20:1  T. H. (Ta. Ha.)

20:2  We did not send down the Quran to you to make you unhappy,

20:3  but as a reminder for anyone who is in awe (of God).

20:4  A revelation from Him who created the earth and the high skies,

20:5  the beneficent, reigning over the dominion.

20:6  Everything in the skies and on the earth and whatever between them and whatever under the ground belongs to Him.

20:7  And whether you speak loudly (or not), He knows the secret and (even things) more hidden.

20:8  God, there is no god except Him. The good attributes (and names) belong to Him.

20:9  Did the story of Moses come to you?

20:10  When he saw a fire, then he said to his family: “Wait, indeed I saw a fire, maybe I bring you a burning stick from it or find guidance at the fire.”

20:11  So, when he came to it, he was called: “Moses,

20:12  indeed, I am your Lord, so take off your shoes, you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa,

20:13  I chose you, so listen to what is revealed (to you:)

20:14  “Indeed, I am God, there is no god except Me, so serve Me and perform mandatory prayer to remember Me.””

20:15  Indeed, the Hour is coming. I want to keep it hidden, so that every person is rewarded by what he tries.

20:16  So do not let those who do not believe in it (the Hour) and follow their desires, turn you away from it, otherwise you will perish.

20:17  Moses, what is that in your right hand?

20:18  He said: “It is my cane, I lean on it, and I chop off the leaves for my sheep with it, and I have other uses for it.”

20:19  He (God) said: “Moses, throw it (down).”

20:20  So, he threw it, and suddenly it turned into a fast-moving serpent.

20:21  He (God) said: “Take it and do not fear, We are going to return it to its original shape;

20:22  and put your hand under your arm, it comes out white without any disease as another miracle,

20:23  so that We show you some of Our greater miracles;

20:24  go to Pharaoh, indeed he rebelled.”

20:25  He said: “My Lord, expand my chest for me (and give me patience),

20:26  and make my task easy for me,

20:27  and open the knot from my tongue (and allow me to speak clearly),

20:28  so, they understand my word,

20:29  and assign me an assistant from my family,

20:30  my brother Aaron,

20:31  to back me up with him,

20:32  and make him partner in my task,

20:33  so that we glorify You much,

20:34  and we remember You much,

20:35  indeed, You are observant of us.”

20:36  He (God) said: “Moses, your request is granted,

20:37  and We have certainly favored upon you another time,

20:38  when We revealed to your mother what was revealed,

20:39  that throw him in the box, then throw it in the sea/river, then the sea/river should cast it on the shore, and an enemy of Me and an enemy of him takes him, and I cast My affection on you so that you are brought up under My eye (and My observation);

20:40  (remember) when your sister walked (to them) and said: “should I show you someone to take care of him?” So, We returned you to your mother in order to delight her eye (and to cheer her up) and she would not be sad. And you killed a person, then We saved you from sorrow and We tested you with tests. Then you stayed with people of Midian (people of Shu'aib/Jethro) for years, then you came (to Us) at the destined (time and place); Moses,

20:41  I have chosen/made you for Myself.

20:42  You and your brother go with My miracles and do not slack off in remembering Me.

20:43  Both of you go to Pharaoh, indeed he rebelled.

20:44  Then tell him in gentle words, so that he may take notice or fear.”

20:45  They said: “Our Lord, we fear that he goes too far against us (and he rushes to punish us) or that he rebels.”

20:46  He (God) said: “Do not fear, indeed I am with you, I hear and I see,

20:47  so you two go to him and say: “We are your Lord’s messengers, so send the children of Israel with us and do not punish them, we have brought you a miracle from your Lord, and peace (and well-being) on anyone who follows the guidance,

20:48  indeed, it has been revealed to us that the punishment is on anyone who denies and turns away.””

20:49  He (Pharaoh) said: “Moses, who is your Lord?”

20:50  He (Moses) said: “Our Lord is the One Who gave everything its creation, then guided (it).”

20:51  He said: “So, what about the previous generations?”

20:52  He (Moses) said: “Its knowledge is with my Lord in a book, my Lord does not make mistake and does not forget.”

20:53  The One Who made the earth a bed for you (to rest on), and introduced roadways in it for you, and sent down rain from the sky, then We brought out various types of plants with it.

20:54  Eat (from them) and pasture your livestock. Indeed, there are signs in that for the people of intellect.

20:55  We created you from it (the earth) and We return you into it and We bring you out of it another time.

20:56  And We have certainly shown him (Pharaoh) Our miracles, all of them, but he denied and refused.

20:57  He said: “Moses, did you come to us to drive us out of our land with your magic?

20:58  We shall bring you a magic like it, so make an appointment between us, which neither we nor you break it, in a level (and impartial) place.”

20:59  He said: “Your appointment is the day of festival and let the people be gathered before noon.”

20:60  So, Pharaoh went away and put his plan together, then he came (back).

20:61  Moses said to them: “Woe to you, do not fabricate a lie (and attribute it) to God, otherwise He destroys you with a punishment, and anyone who makes up (lies) will fail.”

20:62  So, they argued about their affair among themselves, and they kept their private talk secret.

20:63  They said: “These are two magicians who want to drive you out of your land with their magic, and do away with your outstanding (religious) way.

20:64  So, get your plan together, then come as a unit, and whoever overcomes today will succeed.”

20:65  They said: “Moses, do you throw or are we to throw first?”

20:66  He said: “No, you throw (first).” So suddenly their ropes and their canes appeared to him as if they were moving fast because of their magic.

20:67  Then Moses had a sensation of fear in himself.

20:68  We said: “Do not fear, indeed you are superior,

20:69  and throw down what is in your right hand (your cane), it swallows what they have produced. Indeed, what they have produced is only a magician’s trick, and the magician does not succeed wherever he goes.”

20:70  So, the magicians fell prostrating (showing humbleness), and they said: “We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.”

20:71  He (Pharaoh) said: “Have you believed in Him/him before I give you permission? Indeed, he is your superior, the one who taught you the magic, I shall cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I shall crucify you on the trunks of the date palm, and you shall know punishment of which one of us is more severe and more lasting.”

20:72  They (the magicians) said: “We will never prefer you to what has come to us from clear evidences and to the One Who created us, so decide what you want to decide, because you only decide in this world’s life.

20:73  Indeed, we believe in our Lord so that He may forgive us our mistakes and the magic that you forced us to it, and God is better and more lasting.”

20:74  Indeed, anyone who comes to his Lord guilty, then hell is for him, and he will neither die in it nor live.

20:75  And anyone who comes to Him as a believer who has done good then they will have high ranks (and status).

20:76  Eternal gardens which rivers flow through them, remaining in there forever, and that is the reward of anyone who purifies (and absolves).

20:77  And We certainly revealed to Moses: “Travel by night with My servants, and make a dry path for them in the sea, and do not be afraid of being overtaken (by Pharaoh) and do not fear (from drowning in the sea).”

20:78  So, Pharaoh followed them with his troops, then the sea covered them with what covered them (and they drowned).

20:79  And Pharaoh misguided his people, and he did not guide (them).

20:80  Children of Israel, We have saved you from your enemy, and We made an appointment with you on the right side of the mountain (Mount Sinai), and We sent down Manna and Salwa (two kinds of edible foods) to you.

20:81  (Saying:) “Eat from good things that We have provided for you and do not exceed (the proper limits) in there, otherwise My anger comes down upon you, and whomever My anger comes down upon him, then he has fallen (into ruins).

20:82  And indeed, I am very forgiving to anyone who repents and believes and does good, and then remains guided.”

20:83  And (God said:) “Moses, what made you rush ahead of your people?”

20:84  He said: “They are close on my footsteps, and I rushed to You to please You my Lord.”

20:85  He (God) said: “Indeed We have tested your people after you, and the Sumeri misguided them.”

20:86  So, Moses returned to his people, angry and sorrowful. He said: “My people, didn't your Lord promise you a good promise? Was the promise too long for you or did you want the anger of your Lord to come down upon you that you broke (your) promise to me?”

20:87  They said: “We did not break (our) promise to you on purpose, but we were made to carry a load of ornament from (Pharaoh’s) people, so we threw it (into fire) same as the Sumeri threw.”

20:88  Then he brought out (of the fire) a body of a calf for them which had a sound, so they said: “This is your god and god of Moses, but he (Moses) has forgotten.”

20:89  Did they not see that it does not respond to them a word, and it does not have power of any harm or any benefit for them?

20:90  And certainly, Aaron had told them previously: “My people, you are only being tested by it, and indeed your Lord is the beneficent, so follow me and obey my order.”

20:91  They said: “We never stop being devoted to it until Moses returns to us.”

20:92  He (Moses) said: “Aaron, what kept you back when you saw them losing the (right) path,

20:93  that you did not follow me? Did you disobey my order?”

20:94  He (Aaron) said: “Son of my mother, do not grab me by my beard nor by my head, I was afraid that you say: “You made division between children of Israel, and you disregarded my word.””

20:95  He (Moses) said: “Sumeri, what is that you wanted to do?”

20:96  He (Sumeri) said: “I saw something that they did not see, so I grabbed a handful from the messenger's track/artifact and threw it (in the fire), and that is how my soul/mind seduced me.”

20:97  He (Moses) said: “So go away, and (punishment) for you in this life is to say do not touch me (to whoever that comes close to you), and indeed it is a promise for you that will never be broken, and look at your god, the one that you remained devoted to it, as we shall burn it then we shall totally spread it out into the sea.”

20:98  Your god is only God, the One that there is no god except Him. His knowledge includes everything.

20:99  That is how We tell you of the news of what has passed. And We have given you a reminder (Quran) from Us.

20:100  Whoever stays away from it (Quran), then indeed he will carry a burden on the Resurrection Day.

20:101  They remain in that (state) forever, and it is a bad load for them on the Resurrection Day.

20:102  The day when the horn is blown, on that day We gather the guilty ones, having cyanosis (or lead-color eyes).

20:103  They whisper among themselves: “You only stayed (dead) ten days.”

20:104  We know better what they say when the most perceptive among them says: “You only stayed (dead) one day.”

20:105  And they ask you about the mountains (on that day), say: “My Lord completely pulverizes them,

20:106  then He leaves them as a flat plain,

20:107  you would not see any curve or bump in it.”

20:108  On that day, they follow the caller without deviating from him, and the voices will be lowered for the beneficent and you only hear but a murmur.

20:109  On that day mediation will not (have any) benefit, except from someone whom the beneficent has permitted him and He approves of his saying.

20:110  He knows what is in front of them and what is behind them, and they do not comprehend His knowledge.

20:111  And the faces will be humbled (and lowered) before the eternal living (God), and anyone who carries wrongdoing has failed.

20:112  And whoever does good and he is a believer has no fear of injustice or holding back (his reward).

20:113  And that is how We sent down an Arabic Quran and in it We explained in various ways about the threat (of punishment), so that they may be cautious (of God), or it may cause them remembrance (and they take notice).

20:114  So, God, the true king is highest (and above all). And do not rush to read the Quran before its revelation to you is completed, and say: “My Lord, increase my knowledge.”

20:115  We have certainly instructed Adam in the past, but he forgot, and We did not find any determination in him.

20:116  And (remember) when We said to the angels: “Be humble to Adam.” then they (all) humbled except Iblis (Satan) who refused.

20:117  Then We said: “Adam, indeed this is an enemy for you and for your wife, so do not let him drive you both out of the garden, so that you become unhappy.

20:118  Indeed, you will not be hungry nor naked in there,

20:119  and you will not be thirsty nor suffer from sun’s heat (or sunburn) in there.”

20:120  But Satan seduced him, he said: “Adam, should I lead you to the tree of eternity (and immortality) and to a kingdom that does not deteriorate?”

20:121  So, they both ate from it, then their shame (their private parts) appeared to them, and they began to put patches of leaves of the paradise over themselves (to cover their genitals). Adam disobeyed his Lord, so he erred.

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

20:123  He said: “Go down from it both of you together. Some of you will be enemies of the others. And when guidance comes to you from Me, then anyone who follows My guidance will not lose (the right path) and he will not be unhappy,

20:124  and whoever stays away from My reminder then indeed he will have a hard life and We will gather him as a blind on the Resurrection Day.”

20:125  He will say: “My Lord, why did you gather me as a blind, while I could see (before)?”

20:126  He (God) says: “Same way as My signs came to you and you forgot them, and like that you will be forgotten today.”

20:127  And that is how We pay back anyone who is excessive and does not believe in his Lord’s signs, and certainly the punishment of the Hereafter is more severe and more lasting.

20:128  Is it not a guide for them that how many generations before them We destroyed, which they are (now) walking in their habitat? Indeed, there are signs in that for the people of intellect.

20:129  And if it was not for a word that was previously issued from your Lord and for a finite time, it (the punishment) would have been necessary.

20:130  So be patient about what they say, and glorify your Lord with His praise before rising of the sun and before its setting and glorify Him during hours of the night and on both sides of the day, that you may be content (and pleased).

20:131  Do not stretch out your eyes to (and be dazzled by) what We made some group among them enjoy, (it is) beauty of this world’s life so that We test them with it, while the provision of your Lord is better and more lasting.

20:132  And instruct your family to mandatory prayer and persist on it. We do not ask you for provision, We provide for you, and the (good) ending is for those who are cautious (of God).

20:133  And they say: “Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord?” Didn't a clear evidence come to them in what is in the previous scriptures?

20:134  And if We had destroyed them by punishment before that (sending the prophet), they would have certainly said: “Our Lord, why did you not send us a messenger, so we follow Your signs before we are humiliated and disgraced?”

20:135  Say: “Everyone is waiting, so you wait (too), and you are going to know who are the followers of the even (and the right) path and who are guided.”