Аль-Бакара 2:140–196

Or do you say, O People of the Scripture, that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets from Jacob’s descendants were on the path of the Jews or Christians? Ask, O Prophet, in reply to them, whether they are more knowledgeable or is Allah. If they claim that they were Jews or Christians, then what they say is false, because they were sent and died before the Torah and the Gospel were revealed. This shows that what they say is a lie against Allah and His Prophet, and that they hid the truth of what was revealed to them. No one does greater wrong than someone who hides firm evidence that they have from Allah, as some of the People of the Scripture did. Allah is not unaware of what you do, and you will be rewarded accordingly.

That nation passed away before you, and earned what they earned from what they did. They have earned for themselves from their own actions; and you have earned from your own actions. You will not be asked about what they did, and they will not be asked about what you do. No one is held accountable for the disobedience of someone else, and no one benefits from what someone else does. Each person will receive his reward, according to what they themselves do.

The foolish and weak-minded among the Jews, and those like them from among the hypocrites, will ask what turned the Muslims away from the prayer direction of Jerusalem, which was their direction of prayer before. Tell them, O Prophet, in reply, that to Allah belongs the east and the west and every direction, and He directs whomever He wills of His servants to whatever direction He wills. He guides whom He wills of His servants to the right path which is free of distortions and misguidance.

Just as I made a direction of prayer for you, I have chosen you to be a good, just and balanced nation from among all the communities: in your beliefs and your ways of worship and in your transactions, so that you will be witnesses for the prophets of Allah on the Day of Judgement, confirming that they delivered the messages Allah instructed them to deliver to their people; and so that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) will also witness that he delivered his message to you. Allah changed the direction of prayer that you used to face (Jerusalem) to demonstrate who was content with Allah’s decree, willingly doing as He instructed and following the Messenger; and to also demonstrate who turned away from his religion, following his own desires and not obeying Allah’s sacred law. The first change of prayer direction was difficult, except for those who Allah granted faith to and who were certain that whatever He decrees for His servants has far reaching wisdom and underlying reasons behind it. Allah will not make you lose your faith in Him, or your good actions, including the prayers you prayed before the change of prayer direction. Allah is kind and compassionate with people, not overburdening them, and they will not lose the reward for their actions.

God saw you, O Prophet, turning your face and gazing towards the heavens, anticipating revelation about changing the direction of prayer to the place you loved. God will turn you to a prayer direction which you will be pleased with, to the Sacred House of God, instead of the prayer direction you now face, so turn your face to the Sacred House of God in Makkah, and wherever you are, O believers, turn towards it to perform your prayers. Those who have been given the Scripture, the Jews and the Christians, know well that the change of prayer direction is the truth revealed from their Creator Who arranges and manages their lives, as it is clear in their Scripture. God is not unaware of what those who turn away from the truth do. He, glory be to Him, is aware of everything, and will reward them according to their actions.

By God! If you provided the Jews and Christians who have been given the Scripture with every sign and proof that the change of prayer direction was the truth, they would not face your prayer direction, stubborn against what you say and too proud to follow the truth. You will not face their prayer direction after God has directed you away from it, and they will not face the prayer directions of one another, because each group calls the other disbelievers, and because they follow their desires in the matter of the prayer direction and in other sacred laws and rulings, even after the true knowledge which was revealed to you and about which there is no doubt. If you were to leave guidance, and follow their desires, you would certainly be of the wrongdoers. Here God addresses the Prophet(s) directly to show how wrong it would be to follow them. Of course, God has protected the prophet himself from ever doing so, and this as a warning for his followers after him.

The scholars of the Jews and the Christians to whom Allah gave the scripture recognise Muhammad (peace be upon him) as completely as they recognise their own children and distinguish them from others. Nevertheless, a group of them hide the truth that has come to them, out of envy, fully aware that it is the truth.

This is the truth from your Lord, so make absolutely certain, O Messenger, that you are not one of those who doubt its truth.

Every nation has a direction they turn to, whether physically or spiritually. For this reason, there is a difference between them in their directions of prayer and in their sacred laws. There is nothing wrong with them facing different directions if it is by Allah’s command and law, so try to outdo each other, O believers, in doing the good actions that you have been instructed to do. Allah will bring you together from wherever you may be on the Day of Judgement, to reward you according to what you have done. Allah has power over all things. It is not difficult for Him to bring you all together and reward you.

Wherever you come from and wherever you are, you, O Prophet, and your followers are to face towards the Sacred Mosque (the Kaaba in Makkah) when you want to pray. It is the truth that has been revealed to you from your Lord. Allah is not unaware of what you do. Rather, He is aware of all that you do, and you will be rewarded accordingly.

Wherever you come from, O Prophet, when you want to pray, turn towards the direction of the Sacred Mosque; and wherever you may be, O believers, turn your face towards it if you want to pray, so that the people will have no argument against you, except those of them who are wrongdoers. They will remain in their stubbornness, arguing against you with the weakest of arguments. Do not fear them, but fear your Lord alone, following His instructions and keeping away from what He has prohibited. Allah instructed you to face the Kaaba to perfect His blessings upon you, distinguishing you from all other communities and guiding you to the noblest direction of prayer.

Allah blessed you in another way: sending a messenger to you from among you, who recites His verses, purifying you by directing you to virtue and goodness and forbidding you from evil and wrong, teaching you the Qur’ān and the Sunnah, and teaching you worldly and sacred knowledge which you did not know.

So, remember Allah with your hearts and your whole beings, and He will remember you with approval and protection, for you are rewarded according to what you do. Also, be grateful to Allah for the blessings He has given you, and do not be ungrateful by denying them or using them in prohibited ways.

O you who have faith in Allah and follow His Messenger, ask for help from Allah in everything, through the beauty of patience and by establishing the prayer in the way Allah has instructed. Allah is truly with those who are patient, giving them success and helping them.

Do not say, O believers, about those who are killed whilst striving in Allah’s path that they are dead just as others are; rather, they are alive with their Lord, but you do not realise that they are living, because the way in which they are alive can only be understood through revelation from Allah.

Allah will test people with different types of hardships: some with fear of those who are against them; hunger because of lack of food; lack of money because of losing it or difficulty gaining it; loss of lives due to death from diseases and tragedies that kill people, or being martyred for the sake of Allah; and a lack of resources from the earth. Give good news, O Prophet, to those who are patient in the face of these hardships, of what will make them happy in this world and in the Afterlife.

The patient are those who, when they are struck by one of these hardships, say, in acceptance, that all power belongs to Allah, He deals with us as He wills, and we will return to Him on the Day of Judgement, and it is He Who created us and showers us with many blessings; so, to Him is our return and our end.

Those who possess these virtues are praised by Allah in the highest gathering of angels, and mercy descends on them. They are the ones guided to the path of truth.

The two mountains known as Ṣafā and Marwah, near to the Kaaba, are landmarks of the clear sacred law. Whoever goes to the Kaaba to perform the acts of Hajj or Umrah, there is no fault in them walking between the two mountains. By clarifying that there was no fault in this action, Allah was comforting those Muslims who avoided walking between the mountains because they feared it was an unacceptable action from the time of ignorance before Islam; but Allah made it clear that the walking between the mountains was an acceptable act of Hajj. Whoever sincerely does what is recommended of voluntary sacred acts, Allah acknowledges them and rewards them. He is aware of who does good and is worthy of being rewarded.

Those Jews and Christians who hide the clear proofs which Allah revealed showing the truth of the Prophet and what he brought, after Allah had made it clear to the people in their scriptures, Allah removes them from His mercy; and all the angels, the prophets and people call for them to be removed from His mercy.

The exception is those who repent to Allah, asking for forgiveness, and regretting having hidden these clear signs, correcting what they do outwardly and inwardly, and making clear the truth and guidance which they had hidden. Allah accepts their repentance to Him. He turns to those who turn to Him, asking for forgiveness and regretting what they have done, and He forgives and is compassionate with them.

Those who disbelieve and die in disbelief, not having repented, they are condemned by Allah by being removed from His mercy; and the angels and people all call for them to be removed and excluded from Allah’s mercy.

They will always be condemned, and their punishment will not be lightened, not even for a day; and they will not be given any extra time on the Day of Judgement.

O people, your Allah is the true Allah, the One, unique in His essence and attributes. There is no other true god, and He is the Merciful and His mercy is vast. He is Compassionate with His creation, surrounding them with many blessings.

The following are clear signs of the Oneness of Allah, glory be to Him, for those who understand the evidence and proof: the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the wonders in them; the succession of night and day; the passing of life and death; happiness and sorrow; wealth and poverty; ships that sail through the waters of the sea, carrying food, clothing, trade and other things that people need and which benefit them; water that Allah sends down, bringing the earth to life with the agriculture and pasture that grows in it, and the living creatures He spreads out in it; the changing of the winds from one direction to another; and the clouds, controlled between the sky and the earth.

Even with these clear signs, there are people who take others besides Allah as their gods, considering them equal to Him, and loving them as they love Allah. Those who have real faith love Allah more than those others love their gods: they do not worship anyone besides Him; and they love Him in hardship and in ease, while those others only love their gods when things are going well – when things go badly, they call on Allah alone. If the wrongdoers could see with their own eyes the punishment that waits in the Afterlife for those who worship others with Allah and commit sins, then they would know that all power belongs to Allah alone and that He is firm in punishing those who stubbornly rebel. If they saw this, then they would not worship anyone with Allah.

Then the leaders who were followed in disbelief will reject the weak people who followed them because of seeing the terrors and hardships of the Day of Judgement; so, all ties and means of escape will be cut off from them.

The weak and those who followed will say, ‘If only we could go back to the earth, we would reject our leaders as they reject us’. Allah shows them the severe punishment in the Afterlife and the consequence of following their leaders in falsehood: regrets and sorrow, and they will never leave the fire of Hell.

O people, eat from the meat, vegetables and fruits of the earth which are lawful and good, and not harmful. Do not follow the actions of Satan and his evil whisperings: he is a clear enemy who is hostile to you – anyone with sense would not follow an enemy who wants to harm and mislead them.

Satan only commands harmful, evil actions and disobedience that will bring hardship, as well as for you to say things about faith in Allah and His sacred laws that have not been given to you by Allah or His Prophet.

If these disbelievers are told to follow the guidance and light which Allah revealed, they say, resisting stubbornly, that they will follow the beliefs and customs that their fathers followed. Do they follow their fathers even though they understood nothing of guidance or the light, and were not guided to the truth that Allah accepts?

The example of those who disbelieve and stubbornly follow the path of their fathers is like the example of the shepherd who shouts, calling to his animals that hear his voice, but do not understand what he says. They are deaf to hearing the truth so that it will benefit them, dumb as they are unable to speak about the truth, and blind to seeing it, and because of this they do not understand the guidance which you call them to.

O you who have faith in Allah and follow His Messenger, consume the good things that Allah has provided and allowed for you; and be thankful to Allah, outwardly and inwardly, for the overwhelming blessings He has given you. Part of being thankful to Him is acting with complete devotion to Him and not going against Him, if you truly worship Him alone, and do not worship anything besides Him.

Allah has only forbidden you from consuming that which died without being sacrificed according to the sacred law and having its blood flow, the meat of pigs and what has had other than Allah’s name mentioned over it when it was sacrificed. Yet if someone is forced to eat something of these forbidden types, and does not sin by eating it when they are not in need, nor do they go beyond the limit of what is necessary, then they have done no wrong and will receive no punishment. Allah is Forgiving and Compassionate to whomever repents to Him; and it is from His mercy that He overlooks the eating of forbidden things when it is necessary.

Those who hide what Allah revealed in the scriptures and the signs of the truth and prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) – as the Jews and Christians did, getting something small in return for what they hide, such as leadership, status or money – they only fill their stomachs with that which will cause them to suffer in the fire of Hell. Then on the Day of Judgement, Allah will not speak to them with words that make them joyful; but they will only hear that which makes them sad: they will not be praised, and they will have a painful punishment.

Those who hide knowledge exchange guidance for misguidance, as they hid the truth, and exchange the forgiveness of Allah for His punishment. How determined they are to do things that will lead them into the fire of Hell, as if they do not realize what suffering it contains!

That punishment is what they get for hiding knowledge and guidance, because Allah revealed the sacred scriptures in truth, which must be made clear and not hidden. Also, those who disagree with the sacred scripture, believing some of it and hiding some of it, have taken a position that is far from the truth.

Doing good that pleases Allah does not just mean turning towards the east or the west or disputing about that. Rather, it is having faith in Allah as the only God, the Day of Judgement, all of the angels, all of the revealed scriptures and all of the prophets, without distinguishing between them; charitable spending, despite loving and valuing wealth, to relatives, orphans, the poor, the stranger who is cut off from his family and homeland because of a journey, and whoever has a need that makes it necessary for them to ask people for help; giving money to free slaves from captivity; establishing the prayer as Allah instructed; giving Zakat; being true to promises; and patience in poverty, hardship, illness and in times of conflict without fleeing. Such people are those who are true to Allah in their faith and in what they do. They are the Mindful who follow what Allah has instructed them to do, and who stay away from what Allah has prohibited.

O you who have faith in Allah and follow His Messenger, it is decreed for you that in cases where someone deliberately attacks and kills someone, the punishment for the murderer should be the same as their crime: the freeman killed for the freeman; the slave for the slave; and the female for the female. If the person killed had forgiven before his death, or his guardian has forgiven in return for the payment of blood money (a sum of money paid by the murderer in return for being pardoned), then the person who forgives should ask for the sum of money fairly, and not follow that up with insult or injury, and the murderer should pay the sum of money in a good way, without hesitation or delay. In allowing this forgiveness and the payment of the blood money your Lord makes things easier for you, and this is a mercy for the Muslim nation. Whoever attacks the murderer after his pardon and the acceptance of the blood money will receive a painful punishment from Allah.

In the law of equivalent punishment decreed by Allah there is life for you, because it spares your blood, stopping further attacks between you. Those with sense understand this: who are mindful of Allah, keeping to His sacred law and doing as He instructs.

It has been decreed for you that if one of you is about to die, and they are leaving a large amount of wealth behind, then they should make a will for their parents and close relatives, according to the sacred laws, not exceeding one third of the wealth (the rest of the wealth being distributed according to the laws of inheritance). Making this will is a firm duty on those who are mindful of Allah. This ruling was revealed before the verses about inheritance. When the verses about inheritance were revealed it was made clear who should inherit from the person who has died and how much they should inherit.

Whoever then changes the will, adding to it or taking away from it or stopping something when they know what the will contains, the sin of it will be upon those who changed it, and the person who wrote the will is not held responsible for what they did. Allah hears all that His creation say, and knows all that they do; and He knows every detail of the situations they are in.

Whoever knows that there is an error in judgement from the person who made the will, or that there is some injustice in it, and advises the person and rectifies the wrong, and reconciles between those who are in disagreement about it, then there is no blame on them; rather they are rewarded for putting things right. Allah is Forgiving towards whomever of His servants repents to Him, and is Compassionate with them.

O you who have faith in Allah and follow His Prophet, Allah has ordered you to fast, as He ordered those before you, so that you may become mindful of Allah, protecting yourself from His punishment by doing good actions – fasting being one of the best of these.

You are ordered to fast for a small number of days in the year. Yet whoever of you is ill, with an illness that makes fasting difficult, or travelling, then they do not need to fast; but they can make up for these days by fasting the same number of other days. Those who are able to fast, but do not, should compensate by feeding a poor person for every day they did not fast. Fasting is better for you than not fasting and feeding a poor person instead, if you only knew what goodness there is in fasting. This was the first of Allah’s laws about fasting: whoever wanted to fast did so; and whoever did not want to fast was permitted not to, and fed a poor person instead. Afterwards Allah made fasting a duty for every able person who has reached puberty.

The Qur’ān was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on the Night of Decree in the month of Ramadan. Allah revealed it as a guidance for people, with clear proofs of its guidance, and the criterion between the truth and falsehood. Whoever reaches the month of Ramadan, and is well and healthy, is required to fast; and whoever is ill, or for whom fasting is difficult, or is travelling, then they may break their fast. If they do not fast then they must perform make-up fasts for the days they missed at another time. Allah intends ease, and not hardship, in what He decrees for you; and wants you to complete the right number of days and to glorify Him upon the completion of Ramadan, on the day of Eid, as He helped you and made it possible for you to fast, so that you thank Allah for guiding you to this religion which He has approved for you.

If they ask you, O Prophet, about how close Allah is and about His answering of prayers, Allah is close to them and knows everything about them. He hears their prayer, and they do not need intermediaries or to raise their voices. Allah responds to the call of whoever calls Him sincerely, praying to Him; so, let them be devoted to Him and His sacred law, firm in their faith, as that is the best route to Allah’s response – perhaps in that way they might be rightly guided in worldly and sacred matters.

At first it was not allowed for a man, if he had gone to sleep on the night of the fast and then woke up before dawn, to eat or drink, or approach his wife. Allah replaced this ruling, allowing you, O believers, to have relations with your wives during the nights of fasting. They are a protection for you, keeping you pure, and you are a cover for them, keeping them pure. You both need each other. Allah knew that you were betraying yourselves by doing what you were not allowed to, so He had mercy on you, turning to you when you asked for forgiveness, and made things easier for you. So, have relations with them, and seek the children Allah has decreed you, and eat and drink during the whole of the night, until the break of true dawn is clear to you. Then complete your fast, not consuming anything from the break of dawn until sunset. But do not have relations with your wives when you are in spiritual retreat in the mosques, because that invalidates the retreat. These laws are the limits of Allah: between what is allowed and what is forbidden– so do not go near them. Whoever goes near the limits of Allah is close to falling into what is prohibited. By clearly setting out such laws, Allah makes His signs obvious to people so that they may be mindful of Him, and do what He instructs and leave what He has prohibited.

Do not take each other’s wealth unjustly: robbing it or taking it by force or by cheating, and then making it a legal dispute in order to obtain other’s wealth wrongfully, when you know that Allah has prohibited that. Committing a sin knowingly is the worst of things and has the greatest of punishments.

They ask you, O Messenger, about the formation of the new moons and their changing states. Tell them in reply about the wisdom behind them: that they measure time for people, so that they know when to do their acts of worship, such as the months of Hajj and fasting, and the completion of the year for Zakat; they also fix the time frames of transactions, such as the deadlines for paying blood money or debts. It is not righteousness or goodness that you come to houses from the rear wearing your iḥrām for Hajj or Umrah, as they used to claim during the time of ignorance before Islam. Rather, true righteousness is the righteousness of whoever is mindful, outwardly and inwardly. So, enter houses from their correct doors, because it is easier for you and less troublesome. Allah does not overburden you with difficulty, so protect yourself from the punishment of Allah by doing good, in order that you may be successful in achieving what you wish for, and in escaping from what you fear.

Fight in order to raise the word of Allah, against those of the disbelievers who fight you to turn you away from the religion of Allah; but do not overstep the limits of Allah by killing children, women, the elderly, or by mutilating the dead and so on. Allah does not love those who overstep the limits He has established and made sacred.

And kill them where you come across them, and make them leave the place they made you leave - which is Makkah. And oppression that stops those who believe from worshipping, making them return to disbelief and ungratefulness is worse than killing. And do not fight with them in the Sacred Mosque, out of respect for it, unless they start fighting you there. If they start fighting in the Sacred Mosque, then kill them. And fighting them if they attack in the Sacred mosque is the reward of those who deny the truth.

If these aggressive disbelievers stop fighting you and stop disbelieving, then stop fighting them. Allah Forgiving to whomever repents to Him with regret, asking for forgiveness, and does not hold them to account for the disobedience they did before. He is Compassionate with them and not quick to punish.

Fight the disbelievers until they do not prevent people from Allah’s path and there is no disbelief, and until the dominant way of life is the path of Allah. But if they stop their disbelief and stop preventing others from the path of Allah, then stop fighting them. There is to be no aggression except against those who oppress, through disbelief and by preventing people from the path of Allah.

The sacred month in which Allah allowed you to enter the Sacred Mosque and perform Umrah in the seventh year after the Migration is a compensation for the sacred month when you were stopped by the idolaters from entering the Sacred Mosque in the sixth year after the Migration. The law of equality applies when the limits are overstepped in regards to sacred things, such as the sacred land, the sacred month and being in an ordered state of purity (iḥrām) for pilgrimage to the Sacred Mosque. When someone wrongs you in any of these, treat them as they treated you, but do not go beyond what they have done: Allah does not love those who overstep His limits. Be mindful of Allah by not going beyond what He has given you permission to do. Know that Allah is with those who are mindful of Him, giving them success and supporting them.

Spend your wealth in obedience to Allah, in striving for His sake, and do not throw yourselves into destruction, by leaving the struggle and spending for His sake, or by throwing yourselves into something that will cause your destruction. Behave with excellence and kindness in your worship, transactions and behaviour. Allah loves those who always do good: giving them a greater reward and leading them to true guidance.

Perform Hajj and Umrah in a complete way, seeking only Allah’s pleasure. If you are prevented from completing them by illness or an enemy, then you should sacrifice what is easily available of sacrificial animals, such as camels, cows or sheep, before you take off your Iḥrām, and do not shave your heads or cut your hair until the sacrificial animals have reached their place. If you are prevented from entering the Sacred Sanctuary, then perform the sacrifice wherever you have stopped; yet if you can enter it, then do it on the Day of Sacrifice (10th of Dhū Al-Ḥijjah) or at least within the days of tashrīq (11, 12 and 13 of Dhū Al-Ḥijjah). Whoever among you is ill or has some problem with his hair or his head, like lice or something similar, whoever shaved his head for that reason, then that is not a problem; but they should instead fast for three days, or feed six poor people from the area of the Sanctuary, or sacrifice a sheep to be distributed among the poor of the Sanctuary. If you are living in times of peace, then whoever takes the opportunity to perform Umrah in the months of Hajj, enjoying in between those things that are not allowed when performing the pilgrimages, they should sacrifice whatever is easily available: a sheep, or a seventh of a camel or cow. If they are unable to make a sacrifice, then they must fast for three days during the days of Hajj to make up for it, and seven more days when they return home, making ten days all together. This practice of having a break between Umrah and Hajj and sacrificing an animal or fasting for those unable to make a sacrifice is only for people who do not live within or close to the Sanctuary of the Sacred Mosque. As for those who live within the Sanctuary or close to it, they do not do this, because they have no need to due to their constant being there and enjoying being able to make Umrah or Tawaf freely any other time of the year. Be mindful of Allah by following what He makes sacred law, and by respecting His limits, and know that Allah is firm in punishing those who go against what He instructs.