57. Al-Hadeed/The Iron

I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah

The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.

57:01
a. Whatever is within the celestial realm and the terrestrial world is Glorifying Allah – The One and Only God,
b. as HE is The Almighty, The All-Wise.

57:02
a. For HIM is the Sovereignty of the celestial realm and the terrestrial world.
b. HE gives life as well as death.
c. And HE Manifests Sovereignty over all existence.

57:03
a. HE is The First and HE is The Last, i.e. without a beginning and without an end, and
b. HE is The Apparent and HE is The Hidden, and
c. HE is The Knowledgeable about everything.

57:04
a. HE created the celestial realm and the terrestrial world in six days/ time span,
b. then established HIMSELF on the Throne of Almightiness.
c. HE Knows whatever enters the earth, and whatever comes out of it,
d. and whatever descends from the celestial realm, and whatever ascends to it.
e. And HE is with you wherever you may be.
f. Allah Watches whatever you do.

57:05
a. To HIM belongs the Sovereignty of the celestial realm and the terrestrial world,
b. and to Allah will return all matters for judgment and award.

57:06
a. HE makes the nighttime to pass into the daytime,
b. and HE makes the daytime to pass into the nighttime.
c. And HE knows whatever is within the hearts of people.

57:07
a. Believe in Allah and HIS Messenger, and
b. spend out in the Cause of Allah of that wealth, possessions, and knowledge which HE would have entrusted to you.

c. So those of you who would believe and spend,
d. for them will be a great reward.

57:08
a. How is it that you would not believe in Allah when the Messenger invites you to believe in your Rabb - The Lord?
b. And HE has already taken a promise from you to obey HIM and HIS Messenger Muhammad, if indeed you are true believers.

57:09
a. HE sends down to HIS servant Clear Messages of The Qur’an,
b. so as to bring you out of the darkness of myth and ignorance into the light of realism and truth.
c. And, indeed, Allah is Full of Compassion and Infinitely Merciful to you all in bringing you out of disbelief to belief.

57:10
a. And how is it that you would not spend in the Cause of Allah when the inheritance of
celestial realm and the terrestrial world belongs to Allah?
b. Those of you who spent and battled before the victory of Makkah cannot be equal to those who spent and battled afterwards.
c. They attain a higher rank than those who spent and battled afterwards.
d. However, Allah has promised the good reward to both.
e. And Allah is All-Aware of what you do and will reward you for it.

57:11
a. Who would it be to lend a beautiful loan to Allah?
b. A loan that HE will multiply it for him while repaying,
c. and, on the top of this, he will have a bountiful reward too.

57:12
a. At the Time of Judgment when you will see the believing males and the believing females,
b. being led towards the Paradise with their light radiating around them as a result of their deeds of righteousness during the life of the world and to their right hands holding the Book of deeds of righteousness,
c. they will be told:
d. ‘There is going to be a good news for you today of Gardens with rivers flowing below,
wherein you will live forever – never to leave, never to die.
e. And, indeed, this will be a splendid attainment!’

57:13
a. At that Time, the hypocrite males and the hypocrite females will say to those males and females who believed:
b. ‘Wait for us so that we may benefit from your light.’
c. They would be told mockingly:
d. ‘Go back to seek light’ elsewhere.
e. Just then a wall will be set between them, whose gate would separate benevolence on the inside from the punishment of eternal doom on the outside.

57:14
a. They - the hypocrites - will call out to them – the believers, from outside the separating wall:

b. ‘Were we not with you’ during the worldly life?
c. They will respond:
d. ‘Yes, but then
- you allowed yourselves to succumb into temptations, and
- hesitated in accepting true faith, and
- doubted the resurrection and its correlatives, and
- became deluded by false hopes that nothing will happen after death,
e. until Allah’s Command of death came upon you,
f. and you deluded yourselves concerning Allah too.’

57:15
a. So this Time no ransom will be accepted from you, nor from those who disbelieved.
b. Fire is going to be your home as well as it will your only friend to keep you company forever,
c. and what an awful and woeful destination!

57:16
a. Is it not the high time for the hearts of those who believe to be humbled and inclined
towards the Remembrance of Allah, and the truth that has been sent down – The Qur’an,
b. and not to be like those who were given the Scripture before – the Jews and the Christians?
c. But, then, a long time elapsed without complying with the Divine Teaching, so their hearts hardened,
d. and, thus, a great many of them turned disobedient - leading away from virtue and unyielding to the Remembrance of Allah.

57:17
a. Know that Allah revives the land to life with rain after it had been lifeless.
b. Thus WE make clear to you the Signs of giving life to the dead so that you may understand.

57:18
a. Surely, the charitable males and the charitable females -
b. and those who have advanced a beautiful loan to Allah, their loan will be multiplied for them while repayment is made in the Hereafter, and
c. in addition, for them will also be a generous reward.

57:19
a. And those who believe in Allah and HIS Messengers,
b. those – they are the truthful and the witnesses before their Rabb - The Lord.
c. They will have their reward and their radiating light.
d. As for those who disbelieve and belie OUR Messages, they are going to be People of the Blazing Fire.

57:20
a. Bear in mind that the life of this world is merely a pastime and distraction,
b. and boasting and bragging among yourselves, and
c. a competition and rivalry of increase in wealth and children and family connections and climbing up social ladder.
d. All this is like rain so pleasing to the cultivator for his vegetation which sprouts and swells,
e. but, then, it will go dry, turning yellow and becoming chaff.
f. Then, in the Hereafter, there is going to be a severe punishment for them,

g. but also forgiveness from Allah and HIS Graceful Favors will be everlasting for the believers.
h. As for the life of this world, it is nothing but a delusion, a deception.

57:21
a. So instead of competing for the worldly gains, compete with one another in pursuit of
seeking forgiveness from your Rabb - The Lord, and
b. for Paradise whose expanse is as wide and as vast as the width and vastness of the heaven and the earth,
c. prepared for those who
- believe in Allah, and
- believe in all of HIS Messengers.
d. That would be Allah’s Bounty which HE grants to whoever HE wants, and
e. Allah alone is the Rabb - The Lord of Infinite Bounty.

57:22
a. No misfortune or ordeal or disaster would ever befall the earth or yourselves except that it was in a Book before WE bring it about.
b. Surely, that is easy for Allah to do -

57:23
a. - lest you grieve or despair for what you missed, or rejoice or exult at what you received,
b. Allah does not love any exultant and boastful -

57:24
a. – as well as those people who are miserly towards contributing in the Cause of Allah and pursue people to be miserly as well.
b. And whoever would turn away - should remember that Allah does not need their contributions as HE is All-Sufficient and All-Praised.

57:25
a. Indeed, WE assigned OUR Messengers with clear signs,
b. and sent down with them the Book that is the Balance so that people remain on the path of
justice and conduct themselves with all fairness.
c. And WE sent down the iron, wherein is great strength and many benefits for people,
d. so that Allah may distinguish those who would support HIM without even having seen HIM and HIS Messengers.
e. Indeed, Allah is All-Powerful, Almighty.

57:26
a. And, indeed, WE assigned Noah and Abraham,
b. and established Prophethood among their descendants and sent the Scripture along with them.
c. Then, some of them were guided aright, while many were misguided and wicked - leading away from virtue.

57:27
a. Then, in their footprints, WE assigned a series of OUR Messengers in succession.
b. And WE assigned Jesus, son of Mary, and WE conferred upon him the Injeel/Bible,
c. and WE embedded compassion and mercy for each other in the hearts of those who followed him.

d. And the Monasticism they created,
e. though WE never prescribed it for them -
f. what WE prescribed for them was instead to pursue the Pleasure of Allah.
g. But they did not observe it the way it should have been observed.
h. Consequently, WE gave those who believed among them their reward, while many of them
are misguided and wicked - leading away from virtue.

57:28
a. O The Faithful!
b. Be mindful of Allah’s Presence and Power, and believe in HIS Messenger!
c. HE will, then, grant you double the reward from HIS Mercy,
d. and make for you a light by which you will walk straight on the Right Path, and will forgive you,
e. for Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.

57:29
a. You should do it so that the Followers of the Former Scriptures may not know that they have no monopoly over apportionment of Allah’s Bounty,
b. and that all Bounty lies entirely in Allah’s Hand.
c. HE bestows it upon whoever HE Wills.
d. and withdraws it from whoever HE Wills.
e. For Allah is Rabb - The Lord of Infinite Bounty.