| | Aisha Bewley rendition of Surah Repentance(at-Taubah)
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| 9:1 | | An announcement to those mushrikun you have a general treaty with that Allah and His Messenger are free of them: |
| 9:2 | | ´You may travel about in the land for four months and know that you cannot thwart Allah and that Allah will humiliate the kafirun.´ |
| 9:3 | | A proclamation from Allah and His Messenger to mankind on the day of the greater pilgrimage: ´Allah is free of the idolaters, as is His Messenger. If you make tawba, it will be better for you. But if you turn your backs, know that you cannot thwart Allah.´ Give the kuffar the news of a painful punishment — |
| 9:4 | | except those among the idolaters you have treaties with, who have not then broken their treaties with you in any way, nor granted assistance to anyone against you. Honour their treaties until their time runs out. Allah loves those who have taqwa. |
| 9:5 | | Then, when the sacred months are over, kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and seize them and besiege them and lie in wait for them on every road. If they make tawba and establish salat and pay zakat, let them go on their way. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. |
| 9:6 | | If any of the idolaters ask you for protection, give them protection until they have heard the words of Allah. Then convey them to a place where they are safe. That is because they are a people who do not know. |
| 9:7 | | How could any of the idolaters possibly have a treaty with Allah and with His Messenger, except for those you made a treaty with at the Masjid al-Haram? As long as they are straight with you, be straight with them. Allah loves those who have taqwa. |
| 9:8 | | How indeed! For if they get the upper hand over you, they will respect neither kinship nor treaty. They please you with their mouths but their hearts belie their words. Most of them are deviators. |
| 9:9 | | They have sold Allah´s Signs for a paltry price, and they have barred access to His Way. What they have done is truly evil. |
| 9:10 | | They respect neither kinship nor treaty where a mumin is concerned. They are the people who overstep the limits. |
| 9:11 | | But if they make tawba and establish salat and pay zakat, they are your brothers in the deen. We make the Signs clear for people who have knowledge. |
| 9:12 | | If they break their oaths after making their treaty and defame your deen, then fight the leaders of kufr — their oaths mean nothing — so that hopefully they will stop. |
| 9:13 | | Will you not fight a people who have broken their oaths and resolved to expel the Messenger, and who initiated hostilities against you in the first place? Is it them you fear? Allah has more right to your fear if you are muminun. |
| 9:14 | | Fight them! Allah will punish them at your hands, and disgrace them and help you against them, and heal the hearts of those who have iman. |
| 9:15 | | He will remove the rage from their hearts. Allah turns to anyone He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. |
| 9:16 | | Or did you suppose that you would be left without Allah knowing those of you who have done jihad and who have not taken anyone as their intimate friends besides Allah and His Messenger and the muminun? Allah is aware of what you do. |
| 9:17 | | It is not for the idolaters to frequent the mosques of Allah, bearing witness against themselves of their kufr. They are the ones whose actions will come to nothing. They will be in the Fire timelessly, for ever. |
| 9:18 | | The mosques of Allah should only be frequented by those who have iman in Allah and the Last Day and establish salat and pay zakat, and fear no one but Allah. They are the ones most likely to be guided. |
| 9:19 | | Do you make the giving of water to the pilgrims and looking after the Masjid al-Haram the same as having iman in Allah and the Last Day and doing jihad in the Way of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah. Allah does not guide wrongdoing people. |
| 9:20 | | Those who have iman and make hijra and do jihad in the Way of Allah with their wealth and themselves have a higher rank with Allah. They are the ones who are victorious. |
| 9:21 | | Their Lord gives them the good news of His mercy and good pleasure and Gardens where they will enjoy everlasting delight, |
| 9:22 | | remaining in them timelessly, for ever and ever. Truly there is an immense reward with Allah. |
| 9:23 | | You who have iman, do not befriend your fathers and brothers if they prefer kufr to iman. Those among you who do befriend them are wrongdoers. |
| 9:24 | | Say: ´If your fathers or your sons or your brothers or your wives or your tribe, or any wealth you have acquired, or any business you fear may slump, or any house which pleases you, are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and doing jihad in His Way, then wait until Allah brings about His command. Allah does not guide people who are deviators.´ |
| 9:25 | | Allah has helped you on many occasions, including the Day of Hunayn* when your great numbers delighted you but did not help you in any way, and the earth seemed narrow to you for all its great breadth, and you turned your backs. |
| 9:26 | | Then Allah sent down His serenity on His Messenger and on the muminun, and sent down troops you could not see, and punished those who were kafir. That is how the kuffar are repaid. |
| 9:27 | | Then after that Allah will turn to anyone He wills. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. |
| 9:28 | | You who have iman! the idolaters are unclean, so after this year they should not come near the Masjid al-Haram. If you fear impoverishment, Allah will enrich you from His bounty if He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. |
| 9:29 | | Fight those of the people who were given the Book who do not have iman in Allah and the Last Day and who do not make haram what Allah and His Messenger have made haram and do not take as their deen the deen of Truth, until they pay the jizya with their own hands in a state of complete abasement. |
| 9:30 | | The Jews say, ´´Uzayr is the son of Allah,´ and the Christians say, ´The Messiah is the son of Allah.´ That is what they say with their mouths, copying the words of those who were kafir before. Allah fight them! How perverted they are! |
| 9:31 | | They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah, and also the Messiah, son of Maryam. Yet they were commanded to worship only one God. There is no god but Him! Glory be to Him above anything they associate with Him! |
| 9:32 | | They desire to extinguish Allah´s Light with their mouths. But Allah refuses to do other than perfect His Light, even though the kafirun detest it. |
| 9:33 | | It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Deen of Truth to exalt it over every other deen, even though the idolaters detest it. |
| 9:34 | | You who have iman! many of the rabbis and monks devour people´s property under false pretences and bar people from access to the Way of Allah. As for those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the Way of Allah, give them the news of a painful punishment |
| 9:35 | | on the Day it is heated up in the fire of Hell and their foreheads, sides and backs are branded with it: ´This is what you hoarded for yourselves, so taste what you were hoarding!´ |
| 9:36 | | There have been twelve months with Allah in the Book of Allah, from the day He first created the heavens and earth. Four of them are haram. That is the True Deen. So do not wrong one another during them. However, fight the idolaters totally just as they fight you totally, and know that Allah is with those who have taqwa. |
| 9:37 | | Deferring a sacred month is an increase in kufr by which the kuffar lead many people astray. One year they make it profane and another sacred to tally with the number Allah has made sacred. In that way they profane what Allah has made sacred. Their bad actions are made to seem good to them. Allah does not guide kafir people. |
| 9:38 | | You who have iman! what is the matter with you that when you are told, ´Go out and fight in the way of Allah,´ you sink down heavily to the earth? Are you happier with this world than the Next World? Yet the enjoyment of this world is very small compared to that of the Next World. |
| 9:39 | | If you do not go out to fight, He will punish you with a painful punishment and substitute another people in your place. You will not harm Him in any way. Allah has power over all things. |
| 9:40 | | If you do not help him, Allah did help him when the kuffar drove him out and there were two of them in the Cave.* He said to his companion, ´Do not be despondent, Allah is with us.´ Then Allah sent down His serenity upon him and reinforced him with troops you could not see. He made the word of the kuffar undermost. It is the word of Allah which is uppermost. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. |
| 9:41 | | Go out to fight, whatever your circumstances or desires, and do jihad with your wealth and yourselves in the Way of Allah. That is better for you if you only knew. |
| 9:42 | | If it had been a case of easy gains and a short journey, they would have followed you, but the distance was too great for them. They will swear by Allah: ´Had we been able to, we would have gone out with you.´ They are destroying their own selves. Allah knows that they are lying. |
| 9:43 | | Allah pardon you! Why did you excuse them until it was clear to you which of them were telling the truth and until you knew the liars? |
| 9:44 | | Those who have iman in Allah and the Last Day do not ask you to excuse them from doing jihad with their wealth and themselves. Allah knows the people who have taqwa. |
| 9:45 | | Only those who do not have iman in Allah and the Last Day ask you to excuse them. Their hearts are full of doubt and in their doubt they waver to and fro. |
| 9:46 | | If they had really desired to go out, they would have made proper preparations for it, but Allah was averse to their setting out so He held them back and they were told: ´Stay behind with those who stay behind.´ |
| 9:47 | | If they had gone out among you, they would have added nothing to you but confusion. They would have scurried about amongst you seeking to cause conflict between you, and among you there are some who would have listened to them. Allah knows the wrongdoers. |
| 9:48 | | They have already tried to cause conflict before, and turned things completely upside down for you, until the truth came and Allah´s command prevailed even though they detested it. |
| 9:49 | | Among them are there some who say, ´Give me permission to stay. Do not put temptation in my way.´ Have they not fallen into that very temptation? Hell hems in the kafirun. |
| 9:50 | | If good happens to you it galls them. If a mishap occurs to you, they say, ´We made our preparations in advance,´ and they turn away rejoicing. |
| 9:51 | | Say: ´Nothing can happen to us except what Allah has ordained for us. He is Our Master. It is in Allah that the muminun should put their trust.´ |
| 9:52 | | Say: ´What do you await for us except for one of the two best things?* But what we await for you is for Allah to inflict a punishment on you either directly from Himself or at our hands. So wait, we are waiting with you!´ |
| 9:53 | | Say: ´Whether you give readily or reluctantly, it will not be accepted from you. You are people who are deviators.´ |
| 9:54 | | Nothing prevents what they give from being accepted from them but the fact that they have rejected Allah and His Messenger, and that they only come to salat lethargically, and that they only give reluctantly. |
| 9:55 | | Do not let their wealth and children impress you. Allah merely wants to punish them by them during their life in this world and for them to expire while they are kuffar. |
| 9:56 | | They swear by Allah that they are of your number, but they are not of your number. Rather, they are people who are scared. |
| 9:57 | | If they could find a bolt-hole, cave or burrow, they would turn and scurry away into it. |
| 9:58 | | Among them there are some who find fault with you concerning the zakat. If they are given some of it, they are pleased but if they are not given any, they are angry. |
| 9:59 | | If only they had been pleased with what Allah and His Messenger had given them and had said, ´Allah is enough for us. Allah will give us of His bounty as will His Messenger. It is to Allah that we make our plea.´ |
| 9:60 | | Zakat is for: the poor, the destitute, those who collect it, reconciling people´s hearts, freeing slaves, those in debt, spending in the Way of Allah, and travellers. It is a legal obligation from Allah. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. |
| 9:61 | | Among them are some who insult the Prophet, saying he is only an ear. Say, ´An ear of good for you, believing in Allah and believing in the muminun, and a mercy for those among you who have iman.´ As for those who insult the Messenger of Allah, they will have a painful punishment. |
| 9:62 | | They swear to you by Allah in order to please you, but it would be more fitting for them to please Allah and His Messenger if they are muminun. |
| 9:63 | | Do they not know that whoever opposes Allah and His Messenger, will have the Fire of Hell, remaining in it timelessly, for ever? That is the great disgrace. |
| 9:64 | | The hypocrites are afraid that a sura may be sent down about them, informing them of what is in their hearts. Say: ´Go on mocking! Allah will expose everything you are afraid of.´ |
| 9:65 | | If you ask them they will say, ´We were only joking and playing around.´ Say: ´Would you make a mockery of Allah and of His Signs and of His Messenger? |
| 9:66 | | Do not try to excuse yourselves. You have become kafir after having iman. If one group of you is pardoned, another group will be punished for being evildoers.´ |
| 9:67 | | The men and women of the hypocrites are as bad as one another. They command what is wrong and forbid what is right and keep their fists tightly closed. They have forgotten Allah, so He has forgotten them. The hypocrites are deviators. |
| 9:68 | | Allah has promised the men and women of the hypocrites and kafirun the Fire of Hell, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. It will suffice them. Allah has cursed them. They will have everlasting punishment. |
| 9:69 | | Like those before you who had greater strength than you and more wealth and children. They enjoyed their portion; so enjoy your portion as those before you enjoyed theirs. You have plunged into defamation as they plunged into it. The actions of such people come to nothing in this world or the Next World. They are the lost. |
| 9:70 | | Has the news of those who came before them not reached them the people of Nuh and ´Ad and Thamud, and the people of Ibrahim and the inhabitants of Madyan and the overturned cities? Their Messengers brought them the Clear Signs. Allah did not wrong them; rather they wronged themselves. |
| 9:71 | | The men and women of the muminun are friends of one another. They command what is right and forbid what is wrong, and establish salat and pay zakat, and obey Allah and His Messenger. They are the people on whom Allah will have mercy. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. |
| 9:72 | | Allah has promised the men and women of the muminun Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, for ever, and fine dwellings in the Gardens of Eden. And Allah´s good pleasure is even greater. That is the great victory. |
| 9:73 | | O Prophet, do jihad against the kafirun and hypocrites and be harsh with them. Their shelter will be Hell. What an evil destination! |
| 9:74 | | They swear by Allah that they said nothing, but they definitely spoke the word of kufr and returned to kufr after their Islam. They planned something which they did not achieve and they were vindictive for no other reason than that Allah and His Messenger had enriched them from His bounty. If they were to make tawba, it would be better for them. But if they turn away, Allah will punish them with a painful punishment in this world and the Next World, and they will not find any protector or helper on the earth. |
| 9:75 | | Among them there were some who made an agreement with Allah: ´If He gives us of His bounty we will definitely give sadaqa and be among the righteous.´ |
| 9:76 | | But when He does give them of His bounty they are tight-fisted with it and turn away, |
| 9:77 | | so He has punished them by putting hypocrisy in their hearts until the day they meet Him because they failed Allah in what they promised Him and because they lied. |
| 9:78 | | Do they not know that Allah knows their secrets and their private talk, and that Allah is the Knower of all unseen things? |
| 9:79 | | As for the people who find fault with those muminun who give sadaqa spontaneously, and with those who can find nothing to give but their own effort, and deride them, Allah derides them. They will have a painful punishment. |
| 9:80 | | You can ask forgiveness for them, or not ask forgiveness for them. Even if you asked forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah still would not forgive them. That is because they have rejected Allah and His Messenger. Allah does not guide deviant people. |
| 9:81 | | Those who were left behind were glad to stay behind the Messenger of Allah. They did not want to do jihad with their wealth and themselves in the Way of Allah. They said, ´Do not go out to fight in the heat.´ Say: ´The Fire of Hell is much hotter, if they only understood.´ |
| 9:82 | | Let them laugh little and weep much, in repayment for what they have earned. |
| 9:83 | | If Allah returns you to a group of them, and they ask you for permission to go out, say, ´You will never go out with me, nor will you ever fight an enemy with me. You were happy to stay behind the first time, so stay behind with those who are left behind.´ |
| 9:84 | | Never pray over any of them who die or stand at their graves. They rejected Allah and His Messenger and died as deviators. |
| 9:85 | | Do not let their wealth and their children impress you. Allah merely wants to punish them by them in this world, and for them to expire while they are kafirun. |
| 9:86 | | When a sura is sent down saying: ´Have iman in Allah and do jihad together with His Messenger,´ those among them with wealth will ask you to excuse them, saying, ´Let us remain with those who stay behind.´ |
| 9:87 | | They are pleased to be with those who stay behind. Their hearts have been stamped so they do not understand. |
| 9:88 | | But the Messenger and those who have iman along with him have done jihad with their wealth and with themselves. They are the people who will have the good things. They are the ones who are successful. |
| 9:89 | | Allah has prepared Gardens for them with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, for ever. That is the great victory. |
| 9:90 | | The desert arabs came with their excuses asking for permission to stay, and those who lied to Allah and His Messenger stayed behind. A painful punishment will afflict those among them who are kafir. |
| 9:91 | | Nothing is held against the weak and sick nor against those who find nothing to spend, provided they are true to Allah and His Messenger — there is no way open against good-doers, Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful — |
| 9:92 | | nor is anything held against those who, when they came to you for you to provide them with mounts and you said, ´I cannot find anything on which to mount you,´ turned away with their eyes overflowing with tears, overcome by grief at having nothing to give. |
| 9:93 | | There are only grounds against those who ask you for permission to stay when they are rich. They were pleased to be among those who were left behind. Allah has sealed up their hearts so they do not know. |
| 9:94 | | They will make excuses to you when you return to them. Say: ´Do not make excuses, we will not believe you. Allah has already informed us about you. Allah will see your actions, as will His Messenger. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible, and He will inform you regarding what you did.´ |
| 9:95 | | They will swear to you by Allah when you return to them, so that you leave them alone. Leave them alone, then! They are filth. Their shelter will be Hell as repayment for what they did. |
| 9:96 | | They will swear to you to make you pleased with them, but even if you are pleased with them, Allah is certainly not pleased with deviant people. |
| 9:97 | | The desert arabs are more obdurate in kufr and hypocrisy and more likely not to know the limits which Allah has sent down to His Messenger. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. |
| 9:98 | | Among the desert arabs there are some who regard what they give as an imposition and are waiting for your fortunes to change. The evil turn of fortune will be theirs! Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. |
| 9:99 | | And among the desert arabs there are some who have iman in Allah and the Last Day and regard what they give as something which will bring them nearer to Allah and to the prayers of the Messenger. It does indeed bring them near. Allah will admit them into His mercy. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. |
| 9:100 | | The forerunners — the first of the Muhajirun and the Ansar — and those who have followed them in doing good: Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared Gardens for them with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, for ever and ever. That is the great victory. |
| 9:101 | | Some of the desert Arabs around you are hypocrites and some of the people of Madina are obdurate in their hypocrisy. You do not know them but We know them. We will punish them twice over and then they will be returned to a terrible punishment. |
| 9:102 | | But others have acknowledged their wrong actions and mixed a right action with another which is wrong. It may well be that Allah will turn towards them. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. |
| 9:103 | | Take zakat from their wealth to purify and cleanse them and pray for them. Your prayers bring relief to them. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. |
| 9:104 | | Do they not know that Allah accepts tawba from His slaves and acknowledges their zakat, and that Allah is the Ever-Returning, the Most Merciful? |
| 9:105 | | Say: ´Act, for Allah will see your actions, and so will His Messenger and the muminun. You will be returned to the Knower of the Unseen and the Visible and He will inform you regarding what you did.´ |
| 9:106 | | And others are left awaiting Allah´s command as to whether He will punish them or turn to them. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. |
| 9:107 | | As for those who have set up a mosque, causing harm and out of kufr, to create division between the muminun, and in readiness for those who previously made war on Allah and His Messenger, they will swear, ´We only desired the best.´ But Allah bears witness that they are truly liars. |
| 9:108 | | Do not ever stand in it. A mosque founded on taqwa from the first day has a greater right for you to stand in it. In it there are men who love to purify themselves. Allah loves those who purify themselves. |
| 9:109 | | Who is better: someone who founds his building on taqwa of Allah and His good pleasure, or someone who founds his building on the brink of a crumbling precipice so that it collapses with him into the Fire of Hell? Allah does not love wrongdoers. |
| 9:110 | | The buildings they have built will not cease to be a bone of contention in their hearts, until their hearts are cut to shreds. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. |
| 9:111 | | Allah has bought from the muminun their selves and their wealth in return for the Garden. They fight in the Way of Allah and they kill and are killed. It is a promise binding on Him in the Torah, the Injil and the Qur´an and who is truer to his contract than Allah? Rejoice then in the bargain you have made. That is the great victory. |
| 9:112 | | Those who make tawba, those who worship, those who praise, those who fast, those who bow, those who prostrate, those who command the right, those who forbid the wrong, those who preserve the limits of Allah: give good news to the muminun. |
| 9:113 | | It is not right for the Prophet and those who have iman to ask forgiveness for the idolaters — even if they are close relatives — after it has become clear to them that they are the Companions of the Blazing Fire. |
| 9:114 | | Ibrahim would not have asked forgiveness for his father but for a promise he made to him, and when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of Allah, he renounced him. Ibrahim was tender-hearted and forbearing. |
| 9:115 | | Allah would never misguide a people after guiding them until He had made it clear to them how to have taqwa. Allah has knowledge of all things. |
| 9:116 | | Allah is He to whom the kingdom of the heavens and earth belongs. He gives life and causes to die. You have no protector or helper besides Allah. |
| 9:117 | | Allah has turned towards the Prophet, and the Muhajirun and the Ansar, those who followed him at the ´time of difficulty´, after the hearts of a group of them had almost deviated. Then He turned towards them — He is All-Gentle, Most Merciful to them — |
| 9:118 | | and also towards the three who were left behind,* so that when the earth became narrow for them, for all its great breadth, and their own selves became constricted for them and they realised that there was no refuge from Allah except in Him, He turned to them so that they might turn to Him. Allah is the Ever-Returning, the Most Merciful. |
| 9:119 | | You who have iman! have taqwa of Allah and be with the truly sincere. |
| 9:120 | | It was not for people of Madina, and the desert arabs around them, to remain behind the Messenger of Allah nor to prefer themselves to him. That is because no thirst or weariness or hunger will afflict them in the Way of Allah, nor will they take a single step to infuriate the kafirun, nor secure any gain from the enemy, without a right action being written down for them because of it. Allah does not let the wage of the good-doers go to waste. |
| 9:121 | | Nor will they give away any amount, whether large or small, nor will they cross any valley, without it being written down for them so that Allah can recompense them for the best of what they did. |
| 9:122 | | It is not necessary for the muminun to go out all together. If a party from each group of them were to go out so they could increase their knowledge of the deen they would be able to notify their people when they returned to them so that hopefully they would take warning! |
| 9:123 | | You who have iman! fight those of the kuffar who are near to you and let them find you implacable. Know that Allah is with those who have taqwa. |
| 9:124 | | Each time a sura is sent down there are some among them who say, ´Which of you has this increased in iman?´ As for those who have iman, it increases them in iman and they rejoice at it. |
| 9:125 | | But as for those with sickness in their hearts, it adds defilement to their defilement, and they die kuffar. |
| 9:126 | | Do they not see that they are tried once or twice in every year? But still they do not turn back. They do not pay heed. |
| 9:127 | | Each time a sura is sent down, they look at one another, implying, ´Can anyone see you?´ Then they turn away. Allah has turned their hearts away because they are people who do not understand. |
| 9:128 | | A Messenger has come to you from among yourselves. Your suffering is distressing to him; he is deeply concerned for you; he is gentle and merciful to the muminun. |
| 9:129 | | But if they turn away, say, ´Allah is enough for me. There is no god but Him. I have put my trust in Him. He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne.´ |
