English Al-Mukhtasar — An-Naml 27:1 – Sad 38:88

Ta Sin. These are the verses of the Qur’ān and a clear book. The discussion on similar letters has passed in the beginning of Sūrah Al-Baqarah. These verses which are revealed to you are verses of the Qur’ān and a clear book in which there is no confusion. Whoever ponders upon it will know that it is from Allah.

These verses guide to the truth and direct towards it, and give glad-tidings to those who bring faith in Allah and His Messengers.

Those who perform prayer in the most complete manner and give Zakat of their wealth by spending it on its recipients, and they are convinced of the reward and punishment in the afterlife.

The disbelievers who do not bring faith in the afterlife and the reward and punishment therein - I adorned their bad deeds for them so they continued in doing them, thus they are confused without finding their way towards what is right or guidance.

Such people will suffer in the worldly life through trials and humiliation and in the Hereafter they suffer the greatest loss, losing themselves and their families on the Day of Judgement and entering Hell forever.

O Messenger, you are receiving this Qur’ān which is being revealed to you from one who is Wise in His creating, managing and legislating, and Knowing, with nothing of the interests of His servants being hidden from Him.

Remember, O Messenger, when Moses said to his family: “I have seen a fire. I shall bring some news from it, from the person who lit it to guide us towards the path, or I shall I bring you a flame of fire taken from it, in the hope that you will light a fire from it to warm yourselves from the cold”.

Then when he reached the place of the fire that he saw, Allah called unto him that the one in the fire and the angels surrounding it are blessed.

Allah said to him: “O Moses, it is I, Allah, the Mighty whom nobody can overpower, Wise in My creating, managing and legislating.

And throw down your staff”. Moses obeyed. Then when Moses saw it moving and shaking like a snake, he fled turning his back to it and did not return. So Allah said to him: “Do not be scared of it. The Messengers do not fear snakes or anything else in my presence.

However, whoever wrongs himself by committing a sin, then repents after that, I am Forgiving to him, Merciful to him.

And put your hand in the opening of your shirt; it will come out after entering it white like snow without being due to leprosy, as part of nine signs which testify to your truthfulness. Along with the hand, they are: the staff, famine, loss of fruits, floods, locusts, lice, frogs, and blood, towards Pharaoh and his people. They were a people left the obedience of Allah by disbelieving in him.

So when these clear and apparent signs of Mine with which I aided Moses came to them, they said: “These signs which Moses has brought are clear magic”.

They disbelieved in these miracles and did not accept them, despite being convinced they are from Allah, due to their wrongdoing and their arrogance from the truth. So contemplate, O Messenger, how was the outcome of those who cause corruption on earth, due to their disbelief and disobedience; I destroyed them and eradicated all of them.

I granted David and his son Solomon knowledge, part of which was the language of birds. David and Solomon said, in gratitude to Allah: “All praise is for Allah who has given us virtue over many of his believing servants, through prophethood and subjugating the jinns”.

And Solomon inherited from his father in prophethood, knowledge and kingdom, and he said, relating Allah’s favour on him and his father: “O people, Allah has taught us the language of birds and given us of everything He gave to the prophets and kings. This which He has given us is the clear, apparent grace”.

And for Solomon his armies of men, jinns and birds were gathered, and they were being led orderly.

They were being led until when they came to the valley of ants (a place in the Levant), one of the ants said: “O ants, enter your homes so that Solomon and his armies do not destroy you whilst they do not know of you, because if they know of you they will not trample you”.

When Solomon heard it saying this, he smiled due to this statement of his and he said, calling unto his Lord: “O Lord, enable me and inspire me to be grateful for Your favour which You gave to me and My parents, and enable me to do good actions which please you, and enter me amongst Your righteous servants”.

And Solomon took attendance of the birds but did not see the hoopoe, so he said: “What is with me that I do not see the hoopoe? Has something stopped me seeing it or is it from the absentees?”

He said when its absence became clear to him: “I shall punish it severely, or I shall slaughter it as a punishment for being absent, unless it brings a clear proof to prove its excuse for absence”.

The hoopoe remained absent for a short while. Then when it came, it said to Solomon (peace be upon him): “I discovered what you did not discover, and I have brought to you from Sheba true news in which there is no doubt.

Indeed, I found [there] a woman ruling them, and she has been given of all things, and she has a great throne. I found a woman who rules them, and this woman has been given of all means of strength and kingdom, and she has a large throne on which she manages the affairs of her people.

I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah, and Satan has made their deeds pleasing to them and averted them from [His] way, so they are not guided. I found this woman and I found her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah, and Satan has beautified for them the actions of idolatry and sins they are on, so he has turned them away from the path of truth, and thus they are not guided to Him.

[And] so they do not prostrate to Allah, who brings forth what is hidden within the heavens and the earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare. Satan has beautified for them their actions of idolatry and sins, so that they do not prostrate to Allah alone, who brings the rain which He has hidden in the skies and the plants in the earth, and He knows the actions you hide and those you make apparent, none of this being hidden from Him.

Allah - there is no deity except Him, Lord of the Great Throne. Allah - there is no true god besides, Lord of the Great Throne”.

[Solomon] said, "I will see whether you were truthful or were of the liars. Solomon (peace be upon him) said to the hoopoe: “I shall see if you are truthful in what you claim or were you amongst the liars”.

Take this letter of mine and deliver it to them. Then leave them and see what [answer] they will return." So Solomon wrote a letter and handed it to the hoopoe, and said to it: “Take this letter of mine, and give it to the people of Saba and hand it over to them, and step aside from them so you can hear what they say discuss regarding it”.

She said, "O eminent ones, indeed, to me has been delivered a noble letter. The queen received the letter and said: “O noble ones, a noble magnificent letter has been given to me.

Indeed, it is from Solomon, and Indeed, it reads: 'In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. The content of this letter which has been sent by Solomon and which begins with: “In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.” is:

Be not haughty with me but come to me in submission [as Muslims].' " Do not be arrogant, and come to me obediently and submitting to what I call you towards, namely declaring Allah’s Oneness and leaving associating partners with Him which you are involved in, as you worshipped the sun alongside Him”.

She said, "O eminent ones, advise me in my affair. I would not decide a matter until you witness [for] me." The queen said: “O noble ones and leaders, explain to me the right course in my matter. I am not going to decide a matter until you come to me and present your opinions regarding it”.

They said, "we are men of strength and of great military might, but the command is yours, so see what you will command." The nobles from her people said: “We are people of great power and strong might in warfare, but the opinion is what you think, so see what you will command us to do; we are able to carry it out”.

She said, "Indeed, kings - when they enter a city, they ruin it and render the honored of its people humbled. And thus do they do. The queen said: “When kings enter any city, they ruin it by the killing, seizing and looting they carry out, and they make its leaders and nobles disgraced, after the honour and protection they enjoyed. And this is how kings always behave when they conquer the people of a city, to plant the seeds of fear and awe in the hearts of the masses.”

But indeed, I will send to them a gift and see with what [reply] the Messengers will return." I am sending a gift to the sender of the letter and his people, and I shall see what the messengers bring after sending this gift”.

So when her messenger and his helpers who were with him came carrying the present to Solomon, he criticised them for sending the present, saying: “Are you providing me with wealth to turn me away from you? The prophethood, kingdom and wealth Allah has given me is better than what He has given you. In fact, it is you who are rejoicing on the short-term riches of the world you have been given”.

Solomon (peace be upon him) said to her messenger: “Return to them with the present you brought, for we will come to her and her people with armies they will not have the power to face, and we will remove them from Sheba disgracefully after the honour they were in, if they do not come to me obediently”.

Solomon (peace be upon him) said, addressing the prominent people of his kingdom: “O eminent ones, which one of you will bring me her royal throne before they come to me obediently?”

A rebellious jinn replied saying: “I shall bring her throne to you before you stand from the gathering you are in. I am strong enough to carry it, and can be trusted on what it contains, so I will not take anything of it”.

A pious knowledgeable man in the presence of Solomon who had knowledge of the scripture, part of which was the greatest name of Allah which Allah accepts prayers when supplicated through, said: “I shall bring her throne to you before your glance returns to you, by praying to Allah to bring it”. So he prayed, and Allah answered his prayer. When Solomon saw her throne placed before him, he said: “This is from the grace of my Lord, to test me whether I am grateful for his favours or ungrateful? Whoever is grateful to Allah, the benefit of his gratefulness will only return to him, because Allah is self sufficient, in no need of anything, is not benefitted or harmed by the gratefulness of His servants. And whoever rejects the favours of Allah and does not thank Him for them, my Lord is self-sufficient, in no need of being shown gratitude, and Generous. Part of His generosity is granting those who deny them”.

Solomon (peace be upon him) said: “Change her royal throne from its original form: we shall see: is she guided to recognising it is her throne or will she be from those who are not guided to recognising their own things?”

So when the queen of Sheba came to Solomon, it was said to her to test her: “Is this how your throne is?” She answered according to the question: “It is as though it was that”. Allah has granted us knowledge before her and we were submitting to Allah’s order and obeying Him.

And she was turned away from the Oneness of Allah by what she used to worship besides Allah, in following her people and blindly imitating them. She was amongst the people who disbelieve in Allah, so she was a disbeliever like them.

It was said to her: “Enter the palace” which was like a plane surface. When she entered it, she thought it was water and uncovered her shins to enter it. Solomon (peace be upon him) said: “It is a palace which has been made smooth with glass”. He called her to Islam, so she accepted what he called her towards, saying: “O Lord, I wronged myself by worshipping others besides You, and I have submitted with Solomon to Allah, Lord of all created things”.

And I sent toThamud their brother in lineage Salih (peace be upon him) saying “Worship Allah alone”, but they became two groups after his calling them: a believing group and the other disbelieving, arguing over who is on the truth.

Salih (peace be upon him) said: “why do you seek to hasten the punishment instead of seeking Allah's mercy? Why do you not seek forgiveness from Allah for your sins, in the hope that he will forgive you?”

His people said to him, in stubbornness from the truth: “I consider you and the believers with you a bad omen”. Salih (peace be upon him) said: “The birds that you drive away due to the difficulties that which has afflicted you from what you dislike and you attribute as a bad omen is actually decreed from Allah and He has knowledge of that.

And in the city of Hijr there were nine men who would cause corruption on earth through disbelief and sins, and they would not reform in it through faith and good actions.

They said to one another: “Each one of you should swear by Allah that we will go to him and the believers with him at night, then we will kill them and then say to the one responsible for avenging his blood: ‘We were not present at the murder of Salih or the murder of his followers, and we are truthful in what we have said’”.

And they secretly made a plan to destroy Salih and his followers amongst the believers, and I also made a plan to help him, save him from their plan and to destroy the disbelievers from his people, whilst they did not know that.

So contemplate, O Messenger, what was the outcome and end of their planning and scheming; did they achieve what they were intending? No. In fact, I totally uprooted them with a punishment from Myself so they were all destroyed.

So those are their homes whose walls have fallen on their roofs, and they have remained empty of inhabitants, due to their wrongdoing. In the punishment which has afflicted them due to their wrongdoing is a lesson for people who believe, as they are the ones who take lessons from the signs.

And I saved those who believed from the people of Salih (peace be upon him), and they used to be mindful of Allah by carrying out His orders and refraining from His prohibitions.

O Messenger, remember Lot when he said to his people, reprimanding them and criticising them: “Do you come to the indecent act, which is sodomy in your meetings, openly watching one another?

Do you come to men lustfully, leaving the women, not intending chastity or children but only to fulfil animalistic lust? But rather you are a people ignorant of what is necessary upon you, namely faith, purity and staying far from sins”.

But his people did not have an answer besides their saying: “Remove the family of Lot from your city. They are a people who want to stay pure from dirt and impurity”. They said this to mock the family of Lot who would not join them in the immoral acts they used to commit, but rather they would condemn them for committing them.

So we saved him and his family, except for his wife, who was decreed to be from those who remained behind for the punishment, so she may be from those who were destroyed.

And I rained stones of baked clay on the people of Lot. Dreadful is the rain of those who have been warned such as the people of Lot who did not respond to him, and in fact remained on their disbelief, misguidance and committing immorality.

O Messenger, say: “All praise is for Allah for his favours, and peace from him on His Messengers whom He chose to convey His religion”. Is Allah, the true god in whose Hand is the kingdom of everything, better or the gods which the idolaters worship, which do not possess benefit or harm?

Is He not best who created the heavens and the earth without any precedent, and He sent down for you, O people, rainwater from the sky, then He grew for you gardens of beauty? It was not for you to grow the trees of these gardens, due to your being unable to do that. So it is Allah who grew them. Is there any true god alongside Allah? No, but rather they are a people who turn away from the truth, so they unjustly make the creation equal with the Creator.

Is He not best who made the earth firm and still, without it shaking those on it, and made within it rivers that flow, and made for it firm mountains, and made between two seas, salty and sweet, a barrier which stops the salty mixing with the sweet so that it does not spoil it and then making it unsuitable for drinking? Is there a true god alongside Allah who can make all that happen? No, but most of them do not know. Had they known, they would not have associated any of Allah’s creation with Him as a partner.

Is He not best who responds to the call of the distressed when he calls upon Him, seeking for his harm to be removed, and who removes what the human finds bad such as illness and poverty, and who makes you deputies on earth, succeeding one another generation after generation? Is there a true god alongside Allah who makes all that happen? No. Little do you take heed and consider.

Is He not best who guides you in the darkness of the land and the darkness of the sea through the signs and stars He fixes for you, and who sends winds to give good news of close rainfall through which He will have mercy on His servants? Is there a true god alongside Allah who makes all that happen and decrees it? Allah is purified and far removed from the partners the creation associate with Him

Is He not best who begins the creation in the wombs, stage after stage, then He will restore it after He gives it death, and who provides you from the sky with water that descends from its direction, and who provides you from the earth with plants He makes grow therein? Is there a true god alongside Allah who makes all that happen and decrees it? Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: “Bring your proofs for the idolatry you are on, if you are true in your claim that you are on the truth”.

O Messenger, say: The Ghaib is not known by the angels in the heavens or the people on earth. However Allah alone is the one who knows it. And nobody in the heavens or the earth knows when they will be raised for recompense besides Allah.

But rather their knowledge in the afterlife will become complete, due to their seeing it with their own eyes after the Messengers used to inform them of it when it was unseen, but they used to deny it because they had not seen it. And they were in doubt and confusion regarding the afterlife in their worldly life, for their eyes and hearts had become blind towards it.

Those who disbelieved said denyingly: “When we die and become dust, is it possible we will be raised alive?

We were promised and our fathers were promised before that we will all be raised, but we have not seen that promise come true. This promise we were all made is nothing but lies of the former people who recorded them in their books”.

O Messenger! Say to these deniers of the resurrection: “Travel in any direction on earth, then ponder over what was the outcome of the evildoers who denied the resurrection; I destroyed them due to their denying it”.

Do not grieve due to the idolaters turning away from your call nor should your bosom become tight or should you worry due to their scheming against you, for Allah is with you and He will help you against them.

The disbelievers amongst your people who deny the resurrection say: “When will the punishment you and the believers promise us occur, if you are true in what you claim of that?”

O Messenger, say to them: “Perhaps some of the punishment you are hastily seeking has already come near”.

And your Lord, O Messenger, is graceful towards the people, as He is leaving punishing them quickly despite the disbelief and sins they are upon. However, most people do not thank Allah for the favours He gives them.

And your Lord knows what the hearts of His servants hide and what they make apparent. None of that is hidden from Him.

And there is nothing hidden from the people in the sky nor anything hidden from them on earth except that it is in a clear book, which is the Preserved Tablet.

This Qur’ān which was revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him) relates to the Israelites most of what they differ in, and it exposes their deviances.

And it is a guidance and mercy for the believers who practice what it has brought.

O Messenger, your Lord will decide between the people, believers and disbelievers, on the day of judgment through His just judgment. He will have mercy on the believer and punish the disbeliever, and He is the Mighty who will take retribution from His enemies, with nobody to overpower Him, the Knowing to whom the truthful is not unclear from the liar.

So trust in Allah, and rely on Him in all your affairs. You are on the clear truth.

O Messenger, you cannot make the dead whose hearts have died to their disbelief in Allah hear, nor can you make those who have lost their hearing hear what you are calling them towards when they return turning away from you.

And you are not one to guide those whose eyes are blind to the truth, so do not grieve over them and tire yourself. Only those will listen to your call who believe in our verses, because they submit to the orders of Allah.

When the punishment becomes binding and established for them, due to their disbelief and sins, and the worst of people remain, I shall take out for them near to the Final Hour one of its greatest signs, which is a creature from the earth which will speak to them with what they understand that the people did not believe My verses which were revealed to My Prophet.

O Messenger, remember the day I shall gather from each of the nations a group from amongst them the leaders who used to disbelieve in our ayaat, so they can precede their followers to the fire...the first group will be held until the last group of leaders are gathered and then they will be led to the reckoning.

And their being led will continue until when they come to the place of their reckoning, Allah will say to them rebukingly: “Did you deny my signs which proved my Oneness and which comprised my sacred law, whilst you did not have proper knowledge to judge them to be false and disbelieve in them, or what was it that you were doing: believing or denying?”

And the punishment will befall them due to their disbelieving in Allah and denying His ayahs. They will not speak to defend themselves due to their inability and the falsity of their proofs.

Do these deniers of the resurrection not see that I made the night so that they can rest in it through sleep, and I made the day bright for them so that they can see therein and then hasten towards their work? In that repeated death and the rising after it are proofs for the resurrection after death.

O Messenger, remember: the day in which the angel appointed to blow the trumpet a second time will blow, then everyone in the heavens and everyone on earth will be terrified except whom Allah has excluded from being terrified, as a grace from Him. And all the creation of Allah will come to him on that day, in obedience and with humility.

And you will see mountains on that day thinking them to be firm without moving, but they will in fact move like clouds move. It is the doing of Allah, for He is the one who makes them move. He is Aware of what you do. None of your actions are hidden from Him and He shall reward you for them.

On the Day of Judgement, whoever brings faith and good deeds will gain paradise and will be safe from the horrors of that day due to Allah granting them that safety.

And whoever comes with disbelief and sins, for them will be the hellfire in which they will be thrown face first. It will be said to them by way of rebuke and humiliation: “Are you being requited except for the disbelief and the sins you used to commit?”

O Messenger! Say to them: “I have only been commanded to worship the Lord of this city (Makkah) which He has sanctified, so no blood should be shed in it, nor should anyone be oppressed in it, nor should its game be hunted or trees cut. And to Him belongs the authority over everything. I have also been commanded to be from those who submit to Allah in obedience to Him.”

And I have been commanded to recite the Qur’ān to people; whoever is guided by it and implements its teachings, his guidance will benefit him. But whoever deviates from its teachings, rejects them and does not implement them, say to him: “I am only one of the warners; I warn you of the punishment of Allah. and your guidance is not in my hands.”

Say - O Messenger: “All praise belongs to Allah for His innumerable blessings. He will show you His signs in the horizons and in yourselves; you will recognise them such that they will lead you to submitting to the truth. And your Lord is not neglectful of your actions; He is watching over them, none of them are hidden from Him and He will requite you for them.”

Ṭā Sīn Mīm The discussion on similar letters has already passed in Sūrah Al-Baqarah.

These are the verses of a clear Qur’ān.

We recite upon you with truth, the story of Moses and Pharoah for the peopleof faith as they are the ones who will take lessons and benefit from it.

Indeed Pharaoh ruled over Egypt, acting tyranically therein. He divided its people into groups and oppressing a certain group - which were the Children of Israel - killing their male children and letting the females live, to exploit and humiliate them. Indeed he was one who caused corruption on Earth through oppression, tyranny and arrogance.

And I wanted to bestow a favour upon the Israelites who had been oppressed by the Pharaoh in Egypt, by destroying their enemy, liberating them from the oppression, making them leaders, to be followed by those who seek the truth, and making them inheritors of Pharaoh’s kingdom in Egypt after I drowned him and his armies.

I wanted to grant them authority on the land of Egypt by making them dominate and rule over it, showing Pharaoh and his biggest supporters - Hāmān and their armies who helped them in their rule - what they feared most, which was the loss of their kingdom at the hands of a male child from the Israelites.

I inspired the mother of Moses (peace be upon him) to breastfeed him until she feared that Pharaoh and his people would kill him, and when that time came, to place him in a box, cast it into the sea and not fear him drowning, being harmed by Pharaoh or even having to separate from him, as I would return him to her alive and make him one of My Messengers I send to My creation.

So she acted upon whatever I inspired her with, placing him in a box and casting it into the sea. The family of Pharaoh found him and took him in, so that Allah’s plan for Moses to become an enemy to Pharaoh by having his kingdom taken away from him and bringing him grief at his hands, comes to fruition. Indeed, Pharaoh, his minister Hāmān and their aides were sinful due to their disbelief, oppression and corruption on Earth.

And when Pharaoh intended to kill him, his wife said to him: “This child could be a source of happiness for me and you; do not kill him, perhaps he will benefit is by serving us, or we could adopt him as our child.” They did not know how their kingdom would end at his hands.

The heart of Moses’s mother forgot every worldly matter and became preoccupied with the matter of Moses, barely able to bear patience so much so that she almost expressed that it was her son, due to the immense attachment she had with him. It was only because of My strengthening her heart and granting her the ability to bear patience, that she became one of those believers who fully thrust their Lord and are patient upon what He decrees for them.

And after she had cast him into the sea, Moses’s mother said to his sister, “Follow him so that you know what happens to him”, and so she observed him from a distance so that she was not implicated. Pharaoh and his people were not aware that she was his sister and that she was keeping an eye on him.

By the decree of Allah, Moses refused to feed from the women. When his sister saw their eagerness to feed him, she said to them, “Shall I tell you of a household who shall feed him and look after him, who will also treat him with goodwill?”

So we returned Moses to his mother, for her eyes, after seeing what they longed for, called become joyful and rest, so that she would not be grieved by separation from him, and that she would realise the promise of Allah to return him to her to have been undoubtedly true. However, many people were unaware of this promise; no one knew she was his mother.

When body and vigour grew stronger and peaked, completing the phase of youth, I granted him knowledge and understanding in religion. Just as I rewarded Moses for his obedience, likewise I reward those who do good in every era and place.

Moses entered the city at a time when its inhabitants were unaware, and saw two men arguing and brawling. One was from the Israelites: Moses’s tribe, while the other was a Copt: Pharaoh’s people, who were Moses’s enemies. The one who was from the Israelites sought assistance from Moses against the Copt, so Moses struck him with a punch and because of his power, it killed him. Moses said, “This is from the adornment and deception of Satan. Indeed, Satan is a deceiving enemy of whoever follows him; he is open in his enmity. Whatever has happened here is due to his enmity and deception; he wants me to err.”

Beseeching his Lord and acknowledging his action, Moses said, “O my Lord! I have wronged myself by killing this Copt, so forgive my sin.” So Allah forgave him; indeed He Forgiving to whoever repents from His servants and merciful towards them.

Moses said, “O my Lord! Due to your blessing me with the ability to repent, among other blessings, I shall never assist any criminal in their crime.”

After the incident of killing the Copt, Moses awoke in the morning anxious as to what may happen. Suddenly, the very same person who had sought his aid and assistance against an enemy Copt the previous day, was now seeking his assistance against another Copt. Moses said to him, “Indeed, you are misguided and a clear inciter!”

So when Moses (peace be upon him) intended to strike the Copt who was his and the caller’s enemy, the Copt said: “Do you intend to kill me just like you killed another yesterday? You only wish to become a tyrant on Earth by killing people and oppressing them; you have no desire to be one of those who reconcile between those who dispute!”

A man came rushing from the far end of the city, fearing persecution against Moses. He said, “O Moses! Indeed, the leaders of the people of Pharaoh are holding counsel regarding your killing, so leave the city. I am one of those who wish well for you and I fear that they may seize and kill you.”

So Moses acted according to the instruction of the well-wishing man and left the city in fear and anxiety over what may happen. He said, beseeching his Lord, “O my Lord! save me from the oppressive nation, so that they cannot harm me.”

And when he walked heading towards Madyan, he said, “I hope in my Lord that He guides me towards the best path from which I do not stray.”

When he reached the waterhole of Madyan he found a group of people watering their livestock. He also found two women a little distance away, stopping their livestock from the water until the rest of the people finished. Moses asked them: “Why is it that you do not water your livestock along with the rest of the people?” They said to him, “It is our habit that we arrive but do not water until the shepherds disperse, fearing mixing in with them. Our father is an aged man; he cannot water the livestock, so we are compelled to do it ourselves.”

So he felt pity for them and watered their livestock for them. He then took shelter in the shade and rested there, beseeching Allah and presenting his need to him, saying, “O my Lord! Indeed I am for any and every goodness you send down to me in dire need for and it is my only recourse.”

When they went back, they informed their father of Moses, so he sent one of them to him, inviting him. She approached him walking modestly, saying, “Indeed, my father is inviting you to meet him, intending to reward you for watering our livestock for us.” When Moses came to their father and told him of his situation, he reassuringly told him, “Do not fear, for you have escaped from an oppressive nation: Pharaoh and his crowd. They have no authority over Madyan, so they will not be able to harm you.”

One of his two daughters said, “O my father! Hire him to shepherd our livestock for us, because he is worthy of being hired by you. He possesses strength and is trustworthy; through his strength he will be able to fulfil his responsibility, and with his trustworthiness he will safeguard whatever he is entrusted with.”

Addressing Moses, their father said, “Indeed, I wish to marry you to one of these two daughters of mine, on the condition that their dowry is your shepherding our livestock for eight years. If you extend the period to ten years, it would be a favour on your part and not obligatory upon you, because the agreement is only for eight years, so whatever exceeds that is optional. I do not wish to impose upon you anything that would put you in difficulty; Allah-willing, you will find me one of the pious ones who fulfils their promises and doesnot break their agreements.”

Moses (peace be upon him) said, “The agreement between us is as we agreed; whichever of the two periods I work for you, eight years or ten, I would have fulfilled my end of the deal, so do not ask me for anything above that; Allah is a witness and a guardian over what we say.

So when Moses completed the agreed duration - either eight or ten years - and was returning with his family from Madyan to Egypt, he saw a fire towards the side of Mount Sinai. He said to his family, “Stay here. I have noticed a fire, perhaps I can bring some news to you from it, or a torch of fire with which we can light one for ourselves and get some warmth from the cold.”

So when Moses came to the fire which he had noticed, his Lord, may He be glorified, called out to him from the right of where Moses (peace be upon him) was standing, on the blessed spot near the tree: “O Moses! Indeed, I am Allah, the Lord of all creation.

“And throw down your staff.” So Moses threw it down, fulfilling the command of his Lord. When he saw it move and slither as if it were a snake, he turned, fleeing in fear of it and did not return. His Lord then called him: “O Moses! Come forward and do not fear it, because you one of those who are safe from it and other things you may fear.”

“Enter your right hand into your shirt collar, it will turn white upon you taking it out without any ailment.” So Moses placed it into his collar and removed it, with it having turned white like snow. “and draw your arm to your side” so Moses pressed it against his side and his fear subsided. So these two things that have been mentioned: the staff and the hand, are two proofs sent from your Lord to Pharaoh and the leaders from his people. Indeed, they were a nation who left the obedience of Allah by disbelief and sin.

Moses said, pleading to his Lord, “Indeed, I have killed a man from amongst them: the Copt that a man from my tribe sought my help against, and so I fear that if I was to go to convey to them the message I have been sent with, they will kill me in return.”

And my brother Aaron speaks with more clarity than I do, so send him with me as my aide. I fear Pharaoh and his people will reject me, just as it is common for nations passed to reject the Messengers that were sent to them.

Allah said in response to Moses’s supplication, “O Moses! I shall strengthen you by sending your brother with you as a Messenger and aide to you, and give you the upper hand over your enemy. They shall not be able to harm you with anything you dislike. By our ayaat (signs), you and those believers who follow you, will be victorious over Pharoah and his people.”

When Moses (peace be upon him) brought My clear signs to them, they said, “This is nothing but a lie that Moses has fabricated; we have not heard anything like it from our forefathers. If it had been true, we would have heard something of the sort among the nations that have passed before us.”

And Moses, addressing Pharaoh, said, “My Lord knows of the truthful one who has brought the guidance from Him, may He be glorified; He also knows who will face a praiseworthy outcome in the afterlife. The oppressors will never succeed in achieving their motives and acquiring safety from their fears.”

Addressing the leaders from his people, Pharaoh said, “O Leaders! I do not know of any deity for you except myself, so O Haman, bake some bricks and build a tall structure for me so that I can look at the deity of Moses and acquaint myself with Him. We believe Moses to be lying in his claim to have been sent as a Messenger for Allah, to me and my people.”

Pharaoh and his armies became arrogant and sought to remain dominant in Egypt without any right. They denied the resurrection and thought they would not return to Me on the Day of Judgement for accountability and requital.

So I seized him and his armies, and threw them into the sea, destroying them by drowning them all. O Messenger! Ponder over what the outcome and ending of the oppressors was: it was destruction.

I made Pharoah and his people leaders/predecessors for the tyrants and misguided after them, by spreading to their disbelief and misguidance they are calling to the fire. And on the of judgement, they will not be helped by being saved from the punishment; rather, the punishment will be multiplied for them because of the evil example of calling towards deviation they set. The consequences of their evil deeds and those of whoever followed them, shall be decreed against them.

And I followed their punishment up with another, which was humiliation and exile in the worldly life. And then on the Day of Judgement they will be distanced from My mercy and detested by Me and My believing servants.

Verily I gave Moses the Torah after I had sent My Messengers to the previous nations who were destroyed because they disbelieved. In this Torah were clear evidences and teachings showing people that which would benefit them and that which would lead to their harm. Therein was instruction towards goodness and mercy leading you to the good of both this world and the Hearafter. Perhaps then they would contemplate over the bounties of Allah upon them, showing gratitude and believing in Him.

O Messenger! You were not present on the western side of the mountain from Moses’s perspective, when I completed the matter of sending Moses as a Messenger to Pharaoh and his people. You were not present to know of that incident so you could relate it to people, so what you do relate to them is only due to Allah’s revelation to you.

However, I created nations and other creations after Moses and a long time passed due to which they forgot the covenants of Allah. You were not a resident of Madyan reciting My verses before them; but I sent you as a Messenger of My own accord and revealed the incident of Moses and his residing in Madyan to you, which you then related to the people.

Neither were you present at the side of mount Sinai when I called out to Moses and revealed whatever I revealed to him, so that you could relate that to the people either. Rather, I sent you as a mercy from your Lord to the people and revealed that incident to you, so that you could warn a nation to whom no Messenger had come prior to yourself, perhaps they would take heed and believe in whatever was brought to them from Allah, may He be glorified.

And if a divine punishment were to afflict them due to the sins and disbelief they were upon, they would have argued: “why did you not send a messenger to us, so we could have followed your ayaat and acted upon them, and have been from the true believers who follow your commandments. If it was not for that we would have hastened the punishment. However, we delayed it so that we may be excused by sending a messenger to them.”

So when Muhammad came to them as a Messenger, they said: “Why has Muhammad not been given miracles proving his messengership, similar to what Moses was given in the Hand, Staff and the Torah which was revealed at once?” O Messenger! Say to them, refuting them: “Did the Jews not reject what Moses was given previously, and they said regarding the Torah and the Qur’ān, “Both are sorcery, each supporting the other!” and they also said, “I reject both the Torah and the Qur’ān!”?

O Messenger! Say to these people: “If indeed you are truthful in your claim that the Torah and Qur’ān are sorcery, bring a book revealed by Allah which is better in guidance than the two. If you bring forth one, I shall follow it.”

And if they do not take up your challenge to bring a book better guiding than the Torah and Qur’ān, know for certain that their rejection of the two is not based on any proof; it is only a result of following their own desires. There is no one more deviant than the one who follows his desires without guidance from Allah, may He be glorified. Allah does not grant a nation who wrongs itself through disbelief in Allah, opposing His Messengers and countering the truth that comes to them from Allah with falsehood, the ability to be guided.

I continuously conveyed to the idolaters and the Jews amongst the People of the Book the word regarding the stories of the previous nations and the punishment I sent down on them when they denied My Messengers, in the hope that they will be reminded by this and then believe, so that they are not afflicted by what afflicted them.

Those who were firm in believing the Torah before the Qur’ān was revealed believe in the Qur’ān, due to them finding it being informed of and described in their books.

When it is recited to them they say: “We believe it is the truth in which there is no doubt and which is revealed from our Lord. We were Muslims before this Qur’ān was revealed, due to our faith in what the Messengers before him brought”.

Those who have been described as mentioned will be given the reward of their actions by Allah twice, due to their persevering in faith in their own book and due to their faith in Muhammad (peace be upon him) when he was sent. They repel through the good of their righteous actions the sins they earned, and from what I have provided them they spend in the avenues of good.

When these believers hear any false speech from the People of the Book, they turn away from it without paying attention it, and they say addressing those who say such: “For us is the reward of our actions and for you is the reward of your actions. You are safe from us swearing and causing harm. I do not seek to accompany ignorant people, due to the damage and harm it contains for one’s religion and worldly life”.

O Messenger, you do not guide whomever you love, such as Abu Talib and others, by enabling him to bring faith, but rather Allah alone is the one who enables whomever He wants to be guided. And He knows better regarding whom it has already passed in His knowledge that he will be amongst those guided to the straight path.

The idolaters amongst the people of Makkah said, excusing themselves from following Islam and bringing faith in it: “If we follow this Islam which you brought, our enemies will quickly snatch us from our land”. Did I not establish these idolaters in a safe sanctuary in which bloodshed and oppression are unlawful, and in which they are safe from others attacking them, with fruits of everything being brought to them as sustenance from Me which I draw towards them?” However, most of them do not know what Allah has blessed them with that they should be grateful to Him.

And how many a city were there which were ungrateful for Allah’s blessings on them, then they exceeded the bounds in sins and disobedience, so I sent a punishment to them and destroyed them through it. So these are their dwellings in ruins, with people passing by them. They were not inhabited after those who lived in them, except for a few travellers. And it is I who will inherit the heavens, the earth and everyone in them.

O Messenger, your Lord did not destroy the cities until he had given opportunity to their inhabitants by sending Messengers to their main cities, just as He sent you to the Mother of Cities. And I was not one to destroy the people of the cities when they were firm on the truth. I only destroy them when they are unjust through disbelief and committing sins.

Whatever your Lord has given you, it is of what you enjoy and adorn yourselves with in this worldly life, then it will finish. And the great reward which is with Allah in the afterlife is better and more lasting than the enjoyment and adornment in this world. Do you not understand that so that you prefer what is everlasting over what is going to finish?

Is the one I have promised paradise in the afterlife and the everlasting pleasure it contains like the one I have given wealth and adornment to enjoy in the worldly life, then he will be on the day of judgment amongst those who will be presented to the fire of hell?

On the day their Lord will call them saying: “Where are My partners you used to worship besides Me and claim they are My partners?”

The callers towards disbelief for whom the punishment will become binding will say: “Our Lord, these are the ones I misguided just as I became misguided. I disassociate ourselves from them to You. They never used to worship us, but they only used to worship the satans”.

It will be said to them: “Call upon your partners so they can save you from the disgrace you are in”. They will then call their partners, but they will not respond to their call, and they will see the punishment prepared for them. If they had been amongst those guided to the truth, they would not have fallen into the punishment.

On the day their Lord will call them saying: “What answer did you give My Messengers I sent to you?”

So that which they can argue with will become hidden to them and they will not mention anything. They will not ask one another, due to the frightening shock they will be in, because they will know for sure they are heading towards the punishment.

As for one amongst these idolaters who repents from his disbelief, brings faith in Allah and His Messengers, and does good actions, perhaps he will be amongst those who are successful in attaining what they seek and who are saved from what they fear.

O Messenger, your Lord creates what He wishes to create, and He chooses whoever he wants for His obedience and prophethood. The idolaters have no choice that they should object to Allah. Pure and holy is Allah from the partners they worship with Him.

And your Lord knows what their chests hide and make apparent. Nothing of this is hidden from Him and He shall reward them for it.

And He is Allah besides whom there is no true deity. For Him alone is praise in this world and for Him is praise in the afterlife. For Him is the decree which is implemented and which nothing can repel. And to Him alone you will be returned on the day of judgment for reckoning and recompense.

Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: Tell me if Allah were to make the light last continuously for you, without any break until the Day of Judgment, which god besides Allah can bring you light like that of day? Do you not hear these proofs and know that there is no god besides Allah who can bring that to you?

O Messenger! Say to them: Tell me if Allah were to make the day last continuously for you until the Day of Judgment, which god besides Allah can bring you night in which you can rest to be relieved of the tiredness of working in the day? Do you not see these signs and know that there is no god besides Allah who can bring any of that to you?

And it is from His mercy, O people, that He has made the night dark for you, so you can rest in it after you have become tired through working in the day, and He has made the day bright for you, so you can strive to earn sustenance in it, and so that you can be grateful for Allah’s blessings on you and not be ungrateful for them.

On the day their Lord will call them saying: “Where are My partners you used to worship besides Me and claim they are My partners?”

I shall bring from every nation its prophet to testify against them their disbelief and denial, then I will say to these nations: “Bring your proofs and evidences for the disbelief and denial you were in”. So their pretexts will run out and they will be convinced that the truth in which there is no doubt is for Allah, and the partners they used to invent for Him will disappear from him.

Qarun was from the people of Moses (peace be upon him), but he was arrogant over them. And I granted him such treasures of wealth, that the keys to his treasuries would be heavy to carry for even a strong group. When his people said to him: “Do not rejoice arrogantly, for Allah does not love those who rejoice arrogantly, but rather he despises them and will punish them for that.

And seek by the wealth Allah has given you the reward of the abode of the afterlife, by spending it in avenues of good. Do not forget your share of food, drink, clothes, and so forth amongst the blessings, without excessiveness or pride. And deal well with your Lord and with His servants, just as Allah has been good to you. Do not seek corruption on earth by committing sins and leaving obedience. Allah does not love those who cause corruption on earth through that. In fact, he despises them”.

Qarun said: “I have only been given this wealth because of the knowledge and power I have, so I am deserving of that”. Did Qarun not know that Allah had destroyed nations before him who were stronger and who had gathered more wealth? But there power or wealth did not benefit them. On the Day of Judgment, the wrongdoers will not be interrogated about their sins due to Allah's complete knowledge of them and any questioning they will face is for reprimand and censure.

Qarun came out in his adornment, showing off his wealth and status. Those amongst Qarun’s companions who were desirous of the adornment of the worldly life said: “If only we were given worldly adornment like Qarun has been given. Indeed he has been given a great share of everything!”.

Those given knowledge said when they saw Qarun in his adornment and when they heard what his companions wished for: “Woe unto you! The reward of Allah in the afterlife and the pleasure He has prepared for those who bring faith and do good deeds is better than the worldly splendour given to Qarun”. And none are granted the ability to say this statement and act accordingly except the patient who persevere in preferring the reward with Allah over the temporary enjoyment of this world.

Then I made the earth swallow him and his house, along with all in it, in retribution for his transgression. He had no group to help him against Allah nor was he amongst those who can help themselves.

Those who wished for the wealth and adornment he had before being swallowed up began saying heedfully: “Did we not know that Allah extends sustenance for whom He wishes amongst His servants and restricts it for whomever He wishes amongst them? Had Allah not favoured us by not punishing us for what we said, He would have made the earth swallow us as He did with Qarun. The disbelievers are not successful, neither in this life or the afterlife, but rather their return and outcome is loss in both”.

That is the abode of the afterlife which I shall make an abode of pleasure and honour for those who do not seek to be arrogant on earth by turning away from faith in the truth and its followers, nor do they want corruption in it. And the praiseworthy outcome, in the form of the enjoyment of paradise and the pleasure of Allah therein, is for those who are mindful of their Lord by carrying out His commands and refraining from His prohibitions.

Whoever brings a good deed on the Day of Judgment, such as prayer, Zakat, fasting and so forth, for him is a good reward for that good deed, where the good deed will be multiplied to ten the like thereof. And whoever brings a bad deed on the Day of Judgment, such as disbelief, consuming interest, adultery and so forth, then those who did bad deeds will not be rewarded except as much as they did, without any increase.

The One who revealed the Qur’ān to you and made it compulsory upon you to convey it and act upon it is going to return you to Makkah victoriously. O Messenger, say to the idolaters: “My Lord knows best who has brought guidance and who is clearly astray from guidance and truth”.

O Messenger, you did not expect, before prophethood, that the Qur’ān would be revealed to you, as revelation from Allah. However, His mercy required it to be revealed to you, so do not be a helper to the disbelievers in the misguidance they are upon.

These idolaters should not turn you away from the verses of Allah after they have been revealed to you, making you leave reciting and conveying them. And call people towards faith in Allah, declaring His Oneness, and acting on His sacred law. And do not become from the idolaters who worship others besides Allah, but rather be from those who declare Allah’s Oneness and only worship Allah alone.

And do not worship alongside Allah any god besides Him. There is no true god besides Him. Everything will perish besides His Face. For Him alone is the judgment; He judges as He wishes. And to Him alone you will be returned on the day of judgment to be reckoned and rewarded.

Alif Lam Meem. The discussion on similar letters has already passed at the beginning of Sūrah Al-Baqarah.

Did the people think that by saying: “I brought faith in Allah”, they will be left without any test to clarify the reality of what they said: are they true believers? The matter is not as they thought.

I tested those before them, so Allah will make clear and disclose to you the truth of those who were true in their faith and the lie of those who were dishonest therein.

Or did those who commit sins such as idolatry and so forth think they will escape us and be saved from My punishment? Bad is the judgment they make, for they will not be able to make Allah powerless nor will they be saved from His punishment if they die on their disbelief.

Whoever is hopeful of meeting Allah on the day of judgment so He can reward him should know that the time Allah has appointed for that is coming soon. And He is Hearing of the statements of His servants, Knowing of their actions. Nothing of their actions are hidden from Him and He shall reward them accordingly.

And whoever exerts himself by motivating it to guidance and staying far from disobedience, and whoever strives in the way of Allah, he is only doing so for his own benefit. Allah is Self-Sufficient and in no need of all the creation. Their obedience does not increase Him nor does their disobedience decrease Him.

Those who brought faith and were patient on our testing them, and who did good actions, I shall wipe out their sins due to the good actions they did, and I shall reward them in the afterlife with the best of what they used to do in this world.

And I enjoined upon humankind that they be righteous and good with their parents. O man, if your parents force you to associate with Me that whose association you have no knowledge of - as occurred with Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas from his mother - do not obey them in that, because there is no obedience to the creation in disobedience to the Creator. To Me alone is your return on the Day of Judgment, then I shall inform you of what you used to do in the world and I shall reward you for it.

And those who brought faith and did good actions, I shall enter them on the day of judgment amongst the righteous, thus I will raise them with them and grant them their reward.

Amongst people is he who says: “I brought faith in Allah”. But when the disbelievers afflict him with harm due to his faith, he considers their torture the punishment of Allah, hence he renounces faith to conform with the disbelievers. And if you achieve help from your Lord, O Messenger, they will say: “We are with you in faith, O believers”. Does Allah not know best what is in the hearts of people, nothing of disbelief and faith they contain being hidden from Him? So how do you inform Allah of what is in their hearts when He knows better than them what they contain?

And surely Allah will make clear to His servants those who truly brought faith and He will make clear those who display faith but hide disbelief.

And the disbelievers said to those who brought faith in Allah alone: “Follow our religion and what we are on, and we will carry your sins for you and we take responsibility for them”. They will not carry any of their sins, and they are lying in this statement of theirs.

And I shall burden these idolaters who call towards their falsehood with the sins they committed and I shall burden them with the sins of those who followed their call, without any of the sins of their followers being decreased. And they will be questioned on the day of judgment regarding the falsehood they used to invent in this world.

And I sent Noah as a Messenger to his people, then he stayed amongst them for a period of nine hundred and fifty years, calling them to the Oneness of Allah. But they denied him and remained on their disbelief, so the flood seized them whilst they were wrongdoers due to their disbelief in Allah and their denial of the Messengers, thus they were destroyed through drowning.

So I saved Noah and the believers with him in the ark from being destroyed through drowning, and I made the ark a sign for people to take heed from.

O Messenger, remember the story of Abraham when he said to his people: “Worship Allah alone, and fear His punishment by carrying out His commands and refraining from His prohibitions. That which is being ordered that is better for you if you really want to know what is better for you.

O idolaters, you are only worshipping idols which do not benefit or harm, and you are inventing a lie when you claim they are worthy of worship. Those whom you worship besides Allah do not have the ability to provide for you that they should provide you. Seek provision from Allah alone, as He is the Provider, worship Him alone, and thank Him for the provision He has blessed you with. To Him alone you will be returned on the day of judgment to be reckoned and rewarded, not to Your idols”.

O idolaters, if you deny what Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought, then nations before you also denied, such as the nation of Noah, and Aad and Thamud. It is only upon the Messenger to clearly convey, and he has conveyed what his Lord ordered him to convey to you.

Do these deniers not see how Allah created the creation initially, then He shall restore it after it has finished? This is easy for Allah, as He is Powerful with nothing is beyond His ability.

O Messenger, say to these deniers of the resurrection: “Travel through the land and think how Allah began the creation. Then Allah will restore people after their death to the second life for the resurrection and reckoning. Allah is Powerful over everything; nothing is outside His ability, so He is able to resurrect people just as He created them in the first place”.

He punishes whom He wishes from His creation through His justice, and He has mercy on whom He wishes amongst His creation through His grace.

You are not going to escape your Lord, nor can you flee from His punishment on earth or in the heavens. You do not have besides Allah any helper to take care of your affairs nor do you have any assistant to lift His punishment from you.

Those who disbelieved in the verses of Allah and meeting Him on the Day of Judgment, those have lost hope in My mercy, so they will never enter paradise due to their disbelief, and those will have a painful punishment that will await them in the afterlife.

The only answer Abraham’s people gave to him - after he had instructed them to worship Allah alone and to give up the worship of idols - was that they said: Kill him or throw him into the fire in defence of your gods. But Allah saved him from the Fire. In his being saved from the fire after having been thrown into it there truly are lessons for people who have faith, because they are the one who benefit from such lessons.

Abraham (peace be upon him) said to his people: You have only taken idols as gods whom you worship for your mutual recognition and affection for their worship in the present life. Then, on the Day of Judgement, this mutual affection between you will end and you will disown and curse one another when you see the punishment. The fire will be the place you resort to and no one will help and protect you against Allah’s punishment, not the idols that you used to worship besides Allah and nor anyone else.

Lot (peace be upon him) believed in him and Abraham said: I will emigrate to my Lord, to the blessed land of Levant. He is the Mighty that cannot be challenged and the one who migrates to Him will never be humiliated. He is the Wise in His planning and estimation.

I gave Abraham Isaac and his son, Jacob. I placed prophethood and revealed scriptures from Allah among his offspring. I gave him the rewards of his steadfastness on the truth in this world, and in the life to come he will be given the reward of the righteous. What he was given in the world will not reduce the noble reward that has been prepared for him in the afterlife.

O Messenger, remember the story of Lot when he said to his people: You are committing a terrible sin that was not perpetrated before you by anyone in the whole world. You are the first to innovate this sin that goes against the sound nature of man.

Do you approach men from their backsides to satisfy your lust, cut off the way for travellers who cannot pass by you for fear of the obscene sin that you perpetrate, commit evil acts in your gatherings such as nudity and harm those who pass by with words and actions? But the only response from his people after he prohibited them from doing evil acts was that they said to him: Bring upon us Allah's punishment that you threaten us with, if you are truthful in your claim.

Lot (peace be upon him) prayed to His Lord after his people were obstinate and had disparagingly demanded that the punishment be sent down on them: O my Lord! Help me against these people who spread corruption on earth by the disbelief and shameful sins that they promulgate.

When the angels whom I had sent came to give good news to Abraham of Isaac and after him his son, Jacob, they said to him: We are going to destroy the people of the town of Sodom, the town of the people of Lot. Its people were wrongdoers because of the obscene act that they were doing.

Abraham (peace be upon him) said to the angels: But Lot is in that town whose people you wish to destroy and he is not one of the wrongdoers. The angels said: I know very well who is there. I will save him and his household from the destruction that will be sent down on the people of the town, except for his wife. She will be one of those who will be left behind, and we will destroy her with the rest of them.

When the angels whom I sent to destroy the people of Lot came to Lot, he was troubled and distressed by their coming, fearing for them the evil of his people, as the Messengers had come to him in the form of men and his people lusted after men instead of women. The angels said to him: Do not fear, for your people will not be able to harm you and do not grieve over the news of their destruction that I give you. I will certainly save you and your household from destruction, except for your wife. She will be one of those who will be left behind, and we will destroy her with the rest of them.

I will send a punishment from the sky down on the people of this town that used to do obscene acts, which is stones of baked clay, as a punishment for their leaving out following Allah by the perpetration of that evil and immoral act, which was satisfaction of lust with men instead of women.

I left some of this town that I destroyed as a clear sign for those who use their intellect for sound reasoning, because they are the ones who take a lesson from the signs.

I sent to the people of Madyan their brother in lineage, Shu‘ayb (peace be upon him). He said: My people, worship Allah alone, and have hope by your worshipping Him for reward on the Last Day. Do not spread corruption on earth by committing and spreading sins.

His people rejected him and so the earthquake struck them. When morning came, they were laying dead in their homes, and they were motionless.

I also destroyed the tribe of 'Ad, the people of Hud, and the Thamud, the people of Salih. Signs of their destruction are clear to you - O people of Makkah - by what is left of their dwelling by Hijr (towards the Levant) and Shihr (near Hadramut). Their empty dwellings are evidence of that. Satan made their deeds of disbelief and other sins seem good to them and diverted them from the right path. They were capable of seeing truth from deviation and guidance from misguidance as their Messengers had taught them, but they chose to follow their desires instead of following guidance.

I destroyed Qarun when he oppressed the people of Moses, by sinking him together with his property into the ground. I destroyed Pharaoh and his minister, Haman, by drowning them in the sea. Moses had brought them clear miracles indicating his truthfulness, but they behaved arrogantly in the land of Egypt and were too proud to have faith in him. They could not be saved from My punishment by escaping from Me.

So I seized each one of those mentioned above with My destructive punishment. Amongst them were the people of Lot on whom I sent down stones of baked clay. Amongst them were the people of Salih and the people of Shuaib who were overcome by a sudden blast. Amongst them was Qarun whom I sunk into the earth together with his property. Amongst them were the people of Noah and Pharaoh and Haman whom I destroyed by drowning. It was not Allah who wronged them by destroying them for no sin; but they wronged themselves by committing sin and thus were deserving of the punishment.

The example of the idolaters who took idols whom they worshipped other than Allah in the hope that they will benefit them or intercede for them is like that of a spider that builds a house to protect it from heat and cold and from an assault against it. The frailest of all houses is the spider’s as it does not ward off any cold nor prevent any heat. Similarly, their idols will not benefit nor harm nor intercede. If the idolaters knew that, they would not have taken idols that they worship besides Allah.

Allah, may He be glorified, knows what they worship besides Him. Nothing of that is hidden from Him. He is the Mighty Who cannot be challenged and the Wise in His creation, estimation and planning.

These examples that I draw for people, to awaken them and make them see the truth and guide them to it, can only be grasped in the desired manner by those who have knowledge of Allah’s law and rule.

Allah, may He be glorified, created the heavens and He created the earth with truth. He did not create them with falsehood and He did not create them in vain. In that creation there is clear indication of Allah’s Power for those who have faith, because they are the ones who will use Allah’s creation as evidence for the Creator, may He be glorified. The disbelievers however pass by the signs in the horizons and the signs within themselves without their attention being drawn to the greatness and power of the Creator, may He be glorified.

Read - O Messenger - to people what Allah has revealed to you of the Qur’ān and do the prayer in the most perfect manner. Prayer that is discharged perfectly restrains the doer from falling into sins and wrong, because it creates a light in the heart that prevents the perpetration of sins and guides the person to doing righteous deeds. The remembrance of Allah is greater than and superior to every thing. Allah knows everything you are doing. None of your actions are hidden from him and He will recompense you for them. If they are good the recompense will be good and if they are evil the recompense will be evil.

O believers! Do not discuss and debate with the Jews and Christians to whom the divine books were revealed, except in the best of manners and most exemplary of ways: inviting them by exhortation and establishing clear proofs. As for those of them who oppress by showing stubbornness and arrogance, fight them until they submit, or pay the Jizyah with their own hands while subdued. And say to the Jews and the Christians: “I have believed in whatever Allah has revealed to us in the Qur’ān, and in the Torah and Gospel that was revealed to you. Our Lord is one and so is yours, He has no partner in His lordship, worship or perfection, and we submit and humble ourselves to Him alone.”

And just as I revealed the Books upon those before you, I revealed the Qur’ān upon you. Some of those who read the Torah, such as Abdullah ibn as Salam believe in the Qur’ān as well, because of what they find of its description in their books. And from among the idolaters are also those who believe in this Qur’ān. Only those who are habituated to rejection and denial disbelieve in My signs, despite their clarity.

O Messenger! You never read any book before the Qur’ān, nor did you write anything with your hand because you are unlettered and cannot read or write. Had you been able to read and write, the ignorant people would have doubted your messengership and used it as an excuse to say you were relating from the previous Books.

Nay, the Qur’ān that has been revealed to you consists of clear verses which are preserved within the hearts of those believers granted knowledge. Only those who wrong themselves by ascribing partners with Allah and rejecting Him, deny My verses.

The idolaters said, “Why have no miracles been given to Muhammad from his Lord, like those miracles given to the messengers before him?” O Messenger! say to them: “Miracles are only in the control of Allah, may He be glorified; He grants them whenever He wishes. It is not in my power to bring them; I am only a clear warner to you of the punishment of Allah.”

O Messenger! Is it not sufficient for these people who propose miracles, that we have revealed the Qur’ān upon you which it recited to them? Indeed, in the Qur’ān is mercy and exhortation to believing people, because they are the ones who truly benefit from whatever it contains. Therefore, whatever has been revealed to them is better than that which they suggest should be sent down: similar to what was sent to Messengers previously.

O Messenger! Say: “Allah, may He be glorified, is enough as a witness to my truthfulness in what I convey, and to your rejection of it. He knows everything that is in the heavens and everything that is on Earth; nothing is hidden from Him. As for those who bring faith upon falsehood in worshipping anything instead of Allah, whilst rejecting the being who alone is worthy of worship, they are the true losers because of them choosing disbelief over belief.

O Messenger! The idolaters want for you to bring quickly the punishment you warned them of. Had it not been for Allah already having decreed an unmovable time for their punishment, it would definitely have come upon them. And it will come upon them suddenly, when they do not expect it to.

They want you to bring the punishment you warned them of quickly. Indeed, the hellfire Allah has warned the disbelievers of will surround them; they will not be able to escape its torment.

On the day when the punishment will cover them from above and will be spread under their feet, Allah will say to them, rebuking them, “Taste the requital of the idolatry and sins you used to commit!”

“O my servants! Emigrate from the land in which you are unable to worship Me. Indeed, My land is vast, so worship Me alone and do not ascribe anyone as partner to Me.”

“Let not the fear of death prevent you from emigrating. Every soul shall taste death, and then to Me alone you shall return on the Day of Judgment to give account and be requited.”

Those who have faith in Allah and perform good deeds through which they draw closer, I will accomodate them in raised dwellings under which rivers flow, wherein they shall reside forever. How great is this reward of those who live in obedience to Allah!

How great is the reward of those who act in the obedience of Allah and remain steadfast on it while refraining from His disobedience, and upon Him alone do they rely in all their affairs.

All creatures - despite their innumerability - that are incapable of storing their own provisions, Allah sustains them and you. Therefore not emigrating out of fear of starvation is not a valid excuse for you. He is the hearer of your statements and knower of your intentions and actions; none of them are hidden from Him, and He shall requite you for them.

O Messenger! If you ask these idolaters, “Who created the heavens and the earth? Who put the sun and moon into orbit, such that they come after each other?” they will say, “Allah is the one who created the heavens and the earth, and put the sun and moon into constant orbit.” How then can they turn away from bringing faith in only Allah to the worship of deities instead of Him that do not bring benefit nor cause harm?

Allah expands the sustenance for whoever He wishes from His servants and constricts it for whoever He wishes; this is due to wisdom only He is aware of. Indeed, Allah knows everything; no solution required for His servants is hidden from Him.

And O Messenger! If you were to ask the idolaters, “Who is it that causes the rain to descend from the sky, and consequently causes the earth to grow after it became barren?” they would definitely say, “Allah is the one who causes the rain to fall from the sky and the earth to grow because of it.” O Messenger! Say: “All praise is for Allah who has made the evidence clear against you!” However, the crux of the matter is that the majority of them will not understand, because if they were to understand they would not worship idols that do not benefit or harm them.

This worldly life with all its temptations and enjoyments, is only amusement and play for those who are attached to it; it will expire quickly. Indeed, the abode of the afterlife is the real life, due to it being eternal. If only they knew, they would not have given preference to that which is temporary, over that which is eternal.

When the idolaters board ships and sail the ocean, they call out to Allah alone, sincerely supplicating to Him to save them from drowning. After Allah saves them from drowning, they return to their idolatry, calling out to their idols together with Him.

They return to their idolatry so that they can continue showing ingratitude for My favours upon them and so that they can carry on enjoying the beauty of the worldly life. They will soon know the evil punishment that awaits them when they die.

Do these people who reject the blessings of Allah upon them not see another blessing of His after He saves them from drowning, that He made a sanctuary for them in which their lives and wealth are secure? This is while those around them are raided, killed, looted, and taken captive together with their wives and children. Do they still believe in their false deities and reject the bounties of Allah, not showing Him gratitude for them?

There is no one more oppressive than the one who fabricates a lie with regards to Allah by attributing a partner to Him, or by rejecting the truth that His Messenger has brought to him. Undoubtedly there is an abode in Hell for the disbelievers, and those like them.

And those who strive hard in My cause, seeking My pleasure, I will certainly grant them the ability to tread the straight path. Indeed, Allah is with those who do good by helping, assisting and guiding them.

Alif Lam Meem. The discussion on similar letters has already passed at the beginning of Sūrah Al-Baqarah.

The Persians have defeated the Romans.

In the nearer lands of Levant. The Romans, after their defeat will be vitorious over them again.

Within a time period not before three years and not after ten. To Allah belongs the command, prior to the Roman’s victory and after it. And on the day the Romans defeat the Persians, the believers will be happy.

They will be happy because of the help of Allah being with the Romans due to them being the people of the book. Allah helps whoever He wishes against whoever He wishes; He is the Almighty who cannot be overcome, the Merciful towards His believing servants.

This victory was a promise from Allah, and with its fulfilment, the believers will increase in their conviction of Allah’s promise of victory being true. As for the majority of people, they do not understand this due to their disbelief.

They do not know faith and the rulings of the Shariah; they only know of the superficial matters of worldly life, related to earning a livelihood, whilst they turn away from the real life of the afterlife, not paying any attention to it.

Do these rejecting idolaters not ponder in themselves as to how Allah has created them and arranged them together in their most complete forms? Allah did not create the heavens and the earth except for a just cause; He did not create them in vain and He appointed a fixed time for their existence in the world. Indeed, many people reject the meeting of their Lord on the Day of Judgement, and that is why they are not prepared for the resurrection by doing good deeds which are acceptable to their Lord.

Do these people not travel the earth so that they can ponder over what the outcome of the nations who rejected Allah before them was? Those nations were much stronger than them; they adapted the land for farming and construction, and populated it much more than these people have. Their Messengers brought clear proofs and evidences for the oneness of Allah but they were rejected. So when Allah punished them, He was not oppressive, rather they themselves were oppressive by leading themselves to destruction by disbelief.

Then, the outcome of those who did evil deeds i.e. idolatry and sins, was an extremely evil outcome. It was because they rejected the signs of Allah and would mock at and make fun of them.

Allah starts the creation without any previous example, then He causes it to die, then will resurrect it. Then to Him alone will you return to be accounted for and requited on the Day of Judgement.

On the day when the hour arrives, the criminals shall lose hope in the mercy of Allah and their hopes in Allah's mercy will end just as their arguments/excuses will end.

They will not have anyone to intercede for them from those whom they used to worship besides Allah will not intercede for them, to save them from the punishment. Rather, they will reject one another. The idolaters will reject those they used to worship due to them forsakening them in their time of need; they are all equal in being doomed.

And on the day the hour arrives, the people will all be divided in requital according to their deeds in the world. Some will be elevated to the highest ranks, while others will be demoted to the lowest of the low.

As for those who have faith in Allah and did good deeds pleasing to Him, they will be in paradise, happy with whatever everlasting bounties they find within it.

As for those who disbelieve in Allah and reject His verses that were revealed to His Messengers, the resurrection and the accounting, they are the ones who will constantly punished.

So glorify Allah when you enter the night, the time of the two night prayers: Al-Maghrib and Al-‘Ishā, and also glorify Him when you enter the morning: the time of the Fajr prayer.

And for Allah, may He be glorified, is all praise; the angels praise Him in the heavens and His creations praise Him on Earth. And glorify Him when you enter the evening: the time of the ‘Asr prayer, together with glorifying Him at the time of Aẓ-Ẓuhr.

He extracts the living from the dead, like His extracting a human from a drop of semen and a chick from an egg. He also extracts the dead from the living, like His extracting a drop of semen from a human and an egg from a chicken. He revives the earth after it has become dry by sending down rain and regrowing it. Likewise you will be resurrected from your graves for accountability and requital.

From among the great signs of Allah which prove His power and oneness, is that He created you - O people! - from earth when He created your father from clay, then you soon became many humans increasing through reproduction, and spreading over the earth’s east and west.

From also from among the great signs of Allah which prove His power and oneness, is that He created for you - O men! - wives from among your species so that you may find contentment in them due to your special compatibility, and He put love and affection between you. Indeed, in the aforementioned are clear proofs and evidences for people who contemplate, because they are the ones who benefit by using their intellect.

From among His great signs which prove His power and oneness, is that He created the heavens and the earth, and your different languages and skin colours. Indeed, in the aforementioned are proofs and evidences for the people of knowledge and insight.

From among His great signs which prove His power and oneness, is your sleeping by night and wakefulness by day, so that you may rest from the tiredness of your work. And from among His signs is that He made the day so that you may disperse, seeking sustenance from your Lord. Indeed, in the aforementioned are proofs and evidences for people who listen attentively while contemplating and accepting.

From among His great signs which prove His power and oneness, is that He shows you the lightening in the sky, and combines within it fear of the thunderclaps and hope of rain. He also sends down rainwater for you from the heavens, and revives the earth by the regrowth of plants after it has dried up. Indeed, in that are clear proofs and evidences for understanding people, so that they may draw conclusions by it on resurrection after death for accountability and requital.

And from among the signs of Allah which prove His power and oneness, is the upstanding of the sky without it falling and the earth not falling apart due to His command. Then, when He will call you once from the earth by the angel blowing the trumpet, you will suddenly emerge from your graves to give account and be requited.

And to Allah alone belongs whoever is in heavens and the earth, Allah created them, owns them and has full control over them. Everyone of His creations in the heavens and the earth are obedient to Him and submissive to His command.

He is the one who initiates the creation without there being anything like it before, then he resurrects it after making it expire. Bringing it back is easier than initiating it, but both are easy for Him because whenever He intends something, He says “Be!” and it happens. For Him Mighty and Majestic is the highest of praise in whatever qualities of majesty and perfection he is praised with. He is the almighty who cannot be overcome, the Wise in His creation and decree.

O idolaters! Allah mentions an example for you of yourselves: do you have partners from your slaves who are equals to you in everything you own, such that you fear them just as you fear each other? Would you be happy for yourselves with your slaves being such? No doubt, you would not be happy with such an arrangement, so Allah is more worthy that He does not have a partner from His creation in His kingdom. Like that example and in other ways, Allah clearly explains different proofs and evidences for understanding people, because they are the ones who benefit from them.

Their deviance is not because of any deficiency in proofs, nor of them not being explained, it is only because of following desires and their forefathers. So who is there that is capable of guiding those whom Allah has caused to deviate? No one is capable of it. There will have no helpers to prevent the punishment from them.

O Messenger! Turn your face, you and those with you, directing it towards the True Religion which Allah has directed you, turning away from all other religions: the religion of Islam upon which Allah intrinsically created people. There is no changing the creation of Allah, it is the correct and upright religion in which there is no deviation, but the majority of people do not know this.

And return to Him, may He be glorified, by repenting from your sins, be mindful of Him by fulfilling His commands and refraining from His prohibitions, perform prayer with perfection, and do not be from the idolaters who go against nature and ascribe partners with Allah by worshipping them.

And do not be from those idolaters who changed their religion, believing in some of it and rejecting other parts of it. They split into groups and sects, each sect happy with whatever falsehood they were on, thinking that they alone were upon the truth and others were on falsehood.

When the idolaters are afflicted by a difficulty i.e. poverty, drought, they supplicate only to their Lord, may He be glorified, returning to Him humbling themselves and seeking refuge in Him to remove the affliction from them. Then, when He shows them mercy by removing whatever afflicted them, they return to their ways of idolatry by supplicating to others along with Him.

They do so to reject the bounties of Allah, from amongst them is removing their difficulty. So those who ascribe partners to Me should enjoy the ease they have in this life for surely they will come to know on the Day of Judgement that they were in clear misguidance.

What invited them to ascribing partners with Allah when they have no proof supporting it? I did not send any evidence to them in the form of any scripture which they could use as proof for their ascribing partners with Allah, nor do they have any scripture which talks in favour of their idolatry and upholds the validity of the disbelief they are on.

And when I give the people a taste of some of My bounties, i.e. health and wealth, they become happy with it; a happiness based on arrogance and pride. And if something that harms them reaches them, i.e. illness or poverty due to the sins they commit, they begin losing hope in the mercy of Allah and in the difficulty going away from them.

Do they not see that Allah expands the sustenance for whichever of His servants He wishes, testing them to see whether they show gratitude or ingratitude? And He constrains sustenance upon whomsoever He wishes, testing to see whether they are patience or become angry. Indeed, in the increasing of provision for some, and its constriction upon others, are proofs of the kindness and mercy of Allah.

O Muslim! Give the relative whatever goodness and kinship he deserves, give the needy whatever he can fulfil his need with and help the stranger whose path back home has been cut off. Giving in these causes is better for those who seek the pleasure of Allah; those who give priority to this kind of assistance and rights are the ones who succeed by achieving their objective of paradise, and being granted safety from the feared punishment.

Whatever wealth you give to anyone with the expectation that they will.return it to you with an increase, that wealth does not grow with Allah. And whatever wealth you give to fulfil someone's need, desiring only the pleasure of Allah, and not praise or reward from the people, the reward of that deed shall be multiplied for you by Allah.

Allah Himself is the one who alone created you, then granted you sustenance, then will cause you to die, then revive you for the resurrection. Is there any of your idols which you worship that can do any of the above? He is far above and free of what the idolaters say and believe.

Corruption has appeared in the land and sea in the lives of people by their span becoming shorter, and in their bodies by way of diseases and illnesses, due to the sins they commit. It has become apparent so that Allah may give them a taste of some of their evil deeds in the worldly life, perhaps they repent to Him.

Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: “Travel the earth and ponder over what the outcome of the rejecting nations before you was. Their outcome was an evil one; the majority of them would ascribe partners with Allah, worshipping others with Him, and they were destroyed because of it.”

O Messenger! Turn your face in the direction of the correct religion of Islam in which there is no deviation, before the Day of Judgment comes. When it comes, there will be no one to prevent it, and on that day people will be divided: one group shall be pampered in paradise, while the other shall be punished in the hellfire.

Whoever disbelieves in Allah, the harm of his disbelief - which is permanent residence in the hellfire - will reach only himself. As for those who do good deeds seeking Allah’s pleasure through them, they are preparing for themselves entry into paradise and deriving enjoyment from whatever is within it, and they shall live in it forever.

Allah will separate the people and divide them into two groups, so that He can reward those who have faith in Allah and perform good deeds that He is pleased with. Indeed, He does not love those who disbelieve in Him and His Messengers. Rather, He hates them severely and will punish them on the Day of Judgement.

And from His great signs that prove His power and oneness is that He sends winds that give glad tidings of imminent rain to the servants, and so that He may give you - O people! - a taste of His mercy by the greenery and ease that follows the rainfall. And also so that the ships can sail the sea by His will and you can seek from His grace by trading across the ocean. Perhaps you will show gratitude upon the favours of Allah so He may increase you in them.

O Messenger! Verily, I have sent many Messengers to their people before you, so they brought miracles proving their truthfulness but the people rejected whatever their Messengers brought to them. So, we took retribution from those committed evil and destroyed them with My punishment, saving the Messengers and those who brought faith in them from destruction. It is a right I have obligated upon myself to rescue the believers and help them.

Allah, may He be glorified, is the one who sends the winds and drives them. Those winds gather and move the clouds, stretching them in the sky however He wishes, either little or large; He also makes them into pieces sometimes. O observer! You then see the rain coming from within it, so when the rain reaches whichever of His servants He wishes, they become happy with the mercy of Allah upon them in the form of rainfall that will cause the earth to grow that which they and their livestock need.

While just previously, they had been losing hope in any rain falling upon them.

O Messenger! Look at the effects of the rainfall that Allah sends out of mercy for His servants; how Allah revives the earth with the various plants that grow after it had dried up and become barren. Indeed, the being who revived that dry earth is the one who will resurrect the dead as living; He is capable of everything, nothing is beyond His power and ability.

If we were to send upon their farms and crops a wind which would spoil them, and they were to then see their crops yellow in colour after they had previously been green, they would then begin to show ingratitude to the numerous other bounties of Allah they were given before that.

So just as you are incapable of making the dead and deaf hear, after they have distanced themselves from you to emphasise their inability to hear you, likewise you cannot guide those who are similar to them if they turn away and do not benefit.

You are not able to guide those who have deviated from the straight path, onto treading the right path. Neither are you able to make anyone hear something beneficial to them, except those who believe in My Verses, because only they are the ones who will benefit from whatever you say; they are the ones submissive and accepting of My command.

O people! Allah is the one who created you from a despised fluid, then He gave you the strength of manhood after the weakness of childhood, then gave you the weakness of old age after the strength of manhood. Allah creates whatever He wishes i.e. strength and weakness; He is he Knower of everything, nothing is hidden from Him; the Capable nothing is beyond His power and ability.

On the day judgement shall occur, the criminals will swear that had not been in their graves except a very short period of time. Likewise they were deluded in the world by denying the truth.

Those prophets and angels to whom Allah has granted knowledge will say, “You remained for as long as Allah decreed according to His infinite knowledge, until the day of your resurrection which you would deny, but you did not know that the resurrection was a reality and so you rejected it.”

So on the day when Allah shall resurrect all creations to give account and be requited, all the excuses the wrongdoers made up will not benefit them, and it will not be asked of them to now please Allah by repenting, because of the time for it having expired.

And verily, taking the people into consideration, I have mentioned every type of example for them in this Qur’ān, so that the truth becomes clearly distinguished to them from falsehood. O Messenger! If you were to bring to them a clear proof of your truthfulness, those who disbelieve in Allah would say, “You only bring futile things!”

Allah seals and misguides the heart of those who purposely reject the signs you bring them. Likewise Allah seals the heart of every disbeliever of the truth.

O Messenger! Bear patience on the rejection of your people of you. Indeed, Allah’s promise to you of help and establishment no doubt remains. Let not those who do not believe they are going to be resurrected, lead you to become hasty and impatient.

Alif Lam Meem. The discussion on similar letters has already passed at the beginning of Sūrah Al-Baqarah.

O Messenger! These verses that have been revealed to you are verses of the book full of wisdom.

It is guidance and mercy for those who do good, by fulfilling the rights of their Lord and His servants.

Those who perform prayer in the most complete manner and give Zakat of their wealth, and they are convinced of the resurrection, account and reward in the afterlife.

Those who possess those characteristics are upon guidance from their Lord, and it is they who are successful by gaining whatever they seek and being distanced from what they fear.

There are people - like An-Naḍr bin Al-Ḥārith - who take up stories to distract people away from the religion of Allah inconspicuously, and take the verses of Allah as a joke, mocking them. Those who possess these characteristics have a humiliating punishment awaiting them in the afterlife.

When you read My verses to him, he turns away in arrogance, as if he has not heard them; as if his ears are deaf to sounds. So O Messenger! Warn him of a painful punishment which awaits him!

Indeed, those who have faith and do good deeds will have gardens of bounties, in which they shall live in luxury among everything Allah has prepared for them.

They will remain therein. Allah has promised that to them, a true promise in which there is no doubt. He is the Almighty who no one can overcome; the Wise in His creation, decree and legislation.

Allah, may He be glorified, created the heavens which are raised without any pillars, pitched mountains on Earth firmly, so that they do not shake with you, dispersed animals over the earth, and sent down rainfall from the sky, causing the earth to grow all kinds of delightful plants, from which both the humans and animals benefit.

O idolaters! The aforementioned is all the creation of Allah, so show Me what those you worship other than Allah have created. Rather, the wrongdoers are in clear deviance from the truth, because they attribute such objects to Allah that cannot create anything, but are themselves created.

Verily, I granted Luqman the understanding of religion and correctness in matters, and I told him, “O Luqman! Be grateful to your Lord for the blessing of being able to obey Him He has bestowed upon you. Whoever is grateful to his Lord, his gratefulness benefits only himself for Allah is not dependant upon it, and whoever rejects His blessings, the harm of his rejection afflicts him alone, for his rejection does not hurt Allah in the slightest; indeed Allah is totally independent of His creation and praiseworthy in every condition.”

O Messenger! Remember when Luqman said to his son, encouraging him to do good and warning him from evil, “O my son! Do not worship any of the creation along with Allah; indeed the worship of a deity besides Allah is a grave injustice on the self, and is a cause for permanently staying in the hellfire.”

And I commanded the human to obey his parents and do good towards them in matters that do not lead to the disobedience of Allah. His mother carried him in her womb having to face difficulty upon difficulty, weaning him off breastfeeding within two years. I told him: “Be grateful to Allah for every blessing He has bestowed upon you, then be grateful to your parents for their care and upbringing of you. To Me alone is your return, upon which I shall requite each person as he deserves.”

And even if your parents strive to incite you upon ascribing partners to Allah according to their ignorant/arbitrary understanding - like what the mother of Sa‘d bin Abī Waqqāṣ did to him - then do not obey them in that, because there is no obedience to the creation in the disobedience to the Creator. Rather, live with them in the world with goodness, maintaining ties and friendship. And follow the path of those who proclaim My oneness repeatedly and obey Me; to Me alone is your return on the Day of Judgment so that I may tell you of the actions you used to do in the world and requite you for them.

O my son! Indeed, evil and good, no matter how small, even if they equal to the weight of a mustard seed and are in the middle of a rock so no one is aware, or in any place in the heavens or earth, Allah will Indeed, bring them on the Day of Judgment and requite the servant for them. Allah is the most subtle, whose knowledge encompasses all secret and hidden matters. He is kind to His servants and aware of everything.

O my son! Establish the prayer by performing it to perfection; enjoin good and forbid evil, and bear patience upon whatever adversity you face in the process. Indeed, my instructions to you are from those that Allah has decided you should do, so you have no choice in doing or not doing them.

Do not turn your face away from the people in arrogance, and do not walk over the earth haughty and proud; indeed Allah does not love any of those who are haughty in their manner of walking, or arrogant in whatever blessings they are granted and ungrateful for. Rather, He hates them.

Be moderate in your manner of walking: between hastiness and lethargy, displaying dignity. And lower your voice; do not raise it such that it causes inconvenience. Indeed, the most hideous of sounds is that of the donkey because of them being loud.

O People! Do you not see and witness that Allah has made it easy for you to take benefit from the whatever is in the heavens: the sun, moon and stars, and has also made it easy for you to take benefit from the livestock, trees and plants on earth? He has also perfected His blessings for you which are clear to the eyes: beautiful appearances and delightful scenes, and those that are hidden from sight i.e. intelligence and knowledge. Despite all these blessings, there are some people who dispute in the oneness of Allah without having any knowledge based on revelation from Allah or insightful intelligence, nor a clear book revealed from Allah.

If it is said to these disputers regarding the oneness of Allah, “Follow the revelation Allah has revealed to His Messenger!” they say, “I will not follow it, rather, I will follow in the worship of idols that I found our forefathers doing.” Will they follow their forefathers even though Satan is the one calling them towards deviance by inviting them to worship idols, that will lead them to the punishment of a blazing fire on the Day of Judgement?

Whoever turns to Allah sincerely devoting worship to Him and doing good deeds, he has held on to the firmest of things those who hope for salvation can hold on to. He will not fear whatever he has held on to being cut off. and to Allah alone return all affairs; He will requite each person as they deserve.

O Messenger! Whoever disbelieves in Allah, let not their disbelief grieve you. To Me alone they will return on the Day of Judgement; I will inform them of the evils they committed in the world and requite them for them. Indeed, Allah knows what is in the hearts; nothing is hidden from Him.

I will let them enjoy whatever delicacies I have given them in the world for a short while, then compel them to a severe punishment on the Day of Judgement: the punishment of the hellfire.

O Messenger! If you ask these idolaters: “Who created the heavens and who created the earth?” they will say: “Allah created them.” Say to them: “All praise is for Allah who has made the evidence against you clear.” However, the majority of them do not know who deserves all praise, because of their ignorance.

To Allah alone belongs everything that is in the heavens and the earth, in terms of being His creation, under His ownership and decree. Allah is self sufficient, not in need of his creation, praiseworthy in this world and the Hearafter.

If all the trees on Earth were to be cut and made into pens, and the seas multiplied by seven and turned into ink, the Words of Allah would not finish due to their being infinite. Indeed, Allah is the Almighty whom none can overcome; the Wise in His creation and decree.

O people! Your creation and your resurrection for accountability and requital on the Day of Judgement, is as easy as creating and resurrecting just one soul. Indeed, Allah hears everything, hearing one sound does not preoccupy Him from hearing another; He also sees everything, seeing one thing does not preoccupy Him from hearing another either. And likewise, creating something and resurrecting it does not preoccupy Him from creating and resurrecting another.

Do you not see that Allah shortens the night to lengthen the day, and shortens the day to lengthen the night? He also set the orbits of the sun and the moon, so each moves in its orbit for a fixed length of time. Do you also not see that Allah is aware of everything you do; none of your actions are hidden from Him, and He will requite you for them.

That organisation and decree bears testimony to Allah alone being true; He is true in His being, attributes and actions. It also bears testimony to everything that the idolaters worship being unfounded falsehood, and that Allah is the Exalted in His being and His attributes over all His creation; there is none higher than Him, and He is greater than everything.

Do you not see that the ships sail the sea due to His kindness in facilitating for it, so that He can show you - O people - from His signs that prove His power, may He be glorified, and His kindness. Indeed, in that are proofs of His power for every person patient upon harms that afflict him; grateful for whatever blessings he receives.

And when a mountain-like wave and dark clouds surround them from all sides, they call out to Allah sincerely supplicating and worshipping Him. Then, when Allah accepts their supplication and saves them from drowning, bringing them back to land, some of them are moderate in their praise, falling short of showing due gratitude to Him, while others reject the blessing of Allah; None reject My signs except every deceitful person, like the one that promised to be grateful if Allah saved him, then broke his promise. And none reject My signs except every ungrateful person who never shows gratitude for the favours Allah grants him.

O people! Be mindful of your Lord by fulfilling His commands and refraining from His prohibitions, and fear His punishment on the day when no father will be able to benefit his child, nor a child benefit its father in the slightest. Indeed, the promise of Allah of requital on the Day of Judgment is true and will inevitably be fulfilled, so let not the worldly life and whatever desires and amusements it contains deceive you, nor let Satan deceive you by misunderstanding the forbearance of Allah and His delaying the punishment from you.

Indeed, Allah alone has knowledge of the Hour: He knows when it will occur; He sends the rain whenever He wishes and He knows what is in the wombs: whether it is male or female, successful or wretched. No soul knows what good or bad it will do the next day, nor does it know what land it will die in. Rather, Allah is the one who knows all of that, He is Knower and Aware of all that; nothing is hidden from Him.

Alif Lam Meem. The discussion on similar letters has already passed in Sūrah Al-Baqarah.

This Qur’ān that Muhammad (peace be upon him) has brought, was revealed to him by the Lord of all the worlds. There is no doubt in it.

These disbelievers say, “Indeed, Muhammad has fabricated it and attributed it to his Lord.” It is not as they say, rather, it is the truth in which there is no doubt; revealed from your Lord - O Messenger - to you so that you may warn a nation to whom no Messenger has come before you, of the punishment of Allah, perhaps they are guided to the truth and they follow and practice it.

Allah is the one who created the heavens and the earth, and created everything in between them in six days, while He is capable of creating them in less than the time it takes to bat an eyelid. He then rose over His throne in a manner that befits His Majesty. O people! You do not have a guardian who takes care of your affairs other than Him, or an intercessor who intercedes for you in front of your Lord. Do you not think and worship Allah who created you, not worshipping others with Him?

Allah organises the affairs of all creations in the heavens and the earth, then that affair ascends to Him in a day, the duration of which is a thousand years of your counting - O people - in the world.

That being who organises all that is aware of everything that is present and absent, none of it is hidden from Him. He is the Almighty whom none can overcome; who takes retribution from his enemies and is the Merciful towards His believing servants.

He is the being who perfected everything He created, and created the human from clay, without there having been a previous example of him.

He then created the human’s children after it from a delicate fluid: semen.

Then He completed the creation of the human in his complete form His soul through the angel appointed with blowing the soul, and made for you - O people - ears so that you could hear with them, eyes so that you could see, and hearts so that you could understand. Little are you grateful for these bounties of Allah which He bestows upon you.

The idolaters who reject the resurrection say, “When we die, our bodies become dust and we become invisible in the earth, will we be resurrected alive again, anew? That cannot be understood.” Rather, in reality, they are rejecters of the resurrection and do not believe in it.

O Messenger! Say to these idolaters who reject the resurrection: “The angel of death who Allah has appointed to seize your souls shall do so, then to Me alone you will return on the Day of Judgment to give account and to be requited.

The criminals will soon emerge on the Day of Judgment bowing their heads in humiliation due to their rejection of resurrection, feeling ashamed and saying, “Our Lord! I have seen the resurrection I used to reject, and heard the confirmation of that which the Messengers brought from You, so return us to the worldly life so that I can do good deeds that will make You pleased with us. Indeed, I now convinced of the resurrection and the truth of whatever the Messengers brought.” If you were to see the criminals in that state, you would see a grave scene!

And if I wished to give every soul guidance and ability, I would have forced them onto this, but through wisdom and justice it was necessary to pass the decree. that I would definitely fill hell on the Day of Judgment with the disbelievers from the Thaqalan: the jinns and the humans, because of their choosing the path of disbelief and error over the path of belief and steadfastness.

And on the Day of Judgment it will be said to them in rebuke and censure, “Now taste the punishment due to your heedlesness of the meeting with Allah on the Day of Judgment for accountability in the worldly life, I shall leave you in the punishment without caring for how much you suffer from it. Taste the punishment of the everlasting hellfire that will not end, because of the sins you used to commit in the world.

“Only those people believe in my verses revealed to My Messenger who, when they are reminded of them prostate to Allah glorifying Him together with praising Him. They are not arrogant from worshipping Him nor prostrating to Him in any condition.”

They leave their beds to worship Allah, supplicating to Him in their prayers, fearing His punishment and hoping in His mercy. They also spend the wealth Allah has given them in His path.

So no one knows what things Allah has prepared for it in terms of bringing coolness and joy to the eyes, as a reward for the good deeds it would do in the world. It is a reward that no one except Allah can comprehend, due to its greatness.

The one who believes in Allah, acts upon His commands and refrains from that which he is prohibited from, is not like the one who disobeys Him. The two groups are not equal in terms of requital according to Allah.

As for those who have faith in Allah and do good deeds, the reward prepared for them is gardens in which they shall remain as a mark of honour for them from Allah, a reward for the god deeds they used to do in the world.

As for those who left the obedience of Allah by disbelief and committing sins, the abode prepared for them on the Day of Judgment is the hellfire in which they shall remain forever. Every time they attempt to come out of it, they will be returned to it, and it will be said to them, rebuking them, “Taste the punishment of the hellfire you used to deny in the world, when My Messengers would warn you of it.”

I will definitely make these disbelievers who left the obedience of their Lord and do not repent, suffer trials and afflictions in the worldly life, for perhaps due to those worldly afflictions, they will repent to Allah.

There is no one more oppressive than the one who is admonished with the verses of Allah but does not take heed, but turns away without caring about them. Indeed, I will inevitably take retribution from the criminals, because of their committing disbelief and sins, and their turning away from the My verses.

Verily, I gave Moses the Torah, so - O Messenger - do not be in doubt over you having met Moses in the Night Journey and the Ascension. I made the book revealed to Moses a guide for the Israelites from deviance.

And I made leaders from the Children of Israel whom the people would emulate and follow. They became guides to the truth when they were patient in calling others to Allah and fulfilling the commands of Allah and refraining from His prohibitions, and when they firmly believed in His Ayahs that were revealed to their Messengers.

O Messenger! Indeed, your Lord is the one who will judge between them on the Day of Judgment in matters they would dispute in the world; so He will make the one on truth clear from the one on falsehood, and requite each with what they deserve.

Are these people blind that they cannot see how many of the previous nations I destroyed before them? Here they are, walking past dwellings which were previously resided in by those who were destroyed, yet they do not take heed from their state? Indeed, in the destruction of the previous nations due to their disbelief, are lessons from which the truth of their Messengers can be proven, who came to them from Allah. Will these rejecters of the verses of Allah then not listen attentively using their intellects?

Do these rejecters of resurrection not see that I send rainwater to a barren land in which there are no plants, and then take out the crops by rain water, from which their cattle eat as well as themselves? Do they not see that and understand that whoever causes the barren earth to grow, is capable of reviving the dead?

Those that reject the resurrection say, while seeking the punishment in haste, “When is this judgement that you claim is going to be made between us and yourselves on the Day of Judgement, and consequently our abode will be hellfire and yours paradise?”

O Messenger! Say to them: “O Messenger say to them: the day of the judgement, when it comes, will be too late to believe for those who denied the truth in the world. Nor will they be given respite to make repentance.”

O Messenger! So turn away from these people after they have persisted in their deviance, and wait for the punishment of Allah to befall them. Indeed, they wait for an unpredictable turn of fortune against you, but in reality they only await their destruction.

O Prophet, remain firm, you and those with you, on being Mindful, through carrying out His commands and refraining from His prohibitions, and fear Him alone. And do not obey the disbelievers and hypocrites in what they desire. Allah is Knowing of the plans the disbelievers and hypocrites make, and Wise in His creating and managing.

And follow the revelation your Lord reveals to you. Allah is Aware of what you do. None of that escapes Him, and He shall reward you for your actions.

And rely on Allah alone in all your affairs. And He is sufficient as a protector for those of His servants who trust in Him.

Just as Allah has not placed two hearts in the chest of any man, as some of them believe, likewise He did not make wives like mothers with respect to being forbidden to marry, and likewise He did not make claimed sons like biological sons, because thihar which is for a man to make his wife unlawful for himself, and likewise, claiming the children of others as one’s own are practices of ignorance which Islam has nullified. That making unlawful through thihar and taking as sons those whose fathers you are not is a statement you repeat with your mouths, which has no reality. The wife is not a mother nor is the claimed son rightfully for the claimant. And Allah says the truth so that His servants practice it, and He guides towards the path of truth.

Attribute those you claim to be your sons towards their real fathers, because attributing them towards them is justice in the eyes of Allah. But if you do not know their fathers to whom you can attribute them, then they are your brothers in religion and the sons of your uncles, so call them by: “O brother” or “O cousin”. And there is no sin on you if one of you makes a mistake and attributes a claimed son towards his claimant, but you will be sinful if you intentionally say that. And Allah is Forgiving to those of His servants who repent, Merciful to them as He did not punish them due to mistakes.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has more right over the believers than their own selves in whatever he calls them to, even if they incline towards something else. And his wives are like mothers for all believers, hence it is unlawful for any believer to marry any of them after he passes away. Relatives are more deserving of one another in inheritance by Allah’s decree than the believers and those who migrated for Allah's cause, who would previously inherit by means of contractual agreement between themselves in the beginning of Islam. Then Allah abrogated their inheriting from one another after that. Except if you, O believers, do good towards your close associates besides the inheritors, by making a bequest for them and being kind to them, then that is your right. That is a decree inscribed in the Preserved Tablet.

O Messenger, remember when I took a firm covenant from the prophets that they will worship Allah alone and not associate any partner with Him, and that they will convey the revelation sent to them. And I have taken it especially from you, and from Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus son of Mary. I have taken a firm covenant from them to fulfil the conveying of Allah’s messages they have been entrusted with.

Allah took this firm covenant from the prophets so He can ask the truthful Messengers regarding their truthfulness, to silence the disbelievers, and Allah has prepared for those who disbelieve in Him and His Messengers a painful punishment on the Day of Judgment, and it is the fire of hell.

O those who have faith in Allah and practice what He has legislated, remember Allah’s favour on you when the armies of the disbelievers came to Madina, prepared to fight you, and the hypocrites and Jews supported them. Then I sent upon them the eastern winds through which the Prophet (peace be upon him) was helped, and I sent armies of angels you did not see. Then the disbelievers turned away fleeing, not being able to do anything. And Allah is Seeing what you do. None of that is hidden from Him and He shall reward you for that.

And that was when the disbelievers came to you from the top of the valley and from the bottom, from the East and West, when the eyes turned away from everything besides seeing the enemy and the hearts reached the throats due to intense fear. And you were thinking different thoughts regarding Allah. At times you were thinking of help and at time you were thinking of losing hope from Him.

In that position in the Battle of the Trench, the believers were tested through the enemies.

On that day, the hypocrites and those of weak faith, whose hearts contain doubts said: “The promise of Allah and his messenger for victory and being established on this land is false and baseless.”

O Messenger, remember when a group of hypocrites said to the people of Madina: “O people of Yathrib (the name for Madina before Islam), there is no stability for you by the peak of Silah near the trench, so return to your homes”. And a group of them was seeking permission from the Prophet (peace be upon him) to return to their homes, claiming that their homes were exposed to the enemy, but they were not exposed as they claimed. They were only seeking to flee from their enemy through this false excuse.

And if the enemy were to enter upon them in Madina from all its sides and ask them to return to disbelieving and associating partners with Allah, they would grant their enemy this, and they would not lag behind from becoming renegade and turning back towards disbelief except a little.

And these hypocrites had promised Allah after they fled from fighting on the occasion of Uhud that if Allah were to make them witness another battle, they will definitely fight their enemy and not flee out of fear. However, they broke their promise. And the servant is responsible for the promise he made to Allah and he will soon be questioned about it.

O Messenger, say to these people: “Fleeing will never benefit you if you flee from fighting, out of fear of death or being killed, because the appointed times are fixed, and fighting do not bring them closer nor does fleeing distance them. And if you do flee and your time has not come, you will not be able to enjoy life except for a short while”.

O Messenger, say to them: “Who can save you from Allah if He intends for you the death or being killed you dislike, or He intends for you the safety and good you hope for? There is nobody to save you from that”. And these hypocrites will not find for themselves any associate besides Allah to take care of their affairs, nor any helper to save them from Allah punishing them.

Allah knows those of you who hold others back from fighting alongside Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) and those who say to their brothers: “Come to us and do not fight alongside him, lest you get killed, because we fear you will get killed”. And these forsaken people do not come to battle or participate in it except rarely, to remove blame from themselves, not to help Allah and His Messenger.

O group of believers, they are miserly with you with their wealth, so they do not help you by spending it; miserly with their souls, so they do not fight alongside you; and miserly with their love, so they do not love you. Then when fear at the time of meeting the enemy comes, you will see them looking at you, O Messenger, with their eyes rolling out of cowardice, just as the eyes of a person who is suffering the pangs of death roll. But when fear leaves them and they become content, they harm you verbally with abusive sharp tongues. They are greedy for booty which they look for. Those who have been described with these qualities have not truly believed, so Allah cancelled the reward of their actions. And this cancelling was easy for Allah.

These cowards think the coalition conspiring to fight Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) and fight the believers will never leave until they totally destroy the believers. And if it is decreed that the coalition come another time, these cowardly hypocrites will wish they were not in Madina, but rather they were with the bedouins far from it, asking regarding your news: what happened to you after your enemies fought you? And even if they were amongst you, O believers, they would not have fought alongside you except a little, so do not pay attention to them or be sad over them.

There has been for you an excellent example in what Allah’s Messenger said, carried out and practiced, for he presented his own noble self and personally engaged in battle, so how after that can you be miserly with your souls over his soul? And only he who is hopeful of the Last Day, works for it and remembers Allah abundantly will follow Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him). As for the one who is not hopeful of the Last Day and does not remember Allah abundantly, he does not follow His Messenger (peace be upon him).

When the believers saw the companies which had gathered to fight them, they said: “This is the test, tribulation and help Allah and His Messenger promised us, and Allah and His Messenger were true in this, for it has occurred”. And seeing the companies did not increase them except in faith and submission to Him.

Amongst the believers are men who were true to Allah, so they fulfilled what they promised Him, namely firmness and patience on striving in Allah’s way. Amongst them are those who died or were killed in Allah’s way and amongst them are those who await martyrdom in His way. And these believers did not change what they promised Allah like the hypocrites did with their promises.

So that Allah rewards the truthful who fulfilled what they promised Allah, by virtue of their truth and fulfilling their promises, and punish the hypocrites who broke their promises if He wishes, by making them die before they repent from their disbelief, or by accepting their repentance by enabling them to repent. And Allah is Forgiving to one who repents for his sins and Merciful to him.

And Allah repelled the disbelieving groups who were conspiring to fight the believers and they were not successful in totally destroying the believers as they intended, losers who were angry due to their returning in failure. And Allah sufficed the believers in fighting them, by the winds He sent and the angels He sent down. And Allah is Powerful and Mighty; nobody attempts to overpower Allah except that He will be left defeated and deserted.

And Allah brought the Jews who helped them down from their fortresses in which they would protect themselves from their enemy, and Allah put fear into their hearts. A group of them you kill, O believers, and a group of them you take as captives.

And Allah made you owners of their land, along with the crops and date trees they contained, after destroying them, and He made you owners of their homes and other wealth, and He made you owners of the land of Khaybar which you have not yet trodden, but you will soon tread on it. This is a promise and good news for the believers. And Allah is Powerful over everything; Nothing is outside His ability.

O Prophet, say to your wives if they seek an increase in spending but you did not have anything more to spend on them: “If you seek the worldly life and the adornment it contains, then let me give you the provisions given to a divorced women, and I will let you go in the best of manners without causing harm.”

But if you desire the pleasure of Allah and the pleasure of His Messenger, and you seek paradise in the abode of the afterlife, remain patient on your condition, for Allah has prepared a great reward for those of you who do good through patience and good companionship”.

O wives of the Prophet, whoever amongst you comes with an open sin, her punishment will be doubled on the Day of Judgment, due to her status and rank, and to protect the personage of the Prophet (peace be upon him). And this doubling is easy for Allah.

Whoever from among you obeys Allah and His Messenger, and does good deeds which are pleasing to Allah, Allah will grant her double the reward all other women get, and will prepare for her a noble reward in the Hereafter, which is Paradise.

O the wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him), You are not like other women in terms of privilege and nobility; you are on a level of privilege and nobility other women can never reach even if they were to fulfil the commands of Allah and refrain from things He has not allowed. Therefore, do not soften your tone when you speak to unrelated men, in case those with the disease of hypocrisy or impermissible desires begin to lust. Rather, speak in a manner well clear of any doubt, by speaking in a serious and not trivial tone as necessary.

And remain within your homes; do not leave them unless for a need; do not expose your beauty like the women who would do so before Islam to attract men; perform prayer to perfection; give Zakat of your wealth, and obey Allah and His Messenger. O wives of the Messenger of Allah and people of His household! Allah (may He be glorified) only intends to remove harm from you, and wants to purify your souls by adorning them with excellent characteristics such that no blemish remains.

And mention whatever verses of Allah are revealed to His Messenger in your homes, and the pure ways of Allah’s Messenger that you observe. Indeed, Allah is kind to you by favouring you with putting you in the house of His Prophet; He knows you well because He chose you as wives for His Messenger and as mothers of all the believers from his people.

Indeed, the males who submit to Allah and the females who submit; the male believers in Allah and the female believers; the males who obey Allah and the females who obey; the males who are truthful in their belief and their statements and the females who are truthful; the males who are patient in obedience, in refraining from sins and during trials and the females who are patient; the males who give in obligatory and optional charity from their wealth and the females who give in charity; the males who keep obligatory and optional fasts and the females who fast; the males who guard their private parts from exposure to those who are forbidden from seeing them and from the immorality of fornication and anything leading to it, and the females who guard their private parts; and the males who remember Allah abundantly in private and in public and the females who remember Allah, Allah has prepared His special forgiveness for them from their sins, and an immense reward on the Day of Judgement which is Paradise.

It is not correct for a believing man or woman when Allah and His Messenger decide a matter for them that they have a choice in accepting or rejecting it. Whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has clearly deviated from the straight path.

O Messenger! When you said to the one whom Allah had blessed with the bounty of Islam, and you had favoured with freeing him - the person intended here is Zayd bin Ḥārithah may Allah be pleased with him - when he came to you seeking counsel in divorcing his wife Zaynab bint Jaḥsh, you said to him, “Keep your wife; do not divorce her, and be mindful of Allah by fulfilling His commands and refraining from the things He has not allowed” whilst, O Messenger, you were hiding within your heart that which Allah was going to expose: that Zayd should divorce her and He would command you to marry her. You were fearing the people and did not express that which you knew, when Allah is more deserving of your fear than the people. So when Zayd disinclined from her, and was happy at heart with divorcing her, he divorced her and I married you to her, so that there would be no sin on the believers if they were to marry the wives of their adopted sons after they had divorced them. Allah’s command will always come to pass, nothing can stop or obstruct it.

There is no sin or oppression on the Prophet (peace be upon him) in his marriage to the wife of his adopted son which Allah made permissible for him. In fact, in doing so, he is following in the way of the Prophets before him; he is not any different to the messengers in that regard. The Prophet had no choice in the completion of this marriage and nullifying of adoption that Allah decreed; it was a decree which was to pass, there was no one who could overturn it.

These Prophets who convey the messages of Allah that are revealed to them to their nations, and do not fear anyone except Allah (may He be glorified), they do not pay attention to what others say when they do whatever Allah has permitted for them. Allah is sufficient as a guardian for the actions of His servants so that He may take them to account over them and requite them; if they are good then with good, if evil then with punishment.

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, so he is not the father of Zayd, therefore his marrying his wife is not impermissible for him when Zayd divorces her. However, he is the Messenger of Allah sent to the people and the seal of the prophets: there is no prophet to come after him. Allah is the knower of everything, nothing is hidden from Him from the affairs of His servants.

O those who have faith in Allah and do whatever He has legislated for them! Remember Allah abundantly with your hearts, tongues and limbs.

And exalt Him by glorifying Him (saying Subḥānallah) and proclaiming His oneness (Lā ilāha illallāh) at the start and the end the day, because of their virtue and the ease in remembering Allah through them.

He is the one who showers mercy upon you and praises you, and His angels pray for you that He removes you from the darkness of disbelief into the light of faith. And Allah is merciful to the believers, so He does not punish them when they obey Him by fulfilling His command and refrain from what He has prohibited.

The greeting of the believers on the day they meet their Lord will be one of peace and security from all evil, And Allah has already prepared for them a generous reward, Paradise as a recompense for them obeying His commandments and staying away from His prohibitions.

O Prophet! Indeed, I have sent you to the people as a witness against them that you convey to them the message; as a giver of glad tidings to the believers of the Paradise I have prepared for them, and as a warner for the disbelievers of the punishment I have prepared for them.

And I have sent you as a caller to the sole worship and obedience of Allah. and towards obedience to His command. I have also sent you as an illuminating lantern from which every person seeking guidance can take light.

And inform the believers in Allah who do whatever Allah legislated for them, of something that will please them: that they will have a great privilege from Allah (may He be glorified), which includes Allah helping them in the world and them succeeding in the Hereafter by entering Paradise.

And do not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites in their call to preventing people from the religion of Allah, and turn away from them; perhaps that will be more effective in them believing in what you have brought to them. And rely on Allah in all your matters, of which is His helping you against your enemies. Allah is sufficient as a guardian the servants can rely upon in all their affairs in the world and the Hereafter.

O those who have faith in Allah and do whatever Allah has legislated for them! When you tie the knot of marriage with believing women, and then you divorce them before consummating the marriage with them, they are not required to go through the waiting period for you, regardless of whether it is through menstrual cycles or by counting months. This is because their wombs being free is known due to you having not consummated marriage with them. Also, give them some compensation according to your financial situations to console their broken emotions as a result of divorce, and clear the way for them to return to their families without causing them any inconvenience.

O Prophet! I have made permissible for you those of your wives whom you have given their dowry to, and those female servants that you possess from the captives Allah has given to you as booty. I have also made permissible for you, marriage to the daughters of your paternal uncles and aunts and the daughters of your maternal uncles and aunts, who have emigrated with you. I have also made permissible for you to marry the believing woman who presents herself to you for marriage without any dowry. The permissibility of this type of marriage, without a dowry, is exclusive to the prophet (peace be upon him), and is not permissible to anyone else from his Nation. Verily, I know what I have made obligatory upon the believers with regards to their wives: it is not permissible for them to marry more than four women at once. I am also aware of legislating for them with regards to their female servants: that they can make use of however many they want without any restriction on number. And I have also permitted for you from the aforementioned that which I have not made permissible for others, so that there is no difficulty or difficulty upon you. Allah Forgiving to those of His servants who repent, and is merciful to them.

O Messenger! Defer the turn of whichever of your wives you wish to defer by not spending the night with her when it is her turn that you do, and spend the night with whichever of your wives you wish. And there is no sin on you should you wish to spend the night with the one whose turn you deferred. This choice and broadening your options for you is more effective in making you the coolness of the eyes of your wives and in them being pleased with whatever you give all of them, because they know that you have not left out an obligation or have not fulfilled a right. O Men! Allah knows the inclination of your hearts towards some of your wives over others; Allah is the knower of the actions of His servants, nothing from them is hidden from Him. He is also forbearing; He does not punish them immediately in case they repent to Him.

O Messenger! It is not permissible for you to marry women other than your wives who are already in your protection, neither is it permissible for you to divorce them, or divorce any one of them so that you may marry another woman, even if her beauty appeals to you. However, it is permissible for you to take captive women into your possession. And Allah is a guardian over everything. This ruling proves the virtue of the mothers of the believers, because the Prophet peace be upon him was prohibited from divorcing them and marrying others whilst he was married to them.

O those who have faith in Allah and do whatever Allah has legislated for them! Do not enter the houses of the Prophet except after he has given you permission to enter by inviting you for food. And do not come too early so you end up sitting for longer than needed, waiting for the food to be cooked, rather when you are invited, then enter and after you have eaten, return. Do not remain behind socialising with each other, because remaining behind causes inconvenience to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he feels embarrassed to ask you to leave, but Allah is not embarrassed to command you to do what is right, and so he has commanded you leave so that you do not cause inconvenience to him (peace be upon him) by staying for too long. And when you ask for something from the wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him) i.e. utensils etc. then ask from behind a veil, not face to face, in a manner that you cannot see them with your eyes. This is to protect them due to the stature of the Messenger of Allah. Asking from behind a veil is purer for your hearts and their hearts, so that Satan cannot influence your hearts through whispers and beautifying evil. And O believers! It is not befitting for you to cause inconvenience to the Messenger of Allah by remaining behind to socialise, nor that you marry his wives after he has passed away, because they are the wives of the believers and it is not permissible for anyone to marry his mother. Indeed, that causing inconvenience - of which is your marrying his wives after his death - is forbidden and regarded as a great sin by Allah.

If you reveal any of your actions or keep them to yourselves secretly, none of them are hidden to Allah anyway. Indeed, Allah knows everything none of your actions or anything else is hidden from Him, and He will requite you for your deeds: if good then with good, and if evil then with bad.

There is no sin on the wives of the Messenger if their fathers, sons, brothers, nephews, from lineage or breast feeding, see them and talk to them without a veil. And there is no sin on them if believing women or the servants they possess talk to them without a veil. O believing women! Be mindful of Allah in whatever He (may He be glorified) has commanded you to do and prohibited you from, because He is Watchful over what you do.

Indeed, Allah showers praise upon the Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to His angels, and His angels supplicate for him. O those who have faith in Allah and do whatever He has legislated for His servants! Send salutations upon the Messenger and pray for peace for him abundantly.

Indeed, those who attempt to bring harm to Allah and His messenger through speech or action, Allah will distance them from the vastness of His mercy in the world and the Hereafter, and He has prepared a humiliating punishment for them in the Hereafter.

And as for those who cause the male and female believers inconvenience through speech or actions, without them having committed any wrong i.e. a crime that necessitates punishment, they have indeed, taken up the burden of clear slander and sin.

O Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters, and the wives of the believers: “Let your outer garments you wear hang loosely over you so that your bodies are not revealed to unrelated men.” That is more likely to distinguish them as free women so that they are not subject to harassment like the servant girls are. And Allah Forgiving of the sins of whichever of His servants repents, and He is merciful to them.

The hypocrites who conceal their disbelief and outwardly show Islam, whose hearts are transgressive in nature by being attached to their desires, and who spread false information in Al-Madīnah to create disunity among the believers, if they do not stop their hypocrisy, O Messenger, I will definitely command you to punish them and impose a punishment upon them. Then, they will not be able to live in Al-Madīnah with you except for a short while, because of their destruction or exile as a result of their causing corruption on Earth.

They are exiled from the mercy of Allah; in whatever place they are found they will be seized and eliminated because of their hypocrisy and spreading corruption on Earth.

This is the divine custom of Allah that is in force regarding the hypocrites when they reveal their hypocrisy. And the custom of Allah is permanent; you will never find any change in it.

O Messenger! The idolaters ask you in denial and rejection, and the Jews also ask you, regarding the final hour: “When will it occur?” Say to them: “The knowledge of the hour is with Allah; I have no knowledge of it.” O Messenger! What do you know, the hour could be near!

Indeed, Allah (may He be glorified) has exiled the disbelievers from His mercy, and prepared a flaring fire that awaits them on the Day of Judgement.

They will remain in the punishment of that fire forever. They will not find a guardian that benefits them in it, nor a helper who protects them from its punishment.

On the Day of Judgement their faces will be turned in the hellfire, and they will say out of severe regret and remorse: “If only we obeyed Allah by doing what He commanded us to and refrained from the things He prohibited us from, and obeyed the Messenger in what he brought from his Lord!”

These people will come up with a false, weak excuse when they will say: “O our Lord! Indeed, we obeyed our leaders and the elders of our tribes and they led us astray from the straight path.”

“Our Lord! Give these leaders and elders who led us astray from the straight path double the punishment you have given us because of their leading us astray, and exile them from your mercy completely.”

O those who have faith in Allah and do whatever Allah has legislated for them! Do not cause your Messenger inconvenience like those who caused Moses inconvenience by saying that his testicles were inflamed, and so Allah cleared him of their allegations, and his innocence from their accusations of him became clear to them. Moses is highly ranked according to Allah; his supplications were not rejected, nor were his efforts in vain.

O those who have faith in Allah and do whatever Allah has legislated for them! Be mindful of Allah by fulfilling His commands and refrain from that which He has prohibited, and speak correctly and truthfully.

Indeed, if you are mindful of Allah and speak correctly, Allah will rectify your deeds for you, accept them from you, wipe away your sins from you and not take you to account over them. Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has succeeded so greatly no other success can match it: it is the success of acquiring the pleasure of Allah and entering Paradise.

Indeed, I presented to the heavens, the earth and to the mountains the obligation to adhere to religion and guarding of wealth and secrets. They all refuse to bear the obligation, fearing the outcome of doing so, but the human accepted to carry it. Indeed, the human is oppressive to himself and ignorant of the outcome of carrying such a burden.

The human carried it as per the decree of Allah, so that Allah could then punish the male and female hypocrites and idolaters for their hypocrisy and ascribing partners with Allah, and so that He could forgive the believing men and women who carried the burden of obligation well. And Allah Forgiving of the sins of His servants who repent and is merciful to them.

All praise belongs to Allah to whom belongs everything that is in the heavens and everything that is on Earth, by way of being His creation, in His ownership and under His control. And for Him is all praise in the Hereafter; He is the Wise in His creation and management, and the Knower of the conditions of His servants. Nothing is hidden from Him.

He knows everything that enters the earth, i.e. water, seeds and minerals; He knows whatever comes out of it i.e. plants etc.; He knows whatever descends from the heavens i.e. rain, angels and sustenance, and He knows whatever ascends to the heavens i.e. angels, the deeds of His servants and their souls. He is merciful to His believing servants and forgiving of the sins of whoever repents to Him.

Those who disbelieved in Allah said, “The hour will never come to us!” O Messenger! Say to them: “No, by Allah, the very hour that you reject will definitely come to you, but its time is only known to Allah. He (may He be glorified) is the knower of whatever is hidden such as the hour, even the equivalent of the smallest ant is not hidden from His knowledge, nor anything smaller than that in the heavens or on Earth or larger, except that it is recorded in a clear book, which is the Preserved Tablet in which everything that is to happen until the Day of Judgement is recorded.”

Allah has recorded everything He has in the Preserved Tablet so that He may requite those who have faith in Him and do good deeds. They will receive forgiveness from Allah for their sins; He will not take them to account for them, and they will receive generous sustenance on the Day of Judgement, which is His Paradise.

As for those who strove to falsify all the verses Allah revealed, and said regarding them, “It is sorcery!” and said regarding My Messenger, “He is a fortune-teller, a sorcerer, and a poet”, they will receive the worst and severest punishment on the Day of Judgement.

Some scholars of the people of the book i.e. Abdullah bin Salām testify that the revelation Allah revealed to you is the truth without doubt, and it guides towards the path of the Almighty whom no one can beat and who is praiseworthy in the world and the Hereafter.

Those who disbelieved in Allah say to one another in astonishment and mocking whatever the Messenger (peace be upon him) brought, “Shall we lead you to a man who will tell you that when you die and decompose into pieces, you will be resurrected alive again?!”

And they said, “Has this man fabricated and attributed a lie to Allah, claiming that we shall be resurrected after we die, or is he insane, talking of nonsense?” It is not as these people say, rather, the reality is that those who do not believe in the Hereafter will suffer a severe punishment on the Day of Judgement, and are very far astray in the world.

Do these rejectors of resurrection not see the earth that is in front of them and the sky that is above them? If I wished the earth beneath their feet to swallow them up, I would have caused it to happen; and if I wished to send down portions/pieces of the punishment from the heavens, I would have done so. Indeed, there is a clear sign in that for every repentant servant through which he witnesses the power of Allah. The One capable of doing that, is also capable of resurrecting you after your death and the decomposition of your bodies.

And verily I granted David (peace be upon him) messengership and a kingdom, and I said to the mountains, ”O Mountains! Echo My glorification together with David.” and I said the same to the birds. I also made iron soft for him so that he could make whatever tools he wanted with it.

O David! Make an expansive armour which will protect your soldiers from the attacks of their enemies, and make the rivets in proportion to the rings so that they are not too fine such that do not lodge in them, nor too thick such that they do not fit in them either. And do good deeds; I am watching over your actions, none of your actions are hidden from Me and I shall requite you for them.

And I made the wind serviceable to Solomon, son of David. It would blow the distance of a month in a morning, and the same distance in an evening. I also made springs of copper flow for him so that he could make whatever he wanted from it, together with employing the Jinn who would work in front of him by the command of his Lord. Whichever of the Jinn would deviate from whatever I commanded it to do, I would make it taste the punishment of a flaring fire.

These Jinn constructed for him whatever he wanted from places of worship, palaces, lofty structures. And I said to them: O the family of David! Be grateful for the blessings I have bestowed upon you, because very few of My servants are grateful to Me for the blessings I grant them.

When we decreed for Solomon to die, the Jinn did not realise he had passed away until the woodworms had eroded away the staff he was leaning on. When he fell it became clear to the Jinn that they do not know the unseen/ghayb, as if they did, they would have not remained subdued, continuing to carry out the difficult tasks imposed upon them.

There was for the tribe of Sheba, in the dwelling they lived in, a clear sign of Allah’s power and His favour on them, and the clear sign was two gardens: one on the right and the second on the left. And I said to them: “Eat of the provision of your Lord and thank Him for His favours. This is a pleasant city and you Lord, Allah is a forgiving Lord, who absolves the sins of those who repent to Him.”

But they turned away from thanking Allah and believing in His messengers, so I punished them by turning their favours into difficulties, then I sent upon them a strong flood which destroyed their damn and flooded their fields. And I replaced their two pleasant gardens with two gardens which gave bitter fruit, and which contained fruitless tamarisk trees and a small amount of the lote tree (sidr).

That change which occurred to the favours they were on was because of their disbelief and turning away from being thankful for the favours. And I do not punish so severely except one who rejects Allah’s favours.

And I made between the people of Sheba in Yemen and between the cities of the blessed land of Levant, many neighbouring cities, making easier for them the distance of travelling, so they may pass through these cities and towns, stopping when needed, without any difficulty until they reach the land of Levant. And we announced: “Travel through them day and night in complete security from any enemy, hunger or thirst”.

But they arrogantly rejected Allah's favour of facilitating their journey and they said: “Our Lord, make our journeys longer by removing those cities in between so that we can have a taste of the exhaustion of travelling, and we can make clear the excellence of our riding mounts”. And they wronged themselves by arrogantly rejecting Allah’s favour, turning away from thanking Him, so I made them into tales which those after them talk of and I totally separated between them in the lands so they cannot reach each other. In that which has been mentioned, namely favouring the people of Sheba and taking retribution from them, is a lesson for every person who is patient in is obediance to Allah, and bearing what he has been afflicted with, who is thankful for Allah’s favours on him.

And Iblis confirmed through them what he assumed i.e., that he is able to lead them astray and misguide them from the truth, so they followed him in disbelief and misguidance except a group of the believers, as they ruined his hope by not following him.

And Iblis has no power over them through which he can force them to be misguided, but he only beautifies for them to entice them to lead them astray. We have given him permission to entice so we can make it clear the one who has faith in the Hereafter from the one who is in doubt about the Hereafter. And your Lord, O Messenger, is a Guardian over everything. He guards the actions of His servants and will reward them for them.

Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: “Call upon those whom you claimed were your gods besides Allah, so that they can bring you benefit or remove harm from you. They do not have ownership of anything, even as small as a dust particle, nor are they partners with Allah in ownership, nor does Allah have any helpers from amongst them. He is Self Sufficient, in no need of anyone else.

And intercession in His presence does not benefit except for one whom Allah gives permission, and Allah does not give permission to intercede except for whom He is pleased, due to His greatness. And part of His greatness is that when He speaks in the heavens, the angels flap their wings in submission to what He says, until when the state of fear dissappears from their hearts some of them say to others: “What did your Lord just say?” The angels reply He said the truth, and He is High in His essence, and subduing, the Great.

Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: “Who provides you from the skies by bringing out the crops, plants and fruits?” Say: “It is Allah who provides you. O idolaters! only one of us can be rightly guided with the other on clear misguidance. There can be no doubt that the believers are on clear guidance and the idolaters are misguided.”

O Messenger! Say to them: “You will not be asked on the day of judgment about the sins we committed nor will we be asked about what you used to do”.

Say to them: “Allah will gather us and you on the day of judgment, then He will judge between us and you with justice, then He will manifest the truthful from the liar, and He is the Judge who adjudicates with justice, the all Knowing of how to pass judgment.

O Messenger! Say to them: “Show me those whom you have made for Allah as partners which you associate with Him in worship. No indeed, the matter is not as you have thought, i.e, that He has partners, but rather He is Allah, the Mighty whom nobody can overpower, Wise in his creation, decree, and control.”.

And I did not send you, O Messenger, except for the sake of all of mankind, to give good news to the pious that for them is Paradise, and to warn the disbelievers and transgressors of the fire, but most people do not know that. Had they known, they would not have denied you.

And the idolaters say, whilst hastily seeking the punishment you are warning them of: “If you are truthful tell us When is this promise of punishment going to occur?”

O Messenger! Say to these people who are hastily seeking the punishment: “For you is a fixed appointed time, when the time comes upon you it will not be delayed or preceded for the smallest moment of time. And this day is the day of judgment”.

Those who disbelieved in Allah said: “We will never believe in the Qur’ān which Muhammad claim is revealed to him nor will we ever believe in the previous divine books”. And if you were to see, O Messenger, when the wrongdoers are detained before their Lord on the day of judgment for the reckoning. They will dispute with one another, each one placing the responsibility and blame on the other. The subjects/citizens who were subdued will say to their leaders who oppressed them in this life: “If you had not led us astray, we would have been believers in Allah and His messengers”.

The leaders who were arrogant to the truth will say to the followers they oppressed: “Did we stop you from the guidance which Muhammad brought? No, but rather you were the wrongdoers and the people who were corrupt spreading immorality.”

The followers who were oppressed by their leaders will say to their leaders who were arrogant to the truth: “But your scheming about us night and day stopped us from guidance, when you would order us to disbelieve in Allah and to worship creations besides Him”. And they will hide the regret over the disbelief they were on in this world when they see the punishment, and they will know they are going to be punished. And I will put chains on the necks of the disbelievers. They will not be given this reward except for what they used to do in the world, namely worshipping others besides Allah and committing sins.

I have not sent a messenger in any city to warn of Allah’s punishment except that the affluent people in it amongst those of power, fame and wealth said: “We are of what you have been sent with, O messengers, disbelievers”.

And these people of fame said braggingly and boastfully: “We are more in wealth and more in children. And your claim that we will be punished is a lie, as we will not be punished in this world nor in the Hereafter”.

O Messenger, say to these who have been deceived by the favours they have been given: “My Lord expands provision for whom He wants, to test whether he is grateful or ungrateful, and He makes it tight for whom He wants, to test whether he is patient or becomes upset. But most people do not know that Allah is Wise. He does not decree a matter except due to complete wisdom which is known to those who know and which the ignorant are unaware of”.

And your wealth and your children which you boast over are not what leads you to Allah’s pleasure, but the one who believes in Allah and does good actions has acquired has acquired a multiplied reward. His wealth draws him closer to Allah by him spending it in Allah's way, and his children also are a means for raising his rank, by their prayers for him. So those believers who do good deeds - for them is a multiple reward for the good they did and they will be in the higher ranks of Paradise, safe from whatever they fear; punishment, death and ending of joy.

And the disbelievers who make it their utmost effort to turn people away from our verses and strive hard to achieve these goals of theirs are losers in this world and will be punished in the Hereafter.

O Messenger, say: “My Lord expands provision for whom He wants from His creation and makes it tight for whom He wants. And whatever you spend in Allah’s way, Allah will replace it for you in this world by giving you what is better than it and by giving you great reward in the Hereafter. And Allah is the best of providers, so whoever seeks provision should resort to Him”.

O Messenger, remember the day Allah will gather them all, then Allah will say to the angels, to scold the idolaters and rebuke them: “Are these the ones who used to worship you in the worldly life besides Allah?”

The angels will say: “You are pure and exalted. You are our guardian, not them, so there is no friendship between us and them, but rather these idolaters used to worship the satans. They used to appear to them as angels, so they would worship them besides Allah, most of them were believers in them”.

On the day of gathering and reckoning, the worshipped will not be able to benefit those who worshipped them besides Allah in the world nor will they be able to harm them. And I will say to those who wronged themselves through disbelief and sins: “Taste the punishment of the fire which you used to deny in the world”.

And when you read to these denying idolaters our clear verses revealed to our Messenger and in which there is no uncertainty they say: “"This is a mere human being who has brought this message to divert us away from the path of our forefathers”. And they said: “The Qur’ān is nothing but a fabricated lie against Allah”. And those who disbelieved in Allah said regarding the Qur’ān when it came to them from Allah: “This is nothing but clear magic to separate between husband and wife, and son and father”.

And I have not give them books which they are reading, which may be a reason for them to pass judgement on the Qur’ān being a lie which Muhammad fabricated, nor did I send towards them, before sending you O Messenger, a messenger who would warn them of Allah’s punishment.

And the previous nations such as Aad, Thamud and the people of Lot denied. And the idolaters from your people have not reached even a tenth of the strength, might and numbers the previous nations reached. Every one of them denied their Messenger, so the wealth, strength and numbers they were given did not benefit, and so My punishment befell them. So see the outcome of My reproachment and that of My punishment.

Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: “I only direct you to and advise you of one characteristic, which is that you stand free from desires, for Allah’s sake, in twos and individually, then think about the life of your companion and what you know of his intelligence, truthfulness and trustworthiness”, so that it becomes clear to you that he (peace be upon him) is not insane. He is not but a warner to you before a severe punishment, if you do not repent to Allah from associating partners with Him.

O Messenger! Say to these idolaters who reject: “Whatever reward or payment I ask you for the guidance and good I have brought you, then it is - assuming it exists - for you. My reward is only with Allah alone, and He is Witness to everything. He witnesses that I have conveyed to you, and witnesses your actions and will then give you their full reward”.

O Messenger, say: “My Lord will empower the truth over falsehood, thus invalidating it, and He is Knower of the Ghaib. Nothing in the heavens or the earth is hidden from Him, and the actions of His servants are not hidden from Him”.

O Messenger! Say to these idolaters who reject: “The truth which is Islam has come, and falsehood which has no effect or supremacy has gone, and it will not return to its dominance”.

O Messenger! Say to these idolaters who reject: “If I go astray from the truth in what I convey to you, the harm of my misguidance is confined to me. None of it will affect you. And if I am guided to Him, it is due to what my Lord reveals to me. He is Hearing of the sayings of His servants and Near, it not being difficult for Him to hear what I say”.

And if you were to see, O Messenger, when these deniers will be terrified when they see the punishment on the day of judgment. So there will be no place for them to run to from it, nor any refuge for them to resort to, and they will be seized from a nearby place which is easy to reach from the very beginning. If you were to see that, you would see a strange matter.

And they will say when they see their fate: “We have brought faith in the day of judgment”, but how will they pursue and acquire faith when the place for accepting faith has gone far from them, by their leaving the worldly abode, the abode of action and no reward, to the abode of the Hereafter, the abode of reward and no action?

And how will faith be attained for them and accepted from them, when they had disbelieved in it in the worldly life and would suspiciously accuse from a direction far from the truth, thus saying about the Messenger (peace be upon him): magician, soothsayer and poet?

And these deniers were prevented from that which they desire, from the pleasure of this life, as well as repentance from disbelief, salvation from the fire and returning to the worldly life, just as was done with their likes from the nations before them who denied. They were in doubt about what the messengers brought, i.e., believing the Oneness of Allah and faith in the resurrection.

All praise is for Allah, Creator of the heavens and the earth without a precedent, and who made from the angels messengers who execute His regulatory commands. Some of them convey the revelation to the Prophets and strengthen them to perform what they were entrusted with. Some of them have two, three or four wings through which they fly to carry out what they have been ordered. Allah increases His creation in what He wishes of limbs, beauty or voice. Allah is Powerful over everything. Nothing is outside His ability.

The keys to everything are in Allah's hands. So whatever provision, guidance or good fortune He opens up for people, nobody has the ability to stop it. And whatever He stops of this, there is nobody who is able to send it after He has stopped it. And He is the Mighty whom nobody can overpower, Wise in His creating, decreeing and planning.

O people, remember Allah’s favour on you through your hearts and tongues, and through your limbs by action. Do you have any creator besides Allah who provides you from the sky with the water He sends to you and who provides you from the earth with the fruits and crops He grows? There is no true god besides Him. So how after this do you turn away from this truth and fabricate lies against Allah, and claim that Allah has partners when He is the one who created all of you and provides for all of you?

And if your people deny you, O Messenger, be patient, because you are not the first Messenger whose people denied him, as nations before you had denied their prophets, such as Aad, Thamud and the people of Lot. And to Allah alone all matters are returned, so He will destroy the deniers and help His messengers and the believers.

O people, the resurrection and recompense on the day of judgment which Allah has promised you are true without a doubt, so the pleasures of the worldly life and its desires should not deceive you from preparing for this day through good actions, nor should the Satan deceive you by his adornment of falsehood and by inciting you to incline towards the worldly life.

O people, the satan is for you an enemy whose enmity is everlasting, so take him as an enemy by committing to fighting him. The satan only calls his followers towards disbelief in Allah so that their outcome is to enter the burning fire on the day of judgment.

Those who disbelieved in Allah by following the satan will have a severe punishment. And those who believe in Allah and do good actions will have forgiveness from Allah for their sins and will have a great reward from Him which is Paradise.

The one for whom the satan has beautified his bad actions and so he thinks them to be good is not like the one for whom Allah has beautified the truth and so he believes it to be the truth, because Allah leads astray whom He wants and guides whom He wants, without anyone to compel Him. So do not destroy yourself, O Messenger, out of grief over the misguidance of the misguided. Allah is Knowing of what they do. Nothing of their actions is hidden from Him.

Allah is the one who sent the winds, then these winds move clouds, then I lead these clouds to a land in which there are no plants, then I give life through its water, causing plants to grow, after being dead and dry. So just as I gave life to this land after its death, through the plants I placed in it, the resurrection of the dead will happen on the day of judgment.

Whoever wants honour in this world or in the Hereafter should only seek it from Allah, because for Allah alone is honour in both of them. His pleasant rememberance is elevated to Him, and the good deeds of His servants are raised to Him. And those who make evil schemes, such as trying to kill the Messenger (peace be upon him), will have a severe punishment. And the scheming of these disbelievers will perish and no objective of theirs will be realised.

Allah is the one who created your father Adam from soil, then He created you from a sperm-drop, then He made you men and women who marry one another. And no female conceives a foetus nor does she give birth except with His knowledge. Nothing of that is hidden from Him. And the lifespan of any of His creation is not increased nor is it decreased except that it is written in the Preserved Tablet. That which has been mentioned, namely creating you from soil, creating you in stages and writing your lifespans in the Preserved Tablet, is easy for Allah.

And the two seas are not alike: One of them is extremely sweet and easy to drink due to its sweetness, and the other is salty and bitter which is not drinkable due to its extreme saltiness. And from each of the abovementioned seas you eat fresh meat, which is fish, and you extract from them rubies and coral which you wear as adornment. And you see the ships, O onlooker, splitting the sea with its sailing, coming and going, so you can seek the grace of Allah through trade, and so that you thank Allah for His many favours He has done for you.

Allah enters the night into the day so it becomes longer and He enters the day into night so it becomes longer. And He made the sun and the moon subservient, each one of them travels in its appointed orbit until a fixed time which only Allah knows, which is the day of judgment. He who fixes all of that and carries it out is Allah your Lord. To Him alone belongs the kingdom. And the idols you worship besides Him do not even possess the thin membrane over the datestone, so how do you worship them besides Me?

If you call your gods, they cannot hear your call, because they are inanimate objects which have no life in them nor can they hear. And if they could hear your calling them, for argument’s sake, they could not respond to you. And on the day of judgment they will disassociate themselves from your idolatry and your worshipping them, so there is nobody who can inform you, O Messenger, more truthfully than Allah.

O people, you are the ones in need of Allah in all your affairs and in all your conditions. And Allah is the Self-sufficient who does not need you for anything, the Praiseworthy in this world and the Hereafter for what He decrees for His servants.

If He wants to remove you by destroying you, He can remove you and bring a new creation in your place who will worship Him and not associate any partner with Him.

And removing you by destroying you and bringing a new creation in your place is not impossible for Allah.

And no soul will carry the sin of another, but rather every sinning soul will carry its own sin. And if a soul who has been burdened with carrying its sin, calls someone to carry some of its sins, nothing of its sins will be carried, even if the one who is being asked is a close relative. O Messenger, you can only warn of Allah’s punishment those who fear their Lord in private and complete the prayer in the most perfect way, for they are the ones who will take heed from your warning. whoever is purified from his sins, the greatest of them being polythiesm, then his purification will only benefit himself when he returns to his Lord, And Allah is not in any need for His slaves obedience. To Allah is the return on the day of judgment for the reckoning and recompense.

The disbeliever and believer are not the same in status, just as the blind and seeing are not the same.

And disbelief and faith are not the same, just as darkness and light are not the same.

And Paradise and the fire of hell are not the same in their effects, just as shade and hot winds are not the same.

And the believers and disbelievers are not the same, just as the living and the dead are not the same. Allah makes those whom He wants to guide hear. And you, O Messenger, cannot make the disbelievers who are like the dead in the graves hear.

You are not except a warner to them of Allah’s punishment.

O Messenger, I have sent you with the truth in which there is no doubt, to give good news to the believers of the generous reward He has prepared for them and to warn the disbelievers of the painful punishment He has prepared for them. And there is no nation from the previous nations except that there passed in them a messenger from Allah to warn them of His punishment.

And if your people deny you, O Messenger, be patient, because you are not the first Messenger whose people denied him, as the nations before them denied their messengers, such as Aad, Thamud and the people of Lot. Their messengers came to them with clear evidences and overwhelming miracles which prove their truthfulness, and their messengers came to them with scrolls and with the Scripture which is enlightening for one who ponders over it and contemplates it.

But despite that, they disbelieved in Allah and His messengers and they did not accept what they brought from Him, so I destroyed those who disbelieved. So think, O Messenger, how terrible my punishment was when I destroyed them.

O Messenger, have you not seen that I sent rainwater from the sky, then I extracted fruits of different colours from that water, amongst them red, green, yellow and others, after I had watered their trees from it? And from the mountains are white tracts, red tracts and extremely black tracts.

And amongst men, animals and cattle (camels, cows and sheep) are different colours like that which was mentioned. Only those who exalt Allah and have true fear of Him, are the knowledgable ones, because they recognise His attributes, His sacred law and the proof of His power. Allah is Mighty, no one can overpower Him. He forgives of the sins of His servants who repent.

Those who read the Book of Allah which I revealed to My Messenger and practice what it contains, and complete the prayer in the best way, and who spend from what I have provided them, through Zakat and other ways, secretly and openly, seek through those actions a trade with Allah which is never profitless.

So that Allah can give them the full reward of their actions and increase them from His grace, as this is His domain. He is Forgiving of the sins of those who are described with these qualities and Appreciating of their good actions.

The scripture I have revealed to you, O Messenger, is the truth in which there is not doubt, it has been revealed by Allah affirming the precious scriptures. Allah is well informed about His servants and He sees everything. He therefore reveals to the Messenger of every nation what they need in their time.

Then I gave the Qur’ān to the nation of Muhammad peace be with him whom I had chosen over other communities. Some of them wronged their own souls by doing prohibited acts and leaving out their obligations. Some were moderate by doing their obligations and leaving out prohibited acts, together with leaving out some recommended acts and doing some disliked acts. Some, by Allah’s leave, were foremost in good deeds, by doing their obligations and recommended acts and leaving out prohibited and disliked acts. The abovementioned - selection of this nation and its being given the Qur’ān - is the greatest favour to which no favour can come close.

Gardens of residence, which will be entered by these chosen ones. In it they will wear bracelets of gold and pearls and their garments therein will be silk.

They will say after they enter Paradise: Praise be to Allah, Who has removed from us all grief on account of the fear that we had of entering the fire. Our Lord is truly forgiving of the sins of those servants of His who repent, and He is appreciative for their following Him.

The One who has settled us in the Everlasting Home - out of His bounty, not by our might or strength, where no toil or fatigue will touch us.

For those who deny Allah will be the fire of Hell, in which they will remain forever. Neither will the decision of death be passed for them, so they can die and be relieved from the punishment, nor will the punishment of Hell be alleviated for them in any way. Similar to this recompense, I will reward every person who denies the favours of His Lord on the Day of Judgement.

They will cry out therein as loud as they can, seeking help by saying: Our Lord! Let us out from the fire, and we will do righteous deeds, different to what we did before so that we can attain Your pleasure and be saved from Your punishment. Allah will respond to them thus: Did I not let you live a life long enough so that anyone who wanted to take heed could do so and do righteous deeds; and the Messenger came to you to warn you of Allah’s punishment? Thus you have no argument nor any excuse after all of this, so taste the punishment of the fire. Those who wrong themselves by disbelief and sins will have no helper to rescue them from Allah’s punishment or lighten it for them.

Allah knows all that is hidden in the heavens and earth. Nothing of that misses Him. He knows whatever His servants conceal in their chests, whether good or bad.

It is He who made some of you, O people, succeed others on earth. Those who deny Allah and what the messengers brought, then the sin and retribution of their disbelief will be borne by them. Their disbelief does not harm their Lord. The disbelief of the disbelievers adds only to their Lord’s displeasure and hatred for them. The disbelief of the disbelievers adds only to their loss, as they will lose what Allah would have prepared for them in Paradise had they believed.

Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: Tell me about those partners of yours that you worship instead of Allah, what have they created on earth. Did they create its mountains? Did they create its rivers? Did they create its animals? Or do they have any share with Allah in the creation of the heavens? Or have I given them a book in which there is proof of the validity of their worshipping their idols? Nothing of that is true. In fact, those who wrong themselves by disbelief and sins promise one another nothing but delusion.

Allah, (may He be glorified), holds the heavens and the earth preventing them from vanishing and were they to vanish, hypothetically, there is none to hold them back from vanishing after Him, (may He be glorified). He is Forbearing, and does not rush to punish, Forgiving of the sins of those of His servants who repent.

These denying disbelievers swore a solemn and affirmed oath that if a messenger from Allah came to them to warn them of His punishment, they would be more guided and follow the truth more than the Jews, Christians and others. Yet when Muhammad (peace be upon him) came to them after being sent by His Lord, and he warned them of Allah’s punishment, his coming only increased them in aversion to the truth and adherence to falsehood. They did not fulfil the solemn oaths that they took that they will be more guided than those who preceded them.

The oaths that they took in Allah’s name was not done in good faith and with a sound objective. It was only to be arrogant on earth and to deceive people. An evil plot only rebounds on those who plotted it. So are these arrogant plotters waiting for anything but Allah’s established practice, which is their destruction as He had destroyed those predecessors of theirs who were similar to them. You will not find any change to Allah’s practice in destroying those who are arrogant, such that the destruction does not come on them, nor any diversion such that it falls on others besides them, because it is an established divine practice.

Have these deniers not travelled on earth and reflected over how those nations before them who had denied met their end? Was their end not an evil one as Allah destroyed them, although they were superior to these people in strength? Allah is not to be outdone by anything in the heavens or on earth. He is the One who knows about the actions of these deniers - nothing of their actions is hidden from nor escapes Him. He has power to destroy them whenever He wills.

If Allah were to rush to punish people for the wrong they have done and the sins they perpetrated, He would have destroyed all the people on earth at once, together with the animals and wealth they own. But, He, (may He be glorified), gives them respite until a fixed time, which is the day of resurrection. When the day of resurrection comes, Allah is fully aware of what His servants used to do, and nothing remains hidden from Him. He will then recompense them for their actions, whether good or bad.

Ya Sin. The discussion on similar letters has already passed at the beginning of Sūrah Al-Baqarah.

Allah takes an oath by the Qur’ān, whose verses have been perfectly constructed, and to which no falsehood comes neither from in front of nor behind it.

You, O Messenger, are on the messengers whom Allah sent to His servants, to instruct them to declare His Oneness and to worship Him alone.

On a straight approach and upright law. This straight approach and upright law is revealed from your Lord, the Mighty, whom no one can challenge, and the Merciful to His servants who have faith.

On a straight approach and upright law. This straight approach and upright law is revealed from your Lord, the Mighty, whom no one can challenge, and the Merciful to His servants who have faith.

I revealed it to you to warn and exhort a nation, the Arabs to whom no Messenger has come to warn them and as a result they are heedless of faith and monotheism. Likewise is the case of every nation which has been away from the exhortation, they need messengers, scholars and preachers to remind them.

The punishment from Allah has become binding on most of these people, after the truth from Allah on the tongue of His Messenger reached them but they did not believe in it and remained on their disbelief. They do not have faith in Allah and nor His Messenger and they do not act on the truth that came to them.

These people do not have faith nor are they guided. Their example in this is like those in whose necks iron collars that extend all the way up and whose hands are tied to their necks under their chins. As a result, they are forced to lift their heads to the sky and they are unable to lower them. These people are shackled from having faith in Allah and therefore they do not submit to it and they do not lower their heads on account of it.

I placed before them a barrier to the truth and behind them another barrier. I covered their eyes from the truth so they cannot see in a manner that is of benefit to them. This happened to them after their stubborness and persistence in disbelief became apparent.

It is all the same to these disbelievers who oppose the truth, whether you, O Muhammad, warn them or you do not warn them. They will not accept what you have brought from Allah.

The person who really benefits from your warning is the one who accepts this Qur’ān and follows what is contained in it, and who fears His Lord in solitude where nobody else sees him. So tell those who have these attributes the pleasing news of Allah’s wiping out their sins and HForgiving them and of a great reward awaiting them in the Hereafter, which is entry into Paradise.

I shall bring the dead back to life by resurrecting them to give account on the day of resurrection. we record the good and the bad deeds that they send forth in this life to be rewarded for in the next, and we also record the good and bad aftereffects from their actions, such as the good that comes out of charity after they pass away and the evils that result of their misdeeds. We have counted everything, and recorded it in a clear book, which is the preserved tablet.

Give, O Messenger, these stubborn deniers an example that will be a lesson for them, which is the story of the people of the town when their messengers came to them.

When I sent to them at first two messengers to call them to Allah’s Oneness and His worship. But they rejected these two messengers. Then we sent as reinforcement for these two a third Messenger with them. The three messengers said to the people of the town: We - all three of us - have been sent to you, to call you to Allah’s Oneness and to follow His law.

The people of the town said to those who were sent: You are only men like us. You do not have any special status over us. The Merciful has not sent down any revelation to you. You are only lying about Allah in this claim of yours.

The three messengers said in response to the denial by the people of the town: Our Lord knows that we have been sent by Him to you, O people of the town! That is enough evidence for us.

Our duty is only to clearly convey what we have been instructed to convey to you. We have no control over your guidance.

The people of the town said to the messengers: We see an evil omen in you. If you do not stop calling us to monotheism, we will punish you by stoning to death and you will receive a painful punishment from us.

The messengers said in response to them: Your evil omen is within yourselves on account of your denial of Allah and your leaving out following His messengers. Do you see an evil omen if we reminded you of Allah! In fact, you are a people who have gone too far in the perpetration of disbelief and sins.

From a far part of the town a man came running fearing his people’s denial of the messengers and their threatening to kill or harm them. He said: O my people! Follow what these messengers have brought.

O people! Follow those who do not ask you for any reward for conveying what they brought and they are rightly guided in the revelation of Allah that they convey to you. A person like this deserves to be followed.

This well-wishing man said: What prevents me from worshipping Allah Who created me? What prevents you from worshipping your Lord Who created you, and to Him alone you will return when you are resurrected for the recompense?

Shall I take other deities to be wrongly worshipped instead of Allah Who created me? If the Merciful intends harm for me, the intercession of these other deities will not avail me at all, nor will they be able to save me from the harm that Allah intended for me if I die as a disbeliever.

If I have to take them as deities besides Allah I would be in clear error as I would have worshipped a being that is not deserving of worship and I would have omitted worshipping the Being Who is deserving thereof.

O my people, I have accepted both my and your Lord, so listen to me. I do not care about the threats of murder that you make. But his people insisted on killing him and Allah entered him into Paradise.

It was said in honour of this man after his people killed him: Enter Paradise after you are killed as a martyr. When he entered it and saw the delight therein, he said longingly: If only my people who denied and killed me knew about the forgiveness of sins that I obtained and what my Lord has honoured me with, they would have believed like how I believed and they would have attained a reward similar to mine.

It was said in honour of this man after his people killed him: Enter Paradise after you are killed as a martyr. When he entered it and saw the delight therein, he said longingly: If only my people who denied and killed me knew about the forgiveness of sins that I obtained and what my Lord has honoured me with, they would have believed like how I believed and they would have attained a reward similar to mine.

In order to destroy his people who had denied and killed him, I did not need an army of angels to be sent down from the sky. Their matter was much easier than that for Me. I had decreed that their destruction will be by a blast from the sky and not by sending down the angels of punishment.

Thus the incident of the destruction of his people was simply one blast which we sent upon them and they fell down with nothing remaining. Their example is like that of a fire that was burning and then was extinguished, leaving behind no trace.

Alas for those servants who denied, and how regretful will their situation be on the day of resurrection when they will see the punishment. That is because in the world, whenever any Messenger from Allah came to them, they used to mock at and ridicule him. Their outcome will therefore be regret on the day of resurrection for the neglect of their duty to Allah.

Did these people who deny and ridicule the messengers not see a lesson in those nations who preceded them? They passed away and did not return to the world a second time. Rather they met the actions they had sent ahead and Allah will recompense them for that.

All nations, without exception, will be brought before Me on the Day of Resurrection after they are resurrected for Me to give them the recompense for their actions.

A sign for those who deny the resurrection that the resurrection is true is this dry and barren land, on which I sent down rain from the sky and I grew therein various types of plants and produced various kinds of grains for people to eat. The One Who gave life to this earth by sending down the rain and bringing out the plants, is able to give life to and resurrect the dead.

We have placed in this earth, on which I sent down rain, gardens of date palms and grapes; and I caused springs of water to gush forth to irrigate them.

So that people can eat of the fruits of those gardens that Allah has blessed them with and for which they did not make any effort. Do they not thank Allah, Who gave them all of that out of His bounty and mercy for them, by worshipping Him alone and having faith in His messengers?!

Glory be to Allah Who created the various types of plants and trees, and of the souls of people, as He created males and females, and other creations of Allah that people do not know of on land, sea and other places.

An indication for people of Allah’s Oneness is that I take away the daylight as the day draws to an end, bringing the night, as the day withdraws from it, until the people are in complete darkness.

A sign for them of Allah’s Oneness is this sun that runs to a point that Allah knows and does not go beyond that. That determination is the determination of the Mighty, who is not challenged by anyone, the Knower from Whom nothing of His creation is hidden.

A sign for them indicating His Oneness, (may He be glorified), is this moon for which I have determined phases each night. It begins small then becomes big and then small again until it becomes similar to a twisted, old date stalk, in it appearing as thin, curved, yellow and old.

These signs; the sun moon, night and day, each are predetermined by Allah's divine arrangement/determination and do not surpass what has been determined for them. The sun cannot catch up with the moon to change its course or take away its light, and nor can the night outpace the day and enter upon it before its time ends. All these creations, subservient or not, such as stars and galaxies, have their own courses as per Allah’s determination and protection.

Another sign for them of Allah’s Oneness and of His favour to His servants is that I carried those who were saved from the flood from the progeny of Adam in the time of Noah in the ship that was filled with Allah’s creations. Allah carried therein a pair of every species.

A sign for them of Allah’s Oneness and His favour to His servants is that I created for them, like the ship of Noah, conveyances and some types of animals on which they can travel long distances.

If I wished to drown them I would have done so. There would be no one to help them if I wished to drown them and there would be no one to rescue them if they drowned by My command and decree.

Except if I have mercy on them by rescuing them from drowning and restoring them to enjoy until a specified time that they will not go beyond, so that they take a lesson and have faith.

When these idolaters who turn away from faith are told: Beware of what you are going towards in the Hereafter and its difficulties, and beware of the world behind you, in the hope that Allah will favour you with His mercy, they do not comply with that but they turn away from it without any care.

Whenever Allah’s signs indicating to His Oneness and His being deserving of being worshipped alone came to these idolaters, they used to turn away from it without taking heed.

When these stubborn ones are told: Assist the poor and the needy with the wealth that Allah has provided you with, they disapprovingly reply saying to those who have faith: Shall we feed those whom Allah could feed if He wanted to?! So we do not go against His will. You, O believers, are simply in clearly error and far off from the truth.

The disbelievers who deny the resurrection say in denial of it and regarding it as far-fetched: When is this resurrection if you, O believers, are true in your claim that it is to occur?

But all these deniers of resurrection who regard it as far-fetched are waiting for is the first blast when it is blown into the trumpet, which will suddenly overtake them while they are in their worldly concerns of buying, selling, irrigating and herding and other worldly concerns.

When this blast surprises them they will not be able to make a bequest for one another, and they will not be able to return to their homes and families. Instead, they will die whilst they are in these worldly concerns of theirs.

The trumpet will be blown a second time for the resurrection, and suddenly they will all come out of their graves rushing towards their Lord for the reckoning and recompense.

These disbelievers who deny the resurrection will say in regret: What loss is ours! Who is it that has raised us from our grave? They will be given a response to their question: This is what Allah promised and will definitely occur. The messengers spoke the truth in the message of their Lord that they conveyed in this regard.

The matter of resurrection from the graves will only be an effect of a second blowing of the trumpet and all created things will be presented before us on the Day of Resurrection to give account.

Judgement will be passed with fairness on that day and you, O servants, will not be wronged in the least by an increase of your bad deeds or a reduction in your good deeds. You will simply be given the full recompense for what you used to do in the worldly life.

The people of Paradise on this day, which is the day of resurrection, will be preoccupied from thinking about others, because of the permanent bliss and supreme success they will see. They will be enjoying that happily.

They and their spouses will be comfortably sitting on couches under lush shades in Paradise.

In this Paradise they will have various types of wholesome fruits such as grapes, figs and pomegranates and they will have any type of delight or bliss that they ask for. Whatever they ask for they will get.

Over and above this bliss they will have peace that they will get, as a statement from a Lord Who is merciful to them. When He will greet them with peace they will attain peace and safety from all sides and they will obtain the greeting that no other greeting can surpass.

The idolaters will be told on the day of resurrection: Step aside from the believers. It is not appropriate for them to be with you because of the disparity in your recompense and theirs and in your attributes and theirs.

Did I not advise and instruct you on the tongues of My messengers and say to you: O children of Adam! Do not follow Satan by committing various types of disbelief and sins. Satan is a clear enemy to you. How can any sensible person follow an enemy of his who has made his enmity clear!

I instructed you, O children of Adam, to worship Me alone and not to associate anything as partners to me. Worshipping Me alone and following Me is a straight path that leads to My pleasure and entry into Paradise. But you did not comply with my advice and instruction in that regard.

Satan has misled many of you. Did you not have intellects which you could use, and with sound reasoning it would have lead you to obey your Lord and worship only Him (may He be glorified)? And your intellects should have been enough as a safeguard from you following Satan who is your clear enemy.

This is Hell, which you were warned against in the world for your disbelief. It was a matter of the Ghaib to you, but today here you can witness it with your own eyes.

Enter it today and suffer from its heat remaining therein forever on account of your rejection of Allah in your worldly life.

Today, I will seal their mouths and they will become mute not able to deny the disbelief and sins they committed. Their hands will speak to us about what they did in the world. Their feet will testify about the sins they perpetrated and walked towards.

If I had willed to take away their sight I would have done so and they will not be able to see, just as I sealed their mouths and they were not able to speak. They would have then rushed towards the path to cross over it into Paradise, but it is unlikely that they will cross over when their sight is gone.

If I had willed to alter their form and make them sit on their feet I would have altered their form and made them sit on their feet, and they will not be able to move from their place nor will they be able to move forward nor backward.

Whoever’s life I extend by lengthening his lifespan, I return him to the stage of weakness. Do they not think with their intellect and understand that this abode is not one of permanence and immortality and that the everlasting abode is that of the Hereafter!

I did not teach Muhammad (peace be upon him) poetry and nor is that appropriate for him, because it is not his nature and his disposition does not demand it so that you can claim that he is a poet. What I have taught him is only a admonition and a clear Qur’ān for those who ponder over it. It is not poetry.

To warn whose hearts are alive and they still have insight, for they are the ones who will benefit from it, And to establish the punishment against the disbelievers by making our signs manifest to them leaving them with no excuse.

Have they not seen that I have created livestock for them, and they control the affairs of that livestock by doing with it whatever they require?

I have made the livestock serviceable for them and made it submissive to them; they ride on the backs of some and transport their loads, and they also consume some of its meat.

They also have benefits in the livestock other than just riding and consuming its meat i.e. its wool, bristles, fur and value, which they use to make spreads and clothing. They can also drink of its milk. So, will they not show gratitude to Allah who has blessed them with these favours, and others?

The idolaters have taken other deities instead of Allah whom they worship, hoping that they will help them and save them from the punishment of Allah.

Those deities that they have taken are not able to help themselves, let alone help whoever worships them instead of Allah. The worshippers, together with their idols, will all be brought to the punishment but will all protest innocence from one another.

O Messenger! Do not let their statements grieve you: that you have not been sent as a messenger, or that you are a poet, and other slander they fire towards you. Indeed, I know what they say privately and publicly, nothing is hidden from Me and I will requite them for it.

Does the human who rejects the resurrection after death not ponder that I created him from semen, then he went through different phases until he was born and developed, turning into an argumentative and quarrelling creation? Does he not ponder over that to conclude that resurrection is possible?

This disbeliever is heedless and ignorant when he uses decayed bones to prove the impossibility of resurrection, saying, “Who will resurrect us?” whilst having forgotten his own creation from non-existence.

O Muhammad! Say to him in reply: “Whoever created these bones in the first place will bring them back to life, because the one who created them initially is not incapable of returning life to them; He (may He be glorified) is the knower of everything, nothing is hidden from Him.”

The being who has made for you, O people, lush green trees from which you are able to extract fire by igniting them. So the being who combined two opposites: the moisture of the green trees and the fire ignited from them, is also capable of reviving the dead.

Is not the one who created the heavens and the earth despite their grandeur, also capable of bringing the dead back to life, after causing their death? Of course! He is definitely capable of it; He is the creator who created all creations and He knows them all, so nothing is hidden from Him.

The authority and prestige of Allah is such that when He intends to create something, all He says to it is “Be!” and so it happens as He intends it. His intending to give life, cause death, and resurrect is also like that.

So Allah is glorified and free of the incapability the idolators ascribe to Him. He is the one to whom belongs total authority over everything and He does as He wishes with it; the keys to everything are in His Hands and you shall all return to Him in the Hereafter, where He will requite you over your deeds.

I take an oath on the angels who form compact rows in their worship.

And I also take an oath on the angels who drive the rainclouds and send them to wherever I command they send rain.

And I take an oath in the angels who recite the Qur’ān.

O people! Indeed, your true deity is one and has no partner: He is Allah.

The lord of the heavens; the lord of the earth; the lord of what is between the two, and the lord of the sun in all its rising and setting places throughout the year.

Indeed, I have beautified the nearest of the heavens to the earth with a beautiful decoration: the stars that are like sparkling jewels to the eyesight.

And I have protected the nearest sky from every rebellious satan, who abstains from my obedience, with the shooting stars.

These satans are not able to hear the angels in the heavens, when they discuss the law and decree of Allah they are inspired with. They are bombarded with shooting stars from all sides.

To exile them and drive them away from eavesdropping. And in the Hereafter they will suffer a painful, everlasting punishment which will not end.

Except for those satans who happen to quickly snatch something; a statement that the angels discuss among themselves which the people of earth have not yet received information of. A shooting star then goes after it and burns it. Sometimes, the satan is able to pass that information on to its companion before it is burnt by the shooting star, and it reaches the fortune-tellers, who tell a hundred lies with it.

O Muhammad! So ask the disbelievers who reject the resurrection: “Are you harder to create, and greater in form than other things that Allah has created from the heavens, the earth and the angels?” Indeed, Allah created them from sticky clay, so how could they deny the resurrection when they were created from such a weak substance?

O Muhammad! You are amazed at the power of Allah and His management of the affairs of His creation; you are astonished at the idolaters rejecting the resurrection. While these idolaters mock at what you say regarding the resurrection, due to their extreme denial of it.

If these idolaters were to be advised with any advice, they would not take heed from it and would not benefit, because of their hard-heartedness.

And when they witness a miracle from the miracles of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that prove his truthfulness, they exaggerate in showing astonishment and mocking it.

And they say, “This thing that Muhammad has brought is nothing but clear sorcery.”

“So when we die and become dust and decomposed, crumbling bones, will we be resurrected alive after that? That is indeed, far-fetched.”

“Will our ancient forefathers who dies before us also be resurrected?”

O Muhammad! Say to them in reply: “Yes, you shall be resurrected after you have turned into dust and decomposed bones, and your forefathers will also be resurrected; you will all be resurrected in the condition that you are in a despised and humiliating state.”

It will only be one blow of the trumpet (the second blowing), and suddenly they will all be looking at the horrors of the Day of Judgement, awaiting what Allah will do with them.

The idolaters who reject the resurrection say, “May we be doomed! This is the Day of Requital on which Allah will requite His servants for whatever deeds they sent forth in their worldly life!”

It will be said to them: “This is the Day of Judgement between the servants, which you used to deny and reject in the world!”

On that day, it will be said to the angels, “Gather the idolaters and their like, who wronged due to their ascribing partners with Allah; all those who followed them in rejection, and all the idols they used to worship instead of Allah. And show them all the path to the hellfire; lead them on to it and drive them towards it, because it is their abode.”

On that day, it will be said to the angels, “Gather the idolaters and their like, who wronged due to their ascribing partners with Allah; all those who followed them in rejection, and all the idols they used to worship instead of Allah. And show them all the path to the hellfire; lead them on to it and drive them towards it, because it is their abode.”

“And hold them back for a while before entering them into the hellfire for them to give account, because they are to be questioned. Then after that, drive them towards the hellfire.”

And it will be said to them in rebuke, “What is the matter with you that you are not helping each other like you used to in the world, and you used to claim that your idols would help you?”

Rather, today they are submissive to the command of Allah and humiliated, they will not help each other because of their incapability to do so, and because of their lack of strategies.

And they will turn to each other blaming each other and arguing, when shifting the blame and arguing will be of no use.

The followers will say to the leaders, “O our seniors! You use to approach us in matters of religion and truth, and would beautify for us disbelief, ascribing partners with Allah and sins, while scaring us away from the truth that the messengers brought from Allah.”

The leaders will say to the followers: “The matter is not as you claim it is. Rather, you yourselves were upon disbelief and were not believers; you were the rejectors.”

“O followers! We had no power or authority over you such that we cause you to disbelieve, ascribe partners with Allah or commit sins. Rather, you were people who transgressed the limit in disbelief and deviance yourselves; we were not the ones who led you astray.”

“So the promise of Allah is now imposing on us and on you, when He said, “I will surely fill Hell with you and those of them that follow you all together.” (Ṣād: 85), and because of that we are inevitably going to taste whatever our Lord has promised.”

“So we called you towards deviance and disbelief; we had deviated from the path of guidance, but all you did was that you followed us because of your disposition to incline towards disbelief and deviance.”

So the followers and the leaders will share in the punishment on the Day of Judgement; none will benefit the other in any way because they were all partners in deviance and disbelief in the world.

Indeed, just as I did with these people by making them taste the punishment, I will do the same with other criminals by joining the followers and leaders in the punishment, each in proportion to whatever they deserve of it.

Indeed, these idolaters, when it would be said to them in the world, “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah” so that they could act upon its requirements and leave everything that contradicted it, they would reject answering the call to it and submitting to it out of arrogance from the truth and showing haughtiness to it.

And they would say, justifying their disbelief: “Should we leave the worship of our idols because of the words of a mad poet?” intending through this statement of theirs: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

Verily, they have spoken a grave lie, because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was not a madman nor a poet; he brought the Qur’ān which calls towards the oneness of Allah and towards following His Messenger. He corroborated the message of monotheism and affirmation of the afterlife the messengers brought from Allah; he did not contradict them in anything.

O idolaters! You are surely going to suffer the painful punishment on the Day of Judgement due to your disbelief and rejection of the messengers.

O idolaters! Your requital will only be for the disbelief and sins you used to commit in the world.

However, the believing servants of Allah whom Allah chose for His worship, and they sincerely devoted worship to Him, will be in a place of safety from this punishment.

For those sincere servants will be a special provision granted to them by Allah, well-known for its purity, beauty and eternity.

From this special provision will be that they are provided with the purest of fruits they ever eat and desire; on top of that they will be honoured with their ranks being raised and being able to see the blessed face of Allah.

All that they will get in the permanent gardens of everlasting bliss, which will never expire or cease to exist.

They will lean on thrones opposite to and facing one another; each one happy to meet his brother.

Glasses of wine, clear like flowing water, shall be passed around them.

White in colour, whoever drinks from it will enjoy a complete sensation.

It will not be like the wine of the world; there will be no intoxication that clouds the minds, nor will it give its drinkers headaches. The bodies and minds of its drinkers will remain safe.

In Paradise, they will also have chaste wives with beautiful eyes, who will not longingly look towards anyone other than their husbands.

In their white complexation blended with a tinge of redness, it will be as if they were ostrich eggs covered by feathers from the wind and dust; protected and untouched by any hand.

The people of Paradise will turn to one another asking about their past, and what happened to them in the world.

One of the believers will say, “Indeed, I had a companion in the world who would deny the resurrection.”

He would say to me in denial and mockingly, “O my friend! Are you one of those who believe in the resurrection of the dead?”

“When we die and turn into dust and decayed bones, will we then be resurrected and requited for our deeds we did in the world?”

His believing companion will say to his companions of the people of Paradise: “Take a look with me; let us see the outcome of that companion of mine who used to deny the resurrection.”

So he will take a look and see his companion in the middle of hell.

He will say: “O my companion! By Allah, you were close to dooming me to the hellfire by calling me towards disbelief and denying the resurrection!”

“Had it not been for Allah blessing me with guidance to faith and the ability to accept it, I would have been one of those brought to the punishment like you.”

“We, the people of Paradise, will never die.”

“Except the first death of ours in the world. Instead, we will live forever in Paradise and will not be punished like the disbelievers will be.”

“Indeed, this requital of ours which our Lord has given us, i.e entry into Paradise, living in it forever and salvation from the hellfire, is the greatest, unparallelled success.”

It is for requital like this the workers should strive for, because this is the profitable trade.

Is that aforementioned bounty which Allah has prepared for His servants whom He chose to obey Him, better and more virtuous in rank and honour, than the tree of Zaqqūm which has been cursed in the Qur’ān? It is the food of the disbelievers, which neither nourishes nor satisfies hunger.

I have made this tree a trial, with which those who do wrong through disbelief and sins are tested, when they say: “Indeed, fire consumes trees, so it is impossible that it grows in the hellfire.”

Indeed, the tree of Zaqqūm is a disgusting tree, and is one that comes out of the depth of hell.

The fruits that come out of it are ugly in appearance, like the heads of satans. The ugliness in appearance is a sign of ugliness in nature, which means they revolting in taste.

Indeed, the disbelievers will eat from its bitter, ugly fruits, and fill their empty bellies with them.

Then, after having eaten them, they will have a disgusting, boiling cocktail to drink.

Then, their return after that will be to the punishment of hell; they will move from one punishment to another.

Indeed, these disbelievers found their forefathers astray from the path of guidance and followed them blindly without proof of their truth.

So they hastily followed the footsteps of their forefathers in deviance, as if they were harassed and forced into doing so.

Verily, the majority of people before them also went astray. So O Messenger, those to whom you have been sent are not the first to go astray.

Verily, I sent to the previous nations messengers who would warn them of the punishment of Allah, but they disbelieved.

O Messenger! See what the outcome was of the nations who were warned by their messengers but did not accept their warning! Indeed, their outcome was entering into the hellfire having to live in it forever due to their disbelief and rejection of their messengers.

Except for those whom Allah chose to believe in Him and His oneness; they were saved from the punishment which was the outcome of the disbelieving rejectors.

Verily, My Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) called out to Me when he supplicated against his people who had rejected him. I am the best of answerers; I quickly answered his supplication against his people.

And I saved him, together with members of his household and the believers with him from the harm of his people and from drowning in the great flood, which was sent upon the disbelievers from his people.

I saved his family members and his believing followers only, because I drowned the others from his disbelieving nation.

And I left a good legacy for him in the nations that would come after, who would praise Noah and always mention him with good.

It is a security and safety for Noah from the following nations saying evil regarding him. Instead, praise and positive mention of him will remain.

Indeed, I grant those who do good through their worship and obedience to Me alone, the same type of reward I granted to Noah.

Noah was definitely one of My servants who believed and acted according to My obedience.

Then, I drowned the rest by the flood I sent upon them. None of them remained.

Indeed, Abraham was someone on the same religion as Noah, and he also called to the Oneness of Allah.

Remember when he came to his Lord with a heart pure from ascribing partners to Allah and from doubts, full of sincerity to Allah only wanted good for the creation.

When he said to his father and his idolatrous nation, rebuking them, “What do you worship instead of Allah?”

“O my people, do you prefer to worship idols besides Allah basing your worship on a completely fabricated lie?”

“O my people! What do you think will happen when you meet the Lord of the worlds, while you used to worship things other than Him? What do you think He will do to you?”

So Abraham took a glance at the stars, hatching a plan to come out of having to go out with his people.

He said, presenting an excuse from having to go with his people to their festival, “I am sick.”

So they left him behind and went.

He turned towards the idols they would worship instead of Allah, and said mocking them, “Will you not eat from the food the idolaters make for you?”

“What is the matter with you that you do not speak, nor answer whoever asks you? Can this type of thing be worshipped instead of Allah?”

Then, Abraham started hitting them with his right hand, intending to break them.

So the worshippers of these idols came rushing to him.

But Abraham countered them with steadfastness, and said to them rebuking them, “Do you worship idols instead of Allah, which you carve with your own hands?”

“While Allah (may He be glorified) is the one who created your bodies and your actions; the making of these idols are also from your actions, so He is most deserving that you worship Him alone and not ascribe partners with Him.

When they became speechless to his clear reasoning they resorted to violence, and consulted with each other about what they should do with Abraham. They said, “Build a structure from him, fill it with firewood and set it on fire, then throw him into it.”

So the people of Abraham intended to do evil to Abraham by destroying him so they could be saved from him, but I made them the losers when I made the fire cool and safe for him.

Abraham said, “I am going to emigrate to my Lord and leave the city of my people so that I am able worship Him. My Lord will guide me to whatever is good for me in the world and the Hereafter.”

“O my Lord! Grant me a pious child who will be a means of help for me and a substitute for me from my people in the wilderness.”

So I answered his supplication for him and gave him news which pleased him, when I gave him the good news of a child who would grow old and become forbearing. This child was Ishmael (peace be upon him).

When Ishmael grew into a youth and reached working age, his father Abraham saw a dream. The dreams of prophets are a form of divine revelation, so Abraham said to his son, informing him of the meaning of this dream, “O my son! Indeed, I saw in my sleep that I am slaughtering you; what is your opinion in the matter?” Ishmael replied to him saying, “O my father! Do whatever Allah has commanded you to do in slaughtering me. You will find me one of those who are patient and content with the order of Allah.”

So when they submitted to Allah and obeyed him, Abraham laid his son down on his forehead, to carry out the order given to him to slaughter his son.

I called out to Abraham while he was about to carry out the order of Allah to slaughter his son, saying: “O Abraham!”

“You have fulfilled the dream you saw in your sleep by resolving to slaughter your son. Just as I rewarded you by freeing you of this great trial, I also reward those who do good by saving them from trials and difficulties.”

Indeed, this was a clear test which Abraham passed.

And I set Ishmael free in exchange for a huge ram which was to be slaughtered instead of him.

I preserved good praise for Abraham to remain among the following nations.

As a commemoration for Abraham from Allah, and a prayer to keep him safe from every harm and difficulty.

Just as I requited Abraham with this reward for his obedience, I also reward those who do good.

Indeed, Abraham was one of My believing servants who fulfilled the demands of his servitude to Me.

And I gave him glad tidings of another son who would become a Prophet and a pious servant: he was Isaac. It was another reward for his obedience to Allah by resolving to slaughter his only son, Ishmael.

And I showered upon him and his son Isaac My special blessings and gave them both many bounties, from which one was an increase in offspring. There were those in their progeny who did good by obeying their Lord, and those who clearly wronged themselves by disbelief and committing sins.

And verily I favoured Moses and his brother Aaron with messengership.

I saved them and their nation, the Israelites, from Pharaoh enslaving them and from drowning.

I also helped them against Pharaoh and his armies, so they had the upper hand over their enemies.

I gave Moses and his brother Aaron the Torah; a clear book from Allah in which there was no doubt.

I also guided them towards the straight path in which there was no deviance. It was the path of the religion of Islam which led to the pleasure of the Creator (may He be glorified).

And I also preserved for them positive mention and good praise among the following nations.

As a commemoration from Allah for them, in praise of them and as a prayer for safety from every harm.

Just as I requited Moses and Aaron with this good reward, I also reward those who do good by obeying their Lord.

Indeed, Moses and Aaron were two of My servants who believed in me and strove to do that which I legislated for them.

Indeed, Elias was one of the messengers sent by his Lord. He blessed him with messengership and prophethood.

Remember when he said to his people whom he was sent towards from the Israelites, “O my people! Will you not fear Allah by fulfilling His commands, of which is monotheism, and refraining from the things He has not allowed, from which is ascribing partners with Him?”

“Do you worship your idol Ba‘l instead of Allah and leave the worship of Allah who is the best of creators?”

“Allah is your lord who created you and created your forefathers before you; He is the most deserving of worship, not anything else like the idols which cannot benefit nor harm.”

The only response of his nation was that they rejected him, and because of their rejection they will be brought to the punishment.

Except for those who were believers and devoted their worship to Allah alone; they will be saved from being brought to the punishment.

And I also preserved for him positive mention and good praise among the following nations.

As a commemoration from Allah and praise for Elias.

Just as I requited Elias with this good reward, I also reward those of My believing servants who do good.

Indeed, Elias was one of My true believing servants who are sincere in their belief in Me.

And indeed, Lot was one of the messengers of Allah who were sent to their people as bearers of good news and warners.

So remember when I saved him and members of his household from the punishment that was sent upon his people.

Except for his wife, because she was a woman whom the punishment of her people included within it, due to her being a disbeliever like them.

Then, I destroyed the remainder of his people who rejected him and did not believe in what he had brought.

O people of Makkah! Indeed, you pass by their dwellings in you journeys towards the Levant in the morning.

And likewise, you also pass by them at night. So do you not understand and take heed from the outcome of these people after they rejected, disbelieved and committed indecency, indecent behaviour, immorality, immoral behaviour, sexual indecency, sexual immortality which was unprecedented?

And indeed, Jonah was one of the messengers of Allah who were sent to their people as bearers of good news and warners.

Remember when he became angry over his people and left them, boarding a ship full of passengers and goods.

The ship was close to sinking because of its load, so the passengers drew lots to throw some of them overboard, fearing its sinking because of too many passengers. Jonah was one of the names that were drawn, and so they threw him in to the sea.

So when they threw him into the sea, a whale took him and swallowed him. He was to face the blame that was to come to him, because of him going to the sea without permission from his Lord.

Had it not been that Jonah was one of those who would remember Allah abundantly before whatever afflicted him, and had it not been for his glorifying Allah in the stomach of the whale

he would have remained in the stomach of the whale until the Day of Judgement, with it having become his grave.

So I took him from the stomach of the whale and placed him on a land barren of trees and buildings, in the state that he was physically weak because of having stayed in the stomach of the whale for a while.

I then made a gourd tree grow for him on that barren earth, which would give him shade.

And I sent him back to his people, their number being a hundred thousand and more.

They brought faith and believed in whatever He brought, so Allah granted them enjoyment in their worldly lives until their fixed lifetimes expired.

O Muhammad! So ask these idolaters, idolaters a rebuking question: “Do you attribute for Allah daughters which you yourselves dislike, while attributing sons for yourselves whom you love? What kind of distribution is this?”

How could they claim the angels are female when they were not present at the time of their creation and did not witness it?

Listen carefully! Indeed, the idolaters, idolaters from their attributing lies unto Allah

attribute offspring to Him, and indeed, they are liars in this claim of theirs.

Would Allah prefer daughters for Himself which you dislike, over sons which you like? Never!

O idolaters, what is wrong with you that you make this unjust judgment where you make daughters for Allah and sons for yourself?

Would you not take admonition of this wrong belief you are on? If you were to take heed, you would stop saying such as statement.

Or do you have a clear proof from a divine scripture or a messenger from Allah?

Then bring your book which bears for you evidence of this if you are true in what you claim.

And the idolaters made blood ties between Allah and the angels when they claimed the angels are Allah’s daughters and their mothers are the elite jinns. But the jinns already know Allah will bring them to be reckoned, so if there was lineage between Him and them he would not bring them for that.

Pure is Allah and exalted from what the idolaters describe Him with of that which does not befit Him, such as children, partners.

Except Allah’s chosen servants, as they do not describe Allah except with the qualities of majesty and perfection which are befitting for Him.

So you, O idolaters, and what you worship besides Allah.

You cannot misguide anyone from the true religion.

Except one whom Allah has decreed is from the people of hell, as Allah will carry out His decree regarding him and so he will disbelieve and enter the fire. As for you and your gods, you do not have power over that.

And the angels said, stating their servitude to Allah and their being free of what the idolaters claimed: “There is nobody amongst us except that he has a known position in Allah’s worship and obedience.

And we declare Him pure of qualities and descriptions which do not befit Him”.

And we declare Him pure of qualities and descriptions which do not befit Him”.

And the idolaters from the people of Makkah used to say before Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent: “If we had a book of the previous people, such as the Torah for example, we would have worshipped Allah sincerely”. But they are lying in that, as Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought them the Qur’ān but they disbelieved in it. So soon they will know the severe punishment that is waiting for them on the day of judgment.

And the idolaters from the people of Makkah used to say before Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent: “If we had a book of the previous people, such as the Torah for example, we would have worshipped Allah sincerely”. But they are lying in that, as Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought them the Qur’ān but they disbelieved in it. So soon they will know the severe punishment that is waiting for them on the day of judgment.

And the idolaters from the people of Makkah used to say before Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent: “If we had a book of the previous people, such as the Torah for example, we would have worshipped Allah sincerely”. But they are lying in that, as Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought them the Qur’ān but they disbelieved in it. So soon they will know the severe punishment that is waiting for them on the day of judgment.

And the idolaters from the people of Makkah used to say before Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent: “If we had a book of the previous people, such as the Torah for example, we would have worshipped Allah sincerely”. But they are lying in that, as Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought them the Qur’ān but they disbelieved in it. So soon they will know the severe punishment that is waiting for them on the day of judgment.

And My word to My messengers, which nobody can adjust or refute, has already passed that they will be helped against their enemies through the proof and strength I have favoured them with

And My word to My messengers, which nobody can adjust or refute, has already passed that they will be helped against their enemies through the proofand strength I have favoured them with

And victory is for My army which fights in My way, so that My word is the highest.

So turn away, O Messenger, from these stubborn idolaters until a time which Allah knows, until the time of their punishment comes.

And look at them when the punishment comes upon them, for they themselves will see when seeing will not benefit.

Then do these idolaters hastily seek the punishment of Allah?

Then when Allah’s punishment comes upon them, what a bad morning will theirs be!

And turn away, O Messenger, from them when Allah decides their punishment.

And look, for these people will see the punishment and punishment of Allah that comes upon them.

O Muhammad, exhalt your Lord declaring his glorification, the Lord of Honour, and exalt Him above the qualities of deficiency the idolaters describe Him with.

And Allah’s greetings and His praise be for His noble messengers.

And all praise is for Allah, as He is deserving of it, and He is Lord of all the creation. They have no lord besides Him.

Saad. By the Qur’ān containing reminder. The discussion on similar letters has already passed in the beginning of Sūrah Al-Baqarah. I swear by the Qur’ān which is full of admonition, reminding mankind that which benefits them in their worldly life and the Afterlife. The matter is not as the idolaters think, namely that Allah has partners beside Him.

But the disbelievers are in fanaticism and arrogance towards the oneness of Allah, and in opposition to Muhammad (peace be upon him) and hatred for him.

How many generations who denied their messengers before them have I destroyed, they called out seeking help when the punishment fell upon them. But the time was not the time to be saved from the punishment where seeking help from Him would benefit them.

And they expressed surprise when a messenger came to them from themselves to warn them of Allah’s punishment if they remain in their disbelief. And the disbelievers said when they saw the proof for the truthfulness of what Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought: “This is a magician who performs magic on people, and a liar in claiming that he is a messenger from Allah who receives revelation.

Has he made the numerous gods into one God, besides whom there is no god? This act of his is extremely strange”.

And their leaders and elders went, saying to their followers: “Carry on with what you are upon and do not enter the religion of Muhammad. Remain firm on worshipping your gods. That which Muhammad is calling you towards, namely worshipping one god, is something planned which he wants so that he can dominate over us and have followers for himself.

We have not heard the oneness of Allah which Muhammad is calling us towards in what we found our fathers on nor in the religion of Jesus (peace be upon him). What we have heard from him is nothing but a lie and fabrication.

Is it right that the Qur’ān is revealed to him from amongst us and he is chosen for it, and it is not revealed to us whereas we are great leaders?” But these idolaters are in doubt about the revelation which is revealed to you. And they have not yet tasted the punishment of Allah, so they have been deceived due to their being given respite. If they were to taste it, they would not have the audacity to disbelieve in Allah and doubt what is revealed to you.

Or do these denying idolaters have treasures of the grace of your Lord, the Mighty whom nobody can overpower, who gives what He wants to whom He wants? And from His treasures is prophethood, so He gives it to whom He wishes. It is not for them that they should give it to whom they want and stop it from whom they want.

Or do they have the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and possession of everything therein so they may chose who to give it to? If this is what claim they are making then let them adopt the means to go up to the heavens so they can then rule how they wish from above the heavens in who should be given and who should be held back from.

These deniers of Muhammad (peace be upon him) are a defeated army like the armies which came before them who denied their messengers and so I destroyed them. So that will occur with this army as occurred with others.

These deniers are not the first to deny, because the people of Noah, Aad, and the powerful Pharaoh denied before them.

And Thamud, the people of Lot and the people of Shu’ayb denied. Those are the groups who were all united in their denial of the messengers and disbelief of what they brought.

There is not a single one of these groups except that it denied the messengers. So Allah’s punishment was justified for them and His punishment befell them, even though it was delayed for a while.

These deniers of Muhammad (peace be upon him) are not waiting except for the second blowing of the Trumpet in which there shall be no return. Then the punishment will fall upon them if they had died in a state of denial.

And they said mockingly: “Our Lord, give us our share of punishment in the worldly life before the day of judgment”.

O Messenger, be patient on the things these deniers say which do not please you, and remember My servant David, who had the power to fight his enemies and persevere in Allah’s obedience. He used to turn to Allah frequently through repentance and actions which please Him.

I subjugated the mountains with David. They would exalt with his exalting at the end of the day and its beginning at sunrise.

And I subjugated the birds held in the air. Each of them was obedient, exalting out of following him.

And I strengthened his kingdom through the awe, strength and help against his enemies I had given him. And I gave him prophethood and correctness in his affairs. And I gave him clear eloquence in every objective, and decisiveness in speech and wisdom.

O Messenger, has the news of the two disputants come to you, when they climbed upon the place of worship of David (peace be upon him)?

When they entered upon David suddenly, so he became frightened due to their strange act of entering upon him in this most unusual of ways. When they saw his fear, they said: “Do not fear. We are two disputants, one of us having wronged the other, so judge between us justly and do not be unjust when you judge between us, and guide us to the right path which is the path of correctness”.

One of the disputants said to David (peace be upon him): “This man is my brother. He has ninety-nine ewes and I have one ewe. He asked me to give him that too and he has overpowered me in proof”.

Then David judged between them and addressed the claimant, saying: “Your brother has wronged you when he asked you to add your ewe to his ewes. And many partners oppress one another by taking their rights and not being fair, except the believers who do good actions, for they are fair with their partners and do not wrong them. But those attributed with that are few”. And David (peace be upon him) was convinced that I only put him to test through this dispute, so he sought forgiveness from his Lord and prostrated to get close to Him, and repented to Him.

So I responded to him and forgave him that. And he is amongst the close ones with Me, and for him is a good return in the Afterlife.

O David, I made you a deputy on earth to execute worldly and religious rulings and judgments, so judge between people with justice. And do not follow desires in your judgement between people, by inclining towards one of the disputants due to relationship or friendship, or by turning away from him due to enmity, whereby desires will misguide you from Allah’s straight path. Those who go astray from Allah’s straight path will have a severe punishment due to their forgetting the day of reckoning, because if they were to remember it and fear it they would not incline to their desires.

And I did not create the heavens or the earth in vain, but rather I created them out of complete wisdom to prove the power of Allah and so that He is obeyed in them. That is the belief of those who deny the truth who believe they were created in vain. So woe to these disbelievers who believe this from the fire of hell on the Day of Judgment, when they die on the disbelief and bad opinion of Allah they are upon.

I will never make those who believe in Allah, follow His messenger and do good deeds like those who make the corruption on earth through disbelief and sins, nor will I make those who are mindful of their Lord by carrying out His orders and refraining from His prohibitions like the disbelievers and hypocrites who are engrossed in sins. Making them both equal is an injustice which does not befit Allah. But rather Allah will reward the pious believers by entry into Paradise and punish the wretched disbelievers by entry into the fire, because they are not equal in Allah’s sight so their reward is not equal in His sight too.

This Qur’ān is a book I revealed to you, O Prophet, abundant in good and benefit. I revealed it so that people ponder over its verses and contemplate its meanings, and so that the people of enlightened superior intellect take lessons from it.

And I granted David his son Solomon, as a favour from Me to him and a grace so that he is pleased. What an excellent servant Solomon was. He would abundantly repent and turn to Allah.

Remember when at the time of Asr purebred fast horses were presented to him, standing on three feet with one foot raised. These purebred horses continued to be presented to him until sunset.

So Solomon said: “I preferred love of wealth, these horses being part of it, over the remembrance of my Lord until the sun set.

Return these horses to me”. So they returned them to him, then he began striking their legs and necks with his sword.

And I tested Solomon and put on his chair part of a child, and that was when he swore by Allah that he will sleep with all of his wives and each one of them will bring forth a horseman to strive in Allah’s way. But he did not say in this oath of his: “if Allah wills”. So he slept with all of them, but none of them gave birth except one who gave birth to part of a child. Then Solomon repented to his Lord.

Solomon said: “My Lord, forgive me my sins and grant me a kingdom especially for me which no person will have after me. My Lord, You give abundantly and are very generous”.

So I responded to him and made the wind subservient to him. It would obey his order, gently. There was no shaking in it, despite its strength and its fast movement. It would carry him wherever he wanted.

And I made the satans subservient to him, complying with his orders. Some of them were builders and others were divers who would dive into the seas and take out pearls from them.

And from the satans there were rebellious ones who were made subservient for him. They were tied up in shackles, unable to move.

“O Solomon, this is My gift which I granted you in response to what you asked of Me. So give whom you want and stop from whom you want, as I will not take you to account in your giving or holding back”.

And Solomon is amongst the close ones with us, and he has a good return which he will return to, and it is Paradise.

O Messenger, remember My servant Job when he called upon Allah, his Lord: “The satan has afflicted Me with a tiring and tormentful matter”.

So I said to him: “Strike your foot on the ground”. So he struck his foot on the ground, then water sprung forth for him from it, which he would drink and bathe from and through it, his difficulty and pain would go.

So I responded to him and removed the difficulty he was affected by, and I gave him his family and added to them a like number of sons and grandsons, as a mercy from Me to him and a reward for his patience, and so that the people of superior intellect are reminded that the outcome of patience is ease and reward.

When Job became angry with his wife, he swore an oath he will lash her a hundred times, so I said to him: “O Job, take a bunch of stalks in your hand and hit her with them, to fulfil your oath. And do not break the oath you made”. So he took a bunch of stalks and hit her with them. I found him to be patient in what I afflicted him with. What an excellent servant he was. He would turn to Allah abundantly.

O Messenger, remember My servants I chose and the messengers I sent: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were people of strength in Allah’s obedience and seeking His pleasure, and they were people of true insight into the truth.

I favoured them with a special favour I chose them with, which was filling their hearts with the remembrance of the abode of the Afterlife, preparing for it through good actions and calling people towards acting for it.

And they were with Me amongst those I chose for My obedience and worship, and whom I selected to bear My message and convey it to the people.

O Prophet, remember Ishmael, the son of Abraham, and remember Elisha, and remember Dhul-Kifl, and praise them well as they deserve it. And all of these were amongst the chosen and selected in Allah’s sight.

This is a reminder of these people through good praise in the Qur’ān. And for the Mindful through carrying out the orders of Allah and refraining from His prohibitions is a good return in the abode of the Afterlife.

This good return is gardens of residence they will enter on the Day of Judgment, whose doors will be opened to welcome them.

Reclining on couches which will be adorned for them. They will ask their attendants to present to them the many different types of fruit they will desire and the drinks they will desire, such as wine and so forth.

And with them will be women, all of similar age, whose gaze will be limited only to their husbands.

O Alah-conscious people, this is the pleasant reward you are being promised on the day of judgment for your good deeds you used to do in the world.

This reward I have mentioned is My provision I will give to the Alah-conscious on the Day of Judgment, and it is continuous provision which will not pause or end.

This that I mentioned is the reward of the Mindful. And those who trespass the limits of Allah through disbelief and sins will have a reward different to that of the Mindful, so for them is a bad return they shall return to on the day of judgment.

This reward is hell which will surround them, and they will suffer its heat and flames. From it they will have a spread, so what an evil spread is theirs.

This punishment is extremely hot water, and pus which will flow from the bodies of the people of hell being punished in it, so they should taste it as it is their drink. However it is a drink which does not quench thirst.

And they will have another punishment like this punishment. They will have a number of various punishments they will be punished with in the Afterlife.

And when the people of hellfire will enter, they will dispute with one another, cursing and disassociating from one another. When it will be said to those already in the fire: “This is a new group of those that will inhabit the fire with you, they will respond:” “May they not be welcome, they will suffer the punishment like we are suffering”

The group of followers will say to their leaders who were followed: “But rather you, O leaders who were followed, no welcome to you, as you are what caused us this painful punishment by misguiding us and leading us astray”. What a terrible settlement this is, the settlement of hell fire for them all.

The followers will say: “Our Lord, whoever lead us astray from the guidance after it came to us, double his punishment in the fire”.

And the arrogant transgressors will say: “Why do we not see with us in the fire men we used to consider in the world amongst the wretched who deserved punishment?

Was our mocking them a mistake and so they did not deserve to be punished, or was our mocking them right, and they have entered the fire but we have not seen them yet?”

This which has been mentioned to you, namely the arguments of the disbelievers on the Day of Judgment, is the truth in which there is no dispute or doubt.

O Muhammad, say to the disbelievers from your people: “I am only a warner to you of Allah’s punishment, lest it fall upon you due to disbelief and denying His messengers. And there is no god who deserves to be worshipped besides Allah, as He is unique in His greatness, qualities and names, and He is the Subduer who has subdued everything. So everything submits to Him.

And He is the Lord of the heavens, the Lord of the earth and Lord of whatever is in between them. And He is Mighty in His kingdom, with nobody to overpower Him, and He is Forgiving of the sins of His servants who repent to Him”.

O Messenger, say to these deniers: “The Qur’ān is a news of great status.

You are turning away from this news of great status; you do not turn towards it.

I do not have knowledge of the discussion between the angels regarding the creation of Adam, if Allah had not revealed to me and taught me.

Allah only reveals to me what He reveals, and I am a clear warner to you of His punishment”.

Remember when your Lord said to the angels: “I am going to create a man from clay, and he is Adam (peace be upon him).

So once I have proportioned his form, made his appearance right and blown My spirit into him, prostrate to him”.

So the angels obeyed the command of their Lord, so all of them prostrated by way of greeting and honour, and none of them remained except that they prostrated to Adam.

Besides Iblis who was too arrogant to prostrate. And through his being arrogant to the command of his Lord, he was from the disbelievers.

Allah said: “O Iblis, what stopped you from prostrating to Adam whom I created with My hands? Did pride stop you from prostrating or were you arrogant and haughty over your Lord from before?”

Iblis said: “I am better than Adam. You created me from fire and you created him from clay. And fire is a more noble substance than clay”.

Allah said to Iblis: “Get out of Paradise, because you are accursed and reviled.

And you are to be rejected from Paradise until the day of recompense, which is the day of judgment”.

Iblis said: “Give me respite and do not make me die until the day You raise Your servants”.

Allah said: “You are amongst those given respite.

Until the day of the known time which is fixed for your destruction”.

Iblis said: “I swear by Your power and domination that I shall misguide all of the children of Adam.

Except whom You protect from my misguiding and You have chosen to worship You alone”.

Allah said: “The truth is from Me and the truth is what I say. I do not say anything besides it.

On the Day of Judgment, I shall fill hell with you and your children, O Iblis, and those from the children of Adam who follow you in your disbelief, all of you”.

Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: “I do not ask you for any reward for the advice I convey to you, and I am not of the pretentious by bringing more than what I have been ordered with.

The Qur’ān is only a reminder to those who are accountable amongst men and jinns.

And you will come to know the news of this Qur’ān and that it is true, after a short time when you die”.