7. Al-A'raaf

Alif Lām Mīm Sād: God knows best what He means by these [letters].

This is, a Book that is revealed to you — addressing the Prophet (s) — so let there be no inhibition, [no] constraint, in your breast because of it, to convey it — for fear that you might be called a liar — that you may warn thereby (li-tundhira, ‘that you may warn’, is semantically connected to unzila, ‘is revealed’, that is to say, ‘[it is revealed] for [the purposes of] warning’) and as a reminder for those who believe, in it.

Say to them: Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord, namely, the Qur’ān, and do not follow, [do not] take, beside Him, namely, God, in other words, other than Him, any patrons, obeying them in disobedience of Him, exalted be He. Little do you remember (read tadhakkarūn or yadhakkarūn, ‘[little] are you or they admonished’; the original tā’ [of tatadhakkarūn] has been assimilated with the dhāl; a variant reading has tadhkurūn; the mā [of qalīlan mā, ‘little’] is extra, merely emphasising the ‘littleness’).

How many (kam is predicative and is the direct object [of the main verb, ahlaknāhā, ‘We have destroyed’]) a city, meaning its inhabitants, have We destroyed, have We willed its destruction! So Our might, Our chastisement, came upon it at night or while they slept at noon (qā’ilūn: al-qaylūla is a rest taken halfway during the day, even if it does not involve sleep), in other words, sometimes it came upon it at night, and sometimes it came during the day.

And their only plea, their [only] words, when Our might came upon them, was to say, ‘We were evildoers indeed’.

Then verily We shall question those to whom the Message was sent, that is, [We shall question those] communities, about their response to the messengers, and to what extent they implemented that which was conveyed to them; and We shall question the messengers, about the conveying [of that Message].

And We shall narrate to them with knowledge, We shall inform them, with [previous] knowledge, of what they did; for verily We were not absent, when the messengers were conveying [the Message], nor [were We absent] during the time of bygone communities and what they did.

The weighing, of deeds or of the scrolls of these [deeds] shall be — in a balance that has a tongue and two palms [as scales], as reported in a hadīth — on that day, that is, on the day of the questioning mentioned, namely, the Day of Resurrection, the true [weighing], the fair [weighing] (al-haqq, ‘the true’, is an adjectival qualification of al-wazn, ‘the weighing’). As for those whose scales are heavy, with good deeds, they are the successful, the triumphant.

And as for those whose scales are light, because of evil deeds, those are the ones who have lost their souls, by causing them to travel towards the Fire, because they mistreated, they [knowingly] denied, Our signs.

And We have given you power, O Children of Adam, in the earth, and have appointed for you therein livelihoods (ma‘āyish is the plural of ma‘īsha), that is, the means by which you [are able to] subsist; little (qalīlan mā: mā is to emphasise the ‘littleness’) thanks you show, for this.