# ayatafseer

tafseer:
All praise and gratitude (whoever gives them to whomever for whatever reason and in whatever way from the first day of creation until eternity) are for God, the Lord of the worlds,


tafseer:
The Path of those whom You have favored, not of those who have incurred (Your) wrath (punishment and condemnation), nor of those who are astray.


tafseer:
This is the (most honored, matchless) Book: there is no doubt about it (its Divine authorship and that it is a collection of pure truths throughout). A guidance for the God-revering, pious who keep their duty to God.


tafseer:
And those who believe in what is sent down to you, and what was sent down before you (such as the Torah, Gospel and Psalms, and the Scrolls of Abraham)


tafseer:
(Despite the commitment and energy you show in striving to help people to believe,) those who willfully persist in unbelief: it is alike to them whether you warn them or do not warn them


tafseer:
God has set a seal upon their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a covering. For them is a mighty punishment (in the Hereafter).


tafseer:
They would trick God and those who believe, and they trick only their own selves (of which they are enamored), but they do not perceive.


tafseer:
In the very center of their hearts is a sickness (that dries up the source of their spiritual life, extinguishes their power of understanding and corrupts their character), and (because of their moral corruption and the tricks they deploy out of envy and malice) God has increased them in sickness. For them is a painful punishment because they habitually lie.


tafseer:
(Because of the disorder they intend to provoke with their lies), whenever they are told (as part of the duty enjoined upon the believers to promote good and forbid evil), &quot


tafseer:
Beware, they themselves are those who cause disorder and corruption but they are unaware (of what they do and ignorant of what setting things right is and what causing disorder is).


tafseer:
(Since what they do only means demanding straying and ridicule,) God returns their mockery, leaving them to wander blindly on in their rebellion.


tafseer:
Such are the ones who have bought straying in exchange for guidance, but their trade has brought no profit, and they have no way out to escape it.


tafseer:
They are like him who (while traveling with company in the desert, halted for the night and) kindled a fire (for light and warmth and protection). However, when the fire had just lit all around him (and the company had become comfortable but were not properly appreciative of the fire and failed to guard it against wind, the fire was extinguished. Thus) God took away their light and left them in darkness, unseeing.


tafseer:
Or like (those caught in) a rainstorm from the sky, accompanied by veils of darkness, thunderclaps and flashes of lightning. (Terrified by the thunder, and as if they might thereby evade a possible stroke of lightning), they press their fingers into their ears in fear of death. This is how God has encompassed the unbelievers from all sides.


tafseer:
The lightning almost snatches away their sight. Whenever it gives them light, they take a few steps in it, and when the darkness covers them, they stand still. Had God so willed, indeed He would have taken away their hearing and sight. Surely God has full power over everything.


tafseer:
Now O humankind! Worship your Lord Who has created you as well as those before you (and brought you up in your human nature and identity), so that you may attain reverent piety toward Him and His protection (against any kind of straying and its consequent punishment in this world and the Hereafter)


tafseer:
And Who has made the earth a bed (comfortable, couch-like floor) for you, and the sky a canopy. He sends down from the sky water, with which He brings forth fruits for your provision. So do not set up rivals to God (as deities, lords and objects of worship) when you know (that there can be no deities, lords, creators and providers at all to worship save God).


tafseer:
If you are in doubt about the Divine authorship of what We have been sending down on Our servant (Muhammad) (and claim that it is the work of a human being like Muhammad who is illiterate), then produce just a surah like it and call for help to all your supporters, all those (to whom you apply for help apart from God), if you are truthful in your doubt and claim.


tafseer:
If you fail to do that – and you will most certainly fail – then guard yourselves against the Fire whose fuel is human beings and stones (that you have shaped into idols to adore), prepared for the unbelievers.


tafseer:
Give glad tidings to those who believe and do good, righteous deeds: for them are Gardens through which rivers flow. Every time they are provided with fruits (of different color, shape, taste, and fragrance and that are constantly renewed) therefrom, they say, &quot


tafseer:
God does not disdain to strike any parable – (that of) something like a gnat or something greater or lower than it. Those who have already believed know that it is the truth from their Lord. As to those whose unbelief has long been established in their hearts, they say, &quot


tafseer:
(Those) who break God’s covenant after its solemn binding, and sever the bonds God commanded to be joined, and cause disorder and corruption on earth. Such are those who are the losers (in both this world and the next).


tafseer:
How can you disbelieve in God, seeing that you were dead, and He gave you life. Then He causes you to die. Then He will bring you to life again


tafseer:
It is He Who (prepared the earth for your life before He gave you life, and) created all that is in the world for you (in order to create you – the human species – and make the earth suitable for your life)


tafseer:
(Having brought him into existence, God) taught Adam the names, all of them. Then (in order to clarify the supremacy of humankind and the wisdom in their being created and made vicegerent on the earth), He presented them (the things and beings, whose names had been taught to Adam, with their names) to the angels, and said, &quot


tafseer:
(In acknowledgement of their imperfection, and their perception of the truth of the matter, the angels) said: &quot


tafseer:
But Satan (tempting them to the forbidden tree despite Our forewarning,) caused them both to deflect therefrom and brought them out of the (happy) state in which they were. And We said, &quot


tafseer:
(Aware of his lapse and in the hope of retrieving his error, rather than attempting to find excuses for it,) Adam received from his Lord words that he perceived to be inspired in him (because of his remorse, and he pleaded through them for God’s forgiveness). In return, He accepted his repentance. He is the One Who accepts repentance and returns it with liberal forgiveness and additional reward, the All-Compassionate (especially towards His believing servants).


tafseer:
But those who disbelieve and deny Our signs (the verses of the revealed Book of guidance as well as the signs in both their inner world and the outer world establishing My Existence and Unity and other pillars of faith), they will be the companions of the Fire


tafseer:
O Children of Israel! Remember My favor that I bestowed upon you, and fulfill My covenant (which I made with you through your Prophets), so that I fulfill your covenant, and of Me alone be in awe and fear (in awareness of My Power and of your being My servants).


tafseer:
Believe in that which I have sent down (the Qur’an), confirming what (of the truth) you already possess, and do not be the first to disbelieve in it. And (you scribes, fearful of losing your status and the worldly benefit accruing from it) do not sell My Revelations for a trifling price (such as worldly gains, status and renown)


tafseer:
Do not confound the truth by mixing it with falsehood, and do not conceal the truth while you know (the meaning and outcome of what you do, and that what you strive to hide is true, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, whose coming you have been anticipating).


tafseer:
Do you enjoin upon people godliness and virtue but forget your own selves, (even) while you recite the Book (and see therein the orders, prohibitions, exhortations and warnings)? Will you not understand and come to your senses?


tafseer:
Seek help through patience (and fasting, which requires and enables great patience), and through the Prayer. Indeed the Prayer is burdensome, but not for those humbled by their reverence of God:


tafseer:
O Children of Israel! Remember My favor that I bestowed upon you, and that I once exalted you above all peoples


tafseer:
And be fearful of and strive to be guarded against a day when (everybody will be seeking a means to save himself, and when) no soul will pay on behalf of another, nor will any intercession (of the sort common in the world but which does not meet with God’s permission and approval) be accepted from any of them, nor will compensation be received from them, nor will they be helped.


tafseer:
And (remember) that We saved you from the clan (the court and military aristocracy) of the Pharaoh, afflicting you with the most evil suffering (by enslaving you to such laborious tasks as construction, transportation and farming ), slaughtering your sons and letting live your womenfolk (for further humiliation and suffering). In that was a grievous trial from your Lord.


tafseer:
And remember when (after years of struggle to escape Egypt, you had just reached the sea with the army of the Pharaoh in close pursuit and) We parted the sea for you and saved you, and (as sheer grace from Us, which you had no part in) caused the family of the Pharaoh to drown while you were looking on.


tafseer:
And when on another occasion We appointed with Moses forty nights, then (during the time he stayed on Mount Sinai


tafseer:
Then (even though adopting as deity any other than God is an unpardonable sin, We accepted your atonement and) We pardoned you after that, that you might (acknowledge Our many and great favors to you and) give thanks (believing in God and worshipping Him alone, and carrying out His commandments.)


tafseer:
And remember when We granted Moses (while he was on Mount Sinai for forty nights) the Book and the Criterion to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and the knowledge, and power of judgment to put it into effect, that you might be guided to truth and abide by it.


tafseer:
And (despite all that had occurred and the manifest signs of your Lord that you witnessed over many years, a time came) when you said: &quot


tafseer:
Then after that death-like state (and your spiritual death), We revived you (recovering you from the death-like state) so that you might give thanks.


tafseer:
And (since, unaided, you could not survive in the desert without shelter and food) We caused the cloud (which you plainly saw was assigned for you) to shade you, and sent down upon you manna and quails: &quot


tafseer:
And remember (after you had been wandering in the desert, how We guided you to a town) when We commanded: &quot


tafseer:
Then those who persisted in wrongdoing changed what had been said to them (regarding humility, imploring forgiveness, submission, and loyalty) for another saying (and so acted contrarily to how they had been ordered.) So We sent down upon those who did wrong a scourge from heaven because they were continually transgressing .


tafseer:
Again (remember) when Moses (on an occasion when his people were without water in the desert) beseeched water for his people, so We told him: &quot


tafseer:
(The truth is not as they – the Jews – claim, but this:) Those who believe (i.e. professing to be Muslims), or those who declare Judaism, or the Christians or the Sabaeans (or those of some other faith) – whoever truly believes in God and the Last Day and does good, righteous deeds, surely their reward is with their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
And (remember) when We took your promise (to keep Our covenant) and (in order to stress the importance of both the covenant and keeping it, and warn you against breaking it,) We raised the Mount (causing it to tower) over you: &quot


tafseer:
Then, after that, you turned away again (breaking your promise and disobeying the commandments of the Book). So, had it not been for the grace of God to you and His mercy (overlooking your offenses and forgiving you,) surely you would have been of the losers (in this world and the next.).


tafseer:
You surely know of those among you who exceeded the bounds with respect to the Sabbath, how We said to them, &quot


tafseer:
We made it a severe affliction exemplary for their own generations and those to follow them, and instruction and guidance for the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
And (remember also) when you had killed a living soul, and were accusing one another to deny the responsibility, but God would disclose what you were concealing.


tafseer:
(O community of the believers!) Do you hope that those people (whose hearts have become more hardened than rocks and who have continually shown disloyalty to God,) will believe you (and believe in the Prophet Muhammad, and in the Book he brought and the Religion he preaches)? (It is surely not possible) when there has been a party among them that hear the Word of God, and then, after they reasoned and judged it (to be the Word of God), have tampered with it knowingly.


tafseer:
Among them are the illiterate folk who do not know anything about the Book except fancies from hearsay, and merely follow their conjectures.


tafseer:
Woe, then, to those who write the Book with their hands (interpolating into it their readings of the Scriptures and their explanatory notes thereto, stories from their national history, superstitious ideas and fancies, philosophical doctrines and legal rules) and then in order to sell it for a trifling price (such as worldly benefit, status, and renown), they declare: &quot


tafseer:
(It is indeed the case that you speak in ignorance. The truth is,) rather, that whoever earns an evil (by his free will) and his vices engulf him – those are the companions of the Fire


tafseer:
And (remember) when We took a promise from the Children of Israel: You shall worship none save God (as the only Deity, Lord and Sovereign), and do good to parents in the best way possible, and to the near (relatives), to the orphans, and to the destitute


tafseer:
And (remember also) when We took a promise from you: you shall not shed blood among yourselves, and shall not expel one another from your habitations. You confirmed it, and you yourselves were (and still must be) witnesses to it.


tafseer:
Then, here you are, killing one another, and expelling a party of your own from their habitations, conspiring against them in iniquity and enmity. If you take them as captives, you hold them to ransom, and if they are brought to you as captives, you ransom them


tafseer:
Such are the ones who have bought the present, worldly life (the life of corporeal desires and ambitions) in exchange for the Hereafter. So (in consequence of this exchange) the punishment will not be lightened for them, nor will they be helped (not saved from the punishment in any of the ways they resort to in the world such as bribery, influence, or unjust intercession).


tafseer:
(That is their just deserts. For) We assuredly granted Moses the Book, and after him sent succeeding Messengers (in the footsteps of Moses to judge according to the Book, and thus We have never left them without guides and the light of guidance.) And (in the same succession) We granted Jesus son of Mary the clear proofs of the truth (and of his Messengership), and confirmed him with the Spirit of Holiness. Is it (ever so) that whenever a Messenger comes to you with what (as a message and commandments) does not suit your selves, you grow arrogant, denying some of them (the Messengers) and killing others?


tafseer:
(Despite all such favors, affection, forgiveness, advice and truths, they refuse to believe, and by way of excuse they ask derisively: &quot


tafseer:
And when there has (now) come to them a Book from God, confirming what (of the truth) they already possess – and though before that they were asking for a victory over the (tribes of al-Aws and Khazraj who were then) unbelievers, (saying: &quot


tafseer:
How evil is that for which they have sold themselves: (they have disbelieved in what God has sent down) begrudging that God should send down out of His grace the Book (and bestow Messengership) on whomever He wills of His servants. So they have earned wrath upon wrath. And, (as with other unbelievers who, defeated by their haughtiness, malicious envy, racial prejudice, worldly desires and ambitions, knowingly reject the truth) for those unbelievers is a shameful, humiliating punishment.


tafseer:
And when they are told (since the sign of a believer is believing in whatever God has sent down): &quot


tafseer:
Assuredly, Moses came to you with the clear proofs of the truth. Then however, very soon after he left you, you adopted the calf as deity, proving yourselves to be wrongdoers (who were continually committing such sins as breaking your covenants with God and serving false deities in His place).


tafseer:
And (remember) when We took your promise (to keep Our covenant) and (in order to stress the importance of both the covenant and keeping it, and warn you against breaking it) We raised the Mount (and caused it to tower) above you: Hold firmly to what We haven given you (of the Book) and give ear (to Our commandments and obey Moses.) They replied: &quot


tafseer:
But because of what they have forwarded with their own hands (to the Hereafter, namely the sins and offenses which have destroyed the desire in them to meet God), they will never long for it. God has full knowledge of the wrongdoers (who wrong their own selves by what they have done).


tafseer:
And you will undoubtedly find them the greediest of all people for life, (more greedy) than even those who associate partners with God. Everyone of them wishes if only he might be spared for a thousand years, yet his being spared to live will not remove him from the punishment. God sees well all that they do.


tafseer:
(This is not all. They feel enmity toward Gabriel because he brings the Qur’an to you, not to one among them.) Say (O Messenger, to them): &quot


tafseer:
(Enmity to Gabriel, who does nothing other than what he is commanded to do by God, means enmity to God and to His will.) Whoever is an enemy to God, and His angels, and His Messengers, and (so) Gabriel, and Michael, (should know that) God is surely an enemy to the unbelievers.


tafseer:
(O Messenger, do not grieve about their persistence in unbelief!) Assuredly We have sent down to you truths so manifest (that they both prove your Messengership and the Divine Authorship of the Qur’an as brightly as the sunlight). None disbelieve in them except transgressors (who have strayed from the Straight Path in belief, thought and conduct.)


tafseer:
Is it not ever so that whenever they (those transgressors) make a covenant, a party of them set it aside? (Indeed, they do so, and they are not a small party,) rather, most of them do not believe (so that they might be expected to keep their covenant.)


tafseer:
(This is not all.) When (finally) there has come to them a Messenger from God, confirming what (of the truth) they already possess, a party of those who were given the Book (the Torah) have (instead of paying heed to what it contains concerning the Last Messenger) flung the Book of God (the Qur’an) behind their backs, as if they did not know (that it is a Book from God and that the Messenger who has brought it is the Last Prophet they have been anticipating.)


tafseer:
And (just as their ancestors did) they follow the fictions the satans invented and spread about the rule of Solomon (falsely attributing his employment of jinn, devils, and animals in his kingdom to sorcery). But (ascribing creativity or creative effect to sorcery is a kind of unbelief and) Solomon (being a Prophet and excellent servant of God) never disbelieved. Rather, the satans (who spread false things about his rule) disbelieved, teaching people sorcery and the (distorted form of the) knowledge that was sent down on Harut and Marut, the two angels in Babylon. And they (these two angels charged with teaching people some occult sciences such as breaking a spell and protection against sorcery) never taught them to anyone without first warning, &quot


tafseer:
And if only they had believed and, in fear and reverence of God, sought to deserve His protection (against their straying and His punishment), a reward from God (of which they could not conceive) would have been absolutely good


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not say (in your relationship and conversations with God’s Messenger,) ra‘ina (please attend to us), but say, unzurna (favor us with your attention), and pay heed to him. (And be assured that) for the unbelievers (who are disrespectful to God’s Messenger) is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
Those who disbelieve among the People of the Book (by denying any of the Prophets or Divine Books or associating partners with God or cherishing enmity to His angels or in another way), and those who associate partners with God (among the people of Makkah and others) love not that there should be sent down on you any good from your Lord. But God singles out for His mercy (of favoring with Prophethood or another similar mission) whom He wills. God is of tremendous grace.


tafseer:
(Though they would exploit the abrogation of some rules of secondary degree to challenge your authority, the truth is that) We do not abrogate any verse or omit it (leaving it to be forgotten) but We bring one better than it or the like of it (more suited to the time and conditions in the course of perfecting religion and completing Our favor upon you). Do you not know (and surely you do know) that God has full power over everything?


tafseer:
Do you not know (and surely you do know) that God is He to Whom belongs the sovereignty (absolute ownership and dominion) of the heavens and the earth (with all that is therein)? (He acts as He wills in His dominion, and you are His servants wholly submitted to Him. Given this, and unless He wills,) you have, apart from God, neither a guardian (to whom you can entrust your affairs) nor a helper.


tafseer:
Or do you desire (prompted by the unbelievers among the People of the Book and without perceiving the wisdom in the abrogation of some verses) to harass your Messenger with senseless questions and unanswerable demands (such as seeing God plainly) as Moses was harassed before? Whoever exchanges faith for unbelief has surely strayed from the right, even way.


tafseer:
Many among the People of the Book, out of the envy ingrained in their souls, wish they could restore you as unbelievers after you have believed, after the truth was clear to them (that the Qur’an is God’s Word and Muhammad is the last, awaited Messenger). Yet pardon and overlook them (avoiding useless debates and polemics with them) until God brings in His verdict about them. Surely God has full power over everything.


tafseer:
(Let your concern be to) establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms. Whatever good you send ahead (to your future life in this world and the next) to your own souls’ account, you will find it with God. Whatever (good or evil) you do, surely God sees it well.


tafseer:
They (Jews or Christians) say that none will enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian. That is their wishfulness (vain desires and fancies). Say (to them, O Messenger): &quot


tafseer:
No! Rather, whoever submits his whole being to God (and does so) as one devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing him, his reward is with his Lord, and all such will have no fear (in this world and the next, for they will always find My help and support with them), nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
The Jews say the Christians have nothing (from God) to be based on, and the Christians say the Jews have nothing (from God) to be based on


tafseer:
Who is greater in doing wrong than he who bars God’s places of worship, so that His Name be not mentioned and invoked in them, and strives to ruin them? Such people might never enter them, save in fear (whether because of their alienation from the Religion or because they try to destroy them owing to their animosity against God). For them is disgrace in the world, and in the Hereafter a tremendous punishment.


tafseer:
(They attempt to exploit the issue of qiblah – the direction of Prayer – as a pretext to bar Muslims from places of worship and to prevent God’s Name being mentioned and invoked in them.) To God belong the East and the West (and therefore the whole earth with its east and west: wherever you are, you can turn to Him in the Prayer). Then, in whatever direction you turn, there is the &quot


tafseer:
And (despite this fact and that God is infinite, with nothing to restrict Him, and therefore has no equal or like) they claim that God has taken to Him a son. All-Glorified He is (in that He is absolutely above having any attributes particular to those contained in time and space). Rather, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth (under His absolute rule


tafseer:
The Originator of the heavens and the earth with nothing preceding Him to imitate. When He decrees a thing, He does but say to it &quot


tafseer:
Those who have no knowledge (from Him, those who do not recognize God, and therefore lead an ignorant life) say: &quot


tafseer:
(O Messenger! Let not what they say grieve you.) Assuredly We have sent you as a Messenger with the truth (with the true Book and clear truths) as a bearer of glad tidings (of prosperity in return for faith and righteousness) and as a warner (against the consequences of straying and transgression). You (carry out your duty truly and perfectly, and therefore) will not be questioned concerning the companions of the Blazing Flame.


tafseer:
Never will the Jews be pleased with you, nor the Christians, unless you follow their way of faith and life. Say (to them, O Messenger): &quot


tafseer:
Those (people) to whom We gave the Book (and who) recite it with true recitation, following its commandments without making any changes or distortions in it: they have (renewed, ever-strengthening) faith in it. Whoever disbelieves in it (conceals and distorts the truths the Book contains): they are the losers (in both this world and the Hereafter).


tafseer:
O Children of Israel! Remember My favor that I bestowed upon you (by choosing Prophets and Messengers from amongst you and granting you a great kingdom, and by giving you a Book and guiding you to the Straight Path), and that I once exalted you above all peoples.


tafseer:
And be fearful and strive to be guarded against a day when (everybody will be seeking a means to save himself, and when) no soul will pay on behalf of another, nor will compensation be accepted from any of them, nor will any intercession (of the sort common in the world but which does not meet with God’s permission and approval) be of use to them, nor will they be helped.


tafseer:
(You refuse to believe in and follow Muhammad chiefly because Prophethood was not retained with you and so he did not appear amongst you. Now, you surely do admit Abraham’s Prophethood, so) remember that his Lord tested Abraham with commands and ordeals (such as his being thrown into a fire, the destruction of the people of his kinsman Lot, and his being ordered to sacrifice his son Ishmael), and he fulfilled them thoroughly. He said: &quot


tafseer:
Remember, again, that We made the House (the Ka‘bah in Makkah) a resort for people, and a refuge of safety (a sanctuary, that is, a sign of the truth). Stand in the Prayer (O believers, as you did in earlier times) in the Station of Abraham. And We imposed a duty on Abraham and Ishmael: &quot


tafseer:
And when Abraham, and Ishmael with him, raised the foundations of the House (they were praying): &quot


tafseer:
Who (therefore) shrinks from the Way of Abraham, save him who makes himself a fool. Indeed We chose him as one pure and distinguished in the world, and he is surely among the righteous in the Hereafter.


tafseer:
Abraham bequeathed and enjoined this submission to his sons (Ishmael and Isaac) and (to his grandson) Jacob, saying: &quot


tafseer:
Or were you (O Children of Israel, of Jacob) witnesses when death came to Jacob (so that you might claim that he bequeathed and enjoined a religion otherwise than as Abraham did, to give yourselves an excuse for refusing Islam,) when he said to his sons: &quot


tafseer:
Those were a people that passed away. Theirs is what they earned, and yours is what you earn. You will not be called to account for what they used to do.


tafseer:
If (the Jews and Christians who claim to be guided) believe in the same as that which you believe in, they are rightly guided


tafseer:
Or do you claim that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Prophets who were raised in the tribes were &quot


tafseer:
And in that way (O Community of Muhammad! whereas others turn in different directions and, straying from the Straight Path, falter between extremes in thought and belief) We have made you a middle-way community, that you may be witnesses for the people (as to the ways they follow), and that the (most noble) Messenger may be a witness for you. We formerly appointed (the Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem) the direction to turn in the Prayer (and now are about to change it) so that We may determine who truly follows the Messenger from him who turns back on his heels (when the Messenger’s way does not suit his desires). And indeed that testing was burdensome, save for those whom God has guided (and made steadfast in faith). God will never let your faith go to waste. Surely God is for the people All-Pitying, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Certainly We have seen you (O Messenger) often turning your face to heaven (in expectation of a Revelation. Do not worry, for) We will surely turn you towards a direction that will please and satisfy you. (Now the time has come, so) turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque. (And you, O believers) turn your faces towards it wherever you are. Surely those who were given the Book (before, no matter if the hypocrites or the foolish among them deny or object to it) do know (the coming of this Prophet and this change of qiblah) to be true (commandments) from their Lord. God is not unaware or unmindful of whatever they do.


tafseer:
Even if (O Messenger) you were to bring to those who were given the Book (before) all kinds of signs and evidences, they would not follow your direction (qiblah). Indeed you are not a follower of their direction, nor are they followers of one another’s direction. (Theirs is an attitude arising from their fancies and desires, not from knowledge.) Were you to follow their fancies and desires after the knowledge that has come to you, then you would surely be among the wrongdoers (those who wrong themselves because of the errors they have done).


tafseer:
Those to whom We gave the Book (before) know him (the Messenger with all his distinguishing attributes including the direction he will turn to in the Prayer) as they know their own sons. Yet a party among them conceal the truth and they do it knowingly.


tafseer:
It (your turning towards the Sacred Mosque, O Messenger,) is the truth from your Lord, and only that which is from your Lord is the truth


tafseer:
Every people has a direction towards which they turn, (a goal they turn to in life, and those who turn to the Sacred Mosque have a way they follow to their goal). So strive together as if in a race, (O community of believers,) towards all that is good. Wherever you may be, God will bring you all together. Surely God has full power over everything.


tafseer:
From wherever you go out (for journeying), turn your face (O Messenger) towards the Sacred Mosque (in the Prayer). This is the truth from your Lord. (O you who believe! Do the same, for) God is not unaware and unmindful of what you do.


tafseer:
From wherever you go out (for journeying), turn your face (O Messenger) towards the Sacred Mosque (in the Prayer). Wherever you may be, (O you who believe,) turn your faces towards it, that the people may not have an argument against you – unless they be those immersed in wrongdoing


tafseer:
As We have sent among you a Messenger of your own, reciting to you Our Revelations, and purifying you (of false beliefs and doctrines, and sins, and all kinds of uncleanness), and instructing you in the Book and the Wisdom, and instructing you in whatever you do not know.


tafseer:
So (in return for all that) always remember and make mention of Me (when service to Me is due), that I may remember and make mention of you (when judgment and recompense are due)


tafseer:
O you who believe! Seek help (against all kinds of hardships and tribulations) through persevering patience and the Prayer


tafseer:
We will certainly test you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and fruits (earnings)


tafseer:
Such are those upon whom are blessings from their Lord (such as forgiveness, answering their calls and satisfying their needs) and mercy (to come in the form of help in both this world and Hereafter, and favors in Paradise beyond human imagination)


tafseer:
(The hills of) as-Safa and Marwah are among the emblems God has appointed (to represent Islam and the Muslim community). Hence whoever does the Hajj (the Major Pilgrimage) to the House (of God, the Ka‘bah) or the ‘Umrah (the Minor Pilgrimage), there is no blame on him to run between them (and let them run after they go round the Ka‘bah as an obligatory rite). And whoever does a good work voluntarily (such as additional going-round the Ka‘bah and running between as-Safa and Marwah, and other kinds of good works) surely God is All-Responsive to thankfulness, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
Those who conceal anything of the clear truths (concerning the fundamentals of the Religion, including Muhammad’s Messengership in particular) and (the Revelations conveying) the Guidance that We have sent down, after We have made them clear in the Book – God curses such people (excludes them from His mercy) and so do all who (have any authority to) curse.


tafseer:
Except those who repent and mend their ways, and openly declare (those signs and Revelations) – for those, I return their repentance with forgiveness (and include them in My special mercy). I am the One Who accepts repentance and returns it with liberal forgiveness and additional reward, the All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
But those who reject belief (demonstrated in their persisting in concealing the truths) and die unbelievers, on them is the curse of God and the angels, and of all humankind.


tafseer:
(So, O people, refrain from concealing the truths and from disbelieving, and do not seek in vain a source of help and another refuge for yourselves. For) Your God is One God


tafseer:
Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day (with their periods shortening and lengthening), and the vessels sailing in the sea with profit to people, and the water that God sends down from the sky, therewith reviving the earth after its death and dispersing therein all kinds of living creatures, and His disposal of the winds, and the clouds subservient between sky and earth – surely there are signs (demonstrating that He is the One God deserving worship, and the sole Refuge and Helper) for a people who use their reason.


tafseer:
Yet there are among humankind those who (devoid of good sense and unable to reason), take to themselves objects of worship as rivals to God, loving them with a love like that which is the due of God only – while those who truly believe are firmer in their love of God. If only those who do this (greatest) wrong could see – as they will see when they behold the punishment – that the power altogether belongs to God, and that God is severe in punishment.


tafseer:
At that time those who were followed (in the world as elders, heads, or leaders and loved as only God is to be loved) disown those who followed them and declare themselves innocent of their evil deeds, and they see the punishment, and the relations between them are cut off.


tafseer:
O humankind! (Observe whatever God commands you. He has made you dwell on the earth, so) eat of what is on the earth provided it is lawful, pure and wholesome (in composition and religiously)


tafseer:
He only commands you to evil and indecency and that you should speak against God the things about which you have no (sure) knowledge.


tafseer:
The likeness of those who refuse to believe is that of those who hear, from the one who is calling them, nothing except a shouting and crying out – they are deaf, dumb and blind, and so they have no understanding of (what is said to them).


tafseer:
O you who believe! (Without concern for the rules the unbelievers contrive in regard to food) eat of the pure, wholesome things that We have provided for you, and (in return) give thanks to God, if you worship Him alone.


tafseer:
He has made unlawful to you only carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that (the animal) which is offered in the name of other than God. Yet whoever is constrained by dire necessity to eat of them, provided he does not covet (that which is forbidden) nor transgress (the bounds of necessity), no sin shall be on him. Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Those who conceal the truths and commandments in the Book that God has sent down, and sell them for a trifling price (such as worldly benefit, status and renown), they eat nothing but fire in their bellies. And God will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection (when they will be in dire need to speak to Him to implore forgiveness and mercy), nor will He absolve them to pronounce them pure. For them is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
Such are the ones who have bought straying in exchange for guidance, and punishment in exchange for forgiveness. How they persevere in their striving to reach the Fire (and enduring it)!


tafseer:
That is so because God is sending down the Book with the truth, and there is nothing false in it. Those who are at variance regarding the Book (believing in part of it, disbelieving in part, and believing in one or some of the Divine Books, while disbelieving in the others), have certainly veered far (from the truth) into wide schism.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Prescribed for you is retaliation in cases of (deliberate, unjust) killing: freeman for freeman, slave for slave, female for female. Yet if he (the murderer) is granted some remission by his brother (any of the heirs of the victim), then what falls on the pardoning side is fulfilling in fairness what has been agreed on, and the other side is making the payment kindly enough to please the other side. This is a lightening from your Lord, and a mercy. Whoever offends after that, for him is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
There is life for you in retaliation, (if you understand,) O people of discernment, so it may be that you (will perceive it and fulfill God’s command and in so doing) attain the desired piety and righteousness and deserve His protection.


tafseer:
Prescribed for you, when any of you is visited by death, if he leaves behind wealth, is to make testament in favor of his parents and near relatives according to customary good and religiously approvable practice – a duty for the truly God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
Then if anyone changes the will after hearing it (and the will is not carried out as it must be) then the sin thereof is on those who change it. Surely God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
But if anyone fears from the testator an injustice or sin and brings about a settlement between the parties (by making the necessary change), then no sin will be on him. Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Prescribed for you is the Fast, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may deserve God’s protection (against the temptations of your carnal soul) and attain piety.


tafseer:
(Fasting is for) a fixed number of days. If any of you is so ill that he cannot fast, or on a journey, he must fast the same number of other days. But for those who can no longer manage to fast, there is a redemption (penance) by feeding a person in destitution (for each day missed or giving him the same amount in money). Yet better it is for him who volunteers greater good (by either giving more or fasting in case of recovery), and that you should fast (when you are able to) is better for you, if you but knew (the worth of fasting).


tafseer:
The month of Ramadan, in which the Qur’an was sent down as guidance for people, and as clear signs of Guidance and the Criterion (between truth and falsehood). Therefore whoever of you is present this month, must fast it, and whoever is so ill that he cannot fast or on a journey (must fast the same) number of other days. God wills ease for you, and He does not will hardship for you, so that you can complete the number of the days required, and exalt God for He has guided you, and so it may be that you will give thanks (due to Him).


tafseer:
And when (O Messenger) My servants ask you about Me, then surely I am near: I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he prays to Me. So let them respond to My call (without hesitation), and believe and trust in Me (in the way required of them), so that they may be guided to spiritual and intellectual excellence and right conduct.


tafseer:
It is made lawful for you to go in to your wives on the night of the Fast. (There is such intimacy between you that) they are a garment for you (enfolding you to protect you against illicit relations and beautifying you) and you are (in the same way for the same reasons) a garment for them. God knows that (you felt that) you were betraying yourselves (by doing what you supposed was prohibited), and has turned to you in lenience (and protected you from possible sins by not legislating such a prohibition). So now associate in intimacy with them and seek what God has ordained for you. And (you are permitted to) eat and drink until you discern the white streak of dawn against the blackness of night


tafseer:
(Eat and drink, but do the kinds of worship that help you to control your soul such as the Fast.) And do not consume your wealth among yourselves in false ways (in vanities, sins and crimes such as theft, usurpation, bribery, usury, and gambling)


tafseer:
Fight in God’s cause (in order to exalt His Name) against those who fight against you, but do not exceed the bounds (set by God), for surely God loves not those who exceed the bounds.


tafseer:
(While at war) kill them wherever you come upon them, and drive them out from where they drove you out (thus recovering your lands from their usurpation). (Though killing is something you feel aversion to) disorder (rooted in rebellion against God and recognizing no laws) is worse than killing. Do not fight against them in the vicinities of the Sacred Mosque unless they fight against you there


tafseer:
Then if they desist (from fighting), surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate (especially towards those who return to Him in repentance.)


tafseer:
(But if they persist in causing disorder, continue to) fight against them until there is no longer disorder rooted in rebellion against God, and the religion (the right for worship and the authority to order the way of life is recognized) for God. However, if they desist, then there is no hostility except to the wrongdoers.


tafseer:
A sacred month is retributive for another sacred month, and the inviolate values demand retaliation. So, whoever attacks you, attack them in like manner as they attacked you. Nevertheless, fear God and remain within the bounds of piety and righteousness, and know that God is with the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
(Just retaliation, as well as war or other defensive measures to maintain your existence, are not possible without expense. So) spend in God’s cause (out of whatever you have) and do not ruin yourselves by your own hands (by refraining from spending. Whatever you do,) do it in the best way in the awareness that God sees it. Surely God loves those who are devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
Complete the Hajj (the Major Pilgrimage) and the ‘Umrah (the Minor Pilgrimage) for God, and if you are impeded (after you have already put on the Pilgrimage attire), then send (to Makkah) a sacrificial offering you can afford. Do not shave your heads (to mark the end of the state of consecration for the Pilgrimage) until the offering has reached its destination and is sacrificed. However, if any of you is ill (so that he is obliged to leave the state of consecration) or has an ailment of the head, he must make redemption by fasting, or giving alms, or offering a sacrifice. When you are secure (when the Pilgrimage is not impeded, or the impediment is removed), then whoever takes advantage of the ‘Umrah before the Hajj, must give a sacrificial offering he can afford. For whoever cannot afford the offering, a fast for three days during the Hajj, and for seven days when you return home, that is, ten days in all. This is for those whose families do not live in the environs of the Sacred Mosque. Act in due reverence for God and piety (avoiding disobedience to Him and obeying His ordinances), and know that God is severe in retribution.


tafseer:
The Hajj is in the months well-known. Whoever undertakes the duty of Hajj in them, there is no sensual indulgence, nor wicked conduct, nor disputing during the Hajj. Whatever good you do (all that you are commanded and more than that, especially to help others), God knows it. Take your provisions for the Hajj (and do not be a burden upon others). In truth, the best provision is righteousness and piety, so be provided with righteousness and piety to guard against My punishment, O people of discernment!


tafseer:
There is no blame on you that you should seek of the bounty of your Lord (by trading during the Hajj but beware of preoccupation to the extent of neglecting any of the rites of the Hajj.) When you press on in multitude from ‘Arafat (after you have stayed there for some time,) mention God at Mash‘ar al-Haram (al-Muzdalifah)


tafseer:
Then (do not choose to remain in al-Muzdalifah without climbing ‘Arafat in order to refrain from mixing with other people because of vanity. Instead,) press on in multitude from where all the (other) people press on, and implore God’s forgiveness (for your opposing Him in any way before now and for the mistakes you have made during the Hajj). Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
And when you have performed those rites, mention God, as you mentioned your fathers (with the merits you approve of in them), or yet more intensely. For there are, among humankind, those who pray, &quot


tafseer:
Those people – for them is a portion, each according to what they have earned. God is swift at reckoning.


tafseer:
Mention God during the (three) appointed days (of ‘Id al-adha). Whoever is in haste and content with two days (of mentioning God, having performed the rite of throwing pebbles at Satan), it is no sin for him


tafseer:
Among the people there is he whose conversation on (the affairs of) the present, worldly life fascinates you, and he calls on God to bear testimony to what is in his heart, yet he is most fierce in enmity.


tafseer:
When he leaves (you) or attains authority, he rushes about the land to foment disorder and corruption therein and to ruin the sources of life and human generations. Surely God does not love disorder and corruption.


tafseer:
And (in contrast, there is) among the people one who sells himself in pursuit of God’s good pleasure. God is All-Pitying towards His servants (and therefore commends to them reverent piety and fear of His punishment).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Come in full submission to God, all of you, (without allowing any discord among you due to worldly reasons), and do not follow in the footsteps of Satan, for indeed he is a manifest enemy to you (seeking to seduce you to rebel against God with glittering promises).


tafseer:
If you stumble and fall back (from following God’s way to realize peace and agreement) after the clear proofs of the truth have come to you, then know that God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
What do those (who fail to come in full submission to God) look for but that God(’s command of destruction) should come to them in the shades of clouds with angels, and the matter be settled? To God are all matters ultimately referred, (and whatever He wills occurs).


tafseer:
Ask the Children of Israel how many clear proofs We gave to them (and what happened when they heeded them or did not heed them). Whoever tampers with God’s blessing after it has come to him (whoever alters the guidance or exchanges it for straying): surely God is severe in retribution.


tafseer:
The present, worldly life is decked out as appealing to those who are ungrateful to God’s blessing and disbelieve, and they deride those who believe (and attach no importance to the worldly life). But those who obey God in due reverence for Him and piety will be above them on the Day of Resurrection. God provides whomever He wills without reckoning.


tafseer:
Humankind were (in the beginning) one community (following one way of life without disputing over provision and other similar things. Later on differences arose and) God sent Prophets as bearers of glad tidings (of prosperity in return for faith and righteousness) and warners (against the consequences of straying and transgression), and He sent down with them the Book with the truth (containing nothing false in it) so that it might judge between the people concerning that on which they were differing. And only those who were given it differed concerning it, after the most manifest truths came to them, because of envious rivalry and insolence among themselves. God has guided by His leave those who have believed (in the Book and the Prophets, those who now believe in the Qur’an and Muhammad) to the truth about that on which they were differing. God guides whomever He wills to a straight path.


tafseer:
(Given the history of humankind in this world,) do you think that you will enter Paradise while there has not yet come upon you the like of what came upon those who passed away before you? They were visited by such adversities and hardships, and were so shaken as by earthquake that the Messenger and those who believed in his company nearly cried out: &quot


tafseer:
Prescribed for you is fighting, though it is disliked by you. It may well be that you dislike a thing but it is good for you, and it may well be that you like a thing but it is bad for you. God knows, and you do not know.


tafseer:
Surely those who believe, those who emigrate and strive in God’s cause – they are the ones who may hope for the mercy of God. God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Upon this world and the Hereafter (with all the truths related to both). And they ask you about (how they should act in regard to) orphans. Say (to them): &quot


tafseer:
Do not marry the women who associate partners with God until they believe. A believing slave-girl is better than a (free) woman who associates partners with God, even though she pleases and attracts you (with her beauty, wealth, status, or family). Nor marry (your believing women) to the men who associate partners with God until they believe. A believing slave is better than a (free) man who associates partners with God, even though he pleases and attracts you. Those call to the Fire, while God calls to Paradise and forgiveness (of your sins) by His leave. He makes clear His Revelations for people, that they may reflect and be mindful (of their duty to God).


tafseer:
Your women are like a tilth for you (where you plant seed to obtain produce) so come to your tilth as you wish, and send ahead (good issue) for (the future of) your souls. Act in due reverence for God, keeping within the bounds of piety and obedience to Him (both in your relations with your women and bringing up offspring, as in all other matters). And know that you are to meet with Him


tafseer:
(Do not make thoughtless oaths by God,) and do not (in striving to keep your oaths) make Him a hindrance by your oaths to doing greater good, acting from piety, and making peace among people. And God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
God does not take you to task for a slip in your oaths, but He takes you to task for what your hearts have earned (through intention). And God is All-Forgiving, All-Clement.


tafseer:
For those who vow abstinence from their wives there is a respite of four months. Then, if they go back on their vow (within this period by atoning), then surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
But if (the period ends and) they resolve on divorce, (know that) God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing, (well aware of what they say and do).


tafseer:
Divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three menstrual courses, and it is not lawful for them, if they believe in God and the Last Day, to conceal what God has created in their wombs. In such time their husbands have better right to take them back, if they desire a settlement. According to customary good and religiously approvable practice, women have rights similar to those against them (that men have), but men (in respect of their heavier duty and responsibility) have a degree above them (which they must not abuse). And God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
Divorce is (to be) pronounced twice. Then (at the end of each pronouncement) the husband should either retain (his wife) without offending her honor and in a fair manner, or release (her) kindly and in a manner fairer and pleasing (to her). (In the event of divorce) it is not lawful for you to take back anything of what you have given them (as bridal-due or wedding gift or gifts on other occasions), unless both fear that they might not be able to keep within the bounds set by God. If you fear that they might not be able to keep within the bounds set by God (and deviate into unlawful acts particularly because of the wife’s disgust with the husband), there is no blame on them that the wife might pay some compensation to be released from the marriage tie. Those are the bounds set by God, therefore do not exceed them. Whoever exceeds the bounds set by God, such are wrongdoers.


tafseer:
If he divorces her (finally, for the third time), she will no longer be lawful to him unless she marries another husband (of her own volition). (If she and her new husband do not get along well and) if he divorces her, there is no blame on them (the woman and her first husband, if they agree) to return to each other, if they think that they can keep within the bounds set by God. These are the bounds set by God


tafseer:
And when you divorce women and they reach the end of their waiting term, then either retain them without offending their honor and in a fair manner, or release them without offending their honor and in a fair manner. Do not retain them to their hurt and to transgress (their rights). Whoever does that, surely he has wronged himself. Do not take God’s Revelations for a mockery and remember God’s favor on you and what He has sent down on you of the Book and the Wisdom wherewith He exhorts you (to guidance). Keep from disobedience to God in due reverence for Him and piety, and know that God has full knowledge of everything.


tafseer:
When you divorce women and they have reached the end of their waiting term, (then, you judges, and you who are guardians of either party,) do not debar them from marrying their (former) husbands, (and O former husbands of them), from marrying other men, if they have come to an agreement between them on equitable terms. This is an admonition to whoever among you truly believes in God and the Last Day


tafseer:
Mothers (whether married or divorced) are to suckle their children for two complete years, if the fathers wish that the period be completed. It is incumbent upon him who fathered the child to provide the mothers (during this period) with sustenance and clothing according to customary good and religiously approvable practice. But no soul is charged save to its capacity


tafseer:
Those among you who die, leaving behind their wives: they (the wives) shall keep themselves in waiting for four months and ten days, (during which they should refrain from marrying and from self-adornment with a view to presenting themselves for marriage). When they have reached the end of the waiting term, then there is no blame on you for what they may do by themselves within (the bounds of) decency. God is fully aware of all that you do.


tafseer:
There is no blame on you that (during this waiting period) you indicate a marriage proposal to such women or keep it hidden in yourselves. God knows that you will think of them (with such proposals in mind), but do not make any secret engagement with them, except that you speak it properly in decent words. Do not resolve on the marriage tie until the ordained term has come to its end. Know that God knows what is in your hearts, so be careful about Him


tafseer:
There is no blame on you if you divorce women (with whom you made a marriage contract,) while as yet you have not touched them nor appointed any marriage-portion for them. Yet, make some provision for them, the affluent according to his means, and the straitened according to his means – a provision according to customary good and religiously approvable practice, as a duty upon those devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
If you divorce them before you have touched them but have already appointed for them a marriage-portion, then (give them) half of what you appointed, unless they make remission and forgo it or he in whose hand the marriage tie is makes remission (and pays the full amount). If you make remission, this is nearer and more suited to piety, and do not forget magnanimity among yourselves. Whatever you do, surely God sees it well.


tafseer:
Be ever mindful and protective of the prescribed Prayers, and the middle Prayer, and stand in the presence of God in utmost devotion and obedience.


tafseer:
If you are exposed to danger (and it is impossible for you to perform the Prayer standing in a place, then pray) afoot or mounted. When you are secure, mention God (and establish the Prayer) as He has taught you what you did not know (of faith, Book, and the Prayer.)


tafseer:
Those of you who (are about to) die leaving behind wives should make testament in their favor of one year’s provision without expulsion. If they themselves leave (of their own accord), there is no blame on you for what they may do of lawful deeds by themselves. Surely God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
Likewise, there should be a provision for the divorced women according to customary good and religiously approvable practice, as a duty upon the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
Thus does God make His Revelations (and signposts of His way) clear to you, that you may understand (where your benefit lies and act accordingly).


tafseer:
Do you not call to mind those who went forth from their habitations for fear of death even though they were in thousands? God said to them &quot


tafseer:
Who is he that (by spending out of his wealth purely in God’s cause) lends to God a handsome loan that He will return after multiplying it for him manifold? God straitens (your means of livelihood), and He enlarges it


tafseer:
Do you not consider what happened with the elders of the Children of Israel after Moses: once they appealed to a Prophet chosen for them, saying: &quot


tafseer:
So they routed them by God’s leave, and David killed Goliath, and God granted him kingdom and Wisdom, and taught him of that which He willed. Were it not that God repelled people, some by means of others, the earth would surely be corrupted


tafseer:
Those are the Revelations of God and His signs (demonstrating Him with His Names and Attributes) that We recite to you in truth, for indeed you (O Muhammad) are one of the Messengers (sent with the Book and receiving Revelation).


tafseer:
Of those Messengers, some We have exalted above others (in some respects). Among them are those to whom God spoke, and He raised some others in degrees. We granted Jesus son of Mary the clear proofs (of his Messengership), and confirmed him with the Spirit of Holiness. Had God willed (to deny humankind free will and compelled them to act in a pre-determined way), those who came after them would not have fought one against the other after the most manifest truths had come to them


tafseer:
O you who believe! (So that you may enjoy solidarity and discipline, as a cohesive, peaceful community) spend (in God’s cause and for the needy) out of what We have provided for you (of wealth, power, and knowledge, etc.) before there comes a Day when there will be no trading nor friendship (which will bring any benefit), nor intercession (of the sort you resort to unjustly in the world). The unbelievers – it is they who are wrongdoers (those unable to discern the truth, who darken both their inner and outer world, and who wrong, first and most of all, themselves).


tafseer:
There is no compulsion in the Religion. The right way stands there clearly distinguished from the false. Hence he who rejects the taghut (false deities, and powers of evil who institute patterns of faith and rule in defiance of God) and believes in God (as the only God, Lord and Object of Worship) has indeed taken hold of the firm, unbreakable handle


tafseer:
God is the confidant and guardian of those who believe (to Whom they can entrust their affairs and on Whom they can rely), bringing them out from all kinds of (intellectual, spiritual, social, economic and political) darkness into the light, and keeping them firm therein. And those who disbelieve, their confidants and guardians are the taghut (authorities who rule and devise false religions and systems in defiance of God)


tafseer:
Do you not consider the one who remonstrated with Abraham about his Lord (in defiance of Him) because of the kingdom God had granted him? When Abraham said, &quot


tafseer:
Or (as another proof that it is God alone Who gives and takes life, and will restore life to the dead, call to mind) him who passed by a town that had fallen into utter ruin, and asked himself (in bewilderment): &quot


tafseer:
The parable of those who spend their wealth in God’s cause is like that of a grain that sprouts seven ears, and in every ear there are a hundred grains. God multiplies for whom He wills. God is All-Embracing (with His mercy), All-Knowing.


tafseer:
Those who spend their wealth in God’s cause and then do not follow up what they have spent with putting (the receiver) under obligation and taunting, their reward is with their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
A kind word and forgiving (people’s faults) are better than almsgiving followed by taunting. God is All-Wealthy and Self-Sufficient, (absolutely independent of the charity of people), All-Clement (Who shows no haste in punishing.)


tafseer:
O you who believe! Render not vain your almsgiving by putting (the receiver) under an obligation and taunting – like him who spends his wealth to show off to people and be praised by them, and believes not in God and the Last Day. The parable of his spending is that of a rock on which there is soil


tafseer:
The parable of those who spend their wealth in pursuit of where God’s good pleasure lies and to make their hearts firmly established (in faith) is that of a garden on a hilltop: a heavy rain falls upon it, and it yields its produce twofold


tafseer:
Would any of you wish to have a garden of palms and vines with rivers flowing in it, where he has all kinds of crops, and that, when old age has come upon him while he has offspring still too small (to look after their affairs), a fiery whirlwind should smite it, and it should be burnt up? Thus does God make clear to you the Revelations (and signs of truth), that you may reflect (on them and act accordingly.)


tafseer:
O you who believe! Spend (in God’s cause and for the needy) out of the pure, wholesome things you have earned and of what We have produced for you from the earth, and do not seek after the bad things to spend thereof (in alms and in God’s cause) blot oout when you would not take it save with disdain


tafseer:
Satan frightens you with poverty and bids you into indecencies, whereas God promises you forgiveness from Himself and bounty. God is All-Embracing (with His mercy), All-Knowing.


tafseer:
He grants the Wisdom to whomever He wills, and whoever is granted the Wisdom, has indeed been granted much good. Yet none except people of discernment reflect and are mindful.


tafseer:
Whatever you spend (whether little or much, good or bad, in God’s cause or in the way of Satan) and whatever vow you make, God surely knows it. (Even though they may regard their future as secured) the wrongdoers have no helpers (with regard to their ultimate future).


tafseer:
If you dispense your alms openly, it is well, but if you conceal it and give it to the poor (in secret), this is better for you


tafseer:
(O Messenger! Your mission is to communicate all such commandments, so) it is not your duty to secure their guidance (in every matter)


tafseer:
That (which you spend) is for the poor who, having dedicated themselves to God’s cause, are in distressed circumstances. They are unable to move about the earth (to render service in God’s cause and earn their livelihood). Those who are unaware (of their circumstances) suppose them wealthy because of their abstinence and dignified bearing, but you will know them by their countenance – they do not beg of people importunately. And whatever good you spend, surely God has full knowledge of it.


tafseer:
Those who spend their wealth night and day, secretly and in public, their reward is with their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
As to those who devour interest, (even though they seem, for a time, to be making a profit), they turn out like one whom Satan has bewitched and confounded by his touch, (and they will rise up (from their graves in the same way before God). That is because they say interest is just like trading, whereas God has made trading lawful, and interest unlawful. To whomever an instruction comes from his Lord, and he desists (from interest), he may keep his past gains (legally), and his affair is committed to God (– if he repents sincerely and never again reverts to taking interest, he may hope that God will forgive him). But whoever reverts to it (by judging it to be lawful), they are companions of the Fire, they will abide therein.


tafseer:
God deprives interest (which is thought to increase wealth) of any blessing, and blights it, but makes alms-giving (which is thought to decrease wealth) productive. God does not love any obstinate unbeliever (who regards what God has made lawful as unlawful or vice versa), any obstinate sinner.


tafseer:
Those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, and establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions, and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms, their reward is with their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Keep from disobedience to God and try to attain piety in due reverence for Him, and give up what remains (due to you) from interest, if you are (in truth) believers.


tafseer:
If you do not (and you persist in taking interest, whether regarding it as lawful or not) be warned of war from God and His Messenger. If you sincerely repent (and give up all interest transactions completely), you will have your principal. Then you will neither be doing wrong nor being wronged.


tafseer:
And guard yourselves against a Day in which you will be brought back to God (with all your deeds referred to His judgment). Then every soul will be repaid in full what it has earned (while in the world), and they will not be wronged.


tafseer:
O you who believe! When you contract a debt between you for a fixed term, record it in writing. Let a scribe write it down between you justly, and let no scribe refuse to write it down: as God has taught him (through the Qur’an and His Messenger), so let him write. And let the debtor dictate, and let him avoid disobeying God, his Lord (Who has created him and brought him up with mercy and grace) and curtail no part of it. If the debtor be weak of mind or body, or incapable of dictating, let his guardian dictate justly. And call upon two (Muslim) men among you as witnesses. If two men are not there, then let there be one man and two women, from among those of whom you approve as witnesses, that if either of the two women errs (through forgetfulness), the other may remind her. Let the witnesses not refuse when they are summoned (to give evidence). And (you, O scribes) be not loath to write down (the contract) whether it be small or great, with the term of the contract. Your doing so (O you who believe), is more equitable in the sight of God, more upright for testimony, and more likely that you will not be in doubt. If it be a matter of buying and selling concluded on the spot, then there will be no blame on you if you do not write it down


tafseer:
If you are (in circumstances like being) on a journey and cannot find a scribe, then a pledge in hand will suffice. But if you trust one another, let him (the debtor) who is trusted fulfill his trust, and let him act in piety and keep from disobedience to God, his Lord (by fulfilling the conditions of the contract). And do not conceal the testimony


tafseer:
(O believers, if you are worried that God will take every soul to account even for what the soul keeps within it of intentions and plans, know that) God burdens no soul except within its capacity: in its favor is whatever (good) it earns, and against it whatever (evil) it merits. (So, pray thus to your Lord:) &quot


tafseer:
He sends down on you the Book in parts with the truth, confirming (the Divine origin of, and the truths still contained by) the Revelations prior to it


tafseer:
It is He Who fashions you in the wombs as He wills. There is no deity but He, the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Wise.


tafseer:
It is He Who has sent down on you this (glorious) Book, wherein are verses absolutely explicit and firm: they are the core of the Book, others being allegorical. Those in whose hearts is swerving pursue what is allegorical in it, seeking (to cause) dissension, and seeking to make it open to arbitrary interpretation, although none knows its interpretation save God. And those firmly rooted in knowledge say: &quot


tafseer:
It is just as that which happened to the court (the court and military aristocracy) of the Pharaoh, and those before them. They denied Our Revelations, and so God seized them for their sins. God is severe in retribution.


tafseer:
There has already been a manifest sign (of the truth of God’s way) and lesson for you in the two hosts that encountered (at the Battle of Badr): one host fighting in God’s cause, and the other disbelieving, who saw with their very eyes (the host of the believers) as twice their actual number (during fighting). God confirms with His help and victory whom He wills. Surely in that is a lesson for those who have the power of seeing.


tafseer:
Made innately appealing to men are passionate love for women, children, (hoarded) treasures of gold and silver, branded horses, cattle, and plantations. Such are enjoyments of the present, worldly life


tafseer:
Those who are persevering (in misfortune and steadfast in fulfilling God’s commandments and in refraining from sins), and truthful (in their words and actions, and true to their covenants), and devoutly obedient, and who spend (out of what God has provided for them, in His way and for the needy), and who implore God’s forgiveness before daybreak.


tafseer:
God (Himself) testifies that there surely is no deity but He, and so do the angels and those of knowledge, being firm in upholding truth and uprightness: (these all testify that) there is no deity but He, the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Wise.


tafseer:
The (true) religion with God is Islam. Those who were given the Book before differed only after the knowledge (of truth) came to them because of envious rivalry and insolence among themselves. Whoever disbelieves in the Revelations of God (should know that) God is swift at reckoning.


tafseer:
Those who disbelieve in the Revelations of God, and frequently kill the Prophets (sent to them) against all right, and who kill those who advocate and try to establish equity and justice – give them the glad tidings of a painful punishment.


tafseer:
Those are the ones whose works have been wasted in both this world and the Hereafter, and they have no helpers (to restore their works to their benefit and save them from punishment).


tafseer:
Do you not consider those who were given a portion from the Book? They are called to the Book of God to judge between them, and then, (after the judgment was given,) a party of them turn away in aversion.


tafseer:
How then will they fare when We gather them all together for a (terrible) Day about (the coming of) which there is no doubt, and when every soul will be repaid in full for what it earned (while in the world), and none will be wronged?


tafseer:
Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends, guardians, and councilors in preference to the believers. Whoever does that is not on a way from God and has no connection with Him, unless it be to protect yourselves against them and take precautions (against the danger of being persecuted and forced to turn away from your religion or betray your community, or of losing your life). And God warns you that you beware of Himself


tafseer:
The Day when every soul will find whatever good it has done brought forward, and whatever evil it has done. It will wish that there were a far space between it and that evil. God warns you that you beware of Himself


tafseer:
(They refuse belief in you and some of the Prophets because you did not appear among them, but God favors whomever He wishes with Messengership, and) God made pure Adam and Noah and the House of Abraham and the House of ‘Imran, choosing them above all humankind,


tafseer:
As descendants of one another, (and they were following the same way. Therefore, do not, in respect of believing in them as Prophets, make any distinction between the Prophets and do not think or speak ill of God’s preference). God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
(In response to her mother’s sincerity and purity of intention in dedicating the child,) her Lord accepted her with gracious favor and enabled to her a good growth (upbringing), and entrusted her to the care of Zachariah. Whenever Zachariah went in to her in the Sanctuary, he found her provided with food. &quot


tafseer:
(O Messenger:) that is of the tidings of the things of the unseen (the things that took place in the past and have remained hidden from people with all their truth), which We reveal to you, for you were not present with them when they drew lots with their pens about who should have charge of Mary


tafseer:
‘And confirming (the truth contained in) the Torah that was revealed before me, and to make lawful for you certain things that had been forbidden to you. Be sure that I have come to you with a clear proof (demonstrating that I am a Messenger of God) from your Lord. So keep from disobedience to God in due reverence for Him and piety, and obey me


tafseer:
(Having preached his message in this way for a long time) Jesus perceived their willful persistence on unbelief (and open hostility), and called out: &quot


tafseer:
And they (the unbelievers) schemed (against Jesus), and God put His will into effect (and brought their schemes to nothing). God wills what is the best (for His believing servants) and makes His will prevail.


tafseer:
Thus (O Messenger,) all this that We recite to you consists of Revelations and is from the Wise Reminder (the Qur’an).


tafseer:
(The creation of) Jesus in reference to God resembles (the creation of) Adam. He created him from earth, then said He to him, &quot


tafseer:
(As the truth always consists in what your Lord wills and decrees,) so is this the truth from your Lord (in this matter)


tafseer:
After the (true) knowledge has come to you, whoever still disputes with you about him (Jesus), say (in challenging them): &quot


tafseer:
If they (still) turn away, be assured that God has full knowledge of those engaged in causing disorder and corruption.


tafseer:
O People of the Book (Jews and Christians)! Why do you dispute concerning Abraham (whether he was a Jew or a Christian), when both the Torah and the Gospel were not sent down save after him? Will you ever not use your reason?


tafseer:
Indeed, you are such people that you dispute concerning even a matter about which you have knowledge


tafseer:
Surely those of humankind who have the best claim to relationship with Abraham are those who followed him (during the term of his mission), and this (most illustrious) Prophet, and those (in his company) who believe. God is the confidant and guardian of the believers (to Whom they can entrust their affairs and on Whom they can rely.)


tafseer:
O People of the Book! Why do you disbelieve in God’s Revelations (the clear proofs of truth), when you yourselves bear witness (to their truth in your own Books)?


tafseer:
O People of the Book! Why do you confound the truth (by mixing it) with falsehood and conceal the truth knowingly?


tafseer:
(In attempting a trick on the believers,) a party of the People of the Book say (to each other): &quot


tafseer:
He singles out for His mercy (of favoring with Prophethood or another calling) whom He wills. God is of tremendous grace and bounty.


tafseer:
Among the People of the Book are some who, if you entrust them with a weight of treasure, restore it to you


tafseer:
On the contrary (what God decrees is this): Whoever fulfills his pledge and keeps from disobedience to God in due reverence for Him and piety, surely God loves the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
As to those who sell God’s covenant and their oaths for a trifling price, there will be no share for them in the Hereafter


tafseer:
And among them is a party twisting (the words of) the Book with their tongues (during their reading in order to distort its meaning), so that you may suppose it part of the Book, when it is not part of the Book


tafseer:
It is not (conceivable) that God should give a human being the Book, authority with sound, wise judgment, and Prophethood, and then he should say to people: &quot


tafseer:
And he never commands you to take the angels and the Prophets for Lords. Would he command you to unbelief, when you have (answered his call and) become Muslims (submitted to God exclusively)?


tafseer:
Do they now seek a religion other than God’s, when to Him submits whoever is in the heavens and on the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and to Him they are being returned?


tafseer:
Whoever seeks as religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers.


tafseer:
How would God guide a people who have disbelieved after their belief, and after they have borne witness that the Messenger is true and after the clear proofs (of His Messengership and the Divine origin of the Book he has brought) have come to them? God guides not wrongdoing people.


tafseer:
For those – their recompense is that on them rests the curse of God, and of angels, and of humankind, all together.


tafseer:
Therein will they abide. Neither will their punishment be lightened, nor will they be granted any respite.


tafseer:
Save those who afterwards repent and mend their ways. Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
But those who have disbelieved after their (profession of) belief and then have hardened in unbelief, (they have lost the capacity for believing so they can no longer return to faith, nor repent until they are held in the jaws of death, and) their repentance (at that moment) will not be accepted. And they are those who are altogether astray.


tafseer:
Assuredly, those who disbelieve and die as unbelievers, no ransom even if it was as much gold as to fill the earth will be accepted from any of them. Such are those for whom is a painful punishment, and they will have no helpers (against it).


tafseer:
You will never be able to attain godliness and virtue until you spend of what you love (in God’s cause or to provide sustenance for the needy). Whatever you spend, God has full knowledge of it.


tafseer:
All (kinds of) food (that are lawful in the Law revealed to Muhammad) were lawful to the Children of Israel (in the beginning) except what Israel (i.e. Prophet Jacob) forbade for himself before the Torah was sent down. Say (to them, O Messenger): &quot


tafseer:
So whoever fabricates falsehood in attribution to God after that (statement, above, of the truth of the matter) – such are the wrongdoers.


tafseer:
Behold, the first House (of Prayer) established for humankind is the one at Bakkah (Makkah), a blessed place and a (center or focus of) guidance for all peoples.


tafseer:
In it there are clear signs (demonstrating that it is a blessed sanctuary, chosen by God as the center of guidance), and the Station of Abraham. Whoever enters it is in security (against attack and fear). Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to God by all who can afford a way to it. And whoever refuses (the obligation of the Pilgrimage) or is ungrateful to God (by not fulfilling this command), God is absolutely independent of all creatures.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Were you to obey a party of those who were given the Book, they would turn you, after your faith, into unbelievers.


tafseer:
How do you disbelieve, seeing you are the ones to whom God’s Revelations are recited and His Messenger is amidst you? Whoever holds fast to God, he has certainly been guided to a straight path.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Keep from disobedience to God in reverent piety with all the reverence that is due to Him, and see that you do not die save as Muslims (submitted to Him exclusively).


tafseer:
And hold fast all together to the rope of God and never be divided. Remember God’s favor upon you: you were once enemies and He reconciled your hearts so that through His favor you became like brothers. You stood on the brink of a pit of fire, and He delivered you from it. Thus God makes His signs of truth clear to you that you may be guided (to the Straight Path in all matters and be steadfast on it.)


tafseer:
There must be among you a community calling to good, and enjoining and actively promoting what is right and forbidding and trying to prevent evil (in appropriate ways). They are those who are the prosperous.


tafseer:
Be not as those who split into parties and followed different ways after the manifest truths had come to them. Those are the ones for whom is a tremendous punishment.


tafseer:
On the Day when some faces turn bright and some faces turn dark: and as to those whose faces have turned dark (they will be told): &quot


tafseer:
As for those whose faces have turned bright, they are (embraced) in God’s mercy, therein abiding forever.


tafseer:
These are God’s Revelations: We recite them to you in truth, and God wills not any wrong to the world’s people.


tafseer:
(How could that be so, seeing that) to God belongs whatever is in the heavens and on the earth, and to God are all matters ultimately referred, (and whatever He wills occurs).


tafseer:
(O Community of Muhammad!) You are the best community ever brought forth for (the good of) humankind, enjoining and actively promoting what is right and good and forbidding and trying to prevent the evil, and (this you do because) you believe in God. If only the People of the Book believed (as you do), this would be sheer good for them. Among them there are believers, but most of them are transgressors.


tafseer:
They will never be able to harm you except hurting a little (mostly with their tongues). If they fight against you, they will turn their backs in flight


tafseer:
Ignominy has been their (the Jews’) portion wherever they have been found except for (when they hold on to) a rope from God or a rope from other peoples


tafseer:
Yet they are not all alike: among the People of the Book there is an upright community, reciting God’s Revelations in the watches of the night and prostrating (themselves in worship).


tafseer:
They believe in God and the Last Day, and enjoin and promote what is right and good and forbid and try to prevent the evil, and hasten to do good deeds as if competing with one another. Those are of the righteous ones.


tafseer:
As to those who disbelieve, their riches will not avail them in the least, nor their children, against God


tafseer:
Their spending (to attain their goals in humanitarian or religious guises) in this life of the world is like a biting wind accompanied with frost that smites the harvest of a people who wronged themselves (by their wrong belief and their wrong actions), and devastates it. God has never wronged them but they do wrong themselves.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Take not for intimates from among others than your own people, for those (who especially cherish hostility towards you) spare no effort to ruin you, and yearn for you to always suffer. Hatred has shown itself by their mouths, and what their bosoms conceal is even greater. Now We have told you the manifest truths, if you reason and understand.


tafseer:
You are such (frank, clear-hearted) people that you love them (even those who are enemies to you), but they do not love you


tafseer:
(Remember, O Messenger) when you set forth from your home at dawn to place the believers in battle order – God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing (He heard and knew all that was happening and being talked about on that day).


tafseer:
When two parties of you were about to lose heart, although God was their helper and protector – and in God let the believers put all their trust.


tafseer:
For sure God had helped you to victory at Badr when you were a despised (small) force. So observe your duty to God in due reverence for Him, that you may be thankful.


tafseer:
Surely it does. (More than that), if you are steadfast and act in piety to deserve His protection, and the enemy should fall upon you all at once, your Lord will come to your help with five thousand angels swooping down.


tafseer:
God did not ordain this save as a message of good hope for you, and so that thereby your hearts might be at peace – victory comes only from God, the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Wise.


tafseer:
And that (through you) He might cut off a (leading) party of those who disbelieved, or overwhelm them, so that they (and others) would retreat in utter disappointment.


tafseer:
(O Messenger, you are a servant charged with a certain duty, therefore) it is not a matter for you whether He turns towards them in mercy (to accept their repentance for their unbelief, and grants them faith) or punishes them because they are wrongdoers.


tafseer:
And (be careful of your acts and transactions and) guard yourselves against the Fire, prepared for the unbelievers.


tafseer:
Obey God and the Messenger, so that you may be shown mercy (granted a good, virtuous life in this world and eternal happiness in the Hereafter).


tafseer:
And hasten, as if competing with one another, to forgiveness from your Lord, and to a Garden as spacious as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
They spend (out of what God has provided for them,) both in ease and hardship, ever-restraining their rage (even when provoked and able to retaliate), and pardoning people (their offenses). God loves (such) people who are devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
They are also the ones who, when they have committed a shameful deed or wronged themselves (through any kind of sinful act), immediately remember God and implore Him to forgive their sins – for who will forgive sins save God? – and do not persist knowingly in whatever (evil) they have committed.


tafseer:
Such are the ones whose reward is forgiveness from their Lord and Gardens through which rivers flow, to abide therein. How excellent is the reward of those who always do good deeds!


tafseer:
Assuredly, before you have passed many ways of life and practices (that illustrate the law God has established for the life of human societies). Go about, then, on the earth and behold how the outcome was for those who denied (God’s manifest signs and Messengers).


tafseer:
This (history of peoples past) is a plain exposition (of the truth) for all people, and a clear guidance (to a more substantial faith and devotion) and an instruction for the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
Do not, then, be faint of heart, nor grieve, for you are always the superior side if you are (true) believers.


tafseer:
If a wound has touched you (at Uhud), (you know that) a similar wound touched those (disbelieving) people (at Badr). Such (historic, eventful) days – We deal them out in turns among people so that God may mark out those who (truly) believe and select from among you such as bear witness to the truth (with their lives)


tafseer:
And that He may purify the believers (individually, of all base metal, and collectively, of the hypocrites among them) and gradually blot out the unbelievers.


tafseer:
Did you suppose that you should enter Paradise without God marking out those among you who really strive hard (in His cause and marking out the patient and steadfast?


tafseer:
(Did you think that this cause of Islam subsisted not by God but while Muhammad was alive among you? If so, know that this cause depends on God and as for his part in it, know that) Muhammad is but a Messenger, and Messengers passed away before him. If, then, he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heels? Whoever turns back on his heels can in no way harm God. But God will (abundantly) reward the thankful ones (those who are steadfast in God’s cause).


tafseer:
It never occurs that a soul dies save by God’s leave, at a time appointed. So whoever desires the reward of this world, We give him of it (in the world)


tafseer:
And how many a Prophet has had to fight (for God’s cause), followed by numbers of godly, dedicated servants of God


tafseer:
So God granted them the reward of this world as well as the best reward of the Hereafter. Indeed God loves those devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
O you who believe! If you follow those who disbelieve (the hypocrites and Jews in Madinah who spread negative propaganda concerning the events at Uhud), they will drive you back on your heels (into unbelief), and you will turn utter losers (in both this world and the next).


tafseer:
We will throw alarm into the hearts of those who disbelieve because they associate with God partners, for which He has sent no authority at all


tafseer:
God did indeed fulfill His promise to you when you routed them by His leave, up to (the point) when you lost heart, and disagreed about the order (given to the archers among you not to leave their positions), and disobeyed, after He had brought you within sight of that (victory) for which you were longing. Among you were such as cared for this world, and among you were such as cared for the Hereafter. Then He diverted you from them (the enemy), that He might try you. But He has surely pardoned you: God has grace and bounty for the believers.


tafseer:
When you were running off (from the battlefield), paying no heed to anyone, and at your rear the Messenger was calling out to you (to stay in the battle), then God requited you with grief after grief so that you might not grieve either for what escaped you, or for what befell you. God is fully aware of all that you do.


tafseer:
Those of you who turned away on the day when the two hosts encountered (at Uhud), Satan made them slip because of some of the errors they themselves had committed. But now God has pardoned them. Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Clement.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Be not as those who disbelieve and say of their brothers who (died) after having set out on a journey or gone forth to war, &quot


tafseer:
And if you are killed, or die, in God’s cause, then forgiveness from God and mercy are far better than all that they could amass (in this life).


tafseer:
It was by a mercy from God that (at the time of the setback), you (O Messenger) were lenient with them (your Companions). Had you been harsh and hard-hearted, they would surely have scattered away from about you. Then pardon them, pray for their forgiveness, and take counsel with them in the affairs (of public concern), and when you are resolved (on a course of action), put your trust in God. Surely God loves those who put their trust (in Him).


tafseer:
What, is he who strives after God’s good pleasure and approval like him who is laden with God’s condemnation and whose refuge is Hell? How evil a destination to arrive at!


tafseer:
Assuredly, God has done the believers a great kindness by raising among them a Messenger of their own, reciting to them His Revelations, and purifying them (of false beliefs and doctrines, and sins, and all kinds of uncleanness), and instructing them in the Book and the Wisdom. Whereas, before that, they were lost in obvious error.


tafseer:
And do you, now that a disaster has befallen you, though you inflicted the double (of that on your foes at Badr), say: &quot


tafseer:
What befell you on the day when the two hosts met (in battle) was by God’s leave, and that He might mark out the (true) believers.


tafseer:
Rejoicing in what God has granted them out of His bounty, and joyful in the glad tidings for those left behind who have not yet joined them, that (in the event of martyrdom) they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
They are joyful in the glad tidings of God’s blessing and bounty (that He has prepared for the martyrs), and in (the promise) that God never leaves to waste the reward of the believers.


tafseer:
Those who responded to the call of God and the Messenger after the hurt had befallen them – for all those of them who persevered in doing good, aware that God was seeing them, and acted in reverence for God and piety, there is a tremendous reward.


tafseer:
So they returned with favor and bounty from God, having suffered no harm. They strove after God’s good pleasure by acting in the way He approved of. God is of tremendous grace and bounty.


tafseer:
It was but that (human) devil who, (by provoking alarm,) desires to make you fearful of his allies. So do not fear them, but fear Me, if you are (true) believers.


tafseer:
Those (unthinking ones) who have bought unbelief in exchange for belief can in no way harm God (and His true friends who fear and rely on Him.) For them is a tremendous punishment.


tafseer:
And let not those who disbelieve think that Our giving them rein is good for them. We give them rein only that they may grow in sin and wickedness (and deserve God’s punishment). For them is a shameful, humiliating punishment.


tafseer:
It was not (the will) of God to leave the believers in the state you are now in (with the people of true faith indistinguishable from the hypocrites), until He distinguishes the corrupt from the pure. Nor was it (the will of God) that He would make you aware of the Unseen (so that you would know your future and have insight into the hearts of people). But (to that end) God chooses of His Messengers whom He wills (and completes the test to which He puts you in the world). So believe in God and His Messengers: if you (truly) believe and live in piety, keeping from disobedience to Him and to His Messenger, then there is for you a tremendous reward.


tafseer:
Let not those who are niggardly with what God has granted them out of His bounty think that it is good for them: rather, it is bad for them. What they are niggardly with, they will have it hung about their necks on the Day of Resurrection. (Why are they niggardly, seeing that to God belongs the absolute ownership of the heavens and the earth, and) He will inherit them in the end. And God is fully aware of all that you do.


tafseer:
This is because of (the unrighteous deeds) that your own hands have forwarded, for never does God do the least wrong to the servants.


tafseer:
(O Messenger!) If they deny you, (do not grieve!) For in the same way Messengers were denied before you, who came with the clear proofs (of their Messengership), Scrolls (full of wisdom and advice), and the Book (the Torah and the Gospel) enlightening (their mind and hearts, and) illuminating (their way).


tafseer:
(No one will live for ever doing what they do:) Every soul is bound to taste death. So (O people) you will but be repaid in full on the Day of Resurrection (for whatever you have done in the world). Whoever is spared the Fire and admitted into Paradise has indeed prospered and triumphed. (Know that) the present, worldly life is nothing but a transient enjoyment of delusion.


tafseer:
(So, O believers, as a requirement of the wisdom in and purpose for your life of the world,) you will surely be tested in respect of your properties and your selves, and you will certainly hear many hurtful things from those who were given the Book before you and those who associate partners with God. If you remain patient (are steadfast in your religion and observe the bounds set by God in your relations with them) and keep within the limits of piety (in obeying God and in your conduct toward them), (know that) this is among meritorious things requiring great resolution to fulfill.


tafseer:
Never suppose that those who rejoice in what they have thus contrived, and who love to be (famed and) praised for what they have not achieved (such as being devout and pious and defenders of God’s law) – never suppose that they have saved themselves from the punishment: for them is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
And God’s is the sovereignty (absolute ownership and dominion) of the heavens and the earth, and God has full power over everything.


tafseer:
Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day (with their periods shortening and lengthening) there are signs (manifesting the truth) for the people of discernment.


tafseer:
They remember and mention God (with their tongues and hearts), standing and sitting and lying down on their sides (whether during the Prayer or not), and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. (Having grasped the purpose of their creation and the meaning they contain, they conclude and say): &quot


tafseer:
Let it not deceive you (O Messenger) that those who disbelieve strut about the land in pomp and show of dominion.


tafseer:
Whereas those who keep from disobedience to their Lord (Who created and raised them, and sustains them, and Who has sent them the best of laws to order their lives), and act within the limits of piety – for them are Gardens through which rivers flow, therein to abide: a hospitality from the Presence of God


tafseer:
And, behold, among the People of the Book are those who believe in God and what has been sent down to you, and what was sent down to them, those humbling themselves before God in reverence, not selling God’s Revelations for a trifling price. Such are those whose reward is with their Lord. God is swift at reckoning.


tafseer:
O humankind! In due reverence for your Lord, keep from disobedience to Him Who created you from a single human self, and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them scattered abroad a multitude of men and women. In due reverence for God, keep from disobedience to Him in Whose name you make demands of one another, and (duly observe) the rights of the wombs (i.e. of kinship, thus observing piety in your relations with God and with human beings). God is ever watchful over you.


tafseer:
Restore their property to the orphans (in your custody, when they come of age), and do not exchange the corrupt for the good (the unlawful for the lawful), nor consume their property by mixing it up with your own. For doing that would be a great crime (whereby you risk the spiritual reward you hope for by caring for them).


tafseer:
If you fear that you will not be able to observe their rights with exact fairness when you marry the orphan girls (in your custody), you can marry, from among other women (who are permitted to you in marriage and) who seem good to you, two, or three, or four. However, if you fear that (in your marital obligations) you will not be able to observe justice among them, then content yourselves with only one, or the captives that your right hands possess. Doing so it is more likely that you will not act rebelliously.


tafseer:
Give to the women (whom you marry) their bridal-due (mahr) willingly and for good (i.e. without expecting a return)


tafseer:
Do not give to those of weak mind your property that God has put in your charge (as a means of support for you and for the needy), but feed and clothe them out of it (especially with the profit you will make by exploiting it), and speak to them kindly and words of honest advice.


tafseer:
(Care for and) test the orphans well until they reach the age of marriage. Then, if you find them to be mature of mind, hand over to them their property


tafseer:
For the male heirs is a share out of what parents and near kindred leave behind, and for the female heirs is a share of what parents and near kindred leave behind, whether it (the inheritance) be little or much – a share ordained by God.


tafseer:
If some from among other relatives (who do not have a legally defined share), and orphans and the destitute, are present at the division (of the inheritance), give them something thereof (for their provision), and speak to them kindly and pleasing words.


tafseer:
Let those fear (be anxious for the rights of the orphans) who, if they (themselves) were to leave behind weak offspring, would be fearful on their account – and let them keep from disobedience to God for fear of His punishment, and let them speak the truth and proper words (in respect of the division of the inheritance and their treatment of the orphans.)


tafseer:
Surely those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully, certainly they consume a fire in their bellies


tafseer:
God commands you in (the matter of the division of the inheritance among) your children: for the male is the equivalent of the portion of two females. If there are more than two females (with no males), for them is two-thirds of the inheritance


tafseer:
These are the bounds set by God. Whoever obeys God and His Messenger (by remaining within these bounds), God will admit him into Gardens through which rivers flow, abiding therein. That is the supreme triumph.


tafseer:
But whoever disobeys God and His Messenger and exceeds His bounds, God will admit him into a Fire, to abide therein, and for him is a shameful, humiliating punishment.


tafseer:
Such of your women as have committed indecency (unlawful sex), there must be four male witnesses of you who (having seen them in the act) will testify against them (within one succeeding month in towns and six months in the rural areas). If they do bear witness, then confine those women to their houses until death takes them away or God opens some way for them.


tafseer:
God’s acceptance of repentance is only for those who commit evil due to an instance of defeat to the evil commanding soul, and then (pull themselves together and) repent shortly afterwards. It is they whose repentance God returns with forgiveness


tafseer:
But of no avail is the repentance of those who commit evil (for a lifetime) until, when one of them is visited by death, he says, &quot


tafseer:
O you who believe! It is not lawful for you to become inheritors, against their will, of women (of your deceased kinsmen, marrying them against their will, without paying their bridal-due, or forcing them to marry others in return for their bridal-due as though they were a part of heritable property)


tafseer:
But if you still decide to dispense with a wife and marry another and you have given the former (even so much as amounts to) a treasure, do not take back anything thereof. Would you take it back by slandering (for the purpose of contriving the kind of divorce that allows you to take it back) and so committing a flagrant sin?


tafseer:
Then, how could you take it back when you have gone in to each other, and they (the married women) have taken from you a most solemn pledge (of honoring their rights)?


tafseer:
And do not marry the women whom your fathers married – except what has happened (of that sort) in the past (before your conversion: such occurrences are forgivable provided you rectify your conduct and terminate any such contract of marriage). This was indeed a shameful deed and hateful thing, and how evil a way!


tafseer:
Forbidden to you (O believing men) are your mothers (including stepmothers and grandmothers) and daughters (including granddaughters), your sisters (including full sisters and half-sisters), your aunts paternal and maternal, your brothers’ daughters, your sisters’ daughters, your mothers who have given suck to you, your milk-sisters (all those as closely related to you through milk as through descent ), your wives’ mothers, your stepdaughters – who are your foster-children, born of your wives with whom you have consummated marriage


tafseer:
And (also forbidden to you are) all married women save those (captives) whom your right hands possess (and whose ties with their husbands have practically been cut off). This is God’s decree, binding upon you. Lawful for you are all beyond those mentioned, that you may seek, offering them of your wealth, taking them in sound chastity (i.e. in marriage), and not in licentiousness. And whomever of them you seek to enjoy in marriage (under these conditions), give them their bridal-due as a duty. But there is no blame on you for what you do by mutual agreement after the duty (has been done). Assuredly, God is All-Knowing (of what you do and why), and All-Wise.


tafseer:
If any of you cannot afford to marry free, believing women, (let them marry) believing maidens from among those whom your right hands possess. (Do not regard marriage to such believing maidens as a degradation. Rather, degradation is deviating into licentiousness without marrying.) God knows well all about your faith (and measures you by it)


tafseer:
God wills to explain to you (His commandments in which your happiness lie), and to guide you to the (righteous) ways of life of those who preceded you, and to turn to you (with mercy and favor). God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.


tafseer:
God wills to turn to you (with mercy and favor by explaining to you His commandments and guiding you to the Straight Path), whereas those who follow (their) lusts (for women, offspring, wealth, fame, status, and position) desire you to deviate greatly (from the Straight Path).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not consume one another’s wealth in wrongful ways (such as theft, extortion, bribery, usury, and gambling), except it be dealing by mutual agreement


tafseer:
Whoever acts wrongfully through enmity (toward others) and by way of deliberate transgression and wronging (both himself and others), We will surely land him in a Fire to roast therein (the like of which you have never seen and the degree of whose intensity none knows except God)


tafseer:
If you avoid the major sins which you have been forbidden, We will blot out from you your minor evil deeds and make you enter by a noble entrance (to an abode of glory).


tafseer:
And to everyone We have appointed heirs to what the parents and near kindred might leave behind. (As those heirs have defined portions in the inheritance that must be given them,) so to those with whom you have made a solemn covenant, give them their due share. God is indeed a witness over everything.


tafseer:
Men (those who are able to carry out their responsibilities) are the protectors and maintainers of women inasmuch as God has endowed some of people (in some respects) with greater capacity than others and inasmuch as they (the men) spend of their wealth (for the family’s maintenance). Good, righteous women are the devoted ones (to God) and observant (of their husbands’ rights), who guard the secrets (family honor and property, their chastity, and their husband’s rights, especially where there is none to see them and in the absence of men) as God guards and keeps undisclosed (what should be guarded and private). As for those women from whose determined disobedience and breach of their marital obligations you have reason to fear, admonish them (to do what is right)


tafseer:
And if you fear that a breach might occur between a couple, appoint an arbiter from among his people and an arbiter from among her people. If they both want to set things aright, God will bring about reconciliation between them. Assuredly, God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.


tafseer:
And (as the essential basis of contentment in individual, family and social life,) worship God and do not associate anything as a partner with Him


tafseer:
Those who act meanly (in spending out of what God has granted them) and urge others to be mean, and conceal the things God has granted them out of His bounty (such as wealth or knowledge, and certain truths in their Book). We have prepared for (such) unbelievers a shameful, humiliating punishment.


tafseer:
And (likewise) those who spend their wealth (in charity or other good cause) to make a show of it to people (so as to be praised by them) when they believe neither in God nor in the Last Day: Whoever has Satan for a comrade, how evil a comrade he is!


tafseer:
Why, what (harm) would fall upon them, if they believed in God and the Last Day, and spent out of what God has provided for them (purely for the pleasure of God), and God has full knowledge of them (of what they believe in and what they spend)?


tafseer:
How, then, will it be (with people on the Day of Judgment) when We bring forward a witness from every community (to testify against them and that God’s Religion was communicated to them), and bring you (O Messenger) as a witness against all those (whom your Message may have reached)?


tafseer:
On that Day those who disbelieved (in this life and died in unbelief) and disobeyed the Messenger wish that the earth might be leveled with them (so as to leave no trace or record of them)


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not come forward to (stand in) the Prayer while you are in (any sort of) state of drunkenness until you know what you are saying, nor while you are in the state of ritual impurity (requiring the total ablution) – save when you are on a journey (and then unable to bathe) – until you have bathed (done the total ablution). But if you are ill, or on a journey, or if any of you has just satisfied a call of nature, or you have had contact with women, and can find no water, then betake yourselves to pure earth, passing with it lightly over your face and hands (and forearms up to and including the elbows). Assuredly God is One Who grants remission, All-Forgiving.


tafseer:
Do you not see and reflect upon those who were given a portion from the Book? They are occupied with buying straying, and desire that you too should stray from the (right) way.


tafseer:
Among those who have become Jews (Judaized) are some who alter the words from their context to distort their meanings, and say: &quot


tafseer:
O you who were given the Book (before)! Believe (sincerely) in (the whole of) what We have been sending down (on Muhammad), confirming what (of the truth) you already possess, before We obliterate faces so as to deprive them of seeing, hearing, speaking and smelling, or exclude them from Our mercy as We excluded the Sabbath-breakers. (Bear in mind that) God’s command is always executed.


tafseer:
Do you (O Messenger) not consider those who regard themselves pure and sanctified? No! Rather, it is God Who makes pure and sanctifies whomever He wills (considering the free will of each), and none is wronged even by as much as a tiny hair.


tafseer:
Do you not consider those who were given a portion of the Book, how they believe in any false deity and all manner of powers of evil (who institute patterns of faith and rule in defiance of God), and say about those (idolaters) who disbelieve that they are more rightly guided (in the way they follow) than those who believe?


tafseer:
Such are the ones whom God has excluded from His mercy, and he whom God excludes from His mercy, you shall never find one to help and save him.


tafseer:
Or do they have a share in the sovereignty (ownership and dominion of the heavens and the earth, so that they claim some privileged position in God’s sight and a right to guidance, Prophethood, and rule on the earth)? If that were so, they would not give people even as much as (would fill) the groove of a date-stone.


tafseer:
Or do they envy others for what God granted them out of His grace and bounty? Yet We did grant the Family of Abraham (including the progeny of Ishmael proceeding from him, as well as that of Isaac) the Book and the Wisdom, and We granted them a mighty kingdom (in both the material and spiritual realm).


tafseer:
Among them (those belonging to Abraham’s progeny) have been and are such as truly believe in him (and therefore they believe in Muhammad who has the best claim to a relationship with Abraham, and believe in the Qur’an revealed to him), and among them are such as bar people from him (like some from among those who were given the Book before). (For the latter) Hell suffices for a blaze.


tafseer:
Those who (knowingly) conceal and reject Our Revelations, We will land them in a Fire to roast there. Every time their skins are burnt off, We will replace them with other skins, that they may taste the punishment. Assuredly, God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, and All-Wise.


tafseer:
But those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, We will admit them into the Gardens through which rivers flow, therein abiding for ever. Therein for them will be spouses purified, and We will admit them to an all-protecting shade (ease and contentment).


tafseer:
God commands you to deliver trusts (including public and professional duties of service) to those entitled to them


tafseer:
O you who believe! Obey God and obey the Messenger, and those from among you who are invested with authority


tafseer:
Do you not consider those who assert that they believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent before you, and yet desire to go for judgment in their disputes to (the rule of) the powers of evil (who institute patterns of rule in defiance of God), when they were expressly commanded to reject it. Truly, Satan desires to lead them far astray.


tafseer:
But how then, when a disaster befalls them because of what they have forwarded with their own hands (to their future), they come to you, swearing by God and say: &quot


tafseer:
(Everyone should know well that) We have never sent a Messenger but that he should be obeyed by God’s leave. If, when they wronged themselves (by committing a sin), they but came to you and implored God to forgive them – with the Messenger praying to God for their forgiveness – they would find that God is One Who returns the repentance of His servants with liberal forgiveness and additional reward, and All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
But no! By your Lord, they do not (truly) believe unless they make you the judge regarding any dispute between them, and then find not the least vexation within themselves over what you have decided, and surrender in full submission.


tafseer:
Whoever obeys God and the Messenger (as they must be obeyed), then those are (and in the Hereafter will be, in Paradise) in the company of those whom God has favored (with the perfect guidance) – the Prophets, and the truthful ones (loyal to God’s cause and truthful in whatever they do and say), and the witnesses (those who see the hidden Divine truths and testify thereto with their lives), and the righteous ones (in all their deeds and sayings and dedicated to setting everything right). How excellent they are for companions!


tafseer:
Such is the grace that is from God, and God suffices as One All-Knowing (of how great that grace is, who deserves it, and the rank of those favored with it).


tafseer:
O you who believe! (While such great grace is there) be fully prepared, then (as circumstance demands) either go forward in (small) consolidated groups (on military expeditions) or go forward all together.


tafseer:
There are indeed among you such as him who lags behind. Then, if a disaster befalls you, he says: &quot


tafseer:
But if some bounty from God comes to you, he is sure to say – just as if there had never been any tie of affection between you and him, (and therefore as if there had been an obstacle to his going forth with you) – &quot


tafseer:
So let those who trade the life of this world for the Hereafter fight in God’s cause. Whoever fights in God’s cause, whether he is killed or victorious, We will grant him a tremendous reward.


tafseer:
Why, then, should you not fight in the cause of God and of the oppressed, helpless men, women, and children, who cry out: &quot


tafseer:
Those who (truly) believe fight in God’s cause, while those who disbelieve fight in the way of taghut (powers of evil who institute patterns of rule in defiance of God). So (O believers) fight against the friends and allies of Satan. Assuredly, Satan’s guile is ever feeble.


tafseer:
Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even though you be in towers built up strong and high. Yet, when some good happens to them, they say: &quot


tafseer:
He who obeys the Messenger (thereby) obeys God, and he who turns away from him (and his way), (do not be grieved, O Messenger, for) We have not sent you as a keeper and watcher over them (to prevent their misdeeds and be accountable for them).


tafseer:
Do they not contemplate the Qur’an (so that they may be convinced that it is from God)? Had it been from any other than God, they would surely have found in it much (incoherence or) inconsistency.


tafseer:
Whenever any news comes to them, related to (public) security or alarm, they go about spreading it (without ascertaining if the news is true or not and without thinking about whether it is beneficial or harmful to spread it). Whereas if they would but refer it to the Messenger and to those among them (in the community) who are entrusted with authority, those from among them who are competent to investigate it would bring to light what it is really about. (O believers!) Save for God’s grace and mercy upon you (in illuminating your way and guiding you with Revelation and His Messenger, and protecting you against your enemies and wrong ways), all but a few (of you) would have been (deceived by the hypocrites and) following Satan.


tafseer:
Fight (therefore, O Messenger) in God’s cause – for (in the same way that every individual is responsible for himself) you are (first of all) responsible for none except yourself. (Even left by yourself alone, fulfill your responsibility) – and urge on the believers (to take their responsibility). It may be that God will (thereby) restrain the force of those who disbelieve. Indeed God is strongest in might and strongest in repressing and punishing.


tafseer:
Whoever intercedes, mediates and helps for a good cause will have a share in its blessings, and whoever intercedes, mediates and helps for an evil cause shares in its burden. God has full watch over all things.


tafseer:
When (whether traveling or at home, or in war or at peace) you are greeted with a greeting (of peace and goodwill), answer with one better, or (at least) with the same. Surely God keeps account of all things.


tafseer:
God, there is no deity but He. He will gather you all together on the Day of Resurrection, about (the coming of) which there is no doubt. Who can be truer in statement than God?


tafseer:
(O believers!) How is it with you that you are in two groups regarding the hypocrites (from Makkah and other tribes who claim to be Muslims yet take part in the hostile machinations of their people against you), seeing that God has thrown them back (to unbelief) on account of what they have earned (by their sins)? Do you seek to guide him whom God has led astray? Whoever God has led astray, for him you cannot find a (safe) way (to follow).


tafseer:
They yearn that you should disbelieve just as they disbelieved so that you might be all alike. Do not, therefore, take from among them confidants and allies until they emigrate (to Madinah and join you) in God’s cause. But if they turn away (from this call and continue their hostility against you), seize them and kill them wherever you find them


tafseer:
Except those who seek refuge in a people between whom and you there is a treaty (of peace or alliance), or (those who) come to you with hearts shrinking from fighting against you as well as fighting against their own people. Had God willed, He would certainly have given them power over you and they would have fought against you. If they withdraw from you and do not fight against you, and offer you peace, then God allows you no way (to war) against them.


tafseer:
You will find others who wish to be secure from you (by signing treaty with you) and to be secure from their people (by breaking their treaty with you and joining them): every time they are called back to conspiracy and hostility against you, they plunge into it headlong. Hence, if they do not withdraw from you, nor offer you peace, nor restrain their hands (from hurting you), then seize them and kill them wherever you come upon them. It is against such that We have given you a clear sanction.


tafseer:
Yet (be circumspect), it is not for a believer to kill another believer unless it be by mistake. He who has killed a believer by mistake must set free a believing slave, and pay blood-money to his family (legal heirs), unless they forgo it as a freewill offering. If he (the victim), while himself a believer, belonged to a people hostile to you (between whom and you there is no treaty), then (the expiation is to) set free a believing slave. If he (the victim) belonged to a (non-Muslim) people between whom and you there is a treaty, then (the expiation is to) pay blood-money to his heirs, and to set free a believing slave. But he who has no means (to make such expiation), must fast for two consecutive months – a penance from God (a way of repentance). God is All-Knowing (of everything including what is in your bosoms), All-Wise.


tafseer:
O you who believe! When you go forth (to war) in God’s cause, investigate with care until the situation becomes fully clear to you, and do not say to anyone who offers you (the greeting of) peace (thereby indicating his being a Muslim), &quot


tafseer:
Not equal are those of the believers who (when not all believers are required to mobilize for God’s cause) sit still without justifiable excuse (and without doing any harm to God’s cause) and those who strive (and fight) in God’s cause with their wealth and their persons. God has exalted in rank those who strive with their wealth and their persons over those who sit still. To each God has promised the best reward (Paradise), and yet God has exalted those who strive over those who sit still by a tremendous reward.


tafseer:
For them are ranks from Him (differing according to the degree of the sincerity and striving of each), and forgiveness and mercy (to bring unforeseen blessings). God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
As to those whose souls the angels (charged with taking the souls of people) take in the state of wronging themselves (by continuing to live in unbelief without suffering to emigrate to a land where they would be able to attain faith): They (the angels) ask them: &quot


tafseer:
Except those truly oppressed among the men, and the women, and the children altogether without means and not guided to a way (to emigrate, and including those who, in their lifetime, have not had a means to be guided to faith).


tafseer:
For those (while their circumstances are unchanged, it is expected that) God will not hold them accountable and will excuse them. Assuredly God is One Who excuses much, All-Forgiving.


tafseer:
Whoever emigrates in God’s cause will find on the earth enough room for refuge and plentiful resources. He who leaves his home as an emigrant to God and His Messenger and whom death overtakes (while still on the way), his reward is due and sure with God. Assuredly, God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
(O believers!) When you go forth on the earth, there is no blame on you that you shorten the (Prescribed) Prayers, if you fear that those who disbelieve might cause you harm (by attacking you). Assuredly, the unbelievers are a manifest enemy to you.


tafseer:
When you (O Messenger) are among the believers (who are on an expedition and in fear that the unbelievers might harm them) and stand (to lead) the Prayer for them, let a party of them stand in Prayer with you and retain their arms with them (while the other party maintain their positions against the enemy). When the first party have done the prostrations (finished the rak‘ah), let them go to the rear of your company (and there hold positions against the enemy), and let the other party who have not prayed come forward and pray with you, being fully prepared against danger and retaining their arms. Those who disbelieve wish that you should be heedless of your weapons and your equipment, so that they might swoop upon you in a single (surprise) attack. But there will be no blame on you if you lay aside your arms (during Prayer) if you are troubled by rain (and the ground impedes your movement), or if you are ill


tafseer:
When you have finished the Prayer (especially considering you have shortened your Prayers when journeying and in the state of fear), remember and mention God (with your tongues and hearts), standing and sitting and lying down on your sides (and even while at war). Then when you are once again secure, do the Prayer in conformity with all its conditions (and do the Prayers you had to omit just at the time of actual fighting). (Know that) the Prayer (being the most important kind of worship) is prescribed for the believers at fixed times.


tafseer:
Do not be faint of purpose in pursuing these people (who fight with you, and keep them under pressure as long as the state of war continues between you and them). If you are suffering (having to endure hardships), they too are suffering just as you are, but you hope (to receive) from God what they cannot hope for. God is indeed All-Knowing (of the states and conditions of all things), All-Wise.


tafseer:
Surely We have sent down to you the Book with the truth (embodying it, with nothing false in it), so that you should judge between people according to how God has shown you. So do not be a pleader on behalf of those who betray their trust.


tafseer:
And do not plead on behalf of those who betray themselves (by lying to conceal the truth of the matter brought before you). Assuredly, God does not love whoever betrays trust and persists in sin.


tafseer:
They strive to hide (their evil deeds) from people but they do not strive to hide from God, whereas He is always with them when they hold night counsels displeasing to Him. God indeed encompasses (with His Knowledge, Seeing, Hearing and Power) all that they do.


tafseer:
Ah! You (O believers) might well plead on their behalf in the life of this world, but who will plead with God on their behalf on the Day of Resurrection, or who will then be their defender and guardian?


tafseer:
Yet whoever does an evil or wrongs himself (by committing sins to harm himself spiritually), and then implores God for forgiveness, will find God All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Whereas whoever earns a sin (failing to seek forgiveness for it), earns it only against himself (to his own loss only). And God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.


tafseer:
And he who earns a wrong or sin and then throws the blame on an innocent person, has thereby laid upon himself (the additional burden of) a calumny and a flagrant sin.


tafseer:
But for God’s grace and favor upon you and His mercy, one party of them determined to mislead you, yet they mislead none but themselves, and cannot harm you in any way. (How could they do so, seeing that) God has sent down on you the Book and the Wisdom, and taught you what you did not know. God’s grace and favor upon you is tremendous indeed.


tafseer:
No good is there in most of their secret counsels except for him who exhorts to a deed of charity, or kind equitable dealings and honest affairs, or setting things right between people. Whoever does that seeking God’s good pleasure, We will grant to him a tremendous reward.


tafseer:
While whoever cuts himself off from the Messenger after the guidance (to what is truest and best in thought, belief, and conduct) has become clear to him, and follows a way other than that of the believers (for whom it is impossible to agree unanimously on a way that leads to error), We leave him (to himself) on the way he has turned to, and land him in Hell to roast there: how evil a destination to arrive at!


tafseer:
In His stead, they invoke female deities – (in so doing) they in fact invoke none but a haughty, rebellious Satan,


tafseer:
I will surely lead them astray and surely engross them in vain desires (superstitious fancies and false conceptions)


tafseer:
(In reality, however, Satan has no authority over people against God.) He makes promises to them and fills them with vain desires (superstitious fancies and false conceptions), and what he promises them is nothing but delusion.


tafseer:
Such (as those deluded by Satan): their shelter is Hell, and they will find no way to escape from it.


tafseer:
As for those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, We will admit them into the Gardens beneath (the places and through the trees of) which rivers flow, therein abiding for ever. This is God’s promise in truth. Who can be truer than God in speech?


tafseer:
It is not according to your fancies, nor according to the fancies of the People of the Book. (No one has a privilege in God’s sight by virtue of being nominally a Muslim or Jew or Christian. Rather, the truth is this:) Whoever does an evil will be recompensed for it, and he will not find for himself, apart from God, a guardian or a helper (to guard or help him against the consequence of that evil).


tafseer:
And whoever does deeds of righteousness, whether male or female, and is a (true) believer – such will enter Paradise, and they will not be wronged by even so little as (would fill) the groove of a date-stone.


tafseer:
Who is better in religion than he who has submitted his whole being to God (seeking only His good pleasure, as one devoted to) doing good, aware that God is seeing him, and who follows the way (millah) of Abraham being of pure faith (free of unbelief, of associating partners with God and of hypocrisy). God accepted Abraham as a friend (one close and trusted).


tafseer:
To God belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and God encompasses everything (with His Knowledge and Power).


tafseer:
If a woman fears from her husband ill-treatment or (such breach of marital obligations as) his turning away in aversion, then there will be no blame on them to set things right peacefully between them


tafseer:
You will never be able to deal between your wives with absolute equality (in respect of love and emotional attachment), however much you may desire to do so. But do not turn away altogether (from any one of them), so as to leave her in a dangling state (uncertain if she has or does not have a husband). If you act righteously (between them) and act in piety (fearful of doing any deliberate wrong to any of them), then surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
If (despite every effort to reconcile them, it is no longer possible to sustain marriage, and) the couple do separate, (let neither fear to become poor and helpless, for) God suffices all by His abundance. God is All-Embracing (in His bounty), All-Wise.


tafseer:
And to God belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And assuredly We commanded those who were given the Book before you, and (We command) you (O Muslims) to act in piety and reverence for God, fearful of disobedience to Him (in all matters including especially observing your mutual rights). Yet if you disbelieve (and despite this admonishment act with ingratitude to Him, then bear in mind that) to God belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth: (if you believe in Him and thank Him, this adds nothing to Him, or if you disbelieve in Him and become ungrateful to Him, this does not diminish anything from Him. For) God is All-Wealthy and Self-Sufficient (absolutely independent of all His creatures), All-Praiseworthy (as your Lord, Who provides for you and all other beings and meets all your needs).


tafseer:
If He wills, He can remove you, O humankind, and bring in others in your place. God is entirely Able to do that.


tafseer:
If one desires the reward of this world, (let him know that) with God is the reward of this world and the Hereafter. God is indeed All-Hearing, All-Seeing.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Be upholders and standard-bearers of justice, bearing witness to the truth for God’s sake, even though it be against your own selves, or parents or kindred. Whether the person concerned be rich or poor, (bear in mind that) God is nearer to them (than you are and more concerned with their well-being). So do not (in expectation of some gain from the rich or out of misplaced compassion for the poor) follow your own desires lest you swerve from justice. If you distort (the truth) or decline (to bear truthful witness), then know that God is fully aware of all that you do.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Believe in God and His Messenger (Muhammad) and the Book He has been sending down on His Messenger in parts and the (Divine) Books He sent down before. Whoever disbelieves in God and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and the Last Day, has indeed gone far astray.


tafseer:
Those who have believed and then disbelieved, then believed, and again disbelieved, and thereafter grown more intense in unbelief, God will never forgive them, nor will He guide them to a way (leading to the ultimate triumph and salvation).


tafseer:
To the hypocrites (who are as just described) give glad tidings that for them is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
(The hypocrites are) those who take unbelievers for confidants, guardians and allies in preference to the believers: do they seek might and glory in being together with them? (If so, let them know that) might and glory belong altogether to God.


tafseer:
He has already revealed to you in the Book that when you hear the Revelations of God being rejected and mocked, no longer sit with them (show your disagreement) until they engage in some other talk, or else you will surely become like them. Assuredly, God will gather the hypocrites and the unbelievers all together in Hell.


tafseer:
(The hypocrites are) those who wait to see what befalls you: thus if a victory comes to you from God, they say, &quot


tafseer:
Vacillating between (the believers) and (the unbelievers), neither with these, nor with those. Whoever God leads astray, for him you can never find a sound way (to follow).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not take the unbelievers for guardians and confidants in preference to the believers


tafseer:
Except those who repent and mend their ways and hold fast to God and practice their Religion purely and sincerely for God’s sake: those (who repent) are counted with the believers, and in time God will grant to the believers a tremendous reward.


tafseer:
What should God punish you if you are grateful (to Him) and believe (in Him)? God is Ever-Responsive to gratitude, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
God does not like any harsh speech to be uttered save by one who has been wronged (and therefore has the right to express that in appropriate language). God is indeed All-Hearing, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
Whether you do some good openly or do it in secret, or pardon an evil (done to you, even though you have the right to legal retaliation, know that) God is All-Pardoning, Ever-Able (to punish or forgive).


tafseer:
Those (deserving punishment) are they who disbelieve in God (not recognizing Him at all or not as He should be) and His Messengers (denying Messengership altogether or denying some of the Messengers), and who seek to make distinction between God and His Messengers (by claiming belief in God but denying Messengership or denying some of the Messengers), and say, &quot


tafseer:
Such are in truth unbelievers, and We have prepared for the unbelievers a shameful, humiliating punishment.


tafseer:
But as for those who believe in God and His Messengers and make no distinction between them (between God and His Messengers or between the Messengers themselves), to them God will grant their rewards (in full). God is indeed All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
The People of the Book ask you to cause a Book to be sent down on them from heaven. (O Messenger, let this not shock you, for) they asked an even greater thing than this of Moses, when they said, &quot


tafseer:
(Moreover) We raised the Mount to tower above them to secure their promise (to hold firmly to the Book), and (on another occasion when We guided them to a town) We commanded them, &quot


tafseer:
And so because of their breaking their pledge, and their intentional ignoring of God’s signs (in the universe and in themselves) and their rejection of His Revelations, and their killing certain Prophets against all right, and their saying, &quot


tafseer:
Yet there is none of the People of the Book but will, before the moment of his death, (grasp the truth about Jesus and) believe in him (though that belief will be of no benefit to them then)


tafseer:
So, because of the wrong committed by the Jews We made unlawful for them many pure, wholesome things which had (hitherto) been lawful for them, and because of their barring many from God’s way


tafseer:
And because of their taking interest although it had been forbidden to them, and consuming the wealth of people in wrongful ways (such as usury, theft, usurpation, bribery, gambling, and selling God’s Revelations)


tafseer:
But those of them firmly rooted in Knowledge, and the (true) believers believe in what has been sent down to you (O Messenger) and what was sent down before you


tafseer:
And Messengers We have already told you of (with respect to their mission) before, and Messengers We have not told you of


tafseer:
Messengers (have been sent as) bearers of glad tidings and warners, so that people might have no argument against God after the Messengers (had come to them). And God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
(Whether people believe or not) God bears witness to (the truth of) what He has sent down to you. And He has sent it down from, based on and together with, His Knowledge. And the angels also bear witness (to it) though God suffices for a witness.


tafseer:
Surely those who (in defiance of that testimony) disbelieve and bar (people) from God’s way, have indeed gone far astray.


tafseer:
Surely those who disbelieve and do wrong (to people by barring them from God’s way, and to God and His Messengers and angels, and to all believers and all creatures bearing witness to the truth, and to their own conscience, by accusing them of lying and deception) – God will indeed not forgive them nor will He guide them to a road


tafseer:
O humankind! The Messenger has come to you with the truth from your Lord: believe, then, for your own good. And if you disbelieve, then (know that your unbelief will in no way harm Him, for) to God belongs whatever is in the heavens and on the earth. And God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.


tafseer:
O People of the Book! Do not go beyond the bounds in your religion, and do not say anything of God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was but a Messenger of God, and a Word of His (Power) which He conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in God (as the One, Unique God), and His Messengers (including Jesus, as Messenger)


tafseer:
The Messiah never disdains to be a servant to God, nor do the angels near-stationed to Him. Whoever disdains to worship God as a servant and feels his pride (puffed up by arrogance, should know that) God will gather them all to Himself (and call them to account).


tafseer:
To those who believe and do good, righteous deeds He will grant their rewards in full, and will give them yet more out of His bounty


tafseer:
O humankind! Now a Proof has come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a clear Light (to illuminate your way and show you everything clearly).


tafseer:
So those who believe in God (as taught by this proof and light), and hold fast to Him – He will admit them into a (great) mercy from His Presence, and a bounty, and guide them direct to Him on a straight path.


tafseer:
They ask you (O Messenger) to pronounce a ruling. Say (to them): God pronounces to you the ruling concerning inheritance from those who have left behind no lineal heirs (kalalah): should a man die childless but have a sister, for her is the half of what he has left behind


tafseer:
O you who believe! Fulfill the bonds (you have entered into with God and with people). Lawful for you is the flesh of cattle (grazing beasts of the flock), save what is mentioned to you (herewith), and unlawful (for you is) hunted game when you are in the state of pilgrim sanctity. Assuredly, God decrees as He wills.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not violate the sanctity of the public symbols (of Islam) set up by God (such as Jumu‘ah and ‘Id Prayers, the call to the Prayer, the Sacrifice and attendant rites of the Pilgrimage), nor of the Sacred Months (during which fighting is forbidden except when you are attacked), nor of the animals (brought to the Sacred House for sacrifice), nor of the collars (put on the animals marked for sacrifice), nor of those who have set out for the Sacred House seeking from their Lord bounty and His good pleasure. But once you leave your pilgrim sanctity (and the sacred precincts around the City), you are free to hunt. And never let your detestation for a people, because they barred you from the Sacred Mosque, move you to commit violations (acts of aggression or injustice). Rather, help one another in goodness and piety, and do not help one another in sinful, iniquitous acts and hostility


tafseer:
Unlawful to you (for food) are carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that (the animal) which is offered in the name of any other than God, and the animal strangled, and the animal beaten down, and the animal fallen to death, and the animal gored, and that devoured by wild beasts – save that which you make lawful (by slaughtering properly while it was still alive) – and that which has been sacrificed to anything serving the function of idols and at the places consecrated for offerings to other than God. And (also unlawful is) that divided and obtained through divining arrows (and the like, such as lotteries and throwing dice). (Eating of any of) that (just mentioned) is transgression. – This day those who disbelieve have lost all hope of (preventing the establishment of) your religion, so do not hold them in awe, but be in awe of Me. This day I have perfected for you your Religion (with all its rules, commandments and universality), completed My favor upon you, and have been pleased to assign for you Islam as religion. – Then, whoever is constrained by dire necessity (and driven to what is forbidden), without purposely inclining to sin – surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
They ask you (O Messenger) what is lawful for them (including in particular the game caught by trained hunting animals). Say: Lawful for you are (all) pure, wholesome things


tafseer:
This day (all) pure, wholesome things have been made lawful for you. And the food of those who were given the Book before (including the animals they slaughter unless, of course, they invoke the name of any other than God) is lawful for you, just as your food (including the animals you slaughter) is lawful for them. And (lawful for you in marriage) are chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Book before, provided that you give them their bridal-due, taking them in honest wedlock, and not in debauchery, nor as secret love-companions. (That is the ordinance regarding your relations with the People of the Book in this world. But know this:) Whoever rejects (the true) faith (and rejects following God’s way as required by faith), all his works are in vain, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers.


tafseer:
O you who believe! When you rise up for the Prayer, (if you have no ablution) wash your faces and your hands up to (and including) the elbows, and lightly rub your heads (with water) and (wash) your feet up to (and including) the ankles. And if you are in the state of major ritual impurity (requiring total ablution), purify yourselves (by taking a bath). But if you are ill, or on a journey, or if any of you has just satisfied a want of nature, or you have had contact with women, and can find no water, then betake yourselves to pure earth, passing with it lightly over your face and your hands (and forearms up to and including the elbows). God does not will to impose any hardship upon you, but wills to purify you (of any kind of material and spiritual filth), and to complete His favor upon you, so that you may give thanks (from the heart and in speech, and in action by fulfilling His commandments).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Be upholders and standard-bearers of right for God’s sake, being witnesses for (the establishment of) absolute justice. And by no means let your detestation for a people (or their detestation for you) move you to (commit the sin of) deviating from justice. Be just: this is nearer and more suited to righteousness and piety. Seek righteousness and piety and always act in reverence for God. Surely God is fully aware of all that you do.


tafseer:
God has promised those who believe and do good, righteous deeds that for them is forgiveness and a tremendous reward.


tafseer:
Whereas those who deny Our Revelations (to come as verses of the Book establishing the pillars of faith), as well as Our signs (both in their inner world and in the outer world) – such are companions of the Blazing Flame.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Remember God’s favor upon you: when a people were minded to stretch out their hands against you but He restrained their hands from you. Revere God and keep from disobedience to Him so as to always deserve His protection. And in God the believers should place their trust.


tafseer:
And, indeed, God took a solemn pledge from the Children of Israel and raised up from among them twelve leaders and representatives (one from each tribe, to look after their affairs and as spiritual mentors). God said: &quot


tafseer:
Then, because of their breaking their pledge, We cursed them (excluding them from Our mercy and exposing them to many disasters), and caused their hearts to harden. They alter words from their context (in order to distort their meanings), and they have forgotten a (most important) portion of what they were admonished about. You will not cease to light upon some act of treachery from them, except a few of them. Yet pardon them, and overlook (their misdeeds). Assuredly, God loves those devoted to doing good deeds, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
O People of the Book! Now there has indeed come to you Our Messenger, making clear to you many things you have been concealing of the Book (the Bible), and passing over many things (in order not to put you to further shame). Assuredly, there has come to you from God a light (which enlightens your minds and hearts, and illuminates your way), and a Book manifest in itself and manifesting the truth,


tafseer:
Whereby God guides whoever strives after His good pleasure (by acting in the way He approves) to the ways of peace, salvation, and safety. And He leads them by His leave out of all kinds of (intellectual, spiritual, social, economic, and political) darkness into light, and guides them to a straight path (in belief, thought, and action).


tafseer:
O People of the Book! Now, after a long interlude during which no Messengers have appeared, there has indeed come to you Our Messenger, making the whole truth clear to you, lest you should say, &quot


tafseer:
Said two men from among those who feared (God’s punishment for disobedience to Him), and whom God had favored (with faith, sagacity, and devotion): &quot


tafseer:
Narrate to them (O Messenger) in truth the exemplary experience of the two sons of Adam, when they each offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one of them, and not accepted from the other. &quot


tafseer:
(This warning served only to fuel the other’s passion:) His carnal, evil-commanding soul prompted him to kill his brother, and he killed him, thus becoming among the losers.


tafseer:
(He did not know what to do with the dead body of his brother.) Then God sent forth a raven, scratching in the earth, to show him how he might cover the corpse of his brother. (So seeing) he cried: &quot


tafseer:
It is because of this that We ordained for (all humankind, but particularly for) the Children of Israel: He who kills a soul unless it be (in legal punishment) for murder or for causing disorder and corruption on the earth will be as if he had killed all humankind


tafseer:
The recompense of those who fight against God and His Messenger, and hasten about the earth causing disorder and corruption: they shall (according to the nature of their crime) either be executed, or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off alternately, or be banished from the land. Such is their disgrace in the world, and for them is a mighty punishment in the Hereafter.


tafseer:
Except for those who repent (and desist from their crimes against order) before you have overpowered them, (although the judgment as to specific crimes against individuals is left to those individuals or to their heirs). Know that God surely is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate (especially toward His servants who turn to Him in repentance).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety, and seek the means to come closer to Him, and strive in His way, so that you may prosper (in both worlds).


tafseer:
As to those who insist on unbelief: even if they owned the whole of what is on the earth, and the like with it, to offer as ransom from the punishment on the Day of Resurrection, it would not be accepted from them. For them is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
And for the thief, male or female: cut off their hands as a recompense for what they have earned, and an exemplary deterrent punishment from God. God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
But he who repents after having done wrong, and mends his ways, surely God accepts His repentance. For God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Do you not know that surely to God belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth? He punishes whom He wills and forgives whom He wills. He has full power over everything.


tafseer:
O Messenger! Let them not grieve you who would rush in unbelief, as if competing with one another in a race, such of them as say with their mouths, &quot


tafseer:
Listening out for lies and falsehood eagerly, and consuming unlawful earnings greedily! If they come to you (for judgment), you may either judge between them or turn away from them (and decline to give judgment). If you turn away from them, they cannot harm you in any way. But if you judge, judge between them with equity and justice. Surely God loves the scrupulously equitable.


tafseer:
But how is it that they ask you for judgment when they have the Torah, in which there is God’s judgment (concerning murder), and still thereafter turn away (from that and from your judgment)? The fact is: those are not believers.


tafseer:
Surely We did send down the Torah, in which there was guidance and a light (to illuminate people’s minds, hearts and ways of life). Thereby did the Prophets, who were fully submitted to God, judge for the Jews


tafseer:
And We prescribed for them in it (concerning murder): A life for a life, and an eye for an eye, and a nose for a nose, and an ear for an ear, and a tooth for a tooth, and a (like) retaliation for all wounds (the exact retaliation of which is possible). But whoever remits (the retaliation), it will be an act of expiation for him. Whoever does not judge by what God has sent down, those are indeed wrongdoers.


tafseer:
And in the footsteps of those (earlier Prophets) We sent Jesus son of Mary, confirming (the truth of) the Torah revealed before him, and We granted to him the Gospel, in which there was guidance and a light (to illuminate people’s minds, hearts and ways of life), confirming what was revealed before it in the Torah (except for a few unlawful things that it made lawful), (and serving as) a guidance and an instruction for the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
We have sent down to you (O Messenger) the Book with the truth (embodying it, and with nothing false in it), confirming (the Divine authorship of and the truths that are still contained by) whatever of the Book was revealed before it, and guarding over (all the true teachings in) it. Judge, then, between them by what God has sent down (to you), and do not follow their desires and caprices away from the truth that has come to you. For each (community to which a Messenger was sent with a Book) have We appointed a clear way of life and a comprehensive system (containing the principles of that way and how to follow it). And if God had so willed, He would surely have made you a single community (following the same way of life and system surrounded by the same conditions throughout all history)


tafseer:
(Thus did We command you:) Judge between them with what God has sent down and do not follow their desires and caprices, and beware of them lest they tempt you away from any part of what God has sent down to you. If they turn away, then know that God wills only to afflict them for some of their sins. And many among human beings are indeed transgressors.


tafseer:
Or is it the law of the (pagan) Ignorance that they seek (to be judged and ruled by)? Who is better than God as law-giver and judge for a people seeking certainty (and authoritative knowledge)?


tafseer:
O you who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for guardians and confidants (in their Judaism and Christianity). Some among them are guardians and confidants to some others. Whoever among you takes them for guardians and confidants will eventually become one of them (and be counted among them in the Hereafter). Surely God does not guide such wrongdoers.


tafseer:
Yet you (O Messenger) see those, in whose hearts there is a sickness (that dries up the source of their spiritual life, extinguishes their power of understanding and corrupts their character), hastening towards them (to get their friendship and patronage) as if competing with one another, saying, &quot


tafseer:
O you who believe! Whoever of you turns away from his Religion, (know that) in time God will raise up a people whom He loves, and who love Him, most humble towards the believers, dignified and commanding in the face of the unbelievers, striving (continuously and in solidarity) in God’s cause, and fearing not the censure of any who censure. That is God’s grace and bounty, which He grants to whom He wills. God is All-Embracing (with His profound grace), All-Knowing.


tafseer:
Your guardian and confidant is none but God, and His Messenger, and those who, having believed, establish the Prayer in conformity with all its conditions, and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms (the Zakah), and they bow (in humility and submission to Him).


tafseer:
Whoever takes God and His Messenger and those who believe for guardian and confidant, then surely the party of God (that they constitute), they are the victors.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not take for guardians and confidants such of those who were given the Book before as make a mockery and sport of your Religion, and the unbelievers (who reject the Messenger, Divine Revelation, and the Last Day). Keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety, if you are truly believers.


tafseer:
When you recite the call to the Prayer, they take it for a mockery and sport – that is because they are a people who do not use their reason to understand.


tafseer:
Whenever those (of the same character and life-pattern and the hypocrites following in their footsteps) come to you, they declare (hypocritically), &quot


tafseer:
You see many among them rushing as if competing in sinful, iniquitous acts, and enmity, and consuming unlawful earnings. How evil indeed is what they have been doing!


tafseer:
Why is it that the masters self-dedicated to God and educating people, and the rabbis (teachers of law) do not forbid them from sinful utterances and consuming unlawful earnings? How evil indeed is what they have been contriving!


tafseer:
If only the People of the Book would believe (in the Prophet Muhammad and what is revealed to him), and keep from disobedience to God in piety so as to deserve His protection, We would certainly blot out from them their (previous) evil deeds and admit them for sure into Gardens of bounty and blessings.


tafseer:
If only they had truly observed the Torah and the Gospel, and all that was sent down to them from their Lord (faithfully, without introducing distortions therein, and therefore would believe in Muhammad and follow his way), they would have been fed from above them and from beneath their feet (as God would have poured forth His blessings upon them from both heaven and earth). Among them there are just, moderate people who hold to the right course, but many of them – evil indeed is what they do!


tafseer:
O Messenger (you who convey and embody the Message in the best way)! Convey and make known in the clearest way all that has been sent down to you from your Lord. For, if you do not, you have not conveyed His Message and fulfilled the task of His Messengership. And God will certainly protect you from the people. God will surely not guide the disbelieving people (to attain their goal of harming or defeating you).


tafseer:
Surely be they of those who declare faith (the Community of Muhammad) and be they of those who are the Jews or the Sabaeans, or the Christians (or of another faith) – whoever truly and sincerely believes in God and the Last Day and does good, righteous deeds – they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
We did indeed make a covenant with the Children of Israel and (accordingly) We sent them Messengers (one after the other). But whenever a Messenger came to them with what did not suit (the desires of) their souls – some they would deny and some they would kill.


tafseer:
They calculated that there would be no trial (of them as a result of what they did), and so became as if blind and deaf (to truth and all Divine admonitions). Then God (having guided them to waken their consciences, and turn to Him in repentance so that they could reform themselves) relented towards them (in gracious forgiveness). Then (again, in spite of that) many of them became as if blind and deaf. And God sees well all that they do.


tafseer:
Assuredly they have disbelieved who say: God is the Messiah, son of Mary, whereas the Messiah himself proclaimed: &quot


tafseer:
Assuredly they also have disbelieved who say: God is the third of the Three, whereas there is no deity save the One God. If they desist not from their saying so, there shall touch those of them who disbelieve a painful punishment.


tafseer:
Will they not turn to God in repentance and (being resolved never again to commit the same wrong) ask Him for forgiveness? God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Those of the Children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of David and Jesus, son of Mary. That was because they disobeyed and kept on exceeding the bounds (of the Law).


tafseer:
They would not restrain one another from doing the evil they did: indeed evil was what they used to do.


tafseer:
You see many of them (the Jews) taking those who disbelieve as allies and friends (instead of allying with the Messenger and the believers). Evil indeed is what they themselves send ahead for themselves (for their future and for the life hereafter), so that God will condemn them, and they will abide in the punishment.


tafseer:
Had they truly believed in God and the (most illustrious) Prophet (Muhammad) and what has been sent down to him, they would not have taken them (the unbelievers) for allies and friends


tafseer:
You will most certainly find that, of the people (of unbelief), the most violent in enmity toward the believers (the Muslims) are the Jews and those who associate partners with God. And you will most certainly find that the nearest of them in affection to the believers (the Muslims) are those who say: &quot


tafseer:
When they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes brimming over with tears because they know something of its truth (from their own Books)


tafseer:
So God (judged that He would) reward them for their saying so with Gardens through which rivers flow, therein to abide. Such is the reward of those who are devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
As to those who disbelieve and deny Our signs and Revelations, those are companions of the Blazing Flame.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not hold as unlawful the pure, wholesome things that God has made lawful to you, and do not exceed the bounds (either by making forbidden what is lawful, or by over-indulgence in the lawful). God does not love those who exceed the bounds.


tafseer:
God does not take you to task for a slip (or blunder of speech) in your oaths, but He takes you to task for what you have concluded by solemn, deliberate oaths. The expiation (for breaking such oaths) is to feed ten destitute persons (or one person for ten days) with the average of the food you serve to your families, or to clothe them, or to set free a slave. If anyone does not find (the means to do that), let him fast for three days. That is the expiation for your oaths when you have sworn (and broken them). But be mindful of your oaths (do not make them lightly, and when you have sworn them, fulfill them). Thus God makes clear to you His Revelations (the lights of His way), that you may give thanks (from the heart and in speech, and in action by fulfilling His commandments).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Intoxicants, games of chance, sacrifices to (anything serving the function of) idols (and at places consecrated for offerings to other than God), and (the pagan practice of) divination by arrows (and similar practices) are a loathsome evil of Satan’s doing


tafseer:
Satan only seeks to provoke enmity and hatred among you by means of intoxicants and games of chance, and to bar you from the remembrance of God and from Prayer. So, then, will you abstain?


tafseer:
Obey God and obey the Messenger, (whose commands are based on Divine Revelation), and be on the alert (against opposing them). If you turn away (from obedience to them), then know that what rests with Our Messenger is only to convey the Message fully and clearly.


tafseer:
There is no sin on those who believe and do good, righteous deeds for what they might have partaken (in their pre-Islamic past), provided (henceforth) they fear (the end of their previous creeds and misdeeds) and come to faith and do good, righteous deeds, then keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety and believe (more profoundly), then be more meticulous in obeying God in greater reverence for Him and piety and be devoted to doing good: God loves those who are devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Something of the game that you take by your hands or your lances (while you are on the Pilgrimage) is God’s testing of you so that He may prove those who fear Him (though) unseen. Whoever, after that, exceeds the bounds, for him is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not kill game while you are in the state of pilgrim sanctity or in the sacred precincts of Makkah. Whoever of you kills it, then its recompense is the like of what he has killed, from livestock, to be judged by two men among you of equity and probity, and to be brought to the Ka‘bah as an offering


tafseer:
(To hunt and eat) the game in the sea, its (fish and other) edibles are lawful for you, a provision for you and for travelers (whom you want to feed). However, while you are in the state of pilgrim sanctity, you are forbidden to hunt on land (or slaughter and eat of animals that you get others to hunt for you). Keep from disobedience to God in due reverence for Him, to Whom you will be gathered.


tafseer:
God has made the Ka‘bah, the Sacred House, a standard and maintenance for the people, and also the Sacred Months (during which fighting is forbidden), and the animals for sacrificial offering, and the (camels wearing the sacrificial) collars. That is so that you may know that God knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and that God has full knowledge of everything.


tafseer:
Nothing rests with the Messenger but to convey the Message fully. (It is your responsibility to act in accordance therewith) and God knows whatever you reveal and do openly and whatever you conceal (in your bosoms) and do secretly.


tafseer:
O you who believe! (Practice as you are admonished to practice, and) do not ask about things which, if made manifest to you, would give you trouble (and make the practice of religion difficult for you). Even so, if you ask about them while the Qur’an is being sent down, they (what is necessary to be made manifest) will be made manifest to you (to the extent that God wills). (Many things that you have either asked or want to ask about, but which God has left unspoken) God has absolved you thereof: God is All-Forgiving, All-Clement.


tafseer:
Indeed a people before you used to ask such questions (and demanded from their Prophet such things as particular miracles), and thereafter they fell into unbelief (through not carrying out the commandments given in answer to their questions or through willfully disbelieving in their Prophet despite the miracles worked).


tafseer:
God has not ordained anything (in the nature) of a bahirah, nor a sa’ibah, nor a wasilah, nor ham. But those who disbelieve fabricate falsehoods against God – most of them do not reason and indeed are devoid of sense.


tafseer:
O you who believe! (Do not busy yourselves with those who follow different ways!) Your responsibility is your selves (so consider how you are faring along your own way). Those who go astray can do you no harm if you yourselves are guided (and so know the right way and then follow it without deviation). To God is the return of all of you, and He will make you understand all that you were doing (and call you to account for it).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Let there be witnesses among you when death approaches you, at the time of making bequests – two straightforward and trustworthy persons from among your own people (the Muslim community), or two other persons from among people other than your own (from among the People of the Book) if you are on a journey (and there are no Muslims) when the affliction of death befalls you. Then if any doubt arises (concerning their testimony), have the two of them stay (in the mosque) after the Prayer, and they shall swear by God: &quot


tafseer:
Then if it is discovered later that the two (witnesses) have been guilty of (that very) sin (of not giving true testimony), then have two others stand in their place from among those (rightful heirs of the deceased) whom the first two have deprived of their right, and these shall swear by God: &quot


tafseer:
That (way) it is more likely that people will offer correct testimony or else they will (at least) fear that their oaths will be rebutted by other oaths. Keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety and pay heed (to His commandments). God does not guide people of transgression.


tafseer:
To God belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. And He has full power over everything.


tafseer:
All praise and gratitude are for God, Who has created the heavens and the earth, and (as a dimension of their existence and result of their movement) brought into being veils of darkness and the light. Yet those who disbelieve ascribe equals to their Lord (Who raises, sustains, and maintains them such things as idols, certain celestial bodies, and certain people).


tafseer:
He it is Who has created you from clay (in the beginning, and the material origin of every one of you is clay), and then decreed a term (of life for you), and there is with Him another unchanging term determined by and known to Him. Yet, you are in doubt (concerning these manifest truths, some of which you experience and some others you can deduce).


tafseer:
He is (the One, True) God (executing His absolute sovereignty and manifesting His Attributes and Names) both in the heavens and on the earth. He knows what you keep concealed and what you declare (and do) openly, and He knows what you earn (of good or bad – what you are doing in your life).


tafseer:
Yet whenever any of their Lord’s signs and Revelations comes to them, they turn away from it in aversion.


tafseer:
And so they willfully deny the truth (embodied by the Qur’an) when it has come to them (and mock the truths, warnings, and especially the tidings of the Resurrection). Even so, they will come to understand what it was they were mocking.


tafseer:
Do they not see (even though they pass by the ruins on their journeys) how many a generation We have destroyed before them, whom We established on the earth more firmly than We ever established you (We gave them means and possibilities such as We have not given you), and upon whom We showered blessings from heaven (above them), and from beneath them We made rivers flow. And yet We destroyed them for their sins, and after them We raised up another generation.


tafseer:
Had We sent down on you (O Messenger) a book on parchment such that they touched it with their hands, yet those who insist on their unbelief would indeed have said: &quot


tafseer:
Had We appointed an angel (as Our Messenger) We would surely have made him (since he would have to guide humankind in all aspects of life, in the form of) a man, and thus We would have confused for them what they themselves are confusing.


tafseer:
Messengers indeed were mocked before you (O Messenger), but what they used to mock overwhelmed those who scoffed (at the Messengers to humiliate them).


tafseer:
Those who were given the Book (before) know him (the Messenger with all his distinguishing attributes) as they know their own sons


tafseer:
Who is more in wrong than he who fabricates falsehood in attribution to God and denies His signs (in the universe and their own selves pointing to Him) and His Revelations. Assuredly, the wrongdoers will not prosper.


tafseer:
A Day will come when We raise them all from the dead and gather them together, and then ask those who (while they were in the world) associated partners with God: &quot


tafseer:
Look! – How they lie against themselves, and (how) what they fabricated as partners (to worship besides God) has failed them!


tafseer:
There are among them such as could not help but listen to you (reciting the Qur’an), but We have laid veils over their hearts (made by their ill-intention, wrongdoing, and arrogance, which caused them to lose the capacity to believe) so that they do not comprehend it (and so cannot believe), and in their ears, heaviness: even if they see whatever manifest sign (pointing to God’s Unity and other truths of faith), they will not believe in it – so much so that when they come to you (only in order) to dispute with you, they, who have disbelieved, say: &quot


tafseer:
If you (O Messenger) could see them when they are made to stand by the Fire, and (in dread of being thrown into it, as if they forgot that they denied their associating partners with God) they say: &quot


tafseer:
No! Rather, they say this because what they used to hide (the manifest truth, and their own evil intentions, intrigues, and actions in response to it) has become obvious to them


tafseer:
(They always behaved so whenever they got into distress while in the world, but when relieved of it) they would say: &quot


tafseer:
Assuredly, those have lost who deny the (truth of the final) meeting with God until, as the Hour comes upon them all of a sudden, they cry, &quot


tafseer:
And the present, worldly life is nothing but a play and pastime, and better is the abode of the Hereafter for those who keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety. Will you not, then, reason and understand?


tafseer:
(O Messenger!) We know indeed that the things (lies, mockery, and slanders) that they say grieve you: yet, it is not you that they deny (they cannot very well call you a liar since they themselves have called you ‘the trustworthy one’)


tafseer:
(Do not be grieved at what they do!) Indeed, Messengers before you were denied (regarding the Message they brought), but they endured with patience the charge of falsehood and the hurt done to them, until Our help reached them: there is none that can change God’s words (alter His decrees and His execution of them). And, indeed, some account of those Messengers has already come to you.


tafseer:
If their recalcitrance is distressful for you, then if you are able seek a way down into the earth or a ladder up to the heavens to bring them a sign (a miracle of the kind that they wrongly think would persuade them to believe) – then know that had God so willed, He could surely have gathered them all to the true guidance (whether by a single miracle or by some other means. Seeing that God wills otherwise: that the truth be set before people with its supporting arguments through Messengers, and people should choose their way by exercise of their free will and judgment, then) do not be among those who act as if ignorant (of this fact).


tafseer:
(Should not those whose ears are closed to the Qur’an look around themselves to see the signs of the truth?) No living creature is there moving on the earth, no bird flying on its two wings, but they are communities like you. We have neglected nothing in the Book (the Qur’an, the Supreme Preserved Tablet, which is the source of all books, and the Book of Creation: We have created everything just in its place and for a purpose, so that the universe is maintained in perfect balance and order). Then, (a Day will come when the universe will be changed into a new one, and) they will be raised from the dead and gathered to their Lord.


tafseer:
Those who deny Our signs and Revelations are deaf and dumb in veils of darkness. Whomever God wills, He leads astray, and whomever He wills, He sets on a straight path.


tafseer:
(No indeed!) Rather, it is Him alone that you invoke – then He may, if He wills, remove that which caused you to invoke Him – and you forget (then) whatever partners you have been associating with Him.


tafseer:
And We did indeed send Messengers to the communities before you, and We seized those (communities) with trials and tribulations so that they might invoke Us with humility (seeking the truth and forgiveness).


tafseer:
If only, when Our trial came upon them, they had invoked Us with humility! But their hearts grew hard and Satan decked out whatever they were doing as appealing to them.


tafseer:
Then, when they forgot (the advice and warnings) that they were reminded of, We opened for them the gates of all things, until, even while they were rejoicing in what they were granted, We seized them suddenly, so then they were plunged into despair.


tafseer:
And so (in the end) was uprooted that people who had been bent on wrongdoing. All praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds!


tafseer:
We do not send the Messengers except as bearers of glad tidings (of prosperity in return for faith and righteousness) and warners (against the consequences of misguidance). So, whoever believes and mends his way, they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
And as for those who deny Our signs and Revelations, the punishment will touch them on account of their transgressing (the bounds in belief and conduct).


tafseer:
Warn with this (Qur’an) those who (whether they already have true belief or not yet) are fearful in their hearts because they will be raised from the dead and gathered to their Lord, that they have, apart from Him, no guardian and confidant, nor intercessor, so that they may keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety, and be protected against His punishment.


tafseer:
And do not (in the hope of persuading the chieftains of the unbelievers) drive away any of those (poor believers of humble social standing) who, in the morning and afternoon, invoke their Lord, seeking His &quot


tafseer:
And it is in this way that We try people through one another: so that they (who think that such things as wealth and social status are the means of superiority) say (of the believers who are poor and lacking in recognized social status): &quot


tafseer:
When those who believe in all of Our Revelations and signs (whenever they come to them,) come to you, say in welcome: &quot


tafseer:
Thus We set out in detail the signposts of Our way and the relevant Revelations (included in the Qur’an), and (We do so) so that the path of the disbelieving criminals might become distinct (from that of the righteous believers).


tafseer:
He it is Who recalls your souls at night (while you sleep, a state comparable to death), and He knows what You already worked in the daytime. Then He raises you to life therein (the next daytime) so that the term appointed by Him is fulfilled. (He causes you to die after the completion of this term, and, just as He raises you again to life each day after sleep, He resurrects you from that death when the appointed time is due.) Your final return is to Him


tafseer:
Then they are restored to God, their All-True Master and Protector. Indeed His alone is the judgment and authority, and He is the most swift in reckoning.


tafseer:
When you meet such as indulge in (blasphemous) talk about Our Revelations, turn away from them until they enter into some other discourse. And should Satan cause you to forget, no longer remain, after recollection, in the company of such wrongdoing people.


tafseer:
Those who keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety are not accountable for them in anything. But (what rests with them is) to remind and thereby admonish them so that they may fear (the evil of what they do) and avoid it.


tafseer:
Quit those who take their Religion (the one appointed for them by God) for a play and pastime (and have made play and fun their own religion), and whom the present, worldly life has deluded. But remind them (through the Qur’an) lest any soul should be given up to destruction for what it has earned, for there will neither be any protecting friend nor intercessor apart from God, and even though it may offer any ransom (in return for its unforgivable sins such as unbelief and associating partners with God), it will not be accepted from it. They are those who are given up to destruction for what they have earned


tafseer:
And to establish the Prayer in conformity with all its conditions, and keep from disobedience to Him in reverence for Him and piety.&quot


tafseer:
He it is Who has created the heavens and the earth in truth (meaningfully and for definite purpose, and on solid foundations of truth). Whenever He says &quot


tafseer:
Thus (he spoke and acted for) We had showed Abraham (the ugliness and irrationality of polytheism and) the inner dimension of (the existence of) the heavens and the earth, and the eternal truth (which this outer, corporeal dimension manifests and depends upon} – this We had done so that he might be one of those who have achieved certainty of faith (that he might attain the final degree in his certainty as a Messenger of God):


tafseer:
That was Our argument which We granted to Abraham against his people. We raise in degrees whom We will. Your Lord is All-Wise (having many wise purposes for what He does), All-Knowing (whatever He does is based on His absolutely comprehensive Knowledge).


tafseer:
And later, We bestowed upon him (a son) Isaac and (a grandson) Jacob, and each of them We guided (and distinguished them with Prophethood). Earlier We had guided Noah (and distinguished him with Prophethood). And of Abraham’s descendants (We guided and distinguished with Prophethood) David and Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses and Aaron. Thus do We reward those devoted to doing good as if seeing God.


tafseer:
And some from among their forefathers, and their descendants, and their brothers: We chose them and guided them to a straight path (which has characteristics particular to each according to his epoch).


tafseer:
That is God’s guidance with which He guides whomever He wills of His servants. And had they (the ones mentioned above) associated partners with God, then all that they did (of good and the recompense they had earned) would have gone to waste.


tafseer:
Those are the ones to whom We granted the Book, and authority with sound, wise judgment, and Prophethood. Then if those (people of yours, O Messenger,) disbelieve it (Our guidance which We have sent them with you), then certainly We entrust it to a people who do believe therein.


tafseer:
Those are the (illustrious) ones whom God guided. Follow, then, their guidance, and say (to your people): &quot


tafseer:
And they (some of the Jews) had no true judgment of God as His right (in being God requires), when they say: &quot


tafseer:
And this (the Qur’an) is a (Divine) Book that We send down – blessed and full of blessing, confirming (the Divine authorship of) whatever was revealed before it – so that you may warn (the people of) the Mother of Cities (Makkah) and those around it. Those who believe in the Hereafter do believe in it


tafseer:
God is He Who splits the grain and the fruit-stone (so that they germinate by His command). He brings forth the living from the dead, and He is One Who brings forth the dead from the living


tafseer:
He it is Who splits the dawn (from the darkness of night). He has made the night for repose, and the sun and the moon a means for reckoning (the divisions of time). This is the ordaining of the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Knowing.


tafseer:
He it is Who has made for you the stars (in their present conditions and positions) so that you may find your way by them in the darkness of the land and the sea. Assuredly, We have set out in detail the signs and proofs (of the truth) for a people seeking knowledge.


tafseer:
He it is Who developed you from a single human self, and has appointed (in each station of your journeying from mother’s womb to eternal life) for each of you a lodging-place where, and time-limit during which, you will stay and then be transferred. We have certainly set out in detail the signs and proofs (of the truth) for a people seeking to attain profound understanding.


tafseer:
He it is Who sends down water from the sky, and therewith We bring forth vegetation of every kind (from their seeds under the soil), and then from it We bring forth a lively shoot, from which We bring forth close-packed and compounded ears of grain, and from the palm-tree – from the spathe of it – dates thick-clustered hanging (ready to the hand), and gardens of vines, and the olive tree, and the pomegranate: alike (in the fundamentals of life and growth) and diverse (in structure, look, taste, and smell). Look at their fruit, when they begin to fruit and as they ripen. Surely in that there are signs for people who will believe and who will deepen in faith (as they see new signs).


tafseer:
Yet they associate the jinn as partners with God, although He created them, and, devoid of any knowledge, they invent for Him sons and daughters. All-Glorified He is, and absolutely Exalted above what they attribute (to Him).


tafseer:
The Originator of the heavens and the earth with nothing before Him to imitate. How can He have a child, when there is for Him no consort, and He has created all things (i.e. nothing created can be a consort for Him)? And He has full knowledge of everything.


tafseer:
Eyes comprehend Him not, but He comprehends all eyes. He is the All-Subtle (penetrating everything no matter how small), the All-Aware.


tafseer:
Lights of discernment and insight have come to you from your Lord. Whoever therefore (by choosing to open the eye of his heart and place his eyes in its service) discerns, does so for his own good


tafseer:
Thus do We set out the signs of the truth and Revelations in diverse ways, so that they (who choose blindness) say, &quot


tafseer:
Yet if God had so willed (and not enabled their free choice), they would not have associated partners with Him, (so do not torment yourself to death with grief because they do not believe). And We have not made you a keeper over them, and you are not charged with care and control of them.


tafseer:
And do not (O believers) revile the things or beings that they have, apart from God, deified and invoke, lest (if you do so) they attempt to revile God out of spite, and in ignorance. Thus have We made their deeds seem fair to every people


tafseer:
They swear by God with their most solemn oaths that if a miracle (of the kind they desire) is shown to them, they will believe in it. Say: &quot


tafseer:
Just as they did not believe in it before (despite many evidences sufficient to convince one who really means to believe), and (because of their actions and attitudes preventing them from belief,) We confound their hearts and eyes, and leave them blindly wandering in their rebellion.


tafseer:
Even if We were to send down angels to them (whenever they wished it), and the dead were to speak to them, and We were to assemble before them, face to face, all the creatures (to bear witness to the truth of the Message you bring), they would still not believe, unless God so willed (and came to their aid out of His pure grace)


tafseer:
And thus it is that (as a dimension of human earthly life taking place according to Our eternal Will embracing human free will, and according to the wisdom in sending the Religion) We have set against every Prophet a hostile opposition from among the satans of humankind and jinn, whispering and suggesting to one another specious words, by way of delusion. Yet had your Lord willed (and compelled everybody to behave in the way He wills), they would not do it. So leave them alone with what they have been fabricating.


tafseer:
And the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter incline towards it (their deluding speech) and take pleasure in it, and they continue perpetrating the evils that they have long been perpetrating.


tafseer:
The Word of your Lord (which He sent down in parts in different periods considering the conditions of each period) is perfected (with the Qur’an) as the embodiment of truth (with respect to the essentials of belief, principles of worship and good conduct, the rules to govern human life, and all the tidings it gives considering the past and future including the Hereafter), and of justice (regarding all the commandments it contains): there is no altering of His words (the laws He has established for life, and the operation of the universe


tafseer:
And if you pay heed to the majority of those on the earth, they will lead you astray from God’s way. They follow only conjecture (not knowledge), and they themselves do nothing but make guesses (they pronounce and act according to their fancies, selfish interests, and personal value judgments).


tafseer:
Indeed your Lord is He Who knows best who goes astray from His way, and He knows best (those who are) the rightly-guided.


tafseer:
Eat, then, of (the flesh of) that over which God’s Name has been pronounced, if you are sincere believers in His Revelations.


tafseer:
And why should you not eat of (the flesh of) that over which God’s Name has been pronounced, seeing that He has clearly spelled out to you what He has made unlawful to you unless you are constrained to it by dire necessity? But, indeed many people lead others astray, driven by their lusts and caprices without any knowledge (from God). Indeed your Lord is He Who knows best those who exceed the bounds.


tafseer:
Abstain from sinning, whether done in public or secret, (and the intentions and attitudes that accompany either). Indeed, those who record sins to their account will be recompensed for what they have earned.


tafseer:
And do not eat of that which is slaughtered in the name of other than God and over which God’s Name has not been pronounced (at the time of its slaughtering), for that is indeed a transgression. And the satans do whisper and make suggestions to their confidants to contend with you. If you obey them, you are indeed those who associate partners with God.


tafseer:
Is he who was dead (in spirit), and We raised him to life, and set for him a light by which he moves (without any deviancy) among people, is he like the one who is as one lost in depths of darkness, from which he cannot get out? (But) thus it is: to the unbelievers are the things they have been doing decked out as appealing.


tafseer:
And in that way have We set up in every township as leaders its most prominent criminals so that they scheme (against the believers). But they scheme only against their own selves – and they do not perceive it.


tafseer:
Thus, whomever God wills to guide, He expands his breast to Islam, and whomever He wills to lead astray, He causes his breast to become tight and constricted, as if he were climbing towards the heaven. Thus God lays ignominy upon those who do not believe (despite many signs and evidences).


tafseer:
And this (the way of Islam) is the Straight Path of your Lord. We have assuredly set out in detail the signs (of the right and wrong ways) for a people who reflect and are mindful.


tafseer:
For them is the Abode of Peace with their Lord (where they will enjoy perfect bliss, peace, and safety), and He is their Guardian because of what they have been doing.


tafseer:
On the day when He will raise to life and gather them (jinn and humankind, believers and unbelievers) all together, (He says): &quot


tafseer:
In this manner We cause the wrongdoers to befriend and help one another (with seduction and sinning) because of what they are engaged in earning.


tafseer:
Clearly it is not the way of your Lord that He would destroy lands unjustly without their people being warned (beforehand of the consequence of their way of life) and therefore unmindful (of the distinctions between right and wrong, truth and falsehood).


tafseer:
For everyone there are (different) ranks according to what they have done (of right and wrong). Your Lord is not unmindful of what they do.


tafseer:
Your Lord, having boundless, all-encompassing mercy, is absolutely self-sufficient (with no need of any kind, including His servants’ belief and worship). If He so wills, He can put you away and cause whom He wills to succeed you just as He produced you from the seed of another people.


tafseer:
What you have been promised (and warned of, concerning your future and the Hereafter), is indeed bound to happen, and you have no power at all to frustrate it.


tafseer:
And, in the way they follow, their associate-deities (their association of partners with God or their idol-worshipping, and satans of jinn and humankind they obey) deck out the killing of their children as appealing to many among those who associate partners with God, so as to bring them to ruin and confound them in their religion. If God had so willed (if He had not decreed freedom of will to humankind, thus compelling them to act in a particular way like other beings), they would not be doing all this. So, leave them alone with what they have been fabricating.


tafseer:
Assuredly those are lost who, in folly and without knowledge, kill their children (either in the wombs of their mothers or after birth), and make unlawful (the lawful and pure, wholesome things) that God has provided them as sustenance, falsely attributing that to God. Assuredly, they have gone astray, and have never been able to find the right way.


tafseer:
(Ever providing you with lawful, pure and wholesome food), He it is Who produces gardens (and vineyards, and orchards) trellised and untrellised, and date-palms, and crops varying in taste, and olives, and pomegranates, resembling one another and yet so different. Eat of their fruits when they come to fruition, and give (to the poor and the needy) the due thereof on harvest day. And do not be wasteful (by over-eating or other unnecessary consumption, or by giving to others so much as to leave in need those whose maintenance is your responsibility)


tafseer:
And of the cattle (He has created) some for carrying loads, and some for the sake of their flesh, and skins and fur. Consume from what God has provided for you as sustenance, and do not follow in the footsteps of Satan (by laying down rules other than those of God and adopting ways other than God’s)


tafseer:
And for those who are Jews We have made unlawful all beasts with claws, and of oxen and sheep We have made unlawful for them their fat, save that which is in their backs or entrails, or that which is mixed with the bone. Thus did We recompense them for their continuous rebellion. And We are indeed true (in all Our decrees and deeds).


tafseer:
And once again: We gave Moses the Book, completing Our favor upon those devoted to doing good in the awareness that God sees them, and detailing everything (concerning truth and falsehood, and right and wrong), and as a guidance and mercy, that they may have ever-deepening faith in the (final) meeting with their Lord.


tafseer:
Do they wait only for the angels to come to them (to take their souls or bring them a disaster), or for your Lord to judge them (and bring forth Hell for them), or for some clear signs of your Lord to appear (such as rocks pouring down on them, which they want you to show them, or signs signaling the final destruction of the world)? When some clears signs of your Lord appear, believing will be of no avail to anyone who did not believe before, or who has earned no good through his belief. Say (to them, O Messenger): &quot


tafseer:
Those who have made divisions in their Religion (whereas they must accept it in its totality), and have been divided into different parties – you have nothing to do with them. Their case rests with God, and then He will make them understand what they were doing.


tafseer:
Whoever comes to God with a good deed will have ten times as much, and whoever comes with an evil deed, will be recompensed with only the like of it


tafseer:
He it is Who has appointed you vicegerents over the earth (to improve it and rule over it according to God’s commandments), and has exalted some of you over others in degrees (of intelligence, capacity, and then wealth and status): thus He tries you in what He has granted you. (Always remember that) your Lord is the most swift in retribution (when it is due), and assuredly, He is the All-Forgiving, the All-Compassionate (especially toward those who turn to Him in repentance as His believing servants).


tafseer:
This is a Book sent down to you (O Messenger) – so let there be no tightness in your breast in respect of it (in conveying it to people and fearing that they may not believe in it) – that thereby you may warn (people against any deviation), and as an admonition and advice to the believers.


tafseer:
Follow what has been sent down to you (O humankind) from your Lord, and, do not follow as confidants and guardians other than Him. How little you reflect and take heed!


tafseer:
How many a township We have destroyed (because they did not pay heed to Our warning). Our scourge fell upon them at night or when they were taking their ease in the noontime.


tafseer:
So We will surely question those to whom Messengers were sent (as to how they responded to them), and We will surely question those sent with Our Message (concerning their duty of conveying it and how their peoples reacted to it).


tafseer:
Then We will surely narrate to them (the full account of their worldly lives) with (full, accurate) knowledge


tafseer:
The weighing on that Day shall be the truth (complete and accurate), and he whose scales (of good deeds) are heavy – they will be the prosperous.


tafseer:
And he whose scales are light (because they have no acceptable good deeds) – they will be those who have ruined their own selves because they were unjust to Our Revelations and signs (in both the universe and themselves).


tafseer:
Indeed, We have established you on the earth (O humankind, endowed you with great potential) and arranged for your livelihood in it. Scarcely do you give thanks!


tafseer:
We brought you into existence, then We gave you each a form (perfectly suited to your nature), and then We said to the angels (to signify that they affirm the degree of knowledge and superiority of Adam and his deserving vicegerency, and that they will help him to perform his duty on the earth): &quot


tafseer:
Then Satan made an evil suggestion to both of them that he might reveal to them their private parts that had remained hidden from them (and waken their carnal impulses), and he said: &quot


tafseer:
O children of Adam! Assuredly We have sent down on you a garment to cover your private parts, and garments for adornment. However, (remember that) the garment of piety and righteousness – it is the best of all. That is from God’s signs, that they may reflect and be mindful.


tafseer:
Children of Adam! Never let Satan seduce you (and cause you to fail in similar trials) as he caused your (ancestral) parents to be driven out of the Garden, pulling off from them their garment and revealing to them their private parts (and the carnal impulses ingrained in them). He sees you, he and his host (see you), from where you do not see them. We have made satans the confidants and fellow-criminals of those who do not believe.


tafseer:
A party He has guided (to the right way), and for another party straying in error is their just due: they have taken satans, rather than God, for confidants, supporters, and guardians, yet they suppose that they are rightly-guided.


tafseer:
O children of Adam! (As to your earthly life, the term of which has already been appointed, We have decreed): Whenever there come to you Messengers from among yourselves, relating to you My Revelations, then whoever keeps from disobedience to Me and them so as to deserve My protection and mends his ways, thus acting for the general peace in the community, they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
But those who deny Our Revelations and turn arrogantly from them, they are the companions of the Fire, and therein they will abide.


tafseer:
Who is more in wrong than he who fabricates falsehood in attribution to God and denies His Revelations and signs (in the universe and their selves)? Their full portion of God’s decree (concerning life and providence) will reach them, until Our envoys (angels assigned for this duty) come to them to take their souls, and say: &quot


tafseer:
Those who deny Our Revelations and turn arrogantly from them – for them, the gates of Heaven will indeed not be opened (i.e. God will not accept even their good deeds) and they will enter Paradise no further than a camel can pass through the eye of a needle. Thus do We recompense the disbelieving criminals.


tafseer:
For them is a bed of Hellfire and, over them, is a covering (of the same fire). Thus do We recompense the wrongdoers.


tafseer:
But those who believe and do good, righteous deeds – We do not burden any soul beyond its capacity – they are the companions of Paradise


tafseer:
We will strip away whatever is in their bosoms of rancor and any jealousy (they may have felt against other believers while in the world). Rivers flowing beneath them (and themselves overflowing with gratitude), they say: &quot


tafseer:
And between the two there is a barrier, and on the Heights (between Paradise and Hell) are some men, recognizing each by their countenances. They – not yet entering Paradise, but longing for it – call out to the companions of Paradise: &quot


tafseer:
And when their eyes are turned towards the companions of Hell, they say (in dread of that state): &quot


tafseer:
The people of the Heights call out to some men (who were the leaders of unbelief in the world, and) whom they recognize by their marks (on their countenances), saying: &quot


tafseer:
(The unbelievers are) those who took their Religion (the one appointed for them by God) for a play and pastime (and have made play and fun their own religion), and present, worldly life deluded them. So We are oblivious of them today (concerning forgiveness and favoring), as they were oblivious of the encounter of this Day of theirs, and were obstinately rejecting Our Revelations.


tafseer:
Assuredly We have brought them a Book (the meaning and commandments of) which We set out in detail with knowledge, as guidance and mercy for people who will believe and who have already believed.


tafseer:
Are they waiting but for the final end of the call to that Book? On the Day when this end comes, those, who until then have been oblivious of it, say: &quot


tafseer:
Indeed your Lord is God, Who has created the heavens and the earth in six days, then He has established Himself on the Supreme Throne, covering the day with the night, each pursuing the other swiftly, with the sun, the moon, and the stars obedient to His command. Know well that His is the creation and His is the command. Blessed and Supreme is God, the Lord of the worlds.


tafseer:
Call upon your Lord (O humankind) with humility and in the secrecy of your hearts. Indeed your Lord does not love those who exceed the bounds.


tafseer:
(Keep within the bounds He has decreed:) Do not cause disorder and corruption on the earth seeing that it has been so well ordered, and call upon Him with fear (of His punishment) and longing (for His forgiveness and mercy). God’s mercy is indeed near to those devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
And He it is Who sends forth the merciful winds as glad tidings in advance of His mercy – so that, when they carry heavy clouds, We drive them towards a dead land, then We cause thereby water to descend, and bring forth thereby fruits (crops) of every kind. Even so We make the dead come forth (on Judgment Day), that you may reflect and be mindful.


tafseer:
And the good, pure land: its vegetation comes forth in abundance by its Lord’s leave, whereas from the bad, corrupt land, it comes forth but poorly (like thorny bushes). Thus do We in diverse ways set out the signs (of God’s Existence and Unity and other truths of faith) for the people who give thanks (from the heart and in speech, and in action by fulfilling God’s commandments).


tafseer:
And yet they (instead of paying heed to Noah’s warning) denied him. And so We saved him and those who were with him in the Ark, and caused to drown those who denied Our Revelations and signs (of Our Existence and Unity). They were indeed a blind people.


tafseer:
Then, through mercy from Us, We saved him and those who were in his company, while we uprooted those who denied Our signs and Revelations and were not believers.


tafseer:
And to (the people of) Thamud (We sent) their brother Salih. He said (conveying the same message): &quot


tafseer:
The leading ones among his people, who were arrogant and oppressed the others, said to those that they scorned, to those among them who were believers: &quot


tafseer:
Then (without enduring any longer to see her as evidence of the truth of Salih’s message), they cruelly slaughtered the she-camel, and disdainfully disobeyed the command of their Lord, and said: &quot


tafseer:
Then a shocking catastrophe seized them, so that they lay prostrate and lifeless in their very dwellings.


tafseer:
Then We saved Lot and his household (who left the land upon Our command) except his wife, who was among those who stayed behind.


tafseer:
And We rained a destructive rain (of stones) upon them (those who stayed behind). Then, look, how was the outcome for the criminals committed to accumulating sins.


tafseer:
And to (the people of) Midian (We sent) their brother Shu‘ayb as Messenger. He (conveying the same message) said: &quot


tafseer:
The leading ones who persisted in unbelief said (so as to put pressure upon the others among his people): &quot


tafseer:
Then a shocking catastrophe seized them, so that they lay prostrate and lifeless in their very dwellings –


tafseer:
Those who denied Shu‘ayb – as though they had not lived there in abundance – those who denied Shu‘ayb (and threatened the believers with loss and ruin), it was they who were the losers.


tafseer:
And We did not send a Prophet to a township but We seized its people with distress and hardship so that they might (wake from heedlessness and) be humble (invoking Us for forgiveness and turning to the truth.)


tafseer:
Then (after this phase of trial and training) We changed the affliction into good (ease of life) until they increased (in numbers and wealth, and indulged in comforts) and said (without taking any lesson from it): &quot


tafseer:
If the peoples of those townships had but believed and, in order to deserve His protection, had kept from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety, We would surely have opened up for them blessings from heaven and earth


tafseer:
Did the peoples of the townships feel secure that Our mighty punishment would not come upon them at night while they are sleeping?


tafseer:
Or did the peoples of the townships feel secure that Our mighty punishment would not come upon them in the daytime while they have indulged in worldly play?


tafseer:
Or did they feel secure from God’s designing (against them some unexpected affliction)? But none feels secure from God’s designing (against them some unexpected affliction) save the people of loss and self-ruin.


tafseer:
Has it not, then, become clear to those who have inherited the earth in the wake of former generations that, if We so willed, We could strike them for their sins? But (they are unresponsive to the meaning of events because, in consequence of their wrongdoing, their misguided attitudes and arrogance, and the grave sins they commit) We impress their hearts with a seal so that they cannot hear (the revealed truths and any admonition).


tafseer:
Those townships – We relate to you some tidings of them by way of exemplary histories (to teach you this): assuredly the Messengers came to them (chosen by God) from among themselves with clear proofs of the truth but they did not believe in that which they used to deny before. Thus does God impress the hearts of the unbelievers with a seal (that shuts them off from the affects of admonition).


tafseer:
Then, after them (those early Messengers) We sent Moses to the Pharaoh and his chiefs with Our Revelations and signs (miracles to support him), but they treated them wrongfully. So look, how was the outcome for those causing disorder and corruption!


tafseer:
Then he (Moses) threw down his staff, and thereupon it was a serpent manifest (clear for all to see as a sign).


tafseer:
And he drew forth his (right) hand (from his armpit where he had put it), and thereupon it was shining white to those looking on.


tafseer:
Thus were they (the Pharaoh and his chiefs) defeated there (in front of everyone’s eyes), and brought low


tafseer:
And We certainly seized the family (the court and military aristocracy) of the Pharaoh with years of famine and scarcity of corps, so that they might reflect and be mindful.


tafseer:
So, (in order that they might reflect and be mindful) We sent upon them floods and (plagues of) locusts and vermin, and frogs, and (water turning into) blood: distinct signs one after another. Yet they remained arrogant, and they were a criminal people committed to accumulating sins.


tafseer:
But when We removed the plague from them for a term in which they were to fulfill (what they promised), they then broke their promise.


tafseer:
So We inflicted Our retribution on them (just as they deserved), and so caused them to drown in the sea, as they denied Our signs (with willful persistence) and were heedless of them.


tafseer:
And We made the people who had been persecuted and oppressed (for centuries) inherit all the easts and wests (the whole length and breadth) of the land that We had blessed (with benefits for humankind). And your Lord’s gracious word to the Children of Israel was fulfilled, for they had endured patiently


tafseer:
And We led the Children of Israel across the sea, and then they came upon a people who were devoted to the worship of some idols that they had (particular to themselves). They said: &quot


tafseer:
And (remember, O Children of Israel,) when We saved you from clan of the Pharaoh, who were afflicting you with the most evil suffering (by enslaving you to such laborious tasks as construction, transportation and farming), slaughtering your sons and letting live your womenfolk (for further humiliation and suffering). In that was a grievous trial from your Lord.


tafseer:
And (so that you would be favored with the Torah to order your affairs) We appointed with Moses thirty nights, to which We added ten, so he completed the term of forty nights set by His Lord (for him to spend in devotion). (Before leaving his people in order to come to Our Presence) Moses had said to his brother (Aaron): &quot


tafseer:
And when Moses came to Our appointed time, his Lord spoke to him. (Then, in the rapture of nearness to God arising from his being addressed by Him) he said: &quot


tafseer:
(Moses completed the term appointed by his Lord for him to be favored with the Book to order his people’s affairs.) And We recorded for him on the Tablets whatever is necessary as instruction and guidance (to follow the way to God), and as explanation for all matters. And (We said): &quot


tafseer:
I will turn away from My Revelations and signs those who act with haughtiness on the earth against all right. And though they see every sign (of the truth), they do not believe in it


tafseer:
Those who deny Our Revelations and the meeting of the Hereafter – their works have wasted. Or are they to be recompensed for anything but what they used to do?


tafseer:
The people of Moses, after he (had left them to meet with his Lord), adopted for worship a calf (in effigy, made) of their ornaments, which gave out a lowing sound. Did they not see that it neither spoke to them nor guided them to a way? They adopted it for worship and so became wrongdoers (acting contrary to all the truths of creation and Divine commandments, and thereby wronging their very selves).


tafseer:
When they realized in remorse that they earned nothing but ruin, and perceived that they had gone astray, they said: &quot


tafseer:
And when Moses (having received the Tablets and learned that his people had adopted a calf to worship) returned to his people, full of wrath and sorrow, he said: &quot


tafseer:
Those who adopted the calf for worship – a severe punishment and condemnation from their Lord will indeed overtake them, and humiliation in this life of the world. Thus do We recompense those who fabricate falsehood (in attribution to God).


tafseer:
But as for those who do evil deeds, but later turn to God in repentance and (truly) believe – after that (effort of self-reform) your Lord is assuredly All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate (especially toward His servants who turn to Him).


tafseer:
And so when the anger subsided from Moses, He took up the Tablets (to put them into force). Inscribed on them was guidance and mercy for those who have awe of their Lord.


tafseer:
Moses chose of his people seventy men (to represent them) for Our appointment (on the mountain, in order to ask God for forgiveness for the calf-worship of some among them and to renew their covenant with Him). Then, when the shocking catastrophe seized them, Moses said: &quot


tafseer:
They follow the (most illustrious) Messenger, the Prophet who neither reads nor writes (and has therefore remained preserved from any traces of the existing written culture and is free from any intellectual and spiritual pollution), whom they find described (with all his distinguishing features) in the Torah and the Gospel (that are) with them. He enjoins upon them what is right and good and forbids them what is evil


tafseer:
And of the people of Moses there was a community who guided by the truth (by God’s leave) and dispensed justice by it.


tafseer:
We divided Moses’ people into twelve tribes, forming them into communities. We revealed to Moses when his people asked him for water (on the occasion that they were left without water in the desert), saying: &quot


tafseer:
But those among them who persisted in wrongdoing changed what had been said to them (regarding humility, imploring forgiveness, submission, and loyalty) for another saying (and acted contrarily to how they had been ordered). So We sent down on them a scourge from heaven because they were persistent in wrongdoing.


tafseer:
Ask them about the township that was by the sea: how its people were violating the Sabbath when their fish came swimming to them on the day of their Sabbath, but on the day they did not keep Sabbath, they did not come to them. Thus did We test try as they were transgressing (all bounds).


tafseer:
And when a community of people among them asked (others who tried to restrain the Sabbath-breakers): &quot


tafseer:
Then, when they became heedless of all that they had been reminded of, We saved those who had tried to prevent the evil-doing, and seized the others who had been doing wrong with an evil punishment for their transgressions.


tafseer:
Then, when they disdainfully persisted in doing what they had been forbidden to do, We said to them: &quot


tafseer:
And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed that He would, until the Day of Resurrection, send forth against them those who would afflict them with the most evil of suffering. Your Lord is indeed swift in retribution (when it is due), and He is indeed the All-Forgiving, the All-Compassionate (especially toward those who turn to Him in repentance and His believing servants).


tafseer:
And We have split them up on the earth as separate communities. Among them are those who are righteous, and those who are not


tafseer:
And there have succeeded after them new generations who inherited the Book, taking the gains of this low life (for which they sell it), and saying: &quot


tafseer:
And as for those who hold fast to the Book sincerely and establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions – indeed We do not let waste the reward of those who are ever reforming (themselves and society), and setting things right.


tafseer:
And (remember) when We shook the Mount above them as if it were a canopy, and they thought that it was going to fall on them. (We said:) Hold firmly to (the Book) that We haven given you and be mindful of (the commands and warnings) that it contains, that you may attain piety and due reverence for God, so deserving His protection (against any kind of deviancy and its consequent punishment in both this world and the Hereafter.)


tafseer:
And (remember, O Messenger,) when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their loins, their offspring, and made them bear witness against themselves (asking them:) &quot


tafseer:
And thus We set out in detail the signposts of Our way and the relevant Revelations (included in the Qur’an), so that they may turn back (from their wrong ways to Us).


tafseer:
Tell them (based on Our Revelation) the story of him whom We made well-informed of Our signs and Revelations, but he cast them off, and Satan overtook him, and he became of those (followers of Satan) who rebel (against God’s way) and go astray.


tafseer:
If We had willed (to impede the way he chose by his free will), We could indeed have lifted him (toward the perfections enabled by faith) through those signs and Revelations, but (by his own free choice) he clung to the earth and followed his desires. So (in his being surrendered to greed), his likeness is that of a dog: if you move to drive it away, it pants with its tongue lolling out (still hoping to be fed more), or if you leave it, it pants with its tongue lolling out. Such is the likeness of those who deny Our signs and Revelations. So tell them this narrative so that they may (be stirred to) reflect.


tafseer:
How evil an example are the people who deny Our signs and Revelations, and (in so doing) are ever wronging themselves.


tafseer:
Surely, among the jinn and humankind are many that We have created (and destined for) Hell (knowing that they would deserve it). They have hearts with which they do not seek the essence of matters to grasp the truth, and they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. They are like cattle (following only their instincts) – rather, even more astray (from the right way and in need of being led). Those are the unmindful and heedless.


tafseer:
To God belong the All-Beautiful Names so call and pray to Him by them. And keep aloof from those who blaspheme (and distort the meaning of) His Names. They will be recompensed for what they are doing.


tafseer:
And of those whom We have created there are people who, (in due recognition of God with His Names,) guide by the truth (by God’s leave) and dispense justice by it.


tafseer:
Whereas those who deny Our signs and Revelations, (as the consequence of their way,) We will step by step lead them on to perdition in ways they do not know.


tafseer:
And do they not reflect (by all that they witness in the Messenger and the Revelations coming to him) that there is no madness in their companion (the Prophet Muhammad)? He is but a plain warner.


tafseer:
And do they never consider the inner dimension of the heavens and the earth and God’s absolute dominion over them, and what things God has created, and that the end of their appointed term may already have approached? In what other discourse than this (warning contained in the Qur’an) will they believe?


tafseer:
He it is Who created you from a single human self, and made from it its mate, so that he (inclining with love towards woman) may find rest in her. And so, when he has covered her, she conceives a light burden, and continues to bear it. Then, when she grows heavy (with child), both (feel the need to) turn to God, their Lord, with prayer: &quot


tafseer:
Then when He grants the couple a righteous child, they begin to associate partners with God in respect of what He has granted them. Absolutely exalted is He above their association of partners with Him and whatever they associate with Him as partners.


tafseer:
And if you call them in the direction of guidance, they do not follow you: It is the same for you whether you call to them or remain silent.


tafseer:
Those whom you deify and invoke, apart from God, are subservient beings created by God just like yourselves. (If you think and claim otherwise) then call on them and let them answer you, if you are truthful!


tafseer:
If you call them to the guidance, they will not hear. And you see them looking at you (and may suppose that they have the power of seeing), but they do not see (having no insight or perceptiveness).&quot


tafseer:
(Even so, O Messenger) adopt the way of forbearance and tolerance, and enjoin what is good and right, and withdraw from the ignorant ones (do not care what they say and do).


tafseer:
And if a prompting from Satan should cause you hurt (as you carry out your mission or during worship or in your everyday life), seek refuge in God. He is All- Hearing, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
Those who keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety: when a suggestion from Satan touches them – they are alert and remember God, and then they have clear discernment.


tafseer:
Whereas their brothers (the brothers of the satans in the form of human beings) – satans draw them deeper into error and do not give over relax in their efforts.


tafseer:
When you (O Messenger) do not produce for them a sign (a miracle of the kind they desire, or Revelation temporarily ceases), they say, &quot


tafseer:
And so, when the Qur’an is recited, give ear to it and listen in silence so that you may be shown mercy.


tafseer:
Remember and mention your Lord within yourself (in the depths of your heart), most humbly and in awe, not loud of voice, at morning and evening. And do not be among the neglectful.


tafseer:
Those (angels) who are in your Lord’s Presence never turn away from His service out of pride, and they glorify Him, and prostrate before Him.


tafseer:
The true believers are only those who, when God is mentioned, their hearts tremble with awe, and when His Revelations are recited to them, it strengthens them in faith, and they put their trust in their Lord.


tafseer:
They establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions, and out of whatever We have provided for them (of wealth, knowledge, power, etc.,) they spend (to provide sustenance for the needy, and in God’s cause, purely for the good pleasure of God and without placing others under obligation.)


tafseer:
Those (illustrious ones) are they who are truly believers. For them are ranks with their Lord (to be granted one after the other), and forgiveness (to bring unforeseen blessings), and generous, honorable provision.


tafseer:
Just so, your Lord caused you to go forth from your home for a true cause (which He had already determined would be realized)


tafseer:
They argued with you concerning the truth (of the matter which God had already decided would be realized) even after it (the direction that developments would take) had been manifest, as if they were being driven toward death with their eyes wide open.


tafseer:
Even when God had promised you that one of the two hosts (the trade caravan and the Makkan army approaching) would fall to you, you still wished that other than the powerful, armed one should fall into your hands – whereas God willed to prove the truth to be true by His decrees and make it triumphant, and uproot the unbelievers (by causing their leaders to die).


tafseer:
(He willed it so) so as to prove the truth to be true and make it triumphant, and the falsehood to be false, however hateful this might be to the disbelieving criminals.


tafseer:
God did that only as glad tidings (of your imminent victory), and that your hearts thereby might be at rest. For help and victory come from God alone. Surely God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
When (at the time that you most needed courage), He caused a slumber to enfold you as a reassurance from Him, and sent down water upon you from the sky, that thereby He might cleanse you (of all actual or ritual impurities, by enabling you to do the minor and major ablution), and take away from you the polluting whisperings of Satan, and through it make your hearts strong, and your steps steady.


tafseer:
That is (by your deserving, O enemies of God), so taste it, and (let everyone know that) for the unbelievers there is also the punishment of the Fire.


tafseer:
O you who believe! When you encounter in battle those who disbelieve, do not turn your backs on them in flight.


tafseer:
For whoever turns his back on them on the day of such an engagement – except that it be tactical maneuvering to fight again or joining another troop of believers (or taking up a position against another enemy host) – has indeed incurred God’s condemnation, and his final refuge is the Fire


tafseer:
That is (how He treats you) and (let everyone know that) God it is Who undermines the schemes of the unbelievers.


tafseer:
If you (O unbelievers) sought a judgment (through battle to see which party is in the right), then surely a judgment has come to you. If you cease (hostilities towards the believers), it is what will be to your good. But if you revert (to hostilities), We will also revert (to what We did to you in that battle). And never will your being a great host be of any avail to you, however numerous it be, and (let everyone know) that God is with the believers.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Obey God and His Messenger, and do not turn away from him when you are hearing (from him God’s Revelations).


tafseer:
Indeed the worst kind of all living creatures in God’s sight are the deaf and dumb, who do not reason and understand.


tafseer:
And had God seen any good in them, He would certainly have made them hear, but (being as they are) even if He made them hear, they would surely turn away in aversion.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Respond to God and to the Messenger when the Messenger calls you (in the Name of God) to that which gives you life


tafseer:
And beware and guard yourselves against a trial that will surely not smite exclusively those among you who are engaged in wrongdoing


tafseer:
And remember (with gratitude) when you were few and deemed weak in the land (and oppressed), fearing that people would snatch you away, how He provided you with refuge, and strengthened you with His help, and provided for you sustenance out of the pure, wholesome things, that you might give thanks (to Him from the heart and in speech, and in action by fulfilling His commandments).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not betray God and His Messenger, that you should not betray the trusts in your keeping while you know (what doing so means).


tafseer:
Know that your possessions and your children are but a trial and temptation, and God is He with Whom there is a tremendous reward.


tafseer:
O you who believe! If you keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety to deserve His protection, He will make a criterion for you (in your hearts to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and right and wrong), and blot out from you your evil deeds, and forgive you. God is of tremendous grace and bounty.


tafseer:
And (recall, O Messenger,) how those who disbelieve schemed against you to take you captive, or kill you, or drive you away (from Makkah). Thus were they scheming, but God put His will into effect (and brought their scheme to nothing). God wills what is the best (for His believing servants) and makes His will prevail.


tafseer:
What plea do they have that God should not punish them, seeing that they bar (the believers) from the Sacred Mosque, although they are not qualified to own and guard it? Its qualified, rightful guardians are only the pious who keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him, but most of them (those unbelievers) do not know.


tafseer:
Their Prayer at the House (in the Sacred Mosque) is nothing but whistling and hand-clapping. Then, taste the punishment because you persistently disbelieve.


tafseer:
Those who are persistent in unbelief spend their wealth in order that they may bar from God’s way. They will continue to spend it so until it becomes for them a source of sighs and anguish, and then they will be vanquished. Those who are persistent in unbelief will finally be gathered into Hell.


tafseer:
Thus does God separate the corrupt from the pure, and make all those who are corrupt into a pile one upon another, and then place them in Hell. Those are indeed the losers.


tafseer:
Tell those persistent in unbelief that if they cease (to disbelieve themselves and prevent others from entering the fold of Islam), what is past will be forgiven them


tafseer:
And (if they still persist in unbelief and hostilities), fight against them until there is no longer disorder and oppresssion rooted in rebellion against God, and the whole of religion (the full authority to order the way of life is recognized) for God exclusively. If they cease (to persist in unbelief and continue hostilities toward the believers), then surely God sees well all that they do.


tafseer:
If they still follow their own way, know that God is your Owner and Guardian. How excellent a Guardian and an Owner He is, how excellent a Helper.


tafseer:
And know that whatever you take as gains of war, to God belongs one fifth of it, and to the Messenger, and the near kinsfolk, and orphans, and the destitute, and the wayfarer (one devoid of sufficient means of journeying). (This you must observe) if you truly believe in God and what We sent down on our Servant on the day when the truth and falsehood were distinguished from each other, the day when the two hosts met in battle. God has full power over everything.


tafseer:
(Remember the day) when you were at the nearer end of the valley (of Badr on the Madinah side) and they were at the farther end and the caravan below you (on the coastal plain). If you had mutually made an appointment to meet for battle in such circumstances, indeed you would not have been able to hold to the appointment. But (God caused you to meet for battle in such circumstances) so that God might accomplish a thing that He had already decreed in order that he who was to perish should perish by a clear evidence (of his deserving perishing because he followed falsehood), and he who survived might survive by a clear evidence (of his deserving survival because of his devotion to the truth). Surely God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
(And recall, O Messenger) when God showed them to you in your dream as few. If He had showed them to you as numerous (as they really were), you (O believers) would surely have lost heart, and would surely have disagreed with one another about the matter. But God saved (you from that). God surely has full knowledge of what lies hidden in the bosoms.


tafseer:
And when He made them appear as few in your eyes when you met them in the battle just as He lessened you in their eyes, so that God might accomplish a thing that He had already decreed. And to God are all affairs ultimately referred, (and whatever He wills occurs).


tafseer:
O you who believe! When you meet a host in battle, stand firm and remember and mention God much, that you may triumph.


tafseer:
And obey God and His Messenger, and do not dispute with one another, or else you may lose heart and your power and energy desert you


tafseer:
Be not like those (unbelievers) who went forth from their habitations swaggering boastfully and to show off to people, and bar (others) from God’s way. And God fully encompasses (with His Knowledge and Power) all that they do.


tafseer:
And (remember) when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts there is a sickness (that dries up the source of their spiritual life) were saying (of the believers): &quot


tafseer:
If you could but see how it will be when the angels take the souls of those who disbelieve, striking them on the faces and the backs, and (saying): &quot


tafseer:
This is because of (the evil deeds) that you forwarded with your own hands, for never does God do the least wrong to the servants.&quot


tafseer:
Just as that which happened to the clan (the court and military aristocracy) of the Pharaoh, and those before them: they disbelieved in God’s Revelations, and so God seized them for their sins. Surely God is All-Strong, severe in retribution.


tafseer:
That (happened so) because God never changes a favor that He has bestowed upon a people unless they change what is in themselves (their belief, life-style, world-view, and devotion to God’s laws embodied in religion and in the creation, life and operation of the universe). And God is indeed All-Hearing, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
Just as that which happened to the court and military aristocracy of the Pharaoh, and those before them: they denied the Revelations of their Lord, and so We destroyed them for their sins, and We caused the court and military aristocracy of the Pharaoh to drown. All of those peoples (destroyed in the past) were wrongdoers (in that they rebelled against their Lord, oppressed people, and so wronged themselves).


tafseer:
Indeed the worst kind of living creatures in God’s sight are those who are so rooted in unbelief that they cannot believe.


tafseer:
Those of them with whom you have made a treaty, and who break their treaty on every occasion without fearing God.


tafseer:
If you meet them in war, deal with them in such a manner as to deter those behind them (who follow them and those who will come after them), so that they may reflect and be mindful.


tafseer:
If you have strong reason to fear treachery from a people (with whom you have a treaty), return it to them (i.e. publicly declare to them, before embarking on any action against them, that you have dissolved the treaty) so that both parties should be informed of its termination. Surely God does not love the treacherous.


tafseer:
And let not those who disbelieve ever think that they can outdo the believers or otherwise escape Our punishment. They can never frustrate Our will.


tafseer:
(Believers:) make ready against them whatever you can of force and horses assigned (for war), that thereby you may dismay the enemies of God and your enemies and others besides them, of whom (and the nature of whose enmity) you may be unaware. God is aware of them (and of the nature of their enmity). Whatever you spend in God’s cause will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged.


tafseer:
And if they (the enemies) incline to peace, incline to it also, and put your trust in God. Surely, He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.


tafseer:
And if they seek (thereby only) to deceive you (O Messenger), surely God is sufficient for you. He it is Who has strengthened you with His help and with the believers.


tafseer:
He has attuned their (the believers’) hearts. If you had spent all that is on the earth, you could not have attuned their hearts, but God has attuned them. Surely He is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
O (most illustrious) Prophet! Rouse the believers to fighting. If there be twenty of you who are steadfast, they will vanquish two hundred


tafseer:
For now (while you lack in necessary equipment and training), God has lightened your burden, for He knows that there is weakness in you. So if there be a hundred of you who are strong-willed and steadfast, they will vanquish two hundred


tafseer:
It is not for a Prophet to have captives until he has widely exhausted the enemies in the land. You (O believers) seek the fleeting gains of the present, worldly life, but God wills that the Hereafter will be yours. God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
Had there not been a previous decree from God (concerning that gains of war are lawful and captives can be released in return for ransom), a tremendous punishment would surely have touched you because of what you took (the gains of war, and the captives taken in expectation of ransom, before the enemies’ power in the land had been sufficiently suppressed and exhausted).


tafseer:
(But since such a decree has already come) now enjoy as lawful and pure and wholesome of what you have obtained (as gains of war and ransom)


tafseer:
But if they seek to betray you (O Messenger) – well, they were treacherous to God before (and the outcome thereof is plain to see): God has given you power over them. God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.


tafseer:
Those who have believed and emigrated (to the home of Islam) and striven hard with their wealth and persons in God’s cause, and those who give refuge (to them) and help (them) – those (illustrious ones) are friends and protectors of one another, and can inherit from one another. But those who believe but have not emigrated – you have no duty of protection towards them until they emigrate and inheritance is not permissible between them and you. Yet, if they ask you for help in the matter of religion, it is your duty to provide help except against a people between whom and you there is a treaty. God sees well all that you do.


tafseer:
Those who disbelieve – they are friends and protectors of one another (especially against you). Unless you do it also (i.e. maintain solidarity among the believers) there will be unrest on the earth and great corruption.


tafseer:
Those who have believed and emigrated (to the home of Islam) and striven (with their wealth and persons) in God’s cause, and those who give refuge (to them) and help (them) – those (illustrious ones) are the believers in truth. For them is forgiveness (to bring unforeseen blessings) and honorable, generous provision.


tafseer:
And those who believe after (the Prophet’s emigration) and emigrate and strive hard alongside you, they also belong to you. And those related by blood are nearer to one another according to God’s ordinance (with respect to inheritance). Surely God has full knowledge of every thing.


tafseer:
This is an ultimatum from God and His Messenger to those who associate partners with God with whom you have made a treaty.


tafseer:
(O you polytheists who always break the treaties you have entered into!) You may go about freely in the land for four months (making whatever war preparations you wish). But know that you can never escape (the Power of God, nor frustrate His will), and that God will bring disgrace upon the unbelievers.


tafseer:
And a proclamation from God and His Messenger to all people on this day of the Major Pilgrimage: that God disavows those who associate partners with Him (and break their treaty), and His Messenger likewise (disavows them). But if you repent and give up hostilities, this will be for your good


tafseer:
Excepting those among the people who associate partners with God with whom you made a treaty, and who have not thereafter failed to fulfill their obligations towards you (required by the treaty), nor have backed anyone against you. Observe, then, your treaty with them until the end of the term (that you agreed with them). Surely God loves the God-revering, pious (who keep their duties to Him).


tafseer:
Then, when the (four) sacred months (of respite, during which fighting with those who associate partners with God and violate their treaties was prohibited to you,) are over, then (declare war on them and) kill them wherever you may come upon them, and seize them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place. Yet if they repent and (mending their ways) establish the Prescribed Prayer and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms, let them go their way. Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
And if any of those who associate partners with God seeks asylum of you (O Messenger), grant him asylum, so that he may hear the Word of God, and then convey him to his place of security. That (is how you should act) because they are a people who have no knowledge (of the truth about Islam).


tafseer:
How could there be a covenant with those who associate partners with God (and recognize no laws and treaty) on the part of God and His Messenger? – excepting those with whom you made a treaty in the vicinity of the Sacred Mosque: (as for the latter) so long as they remain true to you, be true to them. Surely God loves the God-revering, pious (who keep their duties to Him).


tafseer:
How (could there be a covenant with the others) when, if they were to prevail against you, they would observe towards you neither any bond, nor law, nor agreement, they seek to please you with their mouths but in their hearts they are averse


tafseer:
(As well as breaking their treaties) they have sold God’s Revelations (concerning treaties) for a trifling price and they barred people from His way. How evil is what they do!


tafseer:
They observe neither any bond, nor law, nor agreement towards the believers. They are those who exceed all bounds.


tafseer:
Yet if they repent so as to mend their ways and establish the Prescribed Prayer and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms, they are your brothers in religion. Thus We set out in detail Our Revelations (the signposts of Our way, included in the Qur’an) for a people seeking knowledge.


tafseer:
But if they break their pledges after their treaty (with you) and assail your religion, then fight with those leaders of unbelief – surely they have no trustworthy pledges – so that they may desist (from aggression).


tafseer:
Will you not fight against the people who have broken their pledges and have done all they could to drive the Messenger (from where he chooses to dwell), and initiated hostilities against you? Do you hold them in awe? But, assuredly God has greater right to be held in awe, if you are sincere believers.


tafseer:
Fight against them: God will punish them by your hands and humiliate them, and (know) that He will help you to victory over them, and soothe the bosoms of the believing people (oppressed and suffering at their hands as well as at the hands of other oppressors).


tafseer:
And He will remove the wrath in their hearts (by making right and justice prevail). And God guides whomever He wills to turn to Him in repentance. God is All-Knowing (with full knowledge of him who deserves guidance), All-Wise (in Whose every decree and act there are many instances of wisdom).


tafseer:
Or did you think that you would be left (without being tried through suffering and hardship) unless God marks out those among you who really strive (in His way), and who take none as intimate friend other than God and His Messenger and the believers to seek help and solidarity? God is fully aware of all that you do.


tafseer:
It is not for those who associate partners with God to maintain God’s houses of worship while they are witnesses against themselves of unbelief (and do not worship God in those houses of worship). They are those whose works have been wasted, and they will abide in the Fire.


tafseer:
Only he will maintain God’s houses of worship (using them for the purposes for which they are built) who believes in God and the Last Day, and establishes the Prescribed Prayer, and pays the Prescribed Purifying Alms, and stands in awe of none but God. It is hoped that such (illustrious) persons will be among the ones guided to achieve their expectations (especially in the Hereafter).


tafseer:
Do you consider providing water to the pilgrims and tending the Sacred Mosque as equal in value to one who believes in God and the Last Day, and strives in God’s cause? They are not equal in God’s sight. And God does not guide (to truth) the wrongdoing folk (whose measure and judgment are wrong).


tafseer:
Those who believe and have emigrated (to the home of Islam in God’s cause), and strive in God’s cause with their wealth and persons are greater in rank in God’s sight, and those are the ones who are the triumphant.


tafseer:
Their Lord gives them glad tidings of mercy from Him (to bring unforeseen blessings), and His being pleased with them, and of Gardens wherein is everlasting bounty for them


tafseer:
O you who believe! Do not take your fathers and your brothers for confidants and guardians (to whom you can entrust your affairs), if they choose unbelief in preference to belief. Whoever of you takes them for confidants and guardians, those are wrongdoers (who have wronged themselves by committing a great error).


tafseer:
God has already helped you on many fields, and on the day of Hunayn, when your multitude was pleasing to you, but it availed you nothing, and the earth, for all its vastness, was too narrow for you, and you turned back, retreating.


tafseer:
Then God sent down His gift of inner peace and reassurance on His Messenger and the believers, and sent (to your aid) hosts that you did not see, and punished those who disbelieved. Such is the recompense of unbelievers.


tafseer:
Then after all this, God guides whom He wills to repentance (turning to Islam from unbelief). God is All-Forgiving, all Compassionate (especially to His servants who turn to Him in repentance).


tafseer:
O you who believe! Those who associate partners with God are (nothing) but impure. So, after the expiry of this year, let them not approach the Sacred Mosque. And should you fear poverty (because of the possible reduction in your income due to their not coming to Makkah in the season of the Hajj), God will enrich you out of His bounty if He so wills. Surely, God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.


tafseer:
Fight against those from among the People of the Book who (despite being People of the Book) do not believe in God and the Last Day (as they should be believed in), and do not hold as unlawful that which God and His Messenger have decreed to be unlawful, and do not adopt and follow the Religion of truth, until they pay the jizyah (tax of protection and exemption from military service) with a willing hand in a state of submission.


tafseer:
The Jews take their rabbis (teachers of law), and the Christians take their monks, as well as the Messiah, son of Mary, for Lords besides God (by holding as lawful or unlawful what the teachers of law and monks decree to be lawful or unlawful, as against God’s decree), whereas they were commanded to worship none but the One God. There is no deity but He. All-Glorified He is in that He is absolutely above their association of partners with Him.


tafseer:
They seek (with renewed plans and stratagems) to extinguish God’s light (His favor of Islam, as if by the breath issuing) from their mouths. Whereas God refuses but to complete His light, however hateful this may be to the unbelievers.


tafseer:
He it is Who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the Religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, however hateful this may be to those who associate partners with God.


tafseer:
O you who believe! Many among the rabbis and monks do indeed consume the wealth of people in legally invalid, wrongful ways (such as changing the Book’s commandments in return for worldly benefit, bribery, and using religion as a means of worldly gain) and bar them from God’s way. Those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in God’s cause (to exalt His cause and help the poor and needy): give them (O Messenger) the glad tidings of a painful punishment.


tafseer:
On that day, it (that hoarded wealth) will be heated in the fire of Hell and therewith their foreheads and their sides and their backs will be branded (and they will hear): &quot


tafseer:
The number of the months, in God’s sight, is twelve as determined and decreed by God on the day when He created the heavens and the earth (and set them moving in the present conditions). Four of them are sacred (in that fighting is forbidden during them). This is the upright, ever-true Religion (the order that God has established for the operation of the universe and life of humanity). Do not, therefore, wrong yourselves with respect to these months. Nevertheless, fight all together against those who associate partners with God just as they fight against you all together


tafseer:
The postponement of a sacred month, and therefore making changes (for such aims as to make fighting in the Sacred Months lawful and cause the season of the Pilgrimage to fall in the period of the year they wish) is but an increase in unbelief (for it means making the unlawful lawful and changing the nature of many lawful and unlawful acts done in those months and therefore recognizing no law). By doing so, those who disbelieve are (further) misled, declaring it (the month they postpone) permitted in one year and forbidden in another, in order that they may conform to the number of the months that God has declared as sacred, (without caring) that they thereby make lawful what God has made unlawful. The evil of their deeds is decked out to be appealing to them. God does not guide the disbelieving people (to truth and to the attainment of their aims).


tafseer:
If you do not mobilize (as you are commanded), He will punish you grievously, and instead of you He will substitute another people, and you will in no way harm Him. God has full power over everything.


tafseer:
If you do not help him (the Messenger), yet for certain God helped him when those who disbelieve drove him out (of his home during the Hijrah), the second of the two when they were in the cave (with those in pursuit of them having reached the mouth of the cave), and he said to his companion (with utmost trust in God and no worry at all): &quot


tafseer:
Had there been an immediate gain, and an easy journey, those (who stayed behind because of hypocrisy) would surely have followed you, but the difficult journey was too distant for them. Yet they will swear by God: &quot


tafseer:
May God give you grace! Why did you give them leave to stay behind until it became clear to you who was speaking the truth and you came to know the liars.


tafseer:
Those who believe in God and the Last Day do not ask you for leave to be excused from striving in God’s cause with their wealth and persons. God has full knowledge of the God-revering, pious who keep their duty to Him.


tafseer:
Only they ask you for leave who do not truly believe in God and the Last Day and whose hearts are doubting, so that in their doubting they waver between one thing and another.


tafseer:
Had they truly meant to go forth for war, they would surely have made certain preparation (demonstrating their intent). But God was averse to their rising to fight (unwillingly and without sincerity of purpose), and so He caused them to hold back, and it was decreed for them: &quot


tafseer:
If they had gone forth among you, they would have brought no addition to you except trouble, and would have run about in your midst seeking to stir up sedition among you. Among you were some who were prone to heed them. God has full knowledge of the wrongdoers.


tafseer:
Assuredly they sought to stir up sedition before, and tried to turn things upside down to frustrate you, until the truth came and God’s decree was made evident, however hateful this was to them.


tafseer:
Nothing hinders their offerings being accepted from them, except that they disbelieve in God and His Messenger, and whenever they come to the Prescribed Prayer they do so indolently (i.e. with reluctance), and they do not offer contributions except as averse (to doing so).


tafseer:
Let neither their wealth nor their children impress you. God only wills thereby to punish them in the life of this world and that their souls will depart while they are unbelievers.


tafseer:
They swear by God that they are indeed of you (belonging with the believers), yet they are not of you. They are only a people ridden by fear (and thereby pretending to be of you).


tafseer:
If they could but find a place of refuge, or any cavern, or any place to creep into to hide, they would turn about and make a bolt for it.


tafseer:
Among them is one who finds fault with you concerning (the distribution of) alms. If they are given something thereof, they are pleased


tafseer:
The Prescribed Purifying Alms (the Zakah) are meant only for the poor, and the destitute (albeit, out of self-respect, they do not give the impression that they are in need), and those in charge of collecting (and administering) them, and those whose hearts are to be won over (for support of God’s cause, including those whose hostility is to be prevented), and to free those in bondage (slavery and captivity), and to help those over-burdened with debt, and in God’s cause (to exalt God’s word, to provide for the warriors and students, and to help the pilgrims), and for the wayfarer (in need of help). This is an ordinance from God. God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.


tafseer:
They swear to you by God (O believers) so that you may be pleased with them, while it is God and His Messenger whose pleasure they should seek, if indeed they are believers.


tafseer:
Do they not know that whoever opposes God and His Messenger, for him is the fire of Hell to abide therein. That is the tremendous disgrace.


tafseer:
The hypocrites are afraid lest a surah should be sent down against them making plainly known what is in their hearts (while they do not hold back from mocking the Messenger and the believers). Say (to them, O Messenger): &quot


tafseer:
Do not make excuses now! You have indeed disbelieved after your (declaration of) faith. Even if We pardon a section of you (those whose idle talk was not intended to mock God and His Messenger), We will surely punish another section of you for they have been criminals.


tafseer:
The hypocrites, both men and women, are all of a kind: enjoining and promoting what is evil and forbidding and trying to prevent what is right and good, and they withhold their hands (from doing good and spending in God’s cause). They are oblivious of God (with respect to faith and worship and serving in His cause), and so He is oblivious of them (with respect to rewarding). Assuredly, the hypocrites are those who are the transgressors.


tafseer:
God has promised the hypocrites, both men and women, and the unbelievers, the fire of Hell, therein to abide: it is (recompense) to suffice them. God has excluded them from His mercy, and for them is a lasting punishment.


tafseer:
Just like the peoples before you (O hypocrites and unbelievers) who were greater than you in power and more abundant in wealth and children. They enjoyed their lot (in the world) for a while


tafseer:
Have there not reached them the exemplary histories of those who lived before them – the people of Noah, the Ad, the Thamud, and the people of Abraham, and the dwellers of Madyan (Midian), and the overthrown cities (of Sodom and Gomorrah)? Their Messengers came to them with the clear proofs (of the truth, in which they would not believe.) It was not, then, God who wronged them but they wronged their own selves.


tafseer:
The believers, both men and women, they are guardians, confidants, and helpers of one another. They enjoin and promote what is right and good and forbid and try to prevent the evil, and they establish the Prescribed Prayer in conformity with its conditions, and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms. They obey God and His Messenger. They are the ones whom God will treat with mercy. Surely God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, All-Wise.


tafseer:
God has promised the believers, both men and women, Gardens through which rivers flow, therein to abide, and blessed dwellings in Gardens of perpetual bliss


tafseer:
O (most illustrious) Prophet! Strive against the unbelievers and the hypocrites (in the way required by time and conditions), and be stern against them. Their final refuge is Hell: how evil a destination to arrive at!


tafseer:
They swear by God that they have said nothing (blasphemous), whereas they certainly did utter blasphemies (the word of unbelief), and they fell into unbelief after having entered the fold of Islam, and they purposed and attempted what they could not achieve. They are spiteful against (Islam and the Messenger) for no other reason than that God enriched them and (caused) His Messenger (to enrich them) out of His grace and bounty! Even so, if they repent, it will be to their good


tafseer:
Then God granted them out of His grace and bounty, but they clung to it in niggardly fashion and turned about, swerving away (from what they had vowed).


tafseer:
So as a consequence He has caused hypocrisy to be in their hearts (and to remain rooted therein) until the day when they will meet Him (at death), because they have broken their word to God that they promised Him, and because they were lying habitually.


tafseer:
Do they not know that God knows what they keep concealed and their private counsels and gossips, and that God has full knowledge of the whole of the Unseen (all that lies beyond the reach of any created being’s perception).


tafseer:
They taunt the believers, who give for God’s sake more than they are duty-bound to give, as well as those who can find nothing to give except (what they earn through) their hard toil, and they scoff at them. God causes their scoffing to rebound on themselves, and for them is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
Whether you (O Messenger) pray for their forgiveness or do not pray for their forgiveness, even if you pray for their forgiveness seventy times, God will not forgive them. That is because they disbelieve in God and His Messenger. God will not guide the transgressing people.


tafseer:
Those who were left behind in opposition to God’s Messenger rejoiced at staying at home, and abhorred striving with their wealth and persons in God’s cause. And they said: &quot


tafseer:
If God brings you back (from the Campaign) and a party of them ask your leave to go forth to war with you, say to them: &quot


tafseer:
And never do the funeral Prayer over any of them who dies, nor stand by his grave to pray for him. They surely disbelieved in God and His Messenger and died transgressors.


tafseer:
(Indeed they are unbelievers, and never want to go forth to war in God’s cause.) Whenever a surah is sent down (calling them): &quot


tafseer:
They are well-pleased to be with those (women and children) bound to stay behind, and a seal has been set upon their hearts, so they cannot ponder and penetrate the essence of matters to grasp the truth.


tafseer:
But the Messenger and those who believe in his company have striven in God’s cause with their wealth and persons. They are those for whom is all good, and they are those who are the prosperous.


tafseer:
God has prepared for them Gardens through which rivers flow, therein to abide. That is the supreme triumph.


tafseer:
Some among the Bedouin Arabs having true excuses came (to the Messenger) to ask leave to stay behind, whereas those who are false to God and His Messenger (in their covenant and claim of adherence) stayed at home (without taking part in the campaign). A painful punishment will befall those of them who disbelieve.


tafseer:
There is no blame on those too weak to go forth to war, and the sick, and on those who cannot find the means (with which to equip and maintain themselves if they go forth), provided that they are true to God and His Messenger. There can be no way (of blame) against those who are devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them. God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Nor (can there be any way to blame) those who, when they came to you to provide them with mounts, and you said, &quot


tafseer:
The way (of blame) is open only against those who sought leave to stay behind even though they are wealthy (well able to equip themselves for the campaign). They were well-pleased to be with those (women and children) bound to stay behind. God has set a seal on their hearts, so that they do not know (the truth and what is really beneficial to them).


tafseer:
They will offer excuses to you (O believers) when you return to them. Say (to them, O Messenger): &quot


tafseer:
When you return to them, they will (out of fear of punishment) swear to you in the Name of God, (repeating their excuses) so that you may leave them be. So leave them be and withdraw from them. They are loathsome, and their final refuge is Hell as a recompense for what they have been earning.


tafseer:
They will swear to you so that you may be pleased with them. But even should you be pleased with them, God will not be pleased with the transgressing people.


tafseer:
The Bedouin Arabs are (by nature) more stubborn in unbelief and hypocrisy (than the city-dwellers), and more liable to be unaware of the bounds prescribed by God in what He has sent down on His Messenger. God is All-Knowing (of the nature and state of His servants), All-Wise.


tafseer:
Among the Bedouin Arabs there are such as take what they spend (as Prescribed Alms and the contributions they are called on to make in God’s cause) as a fine, and wait for some misfortune to befall you


tafseer:
Among the Bedouin Arabs there are also those who believe in God and the Last Day, and take what they spend (as Prescribed Alms and the contributions they are called on to make in God’s cause) as a means of drawing them near to God and of the Messenger’s praying (to God for them). Indeed, it is a means for them to draw near to God. God will admit them into His mercy. Surely, God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
The first and foremost (to embrace Islam and excel others in virtue) among the Emigrants and the Helpers, and those who follow them in devotion to doing good, aware that God is seeing them – God is well-pleased with them, and they are well-pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them Gardens throughout which rivers flow, therein to abide for ever. That is the supreme triumph.


tafseer:
Among the Bedouin Arabs who dwell around you there are hypocrites, and among the people of Madinah (too) there are such as have grown more artful and insidious in hypocrisy: you (O Messenger) do not know them (unless We inform you of them). We know them all (and the threat they pose). We will punish them doubly, and then they will be returned to a mighty punishment (in the Hereafter).


tafseer:
Others (there are who) have admitted their sins: they have mixed a righteous deed with an evil one. It may be that God will return their repentance with forgiveness. Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Take alms (prescribed or voluntary) out of their wealth so that you (O Messenger) may thereby cleanse them and cause them to grow in purity and sincerity, and pray for them. Indeed your prayer is a source of comfort for them. God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
Do they not know that surely God is He Who welcomes His servants’ turning to Him in repentance, and accepts what is offered as charity (prescribed or voluntary ) for His sake, and that surely God is He Who accepts repentance and returns it with liberal forgiveness and additional reward, the All-Compassionate (especially towards His believing servants)?


tafseer:
And yet others (there are, about whom) God’s decree is awaited: whether He will punish them or guide them to repentance to forgive them. God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.


tafseer:
Some among the hypocrites – who have adopted a mosque out of dissension and unbelief, in order to cause division among the believers, and use as an outpost to collaborate with him who before made war on God and His Messenger – will certainly swear: &quot


tafseer:
Do not stand in that mosque to do the Prayer. The mosque that was founded on piety and reverence for God from the very first days (in Madinah) is worthy that you should stand in it for the Prayer. In it are men who love to be purified (of all spiritual and moral blemishes). God loves those who strive to purify themselves.


tafseer:
Is he better, who founded his building (religion and personal world) on piety and reverence for God, and the aim to please God, or he who founded his building on the edge of a water-worn, crumbling river-bank so that it tumbles with him into the Hell-fire? God does not guide wrongdoing people.


tafseer:
The building (systems, plans, and life-styles) which the hypocrites have founded will never cease to be doubt and disquiet in their hearts (that are crushed by fear and anxieties) unless their hearts are cut into pieces (and they themselves die). God is All-Knowing (of their states of mind and conspiracies), All-Wise (in Whose every act and decree there are many instances of wisdom).


tafseer:
God has bought from the believers their selves and wealth because Paradise is for them. They fight in God’s cause, and they kill or are killed. This is a promise with which God has bound Himself in the Torah and in the Gospel and in the Qur’an. Who could be more faithful to his covenant than God? So (O believers) glad tidings to you because of the bargain you have made with Him! That indeed is the supreme triumph.


tafseer:
Those who return in repentance to God, and those who worship God, and those who praise God, and those who travel (with such aims as conveying God’s Message or studying and making investigations for God’s sake or reflecting on God’s signs), and those who bow down in awe of God, and those who prostrate themselves before God in submission, and those who enjoin and promote what is right and good and forbid and try to prevent evil, and those who keep to the bounds set by God: give glad tidings to the believers.


tafseer:
It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to ask God for the forgiveness of those who associate partners with God even though they be near of kin, after it has become clear to them that they (died polytheists and therefore) are condemned to the Blazing Flame.


tafseer:
The prayer of Abraham for the forgiveness of his father was only because of a promise which he had made to him. But when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of God, he (Abraham) dissociated himself from him. Abraham was most tender-hearted, most clement.


tafseer:
It is not God’s way to lead people astray after He has guided them, without having made clear to them what they should beware of (so as to guard against straying). Surely God has full knowledge of everything.


tafseer:
God is He to Whom belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and causes to die. And you have, apart from God, neither a guardian (who will protect you and to whom you can entrust your affairs) nor a helper.


tafseer:
God has assuredly turned in mercy to the Prophet, as well as to the Emigrants and the Helpers who followed him in the time of hardship, when the hearts of a party among them had well-nigh swerved but God turned (also) to them in mercy (and protected against swerving). Surely for them He is All-Pitying, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
And (He turned in mercy also) to the three left behind and whose cases had been deferred (because they had not taken part in the campaign of Tabuk): (they felt such remorse that) the earth was too narrow for them despite all its vastness, and their souls became utterly constricted for them, and they came to perceive fully that there is no refuge from God except in Him. Then He turned to them in mercy that they might repent and recover their former state (in Islam). Surely God is the One Who truly returns repentance with liberal forgiveness and additional reward, the All-Compassionate (especially towards His believing servants.)


tafseer:
O you who believe! Keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety, and keep the company of the truthful (those who are also faithful to their covenant with God).


tafseer:
It does not behove the people of Madinah and the Bedouin Arabs around them to fail to follow God’s Messenger and to care for their own selves more than for him. That is because they suffer neither from thirst, nor weariness, nor hunger in God’s cause, nor take a step which enrages the unbelievers, nor win some gain from the enemy, but a righteous deed is thereby recorded for them (to their account). Indeed, God does not leave to waste the reward of those devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
Nor do they spend any amount for God’s sake, small or great, nor do they cross a valley (while traveling in God’s cause), but it is recorded for them (to their account) so that God may repay them the best reward for what they used to do .


tafseer:
And the believers should not go forth to war all together. But why should not a party from every community of them mobilize to acquire profound, correct knowledge and understanding of religion and warn their people when they return to them so that they may beware (of wrongful attitudes)?


tafseer:
O you who believe! Fight against those unbelievers who are in your vicinity (and pose an immediate threat to you and the preaching of Islam), and let them find in you sternness. Know that God is with the God-revering, pious who keep their duty to Him.


tafseer:
But as for those in whose hearts there is a sickness (that dries up the source of their spiritual life, extinguishes their power of understanding and corrupts their character), it increases them in foulness added to their foulness, and they die while they are unbelievers.


tafseer:
Do they not see that they are tried time and again every year (by coming face to face with such decisive events and situations as reveal to them their inner world and remind them that they should turn to God in repentance and mend their ways)? Yet they neither repent (and mend their ways) nor take warning (from all that befalls them).


tafseer:
Whenever a surah is sent down (and the Messenger is reciting it in the presence of the Muslims), they glance at each other (as though saying), &quot


tafseer:
Surely your Lord is God, Who has created the heavens and the earth in six days, then He established Himself on the Supreme Throne, directing all affairs (as the sole Ruler of creation). There is none to intercede with God unless after He grants leave. That is God, Your Lord, so worship Him. Will you still not reflect (on this fundamental truth) and be mindful?


tafseer:
To Him you are all bound to return: a promise from God in truth (therefore certain to happen). He originates creation, then He brings it forth anew (in another world) to the end that He may reward with equity those who believe and do good, righteous deeds. Whereas, for those who disbelieve (and die as unbelievers) there is a drink of boiling water and a painful punishment because they persistently disbelieve.


tafseer:
He it is Who has made the sun a radiant, illuminating light, and the moon a light reflected, and has determined for it stations, that you might know (how to compute) the number of the years and to measure (time). God has not created that but with truth (for a definite purpose and meaningfully). He sets out in detail the signs (and proofs of the truth) for a people seeking knowledge.


tafseer:
In the alternation of night and day (with their periods shortening and lengthening), and all that He has created in the heavens and the earth, surely there are signs (manifesting truth) for a people who keep from disobedience to Him in reverence for Him.


tafseer:
Those who have no expectations to meet Us and are well-pleased with the present, worldly life and (neither looking nor seeing beyond it) are content with it, and those who are heedless of Our Revelations and Our signs (manifested to them in their inner worlds and in the outer world):


tafseer:
Surely for those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, their Lord will guide them by virtue of their belief to a happy end: rivers will flow at their feet in the Gardens of bounty and blessing.


tafseer:
If God were to hasten for human beings the ill (which they have earned) in the same manner as they hasten (the coming to them of what they consider to be) the good, their term would indeed have been decreed over for them. But We leave those who do not expect to encounter Us in their rebellion blindly wandering.


tafseer:
When affliction befalls (such) a person, he invokes Us (in every situation), lying down on his side or sitting or standing


tafseer:
Assuredly We destroyed many generations before you when they committed wrongs (in their deeds, in their measures and judgments, and in their response to the truth): the Messengers raised from among them came to them with the clear proofs of the truth, but it was plain that they would not believe. Thus do We recompense the guilty people committed to accumulating sin.


tafseer:
When Our Revelations, clear as evidence and in meaning are recited (and conveyed) to them, those who have no expectations to meet Us say (in response to Our Messenger): &quot


tafseer:
Who is more in the wrong than he who fabricates falsehood in attribution to God or denies His Revelations and His signs (in the universe and in their own selves). Surely the disbelieving criminals will not prosper.


tafseer:
They worship, apart from God, things or beings that can neither harm nor benefit them, and they say: &quot


tafseer:
Humankind (in the beginning) were but one community following one single way but later they differed and began following different ways. Had it not been for a decree already issued by your Lord (postponing the final, decisive judgment until an appointed term), it would indeed have been judged between them in respect of all that they differ on.


tafseer:
Whenever We let the (unbelieving) people taste an act of grace after a hardship which has visited them, they at once contrive some plot against Our Revelations. Say: &quot


tafseer:
He it is Who conveys you on the land and the sea. And when you are in the ship, and the ships run with their voyagers with a fair breeze, and they rejoice in it, there comes upon them a tempest, and waves surge towards them from all sides, so that they are sure that they are encompassed (by death with no way out), they call upon God, sincerely believing in Him alone (as the only Deity, Lord, and Sovereign): &quot


tafseer:
But when He has saved them, they behave rebelliously on earth, offending against all right. O humankind! Your rebellion is only against yourselves. (What you seek and get by all your offenses is only) the enjoyment of the present, worldly life, thereafter to Us is your return, then We will make you understand what you were doing (and call you to account).


tafseer:
The present, worldly life is like this: We send down water from the sky, and the earth’s vegetation, of which humans and animals eat, mingles with it, until, when the earth has taken on her ornaments and has been embellished, and its inhabitants suppose that they are its masters with a free hand over the earth, Our command comes upon it by night or day unexpectedly, and We cause it to become like a field mown down, as if it had not flourished the previous day. Thus We set out in detail the signs (the signposts of Our way and the relevant commands and guidance included in the Qur’an) for a people who reflect (on them and draw the necessary lesson).


tafseer:
And God invites to the Abode of Peace (where they will enjoy perfect bliss, peace, and safety,) and He guides whomever He wills to a Straight Path.


tafseer:
For those who do good, aware that God is seeing them is the best (of the rewards that God has promised for good deeds), and still more. Neither stain nor ignominy will cover their faces. They are the companions of Paradise


tafseer:
On that Day We will raise them all to life and gather them all together, and then We will order those who associated partners with God: &quot


tafseer:
There every soul will experience what it did before (in the world). They have been returned to God, their true Owner and Master


tafseer:
That is God (Who does all these), Your rightful Lord, the Absolute Truth and Ever-Constant. What is there, after the truth, but error? Then, how are you turned about (to different ways, removed from the Straight Path)?


tafseer:
Thus has the word of your Lord proved true with regard to those who transgress: that they will not believe.


tafseer:
Most of them follow only conjecture. Surely conjecture can never substitute for anything of the truth. God surely has full knowledge of all that they do.


tafseer:
And this Qur’an is not such that it could possibly be fabricated by one in attribution to God, but it is a (Divine Book) confirming (the Divine origin of and the truths that are still contained by) the Revelations prior to it, and an explanation of the Essence of all Divine Books – wherein there is no doubt, from the Lord of the worlds.


tafseer:
No (they are not truthful in their doubt and claim), but they have denied a thing (the Qur’an) whose knowledge they could not encompass and whose exposition (through the fulfillment of its promises and threats) has not reached them. Even so did those who were before them deny (the Books sent to them). So look! how was the outcome for the wrong-doers (who judged and acted wrongly)?


tafseer:
Among them (the people of Makkah) there are such as have believed and will believe in it, just as among them there are such as have not believed and will not believe in it. Your Lord has full knowledge of those who provoke disorder and corruption.


tafseer:
Among them are such as come to listen to you, but how can you make the deaf hear, if they do not use their reason (to make sense of it)?


tafseer:
Among them are such as look towards you, but how can you guide the blind (to the right way), if they are lacking the power of (in)sight?


tafseer:
On the Day when God will raise to life and gather them together, it will seem to them that they had not tarried in the world but a short while of the day, knowing one another. Assuredly, those who deny (the truth) that they must encounter God have ruined themselves and have never been guided.


tafseer:
Whether We let you (O Messenger) witness the fulfillment of some of what We have promised them, or We cause you to die (before it befalls them), still to Us is their return. And God is witness to all that they do.


tafseer:
Every community has its Messenger: when their Messenger comes, (some believe in him and the others not) and it is judged between them with absolute justice, and they are not wronged.


tafseer:
What! Is it only when it has come to pass that you will believe in it? (That day it will be said to you:) &quot


tafseer:
If every soul that has committed wrong (through unbelief and thereby wronged itself) possessed all that is on the earth, it would surely offer that as ransom (to be saved from the punishment)


tafseer:
Know well that to God belongs all that is in the heavens and on the earth. Know well that God’s promise is surely true, but most of them do not know.


tafseer:
O humankind! There has come to you an instruction from your Lord, and a cure for what (of sickness or doubt) is in the breasts, and guidance and mercy for the believers.


tafseer:
What do those who falsely attribute (their own inventions) to God think will be (their situation) on the Day of Resurrection? Indeed God has grace and bounty for humankind, but most of them do not give thanks.


tafseer:
Whatever your preoccupation (O Messenger), and whatever discourse from Him in this (Qur’an) you may be reciting, and whatever work you (O people) may be doing, We are certainly witness over you while you are engaged in it. Not an atom’s weight of whatever there is in the earth or in the heaven escapes your Lord, nor is there anything smaller than that, or greater, but it is (recorded) in a Manifest Book.


tafseer:
Know well that the friends (saintly servants) of God – they will have no fear (both in this world and the next, for they will always find My help and support with them), nor will they grieve.


tafseer:
For them is the glad tiding (of prosperity) in the life of this world and in the Hereafter. No change can there be in God’s decrees. That indeed is the supreme triumph.


tafseer:
Do not let their sayings grieve you (O Messenger). Might and glory belong to God entirely. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.


tafseer:
Know well that to God belongs whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth (His creatures and servants). Those who invoke, apart from God, (do not do so because they really have found deities and lords that can be partners with God in His Divinity and Lordship, and so) follow those partners. They do but follow only conjecture (not authoritative knowledge), and they do nothing except making up suppositions.


tafseer:
It is He Who has made for you the night so that you may rest in it, and the day, sight-giving (for you to work in). Surely in this are signs (manifesting the truth) for people who hear and pay heed (to God’s Revelations, and view things and events in their light).


tafseer:
And yet they denied him, and so We saved him and all who were with him in the Ark, and made them successors (to inherit the earth), while We caused to drown those who denied Our Revelations and all other signs (pointing to Our Existence and Unity).Look, then, how was the outcome for those who were warned (but never paid heed)?


tafseer:
Then, after them, We sent forth Moses and Aaron to the Pharaoh and his chiefs with Our signs (miracles to support them), but they grew arrogant (in the face of those signs), and (demonstrated that) they were a guilty people committed to accumulating sins.


tafseer:
When they had thrown (whatever they had in their hands and produced a mighty sorcery), Moses said: &quot


tafseer:
None save a young generation among his people believed in Moses for (they were in) fear that the Pharaoh and the chiefs among them (who collaborated with the Pharaoh in order not to lose their wealth) would subject them to persecutions. The Pharaoh was indeed a haughty tyrant in the land and he was indeed one of those who commit excesses.


tafseer:
And We brought the Children of Israel across the sea, and the Pharaoh and his hosts pursued them with vehement insolence and hostility, until (they were overwhelmed by the waters of the sea opened for Moses and his people to cross,) and when the drowning overtook the Pharaoh, he exclaimed: &quot


tafseer:
Now? – (You surrender now) when before this you always rebelled and were of those engaged in causing disorder and corruption?


tafseer:
So this day (as a recompense for your belief in the state of despair which will be of no avail to you in the Hereafter), We will save only your body, that you may be a sign for those to come after you. Surely, a good many people among humankind are heedless of Our signs (full of clear warning and lessons).


tafseer:
And indeed We settled the Children of Israel in a proper place of dwelling, and provided them with pure, wholesome things. They did not suffer discord until after the knowledge came to them (of the way they would have to follow and of what they would meet as a result of what they did). Your Lord will surely judge among them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that on which they used to differ.


tafseer:
If you are in doubt about the truth of what We have sent down on you (concerning what happened between Moses and the Pharaoh), then ask those who have been reading the Book (which was given to them) before you. Surely the truth has come to you from your Lord, so be not among those who feel doubt.


tafseer:
And neither be among those who deny God’s signs and Revelations, for then you will be among the losers.


tafseer:
Those for whom the truth of your Lord’s decree (that they will die unbelievers and go to Hell) has been confirmed – they will not believe,


tafseer:
If only there had been a community that believed (just when God’s decree of punishment was issued) and profited by their belief – there was none except the people of Jonah. When they came to believe We withdrew from them the punishment of disgrace in the life of this world, and We allowed them to enjoy life for a term.


tafseer:
If your Lord had so willed (and, denying them free will, compelled humankind to believe), all who are on the earth would surely have believed, all of them. Would you, then, force people until they become believers?


tafseer:
It is not for any person to believe save by God’s leave. God sets those who do not use their reason in a mire of uncleanness.


tafseer:
For what do they watch and wait but the like of the days of punishment which befell those (unbelievers) who passed away before them? Say: &quot


tafseer:
Then We save Our Messengers and those who believe (as We always did before). We have bound Ourselves to save the believers.


tafseer:
And follow what is revealed to you, and remain patient and steadfast in your way until God gives His judgment. And He is the best in giving judgment.


tafseer:
Alif. Lam. Ra. A Book whose Revelations in verses have been made firm (absolutely free of doubt, alteration, or annulment) and full of wisdom, and arranged in sequence and distinctly detailed. It is from One All-Wise, All-Aware.


tafseer:
And that you ask your Lord for forgiveness (for the sins you have so far committed), then turn to Him repentant and sincerely, so that He may enable for you a good life for a term appointed, and bestow His grace and bounty more abundantly on whoever is more advanced in virtue and devotion. But if you turn away, then, surely I fear for you the punishment of a mighty Day.


tafseer:
Beware! surely they (who associate partners with God) lean over their breasts (as if in respect for you, but in reality they are) seeking to hide (from God the unbelief and hostility) in their hearts. Beware! at the very time that they cover themselves with their garments (or hide themselves in their houses behind shut doors and curtained windows) God knows well all that they keep concealed as well as all that they disclose. Surely God has full knowledge of what lies hidden in the bosoms.


tafseer:
No living creature is there moving on the earth but its provision depends on God, and He knows its every lodging and disposition (every stage of its life), and the duration of its stay and the moment of its transition therefrom. All is in a Manifest Book.


tafseer:
He it is Who has created the heavens and the earth in six days – His Supreme Throne was upon the water – that He might make trial of you to manifest which of you is best in conduct. Yet, if you say (to people), &quot


tafseer:
Seeing that We postpone the punishment (with which We threaten them) until an appointed term, they are sure to say (in mockery): &quot


tafseer:
If We let human taste some mercy from Us, and then take it away from him, he becomes hopeless, and thankless (forgetting all Our favors to him).


tafseer:
Except those who are persevering and patient (neither despairing in affliction, nor exultant and self-glorifying in success), and do good, righteous deeds


tafseer:
Now it may be that you (O Messenger) are drawn to abandon some part of what is revealed to you (such as the verses concerning your Messengership), and your breast is constricted thereby, on account of their saying: &quot


tafseer:
Whoever desires the present, worldly life and its outward shows, We recompense them for all that they do therein, and they are not deprived of their just due therein.


tafseer:
It is they for whom there is nothing in the Hereafter but the Fire. All that they produced in it (this world) has come to nothing and all that they were doing is fruitless, vain.


tafseer:
So, (how can you compare others with) one who stands on a clear evidence from his Lord (the Qur’an), and is supported by a witness guided by Him, and there was (revealed) before it the Book of Moses (confirming it) as a guide and mercy? Those (who make and understand the comparison) believe in it (the Qur’an)


tafseer:
Who is greater in doing wrong than he who fabricates falsehood in attribution to God? Such will be brought before their Lord, and the witnesses will say, &quot


tafseer:
Those can never frustrate on earth (whatever God wills for it), nor can they find any guardians, apart from God, able to protect them against God. For them the punishment will be doubled (in the Hereafter). (Having wasted the faculties of hearing and seeing that God granted them), they have no longer been able to listen to (the revealed truths), nor have they any longer had sight to see.


tafseer:
Such are they who have ruined their selves, and all that they fabricated (by way of false deities to worship besides God) have failed them.


tafseer:
As for those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, and have humbled themselves before their Lord, they are the companions of Paradise


tafseer:
These two classes of people are like the blind and deaf, and the seeing and hearing. Can they be likened to each other? Will you not, then, reflect and be mindful?


tafseer:
And assuredly We sent Noah to his people as Messenger (with the same message that he preached): &quot


tafseer:
And so Noah set to building the Ark. And every time the leading ones among his people passed by him, they mocked at him. He said: &quot


tafseer:
(And so it went on) until the time when Our command came and the boiler started boiling over. We said (to Noah): &quot


tafseer:
So the Ark floated with them amid waves like mountains, and Noah cried out to a son of his who was standing apart: &quot


tafseer:
Those are accounts of some exemplary events of the unseen (a time and realm beyond any created’s perception) that We reveal to you, (O Messenger). Neither you nor your people knew them before this. Then (seeing that there is no substantial difference between the conditions in which the Messengers carried out their missions and the reactions they encountered) be patient (with their reactions and their persistence in unbelief). The (final, happy) outcome is in favor of the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
And when Our judgment came to pass (because the people of ‘Ad did continue in their rejection), We saved Hud and those who believed with him out of a mercy from Us (because of their faith, righteousness and patience): We saved them from a harsh punishment.


tafseer:
Such were the ‘Ad. They obstinately rejected the Revelations of their Lord (the signs and miracles proving His Oneness and all other essentials of faith) and they rebelled against His Messengers (by rejecting the Messenger – Hud – sent to them), and followed every stubborn tyrant.


tafseer:
And a curse was made to pursue them in this world, and on the Day of Resurrection. Beware! The ‘Ad disbelieved in their Lord with ingratitude


tafseer:
And to (the people of) Thamud (We sent) their brother Salih (as Messenger to convey the same message): &quot


tafseer:
But (unable to bear to see her as an evidence of the truth of Salih’s message) they cruelly slaughtered her. Then he (Salih) said: &quot


tafseer:
So when Our judgment came to pass, We saved Salih and those who believed with him out of mercy from Us (because of their faith, righteousness, and patience), from the ignominy of that day. Surely your Lord is the All-Powerful, the All-Glorious with irresistible might.


tafseer:
And the awful blast seized those who committed the greatest wrong (by associating partners with God), so that they lay prostrate lifeless in their very dwellings,


tafseer:
As though they had never lived there in prosperity. Beware! The Thamud disbelieved in their Lord (and were ungrateful for His favors), so away with the Thamud!


tafseer:
But when he saw that their hands did not reach out to it, he was doubtful of them (deeming their conduct strange) and became apprehensive of them. They said: &quot


tafseer:
So when the apprehension left Abraham and the glad tiding was conveyed to him, he began to argue with Our envoys to plead with Us on behalf of the people of Lot.


tafseer:
And when Our envoys came to Lot, he was troubled on their account and felt himself powerless to protect them, and he said: &quot


tafseer:
His people came rushing to him, driven by their perverted desire, as they had before that been committing such abominations. Lot said: &quot


tafseer:
So when Our judgment came to pass, We overturned (those sinful towns), and rained down on them stones of baked clay one after another,


tafseer:
(Each stone) marked out by your Lord (for a particular individual). And they are never far from wrongdoers (in all times and places).


tafseer:
And (to the people of) Midian (We sent as Messenger) their brother Shu‘ayb. He said (conveying the same message): &quot


tafseer:
And so when Our judgment came to pass, We saved Shu‘ayb and those who believed in his company out of a mercy from Us (because of their faith, righteousness and patience), and the awful blast seized those who acted wrongly to their own ruin, so that they lay prostrate lifeless in their own dwellings


tafseer:
As though they had never lived there in affluence. So, away with the (people of) Midian, just as the Thamud have been done away with!


tafseer:
And We indeed sent Moses with Our clear signs (miracles to support him), and a manifest authority (from Us),


tafseer:
To the Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they (his chiefs, his own people, and many among the Children of Israel) followed the rule of the Pharaoh


tafseer:
He will go before his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them to the Fire (as cattle are led to water)! How evil a &quot


tafseer:
And a curse was made to pursue them in this world, and on the Day of Resurrection. How evil is the gift offered!


tafseer:
That is something of the accounts of some townships (that were destroyed in the past). We relate it to you (O Messenger). Among them are some still standing, and some extinct like a mown field.


tafseer:
We did not wrong them, but they wronged themselves. When the judgment of your Lord came to pass, their deities which they used to invoke apart from God proved of no avail to them, and they increased them not save in ruin.


tafseer:
That is how your Lord seizes the townships when He seizes them when they are wrongdoers. His seizing is indeed painful, severe.


tafseer:
Surely in that is a sign (lesson and warning) for those who fear the punishment of the Hereafter. That is a Day when all humankind will be gathered together, and that is a Day bound to be witnessed (experienced by all living creatures in their whole being).


tafseer:
On the Day when it comes no one will speak unless by His leave. Among those (gathered together) some are wretched and some happy.


tafseer:
As for those who will be wretched (on that Day, on account of the deeds they have earned), they will be in the Fire, wherein moaning and wailing will be their lot,


tafseer:
Abiding there so long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord wills. Surely your Lord is the Sovereign Doer of what He wills.


tafseer:
And as for those who are happy (having been blessed by God with faith and good deeds), they will be in Paradise, abiding there so long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord wills – as a gift unceasing.


tafseer:
So do not be in doubt of anything that those (misguided people) worship. They but worship as their forefathers worshipped in time past


tafseer:
And, indeed, We granted Moses the Book, and discord arose about it, (just as your people, O Messenger, differ concerning the Book We are revealing to you. So do not be grieved). Had it not been for a decree already issued by your Lord (postponing the final, decisive judgment until an appointed term), it would indeed have been judged between them. They (your people) are surely in serious doubt, truly uncertain, concerning it (the Qur’an).


tafseer:
And surely for each of them – your Lord will certainly pay them in full for their deeds. He is indeed fully aware of all that they do.


tafseer:
Pursue, then, what is exactly right (in every matter of the Religion) as you are commanded (by God), and those who, along with you, have turned (to God with faith, repenting their former ways, let them do likewise)


tafseer:
And do not incline towards those who do wrong (against God by associating partners with Him and against people by violating their rights), or the Fire will touch you. For you have no guardians and true friends apart from God, (but if you should incline towards those who do wrong,) you will not be helped (by Him).


tafseer:
Establish the Prayer (O Messenger) at the beginning and the end of the day, and in the watches of the night near to the day. Surely good deeds wipe out evil deeds. This is advice and a reminder for the mindful who reflect.


tafseer:
And be patient, persevering (in doing good, avoiding mistakes, and against all kinds of persecution you are made to suffer in God’s cause), for surely God never leaves to waste the reward of those devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
If only there had been among the generations before you (of whom some We destroyed) people with lasting qualities (such as faith, knowledge, virtue, and good deeds, whose goal was what is lasting with God, the eternal life of the Hereafter, and) who would warn against disorder and corruption on earth! Among them only a few, included among those whom We saved, did this. But those who did wrong (against God by associating partners with Him, and against people by violating their rights) were lost in the pursuit of pleasures without scruples, and were criminals committed to accumulating sins.


tafseer:
And it has never been the way of your Lord to destroy the townships unjustly while their people were righteous, dedicated to continuous self-reform and setting things right in the society.


tafseer:
If your Lord had so willed (and withheld from humankind free will), He would have made all humankind one single community (with the same faith, worldview, and life-pattern). But (having free choice) they never cease to differ (and follow diverse paths diverging from the Straight Path),


tafseer:
Save those on whom your Lord has mercy (and guides to the Straight Path because of the merits they have). It is for that He created them. And thus the word of your Lord will have been fulfilled: &quot


tafseer:
All that We relate to you of the exemplary narrative of (the lives of some of the earlier) Messengers is in order that whereby We make firm your heart. In all these accounts there comes to you the truth, as well as an instruction and a reminder for the believers.


tafseer:
To God belongs (absolute dominion and full knowledge of) the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and to Him alone is the whole matter referred (for final judgment). So worship Him, and put your trust in Him. Your Lord is by no means unaware and unmindful of what you do.


tafseer:
We send it down as a qur’an (discourse) in Arabic so that you may reflect (on both its meaning and wording) and understand.


tafseer:
We are about to relate to you (O Messenger) the best of narratives (of the past) by Our revealing to you this Qur’an. Before this, indeed you were unaware of it.


tafseer:
Assuredly, in (this account of) Joseph and his brothers there are many signs (messages) for seekers of truth.


tafseer:
And so they went away with him, and decided to put Joseph in the depth of the well, (which they did). We revealed to him: &quot


tafseer:
And there came a caravan, and they sent forth one among them to fetch water. He let down his bucket (into the well). &quot


tafseer:
When Joseph reached his full manhood, We granted him authority with sound, wise judgment, and special knowledge. Thus do We reward those devoted to doing good as if seeing God.


tafseer:
And the woman in whose house he was living sought to enjoy herself by him. She bolted the doors and said, &quot


tafseer:
So they raced to the door and she tore his shirt from the back, and they met her master (husband) by the door. She cried: &quot


tafseer:
So when he (her husband) saw that his shirt was torn from the back, he (turned to his wife and) said: &quot


tafseer:
When she heard of their sly whispers, she sent for them, and prepared for them a place of reclining for a sumptuous meal. She gave to each one of them a knife and said (to Joseph): &quot


tafseer:
So his Lord answered him and averted from him their guile. Surely He it is Who is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.


tafseer:
It occurred to them (the noblemen and his household), even after they had seen the signs (of Joseph’s innocence), that they should imprison him for a time.


tafseer:
Now after all that time, of the two (prisoners) the one who had been delivered remembered (what Joseph had asked him to remember) and he said: &quot


tafseer:
(Joseph was informed of the women’s confessions and the declaration of his innocence. He explained why he had asked for the inquiry:) &quot


tafseer:
Thus We established Joseph in the land (of Egypt) with authority. He was fully accepted therein, able to go and execute his authority wherever he willed. We visit with Our mercy whomever We will. We do not leave to waste the reward of those devoted to doing good as if seeing God.


tafseer:
However, certainly the reward of the Hereafter is better for those who believe and keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety.


tafseer:
And (after some years) Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt and presented themselves before him: he knew them (at once), they did not recognize him.


tafseer:
Then when they opened their packs, they found that their merchandise had been returned to them. &quot


tafseer:
They entered the city in the manner their father had enjoined on them, although this would have proved of no avail whatever to them against anything God had willed


tafseer:
And when they presented themselves before Joseph, he welcomed his brother to himself, and (having taken him aside) said: &quot


tafseer:
Then when he had provided them with their provisions, he put the drinking-cup (belonging to him) in his brother’s saddlebag (as a gift). Then, (as they had just departed on their return) a herald called out: &quot


tafseer:
(So they were brought back before Joseph to be searched.) He began with their sacks before his brother’s sack


tafseer:
So, when they lost hope of moving him, they withdrew to take counsel among themselves. The eldest of them said: &quot


tafseer:
‘Inquire in the township where we were, and the caravan with whom we traveled hither. We are certainly telling the truth.’ &quot


tafseer:
But when the bearer of the good tidings came (with Joseph’s shirt), Jacob laid it over his face and he regained his sight. (Soon the caravan of the brothers reached home.) Jacob said: &quot


tafseer:
(When Jacob’s family reached Egypt,) they presented themselves before Joseph (who had come out to welcome them). He embraced his parents, and said (addressing all those who came): &quot


tafseer:
He raised his parents on the throne and they all bowed down before Joseph (as a sign of loyalty to him). He said: &quot


tafseer:
That is an account of some exemplary events of the unseen (a realm and time beyond the reach of any created being’s perception) that We reveal to you, (O Messenger). You were not with them when those agreed upon their plans, and then were scheming (against Joseph).


tafseer:
You do not ask them any wage for it (for conveying the Qur’an to them). It is but a message and reminder to all conscious beings.


tafseer:
How many a sign there is in the heavens and earth that they pass by, being unmindful of the signs and giving no consideration to them.


tafseer:
Do they deem themselves secure that there will not come upon them an overwhelming punishment of God, which will envelop them thoroughly, or that the Last Hour will not come upon them all of a sudden, without their being aware (of its coming)?


tafseer:
We did not send before you as Messengers any but men to whom We revealed, from amongst the people of the townships (where We raised them). Have they never traveled about the earth and beheld how was the outcome for those who came before them (those who persisted in associating partners with Him and in wrongdoing and transgression)? Assuredly, the abode of the Hereafter is best for those who keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety. Will you not, then, reason and understand?


tafseer:
So far so that when they (the earlier Messengers who all had to suffer much persecution for a long time) nearly lost hope and were convinced that they were denied, Our help came to them. And whoever We willed was saved. But Our mighty punishment cannot be averted from the guilty people committed to accumulating sin.


tafseer:
Indeed, in their exemplary life-stories there is a significant lesson for people of discernment. It (the Qur’an, which contains them) is not a discourse fabricated, but (a Divine Book revealed as) a confirmation of (the Divine authorship of and the truths still contained by) the Revelations prior to it, and an explanation of everything, and a guidance and mercy for people who will and do believe.


tafseer:
God it is Who has raised the heavens without pillars you can see, then He established Himself on the Supreme Throne


tafseer:
And it is He Who has spread the earth wide and set therein firm mountains and rivers, and of fruit of every kind He has made mated pairs. He covers the day with the night. Surely in that are signs (manifesting the truth) for people who reflect.


tafseer:
And on the earth are tracts close by one another (and yet different from one another), and gardens of vines, and cultivated fields, and date-palms growing in clusters from one root but standing alone, (all) watered with the same water


tafseer:
They challenge you to hasten the coming upon them of the evil instead of the good, although there have indeed come to pass before them many exemplary punishments. Your Lord is indeed rich in forgiveness for humankind despite their wrongdoing, and your Lord is indeed severe in retribution.


tafseer:
God knows what any female bears (in her womb with all its traits from her conception of it until delivery), and what the wombs diminish and what they increase, (and by how much they may fall short in gestation, and by how much they may increase the average period), and everything with Him is by a determined measure.


tafseer:
The Knower of the Unseen and the witnessed (all that lies in the hidden and visible realms and beyond and within the reach of any created being’s perception), the All-Great, the All-Transcending.


tafseer:
(To Him) the one who holds his opinion in secret and the one who declares it are the same, and the one who hides himself (and his plans) under cover of night and the one who sallies out in the daylight.


tafseer:
(Every person advances through varying states before and after, and) by God’s command attendant angels succeeding one another accompany him before and after him to guard him (and record his deeds). God does not change the condition of a people unless they change what is in themselves. When God wills evil for a people (in consequence of their own evil deeds), it cannot be averted, and apart from Him, they have no protector.


tafseer:
He it is Who displays before you the lightning, giving rise to both fear (of being struck) and hopeful expectation (of rain), and builds the clouds heavy (with rain).


tafseer:
The thunder glorifies Him with His praise (that He is absolutely above having any partners, and that all praise belongs to Him exclusively) and so do the angels, in awe of Him. And He lets loose the thunderbolts and strikes with them whom He wills. Yet they stubbornly argue about God, (notwithstanding all evidence that) He is severe in repelling and retribution.


tafseer:
To Him alone is made the call of truth and the prayer of truth addressed. Those to whom they invoke and call others (to invoke), apart from Him, cannot answer them in any way – (so that he who invokes them is but) like one who stretches out his hands to water (praying) that it may come to his mouth, but it never comes to it. The prayer of the unbelievers is but destined to go to waste.


tafseer:
To God prostrate all that are in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the mornings and the evenings.


tafseer:
He sends down water from the sky and the valleys flow (in abundance) each according to its measure, and the flood carries a swelling foam (on its surface). And out of what they smelt in the fire in order to make ornaments or utensils, there rises a scum like it. Thus does God strike a parable to illustrate truth and falsehood. For, as for the scum, it vanishes as does all dross, but that which is of use to people abides on earth. In this way does God strike parables.


tafseer:
Is the one who knows that what is sent down to you from your Lord is the truth – is that one like him who is blind? Surely only people of discernment reflect and be mindful.


tafseer:
Those who fulfill God’s covenant (responsible for the order in the universe, and able to establish the peace, order and harmony in human life) and do not break the pledge (that they shall worship none save God, and fulfill all the moral, spiritual, and social obligations resulting from believing in and worshipping only One God)


tafseer:
And those who unite the bonds God has commanded to be joined (among kin as a requirement of blood relationship, and among people as required by human social interdependence), and stand in awe of their Lord, and fearful of (facing) the most evil reckoning


tafseer:
And those who endure patiently (all adversities they face in God’s cause) in pursuit of where God’s good, eternal pleasure lies, and they establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions, and spend of whatever We provide for them secretly and openly, and repel the evil with good. Such are those for whom there is the ultimate (everlasting) abode:


tafseer:
Gardens of perpetual bliss which they will enter, along with all who are righteous from among their ancestors, their spouses, and their descendants


tafseer:
But those who break God’s covenant after its solemn binding, and sever the bonds God commanded to be joined, and cause disorder and corruption on the earth – such are those for whom there is curse (exclusion from God’s mercy), and for them there is the most evil abode.


tafseer:
God enlarges provision for whom He wills, and straitens it (for whom He wills). They (the unbelievers who have been given abundant provision and indulged in the present, worldly life oblivious of God and the Hereafter) rejoice in the present, worldly life, whereas the present, worldly life is but a fleeting enjoyment as compared with the Hereafter.


tafseer:
Those who have believed (and become established in belief), and whose hearts find rest and contentment in remembrance of and whole-hearted devotion to God. Be aware that it is in the remembrance and of and whole-hearted devotion to God that hearts find rest and contentment.


tafseer:
Those (whose hearts have attained to rest and contentment) who have believed and who do good, righteous deeds – for them is the greatest happiness and the most beautiful of destinations.


tafseer:
For that end We have raised you as Messenger among a community before whom other (similar) communities have come and gone, that you may recite and convey to them what We reveal to you, whereas (in their ignorance) they disbelieve in the All-Merciful. Say: &quot


tafseer:
If at all through a discourse (qur’an) mountains were moved, or the earth were torn apart, or the dead were made to speak, (all would be only through this Qur’an so that the unbelievers would be compelled, having no choice but, to believe). No, but to God belongs the whole command (to decide what shall be and how it shall be). Do not yet those who believe accept that, if God had so willed, He would indeed have guided all humankind (to faith)? Those who disbelieve will not cease to be struck by severe blows for what they have been contriving, or these will alight close to their homes (to afflict them), until God’s promise (of the final victory of Islam or Judgment Day) is fulfilled. Surely God does not fail to keep the promise.


tafseer:
Messengers were certainly mocked before you. Yet (despite all that they did), I gave respite to those who disbelieved, but then I seized them (with terrible destructions). Then, (see) how was My retribution!


tafseer:
Is He Who watches over every soul and whatever it earns (to be denied or disobeyed)? Yet they associate partners with God. Say: &quot


tafseer:
For them is punishment in the life of this world, but the punishment of the Hereafter is yet more grievous, and they have none to guard them against God.


tafseer:
The Paradise promised to the God-revering, pious ones can be likened to a garden through which rivers flow. Its produce is everlasting, and so its shade. That is the ultimate outcome for those who keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety, just as the ultimate outcome for the unbelievers is the Fire.


tafseer:
Those to whom We granted the Book before rejoice in what is sent down to you. (Some do so because they believe that it is the expected final Revelation, and some because it contains passages confirming their Books and Prophets.) Yet among those parties (responding to the Book), some deny some of it (because it discloses their interpolations in their Books and does not serve their interests). Say (O Messenger): &quot


tafseer:
And so (as a Book, whose message is founded on belief in and worship of One God, and which should therefore be accepted by all who were given the Book before) We send down (this Qur’an) as a final judgment in the Arabic tongue. And, indeed, if you were to follow their desires and caprices after what has come to you of the Knowledge, you would have none to defend and protect you against God.


tafseer:
Most certainly We sent Messengers before you, and (like every other man) appointed wives and children for them. It was not (the way) for a Messenger to work a miracle (as a sign of his being a Messenger) except by God’s leave. Every appointed term has its own Revelation and law.


tafseer:
God effaces what He wills (of things and events He has created, and laws He has established), and He confirms and establishes (what He wills): with Him is the Mother of the Book.


tafseer:
Whether We let you (O Messenger) witness the fulfillment of some of what We have promised them, or whether We cause you to die (before it happens), still yours (by way of duty and command from Us) is only to convey the Message, and Ours is the reckoning.


tafseer:
Do they not see how We deal with the earth, reducing it of its outlying parts? God judges, and (when He has judged) there is none to revise His judgment. And He is swift at reckoning.


tafseer:
Those who were before them plotted (just as their descendants now do), but all schemes are owned by God (Who brings them to nothing and enforces His own &quot


tafseer:
Alif. Lam. Ra. (This is) a Book which We send down to you so that you may lead humankind, by their Lord’s leave, out of all kinds of (intellectual, spiritual, social, economic and political) darkness into the light, to the Path of the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Praiseworthy (Who provides for them and all other beings and meets all their needs),


tafseer:
They choose the present, worldly life in preference to the Hereafter and bar (people) from God’s way, and seek to make it appear crooked – those have indeed gone far astray.


tafseer:
We have sent no Messenger save with the tongue of his people, that he might make (the Message) clear to them. Then God leads whomever He wills astray, and He guides whomever He wills. He is the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Wise.


tafseer:
And, certainly, We sent Moses as Messenger with Our Revelations and signs (miracles to support him), saying: &quot


tafseer:
Has any account not reached you of the exemplary histories of those who lived before you – the people of Noah, and the ‘Ad and Thamud – and those who came after them? None save God has true knowledge about them. Their Messengers came to them with clear signs of the truth, but they thrust their hands into their mouths (in derision and anger, and frustrated by their inability to refute them), and said: &quot


tafseer:
They (both the Messengers and unbelievers) sought a judgment (through test of right and might), and in the end every stubborn tyrant was frustrated (made to fail),


tafseer:
Sipping it little by little, yet hardly able to swallow it, and death besets him from every side though he cannot die, and a still harsher punishment lies ahead of him.


tafseer:
An exemplary likeness of those who disbelieve in their Lord: all their works are as ashes on which the wind blows fiercely on a stormy day (and so scatters). They have no control of anything that they have earned (to benefit from). That indeed is utmost error and failure.


tafseer:
Do you not see that God has created the heavens and the earth with truth (meaningfully, and with definite purpose, and on solid foundations of truth)? If He so wills (for the fulfillment of His purpose in creation), He can put you away and bring another generation (of humankind in your place).


tafseer:
They will appear before God all together. Then those who were weak (in the world and followed the arrogant oppressors in their misguidance) will say to those who were arrogant and oppressed others: &quot


tafseer:
But those who believed and did good, righteous deeds are admitted to the Gardens through which rivers flow, therein to abide by their Lord’s leave. Their greeting therein (among themselves and from God and the angels) will be &quot


tafseer:
Do you not see how God strikes a parable of a good word: (a good word is) like a good tree – its roots holding firm (in the ground) and its branches in heaven,


tafseer:
It yields its fruit in every season due by its Lord’s leave. So God strikes parables for human beings, in order that they may reflect on them and infer the necessary lessons.


tafseer:
And the parable of a corrupt word is that of a corrupt tree uprooted from upon the earth, having no constancy.


tafseer:
God keeps firm those who believe by the true, firm word in the life of this world and in the Hereafter


tafseer:
Do you ever consider those who exchanged God’s blessing (of thankfulness and faith) for ingratitude and unbelief, and caused their people to settle in the abode of ruin –


tafseer:
They have set up rivals to God (as deities, lords and objects of worship), and so they have deviated (themselves and other people) from His way. Say: &quot


tafseer:
Tell those of My servants who believe that they must establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions, and spend out of what We have provided for them (of wealth, power, and knowledge, etc.) secretly and openly, (and in God’s cause and to the benefit of the needy), before there comes a Day when there will be no trading nor friendship (that will bring any benefit).


tafseer:
God is He Who has created the heavens and the earth, and sends down water from the sky with which He brings forth fruits for your provision. And He has made the ships serviceable for you, so that they run upon the sea by His command, and He has made the rivers serviceable for you


tafseer:
And He has made the sun and the moon constant in their courses, (and so) serviceable for you, and He has made the night and the day of service to you.


tafseer:
He has granted you from all that you ask Him. Were you to attempt to count God’s blessings, you could not compute them. But for sure humankind are much prone to wrongdoing (sins and errors of judgment) and to ingratitude.


tafseer:
Never reckon that God is unaware of what the wrongdoers are doing. He only defers them to a day when their eyes will stare (in terror)


tafseer:
Hurrying on in fear with necks outstretched and heads upraised, and their eyes are fixed on a point from which they are unable to look away, and their hearts are void (as if filled with air).


tafseer:
They schemed their schemes, but their schemes were in God’s disposition (entirely encompassed by His Knowledge and Power), even though their schemes were such as to shock mountains.


tafseer:
So do not reckon that God will fail to keep His promise to His Messengers. Assuredly, God is All-Glorious with irresistible might, Ever-Able to Requite (all wrongs).


tafseer:
On the Day when the earth is changed into another earth, and the heavens (also), they all appear before God, the One, the All-Overwhelming.


tafseer:
This is a clear message for humankind, that they may be warned by it, and that they should know that He is One God, and that people of discernment may reflect and be mindful.


tafseer:
Alif. Lam. Ra. These are the Revelations of the Book, a Qur’an clear in itself and clearly showing the truth.


tafseer:
Leave them that they may continue to eat and enjoy themselves, and that hope (for a long, easy life) distract them (from considering their main duty in life and considering their end). In time they will come to know (the truth).


tafseer:
We do not send down the angels save with the truth (for a just reason and with wisdom, not to satisfy vain caprice or curiosity, and once the angels are sent down, the matter is decided, and) then they are allowed no (further) respite.


tafseer:
They do not believe in it: for certain the pattern of life of the (sinful) peoples of old times has already passed.


tafseer:
Even if (as a miracle to convince them of the truth of God’s Message) We opened to them a gate in heaven and they kept ascending through it all the while,


tafseer:
(As evidence for a people open to belief) We have assuredly set in the heaven great constellations, and We have made it (the heaven) beautiful for those beholding


tafseer:
Excepting one who listens by stealth, and is pursued (and destroyed) by a shooting-star clear to see.


tafseer:
And the earth – We have spread it out and set therein firm mountains, and caused to grow therein of every kind in balance and proportion (and in a measured quantity)


tafseer:
And We have provided means of livelihood therein for you, and for those for whom you do not provide (such as beasts, birds, and fish).


tafseer:
There is not a thing but the stores (for its life and sustenance) are with Us, and We do not send it down except in due, determined measure.


tafseer:
And We send the winds to fertilize, and so We send down water from the sky, and give it to you to drink (and use in other ways)


tafseer:
Surely it is also We, We Who give life and cause to die, and We are the Inheritors (it is We Who remain after all others have passed away).


tafseer:
And your Lord – He will surely raise to life and gather them together (on Judgment Day). He is All-Wise, All-Knowing.


tafseer:
We strip away whatever there is in their bosoms of rancor and jealousy (which they may have felt against each other while in the world). As brothers face to face, (they take their ease) on couches raised.


tafseer:
We made clear to him that decisive decree, that the root of those (sinful people) was to be cut off in the morning.


tafseer:
Surely in this are signs (lessons and messages) for those who can read the signs (so as to understand the inner meaning of things and events).


tafseer:
Surely in that there is a manifest sign for the believers (for the truth of God’s decree, and the way He enjoins, and the call to it).


tafseer:
So We inflicted Our retribution on them (which they deserved), and both (of these sinful communities) lived by a highway plain to see.


tafseer:
And most certainly the people of al-Hijr denied the Messengers (by denying the Messenger sent to them).


tafseer:
So We presented to them Our signs (including miracles, and sent Our Revelations), but they turned away from them in aversion.


tafseer:
We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them save with truth (meaningfully, and with definite purpose, and on solid foundations of truth)


tafseer:
And, indeed We have granted you the Seven Doubly-Repeated (Verses) and, (built on it), the Grand Qur’an.


tafseer:
Do not strain your eyes toward what We have given some groups among them (the unbelievers) to enjoy (in the life of this world), nor grieve over them (because of their attitude toward your mission)


tafseer:
So from now on, proclaim what you are commanded to convey openly and in an emphatic manner, and do not care (whatever) those who associate partners with God (say and do).


tafseer:
But glorify your Lord with His praise (proclaim that He is absolutely above having any partners, and that all praise belongs to Him exclusively) and be one of those who prostrate themselves before Him (regularly in the Prayer, which strengthens their humility).


tafseer:
God’s command (for the calamity to strike the unbelievers and their final destruction at the end of time) is bound to come, so (O unbelievers) do not wish it to be hastened (by asking the Messenger to bring it immediately in order only to deride and cast doubt on it). All-Glorified is He, and absolutely exalted above all that they associate with Him.


tafseer:
He sends down the angels with the Spirit (the life-giving Revelation) from His (absolutely pure, immaterial realm of) command upon whom He wills of His servants (saying): &quot


tafseer:
He has created the heavens and the earth in truth (meaningfully and with definite purpose, and on solid foundations of truth). Absolutely exalted is He above all that they associate (with Him).


tafseer:
And the cattle He has created, from which you get warmth (of clothing) and other uses, and from them you get (food) to eat.


tafseer:
And in them there is beauty for you when you drive them home (in the evening) and when you take them out to pasture (in the morning).


tafseer:
They carry your loads to many a land which (otherwise) you would be unable to reach except with great hardship to yourselves. Indeed your Lord is All-Pitying, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
And horses, mules and donkeys (has He created for you) to ride, as well as for ornament (the loveliness they add to your world)


tafseer:
With God (being your Creator) rests the goal of the way (to which He will guide and which you must follow). And some (ways) are crooked (misleading those who follow them). But if God had willed (to impose His guidance without granting people freedom of choice), He would surely have guided you all together (on His way).


tafseer:
With it He causes to grow for you the crops, the olives, the date-palms, the grapes, and all (other) kinds of fruit. Surely in this is a sign (manifesting the truth) for people who reflect.


tafseer:
He has made the night and the day and the sun and the moon to be of service to you, and the stars are made subservient by His command. Surely in that are signs for people who reason and understand.


tafseer:
And whatsoever He has created for you on earth of varying colors (and diverse forms and qualities): surely in that is a sign for people who reflect and are mindful.


tafseer:
And He it is Who has made the sea to be of service (to you) so that you eat from it fresh meat, and draw out from it ornaments that you wear. And you see the ships plowing their course through it so that you may go forth in quest of His bounty and give thanks (to Him Who has created all this).


tafseer:
And He has cast firm mountains on the earth lest it should shake with you (with its movement), and rivers, and roads, so that you may find your way


tafseer:
Is He then Who creates to be likened to him who does not create? Will you not reflect and be mindful?


tafseer:
And should you attempt to count God’s blessings, you could not compute them. God is indeed All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate (Who continues to provide for His servants despite their sins and even their denial of Him).


tafseer:
Dead (they are), not living (nor can they give life, being themselves in need of it). And they do not know when they will be raised to life.


tafseer:
Your God is the One God, but those who disbelieve in the Hereafter – their hearts are in denial (of this most evident and essential truth, and the many other truths based on it): they are (too) arrogant (to accept dependence on the Supreme Being, and answerability to Him).


tafseer:
Hence, they will bear their own burdens (of sin) in full on the Day of Resurrection and some of the burdens of those whom they, being ignorant, caused to go astray. Look now! How evil is the burden they load upon themselves!


tafseer:
Those before them (like them, persistent in unbelief, wrongdoing and evil) schemed (against the Messengers and the Divine Message they brought), so God struck what they built at its foundations, and the roof fell in upon them from above, and the doom came upon them without their perceiving whence it came.


tafseer:
Those whose souls the angels take while they are still wronging themselves (by falsely associating partners with God, and committing evils). (When they see the punishment), they offer full submission, (saying in an attempt to excuse themselves): &quot


tafseer:
Gardens of perpetual bliss which they will enter, through which rivers flow. Therein they will have whatever they may desire. Thus does God reward the God-revering, pious –


tafseer:
Those whose souls the angels take whilst they are in a pious state (free of evil, and worshipping none but God alone), saying: &quot


tafseer:
Are they (the unbelievers and/or those who associate partners with God) but waiting for the angels to come to them (to take their souls or bring them a disaster), or for your Lord’s command (to judge them and open Hell for them)? Even so did those before them. God did not wrong them but they did wrong themselves.


tafseer:
Then the evil consequences of what they used to do fell upon them, and that which they were mocking overwhelmed them.


tafseer:
And certainly, We have raised within every community a Messenger (to convey the primordial Message): Worship God alone, and keep away from false deities and powers of evil (who institute patterns of faith and rule in defiance of God). Among them (past generations) were people whom God guided, just as there were among them those for whom straying was their just due. Go about, then, on the earth and look! How was the outcome for those who denied (God’s manifest signs and His Messengers)!


tafseer:
Though you long ardently for them (all humankind) to be rightly guided, God surely does not guide those whom He has led astray (as their just due). And they have no helpers (to defend them against God).


tafseer:
(He will indeed fulfill that promise and resurrect them,) so that He will make clear to people the truth about what they differ on, and so that those who disbelieve will know that they were liars.


tafseer:
(Raising the dead to life, like giving them life in the first place, is easy for Us:) Our word for a thing when We will it is simply Our saying to it, &quot


tafseer:
Those who emigrate (to another land) for God’s cause after they have been oppressed on account of their faith, We will surely give them goodly residence in the world, and their reward in the Hereafter is certainly greater. If only they (all people) knew (how great that reward is)!


tafseer:
Those (they are) who have persevered in patience (through all adversities), and it is in their Lord that they put their trust.


tafseer:
We did not send before you (O Muhammad) any but men to whom We revealed – and if you (O people) do not know, then ask the people of expert knowledge (those who have knowledge of the Divine Revelations) —


tafseer:
(We sent them with) clear proofs of the truth and Scriptures. And on you We have sent down the Reminder (the Qur’an) so that you may make clear to humankind whatever is sent down to them (through you of the truth concerning their present and next life), and that they may reflect.


tafseer:
Do they, who (in defiance of God’s grace) devise evil schemes, feel safe and secure that God will not cause the earth to swallow them, or that the punishment will not befall them without their perceiving whence it has come?


tafseer:
Or that He will not seize them in the midst of their strutting about (the land in pomp and show of dominion), and they are helpless to frustrate Him?


tafseer:
Or that He will not seize them with gradual wasting (of wealth and health giving them time to mend their ways)? For surely your Lord is All-Pitying, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
Do they not see the things that God has created, how their shadows bend to the right and to the left, making prostration before God, and that in the humblest manner?


tafseer:
Before God prostrates itself whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth of living creatures, and the angels (likewise, for) they are not arrogant.


tafseer:
They (the angels) fear their Lord high above them (i.e., Who has absolute power over them), and they do what they are commanded.


tafseer:
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on the earth, and to Him alone absolute obedience is always due. Will you, then, fear and obey in piety and due reverence other than God?


tafseer:
When thereafter He removes the harm from you, a party of you attribute partners to their Lord (Who alone sustains and provides for you, and saves you from misfortunes)


tafseer:
And so deny with ingratitude the favors God has granted them. So enjoy (O polytheists, the favors We grant you) – in time you will come to know (the truth).


tafseer:
They assign, out of what We provide for them, a portion to the things (non-existent gods, misunderstood &quot


tafseer:
And they assign daughters to God – All-Glorified is He (above having children) – and to themselves sons!


tafseer:
When any of them is given news of the birth of a girl, his face becomes overcast, and he is (as if choking inwardly) with suppressed anger.


tafseer:
He hides himself from the people because of the evil (as he wrongly supposes it) of what he has had news of. (So he debates within himself:) Shall he keep her with dishonor or bury her in earth? Look now! how evil is the judgment they make (concerning God, and how evil is the decision they debate)!


tafseer:
To those who do not believe in the Hereafter applies the most evil of attributes, and to God applies the most sublime attribute, and He is the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Wise.


tafseer:
If God were to take people immediately to task for their wrongdoings, He would not leave on it (the earth) any living creature (as the wrongdoings of humankind would make the earth uninhabitable). But He grants them respite to a term appointed (by Him). When their term has come, they can neither delay it by a single moment, nor can they bring it forward.


tafseer:
By God, We certainly sent Messengers to the communities before you (O Messenger), but Satan decked out their deeds as appealing to (the unbelievers among) them. And this day (too, when the Qur’an is being revealed), he is their close friend, and theirs is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
And We have not sent down the Book on you except that you may explain to them all (the questions of faith and law) on which they differ, and as guidance and mercy for people who will believe and who have already believed.


tafseer:
God sends down from the sky water and therewith revives the earth after its death. Surely in that there is a sign (manifesting the truth) for people ready to hear (and understand the discourses of the &quot


tafseer:
And surely in the cattle (feeding on the pastures of the revived earth) there is a lesson for you: We give you from that which is within their bodies, (marvelously distinguished from) between the waste and blood, milk that is pure and palatable to those who drink.


tafseer:
And there are (among the produce that God brings forth as nourishment for you on the revived earth) the fruits of the date-palm, and grapes: you derive from them intoxicants and good, wholesome nourishment. Surely in this there is a sign for people who reason and understand.


tafseer:
God has created you, then He causes you to die. And among you are those who are deferred to the age of senility so they do not know, of what they once knew, anything at all. Surely God is All-Knowing, All-Powerful.


tafseer:
And God has favored some of you above others in provision. And yet, (while it is We Who provide them) those who are more favored do not consent to share their provision with those (slaves) whom their right hands possess so that they might be equal with them in this respect. How then do they deny God’s grace and bounty, (and associate partners with Him)?


tafseer:
God has made for you, from your selves, mates (spouses), and has made for you from your mates children and grandchildren, and has provided you with good, wholesome things. Do they, then, believe in falsehood and deny the blessings of God?


tafseer:
And do they worship, apart from God, what has no ownership of any provision in the heavens and the earth with which to provide for them, nor have they (whom they falsely worship) any capacity (to take on, still less, discharge such a task)?


tafseer:
So do not invent similitudes for God (do not liken Him to others to associate partners with Him, for there is nothing similar to Him). Surely God knows and you do not know (the exact truth about Him and the exact nature of things).


tafseer:
God strikes a parable (of two men so that you may understand that true freedom lies in the service of God, because it frees from servitude to all else): a man enslaved, unable to do anything of his own will, and a (free) man whom We have provided with a fair provision from Us, and he spends thereof secretly and openly. Are the two equal? All praise and gratitude are due to God (for to Him alone belongs absolute ownership and disposition of the universe)


tafseer:
And God strikes a parable of two (other) men: one of them dumb, unable to control anything (unable to answer any call, unable to decide any matter or meet any need). He is a burden upon his master


tafseer:
And to God belongs (absolute dominion and full knowledge of) the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and the matter of the Hour (of Doom) is (in relation with the Divine Power) but the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker. Surely God has full power over everything.


tafseer:
God brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers when you knew nothing, and (in order that you might be perfected through learning) endowed you with hearing and eyes and hearts, that you may give thanks (from the heart and in speech, and in action by fulfilling His commandments).


tafseer:
Do they not consider the birds flying in the air subservient to God’s command? None holds them but God (Who has endowed them with the power of flight). Surely in that there are signs (manifesting the truth) for people who will believe who will deepen in faith.


tafseer:
And (among countless other blessings of His) He has made for you, out of the things He has created, shelter from the sun, and given you refuges in the mountains, and made (the means whereby you make) garments to protect you from heat (or cold), and garments (such as coats-of-mail) to protect you from your (mutual) violence. In this way He completes His favors on you so that you may submit to Him (and thereby receive the greatest favor of all).


tafseer:
Then if they (despite these blessings of God and His completing His favors upon them through this Revelation) turn away, what rests with you, (O Messenger,) is only to convey the Message fully and clearly.


tafseer:
They are fully aware of God’s favors, but they refuse to acknowledge them (as such), and most of them are obstinate unbelievers (willfully and stubbornly associating partners with Him in belief and worship).


tafseer:
But a Day (will come) when We raise up a witness from among every community (to testify against them that God’s Religion was communicated to them), and then those who were unbelievers will not be allowed (to speak their excuses), nor will they be allowed (it then being too late) to make amends.


tafseer:
When those who persist in wrongdoing (by associating partners with God and committing evils) see the punishment, it will not be lightened for them, nor will they be reprieved.


tafseer:
And when those who associate partners with God see their associate-deities (such as Prophets, saints, and heroes, whom they hold as partners with God in worship and absolute obedience), they will say &quot


tafseer:
On that Day they (those who associated partners with God) have offered submission to God, (which out of arrogance they used to withhold), and what they used to fabricate (by way of false deities to worship besides God) has failed them.


tafseer:
Those who (themselves) disbelieved and barred (other) people from God’s way – We add punishment to their punishment because they used to cause disorder and corruption.


tafseer:
And on that Day We will raise up within every community a witness from among themselves (to testify) against them (that God’s Religion was communicated to them), and We will bring you (O Messenger) as a witness against those (whom your Message has reached). We have sent down on you the Book as an exposition of everything (that pertains to guidance and error and to the knowledge of good and evil, and to happiness and misery in both worlds), and guidance and mercy and glad tidings for the Muslims (those who have submitted themselves wholly to God.


tafseer:
God enjoins justice (and right judgment in all matters), and devotion to doing good, and generosity towards relatives, and He forbids you indecency, wickedness and vile conduct (all offenses against religion, life, personal property, chastity, and health of mind and body). He exhorts you (repeatedly) so that you may reflect and be mindful!


tafseer:
And fulfill God’s covenant when you have made the covenant (and any commitment that you made among yourselves in God’s Name), and do not break your oaths after having confirmed them


tafseer:
And do not be like her who destroys her yarn that she herself made strong, betraying (thereby her own effort) – by making your oaths a means of deception among yourselves in order that you may be a community greater in numbers (in power and other worldly things) than another community. In this God is only testing you, and on the Day of Resurrection, He will certainly make clear to you all that on which you used to differ.


tafseer:
Had God so willed, He would have made you all one single community (with the same faith and religion), but He (has granted you free will with the result that He) leads astray whomever He wills, and guides whomever He wills. You will certainly be called to account for what you used to do.


tafseer:
Do not make your oaths a means of deception and wrongdoing among yourselves, lest feet should slip (from the way of guidance) after having been firm (on it, and that others too may be misled by your misconduct)


tafseer:
And do not sell God’s covenant for a trifling price (such as status and other worldly gains). Surely what is with God is the best for you, if you but knew.


tafseer:
Whatever is with you wastes away, but that which is with God is permanent. We will most certainly pay those who are persevering and patient (in fulfilling God’s commandments, refraining from sins, and all the adversities in God’s cause) their reward in accordance with the best of what they used to do.


tafseer:
Whoever does good, righteous deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer, most certainly We will make him (or her) live a good life, and most certainly We will pay such as these their reward in accordance with the best of what they used to do.


tafseer:
So when you recite the Qur’an (as a good, righteous deed), seek refuge in God from Satan rejected (from His Mercy, because of his evil suggestions and whisperings during the recitation).


tafseer:
His power is only over those who make a confidant of him (seeking and heeding his advice and direction), and those who associate partners with God (in worship and obedience).


tafseer:
When We put a Revelation in place of another Revelation (in the course of perfecting the Religion and completing Our favor upon you), – and God knows best what He sends down – they say: &quot


tafseer:
Surely those who do not believe in God’s Revelations (and therefore persist in wrongdoing) – God does not guide them (to the way of true prosperity), and for them is a painful punishment.


tafseer:
Whoever disbelieves in God after having believed – not him who is under duress, while his heart is firm in and content with faith, but the one who willingly opens up his heart to unbelief – upon them falls God’s anger (His condemnation of them), and for them is a mighty punishment.


tafseer:
That is because they have chosen the present, worldly life in preference to the Hereafter, and because God does not guide the people of unbelief (to the way of true prosperity and Paradise).


tafseer:
Those are they upon whose hearts, hearing, and eyes God has set a seal, and those are they who are unmindful, heedless.


tafseer:
Yet surely your Lord turns with favor to those who emigrate after they have been subjected to persecutions (because of their faith) and thereafter exert themselves in God’s cause and endure with patience (whatever befalls them) – indeed, in return for such (good deeds) your Lord is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
(Be ever mindful of) the Day when every soul will come pleading for itself, and every soul will be repaid in full for what it did, and none of them will be wronged.


tafseer:
God strikes a parable of a township which was secure and at ease, with its provision coming to it in abundance from all quarters. But it showed ingratitude to God (its people disbelieved, attributed their apparent well-being to other than God and so fell into the habit of making up partners with Him in belief and worship, and daily life)


tafseer:
For sure a Messenger from among themselves had come to them, but they denied him, and in consequence, the punishment seized them while they were doing wrong.


tafseer:
So (O people) partake as pure, lawful and wholesome of what God has provided you, and give thanks for His bounty, if it is indeed Him that you worship.


tafseer:
He has made unlawful to you only carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that (the animal) which is offered in the name of other than God. Yet whoever is constrained by dire necessity to eat of them, provided he does not covet (what is forbidden) and does not exceed (the bounds of necessity) – (no sin shall be on him). Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.


tafseer:
(Their lot is) a brief enjoyment (in this world), and theirs is a painful punishment (in the Hereafter).


tafseer:
And for those who are Jews We made unlawful what We have already related to you. We have never wronged them but they did habitually wrong themselves.


tafseer:
Then indeed your Lord is – to those who do evil in ignorance (as a result of failing to counter the prompting of the evil-commanding soul), and then repent (soon as they realize what they have done is wrong) and mend their ways and conduct – indeed your Lord is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate (with special mercy toward His penitent servants).


tafseer:
Abraham was an exemplary leader, (whose self-dedication to the good of his community made him) as if a community, sincerely obedient to God as a man of pure faith (free from any stain of unbelief and hypocrisy), and he was not of those who associate partners with God –


tafseer:
Always thankful for His favors. He (God) chose him, and guided him to a straight path (to follow himself and guide others).


tafseer:
Thereafter, We have revealed to you (O Messenger): Follow the way of Abraham as one of pure faith (free from unbelief and hypocrisy), and he was never of those who associate partners with God.


tafseer:
The Sabbath was ordained only for those who differed about it (not for all the communities that were to follow the way of Abraham). Your Lord will assuredly judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that on which they used to differ.


tafseer:
Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and argue with them in the best way possible. Your Lord surely knows best who has gone astray from His way, and He knows best who are the rightly guided.


tafseer:
Surely God is with those who keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety and those devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
All-Glorified is He Who took His servant for a journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque the environs of which We have blessed, so that We might show him some of Our signs (of the truths concerning Our Divinity and Lordship). Surely He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.


tafseer:
We granted Moses the Book and made it a guidance for the Children of Israel, (commanding them): &quot


tafseer:
(They were among) the descendants of those whom We carried (in the Ark) with Noah. He surely was a servant greatly thankful.


tafseer:
We decreed in the Book for the Children of Israel (as a consequence of their ingratitude and disobedience to the Book): &quot


tafseer:
Hence, when the time of the first of the two came, We roused and sent against you some servants of Ours of great might (chosen by Us to punish you), and they ravaged the land, searching the innermost parts of your homes. That was a threat to be executed.


tafseer:
Then We gave the turn back to you to prevail over them, and strengthened you with resources and children, and made you the more numerous in human power (than before).


tafseer:
It is hoped that your Lord may show mercy to you, but if you return (to your sins), We will return (to Our punishment). And We have made Hell a prison for the unbelievers.


tafseer:
This Qur’an surely guides (in all matters) to that which is most just and right and gives the believers who do good, righteous deeds the glad tidings that for them there is a great reward.


tafseer:
And that for those who do not believe in the Hereafter, for them We have prepared a painful punishment.


tafseer:
Yet human (through his actions as well as his words) prays and calls for evil just as he prays and calls for good. Human is prone to be hasty.


tafseer:
Every human being’s fate We have fastened around his neck, and We will bring forth for him on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will see spread open.


tafseer:
And when We finally will to destroy a township (that has deserved destruction), We leave those of its people lost in the pursuit of pleasures to their own devices, and so they transgress all limits therein. In consequence, the word (of punishment) is justified against it, and so We annihilate it, reducing it to nothing.


tafseer:
How many a generation have We (thus) destroyed after Noah! Your Lord suffices as one All-Aware and All-Seeing of the sins of His servants.


tafseer:
Whoever wishes for only the immediate gains (of this transitory life), We readily grant thereof as much as We please to whomever We will. Thereafter We consign him to Hell, wherein he will roast, disgraced and disowned.


tafseer:
But whoever wishes for the Hereafter and strives for it as it should be striven for, being a believer, then for those (who do so) their striving shall be recognized with thanks and reward.


tafseer:
Each do We supply – these ones as well as those ones – out of the free gifts of your Lord (in the world)


tafseer:
Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him alone, and treat parents with the best of kindness. Should one of them, or both, attain old age in your lifetime, do not say &quot


tafseer:
Your Lord best knows what is in your souls (in respect of all matters, including what you think of your parents). If you are righteous (in your thoughts and deeds), then surely He is All-Forgiving to those who turn to Him in humble contrition.


tafseer:
But if you (must) turn away from those (who are in need, because you are yourself in need, and) seeking mercy from your Lord in hopeful expectation, then (at least) speak to them gently and well-meaning.


tafseer:
Do not keep your hand bound to your neck (in niggardliness) nor stretch it without any restraint or else you will be left sitting reproached and denuded.


tafseer:
Surely your Lord God enlarges provision for whom He wills, and straitens it (for whom He wills). Indeed He is fully aware of His servants and sees them well.


tafseer:
Do not kill any soul, which God has made forbidden, except in just cause. If anyone has been killed wrongfully and intentionally, We have given his heir (as defender of his rights) the authority (to claim retaliation or damages or to forgive outright). But let him (the heir) not exceed the legitimate bounds in (retaliatory) killing. Indeed he has been helped (already and sufficiently by the provisions and procedures of the Law).


tafseer:
And do not draw near to the property of the orphan except in the best way (such as to improve and increase it) until he comes of age and is strong


tafseer:
Give full measure when you measure, and weigh with a true, accurate balance. That is what is good and (to do so is) best in the long term.


tafseer:
Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge (whether it is good or bad), and refrain from groundless assertions and conjectures. Surely the hearing, the sight, and the heart – each of these is subject to questioning about it (you are answerable, and will be called to account, for each of these on the Day of Judgment).


tafseer:
All this is (part) of the Wisdom which your Lord has revealed to you (O Messenger). (As the source and basis of all wisdom), do not set up with God another deity, or you will be cast into Hell, blamed and disowned.


tafseer:
Has, then, your Lord distinguished you (O unbelievers) by preferring for you sons, and taken for Himself from among the angels daughters? Most certainly you utter an awful, horrendous saying.


tafseer:
We have set out (the truths) in diverse ways in this Qur’an, so that they may reflect and be mindful, but all this increases them (the unbelievers) only in their aversion (to truth).


tafseer:
The seven heavens and the earth, and whoever is therein, glorify Him. There is nothing that does not glorify Him with His praise (proclaiming that He alone is God, without peer or partner, and all praise belongs to Him exclusively), but you cannot comprehend their glorification. Surely He is (despite what His servants have deserved from Him) All-Clement, All-Forgiving.


tafseer:
When you recite the Qur’an, We place an invisible veil between you and those who do not believe in the Hereafter (and who, by making themselves deaf and blind to the creation’s praise of its Creator, make themselves incapable of such belief).


tafseer:
And over their hearts We lay veils (made from their ill-intention, wrongdoing, and arrogance) that prevent them from grasping it (the Qur’an), and in their ears, heaviness. When you make mention of your Lord in the Qur’an as the One (the Unique Divine Being), they turn their backs in aversion.


tafseer:
We know best what they wish to hear when they listen to you and that, when they are secluded among themselves, these wrongdoers say (to one another): &quot


tafseer:
See what strange comparisons they invent about you. They have altogether strayed and are now unable to find a way (to the truth).


tafseer:
And say to My servants that they should always speak (even when disputing with others) that which is the best. Satan is ever ready to sow discord among them. For Satan indeed is a manifest enemy for humankind.


tafseer:
Your Lord knows you best (and what you deserve). If He so wills, He has mercy on you (which is sheer grace), and if He so wills, He punishes you (which is pure justice). We have not sent you (O Messenger) to be a guardian over them, responsible for them


tafseer:
And your Lord knows best all that are in the heavens and on the earth. Assuredly, We have exalted some of the Prophets above others (some in an absolute sense, and others in some respects)


tafseer:
Those whom they invoke themselves seek a means to approach their Lord, each trying to be nearer to Him, hoping for His mercy and fearing His punishment. The punishment of your Lord is surely to be feared and avoided.


tafseer:
There is not a township but that We will have destroyed it before the Day of Resurrection (as a consequence of its people’s way of life, and in accordance with the laws We have established for the lives of communities), or punished it with a severe punishment (such as dissension, corruption, and foreign invasion): all this is written down in the (eternal) Book.


tafseer:
Nothing stops Us from sending the miracles (they demand as evidence in support of the Messenger’s claim to be appointed by God) except that (many among the) former generations rejected them as false (and were destroyed). We had given the Thamud the she-camel as a visible sign (miracle) but they did wrong in respect of her. We do not send such signs except to warn (and to make them aware of possible destruction).


tafseer:
And (recall) when We said to you (by way of a warning), that your Lord encompasses all humankind (with His Knowledge and Power). We did not make the vision that We showed you (during the Ascension) but as a trial for humankind to mend their ways, and (in the same way We mentioned) in the Qur’an the Accursed Tree (the tree in Hell absolutely outside the sphere of God’s Mercy). And We warn them, exhorting them to be fearful and amend, but it increases them only in great insolence and rebellion.


tafseer:
Your Lord (O humankind) is He Who causes the ships to sail for you through the sea, that you may seek of His bounty. Surely He is ever Compassionate towards you.


tafseer:
When distress afflicts you in the sea, all that you invoke (as powers to help you) fail you save Him only


tafseer:
Do you then feel secure that He will not cause a part of the land to (fall on you and) engulf you, or send a sand-storm upon you? Then you will not find a protecting guardian for yourselves.


tafseer:
Or do you feel secure that He will not send you back (to the sea) another time, and send against you a raging tempest to drown you because you disbelieve in ingratitude? Then you find none to uphold you against Us.


tafseer:
Assuredly We have honored the children of Adam (with many distinctions): We have sustained their traveling on the land and the sea, and provided for them (their sustenance) out of pure, wholesome things, and preferred them above many of those whom We have created with particular preferment.


tafseer:
On the Day when We will call every human community with its leader: whoever (has followed a leader towards true faith and righteousness and accountability in the Hereafter) is given his Record (of his life) in his right hand – those will read their book with contentment and they will not be wronged by even so much as a tiny hair.


tafseer:
Whoever is blind in this (world) (who has followed no guidance towards true faith and righteousness and accountability in the Hereafter), will be blind in the Hereafter, and even further astray from the way (that leads to Divine forgiveness and eternal contentment).


tafseer:
They have indeed sought to tempt you (O Messenger) away from what We have revealed to you so that you may fabricate something else against Us. And then (had you done so), they would have taken you as a trusted friend.


tafseer:
And had We not made you wholly firm (in what We reveal to you), you might just have inclined to them a little bit.


tafseer:
In that case, We would have made you taste double punishment in life and double punishment after death, and you would have found none to help you against Us.


tafseer:
(That has been Our) way with all those whom We sent (as Messengers) before you. You will never find any alteration in Our way.


tafseer:
Establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions, from the declining of the sun to the darkness of the night, and (be ever observant of) the recitation of the Qur’an at dawn (the Dawn Prayer). Surely the recitation of the Qur’an at dawn is witnessed (by the angels and the whole creation awakening to a new day).


tafseer:
And in some part of the night rise from sleep and observe vigil therein (through Prayer and recital of the Qur’an) as additional worship for you


tafseer:
We are sending down the Qur’an in parts – it is a healing and a mercy for the believers, though for the wrongdoers it increases them only in ruin.


tafseer:
When We favor human (an ungrateful one) with comfort and contentment, he draws aside and arrogantly keeps aloof (from any thought of Us), but when evil touches him, he is ever despairing.


tafseer:
(You are not, as the unbelievers allege, the author of the Qur’an. It is only We Who reveal it entirely.) If We willed, We could certainly take away what We have revealed to you (by effacing it from the hearts and memory of you and those who have memorized it, and from any written record of it). Then you would find for yourself no protecting guardian against Us (to help you to claim or recover it) –


tafseer:
But (you are one favored with) a great, special mercy from your Lord. His favor on you is great indeed.


tafseer:
Assuredly We have set out in diverse ways for humankind in this Qur’an all kinds of parables and comparisons (to help them understand the truth), yet most people refuse to accept anything save unbelief.


tafseer:
And what has kept people from believing when guidance has come to them, except that they said: &quot


tafseer:
That will be their recompense because they disbelieved in Our Revelations and signs (manifesting the truth) and said: &quot


tafseer:
Do they never consider that God Who has created the heavens and the earth is able to create them anew in their own likeness? And He has set a term for them about which there is no doubt


tafseer:
We certainly granted to Moses nine clear signs (miracles). So ask the Children of Israel (what happened despite these miracles): when he came to them (and asked the Pharaoh to let the Children of Israel leave Egypt with him, and even after he showed to them these miracles), the Pharaoh said to him: &quot


tafseer:
Then the Pharaoh intended to terrify them from the land (of Egypt) and destroy them, but We caused him and all who were with him to drown.


tafseer:
It is with the truth that We have sent it down (this Qur’an, embodying the truth and for ever invulnerable to falsehood), and it is with the truth that it has come down. We have not sent you but as a bearer of glad tidings (of prosperity in return for faith and righteousness) and a warner (against the evil consequences of misguidance).


tafseer:
And (it is) a Qur’an that We set forth in parts with clarity so that you may recite and convey it to people with deliberation (in order that they can absorb it), and We send it down in successive Revelations (each perfectly suited to its occasion and its wider purpose).


tafseer:
All praise and gratitude are for God, Who has sent down on His servant the Book and has put no crookedness in it (so that it is free from contradiction and inconsistency, and anything offensive to truth and righteousness).


tafseer:
(He has made it) unerringly straight, to warn of a stern punishment from Him and give the believers who do good, righteous deeds the glad tidings that for them is an excellent reward (Paradise),


tafseer:
Of that they have no knowledge (on which to base such an assertion), nor did their forefathers. Dreadful as a word is (that assertion) coming out of their mouths. Indeed they speak nothing but falsehood.


tafseer:
Yet it may be that you (O Muhammad) will torment yourself to death with grief, following after them, if they do not believe in this Message.


tafseer:
We have surely made whatever is on the earth as an ornament for it (appealing to humanity), so that We may try them (by demonstrating it to themselves) which of them is best in conduct.


tafseer:
Yet We surely reduce whatever is on it to a barren dust-heap, (and will do so when the term of trial ends).


tafseer:
Or do you reckon the People of the Cave and the Inscription as something strange among Our signs (manifesting the truth, and too extraordinary to believe)?


tafseer:
Then We drew a veil over their ears (causing them to go into a deep sleep) in the cave for a number of years.


tafseer:
Then We raised them up, (and dividing into two groups, they discussed how long they had remained in that state). We willed to make known which of the two groups were (more consciousness of time with the events in it, and therefore) better in computing for what period they had remained (in this state).


tafseer:
It is We who relate to you their exemplary story with truth. They were young men who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance (so they adhered to the truth more faithfully).


tafseer:
And We strengthened their hearts, (and a time came) when they rose up (against association of partners with God and other injustices in the society), and they proclaimed: &quot


tafseer:
(Events developed to the point that they had to leave their society. They discussed what they should do and concluded:) &quot


tafseer:
(They entered the Cave and fell into a deep sleep.) You would have seen the sun, when it rose, moving away from their Cave to the right, and when it set, turning away from them to the left, while they lay in a spacious hollow in the Cave. That was one of God’s signs. Whoever God guides, he alone is rightly guided


tafseer:
You would have thought them awake though they were asleep. We caused them to turn over to the right and the left, and their dog lay outstretching its two forelegs on the threshold. Had you come upon them unprepared, you would certainly have turned away from them in flight, and would certainly have been filled with awe of them.


tafseer:
Such being their state, We raised them up so they began to ask one another. One who spoke said: &quot


tafseer:
And in this way We disclosed them to the people so that they might know that the promise of God is true, and that there can be no doubt about (the coming of) the Last Hour. When they (the people) disputed about their affair, they said: &quot


tafseer:
(Instead of reflecting on the lesson to be learnt from the People of the Cave, people concentrate their interest on the details of the event.) Some will say they were three, the dog being the fourth among them


tafseer:
Recite (and teach) that which has been revealed to you from the Book of your Lord. There is none who can change His words (whatever the unbelievers may say or desire), and you will never find, apart from Him, any refuge.


tafseer:
And keep yourself patient, along with those who invoke their Lord morning and evening, seeking His &quot


tafseer:
Surely, for those who believe and do good, righteous deeds – We do not leave to waste the reward of any who do good deeds, aware that God is seeing them.


tafseer:
Set forth to them the parable of two men: for one of them We had made two vineyards and surrounded both with date-palms, and placed between them a field of grain.


tafseer:
Each of the two vineyards yielded its produce, without failing in anything. We had also caused a stream to gush forth between the two.


tafseer:
So the man had fruit (in abundance), and one day he said to his companion, while he was conversing with him: &quot


tafseer:
And (as it happened) his produce was encompassed by ruin, and he set to wringing his hands with grief over all that he had spent on it, when it was now all ruined on its trellises, and he was saying: &quot


tafseer:
And he had, apart from God, none, no troop of men, to help Him, nor could he be of any help to himself.


tafseer:
For thus it is: all power to protect belongs to God, the True. He is the best for reward, and the best for the outcome.


tafseer:
And strike to them a parable of the present, worldly life: (it is) like water that We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it (flourishing abundantly). Then it turns into dry stubble which the winds scatter about. God is absolutely able to do all things.


tafseer:
Wealth and children are an adornment of the present, worldly life, but the good, righteous deeds (based on faith and) which endure are better in the sight of your Lord in bringing reward and better to aspire for.


tafseer:
(Bear in mind) the Day when We set the mountains in motion, and you see the earth denuded, and We raise to life and gather them together (all those who are content with themselves, deluded by the charms of the world), leaving out none of them.


tafseer:
They are arrayed before your Lord (Whom they disregarded in the world), all lined up (without discrimination of wealth or status as in the world, and they are told): &quot


tafseer:
I did not make them (Iblis and his offspring) witnesses to the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor of the creation of their own selves, nor did I (being absolutely beyond need) ever take as helpers those that lead (humankind) astray.


tafseer:
And the disbelieving criminals will see the Fire and know certainly that they are bound to fall into it, and they will find no way of escape from it.


tafseer:
Assuredly We have set out in diverse ways for humankind in this Qur’an all kinds of parables and comparisons (to help them understand the truth)


tafseer:
What is there to keep people from believing when guidance has come to them, and from imploring their Lord for forgiveness – unless it be that they follow the way of the (sinful) people of olden times (as if wishing for their fate to come upon them) or the punishment (which they did not believe in but asked their Prophet, in derision, to bring down upon them) come and confront them? (Then indeed they would have no opportunity to implore forgiveness and hope for relief.)


tafseer:
We send the Messengers (not as bearers of punishment) but as bearers of glad tidings (of prosperity in return for faith and righteousness) and warners (against the evil consequences of misguidance). Whereas those who disbelieve contend on the basis of falsehood in order to refute the truth thereby


tafseer:
Who is greater in doing wrong than he who has been reminded of his Lord’s Revelations and signs, yet turns away from them and forgets all that his hands have forwarded (to the reckoning in the future life). Surely over their hearts We have laid veils (made up of their ill-intention, wrongdoing, and arrogance, which caused them to lose the ability to believe,) so that they do not grasp (the Qur’an with faith and understanding), and in their ears a heaviness (so they do not hear the Qur’an). And if you call them to guidance, they will never even then accept guidance.


tafseer:
Your Lord is the All-Forgiving, having infinite Mercy. If He were to take them immediately to task for what they have earned, surely He would hasten on the punishment for them


tafseer:
And (that was the case with) all those townships that We destroyed when they were given to wrong. We had surely appointed a time fixed for their destruction.


tafseer:
(Now relate to them, O Messenger, the experience of Moses): When Moses said to his (young) attendant: &quot


tafseer:
When they reached the junction of the two (seas), they forgot their fish, and it took its way amazingly through the sea as in an underground channel.


tafseer:
And they found (there) one of Our servants to whom We had granted a mercy as a grace from Us and taught a special knowledge from Our Presence.


tafseer:
So they set forth until, when they embarked on the boat, he (al-Khadr) made a hole in it. He (Moses) said: &quot


tafseer:
So they went on until when they came upon the people of a township, they asked its people for food, but they refused them hospitality. They found there a wall which was on the verge of tumbling down, and he (al-Khadr) restored it. (Moses) said: &quot


tafseer:
We surely established him with power in the land, and for everything (that he rightly purposed) We granted him a way (the just means appropriate to just ends).


tafseer:
Until, when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he saw it setting in a spring of hot and black muddy water, and nearby he found a people. We said: &quot


tafseer:
Until, when he reached the rising-place of the sun and found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no shelter against it.


tafseer:
So it was (such was their state and the extent of Dhu’l-Qarnayn’s power). We assuredly encompassed all concerning him in Our Knowledge.


tafseer:
Until, when he reached (a place) between two mountain-barriers, he found before them a people who scarcely understood a word.


tafseer:
And they (Gog and Magog) were no longer able to surmount, nor were they able to dig their way through (the barrier).


tafseer:
Those whose eyes are veiled from My Book and any remembrance of Me, and who cannot bear to hear (them).


tafseer:
Do they who disbelieve reckon that they can (rightly and justifiably) take any of My servants as guardians (to own and protect them) besides Me? Assuredly, We have prepared Hell to welcome the unbelievers.


tafseer:
They are those who disbelieve in the signs and Revelations of their Lord, and in the meeting with Him. Hence, their deeds have come to nothing, and on the Day of Resurrection We will not accord to them any weight.


tafseer:
That will be their recompense – Hell – because they have disbelieved and taken My signs and Revelations and My Messengers in mockery.


tafseer:
Surely for those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, their welcome is Gardens of the highest level of Paradise.


tafseer:
So he (Zachariah) came out to his people from the sanctuary (where he had been praying in the Temple), and signified to them: &quot


tafseer:
So peace be upon him on the day he was born and the day of his death, and the day when he will be raised to life.


tafseer:
And make mention, in the Book, of Mary. She withdrew from her family to a chamber (in the Temple) facing east (to devote herself to worship and reflection).


tafseer:
Thus she kept herself in seclusion from people. Then We sent to her Our spirit, and it appeared before her in the form of a perfect man.


tafseer:
Such was Jesus, the son of Mary: in the words of the truth about which they (the Jews and Christians) have been doubting (and disputing amongst themselves and with each other).


tafseer:
It is not for God to take to Himself a child. All-Glorified is He (in that He is absolutely above doing such things). When He decrees a thing, He does but say to it &quot


tafseer:
And yet, the parties (the Jews and Christians) have differed among themselves (about him). Woe, then, to those who disbelieve because of the meeting of an awesome Day.


tafseer:
How well they will hear and how well they will see on the Day when they come before Us (the truth that they hide or push away will be clear to them)! But today (it will be of no avail to) the wrongdoers, (and they) will be in obvious loss.


tafseer:
So warn people of the coming of the Day of anguish and regrets, when everything will have been decided, for (even now) they are in heedlessness, and they do not believe.


tafseer:
After he had withdrawn from them and from all that they were worshipping other than God, We bestowed upon him Isaac and Jacob


tafseer:
We bestowed upon them (many other gifts) out of Our Mercy, and granted them a most true and lofty renown.


tafseer:
And mention Moses in the Book. He was one chosen, endowed with perfect sincerity in faith and practicing the Religion, and was a Messenger, a Prophet.


tafseer:
Also make mention of Ishmael in the Book. He was one always true to his promise, and was a Messenger, a Prophet.


tafseer:
He used to enjoin on his people the Prayer and the Prescribed Purifying Alms, and he was one favored and pleasing in his Lord’s sight.


tafseer:
Those are some of the Prophets – upon whom God bestowed His blessings (of Scripture, Prophethood, good judgment, and wisdom) – from among the descendants of Adam and of those whom We carried (in the Ark) with Noah, and from among the descendants of Abraham and Israel (Jacob), and those whom We guided and chose. When the All-Merciful’s Revelations were recited to them, they would fall down, prostrating and weeping.


tafseer:
Then, there succeeded them generations who neglected and wasted the Prayer and followed (their) lusts, (abandoning the service of God’s cause). They will meet perdition (as their just deserts).


tafseer:
Except those who repent and come to belief and do good, righteous deeds. Such will enter Paradise and will not be wronged in anything.


tafseer:
Gardens of perpetual bliss which the All-Merciful has promised to His servants while unseen (beyond the perception and knowledge of the servants). His promise is ever sure of fulfillment.


tafseer:
They will hear therein no idle talk, but only peace (contentment and safety). And they will have their provision therein morning and evening.


tafseer:
That is the Paradise which We will cause those of Our servants who are God-revering, pious to inherit (as theirs forever).


tafseer:
(In response to an interval in the coming of Revelation, Gabriel explained:) We do not descend but by your Lord’s command only. To Him belongs whatever is before us and whatever is behind us and whatever is between (all time and space and whatever we do at all times in all places). And your Lord is never forgetful (so do not fear that He forgets you).


tafseer:
And so, by your Lord, We will most certainly raise to life and gather them all together, as well as the satans (of humankind and jinn whom they used to follow), before Us, and then We will most certainly heap them up on their knees in groups around Hell.


tafseer:
Then We will certainly pluck out from every group of the same belief the ones who were most obstinate in rebellion against the All-Merciful.


tafseer:
Indeed, We know best who deserves most (and before all others) to be thrown into Hell to roast therein.


tafseer:
There is no one among you, (O humankind,) who will not come to it. This is a fixed decree which your Lord has bound Himself to fulfill.


tafseer:
Then We will save those who keep from disobedience to Him in reverence for Him and piety, and We will leave in it the wrongdoers (who associate partners with God or deny Him), humbled on their knees.


tafseer:
When Our Revelations, clear as evidence and in meaning are recited (and conveyed) to them, those who persistently disbelieve say to those who believe: &quot


tafseer:
And yet, how many a generation have We destroyed before them who were superior in respect of possessions and outward show!


tafseer:
God strengthens in guidance those who have sought and found guidance. The righteous, good deeds of lasting merit are best in your Lord’s sight for reward, and best for returns.


tafseer:
Has he gained knowledge of the Unseen, or has he made a (particular, private) covenant with the All-Merciful?


tafseer:
No indeed! But We will record what he says and saddle him (with its consequence) as an ever increasing punishment.


tafseer:
And We will inherit of him what he says, and he will come to us quite alone (bereft of wealth and children).


tafseer:
No indeed! Those (whom they deified – beings such as angels, jinn, Prophets, saints, and heroes, etc.) will deny their worship of them and turn against them as adversaries (on Judgment Day).


tafseer:
Do you not see that We send the satans upon the unbelievers (because of their unbelief), and they impel them (towards sin and every kind of evil) with strong impulsion?


tafseer:
So be in no haste against them (so that their days and their persecutions of you might end sooner), for We but number for them a certain (fixed) number (of days, the time allotted for their respite).


tafseer:
A Day (will come) when We will gather the God-revering, pious ones as honored guests of the All-Merciful (in Paradise)


tafseer:
(Those who have taken deities so that they may intercede with God on their behalf should know that) none will have a right of intercession except such as have a covenant with the All-Merciful (by virtue of the quality of their faith and worship, and their nearness to Him).


tafseer:
Most certainly He knows and registers them, and has numbered them exactly, (having appointed for every being a particular service or duty, and determined for each a life-span and provision)


tafseer:
And every one of them will appear before Him on the Day of Resurrection, quite alone (bereft of all worldly things, children and family, friends and helpers).


tafseer:
Assuredly, those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, the All-Merciful will assign for them love (in the hearts of the inhabitants of the heaven and many on the earth, so that they will receive welcome throughout creation, no matter if they are weak and small in number now).


tafseer:
We make it (this Qur’an) in your tongue and easy (to recite and understand) so that you may thereby give glad tidings to the God-revering, pious ones, and warn thereby a people given to contention.


tafseer:
And how many a generation We have destroyed before them! Can you feel (the existence) of a single one of them, or hear any whisper of them?


tafseer:
We do not send down the Qur’an on you so that you suffer distress (in your duty of conveying it to people)


tafseer:
But only as a reminder for him who holds some awe of God in his heart (and so has the potential to achieve faith).


tafseer:
To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and whatever is between them, and whatever is under the soil.


tafseer:
If you say something aloud (or keep it to yourself), He surely knows the secret as well as (whatever you may be keeping as) the more hidden.


tafseer:
(He was traveling with his family in the desert) when he saw a fire, and so said to his family: &quot


tafseer:
‘Place the child in a chest and cast it into the river, then the river will throw it up on the bank: one who is both My enemy and his enemy (the Pharaoh, who has decided to kill all the new-born sons of the Children of Israel) will take him up.’ I cast over you (Moses) love from Me (protecting you, so love for you was aroused in the hearts of people who saw you), and so that you were brought up under My eyes.


tafseer:
‘It has surely been revealed to us that (only) punishment is upon him who denies and turns away (from God’s call).’ &quot


tafseer:
He Who has made the earth a cradle for you and traced out roads on it for you, and sends down water from the sky, and produces with it pairs of various plants.


tafseer:
Eat thereof, and feed your cattle. Surely, in all this are signs (manifesting the truth) for people of sound, unbiased thinking.


tafseer:
From it (earth) We create you, and into it are We returning you, and out of it will We bring you forth a second time.


tafseer:
We certainly showed the Pharaoh Our signs, all of them (including those We granted particularly to Moses), but he contradicted them and refused (to believe).


tafseer:
The Pharaoh then left, and he (set out to) mobilize all his devices, then presented himself (at the appointed meeting).


tafseer:
(Moses’ warning having influenced some among the sorcerers and the Pharaoh’s men,) they began to debate their affair among themselves, holding a secret counsel.


tafseer:
Then Moses felt in his soul a bit apprehensive (that people may have been influenced by their sorcery).


tafseer:
Whoever comes before his Lord as a disbelieving criminal, for him surely there will be Hell: he will neither die therein nor live.


tafseer:
Whereas he who comes before Him as a believer who did good, righteous deeds, for such are high ranks and lofty stations –


tafseer:
Gardens of perpetual bliss through which rivers flow, therein to abide. Such is the recompense of whoever attains to purity.


tafseer:
Then the Pharaoh pursued them with his armed hosts, and they were overwhelmed by the sea to their complete destruction.


tafseer:
(We said:) Eat of the pure, wholesome things that We have provided for you but do not exceed the bounds therein (by wastefulness, ingratitude, unlawful earnings, and the like). Otherwise My condemnation will justly fall upon you, and upon whoever My wrath falls, he has indeed thrown himself into ruin.


tafseer:
Yet I am surely All-Forgiving to whoever repents and believes and does good, righteous deeds, and thereafter keeps himself on the right path.


tafseer:
(When Moses came to Our appointment with him in Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, We asked him:) &quot


tafseer:
And then he brought out for them a calf shaping to it (from the molten ornaments) a body (which made a sound like) mooing. Then they said (some of them to others): &quot


tafseer:
Did they not see at all that (even) it could not return to them a word (for answer), and had no power to harm or benefit them?


tafseer:
(O my people!) Your only deity is God, other than Whom there is no deity. He encompasses all things in His Knowledge.&quot


tafseer:
Thus do We relate to you (O Messenger) some of the exemplary events which happened in the past. Indeed We have granted you a Reminder (a Book of knowledge and instructions) from Our Presence.


tafseer:
That Day the Trumpet will be blown, and We will raise to life and gather the disbelieving criminals white-eyed (with terror and fatigue)


tafseer:
It is We Who have full knowledge of what they talk about, when the most perceptive among them say, &quot


tafseer:
On that Day, all will follow the summoning Voice straightforwardly without any deviation, and all voices will be humbled for the All-Merciful, and you will hear nothing but a hushed murmur.


tafseer:
On that Day, intercession is not of any avail except his, to whom the All-Merciful gives permission and with whose words He is well-pleased.


tafseer:
He knows what lies before His servants (especially on Judgment Day) and whatever (of intentions, or speech, or actions) they have left behind, whereas they cannot comprehend Him with their knowledge.


tafseer:
And (on that Day) all faces are humbled before the All-Living, the Self-Subsisting One (by Whom all else subsist). And assuredly he has failed whose load is wrongdoing.


tafseer:
Whereas whoever does good, righteous deeds, being a believer, need have no fear of being wronged or deprived (of his just recompense).


tafseer:
And thus have We sent it down as a qur’an (a discourse) in Arabic and set out in it warnings in diverse contexts and from diverse perspectives, so that they may keep from disobedience to Us in reverence for Us and piety, or that it may prompt them to remembrance and heedfulness.


tafseer:
Absolutely exalted is God, the Supreme Sovereign, the Absolute Truth and Ever-Constant. Do not show haste (O Messenger) with (the receiving and memorizing of any Revelation included in) the Qur’an before it has been revealed to you in full, but say: &quot


tafseer:
Assuredly We had made a covenant with Adam (and forbidden him to approach a tree in the Garden), but he acted forgetfully. We did not find resolve in him (at that moment).


tafseer:
They both ate of it, so their shameful parts (and all the seemingly evil impulses in their creation) were apparent to them, and both began to cover themselves with leaves from the Garden. Adam disobeyed his Lord and fell into error.


tafseer:
Thereafter his Lord chose him (for His favor), accepted His repentance, and bestowed His guidance upon him.


tafseer:
Thus do We recompense him who is wasteful (of his God-given faculties) and commits excesses, and does not believe in his Lord’s Revelations. And indeed, the punishment in the Hereafter is more severe and most enduring.


tafseer:
Is it not a guidance for them how many a generation We have destroyed before them, in whose ruined dwelling-places they walk about (in the present)? Surely in that there are signs (manifesting the truth) for people of discernment.


tafseer:
Had it not been for a decree already issued by your Lord, and for a term already appointed (by Him), the judgment (against them) would certainly have been given and executed.


tafseer:
Therefore, be patient (O Messenger) with whatever they say and glorify your Lord with praise before sunrise and before sunset, and glorify Him during some hours of the night – as well as glorifying (Him) at the ends of the day – so that you may obtain God’s good pleasure and be contented (with what God has decreed for you).


tafseer:
Do not strain your eyes toward what We have given some groups among them to enjoy (in this worldly life), the splendor of the present, worldly life, so that We may test them thereby. The provision of Your Lord (the favors He has bestowed upon you here and hereafter) is better and more lasting.


tafseer:
Order your family and community to establish the Prayer, and be diligent in its observance. We do not ask you to provide for Us


tafseer:
Had We destroyed them with a punishment before it (before the Evidence came to them), they would surely have said: &quot


tafseer:
Their reckoning has drawn near for humankind, yet they do not pay heed to it, being lost in worldly things and heedlessness.


tafseer:
Whenever a new Revelation comes to them from their Lord to warn and enlighten them, they only listen to it in a playful manner,


tafseer:
Not one of the peoples before them that We destroyed believed (even though the Messengers came to them with miracles). Will then these believe?


tafseer:
We did not send as Messengers before you (O Muhammad), any but men to whom We revealed. So (O people) ask those who have special knowledge (of the Divine Revelations), if you do not know.


tafseer:
Nor did We make them bodies not needing food so that they would not eat like others, nor were they immortals.


tafseer:
We promised them help and victory and We kept Our promise: We saved them and all whom We willed (and bound Ourselves to save – the believers), and We destroyed those who wasted their God-given faculties and committed excesses.


tafseer:
Now We send down to you (O people of Makkah and O all humankind,) a Book which contains what you must heed in life for your honor and happiness. Will you not, then, use your reason?


tafseer:
How many a community that did the greatest wrong (by associating partners with God) and thereby wronged itself have We shattered, and raised up another people after them.


tafseer:
We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them as a play and game for Us.


tafseer:
If We had willed to find a pastime (without creating the heavens and the earth with all that is in and between them), We would indeed have found it in Our Presence, if We were going to do so!


tafseer:
No, but We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it breaks the latter’s head, and see, it vanishes. So woe to you for all the falsehood you attribute to God.


tafseer:
To Him belongs whoever is in the heavens and the earth. And those (the angels) who are with Him, never disdain to worship Him, nor do they ever weary.


tafseer:
They glorify Him by night and day (proclaiming that He is absolutely exalted above any shortcoming or need of partners or doing pointless things), and never show tiredness and never lose zeal.


tafseer:
What, have those polytheists (given up hope of heaven and) adopted deities from the earth, (do they believe) that they (those deities) can raise up the dead?


tafseer:
But the fact is that had there been in the heavens and the earth any deities other than God, both (of those realms) would certainly have fallen into ruin. All-Glorified God is, the Lord of the Supreme Throne, in that He is absolutely above all that they attribute to Him.


tafseer:
He cannot be called to account for whatever He does, but their false deities (they have adopted from among conscious beings) are accountable.


tafseer:
We never sent any Messenger before you except that We revealed to him that there is no deity but Me, so worship Me alone.


tafseer:
He knows what lies before them and what lies after them (what lies in their future and in their past, what is known to them and what is hidden from them)


tafseer:
Do those who disbelieve ever consider that the heavens and the earth were at first one piece, and then We parted them as separate entities


tafseer:
We have set up firm mountains on the earth lest it should shake them with its movement, and We have made thereon broad paths, so that they might find their way.


tafseer:
And We have established the heaven as a canopy well-secured (against collapse and the ascension of devils). Yet they turn away from all such signs (of truth manifested) in the universe.


tafseer:
It is He Who has created the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Every one (of such celestial bodies) floats in its orbit.


tafseer:
Every soul (person) is bound to taste death, and We try you through the bad and the good things (of life) by way of testing (so that your real character and rank may reveal itself). In fact, you are on the way to return to Us, (to finally be brought to Our Presence).


tafseer:
When those who persistently disbelieve see you, they make you but a target of mockery, (saying to each other): &quot


tafseer:
Humankind are by nature impatient as if made of haste, (this is why they ask derisively when the punishment with which they are threatened will come.) I will soon show you the truth of My threats, so do not ask Me to hasten it.


tafseer:
If only those who persistently disbelieve knew the time when they will be unable to ward off the Fire from their faces, and from their backs, and they will never be helped against it!


tafseer:
But it will come upon them all of a sudden and dumbfound them. They will not be able to avert it, nor will they be given respite to escape it.


tafseer:
Indeed, Messengers were mocked before you (O Muhammad), but the very thing, because of which the people used to mock them, overwhelmed those who scoffed at the Messengers (to humiliate them).


tafseer:
Or do they really have deities apart from Us to defend them? They (those alleged deities) are not even able to help themselves, nor can they get any help and friendship from Us.


tafseer:
The truth is that We have provided for those (polytheist sinners) and their forefathers to enjoy life, so that they have lived for a long time in ease and safety. (This is why they think that they will live forever in prosperity.) Whereas do they not see how We deal with the earth, reducing it of its outlying parts? So, can they really be the victors?


tafseer:
We will set up balances of absolute justice on the Day of Resurrection, and no person will be wronged in the least. Even though it be a deed so much as the weight of a grain of mustard seed, We will bring it forth to be weighed. We suffice as reckoners.


tafseer:
We granted Moses and Aaron the Criterion (the Book distinguishing between truth and falsehood,) and made it a (guiding) light and reminder for the God-revering, pious.


tafseer:
They stand in great awe of their Lord though unseen (and beyond their perception), and tremble with the thought of the Last Hour.


tafseer:
And this one (the Qur’an), too, is a Reminder full of blessings which We are sending down. Will you then reject it?


tafseer:
Indeed We had, before this, granted Abraham discretion and his particular consciousness of truth, and We knew him very well (in all aspects of his character).


tafseer:
And then he broke all of them to pieces except the one biggest in their sight, so that they might be able turn back to it (to ask what had happened)!


tafseer:
But afterwards, (under the influence of the same factors causing them to disbelieve) they relapsed into their former way of believing, and said to Abraham: &quot


tafseer:
We saved him and Lot (who believed in him), guiding them to the land (of Damascus, including Palestine) in which We have produced many blessings for all peoples.


tafseer:
And We made them leaders guiding people by Our command, and We revealed to them to do good deeds, and to establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions, and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms. They were Our servants devoted to worshipping us with all sincerity.


tafseer:
And Lot too (We made a leader), to whom We granted sound, wise judgment, and revealed knowledge, and We saved him from the people of the land who were given to deeds of corruption. Truly, they were a wicked people lost in transgression.


tafseer:
And Noah, too. He had called out to Us long before (Abraham), and We answered his prayer and saved him and (those of) his family and people (who believed in him) from the tremendous distress.


tafseer:
We helped him to safety from the people who denied Our Revelations. Truly, they were a wicked people, so We caused them all to drown.


tafseer:
(Among those whom We made leaders were) David and Solomon. The two were once judging a case regarding a field into which the sheep of some other people had strayed at night. We were watching and witnessing their judgment.


