This document was prepared with borrowed etext for Arthur's Classic Novels. Etext was prepared by volunteers. XHTML markup by Arthur Wendover. May 1, 2003. (See source text for details.) This is the etext version of the book The Koran Interpreted A Translation by A. J. Arberry, taken from the original etext koran-arberry10.txt.
Arthur's Classic Novels
The first rendering of the Koran into a western language was made by the English scholar Robertus Retenensis in the twelfth century, at the instance of Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny; it was completed in 1143, and enjoyed a considerable circulation in manuscript. Exactly four centuries later this mediaeval Latin version was punished at Basle, the editor being Theodor Bibliander (Buchmann) of Zurich. It abounds in inaccuracies and misunderstandings, and was inspired by hostile intention; nevertheless it served as the foundation of the earliest translations into modem European idioms.
In 1647 Andre du Ryer, a gentleman of France trading in the Levant, published a French translation which took matters little farther. Two years later an English version of this appeared, with the following curious title-page
'The Alcoran of Mahomet, Translated out of Arabick into French. By the Sieur du Ryer, Lord of Malezair, and Resident for the French King, at ALEXANDRIA. And Newly Englished, for the satisfaction of all that desire to look into the Turkish Vanities. To which is prefixed, the Life of Mahomet, the Prophet of the Turks, and Author of the Alcoran. With a Needful Caveat, or Admonition, for them who desire to know what Use may be made of, or if there be danger in Reading the ALCORAN.'
Such was the somewhat inglorious beginning of the English interpretation of the Holy Book of Islam. A quotation or two from the translator's address to the Christian Reader will help to illustrate the spirit in which this version was offered:
'There being so many Sects and Heresies banded together against the Truth, finding that of Mahomet wanting to the Muster, I thought good to bring it to their Colours, that so viewing thine enemies in their full body, thou maist the better prepare to encounter, and I hope overcome them. It may happily startle thee, to find him so to speak English, as if he had made some Conquest on the Nation; but thou wilt soon reject that fear, if thou consider that this his Alcoran (the Ground-work of the Turkish Religion), hath been already translated into almost all Languages in Christendom (at least, the most general, as the Latin, Italian, French, etc.), yet never gained any Proselyte, where the Sword, its most forcible, and strongest argument hath not prevailed. . . Thou shalt find it of so rude, and incongruous a composure, so farced with contradictions, blasphemies, obscene speeches, and ridiculous fables, that some modest, and more rational Mahometans have thus excused it; that their Prophet wrote an hundred and twenty thousand sayings, whereof three thousand only are good, the residue (as the impossibility of the Moons falling into his sleeve, the Conversion and Salvation of the Devils, and the like) are false and ridiculous. Yet is the whole esteemed so sacred, that upon the Cover thereof is inscribed -- Let none touch it but he who is clean. Nor are the vulgar permitted to read it, but live and die in an implicite faith of what their Priests deliver. . . . Therefore (Christian Reader) though some, conscious of their own instability in Religion, and of theirs (too like Turks in this) whose prosperity and opinions they follow, were unwilling this should see the Press, yet am I confident, if thou hast been so true a votary to orthodox Religion, as to keep thy self untainted of their follies, this shall not hurt thee; And as for those of that Batch, having once abandoned the Sun of the Gospel, I believe they will wander as far into utter darkness, by following strange lights, as by this Ignis Fatuus of the Alcoran. Such as it is, I present it to thee, having taken the pains only to translate it out of French, not doubting, though it hath been a poyson, that hath infected a very great, but most unsound part of the Universe, it may prove an Antidote, to confirm in thee the health of Christianity.'
Such being the translator's estimate of the merits of the Koran, it is hardly surprising that his version is very far from perfect. For instance, this is what he made of the passage (Sura XII, 23-29) telling of the temptation of Joseph by Potiphar's wife:
'His Masters Wife became amorous of his Beauty, she one day shut him into her Chamber, and solicited him with love; God defend me (said he) to betray my Master, and be unchaste (he was in the number of the righteous) and fled to the Door; his Mistress ran after him, and to stay him, tore his Shirt through the back: She met her Husband behind the Door, to whom she said, what other thing doth he merit, who would dishonour thine house, than to be imprisoned, and severely chastised? Lord, said Joseph, she sollicited me, that Infant which is in the Cradle, and of thy Parentage shall be witness: Then the Infant in the Cradle said, if Joseph's Shirt be torn before, she hath spoken truth, and Joseph is a lyar; if the Shirt be rent behind, Joseph hath delivered the truth, and she a lyar: then her Husband beheld Joseph's Shirt torn behind, and knew that it was extream malice, and said to Joseph, take heed to thy self, and beware this act be not divulged, do thou, speaking to his Wife, implore pardon for thy fault, thou art truly guilty.'
A second specimen is this rendering of the beautiful account of the birth of Jesus (Sura XIX, 16-34):
'Remember thou what is written of Mary, she retired towards the East, into a place far remote from her Kindred, and took a Vail to cover her, we sent her our Spirit in form of a man; she was afraid, and said, God will preserve me from thee, if thou have his fear before thine eyes; he said, Oh Mary! I am the Messenger of God thy Lord, who shall give thee a Son, active, and prudent: She answered, How shall I have a Son without the touch of man? I desire not to be unchaste; he said, The thing shall be as I have told thee, it is facile to thy Lord; thy Son shall be a token of the Omnipotency of God, and of his special grace towards such as shall believe in his Divine Majesty; she became with Child, and retired some time into a place remote from People, where she sustained the dolours of Child-birth, at the foot of a Date-tree, and said, Why am I not dead? Wherefore am I not in the number of persons forgotten? The Angel said to her, Afflict not thy self; God hath placed a brook under thee, shake the foot of this Palm, and the Dates shall fall, gather them up, eat and drink, and wash thine eyes; say unto them that thou shall meet, that thou fastest, and hast made a Vow not to speak to any one, until the fast be accomplished. Her Parents met her while she bare the Infant, and said unto her, Oh Mary! behold a strange thing; Oh Sister of Aaron! thy Father did not command thee to do evil, neither was thy Mother unchaste; she made signs to her Infant to answer them; they said, How shall the Infant in the Cradle speak? Then her infant spake, and said, I am the Servant of God, he hath taught me the Scripture, hath made me a Prophet, blessed me in all places, and commanded me to pray unto him; he hath recommended to me purity through the whole course of my life, and to honour my Father and Mother; he hath not made me either violent or malicious, praised shall be the day of my birth, the day that I shall die, and the day of my resurrection.'
Such was the version of the Koran with which the English public had to be content for nearly a century; and it is small wonder that they were not impressed. Meanwhile in 1694 the Arabic text of the Koran was at last printed and published in full at Hamburg under the careful editorship of Abraham Hinckelmann. This edition was available to the worthy lawyer George Sale, when he set himself the task of replacing Alexander Ross's translation of Du Ryer; he also had at his disposal a new Latin rendering made by Father Maracci, which appeared at Padua in 1698. Though Sale approached his labour better qualified and better supplied than his predecessor, he was not troubled by motives of scholarly impartiality. He states his position clearly enough in the first pages of his justly celebrated version, first published in 1784 and reprinted many times since:
'I imagine it almost needless either to make an apology for publishing the following translation, or to go about to prove it a work of use as well as curiosity. They must have a mean opinion of the Christian religion, or be but ill grounded therein, who can apprehend any danger from so manifest a forgery. . . . I shall not here inquire into the reasons why the law of Mohammed has met with so unexampled a reception in the world (for they are greatly deceived who imagine it to have been propagated by the sword alone), or by what means it came to be embraced by nations which never felt the force of the Mohammedan arms, and even by those which stripped the Arabians of their conquests, and put an end to the sovereignty and very being of their Khalifs: yet it seems as if there was something more than what is vulgarly imagined in a religion which has made so surprising a progress. But whatever use an impartial version of the Koran may be of in other respects, it is absolutely necessary to undeceive those who, from the ignorant or unfair translations which have appeared; have entertained too favourable an opinion of the original, and also to enable us effectually to expose the imposture. . . . The writers of the Romish communion; in particular, are so far from having done any service in their refutations of Mohammedanism, that by endeavouring to defend their idolatry and other superstitions, they have rather contributed to the increase of that aversion which the Mohammedans in general have to the Christian religion, and given them great advantages in the dispute. The Protestants alone are able to attack the Koran with success; and for them, I trust, Providence has reserved the glory of its overthrow.
Sale's translation was not supplanted for some 150 years. Its influence was thus enormous; this was the Koran for all English readers almost to the end of the nineteenth century; many even now living have never looked into any other version. No other rendering was in the hands of Edward Gibbon when he wrote:
'In the spirit of enthusiasm or vanity, the prophet rests the truth of his mission on the merit of his book; audaciously challenges both men and angels to imitate the beauties of a single page; and presumes to assert that God alone could dictate this incomparable performance. This argument is most powerfully addressed to a devout Arabian, whose mind is attuned to faith and rapture; whose ear is delighted by the music of sounds; and whose ignorance is incapable of comparing the productions of human genius. The harmony and copiousness of style will not reach, in a version, the European infidel: he will peruse with impatience the endless incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which seldom excites a sentiment or an idea, which sometimes crawls in the dust, and is sometimes lost in the clouds. The divine attributes exalt the fancy of the Arabian missionary; but his loftiest strains must yield to the sublime simplicity of the book of Job, composed in a remote age, in the same country, and in the same language. If the composition of the Koran exceeds the faculties of a man, to what superior intelligence should we ascribe the Iliad of Homer, or the Philippics of Demosthenes?' It was on the basis of Sale's version that Thomas Carlyle commented: 'It is as toilsome reading as I ever undertook, a wearisome, confused jumble, crude, incondite. Nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran.' And Gibbon and Carlyle were in their times remarkable for the liberality of their attitude towards Islam.
Yet the superiority of Sale to Ross is evident in every line; not only had he a good grasp of the Arabic language, which his forerunner lacked totally, but his English style is more elegant and mature. The incident of Joseph and Potiphar's wife is rendered thus by Sale:
'And she, in whose house he was, desired him to lie with her; and she shut the doors and said, Come hither. He answered, God forbid! verily my lord hath made my dwelling with him easy; and the ungrateful shall not prosper. But she resolved within herself to enjoy him, and he would have resolved to enjoy her, had he not seen the evident demonstration of his Lord. So we turned away evil and filthiness from him, because he was one of our sincere servants. And they ran to get one before the other to the door; and she rent his inner garment behind. And they met her lord at the door. She said, What shall be the reward of him who seeketh to commit evil in thy family, but imprisonment, and a painful punishment? And Joseph said, She asked me to lie with her. And a witness of her family bore witness; saying, If his garment be rent before, she speaketh truth, and he is a liar; but if his garment be rent behind, she lieth, and he is a speaker of truth. And when her husband saw that his garment was torn behind, he said, This is a cunning contrivance of your sex; for surely your cunning is great. O Joseph, take no farther notice of this affair: and thou, O woman, ask pardon for thy crime, for thou art a guilty person.
This is how Sale translates the story of the Nativity, his carefully italicized 'supplies' being intentionally reminiscent of the Authorized Version of the Bible:
'And remember in the book of the Koran the story of Mary; when she retired from her family to a place towards the east, and took a veil to conceal herself from them; and we sent our spirit Gabriel unto her, and he appeared unto her in the shape of a perfect man. She said, I fly for refuge unto the merciful God, that he may defend me from thee: if thou fearest him, thou wilt not approach me. He answered, Verily I am the messenger of thy Lord, and am sent to give thee a holy son. She said, How shall I have a son, seeing a man hath not touched me, and I am no harlot? Gabriel replied, So shall it be: thy Lord saith, This is easy with me; and we will perform it, that we may ordain him a sign unto men, and a mercy from us: for it is a thing which is decreed. Wherefore she conceived him: and she retired aside with him in her womb to a distant place; and the pains of childbirth came upon her near the trunk of a palm-tree. She said, Would to God I had died before this, and had become a thing forgotten, and lost in oblivion! And he who was beneath her called to her, saying, Be not grieved: now hath God provided a rivulet under thee; and do thou shake the body of the palm-tree, and it shall let fall ripe dates upon thee, ready gathered. And eat, and drink, and calm thy mind. Moreover if thou see any man, and he question thee, say, Verily, I have vowed a fast unto the Merciful; wherefore I will by no means speak to a man this day. So she brought the child to her people, carrying him in her arms. And they said unto her, O Mary, now hast thou done a strange thing: O sister of Aaron, thy father was not a bad man, neither was thy mother a harlot. But she made signs unto the child to answer them; and they said, How shall we speak to him, who is an infant in the cradle? Whereupon the child said, Verily I am the servant of God; he hath given me the book of the gospel, and hath appointed me a prophet. And he hath made me blessed, wheresoever I shall be; and hath commanded me to observe prayer, and to give alms, so long as I shall live; and he hath made me dutiful towards my mother, and hath not made me proud, or unhappy. And peace be on me the day whereon I was born, and the day whereon I shall die, and the day whereon I shall be raised to life.'
Such was the voice of the Koran to eighteenth century England; a somewhat monotonous and humdrum voice, it may be thought, but at least an honest voice. So matters remained for well over a hundred years. But with the nineteenth century came the rise of oriental studies in the scientific meaning of the term; and the interpretation of the Koran inevitably engaged the interest of scholars eager to apply the methods of the higher criticism to this as yet virgin field of research. Thus it came to pass that in the next translation of the Koran to appear, the work of the Rev J. M. Rodwell, the order of the Suras -- the chapters of which the Koran is composed -- was completely changed, with the object of reconstituting the historical sequence of its original composition. Rodwell gives the following justification of this somewhat arbitrary procedure:
'The arrangement of the Suras in this translation is based partly upon the traditions of the Muhammadans themselves, with reference especially to the ancient chronological list printed by Weil in his Mohammed der Prophet, as well as upon a careful consideration of the subject matter of each separate Sura and its probable connection with the sequence of events in the life of Muhammad. Great attention has been paid to this subject by Dr Weil in the work just mentioned; by Mr Muir in his Life of Mahomet, who also publishes a chronological list of Suras, 21 however of which he admits have "not yet been carefully fixed"; and especially by Noeldeke, in his Geschichte des Qorans, a work to which public honours were awarded in 1859 by the Paris Academy of Inscriptions. From the arrangement of this author I see no reason to depart in regard to the later Suras. It is based upon a searching criticism and minute analysis of the component verses of each, and may be safely taken as a standard, which ought not to be departed from without weighty reasons.
The result is that in order to find a particular Sura in Rodwell's version, first published in 1861 and taken up by Everyman's Library in 1909, it is necessary first to consult a comparative table of contents, a laborious and irritating preliminary. Since this translation has enjoyed a very wide circulation indeed, and has been regarded by many as the standard English version, it is interesting to consider the spirit that animated its author. It is a far cry indeed from the intolerant hostility of the seventeenth century, the urbane superiority of the eighteenth.
Certainly Rodwell does not doubt that the Koran was the product of Muhammad's own imagination; but his estimate of Muhammad's character is not lacking in charity and even admiration:
'In close connection with the above remarks, stands the question of Muhammad's sincerity and honesty of purpose in coming forward as a messenger from God. For if he was indeed the illiterate person the Muslims represent him to have been, then it will be hard to escape their inference that the Koran is, as they assert it to be, a standing miracle. But if; on the other hand, it was a Book carefully concocted from various sources, and with much extraneous aid, and published as a divine oracle, then it would seem that the author is at once open to the charge of the grossest imposture, and even of impious blasphemy. The evidence rather shews, that in all he did and wrote, Muhammed was actuated by a sincere desire to deliver his countrymen from the grossness of its debasing idolatries -- that he was urged on by an intense desire to proclaim that great truth of the Unity of the Godhead which had taken full possession of his own soul -- that the end to be attained justified to his mind the means he adopted in the production of his Suras -- that he worked himself up into a belief that he had received a divine call -- and that he was carried on by the force of circumstances, and by gradually increasing successes, to believe himself the accredited messenger of Heaven. The earnestness of those convictions which at Mecca sustained him under persecution, and which perhaps led him, at any price as it were, and by any means, not even excluding deceit and' falsehood, to endeavour to rescue his countrymen from idolatry, -- naturally stiffened at Medina into tyranny and unscrupulous violence. At the same time, he was probably, more or less, throughout his whole career, the victim of a certain amount of self-deception. A cataleptic subject from his early youth, born -- according to the traditions -- of a highly nervous and excitable mother, he would be peculiarly liable to morbid and fantastic hallucinations, and alternations of excitement and depression, which would win for him, in the eyes of his ignorant countrymen, the credit of being inspired. . . . Still, Muhammad's career is a wonderful instance of the force and life that resides in him who possesses an intense Faith in God and in the unseen world; and whatever deductions may be made -- and they are many and serious -- from the noble and truthful in his character, he will always be regarded as one of those who have had that influence over the faith, morals, and whole earthly life of their fellow-men, which none but a really great man ever did, or can, exercise; and as one of those, whose efforts to propagate some great verity will prosper, in spite of manifold personal errors and defects, both of principle and character. The more insight we obtain, from undoubted historical sources, into the actual character of Muhammad, the less reason do we find to justify the strong vituperative language poured out upon his head by 'Maracci, Prideaux, and others, in recent days, one of whom has found, in the Byzantine "Maometis", the number of the Beast! It is nearer to the truth to say that he was a great though imperfect character, an earnest though mistaken teacher, and that many of his mistakes and imperfections were the result of circumstances, of temperament, and constitution; and that there must be elements both of truth and goodness in the system of which he was the main author, to account for the world-wide phenomenon, that whatever may be the intellectual inferiority (if such is, indeed, the fact) of the Muslim races, the influence of his teaching, aided, it is true, by the vast impulse given to it by the victorious arms of his followers, has now lasted for nearly thirteen centuries, and embraces more than one hundred millions of our race -- more than one-tenth part of the inhabitants of the globe.'
Nearly a hundred years have gone by since Rodwell wrote these words. In the interval the further spread of Islam has been so considerable, and the growth in the world's population has been so rapid, that the figures generally accepted nowadays are between three and four times those he estimated, and the proportion of Muslims is thought to have reached one-seventh; though such statistics are surely unreal, seeing that they embrace men, women and children and assume a hundred per cent allegiance to Islam in the communities claimed for that faith.
Whereas Sale had had Hinckelmann and Maracci on his worktable, Rodwell was able to use the Leipzig 1841 text of the Koran edited by Gustav Fluegel. He criticized Sale for having followed Maracci too closely, 'especially by introducing his paraphrastic comments into the body of the text'; he followed the growing fashion of his mid-Victorian times by deploring 'his constant use of Latinized instead of Saxon words'. Rodwell was concerned -- and he was the first English translator so to be preoccupied --'with attempting in some degree to imitate the style of the Arabic original. 'The more brief and poetical verses of the earlier Suras are translated with a freedom from which I have altogether abstained in the historical and prosaic portions; but I have endeavoured nowhere to use a greater amount of paraphrase than is necessary to convey the sense.'. . . I have nowhere attempted to represent the rhymes of the original. The "Proben" of H. v. Purgstall, in the Fundgruben des Orients, excellent as they are in many respects, shew that this can only be done 'with a sacrifice of literal translation.'
G. Margoliouth, who edited Rodwell's translation for Everyman's Library, was much taken by its merits, which are indeed considerable. 'One is happy to be able to say that Rodwell's rendering is one of the best that have as yet been produced. It seems to a great extent to carry with it the atmosphere in which Muhammed lived, and its sentences are imbued with the flavour of the East. The quasi-verse form, with its unfettered and irregular rhythmic flow of the lines, which has in suitable cases been adopted, helps to bring out much of the wild charm of the Arabic. Not the least among its recommendations is, perhaps, that it is scholarly without being pedantic -- that is to say, that it aims at correctness without sacrificing the right effect of the whole to over-insistence on small details.' As a specimen of this well-esteemed translation, here is Rodwell's version of the Virgin Birth; as throughout, he follows the division into verses established in Fluegel's edition:
'And make mention in the Book, of Mary, when she went apart from her family, eastward,
And took a veil to shroud herself from them: and we sent our spirit to her, and he took before her the form of a perfect man.
She said: "I fly for refuge from thee to the God of Mercy! If thou fearest Him, begone from me."
He said: "I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a holy son."
She said: "How shall I have a son, when man hath never touched me? and I am not unchaste."
He said: "So shall it be. Thy Lord bath said: 'Easy is this with me'; and we will make him a sign to mankind, and a mercy from us. For it is a thing decreed."
And she conceived him, and retired with him to a far-off place.
And the throes came upon her by the trunk of a palm. She said: "Oh, would that I had died ere this, and been a thing forgotten, forgotten quite!"
And one cried to her from below her: "Grieve not thou, thy Lord hath provided a streamlet at thy feet: --
And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee: it will drop fresh ripe dates upon thee.
Eat then and drink, and be of cheerful eye: and shouldst thou see a man,
Say, -- Verily, I have vowed abstinence to the God of Mercy. -- To no one will I speak this day."
Then came she with the babe to her people, bearing him. They said, "O Mary! now hast thou done a strange thing!
A sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of wickedness, nor unchaste thy mother."
And she made a sign to them, pointing towards the babe. They said, "How shall we speak with him who is in the cradle, ar infant?"
It said, "Verily, I am the servant of God; He bath given me, the Book, and He bath made me a prophet;
And He hath made me blessed wherever I may be, and hath enjoined me prayer and almsgiving so long as I shall live;
And to be duteous to her that bare me: and he hath not made me proud, depraved.
And the peace of God was on me the day I was born, and will be the: day I shall die, and the day I shall be raised to life."'
When Max Mueller was planning his monumental series of Sacred Books of the East for Oxford University Press, he invited the Cambridge scholar Edward Henry Palmer to contribute a new version of the Koran. Palmer, who was an astonishingly versatile and rapid worker, readily accepted; his translation, in two volumes, was published in 1880, two years before its author was murdered in the Egyptian desert. Palmer, a poor orphan who was thought in his teens to be dying of consumption, had remarkable gifts as a translator, especially of poetry into verse; his complete rendering of the collected poems of the Egyptian Baha al-Din Zuhair testifies amply to his accomplishments, and his translation of the Koran is in its way equally remarkable.' While Rodwell reached the great public through the enterprise of J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., Palmer has enjoyed an equally wide circulation through being included by Oxford University Press in The World's Classics, edited, and introduced by R. A. Nicholson. He abandoned the chronological rearrangement attempted by his contemporary, and divided the matter into paragraphs of varying length; he also avoided the italics that tediously interrupt the flow of the narrative in Sale and Rodwell. This is Palmer's interpretation of the Birth of Jesus:
'And mention, in the Book, Mary; when she retired from her family into an eastern place; and she took a veil to screen herself from them; and we sent unto her our spirit; and he took for her the semblance of a well-made man. Said she, "Verily, I take refuge in the Merciful One from thee, if thou art pious." Said he, "I am only a messenger of thy Lord to bestow on thee a pure boy."
Said she, "How can I have a boy when no man has touched me, and when I am no harlot?" He said, "Thus says thy Lord, It is easy for Me!' and we will make him a sign unto man, and a mercy from us; for it is a decided matter."
So she conceived him, and she retired with him into a remote place. And the labour pains came upon her at the trunk of a palm tree, and she said, "O that I had died before this, and been forgotten out of mind!" and he called to her from beneath her, "Grieve not, for thy Lord has placed a stream beneath thy feet; and shake towards thee the trunk of the palm tree, it will drop upon thee fresh dates fit to gather; so eat, and drink, and cheer thine eye; and if thou shouldst see any, mortal say, 'Verily, I have vowed to the Merciful One a fast, and I will not speak today with a human being'."
Then she brought it to her people, carrying it; said they, "O Mary! thou hast done an extraordinary thing! O sister of Aaron! thy father was not a bad man, nor was thy mother a harlot!"
And she pointed to him, and they said, "How are we to speak with one who is in the cradle a child?" He said, "Verily, I am a servant of God; He has brought me the Book, and He has made me a prophet, and He has made me blessed wherever I be; and He has required of me prayer and almsgiving so long as I live, and piety towards my mother, and has not made me a miserable tyrant; and peace upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised up alive."'
The first half of the present century has seen the study and interpretation of the Koran progress more rapidly and more intensively than ever before. In consequence a number of new English versions have appeared, including some by scholars whose mother-tongue was other than English. All these versions are interesting and merit study; here however it is proposed to limit consideration to two only. The first is sufficiently noteworthy; if for no other reason than that its author was a convert to Islam; he was also a man of distinct literary gifts, having achieved a certain repute as a novelist. Marmaduke Pickthall lived many years in the East, and in the course of his career served the Nizam of Hyderabad, that learned and enlightened Muslim ruler of a State which has now been assimilated into the Republic of India. Pickthall claimed special attention for his work in words that deserve respectful study:
'The aim of this work is to present to English readers what Muslims the world over hold to be the meaning of the words of the Koran, and the nature of that Book, in not unworthy language and concisely, with a view to the requirements of English Muslims. It may be reasonably claimed that no Holy Scripture can be fairly presented by one who disbelieves its inspiration and its message; and this is the first English translation of the Koran by an Englishman who is a Muslim. Some of the translations include commentation offensive to Muslims, and almost all employ a style of language which Muslims at once recognize as unworthy. The Koran cannot be translated. That is the belief of old-fashioned Sheykhs and the view of the present writer. The Book is here rendered almost literally and every effort has been made to choose befitting language. But the result is not the Glorious Koran, that inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy. It is only an attempt to present the meaning of the Koran -- and peradventure something of the charm -- in English. It can never take the place of the Koran in Arabic, nor is it meant to do so. Before publication the work has been scrutinized word by word and thoroughly revised in Egypt with the help of one whose mother-tongue is Arabic, who has studied the Koran and who knows English; and when difficulties were encountered the translator had recourse to perhaps the greatest living authority on the subject. Every care has thus been taken to avoid unwarrantable renderings.'
The revision was undertaken by my old friend, Dr Muhammad Ahmad al-Ghamrawi, a distinguished medical scholar and a very devout Muslim deeply read in classical Arabic literature. The benevolent authority to whose opinion recourse was had was no other than that revered Shaikh al-Azhar, His Excellency Mustafa al-Maraghi, whom I have also had the privilege of knowing. Nevertheless Picktball's version is not free of errors. Being based upon a text lithographed in Turkey, it follows a numeration of the verses frequently differing from that adopted by Fluegel; this gives rise to not a little confusion. For all that, Pickthall's rendering, entitled The Meaning of the Glorious Koran and first published at London in 1930, is an important milestone in the long course of Koranic interpretation; and the extract here chosen for illustration and comparison is the same passage on the Nativity of Our Lord:
'16. And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking East.
17. And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man.
18. She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou are God-fearing.
19. He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son.
20. She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste?
21. He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained.
22. And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place.
25. And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten!
24. Then (one) cried unto her from below her, saying: Grieve not! Thy Lord hath placed a rivulet beneath thee,
25. And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee, thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee.
26. So eat and drink and be consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal, say: Lo! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal.
27. Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! Thou hast come with an amazing thing.
28.O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot.
29. Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy?
30. He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet,
31. And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and alms-giving so long as I remain alive,
32; And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest.
33. Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!'
The other twentieth-century version chosen for particular mention is the two-volume work of Richard Bell, late Reader of Arabic in the University of Edinburgh, published in that famous city 1937-9. Dr Bell was a most erudite scholar of Arabic, and had devoted many years to his 'critical re-arrangement of the Surahs'. Advancing well beyond the position taken up by the critics of last century, he quite literally took the Koran to pieces and put it together again, his meticulous reconstruction extending as far as individual verses and even parts of verses. As he set up his translation in a kind of tabular form to indicate his views of how the discourse originally ran, it is virtually unreadable; certainly one needs to have some detailed knowledge of the text in order to benefit by the arduous exercise of studying his hard-laboured pages. Bell followed Fluegel's text; and the passage on the Birth of Jesus, again chosen for comparison, is fortunately deemed by him to be uninterpolated, though to be true he speculates that it is 'perhaps founded on an earlier version'.
16. Make mention in the Book of Mary; When she withdrew from her people to a place, eastward.
17. And took between herself and them a curtain. Then We sent to her Our spirit, who took for her the form of a human being, shapely.
18. She said: "Lo, I take refuge with the Merciful from thee, if thou art pious."
19. He said: "I am the messenger of thy Lord, that I may give thee a boy, pure."
20. She said: "How shall I have a boy, seeing that man hath not touched me, nor have I been a. harlot?"
21. He said: "So shall it be! Thy Lord hath said: 'It is easy for Me', and (it is) in order that We may make him a sign to the people, and a mercy from Us; it has become a thing decided."
22. So she bore him, and withdrew with him to a place far away.
25. The birth-pangs drove her to the trunk of the palm-tree; she said: "Would that I had died before this, and become a forgetting, forgotten."
24. Then he called to her from beneath her: "Grieve not; thy Lord hath placed beneath thee a streamlet;
25. Shake towards thee the trunk of the palm-tree, and it will let fall upon thee juicy (fruit), ripe.
26. So eat and drink and be of good cheer; and if thou see of mankind any one,
27. Say: 'Verily I have vowed to the Merciful a fast, and I shall not speak today to one of human kind'."
28. Then she brought him to her people, carrying him; they said: "O Mary, thou hast committed a thing improper;
29. O daughter of Aaron, thy father was not a bad man nor was thy mother a harlot."
30. Then she referred (them) to him; they said: "How shall we speak to one who is in the cradle, a child?"
31. He said: "Lo, I am the servant of Allah; He hath bestowed on me the Book, and hath made me a prophet;
32. And hath made me blessed wherever I am, and hath charged me with the Prayer and the Almsgiving as long as I live;
35. And dutiful towards my mother, nor hath He made me a tyrant, wretched.
34. And peace is upon me the day of my birth, and the day of my death, and the day of my being raised up alive."
In this rapid review of the Koran in English translation a number of other versions have been left out of account; their examination would add very little to the discussion. The discriminating reader will not have failed to remark, even in the short extracts quoted, a certain uniformity and dull monotony characteristic of all, from the seventeenth down to the twentieth century. A conscientious but slavish faithfulness to the letter -- so far as the letter has been progressively understood has in general excluded any corresponding reflection of the spirit, where that has at all been appreciated.
In choosing to call the present work The Koran Interpreted I have conceded the relevancy of the orthodox Muslim view, of which Pickthall, for one, was so conscious, that the Koran is untranslatable. Some of the implications of that doctrine are sketched out in the preface to my The Holy Koran: an Introduction with Selections (Allen & Unwin, 1955), and it is not proposed to repeat the same argument here. Briefly, the rhetoric and rhythm of the Arabic of the Koran are so characteristic, so powerful, so highly emotive, that any version whatsoever is bound in the nature of things to be but a poor copy of the glittering splendour of the original. Never was it more true than in this instance that traduttore traditore. My chief reason for offering this new version of a book which has been 'translated' many times already is that in no previous rendering has a serious attempt been made to imitate, however imperfectly, those rhetorical and rhythmical patterns which are the glory and the sublimity of the Koran. I am breaking new ground here; it may therefore be thought appropriate to explain in short my intentions and my method.
The Koran, as is well known, is made up of 114 Suras of varing length. This volume contains the first twenty, comprising a little over one-half of the whole. The Suras, collected into a volume after the death of Muhammad, are not arranged in any chronological order; indeed, most of those reproduced in this volume were revealed to the Prophet in the later years of his mission. But as I am trying in this interpretation to indicate what Muslims of all ages have known as their sacred book, and not how a handful of European scholars have latterly essayed to recast it, I have followed the traditional arrangement for all its admitted perplexities. The Suras themselves are in many instances -- and this has been recognized by Muslim students from the earliest times -- of a composite character, holding embedded in them fragments received by Muhammad at widely differing dates; but I have disregarded this accepted fact, wishing to show each Sura as an artistic whole, its often incongruous parts constituting a rich and admirable pattern.
The verses into which the individual Sura is divided usually, but not always, represent rhetorical units, terminated and connected together by a rhyming word. A few bold spirits have ventured on occasion to show this feature by rhyming their translations; the resulting products have not been very impressive. For my own part I have preferred to indicate these terminations and connections by rounding off each succession of loose rhythms with a much shorter line. The function of rhyme in the Koran is quite different from the function of the rhyme in poetry; it therefore demands a different treatment in translation. That has been my method in interpreting narrative, argumentative and legislative passages. Where, however, the original, as often enough, interposes between these leisurely periods sudden outbursts of sharp rhetoric or shapely lyric, I have called attention to such changes of mood and tempo by making corresponding variations in my own rhythmical patterns. In this fashion I have also striven to isolate and then to integrate the diverse sections of which each Sura is composed. The reader may wish to compare the results of applying this analysis and method with the traditional way of translating the Koran; here then is my version of the Birth of Jesus:
'And mention in the Book Mary when she withdrew from her people to an eastern place, and she took a veil apart from them; then We sent unto her Our Spirit that presented himself to her a man without fault. She said, "I take refuge in the All-merciful from thee!
If thou fearest God . . . He said, "I am but a messenger come from thy Lord, to give thee a boy most pure. She said, "How shall I have a son whom no mortal has touched, neither have I been unchaste?" He said, "Even so thy Lord has said:
'Easy is that for Me; and that We may appoint him a sign unto men and a mercy from Us; it is a thing decreed'."
So she conceived him, and withdrew with him to a distant place. And the birth-pangs surprised her by the trunk of the palm-tree. She said, "Would I had died ere this, and become a thing forgotten!" But the one that was below her called to her, "Nay, do not sorrow; see; thy Lord has set below thee a rivulet.
Shake also to thee the palm-trunk, and there shall come tumbling upon thee dates fresh and ripe. Eat therefore, and drink, and be comforted; and if thou shouldst see any mortal, say, 'I have vowed to the All-merciful a fast, and today I will not speak to any man'."
Then she brought the child to her folk carrying him; and they said, "Mary, thou hast surely committed a monstrous thing! Sister of Aaron, thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a woman unchaste." Mary pointed to the child then; but they said, "How shall we speak to one who is still in the cradle, a little child?"
He said, "Lo, I am God's servant; God has given me the Book, and made me a Prophet. Blessed He has made me, wherever I may be; and He has enjoined me to pray, and to give the alms, so long as I live, and likewise to cherish my mother; He has not made me arrogant, unprosperous.
Peace be upon me, the day I was horn, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive!"
If, set out like this, the Koranic treatment of this most sacred theme seems to recall, however distantly and however faintly, some mediaeval Christian carol, the resemblance is surely not fortuitous; but I make bold to claim that the point escapes notice in any other kind of translation.
There is a repertory of familiar themes running through the whole Koran; each Sura elaborates or adumbrates one or more -- often many -- of these. Using the language of music, each Sura is a rhapsody composed of whole or fragmentary leitmotivs; the analogy is reinforced by the subtly varied rhythmical flow of the discourse. If this diagnosis of the literary structure of the Koran may be accepted as true -- and it accords with what we know of the poetical instinct, indeed the whole aesthetic impulse, of the Arabs -- it follows that those notorious incongruities and irrelevancies, even those 'wearisome repetitions', which have proved such stumbling-blocks in the way of our Western appreciation will vanish in the light of a clearer understanding of the nature of the Muslim scriptures. A new vista opens up; following this hitherto unsuspected and unexplored path, the eager interpreter hurries forward upon an exciting journey of discovery, and is impatient to report his findings to a largely indifferent and incredulous public.
During the long months, the dark and light months, of labouring at this interpretation, eclectic where the ancient commentators differ in their understanding of a word or a phrase, unannotated because notes in plenty are to be found in other versions, and the radiant beauty of the original is not clouded by such vexing interpolations -- all through this welcome task I have been reliving those Ramadan nights of long ago, when I would sit on the veranda of my Gezira house and listen entranced to the old, white-bearded Sheykh who chanted the Koran for the pious delectation of my neighbour. He had the misfortune, my neighbour, to be a prominent politician, and so in the fullness of his destiny, but not the fullness of his years, he fell to an assassin's bullet; I like to think that the merit of those holy recitations may have eased the way for him into a world free of the tumult and turbulence that attended his earthly career. It was then that I, the infidel, learnt to understand and react to the thrilling rhythms of the Koran, only to be apprehended when listened to at such a time and in such a place. In humble thankfulness I dedicate this all too imperfect essay in imitation to the memory of those magical Egyptian nights.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
1 Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate, the Master of the Day of Doom.
5 Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray for succour. Guide us in the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not of those against whom Thou art wrathful, nor of those who are astray.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Alif Lam Mim
1 That is the Book, wherein is no doubt, a guidance to the godfearing who believe in the Unseen, and perform the prayer, and expend of that We have provided them; who believe in what has been sent down to thee and what has been sent down before thee, and have faith in the Hereafter; those are upon guidance from their Lord, those are the ones who prosper.
5 As for the unbelievers, alike it is to them whether thou hast warned them or hast not warned them, they do not believe. God has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a covering, and there awaits them a mighty chastisement.
And some men there are who say, 'We believe in God and the Last Day'; but they are not believers.
They would trick God and the believers, and only themselves they deceive, and they are not aware. In their hearts is a sickness, and God has increased their sickness, and there awaits them a painful chastisement for that they have cried lies.
10 When it is said to them, 'Do not corruption in the land', they say, 'We are only ones that put things right.' Truly, they are the workers of corruption but they are not aware.
When it is said to them, 'Believe as the people believe', they say, 'Shall we believe, as fools believe?'
Truly, they are the foolish ones, but they do not know. When they meet those who beliieve, they say, 'We believe'; but when they go privily to their Satans, they say, 'We are with you; we were only mocking.' God shall mock them, and shall lead them on blindly wandering in their insolence.
15 Those are they that have bought error at the price of guidance, and their commerce has not profited them, and they are not right-guided. The likeness of them is as the likeness of a man who kindled a fire, and when it lit all about him God took away their light, and left them in darkness unseeing, deaf, dumb, blind -- so they shall not return; or as a cloudburst out of heaven in which is darkness, and thunder, and lightning -- they put their fingers in their ears against the thunderclaps, fearful of death; and God encompasses the unbelievers; the lightning wellnigh snatches away their sight; whensoever it gives them light, they walk in it, and when the darkness is over them, they halt; had God willed, He would have taken away their hearing and their sight. Truly, God is powerful over everything.
O you men, serve your Lord Who created you, and those that were before you; haply so you will be godfearing;
20 who assigned to you the earth for a couch, and heaven for an edifice, and sent down out of heaven water, wherewith He brought forth fruits for your provision; so set not up compeers to God wittingly. And if you are in doubt concerning that We have sent down on Our servant, then bring a sura like it, and call your witnesses, apart from God, if you are truthful. And if you do not -- and you will not -- then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for unbelievers.
Give thou good tidings to those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, that for them await gardens underneath which rivers flow; whensoever they are provided with fruits therefrom they shall say, 'This is that wherewithal we were provided before'; that they shall be given in perfect semblance; and there for them shall be spouses purified; therein they shall dwell forever.
God is not ashamed to strike a similitude even of a gnat, or aught above it. As for the believers, they know it is the truth from their Lord; but as for unbelievers, they say, 'What did God desire by this for a similitude?' Thereby He leads many astray, and thereby He guides many; and thereby He leads none astray save the ungodly
25 such as break the covenant of God after its solemn binding, and such as cut what God has commanded should be joined, and such as do corruption in the land -- they shall be the losers.
How do you disbelieve in God, seeing you were dead and He gave you life, then He shall make you dead, then He shall give you life, then unto Him you shall be returned?
It is He who created for you all that is in the earth, then He lifted Himself to heaven and levelled them seven heavens; and He has knowledge of everything.
And when thy Lord said to the angels, 'I am setting in the earth a viceroy.' They said, 'What, wilt Thou set therein one who will do corruption there, and shed blood, while we proclaim Thy praise and call Thee Holy?' He said, 'Assuredly I know that you know not.'
And He taught Adam the names, all of them; then He presented them unto the angels and said, 'Now tell Me the names of these, if you speak truly.'
30 They said, 'Glory be to Thee! We know not save what Thou hast taught us. Surely Thou art the All-knowing, the All-wise.'
He said, 'Adam, tell them their names.' And when he had told them their names He said, 'Did I not tell you I know the unseen things of the heavens and earth? And I know what things you reveal, and what you were hiding.'
And when We said to the angels, 'Bow yourselves to Adam'; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he refused, and waxed proud, and so he became one of the unbelievers.
And We said, 'Adam, dwell thou, and thy wife, in the Garden, and eat thereof easefully where you desire; but draw not nigh this tree, lest you be evildoers.' Then Satan caused them to slip therefrom and brought them out of that they were in; and We said, 'Get you all down, each of you an enemy of each; and in the earth a sojourn shall be yours, and enjoyment for a time.'
35 Thereafter Adam received certain words from his Lord, and He turned towards him; truly He turns, and is All-compassionate. We said, 'Get you down out of it, all together; yet there shall come to you guidance from Me, and whosoever follows My guidance, no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow. As for the unbelievers who cry lies to Our signs, those shall be the inhabitants of the Fire, therein dwelling forever.'
Children of Israel, remember My blessing wherewith I blessed you, and fulfil My covenant and I shall fulfil your covenant; and have awe of Me. And believe in that I have sent down, confirming that which is with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And sell not My signs for a little price; and fear you Me. And do not confound the truth with vanity, and do not conceal the truth wittingly.
40 And perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and bow with those that bow. Will you bid others to piety, and forget yourselves while you recite the Book? Do you not understand? Seek you help in patience and prayer, for grievous it is, save to the humble who reckon that they shall meet their Lord and that unto Him they are returning.
Children of Israel, remember My blessing wherewith I blessed you, and that I have preferred you above all beings; and beware of a day when no soul for another
45 shall give satisfaction, and no intercession shall be accepted from it, nor any counterpoise be taken, neither shall they be helped.
And when We delivered you from the folk of Pharaoh who were visiting you with evil chastisement, slaughtering your sons, and sparing your women; and in that was a grievous trial from your Lord. And when We divided for you the sea and delivered you, and drowned Pharaoh's folk while you were beholding.
And when We appointed with Moses forty nights then you took to yourselves the Calf after him and you were evildoers; then We pardoned you after that, that haply you should be thankful.
50 And when We gave to Moses the Book and the Salvation, that haply you should be guided. And when Moses said to his people, 'My people, you have done wrong against yourselves by your taking the Calf; now turn to your Creator and slay one another (the transgressors). That will be better for you in your Creator's sight, and He will turn to you; truly He turns, and is All-compassionate.' And when you said, 'Moses, we will not believe thee till we see God openly'; and the thunderbolt took you while you were beholding.
Then We raised you up after you were dead, that haply you should be thankful. And We outspread the cloud to overshadow you, and We sent down manna and quails upon you: 'Eat of the good things wherewith We have provided you. And they worked no wrong upon Us, but themselves they wronged.
55 And when We said, 'Enter this township, and eat easefully of it wherever you will, and enter in at the gate, prostrating, and say, Unburdening; We will forgive you your transgressions, and increase the good-doers.' Then the evildoers substituted a saying other than that which had been said to them; so We sent down upon the evildoers wrath out of heaven for their ungodliness. And when Moses sought water for his people, so We said, 'Strike with thy staff the rock'; and there gushed forth from it twelve fountains; all the people knew now their drinking-place. 'Eat and drink of God's providing, and mischief not in the earth, doing corruption.' And when you said, 'Moses, we will not endure one sort of food; pray to thy Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of that the earth produces -- green herbs, cucumbers, corn, lentils, onions.'
He said, 'Would you have in exchange what is meaner for what is better? Get you down to Egypt; you shall have there that you demanded.' And abasement and poverty were pitched upon them, and they were laden with the burden of God's anger; that, because they had disbelieved the signs of God and slain the Prophets unrightfully; that, because they disobeyed, and were transgressors. Surely they that believe, and those of Jewry, and the Christians, and those Sabaeans, whoso believes in God and the Last Day, and works righteousness -- their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them; neither shall they sorrow.
60 And when We took compact with you, and raised above you the Mount: 'Take forcefully what We have given you, and remember what is in it; haply you shall be godfearing.' Then you turned away thereafter, and but for the bounty and mercy of God towards you, you had been of the losers. And well you know there were those among you that transgressed the Sabbath, and We said to them, 'Be you apes, miserably slinking!'
And We made it a punishment exemplary for all the former times and for the latter, and an admonition to such as are godfearing. And when Moses said to his people, 'God commands you to sacrifice a cow.' They said, 'Dost thou take us in mockery?' He said, 'I take refuge with God, lest I should be one of the ignorant.' They said, 'Pray to thy Lord for us, that He may make clear to us what she may be.' He said, 'He says she is a cow neither old, nor virgin, middling between the two; so do that you are bidden.'
65 They said, 'Pray to thy Lord for us, that He make clear to us what her colour may be.' He said, 'He says she shall be a golden cow, bright her colour, gladdening the beholders.' They said, 'Pray to thy Lord for us, that He make clear to us what she may be; cows are much alike to us; and, if God will, we shall then be guided.' He said, 'He says she shall be a cow not broken to plough the earth or to water the tillage, one kept secure, with no blemish on her.'
They said, 'Now thou hast brought the truth'; and therefore they sacrificed her, a thing they had scarcely done. And when you killed a living soul, and disputed thereon -- and God disclosed what you were hiding -- so We said, 'Smite him with part of it'; even so God brings to life the dead, and He shows you His signs, that haply you may have understanding. Then your hearts became hardened thereafter and are like stones, or even yet harder; for there are stones from which rivers come gushing, and others split, so that water issues from them, and others crash down in the fear of God. And God is not heedless of the things you do.
70 Are you then so eager that they should believe you, seeing there is a party of them that heard God's word, and then tampered with it, and that after they had comprehended it, wittingly? And when they meet those who believe, they say 'We believe'; and when they go privily one to another, they say, 'Do you speak to them of what God has revealed to you, that they may thereby dispute with you before your Lord? Have you no understanding?'
Know they not that God knows what they keep secret and what they publish?
And some there are of them that are common folk not knowing the Book, but only fancies and mere conjectures. So woe to those who write the Book with their hands, then say, 'This is from God,' that they may sell it for a little price; so woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for their earnings.
And they say, 'The Fire shall not touch us save a number of days.' Say: 'Have you taken with God a covenant? God will not fail in His covenant; or say you things against God of which you know nothing?
75 Not so; whoso earns evil, and is encompassed by his transgression -- those are the inhabitants of the Fire; there they shall dwell forever. And those that believe, and do deeds of righteousness -- those are the inhabitants of Paradise; there they shall dwell forever.'
And when We took compact with the Children of Israel: 'You shall not serve any save God; and to be good to parents, and the near kinsman, and to orphans, and to the needy; and speak good to men, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms.' Then you turned away, all but a few of you, swerving aside.
And when We took compact with you: 'You shall not shed your own blood, neither expel your own from your habitations'; then you confirmed it and yourselves bore witness. Then there you are killing one another, and expelling a party of you from their habitations, conspiring against them in sin and enmity; and if they come to you as captives, you ransom them; yet their expulsion was forbidden you. What, do you believe in part of the Book, and disbelieve in part?
What shall be the recompense of those of you who do that, but degradation in the present life, and on the Day of Resurrection to be returned unto the most terrible of chastisement? And God is not heedless of the things you do.
80 Those who have purchased the present life at the price of the world to come -- for them the chastisement shall not be lightened, neither shall they be helped.
And We gave to Moses the Book, and after him sent succeeding Messengers; and We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear signs, and confirmed him with the Holy Spirit; and whensoever there came to you a Messenger with that your souls had not desire for, did you become arrogant, and some cry lies to, and some slay?
And they say, 'Our hearts are uncircumcised.' Nay, but God has cursed them for their unbelief; little will they believe. When there came to them a Book from God, confirming what was with them -- and they aforetimes prayed for victory over the unbelievers -- when there came to them that they recognized, they disbelieved in it; and the curse of God is on the unbelievers. Evil is the thing they have sold themselves for, disbelieving in that which God sent down, grudging that God should send down of His bounty on whomsoever He will of His servants, and they were laden with anger upon anger; and for unbelievers awaits a humbling chastisement.
85 And when they were told, 'Believe in that God has sent down,' they said, 'We believe in what was sent down on us'; and they disbelieve in what is beyond that, yet it is the truth confirming what is with them. Say: 'Why then were you slaying the Prophets of God in former time, if you were believers?'
And Moses came to you with the clear signs, then you took to yourselves the Calf after him and you were evildoers. And when We took compact with you, and raised over you the Mount: 'Take forcefully what We have given you and give ear.' They said, 'We hear, and rebel'; and they were made to drink the Calf in their hearts for their unbelief. Say: 'Evil is the thing your faith bids you to, if you are believers.'
Say: 'If the Last Abode with God is yours exclusively, and not for other people, then long for death -- if you speak truly.' But they will never long for it, because of that their hands have forwarded; God knows the evildoers;
90 and thou shalt find them the eagerest of men for life. And of the idolaters; there is one of them wishes if he might be spared a thousand years, yet his being spared alive shall not remove him from the chastisement. God sees the things they do.
Say: 'Whosoever is an enemy to Gabriel -- he it was that brought it down upon thy heart by the leave of God, confirming what was before it, and for a guidance and good tidings to the believers. Whosoever is an enemy to God and His angels and His Messengers, and Gabriel, and Michael -- surely God is an enemy to the unbelievers.'
And We have sent down unto thee signs, clear signs, and none disbelieves in them except the ungodly. Why, whensoever they have made a covenant, does a party of them reject it? Nay, but the most of them are unbelievers.
95 When there has come to them a Messenger from God confirming what was with them, a party of them that were given the Book reject the Book of God behind their backs, as though they knew not, and they follow what the Satans recited over Solomon's kingdom. Solomon disbelieved not, but the Satans disbelieved, teaching the people sorcery, and that which was sent down upon Babylon's two angels, Harut and Marut; they taught not any man, without they said, 'We are but a temptation; do not disbelieve.'
From them they learned how they might divide a man and his wife, yet they did not hurt any man thereby, save by the leave of God, and they learned what hurt them, and did not profit them, knowing well that whoso buys it shall have no share in the world to come; evil then was that they sold themselves for, if they had but known. Yet had they believed, and been godfearing, a recompense from God had been better, if they had but known.
O believers, do not say, 'Observe us,' but say, 'Regard us'; and give ear; for unbelievers awaits a painful chastisement.
Those unbelievers of the People of the Book and the idolaters wish not that any good should be sent down upon you from your Lord; but God singles out for His mercy whom He will; God is of bounty abounding.
100 And for whatever verse We abrogate or cast into oblivion, We bring a better or the like of it; knowest thou not that God is powerful over everything? Knowest thou not that to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and that you have none, apart from God, neither protector nor helper? Or do you desire to question your Messenger as Moses was questioned in former time? Whoso exchanges belief for unbelief has surely strayed from the right way.
Many of the People of the Book wish they might restore you as unbelievers, after you have believed, in the jealousy of their souls, after the truth has become clear to them; yet do you pardon and be forgiving, till God brings His command; truly God is powerful over everything. And perform the prayer, and pay the alms; whatever good you shall forward to your souls' account, you shall find it with God; assuredly God sees the things you do.
105 And they say, 'None shall enter Paradise except that they be Jews or Christians.' Such are their fancies. Say: 'Produce your proof, if you speak truly.'
Nay, but whosoever submits his will to God, being a good-doer, his wage is with his Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow.
The Jews say, 'The Christians stand not on anything'; the Christians say, 'The Jews stand not on anything'; yet they recite the Book. So too the ignorant say the like of them. God shall decide between them on the Day of Resurrection touching their differences. And who does greater evil than he who bars God's places of worship, so that His Name be not rehearsed in them, and strives to destroy them? Such men might never enter them, save in fear; for them is degradation in the present world, and in the world to come a mighty chastisement.
To God belong the East and the West; whithersoever you turn, there is the Face of God; God is All-embracing, All-knowing.
110 And they say, 'God has taken to Him a son. Glory be to Him! Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth; all obey His will -- the Creator of the heavens and the earth; and when He decrees a thing, He but says to it 'Be,' and it is.
And they that know not say, 'Why does God not speak to us? Why does a sign not come to us?' So spoke those before them as these men say; their hearts are much alike. Yet We have made clear the signs unto a people who are sure We have sent thee with the truth, good tidings to bear, and warning. Thou shalt not be questioned touching the inhabitants of Hell. Never will the Jews be satisfied with thee, neither the Christians, not till thou followest their religion.
Say: 'God's guidance is the true guidance.' If thou followest their caprices, after the knowledge that has come to thee, thou shalt have against God neither protector nor helper.
115 Those to whom We have given the Book and who recite it with true recitation, they believe in it; and whoso disbelieves in it, they shall be the losers.
Children of Israel, remember My blessing wherewith I blessed you, and that I have preferred you above all beings; and beware a day when no soul for another shall give satisfaction, and no counterpoise shall be accepted from it, nor any intercession shall be profitable to it, neither shall they be helped.
And when his Lord tested Abraham with certain words, and he fulfilled them. He said, 'Behold, I make you a leader for the people.' Said he, 'And of my seed?' He said 'My covenant shall not reach the evildoers.'
And when We appointed the House to be a place of visitation for the people, and a sanctuary, and: 'Take to yourselves Abraham's station for a place of prayer.' And We made covenant with Abraham and Ishmael: 'Purify My House for those that shall go about it and those that cleave to it, to those who bow and prostrate themselves.'
120 And when Abraham said, 'My Lord, make this a land secure, and provide its people with fruits, such of them as believe in God and the Last Day.'
He said, 'And whoso disbelieves, to him I shall give enjoyment a little, then I shall compel him to the chastisement of the Fire -- how evil a homecoming!'
And when Abraham, and Ishmael with him, raised up the foundations of the House: 'Our Lord, receive this from us; Thou art the All-hearing, the All-knowing; and, our Lord, make us submissive to Thee, and of our seed a nation submissive to Thee; and show us our holy rites, and turn towards us; surely Thou turnest, and art All-compassionate; and, our Lord, do Thou send among them a Messenger, one of them, who shall recite to them Thy signs, and teach them the Book and the Wisdom, and purify them; Thou art the All-mighty, the All-wise.'
Who therefore shrinks from the religion of Abraham, except he be foolish-minded? Indeed, We chose him in the present world, and in the world to come he shall be among the righteous.
125 When his Lord said to him, 'Surrender,' he said, 'I have surrendered me to the Lord of all Being.' And Abraham charged his sons with this and Jacob likewise: 'My sons, God has chosen for you the religion; see that you die not save in surrender.'
Why, were you witnesses, when death came to Jacob? When he said to his sons, 'What will you serve after me?' They said, 'We will serve thy God and the God of thy fathers Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, One God; to Him we surrender.' That is a nation that has passed away; there awaits them that they have earned, and there awaits you that you have earned; you shall not be questioned concerning the things they did.
And they say, 'Be Jews or Christians and you shall be guided.' Say thou: 'Nay, rather the creed of Abraham, a man of pure faith; he was no idolater.'
130 Say you: 'We believe in God, and in that which has been sent down on us and sent down on Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes, and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and the Prophets, of their Lord; we make no division between any of them, and to Him we surrender.'
And if they believe in the like of that you believe in, then they are truly guided; but if they turn away, then they are clearly in schism; God will suffice you for them; He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing; the baptism of God; and who is there that baptizes fairer than God? Him we are serving.
Say: 'Would you then dispute with us concerning God, who is our Lord and your Lord? Our deeds belong to us, and to you belong your deeds; Him we serve sincerely. Or do you say, "Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes -- they were Jews, or they were Christians"?' Say: 'Have you then greater knowledge, or God? And who does greater evil than he who conceals a testimony received from God? And God is not heedless of the things you do.'
135 That is a nation that has passed away; there awaits them that they have earned, and there awaits you that you have earned; you shall not be questioned concerning the things they did.
The fools among the people will say, 'What has turned them from the direction they were facing in their prayers aforetime?'
Say: "To God belong the East and the West; He guides whomsoever He will to a straight path.'
Thus We appointed you a midmost nation that you might be witnesses to the people, and that the Messenger might be a witness to you; and We did not appoint the direction thou wast facing, except that We might know who followed the Messenger from him who turned on his heels -- though it were a grave thing save for those whom God has guided; but God would never leave your faith to waste -- truly, God is All -- gentle with the people, All-compassionate.
We have seen thee turning thy face about in the heaven; now We will surely turn thee to a direction that shall satisfy thee. Turn thy face towards the Holy Mosque; and wherever you are, turn your faces towards it. Those who have been given the Book know it is the truth from their Lord; God is not heedless of the things they do.
140 Yet if thou shouldst bring to those that have been given the Book every sign, they will not follow thy direction; thou art not a follower of their direction, neither are they followers of one another's direction. If thou followest their caprices, after the knowledge that has come to thee, then thou wilt surely be among the evildoers whom We have given the Book, and they recognize as they recognize their sons, even though there is a party of them conceal the truth and that wittingly.
The truth comes from thy Lord; then be not among the doubters. Every man has his direction to which he turns; so be you forward in good works. Wherever you may be, God will bring you all together; surely God is powerful over everything. From whatsoever place thou issuest, turn thy face towards the Holy Mosque; it is the truth from thy Lord. God is not heedless of the things you do.
145 From whatsoever place thou issuest, turn thy face towards the Holy Mosque; and wherever you may be, turn your faces towards it, that the people may not have any argument against you, excepting the evildoers of them; and fear you them not, but fear you Me; and that I may perfect My blessing upon you, and that haply so you may be guided; as also We have sent among you, of yourselves, a Messenger, to recite Our signs to you and to purify you, and to teach you the Book and the Wisdom, and to teach you that you knew not.
So remember Me, and I will remember you; and be thankful to Me; and be you not ungrateful towards Me.
O all you who believe, seek you help in patience and prayer; surely God is with the patient. And say not of those slain in God's way, 'They are dead'; rather they are living, but you are not aware.
150 Surely We will try you with something of fear and hunger, and diminution of goods and lives and fruits; yet give thou good tidings unto the patient who, when they are visited by an affliction, say, 'Surely we belong to God, and to Him we return'; upon those rest blessings and mercy from their Lord, and those -- they are the truly guided.
Safa and Marwa are among the waymarks of God; so whosoever makes the Pilgrimage to the House, or the Visitation, it is no fault in him to circumambulate them; and whoso volunteers good, God is All-grateful, All-knowing
Those who conceal the clear signs and the guidance that We have sent down, after We have shown them clearly in the Book -- they shall be cursed by God and the cursers,
155 save such as repent and make amends, and show clearly -- towards them I shall turn; I turn, All-compassionate. But those who disbelieve, and die disbelieving -- upon them shall rest the curse of God and the angels, and of men altogether, therein dwelling forever; the chastisement shall not be lightened for them; no respite shall be given them.
Your God is One God; there is no god but He, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate.
Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day and the ship that runs in the sea with profit to men, and the water God sends down from heaven therewith reviving the earth after it is dead and His scattering abroad in it all manner of crawling thing, and the turning about of the winds and the clouds compelled between heaven and earth -- surely there are signs for a people having understanding.
160 Yet there be men who take to themselves compeers apart from God, loving them as God is loved; but those that believe love God more ardently. O if the evildoers might see, when they see the chastisement, that the power altogether belongs to God, and that God is terrible in chastisement, when those that were followed disown their followers, and they see the chastisement, and their cords are cut asunder, and those that followed say, 'O if only we might return again and disown them, as they have disowned us!' Even so God shall show them their works. O bitter regrets for them! Never shall they issue from the Fire.
O men, eat of what is in the earth lawful and good; and follow not the steps of Satan; he is a manifest foe to you. He only commands you to evil and indecency, and that you should speak against God such things as you know not.
165 And when it is said to them, 'Follow what God has sent down,' they say, 'No; but we will follow such things as we found our fathers doing.'
What? And if their fathers had no understanding of anything, and if they were not guided? The likeness of those who disbelieve is as the likeness of one who shouts to that which hears nothing, save a call and a cry; deaf, dumb, blind -- they do not understand.
O believers, eat of the good things wherewith We have provided you, and give thanks to God, if it be Him that you serve. These things only has He forbidden you: carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, what has been hollowed to other than God. Yet who so is constrained, not desiring nor transgressing, no sin shall be on him; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.
Those who conceal what of the Book God has sent down on them, and sell it for a little price --they shall eat naught but the Fire in their bellies; God shall not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection neither purify them; there awaits them a painful chastisement.
170 Those are they that have bought error at the price of guidance, and chastisement at the price of pardon; how patiently they shall endure the Fire! That, because God has sent down the Book with the truth; and those that are at variance regarding the Book are in wide schism.
It is not piety, that you turn your faces to the East and to the West. True piety is this: to believe in God, and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets, to give of one's substance, however cherished, to kinsmen, and orphans, the needy, the traveller, beggars, and to ransom the slave, to perform the prayer, to pay the alms. And they who fulfil their covenant when they have engaged in a covenant, and endure with fortitude misfortune, hardship and peril, these are they who are true in their faith, these are the truly godfearing.
O believers, prescribed for you is retaliation, touching the slain; freeman for freeman, slave for slave, female for female. But if aught is pardoned a man by his brother, let the pursuing be honourable, and let the payment be with kindliness. That is a lightening granted you by your Lord, and a mercy; and for him who commits aggression after that -- for him there awaits a painful chastisement.
175 In retaliation there is life for you, men possessed of minds; haply you will be godfearing.
Prescribed for you, when any of you is visited by death, and he leaves behind some goods, is to make testament in favour of his parents and kinsmen honourably -- an obligation on the godfearing. Then if any man changes it after hearing it, the sin shall rest upon those who change it; surely God is All-hearing, All-knowing. But if any man fears injustice or sin from one making testament, and so makes things right between them, then sin shall not rest upon him; surely God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.
O believers, prescribed for you is the Fast, even as it was prescribed for those that were before you -- haply you will be godfearing --
180 for days numbered; and if any of you be sick, or if he be on a journey, then a number of other days; and for those who are able to fast, a redemption by feeding a poor man. Yet better. it is for him who volunteers good, and that you should fast is better for you, if you but know; the month of Ramadan, wherein the Koran was sent down to be a guidance to the people, and as clear signs of the Guidance and the Salvation.
So let those of you, who are present at the month, fast it; and if any of you be sick, or if he be on a journey, then a number of other days; God desires ease for you, and desires not hardship for you; and that you fulfil the number, and magnify God that He has guided you, and haply you will be thankful.
And when My servants question thee concerning Me -- I am near to answer the call of the caller, when he calls to Me; so let them respond to Me, and let them believe in Me; haply so they will go aright.
Permitted to you, upon the night of the Fast, is to go in to your wives; -- they are a vestment for you, and you are a vestment for them. God knows that you have been betraying yourselves, and has turned to 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 shows clearly to you from the black thread at the dawn; then complete the Fast unto the night, and do not lie with them while you cleave to the mosques. Those are God's bounds; keep well within them. So God makes clear His signs to men; haply they will be godfearing.
Consume not your goods between you in vanity; neither proffer it to the judges, that you may sinfully consume a portion of other men's goods, and that wittingly.
185 They will question thee concerning the new moons. Say: 'They are appointed times for the people, and the Pilgrimage.'
It is; not piety to come to the houses from the backs of them; but piety is to be godfearing; so come to the houses by their doors, and fear God; haply so you will prosper.
And fight in the way of God with those; who fight with you, but aggress not: God loves not the aggressors. And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you; persecution is more grievous than slaying. But fight them not by the Holy Mosque until they should fight you there; then, if they fight you, slay them -- such is the recompense of unbelievers -- but if they give over, surely God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.
Fight them, till there is no persecution and the religion is God's; then if they give over, there shall be no enmity save for evildoers.
190 The holy month for the holy month; holy things demand retaliation. Whoso commits aggression against you, do you commit aggression against him like as he has committed against you, and fear you God, and know that God is with the godfearing.
And expend in the way of God; and cast not yourselves by your own hands into destruction, but be good-doers; God loves the good-doers.
Fulfil the Pilgrimage and the Visitation unto God; but if you are prevented, then such offering as may be feasible. And shave not your heads, till the offering reaches its place of sacrifice. If any of you is sick, or injured in his head, then redemption by fast, or freewill offering, or ritual sacrifice. When you are secure, then whosoever enjoys the Visitation until the Pilgrimage, let his offering be such as may be feasible; or if he finds none, then a fast of three days in the Pilgrimage, and of seven when you return, that is ten completely; that is for him whose family are not present at the Holy Mosque. And fear God, and know that God is terrible in retribution.
The Pilgrimage is in months well-known; whoso undertakes the duty of Pilgrimage in them shall not go in to his womenfolk nor indulge in ungodliness and disputing in the Pilgrimage. Whatever good you do, God knows it. And take provision; but the best provision is godfearing, so fear you Me, men possessed of minds! It is no fault in you, that you should seek bounty from your Lord; but when you press on from Arafat, then remember God at the Holy Waymark, and remember Him as He has guided you, though formerly you were gone astray.
195 Then press on from where the people press on, and pray for God's forgiveness; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate. And when you have performed your holy rites remember God, as you remember your fathers or yet more devoutly. Now some men there are who say, 'Our Lord, give to us in this world'; such men shall have no part in the world to come.
And others there are who say, 'Our Lord, give to us in this world good, and good in the world to come, and guard us against the chastisement of the fire'; those -- they shall have a portion from what they have earned; and God is swift at the reckoning.
And remember God during certain days numbered. If any man hastens on in two days, that is no sin in him; and if any delays, it is not a sin in him, if he be godfearing. And fear you God, and know that unto Him you shall be mustered.
200 And some men there are whose saying upon the present world pleases thee, and such a one calls on God to witness what is in his heart, yet he is most stubborn in altercation, and when he turns his back, he hastens about the earth, to do corruption there and to destroy the tillage and the stock; and God loves not corruption; and when it is said to him, 'Fear God', vainglory seizes him in his sin. So Gehenna shall be enough for him -- how evil a cradling!
But other men there are that sell themselves desiring God's good pleasure; and God is gentle with His servants. O believers, enter the peace, all of you, and follow not the steps of Satan;
205 he is a manifest foe to you. But if you slip, after the clear signs have come to you, know then that God is All-mighty, All-wise.
What do they look for, but that God shall come to them in the cloud -- shadows, and the angels? The matter is determined, and unto God all matters are returned. Ask the Children of Israel how many a clear sign We gave them. Whoso changes God's blessing after it has come to him, God is terrible in retribution. Decked out fair to the unbelievers is the present life, and they deride the believers; but those who were godfearing shall be above them on the Resurrection Day; and God provides whomsoever He will without reckoning.
The people were one nation; then God sent forth the Prophets, good tidings to bear and warning, and He sent down with them the Book with the truth, that He might decide between the people touching their differences; and only those who had been given it were at variance upon it, after the clear signs had come to them, being insolent one to another; then God guided those who believed to the truth, touching which they were at variance, by His leave; and God guides whomsoever He will to a straight path.
210 Or did you suppose you should enter Paradise without there had come upon you the like of those who passed away before you? They were afflicted by misery and hardship and were so convulsed, that the Messenger and those who believed with him said, 'When comes God's help?' Ah, but surely God's help is nigh.
They will question thee concerning what they should expend. Say: 'Whatsoever good you expend is for parents and kinsmen, orphans, the needy, and the traveller; and whatever good you may do, God has knowledge of it.'
Prescribed for you is fighting, though it be hateful to you. Yet it may happen that you will hate a thing which is better for you; and it may happen that you will love a thing which is worse for you; God knows, and you know not.
They will question thee concerning the holy month, and fighting in it. Say: 'Fighting in it is a heinous thing, but to bar from God's way, and disbelief in Him, and the Holy Mosque, and to expel its people from it -- that is more heinous in God's sight; and persecution is more heinous than slaying.' They will not cease to fight with you, till they turn you from your religion, if they are able; and whosoever of you turns from his religion, and dies disbelieving -- their works have failed in this world and the next; those are the inhabitants of the Fire; therein they shall dwell forever.
215 But the believers, and those who emigrate and struggle in God's way -- those have hope of God's compassion; and God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.
They will question thee concerning wine, and arrow-shuffling. Say: 'In both is heinous sin; and uses for men, but the sin in them is more heinous than the usefulness.'
They will question thee concerning what they should expend. Say: 'The abundance.' So God makes clear His signs to you; haply you will reflect; in this world, and the world to come.
They will question thee concerning the orphans. Say: 'To set their affairs aright is good. And if you intermix with them, they are your brothers. God knows well him who works corruption from him who sets aright; and had He willed He would have harassed you. Surely God is All-mighty, All-wise.'
220 Do not marry idolatresses, until they believe; a believing slavegirl is better than an idolatress, though you may admire her. And do not marry idolaters, until they believe. A believing slave is better than an idolater, though you may admire him.
Those call unto the Fire; and God calls unto Paradise, and pardon, by His leave, and He makes clear His signs to the people; haply they will remember.
They will question thee concerning the monthly course. Say: 'It is hurt; so go apart from women during the monthly course, and do not approach them till they are clean. When they have cleansed themselves, then come unto them as God has commanded you.' Truly, God loves those who repent, and He loves those who cleanse themselves.
Your women are a tillage for you; so come unto your tillage as you wish, and forward for your souls; and fear God, and know that you shall meet Him. Give thou good tidings to the believers.
Do not make God a hindrance, through your oaths, to being pious and godfearing, and putting things right between men. Surely God is All-hearing, All-knowing.
225 God will not take you to task for a slip in your oaths; but He will take you to task for what your hearts have earned; and God is All-forgiving, All-clement.
For those who forswear their women a wait of four months; if they revert, God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate; but if they resolve on divorce, surely God is All-hearing, All-knowing.
Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three periods; and it is not lawful for them to hide what God has created in their wombs; if they believe in God and the Last Day. In such time their mates have better right to restore them, if they desire to set things right. Women have such honourable rights as obligations, but their men have a degree above them; God is All-mighty, All-wise.
Divorce is twice; then honourable retention or setting free kindly. It is not lawful for you to take of what you have given them unless the couple fear they may not maintain God's bounds; if you fear they may not maintain God's bounds, it is no fault in them for her to redeem herself. Those are God's bounds; do not transgress them. Whosoever transgresses the bounds of God -- those are the evildoers.
230 If he divorces her finally, she shall not be lawful to him after that, until she marries another husband. If he divorces her, then it is no fault in them to return to each other, if they suppose that they will maintain God's bounds. Those are God's bounds; He makes them clear unto a people that have knowledge.
When you divorce women, and they have reached their term, then retain them honourably or set them free honourably; do not retain them by force, to transgress; whoever does that has wronged himself. Take not God's signs in mockery, and remember God's blessing upon you, and the Book and the Wisdom He has sent down on you, to admonish you. And fear God, and know that God has knowledge of everything.
When you divorce women, and they have reached their term, do not debar them from marrying their husbands, when they have agreed together honourably. That is an admonition for whoso of you believes in God and the Last Day; that is cleaner and purer for you; God knows, and you know not.
Mothers shall suckle their children two years completely, for such as desire to fulfil the suckling. It is for the father to provide them and clothe them honourably. No soul is charged save to its capacity; a mother shall not be pressed for her child, neither a father for his child.
The heir has a like duty. But if the couple desire by mutual consent and consultation to wean, then it is no fault in them. And if you desire to seek nursing for your children, it is no fault in you provide you hand over what you have given honourably; and fear God, and know that God sees the things you do.
And those of you who die, leaving wives, they shall wait by themselves for four months and ten nights; when they have reached their term then it is no fault in you what they may do with themselves honourably. God is aware of the things you do.
There is no fault in you touching the proposal to women you offer, or hide in your hearts; God knows that you will be mindful of them; but do not make troth with them secretly without you speak honourable words. And do not resolve on the knot of marriage until the book has reached its term; and know that God knows what is in your hearts, so be fearful of Him; and know that God is All-forgiving, All-clement.
235 There is no fault in you, if you divorce women while as yet you have not touched them nor appointed any marriage-portion for them; yet make provision for them, the affluent man according to his means, and according to his means the needy man, honourably -- an obligation on the good-doers.
And if you divorce them before you have touched them, and you have already appointed for them a marriage-portion, then one-half of what you have appointed, unless it be they make remission, or he makes remission in whose hand is the knot of marriage; yet that you should remit is nearer to godfearing. Forget not to be bountiful one towards another. Surely God sees the things you do.
Be you watchful over the prayers, and the middle prayer; and do you stand obedient to God.
240 And if you are in fear, then afoot or mounted; but when you are secure, then remember God, as He taught you the things that you knew not.
And those of you who die, leaving wives, let them make testament for their wives, provision for a year without expulsion; but if they go forth, there is no fault in you what they may do with themselves honourably; God is All-mighty, All-wise. There shall be for divorced women provision honourable -- an obligation on the godfearing.
So God makes clear His signs for you; haply you will understand.
Hast thou not regarded those who went forth from their habitations in their thousands fearful of death? God said to them, 'Die!'
Then He gave them life. Truly God is bounteous to the people, but most of the people are not thankful.
245 So fight in God's way, and know that God is All-hearing, All-knowing. Who is he that will lend God a good loan, and He will multiply it for him manifold? God grasps, and outspreads; and unto Him you shall be returned.
Hast thou not regarded the Council of the Children of Israel, after Moses, when they said to a Prophet of theirs, 'Raise up for us a king, and we will fight in God's way.' He said, 'Might it be that, if fighting is prescribed for you, you will not fight?' They said, 'Why should we not fight in God's way, who have been expelled from our habitations and our children?' Yet when fighting was prescribed for them, they turned their backs except a few of them; and God has knowledge of the evildoers.
Then their Prophet said to them, 'Verily God has raised up Saul for you as king.' They said, 'How should he be king over us who have better right than he to kingship, seeing he has not been given amplitude of wealth?'
He said, 'God has chosen him over you, and has increased him broadly in knowledge and body. God gives the kingship to whom He will; and God is All-embracing, All-knowing.'
And their Prophet said to them, 'The sign of his kingship is that the Ark will come to you, in it a Shechina from your Lord, and a remnant of what the folk of Moses and Aaron's folk left behind, the angels bearing it. Surely in that shall be a sign for you, if you are believers.'
250 And when Saul went forth with the hosts he said, 'God will try you with a river; whosoever drinks of it is not of me, and whoso tastes it not, he is of me, saving him who scoops up with his hand.' But they drank of it, except a few of them; and when he crossed it, and those who believed with him, they said, 'We have no power today against Goliath and his hosts.' Said those who reckoned they should meet God, 'How often a little company has overcome a numerous company, by God's leave! And God is with the patient.'
So, when they went forth against Goliath And his hosts, they said, 'Our Lord, pour out upon us patience, and make firm our feet, and give us aid against the people of the unbelievers!'
And they routed them, by the leave of God, and David slew Goliath; and God gave him the kingship, and Wisdom, and He taught him such as He willed. Had God not driven back the people, some by the means of others, the earth had surely corrupted; but God is bounteous unto all beings.
These are the signs of God We recite to thee in truth, and assuredly thou art of the number of the Envoys. And those Messengers, some We have preferred above others; some there are to whom God spoke, and some He raised in rank.
And We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear signs, and confirmed him with the Holy Spirit. And had God willed, those who came after him would not have fought one against the other after the clear signs had come to them; but they fell into variance, and some of them believed, and some disbelieved; and had God willed they would not have fought one against the other; but God does whatsoever He desires.
255 O believers, expend of that wherewith We have provided you, before there comes a day wherein shall be neither traffick, nor friendship, nor intercession; and the unbelievers -- they are the evildoers.
God there is no god but He, the Living, the Everlasting. Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep; to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Who is there that shall intercede with Him save by His leave? He knows what lies before them and what is after them, and they comprehend not anything of His knowledge save such as He wills.
His Throne comprises the heavens and earth; the preserving of them oppresses Him not; He is the All-high, the All-glorious.
No compulsion is there in religion. Rectitude has become clear from error. So whosoever disbelieves in idols and believes in God, has laid hold of the most firm handle, unbreaking; God is All-hearing, All-knowing.
God is the Protector of the believers; He brings them forth from the shadows into the light.
And the unbelievers -- their protectors are idols, that bring them forth from the light into the shadows; those are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein dwelling forever.
260 Hast thou not regarded him who disputed with Abraham, concerning his Lord, that God had given him the kingship? When Abraham said, 'My Lord is He who gives life, and makes to die,' he said, 'I give life, and make to die.' Said Abraham, 'God brings the sun from the east; so bring thou it from the west.' Then the unbeliever was confounded. God guides not the people of the evildoers.
Or such as he who passed by a city that was fallen down upon its turrets; he said, 'How shall God give life to this now it is dead?' So God made him die a hundred years, then He raised him up, saying, 'How long hast thou tarried?' He said, 'I have tarried a day, or part of a day.' Said He, 'Nay; thou hast tarried a hundred years. Look at thy food and drink -- it has not spoiled; and look at thy ass. So We would make thee a sign for the people. And look at the bones; how We shall set them up, and then clothe them with flesh.' So, when it was made clear to him, he said, 'I know that God is powerful over everything.'
And when Abraham said, 'My Lord, show me how Thou wilt give life to the dead,' He said, 'Why, dost thou not believe?' 'Yes,' he said, 'but that my heart may be at rest.' Said He, 'Take four birds, and twist them to thee, then set a part of them on every hill, then summon them, and they will come to thee running. And do thou know that God is All-mighty, All-wise.'
The likeness of those who expend their wealth in the way of God is as the likeness of a grain of corn that sprouts seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains. So God multiplies unto whom He will; God is All-embracing, All-knowing.
Those who expend their wealth in the way of God then follow not up what they have expended with reproach and injury, their wage is with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow.
265 Honourable words, and forgiveness, are better than a freewill offering followed by injury; and God is All-sufficient, All-clement.
O believers, void not your freewill offerings with reproach and injury, as one who expends of his substance to show off to men and believes not in God and the Last Day. The likeness of him is as the likeness of a smooth rock on which is soil, and a torrent smites it, and leaves it barren. They have no power over anything that they have earned. God guides not the people of the unbelievers.
But the likeness of those who expend their wealth, seeking God's good pleasure, and to confirm themselves, is as the likeness of a garden upon a hill; a torrent smites it and it yields its produce twofold; if no torrent smites it, yet dew; and God sees the things you do.
Would any of you wish to have a garden of palms and vines, with rivers flowing beneath it, and all manner of fruit there for him, then old age smites him, and he has seed, but weaklings, then a whirlwind with fire smites it, and it is consumed? So God makes clear the signs to you; haply you will reflect.
O believers, expend of the good things you have earned, and of that We have produced for you from the earth, and intend not the corrupt of it for your expending;
270 for you would never take it yourselves, except you closed an eye on it; and know that God is All-sufficient, All-laudable. Satan promises you poverty, and bids you unto indecency; but God promises you His pardon and His bounty; and God is All-embracing, All-knowing.
He gives the Wisdom to whomsoever He will, and whoso is given the Wisdom, has been given much good; yet none remembers but men possessed of minds.
And whatever expenditure you expend, and whatever vow you vow, surely God knows it. No helpers have the evildoers. If you publish your freewill offerings, it is excellent; but if you conceal them, and give them to the poor, that is better for you, and will acquit you of your evil deeds; God is aware of the things you do.
Thou art not responsible for guiding them; but God guides whomsoever He will.
And whatever good you expend is for yourselves, for then you are expending, being desirous only of God's Face; and whatever good you expend shall be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged, it being for the poor who are restrained in the way of God, and are unable to journey in the land; the ignorant man supposes them rich because of their abstinence, but thou shalt know them by their mark -- they do not beg of men importunately. And whatever good you expend, surely God has knowledge of it.
275 Those who expend their wealth night and day, secretly and in public, their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow.
Those who devour usury shall not rise again except as he rises, whom Satan of the touch prostrates; that is because they say, 'Trafficking (trade) is like usury.' God has permitted trafficking, and forbidden usury. Whosoever receives an admonition from his Lord and gives over, he shall have his past gains, and his affair is committed to God; but whosoever reverts -- those are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein dwelling forever. God blots out usury, but freewill offerings He augments with interest. God loves not any guilty ingrate.
Those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms -- their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow.
O believers, fear you God; and give up the usury that is outstanding, if you are believers. But if you do not, then take notice that God shall war with you, and His Messenger; yet if you repent, you shall have your principal, unwronging and unwronged.
280 And if any man should be in difficulties, let him have respite till things are easier; but that you should give freewill offerings is better for you, did you but know.
And fear a day wherein you shall be returned to God, and every soul shall be paid in full what it has earned; and they shall not be wronged.
O believers, when you contract a debt one upon another for a stated term, write it down, and let a writer write it down between you justly, and let not any writer refuse to write it down, as God has taught him; so let him write, and let the debtor dictate, and let him fear God his Lord and not diminish aught of it. And if the debtor be a fool, or weak, or unable to dictate himself, then let his guardian dictate justly. And call in to witness two witnesses, men; or if the two be not men, then one man and two women, such witnesses as you approve of, that if one of the two women errs the other will remind her; and let the witnesses not refuse, whenever they are summoned. And be not loth to write it down, whether it be small or great, with its term; that is more equitable in God's sight, more upright for testimony, and likelier that you will not be in doubt. Unless it be merchandise present that you give and take between you; then it shall be no fault in you if you do not write it down. And take witnesses when you are trafficking one with another. And let not either writer or witness be pressed; or if you do, that is ungodliness in you. And fear God; God teaches you, and God has knowledge of everything. And if you are upon a journey, and you do not find a writer, then a pledge in hand. But if one of you trusts another, let him who is trusted deliver his trust, and let him fear God his Lord. And do not conceal the testimony; whoso conceals it, his heart is sinful; and God has knowledge of the things you do.
To God belongs all that is in the heavers and earth. Whether you publish what is in your hearts or hide it, God shall make reckoning with you for it. He will forgive whom He will, and chastise whom He will; God is powerful over everything.
285 The Messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the believers; each one believes in God and His angels, and in His Books and His Messengers; we make no division between any one of His Messengers. They say, 'We hear, and obey.
Our Lord, grant us Thy forgiveness; unto Thee is the homecoming.'
God charges no soul save to its capacity; standing to its account is what it has earned, and against its account what it has merited.
Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget, or make mistake.
Our Lord; charge us not with a load such as Thou didst lay upon those before us.
Our Lord, do Thou not burden us beyond what we have the strength to bear.
And pardon us, and forgive us, and have mercy on us; Thou art our Protector.
And help us against the people of the unbelievers.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
3:1 Alif Lam Mim
God, there is no god but He, the Living, the Everlasting.
He has sent down upon thee the Book with the truth, confirming what was before it, and He sent down the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, as guidance to the people, and He sent down the Salvation.
As for those who disbelieve in God's signs, for them awaits a terrible chastisement; God is All-mighty, Vengeful.
From God nothing whatever is hidden in heaven and earth. It is He who forms you in the womb as He will. There is no god but He, the All-mighty, the All-wise.
3:5 It is He who sent down upon thee the Book, wherein are verses clear that are the Essence of the Book, and others ambiguous. As for those in whose hearts is swerving, they follow the ambiguous part, desiring dissension, and desiring its interpretation; and none knows its interpretation, save only God. And those firmly rooted in knowledge say, 'We believe in it; all is from our Lord'; yet none remembers, but men possessed of minds.
Our Lord, make not our hearts to swerve after that Thou hast guided us; and give us mercy from Thee; Thou art the Giver.
Our Lord, it is Thou that shall gather mankind for a day whereon is no doubt; verily God will not fail the tryst.
As for the unbelievers, their riches will not avail them, neither their children, aught against God; those -- they shall be fuel for the Fire like Pharaoh's folk, and the people before them, who cried lies to Our signs; God seized them because of their sins; God is terrible in retribution.
3:10 Say to the unbelievers: 'You shall be overthrown, and mustered into Gehenna -- an evil cradling!'
There has already been a sign for you in the two companies that encountered, one company fighting in the way of God and another unbelieving; they saw them twice the like of them, as the eye sees, but God confirms with His help whom He will. Surely in that is a lesson for men possessed of eyes.
Decked out fair to men is the love of lusts -- women, children, heaped-up heaps of gold and silver, horses of mark, cattle and tillage. That is the enjoyment of the present life; but God -- with Him is the fairest resort.
Say: 'Shall I tell you of a better than that?' For those that are godfearing, with their Lord are gardens underneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever, and spouses purified, and God's good pleasure. And God sees His servants who say, 'Our Lord, we believe; forgive us our sins, and guard us against the chastisement of the Fire' --
3:15 men who are patient, truthful, obedient, expenders in alms, imploring God's pardon at the daybreak.
God bears witness that there is no god but He -- and the angels, and men possessed of knowledge -- upholding justice; there is no god but He, the All-mighty, the All-wise.
The true religion with God is Islam.
Those who were given the Book were not at variance except after the knowledge came to them, being insolent one to another. And whoso disbelieves in God's signs. God is swift at the reckoning.
So if they dispute with thee, say: 'I have surrendered my will to God, and whosoever follows me. And say to those who have been given the Book and to the common folk: 'Have you surrendered?' If they have surrendered, they are right guided; but if they turn their backs, thine it is only to deliver the Message; and God sees His servants.
3:20 Those who disbelieve in the signs of God and slay the Prophets without right, and slay such men as bid to justice -- do thou give them the good tidings of a painful chastisement; their works have failed in this world and the next; they have no helpers.
Hast thou not regarded those who were given a portion of the Book, being called to the Book of God, that it might decide between them, and then a party of them turned away, swerving aside?
That, because they said, 'The Fire shall not touch us, except for a number of days'; and the lies they forged has deluded them in their religion.
But how will it be, when We gather them for a day whereon is no doubt, and every soul shall be paid in full what it has earned, and they shall not be wronged?
3:25 Say: 'O God, Master of the Kingdom, Thou givest the Kingdom to whom Thou wilt, and seizest the Kingdom from whom Thou wilt, Thou exaltest whom Thou wilt, and Thou abasest whom Thou wilt; in Thy hand is the good; Thou art powerful over everything.
Thou makest the night to enter into the day and Thou makest the day to enter into the night, Thou bringest forth the living from the dead and Thou bringest forth the dead from the living, and Thou providest whomsoever Thou wilt without reckoning.
Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends, rather than the believers -- for whoso does that belongs not to God in anything -- unless you have a fear of them. God warns you that you beware of Him, and unto God is the homecoming. Say: 'Whether you hide what is in your breasts or publish it, God knows it. God knows what is in the heavens and what is in the earth; and God is powerful over everything.'
The day every soul shall find what it has done of good brought forward, and what it has done of evil; it will wish if there were only a far space between it and that day. God warns you that you beware of Him; and God is gentle with His servants.
Say: 'If you love God, follow me, and God will love you, and forgive you your sins; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.' Say: 'Obey God, and the Messenger.' But if they turn their backs, God loves not the unbelievers.
3:30 God chose Adam and Noah and the House of Abraham and the House of Imran above all beings, the seed of one another; God hears, and knows.
When the wife of Imran said, 'Lord, I have vowed to Thee, in dedication, what is within my womb. Receive Thou this from me; Thou hearest, and knowest.' And when she gave birth to her she said, 'Lord, I have given birth to her, a female.' (And God knew very well what she had given birth to; the male is not as the female.) 'And I have named her Mary, and commend her to Thee with her seed, to protect them from the accursed Satan.' Her Lord received the child with gracious favour, and by His goodness she grew up comely, Zachariah taking charge of her. Whenever Zachariah went in to her in the Sanctuary, he found her provisioned. 'Mary,' he said, 'how comes this to thee?' 'From God,' she said. Truly God provisions whomsoever He will without reckoning.
Then Zachariah prayed to his Lord saying, 'Lord, give me of Thy goodness a goodly offspring. Yea, Thou hearest prayer.' And the angels called to him, standing in the Sanctuary at worship, 'Lo, God gives thee good tidings of John, who shall confirm a Word of God, a chief, and chaste, a Prophet, righteous.'
3:35 'Lord,' said Zachariah, 'how shall I have a son, seeing I am an old man and my wife is barren?'
'Even so,' God said, 'God does what He will.' 'Lord,' said Zachariah, 'appoint to me a sign.' 'Thy sign,' God said, 'is that thou shalt not speak, save by tokens, to men for three days. And mention thy Lord oft, and give glory at evening and dawn.'
3:40 And when the angels said, 'Mary, God has chosen thee, and purified thee; He has chosen thee above all women. Mary; be obedient to thy Lord, prostrating and bowing before Him.' (That is of the tidings of the Unseen, that We reveal to thee; for thou wast not with them, when they were casting quills which of them should have charge of Mary; thou wast not with them, when they were disputing.) When the angels said, 'Mary, God gives thee good tidings of a Word from Him whose name is Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary; high honoured shall he be in this world and the next, near stationed to God. He shall speak to men in the cradle, and of age, and righteous he shall be.'
'Lord,' said Mary, 'how shall I have a son seeing no mortal has touched me?' 'Even so,' God said, God creates what He will. When He decrees a thing He does but say to it "Be," and it is. And He will teach him the Book, the Wisdom, the Torah, the Gospel, to be a Messenger to the Children of Israel saying, "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. I will create for you out of clay as the likeness of a bird; then I will breathe into it, and it will be a bird, by the leave of God. I will also heal the blind and the leper, and bring to life the dead, by the leave of God. I will inform you too of what things you eat, and what you treasure up i