6. Al-An'aam

And do not drive away those who call upon their Lord at morning and evening desiring, through their worship, His countenance, exalted be He, and not [desiring] any of the transient things of this world — and these are the poor. The idolaters had reviled them and demanded that he [the Prophet] expel them, so that they could sit with him. The Prophet (s) wanted [to do] this, because of his desire that they become Muslims. You are not accountable for them in anything (min shay’in: min is extra), if what they hide in themselves be displeasing; nor are they accountable for you in anything, that you should drive them away (this is the response to the negative sentence) and be of the evildoers, if you do this.

And even so We have tried, We have tested, some of them by others, that is, the noble one by the commoner, the rich man by the poor man, preferring the [latter] one by giving [him] precedence in [attaining] faith, so that they, the noble ones and the rich, may say, in disavowal, ‘Are these, the poor, the ones whom God has favoured from among us?’, with guidance? In other words [so that they may say]: if what they follow is [true] guidance, they would not have preceded us [in attaining it]. God, exalted be He, says: Is God not best aware of those who are thankful?, to Him, to guide them? Indeed [He is].

And when those who believe in Our signs come to you, say, to them: ‘Peace be upon you. Your Lord has prescribed, He has decreed, for Himself mercy, to the effect that, truly (innahu, ‘truly’, may also be read as annahu, ‘that’, as a substitution for al-rahma, ‘mercy’) whoever of you does evil in ignorance, of it when he did it, and repents thereafter, after his [evil] deed, [repents] of it, and makes amends, in his actions — truly He, God, is Forgiving, Merciful’, towards him (a variant reading [for innahu, ‘truly He’] has annahu, ‘then He’), in other words, forgiveness shall be for him.

And thus, in the same way that We have explained what has been mentioned, We distinguish, We expound, the signs, the Qur’ān, so that truth becomes manifest and is implemented in [people’s] deeds, and that the way, the path, of the sinners may be become clear, evident, and hence avoided (wa-li-yastabīna may also be read wa-li-tastabīna, ‘that you may discern’, with sabīla, ‘the way’, read in the accusative [as opposed to the nominative, sabīlu], implying a direct address to the Prophet [s]).

Say: ‘Truly I have been forbidden to worship those whom you call upon, [those whom] you worship, besides God.’ Say: ‘I shall not follow your whims, by worshipping them, for then, if I did follow them, verily I would have gone astray and I would not be of the rightly guided’.

Say: ‘I am upon a clear proof, a [clear] statement, from my Lord, and you have, already, denied Him, my Lord, when you associated others with Him. I do not have that which you seek to hasten, of the chastisement; the judgement, in this matter and in [all] others, is God’s alone. He decrees the, judgement of, truth, and He is the Best of Deciders’, [the Best of] Judges (a variant reading [for yaqdī, ‘He decrees’] has yaqussu, that is, ‘He relates [the truth]’).

Say, to them: ‘If I did have what you seek to hasten, the matter between you and me would have been decided, by my hastening it for you, so that I might find rest; but God has it; and God knows best the evildoers’, and when to punish them.

And with Him, exalted be He, are the keys of the Unseen, its treasure houses, or the paths that lead to knowledge of it; none but He knows them, and these are the five things mentioned in His saying: Surely God, He has knowledge of the Hour [and He sends down the rain and He knows what is in the wombs. And no soul knows what it has earned for the morrow; nor does any soul know in what land it will die. Truly God is Knowing, Aware, Q. 31:34], as reported by al-Bukhārī. He knows what is, happening, on land, [in] the deserts, and in the waters, [in] the towns along the rivers; and not a leaf (min waraqatin: min is extra) falls, but He knows it. Not a grain in the shadows of the earth, nothing of wet or dry ([this entire clause] wa-lā habbatin fī zulumāti l-ardi wa-lā ratbin wa-lā yābisin is a supplement to waraqatin, ‘a leaf’) but it is in a clear book, namely, the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfūz). The exceptive clause [illā fī kitābin mubīn, ‘but it is in a clear book’] constitutes an inclusive substitution for the previous exceptive clause [illā ya‘lamuhā, ‘but He knows it’].

It is He Who takes you at night, seizing your spirits during sleep, and He knows what you commit, [what] you earn, by day. Then He raises you up therein, that is, in the daytime, by restoring your spirits, so that an appointed term, namely, the term of life, may be accomplished; and afterward to Him is your return, through resurrection. Then He will inform you of what you used to do, and so requite you for it.