A. J. Arberry - Qur'an (Sura 24: Light) lyrics

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compa**ionate 24:1 A sura that We have sent down and appointed; and We have sent down in it signs, clear signs, that haply you will remember. The fornicatress and the fornicator -- scourge each one of them a hundred stripes, and in the matter of God's religion let no tenderness for them seize you if you believe in God and the Last Day; and let a party of the believers witness their chastisement. The fornicator shall marry none but a fornicatress or an idolatress, and the fornicatress -- none shall marry her but a fornicator or an idolator; that is forbidden to the believers. And those who cast it up on women in wedlock, and then bring not four witnesses, scourge them with eighty stripes, and do not accept any testimony of theirs ever; 24:5 those -- they are the ungodly, save such as repent thereafter and make amends; surely God is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate. And those who cast it up on their wives having no witnesses except themselves, the testimony of one of them shall be to testify by God four times that he is of the truthful, and a fifth time, that the curse of God shall be upon him, if he should be of the liars. It shall avert from her the chastisement if she testify by God four times that he is of the liars, and a fifth time, that the wrath of God shall be upon her, if he should be of the truthful. 24:10 But for God's bounty to you and His mercy and that God turns, and is All-wise -- Those who came with the slander are a band of you; do not reckon it evil for you; rather it is good for you. Every man of them shall have the sin that he has earned charged to him; and whosoever of them took upon himself the greater part of it, him there awaits a mighty chastisement. Why, when you heard it, did the believing men and women not of their own account think good thoughts, and say, 'This is a manifest calumny'? Why did they not bring four witnesses against it? But since they did not bring the witnesses, in God's sight they are the liars. But for God's bounty to you and His mercy in the present world and the world to come there would have visited you for your mutterings a mighty chastisement. When you received it on your tongues, and were speaking with your mouths that whereof you had no knowledge, and reckoned it a light thing, and with God it was a mighty thing -- 24:15 And why, when you heard it, did you not say, 'It is not for us to speak about this; glory be to Thee! This is a mighty calumny'? God admonishes you, that you shall never repeat the like of it again; if you are believers. God makes clear to you the signs; and God is All-knowing, All-wise. Those who love that indecency should be spread abroad concerning them that believe -- there awaits them a painful chastisement in the present world and the world to come; and God knows, and you know not. 24:20 But for God's bounty to you and His mercy and that God is All-gentle, All-compa**ionate -- O believers, follow not the steps of Satan; for whosoever follows the steps of Satan, a**uredly he bids to indecency and dishonour. But for God's bounty to you and His mercy not one of you would have been pure ever; but God purifies whom He will; and God is All-hearing, All-knowing. Let not those of you who possess bounty and plenty swear off giving kinsmen and the poor and those who emigrate in the way of God; but let them pardon and forgive. Do you not wish that God should forgive you? God is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate. Surely those who cast it up on women in wedlock that are heedless but believing shall be accursed in the present world and the world to come; and there awaits them a mighty chastisement on the day when their tongues, their hands and their feet shall testify against them touching that they were doing. 24:25 Upon that day God will pay them in full their just due, and they shall know that God is the manifest Truth. Corrupt women for corrupt men, and corrupt men for corrupt women; good women for good men, and good men for good women -- these are declared quit of what they say; theirs shall be forgiveness and generous provision. O believers, do not enter houses other than your houses until you first ask leave and, salute the people thereof; that is better for you; haply you will remember. And if you find not anyone therein, enter it not until leave is given to you. And if you are told, 'Return,' return; that is purer for you; and God knows the things you do. There is no fault in you that you enter houses uninhabited wherein enjoyment is for you. God knows what you reveal and what you hide. 24:30 Say to the believers, that they cast down their eyes and guard their private parts; that is purer for them. God is aware of the things they work. And say to the believing women, that they cast down their eyes and guard their private parts, and reveal not their adornment save such as is outward; and let them cast their veils over their bosoms, and not reveal their adornment save to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands' fathers, or their sons, or their husbands' sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or what their right hands own, or such men as attend them, not having s**ual desire, or children who have not yet attained knowledge of women's private parts; nor let them stamp their feet, so that their hidden ornament may be known. And turn all together to God, O you believers; haply so you will prosper. Marry the spouseless among you, and your slaves and handmaidens that are righteous; if they are poor, God will enrich them of His bounty; God is All-embracing, All-knowing. And let those who find not the means to marry be abstinent till God enriches them of His bounty. Those your right hands own who seek emancipation, contract with them accordingly, if you know some good in them; and give them of the wealth of God that He has given you. And constrain not your slave-girls to prostitution, if they desire to live in chastity, that you may seek the chance goods of the present life. Whosoever constrains them, surely God, after their being constrained, is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate. Now We have sent down to you signs making all clear, and an example of those who pa**ed away before you, and an admonition for the godfearing. 24:35 God is the Light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His Light is as a niche wherein is a lamp (the lamp in a gla**, the gla** as it were a glittering star) kindled from a Blessed Tree, an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West whose oil wellnigh would shine, even if no fire touched it; Light upon Light; (God guides to His Light whom He will.) (And God strikes similitudes for men, and God has knowledge of everything.) in temples God has allowed to be raised up, and His Name to be commemorated therein; therein glorifying Him, in the mornings and the evenings, are men whom neither commerce nor trafficking diverts from the remembrance of God and to perform the prayer, and to pay the alms, fearing a day when hearts and eyes shall be turned about, that God may recompense them for their fairest works and give them increase of His bounty; and God provides whomsoever He will, without reckoning. And as for the unbelievers, their works are as a mirage in a spacious plain which the man athirst supposes to be water, till, when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing; there indeed he finds God, and He pays him his account in full; (and God is swift at the reckoning.) 24:40 or they are as shadows upon a sea obscure covered by a billow above which is a billow above which are clouds, shadows piled one upon another; when he puts forth his hand, wellnigh he cannot see it. And to whomsoever God a**igns no light, no light has he. Hast thou not seen how that whatsoever is in the heavens and in the earth extols God, and the birds spreading their wings? Each -- He knows its prayer and its extolling; and God knows the things they do. To God belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and to Him is the homecoming. Hast thou not seen how God drives the clouds, then composes them, then converts them into a ma**, then thou seest the rain issuing out of the midst of them? And He sends down out of heaven mountains, wherein is hail, so that He smites whom He will with it, and turns it aside from whom He will; wellnigh the gleam of His lightning snatches away the sight. God turns about the day and the night; surely in that is a lesson for those who have eyes. God has created every beast of water, and some of them go upon their bellies, and some of them go upon two feet, and some of them go upon four; God creates whatever He will; God is powerful over everything. 24:45 Now We have sent down signs making all clear; God guides whomsoever He will to a straight path. They say, 'We believe in God and the Messenger, and we obey.' Then after that a party of them turn away; those -- they are not believers. When they are called to God and His Messenger that he may judge between them, lo, a party of them are swerving aside; but if they are in the right, they will come to him submissively. What, is there sickness in their hearts, or are they in doubt, or do they fear that God may be unjust towards them and His Messenger? Nay, but those -- they are the evildoers. 24:50 All that the believers say, when they are called to God and His Messenger, that he may judge between them, is that they say, 'We hear, and we obey'; those -- they are the prosperers. Whoso obeys God and His Messenger, and fears God and has awe of Him, those -- they are the triumphant. They have sworn by God the most earnest oaths, if thou commandest them they will go forth. Say: 'Do not swear; honourable obedience is sufficient. Surely God is aware of the things you do.' Say: 'Obey God, and obey the Messenger; then, if you turn away, only upon him rests what is laid on him, and upon you rests what is laid on you. If you obey him, you will be guided. It is only for the Messenger to deliver the manifest Message.' God has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely make you successors in the land, even as He made those who were before them successors, and that He will surely establish their religion for them that He has approved. for them, and will give them in exchange, after their fear, security: 'They shall serve Me, not a**ociating with Me anything.' Whoso disbelieves after that, those -- they are the ungodly. 24:55 Perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and obey the Messenger -- haply so you will find mercy. Think not the unbelievers able to frustrate God in the earth; their refuge is the Fire -- an evil homecoming. O believers, let those your right hands own and those of you who have not reached puberty ask leave of you three times -- before the prayer of dawn, and when you put off your garments at the noon, and after the evening prayer -- three times of nakedness for you. There is no fault in you or them, apart from these, that you go about one to the other. So God makes clear to you the signs; and God is All-knowing, All-wise. When your children reach puberty, let them ask leave, as those before them asked leave. So God makes clear to you His signs; and God is All-knowing, All-wise. Such women as are past child- bearing and have no hope of marriage -- there is no fault in them that they put off their clothes, so be it that they flaunt no ornament; but to abstain is better for them; and God is All-hearing, All-knowing. 24:60 There is no fault in the blind, and there is no fault in the lame, and there is no fault in the sick, neither in yourselves, that you eat of your houses, or your fathers' houses, or your mothers' houses, or your brothers' houses, or your sisters' houses, or the houses of your uncles or your aunts paternal, or the houses of your uncles or your aunts maternal, or that whereof you own the keys, or of your friend; there is no fault in you that you eat all together, or in groups separately. But when you enter houses, greet one another with a greeting from God, blessed and good. So God makes clear to you the signs; haply you will understand. Those only are believers, who believe in God and His Messenger and who, when they are with him upon a common matter, go not away until they ask his leave. Surely those who ask thy leave --those are they that believe in God and His Messenger; so, when they ask thy leave for some affair of their own, give leave to whom thou wilt of them, and ask God's forgiveness for them; surely God is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate. Make not the calling of the Messenger among yourselves like your calling one of another. God knows those of you who slip away surreptitiously; so let those who go against His command beware, lest a trial befall them, or there befall them a painful chastisement. Why, surely to God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth; He ever knows what state you are upon; and the day when they shall be returned to Him, then He will tell them of what they did; and God knows everything.