Sūrah al-Ḥadīd

All that is in the heavens and the earth has glorified God, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. It is He Who has sovereignty over the heavens and the earth. He alone ordains life and death, and has power over all things. It is He Who is the First and the Last as well, the Apparent and the Hidden too, and He has knowledge of all things.¹

It is He alone who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and then [to govern them] mounted the throne. He knows all that goes into the earth and all that emerges from it and all that descends from the heavens and all that ascends in it. And He is with you wherever you are, and God watches all that you do. To Him belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and to Him all affairs turn. It is He Who makes the night pass into the day, and the day pass into the night, and He even knows the secrets of the hearts.

[So, you also glorify God and] profess true faith in God and His Messenger and spend from the things He has entrusted you with; thus, those of you who embraced faith in this manner and have spent [in the way of God], for them is a rich reward. And what has happened to you that you do not profess true faith in God and His Messenger even though the Messenger is inviting you to profess faith in your Lord, and he has also taken a strong covenant [of “listen and obey”] from you, if you really believe?

It is He Who is bringing down clear revelations to His servant to lead you out of darkness into light. And, in reality, God is very Compassionate to you and extremely Merciful. Why should you not spend in the cause of God when all the inheritance of the heavens and the earth is going to return to God? [It should be clear to you that] those of you who spend in charity and wage war [for the cause of truth] after the conquest, will never be equal to those who spent in charity and waged war [for the cause of truth] before the conquest. They will surely have a greater status than those who spend in charity and wage war afterwards, although God has promised each with a good reward. [Remember that] God is fully aware of all that you do.²

Who will now give a loan to God, a good loan so that He may increase it [however much He wants to] for him, and there be a noble recompense for him on the day when you will see believing men and believing women such that their light is moving in front of them and on their right – today you have glad tidings of these orchards below which streams flow; you will abide in them forever. This, in fact, is the supreme triumph. The day when the hypocrites, both men and women, will call out to the believers: “Please give us the chance to gain some benefit from your light.” But they will be told: “[No!] Stand back, and [there] seek the light [for yourselves]!” Then a wall will be erected between them and the believers in which there will be a door. Inside it, there will be mercy, and outside it torment. They will plead to them: “Were we not with you [in the previous world]?” “Yes,” they will reply, “You were indeed with us but you indulged in mischief, waited for our turn of fortunes, remained in doubts and your desires continued to deceive you until God’s verdict materialized, and that great Deceiver continued to deceive you about God until the very end. That is why today no ransom will be accepted from you, or from those who had openly disbelieved. The Fire is the abode for all of you; it is your place of return and what an evil abode it is!”³

Is it not time for those who lay claim to faith that their hearts submit to God’s reminder and to the truth which has been revealed [by Him], and these people should not be like those who were given the Book before this; then a long period passed on them until their hearts hardened, and [today] most of them are disobedient.

[Take the initiative; it may well be that God melts your hearts.] Keep in mind that God restores the earth to life even after its death. We have made plain Our revelations to you so that you may understand.

[Keep in mind that] men and women who spend for the cause of God and those who have given a generous loan to God will be repaid manifold, and for them is a noble recompense. And those who have truly professed faith in God and His messengers will be among the ṣiddīq and the shuhadā’. For them will also be their reward and also their light. As for those who have disbelieved and denied Our revelations, it is they who will be the companions of Hell.

[Do not evade this spending and] bear in mind that the parable of the life of this world – a sport and an entertainment, an embellishment and, in the matter of wealth and children, a mutual show off and a quest to outdo one another in them – is that of rain which produces a crop that lures the hearts of these disbelievers; then it blooms and you see it turn yellowish orange, then [a calamity strikes, and it] turns into bits and pieces. [Bear in mind that after this] there is a grievous penalty in the Hereafter and the forgiveness of God and His pleasure too. In reality, the life of this world is but a provision of deception.

[For this reason,] strive fervently while outdoing one another towards the forgiveness of your Lord and for a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth. It has been prepared for those who truly believe in God and His messengers. Such is the grace of God: He bestows it on whomsoever He wills and great is God’s grace.

[They do not spend in the way of God because they want to save it in case some calamity visits them. Remember that] there is no such calamity that visits you in the earth or in your own persons that We have not written in a book before We bring it into existence. This is very easy for God. You have been made to understand this so that you may not grieve on things you lose or be proud of what God has blessed you with. And [remember that] God does not love at all the haughty and the conceited, who are stingy themselves and urge others to stinginess too. And those who show indifference [even after this warning], then God does not the slightest care for them because God is self-sufficient and possesses all worthy attributes.

[They raise objections on jihād. Tell them:] We have sent Our messengers with very clear and lucid arguments, and revealed with them Our Book that is the Scale so that people adhere to justice [regarding truth and falsehood]. And [We] sent down iron which has great power and also other uses for people so that they may benefit from it and so that [after conclusive communication of the truth from the messengers, their rejecters are punished through it and in this manner] God sifts out people who help Him and His messengers without seeing Him. [Otherwise,] undoubtedly, God is very Powerful and Mighty.

And We had also sent forth Noah and Abraham as messengers [for this very purpose] and had initiated in their progenies prophethood and made them recipients of the Book. So, some of them adopted guidance and most of them turned out to be disobedient. Then in their footsteps, We sent more of Our messengers as well and also sent Jesus son of Mary in their footsteps and gave Him the Gospel and put compassion and mercy in the hearts of his followers. But monasticism, they invented themselves. We did not make it obligatory upon them; however, we did make it obligatory upon them to seek God’s pleasure; but they did not observe its bounds as they should have. However, those among them who adhered to faith, We gave them their reward, but most of them turned out to be disobedient.⁴

Believers! Have fear of God and profess faith in His Messenger the way it should be professed. God will grant you a double share from His mercy and provide you a light with which you will walk [on the Day of Judgement] and will forgive you. God is very Forgiving and Merciful. [Outdo each other to earn His mercy] so that these People of the Book are not able to know that they do not have any control on the grace of God and that the grace of God is in God’s hands alone.

He bestows it upon whomsoever He wills and abounding is God’s grace.⁵