The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

The Qur
an
9: 88
124

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bring them nearer and God will admit them to His mercy. God is
most forgiving and merciful.
100God will be well pleased with the first emigrants and helpers
a
and those who followed them in good deeds, and they will be well
pleased with Him: He has prepared Gardens graced with 
flowing
streams for them, there to remain for ever. That is the supreme
triumph.
101Some of the desert Arabs around you are hypocrites, as are
some of the people of Medina –
– they are obstinate in their hypocrisy.
You [Prophet] do not know them, but We know them well: We shall
punish them twice and then they will be returned to [face] a painful
punishment [in the Hereafter]. 
102And there are others who have
confessed their wrongdoing, who have done some righteous deeds
and some bad ones: God may well accept their repentance, for God
is most forgiving and merciful. 
103In order to cleanse and purify
them [Prophet], accept
b
a gift out of their property [to make amends]
and pray for them –
– your prayer will be a comfort to them. God is all
hearing, all knowing. 
104Do they not know that it is God Himself
who accepts repentance from His servants and receives what is given
freely for His sake? He is always ready to accept repentance,
most merciful. 
105Say [Prophet], ‘Take action! God will see your
actions –
– as will His Messenger and the believers –
– and then you will
be returned to Him who knows what is seen and unseen, and He will
tell you what you have been doing. 
106And there are others who are
waiting for God’s decree, either to punish them or to show them
mercy. God is all knowing and wise.
107Then there are those who built a mosque
c
–– in an attempt to
cause harm, disbelief, and disunity among the believers –– as an out-
post for those who fought God and His Messenger before: they
swear, ‘Our intentions were nothing but good,’ but God bears wit-
ness that they are liars. 
108[Prophet], never pray in that mosque. You
should rather pray in a mosque founded from its 
first day on con-
sciousness of God: in this mosque there are men who desire to grow
in purity –
– God loves those who seek to purify themselves. 
109Which
is better, the person who founds his building on consciousness of
a
The Medinan Muslims who welcomed and supported the emigrants from Mecca.
b
Literally ‘take’.
c
Abu 
 Amir al-Rahib told the hypocrites to build a rival mosque in order to sow
dissension in the community.
Repentance
125
9: 109

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God and desire for His good pleasure, or the person who founds his
building on the brink of a crumbling precipice that will tumble down
into the Fire of Hell, taking him with it? God does not guide the
evildoers: 
110the building they have founded will always be a source
of doubt within their hearts, until their hearts are cut to pieces. God
is all knowing and wise.
111God has purchased the persons and possessions of the believers
in return for the Garden –
– they
fight in God’s way: they kill and are
killed –
– this is a true promise given by Him in the Torah, the Gospel,
and the Qur
an. Who could be more faithful to his promise than
God? So be happy with the bargain you have made: that is the
supreme triumph. 
112[The believers are] those who turn to God in
repentance; who worship and praise Him; who bow down and pros-
trate themselves; who order what is good and forbid what is wrong
and who observe God’s limits. Give glad news to such believers.
113It is not fitting for the Prophet and the believers to ask forgive-
ness for the idolaters –
– even if they are related to them –
– after having
been shown that they are the inhabitants of the Blaze: 
114Abraham
asked forgiveness for his father because he had made a promise to
him, but once he realized that his father was an enemy of God, he
washed his hands of him. Abraham was tender-hearted and forbear-
ing. 
115God would not condemn for going astray those He has
already guided [to the faith] before making entirely clear to them
what they should avoid.
a
God has knowledge of everything; 
116con-
trol of the heavens and earth belongs to God; He alone gives life and
death; you have no ally or helper other than Him.
117In His mercy God has turned to the Prophet, and the emigrants
and helpers who followed him in the hour of adversity when some
hearts almost wavered: He has turned to them; He is most kind and
merciful to them. 
118And to the three men who stayed behind: when
the earth, for all its spaciousness, closed in around them, when their
very souls closed in around them, when they realized that the only
refuge from God was with Him, He turned to them in mercy in
order for them to return [to Him]. God is the Ever Relenting, the
Most Merciful.
119You who believe, be mindful of God: stand with those who are
a
This reassured the Muslims who had been praying for their disbelieving ancestors
that they would not be blamed for having done this.