Al-Hijr

Alif lām rā’: God knows best what He means by these [letters]. Those — these verses — are the verses of the Book, the Qur’ān (āyātu’l-kitābi: this annexation functions in the sense of min, ‘from’) and of a manifest Qur’ān, one that makes evident what is truth and what is falsehood (wa-qur’ānin mubīnin is [made up of] a supplement with an added adjectival qualification).

It may be that (read rubbamā or rubamā) those who disbelieve, on the Day of Resurrection, when they witness their predicament and that of the Muslims, will wish that they had been muslims (rubba here is used to indicate ‘many’, since many of them will wish this; but it is also said to indicate ‘few’, since they will be so stupefied by the terrors that they will not come out of their stupor to wish such a thing, except on a few occasions:

Leave them, the disbelievers, O Muhammad (s), to eat and to enjoy, this world of theirs, and that they be diverted, distracted, by hope, of a long life and other [such] matters, [that keep them] away from faith, for they will come to know, the sequel of their affair — this was [revealed] before the command to fight [them].

And We did not destroy any town (min qaryatin: min is extra), meaning, its inhabitants, but that it had a known decree, a [pre-]determined term, after which it would be destroyed.

No community (min ummatin: min is extra) can outstrip its [predetermined] term nor can they [seek to] delay it, [nor can they] put it off.

And they, that is, the disbelievers of Mecca, say, to the Prophet (s): ‘O you, to whom the Remembrance, the Qur’ān — as you claim — has been revealed, lo! you are indeed possessed!

Why do you not bring us the angels, if you are of the truthful?’, in saying that you are a prophet and that this Qur’ān is from God.

God, exalted be He, says: The angels do not descend (tanazzalu: one of the two tā’ letters [of tatanazzalu] has been omitted) save with the truth, with the chastisement; and then, that is, upon the descent of the angels with the chastisement, they [the disbelievers] would not be reprieved, [would not] be granted respite.

Verily it is We (nahnu emphasises the subject of inna, or [functions as] a separating pronoun) Who have revealed the Remembrance, the Qur’ān, and assuredly We will preserve it, against substitution, distortion, additions and omissions.

And verily We sent before you, messengers, to former factions, sects.

And never did a messenger come to them but that they mocked him, in the same way that your people have mocked you — this is meant to comfort the Prophet (s).

Thus We cause it to find its way, in other words, in the same way that We have caused denial to enter the hearts of those [individuals], We cause it to enter, into the hearts of the sinners, that is, the disbelievers of Mecca.

They do not believe in him, in the Prophet (s), even though the example of the men of old has already gone before, that is, the way of God [in dealing] with them [those of old], by chastising them for denying [the truthfulness of] their prophets: those [Meccans] are like these former.

And even if We were to open for them a gate from the heaven, and they were to continue ascending through it, the gate,

they would say, ‘It is merely that our eyes have been dazzled, they have been shut. Nay, we are a folk bewitched!’, imagining this.

And verily We have placed in the heaven constellations, twelve [of them]: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo (al-sunbula), Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces, which are the mansions of the seven orbiting planets: Mars rules Aries and Scorpio, Venus: Taurus and Libra, Mercury: Gemini and Virgo, the Moon: Cancer, the Sun: Leo, Jupiter: Sagittarius and Pisces, and Saturn: Capricorn and Aquarius; and We have adorned it, with [these] planets, for beholders;

and We have guarded them, with meteors, from every outcast devil;

except the one who listens by stealth — he is pursued by a clear flame, a shining meteor that burns him, or pierces him or drives him insane.

And the earth We have stretched it out, spread it flat, and cast therein firm mountains, lest it should sway beneath its inhabitants, and caused to grow therein every kind of balanced thing, [every kind of thing] known and determined.

And We have made for you therein [means of] livelihood (read ma‘āyish), such as fruits and grains, and, We have made [this] for you, those for whom you do not provide, such as servants, [crawling] creatures and cattle; it is God Who provides for them.

And there is not a thing but that the stores thereof, the keys to its stores, are with Us, and We do not send it down except in a known measure, according to the benefits [of all creatures].

And We send the winds as fertilisers, to fertilise the clouds, whereupon they fill up with water, and send down out of the heaven, [out of] the clouds, water, rain, so that We give it to you to drink, for you are not the storers thereof, that is, the stores thereof are not in your control.

Indeed it is We Who give life and bring death, and We are the heirs, Who shall endure, inheriting all creation.

And verily We know the predecessors among you, that is, those creatures from Adam who have already passed, and verily We know the successors, those who will come afterwards, until the Day of Resurrection.

And it is indeed your Lord Who will gather them, lo! He is Wise, in His actions, Knower, of His creatures.

And verily We created man, Adam, out of a dry [clinking] clay, that gives off a clinking sound when it is tapped, of malleable mud, black [mud].

And the jānn, the father of the jinn, namely, Iblīs, We created beforehand — that is, before the creation of Adam — out of the permeative fire, a smokeless fire that can escape through openings.

And, mention, when your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am going to create a mortal out of a dry clay [drawn] from a malleable mud.

So, when I have proportioned him, completed him, and breathed, caused to flow, of My Spirit in him, so that he becomes a living thing — the annexation of ‘the Spirit’ to him is a conferring of honour upon Adam — fall down in prostration before him!’, a prostration [meant as an act] of salutation by bowing.

And so the angels prostrated, all of them together (kulluhum ajma‘ūn contains two elements of emphasis),

except Iblīs, the father of the jinn — he was [standing] among the angels: he refused to be among those prostrating.

He, [God] exalted be He: ‘O Iblīs what is wrong with you, what prevents you, that you are not among those prostrating?’

Said he, ‘I was not about to prostrate myself, I should not prostrate myself, before a mortal whom You have created out of a dry clay [drawn] from malleable mud’.

Said He, ‘Then be gone from hence, that is, from the Garden — but it is also said, from the heavens — for you are indeed accursed, outcast.

And indeed the curse shall rest upon you until the Day of Judgement’, [the Day] of Requital.

Said he, ‘My Lord! Reprieve me until the day when they, mankind, shall be resurrected’.

Said He, ‘Then lo! you are of those reprieved,

until the day of the known time’, the time of [the blowing of] the First Trumpet.

Said he, ‘My Lord, because You have lead me astray (bi-mā, ‘because’, the bi- is for oaths, the response for which is [what follows]) I shall adorn for them [evil acts], acts of disobedience, in the earth and I shall lead them astray, all of them;

except those servants of Yours who are sincerely devoted [to You]’, namely, believers.

He, [God] exalted be He, said, ‘This is a straight path [leading] to Me,

in other words, truly over My servants, that is, believers, you shall have no warrant, [no] power, except those who follow you from among the perverse, the disbelievers.

And truly Hell shall be their tryst, all of them, that is, all those who follow you, shall be with you [in Hell].

It has seven gates, [seven] layers — to each gate, therein, belongs an appointed portion, lot, of them.

Truly the God-fearing shall be amidst gardens, orchards, and springs’, flowing through them.

And it shall be said to them: ‘Enter them in peace, that is, safe from all danger — or [it means enter] with [the greeting of] ‘Peace!’, in other words: say, ‘Peace’ and then enter, secure!’, from all terror.

And We remove whatever rancour, spite, may be in their breasts. As brethren (ikhwānan is a circumstantial qualifier referring to them), [they shall recline] upon couches, facing one another (mutaqābilīn is also a circumstantial qualifier), in other words, they do not look upon each other’s backs, because the couches revolve with them in them.

No toil, [no] weariness, will touch them, nor will they be expelled from thence, ever.

Tell, inform, O Muhammad (s), My servants that verily I am the Forgiving, of believers, the Merciful, to them,

and that My chastisement, of those who are disobedient, is the painful chastisement.

And tell them of the guests of Abraham, that is, the angels — there were twelve, ten or three of them, among them Gabriel;

[how] when they entered unto him, and said, ‘Peace!’, that is, [they said] this very word (salām). He, Abraham, said, after having offered them food which they did not eat: ‘Lo! we are afraid of you’.

They said, ‘Do not be afraid; lo!, we, are the messengers of your Lord [sent to], give you good tidings of a knowledgeable boy’, one very knowledgeable [boy], namely, Isaac — as we mentioned in sūrat Hūd [Q. 11:69].

He said, ‘Do you give me good tidings, of a boy, when old age has befallen me?’ (‘alā an massaniya l-kibaru is a circumstantial qualifier), in other words, despite the fact of its having befallen me? So, of what, thing, do you give me good tidings?’ (an interrogative meant to indicate amazement).

They said, ‘We give you good tidings in truth, sincerely; so do not be of the despairing’, the despondent.

He said, ‘And who — in other words, no one — despairs (read yaqnitu or yaqnatu) of the mercy of his Lord, save those who are astray?’, [save] disbelievers.

He said, ‘So what is your business, O you who have been sent [by God]?’

They said, ‘We have been sent to a sinning folk, a disbelieving [folk], namely, the people of Lot, in order to destroy them;

[all] except the family of Lot; indeed we shall save them, all of them, because of their faith,

except his wife — We have decreed that she indeed should be of those who will remain behind’, [of] those who will stay behind in the chastisement, because of her unbelief.

And when those who had been sent [by God] came to the family of Lot, that is, to Lot [himself],

he said, to them, ‘Indeed you are strangers’, that is, I do not know you.

They said, ‘Rather, we have come to you because of that which they, your people, used to doubt, namely, the chastisement.

And we have brought you the Truth and indeed we speak truthfully, in what we say.

So travel with your family in a portion of the night and follow their rear, walk behind them; and let none of you turn round, lest he see the dreadful nature of that [punishment] which will be sent down on them, and go whither you are commanded’, namely, [to] Syria.

And We conveyed, We revealed, to him the matter, which was, that these [sinners] was to be eradicated by morning (musbihīn is a circumstantial qualifier,), in other words, their annihilation will take place in the morning.

And then came the people of the city, the city of Sodom, that is, the people of Lot, upon being told that there were handsome clean-shaven individuals — namely, the angels — in the house of Lot, rejoicing (yastabshirūn is a circumstantial qualifier), desiring to commit an abomination with them.

He, Lot, said, ‘Lo! these are my guests, so do not disgrace me;

and fear God, and do not humiliate me’, by seeking them to commit an abomination with them.

They said, ‘Have we not forbidden you from [entertaining] anyone?’, from offering them hospitality?

He said, ‘These here are my daughters, if you must be doing’, what you desire [to do] in the way of satisfying your lust, then marry them. God, exalted be He, says:

By your life — this is an address to the Prophet (s) — in their drunkenness they were bewildered, hesitant.

Then the Cry, the Cry of Gabriel, seized them at sunrise.

And We made their, that is, their cities’, topmost part their nethermost, by Gabriel’s raising them [the cities] to the heaven and dropping them face down onto the earth, and We rained on them stones of baked clay, clay baked in fire.

Indeed in that, which is mentioned, there are signs, indications of God’s Oneness, for those who take note, [those who] observe and take heed.

And indeed they, that is, the cities of the people of Lot, are on a road that [still] remains, Quraysh’s route to Syria, [one] not yet effaced: so why do they not take heed from their example?

There is indeed a sign, a lesson, in that for believers.

And certainly (in has been softened, in other words [understand it as being] innahu) the dwellers in the wood, a huddle of trees near Midian — these were the people of [the prophet] Shu‘ayb — were evildoers, for denying Shu‘ayb.

So We exacted retribution from them, by destroying them through extreme heat. And certainly both of them, that is, the cities of the people of Lot and those of [the dwellers in] the wood, are upon a open road, plain [to see]: so will you not take heed from their example, O people of Mecca?

And verily the dwellers in al-Hijr — a valley between Medina and Syria — namely, [the tribe of] Thamūd, denied those who had been sent [by God], when they denied [the prophet] Sālih, as this constituted a denial of the other messengers, since they all shared the fact that they came with [the Message proclaiming] the Oneness of God.

And We brought them Our signs, by way of the she-camel [of Sālih], but they were averse [to them], refusing to reflect on them.

And they used to hew out dwellings from the mountains, feeling secure.

But the Cry seized them in the morning.

And so that which they used to count as gain, in the way of building fortresses and amassing riches, did not avail, [did not] protect, them, from the chastisement.

We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them save with the Truth. And truly the Hour shall come, without doubt, whereupon every person will be requited according to his deeds. So be forgiving, O Muhammad (s), to your people, with gracious forgiveness: turn away from them without [any feeling of] anxiety — this was abrogated by the ‘sword’ verse [Q. 9:5].

Truly your Lord, He is the Creator, of everything, the Knowing, of everything.

And verily We have given you seven of the oft-repeated [verses] — the Prophet (s) said that this meant [sūrat] al-Fātiha, as reported by the two Shaykhs [Bukhārī and Muslim], since it is repeated in every unit of prayer (rak‘a) — and the great Qur’ān.

Do not extend your glance toward that which We have given different groups of them to enjoy, and do not grieve for them, should they not believe, and lower your wing, temper your nature, for the believers.

And say: ‘Indeed, I am the warner, of God’s chastisement, lest it be sent down on you, the clear [warner], clear in [his] warning.

Even as We sent down, chastisement, on those who make division, the Jews and the Christians,

those who have reduced the Recitation, namely, those scriptures revealed to them, to parts, believing in some and disbelieving in others. It is [alternatively] said that the individuals meant here were those who ‘divided up’ among themselves the roads to Mecca, barring people from Islam. Some of them said that the Qur’ān was sorcery, some that it was soothsaying, and others that it was poetry.

By your Lord, We shall question them all — a questioning involving rebuke —

about what they used to do.

So proclaim, O Muhammad (s), what you have been commanded, to [proclaim], in other words, declare it openly and carry it out, and turn away from the idolaters — this was [revealed] before the command to struggle [against the idolaters].

Indeed We have sufficed you against the mockers, [who mocked] you, by Our having destroyed each one of them through some harm, and these were: al-Walīd b. al-Mughīra, al-‘Āsī b. Wā’il, ‘Udayy b. Qays, al-Aswad b. al-Muttalib and al-Aswad b. ‘Abd Yaghūth,

those [mockers] who set up besides God another god: (this [entire clause] is an adjectival qualification; but it is also said to be the subject, and because there is an implicit conditional meaning [in the above-mentioned clause], the [particle] fā’ has been inserted into the predicate, which is [the following]) soon they will know, the sequel of their affair.

And verily (wa-laqad is for confirmation) We know that your breast is [at times] oppressed by what they say, in the way of mockery and denial.

So glorify, intimately [repeating], the praise of your Lord, in other words, say subhāna’Llāhi wa-bi-hamdihi — and be of those who prostrate themselves, those who pray;

and worship your Lord until Certainty — Death — comes to you.