Quran

"We have certainly created man to face difficulties. Does he think that no one has power over him? He will say I have wasted much wealth. Does he think that no one sees him? Have We not given him two eyes, And a tongue and two lips, And pointed out to him the two conspicuous ways? But he attempts not the uphill road; And what will make thee comprehend what the uphill road is? (It is) to free a slave, Or to feed in a day of hunger An orphan nearly related, Or the poor man lying in the dust. Then he is of those who believe and exhort one another to patience, and exhort one another to mercy. These are the people of the right hand. And those who disbelieve in Our messages, they are the people of the left hand. On them is Fire closed over."

"Nay, when the earth is made to crumble to pieces, And thy Lord comes with the angels, ranks on ranks; And hell is made to appear that day. On that day man will be mindful, and of what use will being mindful be then? He will say: O would that I had sent before for (this) my life! But none can punish as He will punish on that day. And none can bind as He will bind on that day. O soul that art at rest, Return to thy Lord, well-pleased, well-pleasing, So enter among My servants, And enter My Garden!"

"Your striving is surely (for) diverse (ends). Then as for him who gives and keeps his duty, And accepts what is good -- We facilitate for him (the way to) ease. And as for him who is niggardly and considers himself self-sufficient, And rejects what is good -- We facilitate for him (the way to) distress. And his wealth will not avail him when he perishes. Surely Ours is it to show the way, And surely Ours is the Hereafter and the former. So I warn you of the Fire that flames. None will enter it but the most unfortunate, Who rejects (the truth) and turns (his) back. And away from it shall be kept the most faithful to duty, Who gives his wealth, purifying himself, And none has with him any boon for a reward, Except the seeking of the pleasure of his Lord, the Most High. And he will soon be well-pleased."

"Certainly We created man in the best make. Then We render him the lowest of the low, Except those who believe and do good; so theirs is a reward never to be cut off. So who can give the lie to thee after (this) about the Judgment? Is not Allah the Best of the Judges?"

"Surely man is ungrateful to his Lord. And surely he is a witness of that. And truly on account of the love of wealth he is niggardly. Knows he not when that which is in the graves is raised, And that which is in the breasts is made manifest? Surely their Lord this day is Aware of them."

"Abu Lahab's hands will perish and he will perish. His wealth and that which he earns will not avail him. He will burn in fire giving rise to flames -- And his wife the bearer of slander; Upon her neck a halter of twisted rope!"

"Why is it nor then that when it comes up to the throat, And you at that time look on -- And We are nearer to it than you, but you see not -- Why then, if you are not held under authority, Do you not send it back, if you are truthful? Then if he is one of those drawn nigh (to Allah), Then happiness and bounty and a Garden of bliss. And if he is one of those on the right hand, Then peace to thee from those on the right hand. And if he is one of the rejectors, the erring ones, He has an entertainment of boiling water, And burning in hell. Surely this is a certain truth. So glorify the name of thy Lord, the Incomparably Great."

"How clearly will they hear and see on the day when they come to Us but the wrongdoers are today in manifest error. And warn them of the day of Regret, when the matter is decided. And they are (now) in negligence and they believe not."

"Whoever desires this world's life and its finery We repay them their deeds therein, and they are not made to suffer loss in it. These are they for whom there is nothing but Fire in the Hereafter. And what they work therein is fruitless and their deeds are vain."

"Say: If the abode of the Here-after with God is specially for you to the exclusion of the people, then invoke death if you are truthful. And they will never invoke it on account of what their hands have sent on before, and God knows the wrongdoers."

"And they will all come forth to Allah, then the weak will say to those who were proud: We were your followers, can you then avert from us aught of the chastisement of Allah? They will say: If Allah had guided us, we would have guided you. It is the same to us whether we cry or bear patiently; there is no escape for us. And the devil will say, when the matter is decided: Surely Allah promised you a promise of truth, and I promised you, then failed you. And I had no authority over you, except that I called you and you obeyed me; so blame me not but blame yourselves. I cannot come to your help, nor can you come to my help. I deny your associating me with Allah before. Surely for the unjust is a painful chastisement. And those who believe and do good are made to enter Gardens, wherein flow rivers, abiding therein by their lord's permission. Their greeting therein is, Peace!"

"And We wronged them not but they wronged themselves. And their gods whom they called upon besides Allah availed them naught when the decree of thy Lord came to pass. And they added to them naught but ruin. And such is the punishment of thy Lord, when He punishes the towns while they are iniquitous. Surely His punishment is painful, severe. Surely there is a sign in this for him who fears the chastisement of the Hereafter. That is a day on which people will be gathered together, and that is a day to be witnessed. And We delay it not but for an appointed term. On the day when it comes, no soul will speak except by His permission; so (some) of them will be unhappy and (others) happy. Then as for those who are unhappy, they will be in the Fire; for them therein will be sighing and groaning -- Abiding therein so long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord please. Surely thy Lord is Doer of what He intends. And as for those who are made happy, they will be in the Garden abiding therein so long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord please -- a gift never to be cut off."

"And the judging on that day will be just; so as for those whose good deeds are heavy, they are the successful. And as for those whose good deeds are light, those are they who ruined their souls because they disbelieved in Our messages."

"They shall have a bed of hell and over them coverings (of it). And thus do We requite the wrongdoers. And as for those who believe and do good -- We impose not on any soul a duty beyond its scope -- they are the owners of the Garden; therein they abide. And We shall remove whatever of ill-feeling is in their hearts -- rivers flow beneath them. And they say: All praise is due to Allah, Who guided us to this! And we would not have found the way if Allah had not guided us. Certainly the messengers of our Lord brought the truth. And it will be cried out to them: This is the Garden which you are made to inherit for what you did. And the owners of the Garden call out to the companions of the Fire: We have found that which our Lord promised us to be true; have you, too, found that which your Lord promised to be true? They will say: Yes. Then a crier will cry out among them: The curse of Allah is on the wrongdoers, Who hinder (men) from Allah's way and seek to make it crooked, and they are disbelievers in the Hereafter. And between them is a veil. And on the Elevated Places are men who know all by their marks. And they call out to the owners of the Garden: Peace be to you! They have not yet entered it, though they hope. And when their eyes are turned towards the companions of the Fire, they say: Our Lord, place us not with the unjust people. And the owners of the Elevated Places call out to men whom they recognize by their marks, saying: Of no avail were to you your amassing and your arrogance. Are these they about whom you swore that Allah would not bestow mercy on them? Enter the Garden; you have no fear, nor shall you grieve. And the companions of the Fire call out to the owners of the Garden: Pour on us some water or some of that which Allah has provided for you. They say: Surely Allah has forbidden them both to the disbelievers, Who take their religion for an idle sport and a play, and this world's life deceives them. So this day We shall forsake them, as they neglected the meeting of this day of theirs, and as they denied Our messages. And certainly We have brought them a Book which We make clear with knowledge, a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe. Do they wait for aught but its final sequel? On the day when its final sequel comes, those who neglected it before will say: Indeed the messengers of our Lord brought the truth. Are there any intercessors on our behalf so that they should intercede for us? Or could we be sent back so that we should do (deeds) other than those which we did? Indeed they have lost their souls, and that which they forged has failed them."

"بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ"

"I wanted to make it quite clear in the very beginning that even before I learnt the first letter of Bismillah, I was convinced that God was unique and all-powerful and when God guided me to undertake a study of the Quran, my inner soul cried out that Al-Quran was the Word of God revealed to his Last Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W.). … About my faith and belief, God knows what is in one's heart."

"And we sent Moses, with Our Clear (Signs) and an authority manifest,Unto Pharaoh and his chiefs: but they followed the command of Pharaoh and the command of Pharaoh was no right (guide)."

"As the Prophet Mohammed lived from AD 570 to 632, this means that at the very latest the fragment was produced no more than 13 years after his death."

"Radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment on which the text is written to the period between AD 568 and 645 with 95.4 percent accuracy."

"The early dating “gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Quran’s genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from heaven."

"You’re dating the parchment. You’re not dating the ink. You’re making the assumption that the parchment or vellum was used within years of it being made, which is probably a reasonable assumption, but it’s not watertight."

"He doubted that the manuscript found in Birmingham was as old as the researchers claimed, noting that its Arabic script included dots and separated chapters—features that were introduced later. He also said that dating the skin on which the text was written did not prove when it was written. Manuscript skins were sometimes washed clean and reused later."

"It is not possible to ascertain that the parchments were written close to the time of the Prophet….The university should have examined the ink not the hide on which it was written."

"It provided tantalizing clues to help settle a scholarly dispute about whether the holy text was actually written down at the time of the prophet, or compiled years later after being passed down by word of mouth. The discovery also offered a joyful moment for a faith that has struggled with internal divisions and external pressures."

"These portions must have been in a form that is very close to the form of the Qur’an read today, supporting the view that the text has undergone little or no alteration and that it can be dated to a point very close to the time it was believed to be revealed."

"We know now that these two folios, in a beautiful and surprisingly legible Hijazi hand, almost certainly date from the time of the first three caliphs."

"The manuscript might possibly be from the time of Othman Bin Affan who became Caliph many years after the death of the Prophet”... “During the time of the Prophet (pbuh), the Quran was not organised or put in its present day form. Also, there were no colours used.” But there are colors in the Birmingham fragments. Al Sharif explains: “One of these is the red-colour separation between the Bismillah and the two Surahs of Mariam and Taha. It was not customary during the Prophet’s time to separate between the Surahs. This copy seems to be organised in [an] order which was not so during the time of the Prophet."

"That fragment was “among the earliest written textual evidence of the Islamic holy book known to survive.”"

"We have now in our collection what must be one of the oldest Qurans in the world. It might not be the oldest. But if the dating we’ve been given is at all reliable then we’ve got fragments from a Quran that will have been copied by somebody who either knew the Prophet Mohammed himself, or knew somebody who had known him."

"This is called equivalence since it [that is, the retaliation] should take a similar form."

"And when two of you (read wa’lladhāni or wa’lladhānni) men, commit it, that is, a lewd act, adultery or homosexual intercourse, punish them both, with insults and beatings with sandals; but if they repent, of this [lewd act], and make amends, through [good] action, then leave them be, and do not harm them. God ever turns [relenting], to those who repent, and is Merciful, to them. This [verse] is abrogated by the prescribed punishment if adultery is meant [by the lewd act], and similarly if homosexual intercourse is meant, according to al-Shāfi‘ī; but according to him, the person who is the object of the [penetrative] act is not stoned, even if he be married; rather, he is flogged and banished. Judging by the dual person pronoun, it seems more obvious that homosexual fornication is meant [by this verse], even though the former [sc. al-Shāfi‘ī] was of the opinion that it referred to an adulterer and an adulteress; but this [opinion of his] may be countered by the fact that [the reference to] the two [men] becomes clear on account of the particle min being attached to a masculine pronoun [minkum, ‘of you’], and by the fact that they suffer the same punishment, [both effect the action of] repentance and [are both granted] that they be left alone [thereafter], [all of] which applies specifically to men, given that for women detention is stipulated, as was stated before."

"And, forbidden to you are, wedded women, those with spouses, that you should marry them before they have left their spouses, be they Muslim free women or not; save what your right hands own, of captured [slave] girls, whom you may have sexual intercourse with, even if they should have spouses among the enemy camp, but only after they have been absolved of the possibility of pregnancy [after the completion of one menstrual cycle]..."

"If they repent of their unbelief, and establish the prayer and pay the zakat, let them go on their way and do not interfere with them."

"The Tafsir al-Jalalayn says that the Muslims must “kill the idolaters wherever you find them” and “seize them by capture and besiege them in citadels and fortresses until they either fight or become Muslim.”"

"It happened that a man would go to strike at the neck of an unbeliever and his head would fall off before his sword was able to get there."

"Al shafi’i commented: Allah protected blood and restricted the taking of wealth, except for a lawful reason, by belief in Allah and in His Messenger or through a covenant given by the believers, based on the law of Allah and His Messenger, to the People of the Book. He allowed shedding the blood of Mature Men who abstain from belief and who do not possess a Covenant as Allah said: ...(9:5)"

"Abu Bakr As-Siddiq [according to Islamic tradition, the first caliph of the Muslims after Muhammad’s death] used this and other honorable Ayat as proof for fighting those who refrained from paying the Zakah."

"When Allah revealed Surah bara’ah and commanded the Prophet to end the indefinite truces, he could no longer make truces as he used to do. Rather he was obligated to Wage Jihad against everyone, as Allah says in the verse..(9:5)"

"If they repent of their unbelief, and establish the prayer and pay the zakat, let them go on their way and do not interfere with them."

"The Tafsir al-Jalalayn says that the Muslims must “kill the idolaters wherever you find them” and “seize them by capture and besiege them in citadels and fortresses until they either fight or become Muslim.”"

"These Ayat [verses] allowed fighting people unless, and until, they embrace Islam and implement its rulings and obligations."

"Ibn Hazm commented: “And the statements of Allah: ‘(9.5)’. And: (9.29)... are indicative of Allah the Exalted not acknowledging and nullifying every treaty, therefore leaving the polytheists no course but to accept Islam, or be fought. While the opportunity to pay the Jizyah in a state of humiliation, is specifically for the People of the Book."

"Then, when the sacred months are drawn away, slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate"

"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful"

"And when the months wherein ye are not allowed to attack them shall be past, kill the idolaters wheresoever ye shall find them, and take them prisoners, and besiege them, and lay wait for them in every convenient place. But if they shall repent, and observe the appointed times of prayer, and pay the legal alms, dismiss them freely; for God is gracious and merciful"

"And so, when the sacred months are over, slay those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God wherever you may come upon them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place! Yet if they repent, and take to prayer, and render the purifying dues, let them go their way: for, behold, God is much forgiving, a dispenser of grace"

"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful"

"And when the sacred months are passed, kill those who join other gods with God wherever ye shall find them; and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush: but if they shall convert, and observe prayer, and pay the obligatory alms, then let them go their way, for God is Gracious, Merciful"

"When the sacred months¹ are over kill the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go their way. God is forgiving and compassionate"

"It was these hardened polytheists in Arabia, who would accept nothing other than the expulsion of the Muslims or their reversion to paganism, and who repeatedly broke their treaties, that the Muslims were ordered to treat in the same way – to fight them or expel them. Even with such an enemy Muslims were not simply ordered to pounce on them and reciprocate by breaking the treaty themselves; instead, an ultimatum was issued, giving the enemy notice, that after the four sacred months mentioned in 9:5 above, the Muslims would wage war on them. The main clause of the sentence ‘kill the polytheists’ is singled out by some Western scholars to represent the Islamic attitude to war; even some Muslims take this view and allege that this verse abrogated other verses on war. This is pure fantasy, isolating and decontextualizing a small part of a sentence. The full picture is given in 9:1–15, which gives many reasons for the order to fight such polytheists. They continuously broke their agreements and aided others against the Muslims, they started hostilities against the Muslims, barred others from becoming Muslims, expelled Muslims from the Holy Mosque and even from their own homes. At least eight times the passage mentions their misdeeds against the Muslims. Consistent with restrictions on war elsewhere in the Quran, the immediate context of this ‘Sword Verse’ exempts such polytheists as do not break their agreements and who keep the peace with the Muslims (9:7). It orders that those enemies seeking safe-conduct should be protected and delivered to the place of safety they seek (9:6). The whole of this context to v.5, with all its restrictions, is ignored by those who simply isolate one part of a sentence to build their theory of war in Islam on what is termed ‘The Sword Verse’ even when the word ‘sword’ does not occur anywhere in the Quran."