with rivers flowing beneath. There they will be adorned in bracelets of gold, and they will wear robes of green, of fine silk and rich brocade; they will recline there on raised couches—a blessèd reward, an excellent home.”
55:60The sense of goodness here is twofold, as it is elsewhere (e.g., 53:31): God is always “with those who are mindful of Him and those who do good” (16:128; see also 5.93), and then there is the reward of paradise: “that [paradise] is the reward for those who do good” (5:85).
55:72Houri is the name for a large-eyed maiden of paradise.
Sura 56
The Inexorable Event (Al-Waqiʿa)
56:8Arabic fa ashab al-maimana ma ashab al-maimana: literally, “the companions of the right hand—who are the companions of the right hand?”
56:11The ranking of divine judgment and reward is anticipated in the phrase “those on the right” (74:39) and then elaborated into three categories in another verse: “We gave the Book as a legacy to Our servants whom We favored. Some of them wrong their own souls, some are moderate, and others by God’s leave are foremost in good deeds—the greatest grace” (35:32).
56:28Arabic fi sidr: literally, “in lote-trees,” said to be among the markers of paradise (53:14).
56:37These women are the houris mentioned in v. 22.
56:52On the tree of Zaqqum, a tree distinctive to hell whose fronds cause great pain and disgust, see also 37:62 and 44:43.
56:60Arabic qaddarna bainakum al-mawt: literally, “We decreed death among you.”
56:60Arabic wa-ma nahnu bimasbuqin: literally, “and We are not to be overtaken.”
56:62God’s power to create and re-create is echoed elsewhere, as in 29:20: “Say, ‘Travel through the earth and see how He originated creation; then God will bring about a new creation, for God has Power over all things.’ ”
56:75This may also refer to the staged revelation of the Quran that anticipates the following verses.
Sura 57
Iron (Al-Hadid)
57:7To the war effort; see v. 10.
57:10This refers to the capitulation of Meccan opponents to the ascendant Muslims in 630 CE.
57:25The “balance” (mizan) indicates among other things the scales by which good and bad deeds are weighed or measured. It can refer to the body of religious law, which stipulates the criteria of such assessment, as well as the human faculties as harmonized in the notion of conscience.
57:27The message here is that monasticism was not ordained by God, yet the chief fault of those (Christian monks and nuns) who followed it was their failure to observe fully its requirements.
57:28The Light—recognition of the Prophet and obedience to God’s commands—seems to be the same introduced earlier in v. 9, then developed in vv. 12–13 as a distinguishing mark between believers and hypocrites in the next life.
Sura 58
The Woman Who Pleads (Al-Mujadila)
58:2Arabic yuzahirun: literally “made them appear [like their mothers’ backs]”; this underscores the evil of zihar, the pre-Islamic practice of divorce—equating the wife to be divorced with the mother’s back in order to nullify marriage—but it begs the question of why the marriage was initially deemed feasible. This practice is also cited and condemned in 33:4.
58:8The passage is referring to certain Jews who would address the Prophet with the greeting al-sam ʿalaikum, which means “death to you,” instead of the conventional greeting “peace be to you.”
58:11The message here, as elsewhere, is the necessity of faith—but faith enhanced by knowledge is still better. This is often used to justify a class of religious specialists in Islam known as the ʿulama, “those possessing knowledge.”
58:22Arabic wa-ayyadahum biruh minhu: literally, “and He strengthened them with a spirit from Him.” This same accolade is found elsewhere only with reference to Jesus: 2:87 and 253; 5:110.
Sura 59
The Gathering (Al-Hashr)
59:2The “gathering” is the gathering of a Jewish tribe that at first supported the new Muslim community in Medina, but then became their opponents, ca. 625 CE. It also provides the title for this sura.
59:11The reference here, and throughout the sura, is to a group of Jews, the Banu Nadir, who were expelled from Mecca in 625 CE.
59:17Arabic fa-kana ʿaqibatahuma annahuma fi al-nar: literally, “the end of both will be in the fire.”
59:24Al-asmaʾ al-husna is the key phrase in Arabic. Found here and in 17:110, it signals the recurrent importance of remembering God by His Beautiful Names. See Glossary, page 530.
Sura 61
In Ranks (Al-Saff)
61:8Arabic biafwahihim: literally, “with their mouths.”
61:14Arabic fa-asbahu zahirin: literally, “they became dominant.”
Sura 62
The Friday Prayer (Al-Jumuʿa)
62:2Cf. 2:78: “unlettered people who don’t know the Book”—i.e., pagan Arabs.
62:6Arabic annakum awliyaʾ li Allah: literally, “that you are friends [or allies] of God.”
62:6The same critique is set forth in 2:94–95.
62:7Arabic bima qaddamat aydihim: literally, “on account of what their hands have sent forth.”
Sura 63
The Hypocrites (Al-Munafiqun)
63:8Some translate this as “the more honorable.”
Sura 64
Mutual Fraud (Al-Taghabun)
64:6Arabic dhalika biannahu: literally, “that is because.” The word “for” translates the expression more succinctly.
64:8The Light is the Quran, as in 7:157: “those . . . guided by the light sent down with him [Muhammad].”
64:17That is, if you spend money legitimately earned in the way of God; parallel to 5:12—see the note for that verse, page 547.
Sura 65
Divorce (Al-Talaq)
65:1An interval in which a woman who is divorced cannot marry another man, equivalent to three full cycles of menstruation.
65:7Arabic baʿda ʿusr yusr: literally, “after a hardship comes ease.” Cf. echo in 94:5–6: “with every hardship comes ease—yes, with every hardship comes ease.”
65:12The seven earths seem to complement each of the seven heavens. In both instances, the message is to reinforce the dictum that creation—of heaven(s) and of earth(s)—is a divinely ordained occurrence.
Sura 66
Prohibition (Al-Tahrim)
66:1Tension among the Prophet’s wives seems to have prompted this revelation, late in the Medinan period, ca. 629 CE. Abstention from marital privilege was the Prophet’s response, here corrected by divine counsel.
66:4Arabic ʿalaihi: literally, “against him,” clearly here, the Prophet.
66:5Arabic saʾihat: literally, “traveling,” but here “fasting” seems preferable.
Sura 67
Dominion (Al-Mulk)
67:9Arabic fi dalal kabir: literally, “in a great straying.”
67:16Arabic amintum: literally, “do you have faith?”
Sura 68
The Pen (Al-Qalam)
68:1On this disconnected letter, see muqattaʿat in Glossary, page 531.
68:13A reference to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, a member of the Quraysh and a staunch critic of the Prophet.
68:17The story that follows (vv. 17–32) seems to be cast in the form of a parable.
68:48Arabic sahib al-hut: literally, “the companion of the whale.”
68:51Arabic layuzliqunaka: literally, “they would surely make you slip.”
Sura 69
Reality (Al-Haqqa)
69:4The fate of these unfortunate people has been described elsewhere (see 7:65–73)—a fate decreed by their denial of messengers sent to them.
Sura 70
The Paths of Ascent (Al-Maʿarij)
70:4The rhetorical hyperbole accenting “fifty thousand years” stresses the difference between human and divine reckoning of time, as in 32:5, where the end occurs “on a day which spans a thousand years in your counting.”
70:29Arabic lifurujihim hafizun: literally, “guarding their private parts.”
70:40Arabic birabb al-mashariq wa-al-magharib: literally, “Lord of the Easts and the Wests” but clearly here as elsewhere (e.g., 37:5) evoking places where the sun rises and sets.
70:41Arabic wa-ma nahnu bimasbuqin: literally, “and We will not be surpassed.”
70:42See also 43:83: “So leave them to gossip and frolic—until they encounter their promised day.”
Sura 71
Noah (Nuh)
71:17The earth equates with dust; cf. 40:67: “It is He Who created you from dust, then from sperm, then from a clot of blood.”
71:23These are Mesopotamian gods who were also worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia, but mentioned in the Quran only here.
71:24Arabic la tazid al-zalimin illa dalal: literally, “do not increase the wrongdoers except in error.”
Sura 72
The Jinn (Al-Jinn)
72:1The jinn are intermediate beings—neither humans nor angels. Jinn can transmit divine wisdom but are also expected to worship God and not be channels of misleading signs or outright magic. See Glossary, page 531.
72:9A similar punishment is promised for any “rebellious devil” (37:7) with whom evil jinn are here linked, as in 37:10: “Any [devil] who eavesdrops, snatching an overheard fragment, shall be pursued by a luminous flame.”
72:17The message is subtle but strict: God’s blessings are not just a boon but also a measure of human loyalty, requiring continuous awareness of the Giver as well as the gift.
72:19That is, Muhammad. The implication is that the Arabs were worshipping him instead of God.
72:27These are similar to the angels who monitor all humans; cf. 13:11: “Each person has a train of angels before them and behind them, guarding them by God’s command.”
Sura 73
The One Enwrapped (Al-Muzzammil)
73:2Before five daily prayers became obligatory for Muslims, a night prayer was common practice. It remains a supererogatory prayer of high value, especially during Ramadan.
73:5Arabic qawl thaqil: literally, “a weighty Word.”
73:9A description of God as Lord at sunrise and sunset, similar to those at 37:5, 55:17, and 70:40.
73:20Since the injunction to jihad was sanctioned only after the hijra, this verse must date to the Prophet’s stay in Medina. All the preceding verses belong to the early Meccan period.
73:20That is, if you spend money legitimately earned in the way of God; parallel to 5:12—see corresponding note, page 547.
Sura 74
The One Enfolded (Al-Muddaththir)
74:1Most commentators presume this to be an image of the Prophet covering himself as he prepared for the onset of revelation, but it can also refer to the fact that his prophetic mission is about to end his revelatory solitude as he is now instructed to “arise and warn.”
74:11Like an earlier passage (68:10–14), this directive (vv. 11–26) could refer to a specific opponent of the Prophet, al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, or it could apply generally to any disbeliever with wealth and children.
74:30“Nineteen” may be the number of angels or the spectrum of human faculties.
74:47Arabic hatta atana al-yaqin: literally, “until the certainty [of death] came to us.” Cf. parallel passage at 15:99.
74:52That is, they want the scripture to be self-evident, as noted in 2:118: “And those with no knowledge say, ‘Why does God not speak to us?’ or ‘Why does no sign come to us?’ ”
74:56Arabic huwa ahl al-taqwa wa-ahl al-maghfira: literally, “He is worthy of Mindfulness, and worthy to be Forgiving.” The meaning