Surah Taubah
Contents
There is immunity from God and the messenger of God for those polytheists with whom you have made treaties: [9:1]
So travel the earth for four months, and know that you cannot thwart God, and that it is God who thwarts the atheists. [9:2]
A call from God and God’s messenger to the people on the day of the great pilgrimage: that God and the messenger of God have nothing to do with the polytheists. So if you repent, that is better for you; but if you turn away, know that you cannot thwart God. And announce a painful penalty for those who disbelieve, [9:3]
except those polytheists with whom you have made a treaty and they have not failed you in anything and have not helped anyone against you; fulfill your treaties with them to the end of their term, for God loves the conscientious. [9:4]
But when the sacred months are past, then kill idolaters wherever you find them, and capture them, and blockade them, and watch for them at every lookout. But if they repent and practice prayer and give alms, then let them go their way; for God is most forgiving, most merciful. [9:5]
And if one of the polytheists asks you for protection, then protect him, until he hears the word of God: then deliver him to a place safe for him. That is because they are people who do not know. [9:6]
How can there be a treaty with the idolaters in the presence of God and God’s messenger except those with whom you made a treaty at the sacred mosque? As long as they are true to you, be true to them; for God loves the conscientious. [9:7]
How, when if they get the better of you they do not respect either blood relations or treaty with you? They satisfy you with their words, but their hearts are averse, and most of them are dissolute. [9:8]
They’ve exchanged the signs of God for a petty price, and blocked the way to God; what they’ve been doing is bad. [9:9]
They respect neither relation nor treaty in a believer; they are the transgressors. [9:10]
But if they repent, and institute prayer, and give alms, then they are your brethren in religion. We detail the signs for people who discern. [9:11]
But if they break their oaths after their promise, and defame your religion, then fight the leaders of atheism —for they have no good faith— that they may be restrained. [9:12]
Will you not fight people who broke their oaths and planned to exile the messenger, and they took the initiative the first time? Do you fear them? God is more worthy of your fear, if you are believers. [9:13]
Fight them; God will punish them by your hands, and expel them, and help you against them, and heal the breasts of people who believe, [9:14]
and remove the anger of their hearts. And God will turn to whomever God will; and God is all-knowing, most wise. [9:15]
Or do you reckon you’ll be abandoned, as if God did not know who among you struggled without the friendship of any but God, the messenger of God, and the believers? God is well aware of whatever you do. [9:16]
It is not for the idolaters to frequent and maintain the mosques of God testifying to their own atheism. Their works shall perish, and they will abide in the fire. [9:17]
The only ones to frequent and maintain the mosques of God are those who believe in God and the last day, and who practice prayer and give alms for the poor and fear none but God: then they may be among the guided. [9:18]
Do you consider giving water to the pilgrim or maintaining the sacred mosque comparable to those who, believing in God and the last day, struggle in the cause of God? For God, they are not equal; and God does not guide people who are unjust. [9:19]
Those who believe and go into exile and struggle in the cause of God with their possessions and their persons are greater in rank in the sight of God; and they are the ones who attain salvation. [9:20]
Their Lord announces good news to them, of divine mercy and acceptance, and gardens for them, wherein is lasting happiness, [9:21]
where they will abide forever. Truly there is a tremendous reward in the presence of God. [9:22]
Believers, do not take your fathers and your brothers for protectors if they prefer atheism to faith. Those of you who choose them are the ones who are in the wrong. [9:23]
Say, “If your fathers and your brothers and you wives and your relatives and the goods you acquire and business for which you fear failure and homes you find agreeable are more dear to you than God and the messenger of God and struggle in the cause of God, then wait until God comes with the divine order; for God does not guide the dissolute.” [9:24]
God has certainly helped you on many battlefields, and on the day of Hunain, when your numerical superiority delighted you, but was no benefit to you, and the earth, spacious as it was, narrowed on you, and you turned back in retreat. [9:25]
Then God sent divine peace down upon the messenger of God, and on the believers, and sent down forces you did not see, and punished those who scoffed; and that is the reward of atheists. [9:26]
Then God will turn again after that to whomever God wishes to turn; for God is most forgiving, most merciful. [9:27]
Believers, the idolaters are nothing but a pollutant, so let them no longer approach the sacred mosque after this year of theirs. If you fear poverty, God shall enrich you from divine bounty, if God wills. For God is all-knowing, most wise. [9:28]
Fight the ones among those to whom scripture has been given who do not have faith in God and the last day, and do not consider inviolable what God and God’s messenger have made inviolable, and do not profess the religion of truth, until they pay tribute willingly, as subjects. [9:29]
The Jews call Ezra son of God, and the Christians call the Messiah son of God. That is what they say with their mouths; They imitate the words of those who scoffed before. May God fight them; how deceived they are! [9:30]
They take their priests and monks for lords instead of God, as well as the Messiah Son of Mary. But they were only commanded to worship One God, other than Whom there is no deity, and Who is to be glorified beyond any association they make. [9:31]
They wish to extinguish the light of God with their words, but God insists on fulfilling the divine light, even if scoffers are averse. [9:32]
God is the one who sent the messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, to distinguish it over all religion, even if polytheists object. [9:33]
Believers, many priests and monks consume the wealth of the people in vain, and hinder them from the way of God. And there are those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it on the way of God. So inform them of a painful punishment, [9:34]
on a day when the fire of hell will rage against that, and their foreheads and sides and backs will be seared by it. This is what you hoarded for yourselves, so enjoy what you have been hoarding! [9:35]
The number of months is twelve according to God, in the decree of God, on the day God created the heavens and the earth; and four of them are sacred. That is the right religion. So do not wrong yourselves during those months, and fight the idolaters altogether as they fight you altogether. And know that God is with the conscientious. [9:36]
Postponement is nothing but an addition to atheism, by which those who scoff are misled: they allow it one year, then forbid it another year, in order to equalize the number of months made sacred by God, thus permitting what God has forbidden. The evil of their deeds is made to seem pleasing to them, but God does not guide atheistic people. [9:37]
Believers, what is the matter with you that you sink to the ground when you are told to go forth in the cause of God? Do you prefer the life of the world to the hereafter? The enjoyment of the life of the world is but little compared to the hereafter. [9:38]
Unless you go forth, God will punish you with a painful torment, and replace you with another people, while you will not harm God at all. For God is capable of all things. [9:39]
If you do not help him, yet God helped him when those who scoffed ejected him, second of two when they were in the cavern: he said to his companion, “Do not fear, for God is with us,” and God sent divine peace upon him, and strengthened him with troops you did not see, and made the word of scoffers lowest while the word of God is highest. For God is almighty, most wise. [9:40]
Go forth, lightly or heavily armed, and strive for the sake of God with your possessions and your persons. That is best for you, if you knew. [9:41]
Were there immediate advantages and a convenient trip, they would have followed you, but the destination was too far for them. Yet they will swear by God, “We would have gone out with you if we could.” They destroy their own souls; and God knows they are liars. [9:42]
God pardons you for being tolerant with them until it became clear to you who were truthful, and you knew who were the liars. [9:43]
Those who believe in God and the last day do not ask you for exemption from struggling by means of their possessions and their persons; and God knows who are the conscientious. [9:44]
The only ones who ask you for exemption are those who do not believe in God and the last day and whose hearts waver, so they vacillate in their doubt. [9:45]
Had they meant to go forth, they would have made some preparation for it; but God was averse to their being sent, and made them lag behind; and they were told to remain with the inactive. [9:46]
Had they gone out with you, they would only have added a hindrance to you, and would have scurried about among you looking to make trouble for you; and some of you would have listened to them. But God knows those who do wrong. [9:47]
They had been looking to stir up trouble before, and upset matters for you, until the truth came and the order of God became evident, in spite of their objection. [9:48]
And among them are those who say, “Excuse me, and do not try me.” Have they not fallen into trial? Hell, in fact, surrounds the scoffers. [9:49]
If something good happens to you, it grieves them; and if a calamity befalls you, they say, “We have taken care of our business beforehand,” and they turn away exulting. [9:50]
Say, “Nothing will happen to us but what God has ordained for us; God is our protector.” And let the believers put their trust in God. [9:51]
Say, “Are you expecting anything for us but one of two goods? As for us, we are expecting that God will strike you with divine punishment, or by our hands. So wait, for we are waiting with you.” [9:52]
Say, “You may spend, willingly or unwillingly, but it will not be accepted from you, for you are an immoral people.” [9:53]
Nothing prevents them from having their contributions accepted from them except that they disbelieve in God and the messenger of God, and only come to prayer lazily, and only donate unwillingly. [9:54]
So do not marvel at their wealth or their children, for God only wants to torment them thereby in the life of the world, and that their souls perish while they are atheists. [9:55]
They swear by God they are of your number, but they are not; they are, however, people in fear. [9:56]
If they could find a refuge, or a cave, or a retreat, they would resort to it, capricious as they are. [9:57]
Among them, however, are those who defame you in regard to charities: if they are given something from them they are pleased, but if they are not given anything from them, see how angry they are! [9:58]
If only they had been content with what God and God’s messenger gave them, and said, “God is sufficient for us; God and the messenger of God will give to us of the bounty of God: it is to God that we make our request.” [9:59]
Charities are only for the poor and needy, and the workers who administer them, and those whose hearts have been reconciled, and those in bondage, and those in debt, and on the cause of God; and for the wayfarer, as an ordinance of God. And God is omniscient, most wise. [9:60]
Among them are those who annoy the Prophet, saying he’s too receptive. Say, “He listens to what is best for you. He has faith in God, and he has faith in the believers and is a mercy for those of you who believe.” And for those who annoy the messenger of God there is a painful penalty. [9:61]
They swear to you by God in order to please you, but it is more proper for them to please God and the messenger of God, if they are believers. [9:62]
Do they not know that for whoever opposes God and the messenger of God there is hellfire, wherein they will abide? That is the greatest disgrace. [9:63]
The hypocrites fear that a verse will be revealed about them, informing them what is in their hearts. Say, “Go ahead and ridicule; for God will bring out what you fear.” [9:64]
And if you question them, they will insist, “We were only talking and joking.” Say, “Was it God and the signs of God and the messenger of God that you were ridiculing?” [9:65]
Make no excuses: you have scoffed after having faith. If We pardon a group of you, We punish a group, because they were guilty of sin. [9:66]
The hypocrites, men and women, are of each other; they enjoin abomination and forbid the beneficial, and they are stingy. They have forgotten God, so God has forgotten them. The hypocrites are the ones who are the deviants. [9:67]
God has promised hypocritical men and hypocritical women and atheists the fire of hell, wherein they will abide. That is enough for them. And God has cursed them; and there is a lasting torment for them, [9:68]
like those before you, who were more powerful than you, richer and more populous. They enjoyed their share, and you enjoyed your share, as those before you enjoyed their share. And you enter into vain discussion as those who spoke idly. Their works are futile, in the world and the hereafter; and they are the losers. [9:69]
Haven’t they heard tell of those who were before them—the people of Noah, and ‘Ad, and Thamud, and the people of Abraham, and the Midianites, and the overthrown cities? Their messengers came to them with clear evidences, and God would not wrong them, but they used to wrong themselves. [9:70]
The believing men and believing women are protectors of each other; they enjoin what is beneficial and forbid what is abominable, and practice prayer and give charity, and obey God and God’s messenger. They are the ones on whom God will have mercy. For God is almighty, most wise. [9:71]
God has promised the believing males and the believing females gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and pleasant dwellings in gardens of eternity. But approval from God is greater; that is the most important success. [9:72]
O Prophet, strive against the atheists and the hypocrites, and be hard on them. Their abode is hell; and what a miserable destination! [9:73]
They swear by God to what they said, but they have said words of rejection, rejecting after their acceptance, and plotted what they could not deliver. And all they resent is that God and the messenger of God have enriched them from the divine bounty. If they repent, that would be best for them; but if they turn away, God will punish them with a painful torment in this world and the hereafter; and they will have no protector * or savior on earth. [9:74]
And among them are those who promised God, “If God gives to us from the divine bounty, we will certainly give charity and be among the righteous.” [9:75]
But then when God gave them some divine bounty, they were stingy with it and turned away, being shirkers. [9:76]
So God has put hypocrisy into their hearts until the day they meet God, because they broke their promise to God, and because they were lying. [9:77]
Do they not know that God knows their secret and their clandestine counsel, and that God is thoroughly aware of all hidden things? [9:78]
Those who slander and ridicule the believers who willingly give charitable donations and the ones who have nothing but their labor, God will ridicule them; and there is a painful punishment for them. [9:79]
You may seek forgiveness for them, or not; even if you seek forgiveness for them seventy times, God will never forgive them. That is because they denied God and the messenger of God. And God is not guiding people who are astray. [9:80]
Those left behind were glad that they remained at home, apart from the messenger of God, and hated to strive by their possessions and their persons in the way of God; and they said, “Don’t go forth in the heat.” Say, “The fire of hell is hotter.” If only they understood. [9:81]
They may laugh a little, but they will weep a lot, as wages for what they earned. [9:82]
So if God brings you back to a party of them, and they ask you permission to go forth, then say, “You’ll never go forth with me, ever; and you’ll never fight an enemy with me. You preferred to stay at home the first time, so stay home with those who remain behind.” [9:83]
And never pray for one of them who has died, and do not stand at his grave: for they have denied God and the messenger of God, and died while they were astray. [9:84]
And do not let their wealth and their progeny appeal to you; God only wants to afflict them thereby in this world, and that their souls may perish while they are in denial. [9:85]
When a chapter is revealed that they should believe in God and struggle along with the messenger of God, the prominent among them ask you for exemption, saying “Leave us behind; we will be with those who sit it out.” [9:86]
They prefer to be with those who stay behind; their hearts are sealed, so they do not understand. [9:87]
But the messenger and those who believe with him struggle by their property and their persons. So the good things are for them, and they are the successful ones. [9:88]
God has prepared gardens below which rivers flow, where they will abide; that is the great attainment. [9:89]
And those of the Arabs of the desert who offered excuses came to be exempted, and those who were untrue to God and the messenger of God also sat it out. A painful penalty will strike those of them who scoffed. [9:90]
There is to be no pressure on the weak, or on the sick, or on those who have nothing to contribute, if they are faithful to God and the messenger of God. There is no cause against those who do good. And God is most forgiving, most merciful. [9:91]
And there is nothing against those who, when they came to you for you to provide transport for them, you told them, “I find no way to transport you,” they turned back with their eyes overflowing with tears, grieved that they could find nothing to contribute. [9:92]
The only case is against those who ask you for exemption even though they are rich, preferring to be with those who stay behind. God has sealed their hearts, so they do not know. [9:93]
They make excuses for themselves to you when you have returned to them. Say, “Make no excuses for yourselves; we will never believe you. God has informed us about you. And God will see your deeds, and so will God’s messenger; then you will be returned to the Knower of the hidden and the manifest, who will inform you of what it was you were doing.” [9:94]
They will swear by God to you when you have returned to them, so you might leave them alone; so leave them alone, for they are filth, and their place is hell, as a payment for what they have been doing. [9:95]
They swear to you so you might accept them, but even if you accept them God does not accept people without morals. [9:96]
The desert Arabs are worst in atheism and hypocrisy, and most suited to be ignorant of the ordinances that God revealed to the messenger. And God is omniscient, supremely wise. [9:97]
And among the desert Arabs are those who take their contribution for an exaction, and watch for changes in your fortune. May their fortune change for the worse. For God is all-hearing, all-knowing. [9:98]
But some of the desert Arabs believe in God and the last day, and take their contributions as means of drawing near to God and the prayer of the messenger. Are they not a means of approach for them? God will admit them into divine mercy. For God is truly forgiving, most merciful. [9:99]
As for the first vanguard of the emigrants and the helpers and those who followed them in good deeds, God is pleased with them, and they are pleased with God. And God has prepared gardens for them beneath which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. That is the great salvation. [9:100]
Among the desert Arabs who surround you are hypocrites, and among the city people too; they are obstinate in hypocrisy. You do not know them; We know them. We will punish them twice, then they shall be consigned to a tremendous torment. [9:101]
But others have acknowledged their faults, having mixed a good deed with another that was bad. Perhaps God may turn to them, for God is forgiving, most merciful. [9:102]
Take contributions from their wealth, to purify them and justify them thereby; and pray for them. Indeed, your prayer is an asylum for them. For God is all-hearing, all-knowing. [9:103]
Do they not know that God accepts repentance from servants, and takes contributions, and that God is relenting, most merciful? [9:104]
And say, “Work; and God will see your work, and so will the messenger of God, and the believers. And you will be returned to the Knower of the hidden and the manifest, who will inform you of what you were doing. ” [9:105]
Others are held in suspense, awaiting the order of God, as to whether God will punish them, or whether God will forgive them. And God is omniscient, supremely wise. [9:106]
As for those who occupy a mosque by violence, and without faith, causing division among the believers, in preparation for one who fought against God and the messenger of God before, they will surely swear, “We only wanted good,” but God witnesses that they are liars. [9:107]
Never ever stand in it. There is a mosque founded on conscience from the first day, in which it is more fitting that you should stand. In it are people who love to purify themselves. And God loves those who purify themselves. [9:108]
So is he who founds his building on consciousness of God and grace better, or is it he who founds his building on the brink of a crumbling bank of eroded earth, which crumbles with him into the fire of hell? God is not guiding those who go wrong, [9:109]
The building they built is never without doubt in their hearts, unless their hearts are detached. And God is omniscient, most wise. [9:110]
God has accepted their persons and their property from the believers in exchange for paradise for them— they fight in the cause of God, so they kill and are killed— as a promise binding on God in the Torah, and the Gospel, and the Qur’an. And who is more faithful to a promise than God? So be happy with the bargain you’ve made, for that is the great success. [9:111]
Those who repent, those who serve, those who praise, those who bow, those who journey and fast, those who prostrate themselves, those who enjoin good and forbid evil, and those who keep the ordinances of God: announce the good news to the believers. [9:112]
It is not for the Prophet and the believers to ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even if they are relatives, after it is clear to them that they are inmates of the blaze. [9:113]
Abraham sought forgiveness for his father only because of a promise made to him; but when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of God, he dissociated himself from him. Yes, Abraham was compassionate, clement. [9:114]
God will not mislead a people after having guided them, to make clear to them what to beware. For God knows every thing. [9:115]
It is to God that the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs; God gives life, and causes death; and you have no protector and no savior aside from God. [9:116]
God has relented toward the messenger, and the emigrants and the helpers who followed him in the hour of difficulty, after the hearts of a part of them nearly swerved, then God relented toward them —for God is most merciful to them, most compassionate— [9:117]
and to the three who were left behind, so that the earth seemed too small for them for all its spaciousness, and their own souls beleaguered them, and they thought there was no refuge from God except to God; then God relented toward them, that they might repent. For God is the most forgiving, the most merciful. [9:118]
Believers, be conscious of God, and be with the sincere. [9:119]
It was not fitting for the people of the city and the desert Arabs around them to stay behind the messenger of God, or to prefer themselves to him. That is because whatever thirst or fatigue or hunger they undergo in the cause of God, whatever steps they take that incense the atheists, whatever happens to them from an enemy, it is recorded in their favor as a good deed. For God does not neglect the reward of those who do good. [9:120]
And any support they give, be it little or much, and any valley they ford, it is recorded in their favor, that God may recompense them for the best of what they did. [9:121]
The believers should not go forth altogether; why not have a group from every band of them stay behind to apply themselves to understanding the religion and to preach to the people, when they return to them, that they may be aware? [9:122]
Believers, fight the atheists near you, and let them find severity in you. And know that God is with the conscientious, [9:123]
Whenever a chapter is revealed, some of them say, “Which of you is increased in faith by this?” In the case of those who believe, it increases their faith, and they rejoice. [9:124]
As for those with sickness in their hearts, it will add doubt to their doubt, and they will die as atheists. [9:125]
Do they not see that they are tested once or twice a year? Yet they do not repent, and they do not learn. [9:126]
Whenever a chapter is revealed, they look at each other: “Does anyone see you?” Then they go away. God has diverted their hearts, because they are people who do not understand. [9:127]
There has come to you a messenger from among yourselves; it weighs heavily on him that you be ruined, he is anxious for you, compassionate and merciful to the believers. [9:128]
But if they turn away, then say, “God is sufficient for me; there is no other deity; it is in God that I put my trust, as Lord of the lofty throne.” [9:129]