The isolated letters: what they do

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1. 114

   Refuge in the Guardian of mankind

   6 verses

   The one the text addresses receives a command, "Say", and the words of a refuge he will speak himself: "I take refuge in the Guardian of mankind", the Sovereign of mankind, the Deity of mankind. Only one danger is named: the whisperer who withdraws, who whispers into the chests of mankind, whether of the Occulted or of mankind. Further on, the text tells him to seek refuge with God when he reads the Recitation (16:98).

   « I take refuge in the Guardian of mankind » 114:1

   « from the ill of the whisperer who withdraws » 114:4

   « whether of the Occulted or of mankind » 114:6

   ↓ The same command "Say" and the same refuge return at once: after the Guardian of mankind, the Guardian of the Breakthrough.

2. 113

   The Guardian of the Breakthrough

   5 verses

   Again he is told: "Say". The words he will speak place him under the refuge of the Guardian of the Breakthrough, from the ill of what He has created. Then they name three ills: a darkness when it penetrates; those who blow and blow again into the knots; an envier when he envies. Nothing else is said: dangers, and the refuge. Further on, Occulted ones tell that men among mankind took refuge in men among the Occulted, and they only crushed them all the more (72:6).

   « I take refuge in the Guardian of the Breakthrough » 113:1

   « from the ill of a darkness when it penetrates » 113:3

   « from the ill of an envier when he envies » 113:5

   ↓ After the words of refuge, the next sura gives, under the same command "Say", the words that tell who God is.

3. 112

   God, the Absolute Singularity

   4 verses

   A third time he is told: "Say". The words he receives are four short sentences, about God alone: He is God, the Absolute Singularity; God, the Impenetrable; He has not begotten, and has not been begotten; and none is His counterpart. No story, no one else on stage. Further on, Occulted ones who listened to a recitation will say on their own of their Guardian: "He has not taken a consort nor a child" (72:1-3).

   « He is God, the Absolute Singularity. » 112:1

   « He has not begotten, and has not been begotten. » 112:3

   « And none is His counterpart. » 112:4

   ↓ After God who has not begotten, the next sura shows a "father of the flame" whom his goods do not save.

4. 111

   The father of the flame and his wife

   5 verses

   After the refuge and the profession, he hears the first sentence of the path: may the two hands of the father of the flame go to perdition! And he himself has gone to perdition. His goods and what he acquired have availed him nothing. Then an announcement: he will burn in a fire of flame, and his wife as well, the one who ceaselessly carries the firewood, a rope of twisted fiber around her throat.

   The nickname describes a man, and his wife follows him: this is the couple who goes to the fire. The word "perdition" returns only for Fir'awn's scheming, "nothing but perdition" (40:37), and for destroyed peoples (11:101). And the text will state it as a rule: "The losers are those who will have caused the loss of their Selves and of their families" (39:15).

   « His goods and what he acquired have availed him nothing. » 111:2

   « He will burn in a fire of flame, and his wife as well, » 111:3

   « the one who ceaselessly carries the firewood » 111:4

   ↓ After the man who goes to perdition with his wife, the next sura announces instead mankind entering the Law of God in crowds.

5. 110

   Mankind enters in crowds

   3 verses

   He is told of a moment, and of what he will do then: when the help of God comes, and the opening, and he sees mankind entering the Law of God in crowds, he is to glorify his Guardian with praise and seek His forgiveness, for He is the One who ever turns back. Here it is only an announcement and a command. Further on, the text promises "help from God and a near opening" (61:13), then tells him: "We have indeed opened for you a manifest opening" (48:1).

   « you see mankind entering the Law of God in crowds » 110:2

   « so glorify, with praise, your Guardian, and seek His forgiveness » 110:3

   « for He is the One who ever turns back. » 110:3

   ↓ Mankind enters the Law of God; the next sura has him say to those who disown: "To you your Law".

6. 109

   To you your Law

   6 verses

   Again "Say", but this time he must speak to others, as the one who transmits: "O you who disown!" He says he does not obey what they obey, nor what they have obeyed, and, twice, that they are not ones who obey what he obeys. Then he sets the two Laws side by side: "To you your Law, and to me my Law." Further on, Ibrahim and those with him say: "We are indeed quit of you and of what you obey besides God" (60:4).

   « O you who disown! » 109:1

   « I do not obey what you obey » 109:2

   « To you your Law, and to me my Law. » 109:6

   ↓ After "to me my Law", the next sura tells the speaker what he has received, the Abundance, and for whom to make the Contact.

7. 108

   The Abundance bestowed

   3 verses

   God speaks directly to the one who has been endowed: "We have indeed endowed you with the Abundance." The gift comes first; the command follows at once: make the Contact for his Guardian, and give generously. Then a word about the one who hates him: it is he himself who is the Cut-Off One. Further on, what is commanded of him here is what had been commanded to those given the Scripture: "to maintain the Contact and give pure liberality" (98:5).

   « We have indeed endowed you with the Abundance. » 108:1

   « So make the Contact for your Guardian, and give generously, » 108:2

   « it is he who hates you who is himself the Cut-Off One. » 108:3

   ↓ The endowed one must make the Contact and give; the next sura shows those who make the Contact absent-minded and hinder assistance.

8. 107

   The one who pushes away the orphan

   7 verses

   He is asked a question: "Have you seen the one who denies the Due?" He is shown him by his acts: he roughly pushes away the orphan, and does not urge the feeding of the destitute. Then he hears woe announced to those who make the Contact yet are absent-minded about their Contact, who act out of ostentation and hinder assistance: the two acts commanded in 108:2, missed. To the one before whom an orphan comes, the command will be: "do not oppress him" (93:9).

   « Have you seen the one who denies the Due? » 107:1

   « He is the one who roughly pushes away the orphan, and does not urge the feeding of the destitute. » 107:2

   « yet are absent-minded about their Contact » 107:5

   ↓ After the destitute whose feeding no one urges, the next sura shows the Guardian who fed the Quraysh against hunger.

9. 106

   The journey of winter and summer

   4 verses

   He hears of a community that was fed: the Quraysh, and their harmony, that of the journey of winter and summer. For this harmony, let them obey the Guardian of this House, who fed them against hunger and secured them against fear. The gift is told, obedience is asked. Elsewhere Ibrahim asks for these two gifts, just after the House is mentioned: "make of this a secure land, and provide its inhabitants with fruits" (2:125-126).

   « their harmony of the journey of winter and summer » 106:2

   « let them obey the Guardian of this House » 106:3

   « who fed them against hunger and secured them against fear. » 106:4

   ↓ The Guardian of this House fed and secured; the next sura asks: have you not seen how your Guardian dealt?

10. 105

    The birds and the stones

    5 verses

    He is asked about what he can see: "Have you not seen how your Guardian dealt with the companions of unreason?" Other questions follow, in the order of events. Did He not lead their scheme astray? Did He not send upon them massive birds, which were hurling stones of formed clay at them? Did He not reduce them to the state of eaten husk?

    These stones of formed clay fall elsewhere only on the city of Lut (11:82, 15:74), which is "upon a way that endures" (15:76): something one can still see. The same question, "Have you not seen how your Guardian dealt", will return for the Aad, the Thamud and Fir'awn (89:6-10).

    « Have you not seen how your Guardian dealt with the companions of unreason? » 105:1

    « massive birds, which were hurling stones of formed clay at them » 105:3

    « reduce them to the state of eaten husk » 105:5

    ↓ A scheme led astray, men crushed; the next sura shows the slanderer who thinks his goods eternal, cast into the Crusher.

11. 104

    Cast into the Crusher

    9 verses

    He hears woe announced to every stinging slanderer, insinuating disparager, who amasses goods and tallies them, thinking that his goods have made him eternal. By no means! He will surely be cast away into the Crusher. He is asked: "And what will give you an idea of what the Crusher is?" The answer follows: the fire of God, kindled, which rises up to the Consciences, locked shut upon them, in extended pillars. Elsewhere, the Diverter offers Adam "the tree of eternity" (20:120).

    « who amasses goods and tallies them, thinking that his goods have made him eternal. » 104:2

    « He will surely be cast away into the Crusher. » 104:4

    « The fire of God, kindled, which rises up to the Consciences. » 104:6

    ↓ The slanderer thinks his goods eternal; the next sura says the human being is in loss, except those enjoining truth and patience.

12. 103

    Except those who enjoin truth

    3 verses

    He hears a single sentence, which concerns him like every human being. First an oath: "By the pressure!" Then a statement: the human being is surely in loss. A way out follows, in four acts: believing, doing sound deeds, enjoining one another to truth, enjoining one another to patience. The last two are not done alone. "Enjoined one another to patience" returns only in 90:17, after freeing a person and feeding an orphan or a destitute one.

    « The human being is surely in loss » 103:2

    « except those who have believed, done sound deeds » 103:3

    « enjoined one another to truth, and enjoined one another to patience. » 103:3

    ↓ The human being is in loss; the next sura shows what distracts him until the graves: rivalry in accumulation.

13. 102

    Until visiting the graves

    8 verses

    He hears the text speak to those whom accumulation distracts: "Rivalry in accumulation has distracted you, until you visited the graves." Twice: "By no means! You will soon know." If only they knew with certain knowledge! The order follows: they will see the Blaze, then see it with the eye of certainty, then be questioned, that Day, about the bliss. The double threat returns for those asking one another about the immense Information: "By no means! They will know" (78:2-5).

    « Rivalry in accumulation has distracted you, until you visited the graves. » 102:1

    « By no means! You will soon know. » 102:3

    « Then you will most surely see it with the eye of certainty. » 102:7

    ↓ They will see the Blaze; the next sura shows the Day of the Crash, where balances decide and the Abyss is a scorching fire.

14. 101

    The Day of the Crash

    11 verses

    He hears a word, the Crash, then questions: "What is the Crash? And what will give you an idea of what the Crash is?" He is shown it: the Day when men will be like scattered moths, and the mountains like carded wool. Then come the balances. Heavy: a satisfying existence. Light: the Abyss for abode. Again: "And what will give you an idea of what it is?" Answer: "A scorching fire."

    This Crash is what the Thamud and the Aad denied (69:4). The "satisfying existence" is that of the one who is given his record in his right hand (69:19-21). And the weight of the balances finds its finest measure two suras further on: good or ill of "the weight of a particle", which each will see (99:7-8).

    « What is the Crash? » 101:2

    « The Day when men will be like scattered moths » 101:4

    « A scorching fire. » 101:11

    ↓ After men scattered and the balances, the next sura announces what will come out of graves and chests, which the Guardian knows.

15. 100

    Those that cross the limits

    11 verses

    He hears an oath by those that cross the limits, panting, that strike the spark through their clashes, that launch the assault in the morning, stir up the dust and plunge into the heart of a host. Then the text speaks of the human being, and so of him: toward his Guardian he is rebelliously ungrateful; he is himself a witness to that; and for the love of the good he is vehement.

    A question follows: does he not know what will come? When what is in the graves is upheaved, and what is in the chests is drawn out, their Guardian, that Day, will be Intimately Acquainted with them. "Upheaved" returns only in 82:4, for the graves; and this witness to himself will later be called "clear-sighted over himself" (75:14).

    « that launch the assault in the morning, stirring up the dust » 100:3

    « The human being is surely, toward his Guardian, rebelliously ungrateful » 100:6

    « and what is in the chests is drawn out » 100:10

    ↓ What is in the graves will be upheaved; the next sura shows the earth quaking and bringing forth its loads.

16. 99

    The weight of a particle

    8 verses

    He is told of the Day when the earth quakes with its quaking and brings forth its loads. The human being will say: "What is with it?" That Day it will recount its news, for his Guardian will have inspired it. Mankind will depart in scattered groups, to be shown their deeds. Whoever does the weight of a particle of good will see it, and whoever does the weight of a particle of ill will see it. Elsewhere, the same Guardian inspires the bee (16:68).

    « What is with it? » 99:3

    « That Day, mankind will depart in scattered groups, to be shown their deeds. » 99:6

    « So whoever does the weight of a particle of good will see it, » 99:7

    ↓ Each will see the good and ill he has done; the next sura tells the recompense of those who have done sound deeds.

17. 98

    The Clear Proof

    8 verses

    He hears an account of those who disowned among the People of the Scripture and the associators: they were not to separate until the Clear Proof came to them, a messenger from God, reciting purified chronicles, containing upright writings. Those who were given the Scripture did not become divided except after it came. They had been commanded only to obey God, wholly turned toward Him, to maintain the Contact and give pure liberality.

    Then two outcomes are announced to him. Those who disowned will be in the fire of Jahannam, abiding therein eternally: the worst of those brought into existence. Those who have believed and done sound deeds are the best; their recompense, with their Guardian, is the Gardens of permanence. God is satisfied with them, and they are satisfied with Him: that is for whoever dreads his Guardian. The same sentence returns in 5:119.

    « until the Clear Proof came to them » 98:1

    « a messenger from God, reciting purified chronicles » 98:2

    « God is satisfied with them, and they are satisfied with Him. » 98:8

    ↓ A messenger recites purified chronicles; the next sura tells of the night when "We indeed sent it down".

18. 97

    The Night of Measure

    5 verses

    He hears: "We indeed sent it down in the Night of Measure." Then: "And what will give you an idea of what the Night of Measure is?" It is better than a thousand months. During it descend the Agents and the Influx, by the permission of their Guardian, for every command. It is peace, until the emergence of dawn. What descends is not named here; further on he will hear: "It is We who have sent down to you the Recitation" (76:23).

    « We indeed sent it down in the Night of Measure. » 97:1

    « The Night of Measure is better than a thousand months. » 97:3

    « It is peace, until the emergence of dawn. » 97:5

    ↓ What was sent down in the Night of Measure is read: the next sura commands "Read, in the name of your Guardian".

19. 96

    Read, in your Guardian's name

    19 verses

    The one the text addresses receives an order: “Read, in the name of your Guardian who created!” He hears that his Guardian created the human being from a clinging form. The order comes again: “Read!” His Guardian is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen, and taught the human being what he did not know. Then he is told: by no means, the human being exceeds all measure when he sees himself self-sufficient; to his Guardian is the return.

    Then he is asked: “Have you seen the one who forbids an obedient one when he makes the Contact?” Is he upon guidance, does he enjoin guardedness? Does he deny and turn his back? Does he not know that God sees? He hears the warning: if he does not desist, God will seize him roughly by the forelock, a lying forelock, at fault. Let him call his assembly; God will call His own.

    The last word is an order for him: “Do not defer to him, but prostrate and draw near.” The one kept from making the Contact does not yield to the one who keeps him from it; he prostrates and draws near. The order “Read” will later receive its promise: “We will make you read so you shall not forget” (87:6).

    « Read, in the name of your Guardian who created! » 96:1

    « taught the human being what he did not know » 96:5

    « Does he not know that God sees? » 96:14

    « Do not defer to him, but prostrate and draw near. » 96:19

    ↓ Created from a clinging form, the human being exceeds all measure; next, he is created in the most beautiful stature, then brought low.

20. 95

    The fig and the olive

    8 verses

    The one the text addresses hears oaths: by the fig and the olive, by Mount Sinai, by this secure land. Then God says: “We have certainly created the human being in the most beautiful of stature,” then He brought him back to the lowest of the low. One exception is made: those who have believed and done sound deeds have a reward never held over them.

    Then he himself is asked: “So what causes you to deny, after this, the Due?” And again: is not God the most just of judges? The question stays open before him. He has already seen the one who denies the Due: he is the one who roughly pushes away the orphan (107:1-2). The same exception, in the same words, returns later (84:25).

    « We have certainly created the human being in the most beautiful of stature » 95:4

    « then We brought him back to the lowest of the low » 95:5

    « except those who have believed and done sound deeds » 95:6

    « So what causes you to deny, after this, the Due? » 95:7

    ↓ The human being brought back to the lowest of the low; next, the one addressed hears his burden lifted, his remembrance elevated.

21. 94

    The opened chest

    8 verses

    The one who was in hardship hears three questions about what was done for him: “Did We not open your chest for you?” Did We not lift your burden from you, which weighed upon your back? Did We not elevate your remembrance for you? These are things already done, said in the past: the burden is already lifted, the remembrance already elevated.

    Then he hears the same rule twice: with hardship comes ease. Finally an order, for every time: “As soon as you are freed, direct your effort,” and to your Guardian turn your yearning. Once freed, he does not stop: he returns to effort, turned toward his Guardian.

    « Did We not open your chest for you? » 94:1

    « Indeed, with hardship comes ease. » 94:6

    « As soon as you are freed, direct your effort » 94:7

    ↓ Three questions on what was done for him; the next sura asks three more: orphan taken in, astray guided, indigent enriched.

22. 93

    Your Guardian has not dismissed you

    11 verses

    The one the text addresses hears two oaths: by the morning brightness, by the night when it grows still. Then: “Your Guardian has not dismissed you, nor has He loathed you.” The last is better for him than the first. And an announcement: his Guardian will surely endow him, and he will be satisfied.

    Then he is reminded, in questions, of what he lived through: did He not find you an orphan and take you in? astray, and guide you? indigent, and enrich you? Each time, his Guardian found him in need, then drew him out of it. So he knows the orphan, the one astray and the indigent.

    Three orders follow what he lived: the orphan, do not oppress him; the seeker, do not rebuke him; the blessing of your Guardian, recount it. He who was an orphan does not oppress the orphan: he does the opposite of the one who roughly pushes away the orphan (107:2).

    « Your Guardian has not dismissed you, nor has He loathed you. » 93:3

    « Did He not find you an orphan and take you in? » 93:6

    « as for the orphan, do not oppress him. » 93:9

    « And as for the seeker, do not rebuke him. » 93:10

    ↓ “You will be satisfied,” the sura promises; the next promises the same to the most guarded, who gives his goods to purify himself.

23. 92

    Toward ease, toward hardship

    21 verses

    The one the text addresses hears three oaths: by the night when it covers all, by the day when it unveils itself, by what created the male and the female. Then: “Your efforts are surely dispersed.” Two paths open before him, announced in the future. The one who endows, and guards himself, and declares true the most beautiful: God will ease him toward ease.

    The one who is stingy, and considers himself self-sufficient, and denies the most beautiful: God will ease him toward hardship, and his goods will not avail him when he falls. He also hears that upon God is the guidance, and to Him belong the last life and the first.

    Then God says: “So I have warned you of a fire that flares.” None will burn in it except the most wretched, who denied and turned his back. The most guarded will be kept at a distance from it, he who gives his goods to purify himself, repaying no blessing owed, seeking only the direction of his Guardian, the Most High. And he will soon be satisfied.

    « Your efforts are surely dispersed. » 92:4

    « We will ease him toward ease. » 92:7

    « We will ease him toward hardship. » 92:10

    « he who gives his goods to purify himself » 92:18

    ↓ The most wretched who will burn has a face in the next sura: the most wretched of the Thamud, before the she-camel of God.

24. 91

    The Self and the she-camel

    15 verses

    The one the text addresses hears a series of oaths: the sun and its morning brightness, the moon when it comes in its wake, the day, the night, the sky and what built it, the earth and what spread it, a Self and what proportioned it, then inspired it with its depravity and its guardedness. All leads to one rule: he has succeeded who purifies it, he has failed who buries it.

    Then a story, in the past. The Thamud deny, in their immoderation, when the most wretched among them rushes forth. The messenger of God says to them: “The she-camel of God, and her watering!” But they deny him and hamstring her. So their Guardian pounds them for their offense and levels them; He does not fear its outcome. The she-camel was a sign in plain sight (17:59).

    « inspired it with its depravity and its guardedness » 91:8

    « He has certainly succeeded who purifies it, and he has certainly failed who buries it. » 91:9

    « The she-camel of God, and her watering! » 91:13

    « So their Guardian pounded them for their offense and leveled them. » 91:14

    ↓ The Self is inspired with its depravity and its guardedness; in the next sura, the human being is guided along the two paths.

25. 90

    What makes one balk

    20 verses

    The one the text addresses hears God swear by this land, where he himself is a resident, and by a begetter and what he begot: the human being was created in hardship. Then questions about this human being: does he think that no one will ever have power over him? He says: “I have annihilated goods in heaps!” Does he think that no one has seen him?

    Yet God assigned him two eyes, a tongue and two lips, and guided him along the two paths. But he has not plunged past what makes one balk. “And what will give you an idea of what makes one balk?” the listener is asked. It is having redeemed a pledge, or having fed, on a day of hunger, an orphan near of kin, or a destitute person in privation.

    Then it is having been of those who have believed and enjoined one another to patience and to benevolence. Those are the companions of the right side. Those who disowned God's signs are the companions of the left side; over them, a fire locked shut.

    « We have certainly created the human being in hardship. » 90:4

    « I have annihilated goods in heaps! » 90:6

    « But he has not plunged past what makes one balk. » 90:11

    « having fed, on a day of famine, an orphan near of kin, or a destitute person in privation » 90:14

    ↓ Feeding the orphan and the destitute is plunging past; the next sura reproaches: you do not honor the orphan, nor urge feeding the destitute.

26. 89

    The dawn and the reassured Self

    30 verses

    The one the text addresses hears oaths: by the dawn, by ten nights, by the mediation and the frustration, by the night when it ebbs away. Then: “Have you not seen how your Guardian dealt with the Aad,” Iram of the pillars, without like in the lands? with the Thamud, who hewed through the rock in the valley? with Fir'awn, holder of the stakes? They exceeded all measure; his Guardian poured upon them a scourge of punishment. His Guardian is ever on the lookout.

    Then he hears what the tested human being says. Honored and blessed, he says: “My Guardian has honored me.” His provision restricted, he says: “My Guardian has degraded me.” By no means, the text answers: you do not honor the orphan, you do not urge the feeding of the destitute, you consume the inheritance with voracious greed, you love goods with immoderate love.

    Then the Day is announced to him. The earth will be flattened blow after blow; his Guardian will come, and the Agent, rank upon rank; Jahannam will be brought. That Day the human being will remember, but what good will remembrance be to him? He will say: “Oh, if only I had sent ahead for my life!” None will be punished as he is punished, none bound as he is bound.

    Then he hears the call addressed to the Self: “O reassured Self! Return to your Guardian, well-pleased and pleasing.” Enter among My obedient ones, and enter My Garden. The proportioned Self, which succeeds if it is purified (91:7-9), is called here to enter.

    « Have you not seen how your Guardian dealt with the Aad » 89:6

    « you do not honor the orphan, and you do not urge the feeding of the destitute » 89:17

    « Oh, if only I had sent ahead for my life! » 89:24

    « O reassured Self! Return to your Guardian, well-pleased and pleasing. » 89:27

    ↓ Jahannam brought and the Self entering the Garden; the next sura shows these two outcomes as two groups of faces.

27. 88

    The All-Covering

    26 verses

    The one the text addresses hears a question: “Has the discourse concerning the All-Covering reached you?” Then he is told of faces, that Day, humble, toiling, exhausted. They will be made to burn in a scorching fire, given drink from a boiling spring. They will have no food except dry thorns, which neither fatten nor avail against hunger.

    He is told of other faces, that Day, in bliss, pleased with their effort, in a lofty garden, where no idle talk will be heard. A flowing spring is there. There are elevated couches, goblets set out, cushions lined up and carpets spread out.

    Then a question about those who do not look: do they not look at the massive animals, how they were created? at the sky, how it was elevated? at the mountains, set up? at the earth, laid flat? Then the order: “So remind; you are only one who reminds.” He has no power to compel them. The one who turns his back and disowns, God will punish with the greatest punishment. To God is their resort, then their reckoning.

    « Has the discourse concerning the All-Covering reached you? » 88:1

    « Do they not look at the massive animals, how they were created? » 88:17

    « So remind; you are only one who reminds. » 88:21

    « You have no power to compel them. » 88:22

    ↓ “So remind; you are only one who reminds”; the next sura takes up the order: “So remind, if the reminder should benefit.”

28. 87

    Glorify your Guardian's name

    19 verses

    The one the text addresses receives an order: “Glorify the name of your Guardian, the Most High,” who created and proportioned, measured and guided, brought forth the pasture and then made it dark wisps of straw. Then two promises, in the future: “We will make you read so you shall not forget,” except what God wills, for He knows what is said aloud and what is hidden; and We will ease you toward ease.

    Then the order: “So remind, if the reminder should benefit.” He who dreads will remember; the most wretched will keep at a distance from it, he who will burn in the greatest Fire, then will neither die therein nor live. He has succeeded who purifies himself, and remembers the name of his Guardian, and makes the Contact.

    He hears the reproach made to all: you prefer the near life, while the last life is better and more lasting. This is in the former chronicles, the chronicles of Ibrahim and Moussa. “We will make you read” answers the order “Read!” that he received twice (96:1-3).

    « Glorify the name of your Guardian, the Most High » 87:1

    « We will make you read so you shall not forget » 87:6

    « So remind, if the reminder should benefit. » 87:9

    « He has succeeded who purifies himself, and remembers the name of his Guardian, and makes the Contact. » 87:14

    ↓ The Guardian who created and proportioned; the next sura asks the human being to look at what he was created from.

29. 86

    The night comer

    17 verses

    The one the text addresses hears an oath: "By the sky and the night comer!" He is asked what the night comer is, and is told: the star of piercing brightness. No Self is without a preserver over it. Then the command: let the human being look at what he was created from, a gushing water emerging from between the loins and the bosom. God is capable of his return, on the Day when secrets will be tested; then he will have no power and no help.

    New oaths: by the sky which returns, by the earth which cracks open. It is a saying that separates, and it is no frivolity. He hears God say of those who disown: "Indeed, they scheme a scheme, and I scheme a scheme." Then the command is given to him: grant them a respite, a short respite. The same command will come to him again further on, for the deniers (73:11).

    « There is no Self but has a preserver over it. » 86:4

    « So let the human being look at what he was created from. » 86:5

    « Indeed, they scheme a scheme, and I scheme a scheme. » 86:15

    « So grant a respite to those who disown, grant them a short respite. » 86:17

    ↓ After "the sky which returns" (86:11), the next one also swears by the sky: "By the sky containing constellations!" (85:1).

30. 85

    The companions of the trench

    22 verses

    The one the text addresses hears three oaths: by the sky containing constellations, by the promised Day, by a witness and what is witnessed. Then: "May the companions of the trench perish, of the fire richly fueled", seated around it, witnesses to the fate of the believers. They resented them only for believing in God, the All-Powerful, the Praiseworthy, to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. And God is witness over all things.

    He is told that those who put the believing men and believing women to trial and then did not repent will have the punishment of Jahannam and of the burning fire. Those who have believed and done sound deeds will have gardens beneath which rivers flow: that is the great triumph. Then he hears of his Guardian: His strike is severe; He begins and remakes; He is the Most-Forgiving, the Loving, ever doing what He wants.

    Then a question: "Has the discourse concerning the armies, of Fir'awn and the Thamud, reached you?" The story of Fir'awn will come further on, with Moussa (79:15-25). Rather, those who have disowned persist in denial, and God encompasses them from behind. The surah closes: it is a glorious Recitation, upon a Preserved Tablet. These words will later open the surah that closes the section of the Recitation: "By the glorious Recitation!" (50:1).

    « May the companions of the trench perish, of the fire richly fueled » 85:4

    « And they resented them for nothing except that they believed in God » 85:8

    « And God is witness over all things. » 85:9

    « Rather, it is a glorious Recitation, upon a Preserved Tablet. » 85:21

    ↓ Those who have disowned (85:19) return in the next one: the Recitation is read to them, and they do not prostrate (84:21-22).

31. 84

    The record in the hand

    25 verses

    The one the text addresses hears what will come. When the sky splits open, it listens to its Guardian, and it is obligated to do so. When the earth is extended, it casts out what is within it, empties itself, and listens to its Guardian in turn. Then the call: "O human being! You are indeed making your laborious way toward your Guardian, and you will meet Him." He is the one in this situation: on his way to his Guardian.

    He is told of two fates. The one given his record in his right hand will have an easy reckoning and return to his people elated. The one given it behind his back will call for his ruin and be made to burn in an inferno. He had been elated among his people, and presumed he would never return. But yes: his Guardian was ever All-Seeing of him. The record in the right hand will come again further on (69:19).

    Then an oath by the twilight glow, by the night and what it enfolds, by the moon when it becomes full: you will embark upon state after state. Why do they not believe, and not prostrate when the Recitation is read to them? Those who have disowned deny, and God knows best what they keep within. Then he is commanded: announce to them a painful punishment, except for those who have believed and done sound deeds. He himself was told: "prostrate and draw near" (96:19).

    « You are indeed making your laborious way toward your Guardian, and you will meet Him. » 84:6

    « As for the one who is given his record in his right hand, he will be reckoned an easy reckoning » 84:7

    « He presumed he would never return. » 84:14

    « And when the Recitation is read to them, they do not prostrate? » 84:21

    ↓ He presumed he would never return (84:14); the next one asks of the defrauders: "Do those not presume that they will be raised?" (83:4).

32. 83

    Woe to the defrauders

    36 verses

    The one the text addresses hears: "Woe to the defrauders". When they take a measure from men, they exact it in full; when they measure or weigh for them, they cause loss. Do those not presume that they will be raised for an immense Day, the Day when mankind will stand before the Guardian of all beings? By no means: the record of the depraved is in Sijjin, a numbered record.

    Woe, that Day, to those who deny the Day of the Due. None denies it except a crosser of limits, a transgressor: when the signs are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the ancients!" What they were earning has rusted their cores. That Day they will be veiled from their Guardian, then they will burn in the Blaze, then it will be said: "This is what you used to deny."

    By no means: the record of the virtuous is in 'Illiyyun, witnessed by those brought near. He is told of the virtuous in bliss, on adorned couches: they will look, and he himself will recognize in their faces the radiance of bliss. They will drink from a sealed nectar whose seal is musk, blended with Tasnim, the spring from which those brought near drink. For this let the competitors compete.

    Then the scene turns over. Those who cut themselves off used to laugh at those who believed, wink at one another as they passed by them, return to their people delighting, and say: "These are surely astray" — while they had not been sent as preservers over them. Today those who believed laugh at the disowners, upon adorned couches, and look: have the disowners received the return of what they used to do?

    « Woe to the defrauders » 83:1

    « what they were earning has rusted their cores » 83:14

    « Surely, the record of the virtuous is in 'Illiyyun. » 83:18

    « So today those who believed are laughing at the disowners, upon adorned couches. » 83:34

    ↓ The mockers were not sent as preservers (83:33); in the next one: over you are preservers, noble scribes (82:10-11).

33. 82

    What has deluded you?

    19 verses

    The one the text addresses hears what will come: when the sky is rent asunder, when the heavenly bodies scatter, when the seas gush forth, when the graves are upheaved, a Self will know what it has put forward and kept back. Then the question, put to him: "O human being! What has deluded you concerning your Guardian, the Generous"? It is He who created him, then proportioned him, then balanced him, and assembled him in whatever form He willed.

    The answer comes: rather, you deny the Due. Yet over you are preservers, noble scribes, who know what you do. The virtuous will be in bliss; the depraved in a Blaze, where they will burn on the Day of the Due, never absent from it. Twice he is asked: "And what will give you an idea of what the Day of the Due is?" That Day no Self will possess a thing for another Self, and the command belongs to God.

    « O human being! What has deluded you concerning your Guardian, the Generous » 82:6

    « over you are preservers, noble scribes, who know what you do » 82:10

    « And the command, that Day, belongs to God. » 82:19

    ↓ Two series of "when" end on "a Self will know" (82:5, 81:14): what it has put forward, then what it has brought forward.

34. 81

    When the sun is wrapped up

    29 verses

    The one the text addresses hears what will come, in a series of twelve "when". The sun will be wrapped up, the stars will disperse, the mountains will be set in motion, the kinsmen left untended, the wild beasts gathered, the seas set aboil, the Selves paired. The girl buried alive will be asked for what offense she was killed. The chronicles will be deployed, the sky stripped away, the Blaze stoked, the Garden brought near. Then a Self will know what it has brought forward.

    Then an oath by the withdrawing stars, by the night when it departs, by the morning when it breathes: this is the saying of a noble messenger, endowed with power, secure with the Holder of the Edifice, trustworthy. Those who hear are told: "And your companion is not deranged." He certainly saw him on the clear horizon, and he is not grudging with what escapes the senses.

    It is not the saying of a banished Diverter. So where are you going? It is only a reminder for all beings, for whoever among you wills to stand straight; and you will not want it unless God wills, the Guardian of all beings. What is said here to the others will be said to him face to face: "You are not, by the blessing of your Guardian, deranged" (68:2).

    « When the sun is wrapped up » 81:1

    « and when the girl buried alive is asked for what offense she was killed » 81:8

    « a Self will know what it has brought forward. » 81:14

    « And your companion is not deranged. » 81:22

    « And he certainly saw him on the clear horizon. » 81:23

    ↓ "It is only a reminder" (81:27); the next one says: "It is a reminder", for whoever wants (80:11-12).

35. 80

    He frowned

    42 verses

    The one the text addresses hears: "He frowned and turned his back, because the blind man came to him." Then the text turns to him: what gives you an idea? Perhaps he might purify himself, or remember, and the reminder would benefit him. As for him who considers himself self-sufficient, you go out to him; it is not upon you if he does not purify himself. As for him who comes to you hurrying, and dreads, from him you are distracted.

    By no means: it is a reminder, so whoever wants, let him remember it, in honored chronicles, elevated and purified, in the hands of envoys, noble and virtuous. Then: may the human being perish; how he disowns! From a drop He created him and measured him, made the way easy for him, then caused him to die and buried him; then, when He wills, He will deploy him. By no means: he has not yet concluded what He commanded him.

    "So let the human being look at his food": the water poured in abundance, the earth split in clefts, grain, grapes, fodder, olives, date-palms, dense enclosed gardens, savoury fruit and pasture, an enjoyment for you and your cattle. Then, when the Deafening Blast comes, a man will flee from his brother, his mother and father, his consort and his sons; each will have a matter that absorbs him. Some faces will be radiant, laughing, exulting; others veiled in dark dust: the disowners, the depraved.

    « He frowned and turned his back, because the blind man came to him. » 80:1

    « As for him who considers himself self-sufficient, you go out to him » 80:5

    « But as for him who came to you hurrying, and he dreads, from him you are distracted. » 80:8

    « So let the human being look at his food: » 80:24

    ↓ The "you" was distracted from the one who dreads (80:9-10); in the next one: "You are only the warner of whoever dreads it" (79:45).

36. 79

    Those who tear away

    46 verses

    He hears oaths: by those who tear away, release, swim, race ahead and govern the affair. He is told of the Day: the first quaking, followed by the one that comes after; cores will tremble, sights will be humble. The text reports their question: "Are we really to be brought back to our former state, once we have become decayed bones?", then their words: "That, then, would be a losing comeback!" It will be but a single rumbling blast, and there they are, upon the surface of the world.

    He is asked: "Has the discourse concerning Moussa reached you?" His Guardian calls Moussa in the sanctified valley of Tuwa: go to Fir'awn, he has exceeded all measure; ask him whether he would purify himself, to be guided to his Guardian and dread Him. Moussa shows him the greatest sign. Fir'awn denies, disobeys, turns his back, gathers, calls out and says: "I am your master, the most high." God seizes him as an example. In that is a lesson for whoever dreads.

    Then all are asked: "Are you more difficult to create, or is the sky?" God built it, elevated its vault, darkened its night and brought forth its morning light. After that He made the earth hatch forth its water and its pasture, and anchored the mountains, an enjoyment for you and your cattle. When the great Cataclysm comes, the human being will remember what he endeavoured. The Blaze will be the resort of him who exceeded all measure; the Garden, of him who feared standing before his Guardian.

    Then he is told: "They ask you about the Hour: when will it drop anchor?" He is asked: what have you to do with mentioning it? Its utmost boundary is to your Guardian; you are only the warner of whoever dreads it. The Day they see it, it will seem to them they remained no more than an evening or its morning. Like Moussa, he has only to warn: "whoever dreads" comes back three times (79:19, 79:26, 79:45).

    « Yet it will be but a single rumbling blast, and there they are, upon the surface of the world. » 79:13

    « Go to Fir'awn; he has exceeded all measure. » 79:17

    « I am your master, the most high. » 79:24

    « Are you more difficult to create, or is the sky? » 79:27

    « They ask you about the Hour: when will it drop anchor? » 79:42

    « You are only the warner of whoever dreads it. » 79:45

    ↓ "They ask you about the Hour" (79:42); the next one opens on people asking one another about the immense Information (78:1-2).

37. 78

    The immense Information

    40 verses · label عم

    The one the text addresses hears two letters, ʿAyn Mim. Then he hears that people "are asking one another about the immense Information", over which they differ. The answer comes twice: they will know. Then questions: the earth a spread-out expanse, the mountains as stakes; pairs, sleep for rest; the night a garment, the day for livelihood; seven strong above, an incandescent torch; abundant water that brings forth grain, vegetation and intertwined gardens.

    The Day of Separation is an appointed time. The Horn is blown and you come in crowds; the sky is opened and becomes gates, the mountains become a mirage. Jahannam is a lookout post for those who exceed all measure: neither coolness nor drink, except boiling water and a foul, dark fluid. They did not hope for any reckoning and denied the signs; but everything has been enumerated in a record. "So taste!"

    For those who guarded themselves, a triumph: enclosed gardens, vineyards, companions, a brimming cup, with neither idle talk nor lies, "a recompense from your Guardian", an endowment well accounted. On the Day the Influx and the Agents stand in ranks, none will speak except one to whom the All-Benevolent has given permission, and who will say what is right.

    That is the True Day: whoever wants may take, toward his Guardian, a place of resort. He hears: "Indeed, We have warned you of an imminent punishment", the Day when man will observe what his hands have prepared, and the one who disowns will say: "Oh, that I were earth!" Further on, he will be told to say it: "This is immense Information" (38:67).

    « They are asking one another about the immense Information » 78:1

    « Have We not made the night a garment, and the day for livelihood? » 78:10

    « Indeed, the Day of Separation is an appointed time » 78:17

    « So whoever wants may take, toward his Guardian, a place of resort. » 78:39

    « Oh, that I were earth! » 78:40

    ↓ The Day of Separation, "an appointed time" (78:17), is the Day for which the messengers were adjourned (77:12-13).

Closing: ʿAyn Mim (78:1), then: “They are asking one another about the immense Information” (78:2).

← Summary frieze

1. 77

   Woe to the deniers

   50 verses

   He hears oaths by those sent forth in succession, scattering, deploying, separating and addressing a reminder, though they are never named; then the announcement: what you are promised will befall. The stars will be obliterated, the sky cracked open, the mountains blasted away, and the messengers' time will be set: the Day of Separation. He is asked: what will give you an idea of what that Day is? Then comes, a first time: "Woe, that Day, to the deniers!"

   He hears questions. Did We not annihilate the former peoples? The later ones will follow them: thus does God deal with the severed. Did He not create you from a despised water, placed in a secure place until a known measure? Has He not made the earth a receptacle for the living and the dead, and given you water to drink? Then the command, on the Day, to those who used to deny: depart to a shadow of three branches! It throws up sparks as huge as palaces.

   That Day is announced to him: they will utter nothing, nor be given permission to make excuses; brought together with the former peoples, they are challenged to use a scheme. Those who guarded themselves are amid shades and springs: "Eat and drink pleasantly, for what you used to do." To the severed, now: "Eat and enjoy yourselves a little." When told to kneel, they do not kneel. The woe returns ten times; the final question returns word for word in 7:185.

   « what you are promised will surely befall. » 77:7

   « Woe, that Day, to the deniers! » 77:15

   « Depart to a shadow of three branches, neither shading nor availing against the flame. » 77:30

   « In what discourse, after this one, will they then believe? » 77:50

   ↓ The final question, in what discourse to believe, finds its answer: "It is We who have sent down to you the Recitation".

2. 76

   The cup of the virtuous

   31 verses

   He hears a question: has there come upon the human being a period of time when he was not a thing worth mentioning? God created him from a conjoined drop to test him, made him hearing and seeing, and guided him along the way, be he grateful or disowning. For the disowners: chains, shackles and an inferno. The virtuous are faithful to their vows and give food, despite their love for it, to the destitute, the orphan and the captive. In Saqar, the severed will confess the opposite (74:44).

   What they receive is described to him. God has protected them from the ill of that Day and recompensed them, for having been patient, with a garden and silk; its shades hang close over them. They drink from a cup blended with camphor, then with ginger, from a spring named Salsabil; children made eternal circulate among them. He is told: when you look there, you will see bliss and a great dominion. A voice tells them: your effort has been met with gratitude.

   Then the text speaks to him: the Recitation has been sent down to him, a gradual sending down. He is told to be patient with the judgment of his Guardian, to defer to no transgressor or great disowner, to remember the name of his Guardian at dawn and at homecoming, to prostrate during a part of the night; sura 73 specifies the command: "Stand the night" (73:2). These love the immediate life. This is a reminder: whoever wants may take a way toward his Guardian.

   « We created the human being from a conjoined drop, to test him » 76:2

   « we want from you neither recompense nor gratitude. » 76:9

   « It is We who have sent down to you the Recitation, a gradual sending down. » 76:23

   « So whoever wants may take, toward his Guardian, a way. » 76:29

   ↓ "These love the immediate life"; the next sura says it again: they love the immediate life and forsake the last life.

3. 75

   Where to flee?

   40 verses

   He hears God swear by the Day of Appearance and by the self-censuring Self. Does the human being think his bones will never be assembled? But yes, even his phalanges. He wants to persist in depravity and asks when that Day will be. When the sight is blinded with glare and the sun and the moon are joined together, he will say: "Where to flee?" There is no bulwark. To the one seeking where to flee: to your Guardian, that Day, will be the stable place.

   In the middle, an instruction is addressed to him: do not move your tongue with it to hasten it. God says: upon Us is its assembling and its recitation; when We have read it, follow its recitation; then upon Us is its explanation. The same command returns in 20:114. Then: they love the immediate life and forsake the last life. Some faces, that Day, will be radiant, looking toward their Guardian; others, gloomy, will presume that a catastrophe is about to strike them.

   When it reaches the collarbones, when it is said "Who will raise up?" and the leg is intertwined with the leg, the dying one is told: to your Guardian will be the drive. He neither declared true nor made the Contact; he denied, turned his back, then went to his people walking in vain pride: closer to you, and closer! He was a drop, then a clinging form, of which He made the male and the female.

   « Where to flee? » 75:10

   « Do not move your tongue with it to hasten it; » 75:16

   « when We have read it, follow its recitation » 75:18

   « Is that One not able to bring the dead back to life? » 75:40

   ↓ This man did not make the Contact; in the next sura, the severed confess: "We were not of those who made the Contact".

4. 74

   Arise and warn

   56 verses

   He hears: "O you who are covered in a cloak! Arise and warn." Then the commands: proclaim the greatness of your Guardian, purify your clothes, keep away from defilement, do not hold over others what you grant, and for your Guardian, be patient. He is told that when the trumpet is sounded, it will be a difficult day for the disowners. The imperative "Arise" (قُمْ) is given only to him and to the one wrapped up (73:2); sura 72 will tell the command fulfilled (72:19).

   God tells him to leave Him with a man He created and provided with extensive goods and sons present with him, for whom He smoothed everything; and this man covets still more. He has been obstinate toward His signs: God will crush him with a steep ascent. The man thought and determined, then looked, frowned, turned back, grew proud and said: "This is nothing but illusion passed down; this is nothing but the saying of a human."

   God says: I will make him burn in Saqar. He is asked: what will give you an idea of what Saqar is? It leaves nothing. Over it, nineteen: God has made the companions of the Fire only Agents, and has made their number only a trial for those who disown. None knows the armies of your Guardian except Him. In sura 37, the Agents stand in ranks, and "Our army" is victorious (37:173).

   By the moon, the night and the morning: it is a warning for whoever wills to advance or to remain behind. Every Self is a pledge, except the companions of the right, who will ask the severed what led them into Saqar. They will say: we did not make the Contact, we did not feed the destitute, we denied the Day of the Due. So what is with them that they turn away from the reminder, like donkeys fleeing from a lion? Whoever wants may remember it.

   « Arise and warn » 74:2

   « this is nothing but the saying of a human. » 74:25

   « And We have not made the companions of the Fire except Agents » 74:31

   « And none knows the armies of your Guardian except Him. » 74:31

   « Every Self is a pledge for what it has earned » 74:38

   ↓ "Arise and warn"; the next sura gives the command to arise again, this time to the one wrapped up, for the night.

5. 73

   Standing at night

   20 verses

   He hears: "O you who are wrapped up!" He is told: stand the night, except a little, half of it, or a little less, or a little more, and recite the Recitation with measured, distinct recitation, for We will cast upon you a heavy saying. The imperative قُمِ is given only to him and to the one covered in a cloak (74:2).

   He is told why the night: the rising of the night is firmer in impact and more upright in saying; during the day, he has a long swim. Let him remember the name of his Guardian and give himself over to Him fully: Guardian of the rising and the setting, there is no deity but Him; let him take Him as a trustee, be patient with what they say, and avoid them with gracious avoidance.

   God tells him: leave Me with the deniers, those in well-being. With Him are shackles, a Blaze, food that chokes, on the Day the earth and the mountains will quake. Then He speaks to the others: We have sent to you a messenger as a witness upon you, as to Fir'awn, who disobeyed him and was seized. How will you guard yourselves against a Day that will turn children gray-haired? Then a sentence of sura 76 returns word for word: whoever wants may take a way toward his Guardian (76:29).

   The last verse tells him that his Guardian knows he stands part of the night, as do a group of those with him. God determines the night and the day; He knows that you will never enumerate it, and He has turned toward you with clemency. He knows there will be the sick, others traveling through the land, others fighting: read what is feasible, maintain the Contact, give pure liberality, make God a beautiful loan.

   « Stand the night, except a little » 73:2

   « for We will cast upon you a heavy saying. » 73:5

   « you stand a little less than two-thirds of the night, and of half of it, and of a third of it » 73:20

   « So read what is feasible of the Recitation. » 73:20

   ↓ "Stand the night"; the next sura tells the command fulfilled: "when the obedient one of God stood up calling upon Him".

6. 72

   He stood up to invoke

   28 verses

   He receives a command, "Say", and the words of what has been revealed to him: a group of the Occulted listened. Their words are reported: they heard an astonishing recitation that guides to rectitude; they believed in it and will never associate anyone with their Guardian. They tell their past: the foolish among them spoke excessive words against God; men among mankind took refuge in them, and were only crushed the more. The same listening is told in 46:29.

   The Occulted go on: they touched the sky and found it filled with severe sentinels and blazing projectiles, the nearest heaven adorned with lamps of sura 67 (67:5). They used to sit there in stations for listening; now a projectile lies in wait for whoever listens. They have no idea whether ill or rectitude is intended for those on earth. When they heard the guidance, they believed in it; the deviant became firewood for Jahannam.

   The revelation goes on beyond their words: had they remained straight, God would have given them plentiful water to drink, to try them; whoever turns away from the remembrance of his Guardian is inserted into an ever-mounting punishment. The places of prostration belong to God: invoke no one along with Him. Then he learns what he has done: the command "Arise" (74:2, 73:2) is carried out. The obedient one of God stood up calling upon Him, and they almost crowded him in dense multitude.

   Then "Say" returns four times, with words he will speak himself: he invokes only his Guardian; he holds for them neither harm nor rectitude; no one can grant him asylum from God, and he has no recourse but the transmission and His messages. An announcement: when they see what they are promised, they will know who is weakest in helpers. He says he has no idea whether it is near. God uncovers what escapes the senses only to a messenger He approves, and surrounds him with lookouts.

   « We have heard an astonishing recitation, that guides to rectitude » 72:1

   « whoever listens now will find a blazing projectile lying in wait for him » 72:9

   « when the obedient one of God stood up calling upon Him » 72:19

   « I hold for you neither harm nor rectitude. » 72:21

   ↓ He stood up to invoke and they crowded around him; in the next sura, Nuh calls night and day, and his people flee.

7. 71

   Nuh calls night and day

   28 verses

   He hears that We sent Nuh to his people, with the command he himself received in 74:2: "Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment." Nuh tells them: I am to you a clear warner; obey God, guard yourselves toward Him, and defer to me. He will forgive you some of your offenses and adjourn you until an appointed term, for the term of God, when it comes, cannot be adjourned.

   Then Nuh speaks to his Guardian: he has called his people night and day, and his call has only increased them in flight, the reverse of the crowd that presses on the obedient one of God (72:19). Every time, they put their fingers in their ears and covered themselves with their clothes. He called them openly, then publicly and privately: ask forgiveness of your Guardian; He will send upon you the sky in copious streams, goods, sons, gardens, rivers.

   Nuh asks them questions: what is with you, that you do not hope from God for gravity, when He has created you in successive stages? Do you not see how God has created seven heavens in layers, with the moon a light and the sun a torch? These seven heavens in layers return only in 67:3. God has caused them to grow from the earth as a growth; He will bring them back into it and bring them out anew; He has made the earth an expanse for them.

   Nuh speaks again to his Guardian: they have disobeyed me, followed him whose goods increased him only in loss, plotted, and said never to forsake Wadd, nor Suwa', nor Yaghuth, nor Ya'uq, nor Nasr. The text says that because of their faults they were drowned and put into a fire. Nuh asks that no disowner be spared, and forgiveness for himself, his parents, the believing men and believing women: the request that is commanded in 47:19.

   « Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment. » 71:1

   « indeed I have called my people night and day, but my call has only increased them in flight. » 71:5

   « Ask forgiveness of your Guardian; indeed, He is ever a Great Forgiver. » 71:10

   « My Guardian, forgive me and my parents » 71:28

   ↓ Nuh asks that no disowner be spared; the next sura opens on a petitioner who asked for a punishment for those who disown.

8. 70

   A Day distant and near

   44 verses

   He hears that a petitioner asked for a punishment bound to befall those who disown; none can repel it. It comes from God, Holder of the Ascending Ways: to Him the Agents and the Influx ascend, in a Day of fifty thousand years. He is commanded: so be patient, with a gracious patience, as in 73:10. They see it as distant, God sees it as near: this answers what he said he did not know (72:25).

   He is shown the Day the sky will be like molten metal and the mountains like wool, when no warm friend will ask after his friend. The severed one would like to ransom himself from the punishment with his sons, his consort, his brother, the line that took him in, and everyone on earth. By no means: the ardent Flame calls him who retreated and turned his back, who amassed and locked away.

   The human being was created anxious: when ill touches him, he panics; when good touches him, he hinders it. Except those who make the Contact, constant in it; in whose goods there is a known right for the one who asks and the one who is deprived; who declare true the Day of the Due, unlike the confession of 74:46; who fear the punishment of their Guardian, preserve their private parts, watch over trusts and pact, maintain their testimonies. Those will be honored in gardens: the list of 23:5-9.

   Then a question about what he sees: what is with those who disown, hastening toward him, right and left, in separate groups? Does each of them covet a garden of bliss? By no means. God swears that He is able to replace them with better than them. He is commanded: let them be, until they meet their Day, when they will emerge from the sepulchres rapidly, their sights humble, humiliation veiling them, words that return in 68:43. That is the Day they had been promised.

   « for they see it as distant, while We see it as near. » 70:6

   « no warm friend will ask after a warm friend » 70:10

   « The human being was indeed created anxious » 70:19

   « a known right for the one who asks and the one who is deprived » 70:24

   ↓ On the Day, no warm friend asks after his friend; next, the one given his record in his left hand has none here.

9. 69

   That which proves the real

   52 verses

   He hears: "That which proves the real! What is that which proves the real?", then: what will give you an idea of what it is? Reading toward the first sura, this question returns here for the last time. He is told of the Thamud and the Aad, who denied the Crash: the Thamud annihilated by the Immoderate, the Aad by an icy wind, seven nights and eight days. He would have seen the people felled like empty trunks of palm trees. Does he see any remnant of them?

   Fir'awn, those on his side and the overturned cities disobeyed the messenger of their Guardian, who seized them. Then: when the water overflowed, "We carried you on the ark", to make it a reminder that a heeding ear might heed; the people of Nuh were drowned (71). Then the Day: a single blast on the Horn, the earth and the mountains flattened with a single blow, the Event, the heaven split apart, the Agent at its edges, eight bearing the Edifice of his Guardian. Nothing will remain hidden.

   The one who is given his record in his right hand will say: "Here, read my record!" He presumed that he would meet his reckoning; he will be in a lofty garden, its clusters within reach, and will be told to eat and drink pleasantly. The one who is given it in his left hand will say: "Oh, would that I had not been given my record"; his goods have not availed him, his authority has been annihilated far from him.

   A voice commands that he be seized, shackled, exposed to the Blaze and inserted into a chain seventy cubits in length. He did not believe in God, the Immense, nor did he urge the feeding of the destitute. So he has here no warm friend, and no food but a foul discharge, which only those at fault eat.

   He hears an oath, by what is seen and what is not seen: this is the saying of a noble messenger, not of a seductive orator nor of a soothsayer, a descent from the Guardian of all beings (56:80). Had he fabricated sayings, God would have taken him by the right, and no one could have shielded him, as he says in 72:22. It is a reminder, a desolation for those who disown, the truth of certainty. He is commanded: glorify in the name of your Guardian, the Immense.

   « What is that which proves the real? » 69:2

   « We carried you on the ark » 69:11

   « Here, read my record! » 69:19

   « this is surely the saying of a noble messenger » 69:40

   ↓ The one who did not urge the feeding of the destitute announces the companions of the garden, who whisper: "Let no destitute person enter it".

10. 68

    Nun, the pen, the garden

    52 verses · label ن

    He hears a letter, ن, then an oath: by the pen and what they inscribe in lines! The pen by which God taught (96:4) thus closes the section, read backward. He is told: you are not, by the blessing of your Guardian, deranged; you shall have a reward never held over you; you are of an immense character. An announcement: you will see clearly, and they will see clearly, which of you is the one put to trial; his Guardian knows who has strayed.

    A prohibition follows: do not defer to the deniers; they would like him to be complaisant, so that they would be complaisant too. Nor to any contemptible oath-monger, slanderer, hinderer of good, coarse, because he has goods and sons; when the signs are recited to him, he says: "Legends of the ancients!" An announcement concerns him: We will brand him on the snout.

    He is told of a trial: We tested them as We tested the companions of the garden. They swear to gather it in the morning, without exception. While they sleep, a round from his Guardian goes over it, and it becomes like scorched land. In the morning they call one another, then set out talking in undertones: "Let no destitute person enter it upon you today." They go early, headstrong, capable. The known right for the one who asks, in 70:24, is its reverse.

    When they see it, they say: we are astray; rather, we are deprived! The most just among them reminds them: why do you not glorify? They say: "Glory be to our Guardian! We have indeed been wrongdoers." They censure each other, and hope their Guardian will give them a better one. Then the lesson: such is the punishment, and that of the last life is greater, if only they knew; for those who guard themselves, the gardens of bliss.

    Questions go to the deniers: shall those true to God alone be treated like the severed? Do they have a scripture, or oaths upon God? He is told: ask them which of them stands guarantor for that. On the day a leg is bared, they will be called to prostrate and cannot, their sights humble, as at the end of sura 70. Then: leave Me with whoever denies this discourse; We will gradually lead them, for My scheme is solid, words taken up in 7:182-183.

    The command: be patient with the judgment of your Guardian, and do not be like the companion of the fish, when he called out while holding himself in. A blessing from his Guardian overtook him, and He elected him among those who are sound. Sura 21 calls him Dhu'n-Nun (21:87): the sura opened on ن tells of the man named after it. Those who disown almost trip him up with their sights and call him deranged; the sura's opening answered. It is only a reminder for all beings.

    « You are not, by the blessing of your Guardian, deranged. » 68:2

    « Let no destitute person enter it upon you today. » 68:24

    « So leave Me with whoever denies this discourse. » 68:44

    « do not be like the companion of the fish » 68:48

    ↓ You will see which of you is put to trial; sura 67, which opens section X, creates death and life to test.

Closing: Nun (68:1), then: “By the pen and what they inscribe in lines!” (68:1).

← Summary frieze

1. 67

   Return your gaze

   30 verses

   Section X opens here. He hears: blessed is He in whose hand is the dominion, who created death and life to test which of you acts best, as in 11:7, and seven heavens in layers. He is told: you see no disharmony; return your gaze, do you see any fissure? Then return it twice more: it will come back to you rebuffed and breathless. The nearest heaven is adorned with lamps, missiles against the Diverters: the same guard as in 37:6-7.

   Jahannam is announced to him for those who disowned their Guardian. When they are thrown into it, they will hear it roaring as it boils, almost splitting with fury. Every time a crowd is thrown in, its custodians will ask: "Did no warner come to you?" These custodians are Agents (74:31). They will say: yes, but we denied, and said: God has not sent down anything. Sura 67 answers sura 36 here, where the deniers said this to the envoys (36:15). They will acknowledge their offense.

   Those who dread their Guardian even though He escapes their senses will have forgiveness and a great reward, as 36:11 announced. The earth is made docile: walk and eat. But do you feel secure that He will not cause it to swallow you, or send a storm of stones? The birds align their wings and fold them: nothing holds them up but the All-Benevolent. Who would be an army for you? Who walks fallen on his face, and who walks upright?

   Then he is told six times "Say". He must say: He brought you into being, gave you hearing, sight and Consciences, and to Him you will be gathered. They ask, word for word as in 36:48: when will this promise be? He must answer: the knowledge is only with God, I am only a warner. When they see it near, vexation will be stamped on their faces. The last words to say: if your water sank into the ground, who would bring you spring water?

   « to test you: which of you acts best. » 67:2

   « Return your gaze: do you see any fissure? » 67:3

   « Did no warner come to you? » 67:8

   « When will this promise be, if you are veracious? » 67:25

   « who then would bring you spring water? » 67:30

   ↓ The custodians of Jahannam question the crowds thrown in; the next sura names these guardians: harsh Agents who do what they are commanded.

2. 66

   Guard your Selves and your families

   12 verses

   He hears: "O Informant! Why do you hold as prohibited what God has permitted you, seeking the approval of your wives?" God has fixed the release from your oaths (5:89). Then a narrative: the Informant confides a discourse in secret to one of his wives. She discloses it; God uncovers it to him; he has part of it recognized and passes over another part. When he informs her of it, she asks who informed him. He answers: the All-Knowing, the Intimately Acquainted.

   The text then speaks to two of them, whose cores have already bent: if you two turn back to God… If they support one another against him, God is his Ally, with Jibril and the sound among the believers, and the Agents are his support, they whom sura 37 also presents as an army (37:173). Then to all of them, a hypothesis: if he repudiates you, his Guardian may give him in exchange wives better than you, believing, devoted, repentant.

   To those who have believed: guard your Selves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is men and stones, over which are Agents, harsh and severe, who do what they are commanded. They are the custodians who question the crowds thrown in (67:8), and 74:31 says it: the companions of the Fire are Agents. To those who disowned, on the Day: do not make excuses today. To those who have believed: turn back to God with a sincere turning back.

   They are told of the day when God will not disgrace the Informant nor those who believed with him: their light will hurry before them and on their right, as in 57:12. They will say: our Guardian, complete our light for us; sura 61 will say that God completes His light (61:8). Then the command to him: strive against those who disown and the hypocrites, and be firm with them, the same sentence as in 9:73.

   Then God adds examples. The wife of Nuh and the wife of Lut were under two of His sound obedient ones, and betrayed them; those two were of no avail to them against God, and they were told to enter the Fire. The wife of Fir'awn, the one of 28:9, asks for a house near Him in the Garden, and to be saved from Fir'awn and his doing. Maryam, daughter of Imran, protected her intimacy and declared true the words of her Guardian and His scriptures.

   « Why do you hold as prohibited what God has permitted you » 66:1

   « Guard your Selves and your families from a Fire » 66:6

   « Our Guardian, complete our light for us » 66:8

   « My Guardian, build for me, near You, a house in the Garden » 66:11

   ↓ "If he repudiates you" is only a hypothesis; the next sura gives the rule: "When you repudiate women".

3. 65

   The promise of a way out

   12 verses

   He hears: "O Informant! When you repudiate women, repudiate them with regard to their prescribed waiting period, and enumerate that period." Do not make them leave their houses, nor should they leave, unless they commit a flagrant indecency: those are the limits of God, and whoever crosses them wrongs his own Self. He is told: you have no idea, perhaps God will give rise to something; as in 80:3, he does not know what is to come.

   At the term: retain them or part from them according to what is recognized, as in 2:231, and take two just witnesses. Whoever guards himself toward God, He grants him a way out and provides for him from where he does not expect; whoever entrusts himself to God, He is sufficient for him. Then the waiting periods: three months for those who have lost hope of menstruation and for those who have not had it; for pregnant women, until they give birth.

   He hears: let them dwell where you dwell, according to your means, and do not harm them so as to put them in straits; if they are pregnant, provide for them. If they take the child into care, give them their rewards and consult together; if you make things difficult, another woman will take the child into care. Let each spend from what God has given him: God will bring ease after hardship, as in 94:5.

   Then the account of the cities that defied the command of their Guardian: a severe account, a horrible punishment; they tasted the baleful consequences of their conduct. To the possessors of intelligence who believe: God has sent down a Reminder, a messenger who recites His signs to bring out of the darknesses into the light, the one of 62:2. The end: God created seven heavens, those of 67:3, and of the earth their like; the command descends among them.

   « You have no idea: perhaps God will give rise, after that, to something. » 65:1

   « He grants him a way out, and provides for him from where he does not expect. » 65:2

   « God will bring ease after hardship. » 65:7

   « The command descends among them » 65:12

   ↓ The cities tasted the baleful consequences of their conduct; the next sura asks whether this information has not come to you.

4. 64

   The Day of Mutual Deception

   18 verses

   He hears: whatever is in the heavens and on the earth glorifies God, in the present, as in 62:1. It is He who created you: among you one who disowns, and a believer; He knows what you keep secret. Then the question: has the information not come to you about those before? Their messengers used to come with clear proofs, and they said: "Shall humans guide us?" They disowned and turned their backs, and God did without them.

   Those who disown claim that they will never be raised. He must answer: yes, by my Guardian, you will surely be raised, then informed of what you did; it is the same oath as in 34:3. So believe in God, His messenger and the light sent down. The Day of Reunion will be the Day of Mutual Deception: gardens for whoever believes and does a sound deed, the Fire for those who disowned and denied.

   No calamity strikes except by the permission of God; as in 57:22, where it is in a register before God acquits it, and whoever believes in God, He guides his core. Defer to God and the messenger; if you turn your backs, only the clear transmission is incumbent upon the messenger (5:92). Then to those who have believed: among your wives and your children is an enemy to you; beware of them, but overlook, turn the page, forgive.

   Your goods and your children are but a trial, as in 8:28, and with God is an immense reward. Guard yourselves toward God as much as you are able, listen, defer, spend. Whoever is protected from the greed of his Self succeeds: the same sentence as in 59:9. If you make God a beautiful loan, He will double it for you, as in 57:11, and forgive you.

   « that is the Day of Mutual Deception. » 64:9

   « No calamity strikes except by the permission of God. » 64:11

   « But if you overlook, turn the page, and forgive » 64:14

   « Your goods and your children are but a trial » 64:15

   ↓ Goods and children are but a trial; the next sura asks that they not distract you from the remembrance of God.

5. 63

   Propped-up pieces of wood

   11 verses

   When the hypocrites come to him, they say: "We testify that you are surely the messenger of God." God knows that he is, and testifies that they are liars, as in 59:11. They have taken their oaths as a shield, the sentence of 58:16. They believed, then disowned, as in 4:137, and their cores were stamped. When he sees them, their silhouettes dazzle him; when they speak, he listens. They are like propped-up pieces of wood: beware of them.

   When told: come, that the messenger of God may ask forgiveness for you, they turn their heads aside, growing proud. Whether he asks forgiveness for them or not is the same, as in 9:80. They say: do not spend on those who are with the messenger until they disperse. But to God belong the treasuries. They say: if we return to the Capital, the mightier will expel the more humiliated. But might belongs to God, His messenger and the believers.

   Then to those who have believed: let not your goods or your children distract you from the remembrance of God. Spend before death comes to one of you and he says: my Guardian, if only You would adjourn me until a near term, I would give in charity. The same request returns on the day of punishment, in 14:44. But God will never adjourn a Self when its term has come.

   « And God testifies that the hypocrites are surely liars. » 63:1

   « they are like propped-up pieces of wood. » 63:4

   « until they disperse. » 63:7

   « My Guardian, if only You would adjourn me until a near term » 63:10

   ↓ The hypocrites wait for them to disperse; in the next sura, they disperse toward a trade and leave him standing.

6. 62

   Forsake selling

   11 verses

   He hears: whatever is in the heavens and on the earth glorifies God, the Sovereign, the Most Holy. It is He who raised among the people without a prior Scripture a messenger from among themselves, reciting His signs to them, purifying them, teaching them the Scripture and wisdom: what Ibrahim asked for in 2:129 is here accomplished. Others have not yet joined them. Those entrusted with the Tawrah who then did not carry it are like the donkey carrying travel goods.

   He must say: O you, the Reoriented, if you claim to be the allies of God, excluding other men, then wish for death, if you are veracious; it is the same challenge as in 2:94. They will never wish for it, because of what their hands have prepared. He must say again: the death from which you flee will meet you; then you will be brought back to the Knower, and He will inform you of what you used to do.

   To those who have believed: when the call is made for the Contact, on this day of reunion, hurry to the remembrance of God and forsake selling; when the Contact is concluded, deploy within the land and remember God often. But when they see a trade or a distraction, they disperse toward it and leave him standing, as the hypocrites hoped (63:7). He must say: what is with God is better; God is the best of providers.

   « that of the donkey carrying travel goods. » 62:5

   « The death from which you flee will indeed meet you » 62:8

   « hurry to the remembrance of God and forsake selling. » 62:9

   « they disperse toward it and leave you standing. » 62:11

   ↓ He is left standing for a trade; the next sura says that God loves those who fight in His way in ranks.

7. 61

   The trade that saves

   14 verses

   He hears that all that is in the heavens and on the earth has glorified God: the observation, where sura 62, read just before, said it in the present (62:1). Then a question is put to those who have believed: why do you say what you do not do? It is a great abomination with God. God loves those who fight in His way in ranks, as if they were a compact structure.

   He is reminded of Moussa, who says to his people: why do you trouble me, when you will surely know that I am the messenger of God sent to you? When they deviated, God caused their cores to deviate, which the firmly rooted ask not to suffer (3:8). Then Issa, son of Maryam, tells the Sons of Israel that he is the messenger of God, confirming what, of the Tawrah, precedes him, and announcing a messenger to come after him, whose attribute is: the most worthy of praise.

   When he brought them clear proofs, they said: this is a manifest illusion; the same scene is told in 5:110. Who does more wrong than one who invents the lie against God while he is being called to being true to God alone? They want to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God completes His light, as 9:32 also says. It is He who sent His messenger with the guidance and the Law of truth, so as to make it prevail over every law.

   A question is put to those who have believed: shall I point you to a trade that will save you from a painful punishment? Believe in God and His messenger, and strive in the way of God with your goods and your Selves. He will forgive them their offenses and admit them into Gardens of permanence. And another thing they love: help from God and a near opening, the words of 110:1, still promised here. Then a command for him alone: give good news to the believers.

   A last command to those who have believed: be helpers of God, just as Issa, son of Maryam, said to the disciples: who are my helpers toward God? The disciples answered: we are the helpers of God; the same dialogue returns in 3:52. So a group of the Sons of Israel believed, and a group disowned. God fortified those who believed against their enemy, and they became dominant: here a finished account, while the help announced above is still promised.

   « Why do you say what you do not do? » 61:2

   « but God completes His light » 61:8

   « Shall I point you to a trade that will save you from a painful punishment? » 61:10

   « Who are my helpers toward God? » 61:14

   ↓ God fortified those who believed against their enemy; the next sura opens by forbidding to take His enemy and theirs as allies.

8. 60

   The fine paragon of Ibrahim

   13 verses

   He hears God tell those who have believed not to take His enemy and theirs as allies, offering them affection. Those enemies have disowned the truth that has come to them, and they drive out the messenger and those who believe, because they believe in God, their Guardian. He also hears that affection is confided to them secretly, and that God knows best what is hidden and what is disclosed. Whoever among them does this has strayed from the straight way.

   He is warned: if they surprise you, they will be enemies to you, and stretch out against you their hands and their tongues with evil; they would like you to disown. Neither kinship nor children will benefit you; on the Day of Appearance He will separate between you, and God is All-Seeing of what you do. Sura 58 says it of those who believe: they do not love those who set themselves against God, even their fathers or their sons (58:22).

   He is given a fine paragon: Ibrahim and those with him, when they said to their people: we are quit of you and of what you obey besides God; between us, enmity and hatred forever, until you believe in God alone. One exception: Ibrahim told his father he would ask forgiveness for him, while possessing nothing for him against God. Sura 9 says he later declared himself quit of him (9:114).

   Then their prayer: our Guardian, to You we entrust ourselves, to You we have recourse, to You is the destination; do not make us a trial for those who disown, and forgive us. The people of Moussa made the same request (10:85). He is told again that he has had in them a fine paragon, for whoever hopes for God and the Last Day. Then a possibility, not a firm promise: it may be that God will place affection between them and those they have held as enemies.

   A rule sets the measure: God does not forbid being virtuous and equitable toward those who did not fight them concerning the Law nor expel them from their abodes; He only forbids taking as allies those who did, and whoever allies with them is a wrongdoer. When believing women come as emigrants, the command is to examine them; if they are believers, not to return them to those who disown, to give these what they have spent, and there is no blame in marrying them.

   Then he alone is addressed: O Informant, when believing women come to you to pledge allegiance to you that they will not associate anything with God, not steal, not commit fornication, not kill their children, not disobey you in what is recognized, accept their pledge and ask God's forgiveness for them. Sura 65 opens on the same call (65:1). Last command: do not take as allies a people with whom God is angry; sura 58 shows their allies (58:14).

   « You have had a fine paragon in Ibrahim and those with him » 60:4

   « It may be that God will place affection between you and those you have held as enemies among them » 60:7

   « When believing women come to you as emigrants, examine them. » 60:10

   « accept their pledge and ask God's forgiveness for them » 60:12

   ↓ Those who expelled you from your abodes; the next sura opens: it is God who expelled from their abodes those who disowned.

9. 59

   The strongholds held nothing back

   24 verses

   He hears that all that is in the heavens and on the earth has glorified God. It is He who expelled from their abodes those who, among the People of the Scripture, disowned. You did not presume they would leave; they presumed their strongholds would insulate them from God. But God came upon them from where they did not expect, and hurled terror into their cores, as in 33:26. They dismantled their houses with their hands and the believers' hands. Then: take heed, O possessors of sight.

   He learns that, had God not prescribed exile for them, He would have punished them in the near life; and theirs, in the last life, is the punishment of the Fire, because they set themselves in breach against God and His messenger. Then a rule: whatever God restored to His messenger belongs to God and the messenger, to relatives, orphans, the destitute, and the passing traveler, the list of 8:41, so that it does not rotate among the wealthy.

   They are commanded: whatever the messenger gives you, take it; whatever he forbids you, abstain from it. A share goes to the poor emigrants, expelled from their abodes and goods, who help God and His messenger: those are the veracious. Those who had settled in the abode and in faith before them love those who have emigrated to them and prefer them over themselves. Whoever is protected from the greed of his Self succeeds: the sentence returns only in 64:16.

   Those who came after them say: our Guardian, forgive us and our brothers who went ahead of us in faith, and put no rancor in our cores toward those who believe. Then he is asked: have you not seen those who practiced hypocrisy promise their brothers who disowned to leave with them if they are expelled, and to help them if they are fought? God testifies that they are liars, the words that open sura 63 (63:1).

   He is told what will come: if they are expelled, they will not leave with them; if they are fought, they will not help them. You think them united, he is told, while their cores are divided. They are like the Diverter when he says to the human being: "Disown!" Then, when the man has disowned, he declares himself quit of him, with the words of the son of Adam in 5:28: I fear God. The end of both was the Fire.

   Then the command to those who have believed: guard yourselves toward God; let every Self consider what it has prepared for tomorrow; do not be like those who forgot God. He is told that, had this Recitation been sent down upon a mountain, he would have seen it become humble and split apart out of dread of God. The sura ends on the most beautiful attributes: the Sovereign, the Most Holy, as in 62:1. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him, in the present (59:24).

   « But God came upon them from where they did not expect. » 59:2

   « and prefer them over themselves, even if they themselves suffer privation. » 59:9

   « and let every Self consider what it has prepared for tomorrow. » 59:18

   « Had We sent down this Recitation upon a mountain, you would have seen it become humble and split apart out of dread of God. » 59:21

   ↓ The Diverter tells the human being to disown, then declares himself quit; the next sura names his party: they are the losers.

10. 58

    God heard the one who argues

    22 verses

    He hears that God has heard the saying of the one who argues with him about her husband and complains to God, and that God hears the exchange of the two. This turn of phrase returns only in 3:181, for a quite different saying. Then God undoes a formula: those who present the back to their women, these are not their mothers; their mothers are none but those who bore them, and they are saying a disavowed saying and a falsification. Sura 33 sets the same rule (33:4).

    A rule follows: whoever presents the back to his wife, then repeats what he said, shall restore the independence of a pledge before they touch each other again; if he finds no means, an abstinence of two consecutive months; if he cannot, feed sixty destitute people. The same sequence returns in 4:92. This, so that you may believe in God and His messenger: those are the limits of God, and for those who disown, a painful punishment.

    The fate of those who set themselves against God and His messenger is told with the same word as that of those before them: brought low. Yet clear signs have been sent down. The day God raises them all, He will inform them of what they did: God has enumerated it, while they have forgotten it. Then he is asked: have you not seen that God knows what is in the heavens and on the earth? He is with those who hold secret talk wherever they are, as in 57:4.

    He is shown those who were forbidden secret talk, then go back to what they were forbidden, in transgression and disobedience to the messenger. When they come to him, they greet him with a greeting God never greeted him with, and say within themselves: why does God not punish us for what we say? The answer comes at once: Jahannam suffices them, they will burn in it. To the believers, the command: hold secret talk in virtue and guardedness; secret talk comes only from the Diverter.

    Other commands follow: make room in assemblies, rise up when told, and God will elevate in degrees those who believe and those given knowledge. When they hold secret talk with the messenger, let them advance charity before it. A question follows: were you apprehensive about doing so? They did not do it, and God turned toward them with clemency; the command remains: maintain the Contact, give pure liberality, defer to God and His messenger. The same movement is read in 73:20.

    Then he is asked whether he has not seen the allies of a people with whom God is angry: they are neither of you nor of them, and take oaths upon falsehood. They have taken their oaths as a shield and barred from the way of God, as the hypocrites in 63:2. The day God raises them, they will swear to Him as they swear to you. The Diverter has taken hold of them and made them forget the remembrance of God: they are his party, the losers.

    God has written that He will overcome, He and His messengers. Then he is told that he will not find a people who believe in God and the Last Day loving those who set themselves against God and His messenger, even if they be their fathers, sons, brothers, or kinsmen, as Ibrahim faced his father (60:4). In their cores He has inscribed faith; He has fortified them with an Influx and will admit them into gardens. They are the party of God.

    « God has certainly heard the saying of the one who argues with you about her husband and complains to God » 58:1

    « There is no secret talk among three but He is their fourth, nor among five but He is their sixth » 58:7

    « Those are the party of the Diverter. » 58:19

    « the party of God — they are indeed the ones who succeed. » 58:22

    ↓ God has written that He will overcome, He and His messengers; the next sura says He sends His messengers to distinguish who helps Him.

11. 57

    A light that cannot be borrowed

    29 verses

    He hears that all that is in the heavens and the earth has glorified God. He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden; He created the heavens and the earth in six days, and He is with you wherever you are. The command: believe, and spend from that which He has made you trustees of. The question: what is with you that you do not believe, while the messenger invites you? He sends down clear signs, to bring you out of the darknesses into the light.

    Another question: what is with you that you do not spend in the way of God? The one who spent and fought before the opening, told in 48:1, is not equal to the one who did so afterward; to all, God has promised the most beautiful. Who will make God a beautiful loan, which He will double for him (2:245)? Then the Day: he will see the believing men and women, their light hurrying before them and on their right, as in 66:8, and a voice announces gardens to them.

    That Day, the hypocrite men and women will ask the believers to wait for them, to borrow from their light; it will be said to them: return and seek a light. Then a rampart will be erected between them, with a gate: inside, benevolence; on the uncovered side, punishment. They will call out: were we not with you? The answer: yes, but you put yourselves to trial, bided your time, doubted, and vain wishes deluded you. No ransom will be taken; their resort is the Fire.

    Then a question about those who believe: has the time not come for their cores to become humble at the remembrance of God? Let them not be like those given the Scripture before, whose cores hardened; in 39:23, cores soften. For those who give in charity, it will be doubled. The near life is like vegetation that dazzles the sowers, then dries up; he sees it turn yellow, then it becomes debris. The command: race toward forgiveness and a garden, already prepared.

    Then he is told about the calamity that strikes the earth or yourselves. Nothing of it is written beforehand: when it comes, God acquits it, or not; if He acquits it, it is inscribed, then applied. That is easy for God, so that you do not lament for what you have missed, nor rejoice in what has come to you. In 54:52-53 too, everything is inscribed. God does not love any arrogant boaster, nor the stingy.

    Then the messengers: God sent them, and sent down with them the Scripture and the balance, that men may maintain equity, then iron, to distinguish who helps Him even though He escapes his senses. Then come Nuh and Ibrahim, then Issa son of Maryam, with the Injil. In the cores of those who followed him, God placed kindness and benevolence, as He inscribes belief in the cores in 58:22, the sura read just before; instituted reverence, they invented it.

    The last command, to those who have believed: guard yourselves toward God and believe in His messenger. He promises them a double part of His benevolence, a light by which they will walk, and forgiveness. The sura ends on the favor: God holds the immense favor.

    « He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden. » 57:3

    « Wait for us that we may borrow from your light. » 57:13

    « Race toward forgiveness from your Guardian » 57:21

    « except that it is in a register before We acquit it. » 57:22

    ↓ Race toward forgiveness and a garden (57:21); the next sura shows the forerunners, brought near, in the gardens of bliss.

12. 56

    You will be three categories

    96 verses

    He hears: when the Event occurs, none will be able to deny its coming; abasing, elevating. The earth will be rocked, the mountains will become scattered dust, and you will become three categories: the companions of the right side, of the left side, and the forerunners. The forerunners, brought near, in the gardens of bliss, reclining face to face: around them will circulate children made eternal, with a cup of spring water, the same cup as in 37:45. They will hear there only one saying: "Peace, peace."

    The companions of the right: among thornless lote trees, extended shade, flowing water; God brought into being for them inaugural beings. The companions of the left: in torrid wind, boiling water, a shade of black smoke. They were before that among the affluent, persisted in the immense perjury, and used to say: when we are dead, earth and bones, shall we really be raised, and our earliest forefathers too? It is word for word the question of 37:16-17: sura 56 answers sura 37.

    He receives the command to answer: the first and the last will be brought together at the appointed time of a known day. Then comes the announcement to the astray, denying ones: they will eat from the tree of Zaqqoum, fill their bellies with it, and drink boiling water on top of it, as thirsty camels drink. In 37:66-67, it is the same tree, in the same order, and in 37:18 the same question receives another commanded answer. This is their welcome on the Day of the Due.

    Then God says: it is We who created you. Four questions follow: do you see what you emit, what you till, the water you drink, the fire you kindle? Is it you, or We? He could make the tillage debris and the water bitter. You have known the first genesis: why do you not remember? The command: glorify in the name of your Guardian, the Immense. An oath, by the positions of the stars: it is a noble Recitation, in a well-sheltered scripture.

    Then someone dies. When it reaches the throat, you are looking on, and God is nearer to him than you. The challenge: if you were not indebted, make it return; indebted is the acolyte's word in 37:53. The three categories return: for the one brought near, rest, fragrance and a garden of bliss; for the one of the right, "Peace to you"; for the denier, boiling water and the Blaze. Then the command to glorify, as at the end of sura 37 (37:180).

    « When the Event occurs, none will be able to deny its coming. » 56:1

    « Only the saying: "Peace, peace." » 56:26

    « Do you then see that which you till? » 56:63

    « A descent from the Guardian of all beings. » 56:80

    ↓ It is a noble Recitation, a descent from the Guardian of all beings (56:77-80); the next sura opens: the All-Benevolent taught the Recitation.

13. 55

    Which then of the blessings?

    78 verses

    He hears: the All-Benevolent taught the Recitation; He created the human being and taught him clear expression. The sun and the moon go by a precise reckoning; the plant and the tree bow down. God elevated the sky and set up the balance, the one sent down with the Scripture in 57:25: maintain the weighing with equity. He set the earth down for the creatures. Then a question, addressed to two: which then of your Guardian's blessings do you both deny?

    The two are the human being, created from resonant clay, and the Occulted, created from a pure flame of fire. The question returns thirty-one times, after each gift: the Guardian of the two risings and the two settings, the two seas flowing together with a barrier between them, the pearl and the coral, the vessels like raised landmarks. Everything upon the earth is transient; only the direction of your Guardian remains, as in 28:88. Every day He is engaged in some matter. An announcement: He shall attend to you two.

    Then the challenge: O assembly of the Occulted and humans, bore through the confines of the heavens and the earth, if you can; one bores through them only with an authority. A sheaf of fire and molten copper, sent upon the two, like the guarded sky in 72:8-9. When the sky splits open, rose-colored like tinted leather, no one will be asked about his offense. The severed will be seized by their forelocks and feet, as in 54:48; this is Jahannam, which they used to deny.

    Then, for whoever feared standing before his Guardian, the same fear as in 79:40, two gardens with abundant branches: two springs flowing, of every savoury fruit a pair, couches lined with thick brocade, the picking within reach; beings of reserved gaze, as in 37:48, like the ruby and the coral. Then the rule, as a question: is the recompense of good conduct anything but good conduct?

    Besides these two, two other gardens, without the text saying for whom: deep green, with two gushing springs, savoury fruits, palm trees and pomegranates, beings good and beautiful, companions of listening kept within the tents, green drapes and exceptional carpets. After each gift, the same question to the two. The sura closes on a blessing: blessed is the name of your Guardian, holder of majesty and nobility.

    « The All-Benevolent taught the Recitation. » 55:1

    « Which then of your Guardian's blessings do you both deny? » 55:13

    « You will not bore through them except with an authority. » 55:33

    « Is the recompense of good conduct anything but good conduct? » 55:60

    ↓ When the sky splits open, still to come (55:37); the next sura opens on an accomplished fact: the moon has split.

14. 54

    The Recitation made easy

    55 verses

    He hears: the Hour has drawn near, and the moon has split. When they see a sign, they turn away and say: a persistent illusion. They denied and followed their emotions, though pieces of information that should deter had come to them. He is told: so turn your back on them, the command he also receives in 51:54. The Day the Caller calls, they will emerge from the sepulchres like locusts deployed, rushing toward him; those who disown will say: this is a difficult day.

    The people of Nuh denied Our obedient one and called him deranged. Nuh calls upon his Guardian: I am overcome, so grant help (71:26). God opens the gates of heaven, makes the earth gush forth in springs, and the waters meet according to a matter already decreed. Nuh is carried on a vessel that sails under Our eyes, words said to him in 52:48. Then the question: how were My punishment and My warnings? And the offer, four times: the Recitation is made easy for remembrance.

    The Aad deny: an icy wind, on a day of persistent misfortune, tears men away like trunks of palm trees (69:7). The Thamud refuse to follow a single human from among them: that would be error and madness; rather, he is a liar. God tells their messenger they will know tomorrow who lies, and commands: watch them, be constant, inform them that the water is shared. The she-camel is sent as a trial. They call their companion, who hamstrings her; a single cry, and they become chaff.

    The people of Lut deny the warnings. Lut had warned them of Our Strike, but they contended about the warnings; they sought to turn him away from his guests, and their eyes were obliterated: taste, then, My punishment and My warnings. The clan of Lut is saved in the last hours of the night; upon the others, a storm of stones, and a stable punishment overtakes them at early morning. The clan of Fir'awn denies all the signs, and is seized with the seizing of an All-Powerful, Capable One.

    Then to you: are those of you who disown better than those? Do you have a quittance in the Formularies? Do they say: we are a united force? An announcement: the force will be defeated, and they will turn their backs; the Hour is their appointment, more terrible and more bitter. The severed are in error and madness, what the Thamud claimed to fear (54:24), on the Day they are dragged into the Fire upon their faces: taste the touch of Saqar.

    The end: God created every thing according to a measure, and His command is but one, like the blink of an eye. He has annihilated those of your sort: is there then anyone to remember? Everything they did is in the Formularies; everything, small or great, is inscribed. For those who guard themselves, gardens and a river, a sitting-place of veracity, near a Sovereign, Capable.

    « The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has split. » 54:1

    « So turn your back on them. » 54:6

    « We have indeed made the Recitation easy for remembrance » 54:17

    « And Our command is but one, like the blink of an eye. » 54:50

    ↓ The Thamud call the single human astray and a liar (54:24-25); the next sura opens: your companion has not strayed.

15. 53

    What he saw

    62 verses

    He hears an oath: by the star when it sets, your companion has not strayed; he utters nothing from emotion, it is a revelation. One of intense strength taught him. He appeared in his full stature, at the highest horizon. Then he drew near, to the distance of two bow-lengths or nearer. God revealed to His obedient one, the one who stood up calling upon Him (72:19), what He revealed. Will you wrangle with him over what he sees?

    He saw him again, near the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, near which lies the Garden of Resort, when the Lote Tree was covered by what covered it. The gaze did not deviate; he saw one of the greatest signs of his Guardian. Then a question to those who listen: do you see Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Manat? Would the male be for you, and for Him the female? That would be an inequitable division. They are nothing but attributes named, with no authority sent down by God.

    How many Agents in the heavens whose mediation avails nothing without God's authorization! Those who do not believe in the last life give the Agents the attribute of the feminine: these names are those of the Agents called daughters. They have no knowledge of it and follow presumption, which avails nothing against the truth. Sura 37 also asks whether the Agents were created female, and whether they witnessed it (37:150). He is told: turn away from whoever has turned his back on Our Reminder.

    Your Guardian knows the strayed and the guided; He recompenses those who did evil and those who did good. Do not declare yourselves pure. Then he is shown the one who turned his back, endowed little, stopped short: does he have knowledge of what escapes the senses? Has he not been informed of the chronicles of Moussa and Ibrahim? They say: no one bears the burden of another; the human being will have only his effort, which will be shown, then recompensed.

    The chronicles also say: to your Guardian is the utmost boundary; it is He who causes laughter and weeping, death and life; upon Him rests the other genesis; He annihilated the Aad, the Thamud and the people of Nuh. Then the question of sura 55 (55:13) returns to him, in the singular: which of your Guardian's blessings do you contend about? The Imminent has drawn near; sura 54, read just before, said: the Hour has drawn near. The last command: prostrate to God, and obey.

    « The Conscience did not lie about what he saw. » 53:11

    « Would the male be for you, and for Him the female? » 53:21

    « the human being will have nothing but what he has endeavoured » 53:39

    « So prostrate to God, and obey. » 53:62

    ↓ The inequitable division, the male for you and the female for Him; the next sura repeats it: would He have daughters, and you sons?

16. 52

    Nothing can repel it

    49 verses

    He hears five oaths: by the Mount, by a written record on a deployed parchment, by the Frequented House, by the elevated roof, by the sea set aboil. The punishment of your Guardian will befall; nothing can repel it. The day the sky will be shaken with turbulence and the mountains will set forth in motion, woe to the deniers! Pushed violently toward the fire of Jahannam, they will hear: this is the Fire you used to deny; is this an illusion? Burn in it.

    Facing them, those who guard themselves: gardens and bliss, delight in the gifts of their Guardian, protection from the punishment of the Blaze. An invitation: eat and drink pleasantly. Aligned couches, companions of listening and support, their believing descendants joined to them, nothing curtailed of their works; every person, a pledge for what they have earned. Savoury fruit and flesh as they desire, a cup passed among them, without idle talk or incitement to transgression, and young boys like well-sheltered pearls.

    Then, face to face, their questioning of one another and their words: before, among their own, apprehension; the grace of God, protection from the torrid wind; the Virtuous, the Benevolent, called upon before. Then the command to the you: remind; by the blessing of your Guardian, you are neither a soothsayer nor deranged, as in 68:2. Do they say: a seductive orator? He must answer: bide your time, I bide mine with you. Do they say: he invented it? Let them bring a discourse like it!

    Then the "or" questions follow: were they created out of nothing? Do they hold the treasuries of your Guardian, a ladder to listen? Would He have daughters, and you sons, the division of sura 53 (53:21)? Do you ask them for a reward? Do they possess what escapes the senses? Another deity besides God? Glory be to God, above what they associate with Him! Seeing a fragment of the sky tumbling, they would say: a heap of clouds.

    He is told: forsake them until their day in which they will be thunderstruck, when their scheme will not avail them at all; for those who did wrong there is a punishment short of that. Then the command given to him: be patient with the judgment of your Guardian, for you are under Our eyes, like the vessel of Nuh in sura 54 (54:14). Glorify your Guardian with praise when you arise, during part of the night, and at the fading of the stars.

    « The punishment of your Guardian will, surely, befall » 52:7

    « you are neither a soothsayer nor deranged. » 52:29

    « Or would He have daughters, while you would have sons? » 52:39

    « And be patient with the judgment of your Guardian, for you are under Our eyes. » 52:48

    ↓ He is told: remind, you are neither a soothsayer nor deranged; the next sura repeats the command: turn your back on them, and remind.

17. 51

    So flee to God

    60 verses

    He hears oaths: by those that winnow, those that bear a heavy weight, those that glide with ease, those that distribute a command: what you are promised is true, and the Due will befall. By the sky of interwoven paths: you are in a differing saying. May the guessers perish, absent-minded! They ask when the Day of the Due will be: the day they will be tried over the Fire. Taste your trial, this is what you used to seek to hasten.

    For those who guard themselves: gardens and springs, and the gifts of their Guardian, taken in hand. Before that, they did good: they slept little at night, implored forgiveness in the last hours of the night, and their goods held a right for the one who asks and the one who is deprived. On the earth, signs for those who have certainty, and within yourselves; in the sky, your provision. By the Guardian of the sky and the earth, it is the truth.

    He is asked whether the discourse of Ibrahim's honored guests has reached him. They enter upon him and say: "Peace!"; he answers: peace, people I do not recognize. He steals away to his household, brings a fat calf, brings it near them: do you not eat? He feels a fear; they tell him: do not fear, and give him good news of a knowledgeable boy. His wife comes forward crying out, strikes her face: an old, barren woman? Thus has your Guardian said.

    He questions the envoys: they are sent to a severed people, with stones of clay. God brings out the believers, finds only one house of those true to God, leaves a sign there. Other signs follow: Moussa sent to Fir'awn, who turns his back like the man of sura 53 (53:33) and says: a worker of illusion, or a deranged one; seized with his armies, he is cast into the deep. The Aad under the barren wind, the Thamud seized by the thunderbolt, the people of Nuh before that.

    The sky, God built it with might; the earth, He spread it out; of every thing, He created a pair. The warner calls: so flee to God, do not place alongside Him another deity. Every messenger was called a worker of illusion or a deranged one. He is told: turn your back on them, you will not be censured, and remind. God created the Occulted and humans only so that they obey Him. Woe to those who disown, because of their promised day.

    « what you are promised is indeed true » 51:5

    « Has the discourse concerning Ibrahim's honored guests reached you? » 51:24

    « So flee to God: I am indeed to you, from Him, a clear warner. » 51:50

    « I created the Occulted and humans only so that they obey Me. » 51:56

    ↓ The sky built, the earth spread out, the pair; the next sura makes them insight and reminder for every obedient one having recourse to Him.

18. 50

    Closer than the jugular vein

    45 verses · label ق

    Section X closes here, mirroring sura 38: a letter, ق, then the oath by the glorious Recitation, as ص and the Recitation charged with the Reminder (38:1). They marveled that a warner, one of their own, had come to them, as in 38:4. Those who disown say: when we are dead and become earth… that return is far-fetched. The answer: God knows what the earth diminishes of them, and He has a record that preserves everything. They denied the truth that came to them.

    Have they not looked at the sky built and adorned, without a single crack, the one sura 67, which opens the section, asked them to look for (67:3)? The earth spread out, every splendid pair: insight and reminder for every obedient one having recourse to Him. A blessed water brings a dead land back to life: such will be the coming forth. Before them, the people of Nuh, ar-Rass, the Thamud, the Aad, Fir'awn, the brothers of Lut, the Thicket and Tubba' denied, and the threat proved true.

    God created the human being; He knows what his Self whispers to him, and He is closer to him than the jugular vein. Two receivers receive, on the right and on the left: not a saying without an observer, ready. Then the you is the one who dies: the intoxication of death has come with the truth. The Horn will be blown; every Self will come with a driver and a witness. Your veil is removed, your sight today is sharp.

    His acolyte will say: here is what I have, ready. The command is given to two: cast into Jahannam everyone who persistently disowns, obstructive of good. The acolyte denies having made him exceed all measure; God says: do not quarrel before Me. The day He will ask Jahannam whether it is full, it will say: is there more? The Garden will be brought near to those who guard themselves: enter it in peace; with God there is even more.

    How many generations God annihilated before them: was there any escape? He created the heavens and the earth in six days, without weariness. Then the you is the one who transmits: be patient with what they say, as in 38:17; glorify your Guardian before the rising of the sun, before its setting, and in the night. Listen for the day the caller will call: the Day of the coming forth. You are not a tyrant: remind by the Recitation.

    « That return is far-fetched. » 50:3

    « and We are closer to him than the jugular vein. » 50:16

    « this is what you used to shun. » 50:19

    « So remind, by the Recitation, whoever fears My threat. » 50:45

    ↓ He must listen for the caller; the next sura, opening section IX, shows those who call to him from behind the chambers.

Closing: Qaf (50:1), then: “By the glorious Recitation!” (50:1).

← Summary frieze

1. 49

   Those who call out to you

   18 verses

   Section IX opens here, right after sura 50, where he was to listen for the day the caller will call (50:41). First he hears commands to those who have believed: do not put yourselves before God and His messenger; do not elevate your voices above the voice of the Informant, lest your works collapse without your sensing it. Those who hush their voices in the presence of the messenger will have forgiveness and an immense reward.

   Then the scene is his own: people call out to him from behind the chambers, and most of them do not reason. Had they been patient until he came out to them, it would have been better; in 50:39, it was he who had to be patient. If an overstepper brings a piece of information, it must be made clear, lest they set upon a people out of ignorance and regret it. The messenger is among them: were he to defer to them in many matters, they would be overwhelmed.

   If two groups of believers fight each other, reconcile between them; if one commits iniquity, fight it until it reverts to the command of God, then reconcile with justice: the believers are but brothers. Let not a people scoff at a people, nor women at women; no insinuation, no nicknames; avoid much presumption, do not spy, do not backbite: who would like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Then, to all mankind: you were made nations and tribes to recognize one another.

   The notables said: we have believed. He must answer: you have not believed; rather say: we have become true to God alone, for faith has not yet entered your cores. The believers are those who no longer doubted and strove with their goods and their Selves. They think they grace him by being true to God alone; he must say: it is God who graces you by having guided you to faith. God knows what escapes the senses.

   « Do not elevate your voices above the voice of the Informant » 49:2

   « Those who call out to you from behind the chambers, most of them do not reason. » 49:4

   « The believers are but brothers; so reconcile between your two brothers. » 49:10

   « for faith has not yet entered your cores. » 49:14

   « it is God who graces you by having guided you to faith » 49:17

   ↓ The notables claim to have believed though faith has not entered; the next sura shows them left behind, kept occupied by their goods.

2. 48

   A manifest opening

   29 verses

   He hears: We have opened for you a manifest opening, so that God may forgive you your past and future offenses, complete His blessing upon you, guide you, and help you with a mighty help. The short sura announced it: the help of God and the opening (110:1); the long one tells it. Tranquility comes down into the cores of the believers, so that they add faith to their faith. Twice: to God belong the armies of the heavens and the earth, the Agents, His victorious army (37:173).

   He is sent as a witness, a bearer of good tidings and a warner, as in 33:45. Those who pledge allegiance to him are only pledging allegiance to God: the hand of God is above their hands. Then he is told what he will hear: the notables left behind will say their goods and their families kept them occupied, and will ask him to seek forgiveness for them. They say with their tongues what is not in their cores: they presumed the messenger and the believers would never return.

   When they set out to take spoils, the same people will say: let us follow you. He must answer: you will never follow us. They will say: you envy us. He must tell them they will be called to a people of severe rigor: if they defer, a fine reward; if they turn their backs again, a painful punishment. There is no discomfort for the blind, the lame or the sick, the same exemption as in 9:91.

   Then the account: God was satisfied with the believers when they pledged allegiance to him beneath the tree; He knew what was in their cores, sent down tranquility upon them, and requited them with a near opening and abundant spoils. He hastened this one for them and held back the hands of men from them; another, God has already encompassed. Had those who disown fought them, they would have turned their backs: such is God's norm, without change.

   In the midst of the tumult, God held back their hands from the believers and the believers' hands from them, after giving the believers victory. Those who disown had barred the way to the inviolable place of prostration and kept the offering from reaching its place of delivery, the rule of 2:196. Believing men and women were there, unknown, who might have been trampled. The others placed in their cores the zeal of the age of ignorance; God sent down His tranquility upon His messenger and the believers.

   God has made the vision of His messenger come true: you will enter the inviolable place of prostration, if God wills, in security, heads shaved or hair cut short; a near opening is appointed before that. Then the name: Muhammad is the messenger of God. Those who are with him, the "you" sees them kneeling, prostrating, the trace of prostration on their faces. Their example is in the Tawrah; in the Injil, a seed that puts forth its shoot and stands straight upon its stalk.

   « We have indeed opened for you a manifest opening » 48:1

   « The hand of God is above their hands. » 48:10

   « Our goods and our families kept us occupied; so ask forgiveness for us. » 48:11

   « you will surely enter the inviolable place of prostration, if God wills, in security » 48:27

   « Muhammad is the messenger of God. » 48:29

   ↓ God forgives him his past and future offenses; the next sura commands him to ask forgiveness, for himself and for the believers.

3. 47

   Locks upon their cores?

   38 verses

   He hears two paths. Those who disown and bar from the way of God, He renders their works astray; those who believe in what has been sent down to Muhammad, He makes their condition sound. Muhammad, named at the end of sura 48, returns here. Then the rule: when you meet those who disown, multiply the pledges, tighten the bonds, then grace or exchange, until the war lays down its burdens. God could help Himself: He tests some of you by means of others.

   If you help God, He will help you and make firm your steps. Those who fought in the way of God, He will guide them and admit them to the Garden. Those who detest what He sent down, He voids their works. How many cities stronger than his city, the one that expelled him, were annihilated, with no help! It is the expulsion of 9:40. The promised Garden has rivers of water, milk, wine and honey; facing it, boiling water.

   Then his own scene: some listen to him and, once they leave his presence, ask those given knowledge: what did he say just now? God has stamped their cores, as in 6:25. He is told: know that there is no deity but God, and ask forgiveness for your offense and for the believing men and believing women. Sura 48, read just before, has already given him the answer: God forgives you your past and future offenses.

   Those who believe ask for a surah to be sent down. When a univocal surah is sent down and fighting is mentioned, he sees those in whose core is a sickness looking at him like one whom death makes swoon. Do they not then ponder the Recitation, or are there locks upon their cores? Those who drew back, it is the Diverter who suggested it to them. The Agents will keep them faithfully, whether they face them or turn their backs, as in 8:50.

   Those whose core is sick, he will recognize them by the tone of their saying. God will test, to distinguish those who strive and those who are patient. O you who have believed: defer to God and to the messenger, do not render your works vain, do not slacken, you are the most exalted. You are called to spend: whoever is stingy is stingy only against himself. God is the Self-Sufficient, you are the poor; if you turn your backs, He will replace you with another people.

   « your city which expelled you » 47:13

   « What did he say just now? » 47:16

   « ask forgiveness for your offense and for the believing men and believing women. » 47:19

   « Do they not then ponder the Recitation, or are there locks upon their cores? » 47:24

   « while you are the poor. » 47:38

   ↓ Cities stronger than the one that expelled him were annihilated; the next sura tells of one of them, the Aad, whose dwellings remain.

4. 46

   The Occulted fall silent

   35 verses · label حم

   He hears: the descent of the Scripture comes from God, the All-Powerful, the Wise. He must challenge those who invoke others besides God: show me what they have created of the earth, bring a Scripture prior to this one or a remnant of knowledge. When mankind is gathered, those invoked will be their enemies. When the signs are recited, those who disown say: a manifest illusion, he has invented it. He must answer: I am not a novelty among the messengers, I only follow what is revealed to me.

   A witness among the Sons of Israel has testified to its conformity and believed. Those who disown say to those who believe: if it were good, they would not have preceded us to it; they will say: an old distortion. Before it, the Scripture of Moussa, as a reference and a benevolence; this one confirms it, in a flawless tongue, so that he may warn those who have done wrong. Those who say: our Guardian is God, then stand straight, no fear upon them.

   Then two children before their parents. The first, whom his mother carried and bore in pain, reaches forty years and says: my Guardian, inspire me to be grateful for Your blessing upon me and my parents, the prayer of Sulayman in 27:19. The second says to his parents: fie on you both! They call on God for rescue: woe to you, believe! He answers: legends of the ancients. On the Day those who disown are exposed to the Fire: you took away your wholesome things.

   He is told: remember the brother of the Aad, when he warned his people at the Ahqaf: obey none but God. The corpus names him Hud in 7:65. They challenge him to bring what he promises. They see a cloud approaching their valleys and say: it will bring us rain. It is a wind carrying a painful punishment, destroying everything. In the morning, only their dwellings remain. Their hearing, their sight and their Consciences availed them nothing.

   God directs toward him a group of the Occulted who listen to the Recitation; present, they say: be silent. When it is concluded, they turn back to their people as warners: we have heard a Scripture sent down after Moussa; respond to the caller of God. In 72:1, they spoke of an astonishing recitation. At the Fire: is this not the truth? They will say: yes, by our Guardian. He is told: be patient, as the resolute among the messengers were patient, and do not hasten.

   « I am not a novelty among the messengers » 46:9

   « His mother carried him in pain and bore him in pain. » 46:15

   « This is a cloud bringing us rain. » 46:24

   « Be silent. » 46:29

   « So be patient, as the resolute among the messengers were patient » 46:35

   ↓ A Scripture sent down after Moussa; the next sura gives the order: the Scripture to the Sons of Israel, then he, placed upon a way.

5. 45

   Every community on its knees

   37 verses · label حم

   He hears the same opening as sura 46: the descent of the Scripture comes from God, the All-Powerful, the Wise. The signs are in the heavens and the earth, in your creation, in the living beings He spreads, in the alternation of night and day, in the provision that brings the earth back to life, in the diversity of the winds. These signs are recited to him in truth. To whoever hears them, then persists in pride, he must give news of a painful punishment, as in 31:7.

   God subjected the sea for you, so that vessels may sail upon it, and whatever is in the heavens and on the earth. He must tell those who believe to forgive those who do not hope for the days of God: whoever does a sound deed, it is for himself. The Sons of Israel received the Scripture, the judgment and clear proofs; they did not differ except after knowledge came, out of iniquity among themselves. Then he is placed upon a legislated way from the Command: let him follow it.

   Do those who perpetrated evil deeds think they will be treated like those who believed? He is shown the one who has taken his emotion as his deity: God sealed his hearing and his core, and covered his sight. Others say: there is nothing but our near life, nothing annihilates us but time. Before the signs, their only argument: bring back our forefathers. He must answer: God gives you life, then causes you to die, then He will bring you together on the Day of Appearance.

   Then the "you" is whoever is there on the day the Hour rises: he will see every community on its knees, called to its record: this is Our record, it utters about you the truth, for We were having transcribed what you used to do. Those who believed enter His benevolence. To those who disowned: were not My signs recited to you? Today We forget you, as you forgot the meeting of this your day. Then the praise to the Guardian of all beings.

   « Those are the signs of God, which We recite to you in truth. » 45:6

   « Then We placed you upon a legislated way from the Command » 45:18

   « Have you seen the one who has taken his emotion as his deity? » 45:23

   « And you will see every community on its knees » 45:28

   « Today We forget you, as you forgot the meeting of this your day » 45:34

   ↓ "Bring back our forefathers, if you are veracious": the next sura puts this challenge, word for word, in the mouths of the deniers.

6. 44

   Watch for the day of smoke

   59 verses · label حم

   He hears an oath by the clear Scripture: God sent it down in a blessed night, the one sura 97 calls the Night of Measure (97:1). In it every wise matter is set apart, a benevolence from his Guardian, the Guardian of the heavens and the earth, their Guardian and the Guardian of their earliest forefathers. A clear messenger had already come to them; they turned their backs on him and said: one taught, deranged. But they play in doubt.

   He is told: so watch for the day when the sky brings a clear smoke that covers mankind. They will plead: our Guardian, remove the punishment from us, for we believe. God announces to them: We will remove the punishment for a little while, but you will indeed relapse. And on the day He strikes the greatest Strike, He will take vengeance. All of this is still to come.

   Before them, God tried the people of Fir'awn. A noble messenger, whom the sura does not name, tells them: hand over to me the obedient ones of God; I take refuge in my Guardian and yours, the words of Moussa in 40:27; if you do not give me credit, keep away. He calls upon his Guardian: these are a severed people. The answer comes: set out with My obedient ones by night, you will be pursued; leave the sea still, they will be drowned.

   The drowning is not told: he hears what they left behind, gardens and springs, crops, noble stations and well-being. God made another people inherit them, and neither the sky nor the earth wept over them. He saved the Sons of Israel from the degrading punishment, from Fir'awn, haughty among the excessive, and opted for them above all beings; sura 45, read just before, already said He favored them above all beings (45:16).

   These say: there is nothing but our first death; bring back our forefathers, if you are veracious, the challenge already heard in sura 45 (45:25). Are they better, or the people of Tubba'? Those before them were annihilated. God did not create the heavens and the earth in play, while they play: He created them only in truth. On the Day of Separation no ally will be of any use to an ally, except the one on whom God has benevolence.

   On that day the tree of Zaqqoum boils in the bellies of the transgressor, and an order is given, without saying by whom: seize him, drag him into the Blaze. Taste! For it is you, the mighty, the noble! Those who guard themselves will be in a secure place, in gardens and springs, like those the people of Fir'awn left behind. Then he is told: We have made it easy on your tongue only in the hope that they will remember; so watch, for they are watching.

   « We indeed sent it down in a blessed night » 44:3

   « but you will indeed relapse. » 44:15

   « Set out with My obedient ones by night; you will be pursued. » 44:23

   « We have made it easy on your tongue only in the hope that they will remember. » 44:58

   ↓ You will relapse (44:15); the next sura shows it: relieved of the punishment, the people of Fir'awn go back on their word (43:50).

7. 43

   In the footsteps of the ancestors

   89 verses · label حم

   He hears the oath that already opened sura 44, read just before: by the clear Scripture (44:2). God has made it a flawless Recitation, perhaps you will reason, and it is, in the Matrix of the Scripture with Him, exalted, full of wisdom. A question follows: shall We cease to multiply for you the pages of the Reminder, because you are an excessive people? The earlier ones mocked every informant; God annihilated those more formidable than they, and the example of the earlier ones has passed.

   If he asks them who created the heavens and the earth, they will say: the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing. It is He who made the earth a spread-out expanse, sent down water in due measure, created the pairs and the mounts, upon which one says: glory be to the One who has subjected this to us. Yet they assign Him daughters and keep the sons for themselves. And they make the Agents, the obedient ones of the All-Benevolent, female, as in 37:150 and 53:27. Did they witness their creation?

   When one of them receives the news of what he assigns to the All-Benevolent, a daughter, as 16:58 names it, his face stays darkened. Their testimony will be recorded, and they will be questioned. They say: had the All-Benevolent willed, we would not have obeyed them; they have no knowledge of that, and no Scripture to hold fast to. They say rather: we found our ancestors upon a way, and we follow in their footsteps.

   Before him, the affluent ones of every city said the same to the warner, who answered: even if I brought you what guides better? They disowned; God took vengeance upon them: look at what their end was, he is told. Ibrahim, for his part, says to his father and his people: I am quit of what you obey, except Him who originated me. They follow their ancestors; Ibrahim leaves his father's way and leaves this as a lasting word among his descendants (2:132).

   God granted enjoyment to these until truth came to them, and a clear messenger, the words of 44:13. They said: an illusion; and: why was this Recitation not sent down upon an important man from one of the two cities! Is it they who apportion the benevolence of his Guardian? It is God who apportioned their livelihood; roofs of silver and gilding are only the enjoyment of the near life, and the last life is for those who guard themselves.

   Whoever lets his sight grow dim before the Reminder, God details to him a Diverter as acolyte, who bars him from the way; when the two of them come to God, the human says: would that between me and you there were the distance of the two risings! He is asked: is it you who will make the deaf hear? Then: hold fast to what has been revealed to you; you will soon be questioned. And ask the messengers sent before you: did We appoint deities besides the All-Benevolent?

   Moussa answers at once, sent to Fir'awn and his court: I am the messenger of the Guardian of all beings. He is the noble messenger sura 44 did not name. They laugh at the signs; punishment seizes them; they ask him to call upon his Guardian, then, relieved, go back on their word, as sura 44 announced (44:15). Fir'awn calls to his people: does not the dominion of Misr belong to me? Why were bracelets of gold not cast upon him! His people defer; God drowns them all.

   When the son of Maryam is multiplied as an example, he sees his people hold back: are our deities better, or is he? He is only an obedient one whom God blessed, an example for the Sons of Israel. A voice, not introduced, says: follow me, this is a straight path; let not the Diverter bar you. Issa came with the clear proofs: God is my Guardian and your Guardian, so obey Him. The parties diverge among themselves; woe to those who did wrong.

   The Hour will come upon them unexpectedly. On that Day intimate friends will be enemies, except those who guard themselves: to them God says to enter the Garden with their spouses, where trays of gold are passed around, the gold Fir'awn demanded for Moussa (43:53). The severed will call out: O Possessor, let your Guardian put an end to us! He will say: you are to remain. God brought them the truth, but most were averse to it, as in sura 44 most do not know (44:39).

   He is told: say, if the All-Benevolent had a child, I would be the first of the obedient; then: let them be, let them play until the Day they are promised. It is He who is Deity in the heaven and on the earth, and with Him is the knowledge of the Hour. His saying is reported: O my Guardian, these are a people who do not believe, the complaint of the messenger of sura 44 (44:22). At last: so turn the page, and say: Peace! They will soon know.

   « We indeed found our ancestors upon a way, and it is in their footsteps that we let ourselves be guided. » 43:22

   « So hold fast to what has been revealed to you » 43:43

   « your people held back from it » 43:57

   « So turn the page on them, and say: "Peace!" » 43:89

   ↓ After Issa, the parties diverge (43:65); the next sura says what was enjoined upon Ibrahim, Moussa and Issa: do not become divided.

8. 42

   Uphold the Law

   53 verses · label حم عسق

   Ḥa Mim ʿAyn Sin Qaf. He hears that God reveals to him, as to those before him. The heavens are about to be rent, while the Agents glorify their Guardian and ask forgiveness for whoever is on the earth (40:7). Over those who take other allies, God is a preserver; he is not their trustee (39:41). A flawless Recitation is revealed to him, to warn the metropolis of cities and those around it of the Day of Reunion: a fraction in the Garden, a fraction in the Inferno.

   Had God willed, He would have made them a single community. Have they taken allies besides Him? It is God who is the Ally, who brings the dead back to life, and every disagreement rests with Him for judgment. Then he himself speaks: that is God, my Guardian; to Him I entrust myself, to Him I have recourse. Originator of the heavens and the earth, He makes mates; nothing resembles Him. He extends provision, and measures it.

   He hears that the Law ordained for you is what was enjoined upon Nuh, revealed to him, and enjoined upon Ibrahim, Moussa and Issa: uphold it, do not become divided. His call weighs upon the associators. They became divided only after knowledge had come to them, out of iniquity (45:17). He is commanded: call, stand straight (11:112), and say: I believe in whatever Scripture God has sent down; to us our works, to you yours (2:139); God will bring us together.

   Those who dispute about God have a void argument. He is asked: what gives you an idea? Perhaps the Hour is near: those who do not believe seek to hasten it, the believers are apprehensive of it. He will see the wrongdoers apprehensive over what they have earned. He must say: I ask of you no reward, other than affection in closeness. Will they say he has invented a lie? If God willed, He would seal his core; but God blots out falsehood and makes truth prevail.

   Were God to extend provision to His obedient ones, they would commit iniquity on the earth; He sends it down in due measure. Affliction comes from what your hands have earned. Those that run upon the sea are a sign: if He wills, He stills the wind. What is with God is better for those who forgive when angered, maintain the Contact and confer among themselves. An evil is recompensed by an equal evil, but whoever overlooks and reconciles has his reward with God.

   He will see the wrongdoers, facing the punishment, asking for a way to be brought back, exposed, humble, with a furtive glance. The believers will say: the losers are those who caused the loss of their Selves and their families, words he himself says in 39:15. The command comes: answer your Guardian before a day that cannot be turned back. If they turn away, only the transmission is incumbent upon him (4:80). The human being rejoices in benevolence, and disowns at the first evil.

   To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: He bestows daughters, sons, or both, on whom He wills, and renders barren whom He wills. God speaks to a human only by revelation, from behind a veil, or through a messenger. Thus an Influx has been revealed to him: he had no idea what the Scripture was, nor faith; it was made a light, and he guides to the path of God.

   « Uphold the Law, and do not become divided within it. » 42:13

   « What you call them to weighs upon the associators. » 42:13

   « call and stand straight as you have been commanded » 42:15

   « I ask of you no reward for this, other than affection in closeness. » 42:23

   « It is not for any human that God should speak to him, except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger » 42:51

   ↓ His call weighs upon the associators (42:13); in the next sura they answer: our cores are under coverings, between us and you a veil.

9. 41

   Between us and you, a veil

   54 verses · label حم

   Ḥa Mim. He hears: a Scripture whose signs are detailed, a flawless Recitation, descends from the All-Benevolent; yet most turn away. They say to him: our cores are under coverings against what you call us to, between us and you a veil; act, we are acting. In 17:45, it is God who places this veil. He must answer: I am only a human like you (18:110); your deity is a single deity, so stand straight toward Him. Woe to the associators who do not give pure liberality.

   He must ask them: do you really disown the One who created the earth in two days? That is its building. Then He places firm anchors upon it, blesses it and determines its rations: two days of furnishing and preparing, four for the earth, equally for those who ask (17:20). Then He proceeds toward the sky, which was smoke, and says to the sky and the earth: come, both of you; they come in deference. Seven heavens in two days: six days in all (57:4).

   If they turn away, he must say: I warn you of a thunderbolt like that of the Aad and the Thamud. The messengers had come to them from every side; they disowned them. The Aad grow proud: who is superior to us in strength? God, who created them, is superior to them (40:21). An icy wind is sent upon them during ill-omened days. The Thamud, though guided, love blindness more than guidance; the thunderbolt seizes them, and those who believed are saved (27:53).

   On the day the enemies of God are gathered toward the Fire, their hearing, their sights and their skins will testify against them. They will ask their skins why; the skins will answer: God made us utter. They presumed God ignorant of much of what they did; acolytes made everything attractive to them. They said: do not listen to this Recitation, talk idly over it. On the Day, they will ask their Guardian to show them who misled them, an Occulted one and a human, to put beneath their feet.

   On those who say "Our Guardian is God," then stand straight, the Agents descend: do not fear, receive the good tidings of the Garden; we are your allies in both lives (10:62). Who has a more beautiful saying than one who calls to God? He is told: repel with what is more beautiful, and the enemy will be like a warm friend; only the patient receive this. If the Diverter goads him, he must seek refuge in God (40:56).

   Among His signs are the night and the day, the sun and the moon: do not prostrate to them, but to God who created them. If they grow proud, those who are with his Guardian glorify Him without tiring. He sees the humble earth quiver under the water: He who brings it back to life brings the dead back to life (22:5). Nothing is said to him but what was said to the messengers before him. Moussa was given the Scripture, and there was divergence about it (11:110).

   To God is referred the knowledge of the Hour and of every birth (35:11). On the day He asks where His associates are, they will say none of them is a witness. The human being does not tire of calling for good; touched by ill, he despairs; favored, he says: this is mine by right, and turns away. He must ask them about one who disowns what comes from God: who is more astray? It is announced: We will show them Our signs in the horizons and in themselves.

   « Our cores are under coverings against what you call us to » 41:5

   « Come, both of you, willingly or unwillingly. » 41:11

   « Why did you testify against us? » 41:21

   « Repel with what is more beautiful; then the one between you and whom there was hostility will be like a warm friend. » 41:34

   « We will show them Our signs in the horizons and in themselves » 41:53

   ↓ The Agents descend on whoever says: our Guardian is God (41:30); in sura 40, a believer defends the man who says: my Guardian is God.

10. 40

    The man who withheld his faith

    85 verses · label حم

    Ḥa Mim. He hears that the descent of the Scripture comes from God, who forgives offense and accepts repentance. Only those who disown argue concerning His signs: their movements through the lands must not delude him. Those who bear the Edifice and those around it glorify their Guardian and pray for those who believe: forgive those who turn back, admit them into the Gardens. Sura 39 will show them around the Edifice, named Agents (39:75). Those who disown will ask: is there any way out?

    He hears: call upon God, devoting the Law exclusively to Him. God casts the Influx of His command upon whom He wills, to warn of the Day of Meeting. On that day, a question: to whom belongs the dominion today? To God, the One, the Subjugator. Then the command: warn them of the Day of the Imminent, when the cores will be at the throats; God decides with truth. Those before were stronger; they disowned their messengers, and God seized them.

    Moussa is sent to Fir'awn, Haman and Qaroon, who call him a worker of illusion, a great liar. They order the sons of those who believed to be killed; Fir'awn wants to kill Moussa, who takes refuge in his Guardian. A believing man from the clan of Fir'awn, who withheld his faith, speaks: will you kill a man for saying 'My Guardian is God'? In sura 41, read just before, the Agents descend upon those who say 'Our Guardian is God' (41:30).

    He adds: the dominion is yours today, but who will help us against God's rigor? Fir'awn answers that he guides them only to the way of rectitude. He recalls Youssof: they doubted what he brought until he perished. Fir'awn asks Haman for a belvedere, to glimpse the deity of Moussa. The man goes on: I call you to salvation, and you call me to the Fire; I commit my affair to God. God guards him, and the clan of Fir'awn is exposed to the Fire.

    In the Fire, the weak will ask those who grew proud whether they can be of use to them: we are all in it, they will answer. The custodians of Jahannam will ask: did your messengers not bring you clear proofs? God helps His messengers and those who believe. He is told: be patient, for God's promise is truth; ask forgiveness, glorify your Guardian in the evening and the morning. Then he hears: your Guardian has said, call upon Me, I will answer you.

    God made the night and the day; praise be to God, Guardian of all beings, words that sura 39 keeps for its end. He must say: I have been commanded to be true to the Guardian of all beings alone. He is told again: be patient; whether God shows him some of what He promises them or keeps him, it is to Him they will be returned. Those before believed upon seeing God's rigor; their faith did not benefit them.

    « Our Guardian, admit them into the Gardens of permanence that You have promised them » 40:8

    « And a believing man from the clan of Fir'awn, who withheld his faith, said » 40:28

    « and I commit my affair to God » 40:44

    « Call upon Me, I will answer you » 40:60

    ↓ Those who bear the Edifice pray: admit them into the Gardens; the next sura drives those who guarded themselves to the Garden, in troops.

11. 39

    In troops, toward the gates

    75 verses · gate

    Without letters, sura 39 opens like sura 40: the descent of the Scripture comes from God. He hears: We have sent down to you the Scripture in truth; so obey God. The Fatiha asks; here God gives, and sura 39 answers it, request by request. Those who take allies say they obey them only to be brought nearer to God; God will judge between them. He is God, the One, the Subjugator; He creates you in the bellies of your mothers, creation after creation.

    When harm touches the human being, he calls upon his Guardian; when given a blessing, he forgets and assigns equals to God. He is told to answer: enjoy your disowning a little. Facing him, the one devoted through the night, prostrating and standing; are those who know equal to those who do not know? He is made to say: I have been commanded to be the first of those true to Him alone; it is God I obey. The Fatiha said: it is You that we obey (1:5).

    He must give good news to those who listen to the saying and follow the most beautiful of it: those are the ones God has guided, what the Fatiha asked for (1:6). Will he save the one who is in the Fire? God has sent down the most beautiful of discourse: the skins shiver, then soften toward the remembrance of God. In this Recitation, He gives the example of two men: one belongs to associates in disagreement, the other deals with a single man. Are they equal?

    Then the announcement: you will die, and they will die; on the Day of Appearance, you will quarrel before your Guardian. Sura 40, read just before, left both outcomes open (40:77). They seek to frighten him with others than God; he must say: God suffices me. The Fatiha said: it is from You that we seek help (1:5). He tells his people: act according to your position, you will soon know. And he prays: O God, You alone will judge between Your obedient ones.

    When blessed, the human being says: I received it on account of a knowledge; it is a trial. Then he conveys God's word to His obedient ones: do not lose heart regarding the benevolence of God, for He forgives all offenses; have recourse to your Guardian before the punishment comes, lest a Self speak its desolation and ask for a comeback. God answers: Yes! My signs came to you. This benevolence answers the Benevolent of the Fatiha (1:3).

    He is told: rather, obey God. On the Day of Appearance, the whole earth will be in His grasp, the heavens folded in His right hand: it is the Day whose Sovereign the Fatiha names (1:4). The Horn will be blown: all will be thunderstruck, except whom God wills, then standing, looking on. The record will be set down; it will be decided in truth. Those who disown will be driven in troops toward Jahannam, those who guarded themselves toward the Garden: the two paths of the Fatiha (1:7).

    The gates of the Garden are already open; its custodians: peace be upon you, enter. They say: praise be to God, who has kept His promise to us; the prayer of those who bear the Edifice (40:8) is answered. He will see the Agents surrounding the Edifice, and it will be said: praise be to God, Guardian of all beings. These words open the Fatiha (1:2); sura 39 says them last. This door without letters closes section IX and the first part of the Book, and opens the second.

    « so obey God, devoting the Law exclusively to Him. » 39:2

    « You will die, and they will die » 39:30

    « God suffices me » 39:38

    « And those who guarded themselves before their Guardian will be driven toward the Garden, in troops » 39:73

    « Praise be to God, Guardian of all beings. » 39:75

    ↓ It will be decided in truth; in the next sura, two opposing parties ask Dawud to judge with truth and to guide them.

Closing: The gate, without letters: “The descent of the Scripture comes from God, the All-Powerful, the Wise” (39:1).

← Summary frieze

1. 38

   Those who were ever-returning

   88 verses · label ص

   He hears a letter, ص, then an oath: by the Recitation charged with the Reminder! The only sura of section VIII, sura 38 takes up, for the second part, the detail of sura 50: ق and the glorious Recitation (50:1). Those who disown are steeped in might and rupture; annihilated generations cried out when it was no longer the time. They marvel that a warner from among themselves has come to them (50:2): a worker of illusion, a great liar! Their court sets out: remain firm toward your deities!

   God answers: they are in doubt about My Reminder, they have not yet tasted My punishment. Do they hold the treasuries of the benevolence of your Guardian? It is but an army among the parties, doomed to defeat; sura 37 will set against it Our army, victorious (37:173). The peoples of Nuh and Lut, the Aad, Fir'awn, the Thamud, the companions of the Thicket denied the messengers. These await nothing but a single cry, and ask: hasten for us our share, before the Day of Reckoning.

   He is told: be patient with what they say, and remember Dawud, who was ever-returning. With him, the mountains glorify in the evening and at daybreak, and the birds are gathered; God strengthens his dominion and gives him wisdom. Has the information concerning the opposing parties reached you? They scale the oratory; Dawud takes fright. Do not fear: so judge between us with truth, and guide us. Sura 39, read just before, announced: it will be decided between them in truth (39:75).

   One has ninety-nine ewes, the other only one, which the first demands. Dawud judges at once, before the other has spoken: he has wronged you. Then he presumes that God has tried him; he seeks forgiveness, falls down kneeling and has recourse to his Guardian, who forgives him. God tells him: We have made you a successor on earth; so judge among mankind with truth, and do not follow emotion. Sura 39 said: You alone will judge between Your obedient ones (39:46).

   God did not create the heaven and the earth in vain; would He treat believers like the corrupters? Here is a blessed Scripture sent down to him, so that they may ponder its signs. Then Sulayman, bestowed on Dawud, who was ever-returning. The horses are displayed to him; he has them brought back and passes his hand over their legs and necks. God tries him: a body is cast upon his throne-seat. He has recourse, asks forgiveness and a dominion that will not befit anyone after him.

   God subjects the wind to him, running gently at his command, and the Diverters, builders, divers or bound in fetters; this is Our endowment: grace others with it or retain it. Then: remember Ayyub. He calls: the Diverter has touched him with fatigue and suffering. He hears: run with your foot, here is cool water for washing and drinking. God bestows on him his family, and as many again. He is told: take a bundle, strike with it, do not break your oath. God found him patient.

   He is told again: remember Ibrahim, Ishaq and Yaacoub, refined by the remembrance of the Abode, then Isma'il, Al-Yasa' and Dhul-Kifl. Those who guard themselves will have the Gardens of permanence, with opened gates, companions, a provision that knows no end. Those who exceed all measure will burn in Jahannam. A crowd rushes in: no welcome for them! It answers: it is you who prepared it for us, and asks double punishment for them. All will say: why do we not see men we used to number among the wicked?

   He must say: I am only a warner, there is no deity but God, the One, the Subjugator. This is immense Information, from which you turn away; I had no knowledge of the sublime court when it quarreled. Then the account goes back to the origin: your Guardian announces to the Agents a human of clay; when He has proportioned him and breathed into him of His Influx, they are to prostrate before him. The Agents all prostrate, except Iblis: he grows proud and becomes one of those who disown.

   God asks him why he did not prostrate before what He created with His own two hands. He answers: I am better than him, You created me from fire. Banished, he is granted a delay, then swears by God's might to make them all err, except His refined obedient ones. God swears to fill Jahannam with him and with those who follow him. He must say: I ask you no reward; it is only a reminder for all beings, and you will surely know its information after a time.

   « By the Recitation charged with the Reminder, » 38:1

   « Be patient with what they say, » 38:17

   « so judge between us with truth » 38:22

   « The Diverter has touched me with fatigue and suffering. » 38:41

   « I am only a warner » 38:65

   ↓ He had no knowledge of the sublime court; sura 37, which opens section VII, shows the Diverters who cannot listen to it.

Closing: Ṣad (38:1), then: “By the Recitation charged with the Reminder” (38:1).

← Summary frieze

1. 37

   Agents in ranks, the envoys' army

   182 verses

   He hears an oath by those that range themselves in ranks, that rumble with force, that recite the Reminder: your deity is one. Read just after sura 38, where the warner had no knowledge of the sublime court (38:69), sura 37 opens section VII by presenting the Agents. The nearest heaven is adorned with heavenly bodies and preserved from every rebellious Diverter: they cannot listen to the sublime court, and whoever snatches a scrap of it is pursued by a blazing projectile.

   He is told: so consult them, are they harder to create? He marvels, while they scoff; before a sign they say: a manifest illusion! When we are dead, earth and bones, shall we really be raised, and our earliest forefathers too? He must say: yes, and you will be abased. It will be but a single rumbling blast, named like those that rumble, and there they are, looking on: "This is the Day of Separation, which you used to deny."

   An order is given, and the text does not name those who carry it out: gather those who did wrong, their spouses and what they used to obey, guide them to the path of the Blaze, halt them. What is wrong with you, that you do not help one another? Facing one another, they pass the blame: it was you who used to come at us from the right. They called a deranged seductive orator the one who came with the truth and declared the envoys veracious.

   Except the refined obedient ones of God: on couches, a cup of white spring water is passed among them. One of them remembers an acolyte who doubted; he looks, and sees him in the midst of the Blaze: were it not for my Guardian's blessing, I would have been among those brought forth. Opposite, the tree of Zaqqoum comes out at the root of the Blaze. Those people followed ancestors gone astray; look at what was the end of those who were warned.

   Then the envoys come one by one, with the same refrain: We left peace upon him; thus do We recompense those who do good. Nuh calls, and he and his household are saved from the immense distress. Ibrahim, of his camp, asks his father and his people: what do you obey? He casts a glance at the stars and says: "I am unwell". He strikes their deities with his right hand; they want to cast him into the blaze, and God makes them the lowest.

   Ibrahim says: I am going to my Guardian, He will guide me, and he asks for a son among those who are sound. A forbearing boy is announced to him. When the boy reaches the age of endeavouring with him, he says: I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you; consider what you think. The boy answers: do what you are commanded. He has laid him on his temple when God calls: you have confirmed the vision. An immense sacrifice ransoms him; then Ishaq is announced to him.

   Moussa and Harun are saved from the immense distress: God helps them, and they are the victors, as the end of the sura will say. Ilyas reproaches his people for calling upon Ba'l; Lut is saved, except an old woman. Younes flees to the laden vessel, loses at the drawing of lots, and the fish engulfs him. Because he was among those who glorify, he is cast onto bare ground, unwell, the word Ibrahim had used, then sent to a hundred thousand or more, who believe.

   He is told a second time: consult them. Does your Guardian have daughters, while they have sons? Did We create the Agents female, while they witnessed it? Bring your writing! They have even set up a lineage between Him and the Occulted. Then a voice answers, without being introduced: each of us has a known place; we stand in ranks, we glorify. It is the Agents who bear witness: those of the oath, who range themselves in ranks (37:1).

   Those who disown used to say: if only we had a reminder from the earlier peoples! They disowned it; they will soon know. Then comes the word that preceded: the envoys are the ones who are helped, and it is Our army that is victorious. The helped envoys are those it has just told, from Nuh to Younes; the army, the one it presented in ranks. He is told: turn your back on them for a time, and watch. The sura closes on glory, peace upon the envoys, and praise.

   « who cannot listen to the sublime court » 37:8

   « I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you » 37:102

   « Had he not been among those who glorify, » 37:143

   « Or did We create the Agents female, while they witnessed it? » 37:150

   « There is not one among us who does not have a known place, » 37:164

   « they are indeed the ones who are helped, and it is surely Our army that is victorious. » 37:173

   « And peace upon the envoys! » 37:181

   ↓ Our army is victorious (37:173); in sura 36, upon the city that denies its envoys, no army descends from the sky.

2. 36

   Reinforced with a third

   83 verses · label يس

   He hears a letter, يس, and an oath by the Recitation full of wisdom: you are among the envoys, upon a straight path. Sura 37 had just said: peace upon the envoys (37:181). He must warn a people whose ancestors were not warned; against most of them the saying has proven true: shackles up to their chins, a barrier before and behind. Warned or not, they do not believe. He only warns one who follows the Reminder; God records their traces.

   He is told: add for them, as an example, the companions of the city. God sends two envoys to them; they deny them; so God reinforces them with a third, whom the text does not name, and they say: we are sent to you. The people answer: you are nothing but humans like us. Our Guardian knows, the envoys say; only the clear transmission is incumbent upon us. They are threatened with banishment: your omen lies with yourselves.

   A man comes hurrying from the far end of the Capital, like the one who warned Moussa (28:20). He says: follow the envoys, those who ask no reward of you; why should I not obey the One who originated me? I have believed in your Guardian: so listen to me. It is said to him: "Enter the Garden." The text says nothing more of what befalls him. He says: if only my people knew for what my Guardian has forgiven me!

   Upon his people, God sends down no army from the sky: He did not need to send one down. Sura 37 had just shown Our army, victorious, helping the envoys (37:173); here a single cry is enough, and there they are, extinguished. What desolation for the obedient ones: no messenger came to them but they mocked him. Do they not see how many generations were annihilated before them? All will be brought together before God.

   Then signs for them: the dead earth that comes back to life and yields grain, palm trees, vines; the night from which the day is stripped; the sun running toward its place, the moon and its stations; each swims in an orbit. Their descendants are carried in the laden vessel, the one Younes fled to (37:140); if God willed, He would drown them. When they are told to spend, they answer: shall we feed one whom God would feed?

   They ask: when will this promise be? They await nothing but a single cry, which will seize them while they quarrel. The Horn will be blown, and they will swarm from their sepulchres: "Woe to us! Who has raised us up from where we slept?" This is what the All-Benevolent promised, and the envoys were veracious. No Self will be wronged. The companions of the Garden will recline in the shade: Peace, a saying from a Benevolent Guardian.

   Then God says: stand apart today, O severed! Did I not bind you by a pact, O sons of Adam, not to obey the Diverter? This is Jahannam. This day their mouths are sealed; their hands speak, their feet bear witness to what they used to earn. Then the word returns to the one who warns: We did not teach him the art of seduction, an answer to those who, in sura 37, spoke of a deranged seductive orator (37:36). It is only a Reminder and a clear Recitation.

   They have taken deities, hoping to be helped: these cannot help them, and they will be, for them, an army brought forth. He is told: so let their saying not grieve you. The human being, created from a drop, becomes a quarreler and asks: who will bring the bones back to life? He must say: the One who brought them into being the first time, who made fire for you out of the green tree. His command is to say to a thing: "Be", and it is.

   « you are surely among the envoys » 36:3

   « so We reinforced them with a third » 36:14

   « And We did not send down upon his people, after him, any army from the sky, nor did We need to send one down. » 36:28

   « It was but a single cry, and there they were, extinguished. » 36:29

   « their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will bear witness to what they used to earn. » 36:65

   « They cannot help them, though they will be, for them, an army brought forth. » 36:75

   « He who brought them into being the first time will bring them back to life » 36:79

   ↓ Two envoys reinforced with a third (36:14); sura 35 opens on the Agents made messengers, by twos, by threes, by fours.

Closing: Ya Sin (36:1), then: “By the Recitation full of wisdom, you are surely among the envoys” (36:2-3).

← Summary frieze

1. 35

   What God opens

   45 verses

   He hears praise to God, Originator of the heavens and the earth, who made the Agents messengers, by twos, by threes, by fours. Sura 36, read just before, sent two envoys, then reinforced them with a third (36:14); sura 35 opens section VI. Whatever benevolence God opens up for mankind, none can hold it back; whatever He holds back, none can release. He is told: if they deny you, messengers before you were already denied.

   Mankind is told: remember God's blessing; do not let the near life delude you, nor the great deluder; the Diverter is an enemy, so take him as an enemy. He is told: let not your Self waste away in desolation over them. God sent the winds, which stir up clouds; He drove them to a dead land and brought the earth back to life: so will be the Deployment. Might belongs to God entirely; to Him ascends the wholesome word.

   God created them from earth, then from a drop, then made them pairs; every life, long or short, is in a record. Two seas, one sweet, one salty, both give fresh flesh; night penetrates into day, the sun and the moon are subjected. To Him belongs the dominion; those called upon besides Him do not possess even the skin of a date-stone. O mankind, you are the poor before God, the Self-Sufficient. No bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another.

   He hears: you only warn those who dread their Guardian even though He escapes their senses, as sura 36 said (36:11). The living and the dead are not equal; he cannot make those in the graves hear; he is but a warner. Those before them denied their messengers, then God seized them. Water brings forth fruits of varying colors, the mountains have tracts white, red and black; only those who know dread God.

   Those who recite God's Scripture and spend hope for a trade that will never be blighted. The Scripture revealed to him is the truth; then God causes it to be inherited by those He chose: one who wrongs himself, one moderate, one who races ahead in good deeds. In the Gardens they will say: praise be to God, who removed grief from us. In the fire of Jahannam, those who disown will shriek: bring us out! Did We not grant you a long enough life? The warner had come.

   God made them successors on the earth. He must say: show me what your associates have created of the earth; do they have a share in the heavens? God holds the heavens and the earth, lest they cease to exist. They swore they would be better guided than any community if a warner came; when he came, their recoil only grew, with pride and evil plotting. You will never find any change in God's norm. He adjourns them until an appointed term.

   « who made the Agents messengers organized into departments — by twos, by threes, by fours. » 35:1

   « O mankind, it is you who are the poor before God, » 35:15

   « You only warn those who dread their Guardian even though He escapes their senses, » 35:18

   « Only those who know, among His obedient ones, dread God, » 35:28

   « But you will never find any change in God's norm, » 35:43

   ↓ He must say: show me what they have created; sura 34 takes up the challenge: they do not possess the weight of a particle.

2. 34

   The gnawed staff

   54 verses

   Sura 34 opens like sura 35: praise be to God, to whom belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth. Those who disown say: the Hour will not come to us. He must answer: yes, by my Guardian, it will surely come; not the weight of a particle eludes Him. They mock: shall we point you to a man who announces a new creation? Has he invented a lie against God, or is he afflicted with some derangement?

   God gave Dawud a favor: O mountains, echo with him, and the birds. He softened the iron for him: make ample coats of mail, and do sound deeds. To Sulayman, the wind and a spring of naphtha; among the Occulted, some work before him by the permission of his Guardian, making oratories, statues, basins and cauldrons. The command is given: work, clan of Dawud, in gratitude; few of My obedient ones are grateful.

   Then God decrees death upon Sulayman. Nothing points the Occulted to it except a living being of the earth eating away his staff. When he falls, they understand: had they known what escapes the senses, they would not have remained in the degrading punishment. Saba' has two gardens, on the right and on the left: eat, and be grateful. They turn away; God sends the destructive flood of the dam and replaces their gardens with gardens of bitter fare.

   They had cities lying uncovered, and the command: travel between them in safety. They ask: lengthen the distances between our journeys. God disintegrates them utterly; Iblis sees his presumption confirmed about them, except a fraction of the believers. He must say: call upon those you claim; they do not possess the weight of a particle. Who provides for you from the heavens and the earth? God. Our Guardian will bring us together, then He will open between us in truth.

   He is sent to all mankind, a bearer of good tidings and a warner. If he could see the wrongdoers halted before their Guardian: those deemed weak tell those who grew proud, had it not been for you, we would have been believers; it was a plot, night and day. The affluent say: we have more goods and children. Neither goods nor children bring one nearer to God. On the Day, God asks the Agents: was it you these obeyed? They answer: You are our Ally; they obeyed the Occulted.

   When the signs are recited to them, they say: a man who wants to bar you from what your ancestors obeyed. He must say: I only exhort you to one thing: stand up for God, two by two or one by one, then reflect; your companion has no derangement. The truth has come. Seized with fright, they will say: we believe in it! But they reach out from too distant a place, and something comes between them and what they desire.

   « not the weight of a particle, » 34:3

   « Work, clan of Dawud, » 34:13

   « nothing pointed them to his death except a living being of the earth eating away his staff; » 34:14

   « Eat from the provision of your Guardian, and be grateful to Him » 34:15

   « that you stand up for God, two by two or one by one, then reflect » 34:46

   ↓ The wind ran for Sulayman; in sura 33, God sends a wind and unseen armies upon the parties.

3. 33

   A wind upon the parties

   73 verses

   He is addressed: O Informant, guard yourself toward God, do not defer to those who disown nor to the hypocrites, follow what is revealed to you and entrust yourself to God. God has not assigned two cores to any man; a wife to whom one presents the back is not a mother, an adopted son is not a son: call them by their fathers' names. God recalls the engagement taken from the informants: from you, from Nuh, Ibrahim, Moussa and Issa.

   The believers must remember: armies came against them from above and from below; sights deviated, cores reached the throats. God sent upon them a wind, and armies they did not see; upon the city of sura 36, no army came down from the sky (36:28). The hypocrites said: God and His messenger promised us nothing but delusion. A group told the people of Yathrib: return; others claimed their houses lacked privacy: they wanted nothing but to flee.

   He must tell them: flight will not benefit you if you flee from death. When fear comes, he sees them looking at him, their eyes rolling; when it departs, they assail the believers with sharp tongues. The believers see the parties and say: this is what God and His messenger promised us. Some have concluded their commitment, some are waiting. God turns back those who disown, in their rage, and spares the believers the fight.

   Then God brings down from their strongholds those among the People of the Scripture who had supported them, and hurls terror into their cores; one fraction is killed, another taken captive. He makes the believers inherit their land, their abodes, their goods, and a land they had not trodden. Then he must tell his wives to choose: the near life and its adornment, or God, His messenger and the last abode.

   The women of the Informant are not like any other women: let them speak a recognized saying, remain in their houses, maintain the Contact. The text recalls a scene: he told the one God had favored to retain his wife, while hiding what God was going to make appear, dreading mankind. When Zayd had ended all ties with her, God gave her to him in marriage. Muhammad is not the father of any of their men: he is the messenger of God and the seal of the informants.

   God is in contact with the believers, He and His Agents, to bring them out of the darknesses into the light. He hears: We have sent you as a witness, a bearer of good tidings and a warner, as an illuminating torch; do not defer to those who disown nor to the hypocrites, disregard their harm. Rules follow: the women lawful to him, exclusively; one enters his houses only when invited; one asks his wives for an item from behind a veil.

   God and His Agents are in constant contact with the Informant; the believers must be too. He must tell his wives, his daughters and the women of the believers to draw over themselves part of their outer garments. If the hypocrites and the rumor-mongers in the Capital do not cease, God will unleash him against them: such is God's norm. Men ask him about the Hour; he must say: knowledge of it is only with God.

   In the Fire, those who disown will say: would that we had deferred to God and to the messenger! We deferred to our chiefs and our great ones; give them double punishment. The believers must not be like those who troubled Moussa, whom God made quit. God offered the trust to the heavens, the earth and the mountains; they refused to bear it. The human being bore it: he was a great wrongdoer, deeply ignorant.

   « God has not assigned to any man two cores within his breast. » 33:4

   « and We sent upon them a wind and armies you did not see. » 33:9

   « and He made you inherit their land, their abodes, and their goods, and a land you had not trodden. » 33:27

   « but rather the messenger of God and the seal of the informants. » 33:40

   « and the human being bore it: » 33:72

   ↓ The human being bears the trust, wrongdoer and ignorant; sura 32 goes back to his creation from clay and the Influx breathed into him.

4. 32

   The day of the opening

   30 verses · label الم

   He hears الٓمٓ, the letters that also open suras 31, 30 and 29: the descent of the Scripture, no doubt possible, is from the Guardian of all beings. Will they say: he has invented it? It is the truth from your Guardian, that you may warn a people to whom no warner had come before you. God created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself upon the Edifice. He governs the Order, which ascends to Him in a day of a thousand years.

   God began the creation of the human being from clay, then made his progeny from a despised water; then He proportioned him, breathed into him of His Influx, and appointed for you hearing, sight and Consciences: how little you are grateful! They ask: when we have strayed in the earth, will we be a new creation? They rather disown the meeting with their Guardian. He must answer: the Agent of death will keep you faithfully, then to your Guardian you will be returned.

   And if he could see the severed, heads bowed before their Guardian: we have seen clearly and heard, return us! But the saying has proven true: Jahannam will be filled with the Occulted and humans. Taste, for having forgotten the meeting of this day: We have forgotten you. Facing them, those who believe fall down in prostration when reminded of the signs, without growing proud; their sides draw away from their beds, and no Self knows the rest of the gaze hidden for them.

   The believer is not like the overstepper: to some the gardens of resort, to others the Fire, into which they are brought back each time they wish to leave. God will make them taste the nearer punishment, perhaps they will return. Then Moussa: God gave him the Scripture, a guidance for the Sons of Israel; so do not be in contention about his meeting. Among them, leaders guided by His command, because they had been patient. Sura 28 will tell how the weakened become leaders (28:5).

   Are they not guided by the annihilated generations, in whose dwellings they walk? Do they not see the water driven to the arid land, and the crops that come from it? They say: when is this opening, if you are veracious? Sura 33, read just before, said: men ask you about the Hour (33:63). He must answer: on the day of the opening, faith will no longer benefit those who disowned. Then the order: turn away from them, and wait, for they are waiting.

   « It is rather the truth from your Guardian, that you may warn a people to whom no warner had come before you » 32:3

   « Our Guardian, we have seen clearly and heard » 32:12

   « Their sides draw away from their beds » 32:16

   « On the day of the opening, faith will no longer benefit those who disowned » 32:29

   « So turn away from them, and wait, » 32:30

   ↓ Those who believe fall down in prostration without growing proud; sura 31 shows the one who turns his back, proud, as if deaf.

5. 31

   The wisdom of Luqman

   34 verses · label الم

   He hears الٓمٓ, as in sura 32: these are the signs of the Scripture full of wisdom, a guidance for those who do good, who maintain the Contact, give pure liberality and are certain of the last life; sura 27 said it of the believers (27:3). Facing them, a man buys distracting discourse to lead astray; when the signs are recited to him, he turns his back, growing proud, as though his ears were deaf. He is told: so give him news of a painful punishment.

   God created the heavens without pillars that you can see, cast firm anchors on the earth, spread every living being, caused every generous pair to grow. This is God's creation: so show Me what those besides Him have created! Then God gives Luqman wisdom: be grateful to God. Luqman exhorts his son: O my little one, do not associate with God; association is an immense wrong.

   Luqman's words break off, and God speaks: He enjoined upon the human being his parents; his mother carried him, frailty upon frailty. Be grateful to Me and to your parents. If they strive to make you associate with Me, do not defer to them, but accompany them in a recognized manner; sura 29 will say it again (29:8). Luqman resumes: a mustard seed hidden in a rock, God would bring it forth. Maintain the Contact, order what is recognized, forbid what is disavowed, be patient, hush your voice.

   Have you not seen that God has subjected to you the heavens and the earth, and lavished His favors upon you, uncovered and hidden? Some follow their ancestors, even if the Diverter calls them to the Inferno; whoever renders his direction true to God holds the surest handhold. He is told: let not their disowning grieve you. If he asks them who created the heavens and the earth, they will say: God; he must say: praise be to God! Seven seas would not exhaust His words.

   Have you not seen the night penetrate into the day, the sun and the moon subjected, the vessels sailing on the sea? When a wave covers them like canopies, they call upon God alone; saved to dry land, only some remain moderate. O mankind, dread a day when no parent will avail his child. God has knowledge of the Hour, which men asked about in sura 33 (33:63); no Self has any idea what it will earn tomorrow, nor in what land it will die.

   « These are the signs of the Scripture full of wisdom » 31:2

   « he turns his back, growing proud, as though he had not heard them » 31:7

   « O my little one, do not associate with God; » 31:13

   « his mother carried him, frailty upon frailty, » 31:14

   « and no Self has any idea what it will earn tomorrow, » 31:34

   ↓ No Self has any idea what it will earn tomorrow; sura 30 opens on an announcement: the victors will be defeated within a few years.

6. 30

   Before and after

   60 verses · label الم

   He hears الٓمٓ, then an announcement: the Romans were victorious, in the nearest land; but after their victory, they will be defeated, within a few years. Sura 31 said that no Self has any idea what it will earn tomorrow; here God says in advance what will come. To God belongs the command, before and after. On that day, the believers will rejoice in God's help. He does not fail His promise, but most know only what is uncovered of the near life.

   Have they not reflected, nor traveled through the earth? Those before them were stronger, had stirred up the earth and populated it; their messengers came to them with clear proofs, and God was not going to wrong them: it was themselves that they wronged. God begins creation, then remakes it. On the day the Hour rises, the severed will be plunged into despair; that day, men will be separated: a flowering meadow for some, the punishment for others.

   Glory be to God in the evening and in the morning! Then His signs come: He created you from earth; He created for you spouses, so that you might find rest in them, and placed between you affection and benevolence; the variety of your tongues and your colors, the lightning feared and hoped for, the water that brings the earth back to life. Then, with a single call, you will come forth. Then an example drawn from yourselves: would you make those bound to you by oath your equals?

   The text turns to him: so maintain your direction toward the Law, wholly turned toward God; there is no changing God's creation. Then to those with him: maintain the Contact, do not be among those who divided their Law. When harm touches men, they call upon their Guardian; tasting a benevolence, a fraction associates with Him.

   He is told: give the close relative his due, and the destitute and the traveler; the loan that swells does not swell with God: usury is named here first; pure liberality is what doubles.

   Corruption has uncovered itself on land and sea, because of what the hands of men have earned. He must say: travel through the earth, and look at the end of those who came before. God sent messengers before him, then took vengeance upon the severed; and it was a duty upon Him to help the believers. The winds stir up clouds, the shower comes forth from their midst, and those in despair exult. So look at the trace of God's benevolence: He will bring the dead back to life.

   He hears: you do not make the dead hear, nor the deaf who turn their backs; you make hear only him who believes in Our signs. God creates you from weakness, then gives strength, then weakness and white hair. On the day the Hour rises, the severed will swear they remained but an hour; those who were given knowledge will say: this is the Day of Raising. Then the order: be patient, God's promise is truth; do not let them make you light.

   « The Romans were victorious, in the nearest land; » 30:2

   « To God belongs the command, before and after. » 30:4

   « Maintain your direction toward the Law, wholly turned toward God » 30:30

   « So give to the close relative his due, and to the destitute and the passing traveler; » 30:38

   « and it was a duty upon Us to help the believers. » 30:47

   « and do not let those who lack certainty make you light. » 30:60

   ↓ God was not going to wrong those before; sura 29 names them one by one and tells how each was seized.

7. 29

   The house of the spider

   69 verses · label الم

   He hears الٓمٓ, then a question: do men think they will be left because they say we believe, without being put to the trial? Those before were tried, and God will distinguish those who spoke truly and the liars. As in sura 31, the human being owes fine conduct to his two parents, without deferring to them if they strive to make him associate. Some, when troubled, equate the trial inflicted by men with God's punishment. Those who disown say: follow our way, we will carry your faults.

   Nuh remains among his people a thousand years less fifty, then the flood seizes them; he is saved with the companions of the boat. Ibrahim tells his people: you obey only idols, which possess no provision for you; so seek provision with God. Then the words turn to the present: say, travel through the earth and see how He began creation. Sura 30 already said that He begins it, then remakes it.

   The only answer of Ibrahim's people: kill him, or burn him! God saves him from the fire. He tells them: you have taken idols only out of mutual affection, and on the Day you will disown one another. Lut gives him credit, and it is said: I am emigrating toward my Guardian. Ishaq and Yaacoub are bestowed on Ibrahim, and his descendants receive the Scripture. Lut reproaches his people for indecency; their only answer: bring us God's punishment! He asks: my Guardian, help me.

   God's messengers come to Ibrahim with the good tidings and the announcement: we are going to annihilate the people of this city. Ibrahim answers: Lut is there. At Lut's, their coming vexes him; they say: do not fear, we will save you and your household, except your wife. Then Madyan denies Shu'ayb, and the tremor seizes them. The Aad, the Thamud, then Qaroon, Fir'awn and Haman, grown proud despite Moussa: stones, the Cry, the earth that swallows, drowning. Each is seized for his offense.

   Those who take allies besides God are like the spider: the flimsiest of houses is the house of the spider, if only they knew. He is told: recite what has been revealed to you of the Scripture, and maintain the Contact;;;, for the Contact forbids indecency and what is disavowed. To those with him: do not argue with the people of the Scripture except in the most beautiful way; say: our deity and your deity is one. He himself did not recite, before it, any scripture.

   They ask for signs; he must say: the signs are only with God, and I am only a clear warner. They ask him to hasten the punishment; were it not for an appointed term, it would already have come, and it will come unexpectedly. Then God calls: O My obedient ones who have believed, My earth is vast; so it is Me that you must obey. Every Self will taste death; high chambers of the Garden await those who were patient and entrust themselves to their Guardian.

   If he asks them who created the heavens and the earth, they will say: God. In the vessel, they call upon God alone; saved to dry land, they associate. Do they not see the inviolable and secure precinct, while all around them men are snatched away? Sura 28 will give the answer made to those who feared being snatched from their land (28:57). Section VI closes on a promise: those who have striven for Us, We will guide on Our ways; God is with those who do good.

   « Do men think that they will be left, because they say, "We believe," without being put to the trial? » 29:2

   « Kill him, or burn him! » 29:24

   « and the flimsiest of houses is surely the house of the spider » 29:41

   « O My obedient ones who have believed, My earth is vast » 29:56

   « And those who have striven for Us — We will surely guide them on Our ways » 29:69

   ↓ Qaroon, Fir'awn and Haman grow proud in the land; sura 28 tells their story, up to Qaroon swallowed by the earth.

Closing: Alif Lam Mim (29:1), then: “Do men think that they will be left” (29:2).

← Summary frieze

1. 28

   What Fir'awn was wary of

   88 verses · label طسم

   He hears طسٓمٓ and the signs of the explicit Scripture; sura 28 opens section V. God recites to him part of the information concerning Moussa and Fir'awn. Fir'awn rose up in the land, split its inhabitants into factions, kept a group weak and slaughtered their sons. God wanted to grace those kept weak, to make them leaders and the heirs, and to show Fir'awn, Haman and their armies what they had been wary of.

   God inspires Moussa's mother: take him into your care, and when you fear for him, cast him into the deep; We will restore him to you. Fir'awn's clan picks him up; Fir'awn's wife says: do not kill him. The mother, her Conscience vacant, sends his sister on his trail. God had barred him from any other care; the sister points to a family, and God restores him to his mother.

   At his maturity, God gives him judgment and knowledge. In the Capital, two men are fighting; Moussa strikes the enemy of the man from his camp with his fist and puts an end to him. He says: this is the work of the Diverter, then: My Guardian, I have wronged myself, forgive me. God forgives him. The next day, fearful, he is called for help again; a man comes hurrying: the court is conspiring to kill you, leave.

   He leaves, fearful, and heads toward Madyan. At the water, two women wait apart; he waters for them, moves off to the shade and says he is in great need of whatever good. One of them comes back, walking with reserved modesty: her father calls him. She says: hire him, the best is one who is strong and trustworthy. The father offers him one of his daughters for eight years of service, or ten; Moussa agrees, with God as trustee.

   The term concluded, he sets out with his family and makes out a fire on the side of the Mount. From the tree, he is called: it is indeed I, God, the Guardian of all beings. The staff vibrates, he flees; he hears: come forward and do not fear. His hand comes out white. He fears being killed and denied, and asks for Harun. God answers: you two, and those who follow you, will be the victors.

   Before the signs, they say: invented illusion. Fir'awn addresses his court: I know of no deity for you other than myself; and Haman: make me a belvedere. He declares and commands, without asking advice; he grows proud with his armies. God seizes them and casts them into the deep. Then he is told: you were not on the side of the Mount; it is a benevolence from your Guardian, so that you may warn.

   They ask for the like of what was given to Moussa, then disown both. He must say: bring a scripture more guiding, and I will follow it. Those given the Scripture before believe; to the ignorant they say: peace upon you. He is told: you do not guide whom you love. They fear being snatched from their land; God established them in an inviolable and secure precinct. On the Day, He will ask: where are My associates?

   Qaroon, of the people of Moussa, has treasures whose keys weigh on a band of strong men. His people tell him: do not revel, do good. He answers: I hold it on account of a knowledge that is mine, and goes out in his adornment. The earth swallows him and his abode. The last abode is for those who want neither to exalt themselves in the land nor corruption. He who made the Recitation his obligation will bring him back; let him call to his Guardian.

   « cast him into the deep, without fear or grief, » 28:7

   « the best one you could hire is one who is strong and trustworthy » 28:26

   « O court, I know of no deity for you other than myself. » 28:38

   « You indeed do not guide whom you love » 28:56

   « It has only been given to me on account of a knowledge that is mine. » 28:78

   ↓ Fir'awn says: O court, to declare himself the only deity; in sura 27, the queen says: O court, to ask her court's advice.

2. 27

   Enlighten me about my affair

   93 verses · label طس

   He hears طسٓ and the signs of the Recitation, guidance for those who maintain the Contact; he is told: you receive the Recitation from a Wise, an All-Knowing. Moussa makes out a fire; there he is called: it is indeed I, God. The staff vibrates, he flees; the envoys do not fear in My presence, except one who has done wrong, then replaced evil with good. Nine signs go to Fir'awn; they reject them, out of wrongdoing and haughtiness.

   Dawud and Sulayman receive knowledge. Sulayman inherits from Dawud and knows the language of birds; his armies of Occulted, humans and birds advance in columns. In the valley of the ants, an ant tells the others to go in. He smiles and asks to be grateful. The scout is missing; he returns from Saba': a woman rules over them, who has been given everything; she has an immense edifice, and her people prostrate before the sun.

   Sulayman sends a letter: do not exalt yourselves against me, come to me as those true to God alone. The queen tells her court of it and asks its advice: I issue no ordinance without you bearing witness. The court answers: we have strength, but the affair is yours to decide. She weighs what kings do: when they enter a city, they corrupt it. She sends a gift, to look at what the envoys return with.

   Sulayman refuses the gift: what God has given me is better; he announces armies. He asks his court who will bring him her edifice. An ifrit says he is strong and trustworthy; the one who possessed knowledge of the Code brings it before his gaze is given back to him. Sulayman says: this is from the favor of my Guardian, to test me: will I acknowledge, or will I disown? He has the edifice made unrecognizable, to see whether she lets herself be guided.

   She arrives; she is asked: is your edifice like this? She answers: it is as if it were. A voice says: knowledge had been given to us before her. What she used to obey, besides God, had barred her way. At the belvedere, she takes it for a pool of water and bares her legs; it is a belvedere of crystal. She says: My Guardian, I have wronged myself, and I am true, with Sulayman, to God.

   Among the Thamud, Salih says: obey God; two fractions quarrel. Nine individuals in the Capital, who sow corruption, swear to attack Salih and his family by night; God sets a plot against their plot and destroys them with their people; their houses stand empty. The people of Lut want to expel his clan; Lut is saved with his family, except his wife, and a rain falls upon them.

   He must say: praise be to God. Five times the question returns: is there a deity alongside God? It is He who creates, who answers the one hard-pressed, who guides in the darkness. The Recitation relates to the Sons of Israel what they differ about. A conscious being will come forth from the earth; the Horn will be blown; the mountains pass as the clouds pass. He must say: I am only one of the warners.

   « O ants, enter your dwellings, » 27:18

   « O court, enlighten me about my affair; I issue no ordinance without you bearing witness to it. » 27:32

   « but the affair is yours to decide; so consider what you command. » 27:33

   « to test me: will I acknowledge, or will I disown? » 27:40

   « Is there a deity alongside God? » 27:60

   ↓ Nine individuals sow corruption on the earth and make nothing sound; in sura 26, Salih says: do not defer to their command.

3. 26

   The refrain of the messengers

   227 verses · label طسم

   He hears طسٓمٓ and the signs of the explicit Scripture, then: perhaps you will consume yourself because they are not believers. If God willed, a sign would keep their necks bent; but they turn away from every reminder. Your Guardian calls out to Moussa: go to the people of Fir'awn. Moussa fears being denied, his chest tightens, his tongue is not loosened: send for Harun. By no means, go, both of you; We are with you, listening.

   Fir'awn tells him: did we not bring you up among us as a child? you committed your act. Moussa answers: I did it while I was among the astray, I fled, then my Guardian granted me judgment; your blessing is that you enslaved the Sons of Israel. Fir'awn asks: what is the Guardian of all beings? He calls the messenger deranged and threatens Moussa with prison if he takes a deity other than him.

   The staff becomes a manifest serpent, the hand comes out white. Fir'awn consults his court: he wants to drive you out of your land; what do you advise? On their advice, he gathers the workers of illusion for a known day. They swear by the might of Fir'awn to be the victors; the staff of Moussa snaps up what they distorted. They fall prostrate and believe. Fir'awn threatens to sever their hands and feet; they answer: no hurt!

   God reveals to Moussa: set out by night with My obedient ones, you will be pursued. Fir'awn calls them a small band. God brings his people out of gardens, springs and treasures, and makes the Sons of Israel inherit them, as sura 28 announced. At daybreak, the two hosts see each other: we are overtaken! Moussa says: my Guardian is with me. The sea splits; Moussa is saved, the others are drowned.

   He is told: recite to them the information concerning Ibrahim. To his father and his people, Ibrahim asks: what do you obey? Idols, like our ancestors. He describes his Guardian, who creates him, guides him, feeds him, heals him, will make him die and then live again. He asks for judgment, a tongue of veracity, to be among the heirs of the garden of bliss, and not to be disgraced on the day when only an intact core counts.

   Then five peoples deny the envoys, and each brother says the same words: will you not guard yourselves? I am for you a trustworthy messenger, I ask you no reward. Nuh is saved in the laden ship; the Aad build a sign on every hill; the Thamud maim the she-camel; Lut is saved, except an old woman; the people of Shu'ayb, who cheated the measure, are seized on the day of the canopy.

   Sura 26 closes section V. It is a sending down from the Guardian of all beings: the trustworthy Influx came down upon his core, so that he may be among the warners, in an explicit tongue; the scholars of the Sons of Israel know it, and the Diverters have no part in it. He is ordered: warn your closest kinsmen, lower your wing for those who follow you, and entrust yourself to the All-Powerful, the Benevolent.

   « Perhaps you will consume yourself because they are not believers. » 26:3

   « And what is the Guardian of all beings? » 26:23

   « And We made the Sons of Israel inherit them » 26:59

   « My Guardian is indeed with me; He will guide me. » 26:62

   « And I ask you no reward for this; » 26:109

   « And warn your closest kinsmen » 26:214

   ↓ The Influx came down upon his core so he may warn; sura 25 opens on the Discernment sent down to warn all beings.

Closing: Ṭa Sin Mim (26:1), then: “These are the signs of the explicit Scripture” (26:2).

← Summary frieze

1. 25

   The obedient ones of the All-Benevolent

   77 verses

   Section IV opens here, right after sura 26, where every messenger said: I ask you no reward for this. He hears: blessed is He who sent down the Discernment upon His obedient one, that he may be a warner to all beings. Those who disown say: this is nothing but a distortion he invented, legends of the ancients dictated to him at dawn and at homecoming. He must answer: He who knows the secret of the heavens and the earth sent it down.

   They also say: what is with this messenger, that he eats food and walks in the marketplaces? Why has he no Agent with him, no treasure, no garden! You follow none but a man abused by illusion. He is told: see how they multiply examples about you. They deny the Hour, and the Inferno will see them from a distant place. He must ask them: is that better, or the garden of eternity promised to those who guard themselves?

   On the day of the gathering, God will ask those they obeyed: was it you who led My obedient ones astray? They will answer: glory to You! You gave them enjoyment until they forgot the Reminder. Then comes the answer to the marketplace objection: We sent before you no envoys but that they ate food and walked in the marketplaces. Some of you are a trial for others: will you endure?

   Those who do not hope for the meeting with Us ask that the Agents be sent down upon them. The day they see them, there are no good tidings for the severed; they will say: a boundary that cannot be crossed! The sky will split with the clouds, the Agents will descend, and the dominion will belong to the All-Benevolent. The wrongdoer will bite his hands: if only I had not taken so-and-so as an intimate friend! And the messenger said: my people have deserted this Recitation.

   They ask why the Recitation was not sent down upon him all at once: it is to make his Conscience firm through it, and it is set out in measured order. Then the text says in a few verses what sura 26 told at length: Moussa and his brother Harun sent together to the people who denied, the people of Nuh drowned, the Aad, the Thamud, the companions of ar-Rass. They passed by the city rained upon with a dreadful rain, hoping for no Deployment.

   When they see him, they take him only as an object of mockery: is this the one God has raised as a messenger? He is asked: have you seen him who has taken his emotion as his deity? Would you be his trustee? Then the signs: the shadow God extends, with the sun as its indicator, the night as a garment, the winds before His benevolence, the purifying water. Then the order: so do not defer to those who disown, and strive against them through it with a great striving.

   God made the two seas meet, one sweet, one salty, and placed between them a barrier and a boundary that cannot be crossed; from water He created a human. He sent him only as a bearer of good tidings and a warner. He must say, like the messengers of sura 26: I ask of you no reward for this. When the others are told to prostrate before the All-Benevolent, they ask: what is the All-Benevolent? Fir'awn asked in the same way: what is the Guardian of all beings?

   Then the portrait of the obedient ones of the All-Benevolent: they walk upon the earth gently, and when the ignorant address them, they say: peace. They spend the night prostrate and standing, spend without waste or excess, do not kill the Self that God has made inviolable, do not commit fornication, do not bear witness to falsification. They ask for a rest of the gaze in their spouses and descendants. The high chamber awaits them, for their patience. At the end he must say: you have denied.

   « Blessed is He who sent down the Discernment upon His obedient one » 25:1

   « What is with this messenger, that he eats food and walks in the marketplaces? » 25:7

   « O my Guardian, my people have indeed deserted this Recitation. » 25:30

   « So do not defer to those who disown, » 25:52

   « And the obedient ones of the All-Benevolent are those who walk upon the earth gently, » 25:63

   ↓ "This is nothing but a distortion," say those who disown about the Recitation; in sura 24, a distortion circulates among the believers themselves.

2. 24

   Light upon light

   64 verses

   He hears: this is a surah which We have sent down and made obligatory, perhaps you will remember. Sura 25, read just before, showed the obedient ones who do not commit fornication; sura 24 gives the law. The fornicatress and the fornicator each receive a hundred strokes, with no kindness for them seizing those who apply it, before a group of believers. Whoever accuses a woman protected by the marital bond without bringing four witnesses receives eighty strokes, and his testimony is never accepted again.

   The husband who accuses his wife with no witness but himself testifies four times by God that he is truthful, then calls the curse of God upon himself if he lies. She averts the punishment by testifying four times that he lies, then calling the wrath of God upon herself if he tells the truth. Then comes the scene of the distortion: a group from among you brought it. Do not think it is an ill for you; it is a good.

   The text takes up the scene again: if only, upon hearing it, the believing men and women had presumed good of themselves and said: this is a manifest distortion! They received it with their tongues and spoke it with their mouths, taking it lightly. In sura 25, it was those who disown who said of the Recitation: this is nothing but a distortion. God exhorts them never to repeat it, and not to follow the footsteps of the Diverter.

   Let not those who have favor and ampleness swear not to give to their relatives: let them overlook and turn the page. Those who accuse protected women, unwitting and believing, are cursed; a day will come when their tongues, their hands and their feet will testify against them. Then the rules of the house: one does not enter another's house before making oneself known and greeting its occupants; if you are told: return, then you return.

   He must tell the believing men and women to cast down their sights and preserve their private parts; the believing women multiply their covering cloth over the neckline of their chest. Turn all together to God, O believers, perhaps you will succeed. Marry the unmarried: if they are poor, God will enrich them from His favor; let those who find no marriage refrain. Draw up the deed with those bound by oath who seek it, and do not compel your young women to prostitution.

   Then the image: God is the Light of the heavens and the earth, like a niche wherein is a lamp, in a glass like a brilliant heavenly body, kindled from a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west. Light upon light. In houses God has raised, men glorify Him in the morning and at homecoming; neither trade nor selling distracts them from the remembrance of God, the Contact and pure liberality. They fear a day when the cores and the sights will capsize.

   The works of those who disown are a mirage that the thirsty one takes for water, or darknesses on a deep sea, wave upon wave: he to whom God grants no light has no light. He is asked: have you not seen that God is glorified by those in the heavens and on the earth, and by the birds aligning their wings? God joins the clouds together, sends down the hail, and creates every living being from water.

   Some say: we believe and we defer, then slip away when they are called so that he may judge between them. The believers say: we have heard and we have deferred. He must say: defer; only the clear transmission is incumbent upon the messenger. God promises those who believe to make them successors on the earth, to establish their Law and to change their fear into security. Then the house again: three times of privacy, shared meals, a greeting from God, and the permission asked of him.

   « This is a surah which We have sent down and which We have made obligatory » 24:1

   « This is a manifest distortion! » 24:12

   « God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. » 24:35

   « We have heard and we have deferred. » 24:51

   « He will surely make them successors on the earth » 24:55

   ↓ "Turn all together to God, O believers, perhaps you will succeed"; sura 23 opens on the accomplished fact: "The believers have succeeded."

3. 23

   The believers have succeeded

   118 verses

   He hears an accomplished fact: the believers have succeeded. Sura 24 said: turn all together to God, perhaps you will succeed. They are humble in their Contact, turn away from idle talk, give pure liberality, preserve their chastity, keep their trusts and their pact, and carefully preserve their Contacts: they are the inheritors, who will inherit the Firdaws. Then the creation of the human being: an extract of clay, a drop, a clinging form, an embryo, bones clothed with flesh, another creation.

   Blessed is God, the most beautiful of creators! Then comes death, then the raising on the Day of Appearance. Above, seven roads; from the sky, water in measure, gardens of palms and vines, a tree that comes out of Mount Sinai, and the livestock, which carry like the vessels. Nuh calls his people: obey God. The court that disowns answers: this is nothing but a human like you, a man afflicted with derangement.

   Nuh says: my Guardian, help me, for they have denied me. God reveals to him to craft the vessel under His eyes, to insert into it, when the furnace boils over, two elements of every pair and his family, and not to address Him about the wrongdoers. Then a messenger of another generation hears the same sentence: a human like you, who eats of what you eat. In sura 25 it was: this messenger eats food.

   That messenger in turn says: my Guardian, help me. A little while yet, he is answered, and they will be full of regret: the Cry seizes them. Other generations follow, messengers one after another, each one denied. Moussa and Harun go to Fir'awn and his court, who say: shall we give credit to two humans like us? They are destroyed, and Moussa receives the Scripture. The son of Maryam and his mother are made a sign, and are taken in on a height.

   God says to the messengers: eat of the wholesome things and do sound deeds; this community is a single community, and I am your Guardian. But they split it into pieces, each party rejoicing in what it holds. He is told: forsake them in their gulf, for a time. Those who speed toward the good give what they give, their core trembling because they are returning to their Guardian. No Self is charged beyond its capacity.

   When God seizes their affluent ones with punishment, they will cry out; they will be told: My signs were recited to you, and you stepped back on your heels. Did they not recognize their messenger? He came to them with the truth; had the truth followed their emotions, the heavens and the earth would have been corrupted. He calls them toward a straight path, asking no tribute. He must ask them: to whom belongs the earth? who is the Guardian of the seven heavens? They will say: to God.

   He must pray: my Guardian, if You show me what they are promised, do not place me among the wrongdoing people. He is told: repel evil with what is more beautiful, and take refuge with your Guardian from the incitements of the Diverters. When death comes to one of them, he asks to return to do a sound deed. By no means: beyond them there is a barrier, until the day they are raised. Sura 25 already placed a barrier between the two seas.

   The Horn will be blown, and there will be no ties of lineage. Those whose balances are heavy will succeed; the others will ask to leave the Fire, and He will say: remain therein. A fraction of My obedient ones said: forgive us and have benevolence on us; you scoffed at them, and I have recompensed them for their patience. How many years on the earth? A day, or part of a day. The surah gives him, at the end, the same prayer: forgive and have benevolence.

   « The believers have succeeded, » 23:1

   « My Guardian, help me, for they have denied me. » 23:26

   « And this community of yours is indeed a single community, » 23:52

   « Repel evil with what is more beautiful » 23:96

   « My Guardian, forgive and have benevolence, for You are the best of those who show benevolence. » 23:118

   ↓ Creation step by step, drop, clinging form, embryo, returns in sura 22 for those who doubt the Raising.

4. 22

   The quaking, the House, the striving

   78 verses

   He hears: O mankind, guard yourselves toward your Guardian, for the quaking of the Hour is an immense thing. That day, the woman will forget the child in her care, the pregnant one will lay down her bearing, and he will see mankind intoxicated, though they are not. To whoever doubts the Raising, God recalls creation: earth, drop, clinging form, embryo, then the child who grows, the sequence sura 23 had just told (23:14). And the lifeless earth quivers when water comes down.

   Among mankind, one disputes about God without knowledge or illuminating Scripture; another obeys God in a skewed manner: calm in good times, he turns back on his face in trial, and invokes what neither harms nor benefits him. Have you not seen that all prostrate to God, the sun, the moon, the trees, and many among mankind? Two parties quarrel about their Guardian: garments of fire for some, bracelets of gold and pearls for the others.

   Then the account goes back: God settled for Ibrahim the site of the House and told him: do not associate anything with Me, purify My House, proclaim to mankind the Hajj; they will come to you on foot and on lean mounts, from every distant path. The name of God is remembered over the offering beasts; people eat of them and feed the one who asks nothing and the one who comes. Neither their flesh nor their blood accrues to God: only guardedness accrues to Him.

   God defends those who have believed. Permission is given to those who are fought, expelled from their abodes because they said: our Guardian is God. Without this repelling, hermitages, synagogues, places of Contact and of prostration would be demolished. Then he is told: if they deny you, the peoples of Nuh, Ibrahim and Lut denied, and Moussa too was denied. The unjust towns stand empty, with an abandoned well; it is not the sights that are blind, but the cores.

   He must say: I am only a clear warner to you. He learns that into the wish of every messenger before him, the Diverter cast something; God transcribes what he casts and makes His signs univocal, a trial for sick cores. That day, dominion belongs to God, and He will judge. Those who emigrated, then were killed or died, will be provided for. He sees water come down and the earth turn green, the ship sailing, the heaven held back.

   To each community, a practice: let them not dispute with him; he is told: call to your Guardian. If they argue, he will say: God will judge between you. To mankind, an example: those they invoke will never create a fly. God chooses messengers from among the Agents and from among mankind. To the believers: kneel, prostrate, strive for God. It is the doctrine of your father Ibrahim; be witnesses over mankind. He is your Ally.

   « for the quaking of the Hour is an immense thing. » 22:1

   « And proclaim to mankind the Hajj » 22:27

   « Neither their flesh nor their blood accrues to God » 22:37

   « and Moussa too was denied. » 22:44

   « the doctrine of your father Ibrahim. » 22:78

   ↓ If they deny you, Moussa too was denied (22:44); sura 21 tells of Moussa, Ibrahim, Lut and Nuh, and how God saved them.

5. 21

   We answered him

   112 verses

   He hears: mankind's reckoning has drawn near, while they are heedless. They listen to every reminder while playing; in secret talk they say: is this anything but a human like yourselves? Will you then come to illusion? Then: a jumble of dreams, an invention! He must say: my Guardian knows the saying in the heaven and on the earth. The messengers before him were men who ate food; God kept His promise, saved them, and annihilated the extravagant.

   Unjust towns were shattered: their people ran off crying: woe to us, we have indeed been wrongdoers! until they were a harvest, extinguished. God did not create the heaven and the earth in play; truth smashes falsehood. To every messenger before, He revealed: there is no deity but Me, so obey Me. They say: the All-Benevolent has taken a child. They are rather honored obedient ones, who mediate only for whom He approves.

   The heavens and the earth were a joined mass, which God split apart; from water He made every living thing. No human before him was granted eternity: every Self will taste death. When those who disowned see him, they take him only as an object of mockery. The human being was created out of haste; God says: do not ask Me to hasten My signs. He must say: I only warn you by revelation. The scales of equity will be set up.

   God gave Moussa and Harun the Discernment, a remembrance for those who dread their Guardian. Then Ibrahim asks his father and his people: what are these statues? He breaks them into fragments, except the great one. Brought before the people, he says: it was rather the great one who did it, ask them. They turn back to themselves, then relapse onto their heads: burn him! God says: O fire, be coolness and peace upon Ibrahim. He is saved with Lut.

   Then comes a line of envoys. Nuh called: We answered him, and he was saved from the immense distress. Dawud and Sulayman judge the case of a tilled field where the people's sheep strayed at night; God witnesses their judgment and gives Sulayman the understanding of it. The mountains and the birds glorify with Dawud, who learns to make a coat of mail. To Sulayman, the tempestuous wind, and Diverters who dive for him.

   Ayyub calls: harm has touched me; We answered him, and his family is restored to him. Dhu'n-Nun, gone off in anger, calls out in the darknesses: there is no deity but You, I have been among the wrongdoers; We answered him, and he is saved from anguish. Zakariya calls: do not leave me alone; We answered him, and Yahya is given to him. Then she who protected her intimacy: she and her son are a sign for all beings.

   Your community is one single community, but they have split their affair. When Yajuj and Majuj are opened, those who disowned will say: we were heedless. The heaven will be folded up as a binder closes over its writings. It is written in the Formulary that the earth will be inherited by the sound obedient ones. He himself is sent only as a benevolence for all beings. He must say: I do not know whether it is near; my Guardian, judge with truth.

   « Mankind's reckoning has drawn near, while they are turned away in heedlessness. » 21:1

   « The human being was created out of haste. » 21:37

   « O fire, be coolness and peace upon Ibrahim. » 21:69

   « So We answered him and saved him from anguish; » 21:88

   « And We did not send you except as a benevolence for all beings. » 21:107

   ↓ Moussa and Harun received a remembrance for those who dread (21:48-49); sura 20 sends them to Fir'awn: perhaps he will feel dread.

6. 20

   Not sent down for you to toil

   135 verses · label طه

   He hears two letters, طه, then: We did not send down upon you the Recitation for you to toil, but as a reminder for whoever dreads. Has the discourse concerning Moussa reached you? Moussa sees a fire and tells his family: stay, perhaps I will find guidance there. He is called: take off your sandals; I have chosen you, obey Me and maintain the Contact;;;. Sura 21 spoke of the same revelation to every messenger (21:25). The staff, thrown, comes alive; go to Fir'awn.

   Moussa asks: open my chest for me, untie a knot from my tongue, give me Harun, my brother. His request is granted. God reminds him of his mother, inspired to cast him into the chest, then into the deep, of his sister who points to someone to care for him, his return to his mother, the Self he killed, the years in Madyan. Then: go, both of you, to Fir'awn, speak to him gently; perhaps he will remember, or feel dread. Do not fear, I am with you.

   Fir'awn asks: who is your Guardian? Moussa answers: the One who endowed each thing with its own creation, then guided it. And the first generations? Their knowledge is in a register; my Guardian neither errs nor forgets. Fir'awn denies and demands an appointment; it will be the day of adornment. The workers of illusion keep their secret talk hidden, like those of sura 21 (21:3): these two are workers of illusion.

   They throw their ropes and their staffs, which seem to dart about; Moussa feels a fear within. Do not fear: throw what is in your right hand. It swallows what they have fabricated, and they fall down prostrate: we believe in the Guardian of Harun and Moussa. Fir'awn threatens to cut them apart and fix them to the trunks of palm trees. They answer: you decide only over the near life. Then Moussa leaves by night along a dry road in the sea; the deep covers Fir'awn.

   What made you hasten away from your people, Moussa? He answers: I hastened to You. Meanwhile, as-Samiri has led the people astray: a calf, a body that lowed, here is your deity. Moussa returns angry and bitter. Harun had warned them; when Moussa asks why he did not follow him, he says: son of my mother, do not seize me by the beard nor by the head. As-Samiri is sent away; his deity will be burned and scattered into the deep.

   Thus information about what came before is told to him. When the Trumpet is blown, the severed whisper among themselves: you stayed only ten. Asked about the mountains, he must say: my Guardian will scatter them into a bare plain. Voices are humbled; mediation avails only the one to whom the All-Benevolent gives permission. Then the order: do not hasten with the Recitation before its revelation is completed for you, and say: my Guardian, increase me in knowledge.

   The account goes back to Adam: bound by a pact, he forgets. The Agents prostrate, save Iblis. God warns Adam: he is an enemy to you and your spouse, let him not drive you out of the Garden, or you would toil. The Diverter whispers of the tree of eternity; both eat of it, and their nakedness appears to them. Then his Guardian elects him and guides him. Whoever follows My guidance will not toil; whoever turns away will be gathered blind, forgotten as he forgot.

   The annihilated generations are there, in the dwellings where they walk. He is told: be patient with what they say, glorify your Guardian before the rising of the sun and before its setting, do not stretch your eyes toward the glitter of the near life. Order your household to the Contact, and be constant in it: it is We who provide for you. They demand a sign; he must say: each one is waiting, you will soon know who has let himself be guided.

   « We did not send down upon you the Recitation for you to toil, » 20:2

   « Take off your sandals, for you are in the sanctified valley of Tuwa. » 20:12

   « you decide only over the near life. » 20:72

   « I hastened to You, my Guardian, that You might be pleased. » 20:84

   « My Guardian, increase me in knowledge. » 20:114

   ↓ The Recitation did not come down for you to toil (20:2); sura 19 shows Zakariya, Maryam's child and Ibrahim, never wretched.

7. 19

   A hidden call, children bestowed

   98 verses · label كهيعص

   He hears five letters, كٓهيعٓصٓ, then the remembrance of his Guardian's benevolence toward Zakariya, who called upon his Guardian with a hidden call. His bones are frail, his head white; never, in invoking, has he been wretched. His wife is barren; he asks for an ally who will inherit from him. Yahya is announced to him. How? It is easy for Me. As a sign, he will not speak to people for three full nights. Then: O Yahya, take the Code with strength.

   He is told: mention, in the Scripture, Maryam. She secludes herself in a place toward the east; Our Influx takes before her the form of a well-formed human. She seeks refuge with the All-Benevolent. He says: I am only the messenger of your Guardian, that He may bestow on you a pure boy. The pangs drive her to the trunk of the palm tree: would that I had died before this! She is called from beneath her: a stream, fresh dates, and silence that day.

   She comes to her people, carrying him: you have come with a monstrous thing, O sister of Harun! She points to him. The child in the cradle speaks: I am the obedient one of God, He has given me the Scripture, enjoined upon me the Contact and pure liberality, and has not made me tyrannical or wretched. Such is Issa, son of Maryam. It does not befit God to take a child. The parties differ; he must warn them of the Day of Desolation.

   Then: mention Ibrahim. Four times he says: O my father. Why obey what neither hears nor sees? Follow me, I will guide you; do not obey the Diverter. The father threatens to banish him. Ibrahim answers: peace be upon you; I draw apart from you and from what you invoke, and it may be that, in invoking my Guardian, I shall not be wretched. When he has drawn apart from them, God bestows on him Ishaq and Yaacoub.

   Then Moussa, called from the right side of the Mount, drawn near in private converse, and given his brother Harun; Isma'il, who enjoined upon his people the Contact, what sura 20 had just ordered (20:132); Idris, raised up. When the signs were recited to them, they fell down prostrate, weeping. A generation succeeds them that lets the Contact dissipate. Those who descend say: we do not descend except by the command of your Guardian, and your Guardian is never forgetful. So obey Him.

   The human being says: once dead, will I truly be brought out alive? He was created when he was nothing. All will be brought around Jahannam; none who does not come to it, then those who guarded themselves will be saved. Those who disown ask: which of the two factions has the better standing? The one who says he will be given goods and children will come alone. The Diverters are loosed upon those who disown. He is told: do not be hasty against them.

   Those who guarded themselves will be gathered as a delegation to the All-Benevolent. They have said: the All-Benevolent has taken a child. The heavens are almost torn apart by it, and the mountains almost collapse. There is no one who does not come to Him as an obedient one, and each will come alone. To those who have believed, He will grant affection. The Recitation is made easy in his tongue, to announce and to warn. Of annihilated generations, he hears not the faintest whisper.

   « when he called upon his Guardian with a hidden call, » 19:2

   « Would that I had died before this » 19:23

   « And He has not made me tyrannical or wretched. » 19:32

   « When he had drawn apart from them and from what they obeyed besides God » 19:49

   « So do not be hasty against them: » 19:84

   ↓ Ibrahim draws apart from them and from what they obey; in sura 18, young men do the same and reach the Cave.

Closing: Kaf Ha Ya ʿAyn Ṣad (19:1), then: “A remembrance of your Guardian's benevolence” (19:2).

← Summary frieze

1. 18

   What God knows best

   110 verses

   Section III opens here, right after sura 19, where they had said: the All-Benevolent has taken a child (19:88). He hears: praise be to God, who has sent down upon His obedient one the Scripture, straight, to warn those who said “God has taken a child”, and to give the believers glad tidings of a fine reward. He is told: perhaps you will consume yourself with bitterness, following after them. The adornment of the earth is only a trial.

   Then the first account, which God relates to him in all truth. Young people believe in their Guardian; they draw apart from their people, who took deities, and resort to the Cave. God closes their ears for years. The sun inclines away from them; you would think them awake, while they are asleep; God turns them to the right and to the left; their dog lies at the threshold, paws stretched out.

   God raises them up. How long have you remained? A day, or part of a day. They send one of them to the Capital with their money, in secret. People stumble upon them, so as to know that the Hour is not in doubt, and they dispute: a building, or a place of prostration. Some will say three, five, seven; he must say: my Guardian knows their number best. And never say “I will do that tomorrow” without “if God wills”.

   He must recite the Scripture and hold himself, with constancy, alongside those who call upon their Guardian morning and evening, without his eyes reaching for the adornment of the near life. Then an example: two men. One has two gardens of vines, boasts of his wealth and does not presume the Hour will rise. His companion reminds him who created him. His wealth is encompassed; he turns his palms over and says: would that I had associated no one!

   The near life is water, then chaff scattered by the winds; the enduring sound deeds are better, as sura 19 already said (19:76). The Day comes: the earth laid bare, the register set down, omitting nothing. The Agents prostrated before Adam, except Iblis. Would you take him and his descendants as allies? God has varied the examples, but the human being is, more than anything, given to argument.

   Then Moussa and his young companion go to the meeting-place of the two seas. They forget their fish, which takes its way into the sea; that is what they were seeking. They find an obedient one whom God has taught a knowledge. You will never be able to be patient with me, he tells him. He holes a boat, kills a young boy, sets upright a wall in a city that refused them hospitality. Each time, Moussa protests.

   At the parting, the obedient one explains: the boat of destitute people, threatened by a king (I wanted); the boy, whose parents were believers (we wanted); the wall of two orphans, whose treasure awaits their full maturity (your Guardian wanted). Sura 17 commands it: the goods of the orphan, until he reaches his full maturity (17:34). And he adds: I did not do it of my own accord.

   He is asked about the Holder of the Two Acolytes; he must recite a remembrance of him. At the setting-place of the sun, this one punishes the unjust and rewards the believer; then the rising; then, between two barriers, a people offers him a tribute against Yajuj and Majuj. He refuses the tribute, asks for their help, has iron brought, the fire blown, the naphtha poured. This is a benevolence from my Guardian; when His promise comes, He will flatten it.

   That Day, some surge against others, the Horn is blown, Jahannam is presented to those who disown. The greatest losers think they are doing well. If the sea were ink, it would be exhausted before the words of my Guardian. At last he must say: I am only a human like you; whoever hopes for the meeting with his Guardian, let him do a sound deed.

   « Praise be to God, who has sent down upon His obedient one the Scripture » 18:1

   « And you would have thought them awake, while they were asleep. » 18:18

   « We have remained a day, or part of a day. » 18:19

   « And how would you be patient about what you do not encompass by experience? » 18:68

   « I am only a human like you » 18:110

   ↓ I am only a human, he says; sura 17 has him answer the same to those who demand wonders.

2. 17

   When you read the Recitation

   111 verses

   He heard, in sura 18: I am only a human like you. Here: glory be to the One who made His obedient one travel by night, from the inviolable place of prostration to the farthest place of prostration, to show him some of His signs. Then the Scripture of Moussa, a guidance for the Sons of Israel: you will sow corruption on the earth twice. The first time has come; the second is announced.

   The first time, obedient ones of severe rigor range through the abodes; then the upper hand is given back to them. If you do good, it is for yourselves. This Recitation guides to what is most upright, like the straight Scripture of sura 18 (18:2). Every human being will receive on the Day his register deployed: read your register. No one bears the burden of another, and God does not punish before raising up a messenger.

   Then the commands, to him and to all: obey none but God; toward parents who grow old, do not say “fie!”, lower for them the wing of docility. Give to the close relative, the destitute, the passing traveler, without squandering. Do not kill your children for fear of want, nor the inviolable Self. The goods of the orphan, until his full maturity; the pact; the fair measure. That is what your Guardian has revealed to you of wisdom.

   When he reads the Recitation, God places between him and those who do not believe in the last life a hidden veil; when he mentions his Guardian alone, they turn their backs. They say: a man abused by illusion. Bones and fragments, shall we be raised? He must answer: the One who created you the first time; you will presume you remained only a little while. Sura 18 has shown it: a day, or part of a day (18:19).

   He must tell the obedient ones to say what is most beautiful, for the Diverter sows discord. Iblis refused to prostrate before the one God created of clay; he swore to seize his descendants, by his voice, his cavalry and his promises. But God tells him: over My obedient ones, you have no authority. At sea, in harm, one calls on Him alone; saved onto dry land, one turns away.

   He is told they nearly turned him away from what is revealed to him; had he not been made firm, he would nearly have leaned on them. They nearly shook him out of this land. He must maintain the Contact, from the sun's decline until the darkness of night, and the Recitation of dawn; keep vigil at night; say: the truth has come, falsehood has vanished. He is asked about the Influx: it is of my Guardian's command.

   They set their conditions: a spring, a garden, the sky in pieces, God and the Agents before them, a house of gold ornament, an ascent to the sky with a Scripture to read. He must answer: am I anything but a human, a messenger? Moussa received nine clear signs; Fir'awn called him abused by illusion and wanted to shake them out of that land: he is drowned, with all those with him.

   The Recitation came down with the truth, divided, so that he reads it to mankind gradually. Those given knowledge fall prostrate on their chins, weeping. He must say: call upon God, or call upon the All-Benevolent; neither raise his Contact aloud nor whisper it. And say: praise be to God, who has not taken a child. Sura 18 opens on the same praise, against those who ascribe one to Him (18:4).

   « Glory be to the One who made His obedient one travel by night » 17:1

   « This Recitation indeed guides to what is most upright » 17:9

   « Read your register: today, it suffices that you be your own reckoner. » 17:14

   « And when you read the Recitation, We place between you and those who do not believe in the last life a hidden veil » 17:45

   « Am I anything but a human, a messenger? » 17:93

   ↓ When he reads the Recitation, a veil separates him from those who do not believe; sura 16 commands him to seek refuge with God.

3. 16

   The command of God has come

   128 verses

   He read, in sura 17, the Recitation behind a veil. Here he hears: the command of God has come, so do not seek to hasten it. God sends down the Agents with the Influx, by His command, upon whom He wills: warn that there is no deity but Me. Sura 17 said: the Influx is of my Guardian's command (17:85). Then the human being, created from a drop, and behold, a declared quarreler.

   Then the blessings pass by. Livestock give warmth and food, and a fine bearing when brought home in the evening; horses, mules and donkeys carry and adorn. Water from the sky grows the olive tree, the palms, the vines. The sea gives fresh flesh and an ornament; he sees the vessels cleaving through it. One is guided by the star. If you numbered God's blessing, you could not enumerate it.

   Some are asked: what has your Guardian sent down? They say: legends of the ancients. Those before them plotted, and the roof fell on them. Those who guarded themselves are asked the same: something good. The Agents greet them: peace be upon you, enter the Garden. Those who associate say: had God willed… The messengers owe only the clear transmission. They swear that God will not raise the one who dies: yes indeed!

   God has sent down to him the Reminder, so that he may make clear to mankind what has been sent down to them. The shadows incline, prostrate; the Agents prostrate without arrogance. They assign daughters to God; and when one of them receives the news of a daughter, his face stays darkened, he screens himself from the people: will he keep her, or bury her in the dust? His Guardian inspires the bee to take houses in the mountains.

   God adds examples: a constrained one without power and one who spends from his fine provision; a mute burden and one who commands justice. The command of the Hour is but a blink of the eye. On the Day, a witness will be raised from every community, and he will be brought as a witness against these. God commands justice, beneficence, giving to the close relative. Do not be like her who unravels her thread after firmly spinning it.

   Then the command: when you read the Recitation, seek refuge with God from the banished Diverter. He has no authority over those who believe and entrust themselves to their Guardian; sura 17 told Iblis so (17:65). One sign is substituted for another; they say: you are but an inventor, a human teaches it to him. He must answer: the sacred Influx has brought it down, from your Guardian, with truth.

   A city lived secure, provided from everywhere; it disowns God's blessings and tastes the garment of hunger and fear. It denied the messenger from among itself. Eat what is lawful and good, and be grateful. Ibrahim, for his part, was a community, grateful for His blessings; then the command is revealed to him: follow the doctrine of Ibrahim. The Rest was laid only upon those who differed about it.

   He must call to the way of his Guardian with wisdom and fine admonition, and argue in the most beautiful way. If one retaliates, only in exact measure; patience is better. Be patient: your patience rests only in God. Do not grieve over them, do not be constrained because of what they plot: God is with those who guard themselves and those who do good.

   « The command of God has come: so do not seek to hasten it. » 16:1

   « And if you numbered God's blessing, you could not enumerate it. » 16:18

   « God commands justice, beneficence, and giving to the close relative » 16:90

   « When you read the Recitation, seek refuge with God from the banished Diverter » 16:98

   « yet your patience rests only in God. » 16:127

   ↓ He seeks refuge from the banished Diverter; sura 15 tells how he was banished and denied authority over the obedient ones.

4. 15

   The Reminder preserved

   99 verses · label الر

   He hears الٓر: these are the signs of the Scripture, and of a clear Recitation. Those who disown would like to have been true to God alone; he is told: let them be, they will soon know. They said to him: O you upon whom the Reminder has been sent down, you are deranged! Why do you not bring us the Agents? God answers: We send down the Agents only with truth. It is We who have sent down the Reminder, and We are its preservers.

   All the messengers before were mocked; even if a gate of the sky opened before them, they would say: we are a people abused by illusion. The sky has its constellations, preserved from every banished Diverter; whoever steals a hearing is pursued by a blazing projectile. The earth is spread out; there is nothing whose treasuries God does not hold, and He sends it down only according to a known measure. It is your Guardian who will gather them.

   Then the origin, which sura 38 has already told (38:71-85). The human being is created from resonant clay; the Occulted had been created from a fire of torrid wind. Your Guardian says to the Agents: when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My Influx, bow before him. All prostrate, except Iblis: he will not prostrate before a human of clay. Banished, cursed until the Day of the Due, he asks for a delay and obtains it, until the day of the known moment.

   He announces that he will embellish for them what is on earth and make them all err, except the refined obedient ones. God answers: over My obedient ones you have no authority, except over whoever follows you; Jahannam has seven gates. Those who guarded themselves will enter gardens and springs, in peace; God will remove all rancor from their chests, brothers upon couches. He is told: inform My obedient ones that I am the Most-Forgiving, the Benevolent.

   And inform them about the guests of Ibrahim. They enter and say: Peace! He trembles because of them. They bring him glad tidings of a knowledgeable boy; he objects that old age has touched him. Do not be among those who lose heart. He answers: who loses heart regarding his Guardian's benevolence, except the astray? They are sent to a severed people; the clan of Lut will be saved, except his wife. Sura 14 will show Ibrahim giving thanks for this gift despite old age (14:39).

   With Lut, the envoys say: depart with your family at a time of the night, and let none turn around. The people of the Capital come, exulting; Lut pleads: these are my guests, do not dishonor me; here are my daughters, if you must act. The Cry seizes them at daybreak; the city is overturned under stones of formed clay. The companions of the Thicket, then those of al-Hijr, who carved their houses in the mountains, are seized in their turn.

   The Hour is coming: turn the page, with a gracious gesture. We have given you seven of the couplets and the immense Recitation. Do not extend your eyes toward what some pairs among them enjoy, do not grieve over them, lower your wing for the believers, and say: I am the clear warner. Proclaim what you are commanded. God says: We will know that your chest tightens from what they say; glorify your Guardian, prostrate, and obey until certainty comes to you.

   « These are the signs of the Scripture, and of a clear Recitation. » 15:1

   « It is We who have sent down the Reminder, » 15:9

   « Over My obedient ones, you indeed have no authority » 15:42

   « And who loses heart regarding his Guardian's benevolence, except the astray? » 15:56

   « and obey your Guardian until certainty comes to you. » 15:99

   ↓ Iblis has no authority over the obedient ones; in sura 14, the Diverter admits it: I had no authority over you.

5. 14

   From the darknesses into the light

   52 verses · label الر

   He hears الٓر: a Scripture sent down to him, so that he may bring mankind out of the darknesses into the light, with the permission of their Guardian. Woe to those who love the near life more than the last life and bar from God's way. No messenger is sent except in the tongue of his people. Moussa received the same command: bring your people out of the darknesses into the light, and remind them of the days of God.

   Moussa says to his people: remember God's blessing upon you, when He saved you from the clan of Fir'awn, who slaughtered your sons. Your Guardian made known: if you are grateful, I shall increase you; if you disown, My punishment is severe. Then comes the question: has the information not reached you, about the people of Nuh, the Aad, the Thamud, and those whom only God knows? Their messengers came with clear proofs.

   The peoples put their hands to their mouths: you are only humans like us; bring us a manifest authority. The messengers answer: we are only humans like you, but God graces whom He wills; it is not for us to bring you an authority except with His permission; we shall be patient. Those who disown threaten to expel them from their land. Their Guardian reveals to them: We shall annihilate the wrongdoers, and make you dwell in this land after them.

   The works of those who disown are ashes that the wind whips, on a stormy day. All will come out before God; the weak will ask those who grew proud to be of use to them; there will be no escape. When the matter is decided, the Diverter will say: I failed my promise; I had no authority over you, except to call you, and you answered me; censure yourselves. Sura 15 announced it (15:42).

   A wholesome word is like a wholesome tree: firm root, branches in the sky, giving its fare at every moment; a vile word is an uprooted tree, with no stability. God makes firm those who believe by the firm saying. He is told: tell My obedient ones who believe to maintain the Contact and to spend, secretly and openly, before a day with neither selling nor friendship. The vessel, the rivers, the sun and the moon are subjected to them.

   Ibrahim says: My Guardian, make this land secure, and keep me and my sons at a distance from obeying idols. He has made part of his descendants dwell in a valley without cultivation, near the House, so that they may maintain the Contact. He praises God who bestowed on him, despite old age, Isma'il and Ishaq: in sura 15 a boy was announced to him (15:53). He asks forgiveness for himself, his two parents and the believers.

   Let him not think that God is heedless of the wrongdoers: He only adjourns them until a day when the sights will be fixed. He must warn mankind; the wrongdoers will ask for a near term. Let him not think that God fails His promise to His messengers. The earth will be changed into another earth; all will come out before God, the One, the Subjugator. This is a transmission for mankind, so that the possessors of intelligence may remember.

   « so that you may bring mankind out of the darknesses into the light » 14:1

   « If you are grateful, I shall surely increase you » 14:7

   « I had no authority over you, except to call you, and you answered me » 14:22

   « A wholesome word is like a wholesome tree, whose root is firm and whose branches are in the sky » 14:24

   « This is a transmission for mankind » 14:52

   ↓ Tell My obedient ones to maintain the Contact and to spend (14:31); sura 13 shows those who did so, welcomed by the Agents.

6. 13

   The froth goes off

   43 verses · label المر

   He hears الٓمٓر: these are the signs of the Scripture; what has been sent down to you from your Guardian is the truth, but most men do not believe. God elevated the heavens without pillars that you can see, and subjected the sun and the moon, each running to an appointed term. On the earth, neighboring plots, vines and palms are irrigated by the same water; God favors some of them over others in their fare.

   If he marvels, marvelous is their saying: when we are earth, shall we be in a new creation? They ask him to hasten evil, and demand: why has a sign not been sent down upon him! He hears: you are only a warner, and to every people belongs a guide. God knows what every female carries; each one has relaying watchers. God does not change what is in a people until they change what is in themselves.

   The lightning is feared and hoped for; the thunder glorifies Him, as do the Agents, out of fear of Him. Those invoked besides Him do not respond: it is like stretching out one's palms toward water that never reaches the mouth. He must say: who is the Guardian of the heavens and the earth? God. Are the blind and the seeing equal? God is the Creator of all things, the One, the Subjugator. The torrent carries a froth; the froth goes off, what is useful to men remains.

   Only the possessors of intelligence remember: faithful to the pact, they join what God has commanded to be joined, are patient, maintain the Contact, spend secretly and openly, and push back evil with good. They will enter the Gardens of permanence with those who were sound among their parents, their spouses and their descendants. The Agents will enter upon them through every gate: peace be upon you, because you were patient! Sura 14 gave the command (14:31).

   They ask again for a sign. He must say: God guides to Himself whoever has recourse to Him; it is by the remembrance of God that the cores are calmed. He is sent within a community to recite what is revealed to him, and he says: to Him I entrust myself. Even a Recitation that set the mountains in motion… but the command belongs entirely to God. Messengers before were mocked; God granted leeway, then He seized.

   Those who were given the Scripture rejoice at what has been sent down to him; some of the parties disavow part of it. If he followed their emotions, he would have no one against God. The messengers before had spouses and descendants; none brings a sign except by God's permission. Whether he is shown what is promised them or is kept faithfully, only the transmission is incumbent upon him. They say: you are not sent. He answers: God suffices as witness.

   « You are, yourself, only a warner, » 13:7

   « God indeed does not change what is in a people until they change what is in themselves; » 13:11

   « the froth goes off as scum, » 13:17

   « Peace be upon you, because you were patient! » 13:24

   « only the transmission is incumbent upon you, and the reckoning belongs to Us. » 13:40

   ↓ Those who push back evil with good enter with their parents (13:22-23); in sura 12, Youssof forgives his brothers and welcomes his parents.

7. 12

   The most beautiful of accounts

   111 verses · label الر

   He hears الٓر: these are the signs of the explicit Scripture, a flawless Recitation. We relate to you the most beautiful of accounts; before it, he was among the heedless. Youssof says to his father: I saw eleven heavenly bodies, the sun and the moon prostrate before me. The father answers: do not relate your vision to your brothers; your Guardian will elect you, teach you the prediction of events, and complete His blessing upon you, as upon Ibrahim and Ishaq.

   The brothers say: Youssof and his brother are dearer to our father; kill Youssof, or deport him. One of them: throw him rather into the depths of the well. They get the father to send him with them; he fears the wolf. God then reveals to Youssof: you will inform them of this affair. In the evening they come back weeping, with his shirt stained with lying blood. The father says: your Self has suggested a course to you. Gracious patience!

   Travelers pass; the water-drawer brings up a boy; he is sold for a few coins. In Misr, the buyer says to his wife: make his sojourn honorable. God establishes Youssof on that land; at his maturity He gives him judgment and knowledge. She in whose house he is seeks to obtain him from himself and bolts the doors. He says: refuge in God! He sees the demonstration of his Guardian, and God turns evil away from him.

   Both race to the door; she tears his shirt from behind, and her chief is at the door. A witness from her family decides: torn from behind, she has lied. The women of the Capital talk; she invites them and gives them knives; seeing him, they cut their hands: this is nothing but a noble Agent! She threatens: he will be imprisoned. Youssof says: My Guardian, prison is dearer to me; his Guardian turns their scheme away from him.

   In prison, two young men tell him their visions: wine being pressed, bread eaten by the birds. Before answering, he says: I have followed the doctrine of my ancestors, Ibrahim, Ishaq and Yaacoub. Are divided masters better, or God, the One, the Subjugator? Judgment belongs only to God. One will give his master wine to drink, the other will be fixed to the stake. He tells the first: remember me to your master; the Diverter makes him forget, and Youssof remains some years in prison.

   The king sees seven fat cows devoured by seven lean ones; his court sees only tangled dreams. The one who had been saved remembers, and goes to Youssof. He explains: seven years of cultivation, then seven severe years, then a year of saving rain. The king has him summoned; Youssof first asks how it stands with the women who cut their hands. The wife of the Powerful One confesses: it is I who sought to obtain him. Youssof asks: place me in charge of the treasuries of this land.

   His brothers come for supplies; he recognizes them, they do not recognize him. He demands that they bring him their brother, and has their merchandise put back in their saddlebags. The father yields only against a solemn engagement before God, and tells them to enter by separate gates: judgment belongs only to God. Youssof takes his brother in: I am your brother, do not grieve. He places the cup in his saddlebag; a herald cries: you are thieves!

   The cup is drawn out of the brother's bag, and he is held: thus did God scheme for Youssof. The eldest refuses to leave the land without his father's permission. The father answers: Gracious patience! His eyes turn white from grief; he complains only to God, and sends his sons to inquire about Youssof and his brother: do not lose hope. They come back: harm has touched us. He asks them: do you know what you did to Youssof?

   Is it really you, Youssof? He answers: no reproach upon you; today, God forgives you. His shirt, cast upon the father's face, gives him back his sight. Youssof takes in his father and mother; they fall down before him in prostration: this is the prediction of my vision of old. The you is told: you were not with them; say: this is my way, I call to God. When the messengers had lost all hope, Our help came to them.

   « We relate to you the most beautiful of accounts » 12:3

   « Gracious patience! » 12:18

   « My Guardian, prison is dearer to me than what they call me to » 12:33

   « I complain of my outpouring and my grief only to God, » 12:86

   « No reproach upon you: » 12:92

   « This is my way: I call to God. » 12:108

   ↓ Our help came to the messengers (12:110); sura 11 tells it: when Our command came, We saved Hud, Salih and Shu'ayb.

8. 11

   The same word, messenger after messenger

   123 verses · label الر

   He hears الٓر, then a Scripture whose signs have been made univocal, then detailed. The word he carries is brief: obey none but God; I am for you a warner and a bearer of good tidings; ask forgiveness of your Guardian, then turn back to Him. He will let you enjoy until an appointed term; if you turn your backs, the punishment of a great day. They fold their chests to hide from Him; He knows what they keep secret.

   God created the heavens and the earth in six days, His Edifice founded upon the water, to test which of you acts best. If he says: you will be raised up after death, they answer: a manifest illusion. The human being, deprived of a benevolence, loses all hope; given a blessing after hardship, he becomes joyful, boastful. Perhaps he will leave part of what is revealed to him, his chest tightened, because they demand a treasure or an Agent. He is only a warner.

   They say: he has invented it. He must answer: then bring ten invented surahs like it; sura 10, read right after, will reduce the challenge to a single one. The one who relies on a clear proof from his Guardian has, before him, the Scripture of Moussa; let him not contend about it. Those who invent a lie against God will be presented, and the witnesses will speak. Two fractions: the blind and the deaf, the seeing and the hearing.

   Then Nuh tells his people the same word: obey none but God. The court answers: you are only a human like us, and only the lowliest among us have followed you. Nuh too relies on a clear proof; he does not chase away those who believe; he does not claim to hold God's treasuries, nor to be an Agent. They demand what he promises them. It is revealed to him: none of your people will believe anymore; craft the vessel, under Our eyes.

   Every time a court of his people passes by, it scoffs at him. Then the command comes, the furnace boils over: carry into it two elements of every pair, your family and those who have believed; few have believed. The vessel sails amid waves like mountains. Nuh calls his son, who stands apart: embark with us. The son answers: a mountain will safeguard me from the water. Nuh: no safeguard today against God's command. The wave intervenes; the son is drowned.

   The earth gulps its water, the vessel establishes itself on al-Judi. Nuh calls upon his Guardian: my son is of my family, and Your promise is truth. He hears: he is not of your family, he is a work that is unsound; do not ask Me about what you have no knowledge of. Nuh asks forgiveness and descends with a peace. The text tells the one it addresses: you did not know these pieces of information; so be patient, the outcome belongs to those who guard themselves.

   Hud tells the Aad the same word: ask forgiveness, then turn back to Him, and He will send upon you the sky in copious streams. They answer that one of their deities has struck him with evil; he challenges them: scheme against me all together. Salih tells the Thamud: this is the she-camel of God, a sign for you; touch her with no evil. They hamstring her; he grants them three days. When the command comes, the envoy is saved with those who believed; the Cry seizes the wrongdoers.

   The messengers come to Ibrahim: Peace! He promptly brings a roasted calf; their hands do not reach it, and he feels fear. They are sent to the people of Lut. His wife, standing, laughs; then she receives the glad tidings of Ishaq, and after Ishaq of Yaacoub, whose clan sura 12, read just before, told of (12:6). Ibrahim argues about the people of Lut; he hears: turn away from this, the command of your Guardian has already come.

   At Lut's house, his people come rushing. He says: here are my daughters; do not disgrace me concerning my guests; is there not among you a well-advised man? The messengers tell him: depart at night with your family, except your wife; their appointment is the morning. The city is turned over, its top its bottom. Shu'ayb tells Madyan: do not diminish the measure nor the balance. They answer: does your Contact command you this? He only wants to make things sound, as much as he can.

   They tell him: were it not for your kindred, we would have banished you. He answers: act according to your position; watch, I watch with you. The Cry seizes them in turn. Moussa is sent to Fir'awn; they follow the command of Fir'awn, who will bring his people to the Fire on the Day of Appearance. Such are the pieces of information about the cities: God did not wrong them. On the Day, no Self will speak without His permission; there will be the wretched and the happy.

   Then the commands: stand straight, as you have been commanded, with those who have turned back with you; do not lean upon those who have done wrong; maintain the Contact at the two ends of the day, for good deeds dispel bad ones; be patient, God does not let the reward of those who do good be lost, as Youssof said (12:90). These accounts of the messengers make his Conscience firm. He must tell those who do not believe: act, and wait.

   « Obey none but God; I am for you, from Him, a warner and a bearer of good tidings » 11:2

   « And craft the vessel, under Our eyes and by Our revelation, » 11:37

   « There is no safeguard today against God's command, except for him to whom He shows benevolence. » 11:43

   « I only want to make things sound, as much as I can; » 11:88

   « So stand straight, as you have been commanded » 11:112

   « that by which We make your Conscience firm » 11:120

   ↓ He had to answer: bring ten surahs (11:13); sura 10 reduces the challenge to a single surah (10:38).

9. 10

   Following what is revealed

   109 verses · label الر

   Section III closes here. He hears الٓر: these are the signs of the Scripture full of wisdom. Is it a wonder that it was revealed to a man among them: warn mankind, and give good news to those who have believed of a firm step of veracity with their Guardian? Those who disown say: a manifest illusion. Your Guardian created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself upon the Edifice; He begins the creation, then repeats it.

   He made the sun a radiance and the moon a light with fixed stations. Those who do not hope for Our meeting, content with the near life, will have the Fire. Those who have believed will have as their cry: Glory be to You, O God!; as their greeting: Peace. When harm touches the human being, he calls, lying on his side, sitting or standing; relieved, he goes his way. God annihilated the generations before, then made you successors, to look at how you would act.

   When Our signs are recited to them, those who do not hope for Our meeting say: bring a Recitation other than this one, or change it. He must say: it is not for me to change it; I only follow what is revealed to me; I remained among you a whole lifetime before it. They take mediators. Mankind was one single community, then they diverged. To those who demand a sign, he must say: wait, I wait with you.

   Then the sea: the vessel sails by a wholesome wind, and they rejoice; a violent wind comes upon it, the swell comes from every side. They call upon God, devoting the Law to Him: if You save us, we will be grateful. Saved, they promptly commit iniquity. The near life is like an earth embellished by water from the sky, whose people presume they master it; Our command comes to it, and it is a mown field. God calls to the Abode of Peace.

   On the Day, they will be gathered; their associates will say: it was not us that you obeyed; every Self will recite what it did. He must ask: who provides for you, who brings the living out of the dead? They will say: God. Do your associates begin the creation, do they guide to the truth? This Recitation could not have been invented. To he has invented it, he answers: then bring a surah like it; sura 11 asked for ten.

   If they deny him, he must say: to me my work, to you your work; you are quit of what I do, I am quit of what you do. Some listen to him, but will he make the deaf hear? They ask: when is this promise? He answers: to every community a term. Will you believe only once the punishment has happened? Now?! They inquire: is it true? He says: yes, by my Guardian!

   O mankind, an admonition has come to you from your Guardian, a healing for what is in the chests. He is in no situation without God being witness to it. The allies of God: no fear upon them. Let not their saying grieve him: might belongs wholly to God. Then the command: recite to them the information concerning Nuh, who said: bring together your resolve and your associates, then carry it out against me. They deny him; he is saved in the vessel.

   After other messengers, Moussa and Harun are raised up to Fir'awn and his court. The truth comes to them; they say: a manifest illusion! Moussa asks: is this illusion? The workers of illusion throw; Moussa says: God will render it vain. Only descendants of his people give him credit, in fear of Fir'awn. Moussa tells them: entrust yourselves to Him. They answer: our Guardian, do not make us a trial for the wrongdoing people.

   God reveals to the two brothers: set up houses for your people in Misr; make them a rallying point; maintain the Contact. Moussa asks: obliterate the goods of Fir'awn and his court. He hears: your invocation is answered; stand you both straight. The Sons of Israel traverse the sea; the drowning overtakes Fir'awn, who says: I believe. He hears the question announced earlier: Now?! His body will be a sign for those who come after him.

   He is told: if you are in doubt, ask those who read the Scripture before you. Only one city believed and its faith benefited it: the people of Younes, relieved of the punishment of disgrace. Is it you who would compel men to become believers? He must say: I obey God; the truth has come to you from your Guardian; I am not, for you, a trustee. And the command: follow what is revealed to you, be patient until God judges.

   « It is not for me to change it of my own accord; » 10:15

   « I remained among you a whole lifetime before it » 10:16

   « you are quit of what I do, and I am quit of what you do. » 10:41

   « Now?! When you disobeyed before » 10:91

   « Is it you who would compel men to become believers? » 10:99

   « and be patient until God judges. » 10:109

   ↓ He must say: I am quit of what you do (10:41); sura 9 opens on the quittance of God and His messenger.

Closing: Alif Lam Ra (10:1), then: “These are the signs of the Scripture full of wisdom” (10:1).

← Summary frieze

1. 9

   Quittance and those left behind

   129 verses

   Sura 9 opens section II, without “In the name of God”, on the word sura 10 gave the denied messenger: I am quit of what you do (10:41). Quittance, from God and His messenger, toward the associators bound by a pact: they may move about freely in the land for four months. On the Great Day of the Hajj, the proclamation is made to mankind. He must announce a painful punishment; those who did not stint in anything keep their pact until its term.

   When the inviolable months have run out, the order is to fight the associators; if they turn back, maintain the Contact and give pure liberality, their way is left clear. If one of them asks him for asylum, he must grant it until that man hears the word of God, then convey him to his place of safety. If they turn back, they are brothers in the Law; those who violated their oaths and were minded to expel the messenger must be fought.

   Only he populates the places of prostration of God who believes, maintains the Contact and dreads God alone; giving drink to those performing the Hajj does not equal striving in His way. He must say: if your fathers, your sons, your goods and your dwellings are dearer to you than God and His messenger, bide your time. On the day of Hunayn, their great number availed them nothing; then God sent down His tranquility and armies they did not see.

   Then the order to fight those who, having received the Scripture, believe neither in God nor in the Last Day, until they pay the war indemnity. Two sayings are reported: Al-'Uzayr is the son of God, Al-Massih is the son of God. They want to extinguish God's light with their mouths; it is He who sent His messenger with the Law of truth to make it prevail, word for word as in 48:28. The hoarded gold and silver will be used to sear them.

   The months are twelve in God's Code, four of them inviolable; the deferred is only an increase in disowning. Then the question to the believers: what is with you, that you cling heavily to the earth when told to mobilize? If you do not help him, God has already helped him: expelled, the second of two, in the cave, he told his companion not to grieve. Tranquility came down upon him, with armies you did not see.

   The mobilization sorts out those around him. For a near gain, some would have followed him; they will swear they would have gone out. He is told: God has overlooked it for you; why did you give them permission? Those who believe do not ask for it. One says: do not expose me to the trial. Others disparage him over the acts of charity, whose recipients the text names, from the poor to the traveler, or say he is all ear. He must answer: an ear of good for you.

   Questioned, they say they were only playing; he must answer: was it God, His signs and His messenger that you were mocking? The hypocrites, men and women, forgot God; the believers, men and women, are allies of one another. Those before, from the people of Nuh to the overturned cities, received their messengers; sura 7 will tell their stories. Some had promised to give if He enriched them; once enriched, they become stingy, and seventy requests for forgiveness would change nothing.

   Those who were left behind rejoice in sitting back and say: do not mobilize in the heat. Sura 48 announced it in the future (48:11); sura 9 tells it. He must say: the fire of Jahannam is even more intense in heat; and if they ask to go out: you will never go out with me. No discomfort for the weak and the sick; those he cannot transport go away, their eyes overflowing with tears.

   The notables are even more intense in disowning; yet some take what they spend as a means of drawing near to God. God is satisfied with the very first forerunners, emigrants and Auxiliaries. Around him are hypocrites he does not know: We know them. He must take from their goods an act of charity that purifies them, and be in contact with them. A place of prostration was taken to harm: he must never maintain himself there; its structure stands on the edge of a ravine.

   God has bought from the believers their Selves and their goods in exchange for the Garden, a promise in the Tawrah, the Injil and the Recitation; in sura 48, those who pledged allegiance to him pledged it to God (48:10). He will not ask forgiveness for the associators: Ibrahim himself declared himself quit of his father. God turns with clemency toward the Informant, the emigrants and the Auxiliaries, then toward the three left behind, when the earth had become narrow for them despite its vastness.

   The believers are not to mobilize all together: a group from every fraction gains deep understanding in the Law and warns its people on returning. When a surah is sent down, one asks: which of you has this surah increased in faith? It increases the believers in faith, and adds filth to sick cores; others look at one another and slip away. A messenger from among yourselves, solicitous for you, has come. If they turn their backs, he must say: God suffices me, to Him I entrust myself.

   « Quittance, from God and His messenger » 9:1

   « grant him asylum, until he hears the word of God » 9:6

   « Do not grieve, God is indeed with us. » 9:40

   « You will never go out with me » 9:83

   « God suffices me » 9:129

   ↓ He must say that God suffices him; in sura 8, God tells it to him: God suffices you.

2. 8

   The day of the Discernment

   75 verses

   He hears that they ask him about the surpluses, and must answer: the surpluses belong to God and the messenger; guard yourselves, make sound what is between you, like the brothers who had to be reconciled in 49:10. The true believers are those whose cores tremble when God is remembered, whose faith increases when His signs are recited, who maintain the Contact and spend.

   Then the account, addressed to him: his Guardian brought him out of his house in truth, while a fraction of believers were averse to it and argued with him, as if they were being driven toward death. God promised them one of the two groups; they wished for the one without arms. God wanted, by His words, to make the truth prevail and to cut off, to the last remnant, those who disown.

   They call on their Guardian to rescue them; He answers: I reinforce you with a thousand Agents, following one another. It is only good tidings: help comes only from God. Drowsiness covers them as a security; water comes down from the sky to purify them and make firm their steps. His Guardian reveals to the Agents: I am with you, make firm those who have believed; multiply the pledges beyond what is owed. Sura 47 gave the rule (47:4).

   Order to the believers: when you meet those who disown, do not turn your backs to them. Then the act is taken from them: it was not you who killed them, it was God; and to him: you did not throw, when you threw, it was God who threw. To those who disown: if you sought the opening, the opening has already come to you, and your battalion will not avail you, however numerous. Sura 9 said it to the believers at Hunayn (9:25).

   Defer to God and His messenger; do not be like those who say they have heard, while they do not hear. Respond to the messenger when he calls you to what gives you life: God interposes between man and his core. Remember when you were few, fearing to be snatched away: He took you in. Do not betray your trusts; your goods and your children are a trial. If you guard yourselves, He will grant you a Discernment.

   He is reminded of the plot of those who disown: to immobilize him, kill him, or expel him; they plotted, and God plotted. At the recitation they said: legends of the ancients; and: if this is the truth, rain down stones upon us. God would not punish them while he was among them. They bar from the inviolable place of prostration without being its custodians, and spend their goods to bar. He must tell them: if they cease, the bygone will be forgiven them.

   A fifth of the spoils belongs to God, the messenger, relatives, orphans, the destitute and the traveler, if you believe in what was sent down on the day of the Discernment, the day the two forces met. They were on the farther side, you on the nearer, the cavalry lower down. In his sleep, God showed them to him as few, then made each side appear few in the other's eyes; in 48:27, another vision comes true.

   When you meet a battalion, stand firm, remember God, do not dispute, be patient. The Diverter had embellished their works: none can overcome you today, I am for you a neighbor who grants asylum. When the two battalions saw one another, he stepped back on his heels: I am quit of you, I see what you do not see. If he could see the Agents keeping faithfully those who disowned! So was the clan of Fir'awn seized.

   The worst of living beings are those with whom he made a pact and who break it every time: if he surprises them in war, let him scatter through them those who follow them; if he fears betrayal, let him denounce on equal terms. Prepare strength and horses. But if they incline toward peace, let him incline toward it and entrust himself to God. If they want to deceive him, God suffices him: it is He who reconciled the believers' cores.

   O Informant! God suffices you; incite the believers to combat: twenty patient men will overcome two hundred; then God lightens it, and a hundred will overcome two hundred. It was not for an informant to have captives until he had fully subdued the land. He must say to the captives: if God knows any good in your cores, He will give you better. Those who emigrated and strove, and those who took them in and helped, are allies of one another.

   « They ask you about the surpluses. » 8:1

   « I reinforce you with a thousand Agents, following one another. » 8:9

   « And you did not throw, when you threw, but it was God who threw, » 8:17

   « I see what you do not see » 8:48

   « O Informant! God suffices you, » 8:64

   ↓ The Diverter steps back, seeing what they do not see; sura 7 says: he and his tribe see you unseen.

3. 7

   From Adam to the Tablets of Moussa

   206 verses · label المص

   The last sura of section II, sura 7 opens with letters, الٓمٓصٓ, then: a Scripture has been sent down to you; let there be no discomfort in your chest because of it, so that you may warn by it. Follow what has been sent down, not allies besides Him. How many a city annihilated, struck by night or at midday rest! Their only cry: we have been wrongdoers. God will question those who were sent to, and the envoys; on that day, the weighing will be the truth.

   God recalls: We created you, then gave you form, then told the Agents to prostrate before Adam. All prostrate, except Iblis: I am better than him, You created me from fire and him from clay. Diminished, he asks for a delay, obtains it, and swears: I will sit in wait for them on Your straight path, I will come at them from before and behind, from right and left. God drives him out: I will fill Jahannam with all of you.

   Adam and his spouse dwell in the Garden; they eat wherever they will, but must not approach the tree. The Diverter whispers to them: your Guardian forbade it so that you would not become two kings, or eternal. He swears that he advises them sincerely. They taste the tree; their nakedness appears, they stitch leaves onto themselves. Their Guardian calls out to them. Both say: we have wronged ourselves. Descend: there you will live, there you will die.

   Then to the sons of Adam: a garment covers your nakedness, and the garment of guardedness is better. Let not the Diverter try you as he did your two ancestors: he sees you from where you do not see him. Those who commit an indecency say: God ordered it of us. He must say: God does not order indecency; eat and drink without wasting; my Guardian has prohibited only indecencies, uncovered or hidden. To every community a term.

   If messengers from among you come relating His signs, whoever guards himself has no fear. In the Fire, each community curses its sister, and the last asks double punishment for the first; those who denied will enter the Garden only when the camel passes through the eye of the needle. The Garden calls out to the Fire: have you found true what your Guardian promised you? Yes. Between the two, a veil; on the Heights, men recognize each one by his marks.

   The Fire asks the Garden for water; God forgets them, as they forgot the meeting of this day. A detailed Scripture was brought to them; do they await anything but its prediction? On that day, they will wish to be sent back. Your Guardian created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself upon the Edifice. Invoke Him beseechingly and covertly. He sends the winds, sends down water on a dead land and brings forth fruit: thus will He bring forth the dead.

   The peoples come. Nuh says: O my people, obey God, you have no other deity than Him. The court sees him in error; he answers: I am a messenger; do you marvel that a reminder should come to you through a man from among yourselves? He is saved in the vessel, the others are drowned. Hud says the same sentence to the Aad, who call him foolish and demand what he promises. He tells them: wait. They are cut off to the last remnant.

   Salih shows the Thamud the she-camel of God: let her eat on God's earth. The proud court asks the weak who believed: do you know that he is sent? They hamstring the she-camel; the tremor leaves them lying in their abode, and Salih turns his back on them: I advised you. Lut reproaches his people for an indecency none had committed before; their only answer: expel them. He is saved with his family, except his wife; a rain falls upon them.

   Shu'ayb asks Madyan for the full measure and tells them: do not sit in wait on every path, as Iblis swore to do; remember that you were few. The court threatens to expel him unless he re-enters their doctrine; he answers: our Guardian, open between us in truth. The tremor seizes them. Then the rule: every city is seized by adversity, then granted ease, then seized unexpectedly. None feels secure from God's plot, except the people of the losers.

   Then Moussa comes to Fir'awn: I am a messenger from the Guardian of all beings; let the Sons of Israel go with me. His staff becomes a serpent, his hand comes out white. The court: this is a knowledgeable worker of illusion. The workers of illusion throw, and fill the eyes of men with reverence. Moussa throws his staff, which snaps up what they distorted. They fall prostrate and believe. Fir'awn threatens to sever their hands and feet; they say: our Guardian, inundate us with patience.

   Fir'awn announces he will massacre their sons. Moussa tells his people: seek help in God, and be patient; the earth belongs to God, He gives it as inheritance to whom He wills. Then the flood, the locusts, the lice, the frogs and the blood; the clan of Fir'awn promises, then goes back on its word, and is drowned: sura 8, read just before, recalled it (8:54). The people reduced to weakness inherit the risings and the settings, for having been patient. Past the sea, they ask for a deity.

   Moussa leaves for the appointment of forty nights and entrusts his people to Harun. He asks: show Yourself to me. The answer: look at the mountain. His Guardian unveils Himself to it and flattens it, and Moussa falls thunderstruck. He receives the Tablets, a detail of all things: take them with strength. Meanwhile the people take a calf, a body that lowed. Moussa returns angry, throws down the Tablets, seizes his brother by the head, then asks forgiveness for himself and his brother.

   Those who took the calf will meet anger and humiliation. His anger subsided, Moussa takes up the Tablets. With seventy men, he is seized by the tremor and implores: would You annihilate us for what the foolish have done? God answers: My benevolence embraces all things; He will inscribe it for those who follow the messenger, the Informant without a prior Scripture, written in the Tawrah and the Injil, and who champion and help him. He must say: O mankind, I am the messenger of God to all of you.

   Then the people of Moussa: twelve bloodlines; the struck rock makes twelve springs well forth; the cloud, the manna and the quails. Enter prostrate saying Unburden us: the wrongdoers change the saying. He is told: ask them about the city near the sea, where the fish came on the day of the Rest. Those who forbade evil are saved; the others become apes, rebuffed. A posterity inherits the Scripture and takes fleeting goods; the mountain is torn out above them.

   Your Guardian takes the descendants of the sons of Adam and makes them bear witness: Am I not your Guardian? They say: yes, we bear witness; so they cannot say on the Day: we were heedless, or: our ancestors associated. He is told: recite to them the information about the one who divested himself of the signs he received; he followed his emotion, like the dog that pants whether you bear down on it or leave it. Many have cores, eyes and ears that serve them nothing.

   Those who deny, God will gradually lead them, from where they do not know: My scheme is solid. These are the words of sura 68 (68:44-45). Their companion has no derangement; have they not looked into the sovereign dominion of the heavens and the earth? They ask him about the Hour: when will it drop anchor? He must say: knowledge of it is only with my Guardian; I hold, for myself, neither benefit nor harm; I am nothing but a warner and a bearer of good tidings.

   A couple, from a single Self, awaits a child and promises gratitude; once granted, it assigns associates to God. These associates have neither feet, nor hands, nor eyes, nor ears. He must say: invoke your associates, scheme against me; my Ally is God. He is told: take the surplus, order what is recognized, turn away from the ignorant; if the Diverter goads you, seek refuge in God. When the Recitation is read, listen to it and be silent; those who are with your Guardian prostrate.

   « let there be no discomfort in your chest because of it » 7:2

   « I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path » 7:16

   « My Guardian has prohibited only indecencies, uncovered or hidden » 7:33

   « My benevolence embraces all things. » 7:156

   « for My scheme is solid. » 7:183

   « listen to it and be silent » 7:204

   ↓ The Guardian prohibited only indecencies, uncovered or hidden; sura 6, which opens section I, recites what He has made inviolable.

Closing: Alif Lam Mim Ṣad (7:1), then: “A Scripture has been sent down to you” (7:2).

← Summary frieze

1. 6

   What your Guardian has made inviolable

   165 verses

   Section I opens here, right after sura 7. He hears: praise be to God, who created the heavens and the earth, and made the darknesses and the light; yet those who disown set up equals to their Guardian. No sign comes to them but they turn away from it. How many generations were annihilated before them! A writing on parchment, touched with their hands, they would call manifest illusion. They demand an Agent; were one sent down, the matter would be decided.

   He must say: travel the earth, see the end of those who denied; to God belongs what is in the heavens and on the earth, He has prescribed benevolence upon Himself. Should I take an ally other than God? This Recitation was revealed to me so that I might warn you by it, and whoever it reaches. On the day of the gathering, those who associated will swear they never associated; set before the Fire, they will wish to be sent back.

   Then he is spoken to as one who grieves: what they say grieves you, but it is not you they deny, it is the signs of God. Messengers before him, denied, were patient until help came to them. If their turning away weighs upon him, let him seek, if he can, a tunnel into the earth or a ladder into the sky. Every being that moves on the earth, every bird flying with its two wings, forms communities like you.

   Communities before were seized by adversity; when they forgot the reminder, God opened upon them the gates of every thing, then seized them unawares. He must say: I do not hold the treasuries of God, I am not an Agent, I only follow what is revealed to me. He must not chase away those who invoke their Guardian morning and evening; when they come to him, he tells them: peace be upon you.

   God holds the keys of what escapes the senses: no leaf tumbles but He knows it. He keeps men by night and raises them by day; when death comes, His envoys keep them faithfully. Saved from the darknesses of land and sea, they associate again. When he sees those who immerse themselves in the signs, he must turn away until they move to another discourse, and forsake those who took their Law as play.

   Ibrahim says to his father Azar: I see you and your people in manifest error. When the night closes in on him, he sees a heavenly body and says: this is my guardian; it disappears: I do not love those that disappear. Then the moon, then the sun, greater; each one disappears. He then says: O my people, I am quit of what you associate, and he sets his direction toward the One who originated the heavens and the earth. His people dispute with him.

   God bestows on him Ishaq and Yaacoub; He guided Nuh, then Dawud, Sulayman, Ayyub, Youssof, Moussa, Harun, Zakariya, Yahya, Issa, Ilyas, Isma'il, Al-Yasa', Younes and Lut. He is told: model yourself on their guidance, and say: I do not ask you for any reward. To those who say God has sent nothing down upon a human, he answers: who sent down the Scripture that Moussa brought? Here is a blessed Scripture, to warn the metropolis of cities.

   He sees the wrongdoers in the throes of death: the Agents stretch out their hands, bring forth your Self; they come alone, as at their first creation. God splits open the seed and the kernel, makes the night a rest, sets the stars for guidance, brings forth vegetation, the palm, the vine, the olive and the pomegranate. They ascribe to Him sons and daughters; how could He have a child? Sights do not overtake Him.

   He must follow what is revealed to him; he is not their preserver. They swear that if a sign came to them they would believe; when it comes, they will not believe. He asks: should I seek a judge other than God, who sent down to you the Scripture, detailed? Eat of that over which the name of God has been mentioned: He has detailed for you what He has prohibited. He opens the chest of the one He wants to guide, and narrows the other's.

   They assign to God a portion of the tilth and the cattle, and another to the associates; their associates embellish for them the killing of their children; they prohibit beasts, as an invention against God. Eight, in pairs: is it the males He prohibited, or the females? He must say: I find nothing prohibited except the dead animal, spilled blood, the flesh of swine and what is consecrated to other than God. Those who associate will say: had God willed, neither we nor our ancestors would have associated.

   He must say: come, let me recite what your Guardian has made inviolable for you: associate nothing with Him; beneficence toward both parents; do not kill your children out of penury; do not approach indecencies; do not kill the Self, except by right; the goods of the orphan; the full measure; be just, even toward a relative; this is my path, straight. Then Moussa receives the Scripture, and here is a blessed Scripture, lest you say: we were heedless.

   Do they await only the Agents, or some signs of your Guardian? On that day, the faith of a Self that did not believe before will not benefit it. He is in no way linked to those who divided their Law. He must say: my Guardian has guided me to a straight path, the doctrine of Ibrahim; my Contact, my life and my death belong to God. No bearer of burden bears another's. It is He who made you successors on the earth, so as to test you.

   « but it is not you they deny, » 6:33

   « No leaf tumbles but He knows it; » 6:59

   « but when it disappeared, he said: "I do not love those that disappear." » 6:76

   « Say: "Come, let me recite what your Guardian has made inviolable for you » 6:151

   « so as to test you in what He has given you. » 6:165

   ↓ God tests them in what He has given them; sura 5 repeats these words where each receives a law and a way.

2. 5

   A law and a way

   120 verses

   Sura 6, read just before, said: He has detailed for you what He has prohibited (6:119). Here, those who have believed hear: be faithful to the contracts. Livestock beasts are permitted to them, except what is recited to them; no hunting in a state of inviolability. Let not the animosity of a people who barred them from the inviolable place of prostration drive them to aggression. The detail follows: the dead animal, blood, the flesh of swine, what has been consecrated to other than God.

   Then God says: today, those who disown have lost hope of your Law; today, I have perfected for you your Law and completed My blessing upon you. He is asked what is permitted; he must say: the good things, and what the hunting animals you have trained catch for you. For the Contact: wash faces and hands up to the elbows, wipe the head, wash the feet up to the knees; without water, a wholesome outcrop.

   They must remember the engagement by which they said: we have heard and we have complied, and bear witness with equity, even if the animosity of a people drives them not to be just. God had taken the solemn engagement of the Sons of Israel and raised up twelve delegates: I am with you. The engagement broken, their cores harden, they garble words. He will not cease to pierce a betrayal among them; he is told: overlook it and turn the page.

   Those who say we are the Helpers also forgot a share of the reminder. To the people of the Scripture: Our messenger has come to you, a light has come to you from God. They have disowned, those who say: God, that is Al-Massih, son of Maryam. The Reoriented and the Helpers say: we are the sons of God; he must answer: why then does He punish you for your offenses? The messenger comes after an interruption of the messengers, lest you say: no warner came to us.

   Moussa says to his people: enter the sanctified land, do not turn back. They answer: there is a people of tyrants there. Two men, among those who feared, say: enter upon them by the gate, you will be the victors. The people refuse: go, then, you and your Guardian, and fight, both of you; we stay here, sitting. Moussa: I have power only over myself and my brother. God answers: it is prohibited to them; for forty years they will wander on the earth.

   He must recite to them the information of the two sons of Adam. Each offers an offering, accepted from one only; the other says: I will kill you. The first answers: if you stretch out your hand toward me to kill me, I will not stretch out mine toward you. The other kills him. God raises up a raven that scratches the earth; he regrets he could not conceal the evil of his brother. Hence the prescription to the Sons of Israel: killing a Self is like killing all mankind.

   The recompense of those who wage war on God and His messenger and sow corruption: being put to death, the stake, hands and feet severed on alternate sides, or exile, except those who return before one has power over them. Those who have believed must seek the means of nearness and strive in His way. Those who disown could not ransom themselves, even with all that is on the earth. As for the thief, male and female: stop their supports; whoever returns and becomes sound, God turns toward him.

   Then: O messenger, let not those grieve you who speed into disowning. If they come to him, let him judge between them with equity, or turn away. How would they take him as judge, having the Tawrah? The informants judged by it, and it prescribes the Self in exchange for the Self. Issa, in their footsteps, receives the Injil. Then the Scripture comes down to him: judge between them according to what God has sent down; to each, a law and a way, so as to test you.

   Those who have believed must not take the Reoriented and the Helpers as allies; those whose cores bear a sickness speed among them. If one renounces his Law, God will bring a people whom He loves and who loves Him. Their Ally is only God, His messenger and those who have believed. Some take the call to the Contact as mockery; the Reoriented say: God's hand is shackled. No, His two hands are wide open. Had they maintained the Tawrah and the Injil, they would have eaten from above them.

   Then: O messenger, convey what has been sent down to you from your Guardian; God safeguards you from men. He must say to the people of the Scripture: you stand on nothing, until you maintain the Tawrah and the Injil. They have disowned, those who say: God, that is Al-Massih, or: God is the third of three. Al-Massih himself said: obey God, my Guardian and your Guardian; he and his mother ate food. He must say: do not exaggerate in your Law.

   He will find the most hostile toward those who have believed among the Reoriented and those who associate, and the closest among those who say: we are the Helpers. When they hear what has been sent down to the messenger, their eyes overflow with tears: inscribe us among the witnesses. Then rules: do not prohibit the good things; a firm oath is expiated by feeding ten destitute persons, or by restoring the independence of a pledge; wine and games of chance are the work of the Diverter.

   God will test them with game: no hunting in a state of inviolability, the hunt of the sea is permitted. Upon the messenger is only the conveying. Do not ask about things that would vex you: a people before you asked them, then disowned. When death presents itself, two just ones witness the testament and swear after the Contact: we will not withhold the testimony of God; if they are found guilty, two others take their place.

   The day God brings the messengers together, He will ask: what answer were you given? He will say to Issa: remember My blessing; you spoke to men in the cradle, you created out of clay the form of a bird, you brought forth the dead, with My permission. The disciples asked for a table from the sky; Issa prayed: let it be a festival for us. God said: I am sending it down to you; but whoever among you disowns thereafter, I will punish like no other.

   God will say: was it you who said to mankind: take me, and my mother, as two deities? Issa will say: glory be to You! I told them only what You ordered me: obey God, my Guardian and your Guardian; I was a witness over them as long as I was among them. If You punish them, they are Your obedient ones. This is the day when veracity will benefit the veracious. Sura 4 adds: on the Day of Appearance, he will be a witness against them (4:159).

   « Today, I have perfected for you your Law, » 5:3

   « go, then, you and your Guardian, and fight, both of you; we, we will stay here, sitting. » 5:24

   « If you stretch out your hand toward me to kill me, I will not stretch out my hand toward you to kill you; » 5:28

   « To each of you, We have assigned a law and a way. » 5:48

   « and I was a witness over them, as long as I was among them; » 5:117

   ↓ "Do not exaggerate in your Law": sura 4 repeats this call to the people of the Scripture, Al-Massih being only God's messenger.

3. 4

   They consult you

   176 verses

   He hears: O mankind, guard yourselves toward your Guardian, who created you from a single Self, created from it its spouse and spread, from the two of them, many men and women. The text goes straight into family life. Give the orphans their goods; if you fear not being equitable toward them, marry those who find it good to marry you, or only one. Give women their dowries. Test the orphans until the age of marriage, then hand over their goods before witnesses.

   Men and women each have a portion of what the two parents and relatives leave. God instructs you concerning your children: the shares are counted, a half, a third, a quarter, a sixth, an eighth, after a bequest or a debt. Those are the limits of God: whoever defers enters the garden, whoever oversteps them enters the fire. Repentance is accepted from one who turns back without delay, not from one who waits for death to say: I turn back now.

   O you who have believed: it is not permitted for you to inherit women by force; live with them according to what is recognized, and take back nothing of the quintal you gave. The prohibited women are named; the others are lawful, with the stipulated obligation. God wants to lighten things for you, for the human being was created weak. Men bear the charge; if a rupture between the two is feared, one arbiter comes from his family, another from hers.

   Then beneficence: toward parents, relatives, orphans, the near neighbor, the foreign neighbor, the traveler. God asks him: how then, when We bring a witness from every community, and you as a witness against these? Have you not seen those to whom a portion of the Scripture was given? Some of the Reoriented say: we have heard and disobeyed, twisting their tongues; others believe in the Idol and the Overreacher. Sura 3 will show a fraction who twist their tongues with the Scripture (3:78).

   God orders you to restore trusts and to judge with justice; if you dispute over something, refer it to God and to the messenger. He sees those who want to bring their dispute before the Overreacher, and the hypocrites who balk before him; struck by misfortune, they come swearing that they wanted only good. He is told: turn away from them, admonish them. By your Guardian! They will not believe until they have taken you as judge of their controversies.

   Mobilize. One lags behind; when misfortune comes, he says: God has blessed me, since I was not with them. The men, women and children reduced to weakness are heard: our Guardian, bring us out of this city whose people are wrongdoers. When fighting is prescribed, a fraction fears men. He must say: the enjoyment of the near life is a small thing. Wherever you are, death will overtake you, even were you in impregnable towers.

   If evil strikes them, they say to him: this is from you. He must say: all comes from God; and he hears, for himself: what strikes you of evil comes from yourself. They say: deference, then scheme by night something else; he is told: turn away from them, and entrust yourself to God. Do they not then ponder the Recitation? So fight: you are charged only with yourself, and urge on the believers. Sura 3 will ask: from where does this come? (3:165).

   No allies among the hypocrites until they emigrate; against those who offer peace, no way. A believer does not kill a believer, except by mistake: he must then restore the independence of a believing pledge and deliver a compensation to the family. The Agents ask those they keep faithfully: was God's earth not vast enough for you to emigrate in it? When he leads the Contact, a group stands with him, under arms. Do not slacken: they suffer as you suffer.

   God has sent down the Scripture to him so that he may judge between men according to what God shows him; he must not be, for the traitors, a quarreler. The rebel Diverter has sworn to lead astray, to have the ears of cattle slit and God's creation altered. Whoever does sound deeds, male or female, enters the Garden. God took Ibrahim as an intimate friend. They consult him concerning women: he gives God's ruling on the orphan girls and on reconciliation between spouses.

   Be witnesses for God, even against yourselves, your parents or your relatives; do not follow emotion. The hypocrites seek might with those who disown and bide their time: if an opening comes to you, they say: were we not with you? They rise for the Contact lazily, wavering between the two. Those who believed, then disowned, then believed, then disowned will not be guided. God does not love that evil be spoken aloud, except by one who has been wronged.

   The people of the Scripture ask him to send down upon them a scripture from the sky. They asked Moussa to see God openly, took the calf, and God elevated the Mount above them. They broke their engagement, cast against Maryam an immense slander, and said: we killed Al-Massih, Issa, son of Maryam. They did not kill him and did not fix him to the stake: God elevated him to Himself. Those among them who are deeply rooted in knowledge believe.

   God has revealed to him as to Nuh and the informants after him, to Ibrahim, Issa, Ayyub, Younes; He gave Dawud a Formulary and spoke to Moussa. God bears witness to what He has sent down to him, and the Agents bear witness. Then the call of sura 5 (5:77): O people of the Scripture, do not exaggerate in your Law; Al-Massih is only the messenger of God, His word addressed to Maryam; do not say: three. The sura closes on a last consultation: the kalala.

   « O mankind! Guard yourselves toward your Guardian, who created you from a single Self, » 4:1

   « They will not believe until they have taken you as judge of their controversies » 4:65

   « what strikes you of evil comes from yourself. » 4:79

   « you are charged only with yourself. » 4:84

   « God, rather, elevated him to Himself. » 4:158

   « God enlightens you concerning one whose inheritance passes in the absence of any ascendant or descendant. » 4:176

   ↓ “God elevated him to Himself” (4:158); sura 3 gives the announcement made to Issa: “elevate you to Me” (3:55).

4. 3

   The clan of Imran, then the wound

   200 verses · label الم

   He hears the letters الٓمٓ, then: God, the Living, has sent down upon you the Scripture, confirming what precedes it, after the Tawrah and the Injil. Some signs are univocal, the matrix of the Scripture; others are subject to resemblance. Those in whose cores is a deviation follow the latter. Those deeply rooted in knowledge, whom sura 4 showed believing (4:162), say: all of it comes from our Guardian; do not let our cores deviate.

   Neither goods nor children will avail those who disown, no more than the clan of Fir'awn. He must tell them: you will be defeated. You had a sign in those two battalions that met. Passions are embellished for men: women, sons, quintals of gold, marked horses. God bears witness, and so do the Agents and the possessors of knowledge, that there is no deity but Him. If they dispute with him, he says: I render my direction true to God alone; only the transmission is incumbent upon him.

   He is given a prayer to say: O God, Sovereign of dominion, You give dominion to whom You will and strip it from whom You will; You bring forth the living from the dead. The believers do not take those who disown as allies, besides the believers; sura 4 reproached the hypocrites for it (4:139). The day comes when every Self will find present what it has done. He must say: if you love God, follow me.

   God has chosen Adam, Nuh, the clan of Ibrahim and the clan of Imran. The wife of Imran vows to God the child she carries, made independent of all, like the pledge that sura 4 ordered to be made independent (4:92). It is a girl; she gives her the attribute Maryam and places her in God's refuge. Zakariya has her care. Every time he enters the oratory, he finds a provision near her: O Maryam, from where does this come to you? — From God.

   Right there, Zakariya asks for good offspring; the Agents call him while he is making the Contact: God announces to you Yahya. He asks how, being old and his wife barren; his sign will be to speak only by gestures for three days. The one addressed is told: you were not with them when they cast their reeds. The Agents tell Maryam: God has chosen you, purified you, and announces to you a word, Al-Massih, Issa. She asks how; God says to a matter: Be, and it is.

   Issa will be a messenger to the Sons of Israel: from clay he creates the form of a bird and breathes into it; he restores the born-blind and the leper, brings the dead back to life, with God's permission. When he perceives their disowning, he asks: who are my helpers toward God? The disciples answer. They plot, and God plots. God says: O Issa, I am going to keep you faithfully and elevate you to Me. Sura 4 has already told the fulfilment: God elevated him to Himself (4:158).

   The example of Issa is that of Adam: created from earth, then God says to him: Be. To whoever disputes with him, he proposes to call their sons and their women, and to pray fervently. Then he must say: O people of the Scripture, come to an equitable word between us and you. Ibrahim was neither Reoriented nor a Helper, but wholly turned toward God. Among them, one returns the quintal entrusted, another not even a dinar; a fraction twist their tongues with the Scripture.

   God took the solemn engagement of the informants: if a messenger comes confirming what they have, they will believe in him and help him; they consented, and God is a witness with them. He must say: we believe in what was sent down to Ibrahim, Isma'il, Ishaq, Yaacoub, to Moussa and Issa, with no distinction between them. Virtue comes from spending of what one loves. The first House is set down for mankind: the station of Ibrahim, security, the Hajj for whoever has the capacity.

   Hold, all of you, to the rope of God, and do not divide yourselves. Remember: you were enemies, He reconciled your cores and you became brothers; you were at the edge of a pit of fire. Let a community call toward good. On the day, some faces will brighten and others darken. You are the best community brought forth for mankind. But those who say “we have believed”, once alone, bite their fingertips out of rage against you.

   The account turns to battle. He leaves his household early to settle the believers in positions; two groups almost gave ground. God had helped them at Badr, when they were humiliated. He told them: is it not enough for you that your Guardian reinforces you with three thousand Agents sent down? It was only good tidings: help comes only from God. He is told: you have, in this matter, no power. Then: do not devour usury, doubled and redoubled; speed toward a forgiveness.

   Do not slacken: if a wound touches you, a similar wound has touched that people; sura 4 already said: they suffer as you do (4:104). Muhammad is only a messenger: if he died, would you turn back on your heels? God had kept His promise to them; then they gave ground, disputed, disobeyed. They were climbing without turning back, while the messenger called them from the rear. Anguish upon anguish, then drowsiness. A group says: had we had any power, we would not have been killed here.

   It is by a benevolence from God that he has been gentle toward them; surly, they would have dispersed. He is told: overlook it for them, ask forgiveness for them, confer with them on the matter, then entrust yourself to God. God has graced the believers with a messenger from among themselves. From where does this come? It comes from yourselves. Those killed in the way of God are alive with their Guardian; those who responded after the wound say: God suffices us.

   Let not those who speed into disowning grieve him. Every Self will taste death; you will be tested in your goods. Those of the Scripture cast behind their backs the engagement to make it clear. At the end, the possessors of intelligence remember God standing, sitting, lying on their sides, as sura 4 ordered after the Contact (4:103): You did not create this in vain. Their Guardian answers them: I do not let the deed dissipate, male or female. Be patient.

   « And those who are deeply rooted in knowledge say: "We believe in it; all of it comes from our Guardian"; » 3:7

   « O Maryam! From where does this come to you? » 3:37

   « I am indeed going to keep you faithfully, elevate you to Me » 3:55

   « And do not slacken, and do not grieve » 3:139

   « confer with them on the matter » 3:159

   « I do not let the deed of one of you who acts dissipate, male or female » 3:195

   ↓ God graced the believers with a messenger from among them (3:164); sura 2 lets us hear Ibrahim and Isma'il asking for him (2:129).

5. 2

   Guidance for those who guard themselves

   286 verses · label الم

   He hears letters, الم, then: this is the Scripture, no doubt possible, guidance for those who guard themselves. The last sura of section I, sura 2 closes it on these letters. Those who guard themselves believe without seeing, maintain the Contact, spend, and believe in what was sent down to him and before him. For those who disown, it is the same whether he warns them or not. Others say they believe and mock, alone with their diverters: like a man whose fire goes out, or people under a storm.

   Then the call to all: O mankind, obey your Guardian, who made the earth a bed and the sky a structure. If they doubt what was sent down upon His obedient one, let them bring a surah like it; they never will. He must announce the gardens to those who have believed. God is not shy of adding the example of a gnat. You were dead and He gave you life; then He will cause you to die, then give you life, then you return to Him.

   The story goes back to the origin. Your Guardian says to the Agents: I am going to place a successor on the earth. They object with corruption and shed blood. He teaches Adam all the attributes; the Agents know only what He has taught them, and Adam informs them. All prostrate, except Iblis. Adam and his spouse dwell in the Garden; the Diverter makes them slip out of it. Adam receives words from his Guardian, then the promise: if guidance comes to you from Me.

   Then comes the call to the Sons of Israel: remember My blessing, that with which I blessed you; seek help in patience and the Contact. The text reminds them, as if they were there: saved from the clan of Fir'awn, the sea split, the calf taken during the forty nights of Moussa, the thunderbolt, the cloud, the manna and quails, the twelve springs gushing from the rock. They demand herbs, garlic, lentils. Humiliation is imprinted upon them, and they incur the anger of God.

   Whoever believes in God and the Last Day, and does sound work, has his reward, whether among the Reoriented, the Helpers or the Aspirants. The Mount is raised above them; they turn their backs. Moussa conveys to them the order to slaughter a cow. Three times they ask what she is: neither old nor virgin, yellow, without any blemish. They slaughter her, after having very nearly not done it. A Self has been killed: strike him with a part of it. Then their cores harden like stone.

   A faction used to hear the word of God, then distort it; others write the Scripture with their hands and say: this is from God. They say: the Fire will touch us only for numbered days. The pact ordered them to obey none but God and not to expel one another; they kill one another and exchange the captives. Under the Mount, they said: we have heard and disobeyed. They follow what the Diverters recited; at Babel, Harut and Marut warn: we are only a trial.

   To the believers: say "look at us". Whatever sign is copied or forgotten, God brings a better one or a like one. The Reoriented and the Helpers each say the other rests on nothing; to God belong the rising and the setting. He is sent as a bearer of good tidings and a warner; they will be satisfied with him only if he follows their doctrine. He must say: the guidance of God, that is the guidance. The call to the Sons of Israel returns, word for word.

   Then Ibrahim, tested with words which he completes, as Adam had received words. With Isma'il, he raises the foundations of the House and prays: accept this from us; raise up among them a messenger, from among themselves, who recites Your signs to them and teaches them the Scripture and the wisdom. Sura 3, read just before, said that God has favored the believers with such a messenger (3:164). Yaacoub, when death presents itself, asks his sons: what will you obey after me? They answer: one deity.

   The fools will say: what has turned them away from their rallying point? He must answer: to God belong the rising and the setting; He guides whom He wills to a straight path. God will see his face turning in every direction in the sky and give him a rallying point that satisfies him: set your course for the inviolable place of prostration. The prayer of Ibrahim is answered: We have sent among you a messenger from among yourselves.

   Safa and Marwa are among the perceptible markers of God. Those who withhold what was sent down are cursed, except those who turn back. Your deity is one deity; night and day, the vessel, the water from the sky are signs. On the Day, those who were followed will disown those who followed them. Do not follow the steps of the Diverter. Virtue is not turning the face toward the rising or the setting, but believing and giving. The investigation and the testament are prescribed.

   Abstinence is prescribed, as for those before: the month of refreshment, in which the Recitation was sent down. In the midst of the rules, an answer: when My obedient ones ask you about Me, I am near, I answer the call of the one who calls upon Me. Fight those who fight you, without aggression. Complete the Hajj and the Omra; the best of provisions is guardedness. Surging forth from Arafat, remember Him, as He has guided you, though you were among the astray.

   One man dazzles by his speech and sows corruption; another sells his Self for the good pleasure of God. Mankind formed a single community; the Scripture comes down to judge their differences. The messenger and those who had believed asked: when, then, is the help of God? Then he is questioned, and must answer: spending, the inviolable month, wine, orphans, menstruation. Combat is prescribed despite aversion. Then repudiation, mothers who take their children into care for two years, widows.

   Have you not seen those who went out by thousands, wary of death? God says to them: Die, then brings them back to life. The court of the Sons of Israel asks for a king to fight; once combat is prescribed, it turns its back. God raises up Talut; the coffer, carried by the Agents, is the sign. At the river, only a scoop in the hand is allowed. Few in number before Jalut, they pray: make firm our steps. Dawud kills Jalut; God gives him dominion and wisdom.

   The messengers are favored some above others. Spend before a day without selling or mediation. God, the Living: neither somnolence nor sleep seizes Him, His Seat extends over the heavens and the earth. No compulsion in the Law. Three scenes of death and life follow: Ibrahim tells the one who holds dominion to bring the sun from the setting; a man dies a hundred years near an empty city, then sees the bones clothed with flesh; Ibrahim calls four birds.

   Those who spend in the way of God are like a grain which grows seven ears; the one who spends for show, like a smooth rock that the rain leaves bare. The Diverter promises poverty, God forgiveness. It is not upon him to guide them.

   God has permitted selling and prohibited usury; to the one who does not give it up, a war from God and His messenger; whoever turns back takes back the principal of his goods, whole: usury had not paid it down. To the debtor in hardship, a delay until ease. A debt, by contrast, has an appointed term from the start; small or large, it is put in writing until its term, before two witnesses; on a journey, a pledge taken.

   At the end, the messenger has believed in what was sent down to him, and the believers. They say: we have heard and we have deferred; under the Mount, others had said: we have heard and disobeyed (2:93). God imposes upon no Self except its capacity. The sura closes on their prayer: our Guardian, do not make us bear what we do not have the strength to bear; You are our Ally. Sura 1, which follows, is entirely a request: guide us.

   « This is the Scripture: no doubt possible, » 2:2

   « I am going to place a successor on the earth. » 2:30

   « Remember My blessing, that with which I blessed you » 2:40

   « I answer the call of the one who calls upon Me, when he calls upon Me. » 2:186

   « Our Guardian, and do not make us bear what we do not have the strength to bear. » 2:286

   ↓ The answer comes first, guidance for those who guard themselves (2:2); sura 1, last of all, asks: "Guide us on the straight path".

Closing: Alif Lam Mim (2:1), then: “This is the Scripture: no doubt possible” (2:2).

← Summary frieze

1. 1

   Guide us on the straight path

   7 verses · gate

   The last sura read is speech in "we"; the text does not say who speaks. It begins in the name of God, the All-Benevolent, the Benevolent, and praises Him speaking of Him: Guardian of all beings, Sovereign of the Day of the Due. This praise closed sura 37 and sura 39 (37:182, 39:75); in 10:10, it is the last cry of those whom their Guardian has guided to the gardens. Read from 114 to 1, the Book also ends on it.

   Then the speech turns toward Him and speaks to Him face to face: it is You that we obey, and it is from You that we seek help. Sura 2 said how: in patience and the Contact (2:45). Then comes one request: guide us on the straight path, that of those You have blessed, not of those who incur anger, nor of the astray. Sura 2 has shown all three: the blessed (2:40), the anger incurred (2:61), the astray who were guided (2:198).

   « Praise be to God, Guardian of all beings, » 1:2

   « It is You that we obey, and it is from You that we seek help. » 1:5

   « Guide us on the straight path, » 1:6

   ↓ The Book closes on this request; its answer, guidance for those who guard themselves (2:2), was read just before.

Closing: The Book closes on the request: “Guide us on the straight path” (1:6).