وَإِذَا

سَأَلَكَ

عِبَادِي

عَنِّي

فَإِنِّي

قَرِيبٌۖ

أُجِيبُ

دَعۡوَةَ

ٱلدَّاعِ

إِذَا

دَعَانِۖ

فَلۡيَسۡتَجِيبُواْ

لِي

وَلۡيُؤۡمِنُواْ

بِي

لَعَلَّهُمۡ

يَرۡشُدُونَ

١٨٦

When My servants ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about Me: I am truly near. I respond to one’s prayer when they call upon Me. So let them respond ˹with obedience˺ to Me and believe in Me, perhaps they will be guided ˹to the Right Way˺.

It has been made permissible for you to be intimate with your wives during the nights preceding the fast. Your spouses are a garment¹ for you as you are for them. Allah knows that you were deceiving yourselves.² So He has accepted your repentance and pardoned you. So now you may be intimate with them and seek what Allah has prescribed for you.³ ˹You may˺ eat and drink until you see the light of dawn breaking the darkness of night, then complete the fast until nightfall. Do not be intimate with your spouses while you are meditating in the mosques. These are the limits set by Allah, so do not exceed them. This is how Allah makes His revelations clear to people, so they may become mindful ˹of Him˺.

Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly, nor deliberately bribe authorities in order to devour a portion of others’ property, knowing that it is a sin.

They ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about the phases of the moon. Say, “They are a means for people to determine time and pilgrimage.” Righteousness is not in entering your houses from the back doors.¹ Rather, righteousness is to be mindful ˹of Allah˺. So enter your homes through their ˹proper˺ doors, and be mindful of Allah so you may be successful.

Fight in the cause of Allah ˹only˺ against those who wage war against you, but do not exceed the limits.¹ Allah does not like transgressors.

Kill them wherever you come upon them¹ and drive them out of the places from which they have driven you out. For persecution² is far worse than killing. And do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque unless they attack you there. If they do so, then fight them—that is the reward of the disbelievers.

But if they cease, then surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Fight against them ˹if they persecute you˺ until there is no more persecution, and ˹your˺ devotion will be to Allah ˹alone˺. If they stop ˹persecuting you˺, let there be no hostility except against the aggressors.

˹There will be retaliation in˺ a sacred month for ˹an offence in˺ a sacred month,¹ and all violations will bring about retaliation. So, if anyone attacks you, retaliate in the same manner. ˹But˺ be mindful of Allah, and know that Allah is with those mindful ˹of Him˺.

Spend in the cause of Allah and do not let your own hands throw you into destruction ˹by withholding˺. And do good, for Allah certainly loves the good-doers.