In the name of God, the Almighty,¹ the Merciful.

¹ ṭā hā ¹

² We have not sent down upon thee the Qur’an¹ that thou be wretched,

³ But only as a reminder to him who fears —

⁴ A revelation¹ from Him who created the earth and the high heavens.

⁵ The Almighty¹ established Himself upon the Throne;

⁶ To Him belongs what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, and what is between them,¹ and what is under the soil.

⁷ And if thou be public in speech, then He knows the secret and what is more hidden.

⁸ God, there is no god save He;¹ to Him belong the best names.

⁹ And has there come to thee the story¹ of Moses?

¹⁰ When he saw a fire, and said to his people: “Stay here; I perceive a fire. I might bring you therefrom a firebrand, or find at the fire guidance.”

¹¹ And when he came to it, he was called: “O Moses:

¹² “I am thy Lord; so remove thou thy sandals; thou art in the sacred valley of Ṭuwa.¹

¹³ “And I have chosen thee, so hearken thou to what is revealed:¹

¹⁴ “I am God. There is no god save I, so serve thou Me; and uphold thou the duty¹ for My remembrance:²

¹⁵ “The Hour is coming — I almost conceal it — that every soul might be rewarded for that for which it strives;

¹⁶ “And let not turn thee away from¹ it him who believes not in² it but follows his vain desire, or thou wilt perish.

¹⁷ “And what is that in thy right hand, O Moses?”

¹⁸ Said he: “It is my staff. I lean on it, and beat down therewith leaves for my sheep; and I have therefor other uses.”

¹⁹ He said: “Cast thou it down, O Moses.”

²⁰ And he cast it down, and then was it a serpent moving.

²¹ He said: “Take thou it, and fear thou not; We will return it to its former state.

²² “And draw thou thy hand into thy bosom: it will come forth white, without evil,¹ as another proof,²

²³ “That We might show thee some of Our greater proofs.¹

²⁴ “Go thou to Pharaoh.¹ He has transgressed.”²

²⁵ Said he: “My Lord: expand Thou for me my breast,

²⁶ “And ease Thou for me my affair,

²⁷ “And loosen Thou the knot from my tongue,

²⁸ “That they might understand my speech.¹

²⁹ “And appoint Thou for me an assistant¹ from my family:

³⁰ “Aaron, my brother;

³¹ “Strengthen Thou by him my strength,

³² “And make Thou him share¹ in my affair,

³³ “That we might glorify¹ Thee much,

³⁴ “And remember Thee much.

³⁵ “Thou dost see us.”

³⁶ He said: “Thou hast been granted thy request, O Moses.

³⁷ “And We bestowed favour upon thee another time,

³⁸ “When We instructed¹ thy mother with what was instructed:²

³⁹ “‘Hurl¹ thou him into the chest, and hurl thou it into the water;² the water³ will cast him⁴ upon the shore. An enemy to Me and an enemy to him will take him.’ And I cast upon thee love from Me, and that thou be wrought under My eye

⁴⁰ “When thy sister went and said: ‘Shall I direct you to one who will take care of him?’ So We returned thee to thy mother, that her eye might be comforted and grieve not. And thou didst kill a soul; and We delivered thee from distress, and subjected thee to means of denial¹ by a trial. And thou didst tarry years among the people of Madyan;² then camest thou as ordained, O Moses.

⁴¹ “And I chose¹ thee for Myself;

⁴² “Go thou and thy brother with My proofs¹ — and flag² not in My remembrance³ —

⁴³ “Go¹ to Pharaoh.² He has transgressed.³

⁴⁴ “And speak¹ to him a gentle word,² that he might take heed, or fear.”

⁴⁵ They¹ said: “Our Lord: we fear lest he hasten against us, or that he will transgress.”

⁴⁶ He said: “Fear¹ not; I am with you,² hearing and seeing.³

⁴⁷ “So go¹ to him, and say:² ‘We are the messengers³ of thy Lord, so send thou the children of Israel with us, and punish thou them not. We have come to thee with a proof⁴ from thy Lord; and peace be upon him who follows the guidance!

⁴⁸ “‘It has been revealed¹ to us that the punishment is upon him who denies and turns away.’”²

⁴⁹ Said he:¹ “And who is your² Lord, O Moses?”

⁵⁰ He said: “Our Lord is He who gave everything its creation, then guided.”

⁵¹ Said he: “And what is the case of the former generations?”

⁵² He said: “The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in a writ;¹ my Lord neither errs, nor forgets.”

⁵³ (Who made the earth for you as a bed,¹ and inserted roads for you therein; and sent down from the sky water, and thereby have We brought forth diverse kinds² of plants:

⁵⁴ “Eat, and pasture¹ your cattle.” In that are proofs² for possessors of intelligence.³

⁵⁵ Therefrom¹ did We create you, and thereto will We return you, and therefrom will We bring you forth another time.)

⁵⁶ And We showed him¹ all Our proofs,² but he denied and refused.

⁵⁷ Said he: “Hast thou come to turn us out of our land by thy sorcery,¹ O Moses?

⁵⁸ “Then will we bring thee sorcery the like thereof; so make thou an appointment between us and thee, which neither we nor thou shall fail to keep — an equal¹ place.”

⁵⁹ He said: “Your appointment is the day of the festival;¹ and let the people be gathered at midday.”

⁶⁰ And Pharaoh¹ turned away, and gathered his plan; then he came.

⁶¹ Moses said to them: “Woe to you! Invent not a lie against God lest He utterly destroy¹ you with a punishment; and he has failed who invents.”

⁶² And they disputed about their affair among themselves, and kept secret their¹ private conversation.

⁶³ (They said: “These are two sorcerers¹ who want to turn you out of your land by their sorcery,² and take away your exemplary tradition.³

⁶⁴ “So resolve upon your plan, then come with one accord;¹ and he has succeeded who prevails this day.”)

⁶⁵ They said: “O Moses: either thou wilt cast, or we will be the first who cast.”

⁶⁶ He said: “Nay,¹ you cast.” And then their ropes and their staffs seemed to him, by their sorcery, to be moving,

⁶⁷ And Moses conceived a fear within him.

⁶⁸ We said: “Fear thou not; thou art the uppermost.

⁶⁹ “And cast thou what is in thy right hand; it will swallow up what they have wrought. They have wrought but the plan of a sorcerer,¹ and the sorcerer² will not be successful, no matter where he goes.”³

⁷⁰ And the sorcerers¹ cast themselves down² in submission.³ They said: “We have believed in⁴ the Lord of Aaron and Moses.”

⁷¹ Said he: “You have believed him¹ before I gave you leave. He is your chief who taught you sorcery;² then will I will cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and crucify³ you on the trunks of date-palms; and you will know which of us is severer in punishment and more enduring.”

⁷² They said: “We will not prefer thee over what has come to us of clear signs, or Him who created us. So decide thou what thou wilt decide; thou canst but decide this worldly life.

⁷³ “We have believed in¹ our Lord, that He might forgive us our offences,² and what thou didst compel us to of sorcery;³ and God is better and more enduring.”

⁷⁴ (Whoso comes to his Lord as a lawbreaker, for him is Gehenna; he will neither die therein nor live.

⁷⁵ And whoso comes to Him as a believer,¹ having done righteous deeds, those have the high degrees:

⁷⁶ Gardens of perpetual abode, beneath which rivers flow, they abiding eternally therein. And that is the reward of him who purifies himself.)

⁷⁷ And We instructed¹ Moses: “Travel thou by night with My servants; and strike thou for them a dry path in the sea, neither fearing overtaking nor being afraid.”

⁷⁸ And Pharaoh¹ followed² them with his forces, and there covered them of the sea³ what covered them.⁴

⁷⁹ And Pharaoh¹ led his people astray, and did not guide.

⁸⁰ O children of Israel: We delivered you from your enemy; and We made an appointment with you on the right side of the mount;¹ and We sent down upon you manna and quails:²

⁸¹ “Eat of the good things that We have provided you, and transgress not therein lest My wrath descend upon you; and he upon whom My wrath descends has fallen.”¹

⁸² And I am all-forgiving¹ towards him who repents and believes and works righteousness; then is he guided.

⁸³ “And what made thee hasten from thy people, O Moses?”

⁸⁴ Said he: “They were close, in my footsteps,¹ so I hastened to Thee, my Lord, that Thou be pleased.”

⁸⁵ He said: “We have subjected thy people to means of denial¹ in thy absence,² and the Sāmiriyy³ has led them astray.”

⁸⁶ So Moses returned to his people, wrathful and grieved. He said: “O my people: did not your Lord promise you a fair promise? Was the covenant long in coming¹ for you, or did you wish that wrath from your Lord should descend upon you, so failed in your promise² to me?”³

⁸⁷ They said: “We failed not to keep our promise¹ to thee² of our own accord, but we were given to bear burdens of the adornment of the people³ — so we hurled them. (And⁴ thus the Sāmiriyy⁵ cast,

⁸⁸ And he brought forth for them a calf as a body that lowed; and they¹ said: “This is your god, and the god of Moses, but he forgot.”²

⁸⁹ Did they then not¹ see that it returned no word² to them, nor possessed for them harm or benefit!

⁹⁰ And Aaron had said to them before: “O my people: you are but subjected to means of denial¹ thereby, and your Lord is the Almighty;² so follow me, and obey my command.”

⁹¹ They said: “We will not cease to be devoted to¹ it until Moses returns to us.”)

⁹² He¹ said: “O Aaron: what prevented thee, when thou sawest them going astray,

⁹³ “From following me? Didst thou then disobey my command?”

⁹⁴ Said he: “O son of my mother: seize thou me not by my beard, nor by my head! I feared lest thou say: ‘Thou hast caused division among the children of Israel, and hast not observed my word.’”

⁹⁵ He said: “And what is thy case, O Sāmiriyy?”¹

⁹⁶ Said he: “I saw what they saw not; so I took a handful¹ from the track² of the Messenger, and did throw it;³ and thus my soul enticed me.”

⁹⁷ He said: “Then go thou, for in this life it is for thee to say: ‘Outcast!’¹ And there is for thee an appointment thou canst not fail to keep. And look thou upon thy god to which thou remainedst devoted!² We will burn it; then will we scatter it in the sea³ with a blast.”⁴

⁹⁸ Your God is but God. There is no god¹ save He.² He encompasses all things in knowledge.

⁹⁹ Thus do We relate to thee from reports of what has gone before, and have given thee a remembrance¹ from Us.

¹⁰⁰ Whoso turns away from it, he will bear a burden on the Day of Resurrection,

¹⁰¹ They abiding eternally therein; and evil is it for them on the Day of Resurrection as a load,

¹⁰² The day the Trumpet is blown. And We will assemble the lawbreakers, that day, white-eyed,¹

¹⁰³ Whispering among themselves: “You tarried only ten.”¹

¹⁰⁴ We best know what they will say, when their exemplars in the path¹ will say: “You tarried only a day.”

¹⁰⁵ And they ask thee about the mountains. Say thou: “My Lord will scatter them with a blast¹

¹⁰⁶ “And leave it¹ a level plain.”

¹⁰⁷ Thou wilt see therein neither deviation nor bend.¹

¹⁰⁸ That day will they follow the Caller having no deviation; and voices will be stilled¹ before the Almighty,² and thou wilt hear not save a murmur.³

¹⁰⁹ That day no intercession will avail save one whom the Almighty¹ has given leave and with whose word² He is pleased.

¹¹⁰ He knows what is before them¹ and what following them, and they do not encompass it² in knowledge.

¹¹¹ And faces will be humble¹ before the Living, the Eternal. And he will have failed who carries² injustice.

¹¹² And whoso does righteous deeds and is a believer:¹ he fears neither injustice nor deprivation.²

¹¹³ And thus have We sent it¹ down as an Arabic recitation² and expounded³ therein warnings,⁴ that they might be in prudent fear,⁵ or it cause in them remembrance.⁶

¹¹⁴ And exalted be God, the True¹ King! And hasten thou not² with the recitation³ before its revelation⁴ to thee be complete; and say thou: “My Lord: increase Thou me in knowledge.”

¹¹⁵ And We made a covenant with Adam before, but he forgot;¹ and We found not in him determination.²

¹¹⁶ And when We said to the angels: “Submit¹ to Adam,” then they submitted.² Not so³ Iblīs; he refused.

¹¹⁷ Then We said: “O Adam: this is an enemy to thee and to thy wife. Then let him not turn you¹ out of the garden, that thou be wretched.

¹¹⁸ “It is for thee to be neither hungry nor naked therein,

¹¹⁹ “And that thou suffer neither thirst therein, nor the heat of the sun.”

¹²⁰ Then the satan¹ whispered to him,² saying: “O Adam: shall I direct thee to the Tree of Eternity and a dominion that decays not?”

¹²¹ And they¹ ate thereof, and their² shame³ became clear to them; and they⁴ began to draw over them of the leaves of the garden; and Adam opposed his Lord, so he erred.

¹²² Then his Lord chose him, and turned towards him, and guided.

¹²³ He said: “Get you¹ down from it² all together, an enemy to one another.³ And if there comes to you guidance from Me, then whoso follows My guidance, he will neither go astray, nor will he be wretched.

¹²⁴ “But whoso turns away from My remembrance:¹ he will have a straitened life, and We will gather him blind on the Day of Resurrection.”

¹²⁵ He will say: “My Lord: why hast Thou raised¹ me blind, when I was seeing?”

¹²⁶ God¹ will say: “Thus Our proofs² came to thee, and thou didst forget³ them; so thus art thou this day forgotten.”

¹²⁷ And thus do We reward him who commits excess, and believes not in¹ the proofs² of his Lord; and the punishment of the Hereafter is more severe and more enduring.

¹²⁸ Does it not then guide them how many generations We destroyed before them in whose dwellings they walk?¹ In that are proofs² for possessors of intelligence.

¹²⁹ And were it not for a word that preceded from thy Lord and a stated term it¹ would have been requisite.²

¹³⁰ So be thou patient over what they say, and give thou glory¹ with the praise of thy Lord before the rising of the sun, and before its setting. And some periods of the night give thou glory;² and at the ends of the day,³ that thou mightest be satisfied.

¹³¹ And extend thou not thine eyes towards what We have granted some¹ among them to enjoy — the flower² of the life of this world — that We might subject them to means of denial³ therein; and the provision of thy Lord is better and more enduring.

¹³² And enjoin thou upon thy people the duty,¹ and be thou steadfast therein. We ask thee not for provision; We provide for thee. And the final outcome is for those of prudent fear.²

¹³³ And they say: “Oh, that he would but¹ bring us a proof² from his Lord!” Has there not come to them clear evidence of what is in the former scriptures?

¹³⁴ And had We destroyed them with a punishment before him,¹ they would have said: “Our Lord: oh, that Thou hadst but² sent to us a messenger, so we might have followed Thy proofs before we were humiliated and disgraced!”³

¹³⁵ Say thou: “All are waiting¹ — so wait; and you will come to know who are the companions of the even path, and who is guided.”