1. Ya Sin. Allah knows best what is meant by that.

2. By the Wise Qur’an. The meaning of “Wise” here is connected to the wondrous order of the Qur’an as well as its profound meanings.

3. Truly you, Muhammad, are one of the Messengers…

4. …on a Straight Path – the Path of those before who had tawhid and guidance. It is stressed by the oath and other things to refute the unbelievers’ statement to the Prophet that he was not one of the Messengers.

5. …the revelation of the Almighty in His kingdom, the Most Merciful to His creation. This refers to the Qur’an –

6. … so that you may warn a people whose fathers were not warned – during the gap between Prophets – and who are therefore unaware and have neglected faith and guidance.

7. The sentence that they would be punished has been justly carried out against most of them, so they do not believe.

8. We have put iron collars round their necks, reaching up to the chin, so that their heads are forced back. Their hands are chained to their necks and pulled up to their necks, so their heads are forced back so that they cannot lower them. This is a metaphor. What is meant is that they do not submit to Islam and so their heads will be forced back.

9. We have placed a barrier (read as saddan and suddan) in front of them and a barrier behind them, blindfolding them so that they cannot see. This is another metaphor for how the path of faith is barred to them.

10. It makes no difference to them whether you warn them or do not warn them: they will not believe.

11. You can only warn those who act on the Reminder (the Qur’an) – and benefit from your warning – and fear the All-Merciful in the Unseen. Give them the good news of forgiveness and a generous reward – the Garden.

12. We bring the dead to life at the Resurrection and We record in the Preserved Tablet what they send ahead – the good and evil they do in this world in order to repay them – and what they leave behind – the customs and traditions they institute which remain behind when they die. We have listed and explained everything precisely in a clear register a reference to the Preserved Tablet.

13. Make an example for them of the inhabitants of the city (Antioch) when the Messengers – from Isa – came to it.

14. When We sent them two and they denied them both, so We reinforced (read as ‘azzazn and ‘azazna) them with a third. They said, ‘Truly We have been sent to you as Messengers.’

15. They said, ‘You are nothing but human beings like ourselves. The All-Merciful has not sent down anything. You are simply lying.’

16. They said, ‘Our Lord knows we have been sent as Messengers to you. This is like an oath and stresses what they say because of the denial they were facing.

17. We are only responsible for clear transmission.’ This was done on the basis of clear evidence such as healing the blind, lepers and the sick and bringing the dead to life.

18. They said, ‘We see an evil omen in you – we think that you are bad luck for us since rain has been withheld from us because of you. If you do not stop we will stone you and you will suffer a painful punishment at our hands.’

19. They said, ‘Your evil omen is in yourselves – on account of your unbelief. Is it not just that you have been reminded? This question implies rebu ke. No, you are an unbridled people!’ You have exceeded the limits through your attribution of partners to Allah.

20. A man – this was someone called Habib an-Najjar who believed in the Messengers and lived in the furthest part of the city – came running from the far side of the city – when he heard that the people had denied the Messengers – saying, ‘My people, follow the Messengers!

21. Follow – the word “follow” is repeated for emphasis – those who do not ask you for any wage for conveying the Message and who have received guidance. They said to him, “You follow their religion.” He replied:

22. Why indeed should I not worship Him Who brought me into being, meaning that there is nothing to keep him or them from worshipping Allah: Him to Whom you will be returned after death and He Who will repay you for your unbelief?

23. Am I to take as gods (idols) instead of Him those whose intercession, if the All-Merciful desires harm for me, will not help me at all and cannot save me? This is a question which demands a negative response. That for which they claim divinity will not be able to help anyone against Allah.

24. In that case – if I were to worship other than Allah – I would clearly be misguided.

25. I believe in your Lord, so listen to me!’ But they stoned him to death.

26. He was told – when he died – ‘Enter the Garden!’ It is said that he entered it when he was still alive. He said, ‘If my people only knew…

27. … how my Lord has forgiven me and placed me among the honoured ones!’

28. We did not send down to his people – the people of Habib – any host from heaven – angels to destroy them – after him – after his death – nor would We send one down.

29. It was but one Great Blast and they were extinct. Their punishment was one Shout from Jibril and they were dead.

30. Alas for My slaves – those and their like who denied the Messengers sent to them and were destroyed! This is a vocal expression indicating very great pain. It is metaphorical, with the meaning: “This is your time, so attend!” – No Messenger comes to them with - out their mocking him – and this mockery is what leads to their destruction.

31. Do they – the people of Makka who say to the Prophet, “You are not a Messenger” – not see how many generations (past nations) before them We have destroyed and that they will not return to them? So will they not reflect on what happened to them?

32. Each and every one (read as inna kullun lammaand inna kullun lama) will be summoned to Our presence – in the Place of Standing after they are resurrected and are summoned for the Reckoning.

33. A Sign – evidence of the Resurrection – for them is the dead land (read as mayta and mayyata) which We bring to life and from which – after mixing it with water – We bring forth grain (wheat) of which they eat.

34. We place in it gardens of dates and grapes, and cause springs to gush out in some of it,

35. …so they may eat its fruits (read as thamarihi and thumurihi) – the fruits of the palm and other plants. They did not do it themselves. They did not create the fruits themselves. So will they not be thankful for Allah’s blessings?

36. Glory be to Him who created all the pairs (species) from what the earth produces – in terms of grains and other things, and from – males and females among themselves and from things unknown to them – strange and wondrous creatures about which they do not know.

37. A Sign – evidence of Allah’s immense power – for them is the night: We peel the day away – separate it – from it and there they are, in darkness.

38. And the sun runs to its resting place. The sun is a Sign for them on its own, or it is an aspect of the previous Sign. The moon is also a Sign. That is the decree of the Almighty in His kingdom, the All- Knowing of His creation.

39. And We have decreed twenty-eight set phases for the moon (read as al- qamara and al- qamaru) each month until it ends up looking like an old palm spathe. It is concealed for two nights if the month is thirty days and one night if it is twenty-nine, and then it appears to the eye like a curved, yellow old palm spathe.

40. It is not for the sun to overtake the moon in the night nor for the night to outstrip the day – and come before the end of the day; each one – each luminous body: the sun, moon and stars – is swimming in a sphere – an orbit. The form of the verb used here is that usually reserved for sentient creatures.

41. A Sign for them – of the power of Allah – is that We carried their families (read as dhuriyya, singular, and dhuriyyat, plural) – here meaning ancestors – in the laden ship – the Ark of Nü˛.

42. And We have created for them the like of it (Nuh’s Ark) – similar ships, large and small, which they make in the same form thanks to Allah’s teaching them how to do so – in which they sail.

43. If We wished, We could drown them – in spite of the existence of the ships – with no one to hear their cry for help, and then they would not be saved –

44. …except as an act of mercy from Us, to give them enjoyment for a time. Nothing could save them except for Our mercy to them and then they would only enjoy the pleasures of life until the end of their decreed life-spans.

45. They are told, ‘Be fearful of what is before you – punishment in this world like what happened to others before you – and behind you – meaning the punishment coming in the Next World – so that perhaps you may have mercy shown to you and your wrong actions may be overlooked.’

46. Not one of your Lord’s Signs comes to them without their turning away from it.

47. And when they are told by the poor among the Companions, ‘Spend on us from the provision of wealth Allah has given you,’ those who disbelieve say in mockery to those who believe, ‘Why should we feed someone whom – according to your belief – if He wished, Allah would feed Himself? You are clearly in error.’ This is an explicit statement of their unbelief.

48. And they say, ‘When will this promise – of the Resurrection – come about if you are telling the truth about it?’

49. Allah says: What are they waiting for but one Great Blast – the first blast of the Trumpet by Israfil – to seize them while they are quibbling (read as yakhassimuna and yakhsimuna)? This means that they are heedless of it because they are involved in quibbling, selling, eating, drinking and other things.

50. They will not be able to make a will or return to their families from their markets and business: they will die there.

51. The Trumpet will be blown – this refers to the second blast of the Trumpet for the Resurrection; there will be forty years between the two blasts – and at once they will be sliding swiftly from their graves towards their Lord.

52. They – the unbelievers among them – will say, ‘Alas for us! – “Alas on account of our destruction!” The word for “alas, wayl, is a verbal noun for which there is no actual verbal form. Who has raised us from our resting-place? They say this because, between the Two Blasts, they were unconscious and not being punished. This Resurrection is what the All-Merciful promised us. The Messengers were telling the truth.’ They will affirm what the Messengers said at a time when that will be of no avail to them. It is also said that those words will be said to them.

53. It will be but one Great Blast, and they will all be summoned to Our presence.

54. Today no self will be wronged in anyway. You will only be repaid for what you did.

55. The Companions of the Garden are busy (read as shughulin and shughlin) enjoying themselves today, made oblivious to what the People of the Fire are suffering by the delights they are enjoying such as consorting with virgins. There is no occupation in which they become tired, because there is no weariness in the Garden. They will be in absolute bliss –

56. …they and their wives reclining on couches – the word used refers to a couch or a bed in an alcove – in the shade – away from the direct impact of the sun.

57. They will have fruits there and enjoy whatever they request.

58. ‘Peace!’ A word from a Merciful Lord. This is what He says to them, meaning, “Peace be upon you.”

59. ‘Keep yourselves apart today, you evildoers! “Separate yourselves from the believers!” This is when they are mixed together.

60. Did I not make a contract with you, tribe of Adam, and command you on the tongues of My Messengers not to worship and obey Shaytan, who truly is an outright clear enemy to you…

61. …but to worship and obey Me, affirming My unity? That is astraight path.

62. He has led huge numbers (read as jibillan and jubulan) of you into error. Why did you not use your intellect – and see his enmity and misguidance, or the punishment which befell your predecessors and so believe? This will be said to them in the Next World.

63. This is the Hell that you were promised.

64. Roast in it today because you were unbelievers.’

65. Today We seal up their (the unbelievers’) mouths – when they say, “By Allah, our Lord, We were not idolaters” (6:23) – and their hands speak to us, and their feet bear witness to what they have earned. Each of their limbs will speak and say what it did.

66. If We wished, We could put out their eyes and blind them. Then, though they might race for the path – as it was their custom to do – how would they see it then? They would not be able to.

67. If We wished, We could transform them into monkeys and pigs, or into stones where they stand (read as makanatihim, sing. And makanatihim pl.) – meaning in their homes – so they would neither be able to go out nor return.

68. When We grant long life (read as nunakkis’hu and nankus’hu) to people, We return them to their primal state – so that after strength and youth come weakness and senility. So will they not use their intellect (read as ya‘qiluna and ta‘qiluna, “will you not use”)? “Will you not understand that it is known that the One who has the power to do that has the power to resurrect you? Then you should believe.”

69. We did not teach him (the Prophet) poetry nor would it be right for him. This refutes their claim that the Qur’an is poetry. Poetry is not easy for him. It is simply a reminder and a clear Qur’an – a recitation which makes clear Divine judgements and other things –

70. …so that they may warn (read as yundhiru and tundhiru, “you may warn”) those who are truly alive – and understand what is said to them, in other words the believers, and so that the Word – decreeing punishment for them – may be carried out against the unbelievers – who are like the dead who do not understand what is said to them.

71. Have they not seen and grasped how We created for them (mankind) by Our own handiwork – without any partner or helper – livestock – camels, cattle and sheep and goats – which are under their control? The question demands a positive response.

72. We have made them tame for them – and subjected them to them – and some they ride and some they eat.

73. And they have other uses – for example in their wool, fur and hair – for them, and milk to drink. So will they not be thankful to the One who has blessed them with these things, and therefore believe? In other words, they have not done so.

74. They have taken gods besides Allah – the idols which they worship – so that perhaps they may be helped – defended from the punishment of Allah Almighty by the alleged intercession of their gods.

75. They (their gods) cannot help them even though they are an army mobilised in their support – as they allege. The plural of sentient things is used for them. They will be present with them in the Fire.

76. So do not let their words distress you – their saying, “You are not a Messenger” and other such things. We know what they keep secret and what they divulge – and We will repay them for that.

77. Does not man – said to refer specifically to al-‘Asi ibn Wa’il – see and know that We created him from a drop of sperm and nurtured him until he was strong, yet there he is, an open antagonist – strongly opposing Allah and clearly denying the Resurrection!

78. He makes likenesses of Us – attributing divine powers to other things – and forgets his own creation – from sperm, which is more extraordinary than the likenesses he makes – saying, ‘Who will give life to bones when they are decayed?’ It is related that Allah will take the decayed bones and knit them together. Al-‘Asi ibn Wa’il asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “Do you think that Allah will bring this (body of mine) to life after it is decayed and crushed?” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, answered, “Yes, and He will make you enter the Fire.”

79. Say ‘He who made them in the first place will bring them back to life. He has total knowledge of each created thing – He knows all things in detail and in whole before and after their creation.

80. He Who produces fire for you and all mankind from the wood of green trees – the stick of the fire-drill of the Arabs which comes from the Markh tree and the ‘Afar tree, or any tree except the vine – so that you use them to light your fires.’ You ignite fires with them. This is further evidence of Allah’s power to resurrect. There is both water, fire and wood in it. The water does not extinguish the fire and the fire does not burn up the wood.

81. Does He who created the heavens and earth – in all their immensity – not have the power to create the same again – meaning human beings, who are far less of a challenge? Yes indeed! He indeed has the power to do that. He is the Creator – using the intensive form, al-Khallaq, implying that He creates a a great deal, the All-Knowing of everything He creates.

82. His command when He desires to create a thing is just to say to it, ‘Be!’ and it is (read as yakünu and yaküna).

83. Glory be to Him Who has the Dominion of all things in His Hand. To Him you will be returned in the Next World.