O people of Mecca fear your Lord that is His punishment by being obedient to Him Who created you of a single soul Adam and from it created its mate Eve Hawwā’ from one of his left ribs and from the pair of them Adam and Eve scattered separated and spread many men and many women; and fear God by whom you claim your rights from one another tassā’alūna the original tā’ of tatasā’alūna has been assimilated with the sīn; a variant reading has tasā’alūna so that one of you says to the other ‘I ask you by God…’ or ‘For God’s sake…’; and fear kinship ties lest you sever them a variant reading of wa’l-arhāma ‘and kinship ties’ is wa’l-arhāmi as a supplement to the pronoun contained in bihi sc. God. They used to implore one another by ties of kinship. Surely God has been watchful over you heedful of your deeds for which He will requite you that is to say He is ever possessed of such an attribute.
