Surah Maidah
Contents
Believers, fulfill commitments. Grazing animals are permitted to you, except those specified to you; but not wild game when you are on pilgrimage. For God decides what God wants. [5:1]
Believers, do not violate the rites of God, or the sacred month, or the offering, or the ornaments, or those who resort to the sacred House seeking the grace and pleasure of their Lord. When you are finished with the pilgrimage, then you may hunt. And do not let the hatred of some people in keeping you out of the sacred mosque hurt you so much that you act brutally; but help each other to kindness and conscience, and do not help each other to crime and animosity. For God is severe with consequences. [5:2]
Carrion is forbidden to you, and blood, and the flesh of the swine, and whatever has been offered up to other than God, or been strangled, or been clubbed to death, or been killed in a fall, or been gored to death, or been eaten by wild animals, except what you slaughter; and what has been sacrificed to an idol; and the practice of drawing lots. For you that is immoral. Today the scoffers are disqualified from your religion; so do not fear them, but fear Me. Today I have completed your religion for you, and have fulfilled My favor for you, and approved Islam as a religion for you. But if anyone is compelled by hunger, with no intent to do wrong, God is forgiving, merciful. [5:3]
They ask you what is permitted to them. Say, Wholesome foods are permitted to you; and what you have taught hunting animals to catch by teaching them something of what God has taught you— so eat what they catch for you, but pronounce the name of God over it. And be conscious of God; for God is swift in accounting. [5:4]
Today wholesome things are permitted to you. And the food of those to whom scripture was given is permitted to you, and your food is permitted to them. And so are chaste believing women, and chaste women from among those to whom scripture was given before you, when you give them their recompense, seeking to preserve their chastity, not to prostitute them, and not taking paramours. And if anyone repudiates faith, his work is already in vain, and he will be a loser in the hereafter. [5:5]
Believers, when you are going to pray, wash your faces and your hands and arms to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet to the ankles. And if you are unclean, then purify yourselves. But if you are sick, or on a journey, or one of you comes from a call of nature, or you have been intimate with women, and you cannot obtain water, then get yourselves fine earth or sand and wipe your faces and hands with it. God does not want to make it hard for you, but wants to make you clean, and to complete divine favor on you, so you may be grateful. [5:6]
And remember God’s favor to you, and the divine compact in which God joined you when you said, “We hear and obey.” And be conscious of God, for God knows what is in hearts. [5:7]
Believers, be upstanding for God as witnesses for justice; and do not let the hatred of some people hurt you so much that you are not fair. Be fair; that is kin to conscience. And be conscious of God, for God is aware of what you do. [5:8]
God has promised those who believe and do good works that they shall have forgiveness, and a tremendous reward. [5:9]
As for those who scoff and repudiate Our signs, they will be inmates of blazes. [5:10]
Believers, remember God’s favor to you when some people intended to act against you, then withheld their devices from you. And be conscious of God; and let it be God in whom the believers trust. [5:11]
God did accept the covenant of the Children of Israel; We delegated twelve of them chiefs. And God said, “I am with you. If you pray regularly, and give alms, and trust My messengers and respectfully assist them, and lend a good loan to God, I will erase your evils from you, and will admit you to gardens below which rivers flow. And any of you who scoffs after that has strayed from the right way.” [5:12]
But since they broke their covenant We cursed them and made their hearts hard; they pervert words from their places, and they have forgotten part of what was expounded to them, and you will not cease to encounter treacherous deceit from them, except a minority among them. So pardon them and forgive them, for God loves those who act with kindness. [5:13]
And from those who call themselves Christians We accepted their covenant, but they forgot part of what was expounded to them; so We incited enmity and hatred among them until the day of resurrection. And God will acquaint them with what they were doing. [5:14]
People of scripture, Our messenger has come to you, clarifying for you much from scripture that you used to hide; and passing over a lot. Light from God has come to you, a clear Book, [5:15]
by which God guides those who follow divine will in ways of peace, and brings them from darkness into light, by divine leave, and guides them to a straight path. [5:16]
Those who say “God is the Messiah Son of Mary” have blasphemed. Say, “Then who can keep anything from God if God wants to annihilate the Messiah Son of Mary, his mother, and everyone on earth? It is God who has the power over the heavens and the earth and what is between them. God creates whatever God will; and God is able to do all things.” [5:17]
The Jews and the Christians say, “We are sons of God, and His favorites.” Say, “Then why does ‘He’ punish you for your sins? No, you are human beings, some among those God created. God forgives whomever God will, and punishes whomever God will. And God has power over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them; and the ultimate destination is to God.” [5:18]
People of scripture, Our messenger has come to you clarifying for you after an intermission in the messengers, lest you say, “No bearer of good news has come to us, and no warner.” So a bearer of good news and a warner has come to you. And God is capable of all things. [5:19]
Moses said to his people, “My people, remember the blessing of God on you in establishing prophets among you and making you kings; and God gave you what had never been given to any other people. [5:20]
“My people, enter the holy land that God ordained for you, and do not turn back, for you will return losers.” [5:21]
They said, “Moses, there is in fact a nation of giants there, and we will surely never enter it until they leave. But if they leave there, we will certainly be entering.” [5:22]
Two God-blessed men among those in dread said, “Enter the gate in spite of them; once you get in you will prevail. But let your trust be reposed in God, if you are believers.” [5:23]
They said, “Moses, we will never get in there as long as they remain there. So you and your Lord go and fight. We’ll be sitting here.” [5:24]
He said, “My Lord! I have no power over anyone but myself and my brother; so separate us from this dissolute people!” [5:25]
God said, “It will be inaccessible to them for forty years; they will wander the earth lost. But do not grieve over dissolute people.” [5:26]
Tell them the story of the two sons of Adam as it really was: both presented an offering to God; it was accepted from one but not the other, who said, “I will kill you!” The former said, “God only accepts offerings from the conscientious. [5:27]
“Even if you reach out to kill me, I will not be reaching out to kill you; for I fear God, Lord of all worlds. [5:28]
“I am willing to let you bring on yourself my sin as well as your sin, so you will be among the inmates of hellfire; and that is the reward for the unjust.” [5:29]
But he had no qualms about killing his brother, so he murdered him, and thus became one of the lost. [5:30]
Then God sent a raven, that scratched the earth to show him how to cover up the exposed remains of his brother. He said, “Woe is me! Am I incapable of being like this raven, who has covered the exposure of my brother?” And he became remorseful. [5:31]
Because of that We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person, other than for murder or corruption on earth, it would be as if he killed all the people. And if anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the lives of all the people. While Our messengers have come to them with clarifications, still many of them went beyond bounds on earth after that. [5:32]
For those who war on God and the messenger of God, and work for corruption on earth, the reward is but execution, or crucifixion, or amputation of their hands and feet on opposite sides, or expulsion from the land. That is disgrace for them in the world; and there is a tremendous torment in store for them in the hereafter. [5:33]
Except those who repent before you have power over them. Know, therefore, that God is most forgiving, most merciful. [5:34]
Believers, be conscious of God, and seek the way to God, and struggle for the sake of God, that you may thrive. [5:35]
As for those who scoff, even if they had everything on earth, and the equivalent besides to buy protection from the torment of the day of resurrection, it would not be accepted. And there is a painful torment in store for them. [5:36]
They will want to get out of the fire, but they will not be getting out of there; and they will have an ever renewed torment. [5:37]
As for the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off the hands of both of them as a reward for what they have earned, as an example from God. And God is most powerful, most judicious. [5:38]
But God is relenting toward anyone who repents and makes amends after having done wrong; for God is most forgiving, most merciful. [5:39]
Do you not know that power over the heavens and the earth belongs to God, Who punishes anyone at will and forgives anyone at will? God is capable of everything. [5:40]
O messenger, do not be grieved by those who race to atheism, be they from among those who say “We believe” with their mouths but do not believe in their hearts, or from among the Jews, those who listen to lies, who listen to other people who have not come to you. They pervert words from their proper order, saying, “If you are given this, take it; but if you do not take it, beware!” And if God wishes to try anyone, you cannot do anything for him against God. They are those whose hearts God does not wish to purify. For them there is disgrace in the world, and a tremendous torment in the hereafter. [5:41]
They habitually listen to lies and eat forbidden things. If they come to you, judge between them or else avoid them. If you avoid them, they cannot hurt you at all. But if you judge, judge between them justly, for God loves the just. [5:42]
But why do they take you for a judge, when they have the Torah, in which there is the judgment of God? Yet they still turn away after that. They are not believers. [5:43]
We revealed the Torah, in it guidance and light; the prophets who surrendered to God judge the Jews thereby, as do the rabbis and the learned, by what was entrusted to them of the Book of God, of which they were witnesses. So do not fear people, but fear Me, and do not sell My signs for a petty price. And any who do not judge by what God has revealed are the ones who are the atheists. [5:44]
And in it We prescribed for them a life for a life, and an eye for an eye, and a nose for a nose, and an ear for an ear, and a tooth for a tooth, and injuries in retaliation: but if anyone foregoes it for charity, that is expiation for him. And any who do not judge by what God has revealed, they are the ones who are being unjust. [5:45]
And We caused Jesus Son of Mary to follow in their tracks, verifying what was there before him of the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, with guidance and truth in it, also verifying what was there before him of the Torah, and guidance and counsel for the conscientious. [5:46]
And let people of the Gospel judge by what God has revealed in it. Any who do not judge by what God has revealed are the ones who are going astray. [5:47]
We revealed the Book to you with truth verifying the part of scripture there before it, and preserving it. So judge between them by what God has revealed, and do not follow their desires away from what has come to you of truth. For each of them We have established a law, and a revealed way. And if God wished, God would have made you a single nation; but the intent is to test you in what God has given you. So let your goals be everything good. Your destiny, everyone, is to God, Who will tell you about that wherein you differed. [5:48]
And you should judge between them by what God has revealed, and do not follow their desires. And beware of them, lest they seduce you away from some of what God has revealed to you. So if they turn away, know that God intends to strike them for some of their sins. And most people are in fact dissolute. [5:49]
Is it the judgment of the time of ignorance they seek? But who is better than God at judgment for a people who are sure? [5:50]
Believers, do not take the Jews and Christians for patrons; they are patrons of each other. And whoever chooses them is one of them. God does not guide people acting unjustly. [5:51]
So you see those in whose hearts is sickness racing around among them saying, “We fear a change of fortune may afflict us.” Perhaps God will give victory, or a decree from the divine presence, such that they will come to repent of what they concealed in their souls. [5:52]
And those who believe will say, “Are these the ones who swore by God their most binding oaths, claiming to be with you?” Their acts will be futile, and they will be losers. [5:53]
Believers, if any of you turns from his religion, God will bring forth a people whom God loves and who love God, humble toward believers, powerful against scoffers, struggling for the sake of God without fearing the blame of the critic. That is the blessing of God, bestowed by God on whomever God wills. And God is all-encompassing, all-knowing. [5:54]
Your only friends are God, the messenger of God, and the believers, those who pray regularly, give alms, and bow down. [5:55]
And whoever chooses friendship with God and God’s messenger and those who believe, it is the partisans of God who are the triumphant. [5:56]
Believers, do not make friends of those who take your religion for a joke and a trifle, be they from among those who were given scripture before you, or the atheists. And be conscious of God, if you are believers, [5:57]
When you call to prayer, they take it as a joke and a trifle. That is because they are people who do not understand. [5:58]
Say, “People of scripture, do you disapprove of us for any reason other than that we believe in God, and what was revealed to us, and what was revealed before; and most of you are corrupt?” [5:59]
Say, “Shall I tell you of something worse than that, in terms of recompense with God? Those whom God cursed and at whom God was wrathful, and of whom God made apes and swine, and who worshipped idols— that is worse, in actuality, and further astray from the right way.” [5:60]
While they say “We believe” when they come to you, they have come with disbelief and they’ll go away with it. Yet God knows better what they’ve been hiding. [5:61]
And you see many of them racing to crime and injustice, and their eating of what is forbidden. Evil indeed is what they have been doing. [5:62]
Why don’t the rabbis and religious authorities prevent their sinful talk and forbidden consumption? Evil indeed is what they’ve been doing. [5:63]
The Jews say the hand of God is bound. Their hands are bound, and they are accursed, by what they say. No, the hands of God are free, openly giving at will. But what has been revealed to you from your Lord will increase tyranny and atheism in many of them. And We have put enmity and hatred between them until the day of resurrection. Every time they kindle the fire of war, God extinguishes it; yet they strive violently on earth. And God does not love the violent. [5:64]
If only the people of scripture had believed and been conscientious, We would have erased their evils from them, and would have admitted them to gardens of delight. [5:65]
And if they had lived up to the Torah and the Gospel and everything revealed to them from their Lord, they would have partaken of enjoyment from above and below. There is a well-balanced community of moderates among them, but what the majority of them are doing is evil. [5:66]
O messenger, transmit what has been sent down to you from your Lord. If you have not done that, you have not fulfilled the mission of God. God is defending you from people; for God does not guide people who scoff. [5:67]
Say, “People of scripture, you have nothing to stand on unless you live up to the Torah and the Gospel and everything sent down to you from your Lord.” But what has been revealed to you will surely increase tyranny and atheism in the majority of them. So do not be distressed over atheistic people. [5:68]
The Muslims and the Jews, and the Sabians and the Christians, any who believe in God and the last day and do good will not be in fear and they will not grieve. [5:69]
We already accepted the covenant of the Children of Israel, and We sent them messengers. Every time a messenger has come to them with what their selves do not like, some they have repudiated and some they kill. [5:70]
They figured there would be no trial, so they became blind and deaf; then God relented toward them, but many became blind and deaf again. And God sees what they do. [5:71]
Those who say God is the Messiah Son of Mary have certainly blasphemed: whereas the Messiah said, “Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord.” For whoever associates anyone with God, God has forbidden the garden; his place is the fire. And there is no savior for those who do wrong. [5:72]
Those who say God is one third of a trinity have certainly blasphemed, for there is no deity but one God. So if they do not stop what they are saying, a painful penalty will strike those of them who blaspheme. [5:73]
Why don’t they turn to God and seek forgiveness of God, since God is most forgiving, most merciful. [5:74]
The Messiah Son of Mary was only a messenger. Messengers had already passed away before him. And his mother was a veracious woman. The two of them both used to eat food. See how We clarify the signs to them; then see how deluded they are. [5:75]
Say, “Do you worship what has no power to harm or help you, rather than God? God is the one who hears all and knows all.” [5:76]
Say, “People of scripture, don’t overdo your religion unrealistically, yet do not follow the desires of people who already went astray before, who misled many and strayed from the balanced way.” [5:77]
Those of the Children of Israel who were atheistic were cursed by the tongue of David, and Jesus Son of Mary; that was because they were defiant and they used to commit outrages. [5:78]
They never used to forbid one another from the abominations they committed. Evil indeed is what they used to do. [5:79]
You see many of them turning to the atheists. Wretched indeed is what their selves produced for them, as God is angry at them, and they will remain in torment. [5:80]
If only they had believed in God and the prophet and what was revealed to him, they would not have taken the others for allies. But most of them are corrupt. [5:81]
You will find the people most intensely hostile to the believers are the Jews and the polytheists. And you will certainly find the closest of them in affection to the believers are those who say, “We are Christians.” That is because there are priests and monks among them, and because they are not arrogant. [5:82]
And when they hear what has been revealed to the messenger, you see their eyes overflow with tears, from their recognition of truth. They say, “Our Lord, we believe, so record us with the witnesses. [5:83]
“Why would we not believe in God and what has come to us of Truth, since we are hoping our Lord will admit us to the company of people of integrity?” [5:84]
And God rewarded them for what they said, with gardens below which rivers flow, where they abide. And that is the reward for those who do good. [5:85]
As for those who scoffed and repudiated Our signs, they are inmates of the inferno. [5:86]
Believers, do not prohibit the wholesome things God has made legitimate for you; but do not go to excess, for God does not love the excessive. [5:87]
Partake of what God has provided for you as legitimate and wholesome. And be conscious of God, in Whom you are believers. [5:88]
God does not hold against you meaningless words in your oaths, but does hold against you commitment in your oaths: the expiation for it is feeding ten paupers the average of what you feed your family; or clothing them; or freeing a slave. For anyone who has not the wherewithal, then it is fasting for three days. That is expiation for your oaths when you swear. So keep to your oaths. Thus does God clarify the signs of God to you, that you may be grateful. [5:89]
Believers— Wine and gambling and idolatry and divination are nothing but abomination from the work of Satan, so avoid them that you may thrive. [5:90]
Satan only wants to sow hostility and hatred among you with wine and gambling, and to hinder you from remembrance of God, and from prayer. So will you refrain? [5:91]
Heed God, and heed the messenger, and be cautious; if you turn away, know that the only duty of Our messenger is clear communication. [5:92]
On those who believed and did good works there is no blame for what they consumed, as long as they were conscientious and believed, and did good works, and went on being conscientious and believing, and went on being conscientious and doing good more and more. For God loves those who do good. [5:93]
Believers, God certainly tries you with something of the gain your hands and spears obtain, in order to know who fears God at heart. So whoever commits excess thereafter will have a painful penalty. [5:94]
Believers, do not kill game while you are in a sanctified state on the pilgrimage. If any of you does so intentionally, the compensation is a domestic animal comparable to what he killed, as judged by two honest people among you, as an offering delivered to the cubic shrine; or feeding the poor as expiation, or the equivalent in fasting, that he may experience the gravity of his act. God pardons what is past, but God will take vengeance on whoever repeats; and God is mighty, master of vengeance. [5:95]
Fishing and eating from the sea are permitted to you, as a convenience to you, and for travelers; while the game of the land is forbidden to you as long as you remain in the sanctified state. And be conscious of God, to Whom you will be gathered. [5:96]
God made the cubic shrine, the sacred House, an asylum for people; and the sacred month, and the sacrifice, and the garlands. That is so you may know that God knows what is in the heavens and what is on earth, and that God is cognizant of all things. [5:97]
Know that God is severe in retribution; and that God is most forgiving, most merciful. [5:98]
The messenger has no obligation but communication; and God knows what you reveal and what you conceal. [5:99]
Say, “The unwholesome and the wholesome are not equal, even if the abundance of the unwholesome may delight you. So be conscious of God, those of you with understanding, so that you may thrive.” [5:100]
Believers, do not ask about things that would trouble you if revealed to you. But if you ask about them while the Qur’an is being sent down, they will be revealed to you; God pardons that, As God is forgiving, most clement. [5:101]
People before you asked about them, and then they became atheists. [5:102]
God did not establish the superstitions of the slit-eared camel, or the vagrant camel, or the idolized camel, or the retired camel; but the idolaters invent a lie against God, though most of them do not understand. [5:103]
And when it is said to them, “Come to what God has revealed, and to the messenger,” they say, “What we found our fathers following is sufficient for us.” Even if their fathers did not know anything and were not guided? [5:104]
Believers, you are responsible for your own souls. Those who stray cannot harm you when you heed guidance. To God is where you will all return, and then God will tell you about what you were doing. [5:105]
Believers, when death comes to one of you, let there be witness among you, at the time of the legacy, by two just individuals from among you, or two others from different people if a fatal calamity befalls you while you are traveling the earth. If you are in doubt, detain the two after prayer and let them swear by God, “We are not taking payment for this, even if it was a relative. And we are not hiding evidence due God, for then we would be criminals.” [5:106]
Now if it is found that the two have made illegitimate claims, then let two others stand in their places, two from among those responsible for a claim, and have them swear by God, “Our testimony is truer than the testimony of those two, and we have not been unjust, for then we would be wrongdoers.” [5:107]
That is more suitable, that they should give testimony correctly, or they would fear oaths would be taken after their oaths. So be conscious of God, and listen; for God does not guide immoral people. [5:108]
One day God will gather the messengers and say, “What was the response that you were given?” They will say, “We have no knowledge; it is You who know all hidden secrets.” [5:109]
Then God will say, “Jesus Son of Mary, remember My favor to you and your mother when I strengthened you with the holy spirit —you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity— and when I taught you scripture and wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel. And you fashion the figure of a bird from clay, by My permission; then you breathe into it and it becomes a bird, by My permission. And you heal the blind and the leprous, by My permission. And you raise the dead, by My permission. And I kept the Children of Israel away from you when you brought them the proofs and the scoffers said, ‘This is obvious sorcery.’ [5:110]
“And We inspired the apostles to believe in Me and My messenger. They said, ‘We believe; witness that we surrender to God.’” [5:111]
The apostles said, “Jesus Son of Mary, can your Lord send us down a feast from heaven?” He said, “Be wary of God, if you are believers.” [5:112]
They said, “We want to partake thereof, so our hearts may be satisfied, and we may know you have told us the truth, and we may be witnesses to it.” [5:113]
Jesus Son of Mary said, “O God, our Lord, send us down a feast from heaven, to be a festival for us, for the first of us and the last of us, and a sign from You. And provide for us, as You are the best of providers.” [5:114]
God said, “I will indeed send it down to you. But if any of you scoff after that, I will punish him with a torment I have never inflicted on a people.” [5:115]
And God will say, “Jesus Son of Mary, did you tell people, ‘Take to me and my mother as deities rather than God’? He will say, “Glory to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to. If I used to say that, You would have known it. You know what is in my essence, while I do not know what is in Your essence. For You are the one who knows all hidden secrets. [5:116]
“I never told them anything but what You instructed me—‘Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.’ And I was a witness to them while I sojourned among them. And when You took me, it was You who were watching over them. And You are witness to all things. [5:117]
“If you punish them, so be it, for they are Your slaves; and if You forgive them, so be it, for You are the Mighty, the Wise.” [5:118]
God will say, “This is a day on which the sincerity of the sincere profits them; there are gardens for them, below which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. God is pleased with them, and they are pleased with God. That is the great attainment.” [5:119]
The power over the heavens and the earth and what is between them is God’s; and God is capable of everything. [5:120]