Surah Al-An'am: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

All praise and thanks belong to Allah, who created the heavens, the earth, and all that is between them, and the darkness and the light. Those who stubbornly persist in shirk and disbelief regard themselves as having rights over the servants whom Allah has created and owns, and lay claim to godhood.

Yet it is Allah who created the human being from clay, then appointed a lifespan both for the human being and for the world, and who will raise him to life after death and call him to account. Despite this truth, why do you hesitate to follow the system of life to which you are invited?

There is no doubt that there is no true god but Allah, who created what is in the heavens and what is on the earth, established their order, and keeps them alive; He alone is worthy of worship and obedience. He knows what you conceal within and what you reveal, and how you wish to live.

Whenever those who have conditioned themselves to deny this truth are called to follow Allah’s verses, they at once turn away from them and pretend not to hear. Yet now the Quran has come, which makes known the reason for their creation and invites them to an honorable, virtuous, and free life; but despite this they call the verses of the Quran lies and mock them. When the day comes, they will understand that what they mocked was true, and they will regret it.

Do these polytheists not know what befell the communities before them that rejected Allah’s call? We had given them the blessings We have given you, sent down abundant rain on them from the sky, and made rivers flow beneath their feet. Yet they were ungrateful and went on sinning. So We struck them with punishment and destroyed them, and made other generations heirs in their place.

O Prophet! Had We sent you the Quran as a written text, and had they touched it with their hands, those who have conditioned themselves to denial still would not believe; they would say, “This is a deception, a piece of sorcery.”

Then they say, “Since you are a prophet, let an angel be sent to help you, so that we too may see it and believe”; but even if We sent an angel, they would still not believe. Then judgment would be passed on them to be destroyed, without their even having a chance to repent.

Had We sent an angel along with the Prophet, We would certainly have sent him too in the form of a human being. The excuses of those who do not wish to believe in the call never end, and there is no stopping their doubts.

The counsel and warnings of the prophets before you were mocked too. So those who mocked were destroyed by the punishment they deserved.

Say: “Travel the earth, and see and understand what the end was of the insolent who rejected the divine system and morality to which they were invited, and were ungrateful.”

O Prophet! Ask those who associate partners with Allah, “To whom does all that is in the heavens and on the earth belong?” and say: “It belongs to Allah, of course. Mercy and compassion too are among His attributes.”

On the Day of Resurrection, whose coming is certain, Allah will gather you all together, call you to account for your stance toward His call, and give you the recompense you deserve. Those who stubbornly persist in shirk and disbelief do not believe this inescapable truth.

Allah is the one true Owner of everything that night and day contain. Everything is the work of His knowledge and power; He is aware of everything.

Say: “When there is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth as a single whole and then split them apart as one splits a seed, who established their flawlessly working order, who feeds, gives drink to, and provides for what He has created, and who Himself needs nothing, am I to turn to anything other than the system and morality to which He invites?”

Say: “I have been commanded to be the first and foremost of those who submit (as Muslims) to what my Lord invites me to. I take no god but Him; if I rebel against my Lord in ingratitude, I fear being condemned to the severe punishment of the Day of Resurrection.”

Whoever on That Day is spared the punishment because of his righteous deeds will attain Allah’s compassion and mercy and be blessed.

If Allah wishes to let some harm touch you, to test you or because of what your hands have done, no one but Allah can remove it; and if He wishes good for you, no one can stand in its way. Without doubt Allah has power to do what He wills.

The right of sovereignty over His servants belongs to Allah alone. He is the One in whose every judgment there is wisdom, who knows what is most right in everything.

O Prophet! Say to those who persist in their shirk and disbelief: “Who is the most trustworthy and the greatest witness between me and you? Allah, of course. This Quran has been sent down to me to warn you and those it will reach after you; despite this, will you turn away from what you are invited to and take gods other than Allah?” Say: “I will never take any god but Allah; Allah is the one true God, and I am far removed from what you associate with Him.”

Those to whom We gave the Book before know, through the truths that remain in their own books, that the Quran is a divine Book, as they know their own children; but many of them still turn away and do not believe, though it is to their own harm.

Who could be more ignorant and more unjust than those who, though the truths have been made plainly known and set forth, refuse to accept them, and slander Allah by attributing to Him the superstitions they have invented? Such people will never prosper.

On the Day of Resurrection We will gather them all together and ask them, “Where are those you associated as partners with Allah, took as gods, and followed?” Then they will be able to invent no excuse other than to say, “Our Lord! We swear that our intention was not to associate partners with You by taking them as gods.” Look how, when they face the truths they were warned of, they cling to lies and deny their guilt. And those to whom they ascribed godhood have now abandoned them and vanished.

O Prophet! Some of those who associate partners with Allah pretend to listen as you recite the Quran. It is as though they have veiled their hearts and put plugs in their ears so as not to understand the Quran. Even if they saw the truth with all its proofs and met with every kind of miracle, they still would not believe and have faith. What is more, they argue with you and do not hold back from saying, “These are the fables of the ancients.” They also try to keep others from listening to and understanding the Quran, and so, while dragging themselves into Hell, they drag those others along behind them; but they are not aware of it.

If only you could see them when they are brought before the Fire, in their helplessness and remorse, saying, “Oh, if only we were given one more chance to return to the world, so that we might be among the believers who believe in our Lord’s call and hold fast to it!”

But it is too late now; although they had been warned of what would befall them, they paid no heed and turned away. Even if they were returned to their worldly lives, they would again take other gods alongside Allah and choose to associate partners with Him. For they are liars who have conditioned themselves to believe that there is no life other than this worldly life, no resurrection after death, and no Day of Reckoning.

And if only you could see their state when they are brought before their Lord and asked, “Were the resurrection after death and the Day of Reckoning not real after all?” Then they will cry out with one voice, “By our Lord, being raised after death and the Day of Reckoning were the very truth.” And Allah will say to them, “Then suffer the punishment for living in denial of this truth.”

Those who do not believe that the Last Hour and the Day of Reckoning will come, when they meet those days, will groan under the burdens of sin on their shoulders, saying, “Woe to us for paying no heed to the counsel and warnings while we were in the world; we have been caught utterly unprepared.”

For those who do not reflect on the reason for their creation, the life of this world is nothing but a passing game and amusement. Yet it is the life of the Hereafter that truly matters. In the Hereafter, everlasting happiness, peace, security, and countless blessings await those who make every effort to fulfill their responsibilities toward Allah. Only those of pure mind who know Allah as He deserves understand this truth.

O Prophet! We know that you are grieved that they oppose the call you make in Allah’s name and accuse you of lying. In fact, it is Allah’s verses that they call lies, turn away from, and reject.

Those before them too called the prophets who came to them liars and tormented them. And their prophets endured with patience the torments and slanders inflicted on them until help came to them from Us, and in the end Allah’s help came to their rescue. His promise of help to His prophets and the believers is true, and no one can stand in its way. We have also conveyed to you some of the stories about those prophets.

O Prophet! Even if you are pained by the turning away and attacks of those you invite to follow Allah’s Book, and grieve for them, know well that even if you dug a hole and went down into the depths of the earth, or set a ladder against the sky and climbed up, or produced and showed them other miracles, to make them accept what is right, they would still not give up their denial.

Had Allah willed, He would not have created people with the ability to determine their way of life by using their will, but would have brought them into being with a nature compelled to follow the reason for their creation. So do not act like one who is unaware of this truth.

The truth is that only those who wish to understand the reason for their creation and sincerely to live in keeping with it understand and accept the call made in Allah’s name through the Quran.

And those whose eyes see nothing but the life of this world, who have darkened their hearts, shut their ears to the truths, and turned their backs, Allah will raise to life with the Resurrection when the day comes, and call them to account for this conduct of theirs.

O Prophet! Those who associate partners with Allah ask you, “If you really are a prophet, why do you have no miracle given by your Lord? Should you not have shown us a miracle?”

Say to them: “Allah certainly has the power to show every kind of miracle.” But they do not know that if they still do not turn to the call despite being shown miracles, they will have deserved to be destroyed by punishment in their worldly life as well.

Yet are the animals that walk the earth and the birds that fly with their wings, your own creation, and the universe you live in and its order not plain miracles? And do you not see that each of them has a reason for its creation? You will find no deficiency or flaw in the working of Our order and laws, or in the Book We have sent. In the end you too will be raised again, gathered in Allah’s presence, and called to account for your stance toward the system of life that is His call.

Those who are indifferent to this call being made plainly through the Quran and do not appreciate its worth are blind people sunk in pitch darkness, deaf people who have stopped their ears to the truths, and dumb people who do not speak the truth.

Allah leaves in error those who wish to stray from what is right, and brings to it whoever wishes to live what is right.

O Prophet! Say to those who associate partners with Allah: “If, because of this ingratitude, insolence, and unruliness of yours, Allah’s punishment or the Last Hour came upon you suddenly, would you then plead and pray to anyone but Allah and ask for help?

No, then you would plead with Allah alone; and only if Allah wills would He save you from it; and the gods you associate with Him would not even cross your mind at that moment.”

We sent prophets to the communities before you too, and they too rejected the call made in Allah’s name. Then We tested them with hardship and distress. But despite the hardships and misfortunes that befell them, they did not follow the Islamic system of life to which they were invited. Shirk had blinded their eyes and turned their hearts to stone, and so Satan had made what they were doing seem good and right to them.

They paid no heed to the call made to them with counsel and warnings, and turned their backs. So this time We threw wide open to them the gates of every kind of blessing; and when, drunk with the blessings given them, they grew spoiled and unruly, We seized them with Our punishment suddenly, at a moment they least expected. Then all their dreams, hopes, and desires came to nothing.

In the end they were destroyed by the punishment they deserved. Allah alone is worthy of thanks and of all praise.

Say: “Just think: if Allah took away your hearing and sight and made you deaf and blind, and sealed your hearts and made you people without feeling or awareness, is there any god other than Allah who could give them back to you?”

Thus do We set out the proofs of Our knowledge and power plainly and in various ways. Yet those who have made denial of the truth their nature stubbornly go on taking gods other than Allah.

Say to them: “Just think what would become of you if Allah’s punishment came upon you suddenly!”

We sent the prophets only as warners and bearers of good news. Whoever believes and sets himself right, for such people there will be no fear of punishment in the Hereafter, nor will they grieve.

As for the ungrateful who deny Our verses, they will suffer the penalty for this attitude by being condemned to punishment.

O Prophet! Say to them: “I do not tell you that Allah’s treasures are with me, nor do I claim to know the unseen, nor do I go so far as to say I am an angel; I only follow what is revealed to me, and I invite you to follow it too.”

Say: “Can the one who sees and the one who does not ever be the same? Will you still not use your reason?”

And warn with the Quran those who believe that they will be raised after death and called to account, and who are conscious of their responsibilities toward Allah! On the Day of Reckoning they will have no friend or intercessor other than Allah.

O Prophet! Never belittle and send away from you those who come to you morning and evening to learn how to live the system of life that is the reason for their creation, and so to win Allah’s good pleasure. You are not responsible for what they do, nor are they responsible for what you do. If you judge and assess them by their past, their position in society, or their economic means, you too will be among the ignorant and the wrongdoers.

We test people through one another. Those who have conditioned themselves to deny Allah’s call say, “Is it to these poor, powerless people who have no place in society that Allah has granted faith and guidance, passing us by?” Yet it is Allah who knows best who is worthy of guidance.

O Prophet! Say to those people who come to you to believe wholeheartedly and sincerely in the call being made in Allah’s name: “Peace be upon you, and rejoice; my Lord has made compassion and mercy toward His believing servants a principle for Himself. Know that whoever commits a sin without knowing it to be a sin, and then, on learning that it is a sin, repents and turns to what is right, Allah too is merciful and forgiving toward him.”

Thus do We explain Our verses, so that it may be known that the case of those who repent and set themselves right is not the same as that of those who have made sin their way of life.

Say to those who associate partners with Allah: “I will not worship those you take as gods. Indeed, doing so has been forbidden by Allah both to me and to you.”

Say: “If I followed your groundless, meaningless way, shaped to suit someone’s interests and whims, I would have gone astray and become one of the ignorant who have left the right path. I am inviting you to the right path with clear proofs from my Lord, but you reject it and call it a lie. It is not in my hands to bring upon you the punishment you mockingly want to befall you at once, saying, ‘Let it befall us, so that we may see.’ It is Allah who will decide on it and set its time. He gives the truest judgment and lets no one share in His judgment.”

Say: “If it were in my hands to bring the punishment of which you say, ‘Let it come, so that we may see,’ your penalty would long since have been given, and so the matter between us would have been settled; but Allah knows best when and how those who associate partners with Him and deny the truth will be punished. For He alone knows the unseen. It is He who decides what will happen on land, at sea, and in the future; not even a leaf falls from its branch but He knows it; a seed cast into the depths of the soil, and everything dry or moist, living or dead, is the work of Allah’s knowledge and subject to His laws. Allah is aware of everything.

So it is He who puts you to sleep at night like the dead, and who knows what you have done and will do by day. He brings back to life every morning those who are to complete the lifespan He has set; and after your death you will all be returned to your Lord, just as one wakes from sleep. Then your stance toward your Lord’s call in your worldly life will be made plain to you, and you will meet what you deserve.”

Allah holds absolute judgment over His servants, and the authority of sovereignty belongs to Him alone. Until death comes to one of you, the angels Allah has appointed over you follow your deeds and keep their record. When the time comes, they take the souls. On the Day of Reckoning the dead are raised to life and gathered before their Lord, their true Owner, to give account. Allah is the best of those who judge and of those who take account.

O Prophet! Say: “When you face a mortal danger on land or at sea and plead and implore, ‘Our Lord, if You save us from this danger, we swear that we will give thanks to You and take no god but You,’ can anyone but Allah save you?”

Say: “It is Allah alone who will save you from every hardship and misfortune. Despite this, do you still take other gods alongside Him?”

Say: “It is Allah alone who has the power to send disasters on you from the sky and the earth and to surround you with punishment. If you deserve it, Allah is also able to split you into opposing factions, set you against one another, and make you suffer.” Thus do We explain Our messages again and again in various ways through Our verses, so that you may understand them well.

O Prophet! Your people have denied the truths made known through the Quran. Say to them: “I am not your guardian, with the power to protect you from a punishment that will come from Allah. Do not forget that every tiding Allah gives has a time for its fulfillment; when the time comes, you too will learn it.”

When you see those who speak disparagingly of Our verses, move away from there until they turn to other subjects. And if Satan makes you forget to do this, then once you remember, do not stay together with such ungrateful wrongdoers.

Those who live conscious of their responsibilities toward Allah are not responsible for the attitudes of those who associate partners with Allah, the ungrateful, and the wrongdoers; but they are obliged to counsel and warn them and invite them to what is right.

O Prophet! Warn with the Quran those who have given themselves over entirely to the passing pleasures of this worldly life, made them their way of life, turned their backs on Allah’s call, and made it a subject of play and amusement; remind them of what will befall them, and then leave them to themselves. Let them know well that when they come to deserve Allah’s punishment because of their shirk, disbelief, and wrongdoing, they will find no friend or intercessor who can protect them against Allah; no power can save them from Allah’s punishment, and no ransom will be accepted there. They will give account, caught in the grip of punishment, for what they did and for what they failed to do when they should have. In Hell there is a drink of boiling water for them. The penalty for being ungrateful to Allah and associating partners with Him is most severe.

Say: “When there is the call of Allah, who created us, endowed us with so many blessings, and made known the reason for our creation together with how we should live, are we to follow the systems of life invented by deified people who can be of no benefit at all to the human being? Allah’s guidance is the only guidance.

Now that Allah has made known to us the right path, are we to go after people led astray by devils, turn away from the truths, and become like fools who turn back on their heels and run toward Hell?”

Say: “The only right path is the path Allah shows. We have been commanded to submit to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, to perform the prayer consciously, giving it its due, and so to live in guidance. In the end we will all be gathered in His presence and called to account for whom we lived our lives for in this world, and by what standard.”

Allah created the heavens, the earth, and all that is between them for the human being, and the human being to establish on earth a system of life whose rules Allah has set, and to live in submission to it.

When Allah decides to create something, He only says to it “Be!”, and it at once enters the process of coming into being, within the bounds of the laws Allah has set, and is. His word is true and is carried out at once. Among His creation, none but the human being has been given the will to object to his Lord’s commands and proposals and to say no.

When the Trumpet is blown for people to be raised to life and the reckoning begins, sovereignty and the authority to judge will again belong to Allah alone. He knows best the inner nature of everything a human being sees and cannot see, knows and cannot know, and He is aware of everything. On that Day of Reckoning the human being will come face to face with these truths.

Long ago Abraham said to his father Azar, “Do you think it right to take as gods those whom people have made into idols, and to follow their systems? The truth is that, by doing so, you and your people are living in plain error.”

Abraham, reflecting on Allah’s sovereignty over what He has created in the heavens and on the earth, and on the perfection of the order He has established, submitted wholeheartedly to His knowledge, His power, and His call. And so Allah strengthened Abraham’s grasp of the truth.

When night fell and the stars appeared in the sky, Abraham looked at the stars around him and said to those who sanctified the stars, reading meanings into their appearance and movements: “So these are my Lord (my Owner), are they? Am I then to decide what to do, and how, by looking at them, and order my conduct accordingly?”

When the stars vanished by day, he said to those around him: “I do not love things that vanish and pass away. Such things cannot be Lord.” Then, when the moon rose in the sky, to explain and make plain the absurdity of this way of thinking to those who sanctified the stars, the moon, and the sun and hoped for help from them, he said, “Since this moon is bigger than the star, this must be our real Lord,” and turning to those around him he said, “Had my Lord not shown me the truth and made known to me what is right, I too would have floundered in error like you and taken these as lords.”

Then, pointing out the sun to those around him, he said, “This is bigger and brighter than the others! What, are we now going to say that our Lord is not they but this? As you see, this too will set and disappear from sight,” and, inviting his people to use their reason and reflect, he said, “O my people! I am entirely free of those to whom you ascribe godhood besides Allah and whom you associate with Him. I have turned my face away from such false things toward Allah; there is no true Lord and God but Allah, who created the earth and the heavens.”

Thereupon his people began to argue with Abraham. Abraham said to them: “When my Lord has guided me to the right path that is the reason for our creation, you set about arguing with me. I do not fear those to whom you ascribe godhood besides Allah. Unless my Lord wills, no one can harm me; my Lord’s knowledge encompasses everything. He sees and watches over everything. While you do not fear associating partners with Allah by taking fake gods without any proof, why should I fear those you associate with Him? Now tell me, which of the two sides should feel more secure from fear: you or I?”

Without doubt, those who believe in Allah wholeheartedly and do not mix shirk and disbelief with their faith have earned security. For they are the ones on the right path.

These are Our verses that We revealed to Abraham, so that he might make his people reflect on what is right and invite them to it.

When We will, We increase the knowledge of those We deem worthy, strengthen their understanding, and reward them with high ranks. That is why We gave Abraham Isaac as a son, and after him his grandson Jacob, as a gift. We guided them to the right path to which We had guided Noah before, and made them prophets and messengers (nabis and rasuls) who called people to the right path. We also bestowed this blessing of prophethood on David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron, who descended from Abraham.

Thus do We reward those who turn to Allah wholeheartedly and submit. Without doubt your Lord is the Possessor of judgment and wisdom, who knows everything fully.

Zechariah, John, Jesus, Elijah, Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah, and Lot too were Our messengers who invited people to Allah’s way. All of them were fine people, virtuous and excellent, who carried out their duties heart and soul. Because of these qualities We held them above other people. Moreover, from among their children and brothers, those We deemed worthy We also granted prophethood, gave them the Book and wisdom, and included among Our chosen servants.

Such is Allah’s guidance: whoever takes Allah as guide, Allah leads him to His right path and rewards him. Had they taken lords and gods other than Allah, they would not have been deemed worthy of such rewards, and the good they did would have gone to waste.

Now, O Prophet! If your people reject your prophethood and the call you make in Allah’s name, and turn away, We will bring in their place a community that holds fast to Our call and does not call the Prophet a liar.

O Prophet! You too, follow the way of Our messengers, to whom We granted prophethood and whom We charged with guiding to the right path, and say: “I expect no return from you for the call I am making through the Quran in Allah’s name. Without doubt this Quran is a divine warning, counsel, and source of honor and dignity for all humanity.”

Some Jews, not wishing to learn what their responsibilities toward Allah are and to know Him well enough, said: “Allah has not revealed anything to any human being or sent down any book.” Say to them: “Then what do you say of the Book that Moses brought as a guide, to bring people out of the darkness into the light, part of which your forefathers wrote down on sheets, part of which they concealed, and from which they disclosed to the public, from time to time, what suited them? Yet many truths were made plain in it that neither you nor your forefathers knew.”

Tell them that Allah revealed to Moses too and gave him the Book, and then leave them to themselves; let them flounder on in their swamps with baseless claims and empty talk.

This Quran is a divine Book We have sent down to you, confirming the truths that remain from the divine books We sent down before it, to warn Mecca, the mother of cities, and those around it, and all people, and to invite them to live by the system of life that is the reason for their creation. Those who believe in the Hereafter believe in this Book too, and so they obey Allah and perform their prayers.

Who could be more astray, more ignorant, and more unjust than one who invents lies about Allah and attributes the lie he invented to Allah, who falsely claims that revelation comes to him too, or who says, “I too can say the like of what Allah has sent down”? You should see their state when the angels of death seize them by the collar and say, “Come on, then, save your souls if you can, and let us see. Today you will be struck with a humiliating punishment for the slanders you uttered against Allah and the arrogant attitude you took toward His verses.”

On the Day of Reckoning Allah will say to them: “You have come to Us all alone, just as We created you the first time, and you have left behind everything We bestowed on you in the world. Those you took as gods besides Allah and went after have vanished, and those whose help you hoped for have abandoned you.”

When you have been created endowed with the faculties to see and know that it is Allah who splits open the seed and the date stone and makes them sprout and grow, who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living, how can you turn away from Allah’s call and, abandoning Him, take as lords and gods those who are themselves created?

When there is Allah, who cleaves the darkness and brings the dawn, who has made the night a time of rest for you, who makes the sun and the moon revolve in their orbits according to a reckoning He has set, establishes their order, binds them to laws, and places them at your service, how can you give anyone other than Him authority over your lives, relying on no knowledge or proof?

What is more, it is Allah who created and placed the stars by which you try to find your way in the darkness of night, on land and sea. We give these examples so that you may grasp Our boundless knowledge and power.

So should you not, seeing these things and using your reason, turn to Allah’s call?

Allah first created you from a single soul, from a single essence; the substance, the essence, of all of you is the same. Then He settled you for a while on the earth, a temporary abode. Through the Prophet and the books He also made plain the reason for your creation and how you should live.

It is Allah who sends down rain from the sky and with it grows every kind of plant, makes the grass turn green, and offers you vineyards and gardens, dates, pomegranates, and olives, and fruits like and unlike these, each differing in taste and flavor. There are lessons in these for those who wish to grasp Allah as He deserves.

Although the greatness of Allah’s knowledge and power is so plainly visible and understandable, some people still do not refrain from taking as gods alongside Allah, and associating with Him as partners, beings created like themselves, or the jinn and the angels, who are among the invisible beings.

It is Allah who created people, male and female, and the jinn and the angels too; nothing is His equal. Allah has never taken a child. He is far above these attributions of those who associate partners with Him and deny the truth.

Allah has created the heavens and the earth perfectly, established their order, and keeps them alive bound to their laws. His knowledge and power are boundless. Allah has no need of help, or a partner, or a spouse, or to take a child. He knows the one truth of everything. Such is Allah, your Lord, and there is no true god but Him. So serve Him alone. He is the Guardian over everything.

It is Allah who creates everything, provides for it, keeps it alive, and sees and watches over it. No human eye has been created with the ability to see Allah. He cannot be seen with these eyes, but He sees and watches over everything. Allah’s essence cannot be grasped; He is above every conception. Reason perceives the boundlessness of His knowledge and power, but cannot encompass and enclose His being. Allah knows the essence of everything and encompasses everything with His knowledge.

O people! This divine Book, which makes clear the reason for your creation, has been sent to you from your Lord, and He has granted you, along with insight, reason to understand and grasp what is recited and said to you, a heart to feel, ears to hear, and eyes to see.

Whoever sees, hears, and grasps the truths and turns to the right path to which he is invited has done something for his own good, in his own favor. And whoever closes his eyes, ears, and heart to the truths, does not use his reason, and denies them, has done something to his own harm.

O Prophet! Say to them: “I am not a watchman set over you to force you to believe the truths.”

Thus do We explain Our verses in various ways and from many angles. Instead of using their reason and reflecting on them, those who associate partners with Allah say, “You have learned these from some people like yourself.” Pay them no heed! We explain Our verses in detail for those who reflect on the reason for their creation and wish to live in keeping with it. Follow what is sent down from your Lord; there is no true god but Him. And turn away from those who associate partners with Allah.

O Prophet! Do not let their stubborn opposition to the call grieve you. Had Allah not created people to test them, giving them the will to choose between truth and falsehood, no one could take any lord and god other than Allah, or associate partners with Him.

Nor have We set you over people as a keeper, to force them to believe. Nor are you their guardian.

O believers! Do not revile those whom the polytheists take as gods alongside Allah and follow in hope of help, lest they too grow angry with you and, in their ignorance, set about reviling Allah.

To every community the system and morality it prefers to live by, and does not wish to give up, seem attractive. In the end they will be gathered before their Lord and called to account for their choices, and then Allah will bring them face to face with what they deserve.

Those who associate partners with Allah swear by Allah that, if a miracle is shown them, they will believe in your prophethood and that the Quran is a divine Book being sent from Allah. Say to them: “Showing miracles is in Allah’s hands.”

But Allah knows very well, and you too know, O believers: “Even if all the miracles they ask for were shown, they still would not believe and turn to what they are invited to. And because of their hypocrisy, unruliness, and ingratitude We veil their hearts and eyes and leave them in their own swamps, lurching blindly this way and that.”

Even if We sent down angels to those who dare not leave the swamp of shirk and disbelief, made the dead speak to them, and laid every kind of miracle before them, they would act blind and deaf to the call made in Allah’s name. Allah knows that they are not worthy of living by the divine system. But they cannot grasp this truth either.

People who give themselves over to Satan’s gilded, embellished, beguiling lies, and devils from among the jinn who whisper these to people, are hostile, because of this inclination of theirs, to the call the prophets make in Allah’s name. Had your Lord not left them free in order to test them, they could not do this. So keep away from their provocations and their beguiling of your minds, and do not fall into their traps.

The aim of these devils and of those who follow in their footsteps is to bind to themselves, with gilded lies and empty fantasies, those who do not wish to believe in the Hereafter, to draw them away from Allah, and to make them their slaves.

Say to them: “Now that this divine Book has come, which sets out plainly why we were created and how we should live, am I to seek a judge other than it to decide what is right and what is wrong?”

O Prophet! Those to whom We gave books containing Our revelations before also know well that this Quran is the very truth, sent down to invite people to live what is most right. Never have any doubt about this.

This Quran, made up of your Lord’s verses, is, in both truthfulness and justice, the source of the one perfect way of life. There is no word that can annul His verses, which are your Lord’s words. He knows the one truth of everything, has power over everything, puts everything in its proper place, and is aware of everything.

If you follow most people, they will lead you astray from what is right. Most of them follow conjecture, what is baseless and false.

Without doubt Allah knows very well who does what to follow the right path, and who strays from the way.

O believers! Eat of what Allah’s name has been pronounced over, and by this conduct set yourselves apart from those who associate partners with Allah, for you are those who believe wholeheartedly in Allah. When Allah has explained to you in detail what is forbidden to eat, except when you are compelled, why should you not eat of what, apart from these, has been slaughtered with Allah’s name pronounced over it?

Those who associate partners with Allah, relying on no knowledge or proof and following their own desires, confuse people by saying, “This is forbidden and may not be eaten, that is lawful and may be eaten,” trying to present their own rulings as right. Yet the right and authority to lay down rulings of lawful and unlawful concerning what He has created belong to Allah alone. Your Lord knows very well those who do not know their limits.

O believers! Keep away from what Allah has forbidden, and beware of doing it openly or in secret. Do not forget that those who commit sins will surely suffer the penalty for it.

While eating and drinking of the blessings Allah has created for you and made lawful, do not forget to remember Allah. Do not eat the flesh of animals slaughtered without Allah’s name being pronounced over them, with someone else’s name pronounced instead; doing so makes a person insensitive toward Allah. Satan, and the people who have taken Satan as a friend, whisper and make suggestions to you on these matters to confuse your minds and draw you into disputes. If you follow them, you too will be among those who associate partners with Allah.

Can one who is spiritually dead, floundering in darkness, ever be the same as one whom Allah has brought together with the truths, introduced to faith, and brought to life? But, as it is, you cannot make one who does not wish to come out of darkness into light, and to whom living in the swamp seems fine, believe the truth.

When the people of a land want it, We do not prevent the leading polytheists of that land from establishing their systems of shirk. Then they begin to practice every kind of trickery, deceit, intrigue, and oppression there; in fact, by doing so they dig their own graves, but they are not aware of it.

Whenever Allah’s verses are conveyed to such people and they are invited to follow them, they at once say, “We will never believe in these unless verses like those that came to Allah’s prophets come to us too.” Yet Allah knows very well to whom He will give revelation and prophethood. Such people will certainly begin to suffer the penalty for the crimes they committed when they are gathered in Allah’s presence on the Day of Reckoning and meet a severe punishment.

Allah turns the heart of whomever He deems worthy toward Islam, the right path. And whoever wishes to go astray He leaves in his straying. The heart of such a person grows tight and is choked with distress, as though he were climbing into the sky.

Allah leaves the ungrateful who turn their backs on His call in distress and filth.

There is no path more right than the path your Lord shows through His Book. We make Our verses plainly known for those who use their reason and wish to find the right path.

Allah will bring those who strive to walk in the light of His verses to the home of peace, safety, and happiness. And because of this choice of theirs Allah is their friend and helper.

On the Day of Reckoning, when Allah gathers everyone together, He will call out to Satan and his followers: “O Satan, and you who have taken Satan as your friend! Just as in the world you yourselves turned away from Allah’s call, you also strove hard to make others fall into the clutches of this sin and follow you. And you caught many of them in your trap and made them your slaves.” Thereupon the humans who were Satan’s companions will say to Allah, “O our Lord! In the world we profited greatly from one another, and in the end we reached the end of the term You appointed for us and met the truths in which we did not believe and from which we turned away.” And Allah will say to them, “It is too late now; from now on your place, your abode, is the Fire, and you will remain there forever, unless Allah wills otherwise. This is Allah’s decree concerning you. Allah is the Possessor of judgment and wisdom.”

Allah makes those who turn away from His call and cover up the truths, and those who encourage others to do the same, friends of one another.

On the Day of Reckoning Allah will also call out to them: “O you among humans and jinn who chose to associate partners with Allah and deny the truth! Did there not come to you messengers from among yourselves and of your own kind, reciting My verses to you and inviting you to what is right, and did they not warn you that this day would come?” And they will say, “Yes, we bear witness against ourselves that they came and warned us that this day would come, but we did not listen to them,” and so they will confess that their attachment to the passing life of this world caused them to associate partners with Allah and deny the truth.

Your Lord does not destroy the people of a town without first warning them by sending prophets and books.

Know well that every person has a rank according to each deed he does knowingly and willingly, and will be treated accordingly in Allah’s sight. Your Lord is not unaware of what they do.

O people! Your Lord is Allah, who is self-sufficient and in need of nothing. He is the Possessor of compassion and mercy. If He wills, He can remove you and bring another community in your place, just as He brought you from the descendants of other people.

Never have any doubt that the Day of Reckoning you have been promised will come; no one can prevent it.

O Prophet! Say to those who do not believe in the truths they are called to, but show enmity and attack: “Do your worst, and I will go on doing my utmost to invite people in Allah’s name. In the end you will see who will have superiority and honor in this world, and Paradise in the Hereafter. It is a certain truth that the wrongdoers, the ungrateful, those who associate partners with Allah, and those who deny the truth will never attain salvation and happiness.”

These people even go so far as to set aside a share of the crops and livestock We have created, saying that this is Allah’s due, supposedly hoping for nearness to Us. And on the other hand they set aside a share for their gods, saying that this is the due of their gods, who protect and govern them alongside Allah. Just as the shares they set aside for those they take as gods make them idolaters, the share they set aside for Allah too has no meaning or value. What they do is nothing but superstition and nonsense.

Those whom the polytheists take as gods alongside Allah, and to whom they are blindly attached, make even the killing of their own children seem fine to many of them, and so both drag them into ruin and make a corrupt understanding their religion. So, O believers! Keep away from understandings based on shirk, disbelief, and superstition.

Because of the fake, false beliefs they have invented, these people moreover regard certain animals and crops as sacred, saying, “No one may eat these except the sacred persons we designate and permit; and no one may load the backs of the animals we regard as sacred or ride them; these are our limits of lawful and unlawful.” Moreover, when slaughtering certain animals they deliberately do not pronounce Allah’s name, and what is more, they slander Allah by saying, “Allah willed it,” as the reason it is so. Allah will punish them as they deserve for all these baseless superstitions and false beliefs, slanders, shirk, and disbelief.

These polytheists say, “Every young born alive from the wombs of these animals is lawful for men and unlawful for women. If the young is born dead, it is lawful for both men and women, and both may eat its flesh.” Yet determining the rulings of lawful and unlawful concerning what He has created belongs to Allah alone. No one other than Allah has the right or authority to determine what is lawful and unlawful.

Those who recognize none of Allah’s limits and try to set limits concerning what He has created, Allah will punish with the most severe punishment they deserve. He is the Possessor of judgment and wisdom and knows what is most right in everything.

Those who out of ignorance take the lives of their children, declare lawful and unlawful on their own authority the provision Allah has created, and slander Allah by not pronouncing His name when slaughtering certain animals, saying that He wanted it so, are the misguided who have turned their backs on what is right. They will surely suffer the penalty for turning away from Allah’s verses.

It is Allah who has created for His servants the cultivated fields, the vineyards and gardens, crops of every kind, fruits differing in appearance and flavor, trellised and untrellised produce, dates, olives, pomegranates, and many similar blessings. Eat of all of these when they ripen, and when you harvest and gather them, give the poor their due. Do not squander wastefully the blessings Allah has bestowed on you; Allah does not love the wasteful.

Allah has also created for you all the animals, those that carry your loads and those that do not, those whose flesh you eat and those whose flesh you do not. Eat of the flesh of what He has made lawful, and never follow Satan’s call, walk in his footsteps, and become his companions. Do not forget that Satan is your open enemy.

O Prophet! Say to those who on their own authority lay down rulings of lawful and unlawful concerning the animals Allah has created: “How can you, relying on no knowledge or proof from Allah, lay down rulings of unlawful and lawful about any of these four pairs of animals: a pair of sheep, a pair of goats, a pair of camels, and a pair of cattle! Is it their females, their males, or their young that have been made unlawful?” And say: “Were you witnesses when Allah forbade these?” Who could be more unjust than one who, relying on no sound knowledge or proof, attributes the lies he himself has invented to Allah in order to lead people astray? Know well that Allah does not grant those who stubbornly persist in associating partners with Him and denying the truth to follow His right path.

O Prophet! Say: “Allah has made known to me by revelation that nothing is unlawful except carrion, flowing blood, the flesh of swine, and the flesh of a sacrifice slaughtered with a name other than Allah’s pronounced over it. But if a person, in helplessness, is in dire straits from hunger and eats of what is unlawful just enough not to die of hunger, without falling upon it greedily and without going beyond what he needs, Allah does not withhold His mercy in that case.”

To the Jews, who revolted and rebelled against Allah’s call, We made unlawful all animals with claws. We also made unlawful to them all the inner fat of cattle and sheep, apart from the fat on their backs, in their entrails, or attached to the bone. Thus did We punish them for their unruliness, ingratitude, and rebellion. Allah certainly speaks the truth and keeps His word.

O Prophet! If, despite all We have made known, they still accuse you of lying and turn away from Allah’s verses, say to them: “Our Lord is the Possessor of boundless mercy and compassion; but His punishing those who stubbornly persist in living as people who associate partners with Allah and deny the truth is also inevitable, and no one has the power to prevent the punishment He will give.”

Those who associate partners with Allah, who have conditioned themselves to ascribe godhood to others besides Allah and made it their nature, will say, “Had Allah willed, neither our forefathers nor we would have associated partners with Allah or taken other gods alongside Him, nor would we have made anything unlawful on our own authority.”

Those before them too said such things, took refuge behind these words, and took other gods alongside Allah; in the end they were punished for their obstinacy with the punishment they deserved. O Prophet! Say this to them as well: “Do these false and absurd things you say and do have any divine basis, any proof, that you will not give them up? The truth is that you rely only on conjecture and invent lies.”

Say: “The firmest, most perfect proof and truth is only what Allah has made known by His revelation. Had you wished it, Allah would have guided you too to the right path.”

O Prophet! Say to them: “If you have witnesses who can testify from Allah concerning the animals you claim Allah has made unlawful, bring them too.” And if some of them bear false witness to this, never believe their testimony. Keep away from those who call Our verses lies, do not believe in the Hereafter, take other gods alongside Allah, and use up their lives chasing empty and meaningless fantasies.

Say: “Come, let me tell you what Allah has forbidden and made unlawful. Do not take any god but Allah and associate partners with Him. Do not hold back from doing good to your mother and father; do not kill your children for fear of poverty, for it is We who create provision for you and for them. Keep away from committing shameful indecencies, openly or in secret; do not take a life Allah has made inviolable except for a just cause.” This is what Allah makes known to you, so that you may use your reason, reflect, and take counsel.

Do not touch the property of the orphan until he reaches the age of maturity (adulthood), unless it is to his benefit; be just in measure and weight. We place on no one a burden greater than he can bear. When you have to speak about someone, speak the truth, even if he is your nearest kin. Pledge to your Lord that you will abide by these, and keep your pledge. Never let your responsibilities toward Allah slip from your minds, so that perhaps you may take counsel and draw lessons from these.

Know well that these are the indispensable, non-negotiable principles of those who believe in the system and morality of life that is Allah’s call and wish to live it and keep it alive, and they are the responsibilities and commands Allah has placed upon you.

So it was that in the past We made known to Moses too, in detail, through a divine Book, that these must be obeyed. Let people know that on the Day of Reckoning they will be questioned about them.

This Quran is a Book of divine order and morality. Take it as your guide and submit to it, so that you may attain your Lord’s mercy, compassion, and tender care.

The Quran has been sent down to you so that you may not say, “The Book was given to the Jews and Christians, and we knew nothing of what was in those books,” or have such a pretext as, “Had a prophet been sent to us too and a Book sent down, we would have held fast to what Allah made known, under their guidance, and submitted more than they did.” Now a clear call has come to you from your Lord through the Quran; despite this, who could be more unjust than one who turns his back on it and pretends not to hear or see? Those who turn away from Our verses and try to draw others away from them too, We will punish with a severe punishment.

Are these polytheists waiting for the angels to come to them, or for their Lord to appear, or for a destroying punishment to befall them, before they believe in what is made known through the Quran? But when that annihilating punishment comes, faith will be of no use to those who, although warned and invited, did not believe, or who said they believed but did not fulfill what faith requires. Say to them: “Wait, then, for that day which is sure to come; we too are waiting to see what will befall you.”

You have nothing to do with those who split up the religion that is Allah’s call and divide it into parts. Allah will surely call them to account for what they have done.

Whoever comes before Allah with righteous deeds, Allah will reward him with ten times as much as he did. And whoever tries to obstruct what is right will be given the penalty for what he did. Allah wrongs no one.

O Prophet! Say to those who close their eyes and stop their ears to the truth: “My Lord has guided me to a straight path (religion), the way of Abraham, purified of shirk. Abraham was never one of those who associate partners with Allah.”

And say: “My prayer, all my acts of worship, my life and my death are for Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. He has no partner in His creating and His governing; creation and governance alike belong to Allah. His knowledge and power are infinite, and I have been commanded to take no lord and god other than Him. I am the first and foremost of those who submit to Allah (Muslims).”

Say: “When Allah is the Lord of everything, am I to seek a lord other than Him?” Every person’s evil deeds and unfulfilled responsibilities bind him alone. No one bears another’s sin; in the end every human being will be brought before his Lord to give his own account, and there he will face what he did. He will make plain to you the truth of the things over which you kept disputing.

Allah has appointed you as vicegerents on earth so that you may live the Allah-centered life that is the reason for your creation, and He is testing you by the way you use the blessings He has bestowed for this purpose. You will also be tested by the way you use the abilities in which He has made some of you superior to others. Without doubt your Lord punishes with a severe punishment those who are ungrateful for the blessings He has bestowed and turn away from His call. And toward those who repent, turn from their wrongs to what is right, and fulfill their responsibilities, your Lord is merciful, compassionate, and forgiving.