Surah The Light [An-Noor] in English

This is a chapter which We have revealed and which We have made obligatory; We have sent down clear revelations in it, so that you may take heed.

Flog the adulteress and the adulterer, each one of them, with a hundred lashes. Let no pity for them cause you to disobey God, if you truly believe in God and the Last Day; and let their punishment be witnessed by a number of believers.

The adulterer shall marry only an adulteress or a polytheist woman, and an adulteress shall marry only an adulterer or a polytheist man; such marriages are forbidden for believers.

Those who defame chaste women, but cannot produce four witnesses, shall be given eighty lashes. Do not accept their testimony ever after, for they are transgressors,

save those who afterwards repent and make amends, for truly God is forgiving and merciful.

One who accuses his wife and has no witnesses except himself shall swear four times by God that his charge is true,

and the fifth time, that God's curse may be upon him if he is telling a lie.

The wife shall receive no punishment, if she bears witness four times in the name of God that her husband has lied

and, a fifth time that God's wrath will be upon her if he is telling the truth.

Were it not for God's grace and His mercy upon you, [you would have come to grief] and God is wise, acceptor of repentance.

Those who brought up that slander were a band from among you. Do not regard it as a misfortune, for it is good for you. Every one of them shall be held to account for the sin he has committed; and he who took the greater part in it shall have a terrible punishment.

When you heard of it, why did not the believing men and believing women think well of their own people, and say, \"This is a manifest slander?\"

Why did they not produce four witnesses? If they could not produce any witnesses, they were indeed liars in the sight of God!

Had it not been for the grace of God and His mercy on you in this world and the Hereafter, a terrible punishment would have afflicted you for your plunging headlong into slander.

When you were spreading it with your tongues and saying with your mouths things of which you had no knowledge, you considered it to be a trivial matter, but, in God's sight, it was very serious.

When you heard it, why did you not say, \"It is not right for us to speak of this. God forbid! This is a monstrous slander.\"

God warns you never to repeat the like of it again, if you are true believers.

God explains the commandments to you. God is all knowing and wise.

Those who desire that indecencies should spread among the believers, will have a painful chastisement in this world and the Hereafter. God knows, and you do not know.

But for the grace of God and His mercy upon you, and were not God compassionate and merciful, [you would have come to grief].

O you who believe, do not follow in the footsteps of Satan, and whoever follows in the footsteps of Satan should know that he enjoins only indecency and evil. But for the grace of God and His mercy upon you, not one of you would ever be purified; but God purifies whom He pleases. God is all hearing and all knowing.

Let not those who are possessed of means and plenty among you resolve to withhold their bounty from their kindred and the needy and those who have migrated from their homes in the cause of God. Let them forgive and overlook. Do you not wish God to forgive you? God is forgiving and merciful.

Truly, those who accuse chaste, unwary, believing women are cursed in this world and the Hereafter. For them awaits a terrible chastisement.

On the Day when their own tongues, hands and feet shall bear witness against them about what they did,

on that Day God will justly requite them, and they will realize that God is the truth, that makes all things manifest.

Corrupt women are for corrupt men, and corrupt men are for corrupt women; good women are for good men and good men are for good women. The latter are absolved from anything they may say; forgiveness and an honourable provision await them.

Believers, do not enter other people's houses until you have asked their owners' permission and greeted them. That will be the better for you, so that you may be heedful.

If you find no one at home, do not go in until permission has been granted you. If you are told to go away, then go away. That is more proper for you. God knows well what you do.

There is nothing wrong in your entering uninhabited houses if that serves a useful purpose: God knows all that you do openly, and all that you would conceal.

Tell believing men to lower their gaze and remain chaste. That is purer for them. God is aware of what they do.

Say to believing women that they should lower their gaze and remain chaste and not to reveal their adornments -- save what is normally apparent thereof, and they should fold their shawls over their bosoms. They can only reveal their adornments to their husbands or their fathers or their husbands' fathers, or their sons or their husbands' sons or their brothers or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons or maidservants or those whom their right hands possess or their male attendants who have no sexual desire or children who still have no carnal knowledge of women. Nor should they swing their legs to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. Believers, turn to God, every one of you, so that you may prosper.

Marry those among you who are single, and those of your male and female slaves who are fit [for marriage]. If they are poor, God will provide for them from His bounty, for God's bounty is infinite and He is all knowing.

Those who do not have the means to marry should keep themselves chaste until God grants them enough out of His bounty. If any of your slaves desire a deed of freedom, write it out for them, if you find any promise in them, and give them some of the wealth God has given you. Do not force your [slave] maids into prostitution, in order to enrich yourself, when they wish to preserve their chastity. Yet if anyone forces them, once they have been forced, God will be forgiving and merciful to them.

We have sent down clear revelations to you and the example of those who passed away before you and an admonition for the God-fearing.

God is the light of the heavens and the earth. His light may be compared to a niche containing a lamp, the lamp inside a crystal of star-like brilliance lit from a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west. The [luminous] oil is as if ready to burn without even touching it. Light upon light; God guides to His light whom He will. God draws such comparisons for mankind; God has full knowledge of everything.

[They worship] in the houses which God has allowed to be raised for the remembrance of His name, morning and evening,

people who are not distracted by trade or commerce from the remembrance of God and the observance of prayer and the payment of the zakat -- fearing a Day when hearts and eyes will be convulsed,

so that God may reward them according to the best of their deeds and give them more out of His bounty. God provides for whoever He wills without measure.

As for those who deny the truth, their works are like a mirage in a desert. The thirsty traveller thinks it to be water, but when he comes near, he finds it to be nothing. He finds God there, who pays him his account in full. God is swift in His reckoning.

Or like darkness on a deep ocean covered by waves billowing over waves and overcast with clouds: darkness upon darkness. If he stretches out his hand, he can scarcely see it. Indeed, the man from whom God withholds His light shall find no light at all.

[Prophet], do you not see that all those who are in the heavens and on earth praise God, as do the birds with wings outstretched? Each knows his own mode of prayer and glorification: God has full knowledge of all that they do.

To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and to God shall all things return.

Do you not see how God drives the clouds, then joins them together, then piles them into layers and then you see the rain pour from their midst? He sends down from the skies mountainous masses [of clouds] charged with hail, and He makes it fall on whom He will, and turns it away from whom He pleases. The flash of His lightning may well-nigh take away the sight.

God alternates the night and the day -- truly, in this there is a lesson for men of insight.

God created every creature from water. Some crawl upon their bellies, others walk on two legs, and others walk on four. God creates what He pleases. He has power over all things.

We have sent down revelations clearly showing the truth. God guides whom He wills to the straight path.

They say, \"We believe in God and in the Messenger, and we obey.\" But then, even after that a group of them will turn away. Those are surely not believers

and when they are called to God and His Messenger so that he may judge between them, some of them turn away.

But if the truth happens to be to their liking, they are quite willing to accept it!

Is there a sickness in their hearts, or are they full of doubt? Or do they fear that God and His Messenger will be unjust to them? The truth is that they themselves are wrongdoers.

The response of the believers, when they are called to God and His Messenger in order that he may judge between them, is only, \"We hear and we obey.\" It is they who will prosper:

those who obey God and His Messenger, and fear God, and are mindful of their duty to Him, are the ones who will triumph.

They swear firm oaths by God that if you command them to march forth, they will obey you. Say, \"Do not swear: your obedience, not your oaths, will count. God is well aware of all your actions.\"

Obey God and obey the Messenger. If you turn away, then he is responsible for what he is charged with and you are responsible for what you are charged with. If you obey him, you will be rightly guided. The Messenger is responsible only for delivering the message clearly.

God has promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely grant them power in the land as He granted to those who were before them; and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them. He will cause their state of fear to be replaced by a sense of security. Let them worship Me and associate no other with Me. Whoever still chooses to deny the truth is truly rebellious.

Attend to your prayers and pay the zakat and obey the Messenger, so that you may be shown mercy.

Do not think that those who deny the truth can frustrate Our plan on earth; their abode shall be Hell; and it is indeed an evil resort.

Believers, let [even] those whom you rightfully possess, and those who are under age ask your leave on three occasions when they come in to see you: before the morning prayer, when you have taken off your garments in the heat of noon, and after the evening prayer. These are the three occasions for your privacy. At other times, there is nothing blameworthy if you or they go around visiting one another. Thus God makes clear to you His revelations: God is all knowing and wise.

When your children have reached the age of puberty, let them still ask permission as their elders do. Thus God expounds to you His revelations: God is all knowing and wise.

There is no blame on elderly women who are past the age of marriage, if they take off their outer clothing, without revealing their adornments. But it would be better for them to guard themselves. God is all hearing, all knowing.

There is no harm if the blind, the lame, the sick or you yourselves eat in your own houses, or in the houses of your fathers, or mothers, or brothers, or sisters, or paternal uncles, or paternal aunts, or maternal uncles, or maternal aunts, or in those that you are in charge of or in the house of a friend. There is no objection to your eating together or separately. But when you enter houses, salute one another with a greeting of peace, a greeting from your Lord full of blessings and purity. Thus does God expound to you His commandments, so that you may understand.

They only are true believers who believe in God and His Messenger. When they are with him on some matter of common concern, they should not depart until they have asked him for permission to do so. Those who ask you for such permission are the ones who truly believe in God and His Messenger. When they ask you for permission to attend to some affair of their own, then grant it to whoever you please and seek forgiveness from God for them. God is forgiving and merciful.

Do not treat being called by the Messenger like being called by one another. God knows those of you who slip away on some pretext. Let those who go against his order beware lest some affliction befall them or they receive a painful punishment.