A. J. Arberry - XXXIII The Confederates lyrics

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compa**ionate 33:1 O Prophet, fear God, and obey not the unbelievers and the hypocrites. God is All-knowing, All-wise. And follow what is revealed to thee from thy Lord; surely God is aware of the things you do. And put thy trust in God; God suffices as a guardian. God has not a**igned to any man two hearts within his breast; nor has He made your wives, when you divorce, saying, 'Be as my mother's back,' truly your mothers, neither has He made your adopted sons your sons in fact. That is your own saying, the words of your mouths; but God speaks the truth, and guides on the way. 33:5 Call them after their true fathers; that is more equitable in the sight of God. If you know not who their fathers were, then they are your brothers in religion, and your clients. There is no fault in you if you make mistakes, but only in what your hearts premeditate. God is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate. The Prophet is nearer to the believers than their selves; his wives are their mothers. Those who are bound by blood are nearer to one another in the Book of God than the believers and the emigrants; nevertheless you should act towards your friends honourably; that stands inscribed in the Book. And when We took compact from the Prophets, and from thee, and from Noah, and Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, Mary's son; We took from them a solemn compact, that He might question the truthful concerning their truthfulness; and He has prepared for the unbelievers a painful chastisement. O believers, remember God's blessing upon you when hosts came against you, and We loosed against them a wind, and hosts you saw not; and God sees the things you do. 33:10 When they came against you from above you and from below you, and when your eyes swerved and your hearts reached your throats, while you thought thoughts about God; there it was that the believers were tried, and shaken most mightily. And when the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is sickness, said, 'God and His Messenger promised us only delusion.' And when a party of them said, 'O people of Yathrib, there is no abiding here for you, therefore return!' And a part of them were asking leave of the Prophet, saying, 'Our houses are exposed'; yet they were not exposed; they desired only to flee. And if entrance had been forced against them from those quarters, and then they had been asked to apostatise, they would have done so, and but tarried about it briefly. 33:15 Yet they had made covenant with God before that, that they would not turn their backs; and covenants with God shall be questioned of. Say: 'Flight will not profit you, if you flee from d**h or slaying; you will be given enjoyment of days then but little.' Say: 'Who is he that shall defend you from God, if He desires evil for you, or desires mercy for you?' They shall find for themselves, apart from God, neither protector nor helper. God would surely know those of you who hinder, and those who say to their brothers, 'Come to us,' and come to battle but little, being n***ardly towards you. When fear comes upon them, thou seest them looking at thee, their eyes rolling like one who swoons of d**h; but when the fear departs, they flay you with sharp tongues, being n***ardly to possess the good things. Those have never believed; God has made their works to fail; and that is easy for God. 33:20 They think the Confederates have not departed; and if the Confederates come, they will wish that they were desert-dwellers among the Bedouins asking for news of you. If they were among you, they would fight but little. You have had a good example in God's Messenger for whosoever hopes for God and the Last Day, and remembers God oft. When the believers saw the Confederates they said, 'This is what God and His Messenger promised us, and God and His Messenger have spoken truly.' And it only increased them in faith and surrender. Among the believers are men who were true to their covenant with God; some of them have fulfilled their vow by d**h, and some are still awaiting, and they have not changed in the least; that God may recompense the truthful ones for their truthfulness, and chastise the hypocrites, if He will, or turn again unto them. Surely God is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate. 33:25 And God sent back those that were unbelievers in their rage, and they attained no good; God spared the believers of fighting. Surely God is All-strong, All-mighty. And He brought down those of the People of the Book who supported them from their fortresses and cast terror in their hearts; some you slew, some you made captive. And He bequeathed upon you their lands, their habitations, and their possessions, and a land you never trod. God is powerful over everything. O Prophet, say to thy wives: 'If you desire the present life and its adornment, come now, I will make you provision, and set you free with kindliness. But if you desire God and His Messenger and the Last Abode, surely God has prepared for those amongst you such as do good a mighty wage. 33:30 Wives of the Prophet, whosoever among you commits a flagrant indecency, for her the chastisement shall be doubled; that is easy for God. But whosoever of you is obedient to God and His Messenger, and does righteousness, We shall pay her her wage twice over; We have prepared for her a generous provision. Wives of the Prophet, you are not as other women. If you are godfearing, be not abject in your speech, so that he in whose heart is sickness may be lustful; but speak honourable words. Remain in your houses; and display not your finery, as did the pagans of old. And perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and obey God and His Messenger. People of the House, God only desires to put away from you abomination and to cleanse you. And remember that which is recited in your houses of the signs of God and the Wisdom; God is All-subtle, All-aware. 33:35 Men and women who have surrendered, believing men and believing women, obedient men and obedient women, truthful men and truthful women, enduring men and enduring women, humble men and humble women, men and women who give in charity, men who fast and women who fast, men and women who guard their private parts, men and women who remember God oft -- for them God has prepared forgiveness and a mighty wage. It is not for any believer, man or woman, when God and His Messenger have decreed a matter, to have the choice in the affair. Whosoever disobeys God and His Messenger has gone astray into manifest error. When thou saidst to him whom God had blessed and thou hadst favoured, 'Keep thy wife to thyself, and fear God,' and thou wast concealing within thyself what God should reveal, fearing other men; and God has better right for thee to fear Him. So when Zaid had accomplished what he would of her, then We gave her in marriage to thee, so that there should not be any fault in the believers, touching the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished what they would of them; and God's commandment must be performed. There is no fault in the Prophet, touching what God has ordained for him -- God's wont with those who pa**ed away before; and God's commandment is doom decreed; who were delivering the Messages of God, and were fearing Him, and fearing not any one except Him; and God suffices as a reckoner. 33:40 Muhammad is not the father of any one of your men, but the Messenger of God, and the Seal of the Prophets; God has knowledge of everything. O believers, remember God oft, and give Him glory at the dawn and in the evening. It is He who blesses you, and His angels, to bring you forth from the shadows into the light. He is All-compa**ionate to the believers. Their greeting, on the day when they shall meet Him, will be 'Peace!' And He has prepared for them a generous wage. O Prophet, We have sent thee as a witness, and good tidings to bear and warning, calling unto God by His leave, and as a light-giving lamp. 33:45 Give good tidings to the believers that there awaits them with God great bounty. And obey not the unbelievers and the hypocrites; heed not their hurt, but put thy trust in God; God suffices as a guardian. O believers, when you marry believing women and then divorce them before you touch them, you have no period to reckon against them; so make provision for them, and set them free with kindliness. O Prophet, We have made lawful for thee thy wives whom thou hast given their wages and what thy right hand owns, spoils of war that God has given thee, and the daughters of thy uncles paternal and aunts paternal, thy uncles maternal and aunts maternal, who have emigrated with thee, and any woman believer, if she give herself to the Prophet and if the Prophet desire to take her in marriage, for thee exclusively, apart from the believers -- 33:50 We know what We have imposed upon them touching their wives and what their right hands own -- that there may be no fault in thee; God is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate. Thou mayest put off whom thou wilt of them, and whom thou wilt thou mayest take to thee; and if thou seekest any thou hast set aside there is no fault in thee. So it is likelier they will be comforted, and not sorrow, and every one of them will be well-pleased with what thou givest her. God knows what is in your hearts; God is All-knowing, All-clement. Thereafter women are not lawful to thee, neither for thee to take other wives in exchange for them, though their beauty please thee, except what thy right hand owns; God is watchful over everything. O believers, enter not the houses of the Prophet, except leave is given you for a meal, without watching for its hour. But when you are invited, then enter; and when you have had the meal, disperse, neither lingering for idle talk; that is hurtful to the Prophet, and he is ashamed before you; but God is not ashamed before the truth. And when you ask his wives for any object, ask them from behind a curtain; that is cleaner for your hearts and theirs. It is not for you to hurt God's Messenger, neither to marry his wives after him, ever; surely that would be, in God's sight, a monstrous thing. Whether you reveal anything, or whether you conceal it, surely God has knowledge of everything. 33:55 There is no fault in the Prophet's wives touching their fathers, their sons, their brothers, their brothers' sons, their sisters' sons, their women, and what their right hands own. And fear you God; surely God is witness of everything. God and His angels bless the Prophet. O believers, do you also bless him, and pray him peace. Those who hurt God and His Messenger -- them God has cursed in the present world and the world to come, and has prepared for them a humbling chastisement. And those who hurt believing men and believing women, without that they have earned it, have laid upon themselves calumny and manifest sin. O Prophet, say to thy wives and daughters and the believing women, that they draw their veils close to them; so it is likelier they will be known, and not hurt. God is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate. 33:60 Now; if the hypocrites do not give over, and those in whose hearts there is sickness and they that make commotion in the city, We shall a**uredly urge thee against them and then they will be thy neighbours there only a little; cursed they shalt be, and wheresoever they are come upon they shall be seized and slaughtered all -- God's wont with those who pa**ed away before; and thou shall find no changing the wont of God. The people will question thee concerning the Hour. Say: 'The knowledge of it is only with God; what shall make thee know? Haply the Hour is nigh.' God has cursed the unbelievers, and prepared for them a Blaze, 33:65 therein to dwell for ever; they shall find neither protector nor helper. Upon the day when their faces are turned about in the Fire they shall say, 'Ah, would we had obeyed God and the Messenger! They shall say, 'Our Lord, we obeyed our chiefs and great ones, and they led us astray from the way. Our Lord, give them chastisement twofold, and curse them with a mighty curse!' O believers, be not as those who hurt Moses, but God declared him quit of what they said, and he was high honoured with God. 33:70 O believers, fear God, and speak words hitting the mark, and He will set right your deeds for you and will forgive you your sins. Whosoever obeys God and His Messenger has won a mighty triumph. We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to carry it and were afraid of it; and man carried it. Surely he is sinful, very foolish. That God may chastise the hypocrites, men and women alike, and the idolaters, men and women alike; and that God may turn again unto the believers, men and women alike. God is All-forgiving, All-compa**ionate.