The Qur’ân
The Opening Chapter.
(I. Mecca.)
IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the worlds, the merciful, the compassionate, the ruler of the day of judgment! Thee we serve and Thee we ask for aid. Guide us in the right path, the path of those Thou art gracious to; not of those Thou art wroth with; nor of those who err.
The Chapter of the Heifer.
(II. Medina.)
IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
A. L. M. That is the book! there is no doubt therein; a guide to the pious, who believe in the unseen, and are steadfast in prayer, and of what we have given them expend in alms; who believe in what is revealed to thee, and what was revealed before thee, and of the hereafter they are sure. These are in guidance from their Lord, and these are the prosperous. Verily, those who misbelieve, it is the same to them if ye warn them or if ye warn them not, they will not believe. God has set a seal upon their hearts and on their hearing; and on their eyes is dimness, and for them is grievous woe. And there are those among men who say, ‘We believe in God and in the last day;’ but they do not believe. They would deceive God and those who do believe; but they deceive only themselves and they do not perceive. In their hearts is a sickness, and God has made them still more sick, and for them is grievous woe because they lied. And when it is said to them, ‘Do not evil in the earth,’ they say, ‘We do but what is right.’ Are not they the evildoers? and yet they do not perceive. And when it is said to them, ‘Believe as other men believe,’ they say, ‘Shall we believe as fools believe? ‘Are not they themselves the fools? and yet they do not know. And when they meet those who believe, they say, ‘We do believe;’ but when they go aside with their devils, they say, ‘We are with you; we were but mocking!’ God shall mock at them and let them go on in their rebellion, blindly wandering on.
Those who buy error for guidance, their traffic profits not, and they are not guided. Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindles a fire; and when it lights up all around, God goes off with their light, and leaves them in darkness that they cannot see. Deafness, dumbness, blindness, and they shall not return! Or like a storm-cloud from the sky, wherein is darkness and thunder and lightning; they put their fingers in their ears at the thunder-clap, for fear of death, for God encompasses the misbelievers. The lightning well-nigh snatches off their sight, whenever it shines for them they walk therein; but when it is dark for them they halt; and if God willed He would go off with their hearing and their sight; verily, God is mighty over all.
O ye folk! serve your Lord who created you and those before you; haply ye may fear! who made the earth for you a bed and the heaven a dome; and sent down from heaven water, and brought forth therewith fruits as a sustenance for you; so make no peers for God, the while ye know!
And if ye are in doubt of what we have revealed unto our servant, then bring a chapter like it, and call your witnesses other than God if ye tell truth. But if ye do it not, and ye shall surely do it not, then fear the fire whose fuel is men and stones prepared for misbelievers. But bear the glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow; whenever they are provided with fruit therefrom they say, ‘This is what we were provided with before,’ and they shall be provided with the like and there are pure wives for them therein, and they shall dwell therein for aye.
Why, God is not ashamed to set forth a parable of a gnat or anything beyond; and as for those who believe, they know that it is truth from the Lord; but as for those who disbelieve, they say, ‘What is it that God means by this as a parable? He leads astray many and He guides many;’ — but He leads astray only the evildoers; who break God’s covenant after the fixing thereof, and cut asunder what God has ordered to be joined, and do evil in the earth; — these it is who lose.
How can ye disbelieve in God, when ye were dead and He made you alive, and then He will kill you and then make you alive again, and then to Him will ye return? It is He who created for you all that is in the earth, then he made for the heavens and fashioned them seven heavens; and He knows all things.
And when thy Lord said unto the angels, ‘I am about to place a vicegerent in the earth,’ they said, ‘Wilt Thou place therein one who will do evil therein and shed blood? we celebrate Thy praise and hallow Thee.’ Said (the Lord), ‘I know what ye know not.’ And He taught Adam the names, all of them; then He propounded them to the angels and said, ‘Declare to me the names of these, if ye are truthful They said, ‘Glory be to Thee! no knowledge is ours but what Thou thyself hast taught us, verily, Thou art the knowing, the wise.’ Said the Lord, ‘O Adam declare to them their names;’ and when he had declared to them their names He said, ‘Did I not say to you, I know the secrets of the heavens and of the earth, and I know what ye show and what ye were hiding?’ And when we said to the angels, ‘Adore Adam,’ they adored him save only Iblîs, who refused and was too proud and became one of the misbelievers. And we said, ‘O Adam dwell, thou and thy wife, in Paradise, and eat therefrom amply as you wish; but do not draw near this tree or ye will be of the transgressors. And Satan made them backslide therefrom and drove them out from what they were in, and we said, ‘Go down, one of you the enemy of the other, and in the earth there is an abode and a provision for a time.’ And Adam caught certain words from his Lord, and He turned towards him, for He is the compassionate one easily turned. We said, ‘Go down therefrom altogether and haply there may come from me a guidance, and whoso follows my guidance, no fear is theirs, nor shall they grieve. But those who misbelieve, and call our signs lies, they are the fellows of the Fire, they shall dwell therein for aye.’
O ye children of Israel! remember my favours which I have favoured you with; fulfil my covenant and I will fulfil your covenant; me therefore dread. Believe in what I have revealed, verifying what ye have got, and be not the first to disbelieve in it, and do not barter my signs for a little price, and me do ye fear. Clothe not truth with vanity, nor hide the truth the while ye know. Be steadfast in prayer, give the alms, and bow down with those who bow. Will ye order men to do piety and forget yourselves? ye read the Book, do ye not then understand? Seek aid with patience and prayer, though it is a hard thing save for the humble, who think that they will meet their Lord, and that to Him will they return.
O ye children of Israel! remember my favours which I have favoured you with, and that I have preferred you above the worlds. Fear the day wherein no soul shall pay any recompense for another soul, nor shall intercession be accepted for it, nor shall compensation be taken from it, nor shall they be helped.
When we saved you from Pharaoh’s people who sought to wreak you evil and woe, slaughtering your sons and letting your women live; in that was a great trial for you from your Lord. When we divided for you the sea and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people while ye looked on. When we treated with Moses forty nights, then ye took the calf after he had gone and ye did wrong. Yet then we forgave you after that; perhaps ye may be grateful. And when we gave Moses the Scriptures and the Discrimination; perhaps ye will be guided. When Moses said to his people, ‘O my people! Ye have wronged yourselves in taking this calf; repent unto your Creator and kill each other that will be better for you in your Creator’s eyes; and He turned unto you, for He is the compassionate one easily turned.’ And when ye said to Moses, ‘O Moses! we will not believe in thee until we see God manifestly,’ and the thunderbolt caught you while ye yet looked on. Then we raised you up after your death; perhaps ye may be grateful. And we overshadowed you with the cloud, and sent down the manna and the quails; ‘Eat of the good things we have given you.’ They did not wrong us, but it was themselves they were wronging. And when we said, ‘Enter this city and eat therefrom as plentifully as ye wish; and enter the gate worshipping and say ‘hittatun So will we pardon you your sins and give increase unto those who do well.’
When Moses, too, asked drink for his people and we said, ‘Strike with thy staff the rock,’ and from it burst forth twelve springs; each man among them knew his drinking place. ‘Eat and drink of what God has provided, and transgress not on the earth as evildoers.’
And when they said, ‘O Moses, we cannot always bear one kind of food; pray then thy Lord to bring forth for us of what the earth grows, its green herbs, its cucumbers, its garlic, its lentils, and its onions.’ Said he, ‘Do ye ask what is meaner instead of what is best? Go down to Egypt, — there is what ye ask.’ Then were they smitten with abasement and poverty, and met with wrath from God. That was because they had misbelieved in God’s signs and killed the prophets undeservedly; that was for that they were rebellious and had transgressed.
Verily, whether it be of those who believe, or those who are Jews or Christians or Sabæans, whosoever believe in God and the last day and act aright, they have their reward at their Lord’s hand, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.
Thus we made them an example unto those who stood before them, and those who should come after them, and a warning unto those who fear.
And when Moses said to his people, ‘God bids you slaughter a cow ,’ they said, ‘Art thou making a jest of us?’ Said he, ‘I seek refuge with God from being one of the unwise.’ They said, ‘Then pray thy Lord for us to show us what she is to be.’ He answered, ‘He saith it is a cow, nor old, nor young, of middle age between the two; so do as ye are bid.’ They said, ‘Pray now thy Lord to show us what her colour is to be.’ He answered, ‘He saith it is a dun cow, intensely dun, her colour delighting those who look upon her.’
Again they said, ‘Pray thy Lord to show us what she is to be; for cows appear the same to us; then we, if God will, shall be guided.’ He answered, He saith, it is a cow, not broken in to plough the earth or irrigate the tilth, a sound one with no blemish on her.’ They said, ‘Now hast thou brought the truth.’ And they slaughtered her, though they came near leaving it undone.
When too ye slew a soul and disputed thereupon, and God brought forth that which ye had hidden, then we said, ‘Strike him with part of her.’ Thus God brings the dead to life and shows you His signs, that haply ye may understand.
Yet were your hearts hardened even after that, till they were as stones or harder still, for verily of stones are some from which streams burst forth, and of them there are some that burst asunder and the water issues out, and of them there are some that fall down for fear of God; but God is never careless of what ye do.
And when they meet those who believe they say, ‘We believe,’ but when one goes aside with another they say, ‘Will ye talk to them of what God has opened up to you, that they may argue with you upon it before your Lord? Do ye not therefore understand?’ Do they not then know that God knoweth what they keep secret and what they make known abroad?
And some of them there are, illiterate folk, that know not the Book, but only idle tales; for they do but fancy. But woe to those who write out the Book with their hands and say ‘this is from’ God; to buy therewith a little price! and woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they gain!
Yea! whoso gains an evil gain, and is encompassed by his sins, those are the fellows of the Fire, and they shall dwell therein for aye! But such as act aright, those are the fellows of Paradise, and they shall dwell therein for aye!
And when we took from the children of Israel a covenant, saying, ‘Serve ye none but God, and to your two parents show kindness, and to your kindred and the orphans and the poor, and speak to men kindly, and be steadfast in prayer, and give alms;’ and then ye turned back, save a few of you, and swerved aside.
And when we took a covenant from you, ‘shed ye not your kinsman’s blood, nor turn your kinsmen out of their homes :’ then did ye confirm it and were witnesses thereto. Yet ye were those who slay your kinsmen and turn a party out of their homes, and back each other up against them with sin and enmity. But if they come to you as captives ye ransom them! — and yet it is as unlawful for you to turn them out. Do ye then believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part? But the reward of such among you as do that shall be nought else but disgrace in this worldly life, and on the day of the resurrection shall they be driven to the most grievous torment, for God is not unmindful of what ye do.
Those who have bought this worldly life with the Future, the torment shall not be lightened from them nor shall they be helped.
We gave Moses the Book and we followed him up with other apostles, and we gave Jesus the son of Mary manifest signs and aided him with the Holy Spirit. Do ye then, every time an apostle comes to you with what your souls love not, proudly scorn him, and charge a part with lying and slay a part?
They say, ‘Our hearts are uncircumcised;’ nay, God has cursed them in their unbelief, and few it is who do believe. And when a book came down from God confirming what they had with them, though they had before prayed for victory over those who misbelieve, yet when that came to them which they knew, then they disbelieved it, — God’s curse be on the misbelievers.
For a bad bargain have they sold their souls, not to believe in what God has revealed, grudging because God sends down of His grace on whomsoever of His servants He will; and they have brought on themselves wrath after wrath and for the misbelievers is there shameful woe.
And when they are told to believe in what God has revealed, they say, ‘We believe in what has been revealed to us;’ but they disbelieve in all beside, although it is the truth confirming what they have. Say, ‘Wherefore did ye kill God’s prophets of yore if ye were true believers?’
Moses came to you with manifest signs, then ye took up with the calf when he had gone and did so wrong. And when we took a covenant with you and raised the mountain over you, ‘Take what we have given you with resolution and hear;’ they said, ‘We hear but disobey;’ and they were made to drink the calf down into their hearts for their unbelief Say, ‘An evil thing is it which your belief bids you do, if ye be true believers.’ Say, ‘If the abode of the future with God is yours alone and not mankind’s: long for death then if ye speak the truth: But they will never long for it because of what their hands have sent on before; but God is knowing as to the wrong doers.
Why, thou wilt find them the greediest of men for life; and of those who associate others with God one would fain live for a thousand years, — but he will not be reprieved from punishment by being let live, for God seeth what they do.
Say, ‘Who is an enemy to Gabriel ?’ for he hath revealed to thy heart, with God’s permission, confirmation of what had been before, and a guidance and glad tidings to believers. Who is an enemy to God and His angels and His apostles and Gabriel and Michael? — Verily, God is an enemy to the unbelievers. We have sent down to thee conspicuous signs, and none will disbelieve therein except the evildoers. Or every time they make a covenant, will a part of them repudiate it? Nay, most of them do not believe.
And when there comes to them an apostle confirming what they have, a part of those who have received the Book repudiate God’s book, casting it behind their backs as though they did not know. And they follow that which the devils recited against Solomon’s kingdom; — it was not Solomon who misbelieved but the devils who misbelieved, teaching men sorcery, — and what has been revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Hârût and Mârût yet these taught no one until they said, ‘We are but a temptation, so do not misbelieve.’ Men learn from them only that by which they may part man and wife; but they can harm no one therewith, unless with the permission of God, and they learn what hurts them and profits them not. And yet they knew that he who purchased it would have no portion in the future; but sad is the price at which they have sold their souls, had they but known. But had they believed and feared, a reward from God were better, had they but known.
They who misbelieve, whether of those who have the Book or of the idolaters, would fain that no good were sent down to you from your Lord; but God specially favours with His mercy whom He will, for God is Lord of mighty grace.
Whatever verse we may annul or cause thee to forget, we will bring a better one than it, or one like it; dost thou not know that God is mighty over all? Dost thou not know that God’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth? nor have ye besides God a patron or a help.
Do ye wish to question your apostle as Moses was questioned aforetime? but whoso takes misbelief in exchange for faith has erred from the level road.
Many of those who have the Book would fain turn you back into misbelievers after ye have once believed, through envy from themselves, after the truth has been made manifest to them; but pardon and shun them till God brings His command; verily, God is mighty over all.
Be ye steadfast in prayer, and give alms; and ‘whatsoever good ye send before for your own souls, ye shall find it with God, for God in all ye do doth see.
They say, ‘None shall enter Paradise save such as be Jews or Christians;’ that is their faith. Say thou, ‘Bring your proofs, if ye be speaking truth.’
The Jews say, The Christians rest on nought;’ and the Christians say, ‘The Jews rest on nought;’ and yet they read the Book. So, too, say those who know not, like to what these say; but God shall judge between them on the resurrection day concerning that whereon they do dispute.
God’s is the east and the west, and wherever ye turn there is God’s face; verily, God comprehends and knows.
And those who do not know (the Scriptures) say, ‘Unless God speak to us, or there comes a sign.’ So spake those before them like unto their speech. Their hearts are all alike. We have made manifest the signs unto a people that are sure.
We have sent thee with the truth, a bearer of good tidings and of warning, and thou shalt not be questioned as to the fellows of hell.
The Jews will. not be satisfied with thee, nor yet the Christians, until thou followest their creed. Say, ‘God’s guidance is the guidance;’ and if thou followest their lusts after the knowledge that has come to thee, thou hast not then from God a patron or a help.
They to whom we have brought the Book and who read it as it should be read, believe therein; and whoso disbelieve therein, ’tis they who lose thereby.
