Surah Al-A'raf: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

Alif. Lam. Mim. Sad. O Prophet! A book has come to you from your Lord, in words made up of the sounds of your own language, inviting people to the reason for their creation. Do not let the aggression of those who oppose the call you are making through this book weigh on you and distress you. Even if they do not reflect on the call and take heed, those who seek the truth will take heed and turn to what is right.

Take as your guide the Book sent down to you from your Lord, and do not forget that the right and the authority to establish the order of what He has created and to determine its morality belong to Allah alone. Do not consent to anyone other than Him being what shapes your lives, and do not take anyone other than Him as your protector and friend. But how few of you heed this counsel.

We destroyed in Our wrath many communities that paid no heed to Our warnings and counsel. Our punishment came upon some of them at night, and upon others at some hour of the day.

And when they faced Our punishment, they had nothing to say but to confess their guilt, saying, “Woe to us! By paying no heed to so much counsel and so many warnings and by opposing them, we became among those who deserve the punishment.”

Surely, just as We will call to account those who were invited to live in keeping with the reason for their creation, We will also question, as witnesses, the prophets who invited them.

On that Day We will place before them the records of deeds in which everything each person did has been recorded. For We are not unaware of what they do.

On that Day no one is wronged; measuring and weighing are carried out with full justice, and those whose scales weigh heavy attain unceasing blessings and happiness. But those whose scales are light will be condemned to the punishment of Hell for having turned their backs on the call made in Allah’s name.

O people! How little you turn to the call of your Lord, who settled you on the earth, created there the conditions for you to live and earn your livelihood, and endowed you with countless blessings, and how little you thank Him!

The truth is that it is We who created you, equipped you with the limbs and organs of your body that you use, and gave you your shape. Then We commanded the angels, “Be ready to serve Adam (the human being).” At Our command they at once declared, by prostrating to Us, that they would obey. But Iblis, at this command of Ours, grew arrogant toward Adam and did not make the prostration of obedience.

Thereupon, when Allah said to Iblis, “What is the reason for your not obeying, even though I commanded you?”, Iblis said, “I am better than he is, for You created me from fire and him from clay.” And Allah drove him from His presence, saying, “Go down from the station I had assigned you; you are not worthy of it. In that station only Allah’s commands are obeyed; no one puts on airs and voices his own opinion against His command. Leave this place at once; you have chosen to be one of the debased.”

Thereupon Iblis said, “Then grant me respite until the Day of Resurrection, when people will be raised to life again.” And Allah said to him, “You are among those granted respite until that day.”

Not content with disobeying Allah’s command out of his arrogance, Iblis then went on to say: “Since You have let me go off the path and stray, I for my part will lay traps for the human being, whom You created to live an Allah-centered life on earth and whom You will test by it. I will creep up on them openly and in secret, use every trick in the book, make a show of being on the side of right and justice, exploit their weaknesses, confuse their minds, and lead them away from the right path. And You will find most of them ungrateful and in rebellion against Your command.”

In the face of Iblis’s attitude, Allah said, “You who have become a devil, debased, shunned, and cast out, get out of here! Whoever follows you, I will fill Hell with you all.”

Then Allah said to Adam (the human being), whom He had created: “O Adam! You and your spouse, settle in this (special garden) Paradise; eat and drink of whatever you desire, but never go near this tree. If you break this prohibition, you will be among the wrongdoers who disobey My command.”

Satan, whispering evil suggestions to Adam and his spouse, said, “The reason your Lord has forbidden you to go near this tree is that He does not want you to become immortal like the angels and to live here forever,” and by swearing oaths that what he said was true and for their good, he convinced them both; and so he brought them near the tree and made them eat of its fruit. Thereupon Adam and his spouse at once noticed that the clothing on them had slipped off and their nakedness was exposed, and they hurriedly gathered leaves from the trees of the garden and tried to cover themselves. At this, their Lord called out to them: “Did I not forbid you to go near that tree and warn you, telling you that Satan is your enemy?”

After falling into this state, Adam and his spouse expressed their remorse, saying, “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves; if You do not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will surely be among the losers, among those who deserve Your punishment.”

And Allah called out to Adam, his spouse, and Satan: “Leave this place, as enemies to one another. On earth, for the term I have set for you, you will find places to dwell and means of livelihood; there you will live and there you will die. Then you will be raised to life there again and called to account for whether or not you lived in keeping with the Islamic system of life that Allah offers you.”

O children of Adam! We created you with the skills to make clothing that would both cover your nakedness and protect you from outside elements, and at the same time be an adornment for you. Yet to be clothed with the garment of taqwa (God-consciousness) is better for you. These are among Allah’s signs, on which He wants you to reflect and from which He wants you to learn a lesson.

O children of Adam! Do not let Satan lead you away from following Allah’s commands and seduce you, just as he deceived your ancestors and caused them to be stripped of their clothing and their nakedness to be exposed. Do not give him that chance. Satan and his supporters lie in ambush to trap you in places where you cannot see them at all and least expect them.

Those who do not put Allah at the center of life take devils as their friends.

To cover up and defend the evils they commit, Satan’s partisans say, “We found our forefathers doing these things, and so we carry on; besides, Allah commanded this way of life both to them and to us.” Say to them: “Allah never commands you to live a foul, loathsome, and shameful life. Because you do not wish to know Allah well enough, you are attributing lies to Him.”

Say: “My Lord has commanded only justice and the doing of what is right. He wants you to pray to Him in keeping with the system of life that is the purpose for which He created you, not the one your forefathers or you yourselves have invented, devoting your religion to Allah alone. You can show your servitude and loyalty to Him only by believing in His call and purifying yourselves of shirk (associating partners with Allah). Do not forget that it is Allah who created you and endowed you with so many blessings, and it is Allah who will raise you to life after death and call you to account for whom and what you followed in your lives.”

Allah will bring to salvation those among you who turn to what is right, and leave in error and misguidance those who turn away from His call. For they abandoned Allah and took devils as their friends, and with this choice they imagined they were on the right path.

O children of Adam! When conveying and representing Allah’s call, pay attention to your dress, keep yourselves neat and tidy, never abandon courtesy and grace, behave with decorum and dignity, speaking words based on knowledge, and keep away from shabbiness, indolence, and demeaning behavior. Eat and drink with good manners; do not be greedy, and do not squander, for Allah does not love the wasteful.

Who can forbid the lawful, pure, and good things Allah has created for His servants? In the life of this world these blessings are for all people, and in the life of the Hereafter for those who strove to live their worldly lives believing in Allah’s call. Allah makes His verses clearly known for those who wish to turn to His call.

Say: “Allah has forbidden attacking His call, whether openly or in secret; associating partners with Him; coveting the property of others; shameful conduct; and saying about Him things you do not know.”

Allah has set a term for every community. When the conditions have come about and their term is up, they can neither delay it by a single moment nor bring it forward by a single moment.

O children of Adam! When a messenger from among yourselves comes to you, calling you to the truth in Allah’s name, then whoever follows this call, strives to fulfill his responsibilities, and sets himself right, for such people there will be no fear and no grief in the Hereafter. But those who call Our verses lies, disregard them, and in their arrogance treat them as unimportant will enter Hell, where they will remain forever in the Hereafter.

Who could be more ignorant, ungrateful, and unjust than those who call Allah’s verses lies and turn their backs on His call? They will surely meet the punishment they deserve. When the angel of death arrives at their door to take their souls, they will be asked: “Where are those, apart from Allah, in whom you sought refuge and trusted and whom you followed? Now let them get ahead of Allah’s law and save you from death, from Allah’s hand, if they can?!” And those who have arrived at death’s door will bear witness against themselves, saying, “Those we followed have left us in the lurch; we have understood that they are of no use, but now it is too late, and there is no going back,” and they will confess with remorse their associating partners with Allah and their disbelief.

On the Day of Reckoning Allah will say to those who lived their worldly lives turned away from His call, “You too, join the jinn and humans who were ungrateful for the many blessings We gave, and enter the Fire.” As each group enters the Fire, it will blame its own partisans and curse them. At last, as they are all driven into the Fire together, those who entered later will say of those who entered earlier, “Our Lord! It was these who led us astray and away from Your call; double their punishment.” But Allah will say, “By following them you too deserved the same punishment; all of you deserve double, and in this respect you are no different from one another.”

This time the earlier ones will say to those who came after, “How are you any different from us! Allah’s call was made to you too; was it that you accepted it and we stood in your way? It was you who chose to follow us. So suffer your punishment.”

Without any doubt, for those who call Our verses lies and belittle them to enter Paradise is as impossible as for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle. In Hell the bed beneath them and the coverings over them will be fire. That is how We punish those who persist in sin, and the wrongdoers.

And those who believe in Allah’s call and do all they can to live by it and keep it alive, We reward with gardens of Paradise in which they will remain forever. Allah does not place on anyone the responsibility of a burden beyond his strength. Paradise will be the home of those who fulfill, consciously and lovingly, the responsibilities Allah has placed on them.

Before We admit to Paradise those We deem worthy of it, We wipe away whatever in their hearts would grieve them. As they sit there beside rushing rivers and babbling streams, they will say, “All praise belongs to Allah, who created us, brought us to the Paradise He promised, and let us live this bliss. Had He not made known and shown us through His books and prophets why and how we should live our worldly lives, we could not have found and lived what is right by ourselves. Today we have attained the reward for having followed our Lord’s call.” And on that Day they will be told, “This is the Paradise that is the reward for your striving to live in keeping with the reason for your creation.”

Those in Paradise will call out to those in the fire of Hell, “We have attained what our Lord promised us; and you? Have you found the punishment your Lord promised you?” Those in Hell will turn to them and say, “Yes, sadly.” At that moment one of them will cry out, “May Allah curse all the wrongdoers! Those wrongdoers turned people away from the system of life that is Allah’s call and tried to make it look incomprehensible, tangled, and convoluted. They also covered up this truth of the Hereafter.”

Between those in Paradise and those in Hell there will be an intermediate zone (a barrier). And there will be people there who are left on the A‘raf (the Heights) but are longing to enter Paradise. They recognize by their faces those who deserve either side, and to those who are about to enter Paradise they will say, “Peace be upon you; how blessed you are!” And looking at those who have been brought before Hell, they will say, “Our Lord! Keep us away from these wrongdoers,” and they will ask them, “What good did your amassing of wealth and boasting, and your pride in your rank, do you?”

The people of Hell will be told (as those entering Paradise are pointed out to them), “Are these the ones you looked down on and swore that Allah would never let attain His mercy?”

And the believers will be told, “Enter Paradise! From now on you have no fear, neither of the past nor of the future.”

Those bound for the Fire will plead with those bound for Paradise, “Please, pour a little water over us and cool us, and give us too some of the blessings Allah has bestowed on you.” Those who turned away from the right path, even though they were invited to it, have been deprived of the cooling water and the blessings of Paradise.

They had made Allah’s call a subject of mockery, dismissed the Hereafter, and seen life as nothing but play and amusement. So today We too will turn away from them. Yet We had invited them to what is right through books and prophets that warned them of what would befall them.

And now, do those who have been told that the Day of Reckoning will come imagine that they will face something else? Although they had been told that this day would certainly come and that they would be questioned about their stance toward Allah’s call, they paid it no heed, did not care, and turned their backs. Now, however, they will groan, saying, “So what our Lord’s messengers said was true after all! Is there no one today who will save us from this punishment, stand up for us, and intercede for us? Or is there no way to return to the world, give up our wrongs, and live in submission to Allah’s call?” But in vain... It is long since too late; they will be dreaming in vain, for they have now come face to face with the end they deserve.

Surely your Lord (your Owner, the One who nurtures you) is Allah. It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days (stages), established their order, laid down their laws, and settled upon the seat of sovereignty.

It is Allah, too, who covers the day with the night that pursues it without pause, and who has made the sun, the moon, and the stars submit to His command through the laws He has laid down. Know well that creating and governing belong to Allah alone. Exalted indeed is Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Knowing and believing that your Lord and your God is Allah, turn to Him in humility from the depths of your hearts, pray to Him and ask Him for help. Do not put your powerlessness before Him out of your minds and so overstep your bounds.

O people! Do not trample on the limits Allah has set, destroy justice and peace on earth, and sow disorder. Turn to Allah with deep awe, longing, and hope. There is no doubt that Allah’s mercy is with those who follow His call and do good.

It is We who send the winds as heralds of good news ahead of Our mercy. We gather the rain-laden clouds, drive them to a barren region, and make the rain fall. Thus We bring the soil to life and make all kinds of crops grow green and tall. That is how We raise the dead to life, too. Our verses are the heralds ahead of Our mercy for those who wish to reflect and learn a lesson.

Fertile soil comes to life when rain falls on it and begins to yield crops. The human being who wishes to know the reason for his creation and live by it is like fertile soil. When he encounters Allah’s verses, he too at once comes to life, and right, beautiful, and meaningful conduct emerges from him. But those who disregard Allah’s call and turn away are like stony, barren soil. However much rain falls on it, nothing grows there. Thus do We explain Our verses through various examples. Only those who seek the truth grasp this.

Long ago We also sent Noah to his own community to make these truths known to them. Noah said to his people, “O my people! Serve Allah alone, and follow the system of life and morality that is His call; you have no true god other than Him. If you set about taking other gods besides Allah, I fear that Allah’s punishment will come upon you.”

Thereupon the leading men of his people said to Noah, “We do not believe what you say! You do not know what you are saying; you are confused and have gone astray.”

And Noah said to them, “O my people! I am not someone confused, who does not know what he is saying, who has gone astray and is out of his mind. I am only a messenger of Allah, the Lord of the worlds; I give counsel and warn with what He has made known to me. Why are you astonished at someone from among you who calls you, in Allah’s name, to the right path that is the reason for your creation, to a life of honor and virtue, and at the reminder (the Book) sent with him?”

Despite all these warnings, his people accused Noah of lying and turned away from what he said. Thereupon We put Noah and the believers with him on board the ship and saved them, and We drowned and destroyed his people, who had rejected the call Noah made in Allah’s name and taken other gods besides Allah. They were a people whose hearts had grown blind and who did not want to see the truths.

To the people of Ad We sent as a prophet Hud, a kinsman from among them, and he said to them, “O my people! Serve Allah alone; you have no god other than Him. Follow the system of life that is His call and free yourselves from servitude to fellow human beings. So do not make others partners with your Lord, whom you know to be your Creator, in governing you.” But the rulers and leading men of his people said to Hud, “We truly see you as a feeble-minded liar talking nonsense, and we do not believe what you say.”

The Prophet Hud said to them, “O my people! I am not someone feeble-minded, who does not know what he is saying, confused and bewildered. I am only a messenger of Allah, the Lord of the worlds, who invites you to the reason for your creation; only in this way can you serve Allah and be freed from servitude to fellow human beings. I am a trustworthy man who has come from among you; why do you find my warnings strange? At least do not forget that Allah made you successors in place of the people of Noah and endowed you with so many blessings. If you are not ungrateful to Allah and turn to His call, you will be freed from the system of oppression and attain happiness.”

Thereupon his people said to the Prophet Hud, “So from now on you want us to take Allah alone as God, abandon the system and morality we have followed since our forefathers, give up our gods, and break all our ties with them; is that why you have set yourself up against us? If what you say is true, then bring on the punishment you say may befall us if we do not accept the call made through you, and let us see it.”

And Hud said to them: “You are already in a state surrounded by punishment, under the rotten, oppression-based system of life of those you have taken as gods besides Allah. And on top of that you go so far as to argue with me about these names, for which Allah has sent down no proof, which only your forefathers and you yourselves have magnified, deified, and followed. If you will not give up this stubbornness of yours, I too will wait with you for your great and inevitable calamity.”

In the end We saved Hud and those with him by Our mercy, and those who called Our call a lie and turned their backs We seized with Our punishment and wiped out root and branch.

To the people of Thamud We sent as a prophet their kinsman Salih. He said to his people, “O my people! Do not take as god anyone but Allah, who created you and endowed you with so many blessings. He is your Lord, and there is no true god but Him. As a proof of my prophethood and of my making this call in Allah’s name, Allah has made a camel that does not belong to you, such as you have never seen before, a means of testing you. Never try to harm it. Let it graze as it pleases on Allah’s earth; if you try to harm it, a very severe punishment will seize you. And do not forget that Allah made you successors in place of the people of Ad, who were destroyed, and gave you strength and might. You carve out the mountains and build sturdy mansions. Do not ignore Allah’s blessings and be ungrateful to Him; rather, respond to His call.”

Although they heard all this, the rulers and leading men of the people of Thamud picked on the believers, whom they regarded as weak within the community, and mocked them: “Do you really believe that Salih has been appointed as a prophet?” The believers answered them, “Yes, we believe in his prophethood, and we believe and have faith that what he invites to is the way of life Allah offers His servants.” Thereupon those people, who associated partners with Allah and disbelieved, turned to the believers and said, “We do not believe in what you believe.”

In the end, despite being warned, they brutally killed the camel and rebelled against their Lord’s command, and then said to Salih, “O Salih! If you really are Allah’s prophet, let this punishment you keep threatening us with come, and let us see it.”

Then suddenly a very violent earthquake seized them, and they were destroyed where they were.

And Salih, looking back at them, said: “O my people! I conveyed to you my Lord’s verses and, giving you counsel, called you to what is right, but you never liked any of it.”

We had also sent Lot as a prophet to his people. He called out to his people: “What kind of people are you? You are committing a loathsome indecency that no community in the world before you has ever committed. You leave women and approach men with lust, falling into perversion; you recognize no limits and run wild in transgression.”

But his people began to say among themselves, “Let us drive this Lot and his followers out of here; there is no place among us for those who presume to lecture us on decency.”

So We saved Lot and his family, except his wife. On those who stayed behind We showered stones like rain and destroyed them all. Let this be a lesson to those who rebel against Allah’s call.

To the people of Midian We sent as a prophet their kinsman Shuayb. Shuayb said to his people, “O my people! Serve Allah alone; you have no god other than Allah. Clear verses have come to you from your Lord, so now live your lives as He has made known; observe measure and weight in all your dealings, and do not sow disorder on earth. If you truly believe in Allah, this is for your own good.” Then he continued his warnings thus: “O my people! Do not try to turn back those who believe in Allah’s call by pressure and traps such as threats and blackmail, and do not try to make this perfectly straight path look crooked. Do not forget how Allah multiplied you and made you strong when you were few in number and weak.”

Thereupon one group among them believed in Allah’s call and strove to fulfill what it requires, while another group rejected the call and tried to prevent it from being accepted.

“O believers! Stand firm against those who associate partners with Allah, with patience and steadfastness in your faith. Allah will surely give His judgment between you, for Allah is the best of judges.”

The ruler and the arrogant leading men of his people said to Shuayb, “O Shuayb! Either you return to our religion, or we will drive you and those who believe with you out of our land.” Shuayb said to them, “Will you do this by force and coercion, even if we are unwilling?” and then went on: “Now that Allah has saved us from your rotten, oppression-based system that makes human beings the slaves of other human beings, to accept it again and return to it would mean not trusting Allah, denying His verses, being ungrateful, and attributing lies to Him. Allah would never be pleased with that. So it is not possible for us to accept your demand. Our Lord’s knowledge encompasses all things, and He knows what is most right in everything. We turn to Him alone and trust in Him alone. Our Lord, judge between us and these people who associate partners with You and disbelieve; You are the best of judges.”

The rulers of the people of Midian tried to intimidate the believers who had believed in the call Shuayb made in Allah’s name, and to stir up discord among them, saying, “If you follow Shuayb, you will be among the losers!”

In the end We seized them too, suddenly, with a dreadful earthquake where they were, and destroyed them. Those who called Shuayb a liar vanished as though they had never lived there.

And Shuayb, looking back at them, said, “O my people! I warned you, giving you counsel with my Lord’s verses. How, then, should I mourn and grieve for a people (like you) who deny right and truth?”

While We sent every community prophets and books and invited them to live the life whose rules Allah has set, which is the reason for their creation, We also tested them with hardship and want. Then We turned that hardship and want into abundance and prosperity. Although Allah let them experience both conditions, instead of turning to Allah and giving thanks, many of them carried on in their ingratitude and transgression, saying, “Our forefathers, too, just like us, sometimes suffered want and hardship and sometimes lived in abundance and prosperity.” So We seized such people at a time they least expected and punished them with the punishment they deserved.

Yet had these communities turned to what they were invited to, We would have thrown open the gates of the heavens and the earth to them and showered abundance and blessings upon them. But they called the call a lie and did not accept it, so We seized them in a grip they could not escape and destroyed them.

So which community, if it turns its back on Our call, can be sure that Our punishment will not seize it too, suddenly, at night while its people sleep? Or can know that Our punishment will not come upon them by day while they are busy with their work and affairs?

How can such people, who turn away from Allah’s call and try to cover up the truth that He is Lord and God, feel safe? Those who imagine that the punishment will never come to them are in great heedlessness.

Should not those We made successors on the earth after the earlier ones draw lessons from these events made known to them? If We will, because of their rejecting the call, We seal their hearts too, as We did those before them, keep them from understanding the truth, and bring punishment upon them.

To the communities, some of whose stories We have told you, We had also sent prophets from among themselves, made known to them the reason for their creation with clear proofs, and invited them to the right path. But they too called the call a lie, disregarded it, and turned their backs. These are people whose hearts have closed to the truth because they did not use their reason rightly.

Yet We had created the human being, endowed him with the capacity to tell right from wrong, and made known to him that his Lord (Owner) is Allah. Despite this, We did not find most of them faithful to their Lord; on the contrary, they were ungrateful and turned away.

After these peoples, We sent Moses to Pharaoh and his leading men. They too opposed the system of life to which they were invited. Just look at what befell them in the end!

Moses had said to Pharaoh, “O Pharaoh! I am a messenger sent to you by the Lord of the worlds. My duty is to proclaim Allah’s call; I have come to you with clear proofs and knowledge. If even so you do not believe, at least let these Children of Israel, whom you have enslaved, leave Egypt with me.”

Thereupon Pharaoh said to Moses, “Produce these proofs you have brought us, and let us see whether you really are a prophet.” Moses then cast down his staff, and the staff suddenly turned into a great serpent; then he put his hand into his bosom and drew it out, and his hand became a source of dazzling white light.

Pharaoh’s leading men, who were watching this, turned to Pharaoh and said, “Moses has become a sorcerer who has learned these tricks well. It seems his real aim is to overthrow your system, drive you from your place, set up his own order, and sit on your throne.” Pharaoh said to his men, “Well then, what shall we do to prevent this? What do you propose?”

They said, “Prevent Moses and his brother from meeting and talking with others, and meanwhile send your men to the cities to gather all the sorcerers and bring them before you. Let them show that what Moses has produced is not a miracle but mere sorcery.”

The most famous sorcerers, gathered from the cities, came before Pharaoh and said, “If we prevail over Moses with what we do and defeat him, you will surely reward us, won’t you?” Pharaoh said, “Yes, if you win, I will reward you by bringing you close to me and giving you high positions.”

At last Moses and the sorcerers met at the appointed place and time, in the square where Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s leading men, and the people had gathered. The sorcerers said to Moses, “Will you display your skills first, or shall we?” Moses said to them, “You go first.” Thereupon the staffs and ropes they cast down, using their art of sorcery, appeared to people’s eyes as fearsome living creatures. And We revealed to Moses, “Cast down your staff too.” The staff Moses cast down gathered up and swallowed everything the sorcerers had produced that appeared different from what it really was.

Thus it became clear that what the sorcerers had done was nothing but deception, while what Moses had produced was a miracle, the proof of his prophethood. Pharaoh and his cronies were defeated and humiliated. And the sorcerers, before this miracle they had witnessed, went down on their knees and fell prostrate, saying, “We believe in Moses’ prophethood and his call, for only Allah, our true Lord, could do what we have seen. We believe in the call Moses and Aaron make in Allah’s name, and we trust them.”

Pharaoh turned to the sorcerers and said: “So you have believed in Him without asking my permission? So you have colluded to set a trap for me in my own city and, together with the Children of Israel, overthrow me and put an end to my rule. But I will make you pay for this: I will have the hands and feet of some of you cut off on opposite sides, and have some of you hanged.”

Thereupon the sorcerers said to Pharaoh: “In any case, we will return to our Lord in the end. You want to take revenge on us because we believed in our Lord as soon as His call reached us. Our Lord! Pour down patience upon us, and take our souls as Muslims who have submitted to You.”

Pharaoh’s advisers gathered and said to Pharaoh, “Will you now leave Moses and his people to themselves, so that they abandon you as their lord and god and stir up unrest by calling the people of the land to do the same?” Pharaoh turned to them and said: “We will kill their men and male children and spare their women; in this way we will maintain our crushing power over them.”

Moses said to his people, “O my people! Ask Allah for help, be patient and steadfast, and know well that the whole earth belongs to Allah. He makes whom He wills inherit it. Those who follow Allah’s call and consciously fulfill their responsibilities will surely prevail.”

But the Children of Israel reproached Moses, saying, “We were suffering and subjected to Pharaoh’s oppression before you came, and since you came the suffering goes on; nothing has changed.” Moses said to them, “Perhaps our Lord will destroy our enemy and make you successors on the earth, but first He will look at how worthy of it you are, by the sincerity of your faith in His call and your effort, and He will test you in this.”

Allah also warned Pharaoh’s people by condemning them to drought and famine, so that they might reflect and come to their senses, see the truth, and turn to their Lord’s call.

Whenever they fell into hardship and difficulty, they would say, “We have fallen into this state because of the ill omen of Moses and those who believe in him.” But whenever they attained abundance and prosperity, they would say, “This was ours by right anyway.” What they counted as an ill omen was in fact the recompense for what they deserved, but most of them did not accept this truth.

And they turned to Moses and said: “Whatever miracle you bring to make us believe in your prophethood and the system of life you invite to, we will not believe you.”

Thereupon We set upon them floods, swarms of locusts, swarms of frogs, grain weevils, and water We turned into blood, each of them a miracle. These were clear messages from Allah to them, yet they still put on airs and grew arrogant, and would not stop associating partners with Allah and disbelieving.

Whenever they faced these disasters, they would come to Moses and say, “O Moses! Pray to your Lord by the prophethood He has given you; if He saves us from this calamity, we will accept the call you make in Allah’s name and follow it, and we will let the Children of Israel go with you.”

But whenever We lifted the calamity from them and gave them time enough to keep their word, each time they broke their word and carried on as before.

So, because of this hypocrisy of theirs and their insolence toward their Lord’s call, We exacted retribution from them, drowning them and destroying them.

Then We made the people whom Pharaoh and his supporters had despised, kept weak, and oppressed the heirs of all the lands whose east and west We had blessed. Thus, because the Children of Israel had resisted oppression with patience and steadfastness, your Lord’s promise to them was fulfilled. As for Pharaoh and his dynasty, they perished.

The Children of Israel, whom We had brought across to the other side of the sea, came upon a community there that had taken gods besides Allah and was governed by the system set up by those they had idolized. Seeing this, the Children of Israel said to Moses, “O Moses! Find us gods too, like their gods.” Moses said to them, “You really are a very ignorant and ungrateful people who cannot tell right from wrong. As for this community you see... the life they have adopted and live will inevitably drag them to a crushing destruction. Now that Allah has saved you from the system of oppression you lived under, are you turning to another system of oppression and seeking a god other than Allah?”

“O Children of Israel! Do not forget that Allah saved you from the oppression of Pharaoh, who killed your men, spared your women, and inflicted the worst tortures on you. Through this you were put through a very severe trial.”

We had called Moses to Mount Sinai for thirty days to teach him the laws of the system and morality that accord with the reason for people’s creation. Then We added ten more days, making it forty. As Moses set out for the place to which he had been called, he entrusted the leadership of his people to his brother Aaron, saying, “Keep watch over them until I return; never give way to those who want to sow disorder, and do not follow such people.”

When Moses came to the appointed place, his Lord spoke to him, and Moses said, “My Lord! Show me Yourself, so that I may see You.” Allah said to him, “You will never see Me; but look at that mountain. If it can stay in its place when I manifest Myself to it, then you too will be able to see Me.” And when Allah manifested Himself to the mountain, the mountain crumbled to dust, and Moses fell down in a faint at what he saw. When he came to, he said, “Glory be to You, my God, far above all imperfection! I have turned to You in remorse and repented. From now on I will be the first of those who believe that You cannot be seen with the eye.”

Allah said to Moses, “O Moses! Know the worth of My speaking with you and of what I have revealed to you! Do not put out of your mind that I have thereby raised you to a special station. Follow the rulings of the revelation, fulfill your responsibilities, and be among those who give thanks to Me.”

In the tablets We gave Moses, We set out every kind of knowledge and every ruling that the Allah-centered life, in keeping with the reason for people’s creation, requires, and then We commanded Moses: “O Moses! Follow the rulings and morality of this divine system scrupulously, and command your people to follow these rulings. As the time comes, I will show you the quagmires into which those who turn away from Allah’s call have fallen.”

Those who swagger on earth without any right are far from understanding My verses. Even if they saw every miracle, they would not believe. If they see the right path, they do not take it as their way; but if they see the path of transgression, they at once take it as their way. This is because they have denied Our verses and been heedless of them.

The deeds of those who deny Our verses and the meeting of the Hereafter have come to nothing. They will suffer the punishment for what they have been doing.

In Moses’ absence, his people melted down their ornaments and made the statue of a calf that gave out a sound like lowing when the wind passed through it, and they took it as a god. Did they not see that it neither spoke to them nor guided them? Yet they adopted it as a god and so became wrongdoers.

After a while, when they saw and understood that this statue they had taken as a god was of no use at all and had no power to show them the right path, they wrung their hands and expressed their remorse, saying, “Our Lord, if You do not take pity on us and forgive us for this straying of ours, we will be among the utter losers, among those who deserve punishment.”

When Moses returned to his people and saw them in this state, he said in grief and anger, “What an evil, wretched course you have taken in my absence! Did you not think at all that you were trampling on your Lord’s command?” He put down the tablets containing Allah’s call and, seizing his brother Aaron by the head, began to pull him toward himself. Thereupon Aaron said to him, “Son of my mother! They all stood against me together! They nearly killed me. Calm down, and do not give these wrongdoers the pleasure of seeing you treat me like this.”

Thereupon Moses pulled himself together and prayed, “My Lord, forgive me and my brother, have mercy on us and protect us with Your compassion; You are the most merciful of the merciful.” Then he turned to them and said, “Have no doubt that those who take other gods besides Allah and expect them to show them the right path and help them will incur their Lord’s wrath, and in their worldly life too they will sink into abasement and be condemned to dishonor.”

Toward those who, while living in such ingratitude and straying, realize that they are steeped in sin, repent, and turn to Allah’s call, Allah is merciful and forgiving.

When his anger had subsided, Moses picked up from the ground the tablets on which his Lord’s call was written and which guide those who fear losing His love; and then, to ask forgiveness and pray for what his people had done, he chose seventy men from among his people and set out with them toward the place We had appointed. After a while a violent earthquake began to shake them. At this, Moses said, “My Lord! Had You willed, You could have destroyed them and me long before; will You destroy us now because of the fools among us? With this You are trying and testing us, to see what they will do now, in whom they will take refuge and from whom they will seek help. In this way You lead to the right path whom You will, and condemn to straying whom You will. You are our true Lord and God; forgive us in Your mercy.” Then he continued his prayer: “Our Lord, grant us to live in this world the good things with which You are pleased, and in the Hereafter to enter Your Paradise; in remorse for our sins we repent and turn to You.”

And Allah said: “I punish with My punishment those among you who deserve it; and My mercy, My compassion, and My tender care embrace those who strive to live on the right path to which I invite. These people gladly pay the price that must be paid to earn Allah’s good pleasure. They believe in the unlettered Messenger whose coming is foretold in the Torah they have, and later also in the Gospel; that unlettered Prophet commands them to do good and keeps them from evil, makes known that pure things are lawful and foul things forbidden, lightens people’s burdens, and breaks and casts off the chains around their necks. Those who follow the Book sent down to that Messenger and walk in his footsteps attain salvation and success.”

O Prophet! Say: “O people! I am a messenger of Allah sent to you all; to Him belong the ownership and the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, there is no true Lord and God but Him, and it is He who created life and death. So believe in the call of the unlettered Prophet, who invites you in your Lord’s name to live by the system and morality that is the reason for your creation, and reach the right path.”

Among the people of Moses there were also those who invited people to think and live rightly and who guided those who wished to believe.

We had divided the Children of Israel into twelve tribes. When Moses prayed to Us to meet his people’s need for water, We revealed to him, “Strike the rock with your staff.” When Moses struck the rock with his staff, We made twelve springs gush from the rock. So each tribe marked out a spring for itself and met its need for water. We also shaded them with clouds to protect them from the heat, and We graciously gave them quails and manna as provision; yet in the face of all these blessings they were still ungrateful and did not turn to Our call. Of course, in doing so they harmed and wronged not Us but themselves.

They had also been told: “Go and settle in that city you see, enjoy its blessings, approach its people with humility, and turn to Us in repentance, so that We may forgive your sins. To those who repent, sincerely believe in what is right, and fulfill what it requires, We will increase Our blessings still more.”

But sadly, those among them who inclined toward shirk and disbelief and turned to wrongdoing, instead of following these words said to them, changed them and followed their own notions. Thereupon, because of this ingratitude and insolence of theirs, We rained calamities down upon them.

O Prophet! Tell them, too, about those who entered and settled in that prosperous city by the sea, whom We tested with the prohibition of the Saturday (Sabbath). Although fishing on Saturday was forbidden to them, they said, “On other days the fish do not come to the shore, so we cannot catch them,” and they shamelessly broke the prohibition to catch the fish that came to the shore in shoals on Saturday. Yet We were testing them by their attitude toward the prohibitions.

While one group of the Children of Israel tried to counsel those who were breaking this prohibition, others were saying, “Why do you counsel in vain these people who deserve Allah’s punishment?” And those giving counsel would say, “We do this so that we may not be held responsible before our Lord for failing to warn them, and in the hope that perhaps they will give up this conduct of theirs.”

When they turned a deaf ear to all the warnings given them, We saved those among them who tried to hold others back from evil. Those who did wrong We condemned to a severe punishment for having gone astray. Because they arrogantly persisted in doing what had been forbidden to them, We said to them: “Be like despicable apes that cannot rein in their desires.”

Until the Day of Resurrection your Lord will set over their followers those who will subject them to severe oppression and bring disaster upon them. Do not forget that your Lord’s punishment comes suddenly; and He is also the One who forgives and shows mercy to those who repent and turn to their Lord.

We condemned those Children of Israel to live on earth as separate groups; among them there are those who believe in Allah’s call, and there are also those who stubbornly persist in remaining wrongdoers who associate partners with Allah and disbelieve. We tested such people with both abundance and hardship, so that perhaps they might return.

After them came another generation who claimed to be heirs to the Book, but who clung to and grabbed at the passing pleasures, wealth, and property of this world. Saying, “We are a chosen people; whatever we do and however we live, we will be forgiven anyway,” they made every kind of excess and wrongdoing their way of life, recognizing no limits. Yet We had taken a pledge from them, on the Torah, that they would not invent anything about Allah other than what is in the Torah and attribute it to Allah. But they covered up the rulings of the Torah and changed them to suit themselves. Yet to submit to Allah’s call and gain the life of the Hereafter is better for those who use their reason and reflect.

The truth is that those who do their utmost to live by the system of life that is Allah’s reason for creating the human being, and who perform their prayers scrupulously, Allah will reward, and He will not let their efforts go to waste.

Long ago, when We raised Mount Sinai over the Children of Israel and they thought it was about to fall on them, We had again said to them: “Hold fast to the life to which We invite you through the Book; do not put its contents out of your minds, and follow it. Only in this way are your happiness and salvation possible in the life of this world and the Hereafter.”

Ever since your Lord began bringing forth the children of Adam from their loins, besides inspiring in them that their Lord is Allah, He also, through prophets and books, received the answer “Yes, You are our Lord; we bear witness to it” to the question “Am I not your Lord?”, and made them witnesses over themselves, so that you would not say on the Day of Resurrection, “We knew nothing of this.” Or so that you would not take refuge in an excuse such as, “Our forefathers associated partners with Allah before us; we had no choice but to follow them. Will You now destroy us because of them?”

Thus do We make the truths clearly known through Our verses, so that perhaps you will reflect and turn to what is right.

O Prophet! Tell them also about the one who, although We called him through Our verses to follow the purpose of his creation, brushed it aside. Satan and those who have become devils seize him and drag him after them, and he becomes utterly unruly and goes astray. Yet had he turned to Our call, We would have raised him up through Our verses and brought him to a life of honor and dignity. But he chased after his passions, whims, and desires, and clung to the world ever more tightly. The case of such people is like that of a provoked dog that snarls with its tongue lolling out, whether you go at it or leave it alone.

Such, exactly, is the case of those who brush Our verses aside, call them lies, and grow arrogant. Let them hear these stories, so that perhaps they will reflect and learn a lesson.

Those who call a lie what is conveyed through Allah’s verses are wretched people who are wronging themselves.

Allah leads to His right path those who turn to the guidance of His verses. And whoever chooses to go astray, Allah leaves him alone with his choice; such people are the very ones who suffer loss.

The truth is that, among the humans and jinn whom We created, endowed with eyes, ears, hearts, reason, will, and countless blessings, to whom We made known the reason for their creation and whom We invited to live in keeping with it, those who ignore these blessings, pay no heed to the call, and do not use their reason have earned Hell. They have hearts, but they do not reflect. In grasping what they are told they are like animals, indeed even lower than them. They are pitiful, ungrateful, and heedless.

The most beautiful names and all perfections belong to Allah alone. So call upon Him by His names. Allah also invites the human being to follow a perfect system of life. So turn to His call. Allah will call to account those who turn away from His call and those who try to muddy it, and give them their punishment.

Among those We have created there are also those who believe in Our call and fulfill their responsibilities consciously and justly. They call others, too, to follow what is right.

Those who call Our verses lies and turn away from them We will draw step by step closer to Hell. We are granting them a period in which to grasp what is right; at the end of this period We will bring them face to face with what they deserve.

They know very well that their companion Muhammad, who calls them to live what is right, is not an inconsistent man or someone out of his mind. He is only a clear warner.

Do they not consider that Allah is the Creator, the Owner, and the One who established the order of the heavens, the earth, and all that is between them, and that death will reach them too? If they do not believe the Prophet and the Quran, which invite them to consider this, then in what word will they believe?

Those who do not respond to His call and stubbornly persist in living as people who associate partners with Allah, Allah leaves to themselves, staggering blindly this way and that in their transgression and deviance.

O Prophet! They ask you when the Last Hour will come and the Resurrection break out. Say: “Knowledge of its time is with my Lord; He has made it known to no one. What has been made known to me is that the Resurrection will break out suddenly, and that on that Day the heavens and the earth will collapse, with all their weight, from its terror.” No one but Allah knows that time, but those who associate partners with Allah do not want to believe this.

Say: “Unless Allah wills, I can neither bring any benefit to myself nor ward off any harm that may befall me. Had I known when the Resurrection will break out, and the unseen like it that my Lord has not made known to me, I would have forestalled the harm evils would do me before it befell me, I would have known in advance of every good thing, and I would have lived in bliss. I am only a messenger who warns those who wish to grasp Allah as He deserves, learn the reason for their creation, and live in keeping with it, and a bearer of good news for those who wish to believe.”

Allah created you from a single soul, and from the same essence He also created its mate, so that it might feel drawn to its mate, incline toward it, and find calm and rest with it. When the time came and he embraced, covered, and enfolded his mate, she took on a burden and went about with it for a while. Then, as her burden grew heavy, the couple prayed to Allah, their Lord: “Our Lord, if You grant us a sound child, we swear we will be among those who give You abundant thanks.”

But when Allah granted them a sound child, they forgot the promise they had made, set up the child Allah had granted as a partner to their Lord, and all but took it as a god. Yet Allah wants promises made not to be forgotten and no partner to be associated with Him.

So now, do you associate as partners with Allah, and take as gods, those who cannot create anything and who were themselves created by Allah? Yet those you associate as partners can be of no help before Allah, neither to themselves nor to those who associate them. If you were to ask them to show you the right path, they would neither understand it nor be able to do it; whether you stand before them and plead, or wait with bowed heads, you will gain nothing.

Know well that nothing and no one can benefit you except thinking and living in keeping with Allah’s call. For all those besides Him on whom you pin your hopes and to whom you turn are created beings like yourselves.

Now turn and look at these whose idols you have set up: do they have feet to walk with, hands to hold with, eyes to see with, or ears to hear with? Yet you hope for help from them, bow before them, and associate them as partners with Allah? Say: “Go on, call them to your aid against me, and all together do your very worst. Then you will see that they are of no use to you at all.”

O Prophet! Say: “My guardian, my protector, my friend is Allah, who is sending down the Quran, and there is no true god but Him. It is He who shows the right path, and He who protects and watches over.”

Those idols neither know the right path nor can they show it. They do not hear you; they seem to be looking, but they do not see; they are of no benefit either to themselves or to you.

Strive to live the Allah-centered life to which you have been invited, and invite people to this truth. Urge what is recognized as good (ma‘ruf), and pay no attention to those who persist in not following it! Leave them to linger in their swamps.

Whenever Satan provokes you and tries to drive you in anger toward a wrong, at once take refuge in Allah, and do not forget that Allah hears everything and knows everything.

Those who are wholeheartedly devoted to Allah and aware of their responsibilities toward Him, when faced with Satan’s whisperings, at once turn to Allah, call to mind the reason for their creation, begin to act in keeping with it, and pull themselves together.

Satan drags into transgression and ingratitude toward Allah only those who take him as a friend, and he never lets go of them.