Ghafir

Ḥā Mīm. The discussion on similar letters has already passed in Sūrah Al-Baqarah.

The revelation of the Qur’ān sent down to His Messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him), is from Allah, the Mighty whom none can overpower, the Knower of the interests of His servants.

Forgiver of the sins of the sinful, Accepter of the repentance of those of His servants who turn to Him, Severe in retribution against those who do not repent from their sins, One of bounty and grace. There is no being deserving of worship besides Him. To Him alone is the return of the servants on the Day of Resurrection and He will give them the recompense they deserve.

No one disputes about Allah’s signs that indicate to His Oneness and the truthfulness of His messengers except those who reject Allah due to their deficient intellects. Do not grieve over them and do not let the abundant provision and favours that they enjoy deceive you. Their being given respite is a means of gradually luring them into their own destruction.

Before them, the people of Noah denied, as did the confederates after Noah, including 'Ad, Thamud, the people of Lot, the people of Madyan all denied. Pharaoh also denied. Every nation plotted against their Messenger, to capture and kill him. They argued with the falsehood that they had, to remove the truth with it. But I seized all those nations. So reflect over how my retribution against them was! It was a severe retribution.

Like how Allah decided to destroy those denying nations, the Word of your Lord, O Messenger, is binding against the disbelievers, that they will be the inmates of the Fire.

The angels who carry the throne of your Lord, O Messenger, and those who are around it, declare the transcendence of their Lord from that which is not proper for Him, they believe in him, and seek forgiveness for those who have faith in Allah, saying in their supplication: Our Lord, Your knowledge and mercy encompass everything, so forgive those who repent from their sins and follow Your religion and protect them from being touched by the fire.

The angels will say: “Our Lord, enter the believers into gardens of eternity which You promised You will enter them into, and enter those whose actions are good amongst their fathers, wives and children. It is you who are the Mighty with nobody to overpower You, Wise in your decreeing and planning.

And save them from their bad actions, so do not punish them as a result. Whomever You protect from punishment for his bad actions, then You have had mercy on him. This mercy by entry into Paradise is the great success which no success can compare with”.

Those who disbelieved in Allah and His messengers will be addressed on the day of judgment when they enter the fire, whilst they will hate and curse themselves: “Allah's contempt for you when used to be called to believing in Allah, but you would disbelieve in Him, taking dieties besides Him, is greater than your own contempt for yourselves when being thrown into the fire.”

The disbelievers will say, confessing their sins when their confession will not benefit: “Our Lord, You made us lifeless twice when we were non-existent then You created us, then you gave us death after that creation, and You gave us life twice by creating us from non-existence and by restoring us for the resurrection. We have admitted our sins we earned, so is there any route we can take to exit from the fire, so we can return to life to correct our actions so You become pleased with us?”

That punishment which you are punished with is because when Allah was called upon and no partner was associated with Him, you disbelieved in Him and made partners for Him. And when partners were worshipped alongside Allah, you believed. So the judgment is with Allah alone, High with His essence, decree and domination, the Great.

Allah is the one who shows you signs in the horizons and your own selves, to prove to you His power and His oneness, and He sends down for you rainwater from the skies so it becomes a cause for the provision you are given, such as plants, crops and so forth. And nobody takes lessons from the signs of Allah except one who turns to Him, sincerely repenting.

So call upon Allah, O believers, being sincere to Him in worship and supplication, without associating partners with Him, even though the disbelievers dislike that and it angers them.

So He is worthy of supplication and obedience being made sincere for Him, as He is elevated in ranks, separate from all of His creation. And He is the Lord of the Great Throne. He sends revelation upon whomever He wants from His servants, so that they become alive and make others alive, and so that they warn people of the day of judgment in which the first and last will meet one another.

The day in which they will be apparent having gathered on one plain. Nothing of theirs will be hidden from Allah, nothing of theirs will be hidden from Allah, everything from their own self, their actions, and their reward will be made apparent. He will ask: “For whom is the kingdom today?” There will be only be one answer at this time: the kingdom is for Allah, the One in His essence, qualities and actions, the Prevailing one who has dominated everything and for whom everything has submitted.

Today, every soul will be rewarded for the action it earned: if it was good, then the reward will be good, and if it was bad, then it will be bad. There will be no injustice on this day, because the judge is Allah who is Just. Allah is swift in taking account of His servants, due to His knowledge encompassing them.

O Messenger, warn them of the day of judgment. This day of judgment which has drawn near and is coming, and everything which is coming will soon arrive. When the hearts will rise, due to its intense horror, until they reach the throats, They will all be silent, with none of them speaking except whom the Merciful gives permission to. Those who wronged themselves through idolatry and sins will not have any friend, relative or an intercessor who will listen, even if he had the ability to intercede.

He knows what the eyes of the lookers secretly glance at and He knows what the hearts conceal. None of that is hidden from Him.

Allah judges with justice, so He does not wrong anyone by decreasing His good actions or increasing His bad actions. And those whom the idolaters worship besides Allah cannot judge with anything, because they do not possess anything. Allah is Hearing of the sayings of His servants, Seeing their intentions and actions, and He shall reward them for that.

Have these idolaters not travelled on earth, so that they can ponder how the outcome was of the nations before them who denied, as it was a bad end? Those nations were stronger than they are, and they left an impression on earth by buildings which these people have not left, but Allah destroyed them because of their sins, and they had nobody to protect them from the punishment of Allah.

That punishment which befell them only befell them because their messengers used to come to them with clear proof and evident miracles, but they disbelieved in Allah and denied His messengers. Allah seized them, despite their strength, and destroyed them. He is Powerful, severe in punishing those who disbelieve in Him and deny His messengers.

I sent Moses with My clear signs and decisive proof.

To Pharaoh, his minister Haman, and Qarun, and so they said: “Moses is a magician and a liar in his claim to be a messenger”.

Then when Moses came to them with the proof to show his truthfulness, Pharaoh said: “Kill the sons of those who have believed in Moses and keep their women alive, to disgrace them”. And the plot of the disbelievers to attempt to reduce the number of believers will only perish not being successful.

Pharaoh said: “Leave me to kill Moses, as a punishment for him, and let him call upon his Lord to save him from me. I do not care if he calls upon His Lord. I fear he will change your religion which you follow or corruption will appear on earth by killing and destruction”.

Moses (peace be upon him) said: “I have sought the protection of my Lord and your Lord against every person who is arrogant to accepting and having faith in the truth, not believing in the resurrection, accounting and punishment.

A believing man from the family of Pharoah, who was hiding his faith from his people said, criticising them for deciding to kill Moses: “Are you going to kill a man without any crime, besides him saying: ‘My Lord is Allah’, despite the fact he brought you miracles and proof to show the truthfulness of his claim to be a messenger from his Lord? If he really is a liar, his lying will turn against him, but if he is truthful, some of the punishment he is promising will quickly befall you. Allah does not guide to the truth one who trespasses His limits and who lies against Allah and His messengers.

O people, for you is the kingdom today, dominating in the land of Egypt. So who will save us from Allah’s punishment if it comes to us due to killing Moses?” Pharaoh said: “The opinion is my opinion and the judgment is my judgment. And I have decided to kill Moses, to remove evil and corruption. I only guide you to what is right and correct.”

And the one who brought faith said, advising his people: “I fear for you, if you kill Moses unjustly and oppressively, a punishment like the punishment of the groups that united against their prophets previously, then Allah destroyed them.

Like those who disbelieved and denied the messengers, such as the people of Noah, Aad, Thamud, and those who came after them. Allah destroyed them due to their disbelief and denial of their messengers. And Allah does not intend to oppress the servants. He only punishes them due to their sins.

O people, I fear for you the day of judgment. That day when people will call one another, calling their relatives or those of status, thinking that they can benefit them in this frightening place.

The day you will turn away, running out of fear from the fire. You will not have any protector to protect you from Allah’s punishment. Whomever Allah abandons and does not place faith in his heart then there no one who can guide him.

Joseph came to you before Moses with clear proof for the oneness of Allah, but you remained in doubt and denial of what he brought, until when he died you increased in doubt and uncertainty, and you said: “Allah will never send a messenger after him”. Just as you are misguided from the truth, Allah leads astray every person who trespasses the limits of Allah and doubts His oneness.

Those who argue about the verses of Allah to refute them without any proof or evidence that has come to them, their argument is greatly hated in the eyes of Allah and in the eyes of those who brought faith in Allah and His messengers. Just as Allah sealed the hearts of these who argue about our verses to refute them, Allah seals the heart of every person who is arrogant to the truth and tyrannical, thus he does not find the path to what is right nor is he guided to good.

Pharaoh said to his minister Haman: “O Haman, build for me a high building, in the hope I can reach the paths.

In the hope I can reach the paths which lead to the skies, so I can see the god of Moses that he claims is the true god. And I believe Moses is lying in what he claims”. And in this way, Pharoah's bad deeds were adorned for him when he made his request to Haman, and he was turned from the true path to the path of misguidance.And the plot of Pharaoh to make the falsehood he believed dominant and to refute the truth Moses brought, is in complete loss. It will be a vain attempt, ending in failure and eternal wretchedness.

The man who believed from the family of Pharaoh said, advising his people and guiding them to the true path: “O people, follow me; I shall show you and guide you to the correct path and guidance to the truth.

O people, this worldly life is only an enjoyment of temporary pleasures, so let it not deceive you with the short-lived enjoyment it contains. The abode of the Hereafter with the everlasting pleasure it contains is the abode of permanence and residence, so work for it by obeying Allah, and be wary of becoming preoccupied from acting for it due to your worldly life.

Whoever does a bad action, he will never be rewarded except with the like of what he did, without punishment being added to it. And whoever does a good action seeking Allah’s pleasure through it, whether the doer is male or female, provided he is a believer in Allah and His messengers - will enter Paradise on the day of judgment. Allah will grant them provision, through what He has placed in it of fruits and the everlasting pleasure which will never end, without account.

O people, why is it that I call you towards salvation from loss in the worldly life and the Hereafter by bringing faith in Allah and good actions, but you call me to enter the fire by asking me to disbelieve in Allah and disobey Him?

You are calling me to your falsehood in the hope that I disbelieve in Allah and worship alongside Him others, the truth of which I have no knowledge of, and I am calling you to have faith in Allah, the Mighty whom nobody can overpower, the Prevailing who has subdued everything.

Truly, what you call me to have faith in and obey is not fit to be called to in this world or the Hereafter nor does it respond to whoever calls upon it. The return of us all is to Allah alone and those who transgress in disbelief and sins are the people of the fire who will enter it forever on the day of judgment.

But they rejected his advice, and so he said: “You will remember the advice I gave you and you will regret not accepting it. And I entrust all my affairs over to Allah alone. Allah is Seeing of His servants; nothing of their actions is hidden from Him”.

So Allah protected him from their evil plot when they intended to kill him, and the punishment of drowning enveloped the followers of Pharaoh, as Allah destroyed him and all his armies in this world.

And after their death they will be exposed to the fire at the beginning and end of the day, and on the day of judgment it will be said: “Enter the followers of Pharaoh into the most severe and greatest punishment, due to the disbelief, denial and preventing others from Allah's way.”

O Messenger, remember when the followers and the leaders from the people of hell will argue, so the oppressed followers will say to the arrogant leaders: “We were your followers in misguidance in the world, so are you going to relieve us of some of Allah’s punishment by bearing it on our behalf?”

The arrogant leaders will say: “We are in the fire, regardless of whether we were followers or leaders. None of us will bear a part of the punishment of the Hereafter. Allah has decided between the servants, so He has given everyone the punishment they deserve”.

Those being punished in the fire from the followers and leaders will say to the keepers of hell, once they have lost hope in leaving the fire and returning to the worldly life to repent: “Call upon your Lord to lessen from us one day of this everlasting punishment”.

The keepers of hell will say in response to the disbelievers: “Did your messengers not come to you with clear proof and evidence?” The disbelievers will say: “Indeed, they used to come to us with clear proof and evidence”. The keepers will say to mock them: “You call, for we are not going to intercede for the disbelievers. But the call of the disbelievers is not but in error and waste, as it will not be accepted from them due to their disbelief”.

I will make My messengers and those who believe in what they brought victorious in this world by making their proof manifest and by supporting them against their enemies. And I shall make them victorious on the day of judgement by entering them into Paradise and punishing their disputants in this world by entering them into the fire. This is after the people of truth from the prophets, angels bear witness regarding the message being conveyed and the denial of the disbelieving nations.

On the day when no excuse will benefit those who wronged themselves by disbelief and sin, and they will be distanced on that day from Allah's mercy, and for them is the evil abode and painful punishment.

And I granted Moses miracles and knowledge through which the Israelites would be guided to the truth, and I made the Torah an inherited book amongst the Children of Israel, each generation would pass on it on to the other.

As a guidance to the true path and a reminder to the people of sound intellect.

O Messenger, be patient on the denial and harm by your people which you face. Allah’s promise of help and support to you is true without doubt. And seek forgiveness for your sin and glorify the praise of your Lord at the beginning and end of the day.

Those who dispute the signs of Allah, striving to refute them without any evidence, do so only because of arrogance to it and a desire for dominance (in this world). They will never achieve their goal of dominance so hold firm, O Messenger, to Allah. It is He who is Hearing of the servants’ statements, Seeing their actions. None of it will escape Him and He will reward them for it.

The creation of the heavens and the earth and their greatness and vastness are greater than the creation of mankind, so the one who made them despite their greatness has the power to bring the dead back to life from their graves, to take them to account and reward them. But most people do not know, so they do not consider it nor do they deem it a proof for the resurrection, despite it being so clear.

The one who cannot see and the one who can see are not equal, nor are those who have faith in Allah, accept His messengers and do good actions, equal to those who do wrong and have corrupt belief! You do not remember except a little, because if you had remembered you would have known the difference between the two groups so you could strive to be amongst those who have faith and did good deeds, seeking the pleasure of Allah.

The Hour in which Allah will raise the dead for reckoning and reward is definitely coming, without doubt, but most people do not believe it is coming. That is why they do not prepare for it through faith and good actions.

O people, your Lord said: “Call upon Me alone and worship Me alone, and do not associate any partner with Me. Those who are too arrogant in worshipping Me alone will enter the fire on the Day of Judgment, low and disgraced”.

Allah is the One who has made the night dark for you, so you can find peace in it and rest, and He made the day bright and clear so that you can work in it. Allah is full of great grace to the people when He granted them His apparent and hidden blessings, but most people do not thank Him for what He has blessed them with.

That Allah who graciously gave you His favours is the Creator of everything, so there is no creator besides Him. There is no true god besides Him. So how do you turn away from His worship towards worshipping others who do not possess any benefit or harm?

Just as these people were turned away from faith in Allah and worshipping Him alone, those who reject Allah’s signs which prove His oneness are turned away in every age and place. So they do not find their way to the truth nor are they divinely guided to it.

O people, Allah is the one who made the earth a suitable place for dwelling/living, and the sky firmly formed above you, prevented from collapsing. And He formed you in the wombs of your mothers, then made perfected your formsyour forms. And He granted you provision from lawful, pleasant foods. He who granted you these blessings is Allah your Lord. So blessed is Allah, Lord of all the creation. There is no Lord besides Him.

He is the Living who will not die. There is no true god besides Him. So call upon him in worship and supplication, seeking His pleasure alone, and do not associate any of His creation as partners with Him. All praise is for Allah, Lord of the creation.

O Messenger, say: “Allah has forbidden me from worshipping those whom you worship besides Allah, these idols which do not benefit or harm, when the clear proof and evidence have come to me regarding the falsehood of worshipping them. And Allah has ordered me to submit to Him alone through worship, as He is the Lord of all the creation. There is no Lord besides Him.

He is the one who created Adam from soil, then He created you after him from a sperm-drop, then after a sperm-drop from clotted blood, then after that He takes you out of your mothers’ wombs as small children, then so that you reach the peak of your strength, then so that you grow older until you become elders. And some of you die before that, and so that you reach a fixed time in the knowledge of Allah which you cannot decrease or increase, and so that you benefit from these proof and evidence for His power and oneness.

He alone is the one in whose hand is giving life and He alone is the one in whose hand is giving death. So when He decides a matter, He only says to that matter: “Be” and it becomes.

O Messenger, do you not see those who argue about the signs of Allah, denying them despite them being clear, so you can wonder at their condition whilst they are turning away from the truth despite it being so clear?

Those who denied the Qur’ān and the truth I sent My messengers with - these deniers will soon learn the outcome of their denial and they shall see the bad ending.

They will learn its outcome when the shackles will be on their necks and the chains on their feet, with the angels of hell dragging them.

They will drag them in hot boiling water, then they will be burnt in the fire.

Then it will be said to them, to scold and rebuke them: “Where are your claimed gods you committed idolatry by worshipping?

Besides Allah, from your idols who could not benefit or harm?” The disbelievers will say: “They have disappeared from us, so we cannot see them. In fact, we did not worship anything in the world which deserved to be worshipped”. In the way these people were led astray, Allah leads the disbelievers astray from the truth in every era and place.

It will be said to them: “That punishment which you are suffering is due to your rejoicing over the idolatry you were upon and due to your excess in rejoicing.

Enter the doors of hell, staying therein forever. Wretched is the abode in which those arrogant to the truth will reside”.

O Messenger, be patient on the harming and denial of your people. The promise of Allah to help you is true without doubt. So I will either show you in your lifetime some of the punishment I promise them, as occurred in the Battle of Badr, or I will make you die before that. To Me alone they will return on the Day of Judgment, reward them for their actions accordingly, entering them into the fire they will remain in forever.

O Messenger! I have sent many messengers before you to their people, but they rejected them and caused them harm. The messengers were patient upon the rejection and harm they faced. From among these messengers are those whom I have related their stories to you, and those whose stories I have not related. It is not correct for a messenger to bring a sign to his people from his Lord, except if He (may He be glorified) wishes for him to bring it. So, for the disbelievers to demand signs is wrong. When the decree of Allah for victory or judgement in favour of the messengers against their nations happens, the judgement will be made fairly. The disbelievers will then be destroyed and the messengers will be saved. At that point when the judgement is made between the servants, the people of falsehood will lose out by having put themselves in a position of doom by committing disbelief.