{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/yaq/yaq024.htm","path":"isl/yaq/yaq024.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/yaq/yaq024.htm","text":"The Holy Quran, tr. by Yusuf Ali, [1934]\nIn the name of God, Most Gracious,\n Most Merciful.\n1. A S\u016bra which We\n Have sent down and\n Which We have ordained:\n In it have We sent down\n Clear Signs, in order that\n Ye may receive admonition.\n2. The woman and the man\n Guilty of adultery or fornication,\u2014\n Flog each of them\n With a hundred stripes:\n Let not compassion move you\n In their case, in a matter\n Prescribed by God, if ye believe\n In God and the Last Day:\n And let a party\n Of the Believers\n Witness their punishment.\n3. Let no man guilty of\n Adultery or fornication marry\n Any but a woman\n Similarly guilty, or an Unbeliever:\n Nor let any but such a man\n Or an Unbeliever\n Marry such a woman:\n To the Believers such a thing\n Is forbidden.\n4. And those who launch\n A charge against chaste women,\n And produce not four witnesses\n (To support their allegations),\u2014\n Flog them with eighty stripes;\n And reject their evidence\n Ever after: for such men\n Are wicked transgressors;\u2014\n5. Unless they repent thereafter\n And mend (their conduct);\n For God is Oft-Forgiving,\n Most Merciful.\n6. And for those who launch\n A charge against their spouses,\n And have (in support)\n No evidence but their own,\u2014\nTheir solitary evidence\n (Can be received) if they\n Bear witness four times\n (With an oath) by God\n That they are solemnly\n Telling the truth;\n7. And the fifth (oath)\n (Should be) that they solemnly\n Invoke the curse of God\n On themselves if they\n Tell a lie.\n8. But it would avert\n The punishment from the wife,\n If she bears witness\n Four times (with an oath)\n By God, that (her husband)\n Is telling a lie;\n9. And the fifth (oath)\n Should be that she solemnly\n Invokes the wrath of God\n On herself if (her accuser)\n Is telling the truth.\n10. If it were not\n For God's grace and mercy\n On you, and that God\n Is Oft-Returning,\n Full of wisdom,\n (Ye would be ruined indeed).\n11. Those who brought forward\n The lie are a body\nAmong yourselves: think it not\n To be an evil to you;\n On the contrary it is good\n For you: to every man\n Among them (will come\n The punishment) of the sin\n That he earned, and to him\n Who took on himself the lead\n Among them, will be\n A Penalty grievous.\n12. Why did not the Believers\n Men and women\u2014when ye\n Heard of the affair,\u2014put\n The best construction on it\n In their own minds\n And say, \"This (charge)\n Is an obvious lie\"?\n13. Why did they not bring\n Four witnesses to prove it?\n When they have not brought\n The witnesses, such men,\n In the sight of God,\n (Stand forth) themselves as liars!\n14. Were it not for the grace\n And mercy of God on you,\n In this world and the Hereafter,\n A grievous penalty would have\n Seized you in that ye rushed\n Glibly into this affair.\n15. Behold, ye received it\n On your tongues,\nAnd said out of your mouths\n Things of which ye had\n No knowledge; and ye thought\n It to be a light matter,\n While it was most serious\n In the sight of God.\n16. And why did ye not,\n When ye heard it, say?\u2014\n \"It is not right of us\n To speak of this:\n Glory to God! this is\n A most serious slander!\"\n17. God doth admonish you,\n That ye may never repeat\n Such (conduct), if ye\n Are (true) Believers.\n18. And God makes the Signs\n Plain to you: for God\n Is full of knowledge and wisdom.\n19. Those who love (to see)\n Scandal published broadcast\n Among the Believers, will have\n A grievous Penalty in this life\n And in the Hereafter: God\n Knows, and ye know not.\n20. Were it not for the grace\n And mercy of God on you,\nAnd that God is\n Full of kindness and mercy,\n (Ye would be ruined indeed).\n21. O ye who believe!\n Follow not Satan's footsteps:\n If any will follow the footsteps\n Of Satan, he will (but) command\n What is shameful and wrong:\n And were it not for the grace\n And mercy of God on you.\n Not one of you would ever\n Have been pure: but God\n Doth purify whom He pleases:\n And God is One Who\n Hears and knows (all things).\n22. Let not those among you\n Who are endued with grace\n And amplitude of means\n Resolve by oath against helping\n Their kinsmen, those in want,\n And those who have left\nTheir homes in God's cause:\n Let them forgive and overlook,\n Do you not wish\n That God should forgive you?\n For God is Oft-Forgiving,\n Most Merciful.\n23. Those who slander chaste women,\n Indiscreet but believing,\n Are cursed in this life\n And in the Hereafter:\n For them is a grievous Penalty,\u2014\n24. On the Day when their tongues,\n Their hands, and their feet\n Will bear witness against them\n As to their actions.\n25. On that Day God\n Will pay them back\n (All) their just dues,\n And they will realise\n That God is\n The (very) Truth,\n That makes all things manifest.\n26. Women impure are for men impure\n And men impure for women impure\n And women of purity\n Are for men of purity,\n And men of purity\n Are for women of purity:\n These are not affected\nBy what people say:\n For them there is forgiveness,\n And a provision honourable.\n27. O ye who believe!\n Enter not houses other than\n Your own, until ye have\n Asked permission and saluted\n Those in them: that is\n Best for you, in order that\n Ye may heed (what is seemly).\n28. If ye find no one\n In the house, enter not\n Until permission is given\n To you: if ye are asked\n To go back, go back:\n That makes for greater purity\nFor yourselves: and God\n Knows well all that ye do.\n29. It is no fault on your part\n To enter houses not used\n For living in, which serve\n Some (other) use for you:\n And God has knowledge\n Of what ye reveal\n And what ye conceal.\n30. Say to the believing men\n That they should lower\n Their gaze and guard\n Their modesty: that will make\n For greater purity for them:\n And God is well acquainted\n With all that they do.\n31. And say to the believing women\n That they should lower\n Their gaze and guard\n Their modesty; that they\n Should not display their\n Beauty and ornaments except\n What (must ordinarily) appear\n Thereof; that they should\nDraw their veils over\n Their bosoms and not display\n Their beauty except\n To their husbands, their fathers,\n Their husbands\u2019 fathers, their sons,\n Their husbands\u2019 sons,\n Their brothers or their brothers\u2019 sons,\n Or their sisters\u2019 sons,\n Or their women, or the slaves\n Whom their right hands\n Possess, or male servants\n Free of physical needs,\n Or small children who\n Have no sense of the shame\n Of sex; and that they\n Should not strike their feet\n In order to draw attention\n To their hidden ornaments.\n And O ye Believers!\n Turn ye all together\n Towards God, that ye\n May attain Bliss.\n32. Marry those among you\n Who are single, or\n The virtuous ones among\n Your slaves, male or female:\n If they are in poverty,\n God will give them\n Means out of His grace:\n For God encompasseth all,\n And He knoweth all things.\n33. Let those who find not\n The wherewithal for marriage\n Keep themselves chaste, until\n God gives them means\n Out of His grace.\n And if any of your slaves\n Ask for a deed in writing\n (To enable them to earn\n Their freedom for a certain sum),\n Give them such a deed\n If ye know any good\n In them; yea, give them\n Something yourselves\n Out of the means which\n God has given to you.\n But force not your maids\n To prostitution when they desire\n Chastity, in order that ye\n May make a gain\n In the goods of this life.\n But if anyone compels them,\n Yet, after such compulsion,\n Is God Oft-Forgiving,\n Most Merciful (to them).\n34. We have already sent down\n To you verses making things\n Clear, an illustration from (the story\n Of) people who passed away\n Before you, and an admonition\n For those who fear (God).\n35. God is the Light\n Of the heavens and the earth.\n The parable of His Light\n Is as if there were a Niche\n And within it a Lamp:\n The Lamp enclosed in Glass:\nThe glass as it were\n A brilliant star:\n Lit from a blessed Tree,\n An Olive, neither of the East\n Nor of the West,\n Whose Oil is well-nigh\n Luminous,\n Though fire scarce touched it\n Light upon Light!\n God doth guide\n Whom He will\n To His Light:\n God doth set forth Parables\n For men: and God\n Doth know all things.\n36. (Lit is such a Light)\n In houses, which God\n Hath permitted to be raised\n To honour; for the celebration,\nIn them, of His name:\n In them is He glorified\n In the mornings and\n In the evenings, (again and again),\n37. By men whom neither\n Traffic nor merchandise\n Can divert from the Remembrance\n Of God, nor from regular Prayer,\n Nor from the practice\n Of regular Charity:\n Their (only) fear is\n For the Day when\n Hearts and eyes\n Will be transformed\n (In a world wholly new),\u2014\n38. That God may reward them\n According to the best\n Of their deeds, and add\n Even more for them\n Out of His Grace:\n For God doth provide\n For those whom He will,\n Without measure.\n39. but the Unbelievers,\u2014\n Their deeds are like a mirage\nIn sandy deserts, which\n The man parched with thirst\n Mistakes for water; until\n When he comes up to it,\n He finds it to be nothing:\n But he finds God\n (Ever) with him, and God\n Will pay him his account:\n And God is swift\n In taking account.\n40. Or (the Unbelievers\u2019 state)\n Is like the depths of darkness\n In a vast deep ocean,\n Overwhelmed with billow\n Topped by billow,\n Topped by (dark) clouds:\n Depths of darkness, one\n Above another: if a man\n Stretches out his hand,\n He can hardly see it!\n For any to whom God\n Giveth not light,\n There is no light!\n41. Seest thou not that it is\n God Whose praises all beings\n In the heavens and on earth\n Do celebrate, and the birds\n(Of the air) with wings\n Outspread? Each one knows\n Its own (mode of) prayer\n And praise. And God\n Knows well all that they do.\n42. Yea, to God belongs\n The dominion of the heavens\n And the earth; and to God\n Is the final goal (of all).\n43. Seest thou not that God\n Makes the clouds move\n Gently, then joins them\n Together, then makes them\n Into a heap?\u2014then wilt thou\n See rain issue forth\n From their midst. And He\n Sends down from the sky\n Mountain masses (of clouds)\n Wherein is hail: He strikes\n Therewith whom He pleases\n And He turns it away\n From whom He pleases.\n The vivid flash of His lightning\n Well-nigh blinds the sight.\n44. It is God Who alternates\n The Night and the Day:\nVerily in these things\n Is an instructive example\n For those who have vision!\n45. And God has created\n Every animal from water: sort\n Of them there are some\n That creep on their bellies;\n Some that walk on two legs;\n And some that walk on four.\n God creates what He wills;\n For verily God has power\n Over all things.\n46. We have indeed sent down\n Signs that make things manifest:\n And God guides whom He wills\n To a Way that is straight.\n47. They say, \"We believe\n In God and in the Apostle,\n And we obey\": but\n Even after that, some of them\n Turn away: they are not\n (Really) Believers.\n48. When they are summoned\n To God and His Apostle,\n In order that he may judge\n Between them, behold, some\n Of them decline (to come).\n49. But if the right is\n On their side, they come\n To him with all submission\n50. Is it that there is\n A disease in their hearts\n Or do they doubt,\n Or are they in fear,\n That God and His Apostle\n Will deal unjustly with them?\n Nay, it is they themselves\n Who do wrong.\n51. The answer of the Believers,\n When summoned to God\n And His Apostle, in order\n That he may judge between them,\n Is no other than this:\n They say, \"We hear and we obey\":\n It is such as these\n That will attain felicity.\n52. It is such as obey\n God and His Apostle,\n And fear God and do\n Right, that will win\n (In the end).\n53. They swear their strongest oaths\n By God that, if only thou\nWouldst command them, they\n Would leave (their homes).\n Say: \"Swear ye not;\n Obedience is (more) reasonable;\n Verily, God is well acquainted\n With all that ye do.\"\n54. Say: \"Obey God, and obey\n The Apostle: but if ye turn\n Away, he is only responsible\n For the duty placed on him\n And ye for that placed\n On you. If ye obey him,\n Ye shall be on right guidance.\n The Apostle's duty is only\n To preach the clear (Message).\n55. God has promised, to those\n Among you who believe\n And work righteous deeds, that He\n Will, of a surety, grant them\n In the land, inheritance\n (Of power), as He granted it\n To those before them; that\n He will establish in authority\n Their religion\u2014the one\n Which He has chosen for them;\n And that He will change\n (Their state), after the fear\n In which they (lived), to one\nOf security and peace:\n 'They will worship Me (alone)\n And not associate aught with Me.'\n If any do reject Faith\n After this, they are\n Rebellious and wicked.\n56. So establish regular Prayer\n And give regular Charity;\n And obey the Apostle;\n That ye may receive mercy.\n57. Never think thou\n That the Unbelievers\n Are going to frustrate\n (God's Plan) on earth:\n Their abode is the Fire,\u2014\n And it is indeed\n An evil refuge!\n58. O ye who believe!\n Let those whom your right hands\n Possess, and the (children) among you\nWho have not come of age\n Ask your permission (before\n They come to your presence),\n On three occasions: before\n Morning prayer; the while\n Ye doff your clothes\n For the noonday heat;\n And after the late-night prayer:\n These are your three times\n Of undress: outside those times\n It is not wrong for you\n Or for them to move about\n Attending to each other:\n Thus does God make clear\n The Signs to you: for God\n Is full of knowledge and wisdom.\n59. But when the children among you\n Come of age, let them (also)\n Ask for permission, as do those\n Senior to them (in age):\n Thus does God make clear\n His Signs to you: for God\n Is full of knowledge and wisdom.\n60. Such elderly women as are\n Past the prospect of marriage,\u2014\n There is no blame on them\n If they lay aside\nTheir (outer) garments, provided\n They make not a wanton display\n Of their beauty: but\n It is best for them\n To be modest: and God\n Is One Who sees and knows\n All things.\n61. It is no fault in the blind\n Nor in one born lame, nor\n In one afflicted with illness,\n Nor in yourselves, that ye\n Should eat in your own houses,\n Or those of your fathers,\n Or your mothers, or your brothers,\n Or your sisters, or your father's brothers\n Or your father's sisters,\n Or your mother's brothers,\n Or your mother's sisters,\n Or in houses of which\n The keys are in your possession,\n Or in the house of a sincere\n Friend of yours: there is\n No blame on you, whether\n Ye eat in company or\n Separately. But if ye\n Enter houses, salute each other\u2014\n A greeting of blessing\n And purity as from God.\nThus does God make clear\n The Signs to you: that ye\n May understand.\n62. Only those are Believers,\n Who believe in God and\n His Apostle: when they are\n With him on a matter\n Requiring collective action,\n They do not depart until\n They have asked for his leave;\n Those who ask for thy leave\n Are those who believe in God\n And His Apostle; so when\n They ask for thy leave,\n For some business of theirs,\n Give leave to those of them\n Whom thou wilt, and ask\n God for their forgiveness:\n For God is Oft-Forgiving,\n Most Merciful.\n63. Deem not the summons\n Of the Apostle among yourselves\n Like the summons of one\n Of you to another: God\n Doth know those of you\n Who slip away under shelter\n Of some excuse: then\n Let those beware who\nWithstand the Apostle's order,\n Lest some trial befall them,\n Or a grievous Penalty\n Be inflicted on them.\n64. Be quite sure that\n To God doth belong\n Whatever is in the heavens\n And on earth. Well doth He\n Know what ye are intent upon:\n And one day they will be\n Brought back to Him, and He\n Will tell them the truth\n Of what they did:\n For God doth know\n All things.","title":"The Holy Quran: S\u016bra XXIV. N\u016br, or Light","type":"page"}