1. Freedom from obligation is proclaimed from God and His messenger toward those of the idolaters with whom ye made a treaty.

2. Travel freely in the land four months, and know that ye cannot escape God and that God will confound the disbelievers in His Guidance.

3. And a proclamation from God and His messenger to all men on the day of the Greater Pilgrimage that God is free from obligation to the idolaters, and so is His messenger. So, if ye repent, it will be better for you; but if ye are averse, then know that ye cannot escape God. Give tidings O Mohammed of a painful doom to those who disbelieve,

4. Excepting those of the idolaters with whom ye Muslims have a treaty, and who have since abated nothing of your right nor have supported anyone against you. As for these, fulfil their treaty to them till their term. Lo! God loveth those who keep their duty unto Him.

5. Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! God is Forgiving, Merciful.

6. And if anyone of the idolaters seeketh thy protection O Mohammed, then protect him so that he may hear the Word of God, and afterward convey him to his place of safety. That is because they are a folk who know not.

7. How can there be a treaty with God and with His messenger for the idolaters save those with whom ye made a treaty at the Inviolable Place of Worship? So long as they are true to you, be true to them. Lo! God loveth those who keep their duty.

8. How can there be any treaty for the others when, if they have the upper hand of you, they regard not pact nor honour in respect of you? They satisfy you with their mouths the while their hearts refuse. And most of them are wrongdoers.

9. They have purchased with the revelations of God a little gain, so they debar men from His way. Lo! evil is that which they are wont to do.

10. And they observe toward a believer neither pact nor honour. These are they who are transgressors.

11. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then are they your brethren in religion. We detail Our revelations for a people who have knowledge.

12. And if they break their pledges after their treaty hath been made with you and assail your religion, then fight the heads of disbelief - Lo! they have no binding oaths - in order that they may desist.

13. Will ye not fight a folk who broke their solemn pledges, and purposed to drive out the messenger and did attack you first? What! Fear ye them? Now God hath more right that ye should fear Him, if ye are believers

14. Fight them! God will chastise them at your hands, and He will lay them low and give you victory over them, and He will heal the breasts of folk who are believers.

15. And He will remove the anger of their hearts. God relenteth toward whom He will. God is Knower, Wise.

16. Or deemed ye that ye would be left in peace when God yet knoweth not those of you who strive, choosing for familiar none save God and His messenger and the believers? God is Informed of what ye do.

17. It is not for the idolaters to tend God's sanctuaries, bearing witness against themselves of disbelief. As for such, their works are vain and in the Fire they will abide.

18. He only shall tend God's sanctuaries who believeth in God and the Last Day and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due and feareth none save God. For such only is it possible that they can be of the rightly guided.

19. Count ye the slaking of a pilgrim's thirst and tendance of the Inviolable Place of Worship as equal to the worth of him who believeth in God and the Last Day, and striveth in the way of God? They are not equal in the sight of God. God guideth not wrongdoing folk.

20. Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in God's way are of much greater worth in God's sight. These are they who are triumphant.

21. Their Lord giveth them good tidings of mercy from Him, and acceptance, and Gardens where enduring pleasure will be theirs;

22. There they will abide for ever. Lo! with God there is immense reward.

23. O ye who believe! Choose not your fathers nor your brethren for friends if they take pleasure in disbelief rather than faith. Whoso of you taketh them for friends, such are wrong-doers.

24. Say: If your fathers, and your sons, and your brethren, and your wives, and your tribe, and the wealth ye have acquired, and merchandise for which ye fear that there will no sale, and dwellings ye desire are dearer to you than God and His messenger and striving in His way: then wait till God bringeth His command to pass. God guideth not wrongdoing folk.

25. God hath given you victory on many fields and on the day of Honen, when ye exulted in your multitude but it availed you naught, and the earth, vast as it is, was straitened for you; then ye turned back in flight;

104 more verses…

About this reader

What is Scripture?

Scripture is a browser-based reader for sixteen sacred texts spanning multiple religious and literary traditions. It provides chapter-by-chapter navigation, full-text search across all works, word concordance with frequency analysis, verse-linked notes, text-to-speech, and deep linking to any chapter or verse.

Traditions Represented

The collection spans Abrahamic, East Asian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Nordic traditions. Christian texts include the King James Version Old and New Testaments (1611) and Apocrypha. The Quran uses Marmaduke Pickthall's 1930 English translation. Latter-day Saint scripture includes the Book of Mormon (1830), Doctrine and Covenants (1835), and Pearl of Great Price (1851).

Confucian works include James Legge's translations of The Four Books (1893) and the Book of Poetry (1876). The Tao Te Ching uses Legge's 1891 translation. The Kojiki uses Basil Hall Chamberlain's 1919 English translation. Zoroastrian texts include the Bundahishn (E. W. West, 1880) and the Arda Viraf (Haug & West, 1872). The Lotus Sutra uses Hendrik Kern's 1884 translation. The Finnish Kalevala uses John Martin Crawford's 1888 translation, and the Norse Poetic Edda uses Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 translation.

Public Domain Translations

Every translation in this collection is in the public domain. The most recent translation dates to 1930 (Pickthall's Quran). All texts are freely available for reading, study, quotation, and redistribution with no copyright restrictions.

Concordance and Related Passages

The concordance indexes every word across all sixteen works, showing frequency and distribution. TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) scoring identifies passages with similar vocabulary across different traditions, enabling comparative study without requiring prior knowledge of each text's structure. TF-IDF weights words that are frequent in one chapter but rare across the corpus, surfacing meaningful thematic connections rather than common function words.

Deep Linking

Every chapter and verse has a permanent URL. Chapter links follow the pattern /scripture/{work}/{book}-{chapter} (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1 for Genesis 1). Verse links append the verse number (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1:26 for Genesis 1:26). These URLs can be shared, bookmarked, or cited directly.

Accessibility

Scripture supports keyboard navigation throughout: Tab moves between controls, Enter activates verse actions, and arrow keys navigate chapters. The reading pane has a skip-to-content link. All overlays (search, concordance) are focus-trapped ARIA dialogs. Dynamic content regions use aria-live for screen reader announcements. High-contrast mode is available via the theme toggle. Verse numbers are visible to assistive technology. No flashing content or motion hazards.

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