Surah 20

TA HA

In the Name of God,1 the Gracious, the Merciful 2

1 Ta  Ha.32 We have not sent down the Quran to you to be an occasion for your distress, 3 but only as an admonition to those who fear God, 4 a revelation from him who created the earth and the heavens on high. 5 God most gracious is firmly established on the throne of authority. 6 To him belongs what is in the heavens and on earth, and all between them, and all beneath the soil. 7 If you proclaim the word aloud, it is no matter; for truly he knows what is secret and what is yet more hidden. 8 God! There is no god but he! To him belong the most beautiful names.

9 Has the story of Musa4 reached you? 10 Behold, he saw a fire. So he said to his family, “Wait, I perceive a fire. Perhaps I can bring you some burning brand from it, or find some guidance at the fire.” 11 But when he came to the fire, a voice was heard, “O Musa! 12 Truly I am your Lord! Therefore put off your shoes. You are in the holy valley Tuwa. 13 I have chosen you. Listen, then, to the inspiration sent to you. 14 Truly, I am God. There is no god but me. So serve me only, and establish regular prayer for celebrating my praise. 15 Truly the hour is coming—my design is to keep it hidden—for every soul to receive its reward by the measure of its endeavour. 16 Therefore let not such as do not believe in it but follow their own lusts, divert you, lest you perish!

17 “And what is that in your right hand, O Musa?”5 18 He said, “It is my rod. On it I lean. With it I beat down fodder for my flocks, and in it find other uses.” 19 God said, “Throw it down, O Musa!” 20 He threw it, and behold, it was a snake, active in motion. 21 God said, “Seize it, and fear not. We shall return it at once to its former condition. 22 Now draw your hand close to your side. It shall come forth white, without harm, as another sign, 23 in order that we may show you two of our greater signs. 24 Go to Firaun6, for he has indeed transgressed all bounds.” 25 Musa said, “O my Lord! Open my heart, 26 and make my task easier for me. 27 Remove the impediment from my speech 28 so they may understand what I say. 29 And give me an assistant from my family, 30 Harun7, my brother. 31 Add to my strength through him, 32 and make him share my task, 33 that we may celebrate your praise greatly, 34 and remember you greatly. 35 For you are he that regards us.”

36 God said, “Granted is the prayer, O Musa! 37 And indeed we conferred a favour on you another time before. 38 Behold! We sent to your mother, by inspiration, the message, 39 ‘Throw the child into the chest, and throw the chest into the river. The river will cast him up on the bank, and he will be taken up by one who is an enemy to him.’ But I cast the garment of love over you from me, and this in order that you might be reared under my eye. 40 Behold! Your sister went forth and said, ‘Shall I show you one who can nurse and rear the child?’8 So we brought you back to your mother, that her eye might be cooled and she should not grieve. Then you killed a man,9 but we saved you from trouble, and we tested you in various ways. Then you stayed a number of years with the people of Madyan10. Then you came here as ordained, O Musa! 41 And I have prepared you for myself for service. 42 Go, you and your brother, with my signs, and slacken not, either of you, in keeping me in remembrance. 43 Go, both of you, to Firaun, for he has indeed transgressed all bounds. 44 But speak to him mildly; perhaps he may take warning or fear God.”

45 Musa and Harun said, “Our Lord! We fear lest he hasten with insolence against us, or lest he transgress all bounds.” 46 He said, “Fear not, for I am with you. I hear and see everything. 47 So go, both of you, to him, and say, ‘Truly we are messengers sent by your Lord. Send forth, therefore, Bani-Israel11 with us, and afflict them not. With a sign, indeed, have we come from your Lord; and peace to all who follow guidance! 48 Truly it has been revealed to us that the penalty awaits those who reject and turn away.'”

49 When this message was delivered, Firaun said, “Who, then, O Musa, is the Lord of you two?” 50 He said, “Our Lord is he who gave to each created thing its form and nature, and further, gave it guidance.” 51 Firaun said, “What then is the condition of previous generations?” 52 He replied, “The knowledge of that is with my Lord, duly recorded. My Lord never errs, nor forgets. 53 He who has made for you the earth like a carpet spread out, has enabled you to go about therein by roads, and has sent down water from the sky. With it we have produced diverse pairs of plants each separate from the others. 54 Eat for yourselves and pasture your cattle. Truly, in this are signs for men endued with understanding. 55 Out of the earth we created you, and to it shall we return you, and from it shall we bring you out once again.”

56 And we showed Firaun all our signs, but he rejected and refused. 57 He said, “Have you come to drive us out of our land with your magic, O Musa? 58 But we can surely produce magic to match yours! So arrange a meeting between us and you, which we shall not fail to keep—neither we nor you—in a place where both shall have even chances.” 59 Musa said, “Your meeting is the day of the festival, and let the people be assembled when the sun is well up in the sky.”

60 So Firaun withdrew. He organized his plan, and then came back. 61 Musa said to him, “Woe to you! Do not forge a lie against God, lest he destroy you at once utterly by chastisement. The forger must suffer frustration!” 62 So they disputed, one with another, over their affair, but they kept their talk secret. 63 They said, “These two are certainly magicians. Their object is to drive you out from your land with their magic, and to do away with your most cherished institutions. 64 Therefore arrange your plan, and then assemble in ranks. He wins today who gains the upper hand.” 65 They said, “O Musa! Will you throw first or shall we be the first to throw?” 66 He said, “No, you throw first!” Then behold, their ropes and their rods—so it seemed to him on account of their magic—began to be in lively motion! 67 So Musa conceived in his mind a sort of fear. 68 We said, “Fear not! For you indeed have the upper hand. 69 Throw that which is in the right hand. Quickly will it swallow up that which they have faked. What they have faked is but a magician’s trick. A magician will not thrive not no matter where he goes.”

70 So the magicians fell down prostrate. They said, “We believe in the Lord of Harun and Musa.” 71 Firaun said, “Do you believe in him before I give you permission? Surely this must be your leader, who has taught you magic! Be sure I will cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides, and I will have you crucified on trunks of palm trees. So shall you know for certain, which of us can give the more severe and the more lasting punishment!” 72 They said, “Never shall we regard you as more than the clear signs that have come to us; or than him who created us! So decree whatever you desire to decree. For you can only decree touching the life of this world. 73 For us, we have believed in our Lord. May he forgive us our sins, and the magic to which you compelled us; for God is best and most abiding.”

74 Truly he who comes to his Lord as sinner at judgment, for him is hell. Therein shall he neither die nor live. 75 But such as come to him as believers who have worked righteous deeds, for them are ranks exalted, 76 gardens of eternity, beneath which flow rivers. They will dwell therein forever. Such is the reward of those who purify themselves.

77 We sent an inspiration to Musa, “Travel by night with my servants, and strike a dry path for them through the sea, without fear of being overtaken by Firaun and without any other fear.” 78 Then Firaun pursued them with his forces, but the waters completely overwhelmed them and covered them up. 79 Firaun led his people astray instead of leading them aright.

80 O Bani-Israel! We delivered you from your enemy, and we made a covenant with you on the right side of the mountain, and we sent down to you manna and quails, 81 saying, “Eat of the good things we have provided for you sustenance, but commit no excess therein, lest my wrath should justly descend on you. And those on whom my wrath descends do perish indeed! 82 But, without doubt, I am also he that forgives again and again, to those who repent, believe, and do right, who, in fine, are ready to receive true guidance.”

83 When Musa was up on the mountain, God said, “What made you hasten in advance of your people, O Musa?” 84 He replied, “Behold, they are close on my footsteps. I hastened to you, O my Lord, to please you.” 85 God said, “We have tested your people in your absence. the Samiri12 has led them astray.” 86 So Musa returned to his people in a state of indignation and sorrow. He said, “O my people! Did not your Lord make a handsome promise to you? Did then the promise seem to you long in coming? Or did you desire that wrath should descend so you broke your promise to me?” 87 They said, “We broke not the promise to you, as far as lay in our power. But we were made to carry the weight of the ornaments of the whole people, and we threw them into the fire, and that was what the Samiri suggested.” 88 Then he brought out of the fire before the people the image of a calf. It seemed to low, so they said, “This is your god, and the god of Musa, but Musa has forgotten!” 89 Could they not see that it could not return them a word for answer, and that it had no power either to harm them or to do them good? 90 Harun had already before this said to them, “O my people! You are being tested in this. For truly your Lord is God Most gracious. So follow me and obey my command.” 91 They had said, “We will not abandon this cult, but we will devote ourselves to it until Musa returns to us.”

92 Musa said, “O Harun! When you saw them going wrong, what kept you back 93 from following me? Did you then disobey my order?” 94 Harun replied, “O son of my mother! Seize me not by my beard nor by the hair of my head! Truly I feared lest you should say, ‘You have caused a division among Bani-Israel, and you did not respect my word!'” 95 Musa said, “What then is your case, O Samiri?” 96 He replied, “I saw what they saw not, so I took a handful of dust from the footprint of the messenger, and threw it into the calf. Thus did my soul suggest to me.” 97 Musa said, “Begone! But your punishment in this life will be what you will say, ‘Touch me not.’ Moreover for a future penalty you have a promise that will not fail. Now look at your god, of whom you have become a devoted worshipper. We will certainly melt it in a blazing fire and scatter it abroad in the sea!” 98 But the God of you all is God. There is no god but he. All things he comprehends in his knowledge.

99 Thus do we relate to you some stories of what happened before; for we have sent you a message from our own presence. 100 If any turn away from it, truly they will bear a burden on the day of judgment. 101 They will abide in this state; and grievous will the burden be to them on that day, 102 The day when the trumpet will be sounded—that day—we shall gather the sinful, blear eyed with terror. 103 In whispers will they consult each other, “You waited not longer than ten days.” 104 We know best what they will say, when their leader most eminent in conduct will say, “You waited not longer than a day!”

105 They ask you concerning the mountains. Say, “My Lord will uproot them and scatter them as dust. 106 He will leave them as plains smooth and level. 107 Nothing crooked or curved will you see in their place. 108 On that day they will strictly follow the caller with no deviation. All sounds shall humble themselves in the presence of the most gracious. Nothing shall you hear but the sound of their feet as they march. 109 On that day no intercession will avail except that of the one13 to whom permission has been granted by the most gracious, and whose word is acceptable to him14. 110 He knows what is before and what will be after them; but they cannot comprehend his knowledge. 111 All faces shall be humbled before the Living, the Self-Subsisting, the Eternal. Hopeless indeed will be the man that carries iniquity on his back. 112 But he who works deeds of righteousness and has faith, will have no fear of harm nor of any withholding of what is his due. 113 Thus have we sent this down an Arabic Quran, and explained in detail some of the warnings, in order that they may fear, or that it may cause their remembrance of him. 114 High above all is God, the king, the truth!

Be not in haste with the Quran before it is completed, but say, “O my Lord, advance me in knowledge.” 115 We had already, beforehand, taken the covenant of Adam15, but he forgot; and we found on his part no firm resolve. 116 When we said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves to Adam,” they prostrated themselves, but not Iblis16. He refused. 117 Then we said, “O Adam! Truly, this is an enemy to you and your wife. So let him not get you both out of the garden, so that you land in misery. 118 There is therein enough provision for you not to go hungry nor to go naked, 119 nor to suffer from thirst, nor from the sun’s heat.” 120 But Shaitan17 whispered evil to him and said, “O Adam! Shall I lead you to the tree of eternity and to a kingdom that never decays?” 121 They both ate of the tree, and so their nakedness appeared to them. They began to sew together leaves from the garden for their covering. Thus did Adam disobey his Lord, and allow himself to be seduced. 122 But his Lord chose him, and turned to him, and gave him guidance. 123 He said, “Get down, both of you, all together, from the garden, with enmity between you18.”

But if, as is sure, there comes to you guidance from me, whoever follows my guidance, will not lose his way, nor fall into misery. 124 But whoever turns away from my message, truly for him is a life narrowed down, and we shall raise him up blind on the day of judgment. 125 He will say, “O my Lord! Why have you raised me up blind, while I had sight before?” 126 God will say, “When our signs came to you, you disregarded them. So will you, this day, be disregarded.” 127 And thus do we reward him who transgresses beyond bounds and believes not in the signs of his Lord. And the penalty of the hereafter is far more grievous and more enduring.

128 Is it not a warning to such men to call to mind how many generations before them we destroyed, in whose haunts they now move? Truly, in this are signs for men endued with understanding. 129 Had it not been for a word that went forth before from your Lord, their punishment must necessarily have come; but there is a term appointed for respite. 130 Therefore be patient with what they say, and celebrate constantly the praises of the Lord, before the rising of the sun, and before its setting. Yes, celebrate them for part of the hours of the night, and at the ends of the day, that you may have spiritual joy. 131 Nor strain your eyes in longing for the things we have given for enjoyment to parties of them; the splendour of the life of this world, through which we test them. But the provision of the Lord is better and more enduring. 132 Enjoin prayer on your people, and be constant therein. We ask you not to provide sustenance. We provide it for you. But the fruit of the hereafter is for righteousness.

133 They say, “Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord?” Has not a clear sign come to them of all that was in the previous scriptures? 134 And if we had inflicted on them a penalty before this, they would have said, “Our Lord! If only you had sent us a messenger, we would certainly have followed your signs before we were humbled and put to shame.” 135 Say, “Each one of us is waiting. Wait, therefore, and soon you shall know who it is that is on the straight and even way, and who it is that has received guidance.”

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  1. God, in Arabic allah, referring to the one true God, as opposed to an idol or “god.” It is the Arabic equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew), alaha (Syriac), and theos (Greek), all of which accurately translate into English as “God.” This translation choice is consistent with respected English Quran translations including those of A. Yusuf Ali (original edition), S.H. Nasr (Study Quran), T.B. Irving, and T. Itani (Clear Quran). ↩︎
  2. the Gracious, the Merciful, the highlighting of God’s grace and mercy predates the Quran, coming down from the many hundreds of references in the Taurat, Zabur, and Injil. A few samples follow:
    Taurat, Exodus 34:6 — …YAHWEH, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth. 
    Zabur 145:8 — YAHWEH is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
    Taurat, Joel 2:13 — Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to YAHWEH your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
    Taurat, Yunus 4:2 — …I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.”
    Injil, 1 Timothy 1:2 — …Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and AL-MASIH ‘ISA our Lord.
    Injil, Hebrews 4:16 — Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need. ↩︎
  3. 20:1 meaning unknown. ↩︎
  4. 20:9 Musa, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Moses meaning “to pull out” or “draw out” (of water); referring to the biblical story where he was rescued from the Nile River by Firaun’s daughter. The original account of Musa‘s story begins in the Taurat, Exodus 3. ↩︎
  5. 20:17 what is that in your right hand, O Musa? The original account of Musa’s story continues in the Taurat, Exodus 4. ↩︎
  6. 20:24 Firaun, an Arabic term derived from the Hebrew title Pharaoh, used for the kings of ancient Egypt. ↩︎
  7. 20:30 Harun, this Arabic name and the English name Aaron, are both derived from the Hebrew name Aharon, possibly meaning “exalted” or “high mountain.” ↩︎
  8. 20:40 The original account is found in the Taurat, Exodus 2. ↩︎
  9. 20:40 Then you killed a man, From the original account found in the Taurat, Exodus 2:11-12 which says, “It happened in those days, when Musa had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers. He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.” ↩︎
  10. 20:40 Madyan, or Midian. ↩︎
  11. 20:47 Bani-Israel, or Children of Israel, the Jewish people. They take their name from their forefather Prophet Yaqub (Jacob), to whom God gave the name Israel, as stated in the Taurat, Genesis 32:28 which says: He said, “Your name will no longer be called ‘Yaqub,’ but, ‘Israel,’ for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ↩︎
  12. 20:85 Samiri, an unknown individual. Rendered Samaritan in the translations of A.J. Arberry, S.H. Nasr, Majid Fakhry, and T.B. Irving. See the Taurat, 2 Kings 17 for insight on the origin of the Samaritans in the region called Samaria (the northern part of today’s West Bank). They came into existence as a result of Assyrian resettlement policies after the Assryian invasion of the kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE. This means that the Samaritans did not exist as a people until about 700 years after the time of Prophet Musa (Moses). ↩︎
  13. 20:109 no intercession will avail except that of the one, all of Al-Kitab identifies only one person as having the power of intercession—Prophet ‘ISA AL-MASIH. The Taurat says prophetically that ‘ISA “bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Shaya 53:12). The Injil plainly teaches that ‘ISA “is also able to save completely those who draw near to God through him, seeing he lives forever to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Also consider 1 Timothy 2:5 which says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man AL-MASIH ‘ISA.” ↩︎
  14. 20:109 whose word is acceptable to him, Compare what Prophet ‘ISA Ibn Maryam said about his own words, “For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.” (Injil, John 12:49-50) ↩︎
  15. 20:115 Adam, the Hebrew word adam means man, mankind, and gave the first man his name, Adam. The word adam can also mean ground and so helps make sense of the Taurat’s assertion that Adam was formed from the ground. Genesis 2:7 says: “YAHWEH God formed Adam (or the man) from the dust of the ground (adama), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Adam became a living soul.” ↩︎
  16. 20:116 Iblis, derived from the Greek diabolos, which also gives rise to the English word, devil. ↩︎
  17. 20:120 Shaitan, is derived from the Hebrew Satan, which means “adversary” or “accuser.” ↩︎
  18. 20:123 enmity between you, This “enmity” is explained in the Taurat‘s account of this event. In Genesis 3:15, God says to Shaitan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Shaitan is our avowed enemy, but one day he will be defeated by the “offspring of the woman,” that is, the only man to be born of a woman without a human father, ‘ISA Ibn Maryam. This theme of ‘ISA AL-MASIH’s victory over Shaitan is prominent in the holy Injil. He came so that “he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, Iblis” (Hebrews 2:14, see also 1 John 3:8). ↩︎