20:1  O man

20:2  We have not revealed the Qur’an to thee that thou mayest be unsuccessful

20:3  But it is a reminder to him who fears

20:4  A revelation from Him Who created the earth and the high heavens

20:5  The Beneficent is established on the Throne of Power

20:6  To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth and whatever is between them and whatever is beneath the soil

20:7  And if thou utter the saying aloud, surely He knows the secret, and what is yet more hidden

20:8  Allah -- there is no God but He. His are the most beautiful names

20:9  And has the story of Moses come to thee

20:10  When he saw a fire, he said to his people: Stay, I see a fire; haply I may bring to you therefrom a live coal or find guidance at the fire

20:11  So when he came to it, a voice came: O Moses

20:12  Surely I am thy Lord, so take off thy shoes; surely thou art in the sacred valley Tuwa

20:13  And I have chosen thee so listen to what is revealed

20:14  Surely I am Allah, there is no God but I, so serve Me, and keep up prayer for My remembrance

20:15  Surely the Hour is coming -- I am about to make it manifest -- so that every soul may be rewarded as it strives

20:16  So let not him, who believes not in it and follows his low desire, turn thee away from it, lest thou perish

20:17  And what is this in thy right hand, O Moses

20:18  He said: This is my staff -- I lean on it, and beat the leaves with it for my sheep, and I have other uses for it

20:19  He said: Cast it down, O Moses

20:20  So he cast it down, and lo! it was a serpent, gliding

20:21  He said: Seize it and fear not. We shall return it to its former state

20:22  And press thy hand to thy side, it will come out white without evil -- another sign

20:23  That We may show thee of Our greater signs

20:24  Go to Pharaoh, surely he has exceeded the limits

20:25  He said: My Lord, expand my breast for me

20:26  And ease my affair for me

20:27  And loose the knot from my tongue

20:28  (That) they may understand my word

20:29  And give to me an aider from my family

20:30  Aaron, my brother

20:31  Add to my strength by him

20:32  And make him share my task -

20:33  So that we may glorify Thee much

20:34  And much remember Thee

20:35  Surely, Thou art ever Seeing us

20:36  He said: Thou art indeed granted thy petition, O Moses

20:37  And indeed We bestowed on thee a favor at another time

20:38  When We revealed to thy mother that which was revealed

20:39  Put him into a chest, then cast it into the river, the river will cast it upon the shore -- there an enemy to Me and an enemy to him shall take him up. And I shed on thee love from Me; and that thou mayest be brought up before My eyes

20:40  When thy sister went and said: Shall I direct you to one who will take charge of him? So We brought thee back to thy mother that her eye might be cooled and she should not grieve. And thou didst kill a man, then We delivered thee from grief, and tried thee with (many) trials. Then thou didst stay for years among the people of Midian. Then thou camest hither as ordained, O Moses

20:41  And I have chosen thee for Myself

20:42  Go thou and thy brother with My messages and be not remiss in remembering Me

20:43  Go both of you to Pharaoh, surely he is inordinate

20:44  Then speak to him a gentle word, haply he may mind or fear

20:45  They said: Our Lord, we fear lest he hasten to do evil to us or be inordinate

20:46  He said: Fear not, surely I am with you -- I do hear and see

20:47  So go you to him and say: Surely we are two messengers of thy Lord; so send forth the Children of Israel with us; and torment them not. Indeed we have brought to thee a message from thy Lord, and peace to him who follows the guidance

20:48  It has indeed been revealed to us that punishment will overtake him who rejects and turns away

20:49  (Pharaoh) said: Who is your Lord, O Moses

20:50  He said: Our Lord is He Who gives to everything its creation, then guides (it)

20:51  He said: What then is the state of the former generations

20:52  He said: The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in a book; my Lord neither errs nor forgets -

20:53  Who made the earth for you an expanse and made for you therein paths and sent down water from the clouds. Then thereby We bring forth pairs of various herbs

20:54  Eat and pasture your cattle. Surely there are signs in this for men of understanding

20:55  From it We created you, and into it We shall return you, and from it raise you a second time

20:56  And truly We showed him all Our signs but he rejected and refused

20:57  Said he: Hast thou come to us to turn us out of our land by thy enchantment, O Moses

20:58  We too can bring to thee enchantment like it, so make an appointment between us and thee, which we break not, (neither) we nor thou, (in) a central place

20:59  (Moses) said: Your appointment is the day of the Festival, and let the people be gathered in the early forenoon

20:60  So Pharaoh went back and settled his plan, then came

20:61  Moses said to them: Woe to you! Forge not a lie against Allah, lest He destroy you by punishment, and he fails indeed who forges (a lie)

20:62  So they disputed one with another about their affair and kept the discourse secret

20:63  They said: These are surely two enchanters who would drive you out from your land by their enchantment, and destroy your excellent institutions

20:64  So settle your plan, then come in ranks, and he will succeed indeed this day who is uppermost

20:65  They said: O Moses, wilt thou cast, or shall we be the first to cast down

20:66  He said: Nay! Cast you down. Then lo! their cords and their rods -- it appeared to him by their enchantment as if they ran

20:67  So Moses conceived fear in his mind

20:68  We said: Fear not, surely thou are the uppermost

20:69  And cast down what is in thy right hand -- it will eat up what they have wrought. What they have wrought is only the trick of an enchanter, and the enchanter succeeds not wheresoever he comes from

20:70  So the enchanters fell down prostrate, saying: We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses

20:71  (Pharaoh) said: You believe in him before I give you leave! Surely he is your chief who taught you enchantment. So I shall cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides and I shall crucify you on the trunks of palm-trees, and you shall certainly know which of us can give the severer and the more abiding chastisement

20:72  They said: We cannot prefer thee to what has come to us of clear arguments and to Him Who made us, so decide as thou wilt decide. Thou canst only decide about this world’s life

20:73  Surely we believe in our Lord that He may forgive us our faults and the magic to which thou didst compel us. And Allah is Best and ever Abiding

20:74  Whoso comes guilty to his Lord, for him is surely hell. He will neither die therein, nor live

20:75  And whoso comes to Him a believer, having done good deeds, for them are high ranks -

20:76  Gardens of perpetuity, wherein flow rivers, to abide therein. And such is the reward of him who purifies himself

20:77  And certainly We revealed to Moses: Travel by night with My servants, then strike for them a dry path in the sea, not fearing to be overtaken, nor being afraid

20:78  So Pharaoh followed them with his armies, then there covered them of the sea that which covered them

20:79  And Pharaoh led his people astray and he guided not aright

20:80  O Children of Israel, We truly delivered you from your enemy, and made a covenant with you on the blessed side of the mountain, and sent to you the manna and the quails

20:81  Eat of the good things We have provided for you, and be not inordinate in respect thereof, lest My wrath come upon you; and he on whom My wrath comes, he perishes indeed

20:82  And surely I am Forgiving toward him who repents and believes and does good, then walks aright

20:83  And what made thee hasten from thy people, O Moses

20:84  He said: They are here on my track, and I hasten on to Thee, my Lord, that Thou mightest be pleased

20:85  He said: Surely We have tried thy people in thy absence, and the Samiri has led them astray

20:86  So Moses returned to his people angry, sorrowing. He said: O my people, did not your Lord promise you a goodly promise? Did the promised time, then seem long to you, or did you wish that displeasure from your Lord should come upon you, so that you broke (your) promise to me

20:87  They said: We broke not the promise to thee of our own accord, but we were made to bear the burdens of the ornaments of the people, then we cast them away, and thus did the Samiri suggest

20:88  Then he brought forth for them a calf, a body, which had a hollow sound, so they said: This is your god and the god of Moses; but he forgot

20:89  Could they not see that it returned no reply to them, nor controlled any harm or benefit for them

20:90  And Aaron indeed had said to them before: O my people, you are only tried by it, and surely your Lord is the Beneficent God, so follow me and obey my order

20:91  They said: We shall not cease to keep it its worship until Moses returns to us

20:92  (Moses) said: O Aaron, what prevented thee, when thou sawest them going astray

20:93  That thou didst not follow me? Hast thou, then, disobeyed my order

20:94  He said: O son of my mother, seize me not by my beard, nor by my head. Surely I was afraid lest thou shouldst say: Thou hast caused division among the Children of Israel and not waited for my word

20:95  (Moses) said: What was thy object, O Samiri

20:96  He said: I perceived what they perceived not, so I took a handful from the footprints of the messenger then I cast it away. Thus did my soul embellish (it) to me

20:97  He said: Begone then! It is for thee in this life to say, Touch (me) not. And for thee is a promise which shall not fail. And look at thy god to whose worship thou hast kept. We will certainly burn it, then we will scatter it in the sea

20:98  Your Lord is only Allah, there is no God but He. He comprehends all things in (His) knowledge

20:99  Thus relate We to thee of the news of what has gone before. And indeed We have given thee a Reminder from Ourselves

20:100  Whoever turns away from it, he will surely bear a burden on the day of Resurrection

20:101  Abiding therein. And evil will be their burden on the day of Resurrection -

20:102  The day when the trumpet is blown; and We shall gather the guilty, blue-eyed, on that day

20:103  Consulting together secretly: You tarried but ten (days)

20:104  We know best what they say when the fairest of them in course would say: You tarried but a day

20:105  And they ask thee about the mountains. Say: My Lord will scatter them, as scattered dust

20:106  Then leave it a plain, smooth, level

20:107  Wherein thou seest no crookedness nor unevenness

20:108  On that day they will follow the Inviter, in whom is no crookedness; and the voices are low before the Beneficent God, so that thou hearest naught but a soft sound

20:109  On that day no intercession avails except of him whom the Beneficent allows, and whose word He is pleased with

20:110  He knows what is before them and what is behind them, while they cannot comprehend it in knowledge

20:111  And faces shall be humbled before the Living, the Self-subsistent. And he who bears iniquity is indeed undone

20:112  And whoever does good works and he is a believer, he has no fear of injustice, nor of the withholding of his due

20:113  And thus have We sent it down an Arabic Qur’an, and have distinctly set forth therein of threats that they may guard against evil, or that it may be a reminder for them

20:114  Supremely exalted then is Allah, the King, the Truth. And make not haste with the Qur’an before its revelation is made complete to thee, and say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge

20:115  And certainly We gave a commandment to Adam before, but he forgot; and We found in him no resolve (to disobey)

20:116  And when We said to the angels: Be submissive to Adam, they submitted except Iblis; he refused

20:117  We said: O Adam, this is an enemy to thee and to thy wife; so let him not drive you both out of the garden so that thou art unhappy

20:118  Surely it is granted to thee therein that thou art not hungry, nor naked

20:119  And that thou are not thirst therein, nor exposed to the sun’s heat

20:120  But the devil made an evil suggestion to him; he said: O Adam, shall I lead thee to the tree of immortality and a kingdom which decays not

20:121  So they both ate of it, then their evil inclinations became manifest to them, and they began to cover themselves with the leaves of the garden. And Adam disobeyed his Lord, and was disappointed

20:122  Then his Lord chose him, so He turned to him and guided (him)

20:123  He said: Go forth here from both -- all (of you) -- one of you (is) enemy to another. So there will surely come to you guidance from Me; then whoever follows My guidance, he will not go astray nor be unhappy

20:124  And whoever turns away from My Reminder, for him is surely a straitened life, and We shall raise him up blind on the day of Resurrection

20:125  He will say: My Lord, why hast Thou raised me up blind, while I used to see

20:126  He will say: Thus did Our messages come to thee, but thou didst neglect them. And thus art thou forsaken this day

20:127  And thus do We recompense him who is extravagant and believes not in the messages of his Lord. And certainly the chastisement of the Hereafter is severer and more lasting

20:128  Does it not manifest to them how many of the generations, in whose dwellings they go about, We destroyed before them? Surely there are signs in this for men of understanding

20:129  And had not a word gone forth from thy Lord, and a term been fixed, it would surely have overtaken them

20:130  So bear patiently what they say, and celebrate the praise of thy Lord before the rising of the sun and before its setting, and glorify (Him) during the hours of the night and parts of the day, that thou mayest be well pleased

20:131  And strain not thine eyes toward that with which We have provided different classes of them, (of) the splendour of this world’s life, that We may thereby try them. And the sustenance of thy Lord is better and more abiding

20:132  And enjoin prayer on thy people, and steadily adhere to it. We ask not of thee a sustenance. We provide for thee. And the (good) end is for guarding against evil

20:133  And they say: Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord? Has not there come to them a clear evidence of what is in the previous Books

20:134  And if We had destroyed them with chastisement before it, they would have said: Our Lord, why didst Thou not send to us a messenger, so that we might have followed Thy messages before we met disgrace and shame

20:135  Say: Every one (of us) is waiting, so wait. Soon you will come to know who is the following of the even path and who goes aright