Surah Ash-Shura: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

Ha. Mim. Ayn. Sin. Qaf. Allah, the Almighty, the All-Wise, the All-Knowing, is revealing to you in the language of your people what He revealed to the prophets before you in words formed from the letters of their own people’s language.

Allah the Exalted is the Creator and sole Owner of all that is in the heavens and on the earth.

Because the great majority of people are ungrateful to Allah, associate partners with Him, and utter baseless slanders, corruption has broken out on the earth, order has been upset, and the sky has all but split apart and shattered. The angels who witness this give thanks and praise to their Lord, and at the same time ask forgiveness for people. They know that Allah is most merciful and forgives those who repent and turn to what is right.

O Prophet! You are not people’s guardian, answerable for their choice of way of life. Allah sees and watches over everything. Your duty is to convey to those in Mecca, the mother of cities, and to all the people you can reach, that on the Day of Resurrection and Reckoning, which will certainly come, they will be judged for the stance they took toward the call. For this We are sending down the Quran to you in Arabic, the language of your people.

When the Day of Reckoning comes, those who believed in what they were invited to and fulfilled their responsibilities will enter Paradise, while those who turned away and rejected it will be cast into the fire of Hell they have deserved.

Had Allah willed, He would have made you all a single community compelled to accept tawhid and live by it. But He did not do so; He granted every human being free will, made known to them what is right and what is wrong, and left the choice to them. Allah brings to His right path whoever wishes it; but whoever chooses to associate partners with Him will find neither a true friend nor a helper. Even so, such people stubbornly take gods alongside Allah and hope for friendship and help from them. Without doubt the true Protector (wali), Helper, Friend, and God is Allah alone. It is He who will raise the dead. He has power to do what He wills.

O Prophet! Say to them: “It is Allah who will give judgment on the matters over which you oppose the call made through the Quran and dispute with me without relying on any knowledge or proof, and what He makes known is the only truth. I have put my trust in Him alone and turned to Him, and from Him alone I ask for help. There is no true god but Allah.

Allah, who created the heavens and the earth, grants you spouses of your own kind and makes you multiply, and He also creates for you animals, male and female, and makes them multiply. Allah knows everything, has power over everything, and hears everything. Nothing is like Him; He has no equal and no likeness.”

The right to establish order in the heavens and on the earth, to determine the laws by which His creatures live and function, and to govern them belongs to Allah alone. He gives provision in abundance to whom He wills and in measure to whom He wills, and He alone knows how much to give to whom.

The religion (system and morality) Allah has revealed to you, He made known in the past as their religion to Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus as well. So you too, believe in this religion to which you are invited through the Quran, and turn to living it. Do not quarrel and divide among yourselves.

Living this religion, made up of an Allah-centered system of life, weighs very heavily on those who persist in remaining in shirk and disbelief. Allah draws to Himself those who seek what is right and brings them to the truth.

When Allah’s call reached the communities before, they fell out with one another instead of turning to the truth, purely out of jealousy, envy, and stubbornness among themselves. Had it not been for a term your Lord had set beforehand for punishing them, the sentence against them would have been carried out at once. Those who inherited the Book after them are now in doubt about the call of the Quran sent down to you.

O Prophet! Invite people to grasp tawhid and live by it, and be upright, as you have been commanded. Do not follow their vain desires and whims, and say to them: “I believe in the verses Allah revealed to all His prophets. I have been commanded to convey to you the truth that will save you from the wrongs you live in, and to deal justly among you. Allah is our Lord and your Lord. Our deeds are ours, and your deeds are yours. Arguing and feuding with us will do you no good at all. On the Day of Reckoning Allah will gather us all together and give everyone the recompense for what he did.”

While the believers strive with their wealth and their lives to live by the system and morality their faith requires, those who associate partners with Allah and deny the truth keep disputing with the believers, striving to cover up this truth and divert Allah’s call from its purpose. Their efforts to cover up the truth and twist it from its essence have no foundation and no worth at all. They will meet Allah’s severe punishment.

Through the Book He reveals to His Prophet and conveys to people, Allah sets forth plainly the truth about creation and places in your hands the Book that is the measure distinguishing right from wrong. So weigh and measure by it, and so prepare for the Day of Reckoning. How could you know? Perhaps the Day of Resurrection and Reckoning is very near!

Those who will not believe in the Last Hour, and with it the Day of Reckoning, say mockingly, “Let That Day come right now, and we shall see.” The believers, however, believe that That Day is an absolute truth and will come, and they shudder at its terror. Know well that those who do not believe the Day of Resurrection and Reckoning will come, and talk recklessly about it, are in deep error. Even so, Allah provides for these servants of His too, and gives them time to grasp the truth and turn to what is right. Allah is most merciful, most exalted, and mighty.

Whoever seeks the blessings of the Hereafter and fulfills his responsibilities to that end, We will multiply his reward many times over. And whoever seeks only the blessings of worldly life and does what it requires, We give him a share of it too. But he will have no portion of the blessings of the Hereafter.

Though they are invited to live by an Allah-centered system of life, those who associate partners with Allah adopt as their way of life the call (religion) of beings created like themselves, which Allah has not permitted, and so take other gods alongside Allah. Yet no one but Allah has the right to set a system of life for people; Allah has given no one such authority. Had your Lord not laid down beforehand a law deferring until the Day of Resurrection the penalty of those who do this and those who attempt it, the verdict on them too would have been carried out at once, and they would have been punished with the punishment they deserve. Without doubt, in the Hereafter there is a harsher punishment still for them.

When they come face to face with the Day of Resurrection, you will see those who associate partners with Allah seized with fear of what is coming upon them, trembling from head to foot. At last what they feared has befallen them.

But those who believe in the system of life that is Allah’s call, the reason for their creation, and strive to live it and keep it alive, will be brought by their Lord to the finest rewards in the gardens of Paradise. That is the great gain.

It is to these servants of His that Allah gives the good news of the matchless blessings of Paradise. O Prophet, say: “For this call I make in Allah’s name I expect no return from you other than that you believe me.”

Whoever does a good deed that befits his faith, Allah will bestow great favors on him. Allah is most forgiving toward those who repent of their wrong and hold fast to what is right.

O Prophet! Despite so many truths, those who associate partners with Allah still go on saying of you, “A liar who attributes to Allah the lies he makes up.” Yet if you were someone who lied in Allah’s name, He would seal your heart and take away your reason.

Surely Allah wipes out falsehood with the verses of the Book He sends down, and brings the truth to light.

He knows full well the intentions and thoughts hidden in hearts. He forgives those who repent and turn to what is right; He knows what everyone does and gives them the recompense they deserve.

Allah answers the prayers of those who believe in His call and do all they can to fulfill their responsibilities, and rewards them far beyond what they deserve. But a most severe punishment awaits those who have conditioned themselves to deny the truth, stubbornly live that way, and end their lives so.

Had Allah given people provision in abundance in their worldly lives, they would have run wild and transgressed on the earth and grown more insolent still. So He gives as much as He wills, in due measure. For Allah knows His servants best and is most knowing; He knows what to give to whom and how much, and He sees and watches over for whom, where, and how they use what He gives.

It is Allah who, when people have lost all hope because of drought, sends down the rain and spreads His mercy everywhere. He protects and watches over His servants with His mercy and compassion. The true Lord and God, worthy of thanks and praise, is Allah alone.

His creating the heavens and the earth, and spreading every kind of living creature over the earth, producing and multiplying them, are among the proofs of Allah’s knowledge and power; and Allah has power to gather them in His presence whenever He wills.

Know well that what befalls you is because of what your own hands have done. Even so, Allah also protects you from many misfortunes.

Do not forget that what you do in your worldly life will not go unaccounted for. Allah is aware of everything. No one can escape His hands, and no one can prevent the penalty He will give those who deserve it. For people there is no true wali (friend) but Allah.

That ships like mountains sail on across the seas without sinking is also the result of the laws Allah has set. These too are among the proofs of His knowledge and power.

If Allah wills, He stills the winds and leaves those ships lying motionless on the water. In these examples there are lessons for those who wish to grasp Allah’s power. Only those who wish to know Allah as He deserves, who reflect patiently, and who give thanks for the blessings He gives understand this. If Allah wills, He drowns those on board for what they have done and destroys them. But often He gives them time and grants them chances to turn to what is right.

Let those who are indifferent to Our verses and talk recklessly and dispute about them know full well that there is no escape from punishment for them.

O people! Know well that what you are given in worldly life is nothing but fleeting pleasures and benefits. The rewards your Lord will give those who believe and do righteous deeds are far more valuable, finer, and lasting.

They are those who avoid grave sins and indecency; who, when angered, control and master their anger and pardon and forgive; who believe in their Lord’s call and fulfill what it requires with love, perform their prayers attentively and constantly, conduct all their affairs by consultation (shura) among themselves, spend in the way of good from the provision We have given them, and support one another as they struggle against shirk, disbelief, and oppression.

The recompense for an evil is a penalty equal to it. But whoever pardons and chooses the way of peace, his reward rests with Allah. At the same time, Allah does not love those who act unjustly and oppress.

But if one who has been wronged does not pardon and wishes to claim his rights, he is not blamed or held responsible for it. Those who overstep the bounds and oppress, who commit aggression and use force unjustly, will be held responsible for what they did and punished with the punishment they deserve.

But whoever bears hardship, stays patient in the face of the injustice he has suffered, and forgives, this too is commendable conduct, full of virtue and excellence.

Those who, heedless of Allah’s warnings, turn to oppression and overstep the bounds, who rebel and persist in their wanton rebellion, Allah leaves alone with their error. Then there is no one to show such people the right path, and no one can save them from Allah’s punishment. When they see the punishment on the Day of Reckoning, they will cry out, “Alas! Is there no way of returning to the world and living by the truths that are Allah’s call?”

If only you could see those who turned away from counsel and warnings, in humiliation, contempt, and disgrace, heads bowed, when they are brought before the Fire, stealing glances around them as they beg for help!

On That Day the believers, who believed in Allah’s call and fulfilled what it requires, will say of those who deserve the Fire, “Today these are the ones who have ruined both themselves and those who followed them.” The truth is that those who rejected Allah’s call will be condemned to eternal punishment, and will find no helper to protect them against Allah.

Those who, out of stubbornness, will not give up shirk, Allah leaves alone with their error, and for such people there is no way out.

O people! Respond to your Lord’s call before That Day of Resurrection and Reckoning comes, which will certainly come and can never be turned back! When That Day comes you will neither find any refuge nor be able to deny what you did.

O Prophet! If people turn away from this call, pay it no heed, and oppose it, know that We did not send you to them as their keeper; your task is to invite them with Our verses to live an Allah-centered life, the reason for their creation.

Whenever We bestow Our favor and bring Our blessings to those who have conditioned themselves to deny, they at once become puffed up, arrogant, and insolent. And whenever misfortune befalls them in the end because of what their own hands have done, this time they rebel ungratefully and run wild.

Sovereignty over the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah. He creates what He wills; He grants daughters to whom He wills and sons to whom He wills, or grants both sons and daughters; and whom He wills He leaves childless. Allah knows what is truest in everything and has power over everything.

It is not for Allah to speak directly with any mortal. Allah speaks by revealing directly to a person’s heart, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger angel. Allah is far removed from human attributes, the one Most High.

O Prophet! To you too We have revealed, through the Quran, the reason for people’s creation. Before this you did not know what a Book was, or what faith was. We have made the Quran a light, a source of illumination, to bring to what is right whoever so wills among Our servants. Surely you too will call people with it to live on the right path. That divine order is the path of your Lord, who created all that is in the heavens and on the earth and is its true Owner. The truth is that in the end all affairs return to Allah. Everything comes to pass within Allah’s knowledge and will.