Immaculate is He who carried His servant on a journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose environs We have blessed, that We might show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing.
So when the first occasion of the two [prophecies] came, We aroused against you Our servants possessing great might, and they ransacked [your] habitations, and the promise was bound to be fulfilled.
[saying,] ‘If you do good, you will do good to your [own] souls, and if you do evil, it will be [evil] for them.’ So when the occasion for the other [prophecy] comes, they will make your faces wretched, and enter the Temple just as they entered it the first time, and destroy utterly whatever they come upon.
Indeed this Quran guides to what is most upright, and gives the good news to the faithful who do righteous deeds that there is a great reward for them.
We made the night and the day two signs. Then We faded out the sign of the night, and made the sign of the day lightsome, so that you may seek from your Lord’s bounty and that you may know the number of years and calculation [of time], and We have elaborated everything in detail.
Whoever is guided is guided only for [the good of] his own soul, and whoever goes astray, goes astray only to its detriment. No bearer shall bear another’s burden. We do not punish [any community] until We have sent [it] an apostle.
And when We desire to destroy a town We command its affluent ones [to obey Allah]. But they commit transgression in it, and so the word becomes due against it, and We destroy it utterly.
Whoever desires this transitory life, We expedite for him therein whatever We wish, for whomever We desire. Then We appoint hell for him, to enter it, blameful and spurned.
Whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it with an endeavour worthy of it, should he be faithful,—the endeavour of such will be well-appreciated.
Observe how We have given some of them an advantage over some others; yet the Hereafter is surely greater in respect of ranks and greater in respect of relative merit.
Your Lord has decreed that you shall not worship anyone except Him, and [He has enjoined] kindness to parents. Should any of them or both reach old age at your side, do not say to them, ‘Fie!’ And do not chide them, but speak to them noble words.
Do not kill a soul [whose life] Allah has made inviolable, except with due cause, and whoever is killed wrongfully, We have certainly given his heir an authority. But let him not commit any excess in killing [the murderer], for he has been assisted [by law].
When you measure, observe fully the measure, [and] weigh with an even balance. That is better and more favourable with respect to the outcome [in the Hereafter].
These are among [precepts] that your Lord has revealed to you of wisdom. Do not set up another god besides Allah, or you will be cast into hell, being blameworthy and banished [from His mercy].
Certainly We have variously paraphrased [the principles of guidance] in this Quran so that they may take admonition, but it increases them only in aversion.
The seven heavens glorify Him, and the earth [too], and whoever is in them. There is not a thing but celebrates His praise, but you do not understand their glorification. Indeed, He is all-forbearing, all-forgiving.
and We cast veils on their hearts, lest they should understand it, and a deafness into their ears. When you mention your Lord alone in the Quran, they turn their backs in aversion.
We know best what they listen for, when they listen to you, and when they hold their secret talks, when the wrongdoers say, ‘[If you follow him] You will be following just a bewitched man.’
or a creature more fantastic to your minds!’ They will say, ‘Who will bring us back?’ Say, ‘He who originated you the first time.’ They will nod their heads at you, and say, ‘When will that be?’ Say, ‘Maybe it is near!
Your Lord knows best whoever is in the heavens and the earth. Certainly, We gave some prophets an advantage over the others, and We gave David the Psalms.
They [themselves] are the ones who supplicate, seeking a recourse to their Lord, whoever is nearer [to Him], expecting His mercy and fearing His punishment.’ Indeed your Lord’s punishment is a thing to beware of.
Nothing keeps Us from sending signs except that the former peoples denied them. We gave Thamud the she-camel as an eye-opener, but they wronged her. We do not send the signs except as warning.
When We said to you, ‘Indeed your Lord encircles those people,’ We did not appoint the vision that We showed you except as a tribulation for the people and the tree cursed in the Quran. We warn them, but it only increases them in their outrageous rebellion.
When We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam,’ they [all] prostrated, but not Iblis: he said, ‘Shall I prostrate before someone whom You have created from clay?’
Said he, ‘Do You see this one whom You have honoured above me? If You respite me until the Day of Resurrection, I will surely lay my yoke on his progeny, [all] except a few.’
Instigate whomever of them you can with your voice; and rally against them your cavalry and your infantry, and share with them in wealth and children, and make promises to them!’ But Satan promises them nothing but delusion.
When distress befalls you at sea, those whom you invoke besides Him are forsaken. But when He delivers you to land, you are disregardful [of Him]. Man is very ungrateful.
Do you feel secure that He will not make the coastland swallow you, or He will not unleash upon you a rain of stones? Then you will not find any defender for yourselves.
Do you feel secure that He will not send you back into it another time and unleash against you a shattering gale and drown you because of your unfaith? Then you will not find for yourselves any redresser against Us.
Certainly We have honoured the Children of Adam, and carried them over land and sea, and provided them with all the good things, and preferred them with a complete preference over many of those We have created.
The day We shall summon every group of people along with their imam, then whoever is given his book in his right hand—they will read it, and they will not be wronged so much as a single date-thread.
They were about to beguile you from what Allah has revealed to you so that you may fabricate something other than that against Us, whereat they would have befriended you.
Then We would have surely made you taste a double [punishment] in this life and a double [punishment] after death, and then you would have not found for yourself any helper against Us.
Maintain the prayer [during the period] from the sun’s decline till the darkness of the night, and [observe particularly] the dawn recital. Indeed the dawn recital is attended [by angels].
They question you concerning the Spirit. Say, ‘The Spirit is of the command of my Lord, and you have not been given of the knowledge except a few [of you].’
Or until you have a house of gold, or you ascend into the sky. And we will not believe your ascension until you bring down for us a book that we may read.’ Say, ‘Immaculate is my Lord! Am I anything but a human apostle?!’
Say, ‘Had there been angels in the earth, walking around and residing [in it like humans do], We would have sent down to them an angel from the heaven as apostle.’
Whomever Allah guides is rightly guided, and whomever He leads astray—you will never for find them any guardians besides Him. On the Day of Resurrection, We shall muster them [scrambling] on their faces, blind, dumb, and deaf. Their refuge shall be hell. Whenever it subsides, We shall intensify the blaze for them.
That is their requital because they defied Our signs and said, ‘What, when we have become bones and dust, shall we really be raised in a new creation?’
Do they not see that Allah, who created the heavens and the earth, is able to create the like of them? He has appointed for them a term, in which there is no doubt; yet the wrongdoers are only intent on ingratitude.
Certainly We gave Moses nine manifest signs. So ask the Children of Israel. When he came to them, Pharaoh said to him, ‘O Moses, indeed I think you are bewitched.’
He said, ‘You certainly know that no one has sent these [signs] except the Lord of the heavens and the earth, as eye-openers, and I, O Pharaoh, indeed think you are doomed.’
After him We said to the Children of Israel, ‘Take up residence in the land, and when the occasion of the other [promise] comes, We shall gather you in mixed company.’
Say, ‘Whether you believe in it, or do not believe in it, indeed when it is recited to those who were given knowledge before it, they fall down in prostration on their faces,
Say, ‘Invoke ‘‘Allah’’ or invoke ‘‘the All-beneficent.’’ Whichever [of His Names] you may invoke, to Him belong the Best Names.’ Be neither loud in your prayer, nor murmur it, but follow a middle course between these,
and say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who has neither taken any son, nor has He any partner in sovereignty, nor has He any wali out of weakness,’ and magnify Him with a magnification [worthy of Him].
