A'maal Saaleh = Deeds that increase the individual and collective potential of a society = Helping people = Improving the environment = Fulfilling others' needs = Contributing to the society

Or produce one Surah like this 2:23, 10:38

17:18

Following one's own desires is the inevitable consequence of disregarding Permanent Values

Imam = Standard of truth = Literally, the plumb-line = A trustworthy leader, human or book = Authority = Decisive means

The clergy have tampered with previous scriptures, and they will keep doing it. 2:79, 2:101, 3:77, 6:113, 6:138-139, 9:34, 22:52

Lit., "because thy bosom is constricted [for fear] lest they say". According to all available authorities, the expression la'alla (lit., "it may well be that") at the beginning of the above sentence denotes a wrong expectation on the part of the opponents of Muhammad's message; it is, therefore, best rendered in the form of a query which implies its own denial-thus: "Is it conceivable that. . .", etc. As regards the expectation that the Prophet might omit a part of what was being revealed to him, it has been reported by `Abd Allah ibn `Abbas and other Companions (see Razi's commentary on this verse) that the pagan Quraysh demanded of the Prophet, "Bring us a revelation (kitab) which does not contain a defamation of our deities, so that we could follow thee and believe in thee."

Explaining this verse, Ibn `Abbas mentions that some of the pagan chieftains of Mecca said, "O Muhammad, cause the mountains of Mecca to be turned into gold, if thou art truly an apostle of God", while others exclaimed derisively, "Bring before us angels who would bear witness to thy being a prophet!" - whereupon the above verse was revealed (Razi). Cf. 6:8 and 17:90-93.

Sc., "and so it is He who will cause the truth to prevail". Regarding the Prophet's denial of any ability on his part to perform miracles, see 6:50 and the corresponding note 38.

Foamy rendering of the particle am at the beginning of this sentence as "and", see surah 10, note 61.

I.e., that a divine writ like the Qur'an could have been "invented" by a human being. Cf. 2:23, 10:37-38 and 17:88, as well as the corresponding notes.

Lit., "if they [i.e., your poets and wise men] do not respond to your call". Cf. 2:24, where a similar challenge is followed by the words, "And if you cannot do it-and most certainly you cannot do it - then . . .", etc.

Lit., "only by God's knowledge".

I.e., although their good deeds will be taken fully into account on Judgment Day, they will be outweighed by their refusal to believe in resurrection and the life to come.

This interpolation is based on the interpretation given by Baghawi, Zamakhshari and Razi.

Lit., "which a witness from Him recites", or "announces". According to Zamakhshari, Razi and other classical commentators, this phrase refers to the Qur'an; hence my rendering of shahid as "testimony". If, as some commentators believe, this term refers to the Prophet or, alternatively, to the Angel Gabriel who transmitted the revelation to him. shahid should be translated as "witness". Whichever interpretation one adopts, the meaning remains the same, for - as Ibn Kathir points out in his commentary on this verse - "the Qur'an was revealed through Gabriel to Muhammad, and was conveyed by the latter to the world".

Sc., "and shall, therefore, attain to happiness in the hereafter". The ijaz (elliptic mode of expression) employed in this passage is comparable in its subtlety to that in 10:103.

I.e., in hostile, a-priori opposition to the message of the Qur'an, without really understanding its purport. The "historical" identification, by some of the commentators, of the ahzab with the pagan Arabs who leagued together in their hostility to the Prophet is definitely too narrow in this context.

Razi suggests that the conjunction fa ("And so") preceding this sentence (which is obviously addressed to man in general) connects with verses 12-14 above: a suggestion which is most convincing in view of the sequence.

Lit., "but" or "nevertheless".

This is a refutation of the contention of the unbelievers that the Qur'an was composed by Muhammad himself (cf. verse 13 above as well as 10:17) and thereupon blasphemously attributed to God.

Lit., "the witnesses". Most of the earliest authorities take this to mean the recording angels, while others (e.g., Ibn 'Abbas, as quoted by Baghawi) relate it to the prophets, who, on the Day of Judgment, will be called upon to testify for or against the people to whom they were sent. The latter interpretation is supported by Ad-Dahhak (quoted by Tabari and Baghawi) on the basis of 16:84, where witnesses "out of every community" are mentioned-an expression which can obviously refer only to human beings.

Or: "against their Sustainer".

The term la'nah - which is usually, but inexactly, translated as "curse" - is in its primary meaning synonymous with ib'ad ("alienation", "estrangement" or "banishment") in the moral sense; hence it denotes "rejection from all that is good" (Lisan al-'Arab) and, with reference to God, the sinner's "exclusion from His grace" (Manar II, 50).

Cf. 7:44-45, with which the above passage is almost identical, with only one difference: whereas in 7:45 the pronoun "they" occurs only once (and the phrase is, consequently, rendered as "and who refuse . . .", etc.), in the present verse this pronoun is repeated, to express both stress and causality ("since it is they, they who refuse ...", etc.)-thus implying that their refusal to believe in a life after death is the ultimate cause of their wrongdoing. In other words, belief in resurrection, God's judgment and life in the hereafter is here postulated as the only valid and lasting source of human morality.

The above interpolation is, I believe, necessary in view of the highly elliptic character of this phrase. According to Tabari, Zamakhshari and Ibn Kathir, the meaning is that whereas God's punishment may befall the sinners referred to during their life on earth, it will certainly befall them in the hereafter. Cf. also 3:185-"only on the Day of Resurrection will you be requited in full for whatever you have done."

For an explanation of the "double suffering", see surah 7, note 29.

Lit., "they were unable to hear and they did not see": cf. 2:7 and the corresponding note 7, as well as 7:179.

The mathematical structure of the Quran is too intricate to be imitated.

Bayyina means "proof" and it is repeated in the Quran 19 times. The book given to Moses too was designed according to a mathematical structure based on the number 19 (46:10), which was discovered by a French Rabbi, Judah, in the eleventh century.