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Hā mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].

By the Book, the Qur’ān, that clarifies, the one that manifests the path of guidance and what one needs of [the prescriptions of] the Law.

Lo! We have made it, We have brought the Book into existence [as], an Arabic Qur’ān, in the language of the Arabs, that perhaps you, O people of Mecca, may understand, [that you may] comprehend its meanings.

And it is indeed, fixed, in the Mother Book, the source of all the scriptures, namely, the Preserved Tablet, [which is] with Us (ladaynā substitutes [for fī ummi’l-kitābi, ‘in the Mother Book’]) [and it is] indeed exalted, above [all] the scriptures [that came] before it, wise, containing excellent wisdoms.

Shall We turn away, [shall We] withhold, from you the Remembrance, the Qur’ān, utterly, an utter withholding, so that you are then neither commanded nor forbidden, because you are a profligate, an idolatrous, folk? No!

And how many a prophet did We send among the ancients!

And never did a prophet come to them but that they used to deride him, in the same way that your people deride you — this [statement] is intended to comfort the Prophet (s).

So We destroyed those who were mightier than them — than your people — in prowess, strength, and [already] there passed, there has been mentioned in previous verses, the example of the ancients, the description of how they were destroyed, and thus the sequel for your people will be the same.

And if (wa-la-in: the lām is for oaths) you ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say (the indicative nūn has been omitted because of the other nūn coming after it, and likewise the wāw [replaced by the damma in -lunna], because of two unvowelled consonants coming together), ‘The Mighty, the Knower created them’ — [this would have to be] their eventual response, that is to say, God [created them], Lord of Might and Knowledge. God, exalted be He, adds:

He Who made the earth a cradle for you, a flat resting-place, like a child’s cradle, and placed for you therein ways, routes, that perhaps you may be guided, to your destinations during your travels;

and Who sent down water from the heaven in measure, that is to say, in the measure that you require thereof and did not send it down in a deluge, and We revived with it a dead land. Thus — like this revivification — will you be brought forth, from your graves, alive;

and Who created the pairs, the species, all of them, and made for you ships and cattle, such as camels, on which you ride (the referential pronoun has been omitted here for brevity; it is genitive in the case of the first, that is, fīhi [sc. tarkabūna fīhi, ‘you ride in them’] and accusative in the case of the second [sc. tarkabūnahā, ‘you ride them’]),

that you may sit, that you may find a firm position, upon their backs (He has made the [suffixed] pronoun a masculine plural and rendered zahr, ‘back’, plural because of the particle mā and its [plural] import); and then remember your Lord’s grace when you are settled on them, and say, ‘Glory be to Him Who has disposed this for us, and we [by] ourselves were no match for it, [not] capable [of it].

And indeed it is to our Lord that we shall return’, [to Him that] we shall depart.

And they assign to Him from among His own servants a part, when they say that the angels are God’s daughters — for a child is a part of its parent — even though the angels are [like them] servants of His, exalted be He. Man, [such as the one] who says the above-mentioned [words], is verily a manifest ingrate, one whose ungratefulness is manifest and clear.

Or (am has the significance of the hamza of denial; the ‘saying’ is implied, in other words, a-taqūlūna, ‘[or] do you say that …’) He has adopted, from all that He has created, daughters, for Himself, and preferred you, privileged you, with sons? — that which is the necessary inference from what you claim and which by itself is an abomination.

And when one of them is given the good tidings of that which he has attributed to the Compassionate One, [of that which] he has likened to Him by the ascription to Him of daughters — for a child is likened to its parent; in other words, when one of them is informed that a daughter has been born to him, his face becomes darkened, transformed into one laden with anguish, and he chokes inwardly, filled with anguish: so how can such a person then attribute daughters to Him? Exalted be He high above such [claims].

What! (a-wa contains both the hamza of denial and the conjunctive waw, ‘and’, in other words, ‘do they ascribe to God …’) one that is brought up amid trinkets, ornaments, and is incoherent in a dispute?, [unable] to argue clearly because of an [inherent] inability [in this respect] as a result of [that person belonging to] the female sex.

And they have made the angels, who are themselves servants of the Compassionate One, females. Did they witness, were they present at, their creation? Their testimony, to the effect that they are females, will be written down and they will be questioned, about it in the Hereafter, wherefore punishment will ensue for them.

And they say, ‘Had the Compassionate One [so] willed, we would not have worshipped them’, the angels: therefore our worship of them happens by His will and so He must be satisfied with it. God, exalted be He, says: They do not have any knowledge of that, which is said of His being satisfied with the worship of these [angels]; and they are only surmising, inventing lies in this [respect] and so punishment will befall them as a result thereof.

Or have We brought them a scripture before, that is, [before] the Qur’ān, that they should worship other than God, so that they are holding fast to it? In other words, this never happened.

Nay, but they say, ‘Lo! we found our fathers following a [certain] creed and we are indeed, proceeding, in their footsteps to be guided’, by them, for they used to worship other than God.

And thus We never sent a warner before you into any city without that its affluent folk, those of comfortable means, said, the like of what your people say: ‘Lo! we found our fathers following a [certain] creed and [so] we are indeed following in their footsteps’.

Say, to them: ‘What! Will you follow them, even if I bring you a better [means to] guidance than what you found your fathers following?’ They say, ‘Lo! we disbelieve in what you, and those before you, are sent with’. God, exalted be He, says to them, as a threat to them:

So We took vengeance on them, that is to say, on those who denied the messengers before you; behold then how was the sequel for the deniers.

And, mention, when Abraham said to his father and his people, ‘Surely I am innocent of that which you worship,

except Him Who originated, created, me; for He will indeed guide me’, He will show me the way to His religion.

And he made it, namely, the statement of the affirmation of [God’s] Oneness, understood from his words, I shall indeed depart to my Lord; He will guide me [Q. 37:99], a word enduring among his posterity, his descendants, and thus there still remains among them those who affirm the Oneness of [God]; that perhaps they, that is, the people of Mecca, might recant, what they follow [and return] to the religion of their forefather Abraham.

Nay, but I have let these, idolaters, and their fathers enjoy [life], without hastening to punish them, until there came to them the truth, the Qur’ān, and a messenger who makes [things] clear, one who manifests to them the stipulations of the Law — and this [messenger] is Muhammad (s).

But when the truth, the Qur’ān, came to them, they said, ‘This is sorcery, and we are indeed disbelievers in it’.

And they said, ‘If only this Qur’ān had been revealed to some great man from, the inhabitants of, the two towns!’, in other words, from either of the two; such as al-Walīd b. al-Mughīra at Mecca or ‘Urwa b. Mas‘ūd al-Thaqafī at Tā’if.

Is it they who apportion the mercy of your Lord?, [the mercy being] prophethood. We have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of this world, making some of them wealthy and others poor, and raised some of them, in wealth, above others by degrees, so that some of them, who are wealthy, may take others, who are poor, in service, disposed to work for them in return for a wage (the [final] yā’ [in sukhriyyā] is attributive; a variant reading has sikhriyyan); and the mercy of your Lord, that is, Paradise, is better than what they amass, in this world.

And were it not [for the danger] that mankind would be one community, following disbelief, We would have made, for those who disbelieve in the Compassionate One, roofs (read saqfan, or plural suqufan) of silver for their houses (li-buyūtihim substitutes for li-man, ‘for those who’) and stairs, such as steps, [also] of silver, by which they ascend, [by which] they go up to the roof;

and doors, of silver, for their houses, and, We would have made for them, couches, of silver (surur, ‘couches’, is the plural of sarīr) on which they recline,

and ornaments, gold: in other words, were it not for fear that a believer might disbelieve as a result of Our giving the disbeliever what has been mentioned, We would have given him such [luxuries], since the [affairs of this] world represent no danger to Us and he [the disbeliever] would then have no share in the Bliss of the Hereafter. Yet surely (wa-in: in is softened from the hardened form [inna]) all that would be nothing (read lamā, with the mā as extra; or read lammā to mean ‘but’, making the particle in for negation) but the [transient] enjoyment of the life of this world, enjoyed during it, but then perishes, and the Hereafter, Paradise, with your Lord is for the God-fearing.

And whoever withdraws from, [whoever] is oblivious, to the Remembrance of the Compassionate One, namely, the Qur’ān, We assign, We produce, for him a devil and he becomes his companion, never leaving his side.

And indeed they, that is, the devils, bar them, the blind, from the way, [from] the path of guidance, while they suppose that they are [rightly] guided (the plural [muhtadūna] takes into account the [potentially plural] sense of man, ‘whoever’, [of the previous verse]),

until when he comes to Us, such a blind one, together with his companion, on the Day of Resurrection, he says, to him: ‘O (yā is for calling attention) would that there were between me and you the distance of the two easts!’, that is to say, like the distance between the east and the west, What an evil companion then!, you are for me. God, exalted be He, says:

And it, your wishes or your remorse, will not benefit you, blind ones, this day, given that you did wrong, that is to say, [given that] it has become clear to you that you were wrongdoers, through your idolatry in this world, that you, together with your companions, will be sharing in the chastisement (this constitutes the justification, on the basis of an implied lām [sc. li-annakum …], for the ‘lack of benefit’; idh substitutes for al-yawma, ‘this day’).

Can you, then, make the deaf hear, or can you guide the blind and one who is in manifest error?, in other words, such [individuals] will not believe.

So if (fa-immā: the conditional particle in has been assimilated herein with an extra mā) We take you away, by making you die before chastising them, then We will take vengeance on them, in the Hereafter;

or We show you, during your lifetime, that which We have promised them, in the way of chastisement, for surely We have power over, [surely] We are able to chastise, them.

So hold fast to that which has been revealed to you, namely, the Qur’ān; surely you are on a straight path, [a straight] way.

And it is indeed a Reminder, an honour, for you and for your people, as it has been revealed in their language. And you will [eventually] be questioned, about [the extent of] your fulfilling your duty towards it.

And ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before you: Did We [ever] appoint, besides the Compassionate One, that is to say, [any] other than Him, gods to be worshipped? It is said that this is to be understood literally, in other words, that God gathered for him all the messengers on the Night [of the] Journey; but it is also said that this meant [that he should ask] any communities belonging to either of the two Peoples of the Scripture. According to one of the two opinions, he never asked [anyone] since the point of this command to ask is to affirm to the idolaters of Quraysh that no messenger or scripture ever came from God with the command to worship [any] other than God.

And verily We sent Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his council, namely, the Egyptians (al-Qibt), and he said, ‘I am indeed the messenger of the Lord of the Worlds’.

But when he brought them Our signs, those proving his mission [from God], behold! they laughed at them.

And We never showed them a sign, from among the signs of chastisement, such as the flood, which was when the waters [of the Nile] penetrated their dwellings and for seven days rose as high as their throats as they sat, or [the chastisement of] the locusts, but it was greater than the one before it, the one immediately preceding it. And We seized them with chastisement, that perhaps they might recant, their disbelief.

And they said, to Moses, upon seeing the chastisement, ‘O sorcerer! — that is to say, ‘[O] knowledgeable, perfect one’, since for them sorcery was an awesome [form of] knowledge — supplicate your Lord for us by the covenant that He has made with you, [to the effect] that He would relieve us from chastisement if we believe. Assuredly we will be guided’, that is to say, [we will become] believers.

But as soon as We relieved them, by the supplication of Moses, from the chastisement, behold! they had broken their pledge, reneging on their covenant and persisting in their disbelief.

And Pharaoh proclaimed, boastfully, among his people, ‘O my people, does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers, of the Nile, flowing beneath me?, that is to say, beneath my palaces. Do you not perceive?, my magnificence.

Or, do you perceive, in which case, am I not better than this one, namely, Moses, who is contemptible, feeble and lowly, and who can scarcely speak clearly?, [who can scarcely] articulate his speech, because of his lisp — which was the result of his [accidentally] placing a hot coal in his mouth when he was a child.

Why then, if he were being truthful, have bracelets of gold (asāwira, is the plural of aswira, which is the plural of siwār, similar [in pattern] to [ghurāb] aghriba) not been cast on him — as according to their custom with those whom they made their leaders, dressing them with gold bracelets and gold necklaces — or the angels not come with him one after the other?’, in succession, to testify to his truthfulness.

Thus did he, Pharaoh, persuade, incite, his people and they obeyed him, in his wish that Moses be denied. They were truly an immoral folk.

So when they had angered Us, We took vengeance on them and drowned them all.

And We made them a thing past (salaf, is the plural of sālif, similar [in pattern] to khādim, khadam) that is to say, a precedent, as a lesson, and an example for others, after them, that they [posterity] might take their predicament as a lesson and so not engage in actions similar to theirs.

And when the son of Mary is cited as an example — after God’s [following] words were revealed: ‘Truly you and what you worship besides God shall be fuel for Hell’ [Q. 21:98] and the idolaters said, ‘We are satisfied that our gods be together with Jesus [in Hell], for he too was worshipped besides God’ — behold! your people, that is, the idolaters, laugh at it, at this example — they clamour with joy at what they hear.

And they say, ‘Are our gods better or he?’, Jesus. We are satisfied that our gods be [in the same predicament] with him. They only cite this, that is, the example, to you for the sake of contention, [merely] arguing with falsehood, for they know that [the particle] mā [of wa-mā ta‘budūna, ‘and what you worship’] refers [only] to non-rational beings and cannot therefore include Jesus, peace be upon him. Nay, but they are a contentious lot, an extremely disputatious folk.

He, Jesus, is only a servant [of Ours] on whom We bestowed favour, through prophethood, and We made him, by his [coming into] being without a father, an exemplar for the Children of Israel, that is to say, like an example because of the wondrousness of his case, one from which one is able to infer God’s power, exalted be He, to do whatever He will.

And had We willed, We would have appointed among you, instead of you, angels to be [your] successors in the earth, by Our destroying you.

And indeed he, that is, Jesus, is a portent of the Hour — [the arrival of] it is known by the sending down of him — so do not doubt it (tamtarunna: the indicative nūn has been omitted for apocopation together with the wāw of the [third] person [plural] on account of two unvowelled consonants coming together) but, say to them: ‘Follow me, in the affirmation of [God’s] Oneness. This, to which I command you, is a straight path’.

And do not let Satan bar you, [do not let him] turn you away from God’s religion. Indeed he is a manifest enemy of yours, one whose enmity is manifest.

And when Jesus came with the clear signs, the miracles and the prescriptions [of the Law], he said, ‘Verily I have brought you wisdom, prophethood and the prescriptions of the Gospel, and [I have come] to make clear to you some of what you are at variance over, in the way of the rulings of the Torah for what concerns religion and otherwise — and he [indeed] made clear to them the matters of religion. So fear God and obey me.

Assuredly God is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him — that is a straight path’.

But the factions differed among themselves, regarding [the status of] Jesus: was he God, or the son of God, or the third of Three [deities]? So woe (waylun is a term implying chastisement) to those who do wrong, [those] who blaspheme in what they say about Jesus, from the chastisement of a painful day.

Are they, that is, the Meccan disbelievers, awaiting anything, that is to say — they are [in fact] awaiting nothing — but that Hour should come upon them (an ta’tiyahum substitutes for al-sā‘ata, ‘the Hour’) suddenly, unexpectedly, while they are unaware?, of the time of its coming beforehand.

Friends, [who shared] in acts of disobedience in this world, will, on that day, the Day of Resurrection (yawma’idhin is semantically connected to His [following] words) be foes of one another, except for the God-fearing, those who have love for one another through their [commitment to] obedience of God — such will be friends [on that day] and it will be said to them:

‘O My servants, there is no fear for you this day, nor will you grieve,

those who believed (alladhīna āmanū adjectivally qualifies ‘ibādī, ‘My servants’) in Our signs — the Qur’ān — and had submitted themselves [to Me].

Enter Paradise, you (antum, the subject) and your spouses, your wives, to be made joyful, to be made happy and to be honoured (tuhbarūna, ‘to be made joyful’, is the predicate of the [above] subject).

They will be served from all around with [large] dishes of gold and goblets (akwāb is the plural of kūb, which is a [drinking] vessel without a handle so that the person can drink from whichever side he wants) and therein will be whatever souls desire, to relish, and eyes delight in, contemplating, and you will abide in it [forever].

And that is the Paradise which you have been given to inherit [as the reward] for what you used to do.

Therein are abundant fruits for you, from which, that is, parts of which, you will eat’, for whatever is eaten is [immediately] replaced [with more of the same].

Indeed the guilty will abide [forever] in the chastisement of Hell —

it will not be lightened for them and they will be [utterly] despondent in it, silent in despair.

And We never wronged them, but they themselves were the wrongdoers.

And they will call out, ‘O Mālik — the [name of the] Keeper of the Fire — let your Lord finish us off!’, let Him make us die. He will say, after [the passing of] a thousand years, ‘You will surely remain!’, you will remain in the chastisement forever.

God, exalted be He, says: ‘Verily We brought you, O people of Mecca, the truth, by the tongue of the Messenger, but most of you were averse to the truth’.

Or have they, that is, the disbelievers of Mecca, contrived, consolidated, some matter?, in plotting against the Prophet Muhammad (s). For We [too] are indeed contriving, [We too] are consolidating Our plan to destroy them.

Or do they reckon that We do not hear their secret thoughts and their conspiring?, that is to say, what they secretly communicate to others and what they openly conspire about among themselves. Yes indeed!, We hear [all of] that, and Our messengers, the guardians, are with them keeping a record, of that.

Say: ‘If the Compassionate One had a son, hypothetically [speaking], I would have been first among the worshippers, of that son; but it is established that He, exalted be He, does not have a child and thus there can be no worshipping of such [a child].

Glory be to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne (the ‘arsh is the [same as the] kursī) above what they allege!’, [above] the lies which they speak in ascribing a child to Him.

So leave them to indulge, their falsehoods, and play, in this world of theirs, until they encounter that day of theirs which they are promised, chastisement in, and that is the Day of Resurrection.