) – a wage for guiding them to faith? Your Lord’s payment (read as kharj and kharaj) – the wage, reward and provision He gives – is better. He is the Best of Providers.

73. You are calling them to a straight path (the din of Islam),

74. …but those who do not believe in the Next World – meaning the Resurrection, and the reward and punishment which follow it – recoil from the path.

75. If We did have mercy on them and removed the harm – a reference to the famine which afflicted them in Makka for seven years – afflicting them, they would still obstinately persist in wandering blindly in their excessive insolence – in misguidance.

76. We seized them with the punishment (famine); but they did not go low before their Lord in humility, and did not make supplication to Him, nor will they humble themselves –

77. …until We open to them a gate to a harsh punishment – a reference to their slaughter at the Battle of Badr – in which they will at once be crushed by despair.

78. It is He who has created hearing, sight and hearts for you. What little thanks you show!

79. It is He who dispersed you about the earth and then you will be resurrected, and then you will be gathered to Him.

80. It is He who gives life – by breathing spirit into an inert lump of flesh – and causes to die, and His is the alternation of night and day – in terms of darkness and light and increase and decrease. So will you not use your intellect – understand His work and then reflect?

81. And yet they say the same as previous peoples said.

82. They (the first ones) say, ‘When we are dead and turned to dust and bones, shall we then be raised again?

83. We and our forefathers were promised this Resurrection after death before. This is nothing but the myths – lies like the legends and fables – of previous peoples!’

84. Say to them: ‘To whom does the earth belong, and everyone created in it, if you have any knowledge of its Creator and Master?’

85. They will say: ‘To Allah.’ Say to them ‘So will you not pay heed?’ Will you not be warned and know that the One who has the power to originate has the power to bring back to life after death?

86. Say: ‘Who is the Lord of the Seven Heavens and the Lord of the Mighty Throne?’

87. They will say: ‘Allah.’ Say: ‘So will you not be godfearing – and fear to worship any other than Allah?’

88. Say: ‘In whose hand is the dominion over everything, He who gives protection and from whom no protection can be given, if you have any knowledge?’

89. They will say: ‘Allah’s (read as lillahi and Allahu).’ Say: ‘So how have you been bewitched?’ How have they been deceived and turned from the Truth, which is worshipping Allah alone; how can they imagine it to be false?

90. The fact is that We have given them the truth and they are liars in denying it.

91. Allah has no son and there is no other god accompanying Him, for then each god would have gone off with what he created and one of them would have been exalted above the other. If there had been another god, each would have taken control of what belonged to him alone and kept the other from gaining power over it, as kings of this world do. Glory be to Allah above what they describe and say,

92. … Knower of the Unseen and the Visible! Nothing is hidden from Him. He is exalted above all they associate with Him!

93. Say: ‘My Lord, if You let me see what (punishment) they have been promised – that of being killed at Badr –

94. …do not then, my Lord, put me among the wrongdoing people and destroy me when they are destroyed!’

95. We are certainly capable of letting you see what We have promised them.

96. Ward off evil with what is better. What is better is the quality of forbearance and turning away from them when they injure you. This was revealed before the command to fight was revealed. We know very well what they express, their denial and their other statements; and We will repay them for it.

97. Say: ‘My Lord, I seek refuge with You from the goadings and whispering of the shaytans…

98. …and I seek refuge with You, my Lord, from their presence – from their being present in my affairs, because they bring evil.’

99. When death comes to one of them and he sees his place in the Fire, or his place in the Garden, if he is a believe r, he says, ‘My Lord, send me back again – the imperative “send” is in the plural for reasons of respect –

100. …so that perhaps I may act rightly – by testifying that there is no god but Allah – regarding the things I failed to do in my lifetime!’ Allah will say: No indeed! They are merely words he utters. There is no going back. These words he says are useless. Before them there is an interspace – a barrier which prevents them from going back – until the Day they are raised up.

101. Then when the Trumpet is blown for the first or second time, that Day there will be no family ties between them about which they can boast; they will not be able to question one another about that. That is unlike from the situation in this world, because the terrifying nature of what is happening will distract them from doing so during some of the events of the Rising. During others they will recover their senses, since it says in one ayat: “ They will confront each another, questioning on another.” (37:27)

102. Those whose scales are heavy with good actions, they are the successful.

103. Those whose scales are light owing to evil deeds, they are the losers of their selves, remaining in Hell timelessly, for ever.

104. The Fire will sear their faces, making them grimace horribly in it, their lips drawn back from their teeth.

105. It will be said to them: ‘Were My Signs (the Qur’an) not recited to you to make you fear, and did you not deny them?’

106. They will say, ‘Our Lord, our miserable destiny (read as shiqwatuna and shaqawatuna) overpowered us. We were misguided people.

107. Our Lord, remove us from it! Then if we revert to disagreement again, we will definitely be wrongdoers.’

108. He will say to them, on the tongue of the angel Malik: ‘Slink away into it – far into the Fire, abased – and do not speak to Me about removing the punishment. This is to put an end to any hope they have.

109. There was a group of My slaves (the Muhajirun) who said, “Our Lord, we believe, so forgive us and have mercy on us. You are the Best of the Merciful.”

110. But you made a mockery (read as sikhriyyan and sukhriyyan) of them – those referred to here included Bilal, Suhayb, ‘Ammar and Salman – so that they made you forget to remember Me – in other words, they abandoned Allah because they were busy mocking those Muslims; and so they became the reason for their forgetfulness, which is therefore ascribed to them – while you were laughing at them.

111. Today I have rewarded them with abiding bliss for being steadfast in the face of mockery and injury. They (read as annahum and innahum) are the ones who are victorious and will obtain their desire.’

112. He (Allah) will say to them on the tongue of Malik – a variant reading has the imperative qul “Say!” here: ‘How many years did you tarry on the earth in the world and in the grave?’

113. They will say, ‘We tarried there for a day or part of a day. They will be uncertain about this and think that it was short because of the terrible nature of the punishment they are suffering. Ask those able to count – a reference to the angels who count all the deeds of every human being.’

114. He (Allah) will say on the tongue of Malik. As above in 23:112, a variant reading has the imperative qul “Say!” here – ‘You only tarried there for a little while compared to the length of time you will remain in the Fire, if you did but know!

115. Did you suppose that We created you merely for amusement – without a real and wise purpose – and that you would not be returned to Us?’ We made you worshippers by imposing on you obedience to Our commands and prohibitions; then you will be returned to Us, and We will repay you accordingly. “I only created jinn and men to worship Me.” (51:56)

116. Exalted be Allah above doing anything for the sake of amusement or any other things which are not appropriate for Him – the King, the Real. There is no god but Him, Lord of the Noble Throne.

117. Whoever calls on another god together with Allah, has no grounds – meaning no proof for it or argument with any sense to it justifying it – for doing so at all and his reckoning and repayment is with his Lord. Truly the unbelievers have no success and will not achieve happiness.

118. Say: ‘My Lord, forgive and be merciful to the believers, having mercy on them as well as forgiveness for them! You are the Best of the Merciful.’