20:1  Ta H

20:2  We have not sent the Quran down to you to distress you

20:3  but only as an exhortation for him who fears God

20:4  it is a revelation from Him who has created the earth and the high heavens

20:5  the All Merciful settled on the throne

20:6  To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and whatever lies in between them, and all that lies under the ground

20:7  Whether you speak aloud [or in a low voice], He hears all, for He knows your secrets and what is even more hidden

20:8  God, there is no deity but Him. His are the most excellent names

20:9  Have you heard the story of Moses

20:10  When he saw a fire, he said to his family, Wait here. I can see a fire. Perhaps I can bring you a brand from it, or find some guidance at the fire

20:11  When he came close to it, a voice called out, Moses

20:12  I am your Lord! Take off your sandals, for you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa

20:13  I have chosen you. So listen to what is being revealed

20:14  I am God. There is no deity save Me; so worship Me alone, and say your prayers in My remembrance

20:15  The Hour is coming. But I choose to keep it hidden, so that every human being may be recompensed in accordance with his labours

20:16  Do not let anyone who does not believe in it and follows his own desires turn you away from it and so bring you to ruin

20:17  What do you have in your right hand, Moses

20:18  He replied, It is my staff. I lean on it, and with it, I beat down the leaves for my flock; I also have other uses for it

20:19  God said, Moses, cast it down

20:20  So he threw it down, and all of a sudden, it turned into a fast-moving serpent

20:21  God said, Take hold of it, and have no fear: We shall return it to its former state

20:22  Put your hand under your armpit: it will come out [shining] white, without any blemish. This shall be another sign.[24]

20:23  We shall show you some of Our greatest signs

20:24  Go to Pharaoh; he has transgressed all bounds

20:25  Moses said, My Lord! open up my heart

20:26  and make my task easy for me

20:27  Loosen the knot in my tongue

20:28  so that they may understand my speech

20:29  and appoint for me a helper from among my family

20:30  Aaron, my brother

20:31  Strengthen me through him

20:32  and let him share my task

20:33  so that we may glorify You muc

20:34  and remember You much

20:35  You are surely watching over us

20:36  God said, You have been granted your request, Moses

20:37  Indeed, We showed Our favour to you before also

20:38  when We revealed Our will to your mother, saying

20:39  Put him into a chest, then cast it into the river. The river will cast it on to the bank, and there he shall be taken up by an enemy of Mine and his. I showered My love on you so that you might be reared under My watchful eye

20:40  Recall when your sister walked along and said, Shall I guide you to one who will take care of him? Thus We returned you to your mother, so that her eyes might be cooled and that she might not grieve. And you killed a man and We delivered you from sorrow. We tested you with various trials. You stayed for a number of years among the people of Midian, then you came upto the standard, Moses

20:41  I have chosen you for Myself

20:42  Go, you and your brother, with My signs, and do not be remiss in remembering Me

20:43  Go, both of you to Pharaoh, for he has transgressed all bounds

20:44  But speak gently to him; perhaps he may yet take heed or even feel afraid

20:45  They both said, Our Lord, We fear that he may commit some excess against us, or exceed all bounds in transgression

20:46  God said, Do not fear; I am with you both. I hear and I see

20:47  Go to him and say, We are both messengers from your Lord. Let the Children of Israel go with us, and do not oppress them. We have brought you a Sign from your Lord, and may peace be upon whoever follows the right guidance

20:48  it has been revealed to us that punishment shall overtake him who rejects it and turns away

20:49  Pharaoh said, Who then is the Lord of you both, Moses

20:50  Moses replied, Our Lord is He who has given everything its form, then guided it

20:51  Pharaoh asked, What about the previous generations

20:52  Moses said, My Lord alone has knowledge of that, recorded in a Book. My Lord neither errs nor forgets

20:53  It is He who has laid out the earth for you and traced routes in it and sent down water from the sky. We have brought forth every sort of plant with it

20:54  so eat and graze your cattle. In this there are signs for men of understanding

20:55  From the earth We have created you and We will return you to it, and from it We shall bring you forth a second time.[25]

20:56  We showed Pharaoh all Our signs but he rejected them and refused to believe in them

20:57  He said, Have you come to us to turn us out of our land by means of your magic, Moses

20:58  We will certainly bring you magic to match it. So appoint a time between us and you, in an open space, which neither we nor you will fail to keep

20:59  Moses said, The day of the encounter will be the day of the festival, and let the people assemble when the sun has risen high

20:60  So Pharaoh withdrew, devised his stratagem and returned

20:61  Moses said to them, Woe to you! Do not invent lies against God, lest He destroy you by some calamity: whoever invents lies is bound to fail

20:62  Then they [the magicians] conferred among themselves, whispering to one another

20:63  They said, Certainly they are both magicians who want to drive you out of your land by their magic, and destroy your best traditions

20:64  Therefore, decide upon your plan and then come forward in ranks. Whoever gains the upper hand today shall surely triumph

20:65  They said, Moses, will you throw down first, or shall we be the first to throw down

20:66  Moses said, You throw down first. Suddenly their ropes and staffs appeared to him, by their magic, to be moving about rapidly

20:67  and in his heart Moses became apprehensive

20:68  but We said, Do not be afraid. It is you who shall prevail

20:69  Throw down that [staff] which is in your right handit shall swallow up what they have wrought, for what they have wrought is only a magicians trick. A magician shall never thrive, come whence he may

20:70  The magicians then prostrated themselves. They said, We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses

20:71  Pharaoh said, Have you believed in him before I permit you? He must be your master who has taught you magic. I will cut your hands and feet off on opposite sides, and have you crucified on the trunks of palm-trees. You shall know whose punishment is more severe and more lasting

20:72  They said, Never shall we prefer you to all the evidence of the truth that has come to us. Nor to Him who has brought us into being. So decide whatever you will. Your jurisdiction only covers the life of this worl

20:73  we have believed in our Lord so that He may forgive us our sins and forgive us the sorcery that you have forced us to practice. God is the best and the most abiding

20:74  Indeed, he who comes to his Lord a sinner shall be consigned to Hell; he shall neither die therein nor live

20:75  But he who comes to Him as a believer, having done good deeds, shall be exalted to the highest ranks

20:76  he will abide forever in the Gardens of eternity, through which rivers flow. That is the recompense for those who purify themselves

20:77  We sent a revelation to Moses saying, Take away My servants by night and strike for them a dry path through the sea. Have no fear of being overtaken and do not be afraid

20:78  Pharaoh pursued them with his hosts, but they were submerged by the sea, which was destined to overwhelm them

20:79  For Pharaoh had led his people astray and did not guide them

20:80  Children of Israel! We delivered you from your enemies and We made a covenant with you on the right side of the Mount. We sent down manna and quails for you

20:81  Eat from the wholesome things with which We have provided you but do not transgress, lest you should incur My wrath. [We said], He that incurs My wrath shall surely be ruined

20:82  But I am most forgiving towards him who turns in repentance and believes and acts righteously and follows the right path

20:83  [When Moses was upon the Mount, God said,] O Moses, why have you come with such haste from your people

20:84  He said, They are following in my footsteps, while I have hastened to You, my Lord, to please You

20:85  But God said, We have tested your people in your absence. The Samiri has led them astray

20:86  Moses returned to his people in anger and great sorrow. He said, My people, did your Lord not make you a handsome promise? Was my absence too long for you? Did you desire that your Lords wrath should descend upon you, when you broke your promise to me

20:87  They answered, We did not break our promise to you of our own accord, but we had to carry loads of the peoples ornaments and so we threw them [into the fire] for that was what the Samiri suggested

20:88  then he forged a calf for theman image producing a lowing sound. They said, This is your deity, the deity of Moses; he has forgotten it

20:89  Why did they not see that it could not give them any response and had no power to harm or benefit them

20:90  Aaron had already told them, O my people! You are only being tested by this. Your Lord is the All Merciful, so follow me and obey my command

20:91  They replied, We shall not cease to worship it until Moses returns to us

20:92  Moses said to Aaron, What prevented you, when you saw that they had gone astray

20:93  from following me? Why did you disobey my command

20:94  Aaron said, Son of my mother! Do not seize me by my beard nor by my head. I was afraid that you would say, You have caused dissension among the Children of Israel and did not pay heed to my words

20:95  Moses said, What was the matter with you, Samiri

20:96  He said, I perceived what they did not see. So I took a handful [of dust] from the footprint of the Messenger and threw it in [the calf]. That is what my inner self prompted me to do

20:97  Moses said, Begone! It shall be your lot to say throughout your life, Do not touch me, and you will be faced with a fate from which there will be no escape. Now look at your deity to which you have become so devoted: we shall burn it up, and then scatter it into the sea

20:98  Your only deity is God, there is no deity but Him. His knowledge encompasses all things

20:99  Thus We relate to you the history of past events, and We have given you a reminder [the Quran] from Us

20:100  Whoever turns away from it will bear a heavy burden on the Day of Judgement

20:101  which they shall bear forever. It will be a grievous burden for them on the Day of Judgement

20:102  the Day when the trumpet shall be blown: We shall gather all the sinners on that Day. Their eyes will turn blue with terror

20:103  and they shall murmur to one another, You stayed only ten days on the eart

20:104  We know best what they will say. The most perceptive of them will say, You stayed only one day

20:105  They ask you about the mountains. Say, My Lord will scatter them as dus

20:106  and leave the earth level and bare

20:107  with neither hollows nor upthrust mounds to be seen

20:108  On that Day all will follow the summoning voice from which there is no escape; and all voices will be hushed before the Lord of Mercy, and nothing will be heard except a subdued murmur

20:109  On that Day no intercession will avail, except from one who has received the sanction of the Merciful and of whose words He approve

20:110  He knows what is before them and what is behind them, but they cannot encompass Him with their knowledg

20:111  on that Day all faces shall be humbled before the Living, Self-Subsisting One. Those burdened with evil deeds will come to grief

20:112  but he who does good works, being a believer, shall fear no harm nor any injustice

20:113  We have thus sent down the Quran in Arabic and given all kinds of warnings in it, so that they may fear God, or may take hee

20:114  exalted is God, the True King. Do not be impatient with the Quran before its revelation is completed, and say, My Lord, increase my knowledge

20:115  We made a covenant with Adam before you, but he forgot, and We found him lacking in constancy

20:116  When We said to the angels, Prostrate yourselves before Adam, they all prostrated themselves, except for Satan, who refused

20:117  We said, Adam, [Satan] is an enemy to you and to your wife. Let him not turn you both out of Paradise and thus make you come to grief

20:118  Here you shall not go hungry or be naked

20:119  you shall not thirst, nor feel the suns heat

20:120  But Satan whispered evil to him, saying, Adam, shall I lead you to the tree of immortality and to a kingdom that never declines

20:121  They both ate the fruit of this tree, and so they became conscious of their nakedness and began to cover themselves with the leaves of the Garden. Thus Adam disobeyed his Lord and fell into error

20:122  Then his Lord had mercy on him, accepted his repentance and guided him

20:123  God said, Go down, both of you, from here, as enemies to one another. If there comes to you guidance from Me, then whoever follows My guidance will not lose his way, nor will he come to grief

20:124  but whoever turns away from My reminder, will lead a straitened existence and on the Day of Judgement We shall raise him up blin

20:125  and he will ask, Lord, why have You raised me up blind, while I possessed sight before

20:126  God will say, Just as Our signs came to you and you ignored them, so will you on this Day be ignored

20:127  Thus We shall reward the transgressor who denies the signs of his Lord. But the suffering of the life to come is more terrible and more lasting

20:128  Do they not learn a lesson from Our destruction of many generations before them in whose dwelling-places they walk about? Surely in this are signs for men of understanding

20:129  But for a pre-ordained Word from your Lord, and a term [of respite] already fixed, immediate punishment would inevitably have taken place

20:130  So be patient with anything they may say and glorify your Lord with His praise before the rising of the sun and before its setting; and glorify Him in the hours of the night and at the beginning and end of the day, so that you may find comfort

20:131  Do not regard with envy the worldly benefits We have given some of them, for with these We seek only to test them. The provision of your Lord is better and more lasting

20:132  Bid your people say their prayers, and be constant in their observance. We demand nothing from you. It is We who provide for you, and the best end is that of righteousness

20:133  They say, Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord? Have they not been given sufficient proof in previous scriptures

20:134  If We had destroyed them with a punishment before this, they would have surely said, Our Lord, why did you not send to us a messenger so that we might have followed Your commandment before we were humiliated and disgraced

20:135  Say, Everyone is waiting; so wait if you will. You shall know who has followed the right path, and who has found guidance