666
That is the bounty of God, which He gives to whom He will — [such as] the
Prophet and those mentioned
with him — and God is [dispenser] of tremendous bounty.
[62:5]
The likeness of those who were entrusted with the Torah, those who were charged with implementing it,
then failed to uphold it, [then] failed to act in accordance with it, in what pertains to the descriptions of the
Prophet (s), and so did not believe in him, is as the likeness of an ass carrying books, in that it does not
benefit from them. Evil is the likeness of the people who deny God’s signs, those confirming the truth of the
Prophet (s) — (the object of rebuke is omitted
but is implied to be h
ā
dh
ā
’l-mathalu, ‘this likeness’). And God
does not guide the evildoing folk, the disbelievers.
[62:6]
Say: ‘O you of Jewry, if you claim that you are the [favoured] friends of God, to the exclusion of other
people, then long for death, if you are truthful’ (in kuntum s
ā
diq
ī
na is semantically connected to tamann
ū
,
‘long for’; as for the two conditions, the first
is dependent on the second, that is to say, if you are truthful in
your claim that you are the [favoured] friends of God, and given that [such] a friend would prefer the
Hereafter [to this world] and that it [the Hereafter] begins at death, then long for it).
[62:7]
But they will never long for it, because of what their hands have sent ahead, in the way of their disbelief of
the Prophet, [which itself is] a necessary consequence of their denial; and
God is Knower of the evildoers,
the disbelievers.
[62:8]
Say: ‘Assuredly the death from which you flee (fa-innahu: the f
ā
’ is extra) will indeed encounter you; then
you will be returned to the Knower of the Unseen and the visible, [the Knower of] what is [kept] secret and
what is in the open, and He will inform you of what you used to do’, whereat He will requite you for it.
[62:9]
O you who believe, when the call for prayer is made on Friday, hasten, set off, to the remembrance of God,
to the prayer, and leave aside [all] commerce, suspend [all] such contracts. That is better for you, should
you know, that it is better for you, then do it.
[62:10]
And
when the prayer is finished, disperse in the land (this is an imperative denoting permissibility) and seek,
provision through, God’s bounty, and remember God, with remembrance, frequently, that perhaps you may
be successful, [that perhaps] you may be the winners.
[62:11]
On one occasion the Prophet (s) was delivering the Friday sermon when a caravan arrived and so, as was
the custom, drums were beaten to announce its arrival, whereat the people began to leave the mosque [to
go to it], all except for twelve men. The following [verse] was then revealed: But when they sight some
[opportunity for] business or a diversion, they scatter off towards it, that is,
towards the business, since it is
what they seek more than diversion, and leave you, during the sermon, standing. Say: ‘That which is with
God, in the way of reward, is better, for those who believe, than diversion and commerce. And God is the
best of providers’. They say that every person ‘provides for’ (yarzuqu) his dependants, [by which they mean
that such a person does so] by means of the provision given by God (min rizqi’Ll
ā
hi), exalted be He.
Medinese, consisting of 11 verses.