The only verse that uses intoxicants (KHAMR) in a positive context is 47:15, and interestingly it is about paradise, that is, the hereafter. A quick reflection on the reason for prohibition of intoxicants will explain the apparent contradiction. The harm of intoxicants, such as drunk driving, domestic violence or alcoholism, is not an issue in the other universe, where the laws and rules are different. In other words, a person who is rewarded by eternal paradise will not hurt himself, herself, or anyone else by getting intoxicated. See 52:23; 76:21. Also see 7:43; 15:47; 21:102; 41:31; 43:71; 2:112; 5:69.

Since the Quran is the last book, it gives us clues about the end of the world. See 20:13; 15:87.

My rendering of this verse is based in its entirety on the grammatical construction given to it by Zamakhshari and supported by Razi. In this construction, the parabolic description of paradise - beginning with the phrase "wherein there are rivers, etc., and ending with the words "and forgiveness from their Sustainer" - is a parenthetic passage (jumlah mutaridah). As for the term "parable" (mathal) itself, it is undoubtedly meant to impress upon those who read or listen to the Qur'an that its descriptions of life in the hereafter are purely allegorical: see in this connection Zamakhshari 's explicit remarks cited in note 65 on 13:35.

Cf. 37:45-47, especially verse 47: "no headiness will there be in it, and they will not get drunk thereon".

Lit., "and wherein they [i.e., the God-conscious] will have, etc.

This interpolation reproduces literally Zamakhshari 's explanation of the above ellipticism.

Lit., "exceedingly hot [or "boiling"] water". For an explanation of this metaphor, see note 62 on 6:70.

Cf. 6:25 and 10:42-43.

Lit., "unto those who have been given knowledge", sc., "of the truth" or "of thy message": i.e., the believers. The people spoken of in the above are the hypocrites among the contemporaries of the Prophet as well as all people, at all times, who pretend to approach the Quranic message with a show of "reverence" but are in their innermost unwilling to admit that there is any sense in it.

I.e., the "sealing" of their hearts (for an explanation of which see note 7 on 2:7) is a consequence of their "following but their own lusts".

Lit., "and gives them their God-consciousness (taqwahum)".

Lit., "its indications have already come": a reference to the many Quranic predictions of its inevitability, as well as to the evidence, accessible to every unprejudiced mind, of the temporal finality of all creation.

I.e., "of what benefit will be to them, when the Last Hour comes, their dawning awareness of having sinned, and their belated repentance?"

I.e., "He knows all that you do and all that you fail to do".

I am rendering the term surah here and in the next sentence as "a revelation", for whereas there is no surah as such which deals exclusively with questions of war, there are numerous references to it in various surahs; and this is evidently the meaning of this term in the present context as well as in 9:86. There is no doubt that this verse precedes the revelation, in the year 1 H., of 22:39, which states categorically - and for the first time - that the believers are allowed to wage war whenever "war is wrongfully waged" against them (see in this connection note 57 on 22:39).

This is a reference to 22:39-40. For an explanation of the expression muhkamah ("clear in and by itself"), see note 5 on 3:7. (As in the preceding sentence, the term surah has been rendered here, exceptionally, as "revelation".)

I.e., an expression of readiness to fight in His cause: which is obviously the meaning of qawl ma'ruf in this context.

The above interpolations are in tune with the explanation of this passage advanced by almost all of the classical commentators, who regard this rhetorical "question" as an allusion to the chaotic conditions of pre-Islamic Arabia , its senseless internecine wars, and the moral darkness from which Islam had freed its followers. Nevertheless, this verse has, like the whole of the passage of which it forms a part, a timeless import as well.

Cf. the reference to God's "sealing" the hearts of stubborn wrongdoers in 2:7.

Maghfirah here denotes protection from deterioration. Note that the Paradise is described in allegorical terms since we can only understand some of it by way of similitude and metaphor at our current level of intellect and understanding. The wine therein is refreshing with no trace of beclouding of the mind or hangover 52:23, 56:19

4:155, 10:74, 16:106, 17:45, 47:24, 83:14

Huda = Brightness, light, guidance, beacon, showing the way, leading right

Wastaghfir = And protect. Zanb = Tail = Rumor and slander in backbiting = Lagging behind like the tail lags behind an animal's body

4:82

The Quran, being the Final Testament, provides all the signs needed to pinpoint the end of the world; AD 2280. SeeAppendix 25 forthe details.