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

¹ A sūrah¹ We have sent down and made obligatory, and wherein We sent down clear proofs,² that you might take heed:

² The unchaste woman¹ and the unchaste man: lash each one of the two² with a hundred lashes,³ and let not pity for them⁴ take you concerning the doctrine⁵ of God if you believe in⁶ God and the Last Day. And let witness their⁷ punishment a number of the believers.⁸

³ The unchaste man¹ shall not marry save an unchaste woman or an idolatress;² and an unchaste woman shall not marry save an unchaste man or an idolater³ — and that is unlawful to the believers⁴ —

⁴ And those who accuse chaste women¹ then bring not four witnesses:² lash them with eighty lashes, and accept not of them witness ever — and it is they who are the perfidious³ —

⁵ Save¹ those who repent after that and make right; then is God forgiving and merciful.

⁶ And those who accuse their wives and have no witnesses save themselves, then the witness of one of them is four witnesses by God that he is of the truthful,

⁷ And the fifth, that the curse of God be upon him if he is of the liars.

⁸ And it averts the punishment from her that she bear witness: four witnesses by God that he is of the liars,¹

⁹ And the fifth, that the wrath of God be upon her if he is of the truthful.

¹⁰ And were it not for the bounty of God to you and His mercy, and that God is accepting of repentance and wise[...].¹

¹¹ They who came with the falsehood are a group among you. Think it not an evil for you: — nay,¹ it is good for you. For every man among them is what he earned of the sin.² And who took upon himself the greater part thereof³ among them, for him is a great punishment.

¹² Oh, that when you heard it, the believing men¹ and the believing women² had but³ thought good of themselves and said: “This is a clear falsehood!”

¹³ Oh, that they had but¹ come against it with four witnesses! Then when they bring not the witnesses, then those, in the sight of God, are the liars.

¹⁴ And were it not for the bounty of God to you and His mercy in the World and the Hereafter, a great punishment would have touched you for what you expounded upon¹

¹⁵ When you received it with your tongues and said with your mouths that whereof you had no knowledge, and thought it insignificant when it was in the sight of God monstrous.¹

¹⁶ Oh, that when you heard it you had but¹ said: “It is not for us to speak of this. Glory² be to Thee! This is a monstrous³ slander!”⁴

¹⁷ God admonishes you, that you return not to the like thereof ever, if you be believers.¹

¹⁸ And God makes plain¹ to you the proofs;² and God is knowing and wise.

¹⁹ Those who love that there be spread sexual immorality¹ among those who heed warning,² theirs will be a painful punishment in the World and the Hereafter; and God knows and you know not.

²⁰ And were it not for the bounty of God upon you and His mercy, and that God is kind and merciful[...].¹

²¹ O you who heed warning:¹ follow not the footsteps of the satan.² And whoso follows the footsteps of the satan:³ he enjoins sexual immorality⁴ and perversity.⁵ And were it not for the bounty of God upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure ever. But God increases in purity⁶ whom He wills; and God is hearing and knowing.

²² And let not swear those of bounty and abundance among you against giving to relatives, and the poor, and the émigrés in the cause of God; and let them pardon and overlook. Would you not love that God should forgive you? And God is forgiving and merciful.¹

²³ (Those who accuse chaste, heedless,¹ believing women² are cursed in the World and the Hereafter; and they have a great punishment.

²⁴ The day their tongues and their hands and their feet will bear witness against them as to what they did:

²⁵ That day will God pay them in full their true¹ due;² and they will know that God, He is the Manifest Truth.³

²⁶ Bad women are for bad men, and bad men are for bad women. And good women are for good men, and good men are for good women.) Those¹ are acquitted of what they said: for them are pardon and a noble provision.²

²⁷ O you who heed warning:¹ enter not houses other than your houses until you have asked leave and greeted the people thereof;² that is best for you, that you might take heed.

²⁸ And if you find not therein anyone, then enter not until leave be given you. And if it be said to you: “Go back,” then go back; it is purer for you. And God knows what you do.¹

²⁹ You do no wrong¹ to enter uninhabited houses in which there is benefit for you. And God knows what you proclaim and what you conceal.

³⁰ Say thou to the believing men¹ that they lower some of their sight,² and preserve their chastity;³ that is purer for them. God is aware of what they do.

³¹ And say thou to the believing women,¹ that they lower some of their sight, and preserve their chastity,² and that they show not their adornment save that apparent of it, and that they draw their coverings over their bosoms³ and not reveal their adornment save to their husbands, or their fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or the sons of their brothers, or the sons of their sisters, or their women, or what their right hands possess, or male attendants who have not the resourcefulness⁴ of men, or the children not yet aware of a woman’s private parts. And let them not strike their feet to make known what they hide of their adornment.⁵ And turn to God altogether, O believers,⁶ that you might be successful.

³² And give in marriage¹ the unmarried among you, and the righteous among your male slaves and your female slaves; if they be poor, God will enrich them out of His bounty; and God is encompassing and knowing.

³³ And let abstain those who find not¹ marriage until God enriches them out of His bounty. And those who seek the writ² from among those your right hands possess: contract with them³ if you know good to be in them; and give to them out of the wealth God has given you. And compel not your slave-girls to whoredom,⁴ if they desire chastity[...]⁵ — seeking the enjoyment of the life of this world. And whoso compels them,⁶ then God, after their⁷ compulsion, is forgiving and merciful.⁸

³⁴ And We have sent down to you manifest proofs,¹ and an example of those who passed away before you, and an admonition for those of prudent fear.²

³⁵ God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp — the lamp in a glass,¹ the glass as it were a shining star — lit from a blessed tree, an olive neither of East nor West; its oil would nigh illuminate, though no fire touched it: — light upon light! — God guides to His light whom He wills! And God strikes similitudes for men; and God knows all things.

³⁶ In houses¹ God has given leave to be raised, and His name to be remembered therein, there give Him glory² therein in the mornings and the evenings

³⁷ Men whom neither trade nor commerce divert from the remembrance¹ of God and upholding the duty² and rendering the purity.³ They fear a day wherein the hearts and the eyes will turn about,

³⁸ That God might reward them for the best of what they did, and increase them out of His bounty; and God gives provision to whom He wills without reckoning.¹

³⁹ And those who ignore warning,¹ their deeds are like a mirage in a desert: the thirsty one thinks it water; when² he has come to it, he finds it nothing,³ but finds God with him, and He pays his account in full — and God is swift in reckoning —

⁴⁰ Or¹ like darkness² in a fathomless sea: there covers it a wave, above which³ is a wave, above which⁴ are clouds: — darknesses one above another! — when he holds out his hand, he scarcely sees it. And he for whom God has made no light, there is for him no light.

⁴¹ Dost thou not see¹ that God, to Him gives glory² whoso is in the heavens and the earth, and the birds with wings outstretched?³ Each, he⁴ knows his duty⁵ and his glorification;⁶ and God knows what they do.

⁴² And to God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and to God is the journey’s end.

⁴³ Dost thou not see¹ that God drives the clouds? Then He brings them together; then He makes them a mass, and thou seest the rain come forth from the midst of it. And He sends down from the sky, from mountains therein of hail, and He strikes therewith whom He wills, and turns away therefrom whom He wills. The brilliance of His lightning almost takes away the sight.

⁴⁴ God turns about¹ the night and the day; in that is a lesson for those of vision.

⁴⁵ And God created every creature from water. And among them is what goes upon its belly, and among them is what goes upon two legs, and among them is what goes upon four. God creates what He wills; God is over all things powerful.

⁴⁶ We have sent down manifest proofs;¹ and God guides whom He wills to a straight path.

⁴⁷ And they say: “We believe in¹ God and the Messenger, and we obey”; then a faction among them turns away after that — and those are not believers.²

⁴⁸ And when they are invited to God and His messenger, that he¹ judge between them, then a faction among them turns away.

⁴⁹ But if the truth¹ be theirs, they come to him² in willing submission.³