23 Selections from the Quran
(Arabian Peninsula, 7th Century CE)

The Opening
Chapter 1

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. ² Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds; ³ The Beneficent, the Merciful. ⁴ Master of the Day of Judgment,

⁵ Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help. ⁶ Show us the straight path, ⁷ The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.

Allah Is the God of Adam and Moses
Chapter 2

³⁵ And We said: O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and eat ye freely (of the fruits) thereof where ye will; but come not nigh this tree lest ye become wrong-doers. ³⁶ But Satan caused them to deflect therefrom and expelled them from the (happy) state in which they were; and We said: Fall down, one of you a foe unto the other! There shall be for you on earth a habitation and provision for a time.

⁴⁰ O Children of Israel! Remember My favour wherewith I favoured you, and fulfil your (part of the) covenant, I shall fulfil My (part of the) covenant, and fear Me.

⁴⁹ And (remember) when We did deliver you from Pharaoh’s folk, who were afflicting you with dreadful torment, slaying your sons and sparing your women: that was a tremendous trial from your Lord.

⁵³ And when We gave unto Moses the Scripture and the criterion (of right and wrong), that ye might be led aright. ⁵⁴ And when Moses said unto his people: O my people! Ye have wronged yourselves by your choosing of the calf (for worship) so turn in penitence to your Creator, and kill (the guilty) yourselves. That will be best for you with your Creator and He will relent toward you. Lo! He is the Relenting, the Merciful.

⁶² Lo! Those who believe (in that which is revealed unto thee, Muhammad), and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeans – whoever believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right – surely their reward is with their Lord, and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.

Care for Orphans and the Needy

¹⁷⁷ It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets; and giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the Allah-fearing.

Fasting and Ramadan

¹⁸³ O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off (evil); ¹⁸⁴ (Fast) a certain number of days; and (for) him who is sick among you, or on a journey, (the same) number of other days; and for those who can afford it there is a ransom: the feeding of a man in need – but whoso doeth good of his own accord, it is better for him: and that ye fast is better for you if ye did but know –

Warfare

¹⁹⁰ Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors. ¹⁹¹ And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. And fight not with them at the Inviolable Place of Worship until they first attack you there, but if they attack you (there) then slay them. Such is the reward of disbelievers.

¹⁹² But if they desist, then lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. ¹⁹³ And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against wrong-doers. ¹⁹⁴ The forbidden month for the forbidden month, and forbidden things in retaliation. And one who attacketh you, attack him in like manner as he attacked you. Observe your duty to Allah, and know that Allah is with those who ward off (evil).

Praise to Allah

²⁵⁵ Allah! There is no deity save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by His leave? He knoweth that which is in front of them and that which is behind them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His throne includeth the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous.

No Compulsion in Religion

²⁵⁶ There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower. ²⁵⁷ Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believe. He bringeth them out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein.

²⁵⁸ Bethink thee of him who had an argument with Abraham about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingdom; how, when Abraham said: My Lord is He Who giveth life and causeth death, he answered: I give life and cause death. Abraham said: Lo! Allah causeth the sun to rise in the East, so do thou cause it to come up from the West. Thus was the disbeliever abashed. And Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk.

Alms to the Poor

²⁶³ A kind word with forgiveness is better than almsgiving followed by injury. Allah is Absolute, Clement. ²⁶⁴ O ye who believe! Render not vain your almsgiving by reproach and injury, like him who spendeth his wealth only to be seen of men and believeth not in Allah and the Last Day. His likeness is as the likeness of a rock whereon is dust of earth; a rainstorm smiteth it, leaving it smooth and bare. They have no control of aught of that which they have gained. Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk.

²⁷¹ If ye publish your almsgiving, it is well, but if ye hide it and give it to the poor, it will be better for you, and will atone for some of your ill-deeds. Allah is Informed of what ye do. ²⁷² The guiding of them is not thy duty (O Muhammad), but Allah guideth whom He will. And whatsoever good thing ye spend, it is for yourselves, when ye spend not save in search of Allah’s Countenance; and whatsoever good thing ye spend, it will be repaid to you in full, and ye will not be wronged.

The Birth of Jesus
Chapter 19

¹⁶ And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking East, ¹⁷ And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. ¹⁸ She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art God-fearing. ¹⁹ He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. ²⁰ She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste?

²¹ He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained. ²² And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place. ²³ And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! ²⁴ Then (one) cried unto her from below her, saying: Grieve not! Thy Lord hath placed a rivulet beneath thee, ²⁵ And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee, thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee…

⁸⁸ And they [the Christians] say: The Beneficent hath taken unto Himself a son. ⁸⁹ Assuredly ye utter a disastrous thing ⁹⁰ Whereby almost the heavens are torn, and the earth is split asunder and the mountains fall in ruins, ⁹¹ That ye ascribe unto the Beneficent a son, ⁹² When it is not meet for (the Majesty of) the Beneficent that He should choose a son.

Final Judgement
Chapter 67

⁵ And verily We have beautified the world’s heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils, and for them We have prepared the doom of flame. ⁶ And for those who disbelieve in their Lord there is the doom of hell, a hapless journey’s end! ⁷ When they are flung therein they hear its roaring as it boileth up, ⁸ As it would burst with rage. Whenever a (fresh) host is flung therein the wardens thereof ask them: Came there unto you no warner?

⁹ They say: Yea, verily, a warner came unto us; but we denied and said: Allah hath naught revealed; ye are in naught but a great error. ¹⁰ And they say: Had we been wont to listen or have sense, we had not been among the dwellers in the flames.