1. By the star (the Pleiades) when it descends and sets…

2. …your companion is not misguided or misled, referring to Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him. He is guided on the Path of right guidance and is untouched by error, which is ignorance in the form of false belief –

3. …in what he brings, nor does he speak from whim – from his own desires.

4. It is nothing but Revelation revealed to him,

5. … taught him by one immensely strong, an angel,

6. …possessing power and splendour – meaning Jibrıl. He stood, stationary –

7. …there on the highest horizon. The horizon is that of the sun, in other words where it rises. He appeared in the form in which he was created. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw him. This happened at Hira’ and the angel filled the entire horizon. He fainted. He had asked Jibrıl to show himself to him in the form in which he had been created. Jibrıl told him that it would happen at Hira’, where he had previously descended in a human form.

8. Then he drew near to him and hung suspended, coming nearer still.

9. He was two bow-lengths away or even closer when he recovered consciousness and his terror was stilled.

10. Then He revealed to His slave – Jibril – what he – Jibril – revealed to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The Name of the Revealer is not mentioned because of His incomparable greatness.

11. His (the Prophet’s) heart did not lie about (read as kadhaba and kadhdhaba which means “deny”) what he saw with respect to the form of Jibril.

12. What! Do you dispute with him – argue with him and try to overcome him – about what he saw? This is addressed to the idolaters who denied that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw Jibrıl.

13. He saw him in his true form again another time…

14. …by the Lote-tree of the Final Limit – this was when he travelled by night through the heavens. It is a lote tree to the right of the Throne which none of the angels or anyone else can go beyond –

15. …beside which is the Garden of Refuge – a garden in which the angels and spirits of the martyrs and godfearing seek refuge –

16. …when that which covered the Lote-tree covered it: birds and other things.

17. His eye – that of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace – did not waver, nor did he look away from what he was meant to see or exceed it on that night.

18. He saw in that some of the Greatest Signs of his Lord. He saw some of the wonders of the Malakut: green meadows which filled the horizon of heaven, and Jibrıl with six hundred wings.

19. Have you really considered al-Lut and al-‘Uzza…

20. …and Manat, the third, the other one? These were stone idols which the idolaters used to worship, claiming that they would bring them near to Allah. The implied meaning is: “Tell me: Are these idols capable of anything, that you should worship them instead of Allah who truly does have the power which has already been mentioned?” When they claimed that the angels were the daughters of Allah in spite of their dislike of daughters, Allah revealed:

21. Do you have males and He females?

22. That is a most unfair division! The word “unfair”, diza, comes from the verb daza, yadizu, to do wrong.

23. They (the idols) are nothing but names which you yourselves have give n to the idols which you worship, you and your forefathers. Allah has sent down no authority for them – for worshipping them. They are following nothing but conjecture and what their own selves desire. Worshipping idols is only something which Shaytan has made seem attractive to them, claiming that they will intercede with Allah on their behalf. And that when guidance has reached them on the tongue of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with absolute evidence from their Lord! Yet they still do not revert from what they are doing.

24. Shall man then have whatever he covets? Shall every human being have whatever he wishes where the intercession of idols is concerned? That is not how existence works.

25. The last – meaning the Next World – and the first – meaning this world – belong to Allah. Nothing occurs in them except what He wishes.

26. And how many angels there are in the heavens whose intercession – in spite of their high place with Allah – is of no benefit at all until Allah has authorised those of His slaves He wills and is pleased with them! Allah says: “ They do not intercede except on behalf of those with whom He is pleased.” (21:28) It is known that intercession can only be given by any creature after Allah has granted permission: “Who can intercede with Him except by His permission?” (2:255)

27. Those who do not believe in the Next World give the angels female names. That is because they say that they are the daughters of Allah.

28. They have no knowledge of this statement; they are only following conjecture. It is only something that they imagine. Conjecture is of no avail whatever against the truth – no help in acquiring the knowledge which is desired.

29. So turn away from him who turns away from Our remembrance (the Qur’an) and desires nothing but the life of this world. This was before the command to engage in jihad.

30. That (seeking this world) is as far as their knowledge extends. That is the goal of their knowledge since they prefer this world. Your Lord knows best those who are misguided from His Way and He knows best those who are guided, and will repay them.

31. Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to Allah – He is the Master of all that. This includes the misguided and the guided. He misleads whomever He wishes and guides whomever He wishes – so that He may repay those who do evil for what they did – in terms of shirk and other things – and repay those who do good through their affirmation of Allah’s unity and other acts of obedience with the Very Best (the Garden).

32. He makes the good-doers clear – to whoever avoids the major wrong actions and indecencies – except for minor lapses – things such as illicit glances, kisses or touches, indicating that minor wrong actions are forgiven if major ones are avoided. Truly your Lord is vast in forgiveness and accepts repentance. He has most knowledge of you when He first produced you from the earth – creating your father Adam from dust – and when you were embryos in your mothers’ wombs. So do not claim purity for yourselves. Do not praise yourselves out self-admiration. If it is done purely by way of acknowledgement of blessing, it is good. He knows best those who are godfearing.

33. Have you seen him who turns away, turns away from faith and apostasises after being criticised for having faith. He said, “I feared the penalty of Allah,” The critic guaranteed that he would bear the punishment of Allah for that man if he would revert to shirk, and also gave him money; and so he recanted.

34. …and gives little of his wealth and that grudgingly? The word “grudgingly”, akda, is derived from kudya, which means stony earth that impedes someone who is digging a well when he reaches it.

35. Does he have knowledge of the Unseen, enabling him to see? Does he know of anyone else who is able to remove the punishment of the Next World from him? This is a reference to al-Walıd ibn al- Mughira or someone else.

36. Or has he not been informed what is in the texts of Musa – the scrolls of the Torah, or the scrolls revealed before his time –

37. …and the scrolls of Ibrahim, who paid his dues in full: in other words, did what he was commanded to do – as Allah confirms in His words: “Remember when Ibrhım was tested by his Lord with certain words, which he accomplished completely.” (2:124) –

38. …that no burden-bearer (soul) can bear another’s burden – in other words, another’s sins;

39. …that man will have nothing but what he strives for – not what someone else strives for;

40. …that his striving will most certainly be seen in the Next World;

41. …that he will then receive repayment of the fullest kind for his striving;

42. …that the ultimate end is with your Lord – all will return to Him after death and He will repay them;

43. …that it is He Who brings about both laughter and tears – Allah makes whomever He wishes laugh with joy, and causes sorrow to whomever He wishes;

44. …that it is He Who brings about both death – in this world – and life at the Resurrection;

45. …that He created the two sexes, male and female,

46. …out of a sperm-drop when it spurted forth and lodged in the womb;

47. …that He is responsible for the second existence (read as nasha’a and nasha’a) – the second creation for the Resurrection, which is after the first creation;

48. …that it is He Who enriches with wealth and Who satisfies by giving it;

49. …that it is He Who is the Lord of Sirius – a star behind Gemini which used to be worshipped in the Jahiliyya;

50. …that He destroyed ‘Ad, the earlier people,

51. …and Thamud – the people of Salih – as well, sparing none of them – so that not one of them remained;

52. …and We destroyed the people of Nuh before ‘Ad and Thamud; they were most unjust and exorbitant – more unjust than ‘Ad and Thamud, because of the long time that Nuh was among them: “He remained among them for fifty short of a thousand years.” (29: 14) After all that time, they still did not believe him and harmed him, but hit him;

53. …and the Overturned City which He turned upside down – the city of the people of Lut. Allah made it crash down after raising it up into the sky and then turning it upside down when He commanded Jibrıl to do so;

54. …so that what (stones) enveloped it enveloped it and they were stupefied with terror. We read in Süra Hud: “We turned their cities upside down and rained down on them stones of hard baked clay.” (11:81)

55. Which one of your Lord’s blessings do you then dispute? The blessings of Allah indicate His oneness and pOwer. So, O human being, do you doubt or deny?

56. This – from Muhammad – is a warning like the warnings of old: in other words, he is a Messenger like the Messengers before him. He has been sent to you as they were sent to their people.

57. The Imminent is imminent! The Resurrection is near.

58. No one besides Allah can unveil it. None can reveal it and make it appear except Him. This is like Allah’s words: “He alone will reveal it at its proper time.” (7:187)

59. Are you then amazed at this discourse (the Qur’an)? Do you deny it –

60. …and laugh; and do you not cry – do you mock and not weep at the His promise and threat,

61. …treating life as a game – playing about and heedless about what He asks of you?

62. Prostrate before Allah Who created you and worship Him! Do not prostrate to idols and do not worship them.