Ан-Нахль

When the idolaters found chastisement slow in coming, the following was revealed: God’s commandment has come, that is, the Hour [has come] ([this verb] atā is in the past tense because it means that [the event therein described] will come to pass) in other words, it [God’s commandment] is close at hand, so do not seek to hasten it, do not demand it before its [due] time, for it will come to pass without doubt. Glory be to Him — an affirmation of His transcendence — and exalted be He above what they associate, with Him, in the way of others.

He sends down the angels, namely, Gabriel, with the Spirit, with the Revelation, of His command, by His will, to whomever He will of His servants, and these are the prophets, [saying] that (an is explicative): Warn, threaten the disbelievers with chastisement and make them aware, that there is no God save Me: so fear Me, fear Me.

He created the heavens and the earth with the Truth, that is, with the purpose of [manifesting] truth. Exalted be He above what they associate, with Him in the way of idols.

He created man from a drop of fluid, of sperm, until He makes him strong and tough, yet behold! he is disputatious, extremely quarrelsome, openly, making this [disputatiousness] clear in his rejection of resurrection, contending: Who shall revive the bones when they are decayed? [Q. 36:78].

And the cattle, camels, cows and sheep (al-an‘āma, ‘cattle’, is in the accusative because of the implied verb [governing it], as explained by [the following words, khalaqahā lakum]), He created them for you, [you being] included among the number of mankind. In them there is warmth, that by which you keep warm in the way of clothes and garments, [taken] from their hairs and wools, as well as [other] uses, such as [their] offspring, milk and for you to ride, and of them you eat (the adverbial clause [wa-minhā, ‘of them’] precedes [the verb] for the purpose of [establishing harmony with] the end-rhyme [of the Qur’ānic verse]);

and for you there is in them beauty, adornment, when you bring them [home] to rest, [when you] return them to their resting places in the evening, and when you drive them forth to pasture, when you bring them out to the grazing pastures in the morning.

And they bear your burdens, your baggage, to a land which you could not reach, without being on camel-back, save with great trouble to yourselves, [save by] straining them. Indeed your Lord is Gentle, Merciful, to you, in having created these for you.

And, He created, horses and mules and asses, that you may ride them, and for adornment (wa-zīnatan is an object denoting reason; the use of both of these reasons [‘to ride’ and ‘for adornment’] as illustrations of [God’s] graces does not preclude that they may have been created for other purposes, such as for consumption in the case of horses — which is established [as lawful] by a hadīth in both Sahīhs [of Bukhārī and Muslim]); and He creates what you do not know, of marvelous and strange things.

And God’s is the direction of the way, that is, to point out the straight path, and some of them, that is, the paths, are deviant, swerving away from straightness. And had He willed, to guide you, He would have guided you, to seek the way, all, so that you would be [rightly] guided of your own choice.

He it is Who sends down water from the heaven, whence you have drink, for you to drink, and whence are trees, which grow because of this [water], whereat you let your animals graze.

With it He makes the crops grow for you, and olives and date-palms and vines and all kinds of fruit. Surely in that, which is mentioned, there is a sign, indicating His Oneness, exalted He be, for people who reflect, upon His handiwork and therefore believe.

And He disposed for you the night and the day and the sun (wa’l-shamsa, read in the accusative as a supplement to what precedes it; or read wa’l-shamsu in the nominative as a subject [of a new sentence]) and the moon and the stars (also read both ways) are disposed (musakhkharātin, read in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier, or in the nominative [musakhkharātun] as a predicate) by His command, by His will. Surely in that there are signs for people who understand, [a people] who reflect.

And, He has disposed for you, whatever He has created for you in the earth, of animals, plants and otherwise, diverse in hue, such as red, yellow, green and otherwise. Surely in that there is a sign for people who remember, [a people who] are admonished.

And He it is Who disposed the sea, [He it is Who] subdued it, that it might be sailed upon and dived in, that you may eat from it fresh meat, that is, fish, and bring forth from it ornaments which you wear, namely, pearls and coral. And you see, observe, the ships ploughing therein, ploughing through the water, that is, cleaving it as they sail upon it, coming and going with the same wind; and that you may seek (wa-li-tabtaghū is a supplement to li-ta’kulū, ‘that you may eat’) of His bounty, exalted He be, by way of commerce, and that you might be thankful, to God for [all] that.

And He cast into the earth firm mountains, lest it should shake, move, with you, and, He made therein, rivers, such as the Nile, and ways, roads, so that you might be guided, to your destinations,

— and landmarks [as well], by which you might find the roads, [landmarks] such as mountains, during the day, and by the star, meaning, by the stars, they are guided, to the roads and to the direction of prayer (qibla) by night.

Is He then Who creates — namely, God — as he who does not create, namely, idols, so that you associate them with Him in worship? No. Will you not then remember, this, and so become believers?

And if you were to count God’s grace you could never reckon it, number it precisely, let alone be able to give thanks for it. Indeed God is Forgiving, Merciful, since He bestows graces upon you despite your shortcomings and your [acts of] disobedience.

And God knows what you keep secret and what you disclose.

And those whom you invoke (tad‘ūna, or read yad‘una ‘they invoke’) besides God, namely, the idols, do not create anything, but are themselves created, fashioned from stones and other [materials].

They are dead, possessing no life (amwātun, ‘dead’, is a second predicate), not living (an emphasis), and they, the idols, are not aware when, is the time [in which], they shall be raised, that is, creatures: so how can they be worshipped? For, only the Creator, the Living, the Knower of the Unseen can be a God.

Your God, the One deserving of your worship, is One God, without [any] equal in [terms of] His essence or His attributes, and this is God, exalted He be. But as for those who do not believe in the Hereafter their hearts are in denial, rejecting the Oneness [of God], and they are arrogant, scorning to believe in it.

Without doubt, verily, God knows what they keep secret and what they disclose, and will requite them for it. Indeed He does not love the arrogant, meaning, He will punish them.

The following was revealed regarding al-Nadr b. al-Hārith: And when it is said to them, ‘What is it (mā is an interrogative particle; dhā is a relative particle) that your Lord has revealed?’, to Muhammad (s), they say, [that] these [revelations] are, ‘fables, lies, of the ancients’, in order to lead people astray.

That they may bear, at the conclusion of the matter, their burdens, their sins, complete, none of them expunged, on the Day of Resurrection and also, [bear] some, of the burdens of those whom they lead astray without any knowledge, because they summoned them to error and they [the latter] followed them, and thus both share in the sin. How evil, awful, is the burden they bear, this load [of sins] of theirs which they carry.

Those before them had indeed plotted, [those] such as Nimrod — he built a lofty tower that he might ascend through it to the heavens and wage war against its inhabitants; then God came at, He aimed at, their edifice from the foundations, from the base, unleashing against it winds and earthquake, which demolished it; and so the roof collapsed upon them from above them, that is, while they were beneath it, and the chastisement came upon them whence they were not aware, from a direction which would not have occurred to them: [alternatively] it is said that this [description] is a simile for [demonstrating] the thwarting of that which they had settled on in the way of plots against [God’s] messengers.

Then on the Day of Resurrection He will disgrace them, humiliate them, and He, God, will say, to them by the tongues of the angels, in rebuke: ‘Where are those associates of Mine, as you [were wont to] claim, concerning whom, for whose sake, you used to make breaches?’, you used to opposed the believers. Those who were given knowledge, from among the prophets and believers, will say, ‘Truly disgrace on this day, as well as misfortune, are for the disbelievers — they say this rejoicing at their [the disbelievers’] misfortune —

those whom the angels take [in death] (read [feminine person] tatawaffāhum or [masculine] yatawaffāhum) while they are wronging themselves’, through disbelief. Then they will offer submission, becoming compliant and submitting themselves [to belief in God] upon death, saying: ‘We were not doing any evil’, [any] associating others with God, whereat the angels say: ‘Nay! Surely God is Knower of what you used to do’, and will requite you for it.

And it will also be said to them: So enter the gates of Hell, to abide therein! Evil indeed is the lodging, the abode, of the arrogant.

And it is said to those who fear, idolatry, ‘What has your Lord revealed?’ They will say, ‘Good! For those who were virtuous, by [embracing] faith, in this world, there will be a virtuous [reward], namely, a goodly life; and truly the abode of the Hereafter, that is, Paradise, is better, than the world and all that is in it. God says [the following] regarding it: And truly excellent is the abode of the God-fearing, it [the Hereafter] is.

Gardens of Eden, as a [place of] residence (jannātu ‘Adnin is a subject, the predicate of which is [what follows]) which they will enter, [Gardens] underneath which rivers flow, wherein they shall have whatever they wish. So, [with such] a reward, God rewards the God-fearing,

those whom (alladhīna is a description) the angels take away [in death] while they are goodly, pure of any unbelief, saying, to them upon death: ‘Peace be on you!, and it is said to them in the Hereafter: Enter Paradise because of what you used to do’.

Do they, the disbelievers, await anything but that the angels should come to them (read [feminine person] ta’tīhim or [masculine] ya’tīhim) to seize their spirits, or that there should come your Lord’s command?, chastisement, or the resurrection that entails it. So, just as these have done, did those before them, from among the [former] communities: they denied their messengers and were therefore destroyed. And God did not wrong them, destroying them for no sin, but they used to wrong themselves, through disbelief.

So that the evils of what they did smote them, that is, the requital of these [evil things smote them], and there besieged, it was sent down [against], them that which they used to mock, namely, the chastisement.

And the idolaters, from among the Meccans, say, ‘Had God willed we would not have worshipped anything besides Him — neither we, nor our fathers — nor would we have deemed anything sacred besides Him’, in the way of those [camels] called bahīras and sā’iba. In other words, our idolatry and our deeming [these animals] sacred are [effected] by His will; therefore He must be satisfied with this. God, exalted He be, says: So did those before them, that is, they denied their messengers regarding that which they [the messengers] brought them. Yet are messengers charged with anything save plain conveyance [of the Message]? It is not their duty to guide.

And verily We sent forth among every community a messenger, just as We have sent you forth among these [Meccans], [to say]: ‘Worship God, profess [belief in] His Oneness, and shun false deities’, graven images, and do not worship them. Then among them were some whom God guided, and they believed, and among them were some who deserved to be in error, according to God’s knowledge, and so they did not believe. So travel, O disbelievers of Mecca, in the land and observe the nature of the consequence of those who denied, their messengers, in that they were destroyed.

If you, O Muhammad (s), are eager for them to be guided, when God has already made them go astray, you will not be able to achieve this: For God does not guide (read passive lā yuhdā [?], or active lā yahdī) he whom He has [already] sent astray, he whom He desires to send astray, and they will have no helpers, [no] protectors from God’s chastisement.

And they swear by God their most earnest oaths, in other words, with their utmost earnestness therein, that God will not resurrect the dead. God, exalted be He, says: Nay, He will resurrect them: it is a promise binding upon Him (both wa‘dan and haqqan are verbal nouns, used for emphasis, and are in the accusative because of the verbal actions implicit in them; in other words, He promised that and made it a binding truth) but most people, that is, the people of Mecca, do not know, that.

That He may make clear to them (li-yubayyina is semantically connected to an implied yab‘athuhum, ‘He will resurrect them’) what they differ, with believers, in, of matters of religion, by punishing them and rewarding the believers, and that the disbelievers may know that they were liars, when they denied the Resurrection.

All that We say to a thing, when We will it, that is, when We will that it come into existence (qawlunā is a subject, the predicate of which is [what follows]) is to say to it ‘Be,’ and it is, in other words, and that [thing] is (a variant reading [for fa-yakūnu] has fa-yakūna as a supplement to naqūla). The verse is intended as an affirmation of the power [of God] to resurrect.

And those who emigrated for God’s cause, to establish His religion, after they had been wronged, through harm, [those] from among the people of Mecca — these were the Prophet (s) and his Companions — truly We shall lodge them in this world in a goodly lodging, namely, Medina, and the reward of the Hereafter, that is, Paradise, is surely greater, grander, did they but know, that is, the disbelievers — or those who stayed behind and did not emigrate — [did they but know] the honour that belongs to emigrants, they would have followed them.

They are, those who endure, the harm inflicted by the idolaters and [endure] the emigration in order to make manifest the religion, and put their trust in their Lord, so that He provides for them whence they do not reckon.

And We did not send before you anything other than men, to whom We revealed, and [sent] not angels: ‘So ask the followers of the Remembrance, those knowledgeable in the Torah and the Gospels; if you do not know’, that, then they know it, and you are more likely to believe them than the believers are to believe Muhammad (s),

[We sent them] with clear signs (bi’l-bayyināt is semantically connected to an omitted [verb]), namely, We sent them with clear arguments, and the Books and We have revealed to you the Remembrance, the Qur’ān, that you may make clear to mankind what has been revealed to them, therein, in the way of [what is] lawful and unlawful, and that perhaps they might reflect, upon this and take heed.

Do they feel secure, those who have schemed evil, schemes against the Prophet (s) at the Council Assembly, [schemes] such as detaining him, killing him or banishing him, as mentioned in [sūrat] al-Anfāl [Q. 8:30], that God will not cause the earth to swallow them, as [God did] with Qārūn [Q. 28:81], or that the chastisement will not come upon them whence they are not aware of?, that is, in a way which would not occur to them. Indeed, they were destroyed at Badr even though they had never anticipated it.

Or that He will not seize them in their going to and fro, during their travels for commerce, whereupon they will not be able to escape?, [whereupon] they will not be able to elude the chastisement.

Or that He will not seize them amid [growing] fear?, [amid] a gradual diminishing [of their numbers] little by little, until all are destroyed (‘alā takhawwufin is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject of the verb [God] or the object). Indeed then your Lord is Gentle, Merciful, insofar as He does not hasten for them their punishment.

Or have they not observed the things which God has created, which cast a shadow, such as trees or a mountain, how their shadows incline to the right and to the left (shamā’il is the plural of shimāl), in other words, towards both sides, at the beginning of the day and at its end, prostrating to God (sujjadan is a circumstantial qualifier), that is to say, subservient to Him with respect to what is required of them, and [how] they, the shadows, are subject?, humbled: they [the shadows] are likened to rational beings [in this description].

And to God prostrates whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth of living creatures, that is, [of] every single thing that moves thereupon; in other words, to Him it [everything] is subservient in terms of what is required of it — most of what is given [by way of example] is non-rational, since these are [the more] numerous — and the angels [also prostrate] — these are singled out for mention because of their merit — and they are not arrogant, they do [not] disdain to worship Him.

They, that is, the angels, fear (yakhāfūna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person governing [the verb] yastakbirūna, ‘they are [not] arrogant’) their Lord from above them (min fawqihim is a circumstantial qualifier referring to [the suffixed pronoun] -hum [of fawqihim]) in other words, [they fear their Lord], being High above them with the power to subjugate, and they do what they are commanded, to [do].

And God has said: ‘Do not choose two gods (ithnayn is for emphasis). Truly there is only One God — He has added this [statement] to affirm [His] Divinity and Oneness — so be in awe of Me [alone]’: fear Me, to the exclusion of anyone else — herein is a shift from the third person [to the first].

And to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth, as possessions, creatures and servants. And to Him belongs the religion, the obedience, that endures, the [one] everlasting (wāsiban, is a circumstantial qualifier referring to al-dīn, ‘the religion’, and is operated by the sense of the adverbial clause). Will you then fear any other than God?, when He is the True God, other than Whom there is no god (the interrogative is a [statement of] rejection and rebuke).

Whatever grace you have, it is from God, none but He brings it (mā, ‘whatever’, is either a conditional or relative [particle]). Then when misfortune, poverty or illness, befalls you, to Him you cry for help, [to Him] you raise your voices with pleas for help and supplications, and you do not call upon any other than Him.

Then when He has rid you of the misfortune, behold, a group of you attribute partners to their Lord,

in order to deny that, grace, which We have given them. So enjoy, that consent of yours to worship idols (an imperative meant as a threat): for soon you shall know, the consequence of this.

And they, that is, the idolaters, assign, to what they do not know, that they cause harm and cannot benefit [them] — namely, the idols — a portion of that which We have provided them with, of crops and cattle, saying that ‘this is for God and this is for our partners’. By God, you will indeed be questioned (a questioning of rebuke; there is a shift herein from the third [to the second] person) about what you used to fabricate, against God, such as [claiming] that He commanded you to [do] this.

And they assign to God daughters, by claiming that the angels are the daughters of God — Be He glorified! — a declaration that He is [exalted] above that which they claim — while they will have what they desire, namely, sons (the status of this sentence is either independent [nominative], or that of an [accusative] object of [the verb] yaj‘alūna, ‘they assign’). The meaning is that to Him they assign daughters, to whom they are averse, when [in any case] He is [exalted] beyond having offspring, while to themselves they assign sons, of their own choosing, so that the best is theirs exclusively — like where God says, Now, ask them: are daughters to be for your Lord, while sons are to be for them? [Q. 37:149].

And when one of them is given the tidings of a girl, that will be born to him, his face becomes darkened, transformed like that of one [suddenly] struck by grief, and he chokes inwardly, filled with anguish: so how is it that daughters are attributed to Him, exalted be He?

He hides, disappearing, from people, that is, [from] his people, out of distress at the tidings given to him, fearing mockery, unsure what to do with it [the newborn]: shall he retain it — refrain from killing it — in humiliation, [enduring] shame and disgrace, or trample into the dust, by burying it alive. Verily wretched is what they judge, [evil is] this judgement of theirs, in which they ascribe to their Creator [that His are the] daughters, who have such a [lowly] status in their eyes.

For those who do not believe in the Hereafter, namely, [for] the disbelievers, there is an evil description, in other words, [theirs is] the most evil attribute, meaning, the most vile, which is their burying alive of [newborn] girls, despite the fact that they are needed for the purposes of marriage; and the loftiest description belongs to God, [His is] the attribute most sublime, namely, that there is no god except Him. And He is the Mighty, in His kingdom, the Wise, in His creation.

And if God were to take mankind to task for their wrongdoing, [wrongdoing] through acts of disobedience, He would not leave upon it, that is, [upon] the earth, any living being, any single [living] thing moving upon it; but He gives them respite until an appointed term; and when their term comes they will not defer, from it, by a single hour nor advance, it.

Still, they assign to God what they dislike, for themselves — such as daughters, partners in power, and the mistreatment of messengers. And their tongues, despite this, relate, tell, the lie, which is, that theirs will be the best reward, with God, namely, Paradise, as He [God] states [in their words elsewhere]: ‘And in case I am returned to my Lord, I will indeed have the best reward with Him’ [Q. 41:50]. But God, exalted be He, says: Without any doubt — verily — theirs shall be the Fire and they shall be abandoned therein, or [it, mufratūn, means that] they shall be foremost in [entering] it (a variant reading [for mufratūn] has mufritūn, meaning that ‘they transgress the bounds’).

By God, We verily sent to communities before you, messengers. But Satan adorned for them their deeds, [their] evil [deeds], so that they considered them to be good [deeds] and therefore they denied the messengers. So he is their patron, the guardian of their affairs, today, that is, [now] in this world, and for them there will be a painful chastisement, in the Hereafter. It is also said that by al-yawm, ‘today’, is meant the Day of Resurrection, narrating the events as though they are taking place [now]. In other words, they have no guardian other than him [in other words, Satan], and as he is incapable of helping himself, how could he possibly help them?

And We have not revealed to you, O Muhammad (s), the Book, the Qur’ān, except [for the purpose] that you may make clear to them, to mankind, that wherein they differ, in the matter of religion, and as a guidance (wa-hudan is a supplement to wa-li-tubayyina, ‘and that you may make clear’) and as a mercy for a people who believe, in it.

And God sends down water from the heaven and therewith revives the earth, with plants, after its death, [after] its drying up. Surely in that, which is mentioned, there is a sign, indicating the [truth of the] Resurrection, for a people who listen, listening and then reflecting.

And truly for you there is in the cattle a lesson, an example to learn from. We give you to drink — [this introduces] the explanation of the ‘lesson’ — of that which is in their bellies, the cattle’s [bellies], from (min indicates a new subject and is semantically connected to nusqīkum, ‘We give you to drink’) between the refuse, the intestinal waste, and the blood, pure milk, uncontaminated by either the refuse or the blood, neither in its taste, odour or colour, even though it [the milk] is [situated] between the two, palatable to drinkers, easily passing down their throats, not causing any choking.

And of the fruits of date-palms and vines, [comes forth] a fruit, from which you draw an intoxicant, a wine that intoxicates — it [the wine] is referred to by the verbal noun [sakaran, ‘intoxicant’], and this [verse] came before it was prohibited — and goodly provision, such as dates, raisins, vinegar, and molasses. Surely in that, which is mentioned, there is a sign, indicating His power, exalted be He, for a people who understand, [a people who] reflect.

And your Lord revealed to the bee, a revealing [effected] through inspiration, [saying] (an, ‘that’, is either explicative or relates to the verbal noun): ‘Choose among the hills habitations, to which you can resort, and among the trees, [also] habitations, and among the trellises which they raise, that is, the places which humans build for you — for otherwise it [the bee] would not resort to these [places].