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The Cow
al-Baqarah
Al-Baqarah is from the Madinan period. It is named al-Baqarah, or “The Cow,” because of the cow mentioned in v. 67. It is the longest sūrah of the Quran, comprising one-twelfth of the entire text. In most illuminated manuscripts and printed editions of the Quran, the first seven verses of al-Baqarah appear on an illuminated page opposite another illuminated page containing the seven verses of the Fātiḥah, or “Opening,” the first chapter of the Quran. These two pages together form for most readers the first visual experience of the Quran as a physical book.
Few subjects discussed in the Quran do not find some mention in al-Baqarah; topics include matters of theology, law, sacred history, metaphysics, cosmology, and the spiritual life. The sūrah opens with a general description of belief in the seen and Unseen, the multiplicity of prophets, and the imperative to give from what we possess, whether spiritual or material. After a section addressing the hypocrisy of the protestations and claims of those who disbelieve in God, the sūrah turns to an account of the creation of Adam and the fall from the Garden, including the status of the angels in relation to human beings and the role of Satan in Adam’s fall.
The history of the Children of Israel figures prominently in this sūrah. Stressed are the blessings of God upon the Israelites throughout their history, beginning with one of the several accounts provided by the Quran describing the encounter between Moses and Pharaoh as well as the events at Mt. Sinai and the parable of the sacrificial cow (baqarah), to which the sūrah owes its name. This history is interwoven with theological questions debated between Jews and Muslims, such as the duration of one’s stay in Hell, the status of the Archangel Gabriel, and other accusations and challenges exchanged between the two communities.
Al-Baqarah is one of the most important sūrahs as far as the question of the status of other religions is concerned, addressing this matter from a theological and legal perspective and also as a question of sacred history. Abraham is discussed as a prophet who predated Judaism and Christianity, who established the Kaʿbah as a temple of worship, and who was a ḥanīf, or primordial monotheist.
Important rituals and acts of worship are legislated in this sūrah, including the pilgrimage, the required fast during the month of Ramadan, and other matters such as the direction (qiblah) one should face while reciting the canonical prayers. Other legal matters discussed are economic contracts, usury, marriage and divorce, the status of orphans, the causes and conduct of war, inheritance, alcohol consumption and gambling, and punishment for capital crimes. Some of the Quran’s most famous and most recited verses are found in this sūrah, including v. 255, called the Pedestal Verse (Āyat al-Kursī), and the final two verses, which are important in Muslim devotional life.
Concerning this sūrah the Prophet is reported to have said, “Everything has a zenith, and the zenith of the Quran is Sūrat al-Baqarah, and it has a verse which is the lord of the verses of the Quran, the Pedestal Verse [v. 255]”; “Truly Satan leaves a house when he hears Sūrat al-Baqarah recited in it”; and “Learn al-Baqarah. Holding to it is a blessing, leaving it is an affliction, and falsehood has no power over it.”
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
¡ Alif. Lām. Mīm. * This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the reverent, + who believe in the Unseen and perform the prayer and spend from that which We have provided them, J and who believe in what was sent down unto thee, and what was sent down before thee, and who are certain of the Hereafter. Z It is they who act upon guidance from their Lord, and it is they who shall prosper. j Truly it is the same for the disbelievers whether thou warnest them or warnest them not; they do not believe. z God has sealed their hearts and their hearing. Upon their eyes is a covering, and theirs is a great punishment. { Among mankind are those who say, “We believe in God and in the Last Day,” though they do not believe. | They would deceive God and the believers; yet they deceive none but themselves, though they are unaware. Ċ In their hearts is a disease, and God has increased them in disease. Theirs is a painful punishment for having lied. Ě And when it is said unto them, “Do not work corruption upon the earth,” they say, “We are only working righteousness.” Ī Nay, it is they who are the workers of corruption, though they are unaware. ĺ When it is said unto them, “Believe as the people believe,” they say, “Shall we believe as fools believe?” Nay, it is they who are the fools, though they know not. Ŋ And when they meet those who believe they say, “We believe,” but when they are alone with their satans they say, “We are with you. We were only mocking.” Ś God mocks them, and leaves them to wander confused in their rebellion. Ū It is they who have purchased error at the price of guidance. Their commerce has not brought them profit, and they are not rightly guided. ź Their parable is that of one who kindled a fire, and when it lit up what was around him, God took away their light, and left them in darkness, unseeing. Ɗ Deaf, dumb, and blind, they return not. ƚ Or a cloudburst from the sky, in which there is darkness, thunder, and lightning. They put their fingers in their ears against the thunderclaps, fearing death. And God encompasses the disbelievers. Ȋ The lightning all but snatches away their sight. Whenever it shines for them, they walk therein, and when darkness comes over them, they halt. Had God willed, He would have taken away their hearing and their sight. Truly God is Powerful over all things. ! O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who created you, and those who were before you, that haply you may be reverent: " He Who made for you the earth a place of repose and the sky a canopy, and sent water from the sky by which He brought forth fruits for your provision. So do not set up equals unto God, knowingly. # If you are in doubt concerning what We have sent down unto Our servant, then bring a sūrah like it, and call your witnesses apart from God if you are truthful. $ And if you do not, and you will not, then be mindful of the Fire whose fuel is men and stones, which is prepared for the disbelievers. % And give glad tidings to those who believe and perform righteous deeds that theirs are Gardens with rivers running below. Whensoever they are given a fruit therefrom as provision, they say, “This is the provision we received aforetime,” and they were given a likeness of it. Therein they have spouses made pure, and therein they shall abide. & Truly God is not ashamed to set forth a parable of a gnat or something smaller. As for those who believe, they know it is the truth from their Lord, and as for those who disbelieve, they say, “What did God mean by this parable?” He misleads many by it, and He guides many by it, and He misleads none but the iniquitous. ' Those who break God’s Pact after accepting His Covenant, and sever what God has commanded be joined, and work corruption upon the earth, it is they who are the losers. ( How can you disbelieve in God, seeing that you were dead and He gave you life; then He causes you to die; then He gives you life; then unto Him shall you be returned? ) He it is Who created for you all that is on the earth. Then He turned to Heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens, and He is Knower of all things. Ð And when thy Lord said to the angels, “I am placing a vicegerent upon the earth,” they said, “Wilt Thou place therein one who will work corruption therein, and shed blood, while we hymn Thy praise and call Thee Holy?” He said, “Truly I know what you know not.” Ñ And He taught Adam the names, all of them. Then He laid them before the angels and said, “Tell me the names of these, if you are truthful.” Ò They said, “Glory be to Thee! We have no knowledge save what Thou hast taught us. Truly Thou art the Knower, the Wise.” Ó He said, “Adam, tell them their names.” And when he had told them their names He said, “Did I not say to you that I know the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and that I know what you disclose and what you used to conceal?” Ô And when We said to the angels, “Prostrate unto Adam,” they prostrated, save Iblīs. He refused and waxed arrogant, and was among the disbelievers. Õ We said, “O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden and eat freely thereof, wheresoever you will. But approach not this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.” Ö Then Satan made them stumble therefrom, and expelled them from that wherein they were, and We said, “Get you down, each of you an enemy to the other. On the earth a dwelling place shall be yours, and enjoyment for a while.” × Then Adam received words from his Lord, and He relented unto him. Indeed, He is the Relenting, the Merciful. Ø We said, “Get down from it, all of you. If guidance should come to you from Me, then whosoever follows My Guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.” Ù But those who disbelieve and deny Our signs, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein. @ O Children of Israel! Remember My Blessing which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill My covenant, and I shall fulfill your covenant, and be in awe of Me. A And believe in that which I have sent down, confirming that which you have with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And sell not My signs for a paltry price, and reverence Me. B And confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth. C And perform the prayer, and give the alms, and bow with those who bow. D Will you enjoin piety upon mankind, and forget yourselves, while you recite the Book? Do you not understand? E Seek help in patience and prayer, and this indeed is difficult except for the humble, F who reckon that they shall meet their Lord and that they shall return unto Him. G O Children of Israel! Remember My Blessing which I bestowed upon you, and that I favored you above the worlds. H And be mindful of a day when no soul will avail another soul in any way, and no intercession shall be accepted from it, nor ransom taken from it; nor shall they be helped. I And [remember] when We delivered you from the House of Pharaoh, who inflicted a terrible punishment upon you, slaying your sons and sparing your women. And in that was a great trial from your Lord. P And when We parted the sea for you and so delivered you, and drowned the House of Pharaoh as you looked on. Q And when We appointed forty nights for Moses, and you took up the calf while he was away, while you were wrongdoers. R Then We pardoned you after that, that haply you may give thanks. S And when We gave unto Moses the Book and the Criterion, that haply you may be guided. T And when Moses said to his people, “O my people! You have wronged yourselves by taking up the calf. So repent unto your Maker and slay your own. That is better for you in the sight of your Maker.” Then He relented unto you. Indeed, He is the Relenting, the Merciful. U And when you said, “O Moses, we will not believe thee till we see God openly,” and the thunderbolt seized you as you looked on. V Then We raised you up after your death, that haply you may give thanks. W And We shaded you with clouds, and sent down manna and quails upon you, “Eat of the good things We have provided you.” They wronged Us not, but themselves did they wrong. X And when We said, “Enter this town, and eat freely of that which is therein wheresoever you will, and enter the gate prostrating, and say, ‘Remove the burden!’ that We may forgive you your sins. And We shall increase the virtuous.” Y But those who did wrong substituted a word other than that which had been said unto them. So We sent down a torment from Heaven upon those who did wrong for the iniquity they committed. ` And when Moses sought water for his people, We said, “Strike the rock with thy staff.” Then twelve springs gushed forth from it; each people knew their drinking place. “Eat and drink of God’s provision, and behave not wickedly upon the earth, working corruption.” a And when you said, “O Moses, we shall not endure one food, so call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us some of what the earth grows: its herbs, its cucumbers, its garlic, its lentils, its onions.” He said, “Would you substitute what is lesser for what is better? Go down to a town, and you will have what you ask for.” So they were struck with abasement and poverty, and earned a burden of wrath from God. That is because they disbelieved in the signs of God, and killed the prophets without right. That is because they disobeyed, and were transgressors. b Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans—whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve. c And when We made a covenant with you, and raised the Mount over you, “Take hold of what We have given you with strength, and remember what is in it, that haply you may be reverent.” d Then you turned away thereafter, and were it not for God’s Bounty upon you, and His Mercy, you would have been among the losers. e And you have indeed known those among you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath, and so We said to them, “Be you apes, outcast.” f So We made it an exemplary punishment for their time and for times to come, and an admonition for the reverent. g And when Moses said to his people, “God commands you to slaughter a cow,” they said, “Do you take us in mockery?” He said, “I seek refuge in God from being among the ignorant.” h They said, “Call upon your Lord for us, that He may clarify for us what she is.” He said, “He says she is a cow neither old nor without calf, middling between them: so do what you are commanded.” i They said, “Call upon your Lord for us, that He may clarify for us what her color is.” He said, “He says she is a yellow cow. Bright is her color, pleasing the onlookers.” p They said, “Pray for us to your Lord, that He may clarify for us what she is. Cows are much alike to us, and if God will we will surely be guided.” q He said, “He says she is a cow not broken to plow the earth or to water the tillage, sound and without blemish.” They said, “Now you have brought the truth.” So they slaughtered her, but they almost did not. r And when you slew a soul and cast the blame upon one another regarding it—and God is the discloser of what you were concealing— s We said, “Strike him with part of it.” Thus does God give life to the dead and show you His signs, that haply you may understand. t Then your hearts hardened thereafter, being like stones or harder still. For indeed among stones are those from which streams gush forth, and indeed among them are those that split and water issues from them, and indeed among them are those that crash down from the fear of God. And God is not heedless of what you do. u Do you hope, then, that they will believe you, seeing that a party of them would hear the Word of God and then distort it after they had understood it, knowingly? v And when they meet those who believe they say, “We believe,” and when they are alone with one another they say, “Do you speak to them of what God has unveiled to you, that they may thereby dispute with you before your Lord? Do you not understand?” w Do they not know that God knows what they hide and what they disclose? x And among them are the illiterate who know nothing of the Book but hearsay, and they only conjecture. y So woe unto those who write the book with their hands, then say, “This is from God,” that they may sell it for a paltry price. So woe unto them for what their hands have written and woe unto them for what they earn. À And they say, “The Fire will not touch us save for days numbered.” Say, “Have you made a covenant with God? For God shall not fail to keep His Covenant. Or do you say of God that which you know not?” Á Nay, whosoever earns evil and is surrounded by his sins, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein to abide.  And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden, therein to abide. à And [remember] when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel, “Worship none but God; be virtuous toward parents, kinsfolk, orphans, and the indigent; speak to people in a goodly way; and perform the prayer and give the alms.” Then you turned away, save a few of you, swerving aside. Ä And when We made a covenant with you, “Do not shed the blood of your own, and do not expel your own from your homes.” Then you ratified it, bearing witness. Å And yet it is you, the very same, who kill your own and expel a party of you from their homes, conspiring against them in sin and enmity. And if they come to you as captives you ransom them, though their expulsion was forbidden to you. Do you, then, believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part? And what is the recompense of those who do so but disgrace in the life of this world? And on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most severe punishment. And God is not heedless of what you do. Æ It is they who have purchased the world at the price of the Hereafter; for them the punishment shall not be lightened, nor will they be helped. Ç And indeed We gave unto Moses the Book and caused a succession of messengers to follow him. And We gave Jesus son of Mary clear proofs, and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Is it not so that whenever a messenger brought you something your souls did not desire, you waxed arrogant, and some you denied and some you slew? È And they say, “Our hearts are uncircumcised.” Rather, God has cursed them for their disbelief, for little do they believe. É And when there came to them a Book from God, confirming that which they had with them—and aforetime they used to ask for victory over those who disbelieve—so when there came to them that which they recognized, they disbelieved in it. So may the curse of God be upon the disbelievers. Ґ Evil is that for which they sold their souls, that they should disbelieve in what God sent down, out of envy that God should send down His Grace unto whomsoever He will among His servants. They earn a burden of wrath upon wrath, and the disbelievers shall have a humiliating punishment. ґ And when it is said unto them, “Believe in what God has sent down,” they say, “We believe in what was sent down to us,” and they disbelieve in what is beyond it, although it is the truth, confirming what is with them. Say, “Then why did you slay the prophets of God aforetime, if you were believers?” Ғ And indeed Moses brought you clear proofs, but then you took up the calf while he was away, and you were wrongdoers. ғ And when We made a covenant with you, and raised the Mount over you, “Take hold of what We have given you with strength, and listen!” They said, “We hear, and disobey,” and they were made to drink the calf into their hearts because of their disbelief. Say, “Evil is that which your belief enjoins upon you, if you are believers.” Ҕ Say, “If the Abode of the Hereafter with God is yours alone to the exclusion of other people, then long for death, if you are truthful.” ҕ But they will never long for it, because of what their hands have sent forth, and God knows the wrongdoers. Җ You will find them the most covetous of people for life, [even] more than those who are idolaters. Each one of them would wish to live a thousand years, although that would not remove him from the punishment. And God sees whatsoever they do. җ Whosoever is an enemy of Gabriel: he it is who sent it down upon thy heart by God’s Leave, confirming that which was there before, and as a guidance and glad tiding for the believers. Ҙ Whosoever is an enemy of God, His angels and His messengers, and Gabriel and Michael: God is indeed the enemy of the disbelievers. ҙ We did indeed send down to you clear signs, and only the iniquitous disbelieve in them. Ā Is it not so that, whenever they make a covenant, a group of them cast it aside? Indeed, most of them do not believe. ā And when there came to them a messenger from God, confirming that which is with them, a group of those who have been given the Book cast the Book of God behind their backs, as if they know not. Ă And they followed what the satans recited against the kingdom of Solomon. Solomon did not disbelieve, but the satans disbelieved, teaching people sorcery and that which was sent down to the two angels at Babylon, Hārūt and Mārūt. But they would not teach anyone until they had said, “We are only a trial, so do not disbelieve.” Then they would learn from them that by which they could cause separation between a man and his wife. But they did not harm anyone with it, save by God’s Leave. And they would learn that which harmed them and brought them no benefit, knowing that whosoever purchases it has no share in the Hereafter. Evil is that for which they sold their souls, had they but known. ă And had they believed and been reverent, a recompense from God would be better, if they but knew. Ą O you who believe! Do not say, “Attend to us,” but say, “Regard us,” and listen! And the disbelievers shall have a painful punishment. ą Neither the disbelievers among the People of the Book nor the polytheists wish that any good be sent down to you from your Lord, but God singles out for His Mercy whomsoever He will, and God is Possessed of Tremendous Bounty. Ć No sign do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but that We bring that which is better than it or like unto it. Dost thou not know that God is Powerful over all things? ć Dost thou not know that unto God belongs Sovereignty over the heavens and the earth, and that you have neither protector nor helper apart from God? Ĉ Or do you wish to question your messenger as Moses was questioned aforetime? Whosoever exchanges belief for disbelief has gone astray from the right way. ĉ Many of the People of the Book wish to turn you back into disbelievers after your having believed, out of envy in their souls, even after the truth has become clear to them. So pardon and forbear, until God comes with His Command. Truly God is Powerful over all things. Đ And perform the prayer and give the alms. Whatever good you send forth for your souls, you will find it with God. Truly God sees whatsoever you do. đ And they said, “None will enter the Garden unless he be a Jew or a Christian.” Those are their hopes. Say, “Bring your proof, if you are truthful.” Ē Nay, whosoever submits his face to God, while being virtuous, shall have his reward with his Lord. No fear shall come upon them; nor shall they grieve. ē The Jews say, “The Christians stand on nothing,” and the Christians say, “The Jews stand on nothing,” though they recite the Book. Likewise did those who know not speak words like theirs. God will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that wherein they differed. Ĕ And who does greater wrong than one who bars [entrance to] the mosques of God, lest His Name be remembered therein, and strives for their ruin? They are those who should not enter them, save in fear. Theirs is disgrace in this world, and theirs is a great punishment in the Hereafter. ĕ To God belong the East and the West. Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of God. God is All-Encompassing, Knowing. Ė And they say, “God has taken a child.” Glory be to Him! Rather, unto Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and on the earth. All are devoutly obedient to Him, ė the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a thing, He only says to it, “Be!” and it is. Ę Those who do not know say, “Why does God not speak to us, nor a sign come to us?” Likewise did those who came before them speak words like theirs. Their hearts are alike. We have made the signs clear for a people who are certain. ę Indeed, We have sent thee with the truth, as a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner, and thou wilt not be questioned about the inhabitants of Hellfire. Ġ Never will the Jews be content with thee, nor the Christians, until thou followest their creed. Say, “Truly the Guidance of God is guidance. And if thou shouldst follow their caprices after the knowledge that has come to thee, thou shalt have against God neither protector nor helper.” ġ Those unto whom We have given the Book and who recite it as it should be recited are they who believe in it. And whosoever does not believe in it, they are the losers. Ģ O Children of Israel! Remember My Blessing which I bestowed upon you, and that I favored you above the worlds. ģ And be mindful of a day when no soul shall recompense another in any way, nor shall ransom be accepted from it, nor shall intercession benefit it; and they will not be helped. Ĥ And [remember] when his Lord tried Abraham with [certain] words, and he fulfilled them. He said, “I am making you an imam for mankind.” He said, “And of my progeny?” He said, “My covenant does not include the wrongdoers.” ĥ And [remember] when We made the House a place of visitation for mankind, and a sanctuary, “Take the station of Abraham as a place of prayer.” And We made a covenant with Abraham and Ishmael, “Purify My House for those who circumambulate, those who make retreat, and those who bow and prostrate.” Ħ And [remember] when Abraham said, “My Lord, make this a land secure, and provide its people with fruits: those among them who believe in God and the Last Day.” He said, “Whosoever disbelieves, I will grant him enjoyment for a while, then I will compel him toward the punishment of the Fire. What an evil journey’s end!” ħ And [remember] when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House, “Our Lord, accept [it] from us. Truly Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing. Ĩ And, our Lord, make us submit unto Thee, and from our progeny a community submitting unto Thee, and show us our rites, and relent unto us. Truly Thou art the Relenting, the Merciful. ĩ Our Lord, raise up in their midst a messenger from among them, who will recite Thy signs to them, and will teach them the Book and Wisdom, and purify them. Truly Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.” İ And who shuns the creed of Abraham, but a foolish soul? We chose him in the world and in the Hereafter he shall be among the righteous. ı And when his Lord said unto him, “Submit!” he said, “I submit to the Lord of the worlds.” IJ And Abraham enjoined the same upon his children, as did Jacob, “O my children, God has chosen for you the religion, so die not except in submission.” ij Or were you witnesses when death came to Jacob, when he said to his children, “What will you worship after I am gone?” They said, “We shall worship thy God and the God of thy fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac: one God, and unto Him we submit.” Ĵ That is a community that has passed away. Theirs is what they earned and yours is what you earned, and you will not be questioned about that which they used to do. ĵ And they say, “Be Jews or Christians and you shall be rightly guided.” Say, “Rather, [ours is] the creed of Abraham, a ḥanīf, and he was not of the idolaters.” Ķ Say, “We believe in God, and in that which was sent down unto us, and in that which was sent down unto Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in what Moses and Jesus were given, and in what the prophets were given from their Lord. We make no distinction among any of them, and unto Him we submit.” ķ And if they believe in the like of what you believe in, then they shall be rightly guided. And if they turn away, then they are merely in schism and God will suffice you against them, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing. ĸ “The baptism of God, and who is better than God in baptism? And we are worshippers of Him.” Ĺ Say, “Will you dispute with us concerning God, while He is our Lord and your Lord? Unto us our deeds and unto you your deeds, and we are sincere toward Him.” ŀ Or say you that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes were Jews or Christians? Say, “Do you know better, or does God?” And who does greater wrong than one who conceals a testimony he has from God? God is not heedless of what you do. Ł That is a community that has passed away. Theirs is what they earned, and yours is what you earned, and you will not be questioned about that which they used to do. ł The fools among the people will say, “What has turned them away from the qiblah they had been following?” Say, “To God belong the East and the West. He guides whomsoever He will unto a straight path.” Ń Thus did We make you a middle community, that you may be witnesses for mankind and that the Messenger may be a witness for you. And We only appointed the qiblah that you had been following to know those who follow the Messenger from those who turn back on their heels, and it was indeed difficult, save for those whom God guided. But God would not let your belief be in vain. Truly God is Kind and Merciful unto mankind. ń We have seen the turning of thy face unto Heaven, and indeed We will turn thee toward a qiblah well pleasing to thee. So turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque, and wheresoever you are, turn your faces toward it. Truly those who have been given the Book know that it is the truth from their Lord. And God is not heedless of what they do. Ņ And wert thou to bring every sign to those who were given the Book, they would not follow thy qiblah. Thou art not a follower of their qiblah, nor are they followers of one another’s qiblah. Wert thou to follow their caprices after the knowledge that has come to thee, thou wouldst be one of the wrongdoers. ņ Those unto whom We have given the Book recognize it as they recognize their children, but a group of them knowingly conceal the truth. Ň The truth is from thy Lord; so be thou not among the doubters. ň Everyone has a direction toward which he turns. So vie with one another in good deeds. Wheresoever you are, God will bring you all together. Truly God is Powerful over all things. ʼn And whencesoever thou goest out, turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque. Indeed, it is the truth from thy Lord. And God is not heedless of what you do. Ő And whencesoever thou goest out, turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque, and wheresoever you may be, turn your faces toward it, so that the people may have no argument against you—not even those among them who do wrong. Fear them not, but fear Me—and so that I may complete My Blessing upon you, and that haply you may be guided, ő even as We sent among you a messenger from among you, who recites Our signs to you and purifies you, and teaches you the Book and Wisdom, and teaches you what you knew not. Œ So remember Me, and I shall remember you. Give thanks unto Me, and disbelieve not in Me. œ O you who believe! Seek help in patience and prayer. Truly God is with the patient. Ŕ And say not of those who are slain in the way of God, “They are dead.” Nay, they are alive, but you are unaware. ŕ And We will indeed test you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth, souls, and fruits; and give glad tidings to the patient— Ŗ those who, when affliction befalls them, say, “Truly we are God’s, and unto Him we return.” ŗ They are those upon whom come the blessings from their Lord, and compassion, and they are those who are rightly guided. Ř Truly Ṣafā and Marwah are among the rituals of God; so whosoever performs the ḥajj to the House, or makes the ʿumrah, there is no blame on him in going to and fro between them. And whosoever volunteers good, truly God is Thankful, Knowing. ř Truly those who conceal what We have sent down of clear proofs and guidance—after We made it clear to mankind in the Book—are those who are cursed by God and cursed by the cursers, Š save such as repent, and make amends, and make clear. They are those unto whom I relent. And I am the Relenting, the Merciful. š Indeed, those who disbelieve, and die disbelievers, upon them shall be the curse of God, the angels, and mankind all together. Ţ Therein they shall abide: the punishment shall not be lightened for them, nor shall they be granted respite. ţ Your God is one God, there is no god but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Ť Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth; and the variation of the night and the day; and the ships that run upon the sea with what benefits mankind; and the water God sends down from the sky whereby He revives the earth after its death, scattering all manner of beast therein; and the shifting of the winds; and the clouds subdued between the sky and the earth are surely signs for a people who understand. ť Among mankind there are some who take up equals apart from God, loving them like loving God. But those who believe are more ardent in their love of God. If those who do wrong could but see, when they see the punishment, that power belongs altogether to God and that God is severe in punishment, Ŧ when those who were followed disavow those who followed, and they see the punishment, while all recourse will be cut off from them. ŧ And those who followed will say, “If we had another turn, we would disavow them as they disavowed us.” Thus does God show them their deeds as a source of regret for them, and they shall not leave the Fire. Ũ O mankind! Eat of what is lawful and good on the earth, and follow not the footsteps of Satan. Truly he is a manifest enemy unto you. ũ He only commands you to evil and indecency, and to say of God what you know not. Ű When it is said unto them, “Follow what God has sent down,” they say, “Nay, we follow that which we found our fathers doing.” What! Even though their fathers understood nothing, and were not rightly guided? ű The parable of those who disbelieve is that of one who cries to that which hears only a call and a shout. Deaf, dumb, and blind, they do not understand. Ų O you who believe! Eat of the good things We have provided you and give thanks to God if it is He Whom you worship. ų He has forbidden you only carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, and what has been offered to other than God. But whosoever is compelled by necessity—neither coveting nor transgressing—no sin shall be upon him. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. Ŵ Truly those who conceal what God sent down of the Book and sell it for a paltry price are those who eat naught but fire in their bellies. God will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them. Theirs shall be a painful punishment. ŵ They are those who have purchased error at the price of guidance, and punishment at the price of forgiveness. How will they endure the Fire! Ŷ That is because God sent down the Book in truth. Truly those who differ concerning the Book are in extreme schism. ŷ It is not piety to turn your faces toward the east and west. Rather, piety is he who believes in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets; and who gives wealth, despite loving it, to kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, the traveler, beggars, and for [the ransom of] slaves; and performs the prayer and gives the alms; and those who fulfill their oaths when they pledge them, and those who are patient in misfortune, hardship, and moments of peril. It is they who are the sincere, and it is they who are the reverent. Ÿ O you who believe! Retribution is prescribed for you in the matter of the slain: freeman for freeman, slave for slave, female for female. But for one who receives any pardon from his brother, let it be observed honorably, and let the restitution be made to him with goodness. That is an alleviation from your Lord, and a mercy. Whosoever transgresses after that shall have a painful punishment. Ź In retribution there is life for you, O possessors of intellect, that haply you may be reverent. ƀ It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves some good, to make a bequest for parents and kinsfolk in an honorable way—an obligation upon the reverent. Ɓ Then if anyone alters it after hearing it, its sin shall indeed be upon those who alter it. Truly God is Hearing, Knowing. Ƃ But whosoever fears injustice or sin from the testator, and sets matters aright between them, there is no sin upon him. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. ƃ O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that haply you may be reverent, Ƅ for days numbered. But if any one of you be ill or on a journey, it is a number of other days, and for those who can bear it, the ransom of feeding an indigent person. Whosoever volunteers good, that is better for him, and to fast is better for you, if you but knew. ƅ The month of Ramadan is that wherein the Quran was sent down as guidance to mankind, as clear proofs of guidance, and as the Criterion. Let him among you who is present fast during that [month]. And whosoever is ill or on a journey, it is a number of other days. God desires ease for you, and He does not desire hardship for you. [It is] so that you may complete the number and magnify God for having guided you, that haply you may give thanks. Ɔ When My servants ask thee about Me, truly I am near. I answer the call of the caller when he calls Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me, that they may be led aright. Ƈ You are permitted, on the nights of the fast, to go unto your wives. They are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them. God knew that you were betraying yourselves, so He relented unto you and pardoned you. So now lie with them and seek what God has prescribed for you, and eat and drink until the white thread and the black thread of the dawn become clear to you. Then complete the fast until nightfall and do not lie with them while you are in retreat in the mosques. Those are the limits set by God, so approach them not. Thus does God make clear His signs to mankind, that haply they may be reverent. ƈ And devour not your property among yourselves falsely, nor proffer it to judges that you may knowingly devour a part of people’s property sinfully. Ɖ They ask thee about the new moons. Say, “They are markers of time for mankind and for the ḥajj.” It is not piety that you should come to houses from their rear, but piety is he who is reverent and comes into houses by their doors. So reverence God, that haply you may prosper. Ɛ And fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but do not transgress. Truly God loves not the transgressors. Ƒ And slay them wheresoever you come upon them, and expel them whence they expelled you, for strife is worse than slaying. But do not fight with them near the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you there. But if they fight you, then slay them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers. ƒ But if they desist, then truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. Ɠ And fight them until there is no strife, and religion is for God. But if they desist, then there is no enmity save against the wrongdoers. Ɣ The sacred month for the sacred month, and retribution for forbidden things. So whosoever transgresses against you, transgress against him in like manner as he transgressed against you, and reverence God, and know that God is with the reverent. ƕ And spend in the way of God and do not, with your own hands, cast yourselves into ruin. And be virtuous. Truly God loves the virtuous. Ɩ Complete the ḥajj and ʿumrah for God, and if you are hindered, then [make] such offering as is easy. And do not shave your heads until the offering reaches its place of sacrifice. But whosoever among you is ill or has an ailment of his head, then [let there be] a ransom by fasting, charity, or rite. When you are safe, let those who enjoy the ʿumrah ahead of the ḥajj [make] such offering as is easy. Whosoever finds not [the means], let him fast three days during the ḥajj, and seven when you return. That is ten altogether. This is for those whose family dwells not near the Sacred Mosque. And reverence God, and know that God is severe in retribution. Ɨ The ḥajj is during months well known. Whosoever undertakes the ḥajj therein, let there be neither lewdness, nor iniquity, nor quarreling in the ḥajj. Whatsoever good you do, God knows it. And make provision, for indeed the best provision is reverence. And reverence Me, O possessors of intellect. Ƙ There is no blame upon you in seeking a bounty from your Lord. Then, when you pour out from Arafat, remember God at the sacred ground. And remember Him as He guided you, though formerly you were of those astray. ƙ Then surge onward whence the people surge onward, and ask God for forgiveness. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. Ȁ And when you have carried out your rites, remember God as you remember your fathers, or with more ardent remembrance. For among mankind are those who say, “Our Lord, give to us in this world,” but have no share in the Hereafter. ȁ But among them are those who say, “Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and shield us from the punishment of the Fire!” Ȃ It is they who have a portion from what they have earned, and God is swift in reckoning. ȃ Remember God in days numbered, but whosoever hastens on after two days, no sin shall be upon him, and whosoever delays, no sin shall be upon him—for the reverent. So reverence God, and know that unto Him shall you be gathered. Ȅ And among mankind is he whose talk of the life of this world impresses thee, and he calls God as witness to what is in his heart, though he is the fiercest of adversaries. ȅ And when he turns away he endeavors on the earth to work corruption therein, and to destroy tillage and offspring, but God loves not corruption. Ȇ And when it is said to him, “Reverence God,” vainglory seizes him sinfully. Hell suffices him, what an evil resting place! ȇ And among mankind is one who sells his soul seeking God’s Good Pleasure, and God is Kind unto His servants. Ȉ O you who believe! Enter into peace all together, and follow not the footsteps of Satan. Truly he is a manifest enemy unto you. ȉ And should you stumble after the clear proofs have come to you, then know that God is Mighty, Wise. Ȑ Do they wait for naught less than that God should come in the shadows of clouds, with the angels, and that the matter should have been decreed? And unto God are all matters returned. ȑ Ask the Children of Israel how many clear proofs We gave them. And whosoever alters the Blessing of God after it has come to him, truly God is severe in retribution. Ȓ The life of this world is made to seem fair unto those who disbelieve, and they ridicule those who believe. But those who are reverent shall be above them on the Day of Resurrection. And God provides for whomsoever He will without reckoning. ȓ Mankind was one community; then God sent the prophets as bearers of glad tidings and as warners. And with them He sent down the Book in truth, to judge among mankind concerning that wherein they differed. And only they who were given it differed concerning it, after clear proofs came to them, out of envy among themselves. Then God guided those who believe to the truth of that wherein they differed, by His Leave. And God guides whomsoever He will unto a straight path. Ȕ Or did you suppose that you would enter the Garden without there having come to you the like of that which came to those who passed away before you? Misfortune and hardship befell them, and they were so shaken that the Messenger and those who believed with him said, “When will God’s Help come?” Yea, surely God’s Help is near. ȕ They ask thee what they should spend. Say, “Let whatever of your wealth you spend be for parents, kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, and the traveler. Whatever good you do, truly God knows it.” Ȗ Fighting has been prescribed for you, though it is hateful to you. But it may be that you hate a thing though it be good for you, and it may be that you love a thing though it be evil for you. God knows, and you know not. ȗ They ask thee about the sacred month—about fighting therein. Say, “Fighting therein is grave, but turning [others] from the way of God—and disbelieving in Him—and from the Sacred Mosque, and expelling its people, is graver in the sight of God. Strife is graver than slaying.” And they will not cease to fight you until they make you renounce your religion, if they are able. Whosoever among you renounces his religion and dies as a disbeliever, their deeds have come to naught in this world and the Hereafter, and they are the inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein. Ș Truly those who believe and those who emigrate and strive in the way of God—it is they who hope for the Mercy of God. And God is Forgiving, Merciful. ș They ask thee about wine and gambling. Say, “In them there is great sin and [some] benefits for mankind, but their sin is greater than their benefit.” They ask thee what they should spend. Say, “What can be spared.” Thus does God make clear unto you the signs, that haply you may reflect Ƞ upon this world and the Hereafter. And they ask thee about orphans. Say, “Setting matters aright for them is best. And if you intermingle with them, they are your brothers. And God knows the one who works corruption from one who sets aright, and had God willed, He would have put you to hardship. Truly God is Mighty, Wise.” ȡ Marry not idolatresses until they believe. Truly a believing slave woman is better than an idolatress, though she be pleasing to you. And marry none to the idolaters until they believe. Truly a believing slave is better than an idolater, though he should impress you. They are those who call unto the Fire, but God calls unto the Garden and forgiveness, by His leave, and makes clear His signs to mankind, that haply they may remember. Ȣ They ask thee concerning menstruation. Say, “It is a hurt, so keep away from women during menses, and do not approach them until they are purified. And when they are purified, go in unto them in the way God has commanded you.” Truly God loves those who repent, and He loves those who purify themselves. ȣ Your women are a tilth to you, so go unto your tilth as you will, but send forth for your souls. And reverence God and know that you shall meet Him, and give glad tidings to the believers. Ȥ And make not God a hindrance, through your oaths, to being pious and reverent and to making peace between people. And God is Hearing, Knowing. ȥ God will not take you to task for carelessness in your oaths. Rather, He will take you to task for what your hearts have earned, and God is Forgiving, Clement. Ȧ Those who forswear their wives shall wait four months. And if they return, God is Forgiving, Merciful. ȧ But if they resolve on divorce, truly God is Hearing, Knowing. Ȩ Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three courses, and it is not lawful for them to conceal what God has created in their wombs, if they believe in God and the Last Day. And their husbands have better right to restore them during that time, if they desire to make peace. [The women] are owed obligations the like of those they owe, in an honorable way. And men have a degree over them, and God is Mighty, Wise. ȩ Divorce is twice; then keep [her] honorably, or release [her] virtuously. It is not lawful for you to take aught from what you have given [your wives], except that the two should fear that they would not uphold the limits set by God. So if you fear that they will not uphold the limits set by God, there is no blame upon the two in what she may give in ransom. These are the limits set by God; so transgress not against them. And whosoever transgresses against the limits set by God, it is they who are the wrongdoers. Ȱ Should he then divorce her, she is no longer lawful for him until she marries a husband other than him. And should he divorce her there is no blame upon the two to return to each other, if they deem that they shall uphold the limits set by God. These are the limits set by God, which He makes clear to a people who know. ȱ And when you have divorced women and they have fulfilled their term, keep them honorably or release them honorably, and do not keep them so as to cause harm and thus transgress. Whosoever does that surely wrongs himself. And do not take God’s signs in mockery, and remember God’s Blessing upon you, and what He sent down to you of the Book and Wisdom, exhorting you thereby. And reverence God, and know that God is Knower of all things. Ȳ And when you have divorced women and they have fulfilled their term, do not hinder them from marrying their husbands when they have consented to each other honorably. Therewith are counseled those among you who believe in God and the Last Day. That is more virtuous and purer for you. God knows, and you know not. ȳ And let mothers nurse their children two full years, for such as desire to complete the suckling. It falls on the father to provide for them and clothe them honorably. No soul is tasked beyond its capacity. Let no mother be harmed on account of her child, nor father on account of his child. And the like shall fall upon the heir. If the couple desire to wean, by their mutual consent and consultation, there is no blame upon them. And if you wish to have your children wet-nursed, there is no blame upon you if you pay honorably that which you give. And reverence God, and know that God sees whatsoever you do. ȴ And those among you who are taken by death and leave behind wives, let them wait by themselves four months and ten days. And when they have fulfilled their term, then there is no blame upon you in what they do concerning themselves in an honorable way. And God is Aware of whatsoever you do. ȵ And there is no blame upon you in intimating a proposal to [these] women, or in keeping it within yourselves. God knows that you mean to seek them in marriage, but do not pledge your troth with them secretly save that you speak in an honorable way, and resolve not upon the marriage tie until the term prescribed is fulfilled. And know that God knows what is within your souls; so beware of Him, and know that God is Forgiving, Clement. ȶ There is no blame upon you if you divorce women not having touched them or not having designated a bridewealth. But provide for them—the wealthy according to his means, the straitened according to his means—an honorable provision: an obligation upon the virtuous. ȷ And if you divorce them before touching them or designating a bridewealth, then [it shall be] half of what you designated, unless they forgo it or he whose hand holds the marriage tie forgoes. And to forgo is nearer to reverence. Forget not bounteousness among yourselves. Truly God sees whatsoever you do. ȸ Be mindful of your prayers, and the middlemost prayer, and stand before God in devout obedience. ȹ But if you are fearful, then on foot or mounted. Then when you are secure, remember God, as He taught you what you knew not. ɀ And those among you who are taken by death and leave behind wives, [let them] bequeath to their wives provision for the year, without turning them out. But if they leave, there is no blame upon you in that which they do concerning themselves honorably. And God is Mighty, Wise. Ɂ And for divorced women an honorable provision—an obligation upon the reverent. ɂ Thus does God make clear unto you His signs, that haply you may understand. Ƀ Hast thou not seen those who left their homes by the thousands fearing death? Whereupon God said to them, “Die,” then revived them. Truly God is Possessed of Bounty for mankind, but most of mankind do not give thanks. Ʉ So fight in the way of God, and know that God is Hearing, Knowing. Ʌ Who shall lend unto God a goodly loan, which He will multiply for him many times over? And God withholds and outstretches, and unto Him shall you be returned. Ɇ Hast thou not seen the assembly of the Children of Israel, after Moses, when they said to a prophet of theirs, “Raise up a king for us, that we may fight in the way of God.” He said, “Might it be that, were fighting prescribed for you, you would not fight?” They said, “And why should we not fight in the way of God, having been expelled from our homes and [away from] our children?” Then when fighting was prescribed for them they turned back, save a few among them. And God knows well the wrongdoers. ɇ And their prophet said to them, “Truly God has raised up Saul for you as king.” They said, “How shall he have sovereignty over us while we have more right to sovereignty than he, and he has not been given abundance of wealth?” He said, “Truly God has chosen him over you, and has increased him amply in knowledge and body.” And God gives His Sovereignty to whomsoever He will, and God is All-Encompassing, Knowing. Ɉ And their prophet said to them, “Truly the sign of his sovereignty shall be that the ark come to you bearing tranquility from your Lord and a remnant left by the House of Moses and the House of Aaron, borne by the angels. Truly in that is a sign for you, if you are believers.” ɉ And when Saul set out with the hosts he said, “Truly God will try you with a stream. Whosoever drinks from it is not of me, and whosoever tastes not of it is of me—save one who scoops out a handful.” But they drank from it, save a few among them. So when he crossed it, he and those who believed with him, they said, “We have no power today against Goliath and his hosts.” Those who deemed they would meet their Lord said, “How many a small company have overcome a large company by God’s leave! And God is with the patient.” ɐ And when they went forth against Goliath and his hosts they said, “Our Lord, pour patience upon us, make firm our steps, and help us against the disbelieving people.” ɑ And they routed them, by God’s leave, and David slew Goliath, and God gave him sovereignty and wisdom, and taught him of what He wills. And were it not for God’s repelling people, some by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted. But God is Possessed of Bounty for the worlds. ɒ These are God’s signs which We recite unto thee in truth, and truly thou art among the messengers. ɓ Those are the messengers. We have favored some above others. Among them are those to whom God spoke, and some He raised up in ranks. And We gave Jesus son of Mary clear proofs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Had God so willed, those who came after them would not have fought one another after the clear proofs had come to them. But they differed: among them were those who believed, and among them were those who disbelieved. And had God so willed, they would not have fought one another. But God does as He wills. ɔ O you who believe! Spend from that which We have provided you before a day comes wherein there shall be neither bargaining, nor friendship, nor intercession. And the disbelievers, they are the wrongdoers. ɕ God, there is no god but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting. Neither slumber overtakes Him nor sleep. Unto Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth. Who is there who may intercede with Him save by His leave? He knows that which is before them and that which is behind them. And they encompass nothing of His Knowledge, save what He wills. His Pedestal embraces the heavens and the earth. Protecting them tires Him not, and He is the Exalted, the Magnificent. ɖ There is no coercion in religion. Sound judgment has become clear from error. So whosoever disavows false deities and believes in God has grasped the most unfailing handhold, which never breaks. And God is Hearing, Knowing. ɗ God is the Protector of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light. As for those who disbelieve, their protectors are the idols, bringing them out of the light into the darkness. They are the inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein. ɘ Hast thou not considered him who disputed with Abraham about his Lord because God had given him sovereignty? When Abraham said, “My Lord gives life and causes death,” he said, “I give life and cause death.” Abraham said, “Truly God brings the sun from the east. Bring it, then, from the west.” Thus was he who disbelieved confounded. And God guides not wrongdoing people. ə Or [think of] the like of him who passed by a town as it lay fallen upon its roofs. He said, “How shall God give life to this after its death?” So God caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him up. He said, “How long hast thou tarried?” He said, “I tarried a day or part of a day.” He said, “Nay, thou hast tarried a hundred years. Look, then, at thy food and thy drink—they have not spoiled. And look at thy donkey. And [this was done] that We may make thee a sign for mankind. And look at the bones, how We set them up, then clothe them with flesh.” When it became clear to him he said, “I know that God has power over all things.” ɠ And when Abraham said, “My Lord, show me how Thou givest life to the dead,” He said, “Dost thou not believe?” He said, “Yea, indeed, but so that my heart may be at peace.” He said, “Take four birds and make them be drawn to thee. Then place a piece of them on every mountain. Then call them: they will come to thee in haste. And know that God is Mighty, Wise.” ɡ The parable of those who spend their wealth in the way of God is that of a grain that grows seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains. And God multiplies for whomsoever He will, and God is All-Encompassing, Knowing. ɢ Those who spend their wealth in the way of God and then follow not what they spent with preening or injury shall have their reward with their Lord, and no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve. ɣ An honorable word and forgiveness are better than an act of charity followed by injury. And God is Self-Sufficient, Clement. ɤ O you who believe! Do not annul your acts of charity through preening and injury, like he who spends his wealth to be seen of men and believes not in God and the Last Day. His parable is that of a smooth rock with dust upon it: a downpour strikes it, and leaves it barren. They have no power over anything of what they earned. And God guides not the disbelieving people. ɥ And the parable of those who spend their wealth seeking God’s Good Pleasure, and out of a confirmation in their souls, is that of a garden upon a hill: a downpour strikes it, and brings forth its fruit twofold. And if a downpour strikes it not, then a soft rain. And God sees whatsoever you do. ɦ Would any one of you wish to have a garden of date palms and grapevines with rivers running below, partaking therein of every kind of fruit, old age then befalling him while he had weakly progeny, and a whirlwind with fire then befalling it, such that it is consumed? Thus does God make clear unto you the signs, that haply you may reflect. ɧ O you who believe! Spend of the good things you have earned and of that which We have brought forth for you from the earth, and seek not the bad, spending of it though you would not take it without shutting your eyes to it. And know that God is Self-Sufficient, Praised. ɨ Satan threatens you with poverty and commands you to indecency. And God promises you forgiveness from Him, and bounty. And God is All-Encompassing, Knowing. ɩ He grants wisdom to whomsoever He will. And whosoever is granted wisdom has been granted much good. Yet none remember save the possessors of intellect. ɰ And whatever sum you spend, or vow you vow, truly God knows it. And the wrongdoers shall have no helpers. ɱ If you disclose your acts of charity, that is well. But if you hide them and give to the poor, that is better for you, and will acquit you of some of your evil deeds. And God is Aware of whatsoever you do. ɲ Thou art not tasked with their guidance, but God guides whomsoever He will. Whatever good you spend, it is for yourselves, when you spend only seeking the Face of God. And whatever good you spend shall be paid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged. ɳ [It is] for the poor who are constrained in the way of God, who are not able to travel the earth. The ignorant one supposes them to be wealthy because of their restraint. Thou knowest them by their mark: they do not ask of people importunately. And whatever good you spend, truly God knows it. ɴ Those who spend their wealth by night and by day, secretly and openly, shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve. ɵ Those who devour usury shall not rise except as one rises who is felled by the touch of Satan. That is because they say, “Buying and selling are simply like usury,” though God has permitted buying and selling and forbidden usury. One who, after receiving counsel from his Lord, desists shall have what is past and his affair goes to God. And as for those who go back, they are the inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein. ɶ God blights usury and causes acts of charity to grow. And God loves not any sinful ingrate. ɷ Truly those who believe, perform righteous deeds, maintain the prayer, and give the alms shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve. ɸ O you who believe! Reverence God, and leave what remains of usury, if you are believers. ɹ And if you do not, then take notice of a war from God and His Messenger. If you repent, you shall have the principal of your wealth, and you shall neither wrong nor be wronged. ʀ And if one is in difficult circumstances, let there be a respite until there is ease, and it is better for you to give [it] as charity, if you but knew. ʁ And be mindful of a day when you shall be returned to God. Then every soul will be paid in full for what it earned, and they shall not be wronged. ʂ O you who believe! When you contract a debt with one another for a term appointed, write it down. And let a scribe write between you justly, and let not any scribe refuse to write as God taught him. So let him write, and let the debtor dictate, and let him reverence God his Lord, and diminish nothing from it. And if the debtor is feeble-minded or is weak, or is unable to dictate himself, then let his guardian dictate justly. And call to witness two witnesses from among your men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women from among those whom you approve as witnesses, so that if one of the two errs, the other can remind her. Let not the witnesses refuse when they are called, and be not averse to write it down, small or great, with its term. That is more equitable with God, more sure for the testimony, and more likely to keep you from doubt. Unless it is trade of present goods that you transact between yourselves: then there is no blame upon you not to write it. And take witnesses when you buy and sell between yourselves. And let neither scribe nor witness be harmed. Were you to do that, it would be iniquitous of you. And reverence God. God teaches you, and God is Knower of all things. ʃ And if you are on a journey and cannot find a scribe, then let there be a pledge in hand. And if one of you trusts the other, let him who is trusted deliver his trust, and let him reverence God his Lord. And conceal not the testimony. Whosoever conceals it, truly his heart is sinful. And God knows whatsoever you do. ʄ Unto God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth. And whether you disclose what is in your souls or hide it, God will bring you to account for it. He forgives whomsoever He will, and punishes whomsoever He will, and God is Powerful over all things. ʅ The Messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord, as do the believers. Each believes in God, His angels, His Books, and His messengers. “We make no distinction between any of His messengers.” And they say, “We hear and obey. Thy forgiveness, our Lord! And unto Thee is the journey’s end.” ʆ God tasks no soul beyond its capacity. It shall have what it has earned and be subject to what it has perpetrated. “Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget or err! Our Lord, lay not upon us a burden like Thou laid upon those before us. Our Lord, impose not upon us that which we have not the strength to bear! And pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy upon us! Thou art our Master, so help us against the disbelieving people.”
Commentary
¡ Alif. Lām. Mīm.
1 Of the 114 sūrahs of the Quran, 29 begin with individual letters of the Arabic alphabet. In this translation these letters are transliterated as recited (e.g., alif is the name of the first letter of the Arabic alphabet), although in other translations the corresponding Latin letters are used (e.g., A, L, M, which correspond phonetically to alif, lām, mīm). In recitation the names of the letters are used, not their sounds. Also, some letter names have two forms, e.g., rā and rāʾ. The Quran uses the former, the commentary, the latter.
The individual letters are one of the most enigmatic features of the Quran and have been a subject of debate and speculation among Muslims since the revelation of the Quran. It is reported by many Quran commentators that Abū Bakr, the first Caliph, said, “Every book has a mystery (sirr), and the mystery of the Quran is the beginnings of the sūrahs.” ʿAlī, the fourth Caliph, is reported to have said, “Every book has a quintessence (ṣafwah), and the quintessence of this Book is the spelled-out letters.” Al-Rāzī discusses the metaphor of a great sea, which leads to a river, which leads to streams, which lead to rivulets; if the rivulet was made to carry all the water of the stream or the riverbed the entire contents of the sea, it would be overwhelmed and destroyed. He mentions the verse He sends down water from the sky, so that the riverbeds flow according to their measure (13:17). He further reports the saying: “The learned have a secret, the vicegerents (khulafāʾ) have a secret, the prophets have a secret, the angels have a secret, and beyond all of that God has a secret. If the ignorant came to know the secret of the learned, they would destroy them. If the learned came to know the secret of the vicegerents, they would break away from them. If the vicegerents came to know the secret of the prophets, they would oppose them. If the prophets came to know the secret of the angels, they would indict them. If the angels knew the secret of God they would fall down in bewilderment and pass away into ruin.” The commentator Ibn ʿAjībah is of the opinion that “only the elite of the greatest Friends of God (awliyāʾ) know the secrets of these letters.”
These sayings speak to the position that there are ineffable realities known only to some, and that the individual letters may be one of those mysteries whose true meaning is largely hidden, but not entirely so. Many theologians have objected to the notion that any part of the Quran is unknowable to people, adducing verses that describe the Quran as a clear Book (5:15) or Wise Book (10:1) and as a guidance (2:2) in clear, Arabic tongue (16:103). Moreover, if there were no way to gain knowledge of the Book, it would be as if one addressed Arabs in a language incomprehensible to them (R). The question of knowing the inner meaning of the Quran is discussed in detail in 3:7c.
Al-Rāzī tries for a compromise position by noting that, although we can know the wisdom in certain kinds of legislation, such as the prohibitions against alcohol and gambling, there are other actions required by religion whose wisdom we do not know, such as some of the rituals of the ḥajj (pilgrimage; see 2:196c). The part of the Quran that we cannot understand is analogous to those actions whose underlying wisdom we do not know; we perform them with trust and faithfulness, but without the transparency available to us in other aspects of religious practice. We allow them to remain mysteries, and al-Rāzī argues that this can have the positive effect of keeping one’s heart oriented beyond the world and beyond what one already knows.
Many of the interpretations see the letters as abbreviations that may represent Names or Qualities of God, phrases, or names of other objects. In this sūrah, some offer the interpretation that the alif stands for Allāh, lām for Jibrīl (Gabriel), and mīm for Muḥammad, symbolizing the descent of revelation from God through Gabriel to the Prophet. Another interpretation states that the alif represents the origin of sound, the lām represents the middle of it, since it is produced in the mouth, and the mīm represents the consummation of sound, since it is produced on the lips. Others see the individual letters as representing the names of sūrahs, as is recognized universally in the case of Yā Sīn, Ṣad, Nūn, and Qāf, although other sūrahs with individual letters bear other names, such as al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān. Still others, like followers of the Islamic science called al-jafr (a kind of esoteric commentary akin to gematria in Hebrew), base interpretations on the numerical symbolism and value of the letters, since each Arabic letter has a corresponding numerical value (e.g., alif is 1, lām is 30, and mīm is 40).
Some have seen the letters as signals that the Book is made up of these letters and that they can be seen as an oath, as is so common in the Quran, such as in Sūrah 91, whose first seven verses start with God swearing an oath by created things. In the case of the letters, God would thus be swearing by the letters that make up the Quran, just as He swears by some objects of the world of creation. At a deeper level of meaning, the letters, in their multifarious forms, sounds, and loci of pronunciation in the mouth and throat, symbolize God’s Creative Act. In the same way that the letters and sounds make up words that make up the Book, the manifestation and interplay of God’s Names and Qualities make up creation. In this vein many Sufis have spoken of creation as “the Breath of the Compassionate” manifesting God’s Names and Qualities.
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* This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the reverent,
2 This verse could also be read, “This is the Book, without doubt containing a guidance for the reverent.” One can pause after Book or doubt, but not both. Though usually understood as This, the initial pronoun could also be read as “That” (“That is the Book”), which would be correct in referring to the known portion of the Quran (R). Since al-Baqarah was revealed in Madinah, a good deal of the Quran would have been revealed already, even though in the order of the text only the Fātiḥah precedes it. Alternately, some have mentioned the possibility that “That” refers to the Quran inscribed on the Preserved Tablet (see 85:22). The Book is used as a proper name for the Quran, among others such as the Criterion (al-Furqān; see 25:1).
Reverent translates muttaqīn, which comes from the central Quranic concept of taqwā, rendered in this translation as reverence. Taqwā comes from the root w-q-y, which evokes the sense of wariness, care, and protection. As it concerns the attitude of human beings toward God, taqwā conveys the sense of fear, mindfulness, and a constant awareness of God’s Presence and Power. As evidenced in this verse and many others (such as 49:13: Surely the most noble of you before God are the most reverent of you), reverence is a central spiritual virtue in the Quran along with such other qualities as trust (tawakkul), hope (rajāʾ), piety (birr), fear (khawf), and contentment (riḍā).
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+ who believe in the Unseen and perform the prayer and spend from that which We have provided them,
3 Unseen (ghayb, lit. “absent”) refers to realities absent from the perception of the ordinary senses, such realities as God, Paradise, Hell, and the Day of Judgment. These include realities that are invisible in principle because they are beyond ordinary sense perception, such as God, as well as those that are part of the Unseen because they cannot be known except by God, such as the time of the Day of Judgment.
Perform in perform the prayer can also be read as “institute,” “establish,” or “maintain.” In the Quran the word for “prayer,” ṣalāh, is used in at least two ways, one referring to what believers offer to God and the other to the invocation of blessing, as in 33:56, where believers are commanded to make ṣalāh (invoke blessings) upon the Prophet. Ṣalāh has taken on a technical sense when used for the recitations and movements proper to the five daily canonical prayers, but it also refers to prayer more generally, as in 19:31, where Jesus says that God has enjoined upon him prayer, or 20:14, where Moses is also commanded to perform the prayer.
Spend (infāq) means to “expend,” but also carries the sense of giving charitably and is used throughout the Quran for those who give in the way of God (for similar wording, see 8:3; 14:31; 22:35; 28:54; 32:16). This parallels the even more frequent pairing of the prayer (ṣalāh) and alms (zakāh). The passage can be seen as moving from an inward act whose object is invisible and hidden (faith in the Unseen), to an act that is both visible and invisible (prayer) but whose object is invisible (God), to an outward act whose object is visible (giving from what one has been given), thereby establishing principles for both the inner and the outer life as well as their source and connection. There is thus in this verse a gradation from the inward to the outward.
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J and who believe in what was sent down unto thee, and what was sent down before thee, and who are certain of the Hereafter.
4 In this verse it is the Prophet who is addressed in the second-person singular, always rendered thou or thee in this translation. A question arises: does the and at the start of the verse continue the description of the believers from v. 3, or does v. 4 refer to a different group of people, requiring a translation of “And those who believe . . .” such that v. 5 then describes the status of the believers of v. 4, not v. 3? One understanding of this passage is that v. 3 refers to the believers among the Arabs (presumably specifically Muslim believers who are neither Christian nor Jewish), while v. 4 refers to the believers among the People of the Book who had previously believed in earlier revelations and now believe in the Prophet (Ṭ; see also 98:1–8, where a similar distinction is made). But v. 3 and v. 4 can also be understood more generally as two descriptions of one group; namely, the reverent. See also 3:199, which mentions People of the Book who believe in what was sent down to them and to the Prophet.
For a discussion of the Islamic view of different revelations, see 2:62c, 5:69c, and the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions.” For the Hereafter, see the essay “Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in the Quran.”
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Z It is they who act upon guidance from their Lord, and it is they who shall prosper.
5 The term rendered they who shall prosper (mufliḥūn) is related to falāḥ, meaning prosperity, thriving, or success, and is etymologically linked to “cultivation.” Though sometimes rendered “salvation,” falāḥ is generally not the concept used to differentiate between the “saved” and “unsaved” or “damned” as typically understood in Christianity. It is an idea that appears in the call to prayer (adhān), where the caller recites, after the takbīr (Allāhu akbar) and the shahādah, “Come to ṣalāh (prayeru), come to falāḥ (prosperity or salvation).”
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j Truly it is the same for the disbelievers whether thou warnest them or warnest them not; they do not believe.
6 Grammatically they do not believe could also be read “they will not believe.” The reference to prophets as warners (nadhīr) is an important motif in the Quran. For similar verses where warnings and guidance are said to be of no avail to disbelievers, see 7:193; 26:136; 36:10; 63:6.
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z God has sealed their hearts and their hearing. Upon their eyes is a covering, and theirs is a great punishment.
7 In the Quran the heart (qalb) is the organ associated not only with sentiment, but also with consciousness, knowledge, and faith (48:4). For example, the heart is the locus of the Divine Revelation to the Prophet (2:97); it can be veiled to prevent understanding (6:25; 17:46), covered with rust (83:14), or hardened (2:74); it can fail to understand (7:179; 22:46), be confounded along with sight (6:110), or go blind (22:46). For other verses mentioning hearts being sealed, see 6:46; 7:100–101; 9:87, 93; 10:74; 16:108; 18:57.
This verse explicitly states that God seals unbelievers’ hearts and hearing and covers their sight, preventing them from believing despite the Prophet’s warnings and overall message. This is related to 2:10, where God increased them in disease in their hearts. This can be possibly understood in a predestinarian sense, according to which one’s faith or lack thereof is not a product of one’s human will, but of God’s prior Command. But it can also be understood as spiritual reward or punishment, making the seal a consequence rather than a cause. And whosoever is granted wisdom has been granted much good (2:269) shows that spiritual understanding is a good in its own right and lack of understanding is an evil in its own right; hence the exhortation in 20:114: Say, “My Lord! Increase me in knowledge!”
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{ Among mankind are those who say, “We believe in God and in the Last Day,” though they do not believe.
8 Those in this verse are the hypocrites (munāfiqūn), referring originally to a group of people in and around Madinah who pretended to be Muslims, but at times collaborated with the disbelievers, or who were lukewarm in their faith to the point of inaction. But it also refers to such people in general wherever and whenever they might live. For a discussion of the hypocrites, see commentary on 63:1–8.
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| They would deceive God and the believers; yet they deceive none but themselves, though they are unaware.
9 For a similar attempt to deceive God, see 4:142: Verily the hypocrites seek to deceive God, but it is God Who deceives them. The idea of God’s “plotting” or “scheming” overcoming the plotting and scheming of the disbelievers and hypocrites appears in several places in the Quran (e.g., 10:21; 13:42; 14:46; 16:26; 27:50).
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Ċ In their hearts is a disease, and God has increased them in disease. Theirs is a painful punishment for having lied.
10 The disease is usually understood to refer to doubt, hence a spiritual sickness (see 2:7; 24:50). Although some read having lied (yakdhibūn) as “having denied” (yukadhdhibūn), 63:1, which rebukes the hypocrites for lying, lends support to the former (Ṭ).
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Ě And when it is said unto them, “Do not work corruption upon the earth,” they say, “We are only working righteousness.”
Ī Nay, it is they who are the workers of corruption, though they are unaware.
11–12 To spread or create corruption (fasād) is a major theme in the Quran, the opposite of which is often “setting things aright” or “making amends” (iṣlāḥ); see 30:41c. The identity of the speaker of Do not work corruption . . . is open and could be the Prophet himself, a group of believers, or perhaps even some victim of corruption who says this phrase to the corrupters in rebuke (R). Ibn ʿAbbās and others state that corruption upon the earth (or alternately “corruption in the land”) refers to open disobedience against God. It can also be seen as the result of such disobedience (47:22). One interpretation, attributed to the prominent Companion Salmān al-Fārsī, states that the people to whom this passage refers have not yet come (Ṭ), an explanation that the commentators accept (Ṭ, IK) in the sense that this verse does not restrict the descriptions of hypocrisy and iniquity to the Prophet’s contemporaries. Some contemporary Muslims interpret the destruction of the natural environment to be one of the central meanings of these verses.
To work righteousness (muṣliḥ) means to set things right or put them in a state of righteousness, but is not to be confused with “reform” in the modern sense. The response we are only working righteousness can mean either that they believed that they were actually doing so and their own practice of religion was correct, or that they were acting in their self-interest in trying to bridge the gap between believers and the disbelievers (R). According to this latter interpretation, their lukewarm (at best) commitment, rather than being a fault, makes them peacemakers between the two warring sides, offering compromise rather than conflict.
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ĺ When it is said unto them, “Believe as the people believe,” they say, “Shall we believe as fools believe?” Nay, it is they who are the fools, though they know not.
13 By fools the speakers are referring to the Companions of the Prophet, but the more universal interpretation applied to 2:11 sees this as a general attitude of rejection of faith. Some commentators have said that the ignorant knew that the believers were those of intelligence, but called them fools to attempt to show themselves to be more knowledgeable.
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Ŋ And when they meet those who believe they say, “We believe,” but when they are alone with their satans they say, “We are with you. We were only mocking.”
14 The occasion given for this revelation involves a hypocrite who boasted to his companions, “Watch how I divert these fools from you.” After having heaped praise upon some Companions of the Prophet, he returned to his own companions and said, “When you see them, do as I do.” When the Companions returned to the Prophet to tell him, this verse was revealed, exposing the intentions of the hypocrites (IK).
Satans (shayāṭīn) is the plural of shayṭān, which in the singular usually refers to Satan. Here it is usually understood to mean the hypocrites’ leaders, fellow hypocrites, disbelievers, or inner demons. At times in the Quran shayāṭīn refers not only to otherworldly creatures, but also to human beings, as in 6:112: Thus have We made for every prophet an enemy—satans from among mankind and jinn.
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Ś God mocks them, and leaves them to wander confused in their rebellion.
15 The issue of whether mockery or ridicule (cf. 9:79) is properly attributable to God is addressed by commentators. Some point out that the disbelievers bring ridicule upon themselves as recompense, not that it originates in God (Q, Ṭ); others say that the disgrace and ignominy with which God afflicts disbelievers and in which He leaves them to continue for a long time is tantamount to mockery (R). Wander confused in their rebellion also appears in 6:110; 7:186; 10:11; 23:75. Rebellion (Ṭughyān) is related to the verb ṭaghā, which has the sense of trespassing beyond a limit, and is attributed to disbelievers in general and to Pharaoh in particular (20:24; 79:17).
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Ū It is they who have purchased error at the price of guidance. Their commerce has not brought them profit, and they are not rightly guided.
16 Here purchased can be understood as “preferred,” as in 41:17, they preferred blindness to guidance (Ṭ, R, Q), which conforms to an Arabic usage of shirāʾ (usually “purchasing”), though this reading is made less likely by the mention of commerce (tijārah). Such language relating buying and selling to spiritual matters is also found in 2:86; 2:175; 3:177.
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ź Their parable is that of one who kindled a fire, and when it lit up what was around him, God took away their light, and left them in darkness, unseeing.
17 For the spiritual dimensions of light and light symbolism in the Quran, see 24:35c. On a worldly level and in relation to the hypocrites, the light is understood by some to refer to the shahādah, the declaration of faith that provides the hypocrite “light” by which to eat, marry, and find protection, since membership in the Islamic community grants one certain legal and social rights and protections. But this “light” is taken away at death when the hypocrisy is unmasked (Ṭ).
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Ɗ Deaf, dumb, and blind, they return not.
18 When recited aloud in Arabic, deaf, dumb, and blind (ṣummun bukmun ʿumyun) is startlingly evocative, in its very sound, of this deafness, dumbness, and blindness (cf. 2:171; 17:97). Deafness and blindness are mentioned frequently in the Quran (e.g., 5:71; 6:25; 6:39; 10:42–43) and refer to spiritual insensibility. The commentators mention the good, the truth, and guidance as realities lost to those so described (Ṭ). They return not to guidance (2:16) or to Islam, as this likely refers to the hypocrites; or they do not repent and take heed.
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ƚ Or a cloudburst from the sky, in which there is darkness, thunder, and lightning. They put their fingers in their ears against the thunderclaps, fearing death. And God encompasses the disbelievers.
19 Or indicates a continuation from their parable in v. 17. Some commentators (Ṭ) mention a tradition from Ibn ʿAbbās that the Prophet, when asked, said that al-raʿd (thunder) is the name of an angel in the clouds, while others see this as an invalid and gratuitous attribution, since the word raʿd as “thunder” was well known to Arabs (cf. 13:13; Q). Samāʾ (pl. samāwāt), here sky, is also translated “Heaven,” “firmament,” or even “ceiling” depending on its context.
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Ȋ The lightning all but snatches away their sight. Whenever it shines for them, they walk therein, and when darkness comes over them, they halt. Had God willed, He would have taken away their hearing and their sight. Truly God is Powerful over all things.
20 See 2:17c.
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! O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who created you, and those who were before you, that haply you may be reverent:
21 That haply (laʿalla) occurs frequently in the Quran and is sometimes rendered “that perchance” or “that someone might.” It can be seen to present a theological problem, as it implies anxiety or hope, qualities usually associated only with creatures. Some solve this matter by saying that the hope of God is tantamount to a promise, as nothing could stand in its way (Z), or that the hope is connected to the subject of the statement, not to God.
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" He Who made for you the earth a place of repose and the sky a canopy, and sent water from the sky by which He brought forth fruits for your provision. So do not set up equals unto God, knowingly.
22 It is reported that the Prophet was asked, “O Messenger of God, what is the greatest sin in the Sight of God?” and he replied, “To set up equals to God, though He created you.” Fruits (thamarāt) here is understood in both the most general sense of natural produce that can be used for food and the symbolic sense of spiritual sustenance for the soul. Earth and sky imagery similar to that mentioned in this verse can be found in 21:31–32; 50:6–7; 79:27–31.
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# If you are in doubt concerning what We have sent down unto Our servant, then bring a sūrah like it, and call your witnesses apart from God if you are truthful.
23 Our servant refers to the Prophet. The iʿjāz (“inimitability” or “power to incapacitate [arguments against it]”) of the Quran (a term not used in reference to the Quran in the text itself) stems from its intrinsic beauty, clarity, eloquence, and levels of meaning. Similar challenges to produce something like the Quran are made in 10:38; 11:13; 17:88. The Quran is the central miracle (muʿjizah, from iʿjāz) of Islam in that it “incapacitates” challengers’ arguments against it, as miracles do in general. That the Prophet was “unlettered” (see 7:157c) forms the background of this challenge. This verse is Madinan, though other similar challenges had been revealed in Makkah. See the essay “Obstacles Faced in the Translation of the Quran.”
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$ And if you do not, and you will not, then be mindful of the Fire whose fuel is men and stones, which is prepared for the disbelievers.
24 The stones are usually taken to be sulfur or the idols (2:22) worshipped by the polytheists (IK; cf. 22:6). The structure (if you do not, and you will not) shows that the conditional if is not an expression of uncertainty in the case of God, any more than laʿalla expresses anxiety (see 2:21c). It conveys a certainty rather than a contingency.
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% And give glad tidings to those who believe and perform righteous deeds that theirs are Gardens with rivers running below. Whensoever they are given a fruit therefrom as provision, they say, “This is the provision we received aforetime,” and they were given a likeness of it. Therein they have spouses made pure, and therein they shall abide.
25 With rivers running below does not mean that the water is underground (as such a translation might suggest), but simply that the water flows lower than the vegetation of the Garden (Ṭ), which contrasts sharply with water in a desert, which is typically not above ground and almost never flows along the ground. Others understand it to mean that that rivers run “through” (min khilāl) such Gardens (Z) or simply that such Gardens have water in them, similar to the way one says a garden has grapes or olives (R). Such paradisal descriptions depict the joys of the Garden in concrete terms that reflect the ecstatic and rapturous joys experienced on a much lower level in the blessings given to human beings on earth. Far from being nonspiritual, they express in vivid and concrete terms the highest spiritual realities.
Aforetime refers to this world (dunyā) as opposed to the Hereafter (ākhirah). The usual question of how earthly creatures can conceive of heavenly rewards is turned around, and this verse speaks from the point of view of a dweller of Paradise who is remembering the world, though some mention the possibility that this refers to fruits tasted in the Garden after death, not before in this world (Z, Q, Al). Most think that This is the provision refers to an identity in kind, rather than the very same objects. Some think the likeness (mutashābih) means similarity in appearance with a difference in taste; or that all the fruit of Paradise is of the choicest kind, with none of inferior quality; or that rather than being a comparison, the statement of the dweller of Paradise is an expression of wonderment, since there is nothing in common between this world and the Hereafter besides the names of things (IK). The commentators note the wisdom, from the point of view of someone in this life, in the fact that Paradise contains familiar objects. But this verse also adds the perspective of the dweller of Paradise, showing that the life of this world is not forgotten in the Hereafter, though its bitterness is gone, as evidenced by the frequent description in the Quran of those in Paradise: No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve (2:62). For a more far-reaching sense of mutashābih, see 3:7c.
The spouses made pure mentioned here are said to be free from injury as well as from menstruation, excreta, and bodily functions considered distasteful and unpleasant, and though reproductive functions are mentioned in the commentaries, sexual purity or virginity is not associated with this verse by the major commentators.
Therein they shall abide and variants of it are a common refrain in the Quran, describing the inhabitants of both Paradise and Hell. Lexically khālid (“abiding”) has the sense of something that stays, which as a promise from God is equivalent to an enduring or everlasting presence. However, sometimes khālid is supplemented with phrases such as forever (4:57; 4:122; 4:169; 5:119; 9:100; 72:23; 98:8) and save as thy Lord wills (11:108; cf. 6:128). For the perpetuity and/or eternity of the posthumous states, see the essay “Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in the Quran.”
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& Truly God is not ashamed to set forth a parable of a gnat or something smaller. As for those who believe, they know it is the truth from their Lord, and as for those who disbelieve, they say, “What did God mean by this parable?” He misleads many by it, and He guides many by it, and He misleads none but the iniquitous.
26 It is said that this verse was revealed either when the hypocrites objected that God would not employ such parables—namely, those directed against them in vv. 17–20; or when a group of Jews scoffed at the notion that God would use a fly (22:73) or spider (29:41) in a parable; or when idolaters brought these same objections. Or something smaller (fawqahā), which is often understood literally to mean “above that,” can also be understood as “something beyond that” in its lowliness (R).
The verse implies that the very same message can both guide and mislead, which is something rather different from simply being ignored. According to this understanding, by being denied the parable (and presumably other Divine teachings) is not neutralized for disbelievers, but places them farther astray. This echoes the previous verses in which God seals the hearts and perception of disbelievers. Being iniquitous (fāsiq) makes the truth for the denier into something other than the truth, which is to say that one’s moral quality decides, at least in part, one’s level of understanding. Those who are misled and labeled the iniquitous here are generally considered to be the hypocrites (Ṭ).
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' Those who break God’s Pact after accepting His Covenant, and sever what God has commanded be joined, and work corruption upon the earth, it is they who are the losers.
27 The Covenant mentioned in this verse is understood as the general obligation of human beings to acknowledge God’s Oneness and worship Him (IK) as understood in the pre-eternal covenant between God and human beings (7:172); or it refers to And they swore by God their most solemn oaths that, were a warner to come unto them, they would be more rightly guided than any of the communities (35:42), which means the Arabs before the coming of the Prophet (R); or it refers to a specific covenant made with the People of the Book. See the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions.” Some say that what God has commanded be joined refers to blood ties, whose importance and maintenance as commanded by God appears elsewhere in the Quran: Reverence . . . family relations (arḥām; 4:1); But family relations have the strongest claim on one another in the Book of God (8:75); Family relations are closer to one another, according to the Book of God (33:6); Were you to turn away, would you perchance work corruption upon the earth and break your family relations? (47:22). Others consider it to include any such Divine Command to keep things joined (IK). Some mention in this context that not only the Arabs had blood ties to the Prophet; the Jews did also, since Isaac and Ishmael (the progenitor of the Arabs) were brothers. The losers are such in the sense of being bereft of something; khāsir can also denote “being lost” in the sense of losing one’s way or losing one’s self.
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( How can you disbelieve in God, seeing that you were dead and He gave you life; then He causes you to die; then He gives you life; then unto Him shall you be returned?
28 The four stages mentioned here are before birth, during earthly life, earthly death, and resurrection. (See also 40:11: They will say, “Our Lord, Thou hast caused us to die twice over, and given us life twice over.”) The initial lifelessness (lit. “dead”) is understood either as one’s “existence” in the material stuff of the body, literally in the loins of one’s parents or the dust of the earth, or as the state of being a thing unremembered (76:1) or “unknown” in that a thing is called “dead” among the Arabs when its traces are effaced and it is not “mentioned” or “remembered” (madhkūr, Ṭ). In either case, it refers to our “nonexistence” before our life in this world. Someone like the Sufi mystic Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240) would understand the “lifelessness” of our pre-earthly condition to be a state of nonmanifestation within God’s Knowledge as opposed to nothingness in the ordinary sense of this term. That to which life is first given would thus be that form (ṣūrah) in God’s eternal Knowledge.
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) He it is Who created for you all that is on the earth. Then He turned to Heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens, and He is Knower of all things.
29 For God’s creation of things for human beings, see also 16:5; 16:13; 26:166. This idea also relates to God’s making creation subservient to human beings as in 22:65; 31:20; 45:13. Turned to translates the verb istawā, which is also rendered “mounted” in other contexts; see also 7:54; 10:3; 20:5; 25:59; 32:4; 57:4. For the seven heavens, also see 41:12, where the context is the six days of creation; 67:3, in which they are one upon another; 65:12, which also mentions the creation from the earth the like thereof—that is, earths upon earths; the early Quran commentator Mujāhid (d. 104/722–23) mentions “heavens above one other” and “earths above one another”; and 71:15, which also mentions the “levels” of heavens.
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Ð And when thy Lord said to the angels, “I am placing a vicegerent upon the earth,” they said, “Wilt Thou place therein one who will work corruption therein, and shed blood, while we hymn Thy praise and call Thee Holy?” He said, “Truly I know what you know not.”
30 Vicegerent renders khalīfah, a word that can also mean “successor” or “deputy,” hence khalīfat rasūl Allāh, or “successor/steward of God’s Messenger,” shortened to khalīfah (anglicized as “caliph”). In some verses, such as here and 6:165, khalīfah appears to denote a universal human inheritance and responsibility, since all human beings are in their inner reality the khalīfah of God. In others, the sense of “successor” comes to the fore (e.g., 7:69, which refers to vicegerents after the people of Noah). See also 7:74; 10:14; 10:73; 27:62; 35:39. At another level of interpretation, some commentators say that khalīfah comes from khalafa (“to come after”) and means that human beings come after all creatures and all grades of being are summarized in the human state.
Ibn ʿAbbās is reported to have said that Iblīs was a member of a tribe of angels called al-ḥinn (a word related to jinn), was named al-Ḥārith, and was a custodian of Paradise. All the angels were created from light, except this tribe, which was created from “smokeless fire” (cf. 55:15). The first to inhabit the earth were the jinn, who caused corruption there and spilled blood. Then God sent Iblīs among that host of angels called al-ḥinn. Iblīs and his compatriots killed them and sent them off to the islands of the sea and the edges of the mountains. He was filled with pride for accomplishing something no one else had done. After Adam’s body was created from clay, it remained a lifeless form for forty years, during which Iblīs taunted it by flying in and out of it, saying, “You are nothing! If I come to power over you, I will destroy you, and if you come to power over me, I will defy you.” Then it was said to those angels who were with Iblīs (not all the angels) that they should prostrate before Adam. Iblīs said, “No, I will not prostrate before him. I am better than him, older, and greater. You created me from fire, while you created him from clay” (cf. 7:12; Ṭ). The only other indication in the Quran of such an order of creation is found in 15:26–27: And We indeed created man from dried clay, made of molded mud, and the jinn We created earlier from scorching fire.
That jinn inhabited the earth before human beings is accepted by many commentators. But al-Rāzī prefers the opinion that God spoke to all the angels, not only those who warred alongside Iblīs. Nevertheless, some specifics of the story, such as that Iblīs was a member of a tribe of angels, can hardly be counted as reliable and are certainly from popular narratives, since an authority such as Ibn ʿAbbās would have known that the Quran in 18:50 identifies Iblīs as a jinn, not an angel.
It does, however, provide one possible explanation for the angels’ question, Wilt Thou place therein . . . , namely, that they had previous experience with the blood and corruption of the earth’s previous inhabitants. However, many commentators explain the angels’ apparently audacious question as an expression of wonder on their part, rather than doubt or concern (R). They marvel at God’s Wisdom, but are not alarmed by it. It is thought that disobedience or any brand of rebelliousness is impossible for angels, though al-Rāzī notes that the Muʿtazilites believed that angels could be disobedient.
Hymn Thy praise and call Thee Holy can also be read, “We glorify Thee while praising Thee” (Z); cf. 32:15; 39:75; 42:5. I know what you know not is generally understood to mean that, despite the inevitability of bloodletting and corruption, good things will come of the creation of human beings, but only God knows what they are (R). As mentioned in 2:11–12c, such corruption can also refer to the degradation of the natural environment.
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Ñ And He taught Adam the names, all of them. Then He laid them before the angels and said, “Tell me the names of these, if you are truthful.”
31 Some derive Adam from adīm, meaning the surface of the earth, in keeping with the ḥadīth, “Truly God created Adam from a handful taken from the entire earth. The Children of Adam thus correspond to the earth, some being red or black or white, or in between, and [they experience] ease and sorrow, bad and good.”
The names Adam is taught are considered by some, such as Ibn ʿAbbās, to be those that people use in discourse with one another, such as “man,” “sea,” “mountain,” and even “kettle.” To others, such as Mujāhid, they are “the names of everything.” Still others say he was taught the names of angels; or that he was taught the names of all his progeny, which the commentator al-Ṭabarī prefers, in part because the pronoun hum is used rather than hāʾ, indicating human or angelic named objects. The plural of persons (human beings and angels) is the masculine plural, but the plural of other things (animals, inanimate objects) is usually expressed by the feminine singular pronoun, though this rule does not always hold (e.g., 24:45, where hum refers to beasts). For al-Rāzī, this means that Adam indeed was taught all the languages of the earth, and his descendants came to prefer one over the others in the course of time. The commentator al-ṭabrisī adds that a similar process would have taken place after the flood. Laid them before refers either to the names themselves or to the objects named.
For some, to be taught the names of things means to be given knowledge of all things. Ibn ʿArabī’s interpretation of this passage begins by pointing out that in relation to the world angels “are like the spiritual and sensory faculties” in human beings. As the faculties of men and women are diverse, so are the angels in their myriad functions arrayed in a hierarchy. Each human faculty or power is by definition limited to what it is in itself, and each angel, by Ibn ʿArabī’s analogy, is limited to what it is; that is, in its knowledge and function. Thus each of these faculties “is veiled and cannot see anything superior to itself.” Adam was capable of knowing all the Divine Names, unlike the angels who “did not possess the synthesis possessed by Adam, and were not aware of the Divine Names by which it [namely, Adam’s synthetic reality] is set apart such that they could glorify the Real and proclaim Him holy through them. Nor did they know that God possesses Names to whose knowledge they did not attain, therefore not glorifying Him with them nor proclaiming Him holy as did Adam.” Thus, Adam could know God in ways the angels could not.
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Ò They said, “Glory be to Thee! We have no knowledge save what Thou hast taught us. Truly Thou art the Knower, the Wise.”
32 This verse indicates the limitation of the knowledge of God by angels as far as the universal comprehensive nature of this knowledge is concerned.
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Ó He said, “Adam, tell them their names.” And when he had told them their names He said, “Did I not say to you that I know the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and that I know what you disclose and what you used to conceal?”
33 For the Unseen of the heavens and the earth, see also 35:38; 49:18; and for Knower of the Unseen more generally, see, e.g., 13:9; 23:92 64:18. What you used to conceal could refer to Iblīs’ pride or to the belief attributed to the angels that “God never creates a thing except that we are more noble than it” (Ṭ). But with this interpretation, the angels would have accepted Adam’s excellence without objection, and what they concealed would have been virtue, not the pride one might gather from their judgment of their own nobility.
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Ô And when We said to the angels, “Prostrate unto Adam,” they prostrated, save Iblīs. He refused and waxed arrogant, and was among the disbelievers.
34 For the account and meaning of the prostration before Adam, see 7:11–27; 15:31–40; 17:61–65; 18:50.
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Õ We said, “O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden and eat freely thereof, wheresoever you will. But approach not this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.”
35 The story of the fall of Adam and Eve from Paradise appears here and in 7:19–25 and 20:120–23. Relative to Genesis 2–3, the Quranic account gives fewer details. Some commentators mention an array of details about Adam, Eve, the Garden, and the fall, many of which find their origin in Jewish and Christian, and perhaps even Arab, oral traditions. Many of these traditions describe Eve (Ḥawwāʾ), who is referred to as Adam’s wife rather than Eve in the Quran; the kind of tree or plant from which Adam and Eve ate (apple vs. some type of grain); what form Iblīs took; and even where they were first exiled. But some of these details are not attested to very strongly in the Ḥadīth, and some (such as some registered by al-Ṭabarī) do not rise above the level of folklore. The Quran itself provides the foundation and details of the story of Adam and Eve, which has a different meaning in Islam than in Judaism or Christianity.
The Garden in which Adam and Eve dwelled is indeed paradisal; they would neither hunger therein, nor go naked, . . . neither thirst therein, nor suffer from the heat of the sun (20:118–19), in addition to experiencing the unconstrained enjoyment of the Garden’s fruits, as mentioned in this verse. Eating from the tree, according to Iblīs, would have made them angels, or able to live forever (7:20), and in 20:120 he promises them the Tree of Everlastingness and a kingdom that never decays. Among the possibilities offered for the type of tree are grain, grapevine, and fig. (The Quran never uses the word “fruit” in this context, but says only that they ate from the shajarah, a word that can include also vegetative growth such as trees, shrubs, and bushes.)
One view (R) has it that the promise of eternal life mentioned in 7:20 and 20:120 would have had no attraction if Adam were already dwelling in the “Garden of Rewards,” which the Quran promises to believers. The command to get . . . down (v. 36) is the same verb used in v. 61 (Go down to a town . . .), where it does not imply a vertical descent, but a change in location. Moreover, those who enter the Garden will not be expelled therefrom (15:48). Also, if Adam were created from earth, then where is the ascent from earth to Heaven in this account? The commentator al-Qurṭubī (who is not of this opinion) also mentions that the Quran says of the Garden, They hear therein neither idle talk nor lying (78:35), and yet Iblīs did lie to them, which is indeed how he caused them to be expelled from it. These considerations would seem to indicate that this is a different Garden from the “Garden of Rewards.”
The consensus view, though, is that the Garden of Adam and the promised Garden are the very same (R, Q). It is not “a” garden, but “the” Garden (al-jannah), “well known” as the eternal Garden promised to believers. Some respond to the opinion that Iblīs could not have lied in the Garden by arguing that he could have whispered to them from somewhere outside the Garden, and that the promise never to be expelled applies only to those granted entry to Paradise after their sojourn on earth as a reward for their good deeds (Ṭs).
Surveying these options, al-Rāzī offers this final possibility: “These are all possible, and the textual proofs are weak and contradictory; so one should cease, and refrain from being categorical. And God knows best.” On this and similar issues (such as Eve’s creation and entry in the Garden) he takes a similar attitude, that one cannot know for sure, and one does not need to know, as this is not central to the Quranic telling of the account.
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Ö Then Satan made them stumble therefrom, and expelled them from that wherein they were, and We said, “Get you down, each of you an enemy to the other. On the earth a dwelling place shall be yours, and enjoyment for a while.”
36 The metaphorical meaning of made them stumble is the same in both Arabic and English: a falling into sin or error. The command get you down is in the second-person plural, which grammatically can apply to Adam and Eve or to Iblīs as well. The interpretation most in keeping with the Quranic text understands the addressees to be Adam and Eve and all their progeny, sometimes including Iblīs and his progeny, with Adam and Eve representing humanity as a whole.
The dwelling place (mustaqarr) has been understood as a place to live, as in the earth as an abode (40:64, using qarār, a word of similar derivation) or as a reference to earthly graves, although other uses of mustaqarr in the Quran (e.g., 6:98; 25:24; 36:38) indicate the former.
For a while (lit. “until a moment”) can signify either earthly death, the Day of Resurrection (which is the end of the world and humanity’s dwelling on earth), or “an appointed time” (ajal). It should be noted that this “fall” is not tied to the idea of “original sin,” which Islam does not accept.
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× Then Adam received words from his Lord, and He relented unto him. Indeed, He is the Relenting, the Merciful.
37 Some understand words as a reference to the supplication of Adam and Eve: Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If Thou dost not forgive us and have Mercy upon us, we shall surely be among the losers (7:23). Another account mentions that Adam beseeched God, “Did you not make me vicegerent? Did you not breathe into me of Thy Spirit? Does Thy Compassion not outstrip Thy Wrath?” God’s response of “Yea” to each of these questions and His informing Adam that he was forgiven constitute the words that Adam received. Others say that God taught Adam and Eve the pilgrimage, and the pilgrimage was the words. Still others claim it was a prayer (presumably given to Adam by God to recite), “There is no god but Thee! Glorified be Thee, praised be Thee! Thou knowest evil, and I have wronged myself. So forgive me! Thou art the best of forgivers!” This is repeated again, substituting “mercy” and “repentance” for “forgiveness” in the formulation (R).
In Arabic the verb for “repent” and “relent” (tāba/yatūbu) is the same; its meaning changes only with the addition of a preposition. Tawbah, the noun derived from the verb, means literally a “turning” or a “return”: we turn or return to God in repentance, and He turns or returns to us. Similar passages in the Bible (Jonah 3:9; Jeremiah 15:6; Genesis 6:6) predicate a kind of “repentance” of God. Al-Tawwāb (the Relenting) is the intensive participle of tawbah, meaning “repentance”; see also 4:17–18c; 4:147c.
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Ø We said, “Get down from it, all of you. If guidance should come to you from Me, then whosoever follows My Guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.”
Ù But those who disbelieve and deny Our signs, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein.
38–39 The opinion that the progeny of Adam are addressed here assumes that the guidance is the prophets and teachings (bayān) and is of course in keeping with a major theme of the Quran; namely, that God is ever guiding humanity. Others have limited the address to Adam, Eve, and Satan.
According to an account by the early religious scholar Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110/728), when Adam descended to the earth, God revealed to him, “O Adam, there are four acts containing all things for thee and thy children: one is for Me, one is for thee, one is between thee and Me, and one is between thee and mankind. As for the one which is Mine, thou shalt worship Me and not associate aught with Me. As for that which is thine, thou shalt attain the reward of that which thou doest. As for that between thee and Me, thou must supplicate, and I must respond. As for that between thee and mankind, should thou befriend them with that which thou lovest, they shall befriend thee likewise” (R). In this sense, prophecy and revelation begin with the earthly history of humanity.
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@ O Children of Israel! Remember My Blessing which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill My covenant, and I shall fulfill your covenant, and be in awe of Me.
40 The Blessing (niʿmah; see also vv. 47, 122) is usually understood to be the deliverance from Pharaoh (vv. 49–50) and the subsequent heavenly gifts of manna, quails, and the promised land; or that God placed prophets among them and sent them Divine books; or the coming of Islam, since this verse addresses the Jews in and around Madinah. Niʿmah is understood in the most general sense as well, beginning with the gift of creation, in keeping with the universal commands of the following verses. A range of possible meaning exists for the covenant (ʿahd), which is understood broadly as people’s gratitude, on the one hand, and God’s Forgiveness and Reward, on the other. Another interpretation is that it refers to the mīthāq (“covenant” or “pact”) of 5:12: God had made a covenant with the Children of Israel, and We raised among them twelve chieftains. Some interpret it to mean that they should be true to the predicted coming of the Prophet, whom they find inscribed in the Torah and the Gospel that is with them (7:157; Q).
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A And believe in that which I have sent down, confirming that which you have with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And sell not My signs for a paltry price, and reverence Me.
41 That the Quran confirms that which you have with you, usually understood to be the Torah and the Gospel, can mean either that it supports the validity and teachings of those books or that it is a fulfillment of the foretelling of the Prophet Muhammad’s mission within those books (see v. 40; 7:157). This latter interpretation would turn the verse into a kind of imperative, as it implies that the Torah and Gospel demand faith in the Prophet.
Being the first is not necessarily the start of a sequence, but an expression of the quality or priority of one’s conviction. See also 6:14: I was commanded to be the first of those who submit; 6:163: I am the first of those who submit; and 7:143: I am the first of the believers.
On selling for a paltry price, also see 2:174; 3:187; 16:95. In other places, the language of buying and selling is positive, as when God asks believers, Who is it that will lend unto God a goodly loan? He will multiply it for him, and his shall be a generous reward (57:11); and when 61:10 speaks of a commerce that shall save you.
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B And confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth.
42 Confound renders the verb labisa, which also has the sense of “to clothe” and therefore “to hide” and consequently “to obscure,” thus including the idea of veiling as well as confusion (cf. 3:71; 6:65; 6:82; 6:137), although the subsequent command to not conceal the truth suggests the reading of confound.
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C And perform the prayer, and give the alms, and bow with those who bow.
43 If this were a command to perform the specific Islamic prayer (ṣalāh) and give the alms (zakāh), as some understand it, it would be tantamount to a command to become Muslim. But passages such as 19:31; 19:55 (where we are told Ishmael commanded his people to pray and give alms); and 20:14 show that the canonical prayer and alms are not exclusive to Islam as understood to mean the religion revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Other verses related to bowing include 3:43; 5:55; 9:112; 38:24. Again, bowing is a universal movement of worship and reverence, but it has a specific definition in the Islamic context as a particular movement in the canonical prayer.
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D Will you enjoin piety upon mankind, and forget yourselves, while you recite the Book? Do you not understand?
44 Depending on context, the term rendered piety (birr) has the sense of goodness, kindness, loyalty, sincerity, or obedience. For piety, see also 2:177, 189; 3:92. The “pious” (abrār) are often mentioned in connection with heavenly rewards (3:193; 76:5; 82:13). Piety in this verse can mean obedience to God as well as prayer and alms. Some mention that it could refer to acknowledgment of the Prophet’s mission or to the previous warning to the Arabs that a prophet would be sent among them (R). Recite here can also mean “study” (Ṭ).
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E Seek help in patience and prayer, and this indeed is difficult except for the humble,
45 Cf. 2:153. For patience (ṣabr), see also, for example, 12:18; 16:127; 23:111; 70:5; 90:17; 103:3. ṣabr, like “patience,” means both the endurance of hardship and steadfastness in good. This—translating a pronoun denoting prayer or the admonition as a whole (IK)—is difficult (kabīrah, lit. “a tremendous or momentous thing”) because of the demands it places on us by day and by night (IA). Indeed, one can be patient through the commonplace discipline of deferred gratification, whereas prayer always demands, in some measure, a retreat from the world and a diminution of the ego.
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F who reckon that they shall meet their Lord and that they shall return unto Him.
46 Reckon renders the verb ẓanna, which, paradoxically, can mean “to conjecture” (6:116), “to be certain” (as here), or simply “to think” (48:6) or “to believe.” A similar polyvalence between uncertainty and conviction can be seen in the use of rajā’, usually “hope,” but also with the sense of expectation or belief, as in 2:75; 71:13; and a verse similar to this one, 18:110. The Quran repeatedly mentions that we shall return and be returned to God (e.g., 2:28, 156; 23:60; 29:57).
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G O Children of Israel! Remember My Blessing which I bestowed upon you, and that I favored you above the worlds.
47 Cf. 2:122; similar language is found in 6:86: And Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah, and Lot—each We favored above the worlds. Some commentators understand this preeminence to be something confined to the past, in light of the fact that in 3:110 it is the Prophet Muhammad’s community that is described in the Quran itself as the best community brought forth unto mankind. They thus view the special favor in light of the Divine blessings mentioned in 5:20: And when Moses said unto his people, “O my people! Remember God’s Blessing upon you, when He appointed prophets among you, and appointed you kings, and gave you that which He gave unto no other in all the worlds.” The verb translated favored (faḍḍala) carries the sense of causing one thing to excel over another. Worlds (ʿālamīn, often in the construction “Lord of the worlds”) can also mean “peoples” or “nations” in context, as in 21:71, the land that We have blessed for all peoples. This meaning can also apply in this verse, though the more universal sense is not incorrect.
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H And be mindful of a day when no soul will avail another soul in any way, and no intercession shall be accepted from it, nor ransom taken from it; nor shall they be helped.
48 Be mindful renders ittaqā, which is usually translated as a variant of “reverence,” but it also has the sense of being careful, aware, or on guard. This verse closely resembles v. 123, and the futility of another soul’s help is described in 82:19 in similar terms. Elsewhere the Quran lists wealth and children (3:10, 116) among those things that will not avail any soul in the Hereafter.
The concept of intercession (shafāʿah) is related to similar concepts in the Quran such as istighfār, meaning the seeking of forgiveness for oneself or for another, as in 40:7, where angels seek forgiveness for those who believe. Another example is ṣalāh (usually “prayer”), not as worship of God, but in the sense of blessing someone, as in 9:103, where God says to the Prophet, Bless them. Truly thy blessings are a comfort for them.
Intercession and the giving of ransom or compensation were common practices in the tribal society of Arabia and indeed in most traditional societies. Islamic Law itself contains provisions for ransoming or compensation, such as feeding a poor person when one is unable to fast (2:184). Earthly intercession and ransom are aspects of human social and legal transactions, but intercession before God in the Hereafter is a theological issue touching on God’s Authority, the danger of idolatry, and the efficacy of prayer.
For some mystics, such as Ibn ʿArabī, supplicatory prayer brings into being possibilities that would not have been manifested but for that prayer. God’s compassionate Love (raḥmah) encompasses all things (7:156), and included in that infinite range of love is the love that responds only when a request is made, as in 2:152: Remember Me, and I shall remember you; this does not nullify the prior love, which is a purely unasked-for gift. Ultimately, the “request” for love is itself a manifestation of God’s Love, in that we cannot remember God unless He “remembers” us first. According to this interpretation, God is the mysterious author of all prayer: We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (50:16); God comes between a man and his heart (8:24); And you do not will but that God wills. Truly God is Knowing, Wise (76:30); And you do not will but that God, the Lord of the worlds, wills (81:29); When My servants ask thee about Me, truly I am near. I answer the call of the caller when he calls Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me, that they may be led aright (2:186).
Seen in this way, all intercession is God’s—Unto God belongs intercession altogether (39:44)—since no plea for intercession can be made without love and remembrance on the part of the intercessor, which itself is a manifestation of God’s own Will and Mercy, as mentioned in 20:109: On that Day intercession will be of no benefit, save [that of] those whom the Compassionate has granted leave and with whose word He is content. One could understand the Quranic statements about intercession to deny the kind of worldly bargaining or status-driven intercession that would have been of some avail on earth, but not in the Hereafter.
If one can object that intercession diminishes God’s Mercy and Wisdom, one can respond that the intercession itself is a Gift of God. All that the angels, prophets, saints, and believers who are granted intercession have to offer is their goodness and faith and nearness to God, all of which come from God’s Wisdom for creatures and their relationship with one another. Seen in this way, passages that deny the efficacy intercession (as in 32:4; 39:44; 74:48) do not contradict those that affirm its possibility (as in 21:28; 34:23; 53:26). For a further discussion of intercession, see 2:255c.
The ransom (here ʿadl, lit. “substitution,” but usually fidyah) can include anything one would seek to give in exchange for deliverance from punishment, including an earth full of gold (3:91), twice as much as all the things on the earth (5:36; 13:18), and even one’s own children (70:11).
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I And [remember] when We delivered you from the House of Pharaoh, who inflicted a terrible punishment upon you, slaying your sons and sparing your women. And in that was a great trial from your Lord.
49 The use of when (idh) links this and subsequent verses to v. 47 in the sense of “remember when,” as idh can mean “remember when” independently of the explicit use of a word such as udhkur (“remember”). Idh can also carry the sense of “Lo!” or “See!” or “Behold!”
The house (āl) refers to the family or people of Pharaoh (which term itself means “great house”). Other than describing it as a punishment or suffering (ʿadhāb), the Quran does not give a specific reason for the killing mentioned in this verse. In light of the fact that Pharaoh repeats the same threat later when Moses is an adult (7:127; 40:25), it would indicate that the murder of males was a form of collective punishment or control (R; cf. Exodus 1), rather than the result of a foretelling of future events, as is sometimes mentioned in the commentaries (Ṭ, R, IK), by soothsayers or astrologers (or even through a dream of Pharaoh) warning that a child would be born to the Israelites who would rise up and destroy Pharaoh’s kingdom; see 20:25–28c. See also 28:4.
The trial (balāʾ) is lexically a testing or finding out, here usually connected to the sufferings, but understood by some to be a niʿmah, or blessing, which appears in 2:47 (Ṭ). In the Quran a good can also be a trial, as in 21:35: We try you with evil and with good; and 7:168: And We tried them with good things and with evil things.
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P And when We parted the sea for you and so delivered you, and drowned the House of Pharaoh as you looked on.
50 We parted the sea for you is literally “We parted the sea by means of you,” where the Israelites would be the agent, as it were, of the parting. The unnamed sea (baḥr) refers to a body of saltwater (Q), identified by most authorities as the Red Sea. The drowning of the Egyptians is mentioned in 7:136; 8:54; 10:90; 17:103; 20:77–79; 26:65–66 (cf. Exodus 14–15). In addition to in the story of Noah (11:36–48 passim) drowning is also mentioned as a punishment in 17:69 and 36:43.
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Q And when We appointed forty nights for Moses, and you took up the calf while he was away, while you were wrongdoers.
51 For the forty nights, see also 7:142. For the calf, see also 7:148–54; it is also mentioned in 2:92–93; 4:153; 20:88. We appointed . . . for Moses (lit. “We made an appointment with Moses” or, according to another reading, “We promised Moses”) refers to Moses’ seclusion on Mt. Sinai away from the Israelites. You took up refers to their worship of the calf.
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R Then We pardoned you after that, that haply you may give thanks.
52 See also 4:153, where this pardon is mentioned, a verse that also indicates the mercy and power of the Pardon and Forgiveness of God, which are beyond human understanding.
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S And when We gave unto Moses the Book and the Criterion, that haply you may be guided.
53 The Book can be all of, part of, or separate from the Torah. The Criterion (furqān) is either a description of the Book as something that separates truth from falsehood or a reference to a power of discrimination given to Moses and Aaron (21:48). See also 8:41, where the “day of the furqān” is rendered as the Day of Discrimination. Elsewhere the Prophet is given the Book and Wisdom (2:151; 3:164; 4:54), which suggests that furqān, like wisdom, can be an attribute bestowed upon a prophet, rather than a revealed book, and so supports the reading of furqān as a power of discrimination. For furqān, which is also a name of the Quran, see also 25:1.
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T And when Moses said to his people, “O my people! You have wronged yourselves by taking up the calf. So repent unto your Maker and slay your own. That is better for you in the sight of your Maker.” Then He relented unto you. Indeed, He is the Relenting, the Merciful.
54 Cf. Exodus 32:27. Slay your own, in light of similar language elsewhere (cf. 2:85; 4:29), is best understood as the killing of the guilty among the Israelites by their fellow Israelites, in which case the severity of the punishment would have been all the more terrible. Some commentators add that the killed were martyrs, and the killers had their repentance accepted by them, meaning all were forgiven, so that the episode of killing their own would have been, according to this interpretation, a kind of collective punishment in itself rather than a punishment of the guilty by the innocent. Slay your own is literally “slay yourselves,” and indeed some view the inward meaning to be that the Israelites should slay their own egos in the spiritual sense of opposing their passions (IA, Iṣ).
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U And when you said, “O Moses, we will not believe thee till we see God openly,” and the thunderbolt seized you as you looked on.
55 Cf. 4:153. The thunderbolt, related etymologically to Moses’ swoon (7:143) and the “swoon” of the heavens and earth at the blowing of the trumpet (e.g., 39:68) on the Day of Judgment, is also a punishment for the ʿĀd and the Thamūd (41:13). The Thamūd’s thunderbolt also seized them as they looked on. It can also refer more generally to a great calamity or destruction, or a great cry or noise, a fire, or an earthquake (Ṭ).
Some commentators (IK, R) identify this verse with the incident described in 7:155, which would mean that after the destruction of the calf, Moses went up the mountain with seventy of the choicest Israelites among those who worshipped the calf. Upon their request to see God, a thunderbolt (ṣāʿiqah) struck them dead, after which Moses prayed for their revival, which God granted. Others (JJ) consider 2:55 and 7:155 as separate incidents, and some take no firm position (R). The word rendered thunderbolt (ṣāʿiqah) has a broader range of meaning than rajfah (the word used for the “calamity” mentioned in 7:155), but they could also refer to the same event. To see openly (jahratan), which is also used with reference to speech (e.g., 21:110), means to see with one’s eyes, or simply “publicly.”
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V Then We raised you up after your death, that haply you may give thanks.
56 The primary understanding of the first part of this verse is that it speaks of a resurrection back to life, though some interpret it as referring to the sending of prophets among the Israelites, since the verb baʿatha (“raise up” or “be resurrected”) has the root meaning of “rouse” or “stimulate,” but can also refer to the sending of prophets (e.g., 2:213). For example, the day when the Prophet was chosen as a prophet is celebrated by many Muslims as ʿĪd al-mabʿath, from the same root b-ʿ-th.
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W And We shaded you with clouds, and sent down manna and quails upon you, “Eat of the good things We have provided you.” They wronged Us not, but themselves did they wrong.
57 Cf. Exodus 16. The clouds (ghamām; cf. 7:160) also split the heavens (25:25), and God and the angels come in the shadows of clouds (v. 210). Manna is not described in the Quran except as coming from Heaven and is always mentioned together with quails, though some commentators say that it came from tamarisk or even ginger or that it was a honeylike substance or a delicate bread that fell from Heaven like snow (cf. Exodus 16:31). The good things (ṭayyibāt) are the wholesome, beneficial, and lawful things of the earth. The Quran often chastises those who would forbid partaking of them (4:160; 5:87; 7:32), in particular the Children of Israel.
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X And when We said, “Enter this town, and eat freely of that which is therein wheresoever you will, and enter the gate prostrating, and say, ‘Remove the burden!’ that We may forgive you your sins. And We shall increase the virtuous.”
58 The town is thought to be Jerusalem or Jericho, although other cities in Syria or Jordan are mentioned as well. The command to eat freely echoes a similar command given to Adam in Paradise (v. 35). Whether this passage refers to Moses or Joshua bears on the identity of the city, as Moses never entered the Holy Land. Al-Rāzī mentions the possibility that this town is Egypt itself. He reasons that v. 59 is temporally subsequent and implies that the plague preceded any entrance into Jerusalem and thus took place during the life of Moses. Others see this passage as referring to the entrance into Jericho after its conquest (IK).
Say, “Remove the burden!” is literally “Say ḥiṭṭah.” The commentator al-Zamakhsharī understands this word in the sense of “unburden us an unburdening,” a common stylistic structure in Arabic. It would thus mean something like, “Say, ‘Unburden us an unburdening,’” though the word ḥiṭṭah (“unburdening”) does not explicitly appear as the grammatical object of any verb. Some understand prostrating (sujjadan) to mean bowing, since “prostrating” is usually more specifically associated in Islamic rites with placing one’s forehead on the ground, though lexically it carries a broader meaning than this.
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Y But those who did wrong substituted a word other than that which had been said unto them. So We sent down a torment from Heaven upon those who did wrong for the iniquity they committed.
59 Cf. 7:162. According to some, rather than saying ḥiṭṭah and prostrating (v. 58), they said ḥinṭah (“wheat”) and entered upon their backsides, in mockery (Z). Since these words would not have been spoken in Arabic, however, the wordplay does not make for a convincing interpretation. The torment (rijz) is understood here as a punishment or act of wrath; see also 7:134–35; 8:11; 29:34; 34:5.
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` And when Moses sought water for his people, We said, “Strike the rock with thy staff.” Then twelve springs gushed forth from it; each people knew their drinking place. “Eat and drink of God’s provision, and behave not wickedly upon the earth, working corruption.”
60 Cf. 7:160. The Quran provides few details here, and the commentators have little that is certain to say about the rock or springs, though it is generally assumed to be an incident in the wilderness. Some mention a stone, connected with Mt. Sinai or even the Edenic Garden, that the Israelites carried with them, described as being cubical or in the shape of a human head; when Moses struck the four sides, each then produced three streams of water, totaling twelve. The commentators generally assume that each knowing its place means that each of the twelve tribes had a fountain from which to drink. Some mention that each knew its drinking place, because each stream touched a member of each tribe (IK). Cf. Exodus 17:1–7, where Moses produces water for his people by striking a rock at Horeb (possibly Sinai). Eat and drink is spoken by either God or Moses.
Interpreted spiritually by Ibn ʿAjībah, the stone is considered to be the heart from which spiritual life flows, and the staff is the spiritual will (himmah), which “strikes” the egotistical soul and produces blessings of wisdom and unveilings. See v. 74, where hearts are compared to stones from which streams gush forth.
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a And when you said, “O Moses, we shall not endure one food, so call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us some of what the earth grows: its herbs, its cucumbers, its garlic, its lentils, its onions.” He said, “Would you substitute what is lesser for what is better? Go down to a town, and you will have what you ask for.” So they were struck with abasement and poverty, and earned a burden of wrath from God. That is because they disbelieved in the signs of God, and killed the prophets without right. That is because they disobeyed, and were transgressors.
61 A Biblical parallel to this verse’s content is found in Numbers 11:4–5, where the Israelites crave meat and wish for the “fish . . . the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic” they knew in Egypt. In Numbers 11:31–35, they are given quails, only to have those who craved them struck down for their greediness in relation to God’s provision. Here garlic (fūm) may also mean “wheat.”
Go down (habaṭa) need not be a change in elevation; analogously, in English one might say that one “descends” upon a place; one can “go down” (habaṭa) into or out of a valley, for example (Z). Better is usually understood here to refer to the manna and quails, while the lesser refers to the other foods they were requesting. A town renders miṣr, which can also mean a city, and used as a proper name or foreign word it means “Egypt.” The orthography (which requires it be read as miṣran and not miṣra) indicates that it could not refer to Egypt itself (Ṭ), though some mention is made of early commentators understanding this to be the “miṣr of Pharaoh.” The killing of the prophets (2:61, 87, 91; 3:21, 112, 181; 4:155; 5:70) is also mentioned several times in the Bible (Luke 13:34; Matthew 23:37; Romans 11:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:14–15; 1 Kings 19:10).
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b Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans—whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.
62 Cf. 5:69. Sabeans renders ṣābiʾ, which some derive from the verb ṣabaʾa insofar as it can be used to mean “to go from one religion to another.” It also means “to rise,” as in the case of stars, or “to come upon,” “to emerge,” or “to arise.” Others read it as coming from ṣabā, meaning “to incline,” as in from one religion to another (Ṭ). The pagan Arabs used to call the Prophet Muhammad a ṣābiʾ in this sense, in that he had left the religion of his forefathers (R). According to the commentators the ṣābiʿ could be: (1) people who have no recognizable religion; according to some accounts, there were people who declared, “There is no god but God,” but had no rites or books or prophet, and did not accept the Prophet Muhammad; (2) people who worshipped angels and faced the qiblah, reciting the Psalms; (3) a group of the People of the Book who left their religion; (4) people who think they are following the religion of Noah; or (5) monotheists who believe in the effects of the planets, and hence are unbelievers (R, Q, Ṭ). In the early centuries of Islamic history, the people of Ḥarrān in Syria who followed a religion deeply influenced by esoteric elements in earlier Greek and Near Eastern religions called themselves Ṣabeans to enjoy the status given to the ṣābiʾūn in the Quran. Members of the present-day Mandaean sect in southern Iraq and Iran are also called ṣābiʾ. They are monotheists and consider John the Baptist to be their prophet; their main ritual is baptism, and many believe that they migrated to their present site from the Jordan Valley.
Christians renders naṣārā (sing. naṣrān or naṣrānī), which most plausibly derives from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth (al-Nāṣirah), but several other etymologies are also given. Acts 24:5 describes an accuser who speaks pejoratively of Paul as “a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,” which is the only time this term appears in the Bible. This pejorative use continued in the early centuries of Christianity, but later developed, in some quarters, as a way of labeling “Jewish Christians” as distinct from “Pauline Christians,” and other terms, such as the Middle Persian tarsāg and of course kristiyān, came into use as labels for the followers of Christ. The precise origin of naṣārā has, for some, some bearing on whether certain beliefs mentioned in the Quran, such as the worship of Mary and Jesus (5:116) or God’s taking a consort (72:3), stem from a local sect of Christians with beliefs different from mainstream Chalcedonian Christianity. Using etymologies in this way, although often interesting, can be misleading, since the origin of a word often has scant connection with its later use; for further discussion of these issues, see 3:3–4c; 4:171c; 5:17c; 5:73c.
Those who are Jews makes use of the verb hāda/yahūdu, which is very likely derived from the noun yahūd, or “Jew,” and is literally something like “those who hād,” where hād is a verb. Among the etymologies given are that hād means “to be repentant,” “to incline” toward one other, or “to move” (as when one recites the Torah; Th).
Concerning this verse the commentator al-Qushayrī writes, “The differences in paths, with the oneness of the origin, does not hinder the beauty of acceptance. Whosoever affirms [God] the Real in His signs, and believes in the truth and His Qualities of which He informs them—namely, the Truth and His Qualities—then the differences in religious paths [or laws, sharʿ] and the differences in the appellation of names do not impinge on the realization of the good pleasure [of God].”
The theologian and mystic Abū Ḥamid al-Ghazzālī (d. 505/1111), in his famous work Fayṣal al-tafriqah, argues that the “Christians of Byzantium” and the “Turks” (still outside the Islamic world at that time) would come under God’s Mercy. Those who know the teachings and virtues of the Prophet and yet still deny him deserve to be called disbelievers, but al-Ghazzālī gives wide latitude in recognizing the obstacles to this knowledge. How could a Turk who had never heard of Muhammad be faulted? Moreover, why should a person who grows up hearing the Prophet Muhammad referred to as “the great liar” investigate his truth claims, since one would not expect the same from a Muslim who hears of someone accused of being a false prophet? Hearing the name Muhammad means nothing if one learns only of the opposite of his true attributes. One could extend this reasoning to point out that one is unlikely to deem a religion good or desire to learn about it, if the only followers one meets are bad. Such mitigating circumstances, namely, that birthplace, upbringing, and social experience mediate one’s knowledge of religion, provide ample space for God’s Mercy to encompass those who believe in Him and in the Hereafter and act righteously.
Some argue that the verse refers to certain Jews, Christians, and Sabeans who adhered to these faiths before the Prophet’s mission, but who then acknowledged him when he came—people such as Salmān al-Fārsī, Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī, and the monks Waraqah ibn Nawfal and Baḥīrah (R); others have understood it to include Zoroastrians as well.
Al-Zamakhsharī and some others argue that those who believe refers to the hypocrites, because they affirm belief outwardly, and lump them together with Jews, Christians, and Sabeans to form a first group, which is then juxtaposed with those mentioned in the second part of the verse, the true believers in the Prophet and Islam. If this interpretation is accepted, this would be the only instance in the Quran when “those who believe” was used ironically or with the implication of referring to the hypocrites. Al-Rāzī mentions the double usage of “believe” in 4:136, O you who believe! Believe in God and His Messenger, as an example where one can be called a “believer” in two senses, necessitating the command to believe, though this is not the interpretation given to that particular verse when it is discussed on its own. Indeed, in 4:136, al-Rāzī seems to approve of the opinion that the use of muʾmin (“believer”) without any qualifier is reserved solely for Muslims.
Some argue that these other groups are believers simply insofar as they affirm the truth of the Prophet Muhammad (Ṭ). However, Christians who affirm the message of Muhammad would no longer be Christian at all, just as those who practice idolatry would no longer be idolaters if they accept Muhammad. Still, it is not uncommon for commentators to insert the phrase “and follows Muhammad and acts according to his Law” as a gloss on whosoever believes in God (Aj)
Al-Qurṭubī mentions an opinion, attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās, that 3:85 (Whosoever seeks a religion other than submission, it shall not be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he shall be among the losers) abrogates this verse. But a widely accepted principle of abrogation is that only legal rulings or commands can be abrogated, not descriptive statements, especially as regards one’s status in the Hereafter.
For the commentator al-Bayḍāwī, this verse refers to those who fulfilled their obligations before their religions were abrogated by Islam, or it means that these various kinds of disbelievers are saved when they believe sincerely (since he interprets the first reference to be to hypocrites).
Many commentators on this verse disallow those who deny Islam and the Prophet to be included among those who are saved from eternal fear and grief, but as al-Ghazzālī’s position makes clear, such denial is hard to verify, especially since one’s rejection of Islam in later times might simply be a verdict pronounced upon Muslims and not upon the Prophet himself. Moreover, the plain sense of the verse cannot be denied without introducing inconsistencies: in no other instance is a “believer” used as a name for a hypocrite, and in no sense does a Jew or Christian following the religion of Muhammad continue to be called a Jew or Christian. Moreover, the affirmation of the belief of Jews and Christians is reinforced elsewhere in the Quran, including 3:110; 5:48; 22:67–69; for a fuller discussion, see the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions.” Also see commentary on 3:110–15 for similar issues relating to religious communities.
No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve is a description of one’s life after death, the equivalent of what might be called salvation. It describes the reward of those who follow God’s Guidance (v. 38), those who submit with faith (2:112), whoever believes and is righteous (6:48), the friend of God (10:62), and those who say, “Our Lord is God” (46:13).
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c And when We made a covenant with you, and raised the Mount over you, “Take hold of what We have given you with strength, and remember what is in it, that haply you may be reverent.”
d Then you turned away thereafter, and were it not for God’s Bounty upon you, and His Mercy, you would have been among the losers.
63–64 Cf. v. 93; 4:154. Mount renders ṭūr, which commentators point out is a word of Syriac origin for “mountain” (jabal; Ṭ), but is nevertheless an Arabic word. There is general agreement among the interpreters that this verse literally means that a mountain, either Sinai or a mountain from Palestine, was uprooted and made to physically move and float over the Israelites, in order to frighten them (Ṭ, R, IK). However, it seems just as likely that the phrasing here, raised the Mount over you, parallels the English construction “the mountain loomed above them.” Exodus 19 mentions “a thick cloud on the mountain” and that “Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in a fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently” (vv. 16, 18). Before this, the Israelites were commanded, “Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death” (v. 12). Since the Quran does not describe the mountain as floating, but only as “rising” above the Israelites, one can understand that it loomed over them in a terrifying and meaningful way, an interpretation that is all the more plausible in light of the descriptions from Exodus 19. To take hold . . . with strength is understood to mean doing so “earnestly” and “obediently” and resolving to act upon it (Ṭ, IK, R). In it means in the Torah given to Moses (IK).
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e And you have indeed known those among you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath, and so We said to them, “Be you apes, outcast.”
65 Outcast can also mean “lowly” (R). This is understood by some to refer to the people described in 7:163, who were tried by God when fish would come to them only on the Sabbath. Others interpret it to mean that all previous prophets taught that Friday was the most excellent day, that the Day of Judgment would come to pass on a Friday, and that it is celebrated by the angels in Heaven. The Jews preferred Saturday as the day of God’s rest, and because of their disobedience they were punished by God by being prohibited from engaging in their normal activities on that day. The Christians preferred Sunday, noting its excellence as the first day (Ṭ).
Other instances in which human beings are likened to animals include the following: The parable of those [who were] made to bear the Torah, then did not bear it, is that of an ass bearing books (62:5); And be moderate in thy pace and lower thy voice. Truly the vilest of voices are those of asses (31:19); The parable of those who take protectors apart from God is that of the spider that makes a house (29:41); Thus his parable is that of a dog: if you attack him, he lolls out his tongue, and if you leave him alone, he lolls out his tongue (7:176). Also, many aḥādīth speak of people resurrected in the form of various animals, according to their inner nature.
Al-Qurṭubī interprets it as being akin to the command of 17:50, which literally reads Be you of stone, or of iron, making it rhetorical. One can read this as, “As you wish then, be apes, as you have chosen to be.” Mujāhid says, “Their hearts were transformed, but they did not transform into apes,” comparing it to the ass carrying books of 62:5 (IK).
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f So We made it an exemplary punishment for their time and for times to come, and an admonition for the reverent.
66 The it can refer to the transformation/punishment of the community or the fish of 7:163 (Ṭ, R). For their time and for times to come can refer to those who were present and those who would come after, those who were in the environs of the place at that time (lit. “in front of and behind”), or previous and subsequent sins. Admonition renders mawʿiẓah, which can have a positive or a negative meaning, indicating either counsel and exhortation (as in 2:275; 3:138; 5:46) or reprimand and admonition.
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g And when Moses said to his people, “God commands you to slaughter a cow,” they said, “Do you take us in mockery?” He said, “I seek refuge in God from being among the ignorant.”
h They said, “Call upon your Lord for us, that He may clarify for us what she is.” He said, “He says she is a cow neither old nor without calf, middling between them: so do what you are commanded.”
i They said, “Call upon your Lord for us, that He may clarify for us what her color is.” He said, “He says she is a yellow cow. Bright is her color, pleasing the onlookers.”
p They said, “Pray for us to your Lord, that He may clarify for us what she is. Cows are much alike to us, and if God will we will surely be guided.”
q He said, “He says she is a cow not broken to plow the earth or to water the tillage, sound and without blemish.” They said, “Now you have brought the truth.” So they slaughtered her, but they almost did not.
67–71 These verses contain an account of an encounter between Moses and the Jews that is rather detailed in comparison to other Quranic accounts. First the Israelites balk at God’s Command, then interrogate Moses on its particulars, and finally obey it. Cf. Numbers 19, where a ceremony involving a red cow is mentioned. The instructions given the Israelites there, similar to those given in 2:71, are that it is to be a cow “without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid” (19:2). The seemingly impertinent questioning of the Israelites is not part of the Biblical account.
One account of the background story (Ṭ, IK) is that a rich man was secretly murdered by his heir. Moses, as the prophet of God, was asked to learn the identity of the killer. After the debate over the cow, the people finally slaughtered it, took a limb from it, and struck the corpse, which then quickened and identified the killer. This would continue the story of the cow up to v. 73.
To be ignorant (jāhil) in the Quran is more than to have a lack of knowledge; it is a disposition against it, a kind of pathological adherence to one’s own way and one’s ignorance. The term could also be rendered “ignoramus.” Unlike the case of the blind man seeking knowledge from the Prophet (see 80:1–4), the ignoramus is deliberately ignorant and in the dark. Similar instances in the Quran show the enmity or vice inherent in the Quranic concept of ignorance: Had God willed, He would have gathered them all to guidance—so be not among the ignorant (6:35); I exhort thee, lest thou be among the ignorant (11:46); If Thou dost not turn their scheming away from me, I shall incline toward them and be among the ignorant (12:33). It is also related to the concept of the pre-Islamic “Days of Ignorance,” called the jāhiliyyah.
Now you have brought the truth means “now you have made it clear to us” (Ṭ). That they almost did not was because the cow was so costly (according to the story recounted by al-Ṭabarī, there was only one such cow, and it was owned by an old woman who was asking a very high price for it); or because they did not want the identity of the killer to come to light because of the potential scandal (Ṭ, R). The Prophet said, “Had they taken the nearest cow and sacrificed it, it would have been enough for them.”
In Ibn ʿAjībah’s esoteric commentary on this verse, the egotistical soul must be killed in order for the spiritual soul to live. The best time for a soul to inflict the knife of asceticism and poverty upon itself is when it is neither too old, when its habits are ingrained and change becomes more difficult, nor too young (v. 68), when it feels immortal and sees no need to change. It is a soul that does not desire the world (not broken to plow the earth) and is pure of the blemishes that bind it to the world (v. 71). The soul is beautiful if it is good (v. 69). It is only when the soul has been purified and made beautiful and severed its inner attachment to the world that it is worthy to be sacrificed to God.
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r And when you slew a soul and cast the blame upon one another regarding it—and God is the discloser of what you were concealing—
s We said, “Strike him with part of it.” Thus does God give life to the dead and show you His signs, that haply you may understand.
72–73 On the murder, also see 2:67–71c. With some variations, the commentators relate the story that the Israelites, after searching for a long time, find the cow described by Moses, purchase it for a high price, and sacrifice it. Then they take a part of the cow’s body and strike the corpse of the murder victim, which is then briefly animated, long enough to answer the question of who the killer was, after which the body reverts to its previous state (IK). Thus, most commentators understand the command in v. 73 to mean, “Strike him [the corpse] with part of it [the slaughtered cow].” Assuming this is the correct interpretation, it would not be the only instance of reanimation in the Quran; others include Abraham and the birds (2:260); Jesus and the clay bird (3:49); the unnamed man thought by some to be Ezra, who died and was revived after a hundred years (2:259); and an allusion to this is when dust touched by a messenger (usually thought to be Gabriel) is used to animate the golden calf (20:96).
In a related ḥadīth, a man asked, “O Messenger of God, how does God revive the dead?” “Have you ever passed by a barren valley, and then passed by it again and it was verdant?” “Yes.” “Even so is the Resurrection.” In another version he replied, “Even so does God revive the dead.” Sufi commentators have seen in this passage a message that one whose heart has been “slain” by worldliness must sacrifice the egotistical soul in order to give life to the heart through the remembrance of God (Ni, Su, Qu). Al-Qushayrī states, “Whoever desires that his heart be given life must sacrifice his soul. So whoever sacrifices his soul with effort gives life to his heart and the lights of vision.”
In Deuteronomy 21:1–9 the Israelites are commanded to sacrifice a cow in the event that a person is found slain and the murderer remains unknown, after which the elders of the town nearest to the victim wash their hands over the cow and disavow any guilt for the crime. But the two accounts are different; one is the narration of an event, and the other, the prescription of a general law, even though there are similarities between them.
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t Then your hearts hardened thereafter, being like stones or harder still. For indeed among stones are those from which streams gush forth, and indeed among them are those that split and water issues from them, and indeed among them are those that crash down from the fear of God. And God is not heedless of what you do.
74 This verse can be understood to describe those present at the incident of the cow or the Jewish contemporaries of the Prophet insofar as they were members of the same group by affiliation and descent (R). In the first case they are rebuked for being unmoved by so obvious a sign as the raising of the dead, and in the latter case for turning away from the Quranic teaching about this incident. Even rock can be worn down and split open by the force of water. For the symbolism of water, also see 2:60. Water is a symbol of life and that by which life is made possible, whether it comes from the sky (22:63) or comes from beneath the ground (39:21) or is figured in our creation (21:30); here the image of the rock from which water comes forth is powerfully contrasted to the lifelessness of the hardened heart.
Stones crashing down from the fear of God is connected by some commentators with the incident of God’s disclosing Himself to the mountain in the presence of Moses, on the occasion of which the mountain crumbled (7:143), and with 59:21: Had We made this Quran descend upon a mountain, thou wouldst have seen it humbled, rent asunder by the fear of God. Some commentators think that all the types of rock in this verse behave as they do because of the fear of God (Ṭ). The living consciousness of God by all creation is also mentioned in 17:44: And there is no thing, save that it hymns His praise, though you do not understand their praise; and 34:10: O you mountains! Echo God’s praises with him, likewise you birds!
Some aḥādīth mentioned in connection with this verse describe the Prophet as saying, “I know a stone in Makkah that used to greet me before I was made a prophet, and I know it even now.” Regarding Mt. Uḥud, he said, “This is a mountain that loves us, and we love it.” In another related ḥadīth that describes the behavior of apparently insensate objects, the Companions made a pulpit for the Prophet, but when he ascended it, the palm-tree stump beside which he used to deliver his sermons began to cry, at which the Prophet descended, embraced it, and said, “It weeps for the remembrance it used to hear.” In one interpretation, the three kind of stones refer, respectively, to those human beings who weep much, those who weep little, and those who weep in their hearts without showing it outwardly (IK).
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u Do you hope, then, that they will believe you, seeing that a party of them would hear the Word of God and then distort it after they had understood it, knowingly?
75 This verse is addressed, using the plural you, to the Muslim community; they refers to the Children of Israel. It is one of a handful of verses that mention the “distortion” (taḥrīf) of scriptures by the People of the Book (see also 2:59; 3:78; 4:46; 5:13, 41). According to one interpretation, the party mentioned here are the seventy chosen Israelites (see 2:55c) who were said to have joined Moses on the Mount and directly heard the Word of God. When they returned, Moses said, “God commands thus and thus,” but this group would say, “No, God commands thus and thus,” misrepresenting what they had just heard (IK), or they said, “If you are able to do these things, then do them, and if you wish, then do not; there is no harm in it” (Th). One argument for this interpretation is that they “heard” the Word of God along with Moses, which is to say they did not “read” it, but the Quran speaks of those who hear God’s Word indirectly, as in 9:6 (IK). Other commentators believe that this verse describes the Jewish contemporaries of the Prophet.
Although lexically taḥrīf seems to be related to “letter” (ḥarf), its meaning is to “slant,” “be oblique,” “twist,” or “deviate” and is often connected by the commentators with the etymologically related inḥirāf, usually understood as “deviation.” Whether the Jews and Christians actually altered their transmitted books or instead skewed their interpretations while retaining a faithful text is a subject of debate in the Islamic intellectual tradition. Although later Islamic commentators and theologians often held a view that the Jews and Christians actually changed the text of the Bible, as epitomized in the work of the fifth-/eleventh-century scholar Ibn Ḥazm, the earlier commentators were not as eager to dispute the text of the Bible and preferred to view the “distortion” as an act of faulty and even malicious interpretation.
In his remarks on 3:78 al-Rāzī, for example, doubts that the prophecies pertaining to the Prophet Muhammad (see 7:157) were physically removed, since that would have required collusion on a grand scale with a well-known text. (In his commentary on 2:75, however, he states that with a less widely distributed text such an alteration would not be impossible.) He prefers to think that the prophecies required “careful thinking and contemplation in the heart” and that those texts, over time, took on a normative interpretation that drifted away from the original intent. This required a certain amount of speculation and assumption on al-Rāzī’s part regarding how widespread such texts were, since it is doubtful that he had detailed knowledge of the recording and transmission of the Bible.
Often mentioned in this connection with this verse is the thesis that the scholars and jurists of the Children of Israel would make lawful what was forbidden and forbid what was lawful, in accord with their own desires (Q, R). After they had understood it also supports the idea that the meaning was distorted, not the text (Ṭ).
Other instances in which the Prophet is admonished not to hope too much that his contemporaries will believe in him include 35:8: Truly God leads astray whomsoever He will and guides whomsoever He will; so let not thy soul be expended in regrets over them; and 18:6: Yet perhaps thou wouldst torment thyself with grief for their sake, should they believe not in this account. This can be read on a spiritual level as a rebuke to those who, after having experienced visions and openings of spiritual truth, revert to formality and lore and forget the subtle knowledge they once had; or to those who act hypocritically and with bad manners with the sages and the saints and stop keeping company with companions of a spiritual nature (Aj).
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v And when they meet those who believe they say, “We believe,” and when they are alone with one another they say, “Do you speak to them of what God has unveiled to you, that they may thereby dispute with you before your Lord? Do you not understand?”
76 This verse refers to a group of Jewish hypocrites (see Sūrah 63) in Madinah (Ṭ, Th). They said We believe, but according to some commentators they really meant only that they acknowledged that Muhammad was a prophet, but not a prophet to the Jews (Ṭ). What God has unveiled to you can mean “what God has commanded you” or “what God has decided for you” (Ṭ) or “what knowledge God has given you or made easy for you to obtain” (R). Another opinion is that the phrase refers to the prophecies foretelling the coming of the Prophet, so that the first question in this verse would mean, “Do you affirm that he is a prophet, which he can then use to argue against you?” (Ṭ).
Before your Lord (ʿinda rabbikum) is understood to mean that on the Day of Judgment there will be a mutual questioning or interrogation before God. According to some exegetes it can also be read, “concerning” or “with regard to” your Lord. Others see a similarity in usage between “in the sight of your Lord” (which is another possible translation of ʿinda rabbikum) and “in the Book of God.” It is argued that these two phrases are often used equivalently, the way “God commands us” and “God commands us in the Quran” are (R, Z). Other exegetes mention that a group of Jews were believers, but then became hypocrites, and this verse describes how their leaders rebuked them for telling the Muslims about the punishments they had endured, because then the Muslims would revile them and say that they were more noble than the Jews in the Sight of God (Th). For a similar exposure of secret behavior among the Prophet’s antagonists, see 2:14; 3:119.
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w Do they not know that God knows what they hide and what they disclose?
77 The theme of God’s knowing all things out in the open or hidden is ubiquitous in the Quran, as in 21:110; 24:29; 27:74; 28:69; 33:54; 36:76, and here connects to the conduct exposed in the previous verse (IK).
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x And among them are the illiterate who know nothing of the Book but hearsay, and they only conjecture.
78 The illiterate (ummiyyūn) are those Jews who could not read and write (Ṭ). In an opinion attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās, however, they are a people who accept no prophet or revealed book and who write a book themselves and say that it is from God; they were called ummiyyūn because of their opposition to the Books of God (Ṭ). But most do not consider this opinion to be correct, since among the Arabs ummī means someone who cannot write or write well (Ṭ). The commentators often mention here the ḥadīth, “We are an ummī people; we do not write and we do not calculate the months.” This would support the interpretation that ummī means one who cannot read and write well (Th), since neither the Jews nor the Arabs of Arabia were wholly illiterate; some could read and write well, while some could do so in only a very rudimentary fashion. That the Arabs were not entirely illiterate is clear from the Islamic tradition’s proven assertion that the Quran was written down during the lifetime of the Prophet, though the literate could have been a relatively small number in relation to the whole. For further discussion of the concept of ummī, or “unlettered,” see 7:157–58c; 62:2c.
Hearsay (amānī) means that they know only what their scholars tell them (Th); or it means things they invented, such as that the Fire will not touch them except for a certain number of days (see v. 80) or that none will enter Paradise who is not a Jew (2:111). Amānī can also be rendered “hope” or “desire” (see also 2:111; 4:123; 22:52; 57:14). They only conjecture is usually glossed as “they lie [about God]” or “they think/deem false things [about God]” (IK).
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y So woe unto those who write the book with their hands, then say, “This is from God,” that they may sell it for a paltry price. So woe unto them for what their hands have written and woe unto them for what they earn.
79 Although woe (wayl) is an ordinary Arabic word used throughout the Quran as a cry of distress, it is also interpreted here by some as a proper name for an infernal valley in Hell based on the following ḥadīth (disputed by some, such as the commentator Ibn Kathīr): “Wayl is a valley in Hell into which the disbeliever will fall for forty autumns before reaching its bottom.” Or it is a mountain in Hell of blood and pus, in which case So woe unto those/them could be read, “For them there will be wayl.” For others, it is the word that will be uttered by the punished, and it will be the cry of the disbelievers in Hell (Th). The exegetes give an account of some Jews who wrote something down and pawned it off on the ignorant Arabs for a small profit; another account links this verse with the alteration of the prophecies foretelling the coming of Muhammad (see 7:157), meaning that the descriptions of the Prophet in their book were altered so that they would describe something else (Ṭ, Th).
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À And they say, “The Fire will not touch us save for days numbered.” Say, “Have you made a covenant with God? For God shall not fail to keep His Covenant. Or do you say of God that which you know not?”
80 This verse should be read together with the subsequent two verses. This claim of limited punishment is repeated in 3:24. Some commentators mention that the Jews claimed that they would suffer torment for only forty nights, corresponding to the time spent worshipping the calf, after which they would be succeeded by another people (according to some, they claimed that these inheritors of punishment would be the followers of Muhammad); others say it would be forty years; still others, only seven days, one day for each thousand years of the world’s existence (IK). A covenant is often mentioned in connection with the Israelites (e.g., 2:40, 100) and more generally elsewhere between God and humanity (3:77, 81; 7:172; 13:25; 33:7; 36:60). Here it is invoked against the claims that Hell would be experienced by the Jews only for a specific number of days, which the commentators point out are claims made without any warrant from scripture.
The question of a limited sojourn in Hell is extremely significant, as the main body of Islamic theology accepts the possibility of believers being removed from Hell (see 4:40c; 78:23c), a position adduced from passages such as 6:128; 11:107; and 78:23, but also from aḥādīth that describe intercession on behalf of the denizens of Hell that would allow them to leave it after a period of time (see 2:255c; 57:13c).
Al-Rāzī makes an argument regarding limited punishment in Hell based on three main points: First, he argues that v. 80 is not necessarily a denial that souls might reside in Hell only temporarily, but may be seen as a rebuke against the claim of such an exceedingly small number of days coupled with the impudent confidence in that figure in the absence of an explicit promise from God. Second, one cannot assume such forgiveness for all, but this does not prevent the possibility that an individual person may be forgiven after a time in Hell. Third, there is a difference between saying that God will not remove a believer from Hell and saying that God never promised (or made a Covenant) to remove a believer from Hell, since God can do something without having explicitly promised to do so. The absence of such a promise does not prevent God from in fact removing a person from Hell after a period of time. For more on the question of the perpetuity or eternity of Hell, see 11:106–8c; 78:23c; and the essay “Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in the Quran.”
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Á Nay, whosoever earns evil and is surrounded by his sins, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein to abide.
81 Evil here is most commonly understood by commentators to mean “idolatry,” the setting up of “partners” to God (or the setting up of other things as equals to God) as objects of worship (see also 4:48c). To be surrounded by his sins means to be a persistent sinner, to be one who dies in sin before repenting of it, or to commit major sins as opposed to minor ones and die in that state unrepentant (Ṭ). The distinction between major and minor sin (corresponding roughly, but not exactly, to mortal sin and venial sin in the Christian tradition) is universal in Islam, although historically there have been many different lists of major and minor sins. Some are based on certain aḥādīth of the Prophet listing grave sins, while others identify major sins as those connected to ḥadd punishments (e.g., murder and adultery) in the Quran or those specifically mentioned in connection with Hell or the curse of God. Major and minor sins are not strictly divided: one can repent and be forgiven for major sins, but even a minor sin can become major through obstinacy and repetition (also see 4:31c).
Surrounded renders aḥāṭa, which can mean to “encircle,” “enclose,” or “comprehend.” In a sense, one’s sin overwhelms one’s good actions, as one object encircles another (R), so that the decisive character of the soul is evil rather than good and the heart is what is encircled and overwhelmed (IK). In a way, only idolatry deserves eternity in Hell, as it manifests a decisive orientation of the heart (Ṭs). When God says He forgives all sins except shirk, idolatry (4:48; 4:116), this means that He forgives gratuitously all sins other than shirk, not that shirk is unforgivable, since God forgives all sins (39:53; R). On the question of forgiveness for shirk, see 4:48c. See also 4:123, which says of the Hereafter, It will not be in accordance with your desires nor the desires of the People of the Book. Whosoever does evil shall be requited for it. The commentators connect these verses to the Jewish claim of limited days of punishment, indicating that God does not punish or withhold punishment on the basis of one’s membership in a particular religious community, but on the basis of individual right or wrong actions.
The identification of major sin and its consequences became entangled politically in early Islamic history, which is why many of the creeds of the classical period discuss the status of the Companions alongside questions of God’s Attributes and eschatology. The internal conflicts of the early period made the Prophet’s Companions subjects in the theology of sin and error, in light of the civil wars involving major Companions and even wives of the Prophet on opposing sides, culminating in the assassination of the two Caliphs ʿUthmān and ʿAlī by extremist elements who labeled them as grave sinners, hence, according to their belief, no longer believers and therefore illegitimate. The status of individual Companions (especially the early Caliphs) became a charged issue in intercommunity politics, in which sin became both a theological and political question pertaining to both religious and temporal authority.
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 And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden, therein to abide.
82 According to some theologians, the people described in this verse could also be perpetrators of major sins, because the commission of such sin does not erase their faith and other good works. The mainstream majority opinion in Islam, both Sunni (e.g., Ashʿarite and Māturīdite) and Shiite, is that the believer who commits a grave sin is still a believer. However, although we know that God forgives sin, we cannot know which sins are forgiven and for which person; those who are punished may be punished for a period, perhaps a very long period, but then that punishment will come to an end (R). To one side of this mainstream position are theological schools and groups who have believed that the grave sinner goes to Hell forever. The Muʿtazilites espoused this view because, in their opinion, grave sin rendered one a fāsiq (“reprobate” or “iniquitous”), which was for them a technical term denoting an intermediate state between believer and disbeliever, which nevertheless merited Hell. The Khawārij also believed in the damnation of the grave sinner, because committing a grave sin was tantamount to a loss of faith, meaning that a grave sinner had no faith by definition and was no longer a believer.
On the other side of the mainstream position were the Murjiʾah, who disassociated the negative effects of sin from faith far more than the mainstream position would allow, in some cases disentangling faith and action as starkly as the Khawārij had fused them. They are said to have espoused a belief that sin does not impinge on faith and that as long as individuals had faith they would go to Paradise. For the mainstream theologians, evil actions did not invalidate faith, yet faith did not preclude punishment for evil actions. In the broader Islamic tradition, the relationship between faith and action was examined much more profoundly within Sufism than in most of the dogmatic theological schools mentioned above. One’s degree of love, insight, wisdom, gnosis (spiritual knowledge), and vision of inward and outward truths as were all taken into account when thinking about the many dimensions of īmān (“faith/belief”) and kufr (“unbelief/denial”). Moreover, the Quran itself hardly presents the Hereafter as a binary reality. See the essay “Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in the Quran.” The relationship of major sin to faith/belief is only one dimension of the multifaceted issue of faith or belief (īmān).
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à And [remember] when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel, “Worship none but God; be virtuous toward parents, kinsfolk, orphans, and the indigent; speak to people in a goodly way; and perform the prayer and give the alms.” Then you turned away, save a few of you, swerving aside.
83 Here when can be read as “[remember] when,” in connection with the previous passages recalling the history of the Israelites. This verse resembles other passages that contain universal commandments regarding truth and virtuous action, such as 6:151–53 and 17:23–39, considered by some to be among the muḥkam verses of the Quran (on this term, see 3:7c). An alternate reading has the pronoun in the third person, so that it might be rendered “We made a covenant with the Children of Israel: they worship none but God.” In this case there would be a shift from the third-person nominative to the second-person imperative beginning with be virtuous in the middle of the verse, a grammatical shift not uncommon in the Quran (see the essay “Quranic Arabic: Its Characteristics and Impact on Arabic Language and Literature and the Languages and Literatures of Other Islamic peoples”). Be virtuous toward parents does not have an explicit verb in Arabic, but reads literally “and toward parents virtue,” where the verb “to be” or “to act” is understood (R, Ṭ); also, when the first phrase above is read in the third person, this phrase can also be read in the third person (R).
Parents are especially honored in the Quran (see 4:36; 6:151; 17:23; 29:8; 31:14; 46:15) and the Ḥadīth (see the essay “Quranic Ethics, Human Rights, and Society). These injunctions apply whether the parent is a believer or not, and the commentators often point to the example of Abraham and his restraint with his disbelieving father (19:42–48). The ḥadīth often bestows special honor upon mothers, as in the Prophetic saying, “Paradise is at the feet of mothers.” For regard for one’s parents, see 29:8c; 31:13–14c.
Kinsfolk (dhu’l-qurbā, lit. “possessors of nearness”) refers to blood relations, and their good treatment is mentioned often (2:177; 4:8; 4:36; 8:41; 17:26), as are one’s responsibilities toward orphans (2:220; 4:3–10; 4:127; 6:152; 17:34; 107:2) and the poor, very often listed in the same passages as relatives and orphans. An orphan (yatīm) was generally considered to be any minor whose father had died, as the father would have been the primary provider and protector of the child, but some considered those whose mothers had died also to be orphans.
To speak to people in a goodly way includes, according to the exegetes, calling them to monotheism, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong (see 3:104c); and this command to speak in a goodly way applies to all people (Ṭ). Those who turned away, save a few were the Children of Israel (Ṭ).
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Ä And when We made a covenant with you, “Do not shed the blood of your own, and do not expel your own from your homes.” Then you ratified it, bearing witness.
84 For most commentators this verse continues the descriptions of previous Israelites (R, Ṭ). The you in Then you ratified it could refer to the contemporary Israelites or to their forefathers. Bearing witness can mean a direct attestation or simply being present at the event as a group (R). In Madinah there were three Jewish tribes, Naḍīr, Qurayẓah, and Qaynuqāʿ, and two main Arab tribes, Aws and Khazraj. When war broke out between Aws and Khazraj, the Jewish tribes would fight on both sides of the battle, so that Jew would be fighting Jew, and they would drive one another out of their homes and take prisoners (IK, Ṭ).
These verses also touch on the question of communal versus individual responsibility. One can be passively implicated in the crimes of one’s community, as when children suffer because of their parents’ crimes. But one can also take an active part in a community’s past crimes and be held responsible for them, such that the “sins of the fathers” are justly passed on to later generations. Insofar as individuals are willing to glory in a group identity and accept its accomplishments as an extension of the self, they expose themselves to the crimes associated with that group identity as well. From another point of view, individual human beings suffer from the crimes of their forbears insofar as they inherit the traits of those they imitate through sheer worldly ignorance (the Quran often chides people for pointing to the practices of their fathers as a moral argument). If people of a certain generation are malicious, their children will tend to inherit and copy those traits, because human beings tend to conform to the norms of their society. In this respect, the sins of the parents are passed on to the children: imitating the good and being raised in an environment of virtue and beauty are better than imitating evil and being raised among liars and thieves, if only because such environments enshrine and transmit truth and compassion to later generations.
A culture or civilization can be rescued from its moral darkness by an infusion of virtue from saints or sages and, in earlier times, prophets, but on average a community will retain the qualities of its progenitors rather than discard them. One can overcome this weight through repenting of one’s own sins and living a life of active virtue, and even though one identifies oneself as a member of a group, one should deplore its crimes. But even then one might not necessarily escape the effects of communal sin, any more than an individual might escape the fire burning a neighbor’s house. This is one way of interpreting the Quran’s use of you in the present tense even when talking about past and also future generations.
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Å And yet it is you, the very same, who kill your own and expel a party of you from their homes, conspiring against them in sin and enmity. And if they come to you as captives you ransom them, though their expulsion was forbidden to you. Do you, then, believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part? And what is the recompense of those who do so but disgrace in the life of this world? And on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most severe punishment. And God is not heedless of what you do.
Æ It is they who have purchased the world at the price of the Hereafter; for them the punishment shall not be lightened, nor will they be helped.
85–86 According to some, believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part refers to the contradiction between the initial expulsion, which would be a violation of the Book, and the ransom, which would be in accord with the Book (Ṭ). Others connect the disbelief in this verse with the prophecies foretelling the coming of the Prophet Muhammad, though this is not implied by the context (R). Here the wider sense of kufr, or “disbelief,” as rejection and denial of certain truths comes to the fore, as the lack of belief and faith in part is not a direct disbelief in God’s existence. Rather, the expulsion and taking of ransom are acts of hypocrisy and immorality, which are not separable from a certain degree of kufr.
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Ç And indeed We gave unto Moses the Book and caused a succession of messengers to follow him. And We gave Jesus son of Mary clear proofs, and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Is it not so that whenever a messenger brought you something your souls did not desire, you waxed arrogant, and some you denied and some you slew?
87 Here the Book refers to the Torah. The succession of messengers refers to those Biblical figures mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel whom the Quran considers to have been prophets sent to the Children of Israel, including David, Solomon, Elias, John, and others (R). They were sent by God to preach the Oneness of God, but in accordance with the religious law of Moses and not to bring a new religion. Clear proofs renders bayyināt, meaning something that makes plain, shows clearly, or demonstrates (see also the introduction to Sūrah 98). In the case of Jesus, clear proofs may consist of the Gospel (Ṭ) or may be a reference to his miracles, such as healing the sick and raising the dead, giving life to the figure of a bird (3:49), and telling of realities from the unseen world, though some say it can include both the miracles and the Gospel (R).
The Holy Spirit in the present verse is usually identified as the Archangel Gabriel (IK); others have said it was a name by which Jesus revived the dead or that it refers to the Gospel itself (Ṭ), although this latter opinion goes against the juxtaposition of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit in 5:110. The interpretations have in common the sense of “giving life,” whether it is bodily quickening or the nourishment of the heart and intelligence (R). The place of the spirit in Islamic metaphysics and epistemology is essential and profound and is, in a sense, inexhaustible as a theological category; see 17:85c; 78:38c, where the spirit is discussed further. The word Holy, qudus, is defined by some as “blessing” (barakah) or “purity” (ṭuhr), while others say qudus is synonymous with the Divine Name al-Quddūs (the Holy; see 59:23; 62:1). In this latter sense the Holy Spirit means “the spirit of (God) the Holy” and refers then to the same Spirit that was breathed into Adam in 15:29: I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit. Jesus was strengthened in the sense of being supported, helped, and reinforced.
For most Sufis, what this passage says outwardly to the Jews it communicates inwardly to the Muslims: God caused a succession of saints and sages to show right from wrong and guide them to the straight path, but these luminaries are often called liars or are opposed because their accusers are ruled by their passions (K). In a ḥadīth the Prophet said, “You will follow the ways of those who went before you, span by span, cubit by cubit, so much so that, were they to enter a lizard’s hole, you too would enter it.”
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È And they say, “Our hearts are uncircumcised.” Rather, God has cursed them for their disbelief, for little do they believe.
88 In Our hearts are uncircumcised, uncircumcised renders ghulf (see also 4:155c), which means “covered” and can mean “sheathed” (as with a sword), but whose semantic range also allows the reading, “Our hearts are vessels,” meaning their hearts contain all knowledge and stand in no need of any other, or they are empty vessels in the sense that nothing of what others say resonates with them as being true (IK, R, Th). A similarly phrased passage, Our hearts are under coverings from that to which you call us (41:5), raises the question, in the minds of some commentators, of individual moral responsibility for one’s state of faith: if one’s organ of faith and understanding is covered, is one responsible?
Although here God seems to dismiss and rebuke the notion of hearts being covered, in 4:155 the claim Our hearts are uncircumcised is followed immediately by Nay! Rather, God has set a seal upon them for their disbelief, so they believe not, save a few. The dismissal of the Jews’ claim that their hearts are enwrapped (both here and in 4:155) is thus juxtaposed with the affirmation that they are sealed from faith. But the question need not be whether God seals hearts; indeed, a sealed heart would not be able to see that it is sealed. A soul that laments its being sealed is not completely sealed, since one cannot be aware of or believe in God unless God allows it. “My heart is covered” can be uttered cynically but has a different meaning when expressed by a person longing for God, but dismayed by the distance from Him. See also 2:7c, which addresses the question of sealing hearts and its significance for questions of predestination and responsibility based on free will.
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É And when there came to them a Book from God, confirming that which they had with them—and aforetime they used to ask for victory over those who disbelieve—so when there came to them that which they recognized, they disbelieved in it. So may the curse of God be upon the disbelievers.
89 Here the Book refers to the Quran, which in several verses is described as confirming the previous scriptures (e.g., 3:3; 5:48; 6:92; 35:31). To ask for victory has the sense of asking for help. It is related that before the advent of the prophethood of Muhammad, the Jewish tribes of Madinah used to tell the idolatrous Arabs that a prophet would come who would grant the Jews victory over them (IK, Ṭ). Some commentators relate that the Jews previously prayed, “O God send this prophet we find written of in our [book], so that we can punish the idolaters and slay them,” but they then rejected him—that is, Muhammad—because he was not of the Israelites (see v. 90; IK). Some traditions relate that some Arab Muslims, who were formerly idolaters, would remind the Jews by saying, “Reverence God and embrace Islam. You used to ask for victory over us by means of Muhammad while we were people of idolatry, telling us that he was being sent, and describing his attributes to us” (Ṭ). Some commentators believe that that which they recognized could also be understood to mean “that which they knew” or “that which they were acquainted with” and did not stem from a detailed description of the Prophet, but rather from an understanding of the general attributes of prophethood and truth that he displayed (R).
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Ґ Evil is that for which they sold their souls, that they should disbelieve in what God sent down, out of envy that God should send down His Grace unto whomsoever He will among His servants. They earn a burden of wrath upon wrath, and the disbelievers shall have a humiliating punishment.
90 Cf. v. 102, where evil is that for which they sold their souls is repeated as a conclusion to the verse. The attitude criticized here is based on the Jews’ reported belief that a prophet should come only from the Children of Israel. According to the commentators, because they were jealous that this dignity should pass to the Arabs, they purchased the false comfort of tribal pride at the price of faith in the Prophet Muhammad (IK, R, Ṭ). Here again a sense of rejection and lack of gratitude should be recalled in the multifaceted concept of “disbelief” (kufr), which in this case brings out the sense of kufr as “covering over (the blessings one receives),” which is not unrelated to ghulf, or “enwrapped,” as discussed in 2:88c. Grace renders faḍl, which can also mean “bounty,” “favor,” “kindness,” or “superiority” depending on the context.
His servants may refer to all human beings who worship God, but also to all human beings and indeed to creation as a whole. In the Quran as in Islam in general, servant is often used as a term of praise (2:186, 207; 14:31; 15:42; 21:105; 25:63; 89:29) unless qualified (7:194; 36:30). They earn a burden (bāʾa) can also be rendered “they became deserving.” Some commentators interpret wrath upon wrath as two instances of Divine Wrath, identifying the causes variously as the worship of the calf, the failure to uphold certain parts of the Torah, the rejection of Jesus, or the rejection of Muhammad (IK, R, Ṭ).
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ґ And when it is said unto them, “Believe in what God has sent down,” they say, “We believe in what was sent down to us,” and they disbelieve in what is beyond it, although it is the truth, confirming what is with them. Say, “Then why did you slay the prophets of God aforetime, if you were believers?”
91 Beyond it is interpreted as “after” or “other than” (Ṭ). The question is a rebuke in light of the Jews’ claim that We believe in what was sent down to us, meaning the Torah, because those slain prophets were Israelites who only commanded their people to follow the Torah (IK). That they slew even them shows that their refusal to follow the Prophet stemmed from something other than faith in the Torah, since those prophets also confirmed the truth of what was with them, and their murder was forbidden in any case (IK, Ṭ). See also 4:136c; 4:150–51c. The following verses continue the theme of faithlessness and rejection (kufr) in the face of the revelation of the Truth.
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Ғ And indeed Moses brought you clear proofs, but then you took up the calf while he was away, and you were wrongdoers.
92 Here clear proofs refer to signs such as Moses’ staff turning into a serpent, Moses’ hand turning white, his parting of the waters, and the provision of manna and quails (IK). On taking the calf for worship while Moses was away on Sinai, see the more detailed telling of the story in 7:148–55, and also 2:51.
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ғ And when We made a covenant with you, and raised the Mount over you, “Take hold of what We have given you with strength, and listen!” They said, “We hear, and disobey,” and they were made to drink the calf into their hearts because of their disbelief. Say, “Evil is that which your belief enjoins upon you, if you are believers.”
93 Regarding the raising of the Mount, see 2:63, where a similar command to take hold of the Torah and earnestly follow it is mentioned. Explaining drink the calf, the commentators understand the drinking to mean that they were made to drink “the love of” the calf (R, Ṭ), meaning that they directed their love to it due to their disbelief (kufr), which here as elsewhere can also mean “denial” and “ingratitude.” A ḥadīth that similarly uses the metaphor of drinking states, “Trials and temptations come upon hearts unrelentingly like a woven mat. Any heart that is made to drink of them has a black spot placed upon it, and any heart that denies them has a white spot placed upon it. Thus two kinds of hearts arise: the white are pure and no trial can harm them so long as the heavens and the earth endure, and the others are black and ashen . . . who do not recognize what is right or deplore what is wrong except as they are made to drink from their passions.”
What their belief enjoins is condemned insofar as they affirm and embrace evils such as the worship of the calf, the slaying of the prophets, and other actions denounced in connection with the Israelites (cf. 4:153–61). Their belief (īmān) here is an orientation of the heart that allows it to be satiated by worldly pleasures and ambitions and is symbolic of the soul that is filled with the world and abandons guidance (Aj).
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Ҕ Say, “If the Abode of the Hereafter with God is yours alone to the exclusion of other people, then long for death, if you are truthful.”
ҕ But they will never long for it, because of what their hands have sent forth, and God knows the wrongdoers.
94–95 See also 62:6: Say, “O you who are Jews! If you claim that you are friends unto God apart from [other] people, then long for death if you are truthful.” To long for death is a command seemingly at odds with the Islamic tradition, as in a ḥadīth of the Prophet: “Let none of you long for death because of an evil that befalls you. If one must do something, let him say, ‘O God, give me life so long as life is good for me, and make me pass away if passing away is good for me.’” The reasoning behind this challenge made to the Jews (R, Th) is that death is the only way to the felicity that they here claim is theirs alone in the Hereafter, so that it is therefore a gate through which they should wish to pass with all due haste. The conditional supplication for life and death mentioned by the Prophet reflects, by contrast, the uncertainty of one’s status in the Hereafter according to Islam. Like the presumption regarding the limited sojourn in Hell in v. 80 and 3:24, this belief in a guaranteed and exclusive entry into Paradise displays an excess of confidence. Those who truly expect no possible destination but Paradise should long for death, but their awareness of their own sins (75:14–15), however deep or undetected, stops them. According to some, this challenge could refer to a kind of mubāhalah, a practice where two sides come together to decide the truth of an issue, each declaring a certain position and each invoking something terrible on themselves if they are wrong. In this case, it would mean that death is invoked upon whomever is lying, the Muslims or the Jews (IK, Ṭ).
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Җ You will find them the most covetous of people for life, [even] more than those who are idolaters. Each one of them would wish to live a thousand years, although that would not remove him from the punishment. And God sees whatsoever they do.
96 Each one of them could grammatically refer to either the Jews who are described in the beginning of the verse or the polytheists, meaning that the Jews are more covetous even than people who wish to live a thousand years because they have no belief in a Hereafter. Another possible understanding of the grammar of this verse yields the translation “You will find them the most covetous of people for life; and among the polytheists are those who would like to live a thousand years . . . ,” although this latter reading is considered unlikely (R) and not idiomatic in Arabic. Some commentators mention that this phrase refers to the Zoroastrians or Persians in general, going so far as to quote a Persian phrase, “[May you have] ten thousand years!” spoken when someone sneezes. Others, such as al-Rāzī, prefer to see “thousand” as an idiomatic way of saying “many” and dismiss the connection of it to the Zoroastrians as a specific group.
Ḥasan al-Baṣrī is reported to have said, “A hypocrite is more covetous of the world than an idolater” (IK), perhaps because of the gnawing awareness of the consequences of one’s actions (Aj). On this aspect of hypocrisy, see 4:143c; 4:145c. The hypocrites’ certainty in salvation is thus a delusion whose underlying truth, that their actions preclude such certitude, is not completely hidden from them. Or perhaps any hypocrites with a belief in their own special status before God will also believe that they are owed much in this world, and their hypocrisy, clouding their judgment, forces them to prefer the nearer pleasure of this life, whose conditions seem certain. The punishment is that of the Hereafter. Some commentators suggest that him in remove him refers to the enemy of Gabriel mentioned in the next verse (IK, Ṭ).
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җ Whosoever is an enemy of Gabriel: he it is who sent it down upon thy heart by God’s Leave, confirming that which was there before, and as a guidance and glad tiding for the believers.
97 Two accounts, similar in their import, give the background for this verse. One describes the Prophet being questioned by a group of Jews who ask him questions only a true prophet could answer, among which is a question about who brought Muhammad the message from God. When he answers that it was Gabriel, they say they would have followed him if he had said Michael, who is an agent of mercy in their eyes, but Gabriel is a bringer of war, death, and destruction (IK). In the second account, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb is visiting the Jews while they are studying the Torah, saying he does so because he enjoys experiencing the mutual confirmation of the Torah and the Quran. They tell ʿUmar that they believe that Muhammad is a prophet, but they do not follow him because they are “at peace” with some angels but not with others, and Gabriel belongs to the latter group. This statement astounds ʿUmar, who balks at the notion that one angel could be a friend and the other a foe while both sit on either side of God according to the Jews themselves. Upon returning to speak to the Prophet, he is informed that this verse has already been revealed (IK).
Michael is the preeminent angel in the Jewish tradition; he is mentioned in the book of Daniel (10:13–21) as Israel’s prince and in later Jewish literature as Israel’s advocate and the teacher of Moses. In other Jewish literature Gabriel and Michael appear with often complementary qualities and functions: Michael is snow, and Gabriel fire; Michael is called the merciful, while Gabriel is set over “the powers”; and attributes of gentleness are assigned to Michael and those of severity to Gabriel. The book of Enoch, for example, discusses the concept of fallen angels in addition to the distribution of angelic functions and attributes. In the context of a literature that exalts Michael to the rank of foremost protector and advocate of the Children of Israel and assigns to Gabriel functions such as destruction and death (e.g., the midrash describes Gabriel as the destroyer of Sodom), it is not surprising that for some Jews a tradition arose that made Gabriel an enemy to the Jews insofar as he was regarded in some rabbinic and other literature as a bringer of death and destruction, while Michael was Israel’s special patron and an embodiment of mercy. In Jewish literature as a whole, however, Gabriel, though not possessing the stature of Michael, is seen in a positive light.
For Muslim commentators such as al-Rāzī, at least part of the Jews’ apparent enmity toward Gabriel stemmed from the fact that Muhammad was not of Israel, in which case the invocation of Gabriel’s severity would be an excuse masking their displeasure that an Arab would be chosen as a prophet and the agent of the revelation being Gabriel. For Muslims, to fault Gabriel is to fault God, who sent him. Al-Rāzī also points out that Jews deny having such a belief, but responds by noting that their deviations of the past, such as the worship of the calf, are not always reflective of their later practice.
God’s message is sent down upon the Prophet’s heart (cf. 26:194; 53:10–11), since the heart is the seat of knowledge and understanding, not only sentiment. See 2:7c, which discusses the dimensions of the heart in the Quran.
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Ҙ Whosoever is an enemy of God, His angels and His messengers, and Gabriel and Michael: God is indeed the enemy of the disbelievers.
98 The structure of this verse does not mean that Gabriel and Michael are other than angels; for example, 55:68 mentions dates and pomegranates after mentioning fruit. Moreover, angels are sometimes referred to as messengers as well (e.g., 10:21; 11:77). In connection with the warning in this verse, commentators often mention ḥadīth narratives with similar import, such as “Whoever is an enemy of God’s friend (walī), God makes war on him.”
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ҙ We did indeed send down to you clear signs, and only the iniquitous disbelieve in them.
99 The clear signs are signs of Muhammad’s prophethood, his personal qualities and the knowledge he possessed, which the commentators say should have been apparent to any believing Jew (IK, Ṭ).
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Ā Is it not so that, whenever they make a covenant, a group of them cast it aside? Indeed, most of them do not believe.
100 Many commentators mention that the Jews of Madinah said, “We did not make a pact or covenant regarding Muhammad,” upon which this verse was revealed, which evidently means that they did not pledge to follow him specifically. Others indicate that this refers to a promise the Jews had made previously that they would follow the prophet who was to come and give them victory over the idolatrous Arabs (Ṭ, Th). (See v. 89.) Others mention that it can refer to their betraying the Prophet by breaking their alliance with him and siding with the Quraysh (see also 4:51–52c), though the meaning is not restricted to any particular incident (R).
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ā And when there came to them a messenger from God, confirming that which is with them, a group of those who have been given the Book cast the Book of God behind their backs, as if they know not.
101 Some commentators restrict those who have been given the Book to the learned Jews (Ṭ), but it can apply to all those who take the Torah as their book and who disregard what it says (Q, R), which is what is meant by casting the Book of God (the Torah) behind their backs. Though the Book of God could also refer to the Quran, the mention of a group of those who were given the Book would indicate that it is indeed the Torah that is meant, and specifically its confirmation of the prophethood of Muhammad, for which the Quran asserts that there were clear signs and proofs in the Torah, as mentioned in v. 99.
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Ă And they followed what the satans recited against the kingdom of Solomon. Solomon did not disbelieve, but the satans disbelieved, teaching people sorcery and that which was sent down to the two angels at Babylon, Hārūt and Mārūt. But they would not teach anyone until they had said, “We are only a trial, so do not disbelieve.” Then they would learn from them that by which they could cause separation between a man and his wife. But they did not harm anyone with it, save by God’s Leave. And they would learn that which harmed them and brought them no benefit, knowing that whosoever purchases it has no share in the Hereafter. Evil is that for which they sold their souls, had they but known.
102 Some commentators read recited against as “recited regarding” or “recited in” and understand the kingdom of Solomon to mean “the time of the kingdom of Solomon” (Th). Some commentaries one encounters on this verse—perhaps more so than on any other in the Quran—contain elements startlingly incongruous with traditional Quranic commentary as a whole, but like other accounts connected with sacred history, the commentary here reflects a similar willingness to include a large spectrum of material of varying levels of reliability. The commentators recount several versions of a story about some teachings of Solomon or writings collected by Solomon describing the magic by which he was able to rule. These writings, buried under his pedestal, were dug up after his death and misused or tampered with. Given over to their passions, people made free use of these documents until the time of Muhammad. Other stories recount that the angels Hārūt and Mārūt were sent down to earth, because they thought themselves above human beings because of human sin. God told them that, were they to possess the same lusts and potential receptivity to Satan as human beings, they too would disobey God. When the two angels were sent down to earth, they were tempted by Venus, who, appearing as a beautiful woman, got them drunk and induced them to commit all manner of sin. Most or all of these legends are rejected by some of the major classical commentators such as Ibn Kathīr and al-Rāzī, but they nevertheless appear in some works of Quranic commentary.
Sorcery (siḥr) is of several kinds, and the Arabic term can include what in English is denoted by sorcery and witchcraft, including sleight of hand (R). When it is not straightforward illusion, magic can be seen as the manipulation of hidden cosmic forces to produce a desired effect or as the attainment of knowledge of things unseen (whether they are removed in space or time) through hidden means. Siḥr can also refer to a kind of persuasive eloquence; hence the disbelievers’ accusation that the Quranic recitations of Muhammad were nothing but manifest sorcery (siḥr mubīn; see, e.g., 10:2).
The verse can be well interpreted without recourse to the wildly speculative sources mentioned above. (It is indeed astounding that the notion of Venus taking on human form and seducing angels is even present in any Quranic commentary.) Solomon, despite the powers granted to him by God to command the wind and the jinn who would serve him (21:81–82), was not a denier of the true source of these powers and did not use them for evil purposes such as separating a man from his wife (a common aim of magic in premodern societies, among other venial purposes; see the introduction on Sūrah 113). To the degree that the two angels (sometimes identified as Michael and Gabriel by commentators such as al-Rāzī) taught people how to read and manipulate the hidden dimensions of the cosmos, it would have been for the sake of wisdom, healing, and goodness. Being a double-edged sword, such knowledge would have been a potentially dangerous instrument for causing harm and evil; hence the angels’ warning against making a bargain for such powers. This sort of bargainer would become well known in the West in the character of Faust, namely, one who sells his soul for unworthy worldly gain (note the reference to the selling of souls at the end of this verse). Spiritually, this verse can be read as describing a turning away from the heart and spirit toward the lower aspects of the ego (Aj), away from the “Solomon of the spirit” to the satans of the soul (K).
In some currents of Islamic esoteric tradition, the sorcery or magic that is mentioned here is considered to be astrology, which in its traditional form originated in Babylon and reached the West via Alexandria and the Islamic world. It is based upon a cosmological vision of correspondences between the heavens and the earth and between the objects of this world. These correspondences—between stars, minerals, plants, animals, human faculties, relationships, and so forth—are seen as the basis for astrology, alchemy, magic, and divination.
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ă And had they believed and been reverent, a recompense from God would be better, if they but knew.
103 God’s Recompense is better than what they purchased with their souls (see v. 102).
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Ą O you who believe! Do not say, “Attend to us,” but say, “Regard us,” and listen! And the disbelievers shall have a painful punishment.
104 Attend to us renders rāʿinā (also see 4:46c). The term comes from an idiomatic usage of rāʿinā samʿak or arʿinā samʿak (meaning something like “lend me your ear”), which was considered demeaning and mocking among people of the region of Makkah and Madinah (Ṭ). Al-Ṭabarī considers this together with other commands from the Prophet to call things and people by more noble-sounding names, but he dismisses the idea that it could have been a Hebrew wordplay, since it is the believers themselves who were commanded to stop saying it, and they would not have uncritically taken up calling the Prophet with a phrase they did not understand. It can also be understood in connection with 24:63, Do not deem the Messenger’s calling among you to be like your calling to one another, which admonishes against addressing the Prophet with too much familiarity (R). Regard us can also have the meaning “wait for us,” as in 57:13, but here has the sense only of desiring the Prophet’s attention in a respectful way, followed by listen, which here is understood as also meaning “obey” (Th).
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ą Neither the disbelievers among the People of the Book nor the polytheists wish that any good be sent down to you from your Lord, but God singles out for His Mercy whomsoever He will, and God is Possessed of Tremendous Bounty.
105 His Mercy is understood to indicate the revelation and its wisdom bestowed through the prophethood of Muhammad (R, Ṭ, Th). The “singling” out thus refers to the giving of the office of prophet to Muhammad rather than to someone from another group more agreeable to the idolaters or People of the Book (see also 3:179; 16:2; 40:15).
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Ć No sign do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but that We bring that which is better than it or like unto it. Dost thou not know that God is Powerful over all things?
106 Naskh, usually translated “abrogation,” has the meaning of conveyance or copying from an original, which could extend to the notion that the entire Quran is a naskh, or “copy” in relation to its origin in the Preserved Tablet (85:22; Th), or something as simple as a written copy of a text. The more relevant sense in this context is “to erase” or “to obliterate,” often described as the action that the sun performs on a shadow, the wind upon dust, or even old age upon youth. The root n-s-kh appears four times in the Quran: in this verse; in 7:154, referring to the inscription of the tablets of Moses; in 22:52, where God effaces the work of Satan; and in 45:29, in regard to the recording of human actions.
Naskh (“abrogation”) as a technical term is a key concept in the fully developed form of Islamic jurisprudence, theology, and Quranic commentary, and is a major conceptual tool for understanding the relationship between different commands and prohibitions in the Quran and the Sunnah. It is a crucial concept for understanding how the Quran is actually used as a source of Islamic Law and practice, and thus many of the classical commentators devote considerable attention to this particular verse. Other verses often mentioned in this connection are God effaces what He will and establishes, and with Him is the Mother of the Book (13:39); And when We replace one sign with another (16:101); and And if We willed, We could take away that which We revealed unto thee (17:86).
In its mainstream interpretation, naskh refers to the replacement of one legal ruling (ḥukm) by another one that is instituted or revealed later in time, in which case the original text remains in the Quran, but is no longer binding as a matter of law or practice. As widely understood in the Islamic religious sciences, naskh can occur only in matters of commands and prohibitions, not in descriptive passages relating to metaphysics, ethics, history, the nature of God, or the Hereafter; a ruling (ḥukm) is a determination of legal status, not doctrine. Thus there can be no abrogation of a passage such as God has power over all things (2:259) or Whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve (2:62); or accounts of previous prophets found throughout the Quran. Naskh would not apply to commandments so universal as to be irrevocable, such as the prohibitions against murder, theft, and adultery and the command to be kind to one’s parents.
Other kinds of naskh have also been posited by some, such as the naskh of both text and ruling. A report attributed to the Prophet’s wife ʿĀʾishah, for example, states that there were commands in the Quran relating to suckling that are now neither acted upon nor part of the Quran (see 4:23c). Another type is naskh of the text despite a continuation of its ruling, and the example most often cited here is the punishment of adultery by stoning. In a report attributed to ʿUmar, a verse commanding stoning was part of the Quran, but now is not, even though the command of stoning for adultery remains in effect (according to many, if not most, jurists; IK, R, Ṭ). On the question of the “stoning verse,” see 24:2c.
Although it is generally agreed that one Quranic ruling may abrogate another Quranic ruling revealed earlier in time, there has been considerable difference of opinion about other kinds of naskh, for example, whether Prophetic practice (Sunnah) can abrogate the Quran or vice versa, and whether the consensus of the learned community (ijmāʿ) can abrogate a ruling from the Quran or a ḥadīth. Moreover, although there has been near universal agreement among the majority of jurists that naskh exists, there has been considerable variation on which verses of the Quran and aspects of Sunnah are abrogated. Scholars such as the famous Islamic thinker and reformer Shāh Walī Allāh of Delhi (d. 1176/1762) placed the number of abrogated verses at 5; the commentator Ibn al-Jawzī named no less than 247; many other lists exist in between, such as Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī’s list of 21 instances. A minority of scholars, such as Abū Muslim al-Iṣfahānī (d. 934/1527), have gone so far as to say that abrogation, as a technical concept defined by the mainstream legal tradition, does not actually exist and that the apparently conflicting rulings can be reconciled.
Even among the mainstream upholders of naskh, abrogation must be distinguished from (1) specification, where a verse does not contradict but provides specification regarding the general ruling of another verse; (2) the simple accumulation of law, which may or may not amount to an abrogation; and (3) the disappearance of the circumstances or causes behind the ruling, its sabab or ʿillah (“effective legal cause”). In all cases the question of naskh comes into play as a practical matter only when the verses are considered to be irreconcilable as legal rulings.
A small minority of scholars, such as Abū Muslim al-Iṣfahānī, reject altogether the mainstream definition of naskh and employ the same passages to make their case either that naskh takes place between religions (e.g., Islam in relation to Judaism and Christianity), meaning that God replaces one religion with another, or that sign (āyah) in this verse means “miracle.” In the Quran many things are called a sign: the she-camel of the Thamūd (17:59); the day and the night (17:12); the Companions of the Cave (18:9); Zachariah’s lack of speech for three days (19:10); Jesus (19:21); the white hand of Moses (20:22); Mary and Jesus (21:91); the destruction of Noah’s people (25:37); the growth of vegetation (26:8); the drowning of the Egyptians (26:67); the destruction of the people of Lot (26:174); the miracles of Moses (28:36); the creation of the heavens and the earth (29:44); the request by the disbelievers for a miracle (29:50); our creation from dust (30:20); a series of items in 30:21–25, none of which refer to the verses of the Quran, thus bearing significantly on the nature of the “abrogation” mentioned in the present verse.
Cause to be forgotten (nunsīhā) can also be understood in the sense of “abandoning,” as in 9:67, They forgot God; so He forgot them, where it means to “forsake” or “spurn,” since God could not actually fail to remember something. With different voweling (nansaʾahā), this verb can mean literally “defer/delay,” in which case the phrase would denote those signs or verses (āyāt) that were abrogated and those that were left unchanged. Ibn Kathīr and others mention a ḥadīth about two men who used to recite a sūrah that the Prophet had taught them. Then one day they tried to recite it, but they could not manage even a letter. They asked the Prophet about this inability, to which he replied, “It is one of those that has been abrogated and forgotten, so leave it.” This would support a reading of “forgetting” over “deferment.”
In trying to make sense of how one verse of the Word of God could be “better” than another, some interpret better than it as an alleviation when it comes to matters of this world and an intensification when it comes to matters of the next world (Q, Ṭ). For example, when the night prayer was no longer an imperative of the community (73:1, abrogated by 73:20), that was a change toward ease in this world, but when the fast of Ramadan was imposed (2:185, abrogating 2:184, according to this interpretation), it afforded a greater opportunity for reward in the Hereafter. Thus, for some commentators the verse must mean “No [ruling from a] sign do We abrogate . . . ,” so that it is the ruling, not the sign, that is called “better.” Al-Ṭabarī, for example, compares this implied phrase to the missing phrase “the love of” in the verse they were made to drink [the love of] the calf into their hearts (v. 93), since they did not literally drink the calf. Others mention an interpretation that better than it means “a good from it” or “a good on account of it,” since the Arabic word for better (khayr) can also mean “a good,” depending on the context (Q).
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ć Dost thou not know that unto God belongs Sovereignty over the heavens and the earth, and that you have neither protector nor helper apart from God?
107 This verse begins by addressing the Prophet and then expands to address human beings in general (Ṭ); similar shifts in addressee occur elsewhere, as in, for example, 33:1–2.
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Ĉ Or do you wish to question your messenger as Moses was questioned aforetime? Whosoever exchanges belief for disbelief has gone astray from the right way.
108 The questioning of Moses and related issues are discussed also in 4:153. The Quraysh would challenge the Prophet to bring a Book with the power to create flowing rivers or demand that he turn Ṣafā (a hill outside Makkah) into gold (Ṭ) or give them a tree upon which to hang ritual items (R). This last is compared with the Israelites’ demand to Moses: Make for us a god as they have gods (7:138).
Another pitfall related to questioning prophets is mentioned in 5:101: O you who believe! Ask not about things which, if they were disclosed to you, would trouble you. The Prophet said, “That Muslim commits the greatest crime who asks about a thing that is not forbidden, and which then becomes forbidden because of his asking.” In another ḥadīth he said, “Those who came before you were ruined only through the multiplication of their questions and their differences with their prophets. So if I bid you do a thing, do what you can of it. And if I forbid you a thing, avoid it.” Alternately, one finds praise for the Companions in the commentaries for asking the right kinds of questions, about matters such as orphans and charitable giving (e.g., 2:219–20; IK), and indeed many verses are said to have come down after questions posed by the Companions to the Prophet (e.g., 4:127; 33:35; 58:1–4).
The right way renders sawāʾ al-sabīl; sawāʾ can also mean “middle,” “level,” or “straight” (see also 3:64c for other uses of sawāʾ).
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ĉ Many of the People of the Book wish to turn you back into disbelievers after your having believed, out of envy in their souls, even after the truth has become clear to them. So pardon and forbear, until God comes with His Command. Truly God is Powerful over all things.
109 Some connect this verse with formerly Jewish Companions who, after the Battle of Uḥud, were taunted by their former coreligionists about their condition, which turned them away from Islam and back to Judaism (IK, R, Ṭ). Cf. 3:186: You will surely be tried in your wealth and your souls, and you shall hear much hurt from those who were given the Book before you, and from those who are idolaters. But if you are patient and reverent, then that is indeed a course worthy of resolve.
On the question of envy, in a ḥadīth the Prophet said, “Let there be no envy except in two things: a man who has been given wealth by God and then spends it in the way of God, and a man who has been given knowledge by God and acts in accord with it and imparts it to people.” The notion of envy after exposure to the truth is discussed in 3:19; envy is also mentioned in 2:213; 4:54; 10:90; 42:14; 45:17. The great sin of Satan is often understood to be envy, as shown in 38:76, where Iblīs says of Adam, I am better than him. Some understand the truth that was clear to them to be the fact that Muhammad was a true prophet (IK, Ṭ), although in 3:19 the truth that causes dissension among the People of the Book is understood as revelation considered more broadly.
In legal terms, it is thought that this verse’s command to pardon and forbear was abrogated by 9:29, which addresses the question of jizyah, or “indemnity” paid by the People of the Book: Fight those who believe not in God and in the Last Day, and who do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, and who follow not the Religion of Truth among those who were given the Book, till they pay the jizyah with a willing hand, being humbled (IK, R, Th). However, as al-Rāzī argues, if this verse is interpreted as a command to perform a certain kind of virtuous behavior, then it is not subject to abrogation, as it is not a legal ruling (ḥukm).
Some argue that the first verse to permit fighting (and by implication to abrogate 2:109) was 22:39: Permission is granted to those who are fought, because they have been wronged. Others believe 9:5 first allowed fighting. The range of opinion on abrogation is perhaps no more relevant than in the matter of war. An expansive view of legal abrogation allows for the many verses dealing with peace and forbearance to be “abrogated” by those authorizing fighting, which leads to dozens of verses being summarily abrogated. However, as al-Rāzī points out, at least in this particular case, the question of abrogation need not arise; this verse commanding forbearance and tolerance does not contradict the kind of just-war commands related to fighting elsewhere, since even in fighting Muslims are commanded to practice similar virtues, as vv. 190–94 demonstrate. For a fuller discussion of such matters, see commentary on 9:1–5; and the essays “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions” and “Conquest and Conversion, War and Peace in the Quran.”
Until God comes with His Command could also be rendered “until God brings His Command.” The Command could indicate the military defeat of either the Quraysh or those Jews who opposed the Prophet or refer to the legal status afforded the People of the Book in 9:29, mentioned above (Q, IK, Ṭ).
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Đ And perform the prayer and give the alms. Whatever good you send forth for your souls, you will find it with God. Truly God sees whatsoever you do.
110 Here and in 73:20, which is similarly phrased, the good that the believers perform and find with God is connected with prayer and charity. It is understood to mean that the fruits of one’s actions are reaped on the Day of Judgment, a promise in the form of a description (IK). One Companion said that when he heard the Prophet recite this verse, after it the Prophet would say, “He sees all things.” (It is said that the Prophet would often pause in the midst of his recitation in order to pray or supplicate in accord with the content of a verse, for example, glorifying God in a verse about glorification or actually prostrating in a verse mentioning prostration, which is discussed in 96:19c.)
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đ And they said, “None will enter the Garden unless he be a Jew or a Christian.” Those are their hopes. Say, “Bring your proof, if you are truthful.”
111 The theme of God restricting His Favor to one group is repeated in v. 113, where Jews and Christians each believe that the other does not stand on firm ground; v. 135, where right guidance means following only their own religions; 5:18, where the Jews and Christians call themselves the beloved children of God; and 62:6, where Jews claim to be God’s friends apart from all others. See also 4:123–24c. The proof (burhān) is a “demonstration” or “evidence” (IK) and is used similarly in 21:24; 23:117; 27:64; 28:75.
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Ē Nay, whosoever submits his face to God, while being virtuous, shall have his reward with his Lord. No fear shall come upon them; nor shall they grieve.
112 For submits his face, see also 4:125; 31:22. Here “to submit” means to be sincere, and the metaphor is powerful because the face is the noblest part of one’s body (Ṭ), and in a sense the most profound action in the prayer is the prostration, where one’s face (the forehead and the nose) touches the ground (R). See also 3:20 and commentary. Although some commentators, such as al-Ṭabarī, understand this to mean submitting one’s body and actions, which is how they understand the use of “face,” others, such as Ibn Kathīr, add to this and say that the twin conditions of one’s actions being acceptable to God are sincerity and conformity to the Sharīʿah (Islamic Law). This latter view would exclude hypocrites because of their lack of sincerity, but would also rule out Christian monks for their lack of conformity to the Sharīʿah. Al-Rāzī, in the same way, leaves out Hindus, who, whatever their intentions, display in his view “repugnant” actions. The condition of physical conformity allows the exclusion of other religions, although the plain sense of the passage and those like it does not necessitate such exclusion as asserted by other authorities.
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ē The Jews say, “The Christians stand on nothing,” and the Christians say, “The Jews stand on nothing,” though they recite the Book. Likewise did those who know not speak words like theirs. God will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that wherein they differed.
113 This verse may have been revealed after a group of Jews argued with the Christian delegation from Najrān (see the introduction to Sūrah 3; IK, Ṭ), though other commentators think that it can apply to Jews and Christians generally and does not require them to be present before each other or even to be contemporaries of the Prophet. Stand on nothing could also be rendered “follow nothing,” and in this sense some commentators suggest that in the beginning of their respective religious histories the Jews and Christians did indeed “follow something” true, but then differed and altered their religion (Ṭ). But, as others point out, this would negate the obvious intent of censure in the verse, which indicates that the Jews and Christians are wrong to make this accusation against each other (IK). They make these claims even though they recite the Book, which means that in what they espouse they should affirm rather than deny the truths in the other religion; in the case of the Jews, the Torah speaks to the truth of Jesus, and in the case of the Christians, the Gospel affirms Moses and the Torah (Ṭ). The people who spoke words like theirs are understood to be peoples before the Jews and Christians (IK) or possibly the idolaters who opposed Islam (R). The commentator al-Kāshānī notes that the Christians are veiled from the outward by their attachment to the inward, while the Jews are veiled from the inward by their attachment to the outward, and that similar problems beset certain schools of thought in Islam (K).
The suspension of a final verdict regarding religious differences is a consistent theme in the Quran. God’s Judgment or disclosure of the truth in matters of religious disagreement on the Day of Judgment is also mentioned in 3:55; 5:48; 6:164; 10:93; 16:92; 16:124; 22:69; 32:25; 39:3, 46. The Quran states that at one time mankind was but one community (10:19), and that even if all were made one community again, they did not cease to differ (11:118). In other instances, the prophets are given the mission of making clear these differences (16:64, in the case of Muhammad; 43:63, in the case of Jesus).
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Ĕ And who does greater wrong than one who bars [entrance to] the mosques of God, lest His Name be remembered therein, and strives for their ruin? They are those who should not enter them, save in fear. Theirs is disgrace in this world, and theirs is a great punishment in the Hereafter.
114 Mosques translates masājid (sing. masjid), which is derived from the verb “to prostrate” (sajada). Many commentators attempt to specify the mosques mentioned here. Some point to the Temple in Jerusalem (the Farthest Mosque mentioned in 17:1) and the Kaʿbah in Makkah, since they are named “mosque” (masjid) in the Quran. They also give differing accounts of the destruction of the Temple, which according to some took place with the connivance of Christians. Some say this verse refers to when at Ḥudaybiyah the Makkans stopped the Prophet from entering Makkah to pray at the Kaʿbah in 6/628 and the Muslim pilgrims agreed to go back to Madinah and return the following year (see the introduction to Sūrah 48). For al-Ṭabarī, since even the idolaters never tried to destroy the Kaʿbah, it must refer to the Temple. Others see it more generally, saying that it applies to anyone who prevents people from entering any house of worship (Q). A broader interpretation of ruin (kharāb) holds that in filling the Kaʿbah with idols and the practice of idolatry, the idolaters were seeking its ruin, because it was no longer a mosque of the One God but a temple of idols (IK, Q, R). Some also mention that Abū Bakr had a small mosque in Makkah before the Muslims migrated to Madinah, a mosque the Makkans later destroyed (R).
Some try to identify specific ways in which disgrace or fear is evidenced by Christians, such as the payment of the jizyah, or “indemnity” (see 9:29c; Ṭ). But others point out that the notion of disgrace can be quite broad, and that the Prophet would often pray that disgrace not be visited upon him and his community in this world (IK). Some Sufis discern another level of meaning, saying that the heart is the “house” of love and knowledge of God (the Kaʿbah is the House of God), and one does wrong in destroying it through false desires (Aj, Qu). See also 9:17: It is not for the idolaters to maintain the mosques of God, bearing witness of disbelief against themselves.
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ĕ To God belong the East and the West. Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of God. God is All-Encompassing, Knowing.
115 God is elsewhere called the Lord of the East and the West (73:9); Lord of the two easts and Lord of the two wests (55:17); and Lord of the easts and the wests (70:40). The famous Light Verse (24:35) speaks of a blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West. See also 2:142c. Regarding the remainder of the verse, the commentators converge on two main points: the practical question of the qiblah (the direction of the canonical prayer) and the doctrinal matter of understanding what it means that there is the Face of God wherever one turns.
Most commentators connect this verse to the change in the qiblah, which was at first oriented toward Jerusalem, but which, after the revelation of 2:144, became oriented toward the Kaʿbah in Makkah. Indeed, as a practical matter some thought that this verse gave permission to pray in any direction, but that this was abrogated by 2:144. For some, the present verse was revealed to the Prophet as a reassurance for some Muslims who told him that the previous night they could not discern the proper direction of prayer and later realized they had prayed facing in the wrong direction (IK, Q). Others connect it to the permission to pray in the direction one is facing while mounted (Āl); this permission pertains to nonrequired prayers.
Still others prefer to link it to the death of the Negus, the king of Abyssinia who had sheltered many Muslims as refugees during the worst days of the persecution in Makkah. The Prophet said, “Your brother the Negus has died; so pray for him.” When those present objected that he was not a Muslim, it is said that 3:199 was revealed: And truly among the People of the Book are those who believe in God and that which has been sent down unto you, and that which has been sent down unto them. Then when they objected that the Negus did not face the qiblah, this verse was revealed (IK, R). In another account—regarding 40:60, Call upon Me, and I shall respond to you—some asked the Prophet, “In which direction?” at which this verse as revealed. In verses such as these where several occasions of revelation are given, commentators often adopt a neutral attitude and acknowledge that the occasion is not decisive in light of the doctrinal content, which in this verse is profound and universal.
There is the Face of God is understood by some to simply mean, “There is God,” “There is the qiblah of God” (Ṭ), or “There is God’s Contentment” (R). In connection with this verse many mention 28:88: All things perish, save His Face; 55:26–7: All upon it passes away. And there remains the Face of thy Lord, Possessed of Majesty and Bounty; 57:4: He is with you wheresoever you are; and 58:7: He is with them wheresoever they are. Some argue that the very fact that it says wheresoever is the strongest proof against anthropomorphizing God, since any body could be in only one place and not more than one place simultaneously (R).
All-Encompassing (wāsiʿ) can also mean “unstinting” or “generous” (Q). Related passages include 53:32: Truly your Lord is of vast forgiveness; and 7:156: My Mercy encompasses all things. Al-Rāzī mentions that, in connection with the ruin of mosques mentioned in the previous verse, one can understand this phrase to mean that, despite destruction of mosques, God’s remembrance cannot be hindered since He is wherever one turns.
This verse can also be taken as an allusion to the Omnipresence of God, who is the First, and the Last, and the Outward, and the Inward (57:3), manifest in all things, though naught is like unto Him (42:11). This verse is understood to mean that God is present everywhere and is one of the scriptural foundations for the Sufi doctrine of the “oneness of being,” or waḥdat al-wujūd.
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