AN NUUR
In the name of God, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful.
24-1
A sura which We have sent down and
which We have ordained in it have We sent down Clear Signs, in order that ye
may receive admonition.
24-2
The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not
compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe
in God and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their
punishment.
24-3
Let no man guilty of adultery or fornication marry and but a woman similarly guilty, or an Unbeliever:
nor let any but such a man or an Unbeliever marry such a woman: to the
Believers such a thing is forbidden.
24-4
And those who launch a charge against chaste women, and
produce not four witnesses (to support their allegations),-
flog them with eighty stripes; and reject their evidence ever after: for such
men are wicked transgressors;-
24-5
Unless they repent thereafter and mend (their conduct); for
God is Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful.
24-6
And for those who launch a charge against their spouses, and
have (in support) no evidence but their own,- their
solitary evidence (can be received) if they bear witness four times (with an
oath) by God that they are solemnly telling the truth;
24-7
And the fifth (oath) (should be) that they solemnly invoke
the curse of God on themselves if they tell a lie.
24-8
But it would avert the punishment from the wife, if she
bears witness four times (with an oath) By God, that (her husband) is telling a
lie;
24-9
And the fifth (oath) should be that she solemnly invokes the
wrath of God on herself if (her accuser) is telling the truth.
24-10
If it were not for God's grace and mercy on you, and that
God is Oft- Returning, full of Wisdom,- (Ye would be ruined indeed).
24-11
Those who brought forward the lie are a body among
yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you; On the contrary it is good for
you: to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that he
earned, and to him who took on himself the lead among them, will be a penalty
grievous.
24-12
Why did not the believers - men and women - when ye heard of
the affair,- put the best construction on it in their
own minds and say, "This (charge) is an obvious lie" ?
24-13
Why did they not bring four witnesses to prove it? When they
have not brought the witnesses, such men, in the sight of God, (stand forth)
themselves as liars!
24-14
Were it not for the grace and mercy of God on you, in this
world and the Hereafter, a grievous penalty would have seized you in that ye
rushed glibly into this affair.
24-15
Behold, ye received it on your tongues, and said out of your
mouths things of which ye had no knowledge; and ye thought it to be a light
matter, while it was most serious in the sight of God.
24-16
And why did ye not, when ye heard it, say? - "It is not
right of us to speak of this: Glory to God! this is a
most serious slander!"
24-17
God doth admonish you, that ye may never repeat such
(conduct), if ye are (true) Believers.
24-18
And God makes the Signs plain to you: for God is full of
knowledge and wisdom.
24-19
Those who love (to see) scandal published broadcast among
the Believers, will have a grievous Penalty in this life and in the Hereafter:
God knows, and ye know not.
24-20
Were it not for the grace and mercy of God on you, and that
God is full of kindness and mercy, (ye would be ruined indeed).
24-21
O ye who believe! follow not Satan's footsteps: if any will
follow the footsteps of Satan, he will (but) command what is shameful and
wrong: and were it not for the grace and mercy of God on you, not one of you
would ever have been pure: but God doth purify whom He pleases: and God is One
Who hears and knows (all things).
24-22
Let not those among you who are endued with grace and
amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their kinsmen, those in
want, and those who have left their homes in God's cause: let them forgive and
overlook, do you not wish that God should forgive you? For God is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
24-23
Those who slander chaste women, indiscreet but believing,
are cursed in this life and in the Hereafter: for them is a grievous Penalty,-
24-24
On the Day when their tongues, their
hands, and their feet will bear witness against them as to their actions.
24-25
On that Day God will pay them back (all) their just dues,
and they will realise that God is the (very) Truth, that makes all things
manifest.
24-26
Women impure are for men impure, and men impure for women
impure and women of purity are for men of purity, and men of purity are for
women of purity: these are not affected by what people say: for them there is
forgiveness, and a provision honourable.
24-27
O ye who believe! enter not houses
other than your own, until ye have asked permission and saluted those in them:
that is best for you, in order that ye may heed (what is seemly).
24-28
If ye find no one in the house, enter not until permission
is given to you: if ye are asked to go back, go back: that makes for greater
purity for yourselves: and God knows well all that ye do.
24-29
It is no fault on your part to enter houses not used for
living in, which serve some (other) use for you: And God has knowledge of what
ye reveal and what ye conceal.
24-30
Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze
and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And God is
well acquainted with all that they do.
24-31
And say to the believing women that they should lower their
gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and
ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw
their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their
husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands'
sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their
women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of
physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and
that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their
hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all
together towards God, that ye may attain Bliss.
24-32
Marry those among you who are single, or the virtuous ones
among yourselves, male or female: if they are in poverty, God will give them
means out of His grace: for God encompasseth all, and he knoweth all things.
24-33
Let those who find not the wherewithal for marriage keep
themselves chaste, until God gives them means out of His grace. And if any of
your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for
a certain sum), give them such a deed if ye know any good in them: yea, give
them something yourselves out of the means which God has given to you. But
force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that
ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet,
after such compulsion, is God, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them),
24-34
We have already sent down to you verses making things clear,
an illustration from (the story of) people who passed away before you, and an
admonition for those who fear (God).
24-35
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable
of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp
enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed
Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh
luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! God doth guide whom
He will to His Light: God doth set forth Parables for men: and God doth know
all things.
24-36
(Lit is such a Light) in houses, which God hath permitted to
be raised to honour; for the celebration, in them, of His name: In them is He
glorified in the mornings and in the evenings, (again and again),-
24-37
By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from
the Remembrance of God, nor from regular Prayer, nor from the practice of
regular Charity: Their (only) fear is for the Day when hearts and eyes will be
transformed (in a world wholly new),-
24-38
That God may reward them according to the best of their
deeds, and add even more for them out of His Grace: for God doth provide for
those whom He will, without measure.
24-39
But the Unbelievers,- their deeds are like a mirage in sandy
deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he
comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing: But he finds God (ever) with him,
and God will pay him his account: and God is swift in taking account.
24-40
Or (the Unbelievers' state) is like the depths of darkness
in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by
(dark) clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out
his hands, he can hardly see it! for any to whom God
giveth not light, there is no light!
24-41
Seest thou not that it is God Whose
praises all beings in the heavens and on earth do celebrate, and the birds (of
the air) with wings outspread? Each one knows its own (mode of) prayer and
praise. And God knows well all that they do.
24-42
Yea, to God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the
earth; and to God is the final goal (of all).
24-43
Seest thou not that God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap? - then wilt thou see rain issue forth from their midst. And He
sends down from the sky mountain masses (of clouds) wherein is hail: He strikes
therewith whom He pleases and He turns it away from whom He pleases, the vivid
flash of His lightning well-nigh blinds the sight.
24-44
It is God Who alternates the Night
and the Day: verily in these things is an instructive example for those who
have vision!
24-45
And God has created every animal from water: of them there
are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that
walk on four. God creates what He wills for verily God has power over all
things.
24-46
We have indeed sent down signs that make things manifest:
and God guides whom He wills to a way that is straight.
24-47
They say, "We believe in God and in the apostle, and we
obey": but even after that, some of them turn away: they are not (really)
Believers.
24-48
When they are summoned to God and His apostle, in order that
He may judge between them, behold some of them decline (to come).
24-49
But if the right is on their side, they come to him with all
submission.
24-50
Is it that there is a disease in their hearts? or do they doubt, or are they in fear, that God and His
Apostle will deal unjustly with them? Nay, it is they themselves who do wrong.
24-51
The answer of the Believers, when summoned to God and His
Apostle, in order that He may judge between them, is no other than this: they
say, "We hear and we obey": it is such as these that will attain
felicity.
24-52
It is such as obey God and His Apostle, and fear God and do
right, that will win (in the end),
24-53
They swear their strongest oaths by God that, if only thou
wouldst command them, they would leave (their homes). Say: "Swear ye not;
Obedience is (more) reasonable; verily, God is well acquainted with all that ye
do."
24-54
Say: "Obey God, and obey the Apostle: but if ye turn
away, he is only responsible for the duty placed on him and ye for that placed
on you. If ye obey him, ye shall be on right guidance. The Apostle's duty is
only to preach the clear (Message).
24-55
God has promised, to those among you who believe and work
righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance
(of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in
authority their religion - the one which He has chosen for them; and that He
will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of
security and peace: 'They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with
Me. 'If any do reject Faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked.
24-56
So establish regular Prayer and give regular Charity; and
obey the Apostle; that ye may receive mercy.
24-57
Never think thou that the Unbelievers are going to frustrate
(God's Plan) on earth: their abode is the Fire,- and
it is indeed an evil refuge!
24-58
O ye who believe! let those whom your right hands possess,
and the (children) among you who have not come of age ask your permission
(before they come to your presence), on three occasions: before morning prayer;
the while ye doff your clothes for the noonday heat; and after the late-night
prayer: these are your three times of undress: outside those times it is not
wrong for you or for them to move about attending to each other: Thus does God
make clear the Signs to you: for God is full of knowledge and wisdom.
24-59
But when the children among you come of age, let them (also)
ask for permission, as do those senior to them (in age): Thus does God make
clear His Signs to you: for God is full of knowledge and wisdom.
24-60
Such elderly women as are past the prospect of marriage,- there is no blame on them if they lay aside their (outer)
garments, provided they make not a wanton display of their beauty: but it is
best for them to be modest: and God is One Who sees and knows all things.
24-61
It is no fault in the blind nor in one born lame, nor in one
afflicted with illness, nor in yourselves, that ye should eat in your own
houses, or those of your fathers, or your mothers, or your brothers, or your
sisters, or your father's brothers or your father's sisters, or your mohter's
brothers, or your mother's sisters, or in houses of which the keys are in your
possession, or in the house of a sincere friend of yours: there is no blame on
you, whether ye eat in company or separately. But if ye enter houses, salute
each other - a greeting of blessing and purity as from God. Thus does God make
clear the signs to you: that ye may understand.
24-62
Only those are believers, who believe in God and His
Apostle: when they are with him on a matter requiring collective action, they
do not depart until they have asked for his leave; those who ask for thy leave
are those who believe in God and His Apostle; so when they ask for thy leave,
for some business of theirs, give leave to those of them whom thou wilt, and
ask God for their forgiveness: for God is Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful.
24-63
Deem not the summons of the Apostle among yourselves like
the summons of one of you to another: God doth know those of you who slip away
under shelter of some excuse: then let those beware who withstand the Apostle's
order, lest some trial befall them, or a grievous penalty be inflicted on them.
24-64
Be quite sure that to God doth belong whatever is in the
heavens and on earth. Well doth He know what ye are intent upon: and one day
they will be brought back to Him, and He will tell them the truth of what they
did: for God doth know all things.