20
20. Ta-Ha - Mystic Letters T.H.
| 1 | TA HA. |
| 2 | We have not sent down the Qur'an to you that you should be burdened, |
| 3 | But as admonition for him who fears -- |
| 4 | A revelation from Him who created the earth and the high ascending skies, |
| 5 | The ever-merciful, established on the throne (of authority). |
| 6 | Whatever is in the heavens and the earth and in between them, belongs to Him, as whatever lies under the earth. |
| 7 | Whether you say a thing aloud or inaudibly, He has knowledge of the secret and the hidden. |
| 8 | God: There is no god but He. To Him belong the attributes most beautiful. |
| 9 | Has the story of Moses come to you? |
| 10 | When he saw a fire he said to his family: "You wait here. I have seen a fire. I may haply be able to bring an ember from it, or find direction by the fire." |
| 11 | When he approached it, a voice called out: |
| 12 | "O Moses, I am verily your Lord, so take off your shoes, for you are in the holy plain of Towa. |
| 13 | I have chosen you, so listen to what is revealed to you. |
| 14 | I am God, and there is no god but I, so serve Me, and observe acts of prayer to remember Me. |
| 15 | Verily the Hour (of the great change) is about to come. I keep it secret that every soul may be rewarded for its endeavour. |
| 16 | So do not let those who do not believe in it and follow their vain desires, turn you away from it. |
| 17 | What is that in your right band, O Moses?" |
| 18 | "It's my staff," he answered; "I lean on it, and fell leaves for my goats with it, and I have other uses for it." |
| 19 | "Throw it down, O Moses," said (the Voice). |
| 20 | So he threw it down, and lo, it became a running serpent. |
| 21 | "Catch it," said He, "and have no fear; We shall revert it to its former state. |
| 22 | And face what is to come with patience, your hand will not be tarnished with blame: Another sign |
| 23 | That We may go on showing you Our greater signs. |
| 24 | Go to the Pharaoh as he has become exceedingly rebellious." |
| 25 | Moses said: "O my Lord, enlarge my breast, |
| 26 | And make my mission easy. |
| 27 | Remove the defect of my tongue |
| 28 | That they may understand my speech, |
| 29 | And give me as assistant from my family |
| 30 | Aaron my brother |
| 31 | To strengthen me |
| 32 | And share my task, |
| 33 | That we may sing Your praises much, |
| 34 | And remember you a great deal. |
| 35 | Surely You know us well." |
| 36 | He answered: "Granted is your prayer, O Moses. |
| 37 | We have bestowed Our favour on you before this |
| 38 | When We told your mother what We relate: |
| 39 | 'Put him in a wooden box and cast it in the river. The river will cast it on the bank. An enemy of Ours, and his, will retrieve it.' We bestowed Our love on you that you may be reared under Our eyes. |
| 40 | Then your sister followed you, and said (to the people who had retrieved the child): 'Should I guide you to a person who can nurse him?' We thus brought you back to your mother that her heart may be cheered, and she may not grieve. (Remember) when you killed a man We saved you from anguish; and tested and steeled you (in other ways). Afterwards you sojourned for several years with the people of Midian; then you came up to the measure, |
| 41 | And I chose you for Myself. |
| 42 | Go with My signs, you and your brother, and do not be lax in remembering Me. |
| 43 | Then go to the Pharaoh as he has become exceedingly rebellious. |
| 44 | Speak to him gently. He may possibly take heed or may come to have fear." |
| 45 | They said: "O our Lord, we are really frightened lest he behave insolently with us or become violent." |
| 46 | (The Lord) said: "Be not afraid. I am verily with you, and I hear and see. |
| 47 | So go to him and say: 'The two of us have indeed been sent by your Lord. So let the children of Israel come with us, and do not oppress them. We have come to you with a token from your Lord. Peace on him who follows the way of guidance. |
| 48 | It has been revealed to us that punishment will befall him who denies and turns away. |
| 49 | He asked: "Who then is that Lord of yours, O Moses?" |
| 50 | (Moses) said: "Our Lord is He who gave everything its natural form and directed it." |
| 51 | (The Pharaoh) said: "And what about the former generations?" |
| 52 | (Moses) replied: "Knowledge of that is with my Lord (recorded) in the Book. My Lord neither errs nor forgets." |
| 53 | It is He who made the earth a bed for you, and traced for you paths upon it, and sends down water from the sky, and brings out through it every kind of vegetation |
| 54 | To eat and feed your cattle. Surely there are signs in these for those who are wise. |
| 55 | We created you from the earth and will revert you back to it; and raise you up from it a second time. |
| 56 | So We showed him all Our signs, but he denied them and refused, |
| 57 | And said: "Have you come to us, O Moses, to drive us out of our land with your witchery? |
| 58 | We shall certainly meet you with like magic. So make an appointment when we and you could meet on common ground, which neither we nor you should fail to keep." |
| 59 | Said (Moses): "Let your meeting be on the day of the Feast, and let people assemble in broad daylight." |
| 60 | After this the Pharaoh withdrew and settled his stratagem, then came back. |
| 61 | Moses said to them: "Woe betide you. Do not fabricate a lie against God, or He will destroy you with some affliction. For he who fabricates lies is doomed to failure." |
| 62 | So they discussed their strategy among themselves and conferred privately, |
| 63 | (And) said: "These two are surely magicians. They want to deprive you of your land with their magic, and eradicate your distinct way (of life). |
| 64 | So prepare your strategy and come forward. He alone shall win today who is superior." |
| 65 | They said: "Either you cast (your spell), O Moses, or we shall cast it first." |
| 66 | Moses said: "No. You cast it first" Then it seemed to Moses that by their magic their cords and rods were flying; |
| 67 | And Moses felt afraid within himself. |
| 68 | We said to him: "Fear not. You will certainly be victorious. |
| 69 | Throw down what is in your right hand: It will swallow up what they have conjured. For what they have fashioned is only a trick of the sorcerer; and a sorcerer does not succeed wherever he may come." |
| 70 | The magicians, (seeing the miracle), fell down in prostration, saying: "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron." |
| 71 | (The Pharaoh) said: "You have come to believe without my dispensation. Surely he is your chief who taught you magic. I will have your hands and feet cut off on alternate sides and crucify you on the trunks of date-palm trees. You will come to know whose punishment is harder and protracted." |
| 72 | They replied: "We cannot choose you in the face of the clear testimony we have received, and over Him who created us. So do what you are determined to do. All that you would do will only be confined to our life on earth. |
| 73 | We have certainly come to believe in our Lord that He may forgive our trespasses and the magic you have forced us to perform, for God is nobler and abiding." |
| 74 | Surely for him who comes before his Lord a sinner shall be Hell, where he will neither die nor live. |
| 75 | But whoever comes before Him a believer having done good deeds, will be raised to higher stations -- |
| 76 | Gardens of Eden with rippling streams, where he will live for ever. This is the recompense of those who achieve integrity. |
| 77 | We commanded Moses: "Journey by night with Our creatures, and strike a dry path for them through the sea. Do not fear being overtaken, nor have dread of any thing." |
| 78 | Then the Pharaoh followed them with his army, but the sea overpowered and engulfed them. |
| 79 | The Pharaoh had led his people astray, and did not rightly guide them. |
| 80 | O children of Israel, We delivered you from your enemy, and made a covenant with you on the right side of the Mount, and sent down for you manna and quails, |
| 81 | (And said): "Eat of the good things We have given you for food, and do not exceed the bounds (of law) in this, or My wrath will surely fall upon you; and he who incurs My wrath will fall into the abyss. |
| 82 | Yet I am gracious to him who repents and believes, and does the right, and follows the straight path. |
| 83 | What made you hurry away, O Moses, from your people?" |
| 84 | He said: "They are right behind me. I have hastened to You, O Lord, so that You may be pleased." |
| 85 | He said: "We have put your people on trial in your absence; and Sameri has led them astray." |
| 86 | So Moses returned to his people full of anger and regret. "O my people," he said, "did not your Lord make you a better promise? Did the time of covenant seem too long to you? Or did you wish the wrath of your Lord to fall upon you that you broke the promise you had made to me?" |
| 87 | They said: "We did not break our promise to you of our own will, but we were made to carry the loads of ornaments belonging to the people, which we threw (into the fire), and so did Sameri. |
| 88 | Then he produced the image of a calf which mooed like a cow. And they said: 'This is your god and the god of Moses (whom) he has neglected." |
| 89 | Did they not see that it did not give them any answer, nor had it power to do them harm or bring them gain? |
| 90 | Aaron had indeed told them earlier: "O my people, you are being only misled with this. Surely your Lord is Ar-Rahman. So follow me and obey my command." |
| 91 | They said "So long as Moses does not come back we are not going to give it up, and we will remain devoted to it." |
| 92 | But (Moses) said: "O Aaron, when you saw that they had gone astray, what hindered you |
| 93 | From coming after me? Did you not disobey my command?" (And Moses pulled him by the hair). |
| 94 | "O son of my mother," (Aaron cried), do not pull me by my beard or my hair! I was really afraid you may say that I had created a rift among the children of Israel, and did not pay heed to your command." |
| 95 | Moses asked: "O Sameri, what was the matter?" |
| 96 | He said: "I saw what they did not see. I picked up a handful of dust from the messenger's tracks and threw it in, for the idea seemed attractive to me." |
| 97 | (Moses) said: "Go hence! All your life you are (cursed) to say: 'Do not touch me; and a threat hangs over you which you will not be able to escape. Look at your god to whom you are so attached: We shall verily burn it, and disperse its ashes into the sea. |
| 98 | Your god is only God. There is no other god but He. His knowledge extends over everything." |
| 99 | Thus do We narrate some account to you of what has gone before, and We have truly given you a Reminder of Our own. |
| 100 | Whoever turns away from it will surely carry a burden on the Day of Judgement, |
| 101 | And will live for ever under it. How evil the burden they will carry on the Day of Doom! |
| 102 | The day the trumpet blast is sounded We shall raise the sinners blind, |
| 103 | Whispering to one another: "You have tarried but ten days." |
| 104 | We know well what they will say when the most upright among them will say: "You did not tarry more than a day." |
| 105 | They will ask you about the mountains. Tell them: "My Lord will uproot them from the base, |
| 106 | And turn them into a level plain, |
| 107 | Over which you will see no curves or elevations. |
| 108 | That day they will follow the summoner from whom there will be no receding; and their voices will be hushed before Ar-Rahman, and you will not hear a sound but faint shuffling. |
| 109 | On that day no intercession will matter other than his whom Ar-Rahman grants permission and accepts. |
| 110 | He knows what is before them and hidden from them, but they cannot grasp it with their knowledge. |
| 111 | All heads will be bowed before the Living, the Eternal; and whosoever bears a load of iniquity will be full of despair. |
| 112 | But he who has done good things and believes, will have no fear of either being wronged or deprived. |
| 113 | That is why We have sent it down as an eloquent Qur'an, and explained in different ways the intimidations through it that they may haply take heed, or perhaps it may lead them to contemplate. |
| 114 | Exalted then be God, the real King; and do not try to anticipate the Qur'an before the completion of its revelation, but pray: "O Lord, give me greater knowledge." |
| 115 | We had commanded Adam before, but he disregarded it: We found him lacking in resolution. |
| 116 | When We said to the angels: ''Bow before Adam,'' they all bowed but Iblis, who refused. |
| 117 | So We said; "O Adam, he is truly your enemy and your wife's. Do not let him have you turned out of Paradise and come to grief. |
| 118 | Verily you will have no hunger or nakedness there, |
| 119 | Nor thirst nor exposure to the sun." |
| 120 | But then Satan tempted him by saying: "O Adam, should I show you the tree of immortality, and a kingdom that will never know any wane?" |
| 121 | And both ate of (its fruit), and their hidden parts were exposed to one another, and they patched the leaves of the garden (to hide them). Adam disobeyed his Lord, and went astray. |
| 122 | Then his Lord chose him and relented towards him, and showed him the way; |
| 123 | (And) said: "Go down hence together, one the enemy of the other. Then will guidance come to you from Me; and whoever follows My direction will neither be disgraced nor be miserable. |
| 124 | But he who fails to heed My warning will have his means restricted; and on the Day of Resurrection We shall raise him blind." |
| 125 | He will ask: "O Lord, why have you raised me blind when I was able to see?" |
| 126 | (God) will say: "Because Our signs came to you, but you disregarded them. So shall We disregard you this day." |
| 127 | And that is how We requite him who is extravagant and does not believe the signs of his Lord; and surely the punishment of the Hereafter is far more severe and persistent. |
| 128 | Did they not learn from the many generations that We destroyed before them, whose habitations they now frequent? Verily there are signs in this for men of understanding. |
| 129 | If the decree (of respite) had not been pronounced by your Lord, (the inevitable judgement would have ensued); but a term is fixed (for everything). |
| 130 | So you bear with patience what they say, and sing the praises of your Lord before the rising and setting of the sun, and honour Him in the watches of the night, and then at the two ends of day, that you may find acceptance. |
| 131 | Do not covet what We have granted myriads of people of the pomp and glitter of this world to tempt them. The means your Lord has given you are better far and more enduring. |
| 132 | Enjoin on your people service to God, and be yourself constant in it. We do not ask you to provide: It is We who provide for you. The reward is for piety and fear of God. |
| 133 | Yet they say: "Why does he not bring a sign from his Lord?" Have not clear proofs come to them in what is contained in the earlier Books? |
| 134 | If We had destroyed them by some calamity sooner than this, they would have surely said: "O Lord, if You had sent to us a messenger we would have followed Your command before being humbled and disgraced." |
| 135 | Say: "Each one awaits the consequence; so you wait. You will come to know soon who are the men of the straight path and who have come to guidance. |