In the Arabic Qurʾān, the Sūrahs are placed as they were arranged by Zaid ibn S̤ābit, who seems to have put them together regardless of any chronological sequence. The initial, or opening prayer, stands first, and then the longest chapters. But the Muḥammadan commentators admit that the Qurʾān is not chronologically arranged; and Jalālu ʾd-dīn, in his Itqān, has given a list of them as they are supposed to have been revealed. This list will be found under the Divisions of the Qurʾān in the present article. And, what is still more confusing, all Muḥammadan doctors allow that in some of the Sūrahs there are verses which belong to a different date from that of other portions of the chapter; for example, in the Sūratu ʾl-ʿAlaq, the first five verses belong to a much earlier date than the others; and in Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, verse 234 is acknowledged by all commentators to have been revealed after verse 240, which it abrogates.
If we arrange the Sūrahs or Chapters according to the order given in Suyūt̤ī’s Itqān, or by Sir William Muir, or by Mr Rodwell, we cannot fail to mark the gradual development of Muḥammad’s mind from that of a mere moral teacher and reformer to that of a prophet and warrior-chief. The contrast between the earlier, middle, and later Sūrahs is very instructive and interesting.
In the earlier Sūrahs we observe a predominance of a poetical element, a deep appreciation of the beauty of natural objects, fragmentary and impassioned utterances; denunciation of woe and punishment being expressed in these earlier Sūrahs with extreme brevity.
“With a change, however, in the position of Muḥammad when he openly assumes the office of ‘public warner,’ the Sūrahs begin to wear a more prosaic and didactic tone, though the poetical ornament of rhyme is preserved throughout. We lose the poet in the missionary aiming to convert, and in the warm asserter of dogmatic truths; the descriptions of natural objects, of the Judgment, of Heaven and Hell, make way for gradually increasing historical statements, first from Jewish, and subsequently from Christian histories; while in the twenty-nine (thirty?) Sūrahs revealed at Medina we no longer listen to vague words, often, as it would seem, without definite aim, but to the earnest disputant with the opponents of the new faith, the Apostle pleading the cause of what he believes to be the truth of God. He who at Mecca is the admonisher and persuader, at Medina is the legislator and the warrior dictating obedience, and who uses other weapons than the pen of the poet and the scribe; while we are startled by finding obedience to God and the Apostle, God’s gifts and the Apostle’s, God’s pleasure and the Apostle’s, spoken of in the same breath, and epithets and attributes elsewhere applied to Allah openly applied to himself. ‘Whoso obeyeth the Apostle obeyeth Allah.’
“The Suras, viewed as a whole, will thus appear to be the work of one who began his career as a thoughtful inquirer after truth, and as an earnest asserter of it in such rhetorical and poetical forms as he deemed most likely to win and attract his countrymen, but who gradually proceeded from the dogmatic teacher to the political founder of a system for which laws and regulations had to be provided as occasions arose. And of all the Suras, it must be remarked that they were intended not only for readers but for hearers—that they were all promulgated by public recital—and that much was left, as the imperfect sentences show, to the manner and suggestive action of the reciter.” (Rodwell’s Preface to the Qurʾān.)
The absence of the historical element from the Qurʾān, as regards the details of Muḥammad’s daily life, may be judged of by the fact that only two of his contemporaries (Abū Lahab and Zaid) are mentioned in the entire volume, and that Muḥammad’s name occurs but five times, although he is all the way through addressed by the angel Gabriel as the recipient of the divine revelations, with the word “Say.” Perhaps also such passages as Sūrah ii., verses 5, 246, and 274, and the constant mention of guidance, direction, wandering, may have been suggested by reminiscences of his mercantile journeys in his earlier years.
Sir William Muir has very skilfully arranged the Sūrahs into six periods. (See Corân, S.P.C.K. ed.), and although they are not precisely in the chronological order given by Jalālu ʾd-Dīn in his Itqān, the arrangement seems to be fully borne out by internal evidence. With the assistance of Prof. Palmer’s “Table of Contents” slightly altered (The Qurʾān, Oxford ed. 1880), we shall arrange the contents of the Qurʾān according to these periods.
Eighteen Sūrahs, consisting of short rhapsodies, may have been composed by Muḥammad before he conceived the idea of a divine mission, none of which are in the form of a message from the Deity.
Chapter CIII.
Sūratu ʾl-ʿAṣr.
The Chapter of the Afternoon.
A short chapter of one verse as follows:—
“By the afternoon! Verily, man is in loss! Save those who believe and do right and bid each other be true, and bid each other be patient.”
Chapter C.
Sūratu ʾl-ʿĀdiyāt.
The Chapter of the Chargers.
Oath by the charging of war-horses.
Man is ungrateful.
Certainty of the Judgment.
Chapter XCIX.
Sūratu ʾz-Zalzalah.
The Chapter of the Earthquake.
The earthquake preceding the Judgment Day.
Chapter XCI.
Sūratu ʾsh-Shams.
The Chapter of the Sun.
Purity of the soul brings happiness.
Example of S̤amūd.
(The latter verses are clearly of a later date than the first ten.)
Chapter CVI.
Sūratu ʾl-Quraish.
The Chapter of the Quraish.
The Quraish are bidden to give thanks to God for the trade of their two yearly caravans.
Chapter I.
Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah.
The Opening Chapter.
A prayer for guidance.
(This short chapter, which is the opening chapter of the Qurʾān, is recited in the liturgy.)
“Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds!
The compassionate, the merciful!
King of the day of reckoning!
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee only do we cry for help.
Guide Thou us in the straight path,
The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious;
With whom Thou art not angry,
And who go not astray.”
Chapter CI.
Sūratu ʾl-Qāriʿah.
The Chapter of the Smiting.
The terrors of the last day and of hell-fire (al-Hāwiyah).
Chapter XCV.
Sūratu ʾt-Tīn.
The Chapter of the Fig.
The degradation of man.
Future reward and punishment.
Chapter CII.
Sūratu ʾt-Takās̤ur.
The Chapter of the Contention about Numbers.
Two families of the Arabs rebuked for contending which was the more numerous.
Warning of the punishment of hell.
Chapter CIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Humazah.
The Chapter of the Backbiter.
Backbiters shall be cast into hell.
Chapter LXXXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Infit̤ār.
The Chapter of the Cleaving Asunder.
Signs of the Judgment Day.
Guardian angels.
Chapter XCII.
Sūratu ʾl-Lail.
The Chapter of the Night.
Promise of reward to those who give alms and fear God and “believe in the best.”
Chapter CV.
Sūratu ʾl-Fīl.
The Chapter of the Elephant.
The miraculous destruction of the Abyssinian army under Abrahatu ʾl-Ashram by birds when invading Makkah with elephants, in the year that Muḥammad was born.
Chapter LXXXIX.
Sūratu ʾl-Fajr.
The Chapter of the Dawn.
Fate of previous nations who rejected their teachers.
Admonition to those who rely too much on their prosperity.
Chapter XC.
Sūratu ʾl-Balad.
The Chapter of the City.
Exhortation to practise charity.
Chapter XCIII.
Sūratu ʾẓ-Ẓuḥā.
The Chapter of the Forenoon.
Muḥammad encouraged and bidden to remember how God has cared for him hitherto; he is to be charitable in return, and to publish God’s goodness.
Chapter XCIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Inshirāḥ.
The Chapter of “Have we not Expanded?”
God has made Muḥammad’s mission easier to him.
Chapter CVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Kaus̤ar.
The Chapter of al-Kaus̤ar.
Muḥammad is commanded to offer the sacrifices out of his abundance.
Threat that his enemies shall be childless.
Four Sūrahs. The opening of Muḥammad’s Ministry. Sūrah xcvi. contains the command to recite, and, according to the Traditions, it was the first revelation.
Chapter XCVI.
Sūratu ʾl-ʿAlaq.
The Chapter of Congealed Blood.
Muḥammad’s first call to read the Qurʾān.
Denunciation of Abū Lahab for his opposition.
(The latter verses of this Sūrah are admitted to be of a later date than the former.)
Chapter CXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Ik͟hlāṣ.
The Chapter of the Unity.
Declaration of God’s unity.
(This short Sūrah is highly esteemed, and is recited in the daily liturgy.)
“Say: He is God alone:
God the Eternal!
He begetteth not,
And is not begotten;
And there is none like unto Him.”
Chapter LXXIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Muddas̤s̤ir.
The Chapter of the Covered.
Muḥammad while covered up is bidden to arise and preach.
Denunciation of a rich infidel who mocks at the revelation.
Hell and its nineteen angels.
The infidels rebuked for demanding material scriptures as a proof of Muḥammad’s mission.
Chapter CXI.
Sūratu Tabbat.
The Chapter of “Let Perish.”
Denunciation of Abū Lahab and his wife, who are threatened with hell fire.
Nineteen Sūrahs, chiefly descriptions of the Resurrection, Paradise, and Hell, with reference to the growing opposition of the Quraish, given from the commencement of Muḥammad’s public ministry to the Abyssinian emigration.
Chapter LXXXVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Aʿlā.
The Chapter of the Most High.
Muḥammad shall not forget any of the revelation save what God pleases.
The revelation is the same as that given to Abraham and Moses.
Chapter XCVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Qadr.
The Chapter of Power.
The Qurʾān revealed on the night of power.
Its excellence.
Angels descend thereon.
Chapter LXXXVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-G͟hāshiyah.
The Chapter of the Overwhelming.
Description of the Last Day, Heaven and Hell.
Chapter LXXX.
Sūratu ʿAbasa.
The Chapter “he Frowned.”
The Prophet rebuked for frowning on a poor blind believer.
The Creation and Resurrection.
Chapter LXXXIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Inshiqāq.
The Chapter of the Rending Asunder.
Signs of the Judgment Day.
The books of men’s actions.
The Resurrection.
Denunciation of misbelievers.
Chapter LXXXI.
Sūratu ʾl-Takwīr.
The Chapter of the Folding-up.
Terrors of the Judgment Day.
The female child who has been buried alive will demand vengeance.
Allusion to the Prophet’s vision of Gabriel on Mount Ḥirāʾ.
He is vindicated from the charge of madness.
Chapter LXXXVI.
Sūratu ʾt̤-T̤āriq.
The Chapter of the Night Star.
By the night-star, every soul has a guardian angel.
Creation and resurrection of man.
The plot of the infidels shall be frustrated.
Chapter CX.
Sūratu ʾn-Naṣr.
The Chapter of Help.
Prophecy that men shall join Islām by troops.
Chapter LXXXV.
Sūratu ʾl-Burūj.
The Chapter of the Zodiacal Signs.
Denunciation of those who persecute believers.
Example of the fate of Pharaoh and S̤amūd.
Chapter LXXXIII.
Sūratu ʾt-Tat̤fīf.
The Chapter of those who give Short Weight.
Fraudulent traders are warned.
Sijjīn, the register of the acts of the wicked.
Hell and heaven.
Chapter LXXVIII.
Sūratu ʾn-Nabaʾ.
The Chapter of the Information.
Description of the Day of Judgment, hell, and heaven.
Chapter LXXVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Mursalāt.
The Chapter of Messengers.
Oath by the angels who execute God’s behests.
Terrors of the Last Day.
Hell and Heaven.
Chapter LXXVI.
Sūratu ʾd-Dahr.
The Chapter of Time.
Man’s conception and birth.
Unbelievers warned and believers promised a reward.
Exhortation to charity.
Bliss of the charitable in Paradise.
The Qurʾān revealed by degrees.
Only those believe whom God wills.
Chapter LXXV.
Sūratu ʾl-Qiyāmah.
The Chapter of Resurrection.
The Resurrection.
Muḥammad is bidden not to be hurried in repeating the Qurʾān so as to commit it to memory.
Dying agony of an infidel.
Chapter LXX.
Sūratu ʾl-Maʿārij.
The Chapter of the Ascents.
An unbeliever mockingly calls for a judgment on himself and his companions.
The terrors of the Judgment Day.
Man’s ingratitude.
Adultery denounced.
Certainty of the Judgment Day.
Chapter CIX.
Sūratu ʾl-Kāfirūn.
The Chapter of the Misbelievers.
The Prophet will not follow the religion of the misbelievers.
Chapter CVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Māʿūn.
The Chapter of Necessaries.
Denunciation of the unbelieving and uncharitable.
Chapter LV.
Sūratu ʾr-Raḥmān.
The Chapter of the Merciful.
An enumeration of the works of the Lord ending with a description of Paradise and Hell.
A refrain runs throughout this chapter:—
“Which then of your Lord’s bounties do ye twain deny?”
Chapter LVI.
Sūratu ʾl-Wāqiʿah.
The Chapter of the Inevitable.
Terrors of the inevitable Day of Judgment.
Description of Paradise and Hell.
Proofs in Nature.
None but the clean may touch the Qurʾān.
The condition of a dying man.
Twenty-two Sūrahs, given from the sixth to the tenth year of Muḥammad’s ministry. With this period begin the narratives of the Jewish Scriptures, and Rabbinical and Arab legends. The temporary compromise with idolatry is connected with Sūrah liii.
Chapter LXVII.
Sūratu ʾl-Mulk.
The Chapter of the Kingdom.
God the Lord of heavens.
The marvels thereof.
The discomfiture of the misbelievers in Hell.
The power of God exhibited in Nature.
Warnings and threats of punishment.
Chapter LIII.
Sūratu ʾn-Najm.
The Chapter of the Star.
Oath by the star that Muḥammad’s vision of his ascent to heaven was not a delusion.
Description of the same.
The amended passage relating to idolatry.
Wickedness of asserting the angels to be females.
Rebuke of an apostle who paid another to take upon him his burden at the Judgment Day.
Definition of true religion.
God’s attributes.
Chapter XXXII.
Sūratu ʾs-Sajdah.
The Chapter of Adoration.
The Qurʾān is truth from the Lord.
God the Creator and Governor.
The Resurrection.
Conduct of true believers when they hear the word.
Their reward.
The punishment of misbelievers.
Description of Hell.
The people are exhorted to believe and are admonished by the fate of the ruined cities they see around them.
They are warned of the Judgment Day.
Chapter XXXIX.
Sūratu ʾz-Zumar.
The Chapter of the Troops.
Rebuke to the idolaters who say they serve false gods as a means of access to God himself.
The unity of God, the Creator and Controller of the universe.
His independence and omnipotence.
Ingratitude of man for God’s help.
Difference between the believers and unbelievers.
Muḥammad is called to sincerity of religion and to Islām.
He is to fear the torment at the Judgment Day if he disobeys the call.
Hell-fire is prepared for the infidels.
Paradise promised to those who avoid idolatry.
The irrigation of the soil and the growth of corn are signs.
The Qurʾān makes the skin of those who fear God creep.
Threat of the Judgment Day.
The Makkans are warned by the fate of their predecessors not to reject the Qurʾān.
Parable showing the uncertain position of the idolaters.
Muḥammad not immortal.
Warning to those who lie against God, and promise of reward to those who assert the truth.
Muḥammad is not to be frightened with the idols of the Makkans.
Their helplessness demonstrated.
The Qurʾān is a guide, but the Prophet cannot compel men to follow it.
Human souls are taken to God during sleep, and those who are destined to live on are sent back.
No intercession allowed with God.
The doctrine of the unity of God terrifies the idolaters.
Prayer to God to decide between them.
The infidels will regret on the Resurrection Day.
Ingratitude of man for God’s help in trouble.
The Makkans are warned by the fate of their predecessors.
Exhortation to repentance before it is too late.
Salvation of the God-fearing.
God the creator and controller of everything.
Description of the Last Judgment.
All souls driven in troops to heaven or to hell.
Chapter LXXIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Muzzammil.
The Chapter of the Enwrapped.
Muḥammad, when wrapped up in his mantle, is bidden to arise and pray.
Is bidden to repeat the Qurʾān and to practice devotion by night.
He is to bear with the unbelievers for a while.
Pharaoh rejected the apostle sent to him.
Stated times for prayer prescribed.
Almsgiving prescribed.
Chapter LXXIX.
Sūratu ʾn-Nāziʿāt.
The Chapter of those who Tear Out.
The coming of the Day of Judgment.
The call of Moses.
His interview with Pharaoh.
Chastisement of the latter.
The Creation and Resurrection.
Chapter LIV.
Sūratu ʾl-Qamar.
The Chapter of the Moon.
The splitting asunder of the moon.
Muḥammad accused of imposture.
The Makkans warned by the stories of Noah and the Deluge, of S̤amūd, the people of Sodom, and Pharaoh.
The sure coming of the Judgment.
Chapter XXXIV.
Sūratu Sabaʾ.
The Chapter of Sabaʾ.
The omniscience of God.
Those who have received knowledge recognise the revelation.
The unbelievers mock at Muḥammad for preaching the Resurrection.
The birds and mountains sing praises with David.
Iron softened for him.
He makes coats of mail.
The wind subjected to Solomon.
A fountain of brass made to flow for him.
The jinns compelled to work for him.
His death only discovered by means of the worm that gnawed.
The staff that supported his corpse.
The prosperity of Sabaʾ.
Bursting of the dyke (al-ʿArim) and ruin of the town.
Helplessness of the false gods.
They cannot intercede for their worshippers when assembled at the Last Day.
Fate of the misbelievers on that day.
The proud and the weak shall dispute as to which misled the others.
The affluence of the Makkans will only increase their ruin.
The angels shall disown the worshippers of false gods.
The Makkans accuse Muḥammad of imposture.
So did other nations deal with their Prophets and were punished for it.
Muḥammad is cleared of the suspicion of insanity.
The wretched plight of the misbelievers on the Last Day.
Chapter XXXI.
Sūratu Luqmān.
The Chapter of Luqmān.
The Qurʾān a guidance to believers.
Denunciation of one who purchased Persian legends and preferred them to the Qurʾān.
God in Nature.
Other gods can create nothing.
Wisdom granted to Luqmān.
His advice to his son.
The obstinacy of the infidels rebuked.
If the sea were ink and the trees pens, they would not suffice to write the words of the Lord.
God manifest in the night and day, in the sun and moon, and in rescuing men from dangers by sea.
God only knows the future.
Chapter LXIX.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥāqqah.
The Chapter of the Inevitable.
The inevitable judgment.
Fate of those who denied it, of ʿĀd, S̤amūd, and Pharaoh.
The Deluge and the Last Judgment.
Vindication of Muḥammad from the charge of having forged the Qurʾān.
Chapter LXVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Qalam.
The Chapter of the Pen.
Muḥammad is neither mad nor an impostor.
Denounced by an insolent opponent.
Example from the fate of the owner of the gardens.
Unbelievers threatened.
Muḥammad exhorted to be patient and not to follow the example of Jonah.
Chapter XLI.
Sūratu Fuṣṣilat.
The Chapter “Are Detailed.”
The Makkans are called on to believe the Qurʾān.
The creation of the heavens and the earth.
Warning from the fate of ʿĀd and S̤amūd.
The very skins of the unbelievers shall bear witness against them on the Day of Judgement.
Punishment of those who reject the Qurʾān.
The angels descend and encourage those who believe.
Precept to return good for evil.
Refuge to be sought with God against temptation from the devil.
Against sun and moon worship.
The angels praise God, though the idolators are too proud to do so.
The quickening of the earth with rain is a sign.
The Qurʾān a confirmation of previous scriptures.
If it had been revealed in a foreign tongue the people would have objected that they could not understand it, and that the Prophet, being an Arab, should have had a revelation in his own language.
Moses’ scripture was also the subject of dispute.
God is omniscient.
The false gods will desert their worshippers at the Resurrection.
Man’s ingratitude for God’s help in trouble.
God is sufficient witness of the truth.
Chapter LXXI.
Sūratu Nūḥ.
The Chapter of Noah.
Noah’s preaching to the Antediluvians.
Their five idols also worshipped by the Arabs.
Their fate.
Chapter LII.
Sūratu ʾt̤-T̤ūr.
The Chapter of the Mount.
Oath by Mount Sinai and other things.
Terrors of the Last Day.
Bliss of Paradise.
Muḥammad is neither a madman, soothsayer, poet, nor impostor.
Reproof of the Makkans for their superstitions, and for proudly rejecting the Prophet.
Chapter L.
Sūratu Qāf.
The Chapter of Qāf.
Proofs in nature of a future life.
Example of the fate of the nations of old who rejected the apostles.
Creation of man.
God’s proximity to him.
The two recording angels.
Death and Resurrection.
The Last Judgment and exhortation to believe.
Chapter XLV.
Sūratu ʾl-Jās̤iyah.
The Chapter of the Kneeling.
God revealed in nature.
Denunciation of the infidels.
Trading by sea a sign of God’s providence.
The law first given to Israel, then to Muḥammad in the Qurʾān.
Answer to the infidels who deny the Resurrection, and warning of their fate on that day.
Chapter XLIV.
Sūratu ʾd-Duk͟hān.
The Chapter of the Smoke.
Night of the revelation of the Qurʾān.
Threat of the Last Day, when a smoke shall cover the heavens, and the unbelievers shall be punished for rejecting the Prophet, and saying he is taught by others or distracted.
Fate of Pharaoh for rejecting Moses.
Fate of the people of Jubbaʿ.
The Judgment Day.
The tree Zaqqūm and the punishment of hell.
Paradise and the virgins thereof.
The Qurʾān revealed in Arabic for an admonition.
Chapter XXXVII.
Sūratu ʾṣ-Ṣāffāt.
The Chapter of the Ranged.
Oath by the angels ranged in rank, by those who drive the clouds, and by those who rehearse the Qurʾān, that God is one alone!
They guard the gates of heaven, and pelt the devils, who would listen there, with shooting-stars.
Do the Makkans imagine themselves stronger than the angels, that they mock of God’s signs and deny the Resurrection?
The false gods and the Makkans shall recriminate each other at the Judgment Day.
They say now, “Shall we leave our gods for a mad poet?”
They shall taste hell-fire for their unbelief, while the believers are in Paradise.
Description of the delights thereof.
The maidens there.
The blessed shall see their unbelieving former comrades in hell.
Immortality of the blessed.
Az-Zaqqūm the accursed tree in hell.
Horrors of that place.
The posterity of Noah were blessed.
Abraham mocks at and breaks the idols.
He is condemned to be burnt alive, but is delivered.
Is commanded to offer up his son as a sacrifice; obeys, but his son is spared.
His posterity is blessed.
Moses and Aaron, too, left a good report behind them; so, too, did Elias, who protested against the worship of Baal.
Lot was saved.
Jonah was delivered after having been thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish.
The gourd.
Jonah is sent to preach to the people of the city (of Nineveh).
The Makkans rebuked for saying that God has daughters, and for saying that He is akin to the jinns.
The angels declare that they are but the humble servants of God.
The success of the Prophet and the confusion of the infidels foretold.
Chapter XXX.
Sūratu ʾr-Rūm.
The Chapter of the Greeks.
Victory of the Persians over the Greeks.
Prophecy of the coming triumph of the latter.
The Makkans warned by the fate of former cities.
The idols shall forsake them at the Resurrection.
The believers shall enter Paradise.
God is to be praised in the morning and evening and at noon and sunset.
His creation of man and of the universe and His providence are signs.
He is the incomparable Lord of all.
Warning against idolatry and schism.
Honesty inculcated and usury reproved.
God only creates and kills.
Corruption in the earth through sin.
The fate of former idolaters.
Exhortation to believe before the sudden coming of the Judgment Day.
God’s sending rain to quicken the earth is a sign of His power.
Muḥammad cannot make the deaf hear his message.
Warning of the Last Day.
Chapter XXVI.
Sūratu ʾsh-Shuʿarāʾ.
The Chapter of the Poets.
Muḥammad is not to be vexed by the people’s unbelief.
Though called a liar now, his cause shall triumph in the end.
Moses and Pharaoh.
He fears lest he may be killed for slaying the Egyptian.
Pharaoh charges him with ingratitude.
Their dispute about God.
Pharaoh claims to be God himself.
The miracles of the rod and the white hand.
Moses’ contest with the magicians.
The magicians are conquered and believe.
Pharaoh threatens them with condign punishment.
The Israelites leave Egypt and are pursued.
The passing of the Red Sea and destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts.
The history of Abraham.
He preaches against idolatry.
Noah is called a liar and vindicated.
Hūd preaches to the people of ʿĀd and Ṣāliḥ to S̤amūd.
The latter hamstring the she-camel and perish.
The crime and punishment of the people of Sodom.
The people of the Grove and the prophet Shuʿaib.
The Qurʾān revealed through the instrumentality of the Faithful Spirit (Gabriel) in plain Arabic.
The learned Jews recognise its truth from the prophecies in their own scriptures.
The devils could not have brought it.
Muḥammad is to be meek towards believers and to warn his clansmen.
Those upon whom the devils descend, namely, the poets who wander distraught in every vale.
Chapter XV.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥijr.
The Chapter of al-Ḥijr.
Misbelievers will one day regret their misbelief.
No city was ever destroyed without warning.
The infidels mockingly ask Muḥammad to bring down angels to punish them.
So did the sinners of old act towards their apostles.
There are signs enough in the zodiac, guarded as they are from the devils who are pelted with shooting-stars if they attempt to listen.
All nature is under God’s control.
Man created from clay, and jinn from smokeless fire.
The angels bidden to adore Adam.
The devil refuses, is cursed and expelled, but respited until the Day of Judgment.
Is allowed to seduce mankind.
Hell, with its seven doors, promised to misbelievers, and Paradise to believers.
Story of Abraham’s angelic guests.
They announce to him the birth of a son.
They proceed to Lot’s family.
The crime and punishment of the people of Sodom.
The ruined cities still remain to tell the tale.
Similar fate of the people of the Grove and of al-Ḥijr.
The hour draws nigh.
The Lord Omniscient Creator has sent the Qurʾān and the seven verses of repetition.
Muḥammad is not to grieve at the worldly success of unbelievers.
Those who dismember the Qurʾān are threatened with punishment.
Muḥammad is encouraged against the misbelievers.
Chapter LI.
Sūratu ʾẕ-Ẕāriyāt.
The Chapter of the Scatterers.
Oaths by different natural phenomena that the Judgment Day will come.
Story of Abraham’s entertaining the angels.
The destruction of Sodom.
Fate of Pharaoh, of ʿĀd, of S̤amūd, and of the people of Noah.
Vindication of Muḥammad against the charges of imposture or madness.
Thirty-one Sūrahs. From the tenth year of Muḥammad’s ministry to the flight from Makkah.
The Sūrahs of this period contain some narratives from the gospel. The rites of pilgrimage are enjoined. The cavillings of the Quraish are refuted; and we have vivid picturings of the Resurrection and Judgment, of Heaven and Hell, with proofs of God’s unity, power and providence.
From stage to stage the Sūrahs become, on the average, longer, and some of them now fill many pages. In the latter Sūrahs of this period, we meet not unfrequently with Madīnah passages, which have been interpolated as bearing on some connected subject. As examples may be taken, verse 40 of Sūrah xxii., in which permission is given to bear arms against the Makkans; verse 33, Sūrah xvii., containing rules for the administration of justice; verse 111, Sūrah xvi., referring to such believers as had fled their country and fought for the faith; being all passages which could have been promulgated only after the Flight to al-Madīnah.
Chapter XLVI.
Sūratu ʾl-Aḥqāf.
The Chapter of al-Aḥqāf.
God the only God and Creator.
The unbelievers call Muḥammad a sorcerer or a forger.
The book of Moses was revealed before, and the Qurʾān is a confirmation of it in Arabic.
Conception, birth, and life of man.
Kindness to parents and acceptance of Islām enjoined.
The misbelievers are warned by the example of ʿĀd, who dwell in Aḥqāf, and by that of the cities whose ruins lie around Makkah.
Allusion to the jinns who listened to Muḥammad’s preaching at Makkah on his return from at̤-T̤āʾif.
Warning to unbelievers of the punishment of the Last Day.
Chapter LXXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Jinn.
The Chapter of the Jinn.
A crowd of jinns listen to Muḥammad’s teaching at Nak͟hlah.
Their account of themselves.
Muḥammad exhorted to persevere in preaching.
Chapter XXXV.
Sūratu ʾl-Malāʾikah.
The Chapter of the Angels.
Praise of God, who makes the Angels his messengers.
God’s unity.
Apostles before Muḥammad were accused of imposture.
Punishment in store for the unbelievers.
Muḥammad is not to be vexed on their account.
God sends rain to quicken the dead earth.
This is a sign of the Resurrection.
The power of God shown in all nature.
The helplessness of the idols.
They will disclaim their worshippers at the Resurrection.
No soul shall bear the burden of another.
Muḥammad cannot compel people to believe.
He is only a warner.
Other nations have accused their prophets of imposture and perished.
Reward of the God-fearing of believers, and of those who read and follow the Qurʾān.
Punishment of hell for the infidels.
The idolaters shall be confounded on the Judgment Day.
The Quraish, in spite of their promises and of the examples around them, are more arrogant and unbelieving than other people.
If God were to punish men as they deserve, he would not leave so much as a beast on the earth; but He respites them for a time.
Chapter XXXVI.
Sūratu Yā Sīn.
The Chapter of Yā Sīn.
Muḥammad is God’s messenger, and the Qurʾān is a revelation from God to warn a heedless people.
The infidels are predestined not to believe.
All men’s work shall be recorded.
The apostles of Jesus rejected at Antioch.
Ḥabību ʾn-Najjār exhorts the people to follow their advice.
He is stoned to death by the populace.
Gabriel cries out and the sinful people are destroyed.
Men will laugh at the apostles who come to them, but they have an example in the nations who have perished before them.
The quickening of the dead earth is a sign of the Resurrection.
God’s power shown in the procreation of species.
The alternation of night and day, the phases of the moon, the sun and moon in their orbits, are signs of God’s power.
So, too, the preservation of men in ships at sea.
Almsgiving enjoined.
The unbelievers jeer at the command.
The sudden coming of the Judgment Day.
Blessed state of the believers in Paradise, and misery of the unbelievers in hell.
Muḥammad is no mere poet.
The Qurʾān an admonition.
God’s providence.
The false gods will not be able to help their worshippers.
Proofs of the Resurrection.
Chapter XIX.
Sūratu Maryam.
The Chapter of Mary.
Zachariah prays for an heir.
He is promised a son, who is to be called John.
Is struck dumb for three days as a sign.
John is born and given the Book, Judgment, grace, and purity.
Story of Mary.
The annunciation.
Her delivery beneath a palm-tree.
The infant Jesus in the cradle testifies to her innocence and to his own mission.
Warning of the Day of Judgment.
Story of Abraham.
He reproves his father, who threatens to stone him.
Abraham prays for him.
Isaac and Jacob are born to him.
Moses communes with God and has Aaron for a help.
Ishmael and Idrīs mentioned as Prophets.
Their seed, when the signs of the Merciful are read, fall down adoring.
The Makkans, their successors, are promised reward in Paradise, if they repent and believe.
The angels only descend at the bidding of the Lord.
Certainty of the Resurrection.
Punishment of those who have rebelled against the Merciful.
Reproof of one who said he should have wealth and children on the Judgment Day.
The false gods shall deny their worshippers then.
The devils sent to tempt unbelievers.
The gathering of the Judgment Day.
All nature is convulsed at the imputation that the Merciful has begotten a son.
This revelation is only to warn mankind by the example of the generations who have passed away.
Chapter XVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Kahf.
The Chapter of the Cave.
The Qurʾān is a warning especially to those who say God has begotten a son.
Muḥammad is not to grieve if they refuse to believe.
Story of the Fellows of the Cave.
Their number known only to God.
Muḥammad rebuked for promising a revelation on the subject.
He is enjoined to obey God in all things, and not to be induced to give up his poorer followers.
Hell-fire threatened for the unbelievers and Paradise promised to the good.
Parable of the proud man’s garden which was destroyed, while that of the humble man flourished.
This life is like the herb that springs up and perishes.
Good works are more lasting than wealth and children.
The Last Day.
The devil refuses to adore Adam.
The men are not to take him for a patron.
They shall be forsaken by their patrons at the Last Day.
Men would believe, but that the example of those of yore must be repeated.
Misbelievers are unjust, and shall not be allowed to understand, or be guided.
But God is merciful.
Story of Moses and his servant in search of al-K͟hiẓr.
They lose their fish at the confluence of the two seas.
They meet a strange prophet, who bids Moses not question anything he may do.
He scuttles a ship, kills a boy, and builds up a tottering wall.
Moses desires an explanation, which the stranger gives, and leaves him.
Story of Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain.
He travels to the ocean of the setting sun.
Builds a rampart to keep in Gog and Magog.
These are to be let loose again before the Judgment Day.
Reward and punishment on that day.
Were the sea ink, it would not suffice for the words of the Lord.
The Prophet is only a mortal.
Chapter XXVII.
Sūratu ʾn-Naml.
The Chapter of the Ant.
The Qurʾān a guidance to believers.
God appears to Moses in the fire.
Moses is sent to Pharaoh with signs, but is called a sorcerer.
David and Solomon endowed with knowledge.
Solomon taught the speech of birds.
His army of men, jinns, and birds, marches through the valley of the ant.
One ant bids the rest retire to their holes lest Solomon and his hosts crush them.
Solomon smiles and answers her.
He reviews the birds and misses the hoopoe, who, returning, brings news of the magnificence of the Queen of Sheba.
Solomon sends him back with a letter to the Queen.
A demon brings him her throne.
She comes to Solomon, recognises her throne; marvels at the palace with the glass floor, which she mistakes for water.
Becomes a Muslim.
S̤amūd rejects Ṣāliḥ and perish.
Lot is saved, while the people of Sodom are destroyed.
The Lord, the God of nature; the only God and Creator.
Certainty of the Resurrection.
The ruins of ancient cities an example.
The Qurʾān decides disputed points for the Jews.
Muḥammad bidden to trust in God, for he cannot make the deaf to hear his message.
The beast that shall appear at the Resurrection.
Terrors of the Last Day.
The Prophet bidden to worship the Lord of this land, to recite the Qurʾān, and to become a Muslim.
Chapter XLII.
Sūratu ʾsh-Shūrā.
The Chapter of Counsel.
The Qurʾān inspired by God to warn the Mother of cities of the judgment to come.
God is one, the Creator of all things, who provides for all.
He calls men to the same religion as that of the prophets of old, which men have broken up into sects.
Muḥammad has only to proclaim his message.
Those who argue about God shall be confuted.
None knows when the hour shall come but God.
The idolaters shall only have their portion in this life.
God will vindicate the truth of His revelation.
His creation and providence signs of His power.
Men’s misfortunes by land and sea are due to their own sins.
The provision of the next world is best for the righteous.
It is not sinful to retaliate if wronged, though forgiveness is a duty.
The sinners shall have none to help them on the Day of Judgement.
They are exhorted to repent before it comes.
Ingratitude of man.
God controls all.
No mortal has ever seen God face to face.
He speaks to men only through inspiration of His apostles.
This Qurʾān was revealed by a spirit to guide into the right way.
Chapter XL.
Sūratu ʾl-Muʾmin.
The Chapter of the Believer.
Attributes of God.
Muḥammad encouraged by the fate of other nations who rejected their apostles.
The angels’ prayer for the believers.
Despair in hell of the idolaters.
The terrors of the Judgment Day.
God alone the Omniscient Judge.
The vestiges of former nations are still visible in the land to warn the people.
The story of Moses and Pharaoh.
The latter wishes to kill Moses, but a secret believer makes a long appeal.
Pharaoh bids Hāmān construct a tower to mount up to the God of Moses.
God saves the believer, and Pharaoh is ruined by his own devices.
Mutual recrimination of the damned.
Exhortation to patience and praise.
Those who wrangle about God rebuked.
The certain coming of the Hour.
The unity of God asserted and His attributes enumerated.
Idolatry forbidden.
The conception, birth, life, and death of man.
Idolaters shall find out their error in hell.
Muḥammad encouraged to wait for the issue.
Cattle to ride on and to eat are signs of God’s providence.
The example of the nations who perished of old for rejecting the apostles.
Chapter XXXVIII.
Sūratu ʾṣ-Ṣād.
The Chapter of Ṣād.
Oath by the Qurʾān.
Example of former generations who perished for unbelief, and for saying that their prophets were sorcerers and the Scriptures forgeries.
The Makkans are warned thereby.
Any hosts of the confederates shall be routed.
Fate of the people of Noah, ʿĀd, Pharaoh, S̤amūd, and Lot.
The Makkans must expect the same.
Muḥammad exhorted to be patient of what they say.
He is reminded of the powers bestowed on David.
The parable of the ewe lambs proposed to David by the two antagonists.
David exhorted not to follow lust.
The heaven and earth were not created in vain, as the misbelievers think.
The Qurʾān a reminder.
Solomon, lost in admiration of his horses, neglects his devotions, but, repenting, slays them.
A jinn in Solomon’s likeness is set on his throne to punish him.
He repents and prays God for a kingdom such as no one should ever possess again.
The wind and the devils made subject to him.
The patience of Job.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Elisha and Ẕū ʾl-Kifl.
Happiness of the righteous in Paradise.
Misery and mutual recrimination of the wicked in hell.
Muḥammad only sent to warn people and proclaim God’s unity.
The creation of man and disobedience of Iblīs, who is expelled.
He is respited till the Judgment Day, that he may seduce people to misbelief.
But he and those who follow him shall fill hell.
Chapter XXV.
Sūratu ʾl-Furqān.
The Chapter of the Discrimination.
The Discrimination sent down as a warning that God is one, the Creator and Governor of all; yet the Makkans call it old folks’ tales.
They object that the Prophet acts and lives as a mere mortal or is crazy.
Hell-fire shall be the punishment of those who disbelieve in the Resurrection.
Description of the Judgment Day.
The Quraish object that the Qurʾān was revealed piecemeal.
Moses and Aaron and Noah were treated like Muḥammad, but those who called them liars were punished.
ʿĀd and S̤amūd perished for the same sin.
The ruins of the cities of the plain are existing examples.
Yet they will not accept the Prophet.
God controls the shadow, gives night for a repose, quickens the dead earth with rain.
He lets loose the two seas, but places a barrier between them.
He has created man.
He is the loving and merciful God.
The Quraish object to the Merciful as a new God.
The lowly and moderate are His servants.
They abstain from idolatry, murder, false witness, and frivolous discourse.
These shall be rewarded.
God cares nothing for the rejection of his message by the infidels.
Their punishment shall be lasting.
Chapter XX.
Sūratu T̤ā Hā.
The Chapter of T̤ā Hā.
The Qurʾān a reminder from the Merciful, who owns all things and knows all things.
There is no god but He.
His are the excellent names.
Story of Moses.
He perceives the fire and is addressed from it by God in the holy valley T̤uvan.
God shows him the miracle of the staff turned to a snake and of the white hand.
Sends him to Pharaoh.
Moses excuses himself because of the impediment in his speech.
Aaron is given him as a minister.
Moses’ mother throws him into the sea.
His sister watches him.
He is restored to his mother.
Slays an Egyptian and flees to Midian.
Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and call on him to believe.
Pharaoh charges them with being magicians.
Their contest with the Egyptian magicians, who believe, and are threatened with punishment by Pharaoh.
Moses leads the children of Israel across the sea, by a dry road.
Pharaoh and his people are overwhelmed.
The covenant on Mount Sinai.
The miracle of the manna and quails.
As-Sāmirī makes the calf in Moses absence.
Moses seizes his brother angrily by the beard and destroys the calf.
Misbelievers threatened with the terrors of the Resurrection Day.
Fate of the mountains on that day.
All men shall be summoned to judgment.
No intercession shall avail except from such as the Merciful permits.
The Qurʾān is in Arabic that people may fear and remember.
Muḥammad is not to hasten on its revelation.
Adam broke his covenant with God.
Angels bidden to adore Adam.
Iblīs refuses.
Tempts Adam.
Adam, Eve, and the Devil expelled from Paradise.
Misbelievers shall be gathered together blind on the Resurrection Day.
The Makkans pass by the ruined dwellings of the generations who have been aforetime destroyed for unbelief.
But for the Lord’s word being passed, they would have perished too.
Muḥammad is exhorted to bear their insults patiently and to praise God through the day.
The fate of those of yore a sufficient sign.
Let them wait and see the issue.
Chapter XLIII.
Sūratu ʾz-Zuk͟hruf.
The Chapter of Gilding.
The original of the Qurʾān is with God.
The example of the nations of old who mocked at the prophets.
God the Creator.
Men are bidden to praise Him who provides man with ships and cattle whereon to ride.
The Arabs are rebuked for attributing female offspring to God, when they themselves repine when a female child is born to any one of them.
They are also blamed for asserting that the angels are female.
The excuse that this was the religion of their fathers, will not avail.
It is the same as older nations made.
Their fate.
Abraham disclaimed idolatry.
The Makkans were permitted to enjoy prosperity only until the Apostle came, and now that he has come they reject him.
They are reproved for saying that had the Prophet been a man of consideration at Makkah and at̤-T̤āʾif, they would have owned him.
Misbelievers would have had still more wealth and enjoyment, but that men would have then all become infidels.
Those who turn from the admonition shall be chained to devils, who shall mislead them.
God will take vengeance on them, whether Muḥammad live to see it or not.
He is encouraged to persevere.
Moses was mocked by Pharaoh, whom he was sent to warn.
But Pharaoh and his people were drowned.
Answer to the Arabs, who objected that Jesus, too, must come under the ban against false gods.
But Jesus did not assume to be a god.
Threat of the coming of the Hour.
The joys of Paradise and the terrors of Hell.
The damned shall beg Mālik to make an end of them.
The recording angels note down the secret plots of the infidels.
God has no son.
He is the Lord of all.
Chapter XII.
Sūratu Yūsuf.
The Chapter of Joseph.
The Qurʾān revealed in Arabic that the Makkans may understand.
It contains the best of stories.
Story of Joseph.
He tells his father his dream.
Jacob advises him to keep it to himself.
Jealousy of Joseph’s brethren.
They conspire to throw him in a pit.
Induce his father to let him go with them.
They cast him in the pit, and bring home his shirt covered with lying blood.
Travellers discover him and sell him into Egypt.
He is adopted by his master.
His mistress endeavours to seduce him.
His innocence proved.
His mistress shows him to the women of the city to excuse her conduct.
Their amazement at his beauty.
He is imprisoned.
Interprets the dreams of the baker and the cupbearer.
Pharaoh’s dream.
Joseph is sent for to expound it.
He is appointed to a situation of trust in the land.
His brethren arrive and do not recognise him.
They ask for corn and he requires them to bring their youngest brother as the condition of his giving it to them.
The goods they had brought to barter are returned to their sacks.
Benjamin is sent back.
Joseph discovers himself to him.
Joseph places the king’s drinking-cup in his brother’s pack.
Accuses them all of the theft.
Takes Benjamin as a bondsman for the theft.
They return to Jacob, who, in great grief, sends them back again, to bring him news.
Joseph discovers himself to them and sends back his shirt.
Jacob recognises it by the smell.
Jacob goes back with them to Egypt.
This story appealed to as a proof of the truth of the Revelation.
Chapter XI.
Sūratu Hūd.
The Chapter of Hūd.
The Qurʾān a book calling men to believe in the unity of God.
Nothing is hidden from Him.
He is the Creator of all.
Men will not believe, and deem themselves secure, because their punishment is deferred.
They demand a sign, or say the Qurʾān is invented by the Prophet; but they and their false gods together cannot bring ten such Sūrahs.
Misbelievers threatened with future punishment, while believers are promised Paradise.
Noah was likewise sent, but his people objected that he was a mere mortal like themselves, and only followed by the meaner sort of men.
He also is accused of having invented his revelation.
He is saved in the ark and the unbelievers drowned.
He endeavours to save his son.
The ark settles on Mount al-Jūdī.
Hūd was sent to ʿĀd.
His people plotted against him and were destroyed, while he was saved.
Ṣālih was sent to S̤amūd.
The she-camel given for a sign.
The people hamstring her and perish.
Abraham entertains the angels who are sent to the people of Lot.
He pleads for them.
Lot offers his daughters to the people of Sodom, to spare the angels.
He escapes by night, and Sodom is destroyed.
Shuʿaib is sent to Midian, and his people, rejecting his mission, perish too.
Moses sent to Pharaoh, who shall be punished at the Resurrection.
The Makkans, too, shall be punished.
They are threatened with the Judgment Day, when they shall be sent to hell, while the believers are in Paradise.
The Makkans are bidden to take warning by the fate of the cities whose stories are related above.
These stories are intended to strengthen the Prophet’s heart.
He is bidden to wait and leave the issue to God.
Chapter X.
Sūratu Yūnus.
The Chapter of Jonah.
No wonder that the Qurʾān was revealed to a mere man.
Misbelievers deem him a sorcerer.
God the Creator and Ruler.
No one can intercede with Him except by His permission.
Creation is a sign of His power.
Reward hereafter for the believers.
Man calls on God in distress, but forgets Him when deliverance comes.
Warning from the fall of former generations.
The infidels are not satisfied with the Qurʾān.
Muḥammad dare not invent a false revelation.
False gods can neither harm nor profit them.
People require a sign.
God saves people in dangers by land and sea.
This life is like grass.
Promise of Paradise and threat of Hell.
Fate of the idolaters and false gods at the Last Day.
God the Lord of all.
Other religions are mere conjecture.
The Qurʾān could only have been devised by God.
The Makkans are challenged to produce a single Sūrah like it.
Unbelievers warned of the Last Day by the fate of previous nations.
Reproval of those who prohibit lawful things.
God is ever watchful over the Prophet’s actions.
Happiness of the believers.
The infidels cannot harm the Prophet.
Refutation of those who ascribe offspring to God.
Muḥammad encouraged by the story of Noah and the other prophets of old.
Fate of Pharaoh and vindication of Moses and Aaron.
The people of the Book (Jews and Christians) appealed to in confirmation of the truth of the Qurʾān.
The story of Jonah.
The people of Nineveh saved by repenting and believing in time.
The people are exhorted to embrace Islām, the faith of the Ḥanīf.
God alone is powerful.
Belief or unbelief affect only the individual himself.
Resignation and patience inculcated.
Chapter XIV.
Sūratu Ibrāhīm.
The Chapter of Abraham.
The Qurʾān revealed to bring men from darkness into light.
God is Lord of all.
No apostle sent except with the language of his own people.
Moses sent to Pharaoh.
The people of Noah.
ʿĀd and S̤amūd objected that their prophets were mortals like themselves.
The prophets relied on God, who vindicated them.
Frightful description of hell.
Misbelievers are like ashes blown away by the stormy wind.
Helplessness of the damned.
But believers are in Paradise.
A good word is like a good tree whose root is in the earth and whose branches are in the sky, and which gives fruit in all seasons.
A bad word is as a tree that is felled.
God’s word is sure.
Idolaters are threatened with hell-fire.
God is the Creator of all.
He subjects all things to man’s use.
Abraham prayed that the territory of Makkah might be a sanctuary.
The unjust are only respited till the Judgment Day.
The ruins of the dwellings of those who have perished for the denying the mission of their apostles, are a proof of the truth of Muḥammad’s mission.
The Lord will take vengeance on the Last Day, when sinners shall burn in hell with shirts of pitch to cover them.
The Qurʾān is a warning and an admonition.
Chapter VI.
Sūratu ʾl-Anʿām.
The Chapter of Cattle.
Light and darkness are both created by God.
Rebuke to idolaters.
They are exhorted to take warning by the fate of those of old who rejected the prophets.
Had the revelation been a material book, they would have disbelieved it.
If the Prophet had been an angel, he would have come in the guise of a man.
Attributes of God.
Muḥammad bidden to become a Muslim.
Those who have the Scriptures ought to recognise Muḥammad as the one foretold in them.
The idolaters will be disappointed of the intercession of their gods on the Judgment Day.
They deny the Resurrection Day now, but hereafter they will have awful proof of its truth.
The next world is preferable to this.
Prophets aforetime were also mocked at, and they were patient.
God could send them a sign if He pleased.
Beasts, birds, and the like, are communities like men.
Their fate is all written in the book.
They, too, shall be gathered on the Judgment Day.
Arguments in proof of the supreme power of God.
Muḥammad is only a messenger.
He is to disclaim miraculous power.
Is not to repulse believers.
He is bidden to abjure idolatry and not follow the lusts of the Makkans.
God’s omniscience.
He takes men’s souls to Himself during sleep.
Sends guardian angels to watch over them.
Preserves men in danger by land and sea.
Muḥammad is not to join in discussions on religion with idolaters, nor to associate with those who make a sport of it.
Folly of idolatry set forth.
God the Creator.
Abraham’s perplexity in seeking after the true God.
Worships successively the stars, the moon, and the sun, but is convinced that they are not gods by seeing them set.
Turns to God and becomes a Ḥanīf.
Other prophets of old were inspired.
The Qurʾān is also a special revelation from God to the Makkans, fulfilling their Scriptures, but the Jews have perverted or suppressed parts of them.
Denunciation of one who falsely pretended to be inspired.
The Creation a proof of God’s unity.
Rebuke to those who call the jinn His partners, or attribute offspring to Him.
Idolaters are not to be abused, lest they, too, speak ill of God.
The Makkans would not have believed even if a sign had been given them.
Muḥammad is to trust to God alone.
Men are not to abstain from food over which God’s name has been pronounced.
God will vindicate His messenger.
Belief or the reverse depends on God’s grace.
The jinns and false gods, together with their worshippers, will be condemned to everlasting torment.
God never punishes without first sending an apostle with warning.
The threatened doom cannot be averted.
Denunciation of the idolatrous practices of the Arabs.
Setting apart portions of the produce of the land for God and for the idols, and defrauding God of His portion.
Infanticide.
Declaring cattle and tilth inviolable.
God created all fruits and all cattle, both are therefore lawful.
Argument proving the absurdity of some of these customs.
Enumeration of the only kinds of food that are unlawful.
The prohibition to the Jews of certain food was only on account of their sins.
God’s revealed word is the only certain argument.
Declaration of things really forbidden, namely, harshness to parents, infanticide, abominable sins, and murder.
The property of orphans is to be respected and fair-dealing to be practised.
No soul compelled beyond its capacity.
The Qurʾān to be accepted on the same authority as the Book of Moses was.
Faith required now without signs.
No latter profession on the Judgment Day shall profit them.
Good works to be rewarded tenfold, but evil works only by the same amount.
Islām is the religion of Abraham the Ḥanīf.
A belief in one God, to whom all prayer and devotion is due.
Each soul shall bear its own burden.
The high rank of some of the Makkans is only a trial from the Lord whereby to prove them.
Chapter LXIV.
Sūratu ʾt-Tag͟hābun.
The Chapter of Mutual Deceit.
God the Creator.
The Resurrection.
The Unity of God.
Wealth and children must not distract men from the service of God.
Chapter XXVIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Qaṣaṣ.
The Chapter of the Story.
The history of Moses and Pharaoh.
The latter and his vizier.
Hāmān oppresses the children of Israel.
Moses is exposed on the river by his mother.
He is adopted by Pharaoh.
His sister watches him, and his mother is engaged to nurse him.
He grows up and slays the Egyptian.
Flees to Midian.
Helps the two Midianites to draw water.
Serves their father Shohaib for ten years and then marries his daughter.
God appears to him in the fire.
Is sent with his brother Aaron to Pharaoh.
Hāmān builds Pharaoh a high tower to ascend to the God of Moses.
His punishment.
Moses gives the Law.
These stories are proofs of Muḥammad’s mission.
The Arabs reject the Book of Moses and the Qurʾān as two impostures.
Those who have the Scriptures recognise the truth of the Qurʾān.
The Makkans warned by the example of the cities of old that have perished.
Disappointment of the idolaters at the Day of Judgment.
Helplessness of the idols before God.
Qārūn’s great wealth.
The earth opens and swallows him up for his pride and his insolence to Moses.
Muḥammad encouraged in his faith and purpose.
Chapter XXIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Muʾminīn.
The Chapter of Believers.
The humble, chaste, and honest, shall prosper.
The creation, birth, death, and resurrection of man.
God’s goodness in providing for men’s sustenance.
Noah sent to his people, who reject him because he is a mere mortal.
They are drowned, and he is saved in the ark.
Moses and Aaron were also called liars.
Mary and her son the cause of their followers’ division into sects.
The God-fearing encouraged.
The Quraish rebuked for their pride, and for denying Muḥammad, and calling him possessed.
They are reminded of the famine and defeat they have already experienced.
Doctrine of the Resurrection.
The unity of God.
He has no offspring.
Is omniscient.
Muḥammad is encouraged not to care for the false accusations of the Makkans, but to seek refuge in God.
Punishment, on the Day of Resurrection, of those who mocked at the little party of believers.
Chapter XXII.
Sūratu ʾl-Ḥajj.
The Chapter of the Pilgrimage.
Terrors of the Last Day, yet men dispute about God and follow devils.
The conception, birth, growth, and death of men, and the growth of herbs in the ground are proofs of the Resurrection.
But some dispute, others waver between two opinions.
The most desperate means cannot thwart the divine decrees.
God will decide between the Jews, Christians, Sabians, Magians, and idolaters on the Judgment Day.
All nature adores God.
The misbelievers are threatened with hell-fire, and the believers promised Paradise.
Punishment threatened to those who prohibit men from visiting the Sacred Mosque.
Abraham, when bidden to cleanse the Kaʿbah, was told to proclaim the pilgrimage.
The rules of the Ḥajj enjoined.
Cattle are lawful food.
Warning against idolatry and exhortation to become Ḥanīfs.
Sacrifices at the Kaʿbah are enjoined.
All men have their appointed rites.
The name of God is to be mentioned over cattle when slaughtered.
Camels may be sacrificed and eaten.
God will defend believers, but loves not misbelieving traitors.
Those who have been driven from their homes for acknowledging God’s unity are allowed to fight.
If men did not fight for such a cause, all places of worship would be destroyed.
The people of Noah, ʿĀd, S̤amūd, Abraham, and Lot, called their prophets liars, and were allowed to range at large, but at last they were punished.
Their cities were destroyed, and the ruins are visible to travellers still.
Muḥammad is only sent to warn the Makkans of a like fate.
Satan contrives to suggest a wrong reading to the Prophet while reading the Qurʾān.
The Kingdom shall be God’s upon the Judgment Day.
Those who flee or are slain in the cause, shall be provided for and rewarded.
Believers who take revenge and are again attacked, will be helped.
All nature is subject to God.
Every nation has its rites to observe.
The idolaters treat the revelation with scorn.
The false gods could not even create a fly.
Exhortation to worship God and fight for the faith of Abraham, whose religion the Muslims profess.
God is the Sovereign and Helper.
Chapter XXI.
Sūratu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ.
The Chapter of the Prophets.
Men mock at the revelation.
They say it is a jumble of dreams, and that Muḥammad is a poet, and they ask for a sign.
The prophets of old were but mortal.
The people who rejected them perished.
Heaven and earth were not created in sport.
Truth shall crush falsehood.
All things praise God.
If there were other gods than He, heaven and earth would be corrupted.
All former prophets were taught there is no god but God.
The Merciful has not begotten children.
The angels are only His servants.
The separation of earth from heaven, the creation of living things from water, the steadying of the earth by mountains, and placing the sky as a roof over it, and the creation of the night and day, and of the sun and moon, are signs.
No one was ever granted immortality.
Every soul must taste of death.
The unbelievers mock at Muḥammad and disbelieve in the Merciful.
Man is hasty.
The infidels are threatened with punishment in the next world.
Those who mocked at the prophets of old perished.
No one shall be wronged on the Last Day.
Moses and Aaron received a scripture.
Abraham destroys the images which his people worshipped.
He tells them that it was the largest idol which did it.
He is condemned to be burnt alive, but the fire is miraculously made cool and safe.
Abraham, Lot, Isaac, and Jacob, all inspired.
Lot was brought safely out of a city of wrong-doers.
Noah also was saved.
David and Solomon give judgment about a field.
The mountains and birds are made subject to David.
He is taught the art of making coats of mail.
The wind and the demons are subjected to Solomon.
Job was saved.
Ishmail, Idrīs, and Ẕū ʾl-Kifl were patient, and entered into the mercy of the Lord.
Ẕū ʾn-Nūn (Jonah) was saved in the fish’s belly.
Zachariah had his prayer granted and a son (John) given him.
The spirit was breathed into the Virgin Mary.
But their followers have divided into sects.
A city once destroyed for unbelief shall not be restored till Gog and Magog are let loose.
The promise draws nigh.
Idolaters shall be the pebbles of hell.
But the elect shall be rolled up as as-Sijill rolls up a book.
As is written in the Psalms, “The righteous shall inherit the earth.”
Muḥammad sent as a mercy to the worlds.
God is one God.
He knows all.
He is the Merciful.
Chapter XVII.
Sūratu Banī Isrāʾīl.
The Chapter of the Children of Israel.
Allusion to the night journey from the Sacred Mosque (at Makkah) to the Remote Mosque (at Jerusalem).
Moses received the book.
Noah was a faithful servant.
Israel’s two sins and their punishment.
The Qurʾān a guide and a good tidings.
Man prays for evil and is hasty.
Night and day are two signs.
Every man’s augury is round his neck.
Each one shall have a book on the Resurrection Day with an account of his deeds.
Each is to bear the burden of his own sins.
No city is destroyed till warned by an apostle.
Choice of good in this world or the next.
Muḥammad is not to associate others with God.
Kindness to parents enjoined.
Moderation to be practised.
Infanticide and fornication are sins.
Homicide is not to be avenged except for just cause.
Honesty and humility inculcated.
The angels are not the daughters of God.
If there were other gods, they would rebel against God.
All in the heavens praise Him.
Unbelievers cannot understand the Qurʾān.
The unity of God unacceptable to the Makkans.
The Resurrection.
Idolaters not to be provoked.
Some prophets preferred over others.
False gods themselves have recourse to God.
All cities to be destroyed before the Judgment Day.
Had Muḥammad been sent with signs, the Makkans would have disbelieved them like S̤amūd.
The vision (of the Night Journey) and the Zaqqūm tree of hell, are causes of contention.
Iblīs’ disobedience and fall.
He is given permission to delude men.
Safety by land and sea a special mercy from God.
All shall have justice at the Last Day.
The S̤aqīf tribe at at̤-T̤āʾif nearly seduced Muḥammad into promulgating an unauthorised sentence.
Injunction to pray.
Man is ungrateful.
Departure of the spirit.
Mankind and jinns together could not produce the like of the Qurʾān.
Signs demanded of Muḥammad.
He is only a mortal.
Fate of those who disbelieve in the Resurrection.
Moses brought nine signs, but Pharaoh disbelieved in them.
His fate.
The children of Israel succeeded him in his possessions.
The Qurʾān was revealed as occasion required.
Those who believe the scripture recognise it.
God and the Merciful One are not two gods, for God has no partner.
Chapter XVI.
Sūratu ʾn-Naḥl.
The Chapter of the Bee.
God’s decree will come to pass.
He sends the angels to instruct his servants to give warning that there is no other God.
The creation and ordering of all natural objects are signs of His power.
The false gods are inanimate and powerless.
God is but one.
The unbelievers who call the revelation old folks’ tales, must bear the burden of their own sins.
On the Resurrection Day, their associates will disown them.
Reception by the angels of the wicked and the good in Hell and in Paradise.
The infidels strenuously deny the Resurrection.
The Muhājirūn are promised a good reward.
The Jews and Christians to be asked to confirm the Qurʾān.
All nature adores God.
Unity of God affirmed.
When in distress, men turn to God, but forget Him and become idolaters when deliverance comes.
The practice of setting aside part of their produce for the idols reproved.
The practice of female infanticide, while they ascribe daughters to God, is reproved, and disbelief in the future life also rebuked.
Satan is the patron of the infidels.
The Qurʾān sent down as a guidance and mercy.
The rain which quickens the dead earth, and the cattle which give milk, and the vines which give fruit and wine are signs.
The bee is inspired from the Lord to build hives and to use those made first by men.
Its honey is lawful.
The rich Arabs are reproved for their treatment of their slaves.
Helplessness of the false gods illustrated by the parable of the slave and of the dumb man.
Goodness of God in providing food and shelter for men.
Idolaters shall be disowned by the false gods at the Resurrection.
Every nation shall have a witness against it on that day.
Justice and good faith inculcated, especially the duty of keeping to a treaty once made.
Satan has no power over believers.
Verses of the Qurʾān abrogated.
The Holy Spirit (Gabriel) is the instrument of the revelation.
Suggestion that Muḥammad is helped by some mortal to compose the Qurʾān.
This cannot be, as the person hinted at speaks a foreign language and the Qurʾān is in Arabic.
Denunciation of misbelievers.
Warning of the fate Makkah is to expect if its inhabitants continue to disbelieve.
Unlawful foods.
God will forgive wrong done through ignorance.
Abraham was Ḥanīf.
The ordinance of the Sabbath.
Muḥammad is to dispute with his opponents kindly.
The believers are not to take too savage revenge.
They are exhorted to patience and trust in God.
Chapter XIII.
Sūratu ʾr-Raʿd.
The Chapter of Thunder.
The Qurʾān a revelation from the Lord, the Creator and Governor of all.
Misbelievers are threatened.
God knows all, and the recording angels are ever present.
Lightning and thunder celebrate God’s praises.
All in heaven and earth acknowledge Him.
God sends rain and causes the torrents to flow.
The scum thereof is like the dross on smelted ore.
The righteous and the believers are promised Paradise, and the misbelievers are threatened with hell-fire.
Exhortation to believe in the Merciful.
Were the Qurʾān to convulse nature, they would not believe.
Further threats against misbelievers.
God notes the deeds of every soul.
Stratagem unavailing against Him.
Paradise and Hell.
Muḥammad bidden to persevere in asserting the unity of God.
Had he not followed the Qurʾān, God would have forsaken him.
Other apostles have had wives and children.
None could bring a sign without God’s permission.
For every period there is a revelation.
God can annul or confirm any part of His revelation which He pleases.
He has the Mother of the Book (i.e. the Eternal Original).
Whether Muḥammad live to see his predictions fulfilled or not, God only knows.
His duty is only to preach the message.
The conquests of Islām pointed to.
God will support the prophets against misbelievers.
Chapter XXIX.
Sūratu ʾl-ʿAnkabūt.
The Chapter of the Spider.
Believers must be proved.
Kindness to be shown to parents; but they are not to be obeyed if they endeavour to lead their children to idolatry.
The hypocrites stand by the Muslims only in success.
The unbelievers try to seduce the believers by offering to bear their sins.
Noah delivered from the deluge.
Abraham preaches against idolatry.
Is cast into the fire, but saved.
Flees from his native land.
Isaac and Jacob born to him.
Lot and the fate of the inhabitants of Sodom.
Midian and their prophet Shuʿaib.
ʿĀd and S̤amūd.
Fate of Qārūn, Pharaoh, and Hāmān.
Similitude of the spider.
Muḥammad bidden to rehearse the Qurʾān.
Prayer enjoined.
Those who have scriptures are to be mildly dealt with in disputation.
They believe in the Qurʾān.
Muḥammad unable to read.
Signs are only in the power of God.
The idolaters reproved, and threatened with punishment.
The believers promised reward.
God provides for all.
This world is but a sport.
God saves men in dangers by sea, yet they are ungrateful.
The territory of Makkah inviolable.
Exhortation to strive for the faith.
Chapter VII.
Sūratu ʾl-Aʿrāf.
The Chapter of al-Aʿrāf.
Muḥammad is bidden to accept the Qurʾān fearlessly.
The Makkans must take warning by the fate of those who rejected the prophets of old.
The creation and fall of Adam.
Iblīs allowed to tempt mankind.
Men are to go to mosque decently clad.
God has only prohibited sinful actions.
Men are warned not to reject the mission of the apostles.
Their punishment at and after death if they do so.
The happiness of believers in Paradise.
Description of al-Aʿrāf, the partition between heaven and hell.
Immediate belief in the Qurʾān required.
God the Creator.
Humble and secret prayer enjoined.
Proofs of God’s goodness.
Noah sent to warn his people.
He is saved in the ark while they are drowned.
Hūd sent to ʿĀd.
They reject his preaching and are punished.
Ṣāliḥ sent to S̤amūd.
Produces the she-camel as a sign.
The people hamstring her and are punished.
Lot sent to the people of Sodom.
Their punishment.
Shuʿaib sent to Midian.
His people reject him and are destroyed.
Thus city after city was destroyed for rejecting the apostles.
Moses sent to Pharaoh.
The miracles of the snake and the white hand.
The magicians contend with Moses, are overcome and believe.
Pharaoh punishes them.
The slaughter of the first-born.
The plagues of Egypt.
The Israelites are delivered.
Moses communes with God, who appears to him on the mount.
The giving of the Law.
The golden calf.
Moses’ wrath against Aaron.
The seventy elders.
The coming of Muḥammad, the illiterate Prophet, foretold.
Some Jews are just and rightly guided.
The division into twelve tribes.
The miracle of smiting the rock.
The manna and quails.
The command to enter the city, saying, “Ḥit̤t̤atun,” and punishment for disobedience.
The Sabbath-breaking city.
The transformation of the wicked inhabitants into apes.
The dispersion of the Jews.
The mountain held over the Jews.
The covenant of God with the posterity of Adam.
Am I not your Lord?
Humiliation of one who, having foretold the coming of a prophet in the time of Muḥammad, would not acknowledge the latter as such.
Many, both of the jinn and of mankind, predestined to hell.
The names of God are not to be perverted.
Muḥammad is not possessed.
The coming of the Hour.
Creation of Adam and Eve.
Conception and birth of their first child, ʿAbdu ʾl-Hāris̤.
Their idolatry.
Idols are themselves servants of God.
They have neither life nor senses.
Muḥammad is bidden to treat his opponents with mildness.
The mention of God’s name repels devilish influences.
Men are recommended to listen to the Qurʾān and to humble themselves before God, whom the angels adore.
Chapter CXIII.
Sūratu ʾl-Falaq.
The Chapter of the Daybreak.
The Prophet seeks refuge in God from evil influences.
Chapter CXIV.
Sūratu ʾn-Nās.
The Chapter of Men.
The Prophet seeks refuge in God from the devil and his evil suggestions.