3. Aal-i-Imraan

And, mention, when God made a covenant with the prophets, ‘What (if read lamā, it would be introducing a subject clause, and emphasising the aspect of the oath in this ‘making of the covenant’; if it is read limā, it would then be connected to the verb akhadha, ‘He took’; the mā, ‘what’, is a relative particle in both cases, meaning la’lladhī [or li’lladhī respectively]) I have given you (ātaytukum, or in a variant reading, ātaynākum, ‘We have given you’) of the Book and wisdom; then there shall come to you a messenger confirming what is with you, of the Book and wisdom, and that is Muhammad (s) — you shall believe in him and you shall help him’ (this constitutes the response to the oath), if you reach his time and perceive him, and their communities [of descendants] follow them [in what is incumbent upon them]. He, God, exalted be He, said to them, ‘Do you affirm, this? And do you take, [do you] accept, My load, My covenant, on you on that condition?’ They said, ‘We affirm’. He said, ‘Then bear witness, to this before your own souls and [those of] your followers, and I shall be with you among the witnesses’, before you and them.

Then whoever turns his back, in rejection, after that, covenant, they are the wicked.

What! Do they, the ones who turn away, desire (yabghūna, is also read tabghūna, ‘[do] you desire?’) other than God’s religion, when to Him has submitted, [to Him] has yielded, whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly, without refusal, or unwillingly, by the sword and by seeing what it [such refusal] results in, and to Him they shall be returned? (yurja‘ūna, may also be read turja‘ūna, ‘you shall be returned’; the hamza at the beginning of the verse [a-fa-ghayra, ‘what…other’] denotes a disavowal).

Say, to them, O Muhammad (s): ‘We believe in God, and that which has been revealed to us, and that which has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, and Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes, the latter’s sons; and in that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord; we make no division between any of them, by believing [in some] and disbelieving [in others]; and to Him we submit’, devoting worship sincerely [to Him].

The following was revealed regarding those who apostatized and became disbelievers: Whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him and in the Hereafter he shall be among the losers, because he will end up in the Fire, made everlasting for him.

How shall God guide, that is to say, [He shall] not [guide], a people who have disbelieved after their belief, and bore witness, that is, [and after] their bearing witness, that the Messenger is true, and after the clear signs, the manifest proofs of the truth of the Prophet, had come to them? God guides not the evildoing, that is, the disbelieving, folk.

Those — their requital is that there shall rest on them the curse of God and of the angels and of men altogether.

Abiding therein, that is, in the curse, or in the Fire implied by it [the curse]; the chastisement shall not be lightened for them and they shall not be reprieved, they shall [not] be given any respite.

But those who repent thereafter, and make amends, in their actions, then truly God is Forgiving, Merciful, to them.

The following was revealed regarding the Jews: Surely those who disbelieve, in Jesus, after they have believed, in Moses, and then increase in unbelief, in Muhammad (s) — their repentance shall not be accepted, when they are drawing their last gasps of life, or when they have died as disbelievers; those are the ones who go astray.