Surah Al-A'raf English Translation & Transliteration

¹Alif Lam Mim Sad.

²Let this Book, which has been sent down to you as an admonition for the believers and so that you may warn those who do not believe with this Quran, never cause any distress within you.

³Follow the Quran sent down to you from your Lord. Do not follow certain protectors apart from Allah. How little you take admonition!

⁴We destroyed many civilizations. Our devastating punishment came upon them at night, or while they were sleeping at midday.

⁵When Our punishment seized them, their only cry was: "We truly were wrongdoers who deserved the punishment."

⁶We will certainly question those to whom messengers were sent, and We will question the messengers who were sent.

⁷Then We will explain everything to them with knowledge and proof. For We were never unaware.

⁸On that day the weighing and assessment will surely take place. Those whose good deeds weigh heavy—they are the ones who are saved.

⁹And those whose good deeds weigh light—they are the wrongdoers who have brought loss upon themselves by doing injustice to Our verses.

¹⁰We settled you on the earth and prepared there an environment to provide your livelihood. How little you give these blessings their due!

¹¹Indeed, We created you, then shaped you, and then said to the angels, "Prostrate for Adam/place yourselves at his command"—all except Iblis; he was not among those who prostrated.

¹²Allah said: —What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you? Iblis said: —I am superior to him, for You created me from fire and created him from mud.

¹³Allah said: —Get down at once from the position you hold; it is not for you to act arrogantly there. Get out at once! For you are despicable!

¹⁴Iblis said: —Grant me respite until the day of rising again.

¹⁵Allah said: —You are already among those granted respite!

¹⁶Iblis said: —Because You have led me astray, I swear that I too will sit in ambush for them on Your straight path.

¹⁷Then I will come at them from before them and from behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them grateful.

¹⁸Allah said: Get out of My presence! I will certainly fill Hell with you and with those who follow you.

¹⁹—Allah said: O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in this garden of the world. Eat, both of you, from wherever you wish, but do not approach the specified evil/sin, or you will be among the wrongdoers who harm themselves.

²⁰To make them commit the evil/sin that Allah had told them not to approach, Satan whispered to them: "If you do this, you will become angels, or among those who stay here forever."

²¹And he swore to them both: "I am advising you for your own good."

²²So he deceived them, and they committed the evil/sin they had been forbidden; and when they realized what they had done, their Lord called to them: "Did I not tell you that Satan is your clear enemy?"

²³And they both implored: "Our Lord, we have harmed ourselves through our wrongdoing; if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will surely be among the losers."

²⁴Allah said: —Leave that garden as enemies to one another. On earth a place to settle and live for an appointed time, and a livelihood, await you.

²⁵There you will live, there you will die, and from there you will be brought out.

²⁶O Children of Adam, We have sent down to you clothing to cover yourselves and, for abundance and blessing, the garment of taqwa (God-consciousness), which is better for you; that is among Allah's signs. Perhaps you will take admonition.

²⁷O Children of Adam, do not let Satan deceive you, just as he deceived your forefathers and, by making them commit the specified prohibition/sin, caused them to be expelled from the garden they lived in. For he and his tribe see you from where you cannot see them. The devils are the protectors/friends of those who do not believe.

²⁸When they commit an ugly deed, they say: —We found our forefathers doing this, and Allah commanded it to us. Say: —Allah does not command ugly deeds. Or do you speak in Allah's name without knowing?

²⁹Say: —My Lord has commanded only that what is right be done. Every time you enter a place of prostration, turn to Him with your whole being, and implore Him from the heart, devoting your religion purely to Him. Just as He created you in the first place, so you will return to Him in the end.

³⁰One group of people found the right path, and for another group misguidance became inevitable; for they took devils as protectors instead of Allah, and they still think they are on the right path.

³¹—O Children of Adam, wear your fine clothes whenever you enter a place of prostration; eat and drink, but do not be wasteful. For Allah does not love the wasteful.

³²Say: —Who dares forbid the adornment Allah has brought forth for His servants, and the lawful and wholesome provisions? Say: —In the life of this world they are for those who believe and for everyone. On the Day of Resurrection they will be offered for the use of the believers alone. Thus do We make Our verses clear for a people who have the capacity to understand.

³³Say: My Lord has forbidden only all ugly deeds/indecency, whether committed secretly or openly; every kind of sin; unjust aggression/transgression; your associating anything with Allah as a partner (shirk) by attributing it to Him, though He has sent down no proof concerning it; and your saying things that pertain to Allah without knowing.

³⁴Every community has a term. When their term comes, it is neither postponed by a single hour nor brought forward.

³⁵—O Children of Adam, when messengers come to you from among yourselves, making known/conveying Our verses to you, whoever guards himself and sets his conduct right—for such there will be no fear, nor will they grieve.

³⁶But those who cling to lies in the face of Our verses and treat them with disdain—they are the people of the Fire, and they will abide there.

³⁷Who is more unjust than one who fabricates a lie by attributing his own inventions to Allah, or who clings to lies in the face of Our verses? Their share of the Book/the law will reach them. Then, when Our messengers come to take their souls, they will ask: —Where are those you placed between yourselves and Allah and implored in prayer? They will say: —They have abandoned us and gone away; and so they will bear witness against themselves that they were disbelievers.

³⁸And Allah will say: —Enter the Fire among the communities of jinn and humans who passed away before you! Every community that enters the Fire will curse its fellow community. At last, when all the communities have gathered in Hell, the later generations will say of the earlier ones: —Our Lord, these are the ones who led us astray; give them a double punishment of the Fire! Allah will say: Everyone already has a double punishment, but you do not realize it.

³⁹And the earlier ones will say to the later generations: —You are no different from us in disbelief; so you too taste the punishment for what you earned!

⁴⁰The truth is that the gates of the mercy of the heavens will not be opened for those who cling to lies in the face of Our verses and treat them with disdain, and they will not enter Paradise until a rope passes through the eye of a needle. Thus do We punish the guilty.

⁴¹For them the fire of Hell will be a bed beneath them and a covering over them. Thus do We punish those who do injustice to Our verses.

⁴²But as for those who believe and do good and righteous deeds—and We burden no one beyond their capacity—they are the people of Paradise, and they will abide there.

⁴³We will cleanse them of all negative feelings and thoughts within them. Rivers will flow beneath their feet, and they will say: —Hamd/praise be to Allah, who has brought us to this; had Allah not shown us His right path, we would never have found the right path. Our Lord's messengers told us the truth/reality long ago. And a call will ring out: —This is the Paradise you have earned as the recompense for what you did!

⁴⁴And the people of Paradise will call out to the people of the Fire: —We have found what our Lord promised us to be true. Have you too found what your Lord promised you to be true? They will say: —Yes! Then a caller among them will announce: Let Allah's curse be upon these wrongdoers,

⁴⁵who turn people away from Allah's path, try to make it appear crooked, and do not take the Hereafter into account.

⁴⁶And between the two (Paradise and Hell) there will be a rampart, and on that rampart, in its towers, there will be certain people who recognize everyone by their faces; and they will call out to the people of Paradise, who have not yet entered it but are impatient to enter: "Peace be upon you (Salamun alaykum)—how fortunate you are!"

⁴⁷When their eyes turn toward the people of the Fire, they say: —Our Lord, do not place us together with the wrongdoing people!

⁴⁸The people on the A'raf call out to those whom they recognize by their faces: —See, your accumulations/wealth and property and your arrogance have been of no use to you.

⁴⁹"Are these the people about whom you once swore with all your might, 'Allah will not extend His mercy to them'?" they say. —And it is called out: —Enter Paradise; there is no fear for you, nor any grief.

⁵⁰The people of the Fire call out to the people of Paradise: —Pour a little water on us, or send us some of the provision Allah has given you. The people of Paradise say to them: —Allah has forbidden both to the disbelievers!

⁵¹—those who took their religion lightly, as play and amusement, and were deceived by the allure of worldly life. Just as they forgot that they would meet this day of theirs and knowingly refused to believe in Our verses, so today We will leave them to be forgotten.

⁵²For We had brought them a Book, which We explained with knowledge, as a guide to the right path and a mercy for a believing people who believe and trust.

⁵³Are they waiting for its outcome to appear? On the day its outcome appears, those who had forgotten it before will say: —Our Lord's messengers did indeed bring us the truth. Now, is there any intercessor to intercede for us, or any chance of our being sent back so that we may do good deeds other than what we did? They have led themselves into ruin, and the things they invented have abandoned them and vanished.

⁵⁴Surely your Lord created the heavens and the earth in six stages, then made everything He created submit to His command and established His sovereignty. It is He who covers with the night the day that constantly follows it, and who has made the sun, the moon, and the stars subject to His command. Take heed: creation, governance, and command belong to Him alone. How exalted a source of blessing is Allah, the Lord of the worlds!

⁵⁵Call upon your Lord humbly, sincerely, and in secret. For He does not love those who overstep the limits.

⁵⁶Do not spread corruption in the land after peace and order have been established in it. Call upon Him in fear and in hope of His mercy. For Allah's mercy is very near to those who do good.

⁵⁷It is Allah who sends the winds as bearers of good news ahead of His mercy. When the wind gathers heavily laden rain clouds, We drive them to a dead land, thereby send down water, and with it cause every kind of produce to sprout and grow. In the same way We will bring the dead to life. Perhaps you will reflect and take a lesson.

⁵⁸By the permission of your Lord, the vegetation of fertile, productive land grows beautifully, while from barren land nothing grows, or if anything grows, it is of no use. Thus do We set out Our verses in detail for a people who appreciate the value of blessings.

⁵⁹Indeed, We sent Noah as a messenger to his people. He said: —O my people, serve Allah, for you have no god other than Him. I truly fear for you the punishment of a terrible day.

⁶⁰The prominent leaders of his people said: —We see you in clear misguidance/you keep talking nonsense.

⁶¹Noah said: —O my people, I am not astray at all; rather, I am a messenger sent by Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

⁶²I convey to you the messages of my Lord and give you advice. Through (the revelation) that comes from Allah, I know what you do not know.

⁶³Do you wonder that an admonition and a reminder has come to you from your Lord through a man from among you, to warn you, to remind you to act responsibly, and so that you may receive mercy? he said.

⁶⁴In the end they denied him. So We saved him and those with him in the ship from drowning, and We drowned those who clung to lies in the face of Our verses. For they were a blind people (who refused to see My warnings and admonitions).

⁶⁵And to Ad We sent their kinsman Hud. Hud said to them: —O my people! Serve Allah alone, for you have no god other than Him. Will you not guard yourselves against defying Him?

⁶⁶The disbelieving leaders of his people said: —We see that you are a fool. Moreover, we believe that you are one of the liars.

⁶⁷—O my people! he said. I am no fool; I am only a messenger sent by the Lord of the worlds!

⁶⁸—I convey to you the messages of my Lord. I am a trustworthy adviser to you.

⁶⁹Do you wonder that a warning has come to you from your Lord through one of your own, to warn you? Remember that He made you heirs to this civilization after the people of Noah and made you stronger than them in physical constitution. Reflect on the blessings Allah has granted you, so that you may attain salvation.

⁷⁰—And they said: Have you come to tell us to serve Allah alone and so to abandon what our forefathers served? Then bring us the punishment you promise us, if you are truthful.

⁷¹Hud said: Moral decay and wrath have already come upon you from your Lord. Do you now argue with me about certain names that you and your forefathers have exalted with sacred titles, about which Allah has sent down no knowledge or proof? Then wait, and I too am among those who wait with you!

⁷²At last, as a mercy from Us, We saved him and those with him. And We uprooted those who clung to lies in the face of Our verses; they were not believers anyway.

⁷³And to Thamud We sent Salih, one of their own. He said: —O my people, serve Allah alone, for you have no god other than Him. A clear proof has indeed come to you from your Lord. This is Allah's camel, a sign/miracle for you. Leave it to graze on Allah's land, and do not harm it in any way, or a painful punishment will seize you.

⁷⁴Remember how Allah made you heirs after the people of Ad and settled you in this land, where you build mansions on its plains and carve houses out of its mountains. Reflect on Allah's blessings, and do not run riot on earth, spreading corruption!

⁷⁵The arrogant leaders among his people said to those of the weak who believed: —Do you believe that Salih is truly a messenger sent by his Lord? They said: —Certainly, we are those who have believed in him and in the revelation sent with him, and have become believers.

⁷⁶The arrogant ones said: —And we do not believe in what you believe in.

⁷⁷At last they ruthlessly killed the camel. Thus they rebelled against their Lord's command and said: —O Salih, if you really are Allah's messenger, bring us the punishment you keep threatening us with!

⁷⁸Thereupon a violent tremor suddenly seized them, and they were left fallen on their knees in their homes.

⁷⁹As Salih left them behind, he said: —O my people, I had certainly conveyed to you my Lord's message and given you advice. But you do not love those who give advice.

⁸⁰And Lot had said to his people: —Do you commit an indecency that no one among the communities before you ever committed?

⁸¹—That is, you leave women and approach men with lust. You are indeed a people who exceed all limits of depravity!

⁸²His people's only answer was: —Drive them out of your town; evidently these are such pure people!

⁸³Then We saved him and his family; only his wife stayed behind and was among those who perished.

⁸⁴We rained down upon them a rain of punishment. See, then, what the end of those steeped in sin was!

⁸⁵And to Midian We sent their kinsman Shu'ayb. He said: —O my people, serve Allah alone, for you have no god other than Him. A clear proof has indeed come to you from your Lord. From now on, give full measure and weight in buying and selling, and do not (by cheating and stealing) deprive people of what is rightfully theirs. Do not spread corruption on earth now that order has been restored. This is better for you, if you believe.

⁸⁶And do not lie in ambush at street corners, trying with all kinds of threats to turn believers away from Allah's path and to make it appear crooked. Remember how He multiplied you when you were few. And look at what the end of the corrupters was, and take a lesson!

⁸⁷Since a group of you believe in the message sent to me and another group do not, be patient until Allah judges between you. For He is the best of judges.

⁸⁸The arrogant leaders of his people said: —O Shu'ayb! Either we will drive you and those who believe with you out of our land, or you will return to our belief system! Shu'ayb said: —Even if we are unwilling? and he went on:

⁸⁹—If we were to return to your religion after Allah has saved us from it, we would be fabricating a lie against Allah. It is not possible for us to return to your belief unless Allah, our Lord, wills it, for our Lord encompasses all things in His knowledge. We have put our trust in Allah alone. Our Lord! Remove the barriers between us and our people, for You are the best of those who win hearts!

⁹⁰The disbelieving leaders of his people said: —If you follow Shu'ayb, then you will be utter losers!

⁹¹Then a terrible tremor suddenly seized them, and they were left lying lifeless where they were.

⁹²Those who accused Shu'ayb of lying were as if they had never lived there. In the end, it was those who denied Shu'ayb who were the real losers.

⁹³And (Shu'ayb), as he left them behind, said: —O my people, I had conveyed to you my Lord's messages and given you advice. How, then, should I grieve over the fate of a disbelieving people?

⁹⁴To whatever land We sent a prophet, We always tested its people with famine and deprivation, so that they might implore Allah from the heart.

⁹⁵Then We turned that deprivation and famine into abundance and prosperity. But instead of being grateful for these blessings, they grew insolent, saying, "Our forefathers too saw days of deprivation and plenty, as we have." So We seized and punished them at a moment they did not expect at all.

⁹⁶Yet had the peoples of these lands believed and acted responsibly, We would have flung wide open to them the gates of blessing of the heavens and the earth. But they clung to lies, so We punished them for the sins they had earned.

⁹⁷Do the people of those lands now feel sure that Our punishment will not come upon them suddenly at night while they sleep?

⁹⁸Or do the people of those lands feel sure that Our punishment will not come upon them suddenly by day while they are amusing themselves?

⁹⁹That is, do they have some guarantee against Allah's punishment? None feel secure from Allah's punishment except a people who have come to ruin.

¹⁰⁰Have those who lived in those lands after their former people not understood this? If We wished, We would also punish for their sins those who, like the earlier generations, close their hearts to the truth and do not want to hear what is right.

¹⁰¹These are the lands whose stories We relate to you. Their messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they would not consent to believe in what they had earlier called a lie. Such are these disbelievers who close their hearts to Allah's warnings.

¹⁰²We did not find most of them true to their covenant/word. Rather, We found most of them to be transgressors who had strayed from the path.

¹⁰³After them We sent Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his chiefs. But they did injustice to Our signs. See, then, what the end of the corrupt wrongdoers who persisted in error was!

¹⁰⁴Moses said: —O Pharaoh, I am a messenger sent by the Lord of the worlds!

¹⁰⁵The truth is this: I say nothing about Allah but what is true. I have come to you with a clear proof/miracle from your Lord. So send the Children of Israel with me.

¹⁰⁶—(Pharaoh) said: If you have come with a proof/miracle, and if you are telling the truth, then go on, bring it forward.

¹⁰⁷Thereupon Moses dropped his staff on the ground. And behold—the staff had become a serpent, plain to see!

¹⁰⁸And he drew out his hand from inside his garment, and at that moment it was dazzling white to the onlookers!

¹⁰⁹The chiefs of Pharaoh's people said: —This is evidently a sorcerer who knows his craft well.

¹¹⁰His only aim is to drive you out of your land and homes. So what do you advise?

¹¹¹—Detain him and his brother, and send your men to the cities

¹¹²—to gather all the master sorcerers and bring them to you, they said.

¹¹³The sorcerers came to Pharaoh and said: —There will be a reward for us if we win, won't there?

¹¹⁴—Yes, he said, and you will certainly hold a high position close to me.

¹¹⁵The sorcerers said: —O Moses, will you throw first, or shall we throw?

¹¹⁶He said: —You throw! So they threw. When they threw, they deceived people's eyes and frightened them, and in the end they put on a great display of sorcery.

¹¹⁷And We revealed to Moses: "Throw your staff!" And lo! It devoured everything they had concocted.

¹¹⁸Thus, in the face of the truth, what they had concocted was shown to be false.

¹¹⁹There they were defeated and humiliated.

¹²⁰The sorcerers at once fell down in prostration there and

¹²¹said, "We believe in the Lord of the worlds,

¹²²the Lord of Moses and Aaron."

¹²³Pharaoh said: —So you believed in Him without asking my permission, did you? This is surely a plot you have devised to drive the people out of here. Soon you will see the penalty for it.

¹²⁴I swear that I will strip you of all your rights and leave you destitute, he threatened.

¹²⁵—The sorcerers said: —(It does not matter at all) We are going to return to our Lord anyway.

¹²⁶You are taking revenge on us only because we believed in our Lord's signs when they came to us—yes, only for that. "Our Lord, pour patience upon us and let us die as Muslims," they said.

¹²⁷The chiefs of Pharaoh's people said: —Will you leave Moses and his people alone and turn a blind eye while they spread corruption in the land and abandon you and your gods? Pharaoh said: —We will have their sons killed and let their women/daughters live. We are in a position to do anything to them.

¹²⁸Moses said to his people: —Seek help from Allah and be patient. Surely the earth belongs to Allah, and He makes whomever He wills of His servants inherit it. The happy ending belongs to those who act responsibly toward Allah.

¹²⁹His people said: —We were subjected to torture and oppression before you came to us, and we are still subjected to torture and oppression since you came. Moses said: —Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemies, make you heirs to that land, and test you to see how you will live.

¹³⁰We certainly punished Pharaoh's dynasty with years of famine and drought, so that they might come to their senses.

¹³¹But whenever they attained abundance and prosperity, they would say, "This was only our natural right," and whenever they fell into hardship and distress, they would blame it on the ill omen of Moses and those with him. Yet what they counted as an ill omen is a law from Allah. But most of them do not know this truth.

¹³²—(To Moses) they said: Whatever sign you bring us to influence us with your sorcery, we will still not believe you.

¹³³Thereupon We sent upon them the flood, the locusts, the small ticks, the frogs, and the blood as clear messages. Yet they still acted arrogantly. They were a people steeped in sin.

¹³⁴Whenever these calamities befell them, they would say: —O Moses, for the sake of your Lord's covenant with you, pray to your Lord; if He removes these calamities from us, we will certainly believe you and certainly let the Children of Israel go with you.

¹³⁵But whenever We lifted the calamities from them for a period long enough for them to keep their word, each time they would at once break their word.

¹³⁶So We made them taste the bitterness of this and drowned them in the sea, because they denied Our signs and were indifferent to them.

¹³⁷And We made the people who had once been despised and oppressed masters of the whole of those lands, from east to west, which We had blessed; and thus your Lord's good promise was fulfilled because of the endurance the Children of Israel had shown. And We razed to the ground, burying them in history, the palaces, vineyards, and buildings that Pharaoh and his dynasty took pride in.

¹³⁸And We had brought the Children of Israel safely across the sea. There they came upon a people worshipping certain things they held sacred, and they said: —O Moses, make a god for us like theirs. Moses said to them: —You are truly a very ignorant people!

¹³⁹These people will sooner or later perish because of the false beliefs they hold. What they are doing is falsehood.

¹⁴⁰He said: Shall I seek for you a god other than Allah, when He has favored you above all peoples?

¹⁴¹And recall when We saved you from Pharaoh's dynasty, who subjected you to the worst kind of torture, killing your sons and sparing your women. In that was a great test from your Lord.

¹⁴²We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights and added ten more to it, so that the term set by his Lord was completed as forty nights. Moses said to his brother Aaron: —Take over my duty among my people and keep order, and never follow the way of those who stir up discord and corruption!

¹⁴³And when Moses came to the place We had appointed, at the time We had set, his Lord spoke to him. Moses said: —My Lord, show Yourself to me, so that I may look upon You! His Lord said: —You will never see Me; but look at that mountain: if it stays in its place, then you will see Me. When his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, He leveled it to the ground, and Moses collapsed in a faint. When he came to, he said: —I declare You free of all imperfection/Your glory is most exalted; I repent of this request, and I am the first of those who have believed (that You cannot be seen) and become believers.

¹⁴⁴—Allah said to Moses: O Moses, I have chosen you above people and honored you by giving you the risalah (the duty of conveying My message) and by speaking to you; so hold fast to what I have revealed to you, and be among the grateful!

¹⁴⁵We wrote for him on the tablets admonition of every kind and recorded everything in detail. And We revealed to Moses: "Hold fast to these divine rulings, and tell your people to follow these rulings in the best way!" Soon I will show you the dwellings of the transgressors who have strayed from the path.

¹⁴⁶I will keep away from My verses those who act arrogantly on earth without right. Even if they see every kind of sign, they do not believe in it; even if they see and know the right path, they do not take it as their path; but when they see the path of excess, they take it as their path at once. This is because they clung to lies in the face of Our verses and were indifferent to them.

¹⁴⁷All that those who cling to lies in the face of Our verses and do not take the meeting of the Hereafter into account have done in the name of good has gone to waste. Do they expect to be recompensed with anything other than what they did?

¹⁴⁸After Moses had left (for Mount Sinai), his people made from their ornaments a calf that could bellow, and they worshipped it. Did they not see that it did not speak to them and showed them no way? Yet they still became attached to it and were among the wrongdoers.

¹⁴⁹And when, crushed with remorse, they realized they had gone astray, they said: "Our Lord, if You do not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will be utter losers."

¹⁵⁰When Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said: —What evil you have done in my absence! Were you in such a hurry to violate your Lord's command? In his anger he threw down the tablets, seized his brother by the collar, and pulled him toward himself. Aaron said: —Son of my mother, the people rendered me powerless and nearly killed me. Do not now humiliate me before my enemies and make them laugh at our plight, and do not count me among these wrongdoers!

¹⁵¹My Lord, forgive me and my brother, and enfold us in Your mercy. For You are the Most Merciful of the merciful!

¹⁵²As for those who took the calf as a god, they will soon incur wrath from their Lord and be condemned to humiliation in the life of this world. Thus do We punish those who fabricate lies (against Allah).

¹⁵³But those who do evil deeds, then repent and turn back from their wrong, and believe—surely after that your Lord is matchless in forgiveness and very merciful.

¹⁵⁴When Moses had calmed down and his anger had subsided, he took up the tablets. In them were teachings that are guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord and are wary of Him.

¹⁵⁵And Moses chose seventy men from his people and brought them to the place and time We had appointed. When a violent tremor seized them, he said: —My Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed me and them before this. Will You destroy us for what the fools among us have done? This is nothing but Your test. By it You leave in misguidance whoever wishes it and show Your right path to whoever wishes it. You are our guardian/protector. So forgive us and have mercy on us! For You are the best of those who forgive!

¹⁵⁶Ordain for us good in this world and in the Hereafter; we have turned to You in remorse. Allah said: —I may punish whoever deserves it, but My mercy encompasses all things; I will ordain My mercy for those who act responsibly, who give the zakat, and the believers who believe and trust in Our verses.

¹⁵⁷They are those who follow the messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel they have. He (the messenger) tells them what is good and beautiful and what is evil and ugly; he conveys to them the commands of Allah, who makes lawful for them what is clean and beneficial and forbids them what is foul and harmful; he removes the rulings and obligations that constrained them and weighed heavily on them, and they see that what had been forbidden to them has been lifted. Those who believe and trust in him, honor him, help him, and follow the light/the Quran sent down to him—they are the ones who will attain salvation.

¹⁵⁸Say: —O people, I am the messenger of Allah to you all—Allah, to whom alone belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, besides whom there is no god, who creates life and death. So believe in Allah and in the messenger, the unlettered prophet, who fully believes and trusts in Allah and His messages. Follow that messenger, so that you may find the right path.

¹⁵⁹Among the people of Moses there was a community who pointed to the truth and upheld justice through it.

¹⁶⁰We had divided them into twelve tribes. When his people asked Moses for water, We revealed to him: "Strike the rock with your staff." Twelve springs gushed forth from it, and each tribe knew which spring to drink from. We also shaded them with clouds in the desert and provided them with manna and salwa/manna and quail meat, and We said: Eat of the clean and good things We have provided for you! They did not harm Us; they were only wronging themselves.

¹⁶¹And recall when they were told: —Settle in this town and enjoy its blessings as you wish, and enter the gate humbly, saying "Forgive us," so that We may forgive your sins; We will give even greater reward to those who do good.

¹⁶²But the wrongdoers among them who did not obey the command replaced the word with one other than what they had been told. So We rained down punishment upon them from the sky.

¹⁶³Ask them about what befell the people of the town by the sea! Recall how on the Sabbath, when fishing was forbidden, the fish would flock to the shore, and on other days they would not appear. So the people of that town, out of greed, kept violating the Sabbath prohibition; thus We were testing them because of their straying from the path.