purify them thereby, and pray for them; for thy prayers shall assure their minds: and God Heareth, Knoweth.
Know they not that when his servants turn to Him with repentance, God accepteth it, and that He accepteth alms, and that God is He who turneth, the Merciful ?
Say: Work ye : but God will behold your work, and so will His Apostle, and the faithful : and ye shall be brought before Him who knoweth alike the Hidden and the Manifest, and He will tell you of all your works.
And others await the decision of God; whether He will punish them, or whether He will be turned unto them: but God is Knowing, Wise.
There are some[1] who have built a Mosque for mischief[2] and for infidelity, and to disunite the faithful, and in expectation of him[3] who, in time past, warred against God and His Apostle. They will surely swear, “ Our aim was only good: ” but God is witness that they are liars.
Never set thou foot in it.[4] There is a Mosque[5] founded from its first day in piety. More worthy is it that thou enter therein: therein are men who aspire to purity, and God loveth the purified.
110Which of the two is best? He who hath founded his building on the fear of God and the desire to please Him, or he who hath founded his building on the brink of an undermined bank washed away by torrents, so that it rusheth with him into the fire of Hell? But God guideth not the doers of wrong.
Their building which they[6] have built will not cease to cause uneasiness in their hearts, until their hearts are cut in pieces.[7] God is Knowing, Wise.
- ↑ The tribe of Beni Ganim had built a mosque, professedly from religious motives, which they invited Muhammad on his way to Tabouk to dedicate by a solemn act of prayer. Muhammad, however, iscovered that the real motive of the Beni Ganim was jealousy of the tribe of Beni Amru Ibn Auf, and of the mosque at Kuba, and that there existed an understanding between them and his enemy the monk Abu Amir, who was then in Syria for the purpose of urging the Greeks to attack the Muslims and their mosque. It is to him that the word irsâdan refers.
- ↑ To the dwellers at Kuba. Verses 108-111 were probably promulged on the return from Tabouk previous to the entry into Medina.
- ↑ Abu Amir.
- ↑ Or, never stand thou in it (to pray).
- ↑ The mosque of Kuba, about three miles S.S.E. of Medina. The spot where this verse was revealed is still pointed out, and called "Makam el Ayat," or "the place of signs." Burton's “Pilgrimage,” ii. p. 214. Muhammad laid the first brick, and it was the first place of public prayer in El Islam. Ib. p. 269.
- ↑ The Beni Ganim.
- ↑ That is, up to the time of their death they will never reflect on what
