10. Yunus

Alif lām rā’: God knows best what He means by these [letters]. Those, namely, these signs, are the signs of the wise Book, that is, the Qur’ān (the genitive annexation [āyāt al-kitāb] has the meaning of min [sc. min āyāti’l-kitāb, ‘from among the verses of the Book’]), which has been made clear.

Is it for the people, the people of Mecca (this interrogative is meant as a disavowal; the preposition [li-, ‘for’] and its dependent genitive noun [al-nās, ‘the people’] constitute a circumstantial qualifier of His saying): a wonder (‘ajaban: read in the accusative as a predicate of kāna; or if read in the nominative [‘ajabun] as its subject: its predicate, which is also its subject if read according to the former [accusative] reading, is [the following, an awhaynā]) that We have inspired a man from among them, Muhammad (s), [saying] (an, ‘that’, is explicative): ‘Warn, threaten, the people, the disbelievers, with chastisement, and give good tidings to those who believe that they have a prior, a preceding, [promise of] truth with their Lord’?, that is a [preceding] fair reward, in return for the deeds they have sent forward. The disbelievers say, ‘Truly this, Qur’ān that comprises all of that [mentioned], is manifest sorcery’: a variant reading [for la-sihrun] has la-sāhirun, ‘a sorcerer’, where it is the Prophet (s) to whom they are referring [as being ‘a manifest sorcerer’].

Truly your Lord is God Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, of the days of this world, that is, in the same measure [of time], since there was no sun or moon then: had He willed He could have created them in an instant, but the reason for His not having done so is that He wanted to teach His creatures to be circumspect; then He presided upon the Throne, a presiding befitting of Him, directing affairs, among creatures. There is no (mā min indicates a relative clause) intercessor, to intercede for anyone, save after His permission: a refutation of their saying, ‘The idols intercede for us!’; that, Creator and Director, is God, your Lord, so worship Him, affirm His Oneness. Will you not remember? (tadhakkarūna: the original tā’ [of tatadhakkarūna] has been assimilated with the dhāl).

He it is Who made the sun a radiance, that is, emitting light, and the moon a light, and determined it, with respect to its movement, in stations: 28 stations in 28 nights every month, becoming concealed for two nights when a particular month has 30 days, or [concealed] for one night, when it has 29 days, so that you might know, thereby, the number of the years and the reckoning. God did not create that, which is mentioned, save in truth, not in vain, exalted be He above such things. He details (read yufassilu or nufassilu, ‘We detail’) the signs for a people who know, who reflect.

Truly in the alternation of night and day, in [their] coming and going, increasing and diminishing, and [in] what God has created in the heavens, of angels, sun, moon, stars and other things, and, in, the earth, of animals, mountains, seas, rivers, trees, and other things, there are signs, indications of His power, exalted be He, for a people who fear, Him, and so believe: He singles these out for mention because they are the ones to benefit from them [such signs].

Truly those who do not expect to encounter Us, through resurrection, and are content with the life of this world, instead of [the life] the Hereafter, since they reject [the truth of] it, and feel reassured, feel secure, in it, and those who are heedless of Our signs, [of] the proofs of Our Oneness, neglecting to ponder them,

those, their abode will be the Fire because of what they used to earn, in the way of [practising] idolatry and [performing] acts of disobedience.

Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, their Lord will guide them, He will lead them, through their faith, in Him, by appointing for them a light with which they will be able to find their way on the Day of Resurrection. Rivers will flow beneath them in the Gardens of Bliss,

their prayer therein, their request for what they desire in Paradise will be to say: ‘Glory be to You, O God!’, so that, lo!, what they request they find before them; and their greeting, between them, therein will be: ‘Peace.’ And their final prayer will be: ‘Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds’.