Al-Anbya

Nigh has drawn for mankind, the people of Mecca, the deniers of the Resurrection, their reckoning, [on] the Day of Resurrection, yet they are heedless, of it, disregardful, of the preparation [required] for it by way of [embracing] faith.

There does not come to them any new reminder from their Lord, [revealed] gradually, in other words, [new] words of the Qur’ān, but they listen to it as they play, [as they] engage in mockery,

with their hearts preoccupied, heedless of its meanings. And they are secret in [their] conference, [their] speech, [they] the evildoers (alladhīna zalamū, a substitution for the [third person plural indicator] wāw of wa-asarrū’l-najwā, ‘and they are secret in conference’) ‘Is this, namely, Muhammad (s), other than a [mortal] human being like yourselves?, and so what he produces is [mere] sorcery. Will you then take [to] sorcery, [will] you [succumb and] follow it, even though you are able to see?’, [even though] you know that it is sorcery?

He said, to them, ‘My Lord knows the words, that are [spoken], in the heavens and the earth, and He is the Hearer, of what they keep secret, the Knower’, of it.

Nay (bal, in the three instances [below] effects a transition from one subject to another) but they say, regarding those parts of the Qur’ān he [the Prophet] has brought [to them] are: ‘A muddle of nightmares, a confusion [of things] he has seen in [his] sleep. Nay, he has fabricated it, he has invented it; nay, he is a poet, and what he has brought is [merely] poetry! So let him bring us a sign, such as was sent to the ancients’, like the she-camel [Sālih], the staff and the [glowing] hand [of Moses]. God, exalted be He, says:

No town before them ever believed — meaning [none of] its inhabitants — of those that We destroyed, for the denial of the signs brought to them. Would they then believe? No.

And We sent none before you other than men to whom We revealed (read nūhī or yūhā, ‘[to whom] it is revealed’) and [We sent] not any angels. Ask the People of the Remembrance, those with knowledge of the Torah and the Gospel, if you do not know, this; for they will know it. Since you are more likely to believe them than the believers are to believing Muhammad (s).

And We did not make them, namely, the messengers, bodies that did not eat food, nay, they eat it; and they were not immortal, in this world.

Then We fulfilled to them the promise, to deliver them. So We delivered them and whomever We would, [of] those who believed in them, and We destroyed the prodigal, those who denied them.

Now We have sent down [as revelation] to you, O clan of Quraysh, a Book in which there is the remembrance that is yours, for it is in your language. Will you not understand?, and so believe in it?

And how many did We destroy of towns — meaning its inhabitants — that had been wrongdoing, disbelieving, and brought forth another people after it!

And when they felt Our might, [when] the inhabitants of the town sensed destruction [to be near], behold, they ran away from it, they flee hastily [therefrom].

But the angels said to them scornfully: ‘Do not run [away]! Return to the opulence, the comforts, which you were given to enjoy and your dwelling-places, that perhaps you might be asked’, for something of your worldly possessions as usual.

They said, ‘O (yā is for calling attention [to something]) woe to us!, [this is] our destruction! We have indeed been doing wrong’, through [our] disbelief.

So that, saying, remained their cry, which they would make and repeat, until We made them as reaped [crops], as crops harvested with sickles when they were killed with the sword, stilled, dead, like the stillness of fire when it is extinguished.

And We did not create the heaven and the earth and all that is between them, playing, being frivolous, but to indicate Our power and to benefit Our servants.

Had We desired to find some diversion, that which provides diversion, in the way of a partner or a child, We would have found it with Ourselves, from among the beautiful-eyed houris or angels, were We to do [so]. But We did not do so, thus We never desired it.

Nay, but We hurl, We cast, the truth, faith, against falsehood, disbelief, and it obliterates it, and behold, it vanishes, disappears (damaghahu, ‘it obliterates it’, actually means ‘it struck the brain with a blow’, [a blow] which is fatal). And for you, O disbelievers of Mecca, there shall be woe, severe chastisement, for what you ascribe, to God, of mate or child.

And to Him, exalted be He, belongs whoever is in the heavens and the earth, as possessions, and those who are near Him, namely, the angels (wa-man ‘indahu, the subject, the predicate of which [is the following clause]) do not disdain to worship Him, nor do they weary.

They glorify [Him] night and day, and they do not falter, in it, for it comes to them as [naturally as] breathing comes to us, [something] which we can never be distracted from.

Or (am, functions with the meaning of bal, ‘nay’, to effect a transition [in subject-matter]; the hamza is for [rhetorical] denial) have they chosen gods, that are, from the earth, such as stones, gold or silver, who, that is, gods [who], resurrect? who bring the dead back to life? No! Indeed only one who brings the dead back to life can be God.

Had there been in [either of] them, that is, [in] the heavens and the earth, gods other than God, that is, other than Him, the two would have surely deteriorated, they [the heavens and the earth] would have deviated from their observed order, because counteractive forces would exist among such [gods], as is usually the case, when there is more than one ruler, that there is counteraction and a lack of consensus regarding something. So glory be to God — an exaltation — the Lord, the Creator, of the Throne, al-kursī, above what they ascribe, the disbelievers, to God, of His having a partner and otherwise.

He shall not be questioned about what He does, but they shall be questioned, about their actions.

Or have they chosen besides Him, exalted be He, other than Him, gods? (herein is an interrogative meant as a rebuke). Say: ‘Bring your proof, for this — but such a thing is impossible. This is the Remembrance of those with me, namely, my community, and that [Remembrance] is the Qur’ān, and the Remembrance of those before me, of communities, namely, the Torah and the Gospel and other Books of God, not a single one of which contains the statement that with God there exists another god, in the way that they claim — exalted be He above such a thing. Nay, but most of them do not know the truth, the affirmation of God’s Oneness, and so they are disregardful’, of that discernment that leads to [knowledge of] it.

And We did not send any Messenger before you but We revealed to him (read nūhī or yūhā, ‘[but] it was revealed to him’) that, ‘There is no god except Me, so worship Me’, that is, affirm My Oneness.

And they say, ‘The Compassionate One has taken a son’, from the angels. Glory be to Him! Nay, but they are [merely] servants who are honoured, in His presence; for [the very] servitude [of all creatures to Him] is inconsistent with [the attribution of any of them as] progeny [of His].

They do not [venture to] speak before Him — they only speak after He has spoken, and they act according to His command, that is, following [His issuing of] it.

He knows what is before them and what is behind them, that is, what they have done and what they will do, and they do not intercede except for him with whom He is satisfied, that he be interceded for, and they, for awe of Him, exalted be He, are apprehensive, fearful.

And should any of them say, ‘I am a god besides Him’, that is, [besides] God, in other words, [a god] other than Him — and this is Iblīs, who summoned [others] to worship his soul and commanded that it be obeyed — such a one We will requite with Hell. Thus, in the same way that We requite him, We requite wrong-doers, idolaters.

Have they not ([one may] read a-wa-lam or a-lam) realised, [have they not] come to know, those who disbelieve, that the heavens and the earth were closed together and then We parted them, We made seven heavens and seven earths — or [it is meant] that the heaven was parted and began to rain, when it did not use to do so, and that the earth was parted and began to produce plants, when it did not use to do so; and We made, of water, [the water] that falls from the heaven and that springs from the earth, every living thing?, in the way of plants and otherwise: in other words, water is the cause of such [things] having life. Will they not then believe?, by affirming My Oneness?

And We set in the earth firm mountains lest it should shake with them, and We set in them, [in] the firm mountains, ravines, as roads (subulan substitutes [for fijājan, ‘ravines’, which are wide through-routes]), that perhaps they may be guided, to their destinations during travel.

And We made the heaven a roof, for the earth, [functioning] like the roof of a house, preserved, from collapsing; and yet of the signs thereof, namely, [the signs of this heaven such as] the sun, the moon and the stars, they are disregardful, failing to reflect on them and thus realise that the Creator of such [things] can have no partner.

And He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each (kullun, the nunation of this [particle] stands in place of the second noun [of the genitive construction] that would have been al-shams, ‘the sun’, or al-qamar, ‘the moon’, or their subsidiaries, namely, al-nujūm, ‘the stars’) in an orbit, a circular [one] like a mill in the sky, swimming, moving with speed, like a swimmer in water. In order to effect the analogy with the latter, the plural person [of the verb employed] for rational beings is used.

When the disbelievers said that Muhammad (s) would die, the following was revealed: And We did not assign to any human being before you immortality, permanence [of life] in this world. What, if you [are fated to] die, will they be immortal?, in it? No! (The last sentence constitutes the [syntactical] locus of the interrogative of denial).

Every soul shall taste death, in this world, and We will try you, We will test you, with ill and good, such as poverty and wealth, sickness and health, as an ordeal (fitnatan, an object denoting reason, in other words, for the purpose of seeing whether you will be patient and give thanks or not). And then unto Us you shall be brought back, that We may requite you.

And whenever the disbelievers see you, they only take you in derision, that is, as one to be derided, saying: ‘Is this the one who mentions your gods?’, that is, [the one who] derides them? And yet when it comes to the mention of the Compassionate One, to them, they (hum, [repeated] for emphasis) are disbelieving, of it, saying, ‘We do not know of any such [individual]’.

The following was revealed regarding their demand that chastisement be hastened: Man was created of haste, that is to say, because he is so hasty in his affairs, it is as if he had been created out of it. Assuredly I shall show you My signs, My promises of chastisement, so do not demand that I hasten, in [sending] it. And so He [God] made them suffer death at [the battle of] Badr.

And they say, ‘When will this promise, of resurrection, be [fulfilled], if you are truthful?’, about it.

[God] exalted be He, says: If those who disbelieved only knew of the time when they shall not [be able to] ward off, repel, the Fire from their faces, nor from their backs, nor shall they be helped, [nor] shall they be protected from it at the Resurrection (the response to the [conditional particle] law, ‘if only’, is [something along the lines of] ‘they would not have said that’).

Nay, but it, the Resurrection, shall come upon them suddenly, dumbfounding them, confusing them, and they shall not be able to ward it off, nor shall they be granted any respite, [nor shall they] be given any [extra] time to make a repentance or offer an excuse.

And verily messengers before you were derided — herein is a statement to comfort the Prophet (s) — but those who mocked them were encircled by, it was sent down [against them], that which they used to deride, namely, chastisement — likewise it shall befall those who have derided you.

Say, to them: ‘Who can guard you, preserve you, by night and day from the Compassionate One?’, from His chastisement, if it should befall you? In other words, no one can do such a thing. Those being addressed [here] do not fear God’s chastisement because they deny [the truth of] it. Nay, but of the Remembrance of their Lord, that is, the Qur’ān, they are disregardful, failing to reflect on it.

Or is it that they have (am, ‘or’, functions with the sense of a hamza used to indicate denial, that is, [read it as] a-lahum, ‘do they have’) gods to defend them, against that which might cause them harm, besides Us? In other words, do they have anyone other than Us to defend them against such [things]? No! They, namely, the gods, cannot help themselves, and so they will not [be able to] help them; nor shall they, the disbelievers, be protected from Us, from Our chastisement (one may say sahibaka’Llāhu, to mean ‘May God preserve and protect you’).

Nay, but We provided [comforts] for these and their fathers, in the way of the graces which We bestowed on them, until life lasted long for them, so that they were deluded by such [longevity]. Do they not see how We visit the land, [how] We target their land, diminishing it at its edges?, by granting the Prophet victory [through conquest]. Are they the ones who will prevail? No, it is rather the Prophet and his Companions [who will do so].

Say, to them: ‘I warn you only by the Revelation’, [that comes] from God, and not by my own prompting. But the deaf do not hear the call when (idhā, read pronouncing both hamzas fully, or omitting the second [hamza] between it and the yā’) they are warned. They are like those who are deaf, when they fail to act in accordance with the warnings they hear.

And if a whiff, a slight instance, of your Lord’s chastisement were to touch them, they would indeed say, ‘O (yā, used for drawing attention [to something]) woe for us!, [O this is] our destruction! Truly we were doing evil’, in ascribing partners to God and denying [the Mission of] Muhammad (s).

And We shall set up the just balances, the equitable ones, for the Day of Resurrection, that is, on it, and no soul shall be wronged in any way, neither by deducting a good deed [from its record], nor by adding [to it] an evil one; and even if it, the action, be the weight of a [single] mustard seed, We shall produce it, with its full weight, and We suffice as reckoners, to count all things.

And verily We gave Moses and Aaron the Criterion, the Torah that discriminates between truth and falsehood, and [between] what is lawful and unlawful, and an illumination, by it, and remembrance, an admonition therein, for those who are wary of God,

those who fear their Lord in concealment, from people, that is, when they are in seclusion from them, and who, on account of the Hour, that is, [on account of] its terrors, are apprehensive, fearful.

And this, namely, the Qur’ān, is a blessed Remembrance which We have revealed. Will you then deny it? (the interrogative here is intended as a rebuke).

And verily We had given Abraham his rectitude before, that is, his [right] guidance before he came of age — and We were Aware of him, in that he was deserving of such [guidance],

when he said to his father and his people, ‘What are these images, [these] idols, to which you [constantly] cleave?’, that is, which you are constantly worshipping.

They said, ‘We found our fathers worshipping them’, and so we followed their example.

He said, to them, ‘Truly you and your fathers, by worshipping them, have been in manifest error’.

They said, ‘Do you bring us the truth, in that which you are saying, or are you being frivolous?’, in this regard.

He said, ‘Nay, but your Lord, the [only] One worthy of being worshipped, is the Lord, the Owner, of the heavens and the earth, [the One] Who originated them, [Who] created them without any precedent, and to that, which I have said, I am a witness.

And, by God, I shall devise [a stratagem] against your idols after you have gone away, with your backs turned’.

And so, after they had set off to a gathering of theirs on one of their festival days, he reduced them to fragments (read judhādhan or jidhādhan, meaning ‘pieces’), [smashing them] with a hatchet, [all] except the principal one among them, around whose neck he hung the hatchet, that they might return to it, that is, to the principal one, and see what he had done to the others.

They said, upon returning and seeing what had been done, ‘Who has done this to our gods? Truly he is an evildoer’, in this regard.

They said, one to the other: ‘We heard a young man making [ill] mention of them, deriding them — he is called Abraham’.

They said, ‘Then bring him before the people’s eyes, that is, openly, that they may testify’, against him as being the perpetrator.

They said, to him, after he had been brought [before them]: ‘So, is it you (read a-anta, [either] pronouncing fully the two hamzas; or substituting an alif for the second one, or not pronouncing it [the second one], and inserting an alif between the one not pronounced and the other one, or without [this insertion]) who has done this to our gods, O Abraham?’

He said, concealing his deed: ‘Rather it was this principal one among them did it. So question them, about the perpetrator of this, if they can speak!’ (here the response to the conditional statement precedes [the conditional clause]; in the preceding clause there is an intimation for them that an idol, acknowledged as being incapable of action, cannot be a god).

So they turned [thinking] to themselves, in reflection, and they said, to themselves: ‘Truly it is you who are the evildoers’, for worshipping that which cannot speak.

Then they were turned, by God, on their heads, that is to say, they were made to return to their disbelief and said, ‘By God, you are certainly aware that these [idols] cannot speak’, in other words, how can you thus command us to question them?

He said, ‘Do you then worship, besides God, that is, in His place, that which cannot benefit you in any way, with regard to [granting you] provision and otherwise, nor harm you?, in any way if you were not to worship it?

Fie (read uffin or uffan, with the sense of a verbal noun, meaning ‘a putrid thing or a vile thing [be]’) on you and what you worship besides God, that is, other than Him. Do you not comprehend?’, that these idols are not worthy of being worshipped and are not fit for such [a purpose] — only God, exalted be He, is worthy of it.

They said, ‘Burn him, that is, [burn] Abraham, and stand by your gods, by having him burnt, if you are to do anything’, in the way of standing by them. Thus they gathered lots of firewood and lit a fire throughout it. They then tied up Abraham, placed him in a ballista and had him hurled into the fire. God, exalted be He, says:

We said, ‘O fire! Be coolness and safety for Abraham!’, and so it only consumed the bonds [with which he had been tied]. Its heat departed, but its luminosity remained. And by His words wa-salāman, ‘and safety’, Abraham was safe from (salima) death because of its coolness.

And they sought to outwit him, namely, by having him burnt, but We made them the greater losers, in what they sought.

And We delivered him, as well as Lot — son of his [Abraham’s] brother Hārān — from Iraq, [and brought them] to the land which We have blessed for all peoples, [blessed it] with an abundance of rivers and trees, and this is Syria. Abraham settled in Palestine, and Lot in the Sinful City (al-mu’tafika, cf. Q. 53:53); and between the two is [the distance of] a day’s journey.

And We gave him, namely, Abraham — for he had asked for a child, as mentioned in [sūrat] al-Sāffāt [Q. 37:100] — Isaac, and Jacob as a gift, that is, as [something] in addition to what was requested; or it means ‘a grandson’; and each of them, that is, himself and the two born of him, We made righteous, [We made them] prophets.

And We made them leaders (read a-immatan pronouncing both hamzas, or substituting the second one with a yā’), whose example of good [conduct] is followed, guiding, people, by Our command, to Our religion, and We inspired in them the performance of good deeds and the maintenance of prayers and the payment of alms, that is, [We inspired] that these [good deeds] be performed, [prayers] be maintained, and [alms] be payed by them and by their followers (the [final] hā’ of iqāma has been omitted to soften [the reading]), and they used to worship Us.

And to Lot We gave judgement, the ability to judge decisively between opposing parties, and knowledge; and We delivered him from the town which had been committing, that is, whose inhabitants had been committing, deeds of, vileness, by way of homosexual intercourse, hazelnut-hurling and bird-games and other things. Truly they were a folk of evil [people] (saw’ is the verbal noun of sā’ahu, ‘he harmed him’, the opposite of sarrahu, ‘he delighted him’), immoral.

And We admitted him into Our mercy, by Our saving him from his people. He was indeed one of the righteous.

And, mention, Noah (what follows [Nūhan] substitutes for it) when he called, when he supplicated [to God] against his people — with the words My Lord, do not leave [upon the earth any inhabitant from among the disbelievers] … to the end [of the verse, Q. 71:26], before, that is, before [the time of] Abraham and Lot. And We responded to him, and delivered him and his people, who were in the Ark with him, from the great agony, namely, [from] drowning and his people’s denial of him.

And We helped him, We defended him, against the people who denied Our signs, the ones indicating his Mission, lest they cause him any harm. They were indeed an evil people, so We drowned them all.

And, mention, David and Solomon, that is, [mention] their story (Dāwūda wa-Sulaymāna is substituted by [the following, idh yahkumāni …]) when they gave judgement concerning the tillage, a field of crops or a vineyard, when the sheep of a [certain] people strayed into it, that is, [when these sheep] grazed there at night, but without a shepherd, because they had escaped; and We were witnesses to their judgement (li-hukmihim shāhidīna: here the plural person is being used in the case of a dual). David decreed: to the owner of the tillage belong the head of the sheep. Solomon decreed: he shall benefit from [the use of] their milk, offspring and wool until such time as the tillage is restored to its original state at the hands of the owner [of the sheep], after which he [the owner of the tillage] should return them [the sheep] to him [their owner].