آلِ عِمْرَان : ٤

  • مِن From
  • قَبۡلُ before (this)
  • هُدٗى (as) guidance
  • لِّلنَّاسِ for the mankind
  • وَأَنزَلَ And (He) revealed
  • ٱلۡفُرۡقَانَۗ the Criterion
  • إِنَّ Verily
  • ٱلَّذِينَ those who
  • كَفَرُواْ disbelieve[d]
  • بِـَٔايَٰتِ in (the) Verses
  • ٱللَّهِ (of) Allah
  • لَهُمۡ for them
  • عَذَابٞ (is) a punishment
  • شَدِيدٞۗ severe
  • وَٱللَّهُ And Allah
  • عَزِيزٞ (is) All-Mighty
  • ذُو All-Able
  • ٱنتِقَامٍ (of) retribution
Before, as guidance for the people. And He revealed the Criterion [i.e., the Qur’ān]. Indeed, those who disbelieve in the verses of Allāh will have a severe punishment, and Allāh is Exalted in Might, the Owner of Retribution.1
Footnotes
1 - i.e., He who restores justice by punishing those who persist in wrongdoing, fail to heed warnings and are unrepentant.
before, that is to say, before revealing it [Al-Qur'an], as guidance (hudan, a circumstantial qualifier meaning, haadiyeen, 'guides from error') to people, to those who followed these two [Books] (He uses the word anzala for the revelation of these two, and nazzala for that of Al-Qur'an, for the latter entails repetition, whereas the two Books were revealed in one instance); and He revealed the Criterion (al-furqaan), meaning the Scriptures that discriminate between truth and falsehood. He mentions this [Criterion] after He has mentioned the three Scriptures so that it encompasses all [revealed Scriptures] besides these. As for those who disbelieve in God's signs, Al-Qur'an or any other [revelation], for them awaits a terrible chastisement; God is Mighty, victorious in His affair, so that nothing can prevent Him from effecting His promise and His threat; Lord of Retribution, with a severe punishment for those that disobeyed Him, the like of which none can do.