20:1  Ta.Ha.

20:2  We have not sent down the Quran to you that you should be unhappy;

20:3  But as a reminder to him who fears -

20:4  Descending from Him who created the earth and the high heavens,

20:5  The Merciful made for the throne.

20:6  His are what is in the heavens, and what is in the earth, and what is between them, and what is beneath the ground.

20:7  And if you speak aloud - then indeed, He knows the secret, and more hidden.

20:8  God, there is no god but He. His are the best names.

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

20:10  When he saw a fire and said to his family, 'Stay here; indeed, I perceive a fire. Perhaps I may bring you a brand from it, or find guidance at the fire.'

20:11  And when he came to it he was called, 'O Moses!

20:12  Indeed, I am your Lord, So take off your sandals; indeed, you are in the holy valley, Tuwa.

20:13  And I have chosen you. So listen to what is inspired.

20:14  Indeed, I am God, there is no god but Me. So serve Me, and be steadfast in prayer for My remembrance.

20:15  Indeed, the Hour is coming, I almost hide it, that every soul may be recompensed for what it strives.

20:16  So do not let him who does not believe in it and follows his lusts turn you away from it, and you be ruined.

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

20:18  He said, 'It is my staff; I lean upon it, and I beat down leaves for my sheep with it, and I have in it other uses.'

20:19  He said, 'Throw it down, O Moses!'

20:20  So he threw it down, and behold, it was a snake moving.

20:21  He said, 'Take it and do not fear; We will restore it to its former state.

20:22  And thrust your hand to your side, it shall come out white without evil, - another sign.

20:23  That We may show you of Our great signs.

20:24  Go to Pharaoh, indeed, he was immoderate.'

20:25  He said, 'My Lord! Expand for me my breast;

20:26  And make my affair easy for me;

20:27  And loose the knot from my tongue,

20:28  That they may understand my speech;

20:29  And make for me a minister from my people, -

20:30  Aaron, my brother;

20:31  Reinforce my strength with him

20:32  And let him share in my affair;

20:33  That We may glorify you much

20:34  And remember you much.

20:35  Indeed, you are seeing us.'

20:36  He said, 'Verily, you are granted your request, O Moses!

20:37  And certainly, We have shown favour on you another time.

20:38  When We inspired to your mother what is inspired,

20:39  "Hurl him into the ark, and hurl it into the river; and let the river cast it on the bank; an enemy to me and an enemy to him shall take him;" - And I cast on you love from Me, and that you may be formed under My eye.

20:40  When your sister walked on and said, "Shall I guide you to one who will take charge of him?" And We restored you to your mother, that her eye might be cooled and she should not grieve. And you killed a soul and We saved you from the distress, and We tried you with trials. And you tarried for years amongst the people of Midian; then you came, according to a decree, O Moses.

20:41  And I have chosen you for Myself.

20:42  Go, you and your brother, with My signs, and be not remiss in My remembrance.

20:43  Go, both of you to Pharaoh; indeed, he was immoderate.

20:44  And speak to him a gentle speech, perhaps he may remember or fear.'

20:45  They said, 'Our Lord! Indeed, we fear that he may trespass against us, or that he will be immoderate.'

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

20:47  So go to him and say, "Indeed, we are messengers of your Lord; so send the children of Israel with us; and do not torment them. Verily, We have come to you with a sign from your Lord, and peace be upon him who follows the guidance.

20:48  Indeed, it has been inspired to us that the punishment will surely come upon him who denies and turns his back."'

20:49  He said, 'And who is your Lord, O Moses?'

20:50  He said, 'Our Lord is the one who gave everything its creation, then guided.'

20:51  He said, 'And what is the condition of the former generations?'

20:52  He said, 'Their knowledge is with my Lord in a book; my Lord errs not, nor forgets.'

20:53  The one who made for you the earth a bed; and has traced for you paths therein; and has sent down water from the sky, - and We have brought forth with it different pairs of plants.

20:54  Eat and pasture your cattle; indeed, in that surely are signs to possessors of intelligence.

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  And verily, We showed him Our signs, all of them, but he denied and refused.

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

20:58  Then we will surely bring you magic like it; and we will make between us and you an appointment; we will not break it - neither we nor you; - an equal place.'

20:59  He said, 'Your appointment is on the day of adornment, and the people will be assembled at forenoon.'

20:60  Then Pharaoh turned his back, and collected his tricks, then he came.

20:61  Moses said to them, 'Woe to you! Do not forge a lie against God; lest He destroy you with a punishment; and verily, disappointed has ever been he who has forged.'

20:62  And they argued their matter between them; they concealed the secret discourse.

20:63  They said, 'These two are certainly two magicians, they wish to turn you out of your land with their magic, and to remove your exemplary way.

20:64  So collect your tricks, then come in a row; and verily, he is prosperous today who has the upper hand.'

20:65  They said, 'O Moses! Either you throw or we will be the first who throws.'

20:66  He said, 'Nay, you throw!' And lo, their ropes and their staves. Seemed to him from their magic that they were moving.

20:67  And Moses felt a fear within his soul.

20:68  We said, 'Fear not! Indeed you are the higher.

20:69  And throw what is in your right hand; it shall devour what they have made. They have made only a magician's tricks; and the magician shall not prosper wherever he comes.'

20:70  And the magicians were cast down in prostration; they said, 'We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.'

20:71  He said, 'You believe him before I give permission to you. Indeed, he is your chief, the one who taught you magic. Therefore I will surely cut off your hands and your feet on alternate sides, and I will surely crucify you on the trunks of palm trees; and you shall surely know which of us is more severe in punishment and more lasting.'

20:72  They said, 'We will not prefer you to what has come to us of the clear proofs and the one who originated us. So decide what you will decide; you can only decide in this worldly life.

20:73  Indeed, we believe in our Lord, that He may forgive us our sins, and what you forced us of magic; and God is better and more lasting.'

20:74  Indeed, he who comes to his Lord a sinner, - Then indeed, for him is Hell; he shall not die in it, and shall not live.

20:75  But he who comes to Him a believer verily, He did good works - then those, for them are the highest ranks, -

20:76  Gardens of Eden beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever; and that is the reward of him who purifies himself.

20:77  And verily, We inspired to Moses, 'Travel by night with My servants, and strike for them a dry path in the sea. Fearing not to be overtaken, nor being afraid.'

20:78  Then Pharaoh followed them with his armies, and there overwhelmed them of the sea what overwhelmed them.

20:79  And Pharaoh led his people astray and he did not guide.

20:80  O children of Israel! Verily, We saved you from your enemy; and We made an appointment with you on the right side of the mount; and We sent down upon you the manna and the quails.

20:81  'Eat of the good things We have provided you, and do not be immoderate therein, lest my wrath descend upon you; for whomsoever my wrath descends upon, indeed, he falls.

20:82  And indeed, I am surely very forgiving to him who repents and believes and does right, then is guided.

20:83  And what made you hasten from your people, O Moses?'

20:84  He said, 'They are upon my tracks, and I hastened to You, my Lord, that you might be pleased.'

20:85  He said, 'But indeed, We have tried your people after you, and As-Samiri has led them astray.'

20:86  So Moses returned to his people, angry, grieving. He said, 'O my people! Did your Lord not promise you a good promise? Did the promise seem long to you, or did you desire that wrath should descend on you from your Lord, so you broke the promise to me?'

20:87  They said, 'We broke not the promise to you by our will, but we were made to carry burdens of the ornaments of the people, so we threw them, and thus threw As-Samiri.'

20:88  And he brought forth for them a calf's body, it had a lowing sound, and they said, 'This is your god and the god of Moses, but he has forgotten.'

20:89  Did they not then see that it returns no speech to them, and cannot control for them harm or profit?

20:90  And verily, Aaron had said to them before, 'O my people! You are only being tested with it; and indeed, your Lord is the Merciful, so follow me and obey my command.'

20:91  They said, 'We will not cease to pay 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  That you did not follow me? Have you then rebelled against my command?'

20:94  He said, 'O son of my mother! Do not seize by my beard, nor my head! Indeed, I feared that you would say, "You have made a division between the children of Israel, and have not observed my word."'

20:95  He said, 'And what was your design, O Samiri?'

20:96  He said, 'I saw what they did not see, and I grasped a handful from the footprint of the messenger and cast it; and thus my soul induced me.'

20:97  He said, 'Then go. And indeed, it shall be for you in life to say, "Touch not!" And indeed, for you there is a threat which you shall never alter. And look at your god to which you remained devoted; we will surely burn it, then surely we will blow it into the sea, blowing.

20:98  Your god is only God, the one who there is no god but He, He encompassed all things in knowledge.'

20:99  Thus We narrate to you from the news of what has gone before, and certainly We have given you a reminder from Us.

20:100  Whoever turns away from it - then indeed, He shall bear on the Day of Resurrection a burden,

20:101  Therein abiding forever; and evil it is for them on the Day of Resurrection as a load.

20:102  On the day the horn will be blown in, and We gather the sinners, that day, blue-eyed.

20:103  They shall whisper among themselves, 'You have only tarried ten.'

20:104  We know best what they say when the most exemplary of them in the way shall say, 'You have only tarried a day.'

20:105  They will ask you about the mountains. So say, 'My Lord will blow them away, blowing.

20:106  And He will leave it a level plain,

20:107  You will see therein no crookedness or inequality.'

20:108  On that day they shall follow the caller in whom is no crookedness; and the voices shall be humbled for the Merciful, and you shall hear nothing but a shuffling.

20:109  On that day the intercession shall not profit except for him to whom the Merciful gives permission, and whose speech He is pleased with.

20:110  He knows what is before them and what is behind them, but they do not comprehend knowledge of Him.

20:111  And faces shall be humbled before the Living, the Self-subsistent; and certainly disappointed is he who carried injustice.

20:112  But he who does good works and he is a believer, then he shall fear neither injustice nor diminution.

20:113  And thus We have turned about in it the threat, - perhaps they may fear, or it may originate remembrance for them.

20:114  Exalted then is God, the King, the True. And do not hasten with the Quran before its inspiration is decided for you; and say, 'My Lord! Increase me in knowledge.'

20:115  And verily We made a covenant with Adam before but he forgot, and We found no firm purpose in him.

20:116  And when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate to Adam,' Then they prostrated, except Iblis, he refused.

20:117  And We said, 'O Adam! Indeed, this is an enemy to you and to your spouse; So let him not drive you two forth from the garden, So you will be unhappy.

20:118  Indeed, it is for you not to go hungry therein nor be naked.

20:119  And indeed, you will not be thirsty therein nor feel the heat of the sun.'

20:120  But the devil whispered to him. He said, 'O Adam! Shall I guide you to the tree of immortality, and a kingdom that shall not wane?'

20:121  And they both ate of it, and their shame became apparent to them; and they began to stitch on themselves leaves of the garden; and Adam rebelled against his Lord, and went astray.

20:122  Then his Lord chose him, and relented towards him, and guided.

20:123  He said, 'Go down, you two, from it all together, some of you an enemy to some. And if there should come to you from me guidance; then whoever follows My guidance shall neither err nor be unhappy.

20:124  And he who turns away from My reminder, then indeed, for him shall be a straitened livelihood; and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind.'

20:125  He shall say, 'My Lord! Why have you gathered me blind while verily I used to see?'

20:126  He shall say, 'Thus Our signs came to you, but you forgot them; and thus today you are forgotten.'

20:127  And thus We recompense him who is extravagant and does not believe in the signs of his Lord; and surely the punishment of the hereafter is more severe and more lasting.

20:128  Is it not a guidance to them, how many generations We have destroyed before them? - They walk in their dwelling places; indeed, in that surely are signs to possessors of intelligence.

20:129  And had it not been for a word which preceded from your Lord and a named term, surely it would have been an obligation.

20:130  So be patient over what they say, and glorify with the praise of your Lord before the rising of the sun, and before its setting, and from the hours of the night, and glorify and at the ends of the day; perhaps you may please.

20:131  And do not extend your eyes to what We have provided pairs of them with - the flourish of the worldly life, to try them therein; but the provision of your Lord is better and more lasting.

20:132  And bid your people prayer, and be patient in it; We do not ask you for provision. We will provide for you, and the issue shall be to piety.

20:133  And they say, 'Unless he brings us a sign from his Lord - 'Has there not come to them clear proof of what is in the former books?

20:134  And had We destroyed them with punishment before it, surely they would have said, 'Our Lord, unless you had sent to us a messenger, so we could have followed Your signs before we were abased and disgraced.'

20:135  Say, 'Each is waiting; so wait! And soon you shall know who are the fellows of the level way, and who is guided.'