SURAH 7: AL A`RAF (The Heights)

SURAH 7: AL A`RAF (The Heights).

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

¹ Alif Lam Mim Sad.

² A book revealed to you, so let your heart be oppressed no more by any difficulty on that account, that with it you might warn and teach the believers.

³ Follow the revelation given to you from your Lord, and follow not, as friends or protectors, other than him. Little it is you remember of admonition.

⁴ How many towns have we destroyed? Our punishment took them suddenly by night or while they slept for their afternoon rest.

⁵ When our punishment took them, no cry did they utter but this: Indeed we did wrong.

⁶ Then shall we question those to whom our message was sent and those by whom we sent it.

⁷ And truly we shall recount their whole story with knowledge, for we were never absent.

⁸ The balance that day will be true: those whose scale will be heavy, will prosper:

⁹ Those whose scale will be light, will be light, will find their souls in perdition for that they wrongfully treated our signs.

¹⁰ It is we who have placed you with authority on earth, and in it provided you with means for the fulfilment of your life: small are the thanks that you give.

¹¹ It is we who created you and gave you chap; than we bade the angels bow down to Adam, and they bowed down; not so Iblis; he refused to be of those who bow down.

¹² Allah said: What prevented you from bowing down when I commanded you? He said: I am better than he: you created me from fire, and him from clay.

¹³ Allah said: Get down from here: it is not for you to be arrogant here: get out, for you are of the lowest of creatures.

¹⁴ He said: Give me respite until the day they are raised up.

¹⁵ Allah said: Be among those who have respite.

¹⁶ He said: Because you have thrown me out of the way, I will lie in wait for them on your straight way:

¹⁷ Then will I assault them from in front and behind them, from their right and their left. Nor will you find, in most of them, gratitude.

¹⁸ Allah said: "Get out from this, disgraced and expelled. If any of them follow you, hell will I fill with you all.

¹⁹ O Adam! Dwell in the garden, you and your wife, and enjoy as you wish: but approach not this tree or you run into harm and transgression.

²⁰ Then began Satan to whisper suggestions to them, in order to reveal to them their shame that was hidden from them: he said: "Your Lord only forbade you this tree, lest you should become angels or such beings as live forever."

²¹ And he swore to them both that he was their sincere adviser.

²² So by deceit he brought about their fall: when they tasted of the tree, their shame became manifest to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the garden over their bodies. And their Lord called to them: "Did I not forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy to you?"

²³ They said: "Our Lord! We have wronged our own souls: if you forgive us not and bestow not upon us your mercy, we shall certainly be lost."

²⁴ Allah said: "Get down, with enmity between you.[1] On earth will be your dwelling place and your means of livelihood -- for a time."

²⁵ He said: "In it shall you live, and in it shall you die; but from it shall you be taken out."

²⁶ O children of Adam! We shall have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness -- that is the best. Such are among the signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition!

²⁷ O children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you, in the same manner as he got your parents out of the garden, stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame: for he and his tribe watch you from a position where you cannot see them. We made the demons friends to those without faith.

²⁸ When they do anything that is shameful, they say: "We found our fathers doing so"; and "Allah commanded us thus;" say: "No, Allah never commands what is shameful: do you say of Allah what you know not?"

²⁹ Say: "My Lord has commanded justice; and that you set your whole selves at every time and place of prayer, and call upon him, making your devotion sincere as in his sight: Such as he created you in the beginning, so shall you return."

³⁰ Some he has guided: others have deserved the loss of their way; in that they took the demons, in preference to Allah, for their friends and protectors, and think that they receive guidance.

³¹ O children of Adam! Wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: but waste not the excess, for Allah loves not the wasters.

³² Say: Who has forbidden the beautiful gifts of Allah, which he has produced for his servants, and the things, clean and pure, for sustenance? Say they are, in the life of this world, for those who believe, purely for them on the day of judgment. Thus do we explain the signs in detail for those who understand.

³³ Say: The things that my Lord has indeed forbidden are: shameful deeds, whether open or secret; since and trespasses against truth or reason; assigning of partners to Allah, for which he has given no authority; and saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge.

³⁴ To every people is a term appointed: when their term is reached, not an hour can they cause delay, nor can they advance.

³⁵ O children of Adam! Whenever there come to you messengers from among you, rehearsing my signs to you -- those who are righteous and mend their lives -- on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.

³⁶ But those who reject our signs and treat them with arrogance, they are companions of the fire, to dwell in it forever.

³⁷ Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie against Allah or rejects his signs? For such, their portion appointed must reach them from Al-Kitab, until when our messengers arrive and take their souls, they say: "Where are the things that you used to invoke besides Allah?" They will reply, "They have left us in the lurch," and they will bear witness against themselves, that they had rejected Allah.

³⁸ He will say: "Enter into the company of the peoples who passed away before you -- men and Jinns -- into the fire. Every time a new people enters, it curses its sister-people, until they follow each other, all into the fire. Says the last about the first: "Our Lord! It is these that misled us: so give them a double penalty in the fire." He will say: "Doubled for all": but this you do not understand.

³⁹ Then the first will say to the last: "See then! No advantage have you over us; so taste of the penalty for all that you did!"

⁴⁰ To those who reject our signs and treat them with arrogance, no opening will there be of the gates of heaven, nor will they enter the garden, until a camel can go through the eye of a needle:[2] such is our reward for those in sin.

⁴¹ For them there is hell, as a couch below and folds of covering above: such is our reward of those who do wrong.

⁴² But those who believe and work righteousness -- no burden do we place on any soul, but that which it can bear -- they will be companions of the garden, in it to dwell forever.

⁴³ And we shall remove from their hearts any lurking sense of injury -- beneath them will be rivers flowing -- and they shall say: "Praise be to Allah, who has guided us to this: never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of Allah: indeed it was the truth that the messengers of our Lord brought to us." And they shall hear the cry: "Behold the garden before you! You have been made its inheritors, for your deeds."

⁴⁴ The companions of the garden will call out to the companions of the fire: "We have indeed found the promises of our Lord to us true: have you also found your Lord's promises true?" They shall say, "Yes"; but a crier shall proclaim between them: "The curse of Allah is on the wrongdoers,

⁴⁵ "Those who would hinder men from the path of Allah and would seek in it something crooked: they were those who denied the hereafter."

⁴⁶ Between them shall be a veil, and on the heights will be men who would know every one by his marks: they will call out to the companions of the garden, "Salam-un Alaikum": they will not have entered, but they will have an assurance.

⁴⁷ When their eyes shall be turned towards the companions of the fire, they will say: "Our Lord! Send us not to the company of the wrongdoers."

⁴⁸ The men on the heights will call to certain men whom they will know from their marks, saying: "Of what profit to you wear your hoards and your arrogant ways?

⁴⁹ "Behold! Are these not the men whom you swore that Allah with his mercy would never bless? Enter the garden: no fear shall be on you nor shall you grieve."

⁵⁰ The companions of the fire will call to the companions of the garden: "Pour down to us water or anything that Allah provides for your sustenance." They will say: "Both these things has Allah forbidden to those who rejected him,

⁵¹ "Such as took their religion to be mere amusement and play, and were deceived by the life of the world." That day shall we forget them as they forgot the meeting of this day of theirs, and as they were used to rejecting our signs.

⁵² For we had certainly sent to them a book, based on knowledge, which we explained in detail -- a guide and a mercy to all who believe.

⁵³ Do they just wait for the final fulfilment of the event? On the day the event is finally fulfilled, those who disregarded it before will say: "The messengers of our Lord did indeed bring true tidings. Have we no intercessors now to intercede on our behalf? Or could we be sent back? Then should we behave differently from our behaviour in the past." In fact they will have lost their souls, and the things they invented will leave them in the lurch.

⁵⁴ Your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days,[3] then he established himself on the throne: he draws the night as a veil over the day, each seeking the other in rapid succession: he created the sun, the moon, and the stars, all governed by laws under his command. Is it not his to create and to govern? Blessed be Allah, Lord of the universe!

⁵⁵ Call on your Lord with humility and in private: for Allah loves not those who trespass beyond bounds.

⁵⁶ Do no mischief on the earth, after in has been set in order, but call on him with fear and longing: for the mercy of Allah is near to those who do good.

⁵⁷ It is who sends the winds like heralds of glad tidings, going before his mercy: when they have carried the heavy laden clouds, we drive them to a land that is dead, make rain to descend thereon, and produce every kind of harvest therewith: thus shall we raise up the dead: perhaps you may remember.

⁵⁸ From the land that is clean and good, by the will of its Lord, springs up produce, after its kind: but from the land that is bad, springs up nothing but that which is niggardly: thus do we explain the signs by various symbols to those who are grateful.

⁵⁹ We sent Nuh to his people. He said: O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other God but him. I fear for you the punishment of a dreadful day.

⁶⁰ The leaders of his people said: Ah, we see you evidently wandering.

⁶¹ He said: "O my people! No wandering is there in my mind: on the contrary I am a messenger from the Lord of the universe!

⁶² I but fulfil towards you the duties of my Lord's mission: sincere is my advice to you, and I know from Allah something that you know not.

⁶³ Do you wonder that there has come to you a message from your Lord, through a man of your own people, to warn you, so that you may fear Allah and happily receive his mercy?

⁶⁴ But they rejected him, and we delivered him, and those with him in the ark: but we overwhelmed in the flood those who rejected our signs. They were indeed a blind people.

⁶⁵ To the Aad people, we sent Hud, one of their brothers: he said: O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other God but him. Will you not fear?

⁶⁶ The leaders of the unbelievers among his people said: Ah we see you are an imbecile, and we think you are a liar.

⁶⁷ He said: "O my people! I am no imbecile, but a messenger from the Lord of the universe!

⁶⁸ "I but fulfil towards you the duties of my Lord's mission: I am to you a sincere and trustworthy adviser.

⁶⁹ "Do you wonder that there has come to you a message from your Lord through a man of your own people, to warn you? Call in remembrance that he made you inheritors after the people of Nuh, and gave you a stature tall among the nations. Call in remembrance the benefits you have received from Allah: that so you may prosper."

⁷⁰ They said: "Do you come to us, that we may worship Allah alone, and give up the cult of our fathers? Bring us what you threaten us with, if you tell the truth!"

⁷¹ He said: "Punishment and wrath have already come upon you from your Lord: do you dispute with me over names which you have devised -- you and your fathers -- without authority from Allah? Then wait: I am among you, also waiting."

⁷² We saved him and those who adhered to him, by our mercy, and we cut off the roots of those who rejected our signs and did not believe.

⁷³ To the Thamud people we sent Salih, one of their own brothers: he said: O my people worship Allah; you have no other God but him. Now has come to you a clear sign from your Lord this she-camel of Allah is a sign to you: so leave her to graze in Allah's earth, and let her come to no harm, or you shall be seized with a grievous punishment.

⁷⁴ And remember how he made you inheritors after the Aad people and gave you habitations in the land: you build for yourself palaces and castles in open plains, and carve out homes in the mountains; so bring to remembrance the benefits you have received from Allah, and refrain from evil and mischief on the earth.

⁷⁵ The leaders of the arrogant party among his people said to those who were reckoned powerless, to those among them who believed: "Know indeed that Salih is a messenger from his Lord?" They said: "We do indeed believe in the revelation which has been sent through him."

⁷⁶ The arrogant party said: "For our part, we reject what you believe in."

⁷⁷ Then they ham strung the she-camel, and insolently defied the order of their Lord, saying: "O Salih! Bring about your threats, if you are a messenger of Allah!"

⁷⁸ So the earthquake took them unawares, and they lay prostrate in their homes in the morning!

⁷⁹ So Salih left them, saying: "O my people! I did indeed convey to you the message for which I was sent by my Lord: I gave you good counsel, but you love not good counsellors!"

⁸⁰ We also sent Lut who said to his people: "Do you commit lewdness such as no people in creation ever committed before you?

⁸¹ "For you practise your lusts on men in preference to women: you are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds."

⁸² And his people gave no answer but this: they said, drive them out of your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure.

⁸³ But we saved him and his family, except his wife: she was of those who lagged behind.

⁸⁴ And we rained down on them a shower: then see what was the end of those who indulged in sin and crime.

⁸⁵ To the Madyani people we sent Shuaib, one of their own brothers: he said: o my people worship Allah; you have no other god but him. Now has come to you a clear sign from your Lord give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due; and do no mischief on the earth after it has been set in order: that will be best for you, if you have faith.

⁸⁶ And squat not on every road, breathing threats, hindering from the path of Allah those who believe in him, and seeking in it something crooked; but remember how you were little, and he gave you increase. And hold in your mind's eye what was the end of those who did mischief,

⁸⁷ And if there is a party among you who believes in the message with which I have been sent, and a party which does not believe, hold yourself in patience until Allah decides between us: for he is the best to decide.

⁸⁸ The leaders, the arrogant party among his people, said: O Shuaib we shall certainly drive you out of our city along with those who believe with you; or else you all shall have to return to our ways and religion. He said: What? Even though we detest them?

⁸⁹ We would indeed be false to Allah, if we returned to your ways after Allah has rescued us from them; nor could we by any manner of means return to your ways unless it be in the will and plan of Allah. Our Lord can reach out to the utmost recesses of things by his knowledge. In Allah is our trust. Lord, you decide the truth between us and our people, for you are the best to decide.

⁹⁰ The leaders, the unbelievers among his people, said: if you follow Shuaib, be sure then you are ruined.

⁹¹ But the earthquake took them unawares, and they lay prostrate in their homes before the morning.

⁹² The men who rejected Shuaib became as if they had never been in the homes where they had flourished: the men who rejected Shuaib it was they who were ruined.

⁹³ So Shuaib left them, saying: O my people I did indeed convey to you the messages for which I was sent by my Lord: I gave you good counsel, but how shall I lament over a people who refuse to believe.

⁹⁴ Whenever we sent a prophet to a town, we took up its people in suffering and adversity, in order that they might learn humility.

⁹⁵ Then we changed their suffering into prosperity, until they grew and multiplied, and began to say: Our fathers were touched by suffering and affluence. Behold we called them to account all of a sudden, while they were unaware.

⁹⁶ If the people of the towns had but believe and feared Allah, we should indeed have opened out to them blessing from heaven and earth; but they rejected the truth, and we brought them to book for their misdeeds.

⁹⁷ Did the people of the town feel secure against the coming of our wrath by night while they were asleep?

⁹⁸ Or else did they feel secure against its coming in broad daylight while they played about?

⁹⁹ Did they then feel secure against the plan of Allah? But no one can feel secure from the plan of Allah, except those doomed for destruction.

¹⁰⁰ To those who inherit the earth from its previous possessors, is it not a guiding lesson that, if we so willed, we could punish them for their sins, and seal up their hearts so that they could not hear?

¹⁰¹ Such were the towns whose story we relate to you: there came indeed to them their messengers with clear signs: but they would not believe what they had rejected before. Thus does Allah seal up the hearts of those who reject faith.

¹⁰² Most of them we found were not men true to their covenant: but most of them we found rebellious and disobedient.

¹⁰³ Then after them we sent Musa with our signs to Firaun and his chiefs, but they wrongfully rejected them so see what was the end of those who made mischief.

¹⁰⁴ Musa said: "O Firaun! I am a messenger from the Lord of the universe,

¹⁰⁵ "One for whom it is right to say nothing but truth about Allah. Now have I come to you, from your Lord with a clear sign: so let Bani-Israel depart along with me."

¹⁰⁶ Firaun said: "If indeed you have come with a sign, show it forth, if you tell the truth."

¹⁰⁷ Then Musa threw his rod, and behold it was a serpent, plain for all to see!

¹⁰⁸ And he drew out his hand, and behold! It was white to all beholders!

¹⁰⁹ Said the chiefs of the people of Firaun: "This is indeed a sorcerer well-versed.

¹¹⁰ "His plan is to get you out of your land: then what is it you counsel?"

¹¹¹ They said: "Keep him and his brother in suspense; and send to the cities men to collect

¹¹² And bring up to you all the skilled sorcerers."

¹¹³ So the sorcerers came to Firaun. They said, Of course we shall have a reward if we win.

¹¹⁴ He said: Yes, you shall in that case be raised to posts nearest to me.

¹¹⁵ They said: O Musa will you throw first, or shall we?

¹¹⁶ Musa said: You throw first. So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people and struck terror into them: for they showed a great work of magic.

¹¹⁷ We put it into Musa's mind by inspiration: throw your rod: and behold it swallows up straightway all the falsehoods which they fake.

¹¹⁸ Thus truth was confirmed and all that they did was made of no effect.

¹¹⁹ So they were vanquished there and then and were made to look small.

¹²⁰ But the sorcerers fell down prostrate in adoration.

¹²¹ They said: We believe in the Lord of the universe,

¹²² The Lord of Musa and Harun.

¹²³ Firaun said: do you believe in him before I give you permission? Surely this is a trick which you have planned in the city to drive out its people: but soon shall you know the consequences.

¹²⁴ Be sure I will cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will cause you all to die on the cross.

¹²⁵ They said: for us, we are but sent back to our Lord:

¹²⁶ But you wreak your vengeance on us simply because we believed in the signs of our Lord when they reached us. Our Lord, pour out on us patience and constancy, and take our souls to you as ones who have submitted.

¹²⁷ The chiefs of Firaun's people said: Will you leave Musa and his people to spread mischief in the land, and to abandon you and your gods? He said: Their male children will we slay; their females will we save alive; they cannot resist us.

¹²⁸ Musa said to his people: Pray for help from Allah, in patience and constancy: for the earth is Allah's to give as a heritage to such of his servants as he pleases; and the end is best for the righteous.

¹²⁹ They said: We have had trouble both before and after you came to us. He said: It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you inheritors in the earth; that so he may try you by your deeds.

¹³⁰ We punished the people of Firaun with years of famine that they might receive admonition.

¹³¹ But when good times came, they said, this is due to us; when gripped by calamity, they ascribed it to evil omens connected with Musa and those with him. Behold, in truth the omens of evil are theirs in Allah's sight, but most of them do not understand.

¹³² They said: Whatever be the signs you bring to work your sorcery on us, we shall never believe in you.

¹³³ So we sent on them wholesale death, locusts, lice, frogs, and blood. The cause of these signs should have been obvious, but they were steeped in arrogance, a people given to sin.

¹³⁴ Every time the penalty fell on them, they said: O Musa on our behalf call on your Lord in virtue of his promise to you: if you will remove the penalty from us, we shall truly believe in you, and we shall send away Bani-Israel with you.

¹³⁵ But every time we removed the penalty from them according to a fixed term which they had to fulfil, behold they broke their word.

¹³⁶ So we exacted retribution from them: we drowned them in the sea, because they rejected our signs, and failed to take warning from them.

¹³⁷ And we made the people,[4] considered weak, inheritors of lands in both east and west,[5] lands on which we sent down our blessings. The fair promise of your Lord was fulfilled for Bani-Israel, because they had patience and constancy, and we levelled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Firaun and his people erected.

¹³⁸ We took Bani-Israel across the sea. They came upon a people devoted entirely to some idols they had. They said: O Musa, fashion for us a god like the gods they have. He said: surely you are a people without knowledge.

¹³⁹ As to these folk, the cult they are in is a fragment of a ruin, and vain is the worship which they practise.

¹⁴⁰ He said: Shall I seek for you a god other than Allah, when it is Allah who has endowed you with gifts above the nations?

¹⁴¹ And remember we rescued you from Firaun's people, who afflicted you with the worst of penalties, who slew your male children and saved alive your females: in that was a momentous trial from your Lord.

¹⁴² We appointed for Musa thirty nights, and completed the period with ten more: thus was completed the term with his Lord, forty nights. And Musa had charged his brother Harun: Act for me among my people. Do right, and follow not the way of those who do mischief.

¹⁴³ When Musa came to the place appointed by us, and his Lord addressed him, he said: O my Lord show yourself to me, that I may look upon you. Allah said: By no means can you see me; but look upon the mount; if it abide in its place, then shall you see me. When his Lord manifested his glory on the mount, he made it as dust, and Musa fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said: Glory be to you! To you I turn in repentance, and I am the first to believe.

¹⁴⁴ Allah said: O Musa, I have chosen you above other men, by the mission I have given you and the words I have spoken to you: take then the words which I give you, and be of those who give thanks.

¹⁴⁵ And we ordained laws for him in the tablets in all matters, both commanding and explaining all things. Take and hold these with firmness, and enjoin your people to hold fast by the best in the precepts: soon shall I show you the homes of the wicked.

¹⁴⁶ Those who behave arrogantly on the earth in defiance of right, will I turn away from my signs: even if they see all the signs, they will not believe in them; and if they see the way of right conduct, they will not adopt it as the way; but if they see the way of error, that is the way they will adopt. For they have rejected our signs, and failed to take warning from them.

¹⁴⁷ Those who reject our signs and the meeting in the hereafter, vain are their deeds: can they expect to be rewarded except according to their works?

¹⁴⁸ The people of Musa made, in his absence, out of their ornaments, the image of a calf. It seemed to low. Did they not see that it could neither speak to them, nor show them the way? They took it for worship and they did wrong.

¹⁴⁹ When they repented, and saw that they had erred, they said: if our Lord have not mercy upon us and forgive us, we shall indeed be of those who perish.

¹⁵⁰ When Musa came back to his people, angry and grieved, he said: evil it is that you have done in my place in my absence: did you make haste to bring on the judgment of your Lord? He put down the tablets, seized his brother by his head, and dragged him to him. Harun said: son of my mother the people did indeed reckon me as nothing, and were ready to kill me. Make not the enemies rejoice over my misfortune, nor count me among the people of sin.

¹⁵¹ Musa prayed: O my Lord, forgive me and my brother. Admit us to your mercy for you are the most merciful of those who show mercy.

¹⁵² Those who worshipped the calf will indeed be overwhelmed with wrath from their Lord, and with shame in this life: thus do we reward those who invent lies.

¹⁵³ But those who do wrong but repent thereafter and believe, truly your Lord is thereafter oft-forgiving, most merciful.

¹⁵⁴ When the anger of Musa was appeased, he took up the tablets: in the writing thereon was guidance and mercy for such as fear their Lord.

¹⁵⁵ And Musa chose seventy of his people for our place of meeting: when they were seized with violent quaking, he prayed: O my Lord if it had been your will you could have destroyed, long before, both them and me: would you destroy us for the deeds of the foolish once among us? This is no more than trial: by it you cause whom you will to stray and you lead whom you will into the right path. You are our protector: so forgive us and give us the mercy: for you are the best of those who forgive.

¹⁵⁶ And ordain for us that which is good, in this life and in the hereafter: for we have turned to you. He said: with my punishment I visit whom I will; but my mercy extends to all things. That mercy I shall ordain for those who do right, and practise regular charity, and those who believe in our signs,

¹⁵⁷ And those who follow the messenger, the illiterate prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own scriptures -- in the Taurat and the Injil -- for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good and prohibits them from what is bad; he releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them. So it is those who believe in him, honour him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him -- it is they who will prosper."

¹⁵⁸ Say: "O men! I am sent to you all, as the messenger of Allah, to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but he: it is he that gives both life and death. So believe in Allah and his messenger, the illiterate prophet, who believes in Allah and his words: follow him that you may be guided."

¹⁵⁹ Of the people of Musa there is a section who guide and do justice in the light of truth.

¹⁶⁰ We divided them into twelve tribes or nations. We directed Musa by inspiration, when his people asked him for water: "Strike the rock with your staff":[6] out of it there gushed forth twelve springs:[7] each group knew its own place for water. We caused the white cloud to overshadow them,[8] and sent down to them manna and quails,[9] saying: "Eat of the good things we have provided for you." They did no harm to us, but they harmed their own souls.

¹⁶¹ And remember it was said to them: Dwell in this town and eat in it as you wish, but say the word of humility and enter the gate in a posture of humility: we shall forgive you your sins; we shall prosper those who do good.

¹⁶² But the transgressors among them altered what was said to them, so we sent on them a plague from heaven. For they repeatedly transgressed.

¹⁶³ Ask them concerning the town standing close by the sea. Behold they transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath.[10] For on the day of their Sabbath their fish came to them, openly holding up their heads, but on the day they had no Sabbath, they came not: thus did we make a trial of them, for they were given to transgression.

¹⁶⁴ When some of them said: why do you preach to a people whom Allah will destroy or visit with a terrible punishment? Said the preachers: to discharge our duty to your Lord, and perhaps they may fear him.

¹⁶⁵ When they disregarded the warnings that had been given them, we rescued those who forbade evil; but we visited the wrongdoers with a grievous punishment, because they were given to transgression.

¹⁶⁶ When in their insolence they transgressed all prohibitions, we said to them: be apes, despised and rejected.

¹⁶⁷ Behold your Lord did declare that he would send against them, to the day of judgment, those who would affect them with grievous penalty. Your Lord is quick in retribution, but he is also oft-forgiving, most merciful.

¹⁶⁸ We broke them up into sections on this earth. There are among them some that are the righteous, and some that are the opposite. We have tried them with both prosperity and adversity: in order that they might turn.

¹⁶⁹ After them a new generation arose: they inherited Al-Kitab, but they chose the vanities of this world, saying: We will be forgiven. If similar vanities came their way, they would seize them. Was not the covenant of Al-Kitab taken from them, that they would not ascribe to Allah anything but the truth? Yet they study what is in it. Best for the righteous is the home of the hereafter. Will you not understand?

¹⁷⁰ As to those who hold fast by Al-Kitab and establish regular prayer, never shall we suffer the reward of the righteous to perish.

¹⁷¹ When we shook the mount over them, as if it had been a canopy, and they thought it was going to fall on them. We said: hold firmly to what we have given you, and bring to remembrance what is in it; perhaps you may fear Allah.

¹⁷² When your Lord drew forth from the loins of the children of Adam their descendants, and made them testify of themselves, saying: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes, we testify. Lest you should say on the day of judgment: of this we were never mindful:

¹⁷³ Or lest you should say: our fathers before us may have taken false gods, but we are their descendants: will you then destroy us because of the deeds of men who were futile?

¹⁷⁴ Thus do we explain the signs in detail; and perhaps they may turn.

¹⁷⁵ Relate to them the story of the man to whom we sent our signs, but he passed them by: so Satan followed him up, and he went astray.

¹⁷⁶ If it had been our will, we should have elevated him with our signs; but he inclined to the earth, and followed his own vain desires. His comparison is that of a dog: if you attack him, he lolls out his tongue, or if you leave him alone, he lolls out his tongue. That is the comparison of those who reject our signs; so relate the story; perhaps they may reflect.

¹⁷⁷ Evil as an example are people who reject our signs and wrong their own souls.

¹⁷⁸ He whom Allah guides, is on the right path: he whom he rejects from his guidance, is a person who perishes.

¹⁷⁹ Many are the Jinns and men we have made for hell: they have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle, no, more misguided: for they are heedless.

¹⁸⁰ The most beautiful names belong to Allah: so call on him by them; but shun such men as use profanity in his names: for what they do, they will soon be requited.

¹⁸¹ Of those we have created there are people who direct with the truth and dispense justice therewith.

¹⁸² Those who reject our signs, we shall gradually visit with punishment, in ways they don't see;

¹⁸³ Respite will I grant to them: for my scheme is strong.

¹⁸⁴ Do they not reflect? Their companion is not seized with madness: he is but a perspicuous warner.

¹⁸⁵ Do they see nothing in the government of the heavens and the earth and all that Allah has created, and that it may well be that their term is drawing near to an end? In what message after this will they then believe?

¹⁸⁶ To such as Allah rejects from his guidance, there can be no guide: he will leave them in their trespasses, wandering in distraction.

¹⁸⁷ They ask you: When will the hour of judgment come? Say: The knowledge of it is with my Lord: none but he can reveal as to when it will occur. Heavy will be its burden through the heavens and the earth. Only, all of a sudden will it come to you. They ask you as if you were eager in search of it: Say: The knowledge of it is with Allah, but most men know not.

¹⁸⁸ Say: I have no power over any good or harm to my self except as Allah wills. If I had knowledge of the unseen I should have multiplied all good and no evil should have touched me: I am but a warner, and a bringer of glad tidings to those who have faith.

¹⁸⁹ It is he who created you from a single person and made his mate of like nature, in order that he might dwell with her. When they are united, she bears a light burden and carries it about. When she grows heavy, they both pray to Allah their Lord: If you give us a goodly child, we vow to always be grateful.

¹⁹⁰ But when he gives them a goodly child, they ascribe to others a share in the gift they have received: but Allah is exalted high above the partners they ascribe to him.

¹⁹¹ Do they indeed ascribe to him as partners things that can create nothing, but are themselves created?

¹⁹² No aid can they give them nor can they aid themselves.

¹⁹³ If you call them to guidance, they will not obey: for you it is the same whether you call them or you hold your peace.

¹⁹⁴ Truly those whom you call upon besides Allah are servants like you: call upon them and let them lesson to your prayer, if you are truthful.

¹⁹⁵ Have they feet to walk with? Or hands to lay hold with? Or eyes to see with? Or ears to hear with? Say: Call your god-partners, scheme against me, and give me no respite!

¹⁹⁶ For my protector is Allah, who revealed Al-Kitab, and he will choose and befriend the righteous.

¹⁹⁷ But those you call upon besides him, are unable to help you, and indeed to help themselves.

¹⁹⁸ If you call them to guidance, they hear not. You will see them looking at the but the see not.

¹⁹⁹ Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; but turn away from the ignorant.

²⁰⁰ If a suggestion from Satan assails you, seek refuge with Allah; for he hears and knows everything.

²⁰¹ Those who fear Allah, when a thought of evil from Satan assaults them, bring Allah to remembrance, when lo, they see!

²⁰² But their brothers plunge them deeper into error, and never relax.

²⁰³ If you bring them not a revelation, they say: why have you not go it together? Say: I but follow what is revealed to me from my Lord: this is lights from your Lord, and guidance, and mercy, for any who have faith.

²⁰⁴ When the Quran is read, listen to it with attention, and hold your peace: that you may receive mercy.

²⁰⁵ And bring your Lord to remembrance in your soul, with humility and in reverence, without loudness in words, in the mornings and evenings; and be not of those who are unheedful.

²⁰⁶ Those who are near to your Lord, disdain not to do him worship: they celebrate his praises, and bow down before him.

[1] This "enmity" is explained in the Taurat's account of this event. In Genesis 3:15, Allah says to Satan, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." Satan is our avowed enemy, but one day he will be defeated by the "offspring of the woman," that is, the only man to be born of a woman without a human father, 'Isa Ibn Maryam. This theme of 'Isa al-Masih's victory over Satan is prominent in the holy Injil. He came so that "he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, Iblis" (Hebrews 2:14, see also 1 John 3:8).

[2] An obvious reference to the famous saying of Prophet 'Isa found three times in the holy Injil. Matthew 19:23,24 says, " 'Isa said to his disciples, Most assuredly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Allah." See also Mark 10:24,25and Luke 18:24,25.

[3] Similar wording is found in the Taurat: "in six days Allah made the heavens and earth, the sea, and all that is in them" (Exodus 20:11). The six days of creation are described in detail in the Taurat, Genesis, chapter one.

[5] Allah gave the land of Palestine to Bani-Israel as recorded in the holy Taurat. When Prophet Dawud (pbuh) and his son, the great emperor Sulayman (pbuh) ruled as kings, the territory of Israel extended from the border of Egypt to as far as the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq.

[6] See Taurat, Exodus 17 for the whole account. Verses 5 and 6 say, "Allah said to Musa, 'Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.' Musa did so in the sight of the elders of Israel."

[7] The Taurat's account of the water from the rock does not specify twelve springs. However, the Taurat does mention twelve springs of water in Exodus 15:27, "They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters."

[8] Perhaps a reference to the special pillar of cloud, signifying Allah's presence, which guided Bani-Israel during their journey from Egypt. Exodus 13:21,22 says, "Allah went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, did not depart from before the people."

[9] See Taurat, Exodus 16:13 and following for the first mention of the quails and the manna.

[10] The Sabbath is Saturday, and is observed by devout Jews as a day of rest and worship. As the holy Taurat says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labour six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Allah your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days Allah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Allah blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy." (Exodus 20:8-11).