Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
2. Sūrat Al-Baqarah 1
the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.
1 Alif, Lām, Mīm.
2 This is the Book,2 there is no doubt in it,
a guidance to the Godwary,3
3 who believe in the Unseen,
and maintain the prayer,
and spend 4 out of what We have provided for them;
4 and who believe in what has been sent down to you 5
and what was sent down before you,
and are certain of the Hereafter.
5 Those follow their Lord’s guidance,
and it is they who are the felicitous.
6 As for the faithless, it is the same to them
whether you warn them or do not warn them,
they will not have faith.
7 Allah has set a seal on their hearts
1 The sūrah takes its name from the story of the cow (baqarah) mentioned in verses 67-73.
2 The term ‘the Book’ in the Qur’ān, in such contexts, means a Divine scripture.
3 Or ‘This Book, in which there is no doubt, is guidance to the Godwary.’ Or ‘This Book is no doubt a guidance to the Godwary.’
4 The expression ‘to spend’ is used in the Qur’ān elliptically to mean spending in the way of Allah and for the sake of His pleasure. Cf. 2:195, 261-262, 272; 8:60; 9:34; 47:38; 57:10.
5 That is, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his Household. Throughout this translation whenever the pronoun ‘you’ refers to the second person singular in the Arabic and is meant as an address to the Prophet, it has been italicized (for similar reasons, also the related verbs) in order to distinguish it from cases where it stands for the second person plural. This is to avoid the use of ‘thee’ and ‘thou,’ which are, unfortunately, archaic in contemporary English.
