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Alif. Lām. Mīm.
God: there is no deity but Him, the Ever-Living, the Eternal Master of all.
He has revealed to you this Book with the truth, confirming what was revealed before it; and He has already revealed the Torah and the Gospel
before this as guidance for people. And He has revealed the Criterion [to distinguish the true from the false]. Those who disbelieve in God’s revelations shall endure grievous suffering. God is Mighty, able to requite.
Nothing on earth or in the heavens is hidden from God.
It is He who shapes you in the wombs as He pleases. There is no deity save Him, the Almighty, the Wise.
He it is who has sent down to you the Book, containing verses which are clear and precise – and these are the essence of the Book – and others are equivocal. Those whose hearts have swerved from the truth pursue that part of it which is equivocal, seeking to create dissension and trying to give it an arbitrary meaning. None knows its final meaning other than God and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge. They say: We believe in it; it is all from our Lord. But only those who are endowed with insight take heed.
Our Lord, let not our hearts swerve from the truth after You have guided us; and bestow on us mercy from Yourself. You are indeed the Great Giver.
Our Lord, You will indeed gather mankind together to witness the Day of which there is no doubt. Surely, God never fails to keep His promise.
As for those who disbelieve, neither their riches nor their offspring will in the least avail them against God; it is they who shall be the fuel of the Fire.
Just like the cases of the people of Pharaoh and those before them: they disbelieved Our revelations; therefore, God took them to task for their sins. God’s punishment is severe indeed.
Say to those who disbelieve: You shall be overcome and gathered unto hell, an evil resting place.
You have had a sign in the two armies which met in battle. One was fighting for God’s cause, the other an army of unbelievers. They saw with their very eyes that the others were twice their own number. But God strengthens with His succour whom He wills. In this there is surely a lesson for all who have eyes to see.
Alluring to man is the enjoyment of worldly desires through women and offspring, heaped-up treasures of gold and silver, horses of high mark, cattle and plantations. These are the comforts of this life. With God is the best of all goals.
Say: shall I tell you of better things than these? For the God-fearing there are, with their Lord, gardens through which running waters flow where they shall dwell forever, and spouses of perfect chastity, and God’s good pleasure. God is mindful of His servants,
those who say: Our Lord, we have indeed accepted the faith. Forgive us our sins and keep us safe from the torments of the Fire.
They are the patient in adversity, the true to their word, the devoted who spend in the cause of God, and those who pray for forgiveness at the time of dawn.
God Himself bears witness, and so do the angels and men of knowledge, that there is no deity other than Him, the executor of Justice. There is no deity save Him, the Almighty, the Wise.
The only true faith acceptable to God is [man’s] self-surrender to Him. Disagreements spread, through mutual aggression, among those who were given revelations only after knowledge had been granted to them. He who denies God’s revelations will find that God is indeed swift in reckoning.
If they argue with you, say: I have surrendered my whole being to God, and so have all who follow me. Say to those who were given revelations and to unlettered people, ‘Will you also surrender yourselves (to God)?; If they surrender, they are on the right path. But if they turn away, then your only duty is to convey your message. God is watching over His servants.
Those who deny God’s revelations, and slay the prophets against all right and slay people who enjoin equity among all people: promise them a painful suffering.
It is they whose works shall come to nothing in this world and in the life to come; and they shall have none to help them.
Have you considered the case of those who have received a share of revelation? When they are called upon to accept the judgement of God’s Book in their affairs, some of them turn away and pay no heed.
For they claim: ‘The Fire will most certainly not touch us save for a limited number of days’. They are deceived in their own faith by the false beliefs they used to invent.
How, then, will it be with them when We shall gather them all together to witness the Day about which there is no doubt, when every soul will be paid in full what it has earned, and they shall not be wronged?
Say: ‘Lord, Sovereign of all dominion, You grant dominion to whom You will and take dominion away from whom You will. You exalt whom You will and abase whom You will. In Your hand is all that is good. You are able to do all things.
You cause the night to pass into the day, and You cause the day to pass into the night. You bring forth the living from the dead, and You bring forth the dead from that which is alive. You grant sustenance to whom You will, beyond all reckoning’.
Let not the believers take unbelievers for their allies in preference to the believers. He who does this has cut himself off from God, unless it be that you protect yourselves against them in this way. God warns you to beware of Him: for to God you shall all return.
Say: ‘Whether you conceal what is in your hearts or bring it into the open, it is known to God. He knows all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth; and God has the power to accomplish anything’.
On the Day when every soul will find itself confronted with whatever good it has done and whatever evil it has done, they will wish that there were a long span of time between them and that Day. God warns you to beware of Him; and God is most compassionate towards His servants.
Say: ‘If you love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins. God is much-forgiving, ever-merciful’.
Say: ‘Obey God and the Messenger’. If they turn their backs, God does not love the unbelievers.
God raised Adam and Noah, and the House of Abraham and the House of [Imran above all mankind.
They were the offspring of one another. God hears all and knows all.
[Imran’s wife said: ‘My Lord, I vow to you that which is in my womb, to be devoted to Your service. Accept it from me. You alone are the One who hears all and knows all’.
When she had given birth she said: ‘My Lord, I have given birth to a female’. – God well knew to what she would give birth. – ‘The male is not like the female. I have named her Mary and I seek Your protection for her and her offspring against Satan, the accursed’.
Her Lord graciously accepted her. He made her grow up a goodly child, and placed her in the care of Zachariah. Whenever Zachariah visited her in the sanctuary he found her provided with food. He would say: ‘Mary, where has this come to you from?’ She would answer: ‘It is from God. God gives sustenance to whom He wills, beyond all reckoning’.
At that point, Zachariah prayed to his Lord, saying: “Lord, bestow on me, out of Your grace, goodly offspring. Indeed, You hear all prayers.”
Thereupon, the angels called out to him as he stood praying in the sanctuary: “God gives you the happy news of [the birth of] John, who shall confirm the truth of a word from God. He shall be noble, utterly chaste and a Prophet from among the righteous.”
[Zachariah] said: ‘Lord, how can I have a son when old age has already overtaken me and my wife is barren?’ He answered: ‘Thus it is. God does what He wills’.
[Zachariah] said: ‘Lord, grant me a sign’. He replied: ‘Your sign shall be that for three days you will not speak to people except by gestures. Remember your Lord unceasingly and glorify Him in the early hours of night and day’.
The angels said: ‘Mary, God has chosen you and made you pure, and raised you above all the women of the world.
Mary, Remain truly devout to your Lord, prostrate yourself (to Him) and bow down with those who bow down in worship’.
This is an account of something which remained beyond the reach of your perception We now reveal to you. You were not present with them when they cast lots as to which of them should have charge of Mary; nor were you present when they contended about it with one another.
The angels said: ‘Mary, God sends you the happy news, through a word from Him, [of a son] whose name is the Christ, Jesus, son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the life to come, and shall be among those who are favoured by God.
He shall speak to people in his cradle, and as a grown man, and shall be of the righteous’.
Said she: ‘My Lord, How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me?’ [The angel] answered: ‘Thus it is. God creates what He wills. When He wills a thing to be, He only says to it ‘Be’, and it is.
He will teach him the book and wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel,
and will make him a messenger to the Israelites. “I have brought you a sign from your Lord. I will fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird. I shall breathe into it and, by God’s leave, it shall become a living bird. I will heal the blind and the leper, and bring the dead back to life by God’s leave. I will announce to you what you eat and what you store up in your houses. Surely, in all this there is a sign for you, if you are truly believers.
And [I have come] to confirm that which has already been sent down of the Torah and to make lawful to you some of the things which were forbidden you. I have come to you with a sign from your Lord; so remain conscious of God and obey me.
God is indeed my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him alone. That is the straight path”.’
When Jesus became conscious of their rejection of the faith, he asked: ‘Who will be my helpers in the cause of God?’ The disciples replied: ‘We are [your] helpers in God’s cause. We believe in God. Bear you witness that we have surrendered ourselves to Him.
Our Lord, we believe in what You have bestowed from on high, and we follow the messenger, so write us down among those who bear witness [to the truth]’.
They schemed, and God also schemed. God is the best of schemers.
God said: ‘Jesus, I shall gather you and cause you to ascend to Me, and I shall cleanse you of those who disbelieve, and I shall place those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me you shall all return, and I shall judge between you with regard to everything on which you used to differ.
As for those who disbelieve I shall inflict on them severe suffering in this world and in the life to come; and they shall have none to help them’.
But to those who believe and do good works, He will grant their reward in full. God does not love the wrongdoers.
This which We recite to you is a revelation and a wise reminder.
The case of Jesus in the sight of God is the same as the case of Adam. He created him of dust and then said to him: ‘Be’, and he was.
This is the truth from your Lord: be not, then, among the doubters.
If anyone should dispute with you about this [truth] after all the knowledge you have received, say: Come. Let us summon our sons and your sons, our women and your women, and ourselves and yourselves; then let us pray humbly and solemnly and invoke God’s curse upon the ones who are telling a lie.
This is indeed the truth of the matter. There is no deity save God. Indeed, it is God Who is the Mighty, the Wise.
And if they turn away, God has full knowledge of those who spread corruption.
Say: People of earlier revelations. Let us come to an agreement which is equitable between you and us: that we shall worship none but God, that we shall associate no partners with Him, and that we shall not take one another for lords beside God. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we have surrendered ourselves to God.
People of earlier revelations! Why do you argue about Abraham when both the Torah and the Gospel were only revealed after his time? Have you no sense?
You have indeed argued about that of which you have some knowledge; why then do you argue about that of which you have no knowledge at all? God knows, whereas you do not know.
Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian; but he was wholly devoted to God, having surrendered himself to Him. He was not of those who associate partners with God.
The people who have the best claim to Abraham are those who followed him, and this Prophet and those who are true believers. God is the Guardian of the believers.
A party of the people of earlier revelations would love to lead you astray; but they lead astray none but themselves, although they may not perceive it.
People of earlier revelations! Why do you disbelieve in God’s revelations when you yourselves bear witness [to their truth]?
People of earlier revelations! Why do you cloak the truth with falsehood, and knowingly conceal the truth?
A party of the people of earlier revelations say [to one another]: ‘Declare at the beginning of the day, that you believe in what has been revealed to the believers, and then deny it at the end of the day, so that they may go back on their faith.
But do not really trust anyone except those who follow your own faith’. – Say: ‘All true guidance is God’s guidance’ – ‘That anyone may be given the like of what you have been given. Or that they should contend against you before your Lord.’ Say: ‘Grace is in God’s hand: He bestows it on whom He wills. God is munificent and all-knowing’.
He singles out for His mercy whom He wills. And God’s grace is great indeed.
Among the people of earlier revelations there is many a one who, if you trust him with a treasure, will return it to you intact; and there is among them many a one who, if you trust him with a small gold coin, will not return it to you, unless you keep standing over him. For they say: “We have no obligation to keep faith with Gentiles’. Thus they deliberately say of God what they know to be a lie.
Indeed those who fulfil their pledges and guard themselves against evil [enjoy God’s love]; for God loves the righteous.
Those who barter away their covenant with God and their oaths for a trifling gain will have no share in the life to come. God will neither speak to them, nor cast a look on them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He cleanse them of their sins. Theirs will be a painful suffering.
There are some among them who twist their tongues when quoting the Scriptures, so that you may think that [what they say] is from the Scriptures, when it is not from the Scriptures. They say: ‘It is from God’, when it is not from God. Thus, they deliberately say of God what they know to be a lie.
It is not conceivable that any human being to whom God had given revelation and wisdom and prophethood would subsequently say to people: ‘Worship me instead of God’. But rather ‘Be devoted servants of God, by virtue of spreading the knowledge of the Scriptures and your constant study of them’.
Nor would he bid you to take the angels and the prophets as your gods. Would he bid you to be unbelievers after you have surrendered yourselves to God?
God made a covenant with the Prophets: ‘If, after what I have vouchsafed to you of the Scriptures and wisdom, there comes to you a messenger confirming the truth of what you have in your possession, you shall believe in him and you shall help him. Do you’, said He, ‘affirm this and accept the obligation I lay upon you in these terms?’ They answered: ‘We do affirm it’. Said He: ‘Then bear witness, and I am also a witness with you’.
Then those who turn away afterwards are indeed transgressors.
Do they seek a religion other than God’s, when every soul in the heavens and the earth has submitted to Him, willingly or by compulsion, and to Him they shall all return?
Say: We believe in God and in that which has been bestowed from on high upon us, and that which has been bestowed on Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, and that which has been vouchsafed by their Lord to Moses and Jesus and all the prophets. We make no distinction between them. To Him do we surrender ourselves.
He who seeks a religion other than self-surrender to God, it will not be accepted from him, and in the life to come he will be among the lost.
How shall God guide people who have lapsed into disbelief after having accepted the faith and having borne witness that this messenger is true, and after having received clear evidence of the truth? God does not guide the wrongdoers.
Of such people the punishment shall be the curse of God, the angels and all men.
Under it they shall abide. Neither their suffering shall be lightened, nor shall they be granted respite.
Excepted shall be those who afterwards repent and mend their ways; for God is much-forgiving, ever merciful.
But those who return to disbelief after having accepted the faith and then grow more stubborn in their rejection of the faith, their repentance will not be accepted. For they are those who have truly gone astray.
As for those who disbelieve and die unbelievers, not even the earth full of gold shall be accepted from any one of them, were he to offer it in ransom. They shall have grievous suffering and they shall have none to help them.
You will never attain to true piety unless you spend on others out of what you dearly cherish. God has full knowledge of what you spend.
All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel forbade himself, in the days before the Torah was bestowed from on high. Say: Bring the Torah and recite it, if what you say is true.
Those who fabricate lies about God after this are indeed wrongdoers.
Say: God speaks truth. Follow, then, the creed of Abraham, who turned away from all that is false and was not one of those who associate partners with God.
The first House [of worship] ever set up for mankind was indeed the one at Bakkah: rich in blessing; and a source of guidance to all the worlds,
full of clear messages. It is the place whereon Abraham once stood; and whoever enters it finds inner peace. Pilgrimage to this House is a duty owed to God by all people who are able to undertake it. As for those who disbelieve, God does not stand in need of anything in all the worlds.
Say: People of earlier revelations, why do you disbelieve in God’s revelations, when God Himself is witness to all that you do.
Say: People of earlier revelations, why do you try to turn those who have come to believe away from the path of God, seeking to make it appear crooked, when you yourselves bear witness [to its being straight]? God is not unaware of what you do.
Believers, If you pay heed to some of those who have been given revelations, they will cause you to renounce the truth after you have accepted the faith.
But how can you sink into disbelief when God’s revelations are being recited to you and His Messenger is in your midst? He who holds fast to God has already been guided along a straight path.
Believers! Fear God as you rightly should, and do not allow death to overtake you before you have surrendered yourselves truly to Him.
Hold fast, all of you together, to the bond with God and do not be disunited. And remember the blessings God has bestowed on you: how, when you were enemies [to one another.] He united your hearts and, by His grace, you have become brothers; and how, when you were on the brink of an abyss of fire, He saved you from it. Thus God makes clear His revelations to you, so that you may be rightly guided.
Let there become of you a nation who invite to all that is good, enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid what is wrong. Such are they who shall prosper.
Do not follow the example of those who became divided and fell into conflict with one another after clear proofs had come to them. For these there will be grievous suffering,
on the Day when some faces will shine with happiness and some faces will be blackened. Those whose faces are blackened [shall be told]: Did you disbelieve after having embraced the faith? Taste, then, this suffering for having sunk into disbelief.
Those with shining faces shall be in God’s grace; they abide there forever.
These are revelations from God. We recite them to you in truth. God wills no injustice to His creatures.
To God belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth; to Him shall all things return.
You are the best community that has ever been raised for mankind; you enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid what is wrong, and you believe in God. Had the people of earlier revelations believed, it would have been for their own good. Few of them are believers, while most of them are evil-doers.
They cannot harm you beyond causing you some trifling hurt; and if they fight against you they will turn their backs upon you in flight. Then they will receive no help.
Ignominy shall be pitched over them wherever they may be, save when they have a bond with God and a bond with men. They have incurred the wrath of God and humiliation shall overshadow them. That is because they persisted in denying God’s revelations and killing the prophets against all right. That is because they persisted in their disobedience and transgression.
They are not all alike. Of the people of earlier revelations there are some upright people who recite the revelations of God in the depth of the night, and prostrate themselves in worship.
They believe in God and the Last Day and enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid what is wrong and vie with one another in doing good works. These belong to the righteous.
Whatever good they do, they shall never be denied its reward. God knows those who fear Him.
As for the unbelievers, neither their riches nor their children will avail them in any way against God. It is they who are destined for the Fire, where they will abide.
Whatever they spend in this present life is like a biting, icy wind which smites the tilth of people who have wronged themselves, laying it to waste. It is not God who does them wrong; they wrong themselves.
Believers, do not take for your intimate friends men other than your own folk. They will spare no effort to corrupt you. They love to see you in distress. Their hatred has already become apparent by [what they say with] their mouths, but what their hearts conceal is even much worse. We have made revelations plain to you, if you will only use your reason.
See for yourselves how it is you who love them and they do not love you. You believe in all revelations. When they meet you they say: ‘We, too, are believers’. But when they find themselves alone, they bite their fingertips with rage against you. Say: Perish in your rage. God is fully aware of what is in the hearts [of people].
When good fortune comes your way, it grieves them; and if evil befalls you, they rejoice. If you persevere and fear God, their machinations cannot harm you in any way. God encompasses all that they do.
Remember when you set out from your home at an early hour to place the believers to their battle posts. God hears all and knows all.
Two of your groups were about to lose heart, but God was their protector. In God shall the believers trust.
God gave you victory at Badr when you were utterly weak. Therefore fear God so that you may have cause to be grateful.
You said to the believers: ‘Is it not enough for you [to know] that your Lord should send down three thousand angels to support you?’
Indeed, He will, if you are patient in adversity and fear God, and if they [the unbelievers] suddenly attack you, your Lord will supply you with five thousand angels swooping down.
God made this only as a happy news for you, so that your hearts might take comfort from it. Victory comes only from God, the Mighty, the Wise.
It is in order to destroy some of the unbelievers, and so abase others that they lose and withdraw.
You, [Prophet], have no say in the matter. [It is for Him] to accept their repentance or punish them. They are wrongdoers.
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth; He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills. God is much-forgiving, ever-merciful.
Believers, do not gorge yourselves on usury, doubling [your money] again and again. Have fear of God, so that you may prosper.
Guard yourselves against the Fire which has been prepared for the unbelievers;
and obey God and the Messenger, that you may be graced with mercy.
Hasten, all of you, to the achievement of your Lord’s forgiveness, and a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the God-fearing,
who spend [in His way] in time of plenty and in time of hardship, and restrain their anger, and forgive their fellow men. God loves the benevolent.
Those who, when they commit a gross indecency or wrong themselves, remember God and pray for the forgiveness of their sins - for who but God can forgive sins? - and do not knowingly persist in doing the wrong they may have done.
These shall have the reward of forgiveness by their Lord, and gardens underneath which rivers flow, where they shall abide. Excellent is the reward for those who labour [well].
Many patterns have passed away before you. Go about the earth and see what was the fate of those who described the truth as lies.
This is a plain exposition for mankind, as well as a guidance and an admonition for the God-fearing.
Do not be faint of heart, and do not grieve; for you shall gain the upper hand if you are truly believers.
If misfortune befalls you, a similar misfortune has befallen other people as well. Such days [of fortune and misfortune] We deal out in turn among men. God wants to mark out those who truly believe and choose from among you such as [with their lives] bear witness to the truth. God does not love the wrongdoers.
And God wants to test and prove the believers, and to blot out the unbelievers.
Do you reckon that you can enter paradise unless God has identified those among you who strive hard [in His cause], and who are patient in adversity.
Surely, you used to wish for death before you came face to face with it. Now you have seen it with your own eyes.
Muhammad is only a messenger: all messengers have passed away before him. If, then, he dies or is slain, will you turn about on your heels? He that turns about on his heels will not harm God in any way. God will reward those who are grateful [to Him].
No one can die except by God’s leave, at a term appointed. He who desires the reward of this world, We shall give him thereof; and to him who desires the reward of the life to come, We shall give thereof. We shall reward those who are grateful to Us.
Many a prophet has fought with many devout men alongside him. They never lost heart on account of what they had to suffer in God’s cause, and neither did they weaken nor succumb. God loves those who are patient in adversity.
All that they said was this: Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and our excesses in our affairs. Make firm our steps, and give us victory over the unbelievers.
God has granted them the reward of this life and the best reward of the life to come. God loves those who do their duty well.
Believers, if you obey those who have rejected the faith, they will cause you to turn back on your heels, and you will be the losers.
Indeed, God alone is your Lord Supreme and He is the best of all who bring succour.
We shall strike terror in the hearts of unbelievers because they associate partners with God - something for which He has never granted any warrant. Their abode is the fire, and evil indeed is the dwelling place of the wrongdoers.
God fulfilled to you His promise when, by His leave, you were about to destroy them. But then you lost heart and disagreed with one another concerning [the Prophet’s command] and disobeyed after God had brought you within view of that for which you were longing. Some of you cared only for this world and some cared for the life to come. Then He turned you away from them so that He may put you to a test. But now He has forgiven you, for God is gracious to the believers.
[Remember] when you ran away, up into the mountain, paying no heed to anyone, while the Messenger was at your rear calling out to you. Therefore, He rewarded you with sorrow after sorrow so that you may not grieve over what had escaped you, nor over what had befallen you. God is aware of all that you do.
Then, after sorrow, He let peace fall upon you, in the shape of a slumber which overtook some of you, while others, who cared mainly for themselves, entertained wrong thoughts about God - thoughts of pagan ignorance. They ask: ‘Have we any say in the matter?’ Say: ‘All power of decision rests with God’. They conceal in their minds what they do not disclose to you. They say: ‘Had we had any say in the matter, we should not have been slaughtered here’. Say: ‘Had you stayed in your homes, those of you who were destined to be killed would have gone to their deathbeds’. For it was God’s will to put to a test all that you entertain in your minds and to render pure what you may have in your hearts, God is fully aware of what is in people’s bosoms.
As for those of you who turned away on the day when the two hosts met in battle, Satan caused them to slip only in consequence of something that they themselves had done. But now God has pardoned them. Indeed, God is much-forgiving, clement.
Believers, be not like those who disbelieve and say of their brethren, when they travel on earth or go forth to war, ‘Had they stayed with us they would not have died, nor would they have been killed’, so that God places a source of despair in their hearts. It is God alone who grants life and causes death. God sees all that you do.
If you should be slain or die in God’s cause, surely forgiveness by God and His grace are better than all the riches they amass.
If you should die or be slain, It is to God that you shall be gathered.
It is by God’s grace that you deal gently with them. Had you been harsh and hard-hearted, they would surely have broken away from you. Therefore, pardon them and pray for them to be forgiven and consult with them in the conduct of public affairs. When you have resolved about a course of action, put your trust in God. God loves those who put their trust in Him.
If God helps you, none can overcome you; but if He should forsake you, then who is it that can help you besides Him? It is in God that the believers should put their trust.
It does not behove a prophet to act dishonestly, for he who acts dishonestly shall be faced with his dishonesty on the Day of Resurrection. Everyone will then be paid in full what he has earned, and none shall be wronged.
Can he who strives after God’s pleasure be compared to one who has incurred God’s wrath and whose abode is hell? How evil such a goal is.
They have different standings in God’s sight. God sees all that they do.
Indeed, God bestowed a favour on the believers when He sent them a messenger from among themselves, to recite to them His revelations, and to purify them, and teach them the Book and wisdom, whereas before that they were surely in plain error.
Why, when a calamity befell you, after you had inflicted twice as much [on your enemy], did you exclaim, ‘How has this come about?’ Say: It has come from your own selves. Surely, God has the power over all things.
That which befell you, on the day when the two hosts met in battle, happened by God’s leave, so that He might mark out the true believers.
And [He might] mark out the hypocrites. When these were told, ‘Come, fight in God’s cause’, or ‘Defend yourselves’, they answered, ‘Had we known there would be a fight, we would certainly have followed you’. On that day they were nearer unbelief than faith, uttering with their mouths something different to what was in their hearts, but God knew fully well all that they tried to conceal.
Such were they who, having themselves stayed behind, said of their brothers: ‘If only they had listened to us, they would not have been slain’. Say to them: ‘Ward off death from yourselves, then, if what you say be true’.
Do not think of those who are slain in God’s cause as dead. They are alive, and well provided for by their Lord.
Happy they are with what God has granted them. They rejoice that those [of their brethren] who have been left behind and have not yet joined them have nothing to fear, nor have they [cause] to grieve.
They rejoice in the happy news of God’s blessing and bounty, and in the fact that God will not suffer the reward of the believers to be lost.
Those who responded to the call of God and the Messenger after misfortune had befallen them: a great reward awaits those of them who continued to do good and feared God.
When other people warned them: ‘A big force has gathered against you, so fear them’, that only strengthened their faith and they answered: ‘God is enough for us; He is the best Guardian’.
So they earned God’s grace and bounty, suffering no harm. For they had striven to please God, whose bounty is limitless.
It is but Satan who prompts people to fear his allies: so, have no fear of them, but fear Me if you are truly believers.
Be not grieved by those who hasten on to disbelief. They cannot harm God in any way. It is God’s will not to assign to them any share in the [blessings of the] life to come. Grievous suffering awaits them.
Indeed, those who have bought disbelief at the price of faith cannot harm God in any way. Painful suffering awaits them.
Let not those who disbelieve imagine that our giving them rein bodes well for their own souls. We only give them rein so that they may grow in sinfulness. A humiliating suffering awaits them.
It is not God’s purpose to leave the believers in your present state except to set apart the bad from the good. And it is not God's purpose to reveal to you what is kept beyond the reach of human perception. But God favours from among His messengers whomever He wills. Believe, therefore, in God and His messengers. If you believe and are God-fearing, you shall have a great reward.
Let not those who niggardly cling to all that God has bestowed on them of His bounty think that this is good for them. Indeed, it is bad for them. That to which they niggardly cling will hang around their necks on the Day of Resurrection. To God belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth, and God is well aware of all that you do.
God has certainly heard the words of those who said: ‘God is poor, and we are rich’. We shall record what they have said, and also their slaying of prophets against all right and We shall say: ‘Taste now the torment of burning.
This is on account of what your own hands have wrought. Never does God do the slightest injustice to His servants’.
They declare: ‘God has charged us not to believe in any messenger unless he brings us an offering which the fire consumes’. Say: ‘Messengers came to you before me with clear evidence of the truth, and with that which you describe. Why, then, did you slay them, if what you say is true?’
Then, if they charge you with falsehood, before your time other messengers were also charged with falsehood when they came with clear evidence of the truth, and books of Divine wisdom and with the light-giving revelation.
Every soul shall taste death, and you shall be paid on the Day of Resurrection only that which you have earned. He who shall be drawn away from the Fire and brought into paradise shall indeed have gained a triumph. The life of this world is nothing but an illusory enjoyment.
You shall most certainly be tried in your possessions and in your persons; and you shall hear much hurting abuse from those who were given revelations before you and from those who set up partners with God. But if you persevere and continue to fear God - that is indeed a matter requiring strong resolve.
God has made a covenant with those who were granted revelations (when He bade them): ‘Make it known to mankind and do not conceal it’. But they cast it behind their backs and bartered it away for a trifling price. Evil is that which they have taken in exchange for it.
Do not think that those who exult in their deeds and love to be praised for what they have not done will escape punishment. Painful suffering awaits them.
To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and He has power over all things.
In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the succession of night and day, there are indeed signs for men endowed with insight,
who remember God when they stand, sit and lie down, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: ‘Our Lord, You have not created all this in vain. Limitless are You in Your glory. Guard us, then, against the torment of the Fire.
‘Our Lord, him whom You shall commit to the Fire, You will have condemned to disgrace. The wrongdoers shall have none to help them.
‘Our Lord, we have heard the voice of one who calls to faith, [saying], ‘Believe in your Lord’, and we have believed. Our Lord, forgive us, then, our sins and efface our bad deeds and let us die with the truly virtuous.
‘Our Lord, grant us what You have promised us through Your messengers, and do not disgrace us on the Day of Resurrection. Surely, You never fail to fulfil Your promise’.
Their Lord answers them: ‘I will not suffer the work of any worker among you, male or female, to be lost. Each of you is an issue of the other. Therefore, those who migrate and are driven out of their homes and suffer persecution in My cause, and fight and are slain [for it] - I shall indeed efface their bad deeds and admit them to gardens through which running waters flow, as a reward from God. With God is the best of rewards’.
Let not the unbelievers' prosperity in the land deceive you.
It is but a brief enjoyment. Then, Hell shall be their abode. What an evil abode.
As for those who fear their Lord, theirs shall be gardens through which running waters flow, in which they shall abide, a gift of welcome from God. That which is with God is best for the truly virtuous.
There are indeed among the people of earlier revelations some who believe in God and in what has been bestowed from on high upon you and in what has been bestowed upon them, humbling themselves before God. They do not barter away God's revelations for a trifling price. They shall have their reward with their Lord. God is swift in reckoning.
Believers, be patient in adversity, and let your patience never be exhausted, be ever ready and fear God so that you may prosper.