The believers are indeed brothers in religion. Therefore always make peace between your brethren when they fall into dispute with one another a variant reading for the dual form akhawaykum ‘your two brethren’ has ikhwatakum ‘your brothers’ and fear God so that perhaps you might receive mercy.
O you who believe do not let any people that is any men among you deride yā ayyuhā’lladhīna āmanū lā yaskhar … to the end of the verse was revealed regarding the Banū Tamīm delegation when they derided the poor among the Muslims like ‘Ammār b. Yāsir and Suhayb al-Rūmī; al-sukhriya means ‘scorn’ and ‘disdain’ […]
O you who believe shun much suspicion. Indeed some suspicions are sins that is to say it causes one to fall into sin. This suspicion may have many forms such as thinking ill of the good folk from among the believers — and such good folk are many — in contrast to the immoral individuals […]
O mankind! We have indeed created you from a male and a female from Adam and Eve and made you nations shu‘ūb is the plural of sha‘b which is the broadest category of lineage and tribes qabā’il which are smaller than nations and are followed by ‘amā’ir ‘tribal districts’ then butūn ‘tribal sub-districts’ then afkhādh […]
The Bedouins — a group of men from among the Banū Asad — say ‘We believe’ we affirm the truth in our hearts. Say to them ‘You do not believe; but rather say “We have submitted” we are outwardly compliant; for faith has not yet entered into your hearts’ hitherto; however it is expected of […]
The true believers that is those who are true in their affirmation of faith — as He makes explicit in what follows — are only those who believe in God and His Messenger and then have not doubted they have not been uncertain of their faith and who strive with their wealth and their souls […]
Say to them ‘Do you pretend to inform God about your religion read the doubled 2nd verbal form a-tu‘allimūna ‘do you inform’ in other words are you intimating to Him your religious status when you say ‘We believe’ when God knows all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth and […]
They deem it to be a favour to you that they have submitted without the need for any fighting unlike those others who submitted only after being fought. Say ‘Do not deem your submission to be a favour to me islāmakum ‘your submission’ has dependent accusative status because of the omission of the genitive preposition […]
Truly God knows the Unseen of the heavens and the earth that is He knows all that is hidden in both and God is Seer of what you do’ may be read either as ya‘malūna ‘they do’ or ta‘malūna ‘you do’ nothing of which can be concealed from Him.
The following was revealed regarding al-Walīd b. ‘Uqba whom the Prophet had sent to the Banū al-Mustaliq in order to ascertain their loyalty to Islam. He already feared them on account of an old feud between him and them from the time of pagandom before Islam and so upon seeing them come out to him […]