AL LAYL (The Night)
In the Name of God,1 the Gracious, the Merciful 2
1 By the night as it conceals;
2 By the day as it appears in glory;
3 By the creation of male and female;
4 Truly, you strive for various ends.
5 So he who gives and fears,
6 And testifies to the best,
7 We will indeed make smooth for him the path to bliss.
8 But he who is a greedy miser and thinks himself self-sufficient,
9 And gives the lie to the best,
10 We will indeed make smooth for him the path to misery;
11 Nor will his wealth profit him when he falls headlong.
12 Truly we take upon ourselves to guide,
13 And truly to us belong the end and the beginning.
14 Therefore I warn you of a fire blazing fiercely;
15 None shall reach it but those most unfortunate ones
16 Who give the lie to truth and turn their backs.
17 But those most devoted to God shall be removed far from it,
18 Those who spend their wealth for increase in self-purification,
19 And have in their minds no favour from anyone for which a reward is expected in return,
20 But only the desire to seek the face of their Lord most high;
21 And soon will they attain satisfaction.
- 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. ↩︎