SECTION: 1
Glory be to Him Who took His devotee (Muhammad) one night from Masjid-al-Harãm (in Makkah) to Masjid-al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem), whose vicinity We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs: surely He is the One Who is the Hearer, the Observer.[1]

We gave Musa (Moses) the Book and made it a guide for the Children of Israel, saying: “Do not take any other protector besides Me.[2] You are the descendents of those whom We carried in the Ark with Nüh, and he was indeed a grateful devotee."[3] Besides this We forewarned the Children of Israel in their Holy Book that you will do mischief in the land twice through becoming arrogant transgressors and each time you will be punished.[4] When the promise for the first of the two fore warnings came to be fulfilled, We sent against you Our servants (the Assyrians) who gave you a terrible warfare: so they rampaged through your homes to carry out the punishment of which you were forewarned.[5] Then after this, We afforded you an opportunity to overpower them and helped you with wealth and sons and granted you more manpower.[6] If you did good, it was to your own benefit; but if you did evil, it proved to be bad for your own selves. Then, when the promise for your second forewarning came to be fulfilled, We sent another army (the Romans) to disfigure your faces and to enter your Temple as the former had entered it before, and they utterly destroyed all that they laid their hands on.[7] Now your Rabb may again be merciful to you; but if you repeat the same behavior, We will repeat the punishment, and in the hereafter, We have made hell a prison for such unbelievers.[8] Surely this Qur’an guides to the Way which is perfectly straight and gives the good news to the believers who do good that they shall have a magnificent reward;[9] and at the same time it gives warnings to those who do not believe in the hereafter, that We have prepared for them a painful punishment.[10]

SECTION: 2
Yet man prays for evil as fervently as he ought to pray for good, and mankind is ever hasty.[11] We have made the night and the day as two signs. We enshrouded the night with darkness and gave light to the day, to enable you to seek the bounty of your Rabb, and that you may compute the years and count the numbers. Thus, We have set forth all things in detail.[12] We have fastened the fate of every man to his own neck, and on the Day of Judgment We shall bring out for him a book spread wide open,[13] saying: “Here is your book of deeds: read it. Today you yourself are sufficient to take your own account."[14]

He that seeks guidance, shall be guided to his own advantage, but he that goes astray does so to his own loss. No bearer shall bear the burden of another on the Day of Judgment. And during your worldly life, We do not inflict punishment until We send forth a Rasool to make truth distinct from falsehood.[15] Whenever We have intended to destroy a town, it was because We sent Our commandments to its people who were leading easy lives but they showed disobedience; as a result Our Judgment was passed, and We razed that city to the ground.[16] How many generations have We destroyed since Nüh’s time? Sufficient is your Rabb to note and see the sins of His servants.[17]

He that desires the transitory things of this life, We readily grant him such things as We please to whomsoever We want, then We condemn him to hell, where he will burn, disgraced and rejected.[18] He that desires the life of the hereafter and strives for it as best as he can provided he is a Believer, the endeavor of every such person will be accepted.[19] We bestowed on all - these as well those - out of the bounties of your Rabb; the bounties of your Rabb are not confined.[20] See how We have exalted some over others, and certainly the hereafter is more exalted and greater in excellence.[21] Do not associate another deity with Allah, lest you sit back, condemned, forsaken.[22]

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Your Rabb has decreed to you that: You shall worship none but Him, and you shall be kind to your parents; if one or both of them live to their old age in your lifetime, you shall not say to them any word of contempt nor repel them and you shall address them in kind words.[23] You shall lower to them your wings of humility and pray: “O Rabb! Bestow on them Your blessings just as they cherished me when I was a little child."[24] Your Rabb knows best what is in your hearts. If you do good deeds, certainly He is most forgiving to those who turn to Him in repentance.[25] You shall give to your relatives their due and to the needy and to the wayfarers. You shall not be a spendthrift[26] - as spendthrifts are the brethren of shaitãn and shaitãn is ever ungrateful to His Rabb.[27] You shall speak courteously to needy persons if you are waiting for your Rabb’s bounty and you lack the means to assist them.[28] You shall neither tie your hands to your neck (be miserly) nor stretch them forth to their utmost reach (be prodigal), lest you sit back, blameworthy, destitute.[29] Surely your Rabb gives abundantly to whom He pleases and sparingly to whom He wills, for He is aware of the condition of His servants and observes them closely.[30]

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You shall not kill your children for fear of want, for it is We Who provide sustenance for them as well as for you; surely killing them is a great blunder.[31] You shall not commit adultery; surely it is a shameful deed and an evil way (opening the door to other evils).[32] You shall not kill anyone whom Allah has forbidden, except for just cause under the law. If anyone is killed unjustly, We have granted the right of retribution to his heir, but let him not carry his vengeance too far in killing the culprit through taking the law in his own hands, as he is supported by the law.[33] You shall not go near the property of an orphan, except with the good intention of improving it, until he attains his maturity. You shall fulfill your pledges; surely you shall be held accountable for your pledges.[34] You shall give full measure, when you measure, and weigh with even scale; this is the best way and will prove to be the best in the end.[35] You shall not follow anyone blindly in those matters of which you have no knowledge, surely the use of your ears and the eyes and the heart - all of these, shall be questioned on the Day of Judgment.[36] You shall not walk arrogantly on the earth, for you can neither rend the earth asunder nor attain the height of the mountains.[37] All these and their evil aspects are hateful in the sight of your Rabb.[38] This is but a part of the wisdom which your Rabb has revealed to you. Do not associate other deities as object of worship, lest you should be cast into hell, blameworthy rejected.[39] What! Has your Rabb preferred to give you sons and adopted angels as daughters for Himself? Certainly you are uttering a monstrous statement.[40]

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We have explained things in various ways in this Qur’an so that they may receive admonition, yet it has only added to their aversion.[41] Tell them: If there were other gods besides Him as the mushrikïn say, they would have certainly tried to find a way to dethrone the Master of the Throne.[42] Glory be to Him! He is far above the things that they say about Him.[43] The seven heavens, the earth and all beings therein declare His glory. There is not a single thing but glorifies Him with His praise, but you do not understand their hymns of His glory. The fact is that He is very Forbearing, Forgiving.[44]

When you recite the Qur’an, We put a hidden barrier between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter.[45] We cast a veil upon their hearts and make them hard of hearing, so they do not comprehend it. When in the Qur’an you mention His Oneness, they turn their backs in disgust.[46] We are quite aware what they really wish to hear when they listen to you, and what they say when they converse in private. These wrongdoers say to one another: "The man you follow is surely bewitched”[47] See what sort of examples they make up about you! They have surely gone astray and cannot find the Right Way.[48] They say: “What! When we are reduced to bones and dust, shall we really be raised up again into a new creation?”[49] Tell them: “(Yes, most certainly you shall be brought back to life), even if you be stones or iron[50] or even something harder than this that you may think of." Then they will ask: “Who will restore us?” Say: “The One Who created you the first time." Then they will shake their heads at you and ask: “Well, when will this be?” Say, “It may be quite soon![51] It will be on the Day when He will call you and you will rise up in response to it, with His praise, and you will think that you remained in the state of death but a little while."[52]

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Tell My servants that they should speak only what is the best. Surely shaitãn stirs up trouble among them. The fact is that shaitãn is an open enemy to mankind.[53] Your Rabb is fully aware of your circumstances. He may be merciful to you if He wants, or He may punish you if He pleases. O Prophet, We have not sent you to be their guardian.[54] Your Rabb is fully aware of all that is in the heavens and in the earth. We have exalted some prophets above the others and gave Zaboor (the Psalms) to Dawõõd.[55]

Say: “Pray if you will to those whom you assert besides Him; they have neither the power to relieve you from any distress nor to change it."[56] Those to whom they pray, themselves seek the means of access to their Rabb - trying as to who can be more near - they hope for His Mercy and fear His punishment, for the punishment of your Rabb is terrible indeed.[57]

There is not a town but We shall destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment; this fact has been recorded in the Eternal Record.[58] We refrain from sending signs (miracles) only because the men of former generations treated them as false. For example, We sent the she-camel to the people of Thamüd - a manifest sign - but they laid violent hands on her. We send the signs only by way of warning, and if people reject the sign after receiving it, they are doomed.[59] Remember, O Muhammad! We told you that your Rabb encompasses mankind. We have made the Vision which We showed you, and the cursed tree of Zaqqum which is mentioned in the Qur’an, a test for these people of Makkah. We are giving them warning to be fearful but it only increases their inordinate transgression.[60]

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Recall the occasion when We said to the angels: “Prostrate yourselves before Adam.” They all prostrated except Iblees (Shaitãn), who replied: “Should I prostrate to the one whom You have created from clay?”[61] Then he asked: “Tell me, is this the one whom You have honored above me? If You give me respite till the Day of Resurrection, I will certainly uproot all but a few of his descendants."[62] Allah said: “Go away! Hell is your reward, and the reward of those who follow you, an ample reward it shall be.[63] You may try to allure whomsoever you can with your seductive voice, muster against them all your cavalry and infantry, be their partner in their riches and their children, and promise them what you will - the promises of shaitãn are nothing but deception[64] - as for My servants, you shall have no authority over them. Your Rabb is sufficient as their Guardian."[65]

Your Rabb is the One Who drives your ships across the ocean, so that you may seek His bounty; indeed He is ever Merciful to you.[66] Whenever any adversity strikes you at sea, all those to whom you pray besides Him forsake you except He; yet when He brings you safe to the land, you turn your backs upon Him. Indeed, man is ever ungrateful.[67] Are you confident that He will not cave in the land beneath you, or let loose a deadly tornado upon you? Then you may not find anyone to protect you.[68] Or, are you confident that when again you go back to sea He will not smite you with a violent tempest and drown you for your thanklessness? If that happens, then you will not find anyone who can question Us regarding this end of yours.[69] It is Our favor that We have honored the children of Adam, blessed them with conveyances on land and sea, provided them with good and pure things and exalted them above many of Our creatures.[70]

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Just imagine the scene of that Day when We shall call every community with their respective Imams (leaders): then those who will be given their ‘book of deeds’ in their right hand will read it with pleasure and they will not be wronged in the least.[71] But those who have played blind in this world will be blind in the hereafter, rather worse than blind in finding the Way to Salvation.[72]

O Muhammad! These people have tried to entice you from Our revelations, hoping that you might fabricate something in Our name. Had you done that, they would have made you their friend.[73] Had We not strengthened your faith, you might have made some compromise with them.[74] In such a case We would have given you double punishment in this life and in the life hereafter. Then you would have found no helper against Our wrath.[75] They almost scare you off the land, to expel you from it. If they do so, they will not be able to stay here much longer after you.[76] This has always been Our Sunnah (course of action) with regards to those Rasools whom We sent before you, and you will find no change in Our Sunnah (course of action).[77]

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Establish Salah from the decline of the sun till the darkness of the night (Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha) and read at Fajr (dawn); for the reading (the Qur'an)at Fajr is witnessed (by the angels).[78] During a part of the night, pray Tahajjud, an additional prayer for you (O Muhammad), very soon your Rabb may exalt you to ‘Maqãm-e-Mahmood’ (a station of great glory).[79] During the prayer say: “Rabb! Make my entrance, the entrance with truth and make my exit, the exit with truth and grant me a supporting authority from your presence;"[80] and declare, “The Truth has come and falsehood has vanished, for falsehood by its nature is bound to perish."[81] We have revealed the Qur’an which is a healing and a mercy to the believers, while to the wrongdoers it adds nothing but loss.[82] Man is a strange creature: when We bestow Our favors on man, he turns his back and drifts off to one side (instead of coming to Us) and whenever evil touches him, he gives himself up to despair.[83] O Prophet say to them: “Everyone acts according to his own disposition; but only your Rabb knows best who is on the Right Way."[84]

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They put you questions about Ar-Rüh (the Spirit). Tell them: “The Spirit is at my Rabb’s command and I am not given any knowledge of it but a little."[85] If We want, We can definitely take away all that which We have revealed to you: then you will find none to help you in getting it back from Us.[86] But your Rabb has blessed you with this knowledge; surely His goodness to you has been great indeed.[87] Declare: “Even if all human beings and Jinns combined their resources to produce the like of this Qur’an, they would never be able to compose the like thereof, even if they backed up each other as best as they could."[88]

In this Qur’an We have used different methods to make the people understand the Message, yet the majority of them persist in unbelief.[89] They say: “We will not believe in you until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us,[90] or until a garden of date-palms and grapes be created for you and you cause rivers to flow in it;[91] or until you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces as you have threatened us; or you bring Allah and the angels before us face to face,[92] or a house made with gold comes into being for you; or you ascend to the sky - we shall not even believe in your ascendance until you bring down to us a book that we can read." O Muhammad, tell them: “Glory be to my Rabb! Have I ever claimed to be anything more than a human Rasool?”[93]

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Nothing prevented people from belief when guidance came to them except the excuse: “What! Has Allah sent a man like us to be a Rasool?”[94] O Muhammad, tell them: “Had there been in the earth angels walking about as settlers, We would certainly have sent down to them an angel from heaven as a Rasool."[95] Say: “Sufficient is Allah as a witness between me and you. He is the One Who is Aware and Observant of His servants."[96] Those whom Allah guides are rightly guided; and those whom He lets go astray, shall find no protector besides Him. On the Day of Judgment We shall gather them all, prone on their faces, blind, dumb and deaf. Hell shall be their abode: whenever its flames die down, We will rekindle for them the fierceness of the fire.[97] Thus shall they be rewarded: because they rejected Our revelations and said: “When we are reduced to bones and decayed particles, shall we really be raised to life in a new creation?”[98] Can they not see that Allah Who has created the heavens and the earth has power to create the people like them? He has set a deadline for their lives, there is no doubt about it: yet the wrongdoers refuse to do anything except deny.[99] Say to them: "Even if you had all the treasures of my Rabb’s blessings at your disposal, you would still hold them back for fear of spending. Man is ever so stingy!”[100]

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To Musa (Moses) We gave nine clear signs. Ask the Children of Israel how, when he came to them and Fir'on told him: “O Musa! I think that you are bewitched".[101] Musa replied: “You know it very well that no one except the Rabb of the heavens and the earth has sent down these signs as eye-openers, and O Fir'on (Pharaoh), surely I think that you are doomed."[102] So Fir'on resolved to remove Musa and the Israelites from the face of the earth, but We drowned him and all who were with him.[103] Thereafter We said to the Children of Israel: “Settle down in the land and when the promise of the hereafter comes to be fulfilled, We shall assemble you all together."[104]

We have revealed the Qur’an in Truth, and with the Truth it has come down: and O Muhammad, We have sent you only to give good news to the believers and to warn the unbelievers.[105] We have divided the Qur’an into sections so that you may recite to the people with deliberation, and We have sent it down in gradual revelations to suit particular occasions.[106] Say: “Whether you believe in it or not, it is true that those who were endowed with knowledge before its revelation prostrate themselves when it is recited[107] and say, ‘Glory be to our Rabb! Our Rabb’s promise has been fulfilled.'[108] They fall down upon their faces, weeping as they listen, and this increases their reverence."[109] O Prophet, say to them: “Whether you call Him Allah or call Him Rahmãn; it is all the same by whichever name you call Him because for Him are all the Finest names. Offer your Salah neither in too loud a voice nor in too low a voice but seek a middle course[110] and say: “Praise be to Allah, the One Who has begotten no son and Who has no partner in His Kingdom; nor is He helpless to need a protector, and glorify His greatness in the best possible way."[111]