Surah Maryam: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

Kaf, Ha, Ya, Ayn, Sad. This Quran conveys Allah’s messages in verses made up of the letters of your own language.

Through the verses of this surah your Lord makes known the grace and favor He bestowed on His servant Zechariah.

Long ago the Prophet Zechariah called upon his Lord from the depths of his heart, inwardly and earnestly: “My Lord, I have grown very old now; my bones have grown weak and my hair has turned white, and never until today have You sent me away empty-handed in any prayer I have addressed to You. I am truly anxious whether the relatives who will come after me can fill my place; what is more, my wife has been barren from the start, and so I have no child either. My Lord, I ask You to grant me someone who can succeed me; grant me one who will uphold the system and morality, whose limits Allah has set, that is the heritage both of me and of the family of Jacob. My Lord, make him one of Your servants with whom You are pleased.”

Thereupon Allah, through the angel He sent, said: “O Zechariah! We give you the good news of a son whose name will be John (Yahya). We have never before given this name to anyone.” Zechariah said, “My Lord! My wife is barren and I am very old. How can I possibly have a child?” (The angel replied:) “That is so, but your Lord says: This is very easy for Me, just as We brought you into being from nothing before.” This time Zechariah said, “My Lord, then show me a sign, a proof of this, so that my heart may be at rest.” And Allah said, “Your sign is that, though you are perfectly sound, you will not be able to speak to people for three days.”

So Zechariah, unable to speak at all, came out before his people in the sanctuary and tried to tell them by signs to see and grasp their Lord’s boundless power and greatness, and never to let it slip from their minds.

When the child was born and grew up, Zechariah counseled him, “O John! Hold fast to the heritage of prophethood.” While he was still a child, We had endowed him with the ability to grasp the wisdom and importance of the divine rulings. For John was a servant most zealous in living in a way pleasing to Allah and in fulfilling his responsibilities. Because of this sincerity of his, We granted him from Our presence a compassionate heart, a spotless character, and a refined beauty of soul. He was a most respectful and good son to his parents, and he was never a tyrant. Therefore John, from the day he was born to the day he dies, and when he is raised to life again, will be graced with Allah’s mercy and compassion.

O Muhammad! Tell people, too, the story of Mary, which We are making known to you. Once she withdrew from her family to a place east of the sanctuary. And We sent to her the spirit (Gabriel, the angel of revelation) in the form of a well-proportioned, trustworthy human being. When Mary saw him, she said: “I take refuge from you in the protection of Allah, the Possessor of boundless mercy, if indeed you are one who reveres Him and is mindful of Him.” The angel said to her: “I am only a messenger of my Lord, charged with bringing you the news that He has granted you a pure son.” Hearing this, Mary voiced her astonishment in fear and agitation, saying, “How can I have a son, when no man’s hand has even touched me, and I am not an unchaste woman either?” The angel replied: “Yes, that is so, but my Lord says: This is very easy for Me; moreover, We will make him a manifestation of Our mercy that shows people Our boundless power, one who invites people to Our call, and the decision on this has now been made.”

And so Mary, who had conceived by divine decree, withdrew to a place far from people. At last the pains of labor drove her to the foot of a palm tree, and she was murmuring to herself, “If only I had died before this and been someone utterly forgotten.” Meanwhile a voice from below the palm tree called to Mary: “Do not grieve! Your Lord has made the child you are bringing into the world noble and honored. Now take hold of the palm branch, pull it toward you, and shake it, so that fresh, ripe dates fall, and eat of them. Your Lord has made water flow beneath you; drink of it too, and be comforted; and if you meet anyone, tell them by signs: I have vowed a fast of silence to my Lord, the Possessor of boundless mercy and compassion, so I will not speak.”

After a while Mary returned to her people with the child. The people of her community reproached her, saying, “O Mary! We truly never expected such a thing from you; we are astonished. What is this! O sister of Aaron! Your father was not a bad man, nor was your mother an unchaste woman.”

Thereupon Mary pointed to her child, saying to them, “Speak not with me but with him.” They said, “How can we speak with a child in the cradle, or how can he speak with us?” Then the child in the cradle began to speak and said to them, “I am Allah’s servant. Allah will grace me with divine revelation, give me the Book, and make me a prophet. Wherever I may be, He has charged me with bringing that place out of the darkness of disbelief and shirk into the light. As long as I live, He has commanded me to perform the prayer, to give the zakat, to spend generously in Allah’s way, to be respectful to my mother, and to be a compassionate and good person. If I am so, then from the day I was born and lived to the day I die, and from the day I am raised to life after death, Allah’s mercy, compassion, and tender care will be upon me.”

This is the truth about Jesus, about whom the Jews and the Christians argue endlessly.

Let those who say that Jesus is the son of Allah know well that a child can never be ascribed to Allah. Allah is far above this; He is beyond everything, exalted above everything, and has power over everything. When He wills something to be and decrees that it be, He only says to it “Be!”, and at once it enters the process of coming into being.

What Jesus always said was this: “Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so turn to living by His verses, take Him alone as God, and serve Him by worshipping and obeying Him.”

Although this is the truth about Jesus, some people still keep arguing about him ignorantly, with baseless fabrications. Woe to those who deny the truths about Jesus on the Day of Resurrection and Reckoning, when all truths will once again be laid bare! When they come before Us, they will accept the truths in any case and understand their straying, but it will be too late.

O Prophet! Warn them before that day of great remorse comes; let them know even now that on the day the sentence of punishment is carried out their remorse will be of no use, for they are still heedless.

On That Day the earth and everything on it will perish and Allah alone will remain; then everyone will be raised to life and gathered in Allah’s presence to give account.

O Prophet! Tell, too, the stories of Abraham that We make known to you through the Quran. He too was a prophet, upright in heart and in word, who invited people to take Allah alone as Lord and God.

Recall when Abraham said to his father: “O my dear father! Why do you regard as gods things that neither hear nor see nor do you any good, and that were themselves created, and shape your way of life according to them? Father, knowledge of the truth has come to me, which none of you have; Allah has chosen me as a prophet and brought me to what is right. So now follow me; turn to what is right and keep away from what is wrong! Free yourself from following Satan and those who have become devils, for they have associated partners with Allah and rebelled in ingratitude. Father, if you reject the call I am making in Allah’s name, you will not escape Allah’s punishment and you will become one of Satan’s friends.”

Having heard all this from Abraham, his father said to him: “So you are turning away from my gods, are you? Then I swear that if you do not stop speaking against my gods and belittling them, I will pelt you with stones without mercy. Now get out of my sight; I never want to see you again.”

Thereupon Abraham said to his father: “What comes next is up to you; I am leaving, and I will pray to my Lord to forgive you; my Lord is most kind to me. I am now distancing myself from you all and from those you take as gods and follow. I take Allah alone, who created the universe and all that is in it, as Lord and God, and I submit to Him. And I will pray to my Lord to let me live out my worldly life in this way.”

After Abraham had left his people, We granted him Isaac, and after him his grandson Jacob; We granted both of them prophethood and bestowed favors on them in abundance from the treasures of Our mercy. We made them zealous representatives of an Allah-centered life, remembered with respect and love.

O Prophet! Speak also of the stories of Moses that We are making known to you through the Quran. He too, chosen from among his people, was a messenger and a prophet (rasul and nabi) who invited people to the system of life that is the reason for their creation.

Long ago We drew Moses so near that We spoke with him; We called to him from the right side of Mount Sinai, and We appointed his brother Aaron as a prophet to help him, making both of them messengers who invited people to what is right.

O Prophet! Speak also of Ishmael, who is made known to you in the Book. Ishmael too was a prophet most faithful to his promises to Allah and to people; he would command his family to perform the prayer and give the zakat. He would call the people he could reach to strive, as he did, with their wealth and their lives for the sake of Allah’s call. He too was a servant with whom Allah was well pleased.

Tell, too, of Idris, who is among those made known to you in the Quran. Idris too was a man of perfect uprightness, a monument of honesty, true in heart and word. We chose him too as a prophet and rewarded him with that lofty station.

These are some of the messengers whom Allah chose, favored with the blessings of prophethood and the Book, and honored. They were messengers whom We guided on the right path, descended from Adam and from those We carried with Noah, and of the line of Abraham and Israel (Jacob). Whenever the verses of the Most Gracious were recited to them, they would at once fall down in prostration in tears, and ask their Lord for help in fulfilling their responsibilities and conveying the messages to people as they should be conveyed.

Then most of the generations that came after them turned into people who listened to no one, chased only after the passing pleasures of this brief worldly life, cared nothing for the reason for their creation, neglected the prayer, and shut the Book and the Prophet out of their lives. They will surely suffer the penalty for turning away from what is right, running wild, and rebelling against Allah.

But those who repent and give up their shirk and disbelief, believe in Allah’s call, and fulfill what it requires wholeheartedly and with love, Allah will forgive, reward, and admit into His Paradise. That Paradise is a home of happiness and beauty far beyond and above the human capacity to grasp and perceive; Allah’s promise will surely be fulfilled.

Those who enter Paradise will never hear any empty or useless talk there; they will be welcomed with fine, heartening words of happiness and provided with blessings bestowed by Allah’s generosity; and so Paradise will be the everlasting home of those who respond to their Lord’s call.

The angels descend to the prophets to convey Allah’s messages to people, and they say: “It is Allah who knows all things, both what has been made known to us and what we cannot know because it has not been made known to us. He alone knows, and makes known, who deserves what and where; Allah never forgets.”

O people! Allah is the Lord (the Owner) of the heavens, the earth, and all that is between them. The authority to establish order over His servants also belongs to Him. So turn to the system and morality that is Allah’s call, and worship, obey, and serve Him alone. You have no true god other than Allah. And some people say: “What? Are we to be raised to life again after we die?” Do those who say this not consider that We created them from nothing and brought them into being? We swear that We will gather together those who deny the Day of Resurrection, along with the devils, and fill Hell first with the ringleaders among them and then with those who followed them. It is Allah who knows best who most deserves the fire of Hell.

O you who have ended your worldly lives as people who associate partners with Allah and deny the truth! All of you will suffer forever the punishment of Hell you have deserved. This is among your Lord’s irrevocable rulings.

Those who believed and fulfilled their responsibilities toward Allah We will spare and protect from the punishment of Hell; but those who associated partners with Allah and denied the truth, and so wronged themselves, We will leave there alone with the punishment, fallen to their knees, wretched, and writhing in their remorse.

When Allah’s verses were conveyed to them, those who rejected them without a moment’s thought would say to the believers: “Who are the ones of high rank and position in society, held in esteem and respected: you or we?” Yet before them We brought to ruin and destroyed many an unruly and ungrateful generation who were arrogant and boastful like them; and they were even stronger in wealth, property, and rank, and greater in number.

Say to them: “However long the life Allah, the Most Gracious, has ordained for you may be, in the end you will surely see both the Resurrection, which you refused to accept despite being warned, and the punishment of Hell, and on That Day you will understand who is higher in rank and more esteemed.”

Allah strengthens still further the understanding and insight of those who strive to live the system of life to which they are invited, and supports them with His help. What the believers do for the sake of their faith is most precious in Allah’s sight, and their reward is great.

The ungrateful man who refuses to believe and persists in shirk and disbelief even goes so far as to say, “Allah, who created me, will surely give me wealth, property, and children too.” Just think of the state this insolent man has fallen into. Or has he received such news from the unseen, or has he taken such a promise from Allah, the Most Gracious, that he keeps talking on that basis? Never! The truth is not as he says. We will put this insolence of his on record and increase still further the punishment he deserves; We will also take from him the wealth, property, and children We granted him, which he keeps talking about, and on the Day of Reckoning he will come before Us all alone.

They took as gods alongside Allah people created just like themselves, whom they had magnified in their own eyes, believing they would bring them power and status. Yet on the Day of Resurrection those they took as gods will deny that they were gods and will turn into their enemies.

Those who deny the reason for their creation are beset by devils who provoke them and drive them to excess. O Prophet! Do not be in haste to ask that they be struck with punishment. We are counting the days until they will be punished, and every day they draw nearer to it.

But those who turn to living by the system of life that is the reason for their creation and do their utmost for it will, on the Day of Resurrection, be gathered together by Allah, the Most Gracious, and welcomed as honored guests in the finest way. And on That Day the deniers will be herded like animals into Hell.

On the Day of Reckoning Allah will grant intercession to no one except those who, in their worldly life, believed and lived fulfilling their responsibilities.

And some people even have the effrontery to say that Allah, the Most Gracious, has taken a child, and in saying so they utter a dreadful and most hideous slander against Allah. Because of this slander of theirs the heavens might almost be torn apart, the earth split open, and the mountains collapse. That Allah should take a child is an irrational slander that can never be ascribed to Allah.

It is Allah who created all that is in the heavens, on the earth, and between them. On the Day of Reckoning you will all be gathered in His presence as servants.

Allah has a record kept, one by one, of all that everyone keeps saying and does, and His knowledge encompasses everything. On the Day of Reckoning all of them will be brought before Allah stripped of their wealth, property, and children.

Those who believe in the system of life that is Allah’s call and strive (wage jihad) for it with their wealth and their lives attain Allah’s mercy, and a bond of love forms among them.

So that all these truths may be easily understood, We are revealing the Quran in the language in which you and your people speak, understand one another, and write, so that with it you may give good news to those who believe in Allah’s call and warn those who deny it.

Before these deniers, too, We destroyed many peoples like them. Is there now any mention of their existence at all, or do you hear so much as a whisper from them?