1. Alif Lam Mim. Allah knows best what is meant by this.

2. The revelation of the Book (the Qur’an), without any doubt of it, is from the Lord of the worlds.

3. Or do they say, ‘He (Muhammad) has invented it’? No indeed! It is the truth from your Lord to warn – by it – a people to whom, before you, no warner came, so that perhaps they will be guided by your warning.

4. Allah is He who created the heavens and the earth and everything between them in six days – the first was Sunday and the last was Friday – and then established Himself firmly upon the Throne. The word “throne” linguistically refers to the seat of a king and for this reason is appropriate for Allah. You – unbelievers of Makka – have no protector or intercessor to protect you from His punishment apart from Him. So will you not pay heed to this and believe?

5. He directs the whole affair from heaven to earth for the period this world endures. Then it (the command and management) will again ascend to Him on a Day whose length is a thousand years by the way you measure in this world; and in another sura mentions fifty thousand years. That means the Day of Rising which seems that long, owing to the intensity of its terrors for the unbelievers. For the believer, however, it will seem lighter than a prescribed prayer which he prayed in this world, as is related in a hadith.

6. That Creator and Manager is the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible, what is hidden from creatures and what is present and can be seen, the Almighty who is unapproachable in His kingdom, the Most Merciful to the people who obey Him:

7. He who has created all things (read as khalaq and khalq) in the best possible way. He commenced the creation of man (Adam) from clay;

8. …then produced his seed (progeny) from an extract of base fluid – a weak drop of sperm;

9. …then formed him (Adam) and breathed His Ruh into him – gave him life and feeling after being an inanimate form – and gave you (his descendants) hearing, sight and hearts. What little thanks you show!

10. They – those who deny the Resurrection – say, ‘When we have been absorbed into the earth – turned to dust and mixed with the dust of the earth – are we then to be in a new creation?’ Allah says: In fact they reject the meeting with their Lord – at the Resurrection.

11. Say to them: ‘The Angel of Death, who has been given charge of you, will take you back – taking your spirits – and then you will be sent back to your Lord alive so, that He may repay you for your actions.’

12. If only you could see the evildoers (the idolaters) hanging their heads in shame before their Lord. They will say: ‘Our Lord, we have seen the reality of the resurrection we denied and we have heard the truth in the words of the Messengers which we denied before, so send us back again to the world and we will act rightly there. Truly we now have certainty.’ That plea will not benefit them and they will not be returned. Allah says:

13. ‘Had We so willed We could have given guidance to everyone – to obedience and faith – but now My Words are shown to be true: that I shall fill up Hell entirely with jinn and human beings and tell the guardians of the Fire to admit them into it.

14. So taste it (the punishment). Because you forgot the meeting on this Day and abandoned belief in it. We have forgotten you and will abandon you in the punishment. Taste the punishment of eternal timelessness for what you did in terms of unbelief and denial.’

15. The people who truly do believe in Our Signs (the Qur’an) are those who fall to the ground prostrating when they are reminded and warned of them and glorify their Lord with praise, saying, “Glory be to Allah and by His praise” and are not too arrogant to believe and obey.

16. Their sides eschew their beds – rising from where they sleep to perform the tahajjud night prayers – as they call on their Lord in fear of Allah’s punishment and ardent hope of His mercy. And they give sadaqa from what We have provided for them.

17. No self knows the delight – for the eyes – that is hidden away (read as ukhfiya and ukhfi) for it in recompense for what it used to do.

18. Is someone who believes like someone who is a deviator? They (the believers and deviants) are not the same!

19. As for those who believe and do right actions, they will have the Gardens of Safe Refuge as hospitality for what they used to do.

20. But as for those who are deviators through unbelief and denial, their refuge is the Fire. Every time that they want to get out, they are put straight back into it again and they are told, ‘Taste the punishment of the Fire, which you denied.’

21. We will give them a taste of lesser punishment in this world, by killing, capture, drought for years, and illnesses, before the greater punishment in the Next orld, so that hopefully they will turn back to belief.

22. Who could do greater wrong than someone who is reminded of the Signs of his Lord (the Qur’an) and then turns away from them? No one does greater harm. We will take revenge on the evildoers (the idolaters).

23. We gave Musa the Book (the Torah) – be in no doubt about the meeting with him – a reference to when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, met Musa during the Night Journey – and made it – or him; a reference to either the Book or Musa – a guidance for the tribe of Israel.

24. We appointed leaders from among them, guiding people by Our command when they were steadfast in their din and in the face of affliction from their enemy, and when (read as lamma and lima) they had certainty about Our Signs – things which indicate Allah’s Power and Unity.

25. On the Day of Rising your Lord will decide between them regarding everything about which they differed in matters of the din.

26. Are they not guided by the many generations We destroyed before them – a reminder to the unbelievers of Makka that Allah had destroyed many previous peoples on account of their unbelief – among whose ruined homes they walk around on their journeys to Syria and other places? There are certainly Signs of Our power in that. So will they not listen – reflect and be warned?

27. Do they not see how We drive water to barren land – with no vegetation growing in it – and bring forth crops by it which their livestock and they themselves both eat? So will they not see – this and so understand that We have the power to bring them back to life again?

28. They say to the believers: ‘When will this victory of yours over us come, if you are telling the truth?’

29. Say: ‘On the Day of Victory – when the punishment descends on them – the belief of those who disbelieved will be of no use to them. They will be granted no reprieve. ’They will not then be able to repent or offer any excuse.

30. So turn from them and wait for the punishment to befall them.They too are waiting for you to die or be killed so that they may be relieved of you. This was before the command came to fight them.