1. You who believe, do not put yourselves forward in front of Allah and of His Messenger – do not act or speak before Allah and His Messenger who conveys His Message: in other words, without their permission; and be fearful of Allah. Allah is All-Hearing of your words, All-Knowing of your actions. This was revealed about a disagreement between Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, which took place in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about whether to put al-Aqra‘ ibn Habis or al-Qa‘ba ‘ ibn Ma‘bad in command.

2. Then this was revealed about anyone who raises his voice in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: You who believe, do not raise your voices, when you speak, above the voice of the Prophet when he speaks; and do not be as loud when speaking privately to him as you are when speaking to one another – to show respect to him – lest your actions should come to nothing by your doing so without your realising it. This was revealed about those who used to lower their voices in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, such as Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and others, may Allah be pleased with them.

3. Those who lower their voices when they are with the Messenger of Allah are people whose hearts Allah has tested for fearfulness of Him – so that their fearfulness of Him becomes evident. They will have forgiveness and an immense reward (Paradise).

4. Then this was revealed about some people who came at midday while the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was in his house and called out to him. As for those who call out to you from outside your private quarters, meaning the rooms of the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. They used to call to him from behind the wall because they did not know which room he was in. The desert Arabs did this out of their coarseness and rudeness – most of them do not use their intellect and understand that what they do is incompatible with respect for him.

5. If they had only been patient until you came out to them, it would have been better for them. But Allah is Ever - Forgiving, Most Merciful to those of them who repented. This was revealed about al-Walid ibn ‘Uqba. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent him to the Banu’l-Mustaliq to take their zakat. He feared them because of a vendetta from the time of the Jahiliyya. He returned and said that they had refused to pay the zakat and had tried to kill him. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, intended to attack them, but they came and denied what al- Walid had said about them, [and so the following was revealed:]

6. You who believe, if a deviator brings you a report, scrutinize it carefully (read as tabayyanu and also tathabbatu, from the root, “to make firm”) – to ascertain whether it is true or a lie – in case you attack people in ignorance – out of fear that you might assault a people wrongly – and so come to greatly regret what you have done – your mistaken attack. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent Khalid to them after they had returned to their land; he only experienced obedience and good from them and reported that to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

7. Know that the Messenger of Allah is among you. Do not give false reports, because Allah will inform him of the matter. If he were to obey you in many things which you tell him which are different from the truth of the matter, you would suffer for it by incurring the sin of its consequences. But Allah has given you love of belief and made it pleasing to your hearts, and has made unbelief, deviance and disobedience hateful to you. People such as these are rightly guided and are firm in their dın.

8. It is a great favour from Allah and a blessing. Allah is All- Knowing of them, All-Wise in bestowing blessing on them.

9. If two parties of the believers fight – the plural rather than the dual is used for the verb “fight” because a “party” includes a number of people and so is considered to have a plural rather than singular meaning – make peace between them. This ayat was revealed about a case in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rode a donkey and passed by Ibn Ubayy. The donkey urinated and Ibn Ubayy held his nose. Ibn Rawaha said, “By Allah, the urine of his donkey is more fragrant than your musk!” Words were exchanged between the two groups of people and they began to hit one another with their hands, sandals and palm branches. But if one of them attacks the other unjustly, fight the attackers until they revert to Allah’s command (the truth). If they revert, make peace between them with justice, and be even-handed. Allah loves those who are even-handed.

10. The believers are brothers in the dın, so make peace between your brothers (read as akhawaykum and ikhwatikum) in any disputes they have; and be fearful of Allah so that perhaps you may gain mercy.

11. This ayat was revealed about the delegation of Tamim when they mocked the poor Muslims such as ‘Ammar and Suhayb. You who believe, people should not ridicule – treat with mockery and derision – others who may be better than themselves in the sight of Allah, nor should any women ridicule other women who may be better than themselves. And do not find fault with one another or insult each other with derogatory nick names – names which the person dislikes, such as “O deviant” and “O unbeliever”. How evil it is to have a name for evil conduct – because of ridicule, fault-finding and insult – after coming to belief! This sort of mockery and insinuation are very evil. Those people who do not turn from it are wrongdoers.

12. You who believe, avoid most suspicion. Indeed some suspicion is a crime. In fact much of it is, as for instance having a bad opinion of the people of good among the believers who are the majority of them, whereas the deviants among them are few. There is no sin in mentioning what the deviants do publicly. And do not spy – which means seeking out the faults and shortcomings of Muslims by investigating them – and do not backbite one another by mentioning anything about someone which he would dislike, even if it is true. Would any of you like to eat his brother’s dead flesh (read as may - tan and mayyitan)? No, you would hate it. Backbiting him while he is alive is like eating his flesh after he is dead. As you detest the idea of the latter, you should also detest the former. And be fearful of Allah. Fear the punishment of Allah and avoid slander by repenting of it. Allah is Ever - Relenting – accepting the repentance of those who repent, Most Merciful to them.

13. Mankind, We created you from a male and female – Adam and Hawwa’ – and made you into peoples – the word shu‘ub (peoples), the plural of sha‘b, represents the broadest type of affiliation between people – and tribes – the word qaba’il (tribes), the plural of qabila, is the next level down, then come subtribes (‘ama’ir), then butun, then afkhad, and then fasa’il. An example of this is that Khuzayma is a people; Kinana is a tribe; Quraysh is an ‘imara; Qusayy is a batn; Hashim is a fakhdh, and al-‘Abbas is a fasila – so that you might come to know each other – and not boast about high lineage when it is only by being more godfearing that one person can be considered better than another, because: the noblest among you in Allah’s sight is the one who is most godfearing. Allah is All- Knowing, All-Aware of your inward.

14. The desert Arabs – specifically a group of the Banu Asad – say ‘We believe in our hearts.’ Say to them: ‘ You do not believe. Say rather, “We have become Muslim outwardly,” for belief has not yet entered into your hearts. If you obey Allah and His Messenger by faith and in other wa y s, He will not undervalue (read as yalitkum and ya’litkum) the reward for your actions in any way. Allah is Ever Forgiving to the believers, Most Merciful to them.’

15. The true believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger and then have had no doubt regarding their faith and have done jihad with their wealth and themselves in the Way of Allah. Their jihad displays the sincerity of their faith. They are the ones who are true to their word in their faith, not those who say “We believe,” but in whom nothing more than Islam exists in.

16. Say to them: ‘Do you presume to teach Allah your din when Allah knows everything in the heavens and everything in the earth? Allah has knowledge of all things.’

17. They think they have done you a favour by becoming Muslims without fighting, as opposed to others who became Muslim after fighting him! Say: ‘Do not consider your Islam a favour to me. No indeed! It is Allah who has favoured you by guiding you to belief if you are telling the truth in by saying that you believe.’

18. Allah knows the unseen things of the heavens and the earth. Allah sees what you do (read as ta‘maluna and ya‘ maluna, “what they do”). Nothing is hidden from Him.