لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ مُنْفَكِّينَ حَتَّىٰ تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ
IT IS NOT [conceivable] that such as are bent on denying the truth – [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God – should ever be abandoned [by Him] ere there comes unto them the [full] evidence of the truth: (1)
رَسُولٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ يَتْلُو صُحُفًا مُطَهَّرَةً
an apostle from God, conveying [unto them] revelations blest with purity, (2)
فِيهَا كُتُبٌ قَيِّمَةٌ
wherein there are ordinances of ever-true soundness and clarity. (3)
وَمَا تَفَرَّقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ
Now those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime did break up their unity [of faith] after such an evidence of the truth had come to them. (4)
وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَذَٰلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ
And withal, they were not enjoined aught but that they should worship God, sincere in their faith in Him alone, turning away from all that is false; and that they should be constant in prayer; and that they should spend in charity: for this is a moral law endowed with ever-true soundness and clarity. (5)
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أُولَٰئِكَ هُمْ شَرُّ الْبَرِيَّةِ
Verily, those who [despite all evidence] are bent on denying the truth – [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God – will find themselves in the fire of hell, therein to abide: they are the worst of all creatures. (6)
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمْ خَيْرُ الْبَرِيَّةِ
[And,] verily, those who have attained to faith and do righteous deeds – it is they, they who are the best of all creatures. (7)
جَزَاؤُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَشِيَ رَبَّهُ
Their reward [awaits them] with God: gardens of perpetual bliss, through which running waters flow, therein to abide beyond the count of time; well-pleased is God with them, and well-pleased are they with Him: all this awaits him who of his Sustainer stands in awe! (8)
- And withal, they were not enjoined aught but that they should worship God, sincere in their faith in Him alone, turning away from all that is false;5 and that they should be constant in prayer; and that they should spend in charity:6 for this is a moral law endowed with ever-true soundness and clarity.7
- 5 For this rendering of hunafa' (sing, hanif), see surah 2, note 110.
- 6 Since the term zakah has here obviously a wider meaning than the obligatory tax incumbent on Muslims (which, as its name indicates, is meant to purify their income and their possessions from the taint of selfishness), I am rendering the above phrase in the more general sense of "spending in [i.e., practicing] charity".
- 7 As regards the connotation of "moral law" in the term din, see note 3 on 109:6; the qualifying noun al-qayyimah (in the genitive case) has here the same meaning as the adjective qayyimah at the end of verse 3. The above definition of moral law outlines, in a condensed form, all the basic demands of true religion: a cognition of God's oneness and uniqueness and, implicitly, of man's responsibility to Him; a turning-away from all false concepts, values and dubious beliefs, all over-estimation of oneself, and all superstition; and, finally, kindness and charity towards all of God's creatures.
- And they have been commanded no more than this:6228 To worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith);6229 to establish regular prayer; and to practise regular charity; and that is the Religion Right and Straight.6230
- 6228 The three eternal principles of Religion are: (1) sincere devotion to Allah; (2) Prayer and Praise as drawing man nearer to Allah and to the spiritual world; and (3) the service of Allah's creatures by deeds of practical charity.
- 6229 Hanif: see n. 134 to 2:135.
- 6230 Seen. 6226 above.
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And they have been commanded no more than this: To worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith); to establish regular prayer; and to practise regular charity; and that is the Religion Right and Straight.
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
And they are ordered naught else than to serve Allah, keeping religion pure for Him, as men by nature upright, and to establish worship and to pay the poor-due. That is true religion.
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
And they were not enjoined anything except that they should serve Allah, being sincere to Him in obedience, upright, and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, and that is the right religion.
— M. Habib Shakir -
And they were commanded not, but that they should worship Allah, and worship none but Him Alone (abstaining from ascribing partners to Him), and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat) and give Zakat: and that is the right religion.
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
And they were commanded not but that they should worship Allah, keeping religion pure for him, as upright men, and that they should establish prayer and give the poor-rate, And that is the right religion.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
Yet they were ordered to worship Allah alone, making the Religion His sincerely, upright, and to establish their prayers and to pay the obligatory charity. That is indeed the Religion of Straightness.
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
And they were not commanded but to serve God, making obedience purely His, being all-devoted, and to establish the Prayer, and to pay the Due-alms __ and that is the standing religion.
— Ayub Khan -
And they were not commanded but to serve God, being sincere to Him in obedience, and being upright, and to observe Prayer and pay the Zak?t. And that is the right religion.
— Sher Ali -
And withal, they were not enjoined aught but that they should worship God, sincere in their faith in Him alone, turning away from all that is false; and that they should be constant in prayer; and that they should spend in charity: for this is a moral law endowed with ever-true soundness and clarity.
— Muhammad Asad -
They were commanded only to serve God, making the religion His sincerely, men of pure faith, and to perform the prayer, and pay the alms -- that is the religion of the True.
— Arthur Arberry -
Yet all that they had been commanded was that they serve Allah, with utter sincerity, devoting themselves exclusively to Him, and that they establish Prayer and pay Zakah. That is the Right Faith.{{7}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi