Surah Yunus: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

Alif. Lam. Ra. This divine call is made up of the verses of a Book containing rulings, set out in words of wisdom formed from the letters of the language you use to understand one another.

Many of them found it strange that We revealed to one of their own: “In Allah’s name, invite people to follow the reason for their creation, and give those who believe in it and strive to live by it the good news that they will be rewarded.” Many of those who realized that, if this call were accepted, their own system of life would change opposed it and accused the Prophet of magic and sorcery.

The truth is that your Lord is the One who created the heavens and the earth in six days, established their order, and made their laws, and who then, from the seat of sovereignty, governs His creation with boundless knowledge and power. Turn to your Lord’s call, take Him alone as God, and serve Him. Do not forget that Allah has given no one but Himself the authority to intercede for His servants or to establish a system of life. Such is Allah, your Lord; so come to know Him as He deserves. Will you still not consider that there is no true god but Him?

In the end you will all be returned to Allah and called to account for the stance you took toward His call. This is Allah’s promise, certain to be fulfilled. It is He who creates the human being and determines and makes known how he should live. Allah will reward those who believe and strive to fulfill what faith requires with far more than they deserve.

But for those who have conditioned themselves to deny the truth there is in Hell a drink of boiling water and the punishment of an agonizing fire.

It is Allah, too, who created the sun as a source of light and the moon as a reflector of light. It is He who set stations for the moon in its orbit and turns it through its phases, so that you may know the number of the years and the reckoning of time. Allah makes all this plainly known not in vain, but so that His knowledge and power may be known as they deserve and the importance of His call may be grasped.

In the succession of night and day, in their lengthening and shortening, and in everything Allah has created in the heavens and on the earth, there are countless proofs pointing to His knowledge and power. But only those who seek what is right and carry a sense of responsibility toward Allah draw the lessons to be drawn from these examples.

As for those who, despite these warnings, go on living taken up with the passing, petty pleasures of worldly life, who do not believe in the Day of Reckoning and pay no heed to Our verses, because of this choice of theirs their destination will be Hell.

But those who believe and do their utmost to live the good their faith requires will attain the Gardens, the home of blessings, with rivers murmuring through them; and there they will pray, “O Allah, You alone are the Exalted; thanks be to You,” greet one another, and praise their Lord.

Just as those who do not believe in the Day of the Hereafter and in the call the Prophet makes in Allah’s name want the punishment they are threatened with to befall them at once, so, had Allah been as quick to give them the punishment they deserve, they would have been destroyed at once and brought to their end. We leave such people floundering blindly in their arrogance and unruliness, in their swamps.

Whenever misfortune befalls a human being, he begins to beseech and implore Us to save him, whether lying down, sitting, or standing; but as soon as We relieve him of his distress, he at once turns ungrateful and turns his back on Us, as though he had never been the one beseeching and imploring Us, and carries on in his disbelief and shirk. To those who overstep the bounds in the face of Allah’s blessings and help, what they do is made to seem fair.

Before you We destroyed many peoples who rejected the prophets who came to them with books and miracles, and showed them enmity. Then, after them, We made you heirs and vicegerents on earth. In this way We are testing you by your stance toward Our call.

Whenever the verses of the Quran are recited to those who pay no heed to the call made in Allah’s name and do not believe in the Hereafter, they say: “What you recite does not suit us! Bring us a book that suits us and our way of life and approves of it, or change the one you have and make it suit us.”

O Prophet! Say to them: “Who am I to change Allah’s Book to suit myself or you? That is not to be. I follow only what is revealed to me! If I were to follow what you say, I would be rebelling against my Lord, and I fear the punishment of the Day of Reckoning.”

Say: “Had Allah not willed it, I could not have recited and conveyed these verses to you. I am astonished that you do not believe me, although I have lived among you for so many years; will you still not use your reason and understand this truth?

And tell me, who could be more unjust and ignorant than a person who attributes his own inventions to Allah, saying, ‘These are Allah’s verses’? You know better than anyone that I am not such a person.

What is more, those who abandon Allah and go after created beings that have no power to bring them any benefit or harm, and accept them as intercessors with Allah, will never prosper.”

Say to them also: “When Allah has given no one in the heavens or on the earth permission or authority to intercede, are you going to teach Him that certain people should be intercessors?

Be mindful of Allah, and keep away from such vain things. Allah, with His boundless knowledge and power, is the only exalted God who has rights over what He has created.”

Mankind were a single community living by the system of life whose rules Allah had laid down. Then, because of the disputes among them, they invented different systems of life and strayed onto paths cut off from the reason for their creation; had there not been a decision from your Lord, made beforehand and bound by law, their account would long since have been settled and they would have been given the punishment they deserved.

And those who associate partners with Allah even go so far as to say to the Prophet: “Should you not have been given some miraculous proofs from your Lord?” Say to them: “Whether or not to show miraculous proofs is Allah’s business. I cannot know what He will decide; there is nothing for you or me to do but wait for what lies ahead.”

Whenever We relieve such people with Our mercy from the hardships that befall them, they claim that they attained this relief thanks to those they have deified and made idols of besides Allah, turn their backs on Allah’s verses, and cling to their corrupt beliefs. Say to them: “Allah exposes with His verses how hollow and worthless your beliefs and claims based on shirk are. Know well that the angel envoys are recording all that you do and every word you say.”

It is Allah who lets you travel on land and sail on the sea. When people are journeying at sea in a sailing ship, with a gentle breeze blowing, in joy and security, and a sudden storm leaves the ship caught among the waves and those on board come face to face with the fear of death, they realize that those they associate as partners with Allah will be of no use to them, and at once turn back to their Lord and pray, “If You save us from this disaster, we swear that we will devote our religion to You alone and take no god other than You, and that we will hold fast to Your call and be among those who give You thanks.”

But no sooner has Allah saved them from this disaster than they return to their old life based on shirk, and carry on in their ingratitude and unruliness. O you who associate partners with Allah! In the end your ingratitude and unruliness only harm yourselves.

The pleasures of worldly life are brief and passing; in the end you will be returned to Us. And on That Day We will call you to account one by one for what you did, and for what you failed to do when you should, and give you the recompense you deserve.

This passing worldly life is just like this example: with the rain We send down from the sky, the plants and crops with which We feed people and animals grow, and vineyards and gardens turn green and are adorned; and while the people who own them rejoice at what they are about to gain and build their dreams, We suddenly send a calamity by night or by day and turn that lovely harvest into stubble mown down at the root, as though it had never been there. Thus do We set out Our verses with clear examples for a people who use their reason and reflect.

O people! Allah calls you to the home of lasting happiness, safety, and beauty, and shows whoever wishes the way to get there.

Those who complete their worldly lives striving to live in a way pleasing to Allah will be rewarded with far more than they did, and on the Day of Reckoning their faces will shine and their heads will not be bowed.

On the other hand, those who turn away from the system of life with which Allah is pleased and are ungrateful will be punished with a punishment equal to what they did. Their faces, condemned to humiliation, will be darkened with shame like the darkness of night; with heads bowed to the ground and brought low, they will have earned Hell, where they will remain forever.

On that Day of Reckoning We will gather together the ringleaders of shirk and disbelief and all those who followed them and went after them, and We will say: “O you who turned people away from serving Allah, and you who followed them! Stand apart from one another, and tell Us now, why did you take lords and gods other than Allah and associate partners with Him?” The ringleaders will say of those who followed them: “These people did not really follow us for our sake; they tagged along after us because they were chasing the empty whims and desires of their own interests.” Then they will turn to those who followed them and say, “Allah is witness that we did not even know that you associated us as partners with Allah; we were not aware of it. This was your choice; no one forced you into it.”

On That Day everyone will be gathered in the presence of Allah the Exalted to give account for the choices they made in their worldly lives, and those who associated partners with Allah will be left all alone by their so-called gods.

Say to them: “Who provides for you from the heavens and the earth? Who is your true Owner, who formed and granted the systems of hearing in your ears and sight in your eyes? Who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living? Who is it that created the universe, established its order, set its balance, and governs it flawlessly?” They will at once say: “Allah.” Then say to them: “Then why will you not accept the perfect system of life to which Allah invites you?”

Without doubt, that is Allah, your true Lord and God. A life lived outside His call is nothing but falsehood and straying. Despite this truth, for those who are ungrateful to Allah and associate partners with Him, Allah’s judgment is certain: they will be condemned to the punishment of Hell.

Ask those who ignore the perfect system in their own creation this too: “Can any of those you take as gods besides Allah create the human being from nothing and then raise him to life again after he dies?” Say: “It is Allah who creates the human being and who will raise him to life again after death. Despite this truth, how is it that you abandon Allah and take other gods?”

Say: “Tell me, is there anyone among those you accept as gods who can guide you to what is right, to justice, to happiness, to living in security?” Say: “It is Allah alone who invites people to what is right, just, and secure and turns them toward it. Then which is more worthy to be followed: the One who guides to what is right, or one who cannot possibly find it on his own unless he is shown the right way? When the truth is this clear, how is it that you cannot think this through and make your choice accordingly?”

Most people follow conjecture in choosing their systems of life, yet conjecture can never take the place of the truth, of what is right. Allah knows down to the finest detail on what basis each person makes his choice.

Without doubt this Quran is from Allah, and it is certainly not a book made up by others. It is a divine Book that confirms the truths that remain from the books Allah sent before it and sets out the divine rulings in detail. Those who stubbornly persist in associating partners with Allah say, “Muhammad made it up.” Say to them: “If you are sincere and honest in this claim, come on, then, produce a surah like the surahs of the Quran yourselves, and in doing so call to your aid all those, besides Allah, from whom you can get help.”

The truth is that those who say this have chosen to reject it and call it a lie without thinking it over and weighing it, and without listening to the detailed explanations of the verses; those before them did the same. Turn and look at how they were destroyed in the end.

Among those who refuse to accept the truth there will be some who reflect and turn to what is right, while others will go on resisting, rejecting, denying, and calling it a lie.

O Prophet! If they do not believe in the call you are making in Allah’s name, say to them: “I am responsible for what I do, and you are responsible for what you do; everyone will be held responsible for his own choices and receive their recompense.”

Among them there are also those who seem to listen to you but never use their reason on what you say. Their case is like that of the deaf; those who do not use their reason are no different from the deaf; you cannot make them hear. And among them there are those who seem to watch what you do, but who see what you do without grasping its aim and meaning; their case is no different from that of the blind; and you cannot show the right path to the blind either.

Without doubt Allah does not wrong people in the least; but those who do not accept Allah’s call wrong and harm themselves.

On the Day of Reckoning Allah will gather people together, and on That Day they will think that they stayed in the world only as long as it takes to get acquainted in passing at some hour of the day.

Those who did not believe that they would be called to account for the way they lived their worldly lives will suffer great ruin on the day they are brought before Allah.

O Prophet! Whether We show you part of the punishment they deserve in this world, or take your life before you see it, it is an inescapable truth that sooner or later they will be returned to Us and receive the recompense for the crimes they committed.

To every community a prophet has surely been sent, and they have been invited to live by the right system of life. Then Allah passed His judgment on them with justice, and no one was ever wronged.

Those who associate partners with Allah today, like those of the past, mock the prophet and those with him, saying, “You are such truthful people; tell us, then, when will this punishment you threaten us with fall upon us?”

Say to them: “Unless Allah wills, I can neither bring any benefit to myself nor ward off any harm that may befall me; everything depends on Allah’s will, on His willing. Every community has a lifespan, a term, determined by Allah’s laws. When its term is up, it is neither delayed by a moment nor brought forward before it is up.”

Say: “Have you ever considered what state you could fall into if Allah’s punishment came upon you suddenly at some hour of the night or day? It is Allah who will determine its time. Nor will Allah change its time because you say, ‘Let it befall us at once, so that we may see.’ It seems you will not believe until the punishment befalls you.” And when the punishment arrives you will be told, “Will you believe now in what you were told of beforehand and warned about? Yet you used to mock, saying, Let the punishment come, so that we may see.” On that day those who did not believe in the Hereafter and the Day of Reckoning will be told, “Enter this Hell you have deserved, to remain in it forever, and see what punishment is.”

Some of them, doubting these verses being made known to them, ask you, “Is this punishment real?” Say to them: “Yes, by my Lord, it is the very truth, and you will never escape it.”

Those who end their worldly lives associating partners with Allah and denying the truth would want to give it all as ransom, without batting an eye, to escape the punishment of Hell, even if they owned as much wealth as the whole world; but when those wrongdoers see the punishment awaiting them, they will not even find in themselves the strength to voice their remorse; for them divine justice will give the full recompense they deserve.

Know well, and never forget, that all that is in the heavens and on the earth belongs to Allah. His promise concerning the Resurrection and the Day of Reckoning will surely be fulfilled. Every person will be called to account for the way he lived, but most people are still not conscious of this. Yet it is Allah who created life and death, and in the end you will all be returned to Him.

O people! Here has come to you from your Lord the Quran: a counsel, a healing for the diseases in hearts, and a guide and a source of mercy for those who wish to live in keeping with the reason for their creation. O Prophet! Give people this good news, so that they may rejoice and be happy because of Allah’s Book, the source of mercy and healing, and know that this blessing of Allah’s is more precious than all the wealth and riches they own.

O Prophet! Say to the People of the Book: “What is the matter with you, that you declare some of the blessings Allah has bestowed lawful and some unlawful on your own authority? Have you received some authority from Allah on this, or are you slandering Allah by saying He commanded it? The authority to lay down rulings over what He has created belongs to Allah alone, and therefore it is He who determines what is lawful and what is unlawful.”

Do those who try to lay down rulings over what Allah has created never think about what may befall them on the Day of Resurrection and Reckoning?

Allah has bestowed boundless favors on people, but the ungrateful human being, instead of giving thanks for them, regards himself as having rights over the blessings and sets about laying down rulings.

O Prophet! We see and know what you too have done, and are doing, for Allah’s call, and under what circumstances. And you too, O people! We know in detail, and bear witness to, your stance toward the call being made in Allah’s name, where you turn, and whom you take as lords and gods and whose systems you follow; not even an atom’s weight, or anything smaller, in the heavens or on the earth is hidden from your Lord’s knowledge; a record is kept of everything you do, small or great.

Those who have won Allah’s friendship have no anxiety or fear about the future or the past, nor will they be grieved or put to shame. These are the ones who, conscious of their responsibilities toward Allah, do their utmost to live by the system and morality whose limits Allah has set and which is the reason for their creation, and to keep it alive. For them there is good news concerning both this world and the life of the Hereafter.

Allah’s promise will certainly be fulfilled. So do not let the words of those who deny the truth grieve you; honor, standing, power, and superiority belong entirely to Allah and to those near to Him. Allah hears everything, knows everything, and has power over everything.

The truth is that all that is in the heavens and on the earth belongs to Allah; it is He who created it, established its systems, and governs it. With this perfect order before their eyes, those who turn away from Allah’s call follow nothing but conjecture.

It is Allah who made the night dark so that you may rest, and the day bright so that you may see to your work, and who laid down their laws; for those who use their reason and reflect, these are signs that plainly show Allah’s knowledge and power.

Some people, relying on no knowledge, not knowing Allah as He deserves, and not believing in what is being made known through the Quran, say, “Allah has taken a son.” Allah has never taken a child. He is the exalted Creator. Allah has no need to take a child, nor of anything else. He is far removed from such attributions. When all that is in the heavens and on the earth is His, how can they utter such a slander against Allah?

O Prophet! Say to them: “Those who attribute their own invented lies to Allah will never prosper.” At the end of this brief worldly life they will be returned to Us and condemned to a severe punishment for these lies and slanders of theirs.

O Prophet! Tell them also the story of Noah. Noah said to his people: “O my people! If you cannot stomach my having been chosen as a prophet and my inviting you to live a life in keeping with your innate nature, the reason for your creation, and so wish to do me harm, do not forget that I convey Allah’s messages to you as one who has Allah at his back. Gather together, with those to whom you ascribe your so-called godhood, decide how to silence me, and do your worst; bring out whatever decision you reach, and let us see. If you stubbornly persist in turning away from the call, I have nothing to lose; moreover, I have no expectation of you and ask no wage in return for this call I make in Allah’s name. The One who will give me my reward is Allah. I am one of those commanded to submit to Allah (to be a Muslim).”

Despite all the warnings and counsel, Noah’s people refused to live in keeping with the divine system and morality. So We saved Noah and those who believed with him from the flood by taking them on board the ship, and made them the new vicegerents and heirs of the earth. And those who called Allah’s verses lies and paid them no heed We left to drown in the water and destroyed.

Then, after Noah, We sent to each of the peoples that came after him a prophet from among themselves. We invited them, with clear verses and miracles, to live the truth; but they too, like those before them, at once rejected the verses they called lies, without once reflecting on them and grasping their meaning and importance. And so, just as the hearts of their like in the past hardened and were sealed, so too the hearts of these polytheists who have grown ungrateful and unruly harden and are sealed.

After these prophets We sent Moses and Aaron with Our verses as prophets to Pharaoh first of all, to the rulers and elite around him, and to his people; but they behaved arrogantly toward Allah’s verses, swaggered, turned their backs, and stubbornly went on associating partners with Allah. So much so that, although Moses’ prophethood and Allah’s verses were shown to them with clear proofs, they said, “This is plain sorcery.”

Moses said to them, “To call you to the right system of life with these miracles is neither the business nor the task of sorcerers; they neither know nor speak these verses, nor can they perform these miracles.”

Having heard this from Moses, the members of Pharaoh’s council said to Moses: “What? Do you want us to give up and abolish our system of life, inherited from our forefathers and which we carry on, turn to the system you invite us to, and leave the government to you and your brother Aaron? Is that what you came for? O Moses! Know well that we will never believe what you say.”

Then Pharaoh ordered his men to gather and bring all the sorcerers in the land. At last the sorcerers were gathered and brought. At the place and time agreed beforehand, Pharaoh, the sorcerers, and Moses faced one another, along with the people. Moses called out to the sorcerers, “Show whatever skill you have, and let us see.”

When the sorcerers brought out their ropes and staffs, the tools of their art of deceiving the eye, Moses said to them, “What you have done is mere sorcery, nothing but deceiving the eye. Have no doubt that Allah will bring it to nothing, for Allah never lets those who sow disorder and corruption achieve their aims. Allah brings the truth plainly to light, even if those who associate partners with Allah and deny the truth do not like it. In this way He will show you my prophethood, and that I am making this call in Allah’s name.”

Of Moses’ people only a very few believed in the miracles he displayed by Allah’s leave and in the call he made with Allah’s verses; the rest of the people kept away from the call, fearing the tyranny of Pharaoh, who recognized none of the limits Allah had made known, and of his men. Thereupon Moses said to his people, “O my people! If you truly and wholeheartedly believe in Allah and trust in Him, then submit to His call and strive to fulfill your responsibilities.”

The believers who believed in this divine call prayed, “We put our trust in Allah alone, our Lord, and rely on Him; our Lord, do not test us through the tyranny of this wrongdoing people, do not let us be disgraced at their hands, and in Your mercy save us from the hands of these polytheists.”

While this was taking place, We revealed to Moses and Aaron: “Set up houses in the city where you can gather often, strengthen your unity, turn your houses into places of worship (masjids) where Allah’s messages are taught, and perform your prayers. O Moses! Give those who carry this out as a duty, without compromising their faith, the good news that victory will come to them with Allah’s help.”

Then Moses raised his hands and prayed: “O my Lord! You have given Pharaoh and his chiefs splendid wealth and dominion in this world, and with these means and this power they are trying to lead people away from the right path. For this reason, destroy their wealth and power and wipe them out root and branch. Let them feel its pain and distress in their hearts and be brought low. My Lord, it seems they will not accept the truth until they see the agonizing punishment.”

And Allah revealed to Moses: “The prayer of you and of those of your people who believe has been accepted; together with the believers, keep holding fast to Allah’s call with patience and steadfastness, and never give it up and follow the way of those who rebel against Allah.”

Then We brought the Children of Israel across to the other side of the sea. When Pharaoh and his soldiers set off in fury and spite to pursue them by the path opened in the sea, We closed the sea over them and drowned them all. As he was about to drown, Pharaoh said, “I have understood that, as the Children of Israel believe, there is no true god but Allah; I too am now one of those who submit to Him.” Then he was told: “Have you come to your senses only now, and understood that there is no god but Allah, O Pharaoh? Yet you took yourself as a god and tried to make your people accept it too; you opposed the truth and rebelled against Allah. Today We will bring your body out of the water so that it may be an object lesson for people; but most people, despite seeing and knowing all the proofs, go on remaining indifferent to the call made in Allah’s name.”

After these events We settled the Children of Israel in a fertile, fine, and secure land and provided them with pure and lawful provision; but when they were told to live in keeping with the system and morality whose rules Allah had set, and verses containing Allah’s rulings were made known to them, it was then that they fell into dispute among themselves over obeying the divine laws and began to argue and quarrel. Allah will certainly call them to account for this attitude of theirs.

If you have any doubt about the truth of the stories We make known through the Book We have sent down to you, there are those among you who read the truths that remain from the books We sent to those before you; ask them! Have no doubt that the revelation conveyed to you from your Lord is guidance itself. Never be among the doubters!

Do not be among those who call Allah’s verses lies, saying, “These are fabrications,” or you will be among those who suffer ruin and loss.

Such people will not believe, even if every proof and miracle of the truth is shown to them, until they meet the agonizing punishment. If only they had returned to the system of life that is the reason for their creation before the punishment befell them!

Apart from the people of Jonah, no other community appeared that first opposed the call and then, realizing that they would meet the punishment, held fast to the divine order. When they turned to living by the call made in Allah’s name, We saved them from the punishment that would have humbled and ruined them in their worldly life, let them taste during that time the strength, honor, and happiness of living in guidance, and let them enjoy Our blessings in abundance.

Had your Lord willed, He would have forced all the people on earth to believe. He certainly has the power to do so, but He did not want it to be so. Allah willed that every person make his choice of his own free will and earn what he deserves. That being so, will you now force people to believe?

Allah brings to the truth those who use their reason, reflect on the reason for their creation, and wish to live in keeping with it. Without His guidance no one can reach what is right. Allah leaves in filth those who do not use their reason in the search for truth.

O people! Look at what has been created in the heavens and on the earth, and at the order in which they are kept alive; see the boundlessness of Allah’s knowledge and power, and hold fast to His call; but sadly most people, though they see and hear, turn their backs on the system of life that is the reason for their creation.

It seems that these polytheists too are waiting for the punishment that befell those before them, who tried to cover up and deny the truth that Allah is Lord and God, to befall them as well. Say to them: “Then wait and see what happens. I too will wait with you.”

By Our unchanging law and Our promise, We punish those who turn away from Our call with the punishment they deserve in this world too, and save Our messengers and those who believe with them from destruction.

O Prophet! Say to those who call Our verses lies: “If you think I will give up the call I am making in Allah’s name and follow you, know well that I will never obey those you take as gods alongside Allah. I take as God, and obey, only Allah, who will take both your lives and mine and then raise us again and call us to account. What I am commanded is to trust in Him and submit to Him.

I was also commanded: Turn to Allah with all your strength, purified of shirk and disbelief, and never be among those who accept a god other than Him and associate partners with Him! Set your face toward the true religion!

If you want some good to come to you, or to be delivered from a misfortune that has befallen you, do not pray to anyone but Allah or ask anyone else for help. If you ask anyone but Allah for help, you will surely be among the wrongdoers.”

If Allah brings you face to face with some hardship and misfortune, to warn you or to test you, know well that no one but Allah can remove it; and if He wills some good for you, no one can stand in the way of His favor. Allah bestows His favor on whomever of His servants He deems worthy and wills.

Allah is most merciful, compassionate, and forgiving toward the believers.

O Prophet! Say: “O people! Here has come to you the Quran, which makes known the reason for your creation and explains how you should live in keeping with it. From now on, whoever follows it, that choice will surely be for his own good. But whoever, despite this, chooses to live by another way of life will have harmed himself. I am in no way responsible for your choices.”

O Prophet! Follow only what is sent down to you, and be patient until Allah gives His judgment; Allah is the One who judges most truly concerning everyone.