25. Rub’ el-Hizb ربع ٢٥

Except for what Israel made unlawful for himself, all food was lawful to the Children of Israel before the Torah was revealed. Say, ‘Bring the Torah and read out [the relevant passage] if you are telling the truth.

Those who persist in making up lies and attributing them to God after this are the wrongdoers.’

[Prophet], say, ‘God speaks the truth, so follow Abraham’s religion: he had true faith and he was never an idolater.’

The first House [of worship] to be established for people was the one at Mecca. It is a blessed place; a source of guidance for all people;

there are clear signs in it; it is the place where Abraham stood to pray; whoever enters it is safe. Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to God by people who are able to undertake it. Those who reject this [should know that] God has no need of anyone.

Say, ‘People of the Book, why do you reject God’s revelations? God witnesses everything you do.’

Say, ‘People of the Book, why do you turn the believers away from God’s path and try to make it crooked, when you yourselves [should be] witnesses to the [truth]? God is not heedless of anything you do.’

You who believe, some of those who were given the Scripture would turn you into disbelievers if you were to yield to them.

How can you disbelieve when God’s revelations are being recited to you and His Messenger is living among you? Whoever holds fast to God will be guided to the straight path.

You who believe, be mindful of God, as is His due, and make sure you devote yourselves to Him, to your dying moment.

Hold fast to God’s rope all together; do not split into factions. Remember God’s favour to you: you were enemies and then He brought your hearts together and you became brothers by His grace; you were about to fall into a pit of Fire and He saved you from it- in this way God makes His revelations clear to you so that you may be rightly guided.

Be a community that calls for what is good, urges what is right, and forbids what is wrong: those who do this are the successful ones.

Do not be like those who, after they have been given clear revelation, split into factions and fall into disputes: a terrible punishment awaits such people.

On the Day when some faces brighten and others darken, it will be said to those with darkened faces, ‘How could you reject your faith after believing? Taste the torment for doing so,’

but those with brightened faces will be in God’s grace, there to remain.

These are God’s revelations: We recite them to you [Prophet] with the Truth. God does not will injustice for His creatures.

Everything in the heavens and earth belongs to God; it is to Him that all things return.

[Believers], you are the best community singled out for people: you order what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in God. If the People of the Book had also believed, it would have been better for them. For although some of them do believe, most of them are lawbreakers-

they will not do you much harm: even if they come out to fight you, they will soon turn tail; they will get no help-

and, unless they hold fast to a lifeline from God and from mankind, they are overshadowed by vulnerability wherever they are found. They have drawn God’s wrath upon themselves. They are overshadowed by weakness, too, because they have persistently disbelieved in God’s revelation and killed prophets without any right, all because of their disobedience and boundless transgression.