Ta-Ha 20
Ta-HaHow to read the Hangul
الرَّحْمَٰنِ르r라흐마니 بِسْمِ비스밀
- Bold = the stressed syllable of the word; a little stronger.
- Overline = long vowel (madd): hold it about two beats. Length matters most in recitation.
- Tiny = no vowel in the Arabic here — just the consonant, short.
- Small Latin letter = a sound Korean lacks, on the next syllable: f upper teeth on lower lip · θ/ð tongue tip between the teeth · r rolled tongue tip (a bare ㄹ is l).
How to read the Hangul
beginning the Christ salvation
- Bold, larger (ˈ) = say it strong and a little longer — the stressed syllable.
- Faint = weak and short (a reduced vowel). Don't give every syllable equal weight.
- Tiny 으 · 트 · 스 = barely voiced. English has no vowel there — stop on the consonant.
- Whole word faint (the, of, and, to…) = light and quick in a sentence; stress the content words.
- Small f v θ ð r = sounds Korean doesn't have — f: upper teeth on the lower lip; v: the same, voiced; θ/ð: tongue tip between the teeth; r: tongue curled back, touching nothing.
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Surah
About this surah
Classed as a Meccan sura, it opens by saying the Quran was not sent down to cause hardship but as a reminder for those who fear God. Most of the sura tells the story of Moses. Drawn to a fire, he is told to remove his sandals in the sacred valley of Tuwa and is given the signs of the staff and the shining hand. He prays for an open heart and a loosened tongue, and asks for his brother Aaron as a helper. God recalls how the infant Moses was placed in a chest and set on the river. Then come his exchanges with Pharaoh, the contest with the magicians and their turn to faith, the crossing of the sea, and the calf made by the Samiri. The sura goes on to the Day of Resurrection and the story of Adam eating from the forbidden tree and being forgiven, and closes by urging patience and steadfast prayer.
- Moses's calling
- Moses's prayer for help
- Pharaoh and the magicians
- The Samiri and the calf
- Adam's lapse and pardon
The name It takes its name from the two letters Ta Ha that open the sura in verse 1; the text itself does not explain their meaning.
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Ta Ha.
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We did not send down the Quran to you to make you suffer,
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but only as a reminder for whoever fears [God]:
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sent down from the One who made the earth and the lofty heavens,
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the Most Gracious, who is established on the Throne.
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To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, whatever is between them and whatever is beneath the soil.
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Whether you speak aloud [or not], He knows the secret and what is even more hidden.
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God: there is no god but Him. His are the most beautiful names.
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Has the story of Moses reached you?
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When he saw a fire, he said to his family, “Stay here. I have caught sight of a fire. Perhaps I can bring you a burning brand from it, or find some guidance at the fire.”
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When he came to it, he was called, “Moses!
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I am your Lord, so take off your sandals. You are in the sacred valley of Tuwa.
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I have chosen you, so listen to what is revealed.
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I am God; there is no god but Me. So worship Me, and keep up the prayer to remember Me.
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The Hour is coming; I almost keep it hidden, so that every soul may be repaid for what it strives for.
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So do not let anyone who does not believe in it and follows his own desire turn you away from it, or you will perish.
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And what is that in your right hand, Moses?”
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He said, “It is my staff. I lean on it and beat down leaves with it for my sheep, and I have other uses for it.”
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He said, “Throw it down, Moses.”
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So he threw it down, and at once it was a snake, moving swiftly.
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He said, “Take hold of it and do not fear. We will return it to its former state.
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And press your hand to your side; it will come out white, without any harm, as another sign,
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so that We may show you some of Our greatest signs.
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Go to Pharaoh; he has exceeded all bounds.”
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He said, “My Lord, open my heart for me,
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make my task easy for me,
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and untie the knot from my tongue,
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so that they may understand my speech.
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And appoint for me a helper from my family:
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Aaron, my brother.
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Strengthen me through him,
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and let him share in my task,
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so that we may glorify You much
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and remember You much.
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You are ever watching over us.”
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He said, “You have been granted your request, Moses.
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And We had already bestowed Our favour upon you another time,
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when We inspired your mother with what was inspired:
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‘Put him in the chest and cast it into the river. The river will wash it up on the shore, and he will be taken by an enemy of Mine and an enemy of his.’ And I cast upon you love from Me, so that you would be brought up under My eye.
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When your sister walked along and said, ‘Shall I direct you to someone who will take care of him?’ So We returned you to your mother, so that she might be comforted and not grieve. And you killed a man, but We saved you from distress and tested you with many trials. Then you stayed for years among the people of Midian, and then you came [here] as decreed, Moses.
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And I have chosen you for Myself.
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Go, you and your brother, with My signs, and do not slacken in remembering Me.
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Go, both of you, to Pharaoh; he has exceeded all bounds.
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But speak to him gently; perhaps he will take heed or fear.”
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They said, “Our Lord, we fear that he will act hastily against us or exceed all bounds.”
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He said, “Do not fear. I am with you both; I hear and I see.
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So go to him and say, ‘We are messengers of your Lord, so send the Children of Israel with us and do not torment them. We have come to you with a sign from your Lord, and peace be upon whoever follows the guidance.
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It has been made known to us by revelation that torment awaits anyone who rejects [the truth] and turns his back.’”
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[Pharaoh] said, “Then who is the Lord of you two, Moses?”
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He said, “Our Lord is the One who gave everything its form and then guided [it].”
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[Pharaoh] asked, “So what of the generations of old?”
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He answered, “My Lord has knowledge of them, in a record. My Lord does not go wrong, nor does He forget.”
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[It is He] who made the earth a cradle for you and traced pathways for you in it, and sent down water from the sky. With it We bring forth pairs of various kinds of plants.
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Eat and graze your livestock. In that are signs for people of understanding.
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From it We created you, into it We will return you, and from it We will bring you out once again.
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We let [Pharaoh] see every one of Our signs, yet he rejected them and would not accept.
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He said, “Moses, did you come to us to expel us from our land by means of your sorcery?
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We will certainly bring you magic like it. So set an appointment between us and you, which neither we nor you will fail to keep, at a place equally fair [to both].”
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He said, “Your appointment is the day of the festival, and let the people be gathered in the forenoon.”
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So Pharaoh turned away, gathered his scheme, and then came.
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Moses said to them, “Woe to you! Do not invent a lie against God, or He will wipe you out with a punishment. Whoever invents [lies] has failed.”
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So they disputed their matter among themselves and conferred in secret.
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They said, “These two are surely magicians who want to drive you out of your land with their magic and do away with your exemplary way of life.
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So gather your scheme, then come forward in ranks. Whoever gains the upper hand today will prosper.”
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They said, “Moses, either you throw, or we will be the first to throw.”
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He said, “No, you throw.” And suddenly their ropes and staffs seemed to him, by their magic, to be moving swiftly.
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And Moses sensed fear within himself.
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We said, “Do not fear. You will surely have the upper hand.
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Throw what is in your right hand; it will swallow up what they have made. What they have made is only a magician's trick, and the magician will not succeed wherever he comes.”
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Then the magicians were thrown down in prostration. They said, “We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.”
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[Pharaoh] said, “You believed in him before I gave you permission? He must be your chief who taught you magic. I will surely cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides, and I will crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and you will surely know which of us is more severe in punishment and more lasting.”
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They said, “We will never prefer you over the clear proofs that have come to us, nor over the One who created us. So decree whatever you will decree; you can only decree for this worldly life.
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We have believed in our Lord so that He may forgive us our sins and the magic you forced us to practise. God is better and more lasting.”
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Whoever comes to his Lord as a guilty one, for him is Hell, in which he will neither die nor live.
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But whoever comes to Him as a believer who has done good deeds, for them are the highest ranks:
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Gardens of Eden, beneath which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. That is the reward of whoever purifies himself.
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We revealed to Moses, “Travel by night with My servants and strike for them a dry path through the sea, fearing neither being overtaken nor [drowning].”
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Then Pharaoh pursued them with his soldiers, and there covered them from the sea what covered them.
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Pharaoh misled his people; he gave [them] no guidance.
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Children of Israel, We rescued you from your foe, We appointed a meeting with you at the right side of the Mount, and We sent manna and quails down to you.
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“Eat of the good things We have provided for you, but do not transgress in that, or My wrath will descend upon you. Whoever My wrath descends upon has fallen [to ruin].
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But I am Most Forgiving to whoever repents, believes, does good, and then stays guided.”
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“What made you hasten ahead of your people, Moses?”
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He said, “They are following in my footsteps, and I came quickly to You, my Lord, to win Your pleasure.”
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He said, “We have tested your people after you left, and the Samiri has led them astray.”
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So Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved. He said, “My people, did your Lord not make you a good promise? Did the time seem too long to you, or did you want wrath from your Lord to descend upon you, so you broke your promise to me?”
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They said, “We did not break our promise to you of our own accord, but we were made to carry loads of the people's ornaments, so we threw them [into the fire], and likewise the Samiri threw.”
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Then he brought out for them a calf, a body that made a lowing sound, and they said, “This is your god and the god of Moses, but he forgot.”
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Did they not see that it could not return a word to them, nor did it have any power to harm or benefit them?
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Aaron had already said to them before, “My people, you are only being tested by it. Your Lord is the Most Gracious, so follow me and obey my command.”
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They said, “We will not stop being devoted to it until Moses returns to us.”
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[Moses] said, “Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them going astray,
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from following me? Did you disobey my command?”
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He said, “Son of my mother, do not seize me by my beard or my head. I feared that you would say, ‘You caused division among the Children of Israel and did not heed my word.’”
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[Moses] said, “And what is your business, Samiri?”
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He said, “I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful from the track of the messenger and threw it. That is what my soul prompted me to do.”
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[Moses] said, “Then go! It will be yours in this life to say, ‘Do not touch [me].’ And you have an appointment that you will not escape. Now look at your god to which you remained devoted: we will burn it and then scatter it into the sea, utterly.
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Your god is only God, besides whom there is no god. He encompasses all things in knowledge.”
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Thus do We relate to you some of the news of what has gone before. And We have given you from Us a Reminder.
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Anyone who turns his back on it will carry a heavy load on the Day of Resurrection,
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abiding in it forever. How evil a load for them on the Day of Resurrection!
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The Day the Trumpet is blown. And on that Day We will gather the guilty, blue-eyed [with terror].
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They will whisper among themselves, “You stayed only ten [days].”
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We know best what they will say, when the most sensible of them will say, “You stayed only a day.”
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They ask you about the mountains. Say, “My Lord will blast them into dust
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and leave them a level, barren plain,
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in which you will see no dip or rise.”
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On that Day they will follow the caller, from whom there is no deviating. Voices will be hushed before the Most Gracious, and you will hear nothing but a faint murmur.
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On that Day intercession will be of no benefit, except [from] one whom the Most Gracious permits and whose word He approves.
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He knows what is before them and what is behind them, but they cannot encompass Him in knowledge.
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And faces will be humbled before the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all. Whoever carries wrongdoing will have failed.
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But whoever does good deeds while being a believer will fear neither injustice nor being deprived.
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Thus We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran, and We have varied in it the warnings, so that they may be mindful [of God], or that it may stir remembrance in them.
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So exalted is God, the True King. Do not hasten with the Quran before its revelation to you is completed, and say, “My Lord, increase me in knowledge.”
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We had made a covenant with Adam before, but he forgot, and We did not find in him firm resolve.
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When We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves to Adam,” they prostrated, except Iblis; he refused.
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So We said, “Adam, this is an enemy to you and your wife. So do not let him drive you both out of the Garden, so that you would suffer.
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In it you will neither be hungry nor go unclothed,
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and in it you will neither be thirsty nor suffer the sun's heat.”
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But Satan whispered to him, saying, “Adam, shall I show you the tree of immortality and a kingdom that never decays?”
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So they both ate from it, and their nakedness became apparent to them, and they began to cover themselves with leaves of the Garden. Thus Adam disobeyed his Lord and went astray.
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Then his Lord chose him, turned to him in forgiveness, and guided [him].
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He said, “Go down from it, both of you, [as] enemies to one another. When guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray nor suffer.
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But whoever turns away from My remembrance will have a cramped life, and We will raise him blind on the Day of Resurrection.”
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He will say, “My Lord, I once had sight, so why have You raised me up blind?”
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He will say, “Just so: Our signs came to you and you forgot them, and so today you are forgotten.”
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Thus do We repay whoever transgresses and does not believe in the signs of his Lord. And the punishment of the Hereafter is more severe and more lasting.
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Has it not been a lesson for them how many generations We destroyed before them, in whose dwellings they now walk? In that are signs for people of understanding.
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Were it not for a word that had already gone forth from your Lord, and a term already fixed, [their punishment] would have been inevitable.
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So be patient with what they say, and glorify your Lord with praise before the rising of the sun and before its setting; and glorify [Him] during hours of the night and at the ends of the day, so that you may be content.
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Do not extend your eyes towards what We have given some groups of them to enjoy, the splendour of the life of this world, so that We may test them by it. The provision of your Lord is better and more lasting.
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Enjoin the prayer on your family and be steadfast in it. We do not ask you for provision; We provide for you. And the [good] outcome belongs to mindfulness of God.
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They say, “Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord?” Has there not come to them clear evidence of what is in the earlier scriptures?
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Had We destroyed them with a punishment before it, they would have said, “Our Lord, why did You not send us a messenger, so that we could have followed Your verses before we were humiliated and disgraced?”
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Say, “Everyone is waiting, so wait. You will come to know who are the people of the even path and who is rightly guided.”