AL AHZAB (The Confederates)
In the Name of God,1 the Gracious, the Merciful 2
1 O prophet! Fear God, and listen not to the unbelievers and the hypocrites: Truly God is full of knowledge and wisdom.
2 But follow that which comes to you by inspiration from your Lord: for God is well acquainted with all that you do.
3 And put your trust in God, and enough is God as a disposer of affairs.
4 God has not made for any man two hearts in his one body: nor has he made your wives whom you divorce by Zihar your mothers: nor has he made your adopted sons your sons. Such is only your manner of speech by your mouths. But God tells the truth, and he shows the way.
5 Call them by the names of their fathers: that is more just in the sight of God. But if you know not their father’s name, call them your brothers in faith, or your Mawlas. But there is no blame on you if you make a mistake in this. What counts is the intention of your hearts. God is oft-forgiving, most merciful.
6 The prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers. Blood-relations among each other have closer personal ties in God’s Book, than believers and Muhajirs: nevertheless do what is just to your closest friends: such is the writing of Al-Kitab.
7 And remember we took from the prophets their covenant, as we did from you. From Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, and ‘ISA3 Ibn Maryam, we took a solemn covenant:
8 That God may question the custodians of truth concerning the truth they were charged with: and he has prepared for the unbelievers a grievous penalty.
9 O you who believe remember the grace of God, bestowed on you, when there came down on you hosts: but we sent against them a hurricane and forces that you saw not: but God sees all that you do.
10 Behold they came on you from above you and from below you, and behold, the eyes became dim and the hearts gaped up to the throats, and you imagined various thoughts about God.
11 In that situation were the believers tried: they were shaken as by a tremendous shaking.
12 And behold! The hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease say: “God and his Messenger promised us nothing but delusions.”
13 Behold! A party among them said: “You men of Yathrib! You cannot stand the attack! Therefore go back!” and a band of them ask for leave of the prophet, saying, “Truly our houses are bare and exposed,” though they were not exposed: They intended nothing but to run away.
14 And if an entry had been effected to them from the sides of the city, and they had been incited to sedition, they would certainly have brought it to pass, with none but a brief delay.
15 And you they had already covenanted with God not to turn their backs, and a covenant with God must be answered for.
16 Say: Running away will not profit you if you are running away from death or slaughter; and even if you escape, no more than a brief respite will you be allowed to enjoy.
17 Say: Who is it that can screen you from God if it be his wish to give you punishment or to give you mercy? Nor will they find for themselves, besides God, any protector or helper.
18 Truly God knows those among you who keep back men and those who say to their brothers, Come along to us, but come not to the fight except for just a little while.
19 They are slow to help you. Then when fear comes, you will see them looking to you, their eyes revolving, like one over whom death hovers: but when the fear is past, they will cut you with sharp tongues, covetous of goods. Such men have no faith, and so God has made their deeds of none effect: and that is easy for God.
20 They think that the confederates have not withdrawn; and if the confederates should come again, they would wish they were in the deserts among the Bedouins, and seeking news about you; and if they were in your midst, they would fight but little.
21 You have indeed in the Messenger of God a beautiful pattern for anyone whose hope is in God and the Last Day, and who engages much in the praise of God.
22 When the believers saw the confederate forces, they said: “This is what God and his Messenger had promised us, and God and his Messenger told us what was true.” And it only added to their faith and their zeal in obedience.
23 Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with God: of them some have completed their vow, and some wait: but they have never changed in the least:
24 That God may reward the men of truth for their truth, and punish the hypocrites if that be his will, or turn them in mercy: for God is oft-forgiving, most merciful.
25 And God turned back the unbelievers for all their fury: no advantage did they again; and enough is God for the believers in their fight. And God is full of strength, able to enforce his will.
26 And those of the people of Al-Kitab who aided them God did take them down from their strongholds and cast terror into their hearts, so that some you slew, and some you made prisoners.
27 And he made you heirs of their lands, their houses, and their goods, and of a land which you had not frequented before. And God has power over all things.
28 O prophet, say to your wives: if it be that you desire the life of this of this world, and its glitter, then come I will provide for your enjoyment and set free in a handsome manner.
29 But if you seek God and his Messenger, and the home of the hereafter, truly God has prepared for the well-doers among you a great reward.
30 O wives of the prophet! If any of you were guilty of evident improper conduct, the punishment would be doubled to her, and that is easy for God.
31 But any of you that is devout in the service of God and his Messenger, and works righteousness-to her shall we grant her reward twice: and we have prepared for her a generous sustenance.
32 O wives of the prophet! You are not like any of the other women: if you fear God, be not too soft of speech, lest one in whose heart is a disease should be moved with desire: but speak a speech that is just.
33 And stay quietly in your houses, and make not a dazzling display, like that of the former times of ignorance: and establish regular prayer, and give regular charity; and obey God and his Messenger. And God only wishes to remove all abomination from you, you members of the family, and to make you pure and spotless.
34 And recite what is rehearsed to you in your homes, of the signs of God and his wisdom: for God understands the finest mysteries and is well acquainted with them.
35 For submitted men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in God’s praise, for them has God prepared forgiveness and great reward.
36 It is not fitting for a believer, men or women, when a matter has been decided by God and his Messenger, to have any option about their decision: if anyone disobeys God and his Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong path.
37 Behold you said to one who had received the grace of God and your favour: Retain your wife, and fear God. But you hid in your heart that which God was about to make clear. You feared the people, but it is more fitting that you fear God. Then when Zayd had dissolved his marriage with her, with the necessary formality, we joined her in marriage to you: in order that there may be no difficulty to the believers in marriage with the wives of their adopted sons, when the latter have dissolved with the necessary formality their marriage with them. And God’s command must be fulfilled.
38 There can be no difficulty to the prophet in what God has indicated to him as a duty. It was the practice approved of God among those of old that have passed away, and the command of God is a decree determined.
39 It is the practice of those who preach the messages of God, and fear him and fear none but God. And enough is God to call men to account.
40 Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but the Messenger of God, and the seal of the prophets: and God has full knowledge of all things.
41 O you who believe celebrate the praise of God, and do this often;
42 And glorify him morning and evening.
43 He it is who send blessings on you, as do his angels, that he may bring you out from the depths of darkness into light: and he is full of mercy to the believers.
44 Their salutation on the day they meet him will be peace; and he has prepared for them a generous reward.
45 O prophet, truly we have sent you as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner,
46 And as one who invites to God by his leave, and as a lamp spreading light.
47 Then give the glad tidings to the believers, that they shall from God a very great bounty.
48 And obey not the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and heed not their insults, but put your trust in God. For enough is God as a disposer of affairs.
49 O you who believe when you marry believing women, and then divorce them before you have touched them, no period of Iddat have you to count in respect of them: so give them a present, and set them free in a handsome manner.
50 O prophet! We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have paid their dowers; and those whom your right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom God has assigned to you and daughters of your paternal uncles and aunts, and daughters of your maternal uncles and aunts, who migrated from Mecca with you; and any believing woman who dedicates her soul to the prophet if the prophet wishes to wed her; this only for you, and not for the believers. We know what we have appointed for them as to their wives and the captives whom their right hands possess; in order that there should be no difficulty for you. And God is oft-forgiving most merciful.
51 You may defer any of them that you please, and you may receive any you please: and there is no blame on you if you invite one whom you had set aside. This is good for their comfort, the prevention of their grief, and the satisfaction of all of them with that which you have to give them and God knows what is in your hearts: and God is all-knowing, most forbearing.
52 It is not lawful for you to marry more women after this, nor to change them for other wives, even though their beauty attract you, except any your right hand should possess: and God watches over all things.
53 O you who believe! Enter not the prophet’s houses — until leave is given you — for a meal, but not to wait for its preparation: but when you are invited, enter; and when you have taken your meal, disperse, without seeking familiar talk. Such behaviour annoys the prophet: he is ashamed to dismiss you, but God is not ashamed to tell you the truth. And when you ask his ladies for anything you want, ask them from before a screen: that makes for greater purity for your hearts and for theirs. Nor is it right for you that you should annoy God’s Messenger, or that you should marry his widows after him at any time. Truly such a thing is in God’s sight an enormity.
54 Whether you reveal anything or conceal it, truly God has full knowledge of all things.
55 There is no blame on these ladies if they appear before their fathers or their sons, their brothers, or their brother’s sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, and fear God; for God is witness to all things.
56 God and his angels send blessing on the prophet: O you that believe, send blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.
57 Those who annoy God and his Messenger, God has cursed them in this world and in the hereafter, and has prepared for them a humiliating punishment.
58 And those who annoy believing men and women undeservedly, bear a calumny and a glaring sin.
59 O prophet! Tell your wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons when in public: that is most convenient, that they should be known as such and not molested. And God is oft-forgiving, most merciful.
60 Truly, if the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and those who stir up sedition in the city, desist not, we shall certainly stir you up against them: then will they not be able to stay in it as your neighbours for any length of time:
61 They shall have a curse on them: wherever they are found, they shall be seized and slain.
62 Such was the practice of God among those who lived aforetime: no change will you find in the practice of God.
63 Men ask you concerning the Hour: Say, The knowledge of it is with God: and what will make you understand? Perhaps the Hour is near.
64 Truly God has cursed the unbelievers and prepared for them a blazing fire,
65 To dwell in it forever: no protector will they find, nor helper.
66 The day that their faces will be turned upside down in the fire, they will say: “Woe to us! Would that we had obeyed God and obeyed the Messenger!”
67 And they would say: “Our Lord! We obeyed our chiefs and our great ones, and they misled us as to the right path.
68 “Our Lord! Give them double penalty and curse them with a very great curse!”
69 O you who believe! Be not like those who vexed and insulted Musa, but God cleared him of the calumnies they had uttered: and he was honourable in God’s sight.
70 O you who believe, fear God, and say a word directed to the right:
71 That he may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins: he that obeys God and his Messenger, has already attained the highest achievement.
72 We did indeed offer the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid of it: but man undertook it; he was indeed unjust and foolish;
73 So God punishes the hypocrites, men and women, and the unbelievers, men and women, and God turns in mercy to the believers, men and women: for God is oft-forgiving, most merciful.
- 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). ↩︎
- 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. ↩︎ - 33:7 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH SAVES.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎