2. Al-Baqara

Allah blessed you in another way: sending a messenger to you from among you, who recites His verses, purifying you by directing you to virtue and goodness and forbidding you from evil and wrong, teaching you the Qur’ān and the Sunnah, and teaching you worldly and sacred knowledge which you did not know.

So, remember Allah with your hearts and your whole beings, and He will remember you with approval and protection, for you are rewarded according to what you do. Also, be grateful to Allah for the blessings He has given you, and do not be ungrateful by denying them or using them in prohibited ways.

O you who have faith in Allah and follow His Messenger, ask for help from Allah in everything, through the beauty of patience and by establishing the prayer in the way Allah has instructed. Allah is truly with those who are patient, giving them success and helping them.

Do not say, O believers, about those who are killed whilst striving in Allah’s path that they are dead just as others are; rather, they are alive with their Lord, but you do not realise that they are living, because the way in which they are alive can only be understood through revelation from Allah.

Allah will test people with different types of hardships: some with fear of those who are against them; hunger because of lack of food; lack of money because of losing it or difficulty gaining it; loss of lives due to death from diseases and tragedies that kill people, or being martyred for the sake of Allah; and a lack of resources from the earth. Give good news, O Prophet, to those who are patient in the face of these hardships, of what will make them happy in this world and in the Afterlife.

Those who possess these virtues are praised by Allah in the highest gathering of angels, and mercy descends on them. They are the ones guided to the path of truth.

The two mountains known as Ṣafā and Marwah, near to the Kaaba, are landmarks of the clear sacred law. Whoever goes to the Kaaba to perform the acts of Hajj or Umrah, there is no fault in them walking between the two mountains. By clarifying that there was no fault in this action, Allah was comforting those Muslims who avoided walking between the mountains because they feared it was an unacceptable action from the time of ignorance before Islam; but Allah made it clear that the walking between the mountains was an acceptable act of Hajj. Whoever sincerely does what is recommended of voluntary sacred acts, Allah acknowledges them and rewards them. He is aware of who does good and is worthy of being rewarded.

Those Jews and Christians who hide the clear proofs which Allah revealed showing the truth of the Prophet and what he brought, after Allah had made it clear to the people in their scriptures, Allah removes them from His mercy; and all the angels, the prophets and people call for them to be removed from His mercy.

The exception is those who repent to Allah, asking for forgiveness, and regretting having hidden these clear signs, correcting what they do outwardly and inwardly, and making clear the truth and guidance which they had hidden. Allah accepts their repentance to Him. He turns to those who turn to Him, asking for forgiveness and regretting what they have done, and He forgives and is compassionate with them.