Surah 19: Mary - Overview
Surah 20: Ta Ha - Overview
Surah 21: The Prophets - Overview
Surah 22: The Pilgrimage - Overview
Surah 23: The Believers - Overview
Surah 24: The Light - Overview

Essential Koran

The Prophet Abraham Teaches His Kinsmen [19:41-50] 
And mention in the Book Abraham; surely he was a true man, a Prophet. When he said to his father, 'Father, why worshippest thou that which neither hears nor sees, nor avails thee anything? Father, there has come to me knowledge such as came not to thee; so follow me, and I will guide thee on a level path. Father, serve not Satan; surely Satan is a rebel against the All-merciful. Father, I fear that some chastisement from the All-merciful will smite thee, so that thou becomest a friend to Satan.' Said he, 'What, art thou shrinking from my gods, Abraham? Surely, if thou givest not over, I shall stone thee; so forsake me now for some while.' He said, 'Peace be upon thee! I will ask my Lord to forgive thee; surely He is ever gracious to me. Now I will go apart from you and that you call upon, apart from God; I will call upon my Lord, and haply I shall not be, in calling upon my Lord, unprosperous.' So, when he went apart from them and that they were serving, apart from God, We gave him Isaac and Jacob, and each We made a Prophet; and We gave them of Our mercy, and We appointed unto them a tongue of truthfulness, sublime.

The Call of the Prophet Moses [20:9-39] 
Hast thou received the story of Moses? When he saw a fire, and said to his family, 'Tarry you here; I observe a fire. Perhaps I shall bring you a brand from it, or I shall find at the fire guidance.' When he came to it, a voice cried, 'Moses, I am thy Lord; put off thy shoes; thou art in the holy valley, Towa. I Myself have chosen thee; therefore give thou ear to this revelation. Verily I am God; there is no god but I; therefore serve Me, and perform the prayer of My remembrance. The Hour is coming; I would conceal it that every soul may be recompensed for its labors. Let none bar thee from it, that believes not in it but follows after his own caprice, or thou wilt perish. What is that, Moses, thou hast in thy right hand?' 'Why, it is my staff,' said Moses. 'I lean upon it, and with it I beat down leaves to feed my sheep; other uses also I find in it.' Said He, 'Cast it down, Moses!' and he cast it down, and behold it was a serpent sliding. Said He, 'Take it, and fear not; We will restore it to its first state. Now clasp thy hand to thy arm-pit; it shall come forth white, without evil. That is a second sign. So We would show thee some of Our greatest signs. Go to Pharaoh; he has waxed insolent.' 'Lord, open my breast,' said Moses, 'and do Thou ease for me my task. Unloose the knot upon my tongue, that they may understand my words. Appoint for me of my folk a familiar, Aaron, my brother; by him confirm my strength, and associate him with me in my task. So shall we glorify Thee, and remember Thee abundantly. Surely Thou seest into us.' Said He, 'Thou art granted, Moses, thy petition. Already another time We favored thee, when We revealed what was revealed unto thy mother: "Cast him into the ark, and cast him into the river, and let the river throw him up on the shore. An enemy of Mine and his shall take him." And I loaded on thee love from Me, and to be formed in My sight... 

Creation [21:30-33] 
Have not the unbelievers then beheld that the heavens and the earth were a mass all sewn up, and then We unstitched them and of water fashioned every living thing? Will they not believe? And We set in the earth firm mountains lest it should shake with them, and We set in it ravines to serve as ways, that haply so they may be guided; and We set up the heaven as a roof well-protected; yet still from Our signs they are turning away. It is He who created the night and the day, the sun and the moon, each swimming in a sky.

Pilgrimage [22:26-29] 
And when We settled for Abraham the place of the House: 'Thou shalt not associate with Me anything. And do thou purify My House for those that shall go about it and those that stand, for those that bow and prostrate themselves; and proclaim among men the Pilgrimage, and they shall come unto thee on foot and upon every lean beast, they shall come from every deep ravine that they may witness things profitable to them and mention God's Name on days well-known over such beasts of the flocks as He has provided them: "So eat thereof, and feed the wretched poor." Let them then finish with their self-neglect and let them fulfill their vows, and go about the Ancient House.'

The Immense Journey [23:12-17] 
We created man of an extraction of clay, then We set him, a drop, in a receptacle secure, then We created of the drop a clot, then We created of the clot a tissue, then We created of the tissue bones, then We garmented the bones in flesh; thereafter We produced him as another creature. So blessed be God, the fairest of creators! Then after that you shall surely die, then on the Day of Resurrection you shall surely be raised up. and We created above you seven ways, and We were not heedless of creation.

The Careless Ones [23:62-77] 
We charge not any soul save to its capacity, and with Us is a Book speaking truth, and they shall not be wronged. Nay, but their hearts are in perplexity as to this, and they have deeds besides that, that they are doing. Till, when We seize with the chastisement the ones of them that live at ease, behold, they groan. 'Groan not today; surely you shall not be helped from Us. My signs were recited to you, but upon your heels you withdrew, waxing proud against it, talking foolish talk by night.' Have they not pondered the saying, or came there upon them that which came not upon their fathers, the ancients? Or did they not recognize their Messenger and so denied him? Or do they say, 'He is bedeviled'? Nay, he has brought them the truth, but most of them are averse from the truth. Had the truth followed their caprices, the heavens and the earth and whosoever in them is had surely corrupted. Nay, We brought them their Remembrance, but from their Remembrance they turned. Or dost thou ask them for tribute? Yet the tribute of thy Lord is better, and He is the best of providers. Assuredly thou art calling them to a straight path; and surely they that believe not in the world to come are deviating from the path. Did We have mercy on them, and remove the affliction that is upon them, they would persist in their insolence wandering blindly. We already seized them with the chastisement yet they abased not themselves to their Lord nor were they humble; until, when We open against them a  door of terrible chastisement, lo, they are sore confounded at it.

The End of Time [23:101-115] 
For when the Trumpet is blown, that day there shall be no kinship any more between them, neither will they question one another. Then he whose scales are heavy -- they are the prosperers, and he whose scales are light -- they have lost their souls in Gehenna dwelling forever, the Fire smiting their faces the while they glower there. 'What, were My signs not recited to you, and you cried them lies?' They shall say, 'Our Lord, our adversity prevailed over us; we were an erring people. Our Lord, bring us forth out of it! Then, if we revert, we shall be evildoers indeed.' 'Slink you into it, ' He shall say, 'and do not speak to Me. There is a party of My servants who said, "Our Lord, we believe; therefore forgive us, and have mercy on us, for Thou art the best of the merciful." But you took them for a laughing-stock, till they made you forget My remembrance, mocking at them. Now today I have recompensed them for their patient endurance; they are triumphant.' He shall say, 'How long have you tarried in the earth, by number of years?' They shall say, 'We have tarried a day, or part of a day; ask the numberers!' He shall say, 'You have tarried but a little, did you know. What, did you think that We created you only for sport, and that you would not be returned to Us?'

Light [24:35] 
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, the glass as it were a glittering star) kindled from a Blessed Tree, an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West whose oil well nigh would shine, even if no fire touched it; Light upon Light; (God guides to His Light whom He will.) (And God strikes similitudes for men, and God has knowledge of everything.)

Open Desert and Dark Sea [24:39-40] 
And as for the unbelievers, their works are as a mirage in a spacious plain which the man athirst supposes to be water, till, when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing; there indeed he finds God, and He pays him his account in full; (and God is swift at the reckoning) or they are as shadows upon a sea obscure, covered by a billow, above which is a billow, above which are clouds, shadows piled one upon another; when he puts forth his hand, well nigh he cannot see it. And to whomsoever God assigns no light, no light has he.

Living Parables [24:41-45] 
Hast thou not seen how that whatsoever is in the heavens and in the earth extols God, and the birds spreading their wings? Each -- He knows its prayer and its extolling; and God knows the things they do. To God belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and to Him is the homecoming. Hast thou not seen how God drives the clouds, then composes them, then converts them into a mass, then thou seest the rain issuing out of the midst of them? And He sends down out of the heaven mountains, wherein is hail, so that He smites whom He will with it, and turns it aside from whom He will; well nigh the gleam of His lightning snatches away the sights. God turns about the day and the night; surely in that is a lesson for those who have eyes. God has created every beast of water, and some of them go upon their bellies, and some of them go upon two feet, and some of them go upon four; God creates whatever He will; God is powerful over everything.