1. Blessed be He (Allah) who has sent down the Discrimination (the Qur’an) – called that because it discriminates between the true and the false – to His slave (Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace) so that he can be a warner – about the punishment of Allah – to all beings – human beings and jinn, not angels.

2. …He to whom the kingdom of the heavens and the earth belongs. He does not have a son and He has no partner in the Kingdom. He created everything and determined it most exactly – in balance.

3. But they (the unbelievers) have adopted gods (idols) apart from Him (Allah) which do not create anything but are themselves created. They have no power to harm or help themselves. They have no power over death or life or resurrection. They cannot bring death or life to anyone nor can they bring the dead back to life.

4. Those who disbelieve say, ‘This Qur’an is nothing but a lie he (Muhammad) has invented and other people – among the People of the Book – have helped him to do it. Allah says: They have brought injustice (unbelief) and falsehood (lies).’

5. They say, ‘It is myths (fabrications) of previous peoples which he has had transcribed from those people and which are read out to him – and he memorises – in the morning and the evening.’ Allah then refutes them:

6. Say: ‘The One Who sent it down is He Who knows all hidden secrets – of the Unseen – in the heavens and earth. He is Ever- Forgiving, Most Merciful – to the believers.’

7. They say, ‘What is the matter with this Messenger, that he eats food and walks in the market-place? Why has an angel not been sent down to him – to confirm him – so that it can be a warner along with him?

8. Why has treasure not been showered down on him from heaven which he can spend so that he does not need to walk in the markets seeking livelihood? Why does he not have a garden to give him food (read as ya’kulu and na’kulu, “to give us food”) – a garden with produce he can eat so that he has sufficient provision from it for his needs?’ The wrongdoers (unbelievers) say – to the believers – ‘You are merely following a man who is bewitched – who is deluded and has lost his senses.’

9. Allah answers them: See how they make comparative judgements about you, comparing you to someone who is bewitched or who wants more provision or wants a kingdom which he can rule. They are misguided – away from guidance by that – and cannot find the way to it.

10. Blessed be He who, if He wishes, will grant you better than that – He is full of blessings, and may give you better than the gardens and treasure: Gardens with rivers flowing under them – in this world as well as the Next World; and He will grant (read as yaj‘al and yaj‘alu) you Palaces.

11. But instead, they deny the Last Hour; and We have prepared a Searing (fierce) Blaze for those who deny the Hour.

12. When it sees them coming from a long way off, they will hear it seething – bubbling as in anger as when someone’s breast seethes with rage – and rasping – a loud noise.

13. When they are flung into a narrow (read as dayyiqan and dayqan) place in it – which bears in on them, describing a place which will constricts those in it – shackled together in chains – their hands will be shackled to others’ necks with a lot of chains – they will cry out there for destruction.

14. They will be told: ‘Do not cry out today for just one destruction, cry out for many destructions – like your punishment!’

15. Say: ‘Is that better – the threat of the punishment and the Fire – or the Garden of Eternal Life which has been promised to those who are godfearing? That is their recompense and destination – in Allah’s knowledge.’

16. They will have in it whatever they want timelessly, forever. It is binding promise of your Lord. They will ask Him about the promise He made: “Our Lord, give us what You promised us through Your Messengers,” (3:194) or the angels will ask for them, “ Our Lord, admit them into the gardens of ‘Adn which you promised them.” (40:8)

17. On the Day He gathers (read as yahshuru and nahshuru, “We gather”) them together, and those they worship besides Allah – a reference to the angels, the Prophets Isa, ‘Uzayr and also the jinn – and says (read as yaqulu and naqulu, “We say”) – to those worshippers to establish the evidence against those who worshipped them – ‘Did you misguide these slaves of Mine – by making them fall into misguidance by commanding them to worship you – or did they stray from the way – of Truth – of their own accord?’

18. …they will say, ‘Glory be to You! This proclaims Allah free of anything which does not befit Him. It would not have been fitting – or correct – for us to have taken any protectors apart from You – so how could we have commanded them to worship us? But You let them and their fathers enjoy themselves – by giving them a long life and ample provision – so that they forgot the Reminder – the admonition and belief in the Qur’an. They were people devoid of good.’ The word bür (devoid of good) implies “destroyed”.

19. Allah says: So now they have disowned you – those who were worshipped will deny those who worshipped them – for what you said – in claiming that they were gods – and you cannot (read as tastati‘yuna, and yastati‘yuna, “they cannot”) avert it (the punishment) or get any help to defend yourself. As for anyone among you who has done wrong by committing shirk. We will make him suffer great punishment – in the Next World.

20. We never sent any Messengers before you who did not eat food and walk in the market-place. You are like the past Messengers in that respect. The same as is being said to you was also said to them. But We have made some of you a trial for others – by testing the poor through the rich, the sick through the healthy, and the lowly through the noble; in all the cases mentioned, the less well off tends to say, “Why am I not like the first?” – to see if you will be steadfast – in the trial. This is actually an instruction which means, “Be steadfast.” Your Lord sees everything – those who are steadfast and those who are anxious.

21. Those who do not expect to meet Us – and fear the resurrection – say, ‘Why have angels not been sent down to us – as Messengers to us? Why do we not see our Lord – so that we can know from Him that Muhammad is His Messenger?’ Allah says: They have become arrogant about themselves and are excessively insolent – by seeking to see Allah Almighty in this world.

22. On the Day they see the angels among all the creatures gathered on the Day of Rising – there will be no good news that Day for the evildoers (the unbelievers) – which is not the case with the believers who receive the good news of the Garden. They will say, ‘There is an absolute ban.’ The custom in this world when a hardship afflicted people was to seek refuge with the angels.

23. Allah says: We will advance on the good actions they have done – such as gifts of sadaqa, maintaining ties of kinship, giving hospitality to the guest, and helping people in distress in this world – and make them scattered specks of dust – which only show in a sunbeam shining through a small aperture. That is a metaphor meaning that they will be of no use to them since there will be no reward for them because they lack the necessary precondition for the reward, which is sincere faith. They will be repaid for them in this world.

24. The Companions of the Garden on that Day (the Day of Rising) will have better lodging than the unbelievers had in this world – and a better resting-place in which to rest at midday. It is deduced from that that the Reckoning will end in the middle of the day, as is reported in hadith –

25. …on the Day when each Heaven is split apart (read as tashaqqaqa and tashshaqqaqa) in white clouds and the angels are sent down (read as nunazzila and nunzilu) from every heaven rank upon rank. This is the Day of Rising.

26. The Kingdom that Day will belong in truth to the All-Merciful – who does not share His kingdom with anyone. It will be a hard Day for the unbelievers – but not for the believers.

27. …the Day when a wrongdoer (idolator) – referring in particular to ‘Uqba ibn Abi Mu‘ayt who said the shahada and then retracted it to please Ubayy ibn Khalaf – will bite his hands out of regret on the Day of Rising and say, ‘Alas for me! If only I had gone the way – of guidance – of the Messenger – Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace!

28. Alas for me! I am destroyed. If only I had not taken so-and-so (Ubayy ibn Khalaf) for a friend!

29. He led me astray from the Reminder (the Qur’an) after it came to me by making me revert from believing in it.’ Allah says: Shaytan always leaves an unbelieving man in the lurch. He abandons unbelievers and declares himself free of them in their affliction.

30. The Messenger – Muhammad – says, ‘My Lord, my people (the tribe of Quraysh) treat this Qur’an as something to be ignored – and abandoned.’

31. Allah says: In this way – just as We have assigned you enemies among the idolators of Quraysh – We have assigned to every previous Prophet an enemy from among the evildoers (the idolators). Be steadfast as they were steadfast. But your Lord is a sufficient guide – for you – and helper – for you against your enemies.

32. Those who disbelieve say, ‘Why was the Qur’an not sent down to him all in one go – like the Torah, the Gospel or the Psalms?’ Allah says: It is – We sent it down like that in parts – so that We can fortify your heart by it. We have recited it distinctly, little by little: “We have revealed it piece by piece over time, slowly, in order to make it easy for you to understand it and remember it.”

33. Every time they come to you with a difficult point to try to discredit you, We bring you the – refuting – truth and the best of explanations – to explain the matter to them.

34. Those who are herded headlong into Hell, such people are in the worst position. They are the most misguided from the way – further from the Path than others on account of their unbelief.

35. We gave Musa the Book (the Torah) and appointed his brother Harun with him as a helper.

36. We said, ‘Go to the people who have denied Our Signs,’ (Pharaoh and his people) – they took the Message to them and they denied it – and – so We annihilated them completely.

37. And remember when the people of Nuh denied the Messengers – by denying Nuh who had been among them for such a long time that it was as if he were several Messengers, or possibly their denial of him was tantamount to denying the rest of the Messengers since the basis of their Message is the same. We drowned them and made them a Sign (lesson) for all mankind. We have prepared in the Next World – a painful punishment for the wrongdoers (the unbelievers) – in addition to what they suffered in this world.

38. Remember ‘Ad because – the same goes for ‘Ad – the people of Hud – and Thamud – the people of Salih – and the Companions of the Well – the Prophet of the people of the Well is said to have been Shu‘ayb, and it is also said to have been someone else; they lived around their well and it collapsed together with them and their dwellings – and many generations (peoples) in between – between ‘Ad and the Companions of the Well.

39. We gave examples to each one of them – which established the evidence against them. We only destroy them after warning them – and each one of them We utterly wiped out – for denying the Prophets.

40. They themselves (the unbelievers of Makka) have come across the city which was rained on by an evil rain of stones which rained down, a reference to the largest of the towns of the people of Lut; Allah destroyed its inhabitants for their indecent actions. Did they not then see it when they travelled to Syria and thus take note? The question demands an affirmative response. But they do not expect to rise again. They do not think that they will be resurrected and so they do not have faith.

41. When they see you they only make a mockery of you and say: ‘Is this the one Allah has sent as a Messenger? This was to disparage his Message.

42. He might almost have misled (diverted) us from our gods had we not stuck to them steadfastly!’ Allah says: They will soon know, when they see the punishment with their own eyes in the Next World, whose way is the most misguided and incorrect: theirs or that of the believers.

43. Tell me. Have you seen him who has taken his whims and desires to be his god? Will you then be his guardian and thus prevent him from following his own desires?

44. Do you suppose that most of them hear or understand what you say to them? They are just like cattle. Indeed they are even more astray than cattle because cattle obey the person who cares for them, whereas these people do not obey their Master who bestows blessing on them.

45. Do you not see how your Lord stretches out shadows from the time of first light until sunrise? If He (your Lord) had wished He could have made them (the shadows) stationary – even after the sun has risen. Then We appoint the sun to be the pointer to them. The sun has been made an indicator of the shadow. If it were not for the sun, there would be no shadow.

46. Then We draw them back to Ourselves in gradual steps as the sun rises in the sky.

47. It is He who made the night a cloak (covering) for you and sleep a rest for bodies from their work, and He made the day a time for rising – to seek provision and other things.

48. It is He who sends out the winds (read as riyah and rih) bringing advance news (read as bushran, nushran, nushuran and nashran) of His mercy (rain). And We send down from heaven pure – and purifying – water…

49. …so that by it We can bring a dead (read as maytan and mayyitan) land to life and give water to drink to many of the animals – such as camels, cattle and sheep – and people We created.

50. We have variegated it – referring to water – for them so that they might pay heed (read as yadhdhakkaru and yadhkuru) – meaning remember Allah’s blessing by it – but most people spurn anything else but unbelief – they are ungrateful for Allah’s blessing and deny it by falsely attributing rain to another cause, as when they say, “We have rain when such-and-such a star rises.”

51. If We had wished We could have sent a warner to every town to alarm its people. We sent you to warn the people of all the towns to make your wage greater.

52. So do not obey – the whims of – the unbelievers but use this (the Qur’an) to battle against them with all your might.

53. It is He who has unloosed both seas – adjacent to one another – the one very sweet and refreshing, the other salty and bitter – and put a dividing line between them, an uncrossable barrier – so that they do not mix with one another at all.

54. And it is He who created human beings from water (sperm) and then gave them relations by blood and marriage – because men and women marry to seek progeny. Your Lord is All-Powerful, possessing the power to do whatever He wills.

55. Yet they (the unbelievers) worship instead of Allah what – something whose worship – can neither help nor harm them – in other words, idols. The unbelievers are always biased against their Lord – and predisposed to obey Shaytan.

56. We sent you only to bring good news of Paradise and to give warning about Hell.

57. Say: ‘I do not ask you for any wage for it for conveying what I am sent with – only that anyone who wants to should make his way towards his Lord – by spending his wealth in a way pleasing to Allah.’

58. Put your trust in the Living who does not die and glorify Him with praise. Say, “Glory be to Allah and praise is His.” He is well aware of the wrong actions of His slaves:

59. He who created the heavens and the earth and everything in between them in six days – days of this world, meaning in an equivalent amount of time since that was before the sun and time as such existed. If He had wished, He could have created them in the blink of an eye but He did not do that in order to teach His creation to be methodical – and then established Himself firmly on the Throne – which means linguistically the seat on which a king sits – the All- Merciful. Ask, human being, anyone who is informed about Him and His attributes.

60. When they (the unbelievers of Makkah) are told to prostrate to the All-Merciful, they say, ‘And what is the All-Merciful? Are we to prostrate to something you command us (read as ta’muruna as here, referring to Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and also ya’murun, “He commands us to”, in which case it refers to Allah, may He be exalted) to – to worship something we do not recognise?’ And it – saying this to them – merely makes them run away all the more – makes them even more averse to belief.

61. Allah says to them: Blessed be He who placed constellations in the sky – the constellations are the twelve signs of the Zodiac: see 16:15 – and put a blazing lamp – the sun – and shining moon among them.

62. It is He who made night and day succeed each other for those who want to pay heed (read as yadhdhakkaru and yadhkuru) – so that if someone misses something (like the prayer) in one, he can do it in the other – or to give thanks – for the blessings of His Lord to him in the day and night.

63. The slaves of the All-Merciful are those who walk lightly on the earth with tranquillity and humility and, who, when the ignorant speak to them – saying what they dislike – say, ‘Peace’ – by which they preserve themselves from wrong action –

64. …those who pass the night prostrating and standing before their Lord, praying night prayers…

65. …those who say, ‘Our Lord, avert from us the punishment of Hell, its punishment is inescapable pain.

66. It is indeed an evil lodging and abode in which to stay;

67. …those who, when they spend on their family are neither extravagant nor mean (read as yaqturu or yuqtiru), but take a stance mid way between the two in terms of expenditure –

68. …those who do not call on any other god besides Allah and do not kill anyone Allah has made inviolate, except with the right to do so, and do not fornicate; anyone who does that – any of the three mentioned – will receive an evil punishment…

69. …and on the Day of Rising his punishment will be doubled (read as yuda’afa and yuda‘afa) and he will be humiliated in it timelessly, for ever…

70. …except for those who repent and believe and act rightly: Allah will transform the wrong actions of such people into good – actions in the Next World – Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful

71. … for certainly all who repent of wrong actions and act rightly have turned sincerely towards Allah – returned to Allah and He will repay them –

72. …those who do not lie and bear false witness and who, when they pass by worthless talk – obscenities, backbiting, idle gossip and other such things – pass by with dignity…

73. …those who, when they are admonished and reminded of the Signs of their Lord (the Qur’an), do not turn their backs, deaf and blind to them – but rather listen and look and benefit from them –

74. …those who say, ‘Our Lord, give us joy in our wives and children (read as dhurriyatina and dhurriyatina) – when we see them obeying You – and make us a good example for those who are god-fearing’;

75. …such people will be repaid for their steadfastness – in obeying Allah with the Highest Paradise – the highest degree in the Garden – where they will meet (read as yulaqqayna and yalqayna) with welcome and with ‘Peace’ – spoken by the angels.

76. They will remain in it timelessly, for ever. What an excellent lodging and abode!

77. Say, Muhammad, to the people of Makka: ‘What has My Lord to do with you if you do not call on Him, when you are in difficulties for Him to remove them? But you have denied the truth – the Messenger and the Qur’an – so punishment is bound to come in the Next World after what happens to them in this world.’ Seventy of them were killed in the Battle of Badr.