| This Surah (Revealed) Meccan, except for the verse [beginning with] âThose who disbelieve will
continue to ââ [second half of 31], and the verse âAnd those who disbelieve will say, âYou are not sent [by God]â.
Alternatively, it is Medinese, except for the two verses [sc. verse 31], âIf only it were a Qurâān ââ; it
consists of 43, 44, 45 or 46 verses.(Ar-Raâd)
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| بِسْم ِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | | Ayah First 1 الأية الأولي |
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Tafseer
Alif lām mīm rāâ: God knows best what He means by these [letters]. Those, these
verses, are the verses of the Book, the Qurâān (the genitive annexation carries the meaning of [partitive]
min, âfromâ), and that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, namely, the Qurâān (this [preceding
sentence] constitutes the subject, the predicate of which is [the following]), is the Truth, wherein is no
doubt, but most people, that is, the people of Mecca, do not believe, that it is from God, exalted be He.
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Tafseer
God is He Who raised up the heavens without visible supports (âamad is the
plural of âimād, which is [the same as] an ustuwāna, âa columnâ; and this [statement] is true, since there are
no actual supports) then presided upon the Throne, a presiding befitting Him, and disposed, made
subservient, the sun and the moon, each one, of them, moving, along its course, until [the conclusion of] an
appointed time, that is, [until] the Day of Resurrection. He directs the command, He conducts the affairs
of His Kingdom. He details, He expounds, the signs, the indications of His power, so that you, O people of
Mecca, might be certain of the encounter with your Lord, through resurrection.
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Tafseer
And He it is Who spread out, extended [flat], the earth and set, created,
therein firm mountains and rivers, and of every fruit He has made in it two kinds, of every species. He covers, He
cloaks, the night, and its darkness, with the day. Surely in that, which is mentioned, are signs,
indications of His Oneness, exalted be He, for a people who reflect, upon Godâs handiwork.
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Tafseer
And on the earth are tracts, diverse terrains, neighbouring each other, joined
side by side, some good, some briny, some of little yield and some fruitful â and these constitute proofs of
His power, exalted be He â and gardens, orchards, of vines and sown fields (read zarâun, in the nominative, as
a supplement to jannātun, âgardensâ, or read zarâin, in the genitive, [as a supplement] to aânābin, âof
vinesâ); similarly [constituting proofs of His power are] His words: and date-palms sharing one root (sinwān is
the plural of sinw, which are date-palms belonging to the same root, but with many offshoots) and date-palms
otherwise, [each] of 257 individual root, watered (read tusqā as [referring to] jannāt, âgardensâ, and
what is in them, or read yusqā as [referring to] the mentioned [date-palms]) by the same [source of] water; and We
make some of them to excel (wa-nufaddil, or read wa-yufaddil, âand He [God] makes [some of them] to
excelâ) others in flavour (read fīâl-ukul or fīâl-ukl): and so some are sweet, others, bitter â and these
are [also] proofs of His power, exalted be He. Surely in that, which is mentioned, are signs for a people who
understand, [who] reflect.
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Tafseer
And if you wonder, O Muhammad (s), at the disbelievers denying you, then surely
wondrous, [surely] deserving wonder, is their saying, in denial of resurrection: âWhen we have
become dust, shall we indeed then be [raised] in a new creation?â, [it is wondrous] because the One Who has
the power to originate creation and [to originate] what has been mentioned [above], without any
precedent, has [also] the power to restore them [to life] (both hamzas, in both instances [a-idhā and a-innā],
are pronounced; or [one may] pronounce the first and not pronounce the second, but in both cases inserting an
alif or not [inserting it]; one variant reading has the first [a-idhā] as the interrogative, and the second
one [a-innā] as the predicate, while another variant reading has the [exact] opposite). Those are the ones who
disbelieve in their Lord; those â fetters shall be around their necks; and those, they shall be the
inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein.
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Tafseer
The following was revealed regarding their hastening on, out of mockery, of the
chastisement: And they would have you hasten on the evil, the chastisement, rather than the good,
[rather than] mercy, when there have indeed occurred before them exemplary punishments (mathulāt is the plural
of mathula, similar [in pattern] to samura [pl. samurāt], âacaciaâ), that is to say, the punishments of
disbelievers like them: will they not take warning from these? Truly your Lord is forgiving to mankind despite
their evil-doing, for otherwise He would not have left a single creature on the face of it [the earth]; and
truly your Lord is severe in retribution, against those who disobey Him.
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Tafseer
And those who disbelieve say, âWhy has not some sign been sent down upon him,
upon Muhammad (s), from his Lord!â, the like of the staff and the [glowing] hand, or the she-camel.
God, exalted be He, says: You are only a warner, one to threaten the disbelievers, for it is not your duty to
bring forth signs; and for every folk there is a guide, a prophet, to guide them to their Lord with the signs
that He gives him, and not what with they request.
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Tafseer
God knows what every female bears, of male or female, one or more, and
otherwise, and what the wombs reduce, of the time of gestation, and what they increase, of it. And everything
with Him is according to a [precise] measure, a [precise] amount and limit which it does not exceed;
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Tafseer
[He is] the Knower of the unseen and the visible, [of] what is hidden and what
is witnessed; the Great, the Tremendous, the High Exalted, above His creation, through His [overpowering]
subjugation (read al-mutaâālī or al-mutaâāl, âthe High Exaltedâ).
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Tafseer
[They are all] the same, according to His knowledge, exalted be He, those of you
who speak secretly and those who do so openly, and those who lurk, [who] hide themselves, in the night,
in its darkness, and those who go forth, [those who] are manifest [to view] when they make their way, by
day.
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Tafseer
258 For him, for man, are attendants, angels who follow him, to his front and to his
rear, guarding him through Godâs command, that is, by His command, from [the danger of] the jinn and
others. Indeed God does not alter the state of a people â He does not deprive them of His grace â unless
they have altered the state of their souls, from [their] comely nature, through an act of disobedience. And if
God wills misfortune, chastisement, for a people there is none that can repel it, either from among
the attendant angels or others; and they, for whom God wills misfortune, have no protector (min wālin: min is
extra) to avert it from them, apart from Him, that is, other than God.
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Tafseer
He it is Who shows you the lightning, [inspiring] fear, in travellers, of
thunderbolts, and hope, for those who are at home, of rain; and He produces, He creates, the clouds that are heavy,
with rain.
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Tafseer
And the thunder â this is an angel, who is in charge of the clouds, driving
them, [while he] constantly, proclaims His praise, that is, he says, âGlory be to God through His praiseâ
(subhānaâLlāh wa-bi-hamdihi), and so too the angels, proclaim His praise, in awe of Him, that is, of God. He
unleashes the thunderbolts â these are a fire which issues forth from the clouds â and smites with them whom
He will, such that it burns [that person]: this was revealed regarding a man to whom the Prophet (s) had
sent someone to invite [to Islam] and who said, âWho is the Messenger of God? And what is God? Is He [made]
of gold, or of silver, or of copper?â, whereupon a thunderbolt came down on him and blew off the top of
his head; yet they, that is, the disbelievers, dispute, argue with the Prophet (s), about God, though He is
great in might, in power, or in [the severity of His] retribution.
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Tafseer
His, exalted be He, is the call of truth, that is, the words that constitute it
[the truth], and these are: âthere is no god but Godâ (lā ilāha illāâLlāh); and those upon whom they call (read yadâūn
or tadâūn, âyou callâ), [those whom] they worship, apart from Him, that is, other than Him â namely, the idols
â do not answer them anything, of which they ask; save as, is the response to, one who stretches
forth his hands towards water, at the edge of a well, calling to it, that it may reach his mouth, by its rising
through the well to [reach] him, but it would never reach it, that is, [reach] his mouth, ever: likewise they
[the idols] will not answer them; and the call of the disbelievers, their worship of idols â or their actual
supplication â goes only astray, [it is only] in perdition.
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Tafseer
And to God prostrate whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly, such as
believers, or unwillingly, such as hypocrites and those coerced by the sword, and their shadows also,
prostrate, in the mornings and the evenings.
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Tafseer
Say, O Muhammad (s), to your people: âWho is the Lord of the heavens and the
earth?â Say: âGodâ â and even if they do not say it, there can be no other response. Say, to them: âThen
have you taken beside Him, other than Him, protectors, idols, to worship, who have no power to benefit or
harm themselves?â, and you abandon the One Who is their Possessor? (an interrogative meant as a rebuke).
Say: âAre the blind one and the seer, [respectively], the disbeliever and the believer, equal? Or are
darkness, disbelief, and the light, faith, equal? No! Or have they set up for God associates who have created the
like of His creation, so that creation seems alike, that is, [is] what the associates create and the creation
of God [alike], to them?â, so that they believe them worthy of being worshipped on account of what these
[associates] have created? (an interrogative of disavowal); in other words, not so! None save the Creator is
worthy of being worshipped. Say: âGod is the Creator of all things, having no associate therein, and so He
cannot have an associate in terms of worship; and He is the One, the Subjugatorâ, of His servants. 259
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Tafseer
He then strikes a similitude of truth and falsehood, saying: He, exalted be He,
sends down water, rain, from the sky, whereat the valleys flow according to their measure, according to their
full capacity, and the flood carries a scum that swells, rising above it, and this [scum] is the filth and
the like that lies on the surface of the earth, and from that which they smelt (read tūqidūn, âyou smeltâ, or
yūqidūn, âthey smeltâ) in the fire, of the earthâs minerals, such as gold, silver or copper, desiring, seeking [to
make], ornaments, adornment, or ware, which is useful, such as utensils, when they [the minerals] are melted;
[there rises] a scum the like of it, that is, the like of the scum of the flood, and this [latter scum] consists
of the impurities expelled by the bellows. Thus, in the way mentioned, God points out truth and falsehood, that
is, [He points out] the similitude thereof. As for the scum, of the flood and of the minerals smelted,
it passes away as dross, useless refuse, while that which is of use to mankind, in the way of water and
minerals, lingers, remains, in the earth, for a time: likewise, falsehood wanes and is [eventually] effaced,
even if it should prevail over the truth at certain times. Truth, on the other hand, is established and enduring.
Thus, in the way mentioned, God strikes, He makes clear, similitudes.
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Tafseer
For those who respond to their Lord, [those who] answer Him, by way of
obedience, there shall be the goodly reward, Paradise, and those who do not respond to Him, namely the
disbelievers â if they possessed all that is in the earth, and therewith the like of it, they would offer it to
redeem themselves therewith, against the chastisement. For such there shall be an awful reckoning, and that
is that they will be requited for every single thing they did, none of which will be forgiven, and their abode
shall be Hell, an evil resting place, it is!
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Tafseer
The following was revealed regarding Hamza and Abū Jahl: Is he who knows that
what is revealed to you from your Lord is the truth, and so believes in it, like him who is blind?, and
does not know it, nor believes in it? No! But only people of pith, possessors of intellect, remember, heed [such
admonitions];
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Tafseer
such as fulfil Godâs covenant, [meaning] the one that was taken from them while
they were still atoms â or [meaning] any covenant â and do not break the pact, by abandoning belief, or
[religious] obligations;
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Tafseer
and such as cement what God has commanded should be cemented, of faith and
kinship ties and so forth, and fear their Lord, that is, His Threat [of punishment], and dread an awful
reckoning â a similar [statement] has preceded;
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Tafseer
such as are patient, through obedience and [during] hardship, and [staying] away
from disobedience, desiring, seeking, their Lordâs countenance, and nothing else, from among the
transient things of this world; and maintain the prayer and expend, in obedience, of that which We have provided
them, secretly and openly, and repel evil with good, such as [repelling] ignorance through
forbearance, and harm through patience; those, theirs shall be the sequel of the [heavenly] Abode: that is,
the praiseworthy sequel in the Hereafter, namely:
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Tafseer
Gardens of Eden, as a [place of] residence, which they shall enter, they, along
with those who were righteous, [those who] believed, from among their fathers and their spouses and
their descendants, even if 260 these [latter] did not perform deeds of the same [merit] as theirs, they shall
share with them their stations [of Paradise] as an honouring for them; and the angels shall enter to them from
every gate, of the gates of Paradise or of [the gates of] the palaces [of Paradise], when they first enter,
in order to congratulate them.
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Tafseer
They will say [to them]: âPeace be upon you, this is the reward, for your
patienceâ, during life on earth. How excellent is, your sequel, the sequel of the [heavenly] Abode!
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Tafseer
And those who break Godâs covenant after pledging it, and sever what God has
commanded should be cemented, and work corruption in the earth, through unbelief and acts of
disobedience, theirs shall be the curse, banishment from Godâs mercy, and theirs shall be the awful abode, the
awful sequel in the abode of the Hereafter, namely, Hell.
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Tafseer
God expands provision, He makes it abundant, for whom He will, and straitens,
restricts it, for whomever He will; and they, the people of Mecca, rejoice, a wanton rejoicing, in the life of
this world, that is, in what they acquire therein, yet the life of this world, in, comparison with the life of,
the Hereafter, is but [a brief] enjoyment, a trifling thing, enjoyed and then lost.
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Tafseer
And those who disbelieve, from among the people of Mecca, say, âWhy has not some
sign, like the staff and the [glowing] hand or the she-camel, been sent down upon him, upon Muhammad (s),
from his Lord?â Say, to them: âIndeed God sends astray whomever He will, to send astray â such that
signs cannot avail him in any way â and He guides, He directs, to Him, to His religion, those who turn in
repentanceâ, [those who] return to Him (man, âthose whoâ, is substituted by [the following, alladhīna,
âthose who ââ]);
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Tafseer
those who believe and whose hearts are reassured, find rest, by Godâs
remembrance, that is, by His promise [of reward]. Verily by Godâs remembrance are hearts reassured, that is, the
hearts of the believers;
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