| | Bijan Moeinian rendition of Surah The Private Apartments, The Inner Apartments, The Chambers(al-Hujurat)
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| 49:1 | | Those who believe should never challenge God and His messenger with their opinion. You should treat the Lord with the utmost respect; beware that God knows everything and hears everything you say |
| 49:2 | | The believers should never raise their voice above the voice of the messenger of God. You should not shout at the messenger the same way that you shout at each other. Those who do not follow this protocol have rendered their good works null |
| 49:3 | | Those who follow these rules will have God’s forgiveness and a big reward for the goodness of their nature |
| 49:4 | | Those who invade the privacy of the messenger, calling him with a loud voice from behind the walls, have no sense at all |
| 49:5 | | It would have been nice of them to respect the privacy of the messenger of God and wait till he comes out of his house to conduct the business. However, God is Forgiving and Merciful |
| 49:6 | | The Muslims should be more careful about the source of the news that they receive and should not react immediately to what they hear. It is better to take advantage of the benefit of the doubt |
| 49:7 | | Remember that the Prophet of God is among you. [Given the fact that the prophet has the divine connection and knows some things better than you,] Had he listened to you in many of your (democratically arrived at) decisions, you would have certainly been in trouble. Fortunately God has put the belief in your hearts and, consequently, you resent disbelief, wrongdoing and disobedience [of God and His Prophet and that is why you will succeed] |
| 49:8 | | This is, indeed, God’s grace and favor to you; know that God is the Most Knowledgeable, the Most Wise |
| 49:9 | | If two parties among you (for some reason) engage in fight, God orders you to do your best in order to restore peace between them. If one party continues the aggression, you all should all team up to fight with them [the basis for the United Nations of today’s Muslim countries]. If they submit and returns to the peace table, you should reconcile the two parties (and not continue the fight to punish them). Establish an honorable peace between them and know that God loves just people |
| 49:10 | | Remember that the believers are like brothers to other. Therefore, establish peace between your brothers and be mindful of God; may God shower you with His Mercy |
| 49:11 | | It is forbidden for the believer men or women to make fun of each other as the ones that you are laughing at may be better than you in eyes of God. Do not mock at each other and do not call each other by funny names. It is an evil thing to call names after conversion to Islam. Those who continue doing so are indeed wrongdoers |
| 49:12 | | It is forbidden for the believers to have an extremely suspicious mind. Some kind of suspicions are indeed sins. Do not spy on each other [peeping into the neighbor’s house, opening one’s private letters, listening to the private conversations, etc.] and do not backbite one another [this is as detestable as eating your dead brother’s flesh]; is there any among you who would like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Indeed none. Be mindful of God as He accepts the repentance; He is the Most Merciful |
| 49:13 | | The mankind should know that I (God) created them from a man and a woman and then put you into different tribes and nations so that you may associate with each other. Know that the honorable among you in the sight of God is the most pious one and God [knows who is the pious ones as He] is the Most Knowledgeable, the Most Wise |
| 49:14 | | The Arabs say: “We are believers.” Tell them : “You have not believed yet; you may simply claim that you are Muslims (submitted to God). It is a long way for faith to penetrate inside your heart. If you obey God and His Prophet, He will not diminish anything [in account of your lack of absolute belief] from the reward promised for your good deeds as God is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful |
| 49:15 | | The true believers are those who do not have the least doubt about God and His Prophet and are absolutely sincere in giving up their wealth and lives to please their Lord |
| 49:16 | | Let them who offer their lip services know that God knows about everything in the heavens and on the earth; God has absolute knowledge of everything |
| 49:17 | | They think they have done a favor by becoming a Muslim. Let them know that God has done a favor to them by guiding them toward the Faith; they will be grateful for such a favor, if they are really sincere in their faith |
| 49:18 | | God knows every secret in the heavens and in the earth; God sees whatever you do |
