7:1  Alif Lam Mim Sad.

7:2  It is a Book sent down to you — so let there be no constriction in your breast because of it so that you can give warning by it and as a reminder to the muminun.

7:3  Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord and do not follow any protectors apart from Him. How little you remember!

7:4  How many cities We have destroyed! Our violent force came down on them during the night, or while they were asleep during the day.

7:5  And their only utterance, when Our violent force came down upon them, was the cry: ´Truly we have been wrongdoers!´

7:6  We will question those to whom the Messengers were sent, and We will question the Messengers.

7:7  We will tell them about it with knowledge. We are never absent.

7:8  The weighing that Day will be the truth. As for those whose scales are heavy, they are the successful.

7:9  As for those whose scales are light, they are the ones who have lost their own selves because they wrongfully rejected Our Signs.

7:10  We have established you firmly on the earth and granted you your livelihood in it. What little thanks you show!

7:11  We created you and then formed you and then We said to the angels, ´Prostrate before Adam,´ and they prostrated — except for Iblis. He was not among those who prostrated.

7:12  He said, ´What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you to?´ He replied, ´I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay.´

7:13  He said, ´Descend from Heaven. It is not for you to be arrogant in it. So get out! You are one of the abased.´

7:14  He said, ´Grant me a reprieve until the day they are raised up.´

7:15  He said, ´You are one of the reprieved.´

7:16  He said, ´By Your misguidance of me, I will lie in ambush for them on your straight path.

7:17  Then I will come at them, from in front of them and behind them, from their right and from their left. You will not find most of them thankful.´

7:18  He said, ´Get out of it, reviled and driven out. As for those of them who follow you, I will fill up Hell with every one of you.´

7:19  ´Adam, live in the Garden, you and your wife, and eat of it wherever you like. But do not go near this tree lest you become wrongdoers.´

7:20  Then Shaytan whispered to them, disclosing to them their private parts that had been concealed from them. He said, ´Your Lord has only forbidden you this tree lest you become angels or among those who live for ever.´

7:21  He swore to them, ´I am one of those who give you good advice.´

7:22  So he enticed them to do it by means of trickery. Then when they tasted the tree, their private parts were disclosed to them and they started stitching together the leaves of the Garden in order to cover themselves. Their Lord called out to them, ´Did I not forbid you this tree and say to you, "Shaytan is an outright enemy to you"?´

7:23  They said, ´Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. If you do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will be among the lost.´

7:24  He said, ´Go down from here as enemies to each other! You will have residence on the earth and enjoyment for a time.´

7:25  He said, ´On it you will live and on it die and from it you will be brought forth.´

7:26  Children of Adam! We have sent down clothing to you to conceal your private parts, and fine apparel, but the garment of taqwa — that is best! That is one of Allah´s Signs, so that hopefully you will pay heed.

7:27  Children of Adam! do not let Shaytan tempt you into trouble as He expelled your parents from the Garden, stripping them of their covering and disclosing to them their private parts. He and his tribe see you from where you do not see them. We have made the shaytans friends of those who have no iman.

7:28  Whenever they commit an indecent act, they say, ´We found our fathers doing it and Allah commanded us to do it too.´ Say: ´Allah does not command indecency. Do you say things about Allah you do not know?´

7:29  Say: ´My Lord has commanded justice. Stand and face Him in every mosque and call on Him, making your deen sincerely His. As He originated you, so you will return.´

7:30  One group He guided; but another group got the misguidance they deserved. They took the shaytans as friends instead of Allah and thought that they were guided

7:31  Children of Adam! wear fine clothing in every mosque and eat and drink but do not be profligate. He does not love the profligate.

7:32  Say: ´Who has forbidden the fine clothing Allah has produced for His slaves and the good kinds of provision?´ Say: ´On the Day of Rising such things will be exclusively for those who had iman during their life in this world.´ In this way We make the Signs clear for people who know.

7:33  Say: ´My Lord has forbidden indecency, both open and hidden, and wrong action, and unrightful tyranny, and associating anything with Allah for which He has sent down no authority, and saying things about Allah you do not know.´

7:34  Every nation has an appointed time. When their time comes, they cannot delay it a single hour or bring it forward.

7:35  Children of Adam! if Messengers come to you from among yourselves, recounting My Signs to you, those who have taqwa and put things right, will feel no fear and will know no sorrow.

7:36  But as for those who reject Our Signs and are arrogant regarding them, they are the Companions of the Fire, remaining in it timelessly, for ever.

7:37  Who could do greater wrong than someone who invents lies against Allah or denies His Signs? Such people´s portion of the Book will catch up with them so that when Our messengers come to them to take them in death, saying, ´Where are those you called upon besides Allah?´ they will say, ´They have forsaken us,´ testifying against themselves that they were kuffar.

7:38  He will say, ´Enter the Fire together with the nations of jinn and men who have passed away before you.´ Each time a nation enters, it will curse its sister nation, until, when they are all gathered together in it, the last of them will say to the first, ´Our Lord, those are the ones who misguided us, so give them a double punishment in the Fire.´ He will say, ´Each will receive double. But you do not know it.´

7:39  The first of them will say to the last, ´You are in no way superior to us so taste the punishment for what you earned.´

7:40  As for those who deny Our Signs and are arrogant regarding them, the Gates of Heaven will not be opened for them, and they will not enter the Garden until a camel goes through a needle´s eye. That is how We repay the evildoers.

7:41  They will have Hell as a resting-place and covering layers on top of them. That is how We repay wrongdoers.

7:42  As for those who have iman and do right actions — We impose on no self any more than it can bear — they are the Companions of the Garden, remaining in it timelessly, for ever.

7:43  We will strip away any rancour in their hearts. Rivers will flow under them and they will say, ´Praise be to Allah who has guided us to this! We would not have been guided, had Allah not guided us. The Messengers of our Lord came with the Truth.´ It will be proclaimed to them: ´This is your Garden which you have inherited for what you did.´

7:44  The Companions of the Garden will call out to the Companions of the Fire, ´We have found that what our Lord promised us is true. Have you found that what your Lord promised you is true?´ They will say, ´Yes, we have!´ Between them a herald will proclaim: ´May the curse of Allah be on the wrongdoers

7:45  those who bar access to the Way of Allah, desiring to make it crooked, and reject the next World.´

7:46  There will be a dividing wall between them and on the ramparts there will be men who recognise everyone by their mark. They will call out to the people of the Garden: ´Peace be upon you!´ They will not enter it for all their ardent desire to do so.

7:47  When they turn their eyes towards the Companions of the Fire, they will say, ´Our Lord, do not place us with the people of the wrongdoers!´

7:48  The Companions of the Ramparts will call out to men they recognise by their mark, saying, ´What you amassed was of no use to you, nor was your arrogance.

7:49  Are these the people you swore that Allah´s mercy would never reach?´ ´Enter the Garden. You will feel no fear and know no sorrow.´

7:50  The Companions of the Fire will call out to the Companions of the Garden, ´Throw down some water to us or some of what Allah has given you as provision.´ They will say, ´Allah has forbidden them to the kafirun:

7:51  those who took their deen as a diversion and a game, and were deluded by the life of the dunya.´ Today We will forget them just as they forgot the encounter of this Day and denied Our Signs.

7:52  We have brought them a Book elucidating everything with knowledge, as guidance and a mercy for people who have iman.

7:53  What are they waiting for but its fulfilment? The Day its fulfilment occurs, those who forgot it before will say, ´The Messengers of our Lord came with the Truth. Are there any intercessors to intercede for us, or can we be sent back so that we can do something other than what we did?´ They have lost their own selves and what they invented has forsaken them.

7:54  Your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then settled Himself firmly on the Throne. He covers the day with the night, each pursuing the other urgently; and the sun and moon and stars are subservient to His command. Both creation and command belong to Him. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.

7:55  Call on your Lord humbly and secretly. He does not love those who overstep the limits.

7:56  Do not corrupt the earth after it has been put right. Call on Him fearfully and eagerly. Allah´s mercy is close to the good-doers.

7:57  He it is who sends out the winds, bringing advance news of His mercy, so that when they have lifted up the heavy clouds, We dispatch them to a dead land and send down water to it, by means of which We bring forth all kinds of fruit. In the same way We will bring forth the dead, so that hopefully you will pay heed.

7:58  Good land yields up its plants by its Lord´s permission, but that which is bad only yields up scantily. In this way We vary the Signs for people who are thankful.

7:59  We sent Nuh to his people and he said, ´My people, worship Allah! You have no other god than Him. I fear for you the punishment of a dreadful Day.´

7:60  The ruling circle of his people said, ´We see you in flagrant error.´

7:61  He said, ´My people, I am not in error at all but rather am a Messenger from the Lord of all the worlds,

7:62  transmitting my Lord´s Message to you and giving you good counsel, and I know from Allah what you do not know.

7:63  Or are you astonished that a reminder should come to you from your Lord by way of a man among you, to warn you and make you have taqwa so that hopefully you will gain mercy?´

7:64  But they denied him so We rescued him and those with him in the Ark. And We drowned the people who denied Our Signs. They were a blind people.

7:65  And to ´Ad We sent their brother Hud, who said, ´My people, worship Allah! You have no other god than Him. So will you not have taqwa?´

7:66  The ruling circle of those of his people who were kafir said, ´We consider you a fool and think you are a liar.´

7:67  He said, ´My people, I am by no means a fool, but rather am a Messenger from the Lord of all the worlds,

7:68  transmitting my Lord´s Message to you, and I am a faithful counsellor to you.

7:69  Or are you astonished that a reminder should come to you from your Lord by way of a man among you in order to warn you? Remember when He appointed you successors to the people of Nuh, and increased you greatly in stature. Remember Allah´s blessings, so that hopefully you will be successful.´

7:70  They said, ´Have you come to us to make us worship Allah alone and abandon what our fathers used to worship? Then bring us what you have promised us if you are telling the truth.´

7:71  He said, ´Punishment and anger have come down on you from your Lord. Do you argue with me regarding names which you and your forefathers invented and for which Allah has sent down no authority? Wait, then; I am waiting with you.´

7:72  So We rescued him and those with him by mercy from Us, and We cut off the last remnant of those who denied Our Signs and were not muminun.

7:73  And to Thamud We sent their brother Salih, who said, ´My people, worship Allah! You have no other god than Him. A Clear Sign has come to you from your Lord. This is the She-Camel of Allah as a Sign for you. Leave her alone to eat on Allah´s earth and do not harm her in any way or a painful punishment will afflict you.

7:74  Remember when He appointed you successors to ´Ad and settled you in the land. You built palaces on its plains and carved out houses from the mountains. Remember Allah´s blessings and do not go about the earth, corrupting it.´

7:75  The ruling circle of those of his people who were arrogant said to those who were oppressed — those among them who had iman — ´Do you know that Salih has been sent from his Lord?´ They said, ´We have iman in what he has been sent with.´

7:76  Those who were arrogant said, ´We reject Him in whom you have iman.´

7:77  And they hamstrung the She-Camel, spurning their Lord´s command, and said, ´Salih! Bring us what you have promised us if you are one of the Messengers.´

7:78  So the earthquake seized them and morning found them lying flattened in their homes.

7:79  He turned away from them and said, ´My people, I transmitted my Lord´s message to you and gave you good counsel. However, you do not like good counsellors!´

7:80  And Lut, when he said to his people, ´Do you commit an obscenity not perpetrated before you by anyone in all the worlds?

7:81  You come with lust to men instead of women. You are indeed a depraved people.´

7:82  The only answer of his people was to say, ´Expel them from your city! They are people who keep themselves pure!´

7:83  So We rescued him and his family — except for his wife. She was one of those who stayed behind.

7:84  We rained down a rain upon them. See the final fate of the evildoers!

7:85  And to Madyan We sent their brother Shu´ayb who said, ´My people, worship Allah! You have no other god than Him. A Clear Sign has come to you from your Lord. Give full measure and full weight. Do not diminish people´s goods. Do not cause corruption in the land after it has been put right. That is better for you if you are muminun.

7:86  Do not lie in wait on every pathway, threatening people, barring those who have iman from the Way of Allah, desiring to make it crooked. Remember when you were few and He increased your number: see the final fate of the corrupters!

7:87  There is a group of you who have iman in what I have been sent with and a group who do not, so be steadfast until Allah judges between us. He is the best of judges.´

7:88  The ruling circle of those of his people who were arrogant said, ´We will drive you out of our city, Shu´ayb, you and those who have iman along with you, unless you return to our religion.´ He said, ´What, even though we detest it?

7:89  We would be inventing lies against Allah if we returned to your religion after Allah has saved us from it. We could never return to it unless Allah our Lord so willed. Our Lord encompasses everything in His knowledge. We have put our trust in Allah. Our Lord, judge between us and our people with truth. You are the best of judges.´

7:90  The ruling circle of those of his people who were kafir said, ´If you follow Shu´ayb, you will definitely be lost.´

7:91  So the earthquake seized them and morning found them lying flattened in their homes.

7:92  As for those who denied Shu´ayb, it was as if they had never lived there. It was the people who denied Shu´ayb who were the lost.

7:93  So he turned away from them and said, ´My people, I transmitted My Lord´s message to you and gave you good counsel. Why should I grieve for a kafir people?´

7:94  We have never sent a Prophet to any city without seizing its people with hardship and distress so that hopefully they would be humble.

7:95  Then We gave them good in exchange for evil until they increased in number and said, ´Our forefathers too underwent both hardship and ease.´ Then We seized them suddenly when they were not expecting it.

7:96  If only the people of the cities had had iman and taqwa, We would have opened up to them blessings from heaven and earth. But they denied the truth so We seized them for what they earned.

7:97  Do the people of the cities feel secure against Our violent force coming down on them in the night while they are asleep?

7:98  Or do the people of the cities feel secure against Our violent force coming down on them in the day while they are playing games?

7:99  Do they feel secure against Allah´s devising? No one feels secure against Allah´s devising except for those who are lost.

7:100  Is it not clear to those who have inherited the earth after these people that, if We wanted to, We could strike them for their wrong actions, sealing up their hearts so that they cannot hear?

7:101  These cities — We have given you news of them. Their Messengers came to them with Clear Signs, but they were never going to have iman in what they had previously rejected. That is how Allah seals up the hearts of the kuffar.

7:102  We did not find many of them worthy of their contract. We found most of them deviators.

7:103  And then, after them, We sent Musa with Our Signs to Pharaoh and his ruling circle but they wrongfully rejected them. See the final fate of the corrupters!

7:104  Musa said, ´Pharaoh! I am truly a Messenger from the Lord of all the worlds,

7:105  duty bound to say nothing about Allah except the truth. I have come to you with a Clear Sign from your Lord. So send the tribe of Israel away with me.´

7:106  He said, ´If you have come with a Clear Sign produce it if you are telling the truth.´

7:107  So He threw down his staff and there it was, unmistakably a snake.

7:108  And he drew out his hand and there it was, pure white to those who looked.

7:109  The ruling circle of Pharaoh´s people said, ´This is certainly a skilled magician

7:110  who desires to expel you from your land, so what do you recommend?´

7:111  They said, ´Detain him and his brother and send out marshals to the cities,

7:112  to bring you all the skilled magicians.´

7:113  The magicians came to Pharaoh and they asked, ´Will we receive a reward if we are the winners?´

7:114  He said, ´Yes, and you will be among those brought near.´

7:115  They said, ´Musa, will you throw first or shall we be the ones to throw?´

7:116  He said, ´You throw.´ And when they threw, they cast a spell on the people´s eyes and caused them to feel great fear of them. They produced an extremely powerful magic.

7:117  We revealed to Musa, ´Throw down your staff.´ And it immediately swallowed up what they had forged.

7:118  So the Truth took place and what they did was shown to be false.

7:119  They were defeated then and there, transformed into humbled men.

7:120  The magicians threw themselves down in prostration.

7:121  They said, ´We have iman in the Lord of all the worlds,

7:122  the Lord of Musa and Harun.´

7:123  Pharaoh said, ´Have you had iman in him before I authorised you to do so? This is just some plot you have concocted in the city to drive its people from it.

7:124  I will cut off your alternate hands and feet and then I will crucify every one of you.´

7:125  They said, ´We are returning to our Lord.

7:126  You are only avenging yourself on us because we had iman in our Lord´s Signs when they came to us. Our Lord, pour down steadfastness upon us and take us back to You as Muslims.´

7:127  The ruling circle of Pharaoh´s people said, ´Are you going to leave Musa and his people to cause corruption in the earth and abandon you and your gods?´ He said, ´We will kill their sons and let their women live. We have absolute power over them!´

7:128  Musa said to his people, ´Seek help in Allah and be steadfast. The earth belongs to Allah. He bequeathes it to any of His slaves He wills. The successful outcome is for those who have taqwa.´

7:129  They said, ´We suffered harm before you came to us and after you came to us.´ He said, ´It may well be that your Lord is going to destroy your enemy and make you the successors in the land so that He can see how you behave.´

7:130  We seized Pharaoh´s people with years of drought and scarcity of fruits so that hopefully they would pay heed.

7:131  Whenever a good thing came to them, they said, ´This is our due.´ But if anything bad happened to them, they would blame their ill fortune on Musa and those with him. No indeed! Their ill fortune will be with Allah. But most of them did not know.

7:132  They said, ´No matter what kind of Sign you bring us to bewitch us, we will not have iman in you.´

7:133  So We sent down on them floods, locusts, lice, frogs and blood, Signs, clear and distinct, but they proved arrogant and were an evildoing people.

7:134  Whenever the plague came down on them they said, ´Musa, pray to your Lord for us by the contract He has with you. If you remove the plague from us, we will definitely have iman in you and send the tribe of Israel away with you.´

7:135  But when We removed the plague from them — for a fixed term which they fulfilled — they broke their word.

7:136  Then We took revenge on them and drowned them in the sea because they denied Our Signs and paid no attention to them.

7:137  And We bequeathed to the people who had been oppressed the easternmost part of the land We had blessed, and its westernmost part as well. The most excellent Word of your Lord was fulfilled for the tribe of Israel on account of their steadfastness. And We utterly destroyed what Pharaoh and his people made and the buildings they constructed.

7:138  We conveyed the tribe of Israel across the sea and they came upon some people who were devoting themselves to some idols which they had. They said, ´Musa, give us a god just as these people have gods.´ He said, ´You are indeed an ignorant people.

7:139  What these people are doing is destined for destruction. What they are doing is purposeless.´

7:140  He said, ´Should I seek something other than Allah as a god for you when He has favoured you over all other beings?´

7:141  Remember when We rescued you from Pharaoh´s people who were inflicting an evil punishment on you, killing your sons and letting your women live. In that there was a terrible trial from your Lord.

7:142  We set aside thirty nights for Musa and then completed them with ten, so the appointed time of his Lord was forty nights in all. Musa said to his brother Harun, ´Be my khalif among my people. Keep order and do not follow the way of the corrupters.´

7:143  When Musa came to Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, ´My Lord, show me Yourself so that I may look at You!´ He said, ´You will not see Me, but look at the mountain. If it remains firm in its place, then you will see Me.´ But when His Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, He crushed it flat and Musa fell unconscious to the ground. When he regained consciousness he said, ´Glory be to You! I make tawba to You and I am the first of the muminun!´

7:144  He said, ´Musa, I have chosen you over all mankind for My Message and My Word. Take what I have given you and be among the thankful.´

7:145  We wrote about everything for him on the Tablets as an admonition and making all things clear. ´Seize hold of it vigorously and command your people to adopt the best in it. I will show you the home of the deviators!´

7:146  I will divert from My Signs all those who are arrogant in the earth without any right. If they see every Sign, they will not believe in it. If they see the way of right guidance, they will not take it as a way. But if they see the way of error, they will take that as a way. That is because they denied Our Signs and paid no attention to them.

7:147  As for those who denied Our Signs and the encounter of the Next World, their actions will come to nothing. Will they be repaid except for what they did?

7:148  After he left, Musa´s people adopted a calf made from their ornaments, a form which made a lowing sound. Did they not see that it could not speak to them or guide them to any way? They adopted it and so they were wrongdoers.

7:149  When they took full stock of what they had done and saw they had been misled, they said, ´If our Lord does not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will certainly be among the lost.´

7:150  When Musa returned to his people in anger and great sorrow, he said, ´What an evil thing you did in my absence after I left! Did you want to hasten your Lord´s command?´ He threw down the Tablets and seized hold of his brother´s head, dragging him towards him. Harun said, ´Son of my mother, The people oppressed me and almost killed me. Do not give my enemies cause to gloat over me. Do not include me with the wrongdoing people.´

7:151  He said, ´My Lord, forgive me and my brother and admit us into Your mercy. You are the Most Merciful of the merciful.´

7:152  As for those who adopted the Calf, anger from their Lord will overtake them together with abasement in the life of the dunya. That is how we repay the purveyors of falsehood.

7:153  But as for those who do evil actions and then subsequently make tawba and have iman, in that case your Lord is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

7:154  When Musa´s anger abated he picked up the Tablets and in their inscription was guidance and mercy for all of them who feared their Lord.

7:155  Musa chose seventy men from his people for Our appointed time and when the earthquake seized them he said, ´My Lord, if You had willed, You could have destroyed them previously and me as well. Would you destroy us for what the fools among us did? It was only a trial from You by which You misguided those You willed and guided those You willed. You are our Protector so forgive us and have mercy on us. You are the Best of Forgivers.

7:156  Prescribe good for us in this world and the Next World. We have truly turned to You.´ He said, ´As for My punishment, I strike with it anyone I will. My mercy extends to all things but I will prescribe it for those who have taqwa and pay zakat, and those who believe in Our Signs:

7:157  those who follow the Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, whom they find written down with them in the Torah and the Gospel, commanding them to do right and forbidding them to do wrong, making good things halal for them and bad things haram for them, relieving them of their heavy loads and the chains which were around them. Those who have iman in him and honour him and help him, and follow the Light that has been sent down with him, they are the ones who are successful.´

7:158  Say: ´Mankind! I am the Messenger of Allah to you all, of Him to whom the kingdom of the heavens and earth belongs. There is no god but Him. He gives life and causes to die.´ So have iman in Allah and His Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, who has iman in Allah and His words, and follow him so that hopefully you will be guided.´

7:159  Among the people of Musa there is a group who guide by the truth and act justly in accordance with it.

7:160  We divided them up into twelve tribes — communities. We revealed to Musa, when his people asked him for water: ´Strike the rock with your staff.´ Twelve fountains flowed out from it and all the people knew their drinking place. And We shaded them with clouds and sent down manna and quails to them: ´Eat of the good things We have provided you with.´ They did not wrong Us; rather it was themselves they wronged.

7:161  When they were told: ´Live in this town and eat of it wherever you like and say, "Relieve us of our burdens!" and enter the gate prostrating. Your mistakes will be forgiven you. We will grant increase to good-doers.´

7:162  But those of them who did wrong substituted words other than those they had been given. So We sent a plague on them from heaven for their wrongdoing.

7:163  Ask them about the town which was by the sea when they broke the Sabbath — when their fish came to them near the surface on their Sabbath day but did not come on the days which were not their Sabbath. In this way We put them to the test because they were deviators.

7:164  When a group of them said, ´Why do you rebuke a people whom Allah is going to destroy or severely punish?´ they said, ´So that we have an excuse to present to your Lord, and so that hopefully they will gain taqwa.´

7:165  Then when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We rescued those who had forbidden the evil and seized those who did wrong with a harsh punishment because they were deviators.

7:166  When they were insolent about what they had been forbidden to do, We said to them, ´Be apes, despised, cast out!´

7:167  Then your Lord announced that He would send against them until the Day of Rising people who would inflict an evil punishment on them. Your Lord is Swift in Retribution. And He is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

7:168  And We divided them into nations in the earth. Some of them are righteous and some are other than that. We tried them with good and evil so that hopefully they would return.

7:169  An evil generation has succeeded them, inheriting the Book, taking the goods of this lower world, and saying, ´We will be forgiven.´ But if similar goods come to them again they still take them. Has not a covenant been made with them in the Book, that they should only say the truth about Allah and have they not studied what is in it? The Final Abode is better for those who have taqwa. Will you not use your intellect?

7:170  As for those who hold fast to the Book and establish salat, We will not let the wage of the righteous go to waste.

7:171  When We uprooted the mountain, lifting it above them like a canopy, and they thought it was about to fall on them: ´Seize hold vigorously of what We have given you and remember what is in it, so that hopefully you will have taqwa.´

7:172  When your Lord took out all their descendants from the loins of the children of Adam and made them testify against themselves ´Am I not your Lord?´ they said, ´We testify that indeed You are!´ Lest you say on the Day of Rising, ´We knew nothing of this.´

7:173  Or lest you say, ´Our forefathers associated others with Allah before our time, and we are merely descendants coming after them. So are You going to destroy us for what those purveyors of falsehood did?´

7:174  That is how We make the Signs clear so that hopefully they will return.

7:175  Recite to them the tale of him to whom We gave Our Signs, but who then cast them to one side and Shaytan caught up with him. He was one of those lured into error.

7:176  If We had wanted to, We would have raised him up by them. But he gravitated towards the earth and pursued his whims and base desires. His metaphor is that of a dog: if you chase it away, it lolls out its tongue and pants, and if you leave it alone, it lolls out its tongue and pants. That is the metaphor of those who deny Our Signs. So tell the story so that hopefully they will reflect.

7:177  How evil is the metaphor of those who deny Our Signs. It is themselves that they have badly wronged.

7:178  Whoever Allah guides is truly guided; but those He misguides are the lost.

7:179  We created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell. They have hearts they do not understand with. They have eyes they do not see with. They have ears they do not hear with. Such people are like cattle. No, they are even further astray! They are the unaware.

7:180  To Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names, so call on Him by them and abandon those who desecrate His Names. They will be repaid for what they did.

7:181  Among those We have created there is a community who guide by the Truth and act justly according to it.

7:182  But as for those who deny Our Signs, We will lead them, step by step, into destruction from where they do not know.

7:183  I will give them more time. My strategy is sure.

7:184  Have they not reflected? Their companion is not mad. He is only a clear warner.

7:185  Have they not looked into the dominions of the heavens and the earth and what Allah has created, and seen that it may well be that their appointed time is near? In what discourse after this will they have iman?

7:186  If Allah misguides people, no one can guide them. We will abandon them to wander blindly in their excessive insolence.

7:187  They will ask you about the Hour: when is it due? Say: ´Knowledge of it rests with my Lord alone. He alone will reveal it at its proper time. It hangs heavy in the heavens and the earth. It will not come upon you except suddenly.´ They will ask you as if you had full knowledge of it. Say: ´Knowledge of it rests with Allah alone. But most people do not know that.´

7:188  Say: ´I possess no power to help or harm myself, except as Allah wills. If I had had knowledge of the Unseen, I would have sought to gain much good and no evil would have touched me. I am only a warner and a bringer of good news to people who have iman.´

7:189  It is He who created you from a single self and made from him his spouse so that he might find repose in her. Then when he covered her she bore a light load and carried it around. Then when it became heavy they called on Allah, their Lord, ´If You grant us a healthy child, we will be among the thankful!´

7:190  Then when He granted them a healthy, upright child, they associated what He had given them with Him. But Allah is far above what they associate with Him!

7:191  Do they make things into partner-gods which cannot create anything and are themselves created;

7:192  which are not capable of helping them and cannot even help themselves?

7:193  If you call them to guidance they will not follow you. It makes no difference if you call them or stay silent.

7:194  Those you call on besides Allah are slaves just like yourselves. Call on them and let them respond to you if you are telling the truth.

7:195  Do they have legs they can walk with? Do they have hands they can grasp with? Do they have eyes they can see with? Do they have ears they can hear with? Say: ´Call on your partner-gods and try all your wiles against me and grant me no reprieve.

7:196  My Protector is Allah who sent down the Book. He takes care of the righteous.´

7:197  Those you call on besides Him are not capable of helping you. They cannot even help themselves.

7:198  If you call them to guidance, they do not hear. You see them looking at you, yet they do not see.

7:199  Make allowances for people, command what is right, and turn away from the ignorant.

7:200  If an evil impulse from Shaytan provokes you, seek refuge in Allah. He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.

7:201  As for those who have taqwa, when they are bothered by visitors from Shaytan, they remember and immediately see clearly.

7:202  But as for their brothers, the visitors lead them further into error. And they do not stop at that!

7:203  If you do not bring them a Sign, they say, ´Why have you not come up with one?´ Say, ´I follow only what has been revealed to me from my Lord.´ This is clear insight from your Lord, and guidance and mercy, for people who have iman.

7:204  When the Qur´an is recited listen to it and be quiet so that hopefully you will gain mercy.

7:205  Remember your Lord in yourself humbly and fearfully, without loudness of voice, morning and evening. Do not be one of the unaware.

7:206  Those who are in the presence of your Lord do not consider themselves too great to worship Him. They glorify His praise and they prostrate to Him.