Al-An'am 6:124–165

And when a sign, of the truth of the Prophet (s), comes to them, the people of Mecca, they say, ‘We will not believe, in him, until we are given the like of what God’s messengers were given’, in the way of a message and inspiration to us, because we are wealthier and more senior in years. God, exalted be He, says: God knows best where to place His Message (read plural [risālātihi, ‘His Messages’] or singular [risālatahu, ‘His Message’]; hayth, ‘where’, constitutes the direct object because of the verb [ya‘lam, ‘He knows’] implicit in a‘lam, ‘the best knower’) that is to say, He knows the right place for it to be placed in, and He thus places it [there] — these people, however, are not worthy of it. Humiliation from God and a terrible chastisement shall smite those who have sinned, by saying this, for their plotting.

Whomever God desires to guide, He expands his breast to Islam, by casting into his heart a light which it [the heart] expands for and accepts, as reported in a hadīth; and whomever He, God, desires to send astray, He makes his breast narrow (read dayqan or dayyiqan), [unable] to accept it, and constricted, extremely tight (read harijan, ‘constricted’, as an adjective, or harajan as a verbal noun, by which it [the heart of the misguided one] is described hyperbolically) as if he were engaged in ascent (yassa‘‘ad, is also read as yassā‘ad: in both [forms] the original tā’ has been assimilated with the sād; a third [variant reading] has yas‘ad) to the heaven, when he is charged with [the obligations of] the faith, because of the hardship for him therein. So, like this making [of the breast narrow], God casts ignominy, chastisement, or [He casts] Satan, that is, He gives him authority, over those who do not believe.

And this, [path] that you follow, O Muhammad (s), is the path of your Lord, a straight one, with no crookedness therein (mustaqīman, ‘straight’, is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier emphasising the [previous] statement, and it is operated by the import of the demonstrative noun [hādhā, ‘this’]). We have detailed, We have elucidated, the signs for a people who remember (yadhdhakkarūn: the original tā’ has been assimilated with the dhāl), that is to say, [a people] who heed admonition — such [people] are singled out for mention because they are the ones to profit [from the signs].

Theirs will be the abode of peace, namely, Paradise, with their Lord, and He will be their Friend because of what they used to do.

And, mention, the day when He, God, shall gather them (yahshuruhum, may also read nahshuruhum, ‘We shall gather them’), that is, creatures, all together, and it will be said to them: ‘O assembly of jinn, you have garnered much of mankind’, by your misleading [them]. Then their friends, those who obeyed them, from among mankind will say, ‘Our Lord, we enjoyed one another, mankind enjoyed what the jinn adorned for them of passions, while the jinn [enjoyed] mankind’s obedience to them; but now we have arrived at the term which You have appointed for us’, that is, the Day of Resurrection — this [statement] expresses extreme regret on their part. He, exalted be He, will say, to them, by the tongues of the angels: ‘The Fire is your lodging, your abode, to abide therein’ — except what God wills, of those times when they will exit from it in order to drink boiling water, which is located outside it, as God, exalted be He, has said: Then they shall return to the Hell-fire [Q. 37:68]; according to Ibn ‘Abbās, this [proviso] pertains to those whom God knows will believe (mā, ‘what’, thus has the sense of man, ‘whom’). Surely your Lord is Wise, in His actions, Knowing, of His creatures.

So, just as We let the rebels from among mankind and jinn enjoy one another, We let some of the evildoers have power over others because of what they are wont to earn, of acts of disobedience.

‘O assembly of jinn and mankind, did not messengers come to you from among you, that is, from among both of your number — which holds true in the case of mankind [since messengers came from among them], or [by ‘messengers’ if the jinn are meant] those messengers among the jinn who are their warners, the ones who listen to the speech of the [human] messengers and convey it to their kind — to recount to you My signs and to warn you of the encounter of this Day of yours?’ They shall say, ‘We bear witness against ourselves’, that [all] this was conveyed to us. God, exalted be He, says: And the life of this world deluded them, and so they did not believe. And they bear witness against themselves that they were disbelievers.

That, sending of the messengers, is because (an, [phonetically] lightened, with the lām [of li-annahu] implied, thus [read as] li-annahu, ‘because’) your Lord would never destroy the towns through injustice, on their part, while their inhabitants were heedless, not having had any Messenger to make [things] clear to them.

All, of those who perform deeds, shall have degrees, of requital, according to what they have done, of good or evil. Your Lord is not heedless of what they do (ya‘malūna: may also be read ta‘malūna, ‘you do’).

Your Lord is Independent, of His creatures and their worship, the Lord of Mercy. If He will, He can remove you, O people of Mecca, by destroying you, and leave whom He will, of creatures, to succeed after you, just as He produced you from the seed of another folk, [whom] He removed; but He has spared you, as a mercy to you.

Truly, that which you are promised, of the Hour and chastisement, will surely come to pass, inevitably, and you cannot escape, [you cannot] elude Our chastisement.

Say, to them: ‘O my people, act according to your state, your circumstances; truly I am acting, according to my circumstances. And assuredly you will know whose (man: the relative particle introducing the object of the verb ‘you will know’) sequel shall be the abode, that is, [who shall have] the praiseworthy sequel in the abode of the Hereafter: will it be us or yourselves? Surely the evildoers, the disbelievers, will not prosper’, will not find happiness.

They, the disbelievers of Mecca, assign to God, of the tillage, the crops, and the cattle which He multiplied, He created, a portion, which they dispense to visitors and the needy, and to their associates belongs a portion, which they dispense to such keepers [of the tillage and cattle], saying, ‘This is for God’ — so they assert (read bi-za‘mihim or bi-zu‘mihim) — ‘and this is for our associates’: and if any of the portion of these [associates] fell into God’s portion, they used to restore it [to that of their associates], but when something of His portion fell into theirs, they would leave it there, saying, ‘God is Independent [and is not in need] of this’, as God, exalted be He, says: So that which is intended for their associates does not reach God, and that which is intended for God does reach their associates. Evil is that, provision of theirs, which they decree!

And thus, in the same way that what is mentioned was adorned for them, those associates of theirs, from among the jinn, have adorned for many of the idolaters the slaying of their children, by burying them alive (shurakā’uhum, ‘those associates of theirs’, is read in the nominative as the subject of the verb zayyana, ‘adorned’; an alternative reading has the passive [zuyyina, ‘it has been adorned’], with qatlu, ‘the slaying’, in the nominative [as the subject of this passive verb], awlādahum, ‘their children’, in the accusative on account of it [being the direct object of qatlu, ‘the slaying’], and shurakā’ihim in the genitive as an annexation to qatlu, so that the object in this case intervenes between the two elements of the annexation [qatlu awlādahum shurakā’ihim, ‘their associates killing the children’] — this is acceptable [syntactically] — and the annexation of qatlu to shurakā’ihim [in this latter reading] is on account of them [the associates] commanding [the idolaters to do] this), that they may destroy them and to confuse, to make obscure, their religion for them. Had God willed, they would not have done so; so leave them and that which they fabricate.

They say, ‘These cattle and tillage are sacrosanct, forbidden. No one is to eat of them except whom we will’, from among the retainers of the graven images and others — so they assert, in other words, they have no [convincing] argument for it — ‘and cattle whose backs have been forbidden, and cannot therefore be ridden, such as the camels [they call] Sā’ibas or Hāmīs, and cattle over which they do not invoke the Name of God’, when they slaughter them, invoking instead the names of their idols, ascribing such [rules] to God; forging lies against Him. He will assuredly requite them for what they used to fabricate, against Him.

And they say, ‘That which is within the bellies of these, forbidden, cattle, namely, the camels [they call] Sā’ibas or Bahīras, is reserved, permitted, for our males and forbidden to our spouses, that is, the women; but if it be dead (read maytatun or maytatan, and the verb as either feminine takun or masculine yakun, ‘if it be’) then they [all] may be partakers thereof’. He, God, will assuredly requite them for their describing, [this and] that as [either] permitted or forbidden, with the appropriate requital thereof. Surely He is Wise, in His actions, Knowing, of His creatures.

They are losers who slay (read qatalū or qattalū) their children, by burying them alive, in folly, out of ignorance, without knowledge, and have forbidden what God has provided them, of what has been mentioned, in calumny against God. Verily they have gone astray and are not guided.

And He it is Who produces, creates, gardens, orchards, trellised, extending along the ground, as in the case of watermelons, and untrellised, rising upwards on a stem, such as palm-trees; and, He produces, palm-trees, and crops diverse in flavour, [diverse] in the shape and savour of its fruit and seed, and olives, and pomegranates, alike, in [terms of their] leaf (mutashābihan, ‘alike’, is a circumstantial qualifier) and unlike, in [terms of their] savour. Eat of the fruit thereof when it ripens, before its maturity [passes], and pay the due thereof, the alms as appropriate, on the day of its harvest (read yawma hasādahu or yawma hasādihi), that is, one tenth or half of it, and do not be prodigal, by giving it all away, so that nothing remains for [the consumption of] your dependants. Truly, God does not love the prodigal, who overstep [the bounds of] that which He has delimited for them.

And, He produces, of the cattle some for burden, fit to bear loads, such as the large [mature] camels, and some for light support, not fit for these [load-bearing tasks], such as young camels or sheep (such [cattle] are called farsh because they are like ‘bedding [farsh] spread on the ground’, on account of their [physical] closeness to it); eat of that which God has provided you and do not follow the steps of Satan, his methods of forbidding [things] or deeming [them] lawful. Surely he is a manifest foe to you, one whose enmity is evident.

Eight pairs, types (thamāniyata azwājin substitutes for hamūlatan wa-farshan, ‘some for burdens and some for light support’): two of sheep, a male and a female; and of goats (read ma‘az or ma‘z) two. Say, O Muhammad (s) to those who on one occasion deem male cattle forbidden, and on another, the females thereof, and then ascribe such [rules] to God: ‘Is it the two males, of the sheep and goats, He has forbidden, you, or the two females, of these two [types], or that which the wombs of the two females contain, be they male or female? Inform Me with knowledge, of the details of such prohibitions, if you speak truly’, in this [matter], meaning: on what basis has the prohibition been made? If it is on the basis of maleness, then all males are forbidden; if on the basis of femaleness, then all females are so [forbidden]; if on what the womb may contain, then both genders are prohibited. So, on what basis are such specifications made? (the interrogative is meant as a repudiation).

And of the camels two and of the oxen two. Say: ‘Is it the two males He has forbidden or the two females? Or what the wombs of the two females contain? Or were you witnesses, present, when God charged you with this?, prohibition, such that you use it to support your claims? Nay! You speak lies in this [matter]. Then who, that is, none, does greater evil than he who invents a lie against God, in this matter, that he may lead mankind astray without any knowledge? Truly God does not guide evildoing folk’.

Say: ‘I do not find, in what is revealed to me, anything forbidden to him who eats thereof except it be (read yakūn or takūn) carrion (maytatan; or if read maytatun, then with the form yakūn, ‘it be’, preceding it) or blood poured forth, flowing, as opposed to [the case of] a liver or a spleen; or the flesh of swine — that indeed is an abomination, forbidden, or, except it be, a wicked thing that has been hallowed to other than God, that is to say, it has been slaughtered in the name of someone else. But whoever is constrained, to do any of what has been mentioned, and he consumes it, neither coveting nor transgressing, then surely your Lord is Forgiving, to him for what he has consumed, Merciful’, towards him. To these [prohibited things] the Sunna adds all beasts of prey with canine teeth and birds [of prey] with talons.

And to those of Jewry, that is, the Jews, We forbade every beast with hoof, that is, [every animal] which does not have divided toes, such as camels and ostriches; and of oxen and sheep We forbade them the fat of them, the thin fat lining the stomach and the fat of the kidneys, save what their backs carry, that is, what [fat] is attached to it, or, what is carried by, their entrails, their intestines (hawāyā is the plural of hāwiyā’ or hāwiya), or what is mingled with bone, thereof, which is the fat of the rump: these were lawful for them; that, prohibition, We requited them, with, for their insolence, on account of their wrongdoing, as already mentioned in sūrat al-Nisā’ [Q. 4:160]; verily We are truthful, in [recounting] Our tidings and Our appointed times.

So, if they deny you, with regard to what you have brought, then say, to them: ‘Your Lord has all-embracing mercy, for He does not hasten [to bring about] your punishment — herein is a gentle summoning of them to the faith; and His might, His chastisement, when it comes, will never be driven back from the sinning folk’.

The idolaters will say, ‘Had God willed, we would not have been idolaters, neither, we [nor], our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything’, in other words, our idolatry and our forbidding [of things] are by His will, and so He must be satisfied with it. God, exalted be He, says: So, in the same way that these have lied, those who were before them gave the lie, to their prophets, until they tasted Our might, Our chastisement. Say: ‘Have you any knowledge, that God is satisfied with this, such that you can adduce for us?, that is, you have no such knowledge. You follow only supposition, in this [matter], merely guessing’, telling lies therein.

Say, if you have no definitive argument, then: ‘To God belongs the conclusive argument, the perfect [one], for had He willed, to guide you, He could have guided all of you’.

Say: ‘Come, bring forth, your witnesses, those who can testify that God has forbidden this’, which you have forbidden. Then if they testify, do not bear witness with them; and do not follow the whims of those who deny Our signs, those who do not believe in the Hereafter and ascribe equals to their Lord, associating others [with Him].

Say: ‘Come, I will recite that which your Lord has made a sacred duty for you: that (allā: [consisting of an-lā] an being explicative) you associate nothing with Him, that you be dutiful to parents, and that you do not slay your children, by burying them alive, because of poverty, destitution, that you may fear — We will provide for you and them — and that you do not draw near any acts of lewdness, grave sins, such as fornication, whether it be manifest or concealed, that is, [acts committed] overtly or in secret, and that you do not slay the life which God has made sacred, except rightfully, as in the case of retaliation, or [as] the prescribed punishment for apostasy, and the stoning of an adulterer. This, which is mentioned, is what He has charged you with, that perhaps you will understand, reflect.

And that you do not approach the property of the orphan save with that, approach, which is fairer, namely, the one wherein lie his best interests, until he is of age, when he is sexually mature. And give full measure and full weight, in justice, fairly, desisting from any fraud. We do not charge any soul beyond its capacity, what it can bear in such [matters], so that if one makes a mistake in a measure or weight, and God knows that his intention had been well-meaning, then he suffers no blame, as is stated in one hadīth. And if you speak, [to pass] a judgement or otherwise, then be just, by being truthful, even if he, the person receiving the statement or the one being accused in it, should be a kinsman. And fulfil God’s covenant. This is what He has charged you with, that perhaps you will remember (read tadhakkarūn or tadhkurūn), you will be admonished.

And that (read anna, with lām [of li-anna, ‘because’] being implied, or inna, as beginning a new sentence) this, that I have charged you with, is My straight path (mustaqīman, ‘straight’, is a circumstantial qualifier), so follow it; and do not follow other ways, paths opposed to it, lest it separate you (tafarraqa: one of the two letters tā’ [of the original tatafarraqa] has been omitted) make you incline, away from His way, His religion. This is what He has ordained for you, that perhaps you will be God-fearing’.

Then (thumma is for [describing events in a] sequence) We gave Moses the Scripture, the Torah, complete, in grace, for him who does good, by observing it, and a detailing, an explanation, of all things, needed for religion, and as a guidance and a mercy, that perhaps they, that is, the Children of Israel, might believe in the encounter with their Lord, through the Resurrection.

And this, Qur’ān, is a blessed Book which We have revealed; so follow it, O people of Mecca, by implementing what is in it, and be wary, of disbelief, that perhaps you might find mercy.

We have revealed it, lest you should say, ‘The Scripture was revealed only upon two parties — the Jews and the Christians — before us and we (in has been softened, its noun omitted, in other words [read as] innā) indeed have been unacquainted with their study’, their reading [of the scripture], not knowing any of it, since it is not in our own language.

Or lest you should say, ‘If the Scripture had been revealed to us, we would have surely been more rightly guided than they are’, because of the excellence of our minds. Now indeed a clear proof, a [clear] statement, has come to you from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy, for him who follows it; and who, that is, none, does greater evil than he who denies God’s signs and turns away from them? We shall surely requite those who turn away from Our signs with dreadful, the most severe, chastisement for their aversion.

Are they waiting — the deniers are indeed waiting — for nothing less than that the angels should come to them (read ta’tīyahum or ya’tīyahum), to seize their souls, or that your Lord, that is, His command, meaning His chastisement, should come, or that one of your Lord’s signs should come?, that is, those portents of His that indicate [the arrival of] the Hour? On the day that one of your Lord’s signs comes — and this is the rising of the sun from the west, as reported in the hadīth of the two Sahīhs [of Bukhārī and Muslim] — it shall not benefit a soul to believe if it had not believed theretofore (lam takun āmanat min qabl is an adjectival qualification of nafs, ‘a soul’) or, a soul which had not [until then], earned in its belief some good, some [act of] obedience, that is to say, its repentance shall be of no benefit to it, as [stated] in the hadīth [corpus]. Say: ‘Wait, for one of these things, We too are waiting’, for it.

Those who have sundered their religion, by being at variance over it, accepting some [aspects] of it and rejecting others, and have become differing parties, sects with regard to such [matters] (a variant reading [for farraqū, ‘they have sundered’] has fāraqū, meaning that they have abandoned the religion to which they were enjoined, and they are the Jews and the Christians), you have no concern with them at all, in other words, do not be concerned with them. Their case will go to God — He will take charge of it — then He will inform them, in the Hereafter, of what they used to do, and requite them for it: this was abrogated by the ‘sword’ verse [Q. 9:5].

Whoever brings a good deed, that is, [the affirmation of] ‘there is no god but God’, shall receive tenfold the like of it, that is, the reward for ten good deeds, and whoever brings an evil deed shall only be requited the like of it, that is, its [appropriate] requital; and they shall not be wronged, nothing shall be diminished from their [just] requital.

Say: ‘As for me, my Lord has guided me to a straight path (ilā sirātin mustaqīm is substituted by [the following, dīnan qiyaman]) a right religion, an upright [one], the creed of Abraham, a hanīf; and he was not of the idolaters’.

Say: ‘My prayer and my rituals, my devotions, in the way of pilgrimage and otherwise, and my living, my life, and my dying, my death, are all for God, the Lord of the Worlds.

No associate has He, in these things. And to this, affirmation of the Oneness [of God], I have been commanded, and I am the first of those who submit’, from among this community.

Say: ‘Shall I seek any other than God for a lord, for a god, in other words, I shall not seek any other than Him, when He is the Lord, the Possessor, of all things?’ Every soul earns, of sin, only against itself; and no burdened, [no] sinful, soul shall bear the burden of another, soul. Then to your Lord shall you return, and He will inform you of that over which you differed.

And He it is Who has made you successors (khalā’if is the plural of khalīfa), in other words, [He has made you] to succeed one another therein, in the earth and has raised some of you above others in degrees, through wealth and status and otherwise, so that He may try you, that He may test you, in what He has given you, in order to manifest the obedient among you and the disobedient. Surely your Lord is swift in punishment, of those who disobey Him; and surely He is Forgiving, to believers, Merciful, to them.