The Qur’an With Annotated Interpretation

• The “seed” of the whole Qur’ān

• The necessity of God-consciousness.
• The error(s) committed by followers of earlier revelations.
• Legal ordinances (ethics, social relations, warfare etc.).
• Ibrahim.
• Kaaba.
• Ayatul Kursi. (v. 255)

• The human nature of Isa.
• The oneness of Allah.
• Man’s faith and temptations.
• The Battle of Uhud (3 AH).

• Unity of the human race and the mutual obligations of men and women towards one another. (v. 1)
• Rights of women.
• Questions related to family life (including marriage and inheritance).
• Peace and war.
• Relations of believers with unbelievers.
• Striving in the Cause of Allah (Jihad). (v. 95-97)

• A series of ordinances (incl. Religious rites and social obligations).
• Corruption of the original message of the Injil by Jews and Christians. (v. 68-77, 116-118)
• Jesus’ disciples asked God to send them a table  from heaven

• This sūrah dwells on such themes as rejecting polytheism and unbelief, the establishment of Tawhīd, the Revelation, Messengership, and Resurrection.

• The mission of the prophets.
• Adam, Hawwa and Iblis. (v. 16-25)
• Stories of Nuh, Hud, Salih, Lut, Shuáyb and Musa. (v. 59-171)
• Allah’s Covenant with humanity. (v. 172)
• What happens to those who discard Allah’s message. (v. 175)

• The Battle of Badr and the lessons that are to be taken from it
• Instructs believers in topics such us jihād, hijrah, the law of war, treaties, gains of war, patience, mutual helping and solidarity, and reliance on God.

• Problems of war between believers and their enemies.
• The expedition to Tabuk (9 A.H.).
• Prohibition of intercalation in the Islamic lunar calendar(v. 37)
• Those who cannot attain to faith. (v. 124-127)

• The revelation of the Qur’an to Muhammad (not Muhammad’s own work). (v. 15-17, 37-38, 94)
• References to earlier prophets.
• Fundamental tenets of Islam.

• The revelation of God’s will through his prophets.
• More stories of earlier prophets.
• Just dealings between men.

• The story of the prophet Joseph (as an illustration of God’s unfathomable direction of men’s affairs).
• Tells us of the truth contained in dreams

• The essentials of faith, and the arguments for faith found in “nature” and humanity.

• In verse 5, Moses’ mission
• Declares that the Qur’ān was sent to Muhammad  to lead humankind out of the depths of darkness into the light, thus stressing the universality of his mission.

• The evidence of God’s Existence and Oneness, and the Divine authorship of the Qur’ān.
• The exemplary events of previous peoples.

• God’s creativeness:
  • Manifested in the instincts of the bee.
  • Culmination: Guidance through his revealed word.

• Muhammad’s Night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem.
• The children of Israel. (v. 2-8, 101-104)

• A series of parables or allegories on the theme of faith in God versus excessive attachment to the life of this world. Including:
  • The men of the cave. (v. 13-20)
  • The rich man and the poor man. (v. 32-44)
  • Moses and the unnamed sage. (v. 60-82)
  • The allegory of Dhu’l-Qarnayn, the Two-Horned One’. (v. 83-98)

• The story of Zachariah and his son John, the precursor of Jesus. (v. 2-15)
• The story of Mary and Jesus. (v. 16-37)

• The guidance offered by God through his prophets.
• The fundamental truths inherent in all revealed religions are identical.
  • The story of Moses. (v. 9-98)

• The oneness, uniqueness and transcendence of God.
• The continuity and intrinsic unity of all divine revelation.
  • Stories of the prophets of old. (v. 48-91)
  • The believers of all faiths belong to one single community. (v. 92)

• The Mecca pilgrimage and some of the rituals connected with it. (v. 25-38)
• It warns new believers, who might waver and be unwilling to persevere through some of the hardships that accepting a new faith naturally entails.

• True faith.
• The evidence of the existence of an almighty Creator, and man’s ultimate responsibility before Him.
• The unity of all religious communities, broken by man’s egotism, greed and striving after power. (v. 52-53)
• The impossibility to believe in God, without believing in life after death.

• Rules concerning relations between the sexes, and members of a family and society
• The mystic parable of the ‘light of God’ (“Verse of Light”). (v. 35)
• Declaring the chastity and innocence of ‘Â’ishah

• The purpose of every divine revelation is to provide a stable criterion of true and false.
• The humanness of every apostle sent by God to man. (v. 20)
• Divine revelation belongs to God’s creative activity.

• It rejects the Makkans’ claim that the Messenger  was a poet and that the Qur’ān is the work of a poet.
• Man’s weakness, which causes him to reject God’s message and worship power and wealth etc.

• The legend of king Solomon and queen of Sheba.

• Concerned with the Prophet Moses’ life and mission
• Contains glad tidings for God’s Messenger

• The parable of ‘the spider house’, a symbol of false beliefs that are destined to be blown away by the winds of truth. (v. 41)

• Predictions of the near victory of the Byzantines [over the Persians] and the Battle of Badr (2 A.H.). (v. 1-7)
• God’s ability to resurrect the dead at the end of time, and the people’s ignorance of this.

• Affirming the wisdom of the Qur’ān, and offers pearls of wisdom narrated by Luqman
• Some virtues of the believers
• Presents evidence of God’s Power and Oneness

• God’s creation.
• God’s revelation and man’s acceptance or denial.
• The Day of Judgement.

• The War of the Confederates (The Battle of the Trench,).
• Introduces laws pertaining to marriage and divorce
• Describes new regulations concerning the law of inheritance and Islamic family life
• The relationship between Muhammad and his family.

• Divine Oneness, the afterlife, and Prophethood.
• The story of the people of Sheba, as an example of the impermanence of human power, wealth and glory. (v. 15-20)
• Always be conscious of God. (v. 46)

• God’s Oneness, the Hereafter, and the Messengership of Muhammad.

• Man’s moral responsibility, resurrection and God’s judgment.
• To be recited over the dying and in the prayers of the dead.
• Three of the pillars of faith, namely the Divine Oneness, afterlife, and Prophethood

• Emphasizes the afterlife and the Last Judgment.
• Man’s constant need of prophetic guidance.
• Stories of earlier prophets.
• The angels’ duties and the jinn

• Divine guidance and its rejection by those who are lost in fast pride.
• It warns those who oppose the preaching of the Messenger.
• Gives examples from the experiences of earlier Messengers.

• The evidence of the existence and oneness of God in all manifestations of nature.
• God forgives all sins to him who repents before his death.
• Allegories of the Last Hour and the Day of Judgment.

Ghafir

• Man’s false pride, worship of false values (wealth, power etc.) and his denial of divine guidance.
  • Stories of earlier prophets.

• Man’s acceptance or rejection of divine revelation.

• God is undefinable and unfathomable. (v. 11, 16)
• All prophets taught the oneness of God, so all believers of all ‘denominations’ should see themselves as ‘one single community’. (v. 13, 15)
• The law of cause and effect: In the life to come man will only harvest ‘what his own hands have wrought’ in this world.

• Concentrates on some of the fundamentals of faith, namely God’s Oneness, Divine Messengership, and the afterlife; and it rejects certain false beliefs of ignorance, such as attributing daughters to God.

• Through revelation worldly pride is eventually brought to naught.
• Concentrates upon the Qur’ān’s Divine authorship, on God’s being the unique Creator and Lord of the whole universe

• Draws attention to God’s signs in the universe
• Cites many of God’s favors to humankind
• The history of the Children of Israel

• Warning the disbelievers of their miserable fate, and reassuring the believers of their salvation.
• Presents some of the concrete proofs of the Messengership of the Prophet Muhammad

• It deals with such matters as fighting, the treatment of prisoners of war, the distribution of the spoils of war
• Instructions for Muslims to be virtuous to their parents.
• The Story of Hud and the punishment of that befell his people.
• Advising Muhammad to be more patient in delivering Islam

• The Truce of Hudaybiyyah
• Criticizes the attitudes of the hypocrites, continues with further promises to the Muslims, and ends by mentioning certain important virtues of the Muslim Community.

• Social ethics.
  • Reverence to Muhammad and the righteous leaders after him.
  • The brotherhood of all believers and all mankind. (v. 10, 13)
  • The difference between true faith and outward observance of religious formalities. (v. 14 ff.)

• It mentions many phenomena in the universe that indicate God, and then concentrates on the afterlife.

• It concentrates on the afterlife and God’s Oneness, and warns the unbelievers, reminding them what happened to many previous peoples who had obstinately persisted in unbelief and wrongdoing.

• It deals with the confused reactions of the Makkan polytheists to the revelation of the Qur’ān and how they made them look ridiculous.

• Muhammad’s experience of an ascension to heaven
• It warns the polytheists about their attitude towards the Qur’ān.

• The splitting of the moon by a gesture of God’s Messenger
• The people of Noah
• The peoples of Lot

• The manifestations of God
• Everything will pass away, except the face of God. (v. 26-27)
• Description of paradise. (v. 46-78)

• Description of life in the Hereafter for the believers and the disbelievers.
• Proofs of God’s Existence and Oneness, and some characteristics of the Qur’ān.

• It deals with God’s absolute sovereignty, the necessity of sacrifice in God’s cause, and the passing nature of worldly pleasures.

• Divorce.
• Faith and denial.
• Hypocrisy.
• The attitude believers should have toward non-believers.

• The conflict between the Muslim community and the Jewish tribe of Banu’n-Nadir of Medina.

• The believers’ relations with unbelievers.

• A call to unity between professed belief and actual behaviour.
• It stresses the importance of striving hard in the cause of God after faith.

• Obligatory congregational prayer on Friday.

• It reveals the inner world of the hypocrites and their plots against Islam.

• Concentrates on faith in God and the Hereafter

• Divorce (waiting period, remarriage).

• Certain aspects of Muhammad’s personal and family life.

• Man’s inability to understand the mysteries of the universe, and his dependence on guidance through divine revelation.
• The manifestation of Gods’ absolute perfection in creation through the fine tuning of the universe.

• It categorically refutes some allegations of the polytheists against God’s Messenger.
• It cites the perfect character of the Messenger

• Draws attention to the Day of Resurrection and Judgment
• The Divine origin of the Qur’ān and the Prophethood of Muhammad

• The unwillingness to believe, caused by the restlessness inherent in human nature.

• The story of Noah.
• The struggle against blind materialism and the lack of spiritual values.

• Emphasizes God’s absolute Oneness and the Messengership of Muhammad

• Loosening the strict regulation on night prayer.

• This short early surah outlines almost all fundamental Qur’anic concepts.
• Gods’ promise of eternal damnation for the disbelievers.

• The concept of resurrection.

• It is about human perfectibility, the virtues of good believers and the reward they will get in the Hereafter.

• The gradual revelation of the Qur’an.
• The functions of some classes of angels

• Life after death.
• Resurrection and God’s ultimate judgment.

• It reminds us of death, warns against those who deny the afterlife.

• It stresses that everyone, whatever their family origin or social status, is equal with respect to the communication of God’s Message

• The Last Hour and man’s resurrection.

• Draws attention to the Hereafter

• It explains enjoins honesty in dealings and presents some aspects of the afterlife.

• Warns people concerning God’s supreme Power

• Calls the believers to patience in the face of the persecutions

• Concentrates on the Resurrection

• God’s Power and Unity and the Revelation

• The hardships and punishment the unbelievers will suffer in the Hereafter

• Ancient peoples
• Human nature and the wisdom of God’s testing humans

• Invites people to help one another and prepare for the next life

• Attention a basic feature of humankind, namely its being created with a disposition or capacity to do both good and evil

• Do the things for salvation and avoid the things for perdition

• Man’s suffering and God’s justice.
• A message of hope and consolation is given to man from Allah’s past mercies.
• Man is bidden to pursue the path of goodness and proclaim the bounties of Allah.
• Prophecy regarding the good future for Muhammad.

• God’s favors upon the Messenger

• A fundamental moral verity, common to all true religious teachings.

• Implies the importance of knowledge, reading, and writing, and warns that people go astray by regarding themselves as being self-sufficient.

• The Night of Laylat-ul-Qadr

• God’s Messenger is the clear evidence for the truth of the Message

• Events during the Day of Resurrection

• Praises the vanguards of Islam
• Draws attention to some negative attitudes that exist in human beings

• The dreadful occurrences on the Day of Resurrection, and the end of good and evil.

• Man’s greed and tendencies.

• It warns against slandering and defaming, and seeing oneself as being above other people

• The Abyssinian attack against Mecca in the year 570 CE, the Year of the Elephant.

• The Quraysh, custodians of the Kaaba, should be thankful to God for protecting them from hunger and danger.

• The meaning of true worship through sincere devotion and helping those in need.

• Spiritual riches through devotion and sacrifice.
• Hatred results in the cutting off of all hope.

• The correct attitude towards those who reject faith.

• The last complete surah revealed before Muhammad’s death.

• The hostility of Muhammad’s uncle Abu Lahab.

• The oneness of God.

• Seek refuge in God from evil of others.

• Trust in God’s protection from temptations.