THIS CHAPTER contains 165 late Meccan verses arranged in twenty sections. Verses 60, 63, 91, 114, 141 and 151-153 however all date from Madina. The chapter was revealed after Stoneland 15 and before (Drawn Up In) Ranks 37. Livestock here comprises first of all camels, then bovine cattle, sheep and goats which are all mentioned in sections XVI & XVII as having been dedicated to other deities than God Alone; consequently their presence in sacrifice did not help advance the cause of true religion.
The beginning sections and xvi deal with the sin of associating other things in our worship of God Alone. The chapter contains several lyric descriptions of the Deity, such as "Keys to the Unseen" (VII). Two important statements are made on the subject of tolerance in vi and xiii. What might be called an Islamic decalogue or Ten Commandments, and God's Straight Road are found in XIX. The final section (XX) is with pregnant meaning.
(I)* Praise be to God, Who created Heaven and Earth and granted darkness and light! Yet those who disbelieve make other things equal to their Lord. * He is the One Who has created you (all) from clay; then fixed a term. A deadline has been set by Him, yet you go on doubting! * He is God in (both) Heaven and Earth. He knows your secrets and anything you publish; He knows whatever you earn.
* Not one of their Lord's signs ever reaches them except they shun it. ** They have rejected Truth whenever it came to them, yet (more) news will reach them concerning what they have been making fun of. * Have they not seen how many generations We wiped out whom we had established on earth before them in a way We did not establish you? We sent [water down from] the sky upon them in torrents and let rivers flow beneath them; and yet We wiped them out because of their offences and raised up other generations to succeed them.
* Even though We sent you down something written on a papyrus scroll so they might touch it with their own hands, those who would still say: "This is just sheer magic!' * They say: "If an angel only sent down to him!" Yet if We were to send an angel down, the matter would be settled; then they would no longer be allowed to wait. We made him into an angel, We would have made him a man a swell, to confuse them just as they confuse themselves. ** Messengers have been scoffed at before you, till whatever they were ridiculing swept in around those who had been doing the scoffing.
(II)* SAY: "Travel around the earth and see what the outcome was for those who denied [it all]."
* SAY: "Who owns whatever is in Heaven and Earth?" SAY: "God does. He has prescribed mercy for Himself so He may gather you in on Resurrection Day, concerning which there is no doubt. Yet those who have lost their souls will never believe. * He has anything that rests at night and by daylight. He is the Alert, Aware." * SAY: "Shall I adopt someone as a patron besides God, the Deviser of the Heavens and Earth? He feeds [everybody], yet is not fed!" SAY: "I have been ordered to be the first who has committed himself to (live at) peace. Do not be an associator!"
** SAY: "I fear the torment of an awful day if I should disobey my Lord." * He will show mercy to anyone who is spared on that day: that will be the clear Triumph. * If God should let any harm touch you, no one would remove it except He Himself; while if He should let some good touch you, well He is Capable of everything. * He is the Irrresistible, [High] above His servants. He is the Wise, the Informed.
God is One
* SAY: "What thing is most important as evidence?" SAY: "God is a Witness for both me and you. This Reading has been revealed to me so that I may warn you (all) by means of it, as well as anyone it may reach. Do you testify that there are other gods along with God?" SAY: "I will not swear so!" SAY: "He is God Alone, while I am innocent of whatever you associate [with Him]." ** Those whom We have given the Book know Him just as they recognize their own sons; [yet] those who have lost their souls will never believe.
Association is Wrong
(III)* Who is worse off than someone who invents a lie about God or has rejected His signs? Wrongdoers will never prosper. * Some day We will summon them all together, then tell those who have associated [others with Us]: 'Where are your associates which you have been claiming [to have]?" * Then there will be no test for them unless they say: "By God our Lord, we have not been associators!" * See how they lie even about themselves! Whatever they have invented has misled them.
** Some of them listen to you even though We have placed wrappings over their hearts and dullness in their ears lest they should understand it. Even if they saw every sign, they still would not believe in them; so whenever they come to you, they argue with you. Those who disbelieve say: 'These are only legends by primitive people." * They try to refute it and remain aloof from it; yet they only destroy their own souls while they do not even notice it! * If you could see when they are set before the Fire and say: "Alas, if we might only be sent back and had not rejected our Lord's signs, and we had been believers!"
* Rather what they had been hiding previously has appeared to them; even though they were sent back, they would still return to what they have been forbidden. They are such liars! * They say: "Only our worldly life exists; we will not be raised up again." ** If you could only see as they are made to stand before their Lord! He will say: "Isn't this real?" They will say: "Of course, by our Lord!" He will say: "Taste torment, since you have been disbelieving!"
(IV)* Those who deny [they will have] any meeting with God have already lost out, so that when the Hour comes suddenly upon them, they will say: 'Have pity on us for how we neglected it!" They will carry their burdens on their own backs. Is not whatever they bear something evil?
* What does worldly life mean except some sport and amusement? The future Home is better for those who do their duty. Will you (all) not use your reason? * We well know how anything they say saddens you. Yet they are not rejecting merely you, but wrongdoers even repudiate God's signs. * Messengers before you have been rejected, yet they held firm on being rejected and abused, until Our support came to them. There is no way to change God's words! News from (other) emissaries has already come to you. ** If their reluctance bears so heavily upon you, then how would it be if you managed to bore a tunnel through the earth or to climb a ladder up to Heaven, and brought a sign to them? If God so wished, He would gather them together for guidance; so do not act so ignorant as well. Only those who listen will respond, plus the dead whom God will raise; then unto Him will they return,
* They say: "If a sign were only sent down to him by his Lord!" SAY: "God is Able to send down a sign, even though most of them will not know it." * There is no animal [walking] on earth nor any bird flying on its wings unless they exist as communities like yourselves. We have not neglected anything in the Book; then to their Lord will they be summoned. * Those who reject Our signs are deaf and dumb, [groping along] in darkness. God lets anyone He wishes go astray, while He sets anyone He wishes upon a Straight Road.
** SAY: 'Have you considered whether, once God's torment comes to you (all) or the Hour comes to you, you will appeal to someone instead of God if you are so truthful?" * Rather it is to Him you will appeal and if He wishes, He will remove whatever you have appealed to Him about, and you will forget what you have associated [with Him].
(V)* We sent [word] to nations before you and seized them with suffering and hardship so that they might act submissively. * Why then did they not act submissive when Our violence came to them, but instead their hearts were hardened and Satan made whatever they were doing seem attractive to them? * So once they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened up the doors to everything for them until just when they were happiest with what they had been given, We caught them suddenly and there they were confounded! ** The last remnant of the folk who had been doing wrong was cut off. Praise be to God, Lord of the Universe!
* SAY: "Have you (all) considered whether, if God should snatch away your hearing and your eyesight, and sealed