002-AL-BAQARAH

THE COW

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, # and who believe in what was sent down unto thee, and what was sent down before thee, and who are certain of the Hereafter. # It is they who act upon guidance from their Lord, and it is they who shall prosper. # Truly it is the same for the disbelievers whether thou warnest them or warnest them not; they do not believe. # 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. # In their hearts is a disease, and God has increased them in disease. Theirs is a painful punishment for having lied. # And when it is said unto them, “Do not work corruption upon the earth, ” they say, “We are only working righteousness.” # Nay, it is they who are the workers of corruption, though they are unaware. # 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. # 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.” # God mocks them, and leaves them to wander confused in their rebellion. # 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. # 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. # Deaf, dumb, and blind, they return not. # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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.” # They said, “Glory be to Thee! We have no knowledge save what Thou hast taught us. Truly Thou art the Knower, the Wise.” # 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?” # And when We said to the angels, “Prostrate unto Adam, ” they prostrated, save Iblīs. He refused and waxed arrogant, and was among the disbelievers. # 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.” # 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. # 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.” # 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. # 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. # And confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth. # And perform the prayer, and give the alms, and bow with those who bow. # Will you enjoin piety upon mankind, and forget yourselves, while you recite the Book? Do you not understand? # Seek help in patience and prayer, and this indeed is difficult except for the humble, # who reckon that they shall meet their Lord and that they shall return unto Him. # O Children of Israel! Remember My Blessing which I bestowed upon you, and that I favored you above the worlds. # 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. # 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. # And when We parted the sea for you and so delivered you, and drowned the House of Pharaoh as you looked on. # And when We appointed forty nights for Moses, and you took up the calf while he was away, while you were wrongdoers. # Then We pardoned you after that, that haply you may give thanks. # And when We gave unto Moses the Book and the Criterion, that haply you may be guided. # 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. # 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. # Then We raised you up after your death, that haply you may give thanks. # 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. # 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.” # 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.” # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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. # 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.” # So We made it an exemplary punishment for their time and for times to come, and an admonition for the reverent. # 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.” # 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.” # 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.” # 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.” # 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. # 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— # 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. # 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. # 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? # 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?” # Do they not know that God knows what they hide and what they disclose? # And among them are the illiterate who know nothing of the Book but hearsay, and they only conjecture. # 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. # 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?” # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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? # And they say, “Our hearts are uncircumcised.” Rather, God has cursed them for their disbelief, for little do they believe. # 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. # 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. # 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?” # And indeed Moses brought you clear proofs, but then you took up the calf while he was away, and you were wrongdoers. # 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.” # 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.” # But they will never long for it, because of what their hands have sent forth, and God knows the wrongdoers. # 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. # 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. # Whosoever is an enemy of God, His angels and His messengers, and Gabriel and Michael: God is indeed the enemy of the disbelievers. # We did indeed send down to you clear signs, and only the iniquitous disbelieve in them. # Is it not so that, whenever they make a covenant, a group of them cast it aside? Indeed, most of them do not believe. # 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. # 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. # And had they believed and been reverent, a recompense from God would be better, if they but knew. # O you who believe! Do not say, “Attend to us, ” but say, “Regard us, ” and listen! And the disbelievers shall have a painful punishment. # 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. # 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? # 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? # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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. # 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. # 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. # To God belong the East and the West. Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of God. God is All Encompassing, Knowing. # 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, # the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a thing, He only says to it, “Be!” and it is. # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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. # O Children of Israel! Remember My Blessing which I bestowed upon you, and that I favored you above the worlds. # 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. # 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.” # 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.” # 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!” # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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. # And when his Lord said unto him, “Submit!” he said, “I submit to the Lord of the worlds.” # 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.” # 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.” # 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. # 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.” # 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.” # 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. # “The baptism of God, and who is better than God in baptism? And we are worshippers of Him.” # 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.” # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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. # 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. # 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. # Those unto whom We have given the Book recognize it as they recognize their children, but a group of them knowingly conceal the truth. # The truth is from thy Lord; so be thou not among the doubters. # 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. # 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. # 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, # 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. # So remember Me, and I shall remember you. Give thanks unto Me, and disbelieve not in Me. # O you who believe! Seek help in patience and prayer. Truly God is with the patient. # And say not of those who are slain in the way of God, “They are dead.” Nay, they are alive, but you are unaware. # 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— # those who, when affliction befalls them, say, “Truly we are God’s, and unto Him we return.” # They are those upon whom come the blessings from their Lord, and compassion, and they are those who are rightly guided. # 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. # 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, # save such as repent, and make amends, and make clear. They are those unto whom I relent. And I am the Relenting, the Merciful. # Indeed, those who disbelieve, and die disbelievers, upon them shall be the curse of God, the angels, and mankind all together. # Therein they shall abide: the punishment shall not be lightened for them, nor shall they be granted respite. # Your God is one God, there is no god but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful. # 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. # 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, # when those who were followed disavow those who followed, and they see the punishment, while all recourse will be cut off from them. # 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. # 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. # He only commands you to evil and indecency, and to say of God what you know not. # 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? # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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! # That is because God sent down the Book in truth. Truly those who differ concerning the Book are in extreme schism. # 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. # 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. # In retribution there is life for you, O possessors of intellect, that haply you may be reverent. # 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. # Then if anyone alters it after hearing it, its sin shall indeed be upon those who alter it. Truly God is Hearing, Knowing. # 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. # O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that haply you may be reverent, # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # And fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but do not transgress. Truly God loves not the transgressors. # 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. # But if they desist, then truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # Then surge onward whence the people surge onward, and ask God for forgiveness. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. # 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. # 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!” # It is they who have a portion from what they have earned, and God is swift in reckoning. # 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. # 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. # 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. # And when it is said to him, “Reverence God, ” vainglory seizes him sinfully. Hell suffices him, what an evil resting place! # And among mankind is one who sells his soul seeking God’s Good Pleasure, and God is Kind unto His servants. # O you who believe! Enter into peace all together, and follow not the footsteps of Satan. Truly he is a manifest enemy unto you. # And should you stumble after the clear proofs have come to you, then know that God is Mighty, Wise. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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 # 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.” # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # Those who forswear their wives shall wait four months. And if they return, God is Forgiving, Merciful. # But if they resolve on divorce, truly God is Hearing, Knowing. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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 wetnursed, 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # Be mindful of your prayers, and the middlemost prayer, and stand before God in devout obedience. # 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. # 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. # And for divorced women an honorable provision—an obligation upon the reverent. # Thus does God make clear unto you His signs, that haply you may understand. # 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. # So fight in the way of God, and know that God is Hearing, Knowing. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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.” # 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.” # 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. # These are God’s signs which We recite unto thee in truth, and truly thou art among the messengers. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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.” # 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. # 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. # An honorable word and forgiveness are better than an act of charity followed by injury. And God is Self-Sufficient, Clement. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # And whatever sum you spend, or vow you vow, truly God knows it. And the wrongdoers shall have no helpers. # 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. # 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. # [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. # 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. # 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. # God blights usury and causes acts of charity to grow. And God loves not any sinful ingrate. # 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. # O you who believe! Reverence God, and leave what remains of usury, if you are believers. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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. # 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.” # 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 wq-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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# 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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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 (Allāh u akbar) and the shahādah, “Come to ṣalāh (prayer u ), come to falāḥ (prosperity or salvation).” 

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# 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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# 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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# 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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# And when it is said unto them, “Do not work corruption upon the earth, ” they say, “We are only working righteousness.” 

# 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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# 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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# 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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# 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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# 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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# 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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# Deaf, dumb, and blind, they return not. 

18 When recited aloud in Arabic, deaf, dumb, and blind (ṣummun bukmun ʿumy un ) 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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# 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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# 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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# 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.

***

# 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.

***

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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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.

***

# 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 suf er 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 (aljannah), “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. 

***

# 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.

***

#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. 

***

# 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.” # 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). 

***

# 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.

***

# 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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 dif icult (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. 

***

# 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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# 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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# 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 statusdriven 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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# 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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 (jahrat an ), which is also used with reference to speech (e.g., 21:110), means to see with one’s eyes, or simply “publicly.” 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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 alZamakhsharī 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 (sujjad an ) 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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 miṣr an and not miṣr a ) 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). 

***

# 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 hād a /yahūd u , 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). *** 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). 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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.” 

# 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.” 

# 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.” 

# 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.” 

# 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. 

***

# 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— 

# 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. 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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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# 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). 

***

# 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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# 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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# 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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# 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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# 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). *** 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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# 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. 

# 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. 

***

# 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.” 

***

# 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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# 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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# 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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# 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. 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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.” 

# 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). 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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.” 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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).

***

# 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. 

***

# 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 alRāzī, 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 doubleedged 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. 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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). 

***

# 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 ef aces 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 ef aces 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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# 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. *** 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). 

***

# 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 justwar 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). 

***

# 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.) 

***

# 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. 

***

# 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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# 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 dif er (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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# 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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# 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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# 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, 

116 Commentators do not restrict this verse to Christian theology; it can also refer to the Arab pagan belief that the angels were the daughters of God (16:57; 37:149; 43:16; 52:39); similar disavowals of Divine sonship in connection with Jesus are found in 5:17, 72; 9:30; 19:35. The Islamic arguments against God’s having a child stem directly from the fundamental Islamic conception of Divine Oneness, Transcendence, Absoluteness, and Uniqueness (tawḥīd) and are based on the principle that God is unlike anything in creation, God is beyond need of all things, and His Perfection can never be implicated in the limitations inherent in “having a son.” Since Islam emphasizes God as the Absolute, it denies all possibility of relativizing Him through a relationship such as fatherhood. Although a theologian such as al-Rāzī accepts a purely metaphorical understanding of God as “father”—in the sense that a father is prior, is responsible for or is the human cause of a person’s being—he would utterly reject that this in any way reflects the actual filial relationship between God and any being. His arguments are representative of much mainstream thought on the question: (1) those beings who are called God’s offspring are contingent beings, hence are created, and offsprings are begotten; (2) the offspring is either eternal or not; in the first case there is nothing to make one father and the other son, and in the second case the offspring would be a created being who is begotten; (3) the offspring is of the same species as the progenitor, being similar in some ways, but different in others; this would require that each be made up of parts, which cannot be said of God; (4) one has offspring as a result of certain needs such as happiness, care in one’s old age, pride, and so on, none of which are attributable to God. The term most often translated glory be to (subḥāna) also carries the sense of “disassociation,” so that Glory be to Him! can also mean “God is far beyond such a thing!” which is a sense brought out often in connection with this verse (Q, Ṭ). For the general meaning of glorifying God, see 57:1c. Devoutly obedient renders qānit, whose range of meaning includes compliance, humility, standing, and silence, all of which are emphasized by the commentators on this verse (Q, R, Ṭ). Since the opposite qualities are all attributes of human beings in this world, some say that this refers to their state on the Day of Resurrection, when everyone will be forced to obey, stand, and be silent before God (Q). Others understand the message of All are devoutly obedient to Him to be similar to that of 13:15: And unto God prostrates whosoever is in the heavens and on the earth, willingly or unwillingly (IK). The context also suggests that the phrase be understood as “All [of them] are devoutly obedient to Him,” referring to Jesus, Ezra, and the angels who, far from being connected with this incorrect belief, are themselves sincere in their worship of God: The Messiah would never disdain to be a servant of God; nor would the angels brought nigh (4:172). On “devout obedience,” also see 3:17c; 4:34c. 

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# the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a thing, He only says to it, “Be!” and it is. 

117 Decrees translates qaḍā, which can also mean “to accomplish,” “to complete,” or “to judge.” The creative command Be! is also found in 6:73; 16:40; 36:82; 40:68. In each case, all that is necessary to bring a thing into being is for God to say Be! In connection with the previous verse, similar language can also be found with regard to Jesus’ creation in 3:59: Truly the likeness of Jesus in the Sight of God is that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, “Be!” and he was; and 19:35: It is not for God to beget a child. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing, He only says to it, “Be!” and it is. For some commentators such as al-Rāzī, the command Be! is meant to convey the ease and power by which God creates, requiring no preparation, practice, or effort. This view rejects the idea of a sequence of (1) a thing’s nonexistence, (2) God’s saying Be! and (3) its existence, since one cannot address nothing, and if something exists, it does not need the Be! in order to exist. Others say Be! neither precedes nor follows the creation of a thing, but is coterminous with it (Q). This verse is also understood as confirming that God knows things prior to their creation, and hence before their existence (Q). This latter idea is expanded upon by Ibn ʿArabī and many members of his school, who explain that God says Be! to the forms (or “immutable essences,” alaʿyān al-thābitah) in His Knowledge, meaning His Knowledge of His own Qualities and Attributes. That is to say, God knows what He will create and brings His Will and Power to bear upon that object of knowledge in order to create it by saying Be! Being within God’s Knowledge, it is not nothing, but neither is it yet created, nor does it possess existence. Ultimately, these views converge on the unity of God’s Knowledge, Will, and Power as His inseparable Attributes and on God’s complete self-sufficiency in relation to what He creates. Be! (kun) also corresponds to the Biblical fiat lux (“Let there be light,” Genesis 1:3) and serves to emphasize the fact that the existence of everything comes from God and His Will and that human beings do not have the power to bring anything into being out of nothing. 

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# 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. 

118 Those who do not know are identified by some as the Christians and by others as the pagan Arabs; those who came before are alternately the Jews, the Christians, or the Arabs, all three together, or anyone for whom that description is true (Ṭ). Rather than a sincere question, some interpret Why does God not speak to us, nor a sign come to us? as a taunt (Ṭ). A similar stream of requests or taunts is described in 17:90–95. The issue of such incredulous requests is discussed at length in 4:153c. 

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# 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. 

119 Bearer of glad tidings (bashīr) and warner (nadhīr) are complementary epithets used to describe the function of the Prophet (e.g., 6:48; 17:105; 34:28) and other prophets throughout the Quran. For a fuller discussion, see 4:165c. Thou wilt not be questioned about can also carry the sense of “Thou art not answerable/responsible for.” An alternate reading would make the verb an imperative, “And ask not about,” or nominative, “And thou askest not about,” although the first reading is preferred by most and is in keeping with many other instances where the Prophet is absolved of responsibility for the error of others, such as 2:272: Thou art not tasked with their guidance; 35:8: Let not thy soul be expended in regrets over them; and 88:22: Thou are not a warder over them. 

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# 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.” 

120 For some commentators this verse is a confirmation that the question in v. 118 is not sincere, but a taunt (Q). Creed renders millah, a word that also can mean “community,” but that can furthermore be used to refer to the religious law (sharīʿah) or “way” that defines a particular religious community (Q) and is used this way elsewhere (2:130, 135; 3:95; 4:125; 6:161; 7:88; 12:37; 14:13; 16:123; 18:20; 22:78; 38:7). See v. 145 for a similar message about the following of others’ caprices, meaning their egocentric whims rather than the truth. Some commentators report that when the qiblah was changed to the Kaʿbah away from Jerusalem, this created resentment among the Jews and Christians, who wanted to use a truce as a delaying tactic while trying to turn the Prophet away from the new religion (Th). 

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# 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. 

121 The recipients of the Book refers to either the Muslim believers or the learned among the Jews (Ṭ). The verb recite (talā) can also mean “to follow,” so that who recite it as it should be recited can also mean, “who follow it as it should be followed,” an interpretation preferred by many exegetes. To recite properly means, for example, do so with humility (R). According to some, to “follow it” properly means to abstain from what the Torah forbids and to partake of what it allows (Ṭ). The theme of God commanding the People of the Book, through the Quran, to uphold the Torah and the Gospel is also addressed in 5:47, 66–68. For some, to follow the Torah is to follow ultimately the Prophet Muhammad, since the Torah is said to demand that (see 7:157), and similarly to reject the Prophet is to reject the Torah (Ṭ). 

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# O Children of Israel! Remember My Blessing which I bestowed upon you, and that I favored you above the worlds. 

# 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. 

122–23 See commentary on 2:47–48. 

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# 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.” 

124 Abraham was tried or “tested,” but no specifics about this test are given in this particular passage. The commentators have differed widely over the question. Some believe these words were commands given to Abraham to institute various kinds of bodily cleanliness, grooming, and ritual purification (IK, R, Ṭ). Others believe they were the rituals and prayers he was to perform, specifically the central rites of the ḥajj, which Muslims consider to have originated with Abraham, including the circumambulation of the Kaʿbah, the running between Ṣafā and Marwah, and the pelting of the pillar representing Satan. Others see them as trials of suffering, such as circumcision, the sacrifice of his son (37:102), and the fire into which he was cast by his people, but which God made to be cool (21:68–69; Ṭ). Although Abraham is praised throughout the Quran, in this verse the commentators highlight his obedience and fulfillment of what was asked of him, mentioning it along with 53:37: And Abraham, who fulfilled. Some mention that this refers to his embodiment of the virtuous human qualities listed in the Quran in verses such as 9:112 and 33:35. Some also say that the word Abraham fulfilled was his selection as an imām. Imām means most generally “leader,” including a religious or political leader or the person who leads the canonical prayer. In Shiism it also has the particular meaning of one in whom the Muhammadan Light is present and who is designated the spiritual leader of the community by Divine Decree (naṣṣ). The response to Abraham’s prayer means that a wrongdoer or tyrant would not deserve a covenant with God and could not rightly be an imām; or it means that such a person could be an imām, but an imām who does wrong would not receive the promise of the Hereafter; or it can simply be read as meaning that not all of Abraham’s descendants would be virtuous, as in 37:113: And We blessed him and Isaac. And among their progeny are the virtuous and those who clearly wrong themselves (Ṭ). In Shiism, the fifth and sixth Imams have cited this verse to indicate that God does not set up or allow an unjust “imam” (Ṭū). Elements similar to those in this verse are found in 25:74: Our Lord! Grant us comfort in our spouses and our progeny, and make us imāms for the reverent. 

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# 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.” 

125 This verse refers to the Kaʿbah, also called the House of God or the Sacred Mosque, which was built by Abraham and Ishmael (see v. 127). In preIslamic times, the Kaʿbah and the precinct surrounding it was a sanctuary, in that a murderer, for example, would be safe within it (Ṭ), which would have been seen as a continuation in some sense of its original status as established by Abraham. Some read the verb take to mean “they took,” referring to past people who took the station as a place of prayer (R, Ṭ). The station of Abraham is a place in the close vicinity of the Kaʿbah marked by a stone that is said to have borne the footprint of Abraham. However, some consider the station of Abraham to refer to the ḥajj rites as a whole. Others consider it to be another location important in the ḥajj, ʿArafah, Minā, or Muzdalifah (Ṭ). Circumambulation is the practice of walking around the Kaʿbah and is one of the major ritual actions of the ḥajj, while bowing and prostration are movements in the canonical prayer. According to a ḥadīth the Prophet took ʿUmar by the hand and said, “This is the station of Abraham,” upon which ʿUmar said, “Shall we take it as a place of prayer?” The Prophet said he was not commanded to do so, and some commentators say that before sunset of that day this verse was revealed. Abraham was to purify it, that is, cleanse it from idolatry and doubt (Ṭ), which in Abraham’s case would mean to maintain it in that state, a state to which the Prophet Muhammad would return it later. Those who make retreat means those who stay there without moving away; it derives from the root ʿ-k-f, which depending on context can mean “devoted to” or “resident in.” The supererogatory Islamic practice of iʿtikāf (from the same root), which consists of spending a period of time, usually a number of days, within the mosque in prayer and remembrance, is based upon the Prophet’s practice of doing so during the last ten days of Ramadan. The practice of seclusion (khalwah), or “spiritual retreat,” in Sufism is also based ultimately upon iʿtikāf. 

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# 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!” 

126 On the day Makkah was conquered, the Prophet said, “This land was made inviolable by God on the day the heavens and the earth were created. It is inviolable by God’s Inviolability until the Day of Resurrection. Killing was not permitted to anyone therein before me, and to none after me.” The word secure (āmin) is related by root to the word sanctuary (amn) in v. 125. Abraham’s prayer for the land of Makkah is also mentioned in 14:37, where he asks God to provide them with fruits in a valley without cultivation. It is reported that the Arabs would visit the Kaʿbah “for no worldly need” (Ṭ), meaning presumably for only spiritual reasons. *** 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. 127 Some commentators relate this verse to 22:26, where God assigns or designates the place of the House. In 3:96 the Quran states, Truly the first house established for mankind was that at Bakkah, an alternate pronunciation of Makkah also referenced in the Bible (Psalm 84:6). Some traditional lore attached to this verse includes accounts of a much more ancient origin for the Kaʿbah going back to Adam. In various accounts, Adam, having ceased to hear the voices of the angels due to his sins, prays to God, who informs him that He will send down a House around which people will circumambulate, just as the angels go round the Divine Throne. The House is raised up from the earth and then disappears with the flood until Abraham comes and, with his son Ishmael, brings out the foundations once again, rather than building them from nothing. Al-Ṭabarī, for his part, recounts these stories, but states that they are not reliable as actual history, although many other commentators consider them to be true. 

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# 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. 

128 Submit and submitting render muslim, the participle of a transitive verb (lit. “submitter to God” in this context), which is tied to the submission (islām) mentioned in v. 132, both of which are among those verses that testify to the universal meaning of islām, which existed before the revelation of the Quran. The rites (manāsik) are often taken to be the rituals of the ḥajj (rites also mentioned in connection with the ḥajj in v. 200), or sacrifice, or simply worship in general (Ṭ); this general meaning is found in passages such as For every community We have appointed a rite (22:34, 67), referring to their respective rituals and practices. To relent, here as elsewhere, suggests the reciprocity in the act of tawbah (see the essay “Obstacles Faced in the Translation of the Quran”), in which God “turns” toward human beings in compassion, while they “turn” to Him in repentance (see also 2:37c). Some commentators explain that the prayer for their progeny, rather than for all beings, reflects a general principle that one’s kin have first right to one’s kindness and concern, as in 66:6: O you who believe! Shield yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is mankind and stones (R). It is connected with the prayer for a messenger to be sent in v. 129 (Ṭ). 

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# 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.” 

129 The response to this prayer for a messenger is realized in v. 151, where the Prophet is described in terms identical to those in this verse. The Book is most often taken to be the Quran, while the Wisdom is understood to be the Sunnah (the exemplary sayings and doings of the Prophet) or more generally knowledge and understanding of the religion (Ṭ), although the pairing of the Book and Wisdom has more universal import in the Quran and is also used in connection with Jesus (3:48; 5:110), the Children of Israel (45:16), and the House of Abraham (4:54). 

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# 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. 

130 Regarding creed, see 2:120c. As seen in v. 135, Abraham’s creed is often associated with the notion of ḥanīf (see 2:135c). We chose him means that in the world he was given special favor in addition to his rank in the Hereafter. Other figures, such as Mary (3:42), Moses (7:144), Adam (20:122), the Prophet Muhammad (35:32), and other prophets (6:87), are also said to be “chosen.” Many commentators understand Jews and Christians to be the ones who shun the creed of Abraham (Ṭ). For some commentators this verse demonstrates the continuity between the Law of Abraham and the Law of Muhammad; the latter would in principle retain the former except in instances where the latter abrogates the former (Q). This can be seen concretely in the explicit connection of the Islamic rites of the ḥajj with Abraham and the opinion that many of the Sunnah practices relating to bodily cleanliness are thought to go back to Abraham (see 2:124c). 

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# And when his Lord said unto him, “Submit!” he said, “I submit to the Lord of the worlds.” 

# 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.” 

131–32 The message of submission (islām) from v. 128 continues through to Jacob and his children. This submission to God, while being the proper name of the religion of Muhammad (al-islām), is generalized in the Quran to imply the primordial religion and true religion as such and also to refer to a fundamental attitude and orientation of the soul toward God that is universal and part of the bequest that prophets make to their progeny. Regarding submission, also see 3:19c; 3:85c; 5:3c; 6:125c as well as the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions.” 

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# 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.” 

133 This verse is part of the general Quranic argument that the patriarchs named here cannot be claimed by the People of the Book in an exclusive and narrow way; rather, the Quran asserts that they were followers of the pure religion of Abraham (Ṭ), identified with primordial monotheism and therefore also belonging to Islam. The story of Jacob (Abraham’s grandson through Isaac) and his children is more fully discussed in Sūrah 12, which tells the story of his son Joseph. Jacob is often mentioned in other lists of prophets (e.g., 2:136; 4:163; 12:38). In this verse the God translates ilāh, which is the general noun for “god,” not the proper name Allāh. 

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# 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. 

134 This statement is repeated in v. 141. The verb “to earn” (kasaba) also has the meaning “to commit” or “to perpetrate” depending on context. That they will not be questioned is understood as meaning that they are “not responsible” in that they bear no responsibility for the actions of these earlier people (Q). 

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# 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.” 

135 This claim to guidance does not mean that the People of the Book were proposing a choice; rather, each group was making this claim on behalf of its own religion (R). Here the creed of Abraham is identified with Islam itself as well as with the term ḥanīf. In the Quran ḥanīf often describes Abraham (4:125; 6:161; 16:120, 123), and even though it is not specifically linked with any other prophet, its usage is not restricted to him (e.g., 22:31; 98:5). It is associated with being virtuous and submissive before God (4:125), straight (6:161), upright (30:30), and devoutly obedient (16:120); it is a quality that corresponds to the unspoiled primordial nature (fiṭrah) of human beings given to them by God (see 30:30c). In almost all verses, ḥanīf also describes one who is not an idolater, an unbeliever, or a follower of Judaism or Christianity (as in the present verse); the latter two are seen as particularizations of the universal primordial religion (al-dīn alḥanīf), which Islam reestablishes. Ḥanīf and its plural, ḥunafāʾ, are used in the Quran only in the indefinite accusative, meaning that they appear when someone is or does something “in the state of being ḥanīf.” It is understood to denote a state of pure tawḥīḍ, or monotheistic belief unencumbered by constraints, distortions, and idolatry, and combined with a life of virtue. Even among the non-Muslim Arabs of the Prophet’s time, some of whom were ḥanīfs, the quality of ḥanīf was associated with Abraham and the renunciation of idolatry and demanded the leading of a moral life. It was not a label for Jews or Christians and did not denote an organized or distinct group. Etymologically ḥanīf is somewhat enigmatic and has led some to debate its real meaning and origins. It can mean “lame” or “crooked” and also “inclining toward.” Its likely cognates in other Semitic languages give the sense of “hypocrite,” “vile,” and “unclean,” among other infelicitous meanings such as “pagan” or “heathen” in the sense of non-Jew or non-Christian. It has been used by Christians writing in Arabic to denote Muslims, but sometimes in the sense of pagan idolatry, suggesting that perhaps the negative connotations of its Semitic cognates were not forgotten. It is not implausible that a term denoting a person who “inclined away” from a group in a negative sense could come to acquire the positive sense of one who was not bound to a specific group’s limitations, distortions, and errors. One who inclines away from a group may suffer rebuke (e.g., as a non-Jew or non-Christian), but be praised when such groups are judged to be in error. The meaning of ḥanīf among the Arabs was in any case clear without any attempts to reconstruct its etymology. But with such considerations in mind and in light of its usage in the Quran, one can also see in ḥanīf the sense of not being hidebound, parochial, tribal, or sectarian to the detriment of universal truth. In keeping with its Quranic usage and its identification in the time of the Prophet, commentators have also understood ḥanīf as “pilgrim” (ḥājj); as “follower,” in the sense of those who followed Abraham in various practices such as circumcision; or as “devoted entirely [to God]” (mukhliṣ, also “sincere”). For al-Ṭabarī, it means the “straight” following of the way of Abraham and could not be restricted to pilgrims, which would have included pagans, or the circumcised, which would have included the Jews. He points out further that this verse does not mean that the prophets before Abraham were not ḥanīf in the sense of being straight and upright in their obedience to God, but Abraham is mentioned in this context because God made him an imām of monotheism and he would have a special role for monotheists who came after him. 

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# 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.” 

136 The Tribes (asbāṭ) refer to the twelve tribes descended from the children of Jacob, mentioned in 7:160: And We divided them into twelve tribes. The singular of asbāṭ, sibṭ, means “grandchild,” which would signify that they are the grandchildren of Jacob (R). The ranking of the prophets is discussed in v. 285, where the Prophet and the believers are also enjoined to make no distinction between the messengers of God. The present verse is considered by commentators to invalidate the selective tendency to pick and choose condemned in v. 85: Do you, then, believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part? See the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions.” The continuity and wholeness of religion is described in such passages as He has prescribed for you as religion that with which He enjoined upon Noah, and that which We revealed unto thee, and that with which We enjoined upon Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, that you uphold religion and become not divided therein (42:13). 

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# 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. 

137 The belief in the like of what you believe in is thought not to mean that the object of belief is literally similar, since in Islamic theology nothing can be “like” God, but that the People of the Book should affirm what the Prophet’s followers affirm and believe (Ṭ). The verse could also refer to a belief in an undistorted Torah and Gospel (see 2:75c), which would be the like of what Muslims believe in (R). Schism renders shiqāq (also in 2:176; 22:53; 38:2; 41:52), which carries the sense of fracture or separation and connotes an attitude of opposition and hostility (R). As in English, suf ice (kafā) can mean “to be enough” as well as “to meet the needs of” or “to serve the purpose of” something. The Quran speaks of God’s sufficing in many different ways: as Reckoner (4:6), Protector (4:45), Knower (4:70), Witness (4:79), Guardian (4:81), and in battle (33:25). One’s own soul can also suffice as a reckoner (17:14), and in a negative sense Hell can suffice as a blazing flame (4:55). Ḥasb is also rendered “suffice,” as in ḥasbunā Allāh, or God suf ices us (3:173); also see 8:62; 8:64; 9:59; 9:129. 

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# “The baptism of God, and who is better than God in baptism? And we are worshippers of Him.” 

138 The baptism of God renders ṣibghat Allāh, which could also be translated “the coloring of God.” The verb ṣabagha means “to dye,” which involves plunging cloth in liquid and more generally means to cause someone to enter into something (R). The baptism of God can refer back to the creed of Abraham in v. 135, it can mean “[follow] the baptism of God,” or it can be read as an adverbial clause connected to We believe in God in v. 136 (R). Thus one explanation is that the baptism (ṣibghah) is the primordial nature (fiṭrah) in human beings, which they bear the way a cloth bears its original color (Th) and which is the upright religion of 30:30. This would also connect baptism of God back to the creed of Abraham in v. 135 through the concept of ḥanīf (primordial monotheist), which is mentioned in both v. 135 and 30:30. Some commentators mention Christian baptism and understand this verse to assert the superiority of Islam, as the true baptism of God, over the Christian rite (Th). Other interpretations include ṣibghah as “purification” and also as the wont of God, God’s “wont” being His unchanging actions in relation to the world (see 17:77; 33:38; 33:62; 35:33; 40:85; 48:23). For others the ṣibghah may denote God’s religion (dīn; R). These interpretations can be seen as complementary, as God’s wont, religion, creed, and purification have overlapping significance, and all are brought out by the range of meaning in the term ṣibghah in the sense of an original dye or coloration by God in the fabric of existence. 

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# 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.” 

139 This verse is a command to the Prophet; the question is directed to the Jews and Christians and, according to some, possibly the idolatrous Arabs (R, Ṭ). The Jews are said to have objected to a prophet coming from outside of the Children of Israel, while the idolatrous Arabs thought that if there were a prophet, it should be a man of higher social status than Muhammad (see 3:26; 43:31). The dispute can also refer to the various questions and challenges posed to the Prophet, such as the one mentioned in v. 135. A similar approach toward disputation with the Prophet is found in 10:41: And if they deny thee, say, “Unto me, my deeds, and unto you, your deeds”; 2:258: Hast thou not seen him who disputed with Abraham about his Lord; 3:20: So if they dispute with thee, say, “I submit my face to God, and so too those who follow me”; and 6:80: His people disputed with him. He said, “Do you dispute with me concerning God, when He has guided me?” 

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# 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. 

140 This denial of retroactive religious identity is also found in 3:65, where the People of the Book are asked, Why do you dispute concerning Abraham, as neither the Torah nor the Gospel was sent down until after him? In 3:67 it is emphatically stated, Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian, but rather was a ḥanīf, a submitter. Testimony renders shahādah, which is taken to imply the religion brought by Muhammad, which testifies to the same truths that the People of the Book uphold and which is moreover spoken of in their own books according to Islamic belief (IK). It can also mean that God has testified or borne witness that these prophets were not Jewish or Christian, since even their own books show that they lived before these religions existed (Ṭ). They would thus be concealing the true ḥanīf (v. 135) nature of these prophets by co-opting them into their exclusivist identity.

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# 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. 

141 See v. 134, with the same wording. 

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# 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.” 

142 See 2:115c, which discusses the qiblah and how the East and the West belong to God. The use of the future will say in this verse does not exclude its referring to the past, as a kind of trait, and not only a prediction (R). The verse is meant partly to remind one that it is not the place itself (Jerusalem or Makkah) that merits being the direction of prayer or qiblah, but the fact that God has commanded it to be so (R). The Prophet prayed toward Jerusalem for a certain number of months after arriving in Madinah after the hijrah (the emigration from Makkah); in the reports the number of months varies between thirteen and twenty, but most mention sixteen or seventeen (IK, Q, Ṭ). Some accounts state that, initially, the Prophet and his followers, while still in Makkah, prayed in the direction of the Kaʿbah, then faced Jerusalem for a brief period after migrating to Madinah, and then faced the Kaʿbah once more. Others aver, however, that even while in Makkah they prayed toward Jerusalem (Q, R). Some commentators believe that it was the hypocrites who asked this question regarding the change in direction and that, as such, they were not sincere but cynical in their intentions (Ṭ). This question of the change of qiblah is also significant for the issue of the “abrogation” (naskh) of legal rulings in the Quran. It is the first instance of abrogation in the chronological order of revelation and is often cited as a paradigmatic case, though it is an instance of the Quran abrogating the Sunnah (Q); on naskh, see 2:106c. This verse is also associated with masjid alqiblatayn, or the Mosque of the Two Qiblahs, which still stands, although recently rebuilt, and is a few kilometers from the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah, because it was reported that in the midst of a prayer, a caller came to announce the change in direction, at which the congregation turned, mid-prayer, and faced the new qiblah (IK, Q, Ṭ). Determining the qiblah in locales outside of Makkah has been and continues to be a subject of lively debate. Several different methods have been employed throughout the centuries wherever Muslims have lived or traveled. One early method was to stand as though one were facing a wall of the Kaʿbah that was extended far enough horizontally; in this system the Islamic world was divided into geographic sectors, each praying toward a different wall of the Kaʿbah. Since the corners of Kaʿbah are oriented toward the cardinal directions and its sides face the summer sunrise and Canopus (the southern pole star frequently used for navigation), the direction of prayer was often determined by these celestial markers. Later, increasingly sophisticated mathematical methods were developed and continue to be used to calculate the qiblah, among them the great circle, which is the shortest surface line between Makkah and any spot on the earth. In North America, for example, the great circle to Makkah begins in a northeasterly direction, constantly changing compass bearing toward the southeast until it reaches Makkah. The older method for calculating the qiblah direction for North America would give a southeasterly bearing, since North America would be part of the sector of the world corresponding to the Kaʿbah wall that is perpendicular to that direction. Both are used today. Another method is to face the direction that, if one kept a constant compass bearing or “rhumb line,” would bring one to Makkah. In some old Islamic cities the qiblah of various mosques was not always uniformly oriented, because it was calculated using the nonmathematical means available to their inhabitants. Islamic mathematics developed sophisticated methods for determining the direction of the qiblah before modern times, including the use of astronomical instruments such as astrolabes and armillary spheres. Sometimes later calculations would result in a physical adjustment of the qiblah within a mosque, often with the modification of an inner wall. A ḥadith states, “Whatever is between the east and the west is a qiblah” (IK, Q), which has been interpreted as providing a certain latitude when it comes to matters of exact direction, not only in the absence of mathematical calculation, but also in consideration of local conditions that might make the determination of the qiblah difficult or even impossible. 

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# 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. 

143 The thus at the start of this verse is thought to connect this verse to what precedes it, so that it is saying, “Just as the Kaʿbah is the center of the earth, so too are you the middle people,” or, “Just as We guided you, so too have We made you a middle community” (Q). According to a ḥadīth, the Prophet said that middle means “just,” and a proverb (considered a ḥadīth by some) states, “The best of things is their middlemost.” When one says that a man is the middlemost of his people, it means he is among their best and most esteemed people, a usage that perhaps comes from the fact that people huddle around their leader, thus placing him in the middle (Q, Ṭ). In idiomatic Arabic, often the wasaṭ (“middle”) of a thing is the choicest part (R). With regard to faith and practice, to be in the middle means to avoid extremes (R): the virtue of courage lies between recklessness and cowardice, and the virtue of generosity lies between prodigality and miserliness (Aj). It can also mean that Muslims are in the middle in relation to other communities (Āl). Indeed, Muslims have argued that while Judaism emphasizes the law and Christianity emphasizes love and mercy, Islam creates a balance between the two or between emphasis on the exoteric and the esoteric; Islam also creates a balance between the concerns of this world and the demands of the Hereafter. At another level, many have pointed to the geographical location of Islam in the middle belt of the world. To be a witness means one has a consequential role in the judging of a thing through one’s knowledge of that thing. Thus in 36:65 God warns, Their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will bear witness to that which they used to earn, which means that the experience of the body will testify against the soul on the Day of Judgment. The commentators often mention a ḥadīth in which the Prophet said, “God will cause to enter the Garden any Muslim for whom four people bear witness.” When he was asked, “Even three?” he responded, “Even three.” When asked, “Even two?” he responded, “Even two.” But the questioner, ʿUmar ibn alKhaṭṭāb, said he did not ask about one. Similarly, the Prophet said, “You are God’s witnesses over mankind.” The commentators specifically mention various aḥādīth in which, on the Day of Judgment, the community of Muhammad will testify to other prophets’ faithfulness to their missions, even when those prophets’ own people do not (IK); on this issue, see 4:41c. A shāhid or shahīd can also be a testimony or testament to something, evidence of something (R) in the sense that any “witness” is in a real sense a living “evidence” of something or someone. Thus a shahīd is both something or someone who witnesses and something or someone who is witnessed. Read in this way, this verse is saying that the Prophet is evidence or testimony for his community to look to, and in relation to the other communities of the world the Islamic community is a testimony or evidence of something for the sake of other communities, meaning that the Prophet is there to be an indicator of the truth for his community, and the Islamic community is there to serve the same function for the rest of humanity—a way for them to have knowledge of God and the truths that flow from that knowledge. See also 22:78: He named you muslims aforetime, and herein, that the Messenger may be a witness for you, and that you may be witnesses for mankind. According to al-Ṭabarī, the hypocrites objected to the change in the qiblah by saying, “What is wrong with you, that you have a qiblah, then you change it?” The Jews said, “Muhammad longs for his homeland, but had he remained with our qiblah, we would have considered him the one we were waiting for.” The Makkan idolaters said, “Muhammad has wavered in his religion.” The phrase beginning And We only appointed is seen as a response to all these reactions. Some Muslims said, “What about our brothers who have passed on? What of their prayers?” (Ṭ). In this respect, some commentators see God would not let your belief be in vain as a reassurance for those who faced the Jerusalem qiblah, but died before it was changed (IK, Q). We only appointed . . . to know: theologically, the idea that God might do something “in order to know” (18:12; 34:21; 47:31) raises the question of whether and how God knows a thing before it exists. Some interpret this to mean, “So that We observe,” which would preserve the principle that God’s Knowledge is eternal; that is, one could only observe a thing that exists, while God could know it before it exists (Ṭ). Some interpret it to mean, “So that My friends and partisans will know,” reasoning that the actions of one’s followers can be attributed to their leader, as when one says, “ʿUmar conquered Jerusalem,” though he did not do so personally (Ṭ). It can also mean, “So that you will all know,” referring to both Muslims and their opponents, where the use of the grammatical first person conveys a sense of kindness; that is, “We shall know” is less harsh than “you will know” when it comes to the damning verdict of disbelief (R). Although God’s saying “in order that We may know” seems to raise difficult theological questions concerning God’s Knowledge, the issues are in a sense similar to those engendered by Quranic assertions that God tests people or sends them a trial, for example, Does mankind suppose that they will be left to say, “We believe,” and that they will not be tried? (29:2). In such cases, one could argue that, since God knows what a person would have done, there is no reason for Him to actually test that person. According to Islamic theology, although God tests in order to know, He does not wait for the answer. The answer is known already in His eternal Knowledge, but the trial and its outcome still actually take place. The whole question of God’s eternal Knowledge and its relationship with the world of change is a basic theological and philosophical question to whose complexities many Islamic thinkers have devoted long studies. 

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# 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. 

144 Though the change in the qiblah was ordained by God, commentators give varying accounts of how Jerusalem came to be the qiblah in the first place and the circumstances under which it was changed. A few have said that the Prophet chose to pray toward Jerusalem of his own accord in order to establish a bond with the local population, many of whom were Jewish or recent converts to Islam; most accounts say that the Prophet was instructed by God to face Jerusalem and then later commanded to change the direction toward Makkah (IK). The commentators say that the Prophet began to hope for a change in qiblah and hence turned his face toward Heaven, because the Jews were saying, “He follows after us in our religion, and uses our qiblah,” and the Prophet was displeased with their arrogance (Ṭ). Others understand that the hope to change the qiblah stemmed from the Prophet’s love of the House of Abraham and Abraham’s qiblah or from his hope that the Arabs might be more inclined toward Islam if the Kaʿbah were the qiblah (R). Al-Ṭabarī says that those who have been given the Book know that it is the truth means that they know that Makkah is the true qiblah for Muslims, by which al-Ṭabarī must mean that they know more generally that the Prophet is right and thus that their opposition to the change in the qiblah is but one more example of their intransigence. 

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# 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. 

145 Every sign also has the sense of “every kind of sign,” as in 10:96–97: Truly those for whom the Word of thy Lord has come due will not believe, though every sign should come unto them, till they see the painful punishment. The warning against following the caprices of other religious communities is mentioned in v. 120 (see also 5:48; 13:37; 42:15) and in this verse is addressed through the example of the following of different qiblahs. Jews traditionally face Jerusalem, while Christian churches were historically oriented toward the east and the rising sun, though the use of the qiblah signifies more than a physical orientation; it also relates to identity and community. To say someone follows a different qiblah is tantamount to excluding that person from the religious community in question. A ḥadīth states, “Whoever prays our prayer and faces our qiblah and eats what we slaughter is a Muslim and is under the protection of God and the protection of His Messenger.” 

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# Those unto whom We have given the Book recognize it as they recognize their children, but a group of them knowingly conceal the truth. 

146 Some commentators understand that what they recognize . . . as they recognize their children is the fact that the Kaʿbah is the true qiblah (Ṭ), evidently following the similar message in v. 144, where they are said to know that it is the truth. Others think that recognize it means “recognize him,” referring to the Prophet, who is known not only through the prophecies in the Bible, but also (according to the Islamic view) through his presence, his character, the signs he brought, and the truth of his message (Q, R). Thus recognizing the truth of the Kaʿbah as the qiblah would be dependent upon the recognition of the truthfulness of the Prophet, rather than upon the status of the Kaʿbah itself, since Jerusalem was the legitimate qiblah for a time. 

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# The truth is from thy Lord; so be thou not among the doubters. 

147 The command in this verse does not fall specifically upon the Prophet, even though it is addressed to him, but is meant to be an address to his Companions and all those in general who believe in him. This point applies to this and other seemingly superfluous commands to the Prophet, such as And follow that which has been revealed unto thee (10:109), because it is taken as a given that the Prophet would be complying with the command. 

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# 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. 

148 This verse is understood to mean that all religious communities have a qiblah, or a direction of prayer (Th, Ṭ). The grammar also allows the reading, “Everyone has a direction toward which He directs him,” meaning that, in the case of the Kaʿbah and Jerusalem, it is God Who chooses that human beings pray in those directions (R). Several commentators tie the command to vie with one another in good deeds to refer specifically to the timely performance of the canonical prayers (R, Q), presumably because the qiblah is closely associated with the prayers; similar language regarding competing in good deeds, but not connected specifically with the qiblah, is found in 3:114; 5:48; 21:90; 23:56; 35:32. 

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# 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. 

# 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, 

149–50 Whencesoever thou goest out refers to leaving any place for another (Ṭ). So that the people may have no argument against you is thought by most to refer to the People of the Book (Ṭ). The argument in question is thought to be based on the conceit on the part of the Jewish community that the Prophet was merely following their religion and their qiblah. The change in the qiblah would thus nullify that claim. But this would not apply to those among them who do wrong, referring to the idolatrous Makkans (Ṭ), who would not be silenced by the change in qiblah, since one of their taunts was precisely that the qiblah was other than the Kaʿbah. They might even have seen it as a kind of victory, since they still were custodians of the Kaʿbah, and grew more hopeful that Muhammad would drift back to their religion (Q, R, Ṭ). The message of fear them not, but fear Me also appears in 3:175; 5:3; 5:44. In this verse the fixing of the direction of the qiblah is part of God’s completion of His Blessings for humanity. Similar passages connect these completed blessings with pilgrimage (5:3) and ablution (5:6), so that all of these connect God’s Blessings with ritual practices. 

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# 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. 

151 This verse describes the fulfillment of the prayer of Abraham for a messenger to be sent to his progeny in v. 129, which also mentions the same elements of the Book, Wisdom, and purification. Even as We sent is thought by some to be understood as a continuation of the guidance mentioned in the previous verse (Q) or as meaning that the sending of the Messenger is part of the completion of the blessings mentioned in the previous verse (Z). 

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# So remember Me, and I shall remember you. Give thanks unto Me, and disbelieve not in Me. 

152 It is understood by some that the beginning of the previous verse sets up the beginning of this one, meaning, “God sent you a messenger; so remember Him” (Ṭ). A saying attributed to many early commentators states, “God remembers whosoever remembers Him, and increases whosoever is grateful to Him, and punishes whosoever disbelieves in Him” (IK). According to some interpretations, one remembers God through praising Him or through acts of obedience, and God then remembers one through forgiveness (IK). A famous ḥadīth qudsī (a “sacred ḥadīth,” in which God is quoted but which is not part of the Quran) states, “God most high says, ‘I am as my servant deems Me to be. I am with him when He remembers Me. Whosoever remembers Me within himself, I shall remember him in Myself. Whosoever remembers Me in company, I shall remember him in company better than them. Should he approach Me by a hand, I shall approach him by a cubit, and should he approach Me by a cubit, I shall approach him by a fathom. Should he come to Me walking, I shall go to him running.’” This verse is one of the Quranic foundations for the spiritual practice of the methodical remembrance of God (dhikr Allāh), which is the central practice of Sufism, alluding to the reciprocity of remembering God and being remembered by Him. For a discussion of the virtues of dhikr, or “remembrance,” see 13:28c, and especially 29:45c. 

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# O you who believe! Seek help in patience and prayer. Truly God is with the patient. 

153 Recourse to patience and prayer is also mentioned in v. 45, and 3:200 enjoins believers to vie in patience, while 90:17 and 103:3 enjoin them to exhort one another to patience. Commentators usually categorize patience into three kinds: being resolute in avoiding sins, constant in meritorious actions, and content in the face of affliction (IK, R, Ṭ). God is also referred to as being with the patient in 8:46, 66; see also 2:177; 3:142; 22:35; 39:10. 

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# And say not of those who are slain in the way of God, “They are dead.” Nay, they are alive, but you are unaware. 

154 See also 3:169 for a similar message that adds, they are alive with their Lord, provided for. Speaking of the posthumous state of those who die in the way of God, a ḥadīth states, “The spirits of the witnesses are in the bodies of green birds flying in the Garden as they will. They alight upon lamps hanging from the Throne, and then thy Lord will turn to them, saying, ‘What do you desire?’ They will say, ‘O Lord, what should we desire, as you have given us what you have not given to anyone else in Thy creation?’ When they see that they will continue to be asked this question, they will say, ‘We desire to return to the abode of the world, to set out in Thy way in order to be killed for Thy sake again.’ They will say this because of the reward of martyrdom. The Lord will say, ‘I have written that they will not return to it.’” Other accounts describe the spirits of the witnesses in the form of white birds eating of the fruits of the Garden or as birds perched on a tree in the Garden, a state in which they will remain until God returns them to their bodies when they are resurrected (Ṭ). The accounts in the commentaries describe a state after death but before the Day of Resurrection that is also described in other aḥādīth as a period when human beings will be afflicted or blessed while their bodies are in the grave before they are bodily resurrected. On this question, see 3:169–71c and the essay “Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in the Quran.” 

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# 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— 

155 Souls here refers to friends, relatives, and other loved ones (IK). Fruits can refer to food and crops, but also to children, who are “the fruit of the heart” (Q). See also 106:4, where the Quraysh are protected from hunger and fear. Elsewhere an ungrateful town is afflicted with the garment of hunger and fear (16:112). Some interpret the fear to be that of God, the hunger to be the fast of Ramadan, the loss of wealth to be the alms, loss of souls to be from sickness, and loss of fruits to be the death of children (IK). When hunger befalls one in the way of God, a righteous deed is recorded (9:120). A ḥadīth states, “Patience comes at the first blow,” meaning that the proof of a patient and steadfast heart is its state “in the heat of the affliction” (Q), not when it is over, in which case anyone can be patient. Although some have defined it as not complaining (see also v. 153), al-Qurṭubī notes that Job tells God, Truly Satan has af licted me with weariness and punishment, but of Job God says, Truly We found him to be steadfast (38:41–44). 

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# those who, when affliction befalls them, say, “Truly we are God’s, and unto Him we return.” 

156 Truly we are God’s, and unto Him we return, traditionally recited by most Muslims at the moment of learning of another’s death, is connected with the loss of souls mentioned in the previous verse. The theme of returning is common throughout the Quran. For example, human beings often are reminded that unto God are all matters returned (2:210) and are warned to be mindful of a day when they shall be returned to God (2:281), willingly or unwillingly (3:83), all together (5:48). That human beings belong to God is an extension of such passages as Unto Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and on the earth (v. 116; see also vv. 255, 284), which appear frequently throughout the Quran. 

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# They are those upon whom come the blessings from their Lord, and compassion, and they are those who are rightly guided. 

157 Blessings renders ṣalawāt (sing. ṣalāh), a word that usually means “prayer” or “worship,” but when used with the preposition ʿalā, meaning “toward” or “upon,” indicates something that comes from God toward human beings rather than going from human beings toward God, as in 33:56: Truly God and His angels invoke blessings upon (ʿalā) the Prophet. O you who believe! Invoke blessings upon him, and greetings of peace! See also 9:99, 103. 

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# 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. 

158 Ṣafā and Marwah are two hills near the Kaʿbah, between which pilgrims pass or “hurry” back and forth seven times, a practice that is said according to the traditional Islamic account to go back to the story of Hagar and Ishmael. After Abraham, following God’s Command, brought them to that place and left them there (cf. Genesis 21), Hagar frantically ran from one hill to another seven times in order to look for water for Ishmael. Called say, this motion is partway between walking and running. Even though this was the action of Hagar, Muslims consider it part of the rituals of the pilgrimage, because it originated with Abraham, who built the Kaʿbah with Ishmael after the latter had become an adult (IK), and the practice was continued by the Prophet Muhammad. Commentators point out that some of the Companions were reluctant to perform the ritual of going back and forth between Ṣafā and Marwah, fearing that it was a holdover from the Days of Ignorance and hence an idolatrous practice. This concern may have originated in a local legend that two people fornicated inside the Kaʿbah and were turned to stone; they were then placed near the Kaʿbah as a warning, and over time these stones slowly grew into the two hills (IK). Others mention that the verse may have been in response to other Companions who thought that the Kaʿbah was the only object around which such motions such as running to and fro and circumambulation should be made. The commentators point out that this verse could be understood to have addressed both questions (Q). There are differences of opinion regarding Ṣafā and Marwah; according to some schools of thought, to go back and forth between them (saʿy) is one of the pillars of the ḥajj (e.g., Shāfiʿī), while for others it is only recommended (e.g., Ḥanafī), although adherents of all schools nevertheless do perform the saʿy. Those who see it as a pillar of the ḥajj mention a ḥadīth of the Prophet, “Go to and fro [between the two hills], for God has prescribed for you the running to and fro.” Rituals (shaʿāʾir) can also refer to ritual places; the root sh-ʿ-r carries the sense of “that by which God is known” (Q), thus referring both to sacred symbols and sacred actions. See also 5:2; 22:32; 22:36. The ʿumrah is a supererogatory visit to perform a shortened form of pilgrimage and can be performed during any time of the year other than the days designated for the obligatory ḥajj. The ʿumrah contains some of the elements of the ḥajj, such as becoming muḥrim—that is, wearing two pieces of cloth; the circumambulation of the Kaʿbah; and the passing to and fro between Ṣafā and Marwah. Most scholars, especially those who see the ritual of Ṣafā and Marwah as obligatory, see whosoever volunteers good as a reference to the ʿumrah, which is not an obligatory Islamic rite like the ḥajj. On the ʿumrah, see v. 196. 

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# 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, 

159 This verse can either have a general import or refer specifically to the People of the Book around the Prophet (R). According to the former interpretation, it is sinful for any person to obscure a truth of religion; according to the latter interpretation, some Muslims asked a group among the People of the Book to point out to them the Prophet described in their Book, but they refused or “concealed” it (R). It can also mean that the People of the Book conceal the truth of Islam itself, by undercutting it, calling it false, and failing to make known the foretelling of the coming of the Prophet (Ṭ). The idea of concealing the truth of revelation is also addressed in v. 174; 3:187; 5:15. Some say that the cursers in this verse are the beasts of the earth, while others mention that they are the angels and the believers, as in v. 161 (Ṭ). Others also mention the possibility that the denizens of Hell, who blame them for their own state, will also curse them (R). 

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# save such as repent, and make amends, and make clear. They are those unto whom I relent. And I am the Relenting, the Merciful. 

160 On repentance, see 2:37c; 2:128c, 4:17–18c; 4:147c. Here, as in other places, repent and relent translate the same verb (with the root meaning of “to turn”) with different prepositions. Make amends carries the sense of putting things right. Make clear is understood to mean that they should address and clarify what they were concealing (Ṭ). 

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# Indeed, those who disbelieve, and die disbelievers, upon them shall be the curse of God, the angels, and mankind all together. 

161 Curse is commonly understood to mean being distanced from God and driven away from His Mercy; the curse of the angels and believers is their invocation of the curse of God upon the disbelievers (Ṭ). Mankind (nās) would seem to cover all people, or it could refer only to some people, as is often the case in the Quran; or it could mean that one’s own allies curse one in the Hereafter for misleading them, and since all other human beings curse what is intrinsically vile, those who die disbelievers come to have the curse of all fall upon them in one way or another (R). Al-Qurṭubī understands curse to refer exclusively to the matter of the Hereafter; since a curse is meant as a kind of prodding away from disbelief and a communication of disapproval, it is of no use in the case of someone who is dead or insane. Thus this verse and others are taken as a description of the Hereafter, not a command to action in this world, as in 29:25: Then on the Day of Resurrection you will disown one another, and you will curse one another (Q, Ṭ). Al-Qurṭubī further argues that the Prophet made the limits of cursing clear when he forbade the cursing or abusing of a person who was being legally punished or one who had sincerely repented, which is to say that a curse is leveled only against someone who is in a state deserving of that curse, and one does not heap insult onto injury by cursing a dead man or one who is condemned to die. 

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# Therein they shall abide: the punishment shall not be lightened for them, nor shall they be granted respite. 

162 That the punishment will not be lightened is also mentioned in 2:86; 3:88 (same wording as here); 16:85; 35:36; 43:75. On the abiding in Hell and its duration and related issues, see commentary on 2:80–82 and the essay “Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in the Quran.” 

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# Your God is one God, there is no god but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 

163 This is one of the most often recited verses of the Quran. In all three instances in this verse God renders ilāh, the general noun for “god” or “divinity,” rather than Allāh, which is the supreme personal Name of God in Arabic. God is one (wāḥid), which includes the sense of being unique, not made up of parts, without equal or like (Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

164 Some attach this verse to a specific challenge posed by the idolaters, who said that they wanted a sign and asked that the hill of Ṣafā (see v. 158) be turned into gold, or who asked in astonishment at the monotheistic idea, “How can a single God encompass all mankind?” (Ṭ). The listing of such natural phenomena and cosmic events as signs of God appears throughout the Quran, sometimes individually, but at other times in series, as in 30:20–27. The elements in the present verse appear elsewhere: the variation of the night and the day (3:190; 10:6; 23:80; 45:5); the creation of the heavens and the earth (3:190; 30:22; 42:29); the ships that sail upon the sea (14:32; 17:66; 23:22; 31:31; 35:12; 42:32; 45:12). Ships are significant in being the only human-made items in this verse, but are so intimately connected to the natural world and so fragile in comparison with the sea that the very possibility of seafaring and the precarious nature of it are a reminder of God. In other contexts, it is during a storm at sea that human beings are said to turn to God sincerely, only to lapse when the storm has passed (e.g., 29:65; 31:32). The revival of the earth after its death also appears in 16:65; 29:63; 30:19; 35:9; 45:5; 57:17. Winds as signs of God and blessings are also mentioned in 7:57; 15:22; 25:48; 27:63; 30:46; 45:5; the word rīḥ (“wind”) is related by root to rūḥ (“spirit”). The clouds are made to course between the earth and the sky and are subdued just as many other objects are described in the Quran as being subservient to God or being made subservient to human beings. 

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# 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, 

165 Equals has the sense of competitors (R), as in v. 22. An alternate reading of the last sentence is, “If thou sawest those who do wrong when they see the Punishment of God, [thou wouldst see] that power belongs wholly to God.” Loving them like loving God means they love their idols as the believers love God or that they obey their leaders as they should obey God (Ṭ). It may also mean that they love these equals as they themselves love God (thus dividing their love between God and the idols), or that they love them as they ought to love God, or that they glorify and obey their idols or their own human leaders or other human agencies as they should God (R). These interpretations are all possible because of the wording of the verse, which can be literally rendered, “They love them like unto the love of God.” The believers’ love is more ardent because it is directed undividedly at the one true object of love, unlike that of the idolaters, who direct love toward idols during ordinary times but then toward God in times of need, as when they call out when on a ship buffeted by waves (R). The idea of the love (ḥubb) for God by human beings appears in this verse and in 3:31: Say, “If you love God, follow me”; 5:54: God will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him; and 9:24: Say, “If your (family and possessions) are more beloved to you than God, . . . then wait till God comes with His Command.” According to a ḥadīth, a man asked the Prophet, “When will the Hour come to pass, O Messenger of God?” The Prophet said, “What have you prepared for it?” The man said, “I have not prepared for it much by way of prayers or fasting or alms, but I love God and His Messenger.” The Prophet said, “You will be with those whom you love.” More often, however, dozens of times in fact, the word love (ḥubb) is used in the Quran to describe what God loves or does not love in human beings. For example, throughout the Quran God is said to love the virtuous, those who repent, the reverent, the patient, those who trust, the just, those who fight in His way, and those who purify themselves, but He does not love disbelievers, transgressors, sinful ingrates, wrongdoers, the vainglorious, workers of corruption, prodigals, the treacherous, or the exultant. Many commentators use this verse as an occasion to discuss the nature of ḥubb (and the related term maḥabbah), which is the word here rendered as love. The English word “love” has a broader range of meaning than the Arabic ḥubb, and several Arabic concepts correspond to “love” depending on its usage. These include raḥmah (most often translated “mercy” or “compassion”) and mawaddah, as in a verse describing the sentiments between spouses: He established af ection (mawaddah) and mercy (raḥmah) between you (30:21). The Quran, the Sunnah, and the mainstream exoteric exegetical tradition do not treat love as a technical or esoteric concept (although the Islamic intellectual, spiritual, and poetical tradition is replete with discussions of the reality and experience of love). Rather, they accept it as a self-evident reality whose basic meaning is known, while acknowledging the difficulty of explaining how love, and indeed any concept ordinarily used for created objects, can correctly be applied to God. The asymmetry between God’s Love for human beings and human beings’ love for God is reflected in the Quran’s almost exclusive discussion of that love as originating with God. Because God is unlike anything in the world, love for Him is hard to encapsulate in a technical definition, and the exegetes often prefer to describe it by speaking in terms of the fruits of loving God. For example, when we love someone, we long to meet them, miss them and yearn for them when they are not there, do everything we do for their sake, seek to do what makes them happy, and love what they love (Aj). These are all symptoms, as it were, of love. In the Islamic spiritual tradition, love is usually spoken of in light of knowledge, which is to say that one loves God to the degree that one knows Him, and vice versa. Al-Rāzī says, for example, that when we see the face of the beloved, we want to see the hair, which in theological terms means that even a slight familiarity with God will arouse a virtuous desire to know Him even more, and this desire is itself a sign of love. In human life, the lover seeks to banish from the heart all but the beloved and sees all else as a kind of distraction; and among the spiritual wayfarers of Islam this is manifested in a discipline whose method and goal are the constant remembrance of God (dhikr Allāh); also see the essay “The Quran and Sufism.” It is typical for commentators to discuss two kinds of love: One is called “desirous love” or ḥubb al-hawā, which is when we love a thing because of what it does for us. The other kind is love for the sake of the beloved, which arises for no other reason than that the beloved’s beauty, goodness, and perfection kindle love within the lover. That is to say, human beings love, or should love, God, but this love should not be seen as a means to something else (R). The first kind of love is said to be incumbent upon all believers in that one can see glorification, acts of obedience, and righteous behavior as means to the peace and happiness that God will provide as a reward for them. Lovers in the higher sense love God for God alone and, because of this love, want to perform those acts that God loves, not because of what they will gain; for them diverting oneself from what the beloved loves is more difficult than working for one’s selfish ends. At the lower level, we love what is good to us, and God’s Goodness to us is everywhere. At the higher level, we love the beauty and goodness of what we know, and God’s Beauty and Goodness are the object of our love to the degree that we come to know them; and in the case of God the perfections and beauties are endless, and so love for Him is potentially limitless. Sufis have written much about the distinction between what they call “metaphorical,” or majāzī, love and “true,” or ḥaqīqī, love; the former refers to such things as romantic love and love for the things of the world, and the latter refers to love of God alone and by extension the love of other beings through the love of God. An idea closely related to love of God is love “in” or “through” God (al-ḥubb fī’Llāh), typically rendered “love for the sake of God”; a similar concept is “loving in God’s Glory” (bi-jalāl Allāh). A ḥadīth describes God saying, “Those who loved each other in My Glory shall have pulpits (minbars) of light, and the prophets and saints will envy them.” In another ḥadīth He said, “Where are those who loved one another for My Glory? Today I shall shade them in My shade, on the Day when there is no shade but Mine.” The Prophet also said, “God says, ‘My Love is realized for those who love one another for My sake, who are honest with one another for My sake, who give charity to one another for My sake, and who visit one another for My sake.’” 

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# when those who were followed disavow those who followed, and they see the punishment, while all recourse will be cut off from them. 

166 Those who were followed refers to the leaders of idolatry, while those who followed refers to their minions and adherents; or the two phrases may refer, respectively, to the satans and the human beings who followed them. This may also refer generally to all those who led and followed in the ways of error in the life of the world (Ṭ). Recourse renders asbāb (sing. sabab), which can mean a rope, a means by which to obtain something, or a cause. Here it is understood to refer to the bonds, the love, or the friendships and blood ties they shared in the world, all of which will be severed from them as a means of help in the Hereafter. According to another interpretation, the recourse consists of their deeds in this life, which remain sound in the Hereafter if they are righteous deeds, but these means are cut off when they are evil (Ṭ). It can also point to the fact that they have no way of staving off the punishment or escaping the consequences of their evil actions (R). 

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# 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. 

167 The turn here is the chance to return to the world. The wrongdoers’ regret is about having done sinful deeds or having failed to perform righteous ones; they are seeing what they would have had in the Hereafter if they had acted righteously and are tormented on account of it. According to another interpretation, they will see the houses of the Garden and wish for them, while the inhabitants of the Garden will see them and wish for God to bless them (Ṭ). Elsewhere it is said, Then on the Day of Resurrection you will disown one another, and you will curse one another (29:25). The conversations that take place between the denizens of Hell are also described in 7:38–39, and Satan tells them on the Day of Judgment, Verily God made you the Promise of truth; and I made you a promise, but I failed you (14:22). Al-Ṭabarī understands the last part of the verse to mean that their regret and desire for another chance at life will not remove them from the Fire, and for him this is evidence that the disbelievers will be in the Fire everlastingly. 

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# 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. 

168 It is reported that this verse was revealed in connection with the tribes of Thaqīf, Khuzāʿah, and Banū Mudlij, who had decided that the eating of certain kinds of animals was forbidden, although the plain sense of the verse shows that it is of universal import (Q). Good (ṭayyib) also has the sense of being pleasant, agreeable, and delicious. Lawful (ḥalāl) is what in Islamic Law is deemed permissible and derives from a root with a range of meanings including “untie,” “set free,” and “unbind.” In the categorization of actions in Islamic Law, it is the opposite of ḥarām, or “forbidden.” The image of following in the footsteps of Satan is mentioned elsewhere (2:208; 6:142; 24:21) and is often described by commentators as an idiomatic way of saying that a person submits to temptation and commits evil. Satan is often called a manifest enemy in the Quran (7:22; 12:5; 17:53; 28:15; 36:60; 43:62). Some relate this verse to the practice of taking oaths that one will refrain from something or other, but oaths cannot be taken in a state of anger. When they are taken in such a state, one can pay an expiation. On carelessness in oaths, see 2:225. Ibn Kathīr mentions several incidents where some people made oaths that they would do thus and so, but were reprimanded by other Companions for “following in the footsteps of Satan.” A ḥadīth states, “God said, ‘I created My servants as ḥanīfs. Then the satans came to them, and diverted them from their religion, and forbade for them what I had made lawful.’” A Companion asked the Prophet how he could become someone whose supplications were accepted. The Prophet said, “Make wholesome what you eat, and your supplications will be accepted by Him in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad. Let a man put a forbidden morsel in his mouth and [his supplications] will not be accepted for forty days. Any man who raises his meat from ill-gotten gains is most deserving of the Fire.” 

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# He only commands you to evil and indecency, and to say of God what you know not. 

169 That Satan commands people to indecency (faḥshāʾ) is also mentioned in v. 268 and 24:21. Elsewhere, both God and the prayer (ṣalāh) are described as forbidding and preventing indecency (7:28; 16:90; 29:45). Al-Ṭabarī connects this indecency to sacrificial practices spoken of in 5:103: God has not established baḥīrah, or sāʾibah, or waṣīlah, or ḥām. But those who disbelieve fabricate lies against God, and most of them understand not. 

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# 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? 

170 Some connect this verse to the previously observed norms of what is lawful and what is forbidden (see vv. 168–69; Ṭ), and it may be seen to be addressed to the idolaters and the People of the Book or to people in general (R). Recourse to mere custom is no excuse, as the Quran emphasizes again and again, as in 5:104: “Suf icient for us is that which we have found our fathers practicing.” What! Even if their fathers knew naught and were not rightly guided? Similar injunctions are addressed to the Children of Adam (7:28), the Egyptians (10:78), Abraham’s people (21:53–54), and people in general (31:21; 43:24). 

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# 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. 

171 This verse suggests that calling to disbelievers is like calling to sheep; they hear, but only the sound and not the meaning of the call (Ṭ). This verse can also refer to the prayers idolaters offer to idols, which the insensate idols cannot hear (R). Insensibility to the wisdom of revelation is described with metaphors of animals elsewhere in the Quran, as in 62:5: The parable of those [who were] made to bear the Torah, then did not bear it, is that of an ass bearing books; and 7:176: 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. Being deaf, dumb, and blind is also attributed to disbelievers in 2:18; 8:22; 17:97. 

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# 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. 

# 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. 

172–73 The good things (Ṭayyibāt) are those things that God has not forbidden or singled out as being sinful (Ṭ). See also 2:57c. In a ḥadīth the Prophet said, “God is good (ṭayyib), and only accepts that which is good.” Of ered to other than God means food that is sacrificed to an idol, thus excluding the meat eaten by the idolaters (but not that of the People of the Book according to many jurists). In Islamic practice, an animal is slaughtered with the words, “In the Name of God.” It can occur that one is compelled by necessity, meaning by hunger, to eat under certain circumstances things that are forbidden in order to survive and protect one’s life, but this should be done neither coveting nor transgressing, meaning not with the intention of bypassing God’s Commandments in order to enjoy something that is forbidden (Q, Ṭ). In such cases of necessity one is therefore permitted to eat what in normal circumstances would be forbidden. Coveting renders bāgh in , which has the sense of rebellion. For some the idea of transgressing (ʿād in ) also refers to the practice of highway robbery, going against the authorities, or setting out to disobey God, presumably meaning that it is not permissible to pursue food in these ways even in cases of need (Ṭ). Regarding the legal and ritual issues of carrion, blood, and the flesh of swine, see 5:3c. 

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# 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. 

174 Regarding sell it for a paltry price, see 2:79c. On fire in their bellies, also see 4:10c. Both phrases make the point that instead of consuming the wealth they sought in earthly life, in the Hereafter such people will consume only fire. On God’s speaking to human beings in the Hereafter, also see 3:77, which, like this verse, states, God will not speak to them, nor will He look at them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them. And theirs shall be a painful punishment. However, elsewhere in the Quran God speaks to human beings on the Day of Resurrection: So by thy Lord, We shall question them all concerning that which they used to do (15:92–93); Then We shall surely question those unto whom Our message was sent, and We shall surely question the messengers (7:6); and He will say, “Be gone therein, and speak not to Me” (23:108, spoken by God in response to those asking to be removed from the Fire). According to alRāzī, the plain sense of v. 174 and 3:77 is that He will not speak to them at all, but in light of these other Quranic verses it is to be understood, rather, as a description of a punishment, meaning that He will not speak words of peace and welcome. Al-Rāzī notes that this resembles intimacy with a king, who shows his displeasure through imposing exile and cutting off contact, and suggests that it will be the angels who speak to people on the Day of Resurrection. Al-Ṭabarī offers a similar interpretation, taking it to mean that God will not say things agreeable to them. Al-Qurṭubī points out that one says, “He did not speak to him,” to describe someone who is angry. Nor will He purify them means He will not praise them for their goodness or call them purified (Ṭ), that He will not set right their evil deeds (Q), or that He will not accept their deeds as He accepts those of the purified. The verb zakkā can mean both “to purify” and “to deem purified,” as in 53:32: So do not deem yourselves purified. Al-Rāzī points out that the punishment of indignity and humiliation is worse than that of physical punishment, which is a way of implying that the spiritual punishment of distance and separation from God constitutes the worst suffering in Hell. 

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# 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! 

175 For some, this verse means, “What drove them to the deeds that brought them closer to the Fire?” meaning that it is not patience that helps them endure the fire, or, “What gives them patience in relation to the Fire so that they abandon truth for falsehood?” In a general sense it can be understood as a way of saying, “What made them do this?” (R, Ṭ). 

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# That is because God sent down the Book in truth. Truly those who differ concerning the Book are in extreme schism. 

176 That is because indicates that the punishment applies because of their treatment of God’s Book, going back to v. 174 (Ṭ). For schism (shiqāq; see also 22:53; 38:2; 41:52), see 2:137c. It is also possible that Book could refer to the Torah and the Gospel, which attest to the truth of the Prophet according to Islamic belief, and that dif er pertains to questions of interpretation and distortion (see 2:75c), or it could refer to the Bible as well as the Quran together as being collectively “God’s Book” (IK, Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

177 Piety (birr) is understood as the obedience to God that is well established in the heart (Ṭ) or as the sum of acts of obedience and devotion that lead us closer to God; it is also used this way in relation to parents, as when one speaks of filial piety (R). It is reported that this verse was revealed when, after coming to Madinah, the Muslims observed the Jews praying westward and the Christians eastward (see 2:145c). Faith in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book (in other passages, Books), and the prophets are the five principal articles of faith upon which all Islamic creedal statements are based. They are also listed as such in the famous ḥadīth of Gabriel, where the Prophet is asked by the archangel to describe what Islam is. See 4:136, where this list of five also appears, and commentary. To give wealth despite loving it (ʿalā ḥubbihi) means that one parts with it even when one fears poverty or yearns for the benefits of wealth (Ṭ); this phrase also appears in 76:8. It is interpreted by some to mean, “because of love for Him,” where the pronoun refers to God rather than to wealth and the preposition ʿalā is read as “because of” instead of “despite.” Many argue that this wealth must be other than what is given in alms (zakāh), since alms is listed later in the verse as one of the things to which one contributes that wealth (R, Ṭ). The recipients of charity listed here (e.g., orphans, the indigent, and travelers) are also mentioned in v. 215; virtuous behavior is enjoined in relation to them in 4:36; part of the spoils of war go to them (8:41; 59:7); and each of these classes of needy people is mentioned singly in many passages throughout the Quran. See also the essay “Quranic Ethics, Human Rights, and Society.” According to some, misfortune (baʾsāʾ) refers to challenges such as poverty, while hardship (ḍarrāʾ) refers to matters such as sickness (Ṭ). Moments of peril (ḥīn al-baʾs) is understood to mean during battle or war or when meeting the enemy (Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

178 Here retribution renders qiṣāṣ, which means retaliation for physical injury, most important for murder; in the context of Islamic Law it also means punishment. It falls under the general legal category of ḥudūd, or corporal punishments for crimes considered especially grievous (see the essay “The Quran as Source of Islamic Law”). The broad legal, social, and cultural context of this verse is the system of tribal feuds and vendettas in the Arabia of the time, which, as the commentators describe, would often escalate to proportions way beyond the original crime. Thus one tribe might retaliate for the killing of a man by killing not only his murderer, but many other members of his tribe, which served the purpose of not only exacting revenge for past crimes, but also sustaining the status and esteem of one’s own tribe. Often a tribe bent on maintaining or exalting its position would target a person of higher social standing than the one who was originally killed: killing a free person for the death of a slave, a man for the death of a woman, a notable for the death of a person of low station (Q). Like vendettas in other cultures throughout history, often the original crime was irrelevant to the ongoing status of the conflict, which was fueled simply by the most recent act of retaliation. The commentators explain this verse as a limitation on such disproportionate use of revenge and as an injunction to carry out remedies strictly in proportion to the crime. This verse was not interpreted as saying that a woman should necessarily be killed if a woman is murdered, for example, or that anyone but the perpetrator was responsible for the act. Rather, it restricts retaliation to just compensation, leading to the prevention of escalating vendettas and a predictable set of consequences for ensuing crimes. Against the prevailing practice, the verse is understood to maintain that responsibility, for a crime is dictated precisely by the nature of the crime. Hence the wording of the verse implies that the retribution for a crime against a woman could neither fall short of nor exceed the retribution appropriate to that crime, which could vary, as will be discussed below. Although a complex part of Islamic Law, the question of retribution for murder does have some basic features. Any punishment must be carried out only by the authorities; this verse is interpreted as disallowing vigilantism. The crime of homicide places the destiny of the perpetrator largely in the hands of the victim’s next of kin, who can (1) request that the authorities carry out retaliation (qiṣāṣ); (2) accept a wergild, or monetary sum (diyah); or (3) forgive the crime. Some legal scholars did not accept retaliation and wergild as equal alternatives in the case of clear and intentional homicide, in which case capital punishment would necessarily be carried out. Most left the choice to the victim’s next of kin. Each option (punishment or wergild), once carried out, cancels the other two. Thus, once a wergild is accepted, the next of kin can no longer seek execution, and vice versa. Some jurists maintain that a killer can refuse the wergild option and submit himself for the punishment against the will of the next of kin (IK). The understanding of qiṣāṣ in Islamic Law resembles lex talionis in Roman Law as well as other systems of compensation/retaliation in the ancient and premodern worlds, including the Anglo-Saxon and other European legal traditions. It also clearly resembles certain laws in the Torah, such as Deuteronomy 19:21 (“life for life, eye for eye . . .”) and Exodus 21:23, which were also interpreted by Jews in terms of compensation, often with a version of diyah, or wergild. The hallmark of such systems, like the Islamic one, is not revenge, but making the punishment proportional to the crime. The Torah’s rules are mentioned in 5:45. Generally the amount of diyah, or wergild, for a woman was half that of a man, reflecting the economic and social position of men and women and the difference in expected financial loss to the family of the victim. As in contemporary wrongful-death civil suits, which calculate compensation based upon expected income that is now lost, the diyah, or wergild, reflects the economic realities of the time. Similar positions regarding the different financial worth and responsibility of men and women underlie the inheritance laws in 4:11–12, where, as a general rule, the inheritance of a woman is half that of a man, in light of the financial responsibilities placed on the shoulders of men in the Muslim family. The majority of jurists make two points of equality a condition of qiṣāṣ, or retribution: both the murder victim and the perpetrator must be free and be Muslims. They say that a Muslim would not be executed for killing a kāfir (a disbeliever), nor a free man for killing a slave, though there would be some punishment in these cases if there was intentional murder. The Ḥanafī school, however, makes no distinction, since for it the operative part of the law is that a life is a life (a life for a life, 5:45) and that it is the fact that a person has been slain, and nothing else, that is operative legally, as in the present verse. Followers of this school also note that the Prophet said, “The blood of all Muslims is equal.” For other possible scenarios all jurists are agreed on the matter of qiṣāṣ, which is to say that there is no distinction made in capital punishment between victims who are male or female, adult or child, sane or insane, or notables or commoners, with the possible exception that some jurists disallow the possibility of forgiveness for someone who murders a woman (IK). Qiṣāṣ is not applied in the case of the killing of someone who has the legal status of a belligerent enemy, which is to say that, although qiṣāṣ would apply for the killing of a dhimmī, or non-Muslim treaty holder (see 9:29), it would not apply during a state of war for the killing of a person from a non-Muslim state with which there was no established treaty. Beyond these general guidelines regarding qiṣāṣ, legal authorities have differed over other considerations, such as whether the death was direct (e.g., by knife) or indirect (e.g., by falling into a pit); how the execution should be carried out; standards of evidence; what constitutes fair wergild (diyah); how it should be paid out, by whom, and to whom; and the role of the state in such matters. These questions gave rise to a variety of opinions regarding qiṣāṣ and the diyah among the various schools of Islamic Law. The second part of the verse enjoins that wergild, if chosen, be collected with propriety and that the payment likewise be paid out honorably (Q). The alleviation refers to the very fact that a wergild can be accepted for homicide. Some interpret this Quranic injunction as being lighter in comparison with the laws of the Children of Israel, although the laws were in many ways similar. The Torah says, “Show no pity” (Deuteronomy 19:21), whereas the Quranic text discourages harshness by saying, But whosoever forgoes it out of charity, it shall be an expiation for him (5:45). The rabbinical tradition, however, did incorporate the possibility of wergild into the law of punishment. The last sentence in this verse is understood to address those who might seek retaliation after the settling of the wergild, which, as mentioned above, cancels any further claim on the part of the next of kin. Should a person accept a wergild, then go on to kill the perpetrator, execution of that person becomes mandatory and no wergild can be accepted from him. 

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# In retribution there is life for you, O possessors of intellect, that haply you may be reverent. 

179 There is life in the exemplary punishment of qiṣāṣ, because it both serves as a deterrent for future crimes and places a concrete value on human life. Moreover, because the maximum revenge is limited to the execution of the perpetrator and vendettas are forbidden, it is a way of preserving life (Ṭ). Possessors of intellect translates ūluʾl-albāb, which literally means “possessors of the kernels,” using the symbolism of the nut to show that wisdom is deeper than the shell, that one needs to grasp and be nourished by the kernel, or inner truth, of things; see also 2:197, 269; 3:7, 190; 5:100; 12:111; 13:19; 14:52; 38:29, 43; 39:9, 18, 21; 40:54; 65:10; 39:9c. 

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# 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. 

180 Bequest (waṣiyyah) is also used in 4:12 and 5:106. Here some good (khayr) means one’s property, as in, Whatever good you spend (2:272), and also, Truly he is fierce in his love for good things (100:8). According to one interpretation, the prescription here is a conditional one, being an obligation upon the reverent only if one leaves some good, which does not make such a bequest a universal obligation. This command would not change the status of those who have debts or other financial obligations, which must be paid from one’s property even after death. Thus the first phrase is taken to mean, “Should one desire to make a bequest.” There are differences of opinion as to what amount must be involved for a bequest to be made; some jurists assign a specific amount, while others consider any sum, large or small, to be a possible bequest (Q). In general there are two main restrictions on bequests in Islamic Law: (1) that they account for no more than a third of one’s property, and (2) that the bequest not be designated for a person who automatically inherits according to the Quranic injunctions concerning shares of inheritance. Some consider this verse to be abrogated completely; others say it is partially abrogated in the case of those legally entitled to an inheritance share as stipulated in 4:11–13, but continues to apply in the case of others (Ṭs). Some, including the Shiites (who have a substantially different interpretation of inheritance law from Sunnis when it comes to the relationship between quota and nonquota heirs), believe that this verse was not abrogated and that nothing in it contradicts any other verse of the Quran. The question of abrogation arises because of the ḥadīth, “Let there be no bequests for heirs.” This ḥadīth, if taken as universally applicable, renders the verses concerning bequests partially incompatible with those describing inheritance shares. It means that one cannot make a bequest for those who, according to the shares specified by the Quran, would receive part of the deceased’s property automatically without any bequest. For some commentators and jurists, such as al-Qurṭubī, the acceptance of this ḥadīth as binding shows that the Sunnah can abrogate the Quran (see 2:106c for a discussion of abrogation), while for others this shows that the present verse is not abrogated for the very same reason, namely, that a ḥadīth, about which one has less certainty (yaqīn) than about the Quran, cannot replace a ruling of the Quran (Ṭs). Al-Qurṭubī acknowledges that the only text preventing a harmonization of the Quranic injunctions regarding bequests and inheritance is this ḥadīth barring bequests for heirs. Some have tried to harmonize them by saying that the parents and relatives here are those who would not inherit in any case (e.g., parents who were disbelievers and thus nonquota heirs). As a moral issue, bequests are to be made first to relatives and only secondarily to nonrelatives; early commentators severely condemned those who would leave relatives in need while giving property to nonrelatives (Q). One proof text for the one-third restriction on bequests is a ḥadīth in which the Prophet said to a man who offered to make a bequest of two-thirds or one-half of his wealth, “One-third, and a third is considerable. It is better to leave your heirs free from want than to leave them destitute and begging from people.” Prior to the institution of the Quranic rules of bequest and inheritance, the custom of Arabia was that male relations would inherit through the male line, called agnatic inheritance. The Quranic shares, which included the nearest male relatives, demoted the customary agnatic heirs to a secondary status in relation to the inheritance shares; they could still inherit under Sunni law, but only from the property left after the quota shares had been distributed. In Shiism, agnatic inheritance is rejected, and a system of proximity in blood kinship is used for the residual property after the distribution of the shares, applying equally for the male and female lines. 

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# Then if anyone alters it after hearing it, its sin shall indeed be upon those who alter it. Truly God is Hearing, Knowing. 

181 This verse means that one cannot alter a bequest, although an inherently invalid bequest can be canceled or modified. A bequest of greater than one-third, for example, would be reduced to one-third, and a bequest to give a person a forbidden substance such as wine could be nullified (Q). 

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# 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. 

182 This verse addresses the possibility that a testator might act prejudicially with regard to his heirs through manipulating his bequests. For example, he might make a bequest to his daughter-in-law with the intent of enriching his son, which would violate the rule that legal heirs cannot receive bequests (Q). A ḥadīth states, “Injustice [janaf, the same word as in this verse] in the matter of bequests is a major sin [kabīrah].” It is the duty of the community to adjust or cancel such bequests when it becomes clear that their intent was to circumvent the Quranic laws of inheritance (Q). Them refers to the heirs, and him to the executor of the estate, the witness of the bequest (as required by 5:106), or whoever has this responsibility (R), although some seem to place the responsibility on the heirs to address this question (Q). There is no sin upon him in such a case because, although altering a bequest would ordinarily be a sin, in this case justice overrules the instructions of the testator (R). The commentators point out that none of this is meant to diminish the virtue of giving charity while one is still “healthy and avid” (ṣaḥīḥ un shaḥīḥ un ), an expression referring to the period of one’s life when one can enjoy one’s wealth. Several aḥādīth speak to this, as for example, “He who spends or gives charity at the time of his death is like one who donates something after he has had his own fill of it.” All jurists agree that during life individuals may do whatever they choose with their property and may give away as much of it as they desire (Q). 

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# O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that haply you may be reverent, 

183 Fasting (ṣiyām, also ṣawm) is the subject of vv. 183–87. These verses address some issues relating to the pre-Ramadan fasting practices of the Muslim community. As constituted in its final form, the obligatory fast of Ramadan is considered by all schools of law to be one of the five pillars of Islam. It consists of abstaining completely from food, drink, and sexual relations from dawn until sunset for all the days of the lunar month of Ramadan. In cases of hardship, including illness and travel, one can eat and drink and then make up for the lost day by fasting on another day after Ramadan or by giving alms if one is unable to make up the fast, such as in the case of diabetics. Women who are pregnant, nursing, or menstruating are exempted from the fast, with varying rules for replacing or expiating for those lost days. The fast of Ramadan was imposed shortly before the Battle of Badr (2/624; Th). Those before you may refer to either the Christians, all the People of the Book, or all people in general (R). 

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# 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. 

184 The phrase days numbered is a subject of disagreement; some identify it as referring to the days of Ramadan, others the days of fasting before the fast of Ramadan was instituted. When the Prophet first came to Madinah, it is said that the community was fasting three days per month in addition to ʿĀshūrāʾ (the tenth day of Muḥarram). According to a ḥadīth, when they arrived in Madinah they found the Jews fasting on Yom Kippur (the same day as ʿĀshūrāʾ), and the Prophet ordered the Muslims to fast that day, saying that they had more right than Jews to celebrate Moses, though the commentaries are inconsistent about the nature of the Yom Kippur celebration. There is disagreement about whether these three days per month were obligatory in the same way that Ramadan would come to be. Those who did not consider the pre-Ramadan fast as obligatory interpret vv. 183–84 as referring to Ramadan itself. Others say the fast of three days per month was the first to be prescribed, which was then abrogated by the fast of Ramadan, but al-Ṭabarī, among others, argues that those who say this have no firm report showing that any fast before Ramadan was made obligatory. It should be noted that fasting three days per month was and continues to be a meritorious deed that many pious Muslims perform in imitation of the Prophet. These three days are typically the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days, or the days of the full moon, or according to some the beginning, middle, and end of each lunar month. It is plausible that before the institution of Ramadan the Muslim community observed this practice, but not in the manner of an obligation, and that after the Ramadan fast became an obligation, it has continued on as a meritorious practice. One opinion holds that the fast of Ramadan was obligatory, but that in the beginning one had the option of feeding one poor person instead, per day of fasting, based upon For those who can bear it, the ransom of feeding an indigent person, but that this injunction was abrogated by Let him among you who is present fast during that [month] in v. 185. Others consider that there had been no abrogation in these verses and hold that those who can bear it refers to old people who could conceivably fast, but for whom it would be a severe hardship (Q). In this latter interpretation, the verb rendered can bear it would mean something like “are burdened.” It would thus mean “they are able to bear” in the sense that “they bear it with difficulty.” This latter meaning is part of the lexical root ṭ-w-q, from which the verb originates (Q). Whosoever volunteers good may refer to feeding people beyond what the verse requires or to providing the person one is required to feed with more than the bare minimum of food (Q). Al-Qurṭubī, among others, offers the idea that fasting is better than expiation and that choosing to fast while traveling or ill, so long as it is not too great a hardship, is better, but adds, “God knows best.” 

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# 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. 

185 Some mention accounts that the Quran first came down to the “earthly heaven” (i.e., the lowest of the “seven heavens”) from the Preserved Tablet (85:22) and remained there and then Gabriel brought it down passage by passage to the Prophet (Q); see 97:1–2c. Muslims consider Ramadan a particularly blessed month, both because it is the month of fasting and also because it is the month when the Quran began to be revealed. In a ḥadīth, the Prophet said, “When Ramadan comes, the gates of the Garden are opened, and the gates of the Fire are locked, and the satans are fettered.” When people fall ill or are traveling, they have the option of breaking the fast and fasting on another day after Ramadan in order to make up for it. Opinions range on how sick one must be and what type of journey qualifies. These exemptions apply in another manner to the canonical prayers, which one can shorten and combine when one is on a journey. To complete the number can mean to make up all missed days of fasting by fasting on days other than those of Ramadan or simply to complete the full number of days in the lunar month itself, which is twenty-nine or thirty days. Magnify God is thought to refer to the practice of chanting extra formulas of takbīr (the chanting of Allāh u akbar, meaning “God is great!” or “God is greater” or “God is the greatest”), which takes place after the fast of Ramadan is over. This magnification takes different forms, such as chanting formulas of takbīr while on the way to the mosque for the ʿĪd prayer (the prayers in the morning after the last day of Ramadan) or repeating magnifications after each prayer during the three days of ʿĪd. Examples are “God is great, God is great, there is no god but God, God is great, God be praised!” and “God is great and grand, and praised be He often, and glorified be He day and night!” See also v. 203. The exemptions from the rules of fasting (for the old, sick, traveling, etc.) are part of the ease that God bestows; the Quran states that God does not desire hardship for you, which is also mentioned in 22:78: He . . . has placed no hardship for you in the religion (Sh). In this regard, some mention the ḥadīth of the Prophet, “Make things easy, not difficult. Cause people to rejoice, not to flee.” So that you may complete either is connected with the previous sentence and refers to more of what God desires or is a continuation of the command to fast from v. 183, so that it would mean, “Fasting is prescribed for you . . . so that you may complete” (Z). 

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# 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. 

186 It is reported that this verse came as a response to some Companions who asked the Prophet, “Where is our Lord?” or “At what hour should we call upon God?” after the revelation of 40:60: Call upon Me, and I shall respond to you. Others mention that it was a response to questions such as, “How shall we make our call, O Prophet of God?” (Ṭ). Others say it was revealed after a Bedouin came and asked the Prophet, “Is our Lord near, such that I shall whisper to Him, or far, such that I shall shout to Him?” (R). In a related vein, the Prophet, while on a journey, reportedly reprimanded some Companions who were shouting their prayers, saying, “You are calling One who is neither deaf nor absent, but are calling One who is Hearing, Near” (R); al-Qarīb (“the Near”) is a Divine Name. Some interpret the verb rendered let them respond to Me (yastajībū) to mean “let them ask of Me,” which would echo the first phrase of this verse (R). This verse is one of the most central and often quoted verses of the Quran concerning God’s nearness to us and the reality of reciprocity between the human call to God and His response. The Prophet said, “Calling [upon God] is a form of worship.” Call renders duʿāʾ, which can also mean “individual prayer,” “supplication,” or “summons” depending on context. It can also be translated simply as “prayer” in the sense that one prays by calling upon God to receive something or to ask for a specific blessing. The sense of “prayer” in this verse is highlighted in M. Lings’ evocative translation of this verse: “I answer the prayer of the pray-er when he prayeth Me,” but duʿāʾ does not extend to all possible uses of the English word “prayer.” A similar passage can be found in 27:62, where God is spoken of as He Who answers the one in distress when he calls upon Him. In 7:55 believers are told, Call upon your Lord humbly and in secret; and in 42:26 it is said, He responds to those who believe and perform righteous deeds. Several other verses mention God’s nearness, such as 50:16: We are nearer to him than his jugular vein; and 17:57, which asks concerning God and other idols, Which of them is nearer? In 34:50 it is said of God, Truly He is Hearing, Nigh. Nearness to God is a part of what it means to be in Paradise, as in 38:25: Truly nearness unto Us shall be his, and a beautiful return; and at the moment of death it is said to those gathered around the dying person, We are nearer to him than you, though you see not (56:85). Other places where God’s Nearness in mentioned include 4:135; 9:99; 34:37. Al-Rāzī and some other commentators connect the message of this verse to the prayers of magnification commanded in the previous verse and also to the alleviation of the requirements of fasting, which came after some Companions had difficulty in fulfilling them (see v. 187). 

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# 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. 

187 Many commentators report that before the revelation of this verse, Muslims would fast after sleeping; after sunset, when one broke the fast, one could eat until the ʿishāʾ prayer (i.e., the end of twilight and the beginning of night), but that sleep would begin the next day’s fast. Upon waking, one would be in a state of fasting. Some maintain that the Muslim community would abstain from sexual activity for the whole of Ramadan, even during the night, though the basis of this account is unclear. This verse is considered an alleviation of those requirements. It is reported that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, the prominent Companion and second Caliph, confessed to having had sexual relations with his wife after she said she had fallen asleep; he was remorseful about it and sought recourse. Commentators also mention Qays ibn Ṣirmah, who came home after a harsh day of work while he was fasting. His wife did not have food for him and went out to get some, but he could not stay awake and was asleep before she returned, so he continued to fast through the next day (Q). Seek what God has prescribed can mean seek to have children; seek to fulfill what Quran commands you; seek the Night of Power, meaning a night during Ramadan when the Quran was first revealed (see 97:1); seek exemption and latitude when it is offered in matters of ritual; or seek to have sexual relations in a legitimate way (IK). The white thread and the black thread refer to dawn and the night, respectively; “the white thread” is an idiom for the day (Q). Various aḥādīth describe the level of light that indicates the start of daybreak and ends the night, whether the indication is seeing light in the sky itself or the illumination of the tops of mountains (IK). Retreat in the mosques refers to the practice of iʿtikāf, during which a person remains in the mosque for a number of days in a state of prayer and remembrance (dhikr). According to many reports the Prophet would spend the last ten days of Ramadan in the mosque in iʿtikāf; during his final Ramadan he spent twenty. 

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# 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. 

188 In addition to noting the plain sense of this verse, which forbids the enticing or bribing of judges, some commentators point out that in the ultimate sense even a sincere judge’s ruling can never render the forbidden lawful or the lawful forbidden. Although judges’ decisions are to be respected, they are not infallible and do not remove the moral weight of one’s actions, for which one will answer on the Day of Judgment (IK). On the matter of adjudicating disputes, the Prophet is reported to have said, “I am only a man, and it may be that when two disputants come to me one will be more eloquent in his argument and I will judge in his favor. But whomever I judge in favor of against the right of a Muslim has only received a parcel of the Fire” (IK). On the question of dispensing justice, see also 4:135c. 

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# 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. 

189 Here new moons (ahillah, sing. hilāl) does not refer to the new moon considered purely astronomically, which refers to when the moon is still invisible (dark moon), but to the first visible crescent of the lunar cycle. During the dark moon, the moon is between the earth and the sun, so that the dark side of the moon faces the earth; this is referred to as lunar conjunction. A lunar conjunction does not usually cause a solar eclipse, because the lunar orbit is tilted several degrees in relation to the earth’s orbit around the sun, and hence the three bodies are only in an approximately straight line. (That is also why the full moon is visible from the earth when the earth is approximately in between the moon and the sun.) The new moon or crescent (hilāl) appears when the moon moves far enough out of conjunction for a thin strip of the illuminated side of the moon to become visible. During the dark moon phase, the sun and moon set together over the western horizon, but at the start of a new lunar month, the sun sets first, leaving the moon just above the horizon for a short time. If the moon is far enough out of line between the earth and the sun, the crescent will become visible before the moon follows the sun below the horizon and disappears. The sighting of this new crescent begins the new lunar month in the Islamic calendar. (In the last part of the lunar month leading up to the dark moon, the moon “sets” before the sun and is below the horizon until it rises later in the night.) On the question of entering houses from their rear or by their doors, it was reported that the Helpers, or Anṣār (the natives of Madinah who had become Muslims), would not enter their houses by their doors when returning from a journey, but would go over a wall instead in order to enter the house (IK). Others relate that the Anṣār and the rest of the Arabs (other than the religious confederation called the Ḥums, which included the Quraysh; see v. 199) would not enter through their doors in a state of iḥrām (a state of ritual purity in preparation for pilgrimage). Others say that when the people of Yathrib would return from a festival, they would enter their houses from the back, considering this to be a pious act. This verse brought the emphasis back to reverence (taqwā) over a superstitious practice (IK). This verse is interpreted spiritually in many Islamic sources to mean that everything should be approached properly and in conformity with its essential nature. Ibn ʿAjībah, for example, notes in his commentary on this verse that spiritual wayfarers on their journey to God have three houses whose gates they must pass through: the Law (sharīʿah), the Spiritual Path (ṭarīqah), and the Truth (ḥaqīqah), each of which has three gates. The three gates of the Law are repentance, obedience, and reverence; those of the Path are sincerity, the purification from faults, and the realization of virtue; and the three gates of the Truth (also translated as the Reality) are concentration, contemplation, and gnosis (spiritual knowledge). That is to say, human beings should approach God through the means He accepts, the means He has given them. 

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# And fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but do not transgress. Truly God loves not the transgressors. 

# 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. 

# But if they desist, then truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. 

# 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. 

# 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. 

190–94 Many of the issues raised in this passage are addressed in the essay “Conquest and Conversion, War and Peace in the Quran.” V. 190 is considered by some to be the first verse in the chronological order of revelation to permit fighting, though others dispute this opinion and consider the first such passage to be 22:39: Permission is granted to those who are fought, because they have been wronged. Among those passages that had previously forbidden fighting (i.e., while in Makkah and initially in Madinah), some list 41:34: Repel [evil] with that which is better; then behold, the one between whom and thee there is enmity shall be as if he were a loyal protecting friend; 5:13: Thou wilt not cease to discover their treachery, from all save a few of them. So pardon them, and forbear; 73:10: Bear patiently that which they say and take leave of them in a beautiful manner; and 88:22: Thou are not a warder over them (IK, Q). Some report that these verses were revealed in connection with the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyah. In 6/628 the Muslims set out from Madinah for Makkah in order to perform the ʿumrah (lesser pilgrimage), but were met on the road by the Makkans at Ḥudaybiyah. There they came to an agreement that the Muslims would turn back, but would be allowed to return to perform the ʿumrah the following year. Then, as the time for that approached, some grew apprehensive about going to Makkah, fearing attack and being called upon to fight in the sacred precinct during the sacred months. This verse was then revealed in order to set the guidelines for engagement (Q, R). Many commentators use this passage to discuss the usual rules of war, such as the prohibition against killing women, children, monks, hermits, the chronically ill, old men, and peasants (IK, Q). For example, Ibn ʿAbbās said, “Do not kill women, children, old men, or those who offer peace and restrain their hand. If you do that, you will have transgressed against them” (Ṭ). The Umayyad Caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (r. 99–101/717–20) commented on this passage in a letter, saying it meant, “Fight not those who do not fight you” (Ṭ). This passage is among the most direct in describing the limits of warfare. Muslims are commanded to fight those who fight them first, to expel those who first expel them, but in doing so they are subject to limits. In transgress against him in like manner as he transgressed against you, the “transgression” that Muslims are ordered to commit is not seen as illegitimate, as the verb transgress (iʿtadā) would ordinarily imply. It is, rather, a legitimate response to aggression and in this sense could also be correctly translated “attack him in like manner as he attacked you” (Ṭ). This is similar to the message of 16:126: And if you would punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith you were punished; and also 42:40: The recompense of an evil is an evil like unto it. In strife is worse than slaying, strife renders fitnah, a word that can also mean “trial,” “temptation,” or “sedition” (see also 3:7; 3:19; 4:91). Among the acts considered worse than slaughter are disbelief, idolatry, and becoming an apostate from Islam in favor of idolatry, as these things lead to perdition in the Hereafter (Ṭ). The phrase could also mean that some fighting now is better than a state of strife that would lead to even greater fighting and death later, an important idea in later Islamic political philosophy. The commentators typically gloss strife as “idolatry” (shirk) and hence also interpret the end of fitnah to mean the end of that idolatry. Some also reason that if they desist means “if they stop being idolaters and become Muslims,” though others simply state that it is the fighting and hostility from which they must desist (R). The interpretation that the conversion of the idolaters is the final goal is problematic, not only in light of the plain sense of this verse, but also in view of other passages, such as 9:6: And if any of the idolaters seek asylum with thee, grant him asylum until he hears the Word of God. Then convey him to his place of safety. This passage makes a clear distinction between those who fight against Muslims and those who do not, those who expel them and those who do not, and little explanation is provided by the commentators who seem to take the position that hostilities begin with fighting and expulsion (political causes), but can end only with repentance and conversion to Islam (spiritual causes). Al-Rāzī mentions that and religion is for God shows that the purpose of fighting is to end disbelief and idolatry, though it is unclear why this would not be simply an extension of the goal of ending the very real danger posed by the idolaters. For more on this issue, see commentary on 8:38–40. Regarding the command do not fight with them near the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you there, it should be recalled that the precinct around the Kaʿbah, the ḥaram, was considered inviolable by the Arabs as a tradition going back to the time of Abraham; see 2:126c. The sacred month for the sacred month refers to the fact that, although according to the terms brokered at Ḥudaybiyah (6/628) the Muslims had to turn back, they were able to return the following year (AH 7) to perform the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumrah) in the month of Dhu’l-Qaʿdah. Retribution for forbidden things refers to the rites of pilgrimage, which were restored by the return in that second year, meaning they were a compensation from God for the rites that they were unable to perform the previous year (Ṭ). The multiple “sacred things” are thought to refer to the sacred or inviolable month, the sacred land of Makkah, and iḥrām (the ritual state of pilgrims before performing the pilgrimage rites; R, Ṭ). Others state that when the Makkans heard that Muslims had been forbidden to fight during the sacred months, they thought they could take advantage of their quiescence. This verse was revealed indicating that if any shed the blood of a Muslim during the sacred month, their blood is liable to be shed in the sacred month as well, meaning that Muslims should observe the inviolability of forbidden things (e.g., spilling blood in the sacred precincts of Makkah), but not to the point of self-destruction (R). 

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# 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. 

195 One casts oneself into ruin by being miserly and ungenerous with regard to giving charity and spending in the way of God or, according to some, by being satisfied with family and wealth and abandoning struggle in the way of God (IK, Ṭ). This verse is also sometimes invoked to condemn recklessness. For example, during a battle with the Byzantines, the Companion Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī heard some people reference do not . . . cast yourselves into ruin when a man charged the Byzantine lines and was killed. He corrected them and said that the verse was revealed in connection with some Companions who had secretly begun talking about their desire to live with their wealth and replenish what they had lost rather than continuing to strive in the way of God (Ṭ). Another interpretation sees this verse as addressed to people who, having committed a sin for which they think they cannot be forgiven, continue sinning because they feel doomed in any case (IK). Instead of turning in repentance, they surrender to moral despair (Ṭ). Others interpret it according to its plain sense, understanding it as a warning to avoid anything that would lead to self-destruction, including courting Divine Punishment by doing what God has forbidden (Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

196 The command to complete . . . the ʿumrah raises the question of whether and/or how the ʿumrah is considered obligatory. The ḥajj, or “pilgrimage,” is one of the five pillars of Islam and is universally considered an obligation upon all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it. The ʿumrah, or “visit,” however, is generally considered to be a voluntary pilgrimage according to Islamic Law, although some scholars consider it to be a requirement like the ḥajj. As will be seen below, the ḥajj and ʿumrah were often performed during the same trip. The ḥajj and ʿumrah are sometimes rendered as the greater pilgrimage and the lesser pilgrimage, respectively, and sometimes ʿumrah is referred to as ḥajj al-ʿumrah. Others take the word complete to mean that once one sets out to perform the ḥajj or ʿumrah, one should complete it without interruption; this is not unlike the obligation to complete a fast outside of Ramadan once it is begun, which is to say one is obligated to finish a supererogatory fast once it has been started, and if one does break it, one must make up that day. Thus one could be commanded to complete the ʿumrah without the ʿumrah being obligatory a priori. This interpretation of the command to complete would also apply to anyone performing the ḥajj for a second time, since the ḥajj is only obligatory once. To complete these rites for God means that one should not perform them for the purposes of trade, meeting people, or other worldly benefits, but only to worship God (Q, Ṭ). This intention is concretely manifested by entering into the state of iḥrām, when many ordinarily permissible things are forbidden (Ṭ). Thus a few commentators say that complete does not mean that either rite is obligatory, but rather means “institute them according to their rules” (Ṭ). The obligation of the ḥajj is, however, established through other verses, such as 3:97, Pilgrimage to the House is a duty upon mankind before God for those who can find a way, as well as in many aḥādīth. But al-Ṭabarī also mentions opinions that consider the ʿumrah to be a requirement associated with the ḥajj in the same way that alms and prayer are two requirements often associated with each other and mentioned together. The schools of law differ on this question, although, as will be seen below, the question tends to become moot since the ʿumrah is often performed in conjunction with the ḥajj. Some read the declension after ʿumrah in a way that would allow the verse to mean, “Complete the ḥajj, and the ʿumrah is for God,” though this is a minority opinion (Ṭ). Being hindered can describe anything that obstructs believers in their performance of the ḥajj, such as being ill or injured or in danger of encountering a hostile party on the way. A person in those circumstances may send such of ering as is easy instead (Ṭ). The of ering is almost unanimously specified to be a sacrifice of, at a minimum, a sheep, but other sacrificed animals, such as cows or camels, are also mentioned (Ṭ). At Ḥudaybiyah (on the road from Madinah to Makkah), when the Prophet and his Companions were hindered from making the ʿumrah, they shaved their heads and sacrificed their animals there, not in Makkah as they ordinarily would have done. Because of this fact, some maintain that for the of ering to reach its place means for it to reach the place where it will be eaten (Ṭ), since most of the animals sacrificed ritually during the ḥajj or ʿumrah are consumed after slaughter. Others argue that depending on circumstances the sacrifice should actually reach Makkah before one shaves one’s head or cuts one’s hair, which is the final act of the ʿumrah (although not obligatory). Since one who is sick is exempted from the ḥajj and ʿumrah in any case, it would seem that being hindered, which can include illness, refers to hindrances that arise after one has already set out in a state of iḥrām (Ṭ). The Ḥanafī school of law, for example, says that if any are on the road and get lost, stung, bitten, or sick, they should send the offering or its monetary equivalent ahead, and then their ʿumrah will be considered complete (Q). In general there is a range of positions regarding what constitutes a hindrance to the pilgrimage, where the offering should go, and whether one needs to make up a missed attempt at the ʿumrah or ḥajj. At the end of both ḥajj and ʿumrah, one usually shaves one’s head or cuts one’s hair, and in the case of one who has a head or scalp ailment preventing this act, a ransom by fasting, charity, or rite is required. Rite (nusuk) here refers specifically to sacrifice, though the word literally means “ritual” or “act of worship.” The ransom of fasting is to fast for ten days; the ransom of feeding the poor is to feed ten poor people; and the ransom of sacrifice is at least a sheep (Q). Let those who enjoy the ʿumrah ahead of the ḥajj refers to one of three combinations of ʿumrah and ḥajj carried out by those coming from outside of Makkah to perform them. In the first case, one enters into the state of iḥrām, performs the ḥajj, and then leaves iḥrām; one then reenters iḥrām and performs the ʿumrah. This is called ifrād, or “isolating.” In the second case, which this verse addresses, one enters into the state of iḥrām, performs the ʿumrah, leaves that iḥrām, then enters into a new state of iḥrām to perform the ḥajj. This practice, sometimes also called tamattuʿ, or “enjoyment,” is when one performs the ʿumrah before the ḥajj, but does not remain in one’s iḥrām between the ʿumrah and ḥajj. In this case one can then “enjoy” being out of iḥrām and free of the restrictions it entails before reentering iḥrām for the ḥajj. In the third case, one performs the ʿumrah, but remains in one’s state of iḥrām and performs the ḥajj, which is called qirān, or “joining.” The schools of law differ over which of these methods is most meritorious. It is reported that the Arabs had severely frowned upon performing the ʿumrah during the time of the ḥajj and were reluctant to do so until the Prophet himself performed the ʿumrah during Dhu’l-Ḥijjah, the month of the ḥajj (Q). Thus, according to one view, since the month of the ḥajj is for the ḥajj and not for the ʿumrah (which can be done anytime during the year), the offering or fasting was instituted if one carried out the “enjoyment” of leaving iḥrām between performing the ʿumrah and ḥajj, since even the performance of the ʿumrah itself during the month of ḥajj is a mercy from God (Q). As for the three days of fasting enjoined for those who are unable to make an offering, opinions differ. Some allow it to be the three days preceding the stay in ʿArafah, others the three days after, when the pilgrims stay in Mina (Q). The seven days are considered by some to be best performed when one returns to one’s homeland, while for others when you return simply refers to the state of leaving one’s iḥrām (Q). Those who were local to Makkah were not subject to these same guidelines regarding the practice of the ʿumrah and ḥajj. One opinion is that those who dwell near the Sacred Mosque are those who would not shorten their prayers if they traveled there, while others place the limits at the border points (mawāqīt) in the environs of Makkah where one enters into a state of iḥrām when intending to perform a pilgrimage. *** 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. 197 The months well known are considered to be Shawwāl, Dhu’l-Qaʿdah, and Dhu’l-Ḥijjah, although some say only the first ten days of Dhu’l-Ḥijjah, since the rules regarding sacrifice change after the Day of Sacrifice. According to many authorities it is discouraged (makrūh) to enter iḥrām for the ḥajj in months other than these; that is, one should not enter iḥrām and stay in it until the ḥajj is performed in Dhu’l-Ḥijjah. Lewdness refers to sexual intercourse, which, if it occurs before the Day of ʿArafah, invalidates the ḥajj and requires a person to make a sacrificial offering and perform the ḥajj again. Others point out that lewdness refers to talking with or about women to whom one is not closely related (in the case of men). A ḥadīth states, “By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, there is no deed between Heaven and earth better than struggle in the way of God, and a ḥajj performed faithfully in which there is no lewdness, iniquity, or argument.” The quarreling does not refer to intellectual disagreements, but to interchanges resulting in anger and insults. Al-Qurṭubī notes that there used to be arguments about the Station of Abraham (see 2:125c), as the Quraysh would observe a spot different from that of the other Arabs. He prefers to think that the prohibition here is about the place and time of the ḥajj, but it could also refer to the practice of boasting that sometimes accompanied the pilgrimage, where some would claim that their ḥajj was better than that of others, that their forefathers were better, and so forth (Q). To make provision means to come materially prepared for the ḥajj and not to rely upon the locals and other pilgrims for food and shelter. The ḥajj is not in any case incumbent upon those without the necessary financial means. At a spiritual level, one can speak of reverence (taqwā) as a provision for the Hereafter, likened to the provision one makes for the pilgrimage in this world (Q). 

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# 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. 

198 This verse is understood to say that commerce is permissible during the ḥajj and that engaging in it does not nullify the ḥajj, though to refrain and devote oneself totally to the spiritual aspect of things is better (Q). Some say the sacred ground is the hill named Quzaḥ, where the leader of the prayer stands to lead the joint maghrib and ʿishāʾ prayers after the pilgrims come from ʿArafah. Others say the verse seems to indicate that it is simply Muzdalifah itself, since it is a place of prayer and remembrance and is where one goes after the stay at ʿArafah (R). One remembers God there through various formulas such as al-ḥamdu li’Llāh (“Praise be to God”), Allāh u akbar (“God is Great”), and subḥān Allāh (“Glory be to God; R). 

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# Then surge onward whence the people surge onward, and ask God for forgiveness. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. 

199 This verse refers to the movement of pilgrims from ʿArafah to Muzdalifah. It is said to be addressed to the Ḥums, a confederation of the Quraysh and other tribes linked by a professed devotion to the Kaʿbah and the ḥaram, the immediate environs around the Kaʿbah. They would not stay with the other people when they went to ʿArafah and hence would not surge onward with the others from there, but rather remained at Muzdalifah, considering it, unlike ʿArafah, to be a part of the ḥaram; they deemed that the entire ḥajj should take place in the ḥaram (Q, R). (This is also the same group identified as not observing the taboo against entering doors while in iḥrām in v. 189). Then surge does not denote temporal succession; rather, the then functions as a kind of logical connector to what precedes it, like “so” or “and so” (Q). 

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# 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. 

200 Rites refers either to the sacrifice of animals, which take place during ʿId al-aḍḥā, or the Feast of Sacrifice, marking the end of the ḥajj, or to all the rituals of the ḥajj whose essential purpose is the remembrance of God (Q). As you remember your fathers points to the custom of the Arabs, at the conclusion of the ḥajj, of engaging in the magnification and celebration of their ancestors’ past glories, often in a spirit of rivalry (Q). Others interpret remember God as you remember your fathers to mean that one should call upon and remember God the way a small child calls upon mother and father, in a state of helplessness, utter dependence, and trust (Q). 

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# 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!” 

201 It is reported that one of the most often repeated supplications of the Prophet was “Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the Fire!” (IK) This supplication is also frequently repeated by Muslims in their individual prayers and appears often in books of prayer. Good in this verse renders ḥasanah, which like many other words derived from the root ḥs-n has the sense of “that which is beautiful.” See also 7:156: And prescribe good for us in the life of this world, and in the Hereafter; 16:30: For those who are virtuous in this world, there shall be good, and the Abode of the Hereafter is better; 16:122: And We granted him good in this world, and surely in the Hereafter he shall be among the righteous. A similar message is given in 42:20: And whosoever desires the harvest of this world, We shall give him some thereof, but he will have no share in the Hereafter. 

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# It is they who have a portion from what they have earned, and God is swift in reckoning. 

202 This verse refers to either the first group, who sought the good of this world (v. 200), or the second group, who sought the good of both this world and the Hereafter (v. 201), or both groups; that is, the person who sought the world would receive some good in the world, while the person who sought both would receive good in both (R). 

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# 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. 

203 Days numbered refers to the eleventh through the thirteenth of Dhu’l-Ḥijjah, which pilgrims spend at Mina, often called the days of tashrīq, a word of uncertain derivation and hence difficult to translate. These are the three days after the Day of Sacrifice, not including that day, and during those days one rite that the pilgrims perform is to cast stones at the columns representing Satan (R, Q). Hastens on after two days means that one stays in Mina for only two days (until the twelfth of the month) rather than remaining three days (until the thirteenth). One then makes a farewell circumambulation around the Kaʿbah, and the ḥajj is complete. The command to remember God is thought to refer to the magnification of God, or takbīr (Allāh u akbar, “God is great!”), recited while throwing pebbles at the columns and also at the times of the prayers during those days. The takbīr during the prayers is recited not only by the pilgrims, but by all Muslims during this period, from the day of the Feast of Sacrifice (the tenth of Dhu’l-Ḥijjah) until the last days of tashrīq (see above; Q). The litanies of takbīr are very similar to those recited at the end of Ramadan, the foundation of which is a variation of Allāh u akbar, Allāh u akbar, lā ilāha illa’Llāh, wa’Llāhu akbar wa li’lLāh i ’lḥamd (“God is Great! God is Great! There is no god but God! God is Great, and praise be to God!”); other litanies are also sometimes added. 

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# 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. 

204 Although many mention specific incidents that may have been the occasion for vv. 204–7, most prefer to see these verses as universal teachings on the nature of hypocrisy (IK, R, Ṭ). Some commentators mention in this context a certain Akhnas ibn Shurayq al-Thaqafī, who feigned interest in embracing Islam and even went so far as to say, “God knows what is in my heart” (Ṭ). The verb rendered impresses can also mean “to please,” “to evoke wonder,” “to cause to marvel,” or “to delight.” Fiercest of adversaries can also mean “most crooked in disputation” (Ṭ). Other commentators mention as the occasion for the revelation of this verse an incident in which some Makkans pretended to want to learn about Islam and asked the Prophet to send a delegation of learned men to teach them. When the delegation was sent, it was ambushed and murdered on the road to Makkah by the Quraysh (Th). 

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# 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. 

205 Turns away can refer to becoming angry or more generally to leaving the presence of those one is deceiving (Ṭ). According to some this verse describes a particular hypocrite who burned some people’s fields and hamstrung their donkey. The tillage refers to crops and agriculture, while the of spring refers to livestock, though some commentators say it can mean any offspring, including human ones (IK, R, Ṭ). Corruption (fasād), literally “rot,” is used here, as in most instances in the Quran, to mean corruption in the broadest sense, including decadence and immorality. Such verses about the corruption of the earth are interpreted by some Muslims to also be referring to injustice in society and also to the destruction of the natural environment, as in vv. 11, 30. 

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# And when it is said to him, “Reverence God, ” vainglory seizes him sinfully. Hell suffices him, what an evil resting place! 

206 The concept of sufficiency (suf ices) is used both in a positive and in a negative sense in the Quran, often in the sense of “serving the purpose” of something, in this case punishing the misdeeds of the worker of corruption; see 2:137c. 

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# And among mankind is one who sells his soul seeking God’s Good Pleasure, and God is Kind unto His servants. 

207 As with the verses above, commentators mention specific individuals to whom the verse may refer, but prefer to see it also as a universal message. This verse is connected with the general precept of “enjoining right and forbidding wrong” (al-amr bi’l-maʿrūf wa’l-nahy ʿan al-munkar), a major ethical theme of the Quran mentioned in 3:104, 110, 114; 7:157; 9:71, 112; 22:41; 31:17. It is reported that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, the second Caliph, commented on this verse, describing the one who sells his soul as “a man who sets out to enjoin right and forbid wrong and is slain.” In this sense sells his soul can also mean “sells his life,” since nafs can also mean “life” in addition to “soul” or “self.” Others suggest that this verse may refer to those Companions of the Prophet who spent money on the emigration from Makkah to Madinah or who lost it by being forced to leave their wealth behind in Makkah when they migrated (IK, Ṭ). Some mention that this verse was connected with ʿAlī’s act of sleeping in the Prophet’s bed while he migrated from Makkah for Madinah during the hijrah in order to buy time for the Prophet, who was a target of the Makkans’ hostility (Th). In its more universal sense one sells his soul means that one gives away one’s selfish desires or one’s life for the sake of God, a virtuous bargain in the ultimate sense. 

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# O you who believe! Enter into peace all together, and follow not the footsteps of Satan. Truly he is a manifest enemy unto you. 

208 Many interpret peace (silm) here to mean “submission” (islām; R, Ṭ), but acknowledge that this is not the word’s literal meaning. Others interpret it to mean “enter into obedience” (IK). All together renders kāf atan, an adverb that can also be read as “altogether” (R), in which case the command would mean “enter into all of it,” not “all of you enter it.” Some report that this verse was revealed in connection with a group of Jewish converts who still desired to observe the Sabbath and other specifically Jewish rituals that did not explicitly contradict Islamic teachings (e.g., by continuing to abstain from certain foods that Muslims are permitted to eat). One possible interpretation is that, if it does mean islām and is addressed to Muslims, it means that Muslims should immerse themselves more deeply and completely in islām and not omit any of its rites and commands (R). Others think that it is addressed to Jews and Christians (i.e., believers in Moses and Jesus), urging them to convert en masse to Islam or to embrace the totality of Islam (Q). The verse can also suggest that when people enter into peace, they should do so together and not be factionalized. Follow not the footsteps of Satan also appears in v. 168; 6:142; 24:21. 

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# And should you stumble after the clear proofs have come to you, then know that God is Mighty, Wise. 

209 The word stumble (zalla) can also mean “to slip” or “to err.” The clear proofs can refer to the Prophet, the Quran, Islam, or all of them (Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

210 An alternate reading of that God should come in the shadows of clouds, with the angels would be “that God should come and that the angels [should come] in the shadows of clouds,” according to which the coming “in the shadows of clouds” would apply only to the angels (Ṭ). Some say this means “that [the Judgment/Command of] God should come,” indicating that what God has promised or threatened will come in the clouds. For some this verse refers to the angels who come at the moment of death (see 32:11 and commentary), while others interpret it as a description of events on the Day of Resurrection (R), as in 25:25: And the day when the heavens are split open with clouds and the angels are sent down in a descent. The commentators are careful to point out that this verse could not mean that God moves from place to place or could even be located in a place, as this would limit God and introduce change into His Nature. That the matter should have been decreed refers to the finality of the Hereafter, when one’s deeds have already been done and there is no adding to or subtracting from them (R); see also 6:8, Had We sent down an angel, then the matter would be decreed. Unto God are all matters returned, which is usually understood to mean their return to Him in the Hereafter, is also found in 3:109; 8:44; 11:123; 22:76; 35:4; 57:5. 

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# 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. 

211 This verse is addressed to the Prophet, and the clear proofs are, according to the commentators, the miracles of Moses such as the casting of his staff, his white hand, the parting of the waters, and the drowning of the Israelites’ enemies (see 7:105–36; Ṭ). The blessing is interpreted to mean the trust and covenant that God made with the Jews; to “alter” it means to deny it or disbelieve in it (Ṭ). Alters renders the verb baddala, which can also mean “to substitute,” and some commentators mention the accusation that Jews engaged in distortion, or taḥrīf, of their scripture (see 2:75c) in this connection (Q). 

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# 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. 

212 This verse is said to have been revealed about the Makkan idolaters, or the Madinan hypocrites, or the Jewish leaders in Madinah who belittled the Muslim community for being made up of the poor and the weak (Th). There are various aḥādīth that describe how the believers who were belittled and mocked will receive great fame on the Day of Resurrection, while their abusers will be humiliated and punished (Q). The Companion Abū Dharr related the following exchange between him and the Prophet: “‘Abū Dharr, look around and find the most exalted man you can see in the mosque.’ I looked, and there was a man sitting wearing fine clothes, and I said, ‘That one.’ Then he said, ‘Look around and find the lowliest man you can see in the mosque.’ So I looked, and there was a weak man wearing tattered clothes, and I said, ‘That one.’ Then the Prophet said, ‘By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, that latter is better in the Sight of God than a world full of that former’s kind.’” God provides for whomsoever He will without reckoning (cf. 3:37; 24:38) can mean either that God does not give a reckoning to anyone concerning what He does or that because of His Infinitude, He does not need to reckon or keep an account of what He gives fearing that it will dwindle (Th). Furthermore, this giving can be both in this world and in the Hereafter (R). For some it could refer to the absence of a reckoning on the Day of Judgment for a select few who will enter Paradise directly, hence without reckoning (R). It can also allude to the incommensurability of God’s Blessings and Punishments, as in 6:160, Whosoever brings a good deed shall have ten times the like thereof (see also 2:245, 261; 4:40; 64:17). It can moreover be seen to point to God’s infinite Mercy and the imponderable nature of Divine Mercy and Forgiveness. 

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# 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. 

213 That mankind was one community refers, for some, to the period between Adam and Noah; al-Ṭabarī states that the exact dates are not significant to the meaning of the verse. Some believe that people were unified in disbelief and degradation, which was then corrected by Noah and later Abraham; others describe a state of unity in submission (islām) to God when all human beings followed one religion (Ṭ, Th). Another interpretation attributes this oneness to the person of Adam, meaning that humanity began as one individual, but then became many. Such a usage of community (ummah) referring to a single person is found in 16:120: Truly Abraham was a community. Others understand one community as an allusion to the pretemporal covenant all human beings made with God, described in 7:172 (Q, Th). See also 10:19, which mentions the one community of the past; other verses (5:48; 11:118; 16:93; 42:8) mention that had God willed, humanity would be one community. Many understand an implied phrase in this first sentence, so that it would read Mankind was one community (and then they differed); then God sent the prophets (R). This reading would explain why God would then send the prophets to judge concerning that wherein they differed. Most commentators reason that the purpose of sending prophets is to correct error and sin, and they would be superfluous if human beings were united in one true religion (R). Another interpretation is that the initial history of humanity was one without the need for the commands and prohibitions of religion, and the sending of prophets mentioned in this verse refers to a later time when prophecy became necessary (Th). Al-Rāzī disapprovingly relates an opinion he attributes to Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ (d. 544 /1149), a prominent Mālikī jurist and theologian, that the first period was one in which human beings acted according to the intellect (both theoretical and practical); that is, they knew that there was a Creator, that one should be good to others, that lying and oppression are bad, that one should be just, and so forth. Pride, envy, and other vices eventually crept in and led to division, which then necessitated the sending of prophets. But such a view would have to take into account that Adam was the first prophet according to Islamic belief, and the clear proofs would have begun with him and continued throughout history. It is useful to recall here that in discussing 3:19 (Those who were given the Book dif ered not until after knowledge had come to them), many commentators point out that after several generations the Jews and Christians came to differ each within their own group, and an analogy can be made with Adam and the initial one community, whose members began as one, but then came to differ among themselves over the truth. The Israelite prophets, for example, were sent to one people with one religion, who nevertheless differed among themselves. See 3:19c (and also 98:4c), where the apparent paradox of differences arising after the coming of revelation is discussed further. Here, as in 3:19 and 98:4, the passage suggests that it is upon receiving truth and guidance that people enter into differences over questions of belief and practice, and that there is something almost inevitable about this occurrence given the tendencies of human nature. Here the Book is taken as the general name for all the revealed books (Sh), or it is simply a specific book, namely, the Torah, if this verse is read in connection with only the Jews and Christians (Ṭ). Clear proofs (bayyināt) refers not only to revealed books, but also to any reality that demonstrates the Truth of God. Some commentators variously identify that wherein they dif ered to be the Truth as such, the revealed Book (including their own), or Islam and/or the Prophet (Sh). 

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# 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. 

214 Similar verses mentioning the testing of faith include 3:142 and 29:2–3. According to some this verse was revealed in connection with the Battle of the Trench (al-Khandaq, 5/627), also called the Battle of the Parties (al-Aḥzāb), which is discussed in 33:9–20; others connect it to the Battle of Uḥud (3/625; Th). It is related that the burden of being exiled and living without their property was a hardship for those who had left it behind in Makkah to migrate to Madinah, and they suffered the taunts and insults of the locals and hypocrites who asked them how long they would sacrifice themselves and their property for a seemingly losing cause (R, Th). The Messenger is not identified, but some interpret it to mean Muhammad; others say that, because all prophets encounter severe trials, it could be a general description of all of them (Th). Perhaps to protect the idea of the perfect faith of the prophets, some interpret the question When will God’s Help come? to mean that, although the Messenger knew the help was coming, he was seeking to hasten it (Q). Examples of prophets being troubled include 12:110: The messengers despaired and thought that they were deemed liars; 15:97: We know that thy breast is straitened; and 26:3: Perhaps thou dost torment thyself that they are not believers. Indeed, the station of prophethood in the Quran does not preclude the prophets’ human vulnerability to fear, sadness, and discouragement. See 21:83, which mentions the story of Job. 

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# 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.” 

215 It is said that this verse was revealed prior to the institution of the formal alms, or zakāh, and thus refers to ordinary charitable giving (Sh, Ṭ). The list of charitable recipients is familiar and appears in one form or another in many places throughout the Quran (e.g., v. 177; 4:36; 8:41; 59:7); see also the essay “Quranic Ethics, Human Rights, and Society.” 

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# 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. 

216 On the general topic of warfare, see the essay “Conquest and Conversion, War and Peace in the Quran.” Some early commentators argued that fighting has been prescribed for you referred only to the Companions of the Prophet and that fighting alongside him was an individual responsibility for each of them, but later became a communal responsibility; that is, after Islam’s precarious beginnings in Makkah, where warfare was forbidden, and its initial phase in Madinah, to which Muslims had migrated to survive and where they continued to fight to ensure their survival as a religious community, Islam itself was no longer in danger of being eradicated, and the universal prescription was lifted (Q, R). Some scholars of the early generations, such as Saʿīd ibn alMuṣayyab (d. 94/713), deemed fighting in the way of God to be an everlasting obligation upon Muslims, while others, such as Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 161/778), said it was a voluntary action (Q). When challenged as to why he would not participate in fighting during the First Civil War, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar (d. 74/693), the son of the second Caliph, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, told his interlocutors, “We did that during the time of the Prophet, when Islam was small, when a man would be tried in his religion, and they would either kill him or torture him. But then Islam became great, and there was no trial (fitnah).” Al-Rāzī notes that the “unanimous consensus,” or ijmāʿ, is that when fighting is called for, it is a communal responsibility, except if Muslim lands are invaded, in which case it becomes an individual responsibility. 

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# 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. 

217 It is said that this verse was revealed in connection with a Companion, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jaḥsh, who led a scouting mission against the Quraysh a year and a half after the migration from Makkah to Madinah, but before the Battle of Badr in 2/624. At an oasis between Ṭāʾif and Makkah, they killed a certain ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥaḍramī, took two prisoners, and returned with the spoils. These Companions claimed to have thought it was the last day of Jumādā’l-Ākhirah, not knowing that it was actually the first of Rajab, one of the sacred months in Arabia, since the calendar was dependent upon sighting the crescent moon (see 2:189c). When they returned to Madinah, the Prophet refused the portion of the spoils they had brought him and told them, “I did not command you to fight during the sacred months.” The Quraysh condemned the breach and accused the Prophet of transgressing the accepted norm of observing the sacred months and spilling blood when it was forbidden. Eventually the matter was settled through a prisoner exchange and the payment of wergild for ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥaḍramī. The verse reminds all concerned that the current state of affairs was a result of Qurayshī transgressions, and that their enmity was unremitting and included not only expelling the Muslims, but preventing them from making pilgrimage and torturing them in order to make them renounce their religion. Any who renounce their religion can reenter Islam, although in such a case some jurists believe that certain obligations, notably the ḥajj, must be performed again. The verb for renounce (irtaddā) is often translated “apostasy,” but this can be a misleading translation in some cases. On the matter of choosing religion the Quran says elsewhere, And say, “It is the truth from your Lord! So whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve” (18:29); There is no coercion in religion. Sound judgment has become clear from error (2:256). It also commands the Prophet to say to the disbelievers, Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion (109:6); and God tells the Prophet and his followers, So leave Me with those who deny this discourse (68:44). Many classical and contemporary scholars, although not a majority, have declared that the mere changing of one’s religion is no cause for punishment by the community, especially in light of the Quranic passages quoted above. Rather, such a move must amount to a seditious or destabilizing act in a political sense. This was, in their view, why the first Caliph, Abū Bakr, took up arms against the tribes who left the Muslim community in the so-called riddah wars, and why the Prophet left many people alone who left the religion. It would explain, for example, why some early religious authorities, such as Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, as well as Abū Ḥanīfah and Sufyān al-Thawrī, did not allow the execution of women who renounced Islam (Q). This would seem to reflect a political and social cause rather than an intrinsically theological one, a cause that would be contingent upon external circumstances. During certain periods of the Prophet’s life, changing religion amounted to changing sides in the political sense and thus to high treason, and hypocrites were among the deadliest of enemies of the early community, often collaborating with the Qurayshī idolaters and those tribes who were allied with them. 

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# 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. 

218 When v. 217 was revealed, it is said that ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jaḥsh and those with him despaired and doubted that they would receive merit for their actions, even though they were absolved of having committed a crime, and this verse was a comfort and promise to them (R). The notion of hope reflects the idea that no reward is certain, that everything is in God’s Hands, and that one might still die a disbeliever, but it may also be understood as a descriptive statement, indicating that believers should approach God with an attitude of hope and fear (R). This idea of hope is also connected by some with 2:46 (Who reckon that they shall meet their Lord and that they shall return unto Him) in that the hoping and reckoning are descriptions of both what believers do and what they are called to do. 

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# 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 

219 For a discussion of the proscription of drinking wine, see 4:43c. Gambling renders maysir, which literally denotes one type of gambling; gambling more generally is known as qimār. In maysir people draw arrows over meat, akin to drawing straws; the loser has to pay for the meat without getting any and is chided and ribbed, while the winners give their portions to the poor as a demonstration of generosity (Z). In this connection many of the commentators discuss various kinds of “play” (laʿb) and debate their legitimacy. In Islamic Law generally gambling in the form of wagering is forbidden, while playing games, such as chess and backgammon, as an idle pastime is frowned upon by many as a spiritual distraction, usually without being forbidden outright. Both games in fact came to the West from the Islamic world, and not being forbidden in the technical legal sense, both are popular among Muslims, even many devout ones. Regarding the benefits for mankind in wine, al-Qurṭubī mentions that it helps with digestion, makes a miserly person magnanimous, gives boldness to the timid, gives color to the face, helps one to have sex, and makes one feel good for a short time. (Although this verse mentions specifically wine, Islamic Law understands this ruling to apply to all alcoholic drinks.) As for the benefits of gambling, he mentions that one can acquire wealth without effort and that the poor can benefit, since it was customary for the winners to distribute the meat of the maysir. As for their harm, intoxication leads to loss of one’s rational faculties, quarreling, violence, promiscuity, impaired judgment, and forgetting the remembrance of God. In later judicial philosophy, the ruling on intoxication played a major part in identifying “protection of the intelligence” as one of the essential objectives of the Law (maqāsid al-Sharīʿah). Similarly, gambling creates enmity and despair (R), produces ill-gotten gains, and is thus a diversion from the healthy and wholesome pursuit of profit and gain. The risk associated with gambling factors into Islamic financial theory, in that certain kinds of transactions are invalid because they entail excessive risk, and this risk is related to the prohibition against ribā (usually but imperfectly translated “usury”), which is discussed by some Islamic financial theorists as carrying a severe form of risk. Ribā is discussed in vv. 275–80. On the question of spending in charity, what can be spared renders al-ʿafw, which means “what is easy” or “what is done without difficulty” (R) and in other contexts means “pardon” or “forgiveness.” There is disagreement over whether this refers to voluntary giving or to a required duty. Among those who uphold the former view are those who believe that this directive was abrogated by the institution of the alms (zakāh); others point out that there is no contradiction between the existence of the institution of the zakāh and a command to give charity (Q). The commentators note here that this means that one should be neither miserly nor improvident in matters of charity and that one should never impoverish oneself as a result of charitable giving. This verse is seen as expanding upon the question of giving in v. 215, which describes the recipients of charity, by further describing how much one should give (Q). The extent of proper charitable giving is also discussed in 17:29: And let not thine hand be shackled to thy neck; nor let it be entirely open. 

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# 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.” 

220 The Quranic theme of the Hereafter’s superiority over this world is connected here with wine and gambling; one should reflect upon the transitory goods and lasting evils engendered by them and judge them in relation to the fleeting world and the abiding Hereafter (IK, R, Ṭ). It is possible to read the end of the previous verse and the start of this one as “Thus does God make clear, in this world and the Hereafter, the signs.” Other verses that mention taking care of orphans’ property include 4:10 and 6:152. It is related that Muslims were scrupulous in keeping the property of orphans separate and would eat and drink from completely separate sources so as not to consume what belonged to the orphans; when this became difficult for the custodians, they would therefore sometimes stay aloof from the orphans in their care, so that at times the property of the orphans would spoil or become ruined (Ṭ). It is useful to remember that an orphan’s inheritance would have often been in the form of fruit trees and livestock, and it is precisely through using them (e.g., by picking the fruit and riding and breeding the livestock) that their value and usefulness would have been maintained until the orphan could grow up and take possession of them. Another opinion sees this verse as addressing not a prior Muslim practice but a prevailing Arab custom of staying separate from orphans, not eating together with them or riding on the mounts used by them, as it was considered inauspicious or an ill omen to be guilty of stealing from an orphan even in pre-Islamic Arabia (Q). In the Quran the opposite of corruption (ifsād or fasād) is often an act of setting matters aright, or iṣlāḥ, related by root to ṣulḥ, meaning “peacemaking” or “reconciliation,” and ṣāliḥ or “righteous.” “Intermingling” means drinking the same drink, eating the same food, riding the same mounts, being served by the same servants, and so on (Ṭ). The message in this verse is to deal equitably with the orphan’s property, which is legally inviolable, but whose inviolability is not meant to harm the orphan. Hence reasonable latitude is given for the just use of an orphan’s property, avoiding a pedantic and counterproductive separation between the custodian’s property and that of the orphan (Q, R). They are your brothers is not conditional upon the preceding phrase, if you intermingle with them; rather, it is a clarification that intermingling with their property in a just fashion carries no blame (IK, R). That God could have put you to hardship highlights the inherent difficulties associated with maintaining the property of orphans, and that to balance the responsibility of disposing of that property with observing its intrinsic inviolability is often a matter of judgment. This judgment is itself overseen by God, who knows the one who works corruption from one who sets aright. For a longer treatment on other aspects of the law pertaining to orphans, see commentary on 4:2–10. 

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# 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. 

221 Islamic Law allows for marriage with women among the People of the Book, but not with idolaters, a permission given in 5:5, which states that the chaste women of those who were given the Book before you are lawful to marry. Some commentators believe that 5:5 partially abrogated the ruling in this present verse so as to allow marriage between Muslim men and women from among the People of the Book (R, Ṭ), but the question arises only if the People of the Book were to be taken as a class of idolaters. Many maintain that the prohibition against marrying idolaters was never directed against the people of the Book (Q). In either case, the final legal ruling allows marriage with Jews and Christians, though some jurists have also included in this category marriage with Zoroastrians and, in India, with Hindus. A minority opinion held that in fact this verse abrogates 5:5 and hence no marriage with a non-Muslim is allowed. And marry none to the idolaters is most often, but not always, understood as a command to not give any Muslim woman in marriage to a non-Muslim man. For the related subject of marrying believing slave women, see also 4:25c. 

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# 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. 

222 This verse is understood to prohibit vaginal intercourse during menstruation without prohibiting other contact. The commentators mention that before Islam menstruating women would not sleep in the same bed or eat from the same plate as others, Arab customs that may have been influenced by Jewish (Leviticus 15:19–33) or Zoroastrian (Avesta, Vendidad 16) prescriptions and proscriptions, which mandated a relatively high level of separation for menstruating women and the ritual purification of objects that they had touched (R, Ṭ). For some the hurt (adha) refers to the discomfort it causes women (Q); many others understand it to mean “uncleanness” specifically relating to the menstrual blood (R, Ṭ); still others simply gloss the hurt as a reference to the blood without attaching the notion of uncleanness to it. Some interpret until they are purified to mean the cessation of the flow of menstrual blood. Most schools of law understand this verse to mean that a woman, at the end of her period, should perform the major ablution, or ghusl, which entails a washing of the entire body ritually with water, before having intercourse. Under certain circumstances the Ḥanafī school allows intercourse after the cessation of blood, but before the major ablution, or ghusl. There is no formal expiation or punishment for having intercourse during menstruation, although some monetary payment to the poor such as a dīnār or half a dīnār is sometimes mentioned in this connection (Q). It is not considered a major act of disobedience, although pious Muslims refrain from it. Other actions generally prohibited for menstruating women include the canonical prayer (ṣalāh), fasting, circumambulation of the Kaʿbah during the ḥajj or ʿumrah, reciting the Quran aloud, and physically touching the Quran. Also restricted are remaining inside the mosque (rather than passing through) and retreat in the mosque (iʿtikāf), although these seem to have more to do with blood staining the mosque than any other concern. In this vein, the Prophet asked his wife to bring him a mat from the mosque. She said, “I am menstruating.” And he said, “Your menses are not in your hands.” Go in unto them in the way God has commanded you refers to resuming vaginal intercourse, which is forbidden during menses. Jurists are unanimous in forbidding intercourse during menstruation as well as anal sex at any time, but in general have allowed other types of physical affection and fondling during menstruation. In many aḥādīth it is reported that the Prophet would not stay aloof from his wives during their periods, but would show them physical affection such as kissing and fondling, short of engaging in intercourse. Other than ensuring that an item be cleaned if menstrual blood comes in contact with it, Islamic teaching does not deem the touch of a menstruating woman to be unclean or to render anything unclean, although she should not touch the Quran. 

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# 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. 

223 This verse is seen by some as giving permission for any kind of vaginal intercourse, the symbolism of tilth referring to procreation (IK, Ṭ). In a clash of prevailing customs, some Companions abhorred intercourse in positions where the man was behind the woman, while others practiced intercourse in all positions. In some cases, Emigrants from Makkah married Helpers, who were natives of Madinah, and the latter refused certain positions for intercourse. In some accounts, certain Companions came to the Prophet to inquire about these matters, which served as the occasion for the revelation of this verse. In some narrations, the Prophet said of this verse, “A single orifice” (Ṭ), referring to vaginal intercourse. Most commentators note that the grammar of the verse in Arabic denotes direction and place and devote their primary attention in commenting on this verse to “in what part of the body” one has intercourse and “coming from what direction”; they are generally emphatic that this verse does not refer to “when” or “how” or at whose behest intercourse takes place (R, Ṭ, Ṭs). Send forth means to perform good deeds that will benefit one in the Hereafter; see 5:80–81c; 82:5c; 75:13c. 

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# 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. 

224 Rules regarding oaths are also discussed in 5:89: God will not take you to task for that which is frivolous in your oaths, but He will take you to task for the oaths you have pledged in earnest; and 68:10: So obey not any vile oath monger. These verses all convey the message against making excessive oaths and emphasize the seriousness of taking an oath; even in pre-Islamic Arabia it was considered a vice to be immoderate in oath taking. The present verse condemns oaths against righteous behavior, such as swearing never to speak to relatives, to give charity, to make peace between two people, to reverence God, or, in general, to perform some good deed (Q, Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

225 This verse is interpreted by some to refer to the habit of repeating “by God” (wa’Llāhi) for emphasis in everyday speech, which was a common habit among the Arabs and continues today even among non-Arab Muslims and nonMuslim Arabs. Others mention that it could refer to a situation in which a person believes something to be true, swears to it, and then finds out the belief is incorrect, in which case no expiation is required. This verse is also taken to exclude oaths taken in anger (Q). 

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# Those who forswear their wives shall wait four months. And if they return, God is Forgiving, Merciful. 

# But if they resolve on divorce, truly God is Hearing, Knowing. 

226–27 These verses address the practice of a man staying away from his wife but not divorcing her, leaving her without the sexual benefits of marriage and without the freedom to marry another, which in pre-Islamic times could last years (Q, R). In this context to forswear means to make an oath that one would not have sexual relations with one’s wife. To forswear in this sense is not the same as divorce, and the period of four months sets an upper limit on this abstention within marriage. Specifically, it is understood to draw a line beyond which the abstention is taken as an intent to cause harm to the wife (R). If they return means that they resume intercourse; the return is still valid if one intends to return to one’s wife, but is hindered for some reason, as the intent to cause harm no longer exists, while for some it simply means that one bear witness that he has returned (Q, Ṭ). Many understand God is Forgiving, Merciful in this context to indicate that no expiation is necessary if they return (Ṭ), though others believe some form of expiation, such as feeding the poor, is necessary, as returning to one’s wife would then constitute going back on the oath of staying away from her (Ṭ). Some say that these stipulations only apply when the oath is made in anger with the intent to cause harm, and that when someone swears not to have sexual relations for some other reason, for example, with the intention of protecting the well-being of a nursing child, the ruling of this verse does not apply (IK, Q, R, Ṭ). Others say that the forswearing mentioned here can refer to any oath that keeps one from having sexual relations with one’s wife, while others say that the forswearing need not even pertain to sexual relations, but may pertain to any matter where the intent is to cause harm to the wife, such as not speaking to her or touching her (Ṭ). Perhaps the most serious point of disagreement is whether, upon the completion of the four months, divorce is effected automatically in the eyes of the Law or whether other steps must be taken. Some maintain that after the period of four months, divorce could be imposed by a judge at the request of the wife (Q, Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

228 In the type of divorce discussed here, called ṭalāq, the husband declares divorce from his wife, after which she observes a period of waiting (ʿiddah) amounting to three courses, during which the couple do not have sexual relations, before the divorce is final. These three courses are three menstrual periods, but some disagreement exists over whether the courses (qurūʾ) are marked by the actual menstrual flow, the flow’s cessation, or by the ritual washing (ghusl) that allows the wife to then perform the canonical prayer. Until the waiting period is over, the husband can still withdraw his intention to divorce and the couple can resume normal marital relations. It is not lawful for them to conceal means that they should not conceal any possible pregnancy from the husbands who have just divorced them. That the husbands have better right to restore them during that time means that husbands, being the party who initiated the divorce, retain the right to resume the marriage before the waiting period is over. In Islamic Law the wife’s options for divorce do not operate under the rubric of ṭalāq divorce, but under khulʿ divorce, discussed in v. 229 and 4:20. The women appears in brackets in place of the feminine plural pronoun. According to some, [The women] are owed obligations the like of those they owe means that each side owes something to the other—that is, wives should obey their husbands and husbands should treat their wives well and with respect; for others, it means that women have a right to sexual relations similar to that of men (Ṭ). It is reported that Ibn ʿAbbās said, “I beautify myself for my wife, just as she beautifies herself for me” (Q). For others, it is a question of mutual protection from harm, where the man does not harm the wife through an endless cycle of divorce and reconciliation, and the wife does not harm the husband by hiding what she might be carrying in her womb (Ṭ). Others mention that the point of marriage is closeness, love, and peace, which should be shared between husband and wife, and al-Rāzī says, “One might even say that [in this] the share of the woman is more abundant.” In And men have a degree over them, many commentators understand a kind of noblesse oblige. Ibn ʿAbbās is reported to have said, “This degree is a reference to men’s encouraging good relations and their generosity toward women in wealth and virtuous behavior, which means that the one possessing the upper hand must be biased against himself” (Q). Others state that this degree over them consists of men’s economic advantages and also obligations and their ability to fight in the way of God (although some female Companions of the Prophet did participate in fighting) or refers to qualities such as strength and intelligence (Q). Interpreted spiritually, this verse can mean that the soul (nafs) has rights owed to it and rights that it owes, which in the context of Islamic spiritual psychology means that, although the spirit (rūḥ) dominates over the powers of the soul, it is precisely through the soul that spiritual progress takes place. Thus, one must be gentle with the soul, letting it rest when it needs it, to ensure healthy spiritual progress (Aj). The wedding of the soul to the spirit is a common motif in Islamic spiritual literature. 

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# 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. 

229 A couple can reconcile after a declarative divorce (ṭalāq) only twice. After the third divorce declaration, the divorce is final. The third divorce declaration is referred to either by the phrase release [her] virtuously or, in v. 230, Should he then divorce her (Q). In the other main type of divorce, called a khulʿ divorce (see also 4:20), the wife initiates the divorce and can give a ransom as part of obtaining the divorce. That is to say, a wife’s property becomes material to the khulʿ divorce procedure, while the man may divorce without any transfer of wealth, which is the inverse of the procedure of marriage, where a wife collects a bridewealth from her husband as a part of the marriage contract, but has no financial responsibility within the marriage. Put another way, a man negotiates his way into a marriage through the bridewealth, and a woman can negotiate her way out of a marriage through the khulʿ divorce process. It is not lawful for you to take aught from what you have given [your wives] refers to the bridewealth given to wives as stipulated in the marriage contract (see 4:24c); your wives appears in brackets in place of the feminine plural pronoun. The verse makes an exception in cases where a wife may, in the absence of mistreatment from her husband, negotiate a divorce from her husband by returning some or all of her bridewealth. A husband cannot initiate a ṭalāq divorce and then ask for any part of the bridewealth back, except in certain cases, such as a marriage that is not yet consummated, in which case he can expect half to be returned (see v. 237). Nor can he mistreat his wife in order to compel her to seek a khulʿ divorce and thereby regain some or all of the bridewealth. In one example, described as the first instance of such a khulʿ divorce, a wife came to the Prophet and complained about her new husband’s repulsive physical appearance, and the Prophet divorced them after negotiating the return of the two orchards her husband had given her (IK, Q, R, Ṭ). The limits set by God are those rules established by God governing marriage and divorce (Q, R). A fear that the couple will not uphold the limits set by God as a condition for khulʿ divorce is generally interpreted to mean a fear that the couple would not be able to sustain a lawful marriage with its obligations of companionship and sexual relations and its prohibitions against adultery and abuse. Some have concluded that such a fear is not a necessary condition for a khulʿ divorce; others say that both spouses must have that fear. Still others assert that the wife’s fear is enough, but that a man’s fear alone is not sufficient (Q, Ṭ); that is, if a wife wishes to remain married, but the husband does not, for whatever reason, a khulʿ divorce is not permissible, and he can take no part of her property as part of a divorce. In the ṭalāq divorce, initiated by the husband, the wife retains all her wealth. Others have interpreted so if you fear to refer to the Muslim community’s judgment of the couple. Indeed, some opinions grant arbiters, chosen by the spouses to help them reconcile their marital differences, the power to divorce them or to recommend divorce, if the arbiters think no reconciliation is possible (see 4:35c). For some commentators khulʿ divorce is connected with the presence of “discord and animosity” in the marriage (nushūz; see commentary on 4:34–35, 128) coming from both sides, as evidenced by the plain sense of the verse, which uses the dual form (that the two should fear). Others deem the “discord and animosity” operative in the khulʿ divorce to be what originates from the wife in the form of clearly expressed statements of hatred, physical aversion, disrespect, or contempt toward her husband (Q). But these two opinions are not contradictory, as such negative feelings on the part of the wife, even in the absence of any intentional ill-treatment by her husband, can easily produce negative emotions on the part of the husband. In commentaries on this verse, there is a general message that a bad marriage could lead to other evils such as adultery and social instability and that two people who are denied companionship and intimacy may grow resentful, angry, and open to disobedience (R). Opinions vary over the upper limit to be negotiated. Some say it should not exceed the amount of the bride wealth. Others say it can be any amount, since no figure is given in the verse. But even those who allow the amount to exceed the bride wealth think that it is shameful and reprehensible to accept it (Q, Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

230 The prohibition against the couple remarrying each other after the third divorce declaration unless and until the woman marries and divorces another man is an extension of the logic of limiting declarative divorce (v. 229) and the “forswearing” of marital relations (v. 226). That means that if a man were free to remarry his wife after three divorce declarations, he would then be free to conduct yet another three divorce declarations and repeat the process continuously, thus keeping the wife from the full enjoyment of marriage (through successive waiting periods) while denying her the freedom to marry another. Forbidding a man from remarrying a woman after making her wait three sets of three courses (one set after each divorce declaration) limits the harm he can inflict on her and discourages him from declaring divorce, since the prospect of remarrying a woman who is married to someone else is in most cases unlikely. According to most jurists the intervening marriage needs to have been consummated for the original couple to remarry (R, Q, Ṭ). This condition applies for those who have carried out three divorces; remarriage with only a single divorce declaration is discussed in v. 232. 

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# 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. 

231 Keep them so as to cause harm refers to the practice of declaring divorce, then taking one’s wife back just before the waiting period is over, and repeating this action in order to harm her (Ṭ; see commentary on 2:229–30). And thus transgress could also be read “in order to transgress.” In this context, to take God’s signs in mockery means to declare divorce and then say, “I was only playing,” or to take a similar attitude with any matter of marriage and divorce (Ṭ). On the idea of taking God’s signs in mockery, also see 5:57–58; 31:6; 45:9, 35. The Book and Wisdom are mentioned together also in v. 129; 3:48; 4:113; 5:110; 45:16; 62:2. 

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# 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. 

232 It is said that this verse was revealed when a man balked at the idea of his sister, who was divorced and single, remarrying the man who had divorced her (Ṭ). This verse allows a couple to remarry even after they have gone through a complete legal divorce, but not in the case of the third consecutive divorce declaration; on the matter of remarrying after the third divorce declaration (ṭalāq), see 2:229c. 

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# 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 wetnursed, 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. 

233 This verse addresses the status of women who bear children from husbands who have divorced them, since feeding and clothing one’s wife is an obligation of marriage in all cases. Two full years is the maximum time period during which the father must provide material support to the nursing mother, although the parents can agree to a shorter period of nursing, as stated later in the verse, by their mutual consent and consultation. The mother can nurse for a shorter period, and the father cannot compel her to continue, but he must provide support if necessary for up to two years of nursing (Q). That the father must provide for them and clothe them means that he must, according to his means, provide what he can. The verse acknowledges that not all fathers can provide equally, since one must do so honorably (bi’l-maʿrūf), meaning to an honorable or morally acceptable level, which is reinforced by the recognition that no soul is tasked beyond its capacity (cf. 2:286; 6:152; 7:42; 23:62; 65:7). See also 46:15 and 31:14, which discuss the length of pregnancy and nursing. That neither parent be harmed on account of the child relates to either nursing or custody, or both. The mother is not to harm the father by refusing to nurse his child or by trying to keep the father away, and similarly the father is not to harm the mother by keeping her child from her and refusing to let her nurse the child when she wishes to do so (Q, Ṭ). Several opinions are offered regarding the identity of the heir who has obligations similar to those of the father, should the latter pass away. It is generally understood to refer to the heirs of the father, who inherit a portion of the wealth upon which the nursing mother and child have a claim. Upon the father’s death, during the two-year period, these heirs are responsible for the material support prescribed in this verse (Q). Others say it refers to agnates (ʿaṣabah, male relatives through the male line), and others consider it to mean any relative too close in blood relation to marry (Q). Another opinion states that the heir is the child himself or herself, in which case the support would come from what the child inherits from the father, but if there are no such funds, it falls upon the state to support the child, and if the state does not, it falls upon the community (Q). Some interpret the heir’s obligation to include only the intent not to harm the parent by means of the child, while others say the heir’s obligation also includes the material support to the mother the father would have been obligated to provide (Q). If both parents agree, the child can have a wet nurse, who would be paid for by the father, not the mother (Q). Most jurists agree that, so long as she does not remarry (presumably because they reason a father would not willingly allow his child to be raised by another man), the mother has greater right to custody and to raise the child than does the father. There are varying opinions on this matter, and some allow the child to choose after a certain age (Q). 

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# 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. 

234 Widows are to wait four months and ten days before they can remarry, unless they are pregnant, in which case they wait until they deliver, whichever period of time is longer (IK, Q); this is also discussed in v. 240 and 65:4. What they do concerning themselves refers to their entering into a new marriage after the period of waiting. Wait by themselves is taken by some jurists to mean that they cloister themselves in their homes, on the basis of certain aḥādīth that point to widows keeping themselves home and not putting on perfume or ornaments (Q). Other prominent early jurists, such as Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, say the text simply refers to refraining from marriage. In contrast to the waiting period outlined here, it is related that in pre-Islamic times widows were often required to wait a year, observing such practices as wearing their worst clothes, neither grooming nor bathing, and marking the end of their mourning by leaving their house; the end of the mourning period was marked by flinging a piece of animal dung and rubbing the front of their bodies with an animal, acts of unclear significance (IK). 

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# 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. 

235 Intimating a proposal means that one can express a desire for marriage, yet stop short of proposing and making an agreement. For example, a man can say, “I hope I can marry a righteous woman,” or, “I do not wish to marry any other woman,” or, “I desire to marry,” but he would not be allowed to say, “Promise me you will marry me and not another person” (IK). Actually contracting a marriage during this time period is forbidden. Save that you speak in an honorable way means that one’s interaction with widows should not go beyond the limits of the intimation mentioned at the start of the verse (IK). Do not pledge your troth with them secretly can mean either that they should not agree to marry or that they should not consummate a marriage (IK, Q). Some say that if two people actually consummate a marriage before the waiting period expires, the two are forbidden to marry each other forever, and the woman must remain unmarried for the remainder of the waiting period from her dead husband and the waiting period from her premature marriage. If they contract an agreement to marry, but do not consummate, then they must wait out the waiting period, after which the man must propose again (IK, Q). 

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# There is no blame upon you if you divorce women not having touched them or not having designated a bride wealth. But provide for them—the wealthy according to his means, the straitened according to his means—an honorable provision: an obligation upon the virtuous. 

236 See 33:49, which also discusses divorce before the consummation of a marriage. Not having touched them refers to consummation of the marriage. This verse refers to the case in which a couple have contracted a marriage, but have not consummated it or agreed upon the bride wealth yet. As with the bride wealth itself, a wealthy man would give a different amount than a poorer man in this set of circumstances. Some say that if the couple cannot agree on an amount, it should be half of the bridal payment of those with similar means (see next verse). On bridal payments in general, see 4:24c. 

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# And if you divorce them before touching them or designating a bride wealth, 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. 

237 He whose hand holds the marriage tie is the husband himself, in which case he would forgo the half of the bridal payment that he could legitimately expect to get back (IK, Q). In this case “holding the marriage tie” refers to the husband’s prerogative of divorce (see v. 228), since it is he who is exercising his power to divorce his wife; this verse refers to divorce declared by the husband (ṭalāq), not khulʿ divorce (see v. 229; R). The party nearer to reverence would then be the one who forgoes one’s “half” and allows the other party to have the entirety of the bride wealth after the divorce, thus realizing the virtue of bounteousness among yourselves (Q, R). Others interpret the holder of the marriage tie to be the legal guardian (wakīl) whose permission is usually necessary for a woman to marry, in which case the wife would, with the guardian’s approval, forgo the half of the bride wealth she had been entitled to keep. The difficulty with this position is that, although the guardian is necessary for marriage, he has no legal control over the bride wealth, which is the personal property of the wife (Q). There is an opinion that consummation is not necessary for a man to lose his right to half the bride wealth, and that if the husband is secluded with his wife in such a way that consummation was possible, he must pay the bridewealth in full (IK, R). 

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# Be mindful of your prayers, and the middlemost prayer, and stand before God in devout obedience. 

238 To be mindful of your prayers means one should observe them in a timely fashion, during the time when they are meant to be offered, and also to be fully present and concentrated while praying (IK, Ṭ). The prayers refer to the five canonical prayers, but there is no general consensus regarding the meaning of the middlemost prayer; it is identified variously as one or another of the five daily prayers, although some maintain that its identity is unknown (Ṭ). Others consider it to be the congregational Friday prayer (jumuʿah), or the ʿĪd prayer, or even the five prayers together (IK). Regarding the concept of devout obedience, which also connotes silence, obedience, and humility among other virtues, see 2:116c; 3:17c; and especially 4:34c. 

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# 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. 

239 One can be fearful when in battle or under persecution. Commentators mention that in cases of fear, such as during open warfare, one can pray while riding or walking, whether it is in the direction of the qiblah (facing the Kaʿbah) or not. One can, rather than bow and prostrate, nod and lightly move one’s head in a manner corresponding to the motions of the prayer; according to some, one can shorten one’s prayers down to one cycle of prayer, rather than two, three, or four (IK). Prayer in conditions of fighting and fear is discussed in detail in 4:101–2. 

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# 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. 

240 Some believe this verse’s ruling was abrogated by the waiting period of four months and ten days described in v. 234, but others see no contradiction between the two, understanding the present verse to be affirming the option of a widow to receive up to one year of maintenance while living in her late husband’s house; if she remarries before that, there is no blame upon the heirs of the husband for stopping their support (Q). That which they do concerning themselves is similar to the phrase in v. 234. Others say that this was abrogated by the inheritance shares of 4:12 (Q). But if this is seen as a right to reside and receive sustenance for a year with the option of leaving earlier, there is no necessary contradiction and no need for abrogation. 

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# And for divorced women an honorable provision—an obligation upon the reverent. 

241 The message of this verse is similar to that in v. 236, though that verse pertains to women divorcing where the marriage was yet to be consummated, while the present verse has a general import and places an obligation upon all men to make some manner of provision for women they divorce (IK). 

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# Thus does God make clear unto you His signs, that haply you may understand. 

242 The showing or making clear the signs (of God) is a common refrain throughout the Quran (e.g., 2:266; 3:103; 5:89; 24:61), and the use of thus (kadhālika) signifies a specific referent, namely, that on the preceding questions of divorce God makes His signs clear, but it also serves as a reminder that God does so in general. 

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# 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. 

243 It is related that this verse refers to a group among the Children of Israel who fled either a plague or war, apparently in disobedience, in order to reach a place of safety, but were nevertheless caused to die, after which a prophet was sent to revive them (Q, Ṭ). In this context some commentators mention that the Prophet Muhammad commanded people not to flee a place where there was a plague or to travel to a place where there was a plague (Ṭ, Th). Some say that the historical people or time is unimportant, as a theme of the verse is that God has the Power of life and death over human beings, that they cannot determine their own life and death, and that the Prophet and believers should take a lesson from this fact, especially since the subsequent verse mentions a command to fight in the way of God (Q). Some commentators see this verse as a reference to the story described in Ezekiel 37:1–14, where Ezekiel is commanded to revive a valley filled with dry bones (Ṭ), but the Biblical account does not contain mention of why the valley was full of bones, and beyond the revival of the dead there are no similarities between the two accounts. 

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# So fight in the way of God, and know that God is Hearing, Knowing. 

244 Some think that fight in the way of God is the command given to those who were revived in v. 243; others assert that because the grammar indicates a direct address, not a historical narration, the verse should be read as a general moral injunction to believers to struggle for the truth (Q, R, Ṭ), which can be a spiritual as well as physical struggle. If the latter interpretation is correct, the mention of fighting in this verse indicates that it was revealed after armed struggle was permitted for Muslims; see the essay “Conquest and Conversion, War and Peace in the Quran.” 

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# 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. 

245 Some consider this verse to continue the line of thought in the previous one, in which case the goodly loan would be a metaphor for the effort expended and risk undertaken in fighting in the way of God. Others believe the verse begins anew and refers to the giving of one’s wealth in charity or for religious causes, while still others point out there is no contradiction between these two interpretations (R). On lending God a goodly loan, see 5:12; 64:17; 73:20; 57:11c. In all such instances, commentators point out that to serve God and do good is always, as it were, a good bargain, and one can also engage in “unprofitable” transactions, such as when one sells God’s signs for a paltry price (e.g., 2:41). God’s multiplication of good is described in 6:160: Whosoever brings a good deed shall have ten times the like thereof, and also discussed in 57:18. “Withholding” and “outstretching” are two very important concepts in Islamic spirituality. The verb “withholds” is related to the state of spiritual contraction (qabḍ), and the verb “outstretches” is related to the state of expansion (basṭ). Interpreted spiritually, this verse describes a threefold process of spiritual realization: inner purification (God withholds), the acquisition of the virtues (and outstretches), and finally spiritual realization and illumination (and unto Him shall you be returned). Some Sufis describe contraction and expansion as “two states that follow each other in the heart like the night follows the day.” Contraction and expansion are also related to the twin states of fear and hope, which must be kept in balance in order for a soul to progress spiritually. Seen in another way, when God withholds one is exposed to His Quality of Majesty, and when He outstretches, one experiences His Quality of Beauty (Aj). 

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# 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. 

246 Raise up a king for us, that we may fight in the way of God could refer to the same request of the Israelites to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:19–20, “But we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 

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# 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 AllEncompassing, Knowing. 

247 Saul’s low social status, which is here the source of the Israelites’ disdain for his kingship, is mentioned by Saul himself when Samuel first speaks to him in 1 Samuel 9:21: “Saul answered, ‘I am only a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel, and my family is the humblest of all the families. . . . Why then have you spoken to me in this way?’” And in 1 Samuel 10:27 the Israelites express their disdain: “But some worthless fellows said, ‘How can this man save us?’ They despised him and brought him no present.” The basis for their aversion to Saul as king is similar to that for the aversion of the Quraysh and the Jews to Muhammad at his election as a prophet, namely, his lack of wealth and status among the Quraysh and his non-Jewish lineage among the Jews; see also 3:26c. In the case of Saul, the commentators understand this account to mean that Saul was from neither a kingly nor a priestly line, but hailed from the tribe of Benjamin (R). Saul’s intelligence and physical prowess were intrinsic qualities useful for a good leader; the status and wealth expected by the people would be qualities extrinsic to any man, “accidental” to his nature (R). Increased him amply in knowledge and body could also be rendered “increased him in excellence of knowledge and body.” The granting of sovereignty by God is also mentioned in 3:26; 4:54; 12:101. 

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# 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.” 

248 The commentators relate that the ark was returned, after being either lost or taken in battle, as a sign of Saul’s right to lead, though in the case of this passage much or all of the information in the commentaries seems to be based on Biblical or Talmudic material. In the Biblical account, the ark was returned from its capture by the Philistines after they were afflicted with plagues and other torments, but it resided in a private dwelling for many years in Kiriath-jearim, northwest of Jerusalem. Biblical commentators point out that during this time the Israelites were in a state of religious decline and had grown indifferent to the ark; during this period Samuel labored to revive the religion. Indeed, in 1 Chronicles 13:3 David says, “We did not turn to it [the ark] in the days of Saul.” The fate of the ark during the time of Saul is not described in the Bible except with regard to its neglect. In v. 248, the ark reenters the life of the Israelites in a way that functions as a sign for Samuel’s truthful prophecy regarding Saul, but no details or chronology are given. From the Quranic perspective, it could mean that the chronology conventionally understood from 1 Samuel, in which the ark returns many years before Saul’s anointing, is a misreading—which is possible if one considers the history given in Samuel as that of overlapping strands rather than a linear chronology—and that the ark returned around the time Samuel designated Saul as king. That an old but neglected sacred object should return could have had a special significance to the Israelites, leading them to rediscover a part of their own sacred history. Alternately, it could it be that the prophet (Samuel), in pointing to the ark as a sign, was in effect saying, “The ark has returned to you while I was your judge; so believe my prophecy about Saul” (Ṭ). In one Muslim account the Israelites, except for a single family who kept the ark, were prevented from coming near the ark from the time of its return from the Philistines until the time of Saul; some understood this to mean that, even though it was not in the possession of another people, the ark and its blessings were inaccessible to the Israelites (Ṭ). The tranquility (sakīnah) within it may refer to either an object that would arouse tranquility in the hearts of the Israelites or something, properly referred to as sakīnah, that was contained within it. Some point out that the grammar of the phrase would allow the translation “that the ark come to you on account of which there will be tranquility” (R). This tranquility (sakīnah) is also mentioned in 9:26, 40; 48:4, 18, 26. If understood as something whose presence would cause tranquility, it might refer to prophecies from books of Moses and Aaron telling of the victories to which Saul would lead them (Ṭ). The remnant of Moses and Aaron is given several interpretations, among them the staff of Moses (v. 60), the fragments of stone tablets Moses brought from Sinai (7:150), the manna (see v. 57), and the clothing of Moses and Aaron, including Moses’sandals (see 20:12; Q, Ṭ). 

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# 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.” 

249 Some have drawn a parallel between this verse and the account of Gideon’s crossing the Jordan River in Judges 7:4–7, though the similarities are typological and not historical. In the Gideon account, the test was known to Gideon alone, the army was not aware they were being divided into two categories (those who drank with their mouths and those who did so with their hands), and the purpose was to reduce the army’s numbers to three hundred men, so as to show that the Will of God could be carried out with a small number of fighters. In the Quranic account, Saul openly tests the faith of his soldiers, who are commanded to take only a handful of water and no more. From a Quranic point of view, Saul’s test of his army could be a reenactment of sacred history (Gideon lived before Samuel and Saul), much as parting the waters is a recurring theme in the Old Testament, taking place at the hands of Moses while the Israelites were escaping from the Egyptians through the Red Sea and by the ark when the people were crossing the Jordan during the time of Joshua (Joshua 3:14–17). That this incident echoes Gideon’s crossing, whose purpose was to show that God could defeat many with few, is reinforced by the statement in this verse of those who believed that they would meet their Lord, “How many a small company have overcome a large company by God’s leave!” This group deemed they would meet their Lord, meaning they were either certain of the Hereafter or prepared to die (Q). 

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# 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.” 

# 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. 

250–51 The Quranic account here assumes a general knowledge of the story of Saul, David, and Goliath: though a young boy, David is appointed by Saul to face Goliath as the Israelites’ champion and fells the huge warrior with a stone from his sling (cf. 1 Samuel 17). He was given wisdom, meaning that, as a major prophet in the Islamic tradition, he inherited the prophethood of Samuel, and sovereignty, meaning he inherited the kingship of Saul (Ṭ). For further description of David and his prophethood and reign, see 38:17–29. Were it not for God’s repelling people, some by means of others is similar to the message of 22:40, where the destruction of houses of worship is thwarted by this repelling. Here it is the corruption of the earth as such that is averted through this repelling of some by others. Commentators state that God uses good people to repel the effect of evil people, but offer different interpretations as to who precisely repels whom. Some say this refers to the “Substitutes” (abdāl), human beings who are inwardly members of a spiritual hierarchy through which God dispenses grace and protection to the world; they are forty in number, and when one dies, that one is replaced by another person (Q). Others interpret it to mean that the prayerful and the pious are used to repel those who do not pray and are impious, whose sins would otherwise destroy humanity, or that the obedient repel the evil of the disobedient (Ṭ). In a ḥadīth the Prophet says, “God repels the punishment of the one who does not pray by means of the one who prays, and of the one who does not give alms by means of the one who gives alms, and of the one who does not fast by means of the one who fasts, and of the one who does not make the ḥajj by means of the one who makes ḥajj, and of the one who does not struggle by means of the one who struggles.” 

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# These are God’s signs which We recite unto thee in truth, and truly thou art among the messengers. 

252 This verse is addressed directly to the Prophet, and some commentators see vv. 243–51 as an encouragement for the Prophet in his struggles with his own enemies, reminding him that the messengers and prophets of the past underwent similar trials (Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

253 This verse, which states that some prophets are favored above others, and others like it (3:163, ranked in degrees) are usually understood in light of others that command believers to say, We make no distinction between any of His messengers (v. 285; see also 2:136; 3:84). In Islamic belief this ranking in degrees is understood to pertain to the prophets’ missions, not their individual spiritual perfections. Thus, all prophets are considered equally to be protected from sin (maʿṣūm), but are given varying levels of earthly power (Solomon had a great earthly kingdom, Jesus did not), different kinds of miraculous signs (Moses’ staff, Solomon’s commanding the wind), and are sent to different segments of humanity (in Islamic belief the Prophet Muhammad was sent to all people, while other prophets were sent only to their own). To whom God spoke is usually considered to mean Moses specifically (see 7:143). Jesus’ strengthening with the Holy Spirit is also mentioned in v. 87 and 5:110; and in 16:102 the Holy Spirit is mentioned in connection with Muhammad. See 2:87c, where this Spirit is variously identified as the Spirit God breathed into human beings (15:29), the Archangel Gabriel, or the Gospel itself, all of which share the quality of being life-giving, whether it is bodily quickening or the nourishment of the heart and intelligence (R). The word holy, or “sacred” (qudus), can also mean “pure.” And had God so willed, they would not have fought one another echoes similar passages, such as And had God willed, He would have made you one community (5:48). The question of God’s willing or not willing humanity to be united in one religion is also discussed in v. 213; 10:19; 11:118; 16:93; 42:8. Fighting after the clear proofs had come refers to the conflict between communities who have received Divine revelation; on this question see also 2:213c as well as 3:19; 42:14; 45:17; 98:1. 

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# 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. 

254 This verse refers to the Day of Judgment, when the time for performing good deeds has passed (Ṭ). Spending from what God has given is one of the earliest descriptions of a believer in this sūrah (v. 3) and is repeated throughout the Quran. The ordinary bargaining and appeals to friends and protectors upon which one can rely in this world are useless on that Day. The present verse is very similar in content to 14:31 and 40:18, and the message that friends will not avail one another is also mentioned in 43:67: Friends on that Day will be enemies to one another; 44:41: The Day when no friend will avail a friend in any way; and 70:10: And no loyal friend shall ask about a loyal friend. Here it is noted by many commentators that the ability to intercede is unavailable only to the disbelievers (R, Ṭ); on the complex issue of intercession in the Quran, see 2:48c; 2:255c. 

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# 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. 

255 This verse is known as Āyat al-Kursī, the “Pedestal Verse,” sometimes rendered “Throne Verse,” and is perhaps the most well known single verse of the Quran, taking its name from the Pedestal (kursī) mentioned in it. It is often recited by Muslims setting out on a journey or seeking either spiritual or physical protection; and like the short sūrahs toward the end of the Quran, it is often one of the first passages Muslims memorize. The Prophet told his Companions to recite it before going to sleep, identified it as the greatest verse (āyah) of the Quran, and said that it was “a fourth of the Quran.” This is one among many other aḥādīth that speak of its special place (IK). It is one of the most common passages of the Quran to adorn mosques and private homes and is often carried on one’s person in the form of pendant, amulet, or similar object. There is no god but He also appears in v. 163; 3:2 (where the Living, the Self-Subsisting also appears); 3:6; 4:87; 6:102; 7:158; and in many other places. Within the text of the Quran, the shahādah, or testimony of faith, takes the form “God, there is no god but He” much more often than “There is no god but God.” The Living (al-Ḥayy) is, doctrinally speaking, one of the most important Divine Names in Islam, considered to be among the “mothers of the Names” (ummahāt al-asmāʾ), and occupies a place in Islamic theology conceptually equivalent to Being. Theologically, a living being is that which is able to fully actualize all its perfections (R). Thus, in describing God’s fundamental perfections, Muslims often say that God’s Power is directed by His Will, which is determined by His Knowledge, all of which depend on His Life. The SelfSubsisting translates al-Qayyūm, an intensive form of a root meaning “to stand,” “to sustain,” or “to establish,” which means that God subsists through Himself, but also that all things subsist through Him (IK, Ṭ). Slumber (sinah) and sleep (nawm) are usually understood to mean a kind of dozing and deep sleep, respectively, and God’s eternal wakefulness is connected by commentators with protecting [the heavens and the earth] tires Him not. It also means that He is always aware of His creation, and there is no interruption in this awareness. The question of intercession (shafāʿah) is also discussed in v. 48, where the plain sense of the verse would seem to deny the possibility of anyone interceding on behalf of anyone else before God. Here, the possibility of intercession is affirmed conditionally, by posing a question regarding who could intercede with God save by His leave. In Islamic belief, the most significant kind of intercession is carried out by the Prophet on the Day of Judgment for the sake of his community, but also for all of the world, a status that Muslims understand to be conferred upon him by virtue of his praiseworthy station (maqām maḥmūd), mentioned in 17:79. However, many Muslims, for example, the theologian al-Ghazzālī, have said that intercession is also granted to the saints and even ordinary believers in keeping with their spiritual rank. In Shiite doctrine, intercession is also available through the Imams, who play a central role in intercession for the faithful. In a sense, and as discussed in 2:48c, without the reality of intercession there would be no meaning to the prayers of forgiveness the angels make on behalf of human beings (e.g., 40:7) or to those prayers human beings make on behalf of other human beings (e.g., 12:97–98; 24:62, which commands the Prophet, Seek forgiveness for them from God). Indeed, anytime one prays for someone else, one is affirming a belief in intercession, because one believes that God responds to that prayer. In this sense, intercession is a special kind of supplicatory prayer. Many other verses convey a message similar to There is no intercessor, save by His leave (10:3; 19:87; 20:109; 21:28; 39:44; 43:86; 53:26), meaning that intercession itself can be performed only if the Divine Will permits it. Other verses that deny intercession do so for those who do wrong or disbelieve (40:18; 74:48), and still others say that God is the only intercessor (6:51, 70; 32:4; 39:44), which means ultimately it is only He who intercedes. That which is before them refers to the Hereafter, and that which is behind them refers to the life of the world, or the two phrases can mean what is to come after people die and what happened before they were created. They may also refer to good and evil deeds, those they have committed and those they have yet to carry out (R). The pronoun them refers to all those who would intercede and all those for whom intercession is offered (R). Knowledge here is used in the sense of “what is known” (R). A similar passage speaks of God as Knower of the Unseen; He does not disclose His Unseen to anyone, save to the one whom He approves as a messenger (72:26–27). In 2:32 the angels say to God, We have no knowledge save what Thou hast taught us. Some interpret the Pedestal (kursī) to be the “place of the feet,” where one places one’s feet while sitting on a throne, hence the common translation of kursī as “Footstool,” but this translation is problematic, especially since commentators often see kursī as another name for the Throne (ʿarsh; Ṭ, R). Since a pedestal can mean a throne as well as that upon which a throne rests (and hence where one places one’s feet), the rendering of “pedestal” for kursī is preferable. Indeed, in many Islamic cosmologies the Pedestal is above the cosmos, and the Throne is above the Pedestal, a symbolism that would collapse with the use of “footstool” to translate kursī, since a footstool sits in front of a throne, not underneath it. There are various aḥādīth that state that the Pedestal encompasses the heavens and the earth, and the Throne encompasses the Pedestal (IK). According to Ibn ʿAbbās the heavens and the earth in comparison to the Pedestal are like a ring cast into the wilderness (IK). Others interpret Pedestal to mean knowledge, sovereignty, or authority, used metonymously here the way one uses “the crown” to refer to a monarch (R). Muslims attempt to avoid the two extremes of interpreting such passages as only metaphor or allegory, which allows human beings to read their own desires into the meaning of the Quran, and literalistic anthropomorphism, which assigns to God location in space and feet comparable to our own. In esoteric commentaries on the Quran, both kursī and ʿarsh possessed specific symbolic meanings, and the verse is seen to contain in its inner meaning a whole cosmology. Protecting them, referring to the aforementioned heavens and earth, means that God sustains their very being encompassing the whole created order. Tires Him not can also mean “is not difficult for Him” (R) or it does not cause Him to stop. 

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# 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. 

256 Similar statements regarding faith are also found in 10:99–100: And had thy Lord willed, all those who are on the earth would have believed all together. Wouldst thou compel men till they become believers? It is not for a soul to believe, save by God’s Leave; and 18:29: And say, “It is the truth from your Lord! So whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve” (see also 76:3; 2:217c). Some report that this verse was revealed in connection with some Muslims who had children among the Banū Naḍīr, a Jewish tribe that was exiled by the Muslim community from Madinah after they were found plotting against the Prophet. Before the coming of Islam, some women of Yathrib (later Madinah) whose children died in infancy made a vow that, if they had children who survived, they would have them raised Jewish, which is how these children came to be among the Banū Naḍīr. These Muslim parents questioned whether they should force their children to join the Muslim community (Q, Ṭ). Another account describes a Muslim man whose two sons became Christians and left for Syria with the merchants who had converted them (Ṭ). And a third account mentions that some Muslims were wet-nursed by Jews, and when the Jewish clans to which they belonged were exiled, they wanted to leave with them and become Jews, but their families forced them to remain Muslims (Ṭ). According to some sources this verse refers specifically to the People of the Book or to anyone from whom one can take the jizyah (see 9:29c; IK, R). Indeed, many argue that the import of this verse is not absolute, since the Prophet, in his campaign and ultimate victory against the idolatrous Arabs, did not give them the option of remaining idolaters or paying the jizyah (IK, Ṭ). The Arabs were in fact forced to abandon idol worship, although some disagree over whether they could become Jews and Christians and fall under the protected status of There is no coercion in religion (R). This position would entail, in effect, that among a certain group of religions recognized by Islam (including Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism), there is no coercion in religion. Others argue that this verse was abrogated by those verses that command Muslims to fight (e.g., 9:5), but this interpretation is not chronologically consistent with the three possible occasions of revelation for this verse, which all involve conditions resulting from conflict with the Jews, who were banished by force. This shows, as do many other verses in the Quran, that the fighting Muslims carried out was motivated by political circumstances and not the desire to convert. More important, coercion in religion negates the idea of responsibility before God (taklīf), in which one is taken to account for one’s actions in both this life and the Hereafter (R). As an ethical or moral pronouncement, this verse is not subject to abrogation at all (see 2:106c). The Makkan idolaters were a special case, because they had been for years the primary threat to the very existence of Islam as a religion. Although forced conversions were not completely unknown in later Islamic history (including from Sunnism to Shiism and vice versa), they can be counted as rare exceptions to the historical rule. For a more detailed treatment of these questions, see the essay “Conquest and Conversion, War and Peace in the Quran.” Sound judgment translates rushd, which also means “maturity” and “being rightly guided”; error translates ghayy, which also carries the sense of transgression and temptation. False deities renders ṭāghūt, a word that seems to be related to the verb meaning “to rebel” and that is interpreted variously to refer to Satan, magicians, soothsayers, idols, or any being who rebels and trespasses against God (R); for a longer discussion, see 4:51–52c. The unfailing handhold (cf. 31:22) refers to either faith or the shahādah, “There is no god but God” (lā ilāha illa’Llāh). The word for breaks refers to fractures that do not show or cause separation, meaning that the handhold does not give way even slightly or imperceptibly. 

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# 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. 

257 On the concept of Protector (walī), which can also mean “ally” and “friend,” see 3:28c; 4:88–90c. The symbolism of light and darkness, which appears throughout the Quran, is presented here with an explicit symmetry describing the ascent into light and the plunge into darkness; also see 5:16c; 24:35c. For the majority of commentators, light and darkness refer to belief or faith (īmān) and disbelief or denial (kufr), or guidance and error (Ṭ). Going from darkness into the light is also mentioned in 5:16; 14:1, 5; 33:43; 57:9; 65:11. 

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# 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. 

258 Commentators sometimes understand the antagonist here to be Nimrod, though this is based on folkloric material; he is not named in any ḥadīth and his place even in the Bible is ambiguous at best. It is said that this man who disputed with Abraham brought out two people, killing one and leaving the other alive, and said, I give life and cause death. A similar dynamic can be seen in the conversation between Moses and Pharaoh, when Pharaoh said, I am your lord most high (79:24). “Give life and cause death” appears in many places in the Quran; see 2:28c. Grammatically, the recipient of sovereignty could be either Abraham or his antagonist, since Abraham’s descendants are described as having been given a mighty sovereignty (4:54), but most commentators believe that it refers to the worldly power of the other person (R). Abraham’s triumph in the encounter both exposes the pretense of the ruler who sought to mimic God’s Power over life and death and reflects a general Quranic theme that the world of nature is full of signs of God. Abraham encounters the rising sun in a different context in 6:78. 

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# 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.” 

259 Commentators typically identify the man in this verse as Ezra, but others mention Ezekiel and even Khiḍr (see Sūrah 18), which is why the thou is used in the translation. Others say that this verse refers not to a saint or prophet, but to a disbeliever who is shown the reality of Resurrection (R). Fallen upon its roofs means that the roofs had collapsed and the walls fell onto them; the word for fallen (khāwiyah) also evokes the sense of “empty.” The question How long hast thou tarried? is also asked of the sleepers in the cave in 18:19 and the resurrected soul on the Day of Judgment (23:112). Some say that the bones of the donkey were made to come back to life and be clothed with flesh, though others believe this phrase refers to the man himself (R). It is thought by some that God’s making this person a sign means that he was made a prophet (Ṭ), but elsewhere Pharaoh was also made a sign (10:92), and he is the opposite of a prophet. If this person is understood to be a prophet, his question is not taken as one of pernicious doubt, but in the same spirit as the question posed by Abraham in v. 260: My Lord, show me how Thou givest life to the dead. 

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# 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.” 

260 The verse implies no context for Abraham’s question, but commentators nevertheless record several possibilities. Abraham saw a scene on a coast where creatures of the sea, land, and air were all eating other creatures and wondered how resurrection could bring all the pieces of these animals together; or it was part of his exchange with his antagonist in v. 258, where the sign would have given Abraham a stronger hand or lent support to his message to other people; or it may have been in connection with the sacrifice of his son or that Abraham wanted confirmation of his special status as prophet. Many interpret it spiritually to mean the revival of dead hearts through the Spirit (R). Dost thou not believe? is understood to be a kind of implicit affirmation of Abraham’s faith, as if to say, “You believe, so why are you asking?” That my heart may be at peace evokes other Quranic references, such as 89:27, where the soul at peace is invited to enter Paradise, and 13:28, where souls are at peace in the remembrance of God. Here commentators grapple with the idea that Abraham would be out of this state of peace. Some suggest that there are degrees of spiritual knowledge, and that Abraham is speaking of going from one depth of understanding to another, not that he is expressing doubt about God’s existence or His Power (R). Since believers acknowledge no end to the Glories of God, Abraham’s question can be seen as an expression of a desire to witness ever more of God’s Self-Disclosure, to use the language often employed by Sufis. Regarding this verse a ḥadīth says, “We have more right to doubt than did Abraham.” Abraham’s “doubt” was an entreaty for more knowledge, not a hesitation about God’s existence. Even the Prophet Muhammad is commanded to say, My Lord! Increase me in knowledge! (20:114), which is not meant to highlight the Prophet’s ignorance, but to point to God’s Limitlessness and His infinite Reality. The verb in make them be drawn to thee is understood by many, perhaps even a majority, to mean “cut,” though this interpretation leaves the difficulty of the place of the prepositional phrase to thee (R). According to this interpretation, Abraham takes four birds (peacock, eagle, raven, and rooster), cuts them up into pieces, and then places them on four mountains, representing the four cardinal directions. He then calls them, at which point the scattered parts of the birds reassemble into their original forms and come flying back to him. According to one reading, the eagle represents lust for food; the rooster, lust for sex; the crow, excessive curiosity; and the peacock, vanity, though many different lists of birds are to be found in the commentaries (R). The other interpretation, reflected in the translation, is that there is no killing of the birds mentioned in the verse. Rather, Abraham first made each bird be drawn to him, then placed them, alive, each on a mountain, and then called them to himself. This interpretation would then represent the reunification of souls and their bodies with the ease of a man calling to a bird, which comes in haste to him (R). It is related that Ibn ʿAbbās said of Abraham’s question and God’s gentle response to it, “There is no more hopeful verse in the Quran than this one.” The colleague in conversation with Ibn ʿAbbās said that for him the most hopeful verse was 39:53: O My servants who have been prodigal to the detriment of their own souls! Despair not of God’s Mercy. Truly God forgives all sins (IK). 

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# 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. 

261 And God multiplies for whomsoever He will is echoed in 24:38: That God may reward them for the best of what they have done, and increase them from His Bounty. And God provides for whomsoever He will without reckoning. The Divine Name All-Encompassing (al-Wāsiʿ) also means “generous.” The Prophet is reported to have said, “God makes the good deed of the son of Adam to be tenfold, or seven hundred fold, except for the fast, for God says, ‘The fast is for me, and I reward it’” (IK). Sometimes such aḥādīth use more concrete imagery, as when a man came to the Prophet and said, “This camel I give in the way of God,” and the Prophet replied, “On the Day of Judgment you shall have seven hundred camels” (IK). 

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# 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. 

# An honorable word and forgiveness are better than an act of charity followed by injury. And God is Self-Sufficient, Clement. 

262–63 Exulting in one’s generosity or reminding the needy of their neediness destroys the virtue in charitable giving (R). It is better to offer an honorable word to the poor who ask for help and forgiveness for any harm they may cause, either because their manner is rough or because they may cause embarrassment. One should be kind and gentle with the poor, and if their asking causes one trouble or discomfort, one should forgive them for it (R). 

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# 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. 

# 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. 

264–65 The worst model of charity is one who gives only for appearance’s sake, as in 107:6–7, which mentions those who strive to be seen, yet refuse small kindnesses. These verses compare the merit of two kinds of giving through the symbolism of rain striking the earth. When a downpour strikes the earth on a smooth stone, it can only wash it away, meaning it produces no real benefit. When it lands on a fertile garden, the surplus of water causes the garden to double its yield, symbolizing the fruit of charity with the right intention. And if a downpour strikes it not, then a soft rain is taken to mean that, even if the amount of rain is not great, the garden will at least thrive normally and bear its fruit. Some commentators mention that certain kinds of oases flourish and have rich earth collect on them when they are slightly elevated, and that this is what is meant by a garden upon a hill. Moreover, on a hill of this sort, there are no streams that flow, and so it can be nourished only by rain (Q). Others say that upon a hill (birabwah) must mean something more like “that which rises,” meaning fertile soil from which crops grow upward, yielding the translation “the parable of a fertile garden.” Al-Rāzī argues that a garden upon a hill would not be reached by streams and would be exposed to too much wind, while a garden in a hollow would be inundated with water and would not receive the better effects of wind. He argues that the best garden is on level ground and prefers to relate rabwah to the verb “to grow,” which comes from the same root. Such growth through charity is mentioned in the ḥadīth, “When a person gives a lawfully earned date in charity, God takes it in His Hand and causes it to grow as one of you would grow his foals or camels, until it becomes like a mountain or even greater.” Out of a confirmation in their souls means that the givers affirm and have certainty of faith in their act of giving (IK, Ṭ) or that they do so because they have confirmation of the Truth of God or certainty (Z). Or it can mean that when they give, they take care and confirm where they place their charity to make sure that it is used properly (Q, R). 

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# 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. 

266 For some this verse is a parable of those who follow up their charitable giving with preening and injury, as mentioned in v. 264, meaning that at the end of their life, they will have nothing of value to leave behind and nothing will bear fruit for them in the Hereafter. Their charity is like the fruits of the garden, and their insults and boasting are like the fiery whirlwind that devours it, and they have no progeny who could protect or support them (R). According to another interpretation attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās, this verse refers to those who do good works, but afterward turn to evil works, thereby wiping away the value of earlier past actions (Q). Every kind of fruit can mean something like “many kinds of fruit.” With rivers running below is a common image symbolizing the paradisal state; see 2:25c. 

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# 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. 

267 A similar message appears in 3:92: You will never attain piety till you spend from that which you love. In a famous ḥadīth the Prophet stated, “None of you believes until he desires for his neighbor what he desires for himself” (in another version, “for his neighbor” reads “for his brother”). Here good things can mean either what one considers wholesome and desirable, what one would not reject, or what is lawful, not forbidden. One should not seek unlawful or distasteful means to give in charity. It is reported that a group of Companions would bring bunches of dates from their date palms and hang them in the mosque for the poorest of the Muslims to eat. When another group sought to perform the same act, but brought inferior dates that no one would want, it is said that this verse was revealed (IK). On the subject of charity, a ḥadīth states, “Truly God distributes your provisions among you, just as He distributes your virtues among you. God gives of the world to those whom He loves and does not love, but gives religion (dīn) only to those whom He loves. Whosoever God has given religion, God loves him. By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, no servant submits until his heart and tongue submit, and no believer believes until his bodily parts are safe from his misfortunes.” When asked what the misfortunes were, the Prophet replied, “His lies and his wrongdoing. No servant receives blessing by earning wealth that is unlawful and giving it in charity; nor is it accepted from him if he donates it; nor does he leave it to anyone but that it goes to the Fire. God does not erase evil with evil, but he does erase evil with good. Evil does not erase evil.” Another ḥadīth states, “Do not feed others with what you yourself would not eat.” 

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# 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. 

268 Satan makes one dread poverty, causing one to refrain from giving charity, and moreover inspires one to commit other sins and acts of disobedience, whereas God causes the soul to remember forgiveness and generosity (IK). AlRāzī argues, for example, that ideally people should give from the best that they have, and that what begins as a desire to part only with the dregs can lead to a fear of giving any charity at all. This miserliness then infects the rest of the soul, which struggles to keep all that it desires while relinquishing nothing of what is of value to him. One’s passivity to Satan’s promptings then leads to the active commission of other sins, until one gradually ceases doing any good and commits every manner of evil. In this vein, a ḥadīth states, “Satan has an inspiration (lummah) for the son of Adam, and the angel has one. As for Satan’s inspiration, it is a promise to do evil and tell lies against the truth. As for the angel’s inspiration, it is a promise to do good and affirm the truth. When one encounters that, let him know that it is from God, and let him praise God, and when one encounters the other, let him seek refuge from Satan.” All-Encompassing (al-Wāsiʿ) also carries the meaning of “abundantly Generous in His Forgiveness” (R). 

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# 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. 

269 Wisdom here is interpreted as knowledge of the meaning of the Quran, including the abrogating and the abrogated, the symbolic and the determined (see 3:7), the order of revelation, and the licit and the forbidden, or as the fear of God, in accordance with the saying, “Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” Wisdom in this context is sometimes also glossed as intelligence (ʿaql) or comprehension (fahm). Certain theologians see in this verse an allusion to the power of rational demonstration. Some interpret this wisdom to mean prophethood (nubuwwah), but others dispute this interpretation (Q, R, Ṭ). The spirit or the intellect takes its nourishment from wisdom, unlike the desires of the ego, which are satisfied by the indecencies mentioned in the previous verse (R). Wisdom as knowledge or understanding differs from right action, but in a sense wisdom is the combination of understanding and right action based upon it (R). In a ḥadīth the Prophet said, “Let there be envy in only two things: a man to whom God has given wealth and who exhausts it in the way of truth, and a man to whom God has given wisdom and who judges by it and teaches it.” On possessors of intellect, see 2:179c. 

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# And whatever sum you spend, or vow you vow, truly God knows it. And the wrongdoers shall have no helpers. 

270 God knows it means that He keeps an account of it (Ṭ) and knows what the intention was behind the act, great or small (R). The wrongdoers here are understood to be those who give for hypocritical reasons, as described in v. 264. 

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# 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. 

271 Many aḥādīth speak to the virtue of giving secretly, often including a variation of the saying, “Let the left hand know not what the right hand is doing.” In an opinion attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās, when it comes to obligatory actions such as the institutional alms (zakāh), performing them openly is twenty-five times better, while voluntary or supererogatory giving is seventy times better when done privately or secretly (IK, Ṭ). Open charity, it is reasoned, provides a good example for others, shows the poor that there is recourse in their neighbors, and creates an open bond between people in a community (R). Secret charity is a test of sincerity, since one gives but garners no prestige in the eyes of others for one’s generosity. Acquit you is related to “expiation” (kaf ārah), meaning that the good deeds are a kind of atonement for the evil ones. The message of this verse is also present in 11:114: Truly good deeds remove those that are evil. Some commentators say, “Charity puts out sin like water puts out a fire” (Ṭ), as in the ḥadīth, “When you perform an evil deed, follow it with a good deed and it will wipe it away.” When asked, “Is [remembrance of] ‘There is no god but God’ [lā ilāha illa’Llāh] a good deed?” the Prophet said, “It is the best of good deeds.” Instead of that is better for you, and will acquit you of some of your evil deeds, some read here a firstperson plural pronoun rather than the third-person singular, giving the translation, “that is better for you, and We will acquit you of some of your evil deeds” (Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

272 This verse uncouples charity from religious identity. Various occasions for its revelation are given. Some relate that the Prophet used to give charity to all, but when the impoverished among the Muslim community grew large, he restricted charity to Muslims only, at which time this verse was revealed (Q). In another version, a Companion had grandparents who were idolaters and who asked her for charity, but she did not wish to give it to them until she asked the Prophet, at which time this verse was revealed. In yet another version, some Companions had relatives among the Jewish tribe of Qurayẓah and would not give them charity unless they became Muslim (IK, R). A similar message is found in 60:8: God does not forbid you, with regard to those who did not fight you on account of religion and did not expel you from your homes, from treating them righteously and being just toward them. That the Prophet himself is not responsible for whether people accept guidance is also related in 28:56: Surely thou dost not guide whomsoever thou lovest, but God guides whomsoever He will; see also 3:20; 5:92, 99; 13:40; 16:82; 29:18; 36:17; 42:48; 64:12; 88:21–22. The Quran reiterates that God does not need humanity’s good works, as in 41:46: Whosoever works righteousness, it is for his own soul (also 45:15). In a long ḥadīth, it is related that a man gave charity to someone at night, only to learn the next day that he had given it to an adulterer; the same thing happened the next night with a rich man, and then the next night with a thief. Each time people began to talk about it, but he was told that his charity was accepted and that perhaps it would keep the adulterer from his vices, inspire the rich man to give, and keep the thief from stealing. Shall be paid to you in full refers to the reward one receives in the Hereafter for one’s good works. The idea of seeking the Face of God also appears in 30:38–39, which speaks of those who desire the Face of God (also see 76:9). On the use of the phrase “Face of God,” also see 2:115c; 55:26–27c. 

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# [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. 

273 The verb constrained connotes something that hinders one on a journey or prevents one from setting out. It is reported that this verse pertains to the People of the Veranda (ahl al-ṣuf ah), a group of poor and homeless Muslims who stayed in a roofed area connected to the mosque in Madinah and who were known for their piety, devotion, and asceticism (Q, R). They were not able to travel the earth either because they were too poor to do so or because they were vulnerable to enemies outside Madinah (Q). Regarding requests for charity, it is said, based on certain aḥādīth, that any who possess a certain amount of wealth—40 dirhams was sometimes mentioned —would be categorized as “importunate,” were they to beg. In a ḥadīth the Prophet said, “The indigent person (miskīn) is not the one who wanders about you, whom you feed morsel by morsel. The indigent person is one who restrains himself, and does not ask people importunately.” Several other verses mention people being known by their mark, including 48:29: Their mark upon their faces is from the effect of prostration; 7:46, 48; 47:30; 55:41. Some interpret this mark to refer to the pallor of the hungry or to other physical traits signaling their exertions or difficulties. Many interpret mark to refer to the manifestation of the soul in one’s physical body, especially in the face. A ḥadīth states, “Fear the firāsah of the believer, for he sees by the light of God” (IK). Firāsah, which could be rendered “the skill of spiritual physiognomy,” refers to the ability to perceive qualities of the soul through the form of the body, especially the face. Thus, the mark of the truly poor is the manifestation of their humility and self-effacement, perceptible in their bodies while not being of the body (R). 

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# 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. 

274 This is the last verse in the section vv. 260–74, whose main theme is the giving of charity. Beyond its general import, some commentators interpret this verse to be referring to specific people, for example, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, who are reported to have given a certain sum in the fashion described in this verse, giving one quarter of it by night, one by day, one secretly, and one openly (IK, R, Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

275–81 Usury is the usual translation for ribā, and this commentary follows this common rendering. However, it must be noted that these terms are not strictly synonymous. Insofar as “usury” is understood as an unreasonably high rate of interest or simply any interest at all, it can be a misleading translation for ribā. Not all interest is ribā, and moreover not all ribā is interest. Ribā simply means “increase,” “gain,” or “growth,” and in the Quran and Ḥadīth it refers to two main types of transactions: “growth through deferment” (ribā al-nasīʾah) and “growth through surplus” (ribā al-faḍl). It is one of the most complex and multifaceted aspects of Islamic Law. In pre-Islamic Arabia the ribā of deferment was the charging of a fee on an interest-free loan once it came due. The founder of the Mālikī school of law, Imām Mālik (d. 179/795), writes in his al-Muwaṭṭāʾ: “Ribā in the pre-Islamic times was that a man would be owed a debt by another man for a set term. When the term was due, he would say, ‘Will you pay it off or give me ribā (a-taqḍī aw turbī)?’ If the man paid, he took it. If not, he increased his debt and lengthened the term for him.” Many believe that the general prohibitions in the Quran allowing trade but forbidding ribā refer to this practice, which was a deferment on already existing loans at the time of their maturity. The deferment often led to doubling of the principal in a year and then redoubling when the deferment period expired and another deferment became necessary. This radical compounding is mentioned in 3:130: O you who believe! Devour not usury, doubling and multiplying. A debtor could eventually lose all his possessions to the creditor through the doubling and redoubling mentioned in the Quran. When it comes to the lesser-known but equally important ribā of surplus, there is a ḥadīth that says, “Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, and salt for salt; like for like, hand to hand, in equal amounts; and any increase is ribā.” The “surplus” (faḍl) in this type of ribā refers to the disparity in amounts between the two objects traded. For example, it is reported in a ḥadīth that the Companion Bilāl visited the Prophet with some highquality dates, and the Prophet inquired about their source. Bilāl explained that he traded two volumes of lower-quality dates for one volume of higher quality. The Prophet said, “This is precisely the forbidden ribā! Do not do this. Instead, sell the first type of dates, and use the proceeds to buy the other.” Moreover, the stipulation “like for like, hand to hand, in equal amounts” was understood to prevent trading, for example, an ounce of gold now for an ounce of gold at some point in the future. In such a transaction the time factor creates an inequality: an ounce of gold is worth more now than in the future because one loses the ability to use it in the meantime, and this disparity is a “surplus” (which applies in matters of trade, not charitable loans). Furthermore, jurists disagreed over whether the relevant legal attribute of these six commodities in the aforementioned ḥadīth—so that trading them in the way the Prophet described was obligatory—was that they were measurable, fungible, storable, usable as food, or some combination of these attributes (Q). Based upon this reasoning, they would then extend the ribā rules to other items based upon whether they possessed the relevant attributes. At a more fundamental level, jurists have tried to understand the moral question underlying two seemingly quite different kinds of transactions, one involving the cost of credit, the other involving trade in commodities of the same kind but different amounts or at different times, both bearing the name ribā. Some have seen, in both types of ribā prohibitions, a protection against unfair pricing. In a lease or credit sale, for example, both parties can negotiate a fair price for the extension of credit linked to market conditions. In the case of trading goods of different qualities but of the same kind or of the same good at different times, fair pricing is difficult to ensure, hence the Prophet’s command to “sell the first type of dates, and use the proceeds to buy the other [type of dates],” thus grounding the sale in fairly priced existing market conditions. The rules about ribā, moreover, are always understood in terms of risk, which in Arabic is called gharar, a word semantically linked to “deception” (ghurūr). Unlawful risk is present in a sale if the uncertainty it entails makes the transaction equivalent to gambling. Thus in a ḥadīth it is said, “The Prophet has forbidden the purchase of the unborn animal in its mother’s womb, the sale of the milk in the udder without measurement, the purchase of spoils of war prior to their distribution, . . . and the purchase of the catch of a diver [i.e., the future catch from the sea of an undetermined amount].” Thus one cannot sell an item one does not actually possess, whose attributes are unknown, or that does not yet exist. Since risk is always present in some form in all honest business transactions, jurists allowed certain kinds of transactions, such as forward sales on agricultural products, which, though they amount to sales in the future of nonexistent items and involve risk, were allowed because of their social and economic benefits and also in many cases necessity. Forward sales of crops were practiced in Madinah (see v. 282), though the Prophet set strict conditions on them, as did later jurists following his example, so that they would not be made to bear excessive risk or become a cover for the forbidden ribā. It is said by some that this passage dealing with ribā was one of the last or even the last to be revealed; 4:176 and 5:3 are also sometimes listed as the last verse in the chronological order of revelation. This fact is sometimes cited as a reason for the relative paucity of aḥādīth regarding the actual workings of ribā, especially when considering how intricate and subtle the laws on ribā and related questions would come to be (IK, Q). The cancellation and prohibition of ribā is also mentioned in the Prophet’s “Farewell Sermon” at the end of his last pilgrimage in AH 10, a little over two months before his death. 275 Shall not rise except as one rises who is felled by the touch of Satan refers to how the usurers are resurrected out of their graves (Ṭ). Many aḥādīth speak of the terrible consequences on the Day of Judgment for those who are guilty of ribā: they are resurrected in a maddened state of choking or with bellies the size of houses with snakes coming out of them. Regarding one who . . . desists shall have what is past, a ḥadīth states, “Lo! All ribā from pre-Islamic times is forgiven. You shall have the principal of your wealth, and you shall neither wrong nor be wronged.” That means that although the original amount can still be legitimately expected, the added increase to the principal was canceled; see also v. 279. This applied only to outstanding ribā; past ribā was not open to being reclaimed (Q). 

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# God blights usury and causes acts of charity to grow. And God loves not any sinful ingrate. 

276 In causes acts of charity to grow, grow is the verbal form of ribā. On the concept of causing charity to grow, see 2:261c. 

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# 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. 

277 Alms, mentioned here and in many other places, are obligatory and an integral dimension of Muslim devotional and social life. As a form of institutional charity, they are contrasted with the moral opposite, ribā (see 2:275–81c). It is reported that the Prophet said, “The ultimate result for anyone who engages in ribā, even if that ribā brings growth, is loss.” This verse has content similar to that in 2:62 and 5:69. 

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# O you who believe! Reverence God, and leave what remains of usury, if you are believers. 

# 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. 

278–79 The second half of v. 279 can also be translated, “If you repent, you shall have the principal of your wealth, neither wronging nor being wronged.” The debtor was still liable for the original loan, or principal of your wealth, but this verse canceled any additional fees or interest that had accrued to that loan as a result of deferring it past its original term. In this way creditors would not forfeit their wealth, and debtors would not be responsible for the increases to the original loan amount through ribā. Of then take notice of a war from God and His Messenger Ibn ʿAbbās said, “On the Day of Resurrection it will be said to the one who partook of ribā, ‘Take up your sword for war!’” (Ṭ). Some say that this means that they have made themselves the enemies of or hostile to God and the Messenger (Q). To practice ribā can be a cause for taking up arms against violators on the part of legitimate authority, forcing them to give up their gains from ribā or fighting them if they refuse to relinquish them or desist (IK, Q, R, Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

# 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. 

280–81 In the Islamic tradition, loans (as opposed to investments) were ideally charitable in nature, owing to the time factor in giving and taking money (see 2:275–81c) and since other transactions and financial instruments, such as credit sales and leases, were available for non-charitable investments and the raising of funds. Hence the invitation in this passage to turn previously ribā-laden loans into charity in the case of a debtor in dire financial circumstances: and it is better for you to give [it] as charity. A ḥadīth states, “Whosoever grants a delay to one in difficult circumstances shall be credited an act of charity for each day of it.” This does not negate the claim of a lender to the original principal, since the verse encourages a respite until there is ease, but does not require it (Q). The passage on ribā ends with a reminder that all matters, including economic ones, will be accounted for in the Hereafter. It uses and they shall not be wronged in regard to a soul’s ultimate destiny, which is similar to the phrase used in connection with a creditor’s right to the loan principal in v. 279. 

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# 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 feebleminded 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. 

282 This is the longest single verse in the Quran. It is said to have been revealed in connection with agricultural forward sales, but is generally applicable to all agreements, including loans (Ṭ), where payment and delivery do not take place simultaneously (IK, Q). In a forward sale (also see 2:275–81c) as practiced in Madinah at the time of the Prophet, one could receive payment for agricultural goods to be delivered one, two, or three years in the future. Of these transactions the Prophet said, “Whosoever contracts a forward sale, let it be for a set amount, a set weight, and a set time.” This represents an exception to the general rule that one is prohibited from selling what one does not possess, because the agricultural seller legitimately requires funds to buy seeds and care for the crops before they are harvested, and the income-expenditure cycle is on a yearly, not daily or even monthly, basis (Q). Though not without risk, a forward sale is not equivalent to gambling, and the social benefit is thought to outweigh the potential harm and uncertainty. The general condition for sellers is that they should own the means to produce the product (e.g., date palms if selling dates), that the product should be of known traits and attributes (e.g., the quality of the dates), and that it should be a known quantity to be delivered at an established time in a place where such delivery is possible. The condition on buyers is that they should pay in fungible or monetary material, since the reason for the exception is that the sellers of agricultural goods do not possess liquid wealth, but own agricultural land or animals not easily convertible into money (Q). The one who has to deliver the product or repay a loan, the debtor (used in the general sense of one who owes, including the seller in a forward sale), is responsible for dictating the terms; according to some commentators, this is because the creditor is more liable to describe a higher amount, and presumably because the seller would normally be in the weaker position as an owner of nonliquid assets (Q). Write it down is not understood to mean that writing can replace a living witness; the writing was meant to serve as a means of remembering the terms of the agreement (Q); in Islamic Law the testimony was primarily oral and only secondarily written. Let not any scribe refuse to write as God taught him means that the writing of contracts is a communal obligation (farḍ kifāyah), which means that someone in society must be available to carry out what is a solemn duty, but not every single person has a personal responsibility (farḍ ʿayn) for doing so (Q, R). One who is feeble-minded or is weak, or is unable to dictate himself is interpreted to mean someone who is mentally disabled, a minor, or someone who is sick to the point of incapacitation, respectively (IK, Ṭ). Among the variety of interpretations concerning the stipulation that, if one cannot find two men to serve as witnesses, one may call two women and one man, it is acknowledged that this provision is peculiar to the commercial transactions mentioned in this verse (IK, Q, R, Ṭ) and differs from other kinds of testimony. Other verses explicitly equate male and female testimony, such as 24:6–9, where accusations of adultery are given equal consideration whether they are made by the husband or the wife. In the classical Islamic legal tradition, women were generally excluded from bearing witness in cases involving corporal punishments and qiṣāṣ (see 2:178c), but even in such cases it seems to be a question of preference, since in the absence of a male witness, women’s testimony would be accepted (Q). Such preferences likely reflect a general social aversion to involving women in such matters. Moreover, since cases are adjudicated by a judge, it is impossible, strictly speaking, to quantify the value of testimony, and a judge simply needs all the relevant evidence to come to a decision. If one of the two errs, the other can remind her: “to err” means to forget some aspect of the contract (Q, R, Ṭ). The commentators have generally hewed close to two interpretations of this phrase: that by being reminded the erring woman would become equal, legally, to the man; or that the two women together were equal, legally, to the man. The latter was more widely accepted. It is also true that some commentators, but not all, understood this verse to indicate an essential inferiority in women’s ability to judge objectively and hence the intrinsic unreliability of their testimony. Nothing in the verse demands such a reading, however, and indeed the very structure of the transaction described indicates otherwise. This verse could easily describe a situation in which two female parties arrange a forward sale and bring in two men as witnesses. In Islamic Law women, like men, can transact any sale or loan on their own behalf, including any number of transactions where witnesses are not necessary; thus the provision for two women to act as witnesses in place of a single man in forward sales or debts must reflect a different purpose. There are no rules about individual women entering into such contracts, but since the women of the time, as a general rule, would have been inexperienced with the particulars of potentially complex financial arrangements, accepting two women in the place of one man would have been more practical, since the purpose of such testimony was to ensure the proper observance of the particulars of the loan or sale. Considering the social conditions of the time, for women to participate in this way at all would have been itself a major change, and to require two of them in such transactions can be understood as providing a measure of protection for them against bullying or manipulation, rather than as an indictment of their testimony. Indeed, jurists such as Abū Bakr ibn ʿArabī, in Aḥkām al-Qur’ān, wondered why a man could not remind one woman if she erred, and he could not arrive at an answer. If one reads this provision for women’s testimony in light of the legally established principle upholding women’s competence to own property and carry out economic transactions, it suggests that the stipulation regarding women’s testimony in the present verse is particular to this circumstance and is meant to address certain social or communal difficulties a woman might face when witnessing in such a case. Unlike spot sales, which require no witnesses or written contracts, a forward contract involved items requiring a certain level of expertise to understand. Indeed, from among those whom you approve as witnesses suggests that it is a matter of competence in a specific area, and such transactions would not have been widely carried out by women of the time. Moreover, such arrangements could extend over years, and women would not necessarily be as available to act as male witnesses, from a strictly social point of view, over a long period of time. The trade of present goods refers to a transaction where delivery is made at the time of payment and is thus concluded instantaneously, obviating the need to write a formal contract. 

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# 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. 

283 And cannot find a scribe can also mean that one does not find the means with which to write the contract down (Q, Ṭ). Let there be a pledge in hand refers to collateral property that is given by the debtor to the creditor, or the seller to the buyer in a forward sale, as a guarantee in the absence of a written contract with witnesses. But the verse then leaves open the possibility that one will trust the other party without taking a pledge in the form of property. Some believe that this latter provision abrogated the rules set out in v. 282 regarding contracts, but many believe that this provision applies only in the special circumstance of the person being on a journey, and that in ordinary circumstances one should make a written contract (Q, R, Ṭ). 

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# 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. 

284 Some report that the disclosure or hiding mentioned in this verse refers specifically to the testimony or witnessing legislated in vv. 282–83, namely, that the witness bears a moral responsibility for discharging this important duty truthfully (Ṭ). Following a more universal reading of this verse, it is reported that, upon hearing this verse, many Companions were distressed and grieved, fearing they could never escape from the reality it described, that God will bring them to account for what is disclosed or hidden. Some worried that it meant that they would be held responsible for fleeting thoughts, and some wept from fear. According to this version of the account, the subsequent two verses, which are the final verses of this sūrah, were revealed in part to quell the disquiet in their hearts (Ṭ). Although some think that God tasks no soul beyond its capacity in v. 286 abrogates v. 284, there is no contradiction between the two, and moreover since these are descriptions of God’s Acts and not legal rulings, they are not subject to abrogation. Also, the language bring you to account need not mean punishment (Ṭ), since according to Islamic belief people will first be called to account for all their deeds on the Day of Judgment before entering Paradise or Hell, except for the elect who go to Paradise directly (see also 2:212c). Regarding this accounting, see, for example, 18:49: And they will say, “Oh, woe unto us! What a book this is! It leaves nothing out, neither small nor large, save that it has taken account thereof.” On the subject of being taken to account for one’s inward and outward actions, a ḥadīth states, “Whosoever intends a good deed but does not do it, God records a completed good deed for him. If he intends it and does it, God records ten good deeds and up to seven hundred times more or even greater than that. If he intends to commit an evil deed but does not do it, God records a good deed for him. If he intends to do it and does it, God records a single evil deed for him.” This ḥadīth and similar ones distinguish between a psychological state and an executed choice, recognizing the difference between a concrete intention one is unable to carry out because of external circumstances beyond one’s control—as when a would-be murderer’s gun malfunctions as the trigger is pulled—and a vengeful thought that haunts one’s mind, but that one sincerely seeks to overcome. 

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# 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.” 

# 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.” 

285–86 These final two verses constitute some of the most often recited and memorized passages in the Quran, encompassing both a statement of faith and true belief in v. 285 and a supplicatory prayer to God in v. 286. They are in fact often recited together. It is reported that the Prophet said of these two verses, “Whosoever recites these two verses during the night, they will suffice him,” and also, “I was given the two verses that seal [the sūrah] ‘The Cow’ from a storehouse beneath the Throne (min kanz in taḥta’l-ʿarsh).” In another ḥadīth it is said that during his Night Journey and Ascension (al-isrā’ and al-miʿrāj; see 17:1; 53:1–18) the Prophet was given three things: the five canonical prayers, the final two verses of “The Cow,” and forgiveness of sins for any member of his community who does not ascribe partners to God. The five fundamental articles of Islamic faith—namely, belief in God, angels, books, messengers, and the return to God (and unto Thee is the journey’s end) —are summarized here; they are also listed in v. 177 and 4:136. We make no distinction is spoken by the believers and appears also in v. 136; 3:84; 4:152; the ranking of prophets is discussed in v. 253 and 3:163. Beyond the question of ranking and equality, the statement of the believers that they make no distinction between the prophets is also meant to distinguish them from the Jews, who rejected Jesus and Muhammad, and from the Christians, who rejected Muhammad. Thy forgiveness is understood as an entreaty, with an implied verbal imperative, meaning “Grant us Thy forgiveness.” The message that God tasks no soul beyond its capacity is also found in 2:233; 6:152; 7:42; 23:62. The verbs earned and perpetrated are closely related by root and can be synonymous depending on context. It shall have what it has earned means that what it earned is added to its merit, while subject to what it has perpetrated refers to sins for which it is held responsible (R, Ṭ). Take us not to task if we forget or err can refer to sins of omission, such as forgetting to offer the canonical prayers, or of commission, such as adultery (IK). Lay not upon us a burden is understood to refer to the covenant or pact that was also made with different conditions with other religious communities, such as the Jews and Christians (Ṭ), and is usually interpreted to mean that in many ways Islam represented an alleviation and reduction of the ritual and legal obligations placed on people’s past (IK), though it may also refer to other burdens. Impose not upon us that which we have not the strength to bear refers to commands and prohibitions that would be too difficult to uphold (R). Some commentators mention in this context the ḥadīth, “Truly God has absolved my community of mistakes, forgetfulness, and that which they were compelled to do.” Various aḥādīth describe how, after each of the phrases of supplication uttered by the Prophet or the believers in this verse (take us not to task, lay not upon us, impose not upon us, pardon us, forgive us, have mercy upon us) God says, “I have done so” or “Yes,” or the Prophet is told by Gabriel, “He has done so” (IK, Ṭ). It is said that, upon completing this sūrah, the prominent Companion Muʿādh ibn Jabal would say āmīn, or “amen,” which is also usually said at the end of the recitation of the Fātiḥah, the opening sūrah of the Quran (IK).

Source: The Study Quran, by Sayyed Hossein Nasr and 4 Others

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