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purity for them: And God is well acquainted with all that they do.
024.031 And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should
not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils
over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons,
their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom
their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame
of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye
Believers! turn ye all together towards God, that ye may attain Bliss.
024.032 Marry those among you who are single, or the virtuous ones among yourselves, male or female: if they are
in poverty, God will give them means out of His grace: for God encompasseth all, and he knoweth all things.
024.033 Let those who find not the wherewithal for marriage keep themselves chaste, until God gives them means out
of His grace. And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain
sum), give them such a deed if ye know any good in them: yea, give them something yourselves out of the means which
God has given to you. But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make
a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is God, Oft-Forgiving, Most
Merciful (to them),
024.034 We have already sent down to you verses making things clear, an illustration from (the story of) people who
passed away before you, and an admonition for those who fear (God).
024.035 God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within
it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither
of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! God doth
guide whom He will to His Light: God doth set forth Parables for men: and God doth know all things.
024.036 (Lit is such a Light) in houses, which God hath permitted to be raised to honour; for the celebration, in them,
of His name: In them is He glorified in the mornings and in the evenings, (again and again),-
024.037 By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from the Remembrance of God, nor from regular
Prayer, nor from the practice of regular Charity: Their (only) fear is for the Day when hearts and eyes will be
transformed (in a world wholly new),-
024.038 That God may reward them according to the best of their deeds, and add even more for them out of His Grace:
for God doth provide for those whom He will, without measure.
024.039 But the Unbelievers,- their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst
mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing: But he finds God (ever) with him, and God
will pay him his account: and God is swift in taking account.
024.040 Or (the Unbelievers' state) is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped
by billow, topped by (dark) clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hands, he can
hardly see it! for any to whom God giveth not light, there is no light!
024.041 Seest thou not that it is God Whose praises all beings in the heavens and on earth do celebrate, and the birds
(of the air) with wings outspread? Each one knows its own (mode of) prayer and praise. And God knows well all that
they do.
024.042 Yea, to God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and to God is the final goal (of all).
024.043 Seest thou not that God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap?
- then wilt thou see rain issue forth from their midst. And He sends down from the sky mountain masses (of clouds)
wherein is hail: He strikes therewith whom He pleases and He turns it away from whom He pleases, the vivid flash of
His lightning well-nigh blinds the sight.
024.044 It is God Who alternates the Night and the Day: verily in these things is an instructive example for those who
have vision!
024.045 And God has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that
walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. God creates what He wills for verily God has power over all things.
024.046 We have indeed sent down signs that make things manifest: and God guides whom He wills to a way that is
straight.