Та Ха 20:81–135

‘Eat of the good things We have provided you, that is to say, of that which has been bestowed on you as a grace [from God], but do not transgress regarding it, by being ungrateful for the grace thereof, lest My wrath descend on you ([if read] fa-yahilla, it means ‘[lest] it [My wrath] become incumbent [upon you]’; or [if read] fa-yuhilla, it means ‘[lest] it descend [on you]’). And he on whom My wrath descends (read yahlil, ‘becomes incumbent’, or yahlul, ‘descends’) certainly perishes, falls into the Fire.

And indeed I am Forgiving toward him who repents, from ascribing partners [to God], and believes, affirms God’s Oneness, and acts righteously, is sincere in [performing] the obligatory and the supererogatory [deeds], and then follows guidance’, by adhering to what has been mentioned up to his death.

‘And what has hurried you [to depart] from your people, in order to come to the appointed time to receive the Torah, O Moses?’

He said, ‘They are close, behind me, coming, upon my track, and I hastened to You, my Lord, that You may be pleased’, with me, in other words, to please you [even] more — before [giving] the response, he gives an excuse, according to what he supposed [was the situation with his people],

But those he supposed [to be following him] had remained behind, for He, exalted be He, said, ‘Indeed We tried your people after you, that is, after your departure from them, and the Samaritan led them astray’, so they took to worshipping the [golden] calf.

Thereupon Moses returned to his people, angry, with them, and sad, extremely grieved. He said, ‘O my people, did not your Lord promise you a fair promise?, that is, a true [promise] that He will give you the Torah? Did the period, the length of my absence from you, seem too long for you, or did you desire that wrath should become incumbent against you from your Lord, by your worship of the [golden] calf, and so you broke your tryst with me?’, and failed to follow after me?

They said, ‘We did not break our tryst with you of our own accord (read the mīm with any of the three vowellings, meaning ‘by our own power’ or ‘of our own will’), but we were laden with (read hamalnā, ‘we carried’, or hummilnā, ‘we were made to carry’) the burdens, the weight, of the people’s ornaments, of the trinkets of Pharaoh’s folk — which the Children of Israel had borrowed from them on the pretext of [using them for] a wedding, but which had remained with them — and we cast them, we threw them into the fire at the command of the Samaritan, and so, just as We cast, did the Samaritan cast, what he had on him of their trinkets together with the dust that he took from the track left by the hoof of Gabriel’s steed, as follows:

Then he produced for them a calf, which he fashioned from the [melted] trinkets — a [mere] body, of flesh and blood, with a low, in other words, [it made] a sound that was audible; it was transformed into such [a state] because of the dust [from Gabriel’s steed] the effect of which is [to create] life in whatever thing it is placed. After he had fashioned it, he placed it [the dust] in its mouth. And they, namely, the Samaritan and his followers, said, ‘This is your God and the God of Moses: so he, Moses, forgot’, his Lord here and set off in search of him. God, exalted be He, says:

Did they not see that ([in allā] an has been softened in place of the hardened form, with its subject omitted, in other words [it should be] annahu) it, the Calf, did not reciprocate their words, that is, that it did not give them any response in return, nor did it have any power over hurt for them, that is, [any power] to prevent it, or any benefit?, that is, [any power] to procure it [for them], in other words, how can such [a thing] be taken as a god?

And Aaron had certainly said to them beforehand, that is, before the return of Moses, ‘O my people, you are only being tested thereby! But truly your Lord is the Compassionate One, so follow me, in worship of Him, and obey my command’, therein.

They said, ‘We will not cease to cling to it, persisting in worship of it, until Moses returns to us’.

He, Moses, said, upon his return, ‘O Aaron, what held you back when you saw them going astray, by worshipping it,

that ([allā] read an [instead], the lā being extra) you did not follow me? Did you then disobey my command?’, by remaining among those who worship [something] other than God, exalted be He?

He, Aaron, said, ‘O son of my mother (read ya’bna’ummi or ya’bna’umma, meaning ummī, ‘my mother’) the mention of her is more effective in provoking the affection of his heart — do not clutch my beard, which he had seized with his left hand, or my head!, for he had seized his hair with his right hand in anger. Indeed I feared that, if I followed you, for inevitably a group of those who did not worship the calf would have followed me, you would have said, “You have caused division among the Children of Israel — and have been furious with me — and you did not wait for my word”’, concerning what my opinion would have been in this matter.

He said, ‘And what have you to say, what was the motive for [doing] what you did, O Samaritan?’

He said, ‘I perceived what they did not perceive (read [either as third person plural] yabsurū or [as second person plural] tabsurū ‘[what] you [did not] perceive’), in other words, I realised what they did not realise, so I seized a handful, of dust, from the track of, [from] the hoof of the steed of, the messenger, Gabriel, and threw it [in], I cast it onto the figure of the calf that had been fashioned. Thus my soul prompted, [thus] it adorned for, me’ and it was cast into me [the idea] that I seize a handful of the dust from that mentioned [hoof] and cast it onto what possessed no spirit, so that it might [thus] acquire a spirit. I had seen that your people had asked that you make for them a god, and so my soul suggested to me [the idea] that this calf should be their god.

Said he, Moses to him, ‘Begone! It shall be yours [as your lot] throughout life, that is, for the duration of your life, to say, to whomever you may see, “Do not touch [me]!”, that is, do not come near me — he used to wander about [aimlessly] throughout the land, and whenever he touched a person, or a person touched him, both would succumb to a fever. And indeed there will be a tryst for you, for you to be chastised, which you will not fail to keep (read lan tukhlifahu, meaning ‘[a tryst] which you shall not miss’; or lan tukhlafahu, ‘for which you will not be forgotten’, meaning: ‘nay you will be sent forth to [keep] it’). Now look at your god to whom you remained clinging! (zalta is actually zalilta, but the first lām has been omitted in order to soften it), that is to say, [you remained] by his [your god’s] side, worshipping him. We will surely burn it, in fire, and then scatter [the ashes of] it into the waters, we will disperse it into the winds of the sea; and, after having slaughtered it, Moses did [exactly] that which he has mentioned.

Indeed your God is the One God, than whom there is no other god. He embraces all things in [His] knowledge’ (‘ilman, a specification derived from the subject of the verb, in other words, it means ‘His knowledge embraces all things’).

Thus, just as We have related to you O Muhammad (s) this story, We relate to you some stories, [some] accounts, of what is past, of communities, and We have given you from Ourselves a Reminder, a Qur’ān.

Whoever turns away from it, and does not believe in it, he shall indeed, on the Day of Resurrection, bear a burden, a heavy load of sin;

therein, that is, in the chastisement for [such] sin, abiding. And evil for them on the Day of Resurrection is that burden! (himlan, a specification qualifying the person of [the verb] sā’a, ‘evil’; the subject of derision, the implied wizruhum, ‘their sin’, has been omitted; the lām [of lahum] is explicative and substitutes for yawma’l-qiyāma, ‘the Day of Resurrection).

The day the Trumpet is blown, the Horn, the Second Blast, and We shall assemble the criminals, the disbelievers, on that day bruised, in the eye along with their faces blackened.

They will whisper to one another, speaking secretly amongst themselves: ‘You have tarried, in this world, only ten nights’, with the [full ten] days.

We know very well what they will say, regarding this matter — that is, it is not as they say — when the justest, the most upright, of them in the way, in this, will say, ‘You have tarried only a day’: they will deem their stay in this world as having been very brief, on account of the terrors they will witness in the Hereafter.

They will question you concerning the mountains, how will they be on the Day of Resurrection? Say, to them: ‘My Lord will scatter them as ashes, by pulverising them into moving sand and dispersing them with the wind;

then He will leave them a level hollow, a flattened [level] surface,

wherein you will see neither crookedness, [neither] slope, nor any curving’, [nor] any rise.

On that day, that is, on the day the mountains are scattered as ashes, they will follow, that is, mankind [will follow], after rising from their graves, the Summoner, to the Gathering, by [the call of] his voice — this [Summoner] will be [the archangel] Isrāfīl, and he will say: ‘Forward to the parade before God!’ — there will be no deviation therein, that is, in the manner in which they follow [him], in other words, they cannot but follow [him]. Voices will be hushed, will become silent, before the Compassionate One, so that you hear nothing but a faint shuffle, the light tread of feet walking towards the Gathering, similar to the sound of the hoofs of camels as they pass.

On that day intercession will not profit, anyone, except [intercession] from him whom the Compassionate One permits, that he intercede for such [a person], and whose word He approves, that is to say, because such [an intercessor] will say, ‘there is no god but God’ (lā ilāha illā’Llāh).

He knows what is before them, of the affairs of the Hereafter, and behind them, of the affairs of this world, and they do not comprehend such [things] in knowledge: they have no knowledge of such [things].

And faces shall be humbled, they shall be submissive, before the Living, the Eternal Sustainer, namely, God; and he will certainly have failed, he will have lost, [he] who carries [the burden of] evildoing, that is, [of] idolatry.

But whoever does righteous deeds, acts of obedience, being a believer, shall fear neither wrong, by having his evil deeds increased, nor injustice, by having his good deeds diminished.

Thus (kadhālika, a supplement to [the previous] kadhālika naqussu, ‘thus We relate’ [Q. 20:99]), just as We have revealed what has been mentioned, We have revealed it, that is, the Qur’ān, as an Arabic Qur’ān, and We have distributed, We have repeated, in it [statements] of threats, so that they may fear, associating others with God, or it, the Qur’ān, may arouse in them a remembrance, of the destruction of those communities before, and may thus be admonished.

So exalted be God, the King, the Truth, above what the idolaters say. And do not hasten with the Qur’ān, that is, to recite it, before its revelation is completed for you, [before] Gabriel is through delivering it, and say, ‘My Lord, increase me in knowledge’, that is, [knowledge] of the Qur’ān: thus every time something of it was revealed to him his knowledge increased because of it.

And We made a covenant with Adam, We enjoined him not to eat of the tree, before, that is, before he ate of it, but he forgot, he disregarded Our covenant, and We did not find in him any constancy, any resoluteness or patience in [abiding by] what We forbade him from.

And, mention, when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam’; so they prostrated, except Iblīs, who was the father of the jinn — he used to keep company with the angels and worship God alongside them: he refused, to prostrate before Adam, he said: ‘I am better than him’ [Q. 7:12].

Then We said, ‘Adam, indeed this is an enemy of yours and of your wife, Eve (read Hawwā’). So do not let him cause you both to be expelled from the Garden, so that you then toil, [so that you then] become fatigued by [the toil of] tillage, sowing, harvesting, milling, baking and otherwise — the statement is restricted to [the mention of] his [Adam’s] ‘toil’ because it is the man who has to strive [to provide] for his wife.

It is indeed [assured] for you that you will neither be hungry therein nor go naked,

And it is indeed [assured] for you (read wa-annaka or wa-innaka, as a supplement to the subject of inna [sc. laka, that is, ‘you’] and its clause) neither to be thirsty therein, nor to suffer the sun’: you will not be exposed to any heat of a midday sun, for there is no sun in Paradise.

Then Satan whispered to him saying, ‘O Adam, shall I guide you to the Tree of Immortality, which gives everlasting life to the one who eats thereof, and a kingdom that does not waste away?’, that does not perish while he remains immortal.

So both of them, Adam and Eve, ate of it, and their shameful parts were exposed to them, that is, the front [private part] of each became visible to the other, as well as the other’s behind — both of these [parts] are called saw’a, ‘shame’, because its exposure ‘shames’ (yasū’u) that person); and they began to piece together, they took to sticking, onto themselves leaves of the Garden, to cover themselves up therewith. And Adam disobeyed his Lord and so he erred, by [his] eating from the tree.

Thereafter his Lord chose him, He brought him close [to Him], and relented to him, He accepted his repentance, and guided him, that is, He guided him to seek repentance regularly.

He said, ‘Go down both of you, that is, Adam and Eve, including all of your progeny, from it, from the Garden, all together, some of you, some of the progeny, being enemies of others, because of some wronging others. Yet if (the nūn of the conditional particle in has been assimilated with the mā, which is extra) there should come to you guidance from Me, then whoever follows My guidance, the Qur’ān, shall not go astray, in this world, neither shall he be miserable, in the Hereafter.

But whoever disregards My remembrance, [disregards] the Qur’ān and does not believe in it, his shall be a straitened life (read dankan with nunation, a verbal noun meaning ‘straitened [circumstances]’). This [statement] has been interpreted in one hadīth to mean the punishment of the grave for the disbeliever. And on the Day of Resurrection We shall bring him to the assembly, namely, the one who disregards the Qur’ān, blind’, blind in eyesight.

He shall say, ‘My Lord, why have you brought be to the assembly blind, though I used to see?’, in the world and at the raising from the grave?

He will say, ‘So it, the affair, is. Our signs came to you, but you forgot them, you neglected them and did not believe in them; and so, just as you forgot Our signs, today you will be forgotten’, abandoned in the Fire.

And so, just as We requite him who disregards the Qur’ān, We requite him who is prodigal, [him who] associates others with God, and believes not in the signs of his Lord. And the chastisement of the Hereafter is more terrible, than the chastisement of the life of this world and the punishment of the grave, and more enduring, longer lasting.

Is it not a guidance, has it not become clear, to them, to the disbelievers of Mecca, how many (kam, is predicative and the object of [the following] ahlaknā) We destroyed, in other words, Our frequent destruction, before them of generations, that is, of past communities, for denying messengers, amid [the ruins of] whose dwelling-places they walk? (yamshūna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person of the pronoun lahum, ‘to them’) during their journeys to Syria and other places, that they might thus be admonished? (what has been mentioned [by grammarians] regarding the derivation of [the verb] ihlāk to be that verb that does not contain a particle referring to [the object of] the action of the verb, as a way of preserving the [original] sense [of the statement], is acceptable). Surely in that there are signs, lessons, for people of sense, for possessors of intellect.

And but for a decree that had already preceded from your Lord, that their chastisement be deferred to the Hereafter, it, destruction, would have been an inevitability, [their destruction] would have been necessary in this world, and a specified term, fixed for them (ajalun musamman, a supplement to the pronoun concealed in kāna, ‘it would have been’, the separation [of both subjects] by the predicate of both serves as an emphasis).

So be patient with what they say — this is abrogated by the ‘fighting’ verse [cf. Q. 2:190ff] — and make glorifications, pray, by praising your Lord (bi-hamdi rabbika is a circumstantial qualifier, in other words, ‘ensconced in such [praise]’) before the rising of the sun, the morning prayer, and before its setting — the afternoon prayer — and in the watches of the night, [during] the hours thereof, and make glorifications, perform the sunset and the evening prayer, and at either side of the day (wa-atrāfa’l-nahāri, a supplement to the syntactical locus of the accusative clause wa-min ānā’i, ‘and in the watches’), in other words, perform the noon prayer, because the time for it begins at the point where the sun starts to go down, which is the [end] side of the first half [of the day] and the [start] side of the second half [of the day]; that perhaps you may be pleased, with the reward that you will be given.

And do not extend your glance toward what We have given to some pairs, [certain] categories, among them to enjoy, [as] the flower of the life of this world, its adornment and delight, that We may try them thereby, [to see] if they transgress [the bounds]. And your Lord’s provision, in Paradise, is better, than what they have been given in this world, and more enduring, longer lasting.

And bid your family to prayer, and be steadfast in [the maintenance of] it. We do not ask of you, We [do not] charge you with [the procurement of], any provision, [either] for yourself or for anyone else. We [it is Who] provide you, and the [best] sequel, Paradise, will be in favour of God-fearing, for such people.

And they, the idolaters, say, ‘Why does he, Muhammad (s), not bring us a sign from his Lord?’, of the sort which they request. Has there not come to them (read ta’tihim or ya’tihim) the clear proof, the statements, of what is in the former scriptures?, the tales contained in the Qur’ān relating to past communities and [the details of] their destruction for denying the messengers?

Had We destroyed them with a chastisement before him, before [the coming of] Muhammad (s) the Messenger, they would have said, on the Day of Resurrection: ‘Our Lord, if only You had sent us a messenger, so that we might have followed those signs of Yours, given to the messengers [to convey], before we were [thus] abased, at the Resurrection, and disgraced?’, in Hell.

Say, to them: ‘Each, [one] of us and you, is waiting, to [see] what this affair will lead to. So wait! For you shall indeed know, at the Resurrection, who are the followers of the even path, the straight way, and who is [rightly] guided’, away from error, us or you.