20:1  Ta, Ha

20:2  We did not reveal the Quran to you to make you suffer

20:3  But only as a reminder for him who fears

20:4  A revelation from He who created the earth and the high heavens

20:5  The Most Merciful; on the Throne He settled

20:6  To Him belongs everything in the heavens and the earth, and everything between them, and everything beneath the soil

20:7  If you speak aloud—He knows the secret, and the most hidden

20:8  God, there is no god but He, His are the Most Beautiful Names.

20:9  Has the story of Moses reached you

20:10  When he saw a fire, he said to his family, 'Stay; I have noticed a fire; Perhaps I can bring you a torch therefrom, or find some guidance by the fire.'

20:11  Then, when he reached it, he was called, 'O Moses

20:12  I—I am your Lord. Take off your shoes. You are in the sacred valley of Tuwa

20:13  I have chosen you, so listen to what is revealed

20:14  I—I am God. There is no God but I. So serve Me, and practice the prayer for My remembrance

20:15  The Hour is coming—but I keep it almost hidden—so that each soul will be paid for what it endeavors

20:16  And do not let him who denies it and follows his desire turn you away from it, lest you fall

20:17  And what is that in your right-hand, O Moses?'

20:18  He said, 'This is my staff. I lean on it, and herd my sheep with it, and I have other uses for it.'

20:19  He said, 'Throw it, O Moses.'

20:20  So he threw it—thereupon it became a moving serpent

20:21  He said, 'Take hold of it, and do not fear. We will restore it to its original condition

20:22  And press your hand to your side; it will come out white, without a blemish—another sign

20:23  That We may show you some of Our greatest signs

20:24  Go to Pharaoh; He has transgressed.'

20:25  He said, 'My Lord, put my heart at peace for me

20:26  And ease my task for me

20:27  And untie the knot from my tongue

20:28  So they can understand my speech

20:29  And appoint an assistant for me, from my family.

20:30  Aaron, my brother

20:31  Strengthen me with him

20:32  And have him share in my mission

20:33  That we may glorify You much

20:34  And remember You much

20:35  You are always watching over us.'

20:36  He said, 'You are granted your request, O Moses

20:37  We had favored you another time

20:38  When We inspired your mother with the inspiration

20:39  `Put him in the chest; then cast him into the river. The river will wash him to shore, where an enemy of Mine and an enemy of his will pick him up. And I have bestowed upon you love from Me, so that you may be reared before My eye

20:40  When your sister walked along, and said, 'Shall I tell you about someone who will take care of him?' So We returned you to your mother, that she may be comforted, and not sorrow. And you killed a person, but We saved you from stress; and We tested you thoroughly. And you stayed years among the people of Median. Then you came back, as ordained, O Moses

20:41  And I made you for Myself

20:42  Go, you and your brother, with My signs, and do not neglect My remembrance

20:43  Go to Pharaoh. He has tyrannized

20:44  But speak to him nicely. Perhaps he will remember, or have some fear.'

20:45  They said, 'Lord, we fear he may persecute us, or become violent.'

20:46  He said, 'Do not fear, I am with you, I hear and I see

20:47  Approach him and say, `We are the messengers of your Lord; so let the Children of Israel go with us, and do not torment them. We bring you a sign from your Lord, and peace be upon him who follows guidance

20:48  It was revealed to us that the punishment falls upon him who disbelieves and turns away.''

20:49  He said, 'Who is your Lord, O Moses.'

20:50  He said, 'Our Lord is He who gave everything its existence, then guided it.'

20:51  He said, 'What about the first generations?'

20:52  He said, 'Knowledge thereof is with my Lord, in a Book. My Lord never errs, nor does He forget.'

20:53  He who made the earth a habitat for you; and traced in it routes for you; and sent down water from the sky, with which We produce pairs of diverse plants

20:54  Eat and pasture your livestock. In that are signs for those with understanding

20:55  From it We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will bring you out another time

20:56  We showed him Our signs, all of them, but he denied and refused

20:57  He said, 'Did you come to us to drive us out of our land with your magic, O Moses

20:58  We will produce for you magic like it; so make an appointment between us and you, which we will not miss—neither us, nor you—in a central place.'

20:59  He said, 'Your appointment is the day of the festival, so let the people be gathered together at mid-morning.'

20:60  Pharaoh turned away, put together his plan, and then came back

20:61  Moses said to them, 'Woe to you. Do not fabricate lies against God, or He will destroy you with a punishment. He who invents lies will fail.'

20:62  They disagreed among themselves over their affair, and conferred secretly

20:63  They said, 'These two are magicians who want to drive you out of your land with their magic, and to abolish your exemplary way of life

20:64  So settle your plan, and come as one front. Today, whoever gains the upper hand will succeed.'

20:65  They said, 'O Moses, either you throw, or we will be the first to throw.'

20:66  He said, 'You throw.' And suddenly, their ropes and sticks appeared to him, because of their magic, to be crawling swiftly

20:67  So Moses felt apprehensive within himself

20:68  We said, 'Do not be afraid, you are the uppermost

20:69  Now throw down what is in your right hand—it will swallow what they have crafted. What they have crafted is only a magician's trickery. But the magician will not succeed, no matter what he does.'

20:70  And the magicians fell down prostrate. They said, 'We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.'

20:71  He said, 'Did you believe in him before I have given you permission? He must be your chief, who has taught you magic. I will cut off your hands and your feet on alternate sides, and I will crucify you on the trunks of the palm-trees. Then you will know which of us is more severe in punishment, and more lasting.'

20:72  They said, 'We will not prefer you to the proofs that have come to us, and Him who created us. So issue whatever judgment you wish to issue. You can only rule in this lowly life

20:73  We have believed in our Lord, so that He may forgive us our sins, and the magic you have compelled us to practice. God is Better, and more Lasting.'

20:74  Whoever comes to his Lord guilty, for him is Hell, where he neither dies nor lives

20:75  But whoever comes to Him a believer, having worked righteousness—these will have the highest ranks

20:76  The Gardens of Perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, dwelling therein forever. That is the reward for him who purifies himself

20:77  And We inspired Moses: 'Travel by night with My servants, and strike for them a dry path across the sea, not fearing being overtaken, nor worrying.'

20:78  Pharaoh pursued them with his troops, but the sea overwhelmed them, and completely engulfed them

20:79  Pharaoh misled his people, and did not guide them

20:80  O Children of Israel! We have delivered you from your enemy, and promised you by the right side of the Mount, and sent down to you manna and quails

20:81  Eat of the good things We have provided for you, but do not be excessive therein, lest My wrath descends upon you. He upon whom My wrath descends has fallen

20:82  And I am Forgiving towards him who repents, believes, acts righteously, and then remains guided

20:83  'And what made you rush ahead of your people, O Moses?'

20:84  He said, 'They are following in my footsteps; and I hurried on to You, my Lord, that you may be pleased.'

20:85  He said, 'We have tested your people in your absence, and the Samarian misled them.'

20:86  So Moses returned to his people, angry and disappointed. He said, 'O my people, did your Lord not promise you a good promise? Was the time too long for you? Or did you want wrath from your Lord to descend upon you, so you broke your promise to me?'

20:87  They said, 'We did not break our promise to you by our choice, but we were made to carry loads of the people's ornaments, and we cast them in. That was what the Samarian suggested.'

20:88  So he produced for them a calf—a mere body which lowed. And they said, 'This is your god, and the god of Moses, but he has forgotten.'

20:89  Did they not see that it cannot return a word to them, and has no power to harm them or benefit them

20:90  Aaron had said to them before, 'O my people, you are being tested by this. And your Lord is the Merciful, so follow me, and obey my command.'

20:91  They said, 'We will not give up our devotion to it, until Moses returns to us.'

20:92  He said, 'O Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them going astray

20:93  From following me? Did you disobey my command?'

20:94  He said, 'Son of my mother, do not seize me by my beard or my head. I feared you would say, `You have caused division among the Children of Israel, and did not regard my word.''

20:95  He said, 'What do you have to say, O Samarian?'

20:96  He said, 'I saw what they did not see, so I grasped a handful from the Messenger's traces, and I flung it away. Thus my soul prompted me.'

20:97  He said, 'Begone! Your lot in this life is to say, 'No contact.' And you have an appointment that you will not miss. Now look at your god that you remained devoted to—we will burn it up, and then blow it away into the sea, as powder.'

20:98  Surely your god is God, the One besides whom there is no other god. He comprehends everything in knowledge

20:99  Thus We narrate to you reports of times gone by; and We have given you a message from Our Presence.

20:100  Whoever turns away from it will carry on the Day of Resurrection a burden

20:101  Abiding therein forever. And wretched is their burden on the Day of Resurrection

20:102  On the Day when the Trumpet is blown—We will gather the sinners on that Day, blue

20:103  Murmuring among themselves: 'You have lingered only for ten.'

20:104  We are fully aware of what they say, when the most exemplary of them in conduct will say, 'You have lingered only a day.'

20:105  And they ask you about the mountains. Say, 'My Lord will crumble them utterly.'

20:106  And leave them desolate waste

20:107  You will see in them neither crookedness, nor deviation.'

20:108  On that Day, they will follow the caller, without any deviation. Voices will be hushed before the Merciful, and you will hear nothing but murmur.

20:109  On that Day, intercession will not avail, except for him permitted by the Merciful, and whose words He has approved

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

20:111  Faces will be humbled before the Living, the Eternal. Whoever carries injustice will despair

20:112  But whoever has done righteous deeds, while being a believer—will fear neither injustice, nor grievance

20:113  Thus We have revealed it an Arabic Quran, and We have diversified the warnings in it, that perhaps they would become righteous, or it may produce a lesson for them

20:114  Exalted is God, the True King. Do not be hasty with the Quran before its inspiration to you is concluded, and say, 'My Lord, increase me in knowledge.'

20:115  And We covenanted with Adam before, but he forgot, and We found in him no resolve

20:116  And when We said to the angels, 'Bow down to Adam.' They bowed down, except for Satan; he refused

20:117  We said, 'O Adam, this is an enemy to you and to your wife. So do not let him make you leave the Garden, for then you will suffer

20:118  In it you will never go hungry, nor be naked

20:119  Nor will you be thirsty in it, nor will you swelter.'

20:120  But Satan whispered to him. He said, 'O Adam, shall I show you the Tree of Immortality, and a kingdom that never decays?'

20:121  And so they ate from it; whereupon their bodies became visible to them, and they started covering themselves with the leaves of the Garden. Thus Adam disobeyed his Lord, and fell

20:122  But then his Lord recalled him, and pardoned him, and guided him

20:123  He said, 'Go down from it, altogether; some of you enemies of some others. But whenever guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance, will not go astray, nor suffer

20:124  But whoever turns away from My Reminder, for him is a confined life. And We will raise him on the Day of Resurrection blind.'

20:125  He will say, 'My Lord, why did You raise me blind, though I was seeing?'

20:126  He will say, 'Just as Our revelations came to you, and you forgot them, today you will be forgotten.'

20:127  Thus We recompense him who transgresses and does not believe in the revelations of his Lord. The punishment of the Hereafter is more severe, and more lasting

20:128  Is it not instructive to them, how many generations before them We destroyed, in whose settlements they walk? Surely in that are signs for people of understanding

20:129  Were it not for a word that issued from your Lord, the inevitable would have happened, but there is an appointed term

20:130  So bear patiently what they say, and celebrate the praises of your Lord before the rising of the sun, and before its setting. And during the hours of the night glorify Him, and at the borders of the day, that you may be satisfied

20:131  And do not extend your glance towards what We have given some classes of them to enjoy—the splendor of the life of this world—that We may test them thereby. Your Lord's provision is better, and more lasting

20:132  And exhort your people to pray, and patiently adhere to it. We ask of you no sustenance, but it is We who sustain you. The good ending is that for righteousness

20:133  And they say, 'Why does he not bring us a miracle from his Lord?' Were they not given enough miracles in the former scriptures

20:134  Had We destroyed them with a punishment before him, they would have said, 'Our Lord, if only You had sent us a messenger, we would have followed Your revelations before we were humiliated and disgraced.'

20:135  Say, 'Everybody is waiting, so wait. You will know who the people of the straight path are, and who is rightly-guided