Surah Al-Tauba

AL-TAUBA
"Repentance"


(Revealed at Medina, Verses 129)

An acquittal from God and His Messenger unto those of the idolaters with whom you made covenant: (1)
`go about in the land for four months and know that you cannot frustrate God, and that God will humiliate the unbelievers'.(2)
And it is a Proclamation from God and His Messenger unto mankind, on the day of the Great Pilgrimage: `God is quit and His Messenger of the idolaters. So if you repent, it will be good for you; but if you turn away, then know that you cannot frustrate God'. And give thou good news of a painful punishment to the unbelievers;(3)
but those of the idolaters with whom you made covenant, then they did not fail you at all, and did not support any against you, fulfil their covenant with them till their term; surely God loves the godfearing.(4)
Then, when the sacred months have passed away, kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and sit for them at every place of ambush. Then, if they repent, and establish the Prayer, and pay the Due-Alms, leave alone their way; God is Forgiving, Merciful.(5)
And if anyone of the idolaters asks thee for protection, give him protection till he hears the Word of God, then convey him to his place of security; that is because they are a people who have no knowledge.(6)
How can the idolaters have covenant with God and with His Messenger, excepting those with whom you made covenant at the Sacred Mosque; then as they kept it with you, you also keep with them; surely God loves the godfearing.(7)
How can it be __for if they overwhelm you, they will not observe towards you any kinship or treaty; they please you with their mouths but their hearts refuse; and most of them are transgressors.(8)
They have sold the signs of God for a small price, and barred His way; evil is that they have done.(9)
They do not observe any kinship or treaty towards a Believer; and they are the transgressors.(10)
Now, if they repent and establish the Prayer and pay the Due-Alms, they are your brothers in religion; and We explain the signs for a people who have knowledge.(11)
And if they break their oaths after their covenant, and taunt you in your religion, then fight the leaders of unbelief, for they have no oaths; may be they give over.(12)
Will you not fight a people who broke their oaths and purposed to expel the Messenger, and it is they who made the beginning against you first time? Are you afraid of them? But God has a greater right to be afraid of, if you are Believers.(13)
Fight them, God will punish them at your hands, and humiliate them, and help you against them, and heal the breasts of a believing people,(14)
and remove the rage in their hearts; and God will accept the repentance of whomsoever He will; and God is Knowing, Wise.(15)
Or do you think that you would be left alone, when God has not yet known those of you who have struggled and have not taken any intimate apart from God, His Messenger and the Believers; and God is aware of what you do.(16)
It is not for the idolaters to inhabit God's mosques testifying unbelief against themselves; their works have gone vain, and in the Fire they shall dwell forever.(17)
Only he may inhabit God's mosques who believes in God and the Last Day, and establishes the Prayer and pays the Due-Alms, and fears none except God; it may be that those will be among the guided.(18)
Have you made the giving of water to the pilgrims and the inhabiting of the Sacred Mosque as one who believes in God and the Last Day and struggles in the way of God? They are not equal in God's sight; and God does not guide the wrong-doing people.(19)
Those who have believed and emigrated and struggled in the way of God with their wealth and their selves, they are greatest in rank with God; and they alone shall triumph.(20)
Their Lord gives them good news of His mercy and pleasure and such gardens, wherein shall be a lasting delight for them,(21)
to dwell therein forever and ever; surely with God is a mighty wage.(22)
O Believers, do not take your fathers and your brothers as your friends, if they seek to love unbelief against belief; and whoso of you takes them as friends, they are the wrong-doers.(23)
Say, `if your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your clan, your wealth that you have acquired, commerce whose decline you fear, and dwellings you are pleased to have __ if they are dearer to you than God and His Messenger and to struggle in His way, then wait till God brings His command; and God does not guide the transgressing people'. (24)
God has already helped you on many fields; and, on the day of Hunain, when your multitude appeared marvellous to you, but it did not avail you at all, and the earth, with all its vastness, was narrowed on you, and you turned back retreating.(25)
Then God sent down His tranquility on His Messenger and on the Believers, and He sent down hosts you did not see, and He punished the unbelievers; and that is the recompense of the unbelievers.(26)
Then God, thereafter, will turn to whom He will; and God is Forgiving, Merciful.(27)
O Believers, the idolaters are simply unclean, so let them not come near the Sacred Mosque after this year of theirs. And if you fear poverty, God will soon enrich you of His bounty if He will; God is Knowing, Wise.(28)
Fight those who do not believe in God, nor in the Last Day, nor do they forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, nor do they practise the religion of truth, from among those who were given the Book, until they pay tribute out of hand, duly humbled.(29)
And the Jews say, `Ezra is the son of God', and the Christians say, `Messiah is the son of God'; that is their utterance with their mouths; they imitate the utterance of the unbelievers before them; God destroy them; how perverted they are!(30)
They have taken their priests and their monks and the Messiah, son of Mary, as lords, apart from God, while they were commanded to serve only One God; there is no god but He; He is Holy, above that they associate.(31)
They desire to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God refuses except that He will perfect His light, though the unbelievers be averse.(32)
It is He who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the idolaters be averse.(33)
O Believers, many of the priests and the monks eat the goods of the people falsely and bar from God's way. And those who treasure up gold and silver and do not expend them in the way of God, give them the good news of a painful punishment,(34)
on the day it shall be heated in the Fire of Hell, and their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded with it: `this is what you treasured up for yourselves; now taste what you were treasuring.'(35)
The number of the months with God, the day He created the heavens and the earth, is twelve in the Book of God __ of them four are sacred. That is the standing religion; so do not wrong yourselves during them. And fight the idolaters totally as they fight you totally, and know that God is with the godfearing.(36)
The postponement of aÿmonth is only an addition to unbelief, whereby the unbelievers are led astray, by making it lawful one year and unlawful another year, that they may make up the number which God has forbidden, and thus make lawful what God has made unlawful. Their evil deeds seem fair to them; and God does not guide the disbelieving people. (37)
O Believers, how is it with you that when it is said to you, `go forth in the way of God', you sink down heavily to the earth? Are you contented with the present life against the Hereafter? But the goods of the present life against the Hereafter are only little things.(38)
If you do no go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment, and will substitute a people instead of you, and you will not hurt Him in the least; and God is powerful over everything.(39)
If you do not help him, then God has already helped him, when the unbelievers expelled him, (he was) the second of the two, when they were in the cave, when he said to his companion, `do not grieve, God is with us'. Then God sent down on him tranquility from Him, and aided him with forces that you did not see, and made the word of the unbelievers the lowest. And God's word, that is the most high; and God is Mighty, Wise.(40)
Go forth light and heavy, and struggle with your wealth and yourselves in the way of God; that is good for you, if you knew.(41)
Were it a gain nearby and a journey easy, they would have surely followed thee, but the hard journey seemed too far to them. And they will swear by God, `had we been able, we would have gone forth with you'; they are destroying themselves; and God knows that they are surely liars.(42)
God pardon thee! Why didst thou give them leave, before it became clear to thee as to who spoke the truth and thou knewest the liars?(43)
Those who believe in God and the Last Day do not ask thee for leave that they may struggle with their wealth and their selves; and God knows the godfearing.(44)
They only ask thee for leave who do not believe in God and the Last Day, and their hearts are in doubt, so they waiver in their doubt.(45)
And had they desired to go forth, they would have made some preparation for it; but God was averse to their rising up, so He made them pause, and it was said, `sit back with those who sit back'.(46)
Had they gone forth along with you, they would have only increased you in trouble, and run to and fro in your midst seeking to stir up sedition between you. And among you are their listeners; and God knows the wrong-doers.(47)
They sought to stir up sedition before too, and they turned the affairs upside down for thee, till the truth came and God's command prevailed, though they were averse. (48)
And some of them say, `give me leave and do not put me to trial'. Behold, they have already fallen to trial; and surely the Hell encompasses the unbelievers.(49)
If good befalls thee it makes them ill; and if an affliction befalls thee, they say, `we took hold of our affair before hand', and they turn away rejoicing.(50)
Say, `nothing shall befall us except what God has prescribed for us; He is our protector; and in God should the Believers put their trust'.(51)
Say, `are you awaiting for us for anything except one of the two fairest things? But we are awaiting for you, for God to afflict you with punishment from Himself or at our hands; so await, we are awaiting with you'.(52)
Say, `expend willingly or unwillingly, it shall not be accepted of you; you are a transgressing people'.(53)
And nothing prevented their expendings to be accepted from them, except that they disbelieved in God and in His Messenger, and they do not attend the Prayer but lazily, and they do not expend but that they are averse.(54)
So let not their wealth or their children make thee wonder; God desires only to punish them thereby in the present life, and that their souls should depart and they are unbelievers.(55)
And they swear by God that they are of you; but they are not of you; but they are a coward people.(56)
If they could find a shelter or caves or a place to enter, they would surely turn thereto in frantic haste.(57)
And some of them find fault with thee regarding the offerings; then if they are given something of it, they are pleased, and if they are not given anything of it, they get enraged.(58)
But were they pleased with what God and His Messenger gave them and said, `God is enough for us; God will give us out of His bounty and His Messenger; to God we turn in hope.(59)
The offerings are only for the poor, the needy, those who work on them, those whose hearts are to be conciliated, those in bondage, those under debt, in the way of God, and the traveller; an ordinance from God; and God is Knowing, Wise.(60)
And some of them hurt the Prophet, and say, `he is an ear'. Say, `an ear of good for you, who believes in God and has faith in the Believers, and He is a mercy to those of you who have faith. But those who hurt the Messenger shall have a painful punishment.(61)
They swear by God to you to please you, but God and His Messenger have more right that they should please Him, if they are indeed Believers.(62)
Do they not know that whoso opposes God and His Messenger, for them shall be the Fire of Hell to dwell therein forever; that is the great humiliation.(63)
The hypocrites fear lest a chapter should be sent down upon them, telling them what is in their hearts: Say, `mock on; God will bring forth what you fear'.(64)
And if thou questionest them, they will say, `we were only discussing and making merry'. Say, `is it God and His Signs and His Messenger that you mock?'(65)
Make no excuses; you have disbelieved after you believed; if We pardon a group of yours, We shall punish another group, for they were sinners.(66)
The hypocrites, men and women, are as one another; they bid the disgusting and forbid the desirable, and keep their hands shut; they have forgotten God, and He has forgotten them; surely the hypocrites are the transgressors.(67)
God promises the hypocrites, men and women, and the unbelievers the Fire of Hell, to dwell therein forever; it will suffice them; and God has cursed them; and for them shall be a lasting punishment __ (68)
like those before you, who were stronger in power and more abundant in wealth and children than you are; they drew benefit of their share; now you draw benefit of your share, as those before you drew benefit of their share, and you discuss the way they discussed; their works have gone vain in this world and Hereafter, and they are the losers.(69)
Has there not come to them the news of those before them __ the people of Noah, Ad and Thamood, the people of Abraham, the men of Midian and the overturned cities? Their Messengers came to them with clear signs; and God would not wrong them, but themselves they wronged.(70)
And the Believers, men and women, are friends of one another; they bid the desirable, forbid the disgusting, establish the Prayer, pay the Due-alms, and obey God and His Messenger; upon them God will have mercy; God is Mighty, Wise.(71)
God promises the Believers, men and women, gardens underneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever, and gracious houses in the gardens of eternity; and God's pleasure shall be the greatest; that is the mighty triumph.(72)
O Prophet, struggle against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh with them; and their abode is Hell; and it is evil a destination!(73)
They swear by God that they said nothing; but they did say the word of unbelief, and disbelieved after their surrender (Islam), and they purposed what they did not attain. And they showed enmity only because God and His Messenger enriched them of His bounty. Now, if they repent, it will be better for them, and if they turn away, God will punish them with a painful punishment in this world and Hereafter; and there will be no friend or helper for them on the earth.(74)
And some of them made covenant with God: `if He gives us of His bounty, we will surely make offerings and be among the righteous'.(75)
Then, when He gave them of His bounty, they were niggardly of it, and turned away swerving aside.(76)
So He caused hypocrisy to enter their hearts till the Day they will meet Him, because they failed God in the promise they had made with Him, and because they were telling lies.(77)
Did they not know that God knows their secret and their conspiracy, and that God knows all about the unseen things.(78)
Those who taunt the Believers who volunteer the offerings freely, and scoff at those who find nothing except their efforts; God scoffs at them, and for them shall be a painful punishment.(79)
Ask forgiveness for them or ask not forgiveness for them; even if thou askest forgiveness for them seventy times, God will not forgive them; that is because they disbelieved in God and His Messenger; and God does not guide the transgressing people.(80)
Those who remained behind rejoiced in their sitting behind the Messenger of God, and they were averse to struggling with their wealth and their selves in the way of God, and they said, `do not go forth in the heat'. Say, `the Fire of Hell will be fiercer in heat'. Would that they understood.(81)
So let them laugh little and weep much as a recompense of what they have earned.(82)
Now, if God returns thee to a group of them, and they ask of thee leave to go forth, say, `you shall not go forth with me ever, nor shall you fight with me an enemy; you were pleased to sit back the first time, now sit with those who remain behind'.(83)
And thou pray never over any of them who dies, nor stand by his grave; they disbelieved in God and His Messenger and died and they were transgressors.(84)
And let not their wealth and their children make thee wonder. God only desires to punish them thereby in this world, and that their souls should depart as unbelievers.(85)
And when a sura is sent down: `believe in God, and struggle along with His Messenger', the affluent among them ask leave of thee and say `leave us with those that sit back'.(86)
They are pleased to be with those who stay behind, for their hearts are sealed, so they do not understand.(87)
But the Messenger, and the Believers with him, struggle with their wealth and their selves; and for them shall be the good things, and only they shall prosper.(88)
God has prepared for them gardens underneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever; that is the mighty triumph.(89)
And some Bedouins that made excuses came that they may be given leave; and those who lied to God and His Messenger sat back; there shall befall the unbelievers among them a painful punishment.(90)
There is no blame on the weak, nor on the sick, nor on those who do not find anything to expend, when they are sincere to God and His Messenger. There is no way against the good-doers; and God is Forgiving, Merciful.(91)
Nor (there is a way) against those who, when they came to thee, for thee to mount them, thou saidst to them, `I do not find whereon I should mount you'; they turned away, their eyes overflowing with tears out of grief, that they do not find anything to expend.(92)
The way is only against those who ask leave of thee, though they are rich; they are pleased to be with those who stay behind, and God has set a seal on their hearts, so they do not know.(93)
They will make excuses to you, when you return to them. Say, `do not make excuses; we will not believe you; God has told us your news; and God and his Messenger will see your work, then you will be returned to Him who knows the unseen and the visible, and He will tell you what you were doing.'(94)
They will swear to you by God, when you turn back to them, that you may turn aside from them. So turn aside from them; they are an abomination, and their abode is Hell __ a recompense for what they have been earning.(95)
They will swear to you that you may be pleased with them, but even if you are pleased with them, God will not be pleased with the transgressing people.(96)
The Bedouins are hardest in unbelief and hypocrisy and more apt not to know the bounds of what God has sent down on His Messenger; and God is Knowing, Wise.(97)
And among the Bedouins are those who take what they expend for fine and wait for turn of time against you; theirs shall be the evil turn; and God is Hearing, Knowing.(98)
And among the Bedouins are those who believe in God and the Last Day, and take what they expend as means of bringing them near to God, and of prayers of the Messenger. Surely it is a means of bringing them near. God will admit them to His mercy; God is Forgiving, Merciful.(99)
And the Foremost, the First among the Emigrants and the Helpers, and those who followed them in a good way, God is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens underneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever and ever; that is the mighty triumph.(100)
And among the Bedouins living around you some are hypocrites, and also among the people of the City (Medina); they persist in hypocrisy; thou dost not know them; We know them; We will punish them twice, then they will be returned to a mighty punishment.(101)
And the others, who have confessed their sins, have mixed a right deed with another evil; it may be that God will turn to them; God is Forgiving, Merciful.(102)
Take of their wealth the offerings, to purify them and to cleanse them thereby, and pray for them; thy prayers are a comfort for them; and God is Hearing, Knowing.(103)
Do they not know that it is God who accepts repentance from His servants, and takes the offering, and that it is God who is All-returning, Merciful.(104)
And say, `work, and God and His Messenger and Believers will see your work; and you will be returned to Him who knows the unseen and the visible, then He will tell you what you have been doing.'(105)
And the others have been deferred to God's commandment, whether He punishes them or turns to them; and God is Knowing, Wise.(106)
And those who have taken a mosque for harm and unbelief and for disunity among the Believers and a place of ambush for him who made war against God and His Messenger before; but they will surely swear, `we desired nothing but good'; and God testifies that they are liars.(107)
Stand in it never. A mosque that was founded on godfearing from the first day has greater right that thou shouldst stand in it; in it are men who love to purify them; and God loves those who purify themselves.(108)
Is he, then, better who founded his building on the fear and the pleasure of God, or he who founded his building on the brink of a crumbling bank, and it crumbled with him into the Fire of Hell? But God does not guide the wrong-doing people.(109)
The building they have built will not cease to be a point of doubt in their hearts, unless their hearts are cut into pieces; and God is Knowing, Wise.(110)
God has bought from the Believers their selves and their wealth that the Paradise should be theirs; they fight in the way of God, and they kill and are killed; it is a promise binding on Him in the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur'an; and who is more true in fulfilling his covenant than God? So rejoice in the bargain that you have made with Him, and that is the mighty triumph.(111)
They are those who repent, who serve, who praise, who journey, who bow, who prostrate themselves, who bid the desirable, who forbid the disgusting, and who guard God's bounds; and give thou good news to the Believers.(112)
It is not for the Prophet and the Believers to ask forgiveness for the idolaters, even though they be near kinsmen, after it has become clear to them that they are the people of Hell.(113)
And Abraham's prayer for pardon of his father was only due to his promise he had made to him; but when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of God he quit him; Abraham was surely compassionate and clement.(114)
And God would not send a people astray after He has guided them, until He makes clear to them what they should guard against; God knows everything.(115)
It is God to whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He gives life and makes to die; and you have, apart from God, no friend and no helper.(116)
God has turned to the Prophet and the Emigrants and the Helpers, those who followed him in the hour of hardship, after the hearts of a party of them had almost swerved, yet He turned to them; He is surely Kind and Merciful to them;(117)
and (He turned) also to the three who remained behind, until, when the earth, despite its vastness, narrowed on them, and their selves also narrowed on them, and they thought that there was no refuge from God except in Him, then He turned towards them, that they may also turn; surely it is God who is the All - turning, the Merciful.(118)
O Believers, fear God and be with the truthful.(119)
It is not for the people of the City (Medina) and the bedouins, that dwell around them, to stay behind God's Messenger or prefer their selves to his; that is because there does not afflict them thirst, fatigue or hunger in the way of God, nor do they tread any tread that enrages the unbelievers, nor do they make any gain from enemy, but thereby a righteous deed is written for them; surely God does not waste the wage of the good-doers.(120)
Nor do they expend a sum, small or big, nor traverse a valley, but it is written down for them, so that God may recompense them for the best of what they were doing.(121)
And it is not required of the believers to go forth totally. But, why should not a group from every section of them go forth to get understanding of the religion, and to warn their people when they return to them, that they may beware?(122)
O Believers, fight those unbelievers who live near to you, and let them find harshness in you; and know that God is with the godfearing.(123)
And whenever a sura is sent down, some of them say, `which of you has this
increased in faith?' Then as for the Believers, their faith it increases, and they rejoice.(124)
And as for those in whose heart is sickness, it increases abomination to their abomination, and they die and they are unbelievers.(125)
But do they not see that they are put to trial once or twice every year, yet still they do not repent nor do they pay heed? (126)
And whenever a sura is sent down, they look at one another: `does anyone see you?' Then they turn away. God has turned away their hearts, for they are a people who understand not.(127)
There has surely come to you a Messenger from among yourselves; grievous to him is your suffering, and he is anxious over you, and kind and merciful to the Believers.(128)
Now, if they turn away, say, `God is enough for me; there is no god but He; in Him I put my trust, and He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne'.(129)