1. Ha Mim Allah knows best what is meant by this.

2. The revelation of the Book (the Qur’an) is from Allah, the Almighty in His kingdom, the All-Wise in what He does.

3. We have not created the heavens and earth and everything between them except with truth – so as to indicate Our power and unity – and for a set term – until the set time when they will vanish on the Last Day of Rising. But those who disbelieve turn away from what they have been warned regarding the punishment.

4. Say: ‘Tell me: have you thought about those idols you call upon and worship apart from Allah? Show me what they have created on the earth. Or do they have a partnership in the creation of the heavens? This demands a negative response. Produce a revealed Book for me before this one (the Qur’an) or a shred of ancient knowledge which validates your claim in respect of your worship of idols: the claim that worshipping them brings you near to Allah – if you are telling the truth in respect of your claim.’

5. Who could be further astray than those who call on and worship other things besides Allah, which will not ever respond to them – to their worshippers in respect of anything that they ask them – until the Day of Rising and which are unaware of their prayers? They are unaware of their worship because they are inanimate and do not understand.

6. When mankind is gathered together, they (the idols) will be their enemies – hostile to those who worshipped them – and will reject their worship.

7. When Our Clear Signs (the Qur’an) are recited to them (the people of Makka), those who reject say to the truth (the Qur’an) when it comes to them, ‘This is clear and downright magic.’

8. Or do they say, ‘He has invented it (the Qur’an)’? There is a negative answer to the question. Say – hypothetically – ‘If I have invented it, then you possess no power to help me against punishment by Allah in any way. You cannot defend me against Allah if He inflicts punishment on me. He knows best what you hold forth about and say about the Qur’an. He (Allah) is Witness enough between me and you. He is the Ever-Forgiving of those who repent, the Most Merciful, and does not hasten the penalty.’

9. Say: ‘I am nothing new – no innovation – among the Messengers – not the first Messenger. There were many before me, so how can you deny me? I have no idea what will be done with me or you in this world: whether I will be expelled from my land or killed as happened to Prophets before me, or whether you will throw stones at me or whether the earth will swallow you up as happened with others before you. I only follow what has been revealed to me – in other words, the Qur’an, and I do not innovate anything from myself. I am only a clear warner.’

10. Say: ‘What do you think? Tell me what your state will be. If it (the Qur’an) is from Allah and you reject it, when a witness from the tribe of Israel (‘Abdullah ibn Salam) testifies to its similarity to previous Revelations, affirming that it is from Allah, and so the witness believes while you are too arrogant to believe…! You are wrongdoers and Allah certainly does not guide wrongdoing people.’

11. Those who disbelieve say of those who believe, ‘If there were any good in it (belief), they would not have beaten us to it.’ And since they have not been guided by it (the Qur’an), they are bound to say, ‘This Qur’an is an antiquated falsehood.’

12. But before it (the Qur’an) there was the Book of Musa (the Torah) as a model and a mercy to the believers; and this is a corroborating Book – confirming the Books before it – in the Arabic tongue so that you may warn those who do wrong – including the idolaters of Makka – and as good news for the good-doers – the believers.

13. Those who say, ‘Our Lord is Allah,’ and then go straight in obedience to Allah will feel no fear and will know no sorrow.

14. Such people are the Companions of the Garden, remaining in it timelessly, for ever, as repayment for what they did.

15. We have instructed man to be good (read as husnan and ihsanan) to his parents. His mother bore him with difficulty and with difficulty gave birth to him; and his bearing and weaning take thirty months. Thirty months refers to the period of pregnancy, whose minimum is six months, and the rest of it is suckling. If it be said that if she is pregnant for six or nine months, then the period of suckling is that which makes up the total. If the child survives, the age of maturity with respect to strength, intelligence and discernment is thirty-three, or between thirty and forty. Then when he achieves his full strength and reaches forty, he says, ‘My Lord, keep me thankful for the blessing, and inspire me to be grateful for the blessing of tawhid. You bestowed on me and on my parents, and keep me acting rightly, pleasing You. It is said that this was revealed about Abu Bakr as-Siddıq. He reached the age of forty two years after the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent, and became a believer. Then his parents became believers and then his son, ‘Abdu’r-Rahman, and then the son of ‘Abdu’r-Rahman, ‘Atiq. He set free nine believers who were being tortured on account of their belief in Allah. And make my descendants righteous – and all of his offspring were believers. I have turned in repentance to You and I am truly one of the Muslims.’

16. Those – such as Abu Bakr and others like him – are people whose best deeds will be accepted and whose wrong deeds will be overlooked. They are among the Companions of the Garden, in fulfilment of the true promise made to them which is found in Allah’s words: “Allah has promised the believers, men and women, the Gardens of Paradise.” (9:72)

17. But what of him who says to his parents, ‘Fie (read as uffin, uffa and uff) on you! This is a word indicating foulness and ugliness, used to express annoyance with someone. Do you promise me that I will be resurrected from the grave when generations of nations before me have passed away and have not emerged from their graves?’ They both call on Allah for help: ‘Woe to you! You will be destroyed! Believe in the Resurrection! Allah’s promise is true.’ But he says, ‘This claim of resurrection is nothing but the myths and lies of previous peoples.’

18. Those are people of whom the statement about the nations – that they will be punished – both of jinn and men, who passed away before them, has also proved true; truly they were the lost.

19. Everyone – believer and unbeliever – will be ranked according to what they did. The believers will have high ranks in the Garden and the unbelievers will have low ranks in the Fire. He will pay them (read as yuwaffiyahum and nuwaffiyahum, “We will pay”) in full for their actions – the believers being repaid for their acts of obedience and the unbelievers for their acts of disobedience – and they will not be wronged in the slightest, either by decrease for the believers or by increase for the unbelievers.

20. On the Day when those who disbelieved are exposed to the Fire they will be told: ‘You dissipated the good things you had in your worldly life – by being occupied with its pleasures – and enjoyed yourself in it. So today you are being repaid with the punishment of humiliation for being arrogant in the earth without any right and for being deviators – and you are receiving the punishment for it now.’

21. Remember the brother of ‘Ad – Hud, peace be upon him – when he warned his people by the sand-dunes – this place, named al- Ahqaf, is a wadi in Yemen where their houses where located – and warners – Messengers – passed away before and after him (Hud) who were sent to their people, saying to them: ‘Worship no one but Allah. I fear for you the punishment of a terrible Day if you worship gods other than Allah.’

22. They said, ‘Have you come to us to divert us from our gods – to stop us from worshipping our gods? Bring us what you have promised us in terms of punishment for worshipping them, if you are telling the truth about it coming to us.’

23. He (Hud) said, ‘All knowledge is with Allah, and it is He Who knows when the punishment will come to you. I only transmit to you what I have been sent to you with. But I see that you are a people who are ignorant, as is shown by your seeking to hasten the punishment.’

24. When they saw it (the punishment) as a stormcloud which appeared on the horizon advancing on their valleys, they said, ‘This is a storm cloud which will give us rain.’ Allah says: No, rather it is what (the punishment) you desired to hasten: a wind containing painful punishment,

25. …destroying everything at its Lord’s command. In other words, it destroyed everything that Allah wished to be destroyed and so it destroyed their men, women, children and property by throwing all of everything into the air and ripping it apart. Hud and those who were believers remained unharmed. When morning came you could see nothing but their dwellings. That is how We repay the people of the evildoers. And that is how other evildoers will also be repaid.

26. We established them far more firmly in strength and wealth than We have established you, people of Makka, and gave them hearing, sight and hearts. But their hearing, sight and hearts were of no use to them at all when they renounced Allah’s clear Signs and what they mocked at (the punishment) engulfed them.

27. We destroyed the cities round about you – the people of those cities, such as Thamud, ‘Ad and the people of Lut – and have variegated the clear Signs so that perhaps they may back.

28. Why have those idols they took as gods besides Allah, to bring them near to Him, not come to their aid to avert the punishment from them? No, in fact they have forsaken them! They were absent when the punishment descended That was a fiction, something they invented – a lie they told.

29. And We diverted a group of jinn – these were jinn from Nisibiyyin in Yemen or jinn from Nineveh and were seven or nine in number – towards you – this occurred when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was in a wadi containing some palm trees leading his Companions in the Fajr prayer, as is reported in al- Bukhari and Muslim – to listen to the Qur’an. When they were in earshot of it they said to one another ‘Be quiet and listen to it.’ When it (his recitation) was over they went back to their people, warning them – of punishment if they did not believe. They had been Jews and became Muslim.

30. They said, ‘Our people, we have heard a Book (the Qur’an) which was sent down after Musa, confirming what came before it, such as the Torah, guiding to the truth (Islam) and to a straight path.

31. Our people, respond to Allah’s caller to faith, meaning Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and believe in Him. He (Allah) will forgive you some of your wrong actions – this is qualified by the word “some” because some wrongs can only be forgiven with the consent of those who were wronged – and save you from a painful punishment.

32. Those who do not respond to Allah’s caller cannot thwart Allah on earth – they cannot escape Allah by flight – and have no protectors apart from Him to protect them from His punishment. Such people who do not respond are clearly misguided.’

33. Do they (those who deny the resurrection) not see and know that Allah – He who created the heavens and the earth and was not wearied by creating them – has the power to bring the dead to life? Yes indeed! He has power over all things.

34. On the Day when those who disbelieved are exposed to the Fire when they are being punished, they will be asked, ‘Is this punishment not true?’ They will say, ‘Yes, by our Lord.’ He will say, ‘Then taste the punishment for having disbelieved.’

35. So be steadfast in the face of persecution from your people as the Messengers before you with firm resolve were also steadfast. They showed steadfastness and fortitude in the face of hardships and had firm resolve. It (the noun “Messengers”) is also said to be partitive as Adam was not one of them, for Allah says, “We did not find that he had a firm resolve” (20:115); nor was Yunus, since He says, “Do not be like the Companion of the Fish.” (68:48) And do not seek to hasten it (the punishment) for them (your people). It is said that it was as if the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was annoyed at them and wanted the punishment to befall them, and so he was commanded to be steadfast and not seek to hasten the punishment which will inevitably befall them at the due time. On the Day they see what they were promised – meaning the punishment in the Next World, because of its length – it will be as if they had only tarried in this world for just one hour of a single day. It (the Qur’an) has been transmitted from Allah to you. Will any be destroyed when they see the punishment except for deviant people (the unbelievers)?