This Surah (Revealed) Meccan, except for verse 17, which is Medinese; it consists of 60 verses,
revealed after [sūrat] al-Inshiqāq.(Ar-Râm )
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| بِسْم ِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | Ayah First 1 الأية الأولي |
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Alif lām mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters]. 462
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The Byzantines â who are among the People of the Scripture â have been
vanquished; the Persians vanquished them, and they are not people of a scripture, but worship graven
images. The Meccan disbelievers rejoiced in this [defeat of the Byzantines] and said to the
Muslims, âWe shall vanquish you as the Persians vanquished the Byzantinesâ;
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Tafseer
in the nearer [part of the] land, that is, in the Byzantine land [that lies]
nearest to Persia in Mesopotamia (al-Jazīra). There the two armies met and the Persians were the ones who had
begun the invasion. But they, that is the Byzantines, after their vanquishing (ghalabihim: the verbal noun
[ghalab] has been annexed to the direct object [hum], in other words, ghalabatu fāris iyyāhum, âthe Persiansâ
vanquishing of themâ) shall be the victors, over the Persians,
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Tafseer
in a few years (bidâ, [usually means] between three and nine or ten years). So
the two armies met again seven years after this former encounter and the Byzantines defeated the
Persians. To God belongs the command before and after, that is, before the defeat of the Byzantines and
thereafter, that is to say, the Persian victory at first and the Byzantine victory later were [the result of]
Godâs command, in other words, His will, and on that day, the day when the Byzantines will be victorious, the
believers shall rejoice
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in Godâs help, to them against the Persians. They [the believers] indeed
rejoiced in this, as they came to know of it on the day that it took place, on the day of [the battle of] Badr,
when Gabriel came down with this [news] thereon, in addition to their rejoicing in their victory over the
idolaters on that [same] day. He helps whomever He will; and He is the Mighty, the Victor, the Merciful, to
believers.
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The promise of God (waâdaâLlāhi is the verbal noun substituting for the [full]
verbal construction; it is actually waâadahumuâLlāhu al-nasr, âGod promised them victoryâ). God does not fail His
promise, of such [help], but most people, namely, the disbelievers of Mecca, are not aware, of His promise to
help them [to victory].
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They know [merely] an outward aspect of the life of this world, that is to say,
its various means of [securing] livelihood, such as commerce, agriculture, construction and
cultivation and so on; but they, of the Hereafter, they are oblivious (this repetition of hum, âtheyâ, is for emphasis).
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Have they not contemplated themselves?, so that they might emerge from their
oblivion. God did not create the heavens and the earth, and what is between them, except with the truth and
an appointed term, for that [creation], at the conclusion of which this [creation] will perish, and
after which will be the Resurrection. But indeed many people, that is to say, [such as] the Meccan
disbelievers, disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord, that is, they do not believe in resurrection after
death.
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Have they not travelled in the land and beheld how was the consequence for those
before them?, of [past] communities, which was that they were destroyed for denying their messengers.
They were more powerful than them â such were âĀd and Thamūd â and they effected the land, they tilled
it and churned it up to 463 sow crops and cultivate [trees], and developed it more than these, the Meccan
disbelievers, have developed it; and their messengers brought them clear signs, manifest proofs, for God
would never wrong them, by destroying them without being guilty, but they used to wrong themselves, by
denying their messengers.
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Then the consequence for those who committed evil was evil (al-sūâā is the
feminine form of al-aswaâ, âthe worstâ; [it may be read as] the predicate of kāna if one reads âāqibatu, in the
nominative; or it is the subject of kāna if read as âāqibata, in the accusative; and so what is meant is Hell [in
the former reading], or [according to the latter reading] simply their evil actions) because they denied
the signs of God, the Qurâān, and made a mock of them.
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God originates creation, in other words, He produces the creation of mankind,
then He will reproduce it, that is, the creation of them, after their death, then to Him you shall be returned
(read turjaâūna; or yurjaâūna, âthey shall be returnedâ).
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And on the Day when the Hour comes, the sinners will be dumbfounded, the
idolaters will be fall into silence, as their [line of] argument can no longer be continued.
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And none from among those partners of theirs, those whom they ascribed as
partners of God, namely, the idols, to intercede for them, shall be intercessors for them and they shall
disavow these partners of theirs, in other words, they shall dissociate from them.
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And on the Day when the Hour comes, that day (yawmaâidhin, is [repeated] for
emphasis) they, believers and disbelievers, shall be separated.
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As for those who believed and performed righteous deeds, they shall be made
happy in a garden [of Paradise].
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But as for those who disbelieved and denied Our signs, [namely] the Qurâān, and
the encounter of the Hereafter, the Resurrection and other matters, those, they shall be arraigned
into the chastisement.
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So glory be to God â in other words, [so] glorify God, meaning: perform prayer â
when you enter the [time of the] night, in which there are two prayers, the sunset one (maghrib) and the
later night one (âishāâ), and when you rise in the morning, in which there is the morning prayer (subh).
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And to Him belongs [all] praise in the heavens and the earth â a parenthetical
statement, in other words, the inhabitants in both of these [realms] praise Him â and as the sun declines
(wa-âashiyyan is a supplement to hīna, âwhenâ [of the previous verse]), in which comes the
afternoon prayer (âasr), and when you enter noontime, in which comes the midday prayer (zuhr). 464
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He brings forth the living from the dead, as in the case of the human being [who
is produced] from a spermdrop and a bird from an egg, and He brings forth the dead, a sperm-drop or an egg,
from the living, and He revives the earth, with vegetation, after it has died, dried out. And in such [a
manner], of being brought forth, you shall be brought forth, from the graves (read [either as] the active
takhrujūna, âyou shall come forthâ, or the passive tukhrajūna, âyou shall be brought forthâ).
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And of His signs, exalted be He, indicating His power, is that He created you,
in other words, your origin, Adam, of dust, then lo! you are human beings, of flesh and blood, spreading,
across the earth.
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And of His signs is that He created for you, from yourselves, mates â Eve was
created from Adamâs rib and the remainder of mankind from the [reproductive] fluids of men and women â that
you might find peace by their side, and become intimate with them, and He ordained between you, all,
affection and mercy. Surely in that, mentioned, there are signs for a people who reflect, upon Godâs handiwork,
exalted be He.
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And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the
differences of your tongues, that is, your languages, such as Arabic, non-Arabic and so on, and your colours, such as
white or black or otherwise, even though [all of] you are [originally] the offspring of the same
man and woman. Surely in that there are signs, indications of His power, exalted be He, for all peoples ([this
may be vocalised either as] liâl- âālamīna or liâl-âālimīna, so [it means] either rational creatures, or people of
knowledge [respectively]).
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And of His signs is your sleep by night and day, by His will, as a repose for
you, and your seeking, during the day, of His bounty, in other words, your going about [freely] in order to
seek a living [is] by His will. Surely in that there are signs for people who listen, listening in a way so as
to [be prompted to] reflect and take heed.
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And of His signs is His showing you lightning to arouse fear, in the traveller,
of storms, and hope, in the one not travelling, of [the coming of the] rain; and He sends down water from the
heaven and with it He revives the earth after it has died, that is, [after] it has dried out, so that it
produces vegetation [once again]. Surely in that, mentioned, there are signs for people who understand, [a people who]
reflect.
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And of His signs is that the heaven and the earth remain standing by His
command, by His will, without any supports; then, when He calls you [to come] out of the earth, when Isrāfīl blows
the Horn for the raising from the graves [to commence], lo! you shall come forth, from it alive. Thus
your coming forth out of it by a call constitutes one of His [many] signs, exalted be He.
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And to Him belongs whoever is in the heavens and the earth, as possessions,
creatures and servants. All are obedient to Him.
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465 And He it is Who initiates the creation, of mankind, then brings it back, after
their destruction, and that is [even] easier for Him, than the initiation â from the perspective of those
addressed for whom to repeat something is easier than doing it for the first time â otherwise, in Godâs case,
exalted be He, both are just as easy. His is the loftiest description in the heavens and the earth, the most
sublime attribute, namely that âthere is no god except Godâ. And He is the Mighty, in His kingdom, the Wise, in
His creation.
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He has struck, He has coined, for you, O idolaters, a similitude, that is
[actually drawn], from yourselves, and it is [as follows]: do you have among those whom your right hands own, that
is to say, among your servants, any partners, of yourselves, [who may share] in what We have provided
for you, of property and so on, so that you, and they, are equal therein, fearing them as you fear your
own [folk], [just as you fear] those free men like you? (the interrogative is meant as a negation) in other
words, âyour servants are not partners of yours in what you own, so how can you make some of Godâs servants
partners of His. So We detail the signs, [so] We explain them in such detail, for people who
understand, [a people who] reflect.
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