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By those who are ranged in ranks — [by] the angels who range their souls in worship or their wings in the air awaiting their orders;

and the drivers who drive [away], the angels who drive the clouds;

and those who recite, that is to say, the readers of the Qur’ān, they recite it, by way remembrance (dhikran is a verbal noun referring to [the action of] al-tāliyāt, ‘those who recite’).

Indeed your God, O people of Mecca, is certainly One,

Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and Lord of the sun’s risings, that is, as well as the sun’s settings — each day it [the sun] has a rising and a setting.

We have indeed adorned the lowest heaven with an adornment, the stars, that is to say, [adorned] with their light or with them [the stars] (the genitive annexation [bi-zīnati’l-kawākib] is for explication; similarly [explicative] is the reading of bi-zīnatin, ‘with an adornment’, with nunation, [the adornment] explained as being ‘the stars’);

and to guard (wa-hifzan is in the accusative because of an implied verb) that is to say, ‘We have guarded it with meteors’, from every (min kulli is semantically connected to the implied verb) any rebellious devil, who is a transgressor, in rebellion against obedience.

They, namely, the devils (lā yasma‘ūna, this is [the beginning of] a new sentence) cannot listen in — this ‘listening’ of theirs represents that faculty with which they memorise [what they hear] — on the High Council, the angels in the heavens (the [normally transitive verb] al-samā‘ is complemented with the preposition ilā, ‘to’ [here ‘in on’] because it includes the additional sense of ‘paying attention’ [while listening]; a variant reading has yassamma‘una, which is actually yatasamma‘ūna, the tā’ have been assimilated with the sīn), for they, the devils, are pelted, with flames, from every side, from the remotest regions of the heavens,

to repel [them] (duhūran is a verbal noun from daharahu, meaning, ‘he repelled him, driving him away’; it is an object denoting reason) and theirs, in the Hereafter, is an everlasting chastisement;

except him who snatches a fragment (al-khatfa is the verbal noun, that is to say, ‘[that] one time’; the exceptive clause refers to the subject [of the verb] yasma‘ūna, in other words, ‘the only devil that is able to listen is the one that hears a word from the angels and snatches it away quickly’) and who is then pursued by a piercing flame (shihāb is a meteor) that pierces him, or burns him or robs him of his senses.

So ask them, in other words, inquire of the people of Mecca for affirmation or by way of rebuke: Are they stronger as a creation, or those [others] whom We created?, of angels, heavens, the two earths and all that is in them (the use of man, ‘those whom’ [in man khalaqnā] indicates that the reference is predominantly to [other] rational creatures). Indeed We created them, that is, their origin, Adam, from a viscous clay, that sticks to the hand. The [intended] meaning is that their physical make-up is fragile so let them not behave arrogantly by rejecting the Prophet and the Qur’ān, a fact which will result in their — easily accomplished — destruction.

Nay, but (bal is for effecting a transition from one object to another, which in this case is to inform of his state and theirs) you marvel, (‘ajibta) addressing the Prophet (s), that is, [you marvel] that they deny you, while they engage in ridicule, at your marvelling,

and [even] when they are reminded, [when] they are admonished with the Qur’ān, they are not mindful, they do not heed the admonition,

and when they see a sign, such as the splitting of the moon [cf. Q. 54:1], they make it an object of ridicule, they deride it.

And they say, regarding it: ‘This is nothing but manifest sorcery — and they say in denial of the Resurrection —

When we are dead and have become dust and bones, shall we indeed be resurrected? (In both places [sc. a-idhā and a-innā] either pronounce both hamzas, or read without pronouncing the second one and inserting an alif between them, in both cases).

And our forefathers too?’ (read aw ābā’unā indicating a supplement; or read a-wa-ābā’unā as an interrogative, effecting the supplement with the wāw; so that what is being supplemented is either the inna together with its subject [sc. a-inna la-mab‘ūthūna], or the subject [of the verb] la-mab‘ūthūna, in which case the interrogative hamza is a separator).

Say: ‘Yes, you will be resurrected, and you will be utterly humiliated!’

For it will be only (innamā hiya, this [hiya] is a demonstrative pronoun explained by [the following, zajratun) a single cry and, lo! they, all creatures, will be, alive, watching, [to see] what will be done with them.

And they, the disbelievers, will say, ‘O (yā is for calling attention) woe to us!’, [O] our destruction [is here] (waylanā is a verbal noun without any [regular] verbal conjugation). And the angels will say to them: ‘This is the Day of Retribution’, the Day of Reckoning and Requital.

‘This is the Day of Judgement, between [all] creatures, that you used to deny!’

It is then said to the angels: ‘Gather those who did wrong, to their own souls through idolatry, together with their mates, their associates from among the devils, and what they used to worship,

besides God, in other words, other than Him, in the way of graven images, and lead them, direct them and drive them, to the path of Hell, the way to the Fire.

But [first] stop them, detain them on the path, for they must be questioned, about all their sayings and deeds, and it will be said to them in rebuke:

“What is wrong with you that you do not help one another?”, as was the case with you in this world. And it will be said to them:

Nay, but today they offer complete submission, [they are] compliant, abased.

And some of them will turn to others, questioning each other, blaming one another and disputing.

They, that is, the followers among them, will say, to those whom they followed: ‘Indeed you used to approach us from the right’, in other words, from that aspect in which we used to trust you, for you used to swear that you followed the truth, and so we believed you and we followed you — in other words, ‘Indeed, you have led us astray!’

They, the ones who were followed, say, to them [the followers]: ‘On the contrary! You were [simply] not believers, for it would only be true that we led you astray if you had actually been believers [in the first place] and then rejected faith and followed us.

And we did not have any warrant, any sway or power, over you, to compel you to follow us. Nay, but you [yourselves] were a rebellious folk, astray, like us.

So our Lord’s Words, of chastisement — namely, His Words: ‘Verily I shall fill Hell with jinn and mankind together’ [Q. 11:119] — have become due against us, both. Indeed we shall, both, taste, the chastisement with these Words — which prompts them to say:

So we led you astray — the reason for which is given by their saying — indeed we [ourselves] were astray’.

God, exalted be He, says: So they on that day, the Day of Resurrection, will share in the chastisement, for they shared in the error.

Indeed so, in the same way that We deal with these, We deal with sinners, other than these, in other words, We chastise both of them the followers and those who were followed.

For truly it was they who, in other words, [it was] these [sinners] who — given the context that follows — when it was said to them, ‘There is no god except God’, used to be scornful,

and would say, ‘Are we to abandon our gods for a mad poet?’, that is, for the sake of what Muhammad (s) says? (as regards the hamzas [in a-innā, ‘are we’], the same applies as mentioned above).

God, exalted be He, says: Nay, but he has brought [them] the truth and confirmed the [earlier] messengers, namely, those who had also brought this [truth], which is that there is no god except God.

‘You shall certainly (there is a shift from the third person address [to the second] here) taste the painful chastisement,

and you will only be requited, the requital for, what you used to do’.

Except for God’s sincere servants, namely, the believers (the exception clause here is a discontinuous one),

whose requital is mentioned in His saying: For them there will be, in Paradise, a distinct provision, morning and evening —

fruits (fawākihu either substitutes for rizqun, or is an explication thereof) here these [fruits] represent what is eaten for delight and not for the sake of preserving one’s health [as in this world], for the inhabitants of Paradise are in no need of preserving it given that their bodies will be created to be everlasting — and they will honoured, with God’s reward, glory be to Him, exalted be He,

in the Gardens of Bliss,

[reclining] upon couches, facing one another, so that they do not see the back of one another;

they are served from all round, each one of them [is so served], with a cup (ka’san, [this denotes] the vessel with the drink in it) from a spring, of wine that flows along the ground like streams of water,

white, whiter than milk, delicious to the drinkers, in contrast to the wine of this world which is distasteful to drink,

wherein there is neither madness, nothing to snatch away their minds, nor will they be spent by it (read yunzafūna or yunzifūna, from [1st form] nazafa or [4th form] anzafa, said of one drinking, in other words, they are [not] inebriated [by it], in contrast to the wine of this world),

and with them will be maidens of restrained glances, who reserved their glances [exclusively] for their spouses and do not look upon any other — because of the beauty they [the maidens] see in them — with beautiful eyes (‘īn means with large and beautiful eyes),

as if they were, in terms of [the starkness of their white] colour, hidden eggs, of ostriches, sheltered by their feathers from dust, the colour being that whiteness with a hint of pallor, which is the most beautiful of female complexions.

Some of them, some of the inhabitants of Paradise, will turn to others, questioning each other, regarding what they experienced in the [life of the] world.

One of them will say, ‘Indeed I had a comrade, a companion who used to reject [the idea of] resurrection,

who used to say, to me in reproach, “Are you really among those who affirm as truth, the Resurrection [and],

[that] when we are dead and have become dust and bones, we shall actually be called to account?” ’, that we shall be requited and reckoned with — he rejects [the truth of] this as well (as regards all three instances of the hamzas [sc. a-innaka, a-idhā, and a-innā] what has been mentioned above [applies]).

He, the one speaking, says, to his brethren [in Paradise], ‘Will you have a look?’, together with me into the Fire, to see his condition — but they will say, ‘No’.

Then he, that speaker, will take a look, through one of the apertures in Paradise, and he will catch sight of him, that is, he will see his comrade, in the centre of Hell, in the middle of the Fire.

He will say, to him, acknowledging that he [the latter] deserves his fate: ‘By God! You very nearly destroyed me, you [almost] ruined me through your misguidance (in, this has been softened from the hardened form [inna]).

And had it not been for the favour of my Lord, His grace to me in giving me faith, I [too] would have been of those arraigned’, with you, in the Fire. The inhabitants of Paradise will say:

Do we then not die [anymore],

aside from our first death, that is, the one [which we suffered] in this world, and are we not to be chastised?’ — this interrogative statement is one made out of [sheer] delight and in order to speak [at length] of the graces of God, exalted be He, in [His] granting of everlasting life and refraining from inflicting any punishment.

Truly this, that has mentioned [as being the reward] for the inhabitants of Paradise, is indeed the mighty success.

For the like of this let [all] the workers work — it is said that this is said to them, or it is what they say [themselves].

Is that, which is mentioned to them, a better hospitality (nuzul, denotes what is prepared for one who is being received as a guest and so forth) or the Zaqqūm tree, that is prepared for the inhabitants of the Fire — it is the vilest and most bitter tree of the Tihāma region, which God causes to grow in the Fire, as will be stated shortly.

We have indeed made it, for that reason [sc. its being a tree in the Fire], a trial for the wrongdoers?, namely, [for] the disbelievers of Mecca, for they said, ‘Fire consumes trees so how can it make them grow forth?’

Indeed it is a tree that comes forth from the very source of Hell, in other words, from the depths of Hell, with its branches extending up through all its [different] levels.

Its spathes, likened to the spathes of a date-palm, are like the heads of devils, [as] vile-looking snakes.

And indeed they, the disbelievers, will eat of it, despite its vileness, because of the severity of their hunger, and will fill their bellies from it.

Then, lo!, on top of it they will have a brew of boiling water, which they drink and which mixes with what they have eaten and becomes a brew thereof.

Then indeed their return shall be to Hell-fire — this suggests that they exit from it [only] to drink the boiling water, which is located outside it.

Lo! they found their fathers to be astray,

and so they are [also now] hurrying in their footsteps: they shall be prodded to follow them and they end up hurrying towards it [Hell-fire].

And verily most of the ancients, of past communities, went astray before them,

and We certainly had sent among them warners, in the way of messengers to threaten [them].

So behold how was the consequence for them who were warned, namely, the disbelievers: in other words the sequel for them was [that they ended up in] the chastisement;

[all] except God’s sincere servants, namely, the believers, who are saved from chastisement because they were sincere in their worship (mukhlisīna); or (if one reads mukhlasīna) because God has made them sincerely devoted to such [worship].

And verily Noah called to Us, when he said, ‘My Lord: I have been overcome, so help [me] [Q. 54:10], and how excellent were the Hearers of the prayer, for him, were We: in other words he invoked Us against his people, so We destroyed them by drowning [them].

And We delivered him and his family from the great distress, which was the drowning,

and made his descendants the survivors, thus all human beings are descended from him, peace be upon him. He had three sons: Shem (Sām), the ancestor of the Arabs, the Persians and the Byzantines; Ham (Hām), the ancestor of the Negroes; and Japheth (Yāfith), the ancestor of the Turks, the Khazar and [the peoples of] Gog and Magog and [the inhabitants of] such regions.

And We left, We preserved, for him, fair praise, among posterity: [among] the prophets and communities [after him] until the Day of Resurrection [which is]:

‘Peace, from Us, be to Noah among the worlds!’

Thus indeed, in the way that We requited them, We requite the virtuous.

He was indeed one of Our faithful servants.

Then We did drown the others, the disbelievers from among his folk.

And truly of his adherents, that is, of those who agreed with him on the fundaments of religion, was Abraham, despite the fact that there was a long interval between them, 2640 years, and between them came [the prophets] Hūd and Sālih.

When he came to his Lord, in other words, he continued to follow Him upon coming to Him, with a heart that was pure, of any doubt or the like,

when he said, [while still] in this continuous state of his, to his father and his folk, in reproach: ‘What do — what is it that — you worship?

Is it a calumny (a-ifkan, as regards the two hamzas, the same applies as mentioned before) — gods other than God — that you desire? (ifkan is an object denoting reason; ālihatan is the direct object of turīdūna, ‘you desire’; ifk denotes the worst kind of lie). In other words: do you worship [any] other than God?

What then is your supposition regarding the Lord of the Worlds?’, having worshipped other than Him, [do you think] that He will leave you without punishment? No! They were a people of astrologers. On one occasion, they went out to celebrate a festival of theirs and left their food behind with their idols, claiming that they were securing thereby blessings for it and that they would eat it upon their return. They had said to the lord Abraham: ‘Come out with us’.

And he cast a glance at the stars — to delude them into thinking that he relies on them, so that they would then trust him —

and said, ‘Indeed I feel [I will be] sick’, that is, I will fall ill.

So they went away, to their festival, leaving him behind.

Then he turned, he stole away, to their gods, the idols, in front of which the food had been placed, and said, mockingly: ‘Will you not eat? — but they failed to utter [a word].

He then said: What is wrong with you that you do not speak?’ — but [still] he received no response.

He then turned on them striking [them] with his right hand, with might, smashing them. Those who saw him reported this to [the rest of] his people.

So they came running towards him, walking hurriedly, and they said to him, ‘We worship them while you smash them?!’

He said, to them in reproach: ‘Do you worship what you [yourselves] have carved, out of stone and other materials, idols,

when God created you and whatever you make?’, [whether it be] your act of carving and that which you have carved? So worship Him alone! (the mā [in wa-mā ta‘malūna, ‘and whatever you make’] is that of the verbal noun; but it is also said to introduce a relative clause, or it is adjectivally qualified).