سورة Muhammad

Those who are [themselves] faithless and bar [others] from the way of Allah—He has rendered their works fruitless.

But those who have faith and do righteous deeds and believe in what has been sent down to Muhammad—and it is the truth from their Lord—He shall absolve them of their misdeeds and set right their affairs.

That is because the faithless follow falsehood, and the faithful follow the truth from their Lord. That is how Allah draws comparisons for mankind.

When you meet the faithless in battle, strike their necks. When you have thoroughly decimated them, bind the captives firmly. Thereafter either oblige them [by setting them free] or take ransom, until the war lays down its burdens. That [is Allah’s ordinance]. Had Allah wished He could have taken vengeance on them, but that He may test some of you by means of others. As for those who were slain in the way of Allah, He will not let their works go fruitless.

He will guide them and set right their affairs,

and admit them into paradise, with which He has acquainted them.

O you who have faith! If you help Allah, He will help you and make your feet steady.

As for the faithless, their lot will be to fall [into ruin], and He will render their works fruitless.

That is because they loathed what Allah has sent down, so He made their works fail.

Have they not travelled through the land so that they may observe how was the fate of those who were before them? Allah destroyed them, and a similar [fate] awaits these faithless.

That is because Allah is the protector of the faithful, and because the faithless have no protector.

Indeed Allah will admit those who have faith and do righteous deeds into gardens with streams running in them. As for the faithless, they enjoy and eat like the cattle do, and the Fire will be their [final] abode.

How many a town We have destroyed which was more powerful than your town which expelled you, and they had no helper.

Is he who stands on a manifest proof from his Lord like those to whom the evil of their conduct is made to seem decorous and who follow their desires?

A description of the paradise promised to the Godwary: therein are streams of unstaling water and streams of milk unchanging in flavour, and streams of wine delicious to the drinkers, and streams of purified honey; there will be every kind of fruit in it for them, and forgiveness from their Lord. [Are such ones] like those who abide in the Fire and are given to drink boiling water which cuts up their bowels?

There are some among them who prick up their ears at you. But when they go out from your presence, they say to those who have been given knowledge, ‘What did he say just now?’ They are the ones on whose hearts Allah has set a seal, and they follow their own desires.

As for those who are [rightly] guided, He enhances their guidance and invests them with their Godwariness.

Do they await anything except that the Hour should overtake them suddenly? Its portents have already come. When it overtakes them of what avail will the admonitions they were given?

Know that there is no god except Allah, and plead [to Allah] for forgiveness of your sin and for the faithful, men and women. Allah knows your itinerary and your [final] abode.

The faithful say, ‘If only a surah were sent down!’ But when a conclusive surah is sent down and war is mentioned in it, you see those in whose hearts is a sickness looking upon you with the look of someone fainting at death. So woe to them!

Obedience and upright speech.... So when the matter has been resolved upon [concerning going to war], if they remain true to Allah that will surely be better for them.

May it not be that if you were to wield authority you would cause corruption in the land and ill-treat your blood relations?

They are the ones whom Allah has cursed, so He made them deaf, and blinded their sight.

Do they not contemplate the Quran, or are there locks on the hearts?

Indeed those who turned their backs after the guidance had become clear to them, it was Satan who had seduced them, and he had given them [far-flung] hopes.

That is because they said to those who loathed what Allah had sent down: ‘We shall obey you in some matters,’ and Allah knows their secret dealings.

But how will it be [with them] when the angels take them away, striking their faces and their backs?!

That, because they pursued what displeased Allah, and loathed His pleasure. So He has made their works fail.

Do those in whose hearts is a sickness suppose that Allah will not expose their spite?

If We wish, We will show them to you so that you recognize them by their mark. Yet you will recognize them by their tone of speech, and Allah knows your deeds.

We will surely test you until We ascertain those of you who wage jihad and those who are steadfast, and We shall appraise your record.

Indeed those who are faithless and bar from the way of Allah and defy the Apostle after guidance has become clear to them, they will not hurt Allah in the least, and He shall make their works fail.

O you who have faith! Obey Allah and obey the Apostle, and do not render your works void.

Indeed those who are faithless and bar from the way of Allah and then die faithless, Allah will never forgive them.

So do not slacken and [do not] call for peace when you have the upper hand and Allah is with you, and He will not stint [the reward of] your works.

The life of the world is just play and diversion, but if you are faithful and Godwary, He will give you your rewards, and will not ask your wealth [in return] from you.

Should He ask it from you and press you, you will be stingy, and He will expose your spite.

Ah! There you are, being invited to spend in the way of Allah; yet among you there are those who are stingy; and whoever is stingy is stingy only to himself. Allah is the All-sufficient, and you are all-needy, and if you turn away He will replace you with another people, and they will not be like you.