Surah Al-Ankabut (The Spider)

1. Alef, Lam, Mim. Each letter of this word is to be read separately, and only Allah knows its meaning.

2. Do people believe that having made the two declarations and said: “We believe in Allah and in His messenger” that Allah will refrain from testing them and investigating the sincerity of their belief? (This will be carried out by means of immigration, the hardships of holy war, and other religious duties.) No, Almighty Allah will certainly test them, putting to the proof the strength of His servants’ faith. (In a Hadith, the Prophet said: “The most sorely tested are the prophets, then those who do good deeds, and so on. A man is tested according to the strength of his convictions; the stronger they are, the more he will be tested.”) (Al-Sahih)

3. Allah tested believers in former times by tempting them. His aim was to test them in order to distinguish between those whose faith was firm and those who lied by pretending to be believers, so that each might be recompensed according to his deeds.

4. Perhaps those who commit sins and misdeeds think that they can deceive their Lord, so that He will overlook them and they will escape the dire punishment He always metes out to prevaricators and sinners. If they are confident that they will succeed, how faulty is their judgement and their confidence!

5. Those who believe in the Resurrection and wish to be rewarded by Allah when they will meet Him in the hereafter, let them act in ways which will benefit them and which will lead them to deserve a reward from the Lord, and avoid actions which anger Him, for the day is coming when Allah Almighty will resurrect His creatures so that they can be judged, for Allah hears the words of His servants and knows their true beliefs and their every deed.

6. And whoever does his best to battle against the enemies of his religion, his country, and his race as well as against himself by suppressing any evil or sinful thoughts, that person acts in his own interest, by gaining Allah’s approval and saving himself from His punishment, for Allah does not need anyone to battle on His behalf, since He is all-powerful and invulnerable.

7. And as for those who believe in Allah, His Books, and His messengers, and who perform good deeds, Allah will repay them with the greatest reward hereafter, and He will wipe out those sins they committed when they were idolaters or which they fell into by accident after having submitted to Islam; Allah will reward them for their good deeds and will multiply their few good works tenfold, while he treats sins in a similar fashion or wipes them out and pardons them.

8. Almighty Allah commands His faithful servants to be benevolent towards their parents, for they are the cause of his being, and therefore he owes them a host of obligations. If, however, the parents are idolaters and order their son who is a believer to cease believing and to disobey Allah, or they force their children to associate other beings with Allah, then they should not be obeyed, for one’s duty to Allah is more sacrosanct than one’s duty to parents. (In a Hadith from Al-Sahih, the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “There should be no obedience to any person who disobeys Allah.”) Then Almighty Allah draws His servants’ attention to the fact that they will return to Him on the Day of Resurrection, and He will repay them for their benevolence towards their parents and for having held constantly to their religion, and He will gather them together with others who have performed good deeds.

9. Thus Almighty Allah will gather those who believe and do good works together with others who have acted well. (It is said that this and the preceding verse were revealed in connection with Sa’d bin Waqass and his mother, since she one day said: “Has Allah not ordered you to be good towards your parents? I swear to Allah, I shall neither eat nor drink until I die unless you renounce Allah.” Then when they tried to open her mouth with a piece of wood, and feed her with bread, these verses were sent down.)

10. There are some people who claim with their tongues to be believers, but if the idolaters torture them for their beliefs, they make the persecution of these people like the punishments from Allah in the hereafter, and they renounce their religion and return to a state of disbelief, whereas it would be better for them if they had borne this injury, for one can bear torture by humans because it will have an end, while no one can defend himself against the punishment of Allah, which is far more painful and is endless. Again, if Allah grants a favour to His Prophet and his followers, such as a victory with plentiful spoils, those who pretended to be believers will say that they have remained loyal to the Prophet and the believers who are their brothers in the faith, and they will claim their share of the booty. Then Almighty Allah says that they cannot deceive Him with their false declarations, for He knows the hypocrisy in their hearts and the secrets of their breast, even if they show faith to the believers, since nothing can be hidden from Allah.

11. Almighty Allah will test His servants through good and evil, in order to distinguish the true believer from the hypocrite who doubts. And he will cause those who obey Him, and who bear any injury inflicted on them because of their faith, to triumph over those who disobey Him and change their beliefs when harm comes upon them. (“If good comes to him, he takes it calmly, and if he is tempted, he turns aside his face.” See chapter 22- Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage), 11.)

12. The disbelievers among the people of Quraish say to those who believe and who follow the Messenger: “Return to your former religion, and if ever there is really a Day of Resurrection, we take responsibility for your sins.” But Almighty Allah refutes them, saying: “No man can take to himself the responsibility of others, each man being responsible for his own misdeeds.”

13. Those who mislead people into disbelieving and straying from the true path will carry with them on the Day of Resurrection their misdeeds and their faults as well as the misdeeds of those whom they have misled and led astray, without any diminishment of responsibility on the part of those who have strayed. Those who have misled others will be judged on the Day of Resurrection for having blasphemed and for having harmed other people.

14. Almighty Allah consoles His Prophet by telling him stories concerning the noble prophets and what they endured at the hands of those who treated them as liars. But they were not weakened and they accomplished the mission with which Allah had charged them. In this verse Allah tells His Messenger that Noah stayed with his people for nine hundred and fifty years, inviting them towards Allah day and night, in secret and publicly, but his appeal only intensified their rejection of him, and only a very few of his people believed in him — as another verse records — and the unbelievers tried to cast Noah and his followers out of their land. But Allah gave him victory over his enemies; those who accused him of lying all perished in the flood, for they were prevaricators who had done themselves a disservice, and Allah guides those whom He wishes to and leads others astray. Allah’s commands are all-powerful.

15. Then Almighty Allah saved Noah and those who had believed in him in the ark, and He made their story (or their ark) a sign and proof of His power and His wisdom, and drowned all the others in the flood.

16. O Mohammad, tell your people the story of their father Abraham, how Allah gave him reason when he was still young. When he had attained this reason, he called upon his people to worship Allah alone, without any associate, to do devotion to Him both secretly and publicly, and then he told them that belief was better for them than disbelief, and that if they knew and did what Allah commanded, they would be far happier in this world and the next.

17. Besides Allah, you worship only stone idols which you yourselves have carved, and you fabricate a calumny in calling them gods. Both for you and for themselves, these idols have the power neither to benefit nor to harm, and they can provide you with nothing, for the sole provider is Allah; seek sustenance therefore from Him, and worship Him, and be grateful for His goodness towards you, and know that it is to Him that you must turn so that he will judge you according to your deeds and repay you. (Ibn Abbas says: “ ‘You fabricate a calumny’ means ‘You sculpt statues.’ ”)

18. Abraham continued to exhort his people, saying: “If you have treated your messenger as a liar, other communities before you have treated their prophets as liars, and you know what devastation and destruction were visited upon them, and how Allah Almighty scourged them with His punishment. The mission of Allah’s messenger is to communicate what Allah has commanded him to communicate. Join, therefore, the joyful ranks of those who have responded to Allah’s summons.”

19. Then Abraham draws the attention of his people to the signs within themselves which prove that there is resurrection after death, for Allah created them when they had no being, and then He caused them to exist and made of them people who could hear and see, and He who can create once can create a second time, for repeating an action is easier than doing it for the first time — as it is said in another verse: “And it is He who initiates creation, and then repeats it; and that presents no difficulty to Him.” (See chapter 30- Ar-Rum (The Romans), 27)

20. Almighty Allah commands Abraham to instruct those who treat him as a liar by showing them what signs there are in the universe of Allah’s creation: sky, earth, mountains, plants, and other phenomena. These signs prove that their creator was Allah and that when He desires something, His sole command consists in saying, “Let it be,” and it is. And it is He who is capable of creating all these things a second time.

21. Allah punishes whomsoever He wishes, that is, people who deny the resurrection and the proofs of Allah, in this present life and in the world to come, after their judgement. And he grants forgiveness to whom-soever He wishes, in His great compassion and mercy, that is, the believers. For He is the Lord who governs all, who acts as He wishes and makes any decision He wishes without any possibility that His judgement will be contested, and no one can in any way whatsoever question His actions. And it is towards Him that all creatures will return after death, so that they can be judged according to their deeds.

22. No being in the heavens or on the earth can reduce Almighty Allah to powerlessness. He dominates His slaves, for everything depends upon Him, and apart from Allah there is no being who can look after the affairs of human beings and protect them from harm, and there is no being who can save them from Allah’s punishment.

23. And those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah in the universe which prove His existence and that He is the sole Allah, as well as the signs that He has sent down through His prophets to advise and guide people towards Allah’s true path, whereas such people disavow Allah or the Day of Resurrection and the Day of Judgement, they must not expect mercy at the hands of Allah, for they have not feared His punishment, nor have they hoped for His reward, and therefore they will be subjected to a terrible punishment.

24. Abraham’s people did not know what to say in response to his convincing arguments concerning the falsity of their beliefs and their worship of idols; all they could do was to say to each other: “Kill him, burn him!” Then they decided to burn him, and they collected wood and built a great fire, and they threw Abraham onto it, but Allah saved him from the fire by commanding it to be cold and harmless; that was a great sign of Allah’s power and His gentleness towards His servants, for people who reason, who reflect, and who believe.

25. Abraham said to them, reprimanding them for their evil deeds and their worship of idols: “Not out of conviction, but for no other reason but your friendship and mutual love have you collected and adopted these idols in addition to Allah, and because of this mutual love you refuse to disapprove of this worship of idols. Hereafter, on the Day of Resurrection, the situation will be reversed, this friendship and mutual love will turn to hostility and hate, each will disbelieve the other, and each will curse the other, and your only refuge will be the Fire, and you will find no protectors from the punishment of Allah Almighty.”

26. And so Lot believed in Abraham’s message, and Abraham then said: “Behold, I am travelling in the direction which Allah has commanded me to take, and I invite Allah’s people to accompany me, for it is He who protects me from the plots of my enemies, and He who in His wisdom judges and directs all things.” (Allah’s words, “I am travelling in Allah’s path” may be spoken by Lot, since he was the last person mentioned, or Abraham, since he is the main subject of the present story.)

27. When Abraham left his people, Allah Almighty granted him the birth of his son Isaac to whom He designated him as a prophet, and then Isaac fathered Jacob while Abraham was still alive, and Allah also designated Jacob as a prophet, so that all the prophets of Israel were descendants of Jacob, the last being Jesus (peace be upon them), and the last prophet from among the descendants of Ishmael was Mohammad (peace be upon him). Allah granted Abraham happiness in this life and in the hereafter, as well as an abundance of goods in this life, a large house, a spring of fresh water, a good wife, a shining reputation and many benevolent offspring, and He caused him to be a dutiful believer in his Lord, whereas in the hereafter he is one of those who stand in the highest ranks.

28. O Mohammad, tell your people the story of Lot, when we sent him to the people of Sodom where he lived and married and they became his relatives by marriage and his people, and then he invited them to worship Allah alone, without any associate, and he reproached them for their evil deeds which were worse than anything in former times, so abominable and detestable were they.

29. Then he began to enumerate the heinous acts that they had committed: — They lusted after men instead of women, and that was an abominable practice, worse than any action previously performed. — They waylaid travellers, and assaulted them, and killed them, and took their money. — They sinned by act and word in their meeting-places and societies, shamelessly, for all to witness, but nobody felt ashamed and nobody blamed another for so acting. Then, in response to Lot’s invitation to worship Allah and renounce the heinous acts they had committed, their only response was: “Bring down upon us this punishment from Allah that you threaten us with, if you are telling the truth.”

30. Then Lot sought Allah’s help and prayed Him to give him victory over the corrupters of his people who mocked him and his threats of Allah’s punishment if they continued in their aberrations and their disbelief.

31. And when the angels brought to Abraham the glad tidings of the birth of his son Isaac, and after Isaac that of Jacob, they said to Abraham: “We are here to destroy the inhabitants of that city where Lot dwells because they are prevaricators who have done them-selves a disservice, creating disorder and committing sins and treating Allah’s messenger as a liar.”

32. Abraham said to the glorious angels: “But Lot lives there and he is not a prevaricator, he is one of Allah’s prophets.” The angels said: “We know best who lives there; we will most certainly save Lot and his family and the believers, except for his wife, who will remain in the city; she will be among the criminals because she approved of the abominable deeds her people were committing.”

33. And when the angels came to Lot in the form of two handsome young men, Lot was afraid that his people might harm them, and was saddened on their account, for fear that his people might do them some harm, for he knew that his people led a corrupt life and he was incapable of protecting these young men and defending them. When they saw how Lot was feeling, they said to him: “Have no fear and do not torment yourself; behold, we are angels from your Lord, and we have come to destroy your people from having persisted in their abominable sins, and we shall save you and your family and all those who have believed in you, so that no harm will come to any of them, except your wife, who will be among those who remain in the city, and she will die with her people, because she is as corrupt as they are.” (It is said that she revealed Lot’s guests to the people so that they would come seeking them in order to commit perverse practices with them.)

34. The angels said to Lot: “We are here to bring down from heaven a punishment upon the inhabitants of this city because of their perverse practices.” The ground trembled beneath them and the city was swallowed up into the depths of the earth, and Allah overturned the city so that no one remained alive, and in the place of the city there remained nothing but a stinking pestiferous lake, which is called the Lake of Lot, and thus Allah made the people of Sodom an example to others.

35. We destroyed that city, and We left visible ruins so that it would be a clear sign and lesson for those who see it, so that they would reason and comprehend.

36. And We sent our messenger Shu’ayb to the inhabitants of Madian, and he said to them: “O my people, worship Allah alone, devote yourselves to worshipping Him, expect a Day of Reckoning, do not sow disorder on the earth, do not be unjust towards others, do not give short measure or false weight, and do not block roads in the path of travellers” — as was mentioned in another verse.

37. But they treated as lies the message that he had brought them from Allah. So Allah destroyed them in an enormous cataclysm which shook the earth as well as their hearts, and they were all destroyed, and lay dead and still in their homes.

38. Allah Almighty speaks of the generations which have treated their prophets as liars, and how He destroyed them, avenging Himself upon them with punishments of various kinds. Thus He caused ’Aad to perish; the people of Hud who lived in the region of the Hadramout He destroyed with a violent and relentless wind which blew uninterruptedly for seven days and nights. And no human remains were left behind. Also Thamoud: the people of Saleh who lived in Alhijer (close to the valley of Alqorah); He destroyed them with lightning and an earthquake after they had slit the throat of a female camel which Allah had brought forth from a rock in answer to their pleas. The Arabs recognized the remains of ’Aad and Thamoud which they passed on their travels, where they saw the ruins and the consequences of destruction, because the devil had caused their evil deeds to seem attractive to them, and because they worshipped deities other than the one Allah, despite the fact that they were capable of distinguishing between the true and the false, and for this reason had no excuse for their thoughtlessness.

39. And tell the proud people of the Quraish how Allah destroyed Korah, who was immensely rich, when Allah caused the earth to swallow him up, him and his house and his treasures. Thus He also destroyed Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, and his minister Haman, when Moses presented to them arguments and proofs of the truth of his message, but here on earth they swelled with pride, for no reason, and they refused to believe, but they were unable to escape Allah and His punishment, for He is capable of seizing sinners at any moment, and He is the all-powerful avenger.

40. Almighty Allah sent against each group a punishment appropriate to their arrogance and their crimes: The people of ’Aad said: “In terms of power, who is more mighty than us?” So Allah sent against them a violent and relentless gale full of stones, in which they all perished. The people of Thamoud treated their messenger Saleh as a liar, and they threatened and slaughtered the she-camel, so Allah sent against them a mighty blast which annihilated them all. And Korah was an oppressor and a rebel and had disobeyed his Lord and despoiled the earth with his arrogance, so Allah caused the earth to swallow him up, him and his house and his treasures. And Allah drowned Pharaoh and Haman and their people; also the Copts, at a single blow, for having committed so many crimes; but Allah did not fail them, they failed themselves, through their disbelief, their arrogance, and their oppression, which led them to punishment and misery.

41. Almighty Allah turns to the example of the makers of idols who have adopted patrons other than Allah, from whom they expect benefits and support, saying: “The work of these idolaters is like that of a spider who makes a house in which to defend herself, but the most fragile house in the world is that of the spider. If the makers of idols could see their state accurately, they would not take patrons other than Allah, for they can do nothing for them. But they are so ignorant that they are incapable of distinguishing between good and evil.”

42. Almighty Allah knows what kinds of idols and partners these idolaters worship in addition to Allah, and He knows that their worship brings them no help or harm whatsoever, whether He wishes to do them good or evil. These idols are just as useless as the spider’s web. Allah Almighty is omnipotent when He judges and governs the affairs of His creatures.

43. Almighty Allah adduces this example and the others included in the Quran in order to explain things to people which are difficult for them to understand. Only those who are well-grounded in learning and who can foresee the end of things can understand and interpret these examples.

44. Almighty Allah declares that it is through truth that He created the heavens and the earth. He created them for certain well-considered reasons and uses, not simply to play or amuse Himself. And only those who believe in Allah and His prophets can understand these secrets, because they can deduce causes from consequences, and the Creator from the creation.

45. Addressing His messenger, Almighty Allah commands believers to recite the Quran and perform their prayers properly; thus He says: “Continue to recite the Quran so that you may approach nearer to Allah, and remember what benefits and secrets it contains, and act according to its precepts and its morals, and perform your prayers sincerely and with devotion, for they can bring you great benefits if you carry them out perfectly. — Prayer keeps fornication, flagrancy, and aggression at bay, and encourages the believer to avoid them. — Prayer brings an even greater benefit, since it is Allah’s call to men who remember Him and perform their prayers according to His commandments and who praise and thank Him, and Allah knows all the good and evil that they do, and He will repay them.

46. Several writers have said that this verse has been abrogated by the verse concerning the sword, and others have said that it remains valid; in this verse, Allah commands believers to debate politely and gently with Jews and Christians (people of the Book) who seek to know and understand the religion. As for those who prevaricate and remain obstinate and seek to insult Islam, with them one should only argue with the sword. (Sa’eed bin Joubair says: “The word “prevaricators” here refers to those who were hostile to the prophet, who opposed him and caused him harm. Such people should be answered with the sword until either they convert to Islam or else pay tribute.) Allah Almighty then says to believers: “If one of the people of the Book enters into a discussion with you concerning something in their Book or their religion, without knowing whether it is true or not, say to them: ‘We believe everything that Allah has sent down to Mohammad, our messenger, and to your messengers, since our Allah and your Allah are one and the same, and we have submitted ourselves to Him entirely.’”(Abu Houraira says that the people of the Book read the Torah in Hebrew and then explained it to the Muslims in Arabic, so the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Do not believe the children of the Book and do not disbelieve them either, but say, ‘We believe everything that Allah has sent down to us, etc.’”)

47. Thus We sent the former Books down to the messengers who preceded you, just as We have sent the Quran down to you. The Jews and Christians, to whom We sent the Book, believe that the Quran was sent down from Allah because they know from their own Books that Allah would send down the Quran in Arabic to His messenger. Among the unbelievers of Quraish there are some who believe and who do not treat the verses of Allah as lies, but many deny the blessings of Allah and refuse to believe in Him, and arrogantly and obstinately deny that He is the sole Allah.

48. You lived in the midst of your people for a long time before the Quran was sent to you, and everyone among your people knows that you can neither write a book nor read, and that you are illiterate — it was thus that the ancient books described the prophets. If you knew how to read and write, then your detractors would have been suspicious and would have said: “Perhaps he was inspired by the Books of former prophets.” But since you are illiterate, this suspicion has no validity.

49. This Quran contains clear verses which plainly present the truth, which scholars learn by heart, and Allah has designed it to be easy to learn and recite. It is only the rebels and prevaricators who know the truth and then renounce it and who treat the verses of Allah as lies and refuse to believe in them.

50. The unbelievers among the people of Quraish obstinately persevere in saying: “Why has no sign been sent down to Mohammad like the signs which descended upon earlier Prophets? — like Saleh’s camel and Moses’ rod, so that it might serve as evidence of the truth of Mohammad’s message?” Almighty Allah has ordered His messenger (peace be upon him) to say to them that miracles (signs) come from Allah, and that if He believed this request was made in the hope of understanding and learning, He would by now have satisfied you, for He would have no difficulty in doing so. But He knows that you intend to make Him appear powerless, and therefore He will not respond to your wishes. Then Allah orders His Messenger to say to the unbelievers among the people of Quraish that he is a messenger, that his mission is to communicate Allah’s word to those he has been sent to, and to warn them of Allah’s punishment if they persist in disbelieving, and it is not his business to force them to believe.

51. In order for them to believe you, is it not sufficient that We sent the Quran down to you, which includes stories of former times and what the ancient Books contain, exactly as Allah revealed them, and revelations to explain those passages where they diverge? And you are an illiterate who can neither read nor write and you have not spent time among the people of the Book. The Quran has been sent down as an act of mercy towards mankind, to reveal the truth and vanquish falsehood, and it contains a reminder of Allah’s punishments which befell former peoples who called His messengers liars, and as a warning as to what will happen to obstinate and prevaricating unbelievers.

52. Tell them, it is enough for me, and let it be enough for you too, that Allah knows what I am doing in order to communicate His message to you and to warn you, and that He will repay you appropriately for what you do in the way of treating me as a liar and refusing to believe. If I were a liar, He would take His revenge against me; but I am truthful in all that I say about my Lord, and it is for this reason that He sustains me with miracles and signs which prove the truth of my prophecy. Almighty Allah knows all that is in the heavens and on the earth, and He knows what lies against Him you accuse me of. As for those who worship idols and statues, who refuse to believe in Allah despite the proofs which induce belief in Him, and who disbelieve in His messenger, they will ultimately be the losers when they receive their recompense on the Day of Resurrection.

53. The unbelievers among the people of Quraish defy you, seeking to make you hasten the punishment which is their due, and they said once: “When is this promise going to come true?” (See chapter 36-Ya-Sin, 48), and another time they said: “O Allah, if what you say is true, then make the sky rain down stones upon us, or send us some other terrible punishment” (See chapter 8- Al-Anfal (Spoils of War), 32).Allah answers them, saying: “His wisdom has ordained a precise date for their punishment, otherwise their punishment would have come. And most certainly it will come down suddenly upon them, when they least expect it.”

54. They seek to persuade you to hasten the punishment which will inevitably be theirs. If they had been fully aware of the consequences, they would not have wished to bring their punishment closer, and they would have done their best to avoid it, for on the Day of Resurrection hell will engulf the evil-doers who seek to hasten their punishment.

55. On the Day of Resurrection their punishment will smother and engulf them from all sides, from under their feet and from the left and from the right, and they will hear venomous voices taunting them: “Taste now the punishment to which your evil deeds have led you.”

56. Almighty Allah orders His servants the believers to emigrate and leave any land where they cannot live according to their religion, and seek out another part of Allah’s vast earth where they can live according to their religion, as Allah has commanded them. (In a Hadith, reported by the Imam Ahmad: “Countries belong to Allah, and men are the servants of Allah; live wherever you feel most at ease.”)

57. Wherever you are, death will find you, so obey Allah, and there where He has placed you is the best for you, for death will inevitably find its way to you; there is no escaping it, and you will be led back to Allah on the Day of Resurrection, and it is in His presence that judgement and recompense will take place.

58. And as for those who believe in Allah alone, without associates, and in His Messenger and what he has brought them from Allah, and who follow Allah’s dictates obediently and avoid whatever He has prohibited, to them Allah makes a firm promise: He will establish them in great palaces in paradise, with flowing water beneath, and they will dwell there forever as a reward for their good deeds. And the glorious recompense they will receive is their generous prize for those who have done good deeds.

59. These believers who will be installed in great palaces are those who have endured with perseverance the evils of the idolaters, the hardships of emigration and the holy war for love of Allah, and who have placed their trust in Allah in all their enterprises.

60. Almighty Allah says that the means of subsistence Allah provides is not found in a specific place. Allah’s provision for His creatures is available to them wherever they find themselves. How many beasts need food but cannot gather it, carry it or save it up until the next day. Allah provides all His creatures with as much food as they need, just as He does for you, day by day. It is He who hears the words of His servants, and knows their actions and their deeds. (Ibn Abbas reports that the Messenger of Allah said to the believers in Makkah when the idolaters had done them some injury: “Go forth to Medina, emigrate, and do not live among the prevaricators.” They therefore said: “But there we have neither house nor goods, nor anybody who can provide us with food and rink.” Then Allah revealed this verse.)

61. And if you ask these idolaters: “Who created the heavens and the earth and set them in order, and who caused the sun and the moon to revolve and serve all His creatures?” they will surely say: “He who created that is Allah indeed.” And they will not mention any other being. If they have admitted that Allah is the Creator of everything, how is it that they then stray from the true path, from the truth, and from the worship of Allah alone, without a single associate?”

62. Allah provides goods to whomsoever He wishes, and He also measures out to each in order to serve his best interests. Their portion and their measure is in the hands of Allah and no other power, so let not the fear of poverty and want keep you from emigrating and battling the enemies of Allah, for He who creates all beings is not incapable of providing them with food. He knows best the interests of His creatures. Also, He knows best whom the granting of a portion makes a better person and whom it makes worse (and from whom it should thus be withheld).

63. If you ask the idolaters: “Who sends down the rain from the sky and thus gives life to an earth previously dead, so that it becomes green after having been a desert without any vegetation?” they will surely say: “It is Allah who gives life to all creatures.” But, despite the fact that they admit this, they associate with Him certain beings who are incapable of creating a single thing. Say to them therefore: “Praise be to Allah for having established the argument against you, and for your confession that all blessings come from Allah.” But the majority of idolaters do not recognize the contradiction in their position, and that their idols do not cause them any good or evil and do not deserve to be worshipped by mankind.

64. Almighty Allah speaks to mankind about the insignificance of this present life and of its end, saying: “This present life is an ephemeral thing leading to its disappearance and to man’s eternal home, where there is eternal life, which knows neither interruption nor end. If people were aware of this truth, they would not prefer this ephemeral life to eternal life.”

65. The idolaters prefer a life of amusement and triviality, but when they face dangers and difficulties, such as when they board a ship and are fearful of drowning, they turn again towards Allah, asserting that He is the sole Allah and that He alone is capable of protecting and saving them, so that they invoke Him, purifying their faith, but when they are on dry land again they return to their idolatry, their amusements, and their untruths.

66. Such people fail to acknowledge Allah’s gifts to them, denying His mercy to them in saving them from drowning, and rejoicing together in their worship of idols; they will know, on the Day of Resurrection, what their end will be when punishment and misery descend upon them.

67. Do these idolaters not see the gifts We have provided them with? We have installed them in a region which no one can enter to make war against them, and which We have designated as a safe and secure land, whereas the people in all the surrounding regions live in fear, and are robbed and killed. How can they then fail to thank Allah for this great gift by believing in Him and obeying Him, as well as ceasing to associate other gods with Him, which they worship in addition to Him?

68. And what prevaricator is worse than he who blasphemes against Allah by treating His truths as lies, and who says that things have been revealed to him whereas nothing has been revealed to him by Allah, or who claims that Allah has an associate, or who says when he commits adultery that Allah has commanded him to act in this way, or who treats as a lie the message which Allah has revealed to His messenger, without trying to understand it or to recognize its aims. It is for this reason that no one deserves greater punishment in hell than those who blaspheme by treating Allah’s truths as lies.

69. As for those who fight on Allah’s side and battle against the unbelievers and who make sacrifices by offering their goods for the victory of Allah’s religion, Allah promises to guide them even more surely in the right path. Almighty Allah favours whoever carries out good deeds; He supports him and helps him.