I've been in EMS for 30 plus years and this was a disease. Who cares? I've been through it. What was this going to do? This was nothing different. Was I wrong?  And then we were finding about six weeks later there were people having strokes and heart attacks. And I remember seeing several young people and when you think of stroke you think of 70, 80, 90 year olds and I'm talking 20 and 30 year olds having a stroke. There's one in particular happens to be in our department that had a stroke. A young guy at work came to work in uniform, was checking his truck and a couple of weeks post COVID had a stroke. And thank God he was just cleared the other day 100% deficit free from having that stroke. I nursed 22 years and kind of went back into the outside of the hospital about two years ago becoming an MICN. We had a patient that he was really, you know, like so anxiety written and he had himself like written off like he was dead. And I was like, no, no, no, this is not happening, not on my watch, not at all. I sat there with him the entire ride to the hospital, held his hand and, you know, tried to talk to him through it.  I was able to kind of turn him around and he was discharged from the hospital two days later. There are lots of patients that stick out but for different reasons. They want to speak to their families but there are also people that, you know, will speak to you like they're your family. It's those kinds of people that just, they make the job. I learned that although I have this hard shell exterior and then I'm able to face the problems that are out there, I learned that being alone, isolated from your family is the worst thing, the worst thing.  Yes, we're always got to be aware of things going on but to always keep faith. I actually moved out of my house for a little while so I didn't have to keep coming home and exposing my family to what possibly could happen. I thank my family for being patient and being able to put up with, on the days that were long and tough, you need to care about the other people more than you're caring about yourself in the moment. Being a paramedic is the best job in the world. I couldn't think of not putting on the uniform and I couldn't think of not rushing in to help. We're a pretty close-knit group and we kind of all lean on each other and we're all there for each other as well. Everyone kept their spirits up and we just kept chugging, kept pushing. We're going to be remembered, you know. Remember when COVID, all the EMS, you know, medics, EMTs, all the doctors and nurses, how hard work we did. You know, we went through stuff but we were coming out.


Okay, so I will call the town of Essex select board special meeting for Thursday, May 26 2022 to order. Are there any agenda additions or changes from staff from staff. Okay, any request agenda request change requests from board members. Okay, then let's move on to public to be heard this is a period of the agenda where folks who are in attendance can speak to the board on topics which are not on the agenda. If you would like to speak during public to be heard, raise your hand in the, in the zoom application, or turn your camera and wave your hand. If you don't have that capability. I'd like to speak to the board please be brief please be civil, which is your remarks to me as a select board chair and make sure I can see all participants here. Any public comment during public to be heard. I don't see any hands up. So let's go on to our first business item our only business item discussion on potential action about filling a vacancy on the Essex Westward School Board. I brought this up briefly during our last meeting. During part as part of the reading file because it was kind of short notice we didn't have we had fairly recently at that point learned that there was a vacancy on the school board and Aaron fortunately remembered that there's some requirements associated with with interacting with the select board around that. So, actually she and I were at a cancer cancer patient treatment. I forget the name of the association Aaron. Oh cancer patient support foundation. Yep, anniversary dinner. Yep, so we were at a fundraiser and Aaron recognized being including me and that this was going on so here we are. Yeah, there's a there's a statute says that the, the school board needs to act in in consultation with the select board. There's no definition at all about what that means. There's no, there's no case law there's no explicit. There's nothing explicit in the statute about it. We had at one point thought that this was a temporary measure but apparently the act that makes it a permanent statute is on the governor's desk waiting either for his signature or to be passed into law without it. So, it's, it's, it's believed to be likely that it will become permanent statute any day now. Options that we have and I guess, I guess, Aaron I think we might start with some questions to you about your process. And so, can you help us out with that and then we'll if we have any other questions will will pepper you with them. Sure. So we have three applicants. And so what we as a board do is we as an entire board get together and just have we have a discussion in this case we had a discussion. I want to say it was on the 17th. And we had it right after our last meeting and so in this case, like, it depends on the situation so if we had like a lot of applicants what what our preferred method of sort of doing it is to kind of just try to narrow it down a little bit through discussion with the board. After everybody having been able to review the materials in this case, because we have three applicants we we all agreed that we'd like to interview all three applicants. And so what we then did was we choose a selection committee, and it'll be comprised of five members of the board. And so we have set up times to interview each of the applicants on May 31. So, and then what we'll do is we'll interview them. They all are asked the same questions in the same order by the same members of the selection committee. And after we do the interviews, we will then get together as a committee, and then make our recommendation to the board as to who we think would be the best appointee. So you've you've shared the documents that you've got there the letters of intent and our resumes that you've received from the applicants and you've asked us to keep that confidential. That's that's not our typical practice. So that's that's a so that's a different, you have a different method there. Like, my question is, are your, are your interviews also an executive session. Correct. Okay, so the, the candidates aren't present for each other's to hear each other's answers. Okay, all right. All right, I just wanted to clarify that. And then of course you have your, your deliberation about who to choose an executive session also. Right. All right. Board members any other questions for for Aaron about process. Tracy, go ahead. And just because I'm curious, I do see, as any mentioned, the school board has not publicly shared the letters of interest. So I'm just trying to understand our confidential folder. Is it the intent that those will eventually be shared or are those sort of sealed and is it is it an equity issue that those aren't shared or it's it's new to us.  I think my personal stance on it as the chair was just that, you know, this is kind of people's personal information. And so I didn't see any sense in making that public, because it's something that they're sharing with us to, in a sense, I almost look at it as they're like applying for a job with us right. And so it's certainly not that we're not, you know, we're not trying to be transparent. But I guess my take on it is is that this this is their their personal information that they're submitting for for this particular position and so we felt that it was their personal info and not that we would not share that. Thank you. You're welcome. I've already forgotten to unmute myself. Any other any other board questions. I would just speak up that it seems rather unusual in the times that we are in that it is such a closed door public position selection. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's generally this has been a select board's practice we've we've had a number of reappointments and we all the information that's given to us we do redact, for example, telephone numbers and maybe specifics of addresses and those kind of things but we do make all the information public and we do the interviews in public as well. And then when we discuss the candidates of course that's in. That's an executive session. Okay. So there's, you know, there's a couple ways for us to approach this.  For the information we could go into executive session and discuss the candidates and we could come out and make a recommendation of an individual that we would prefer we could do that would be might be awkward if the school board hasn't interviewed them yet. The other thing that we could do, and this the Aaron has offered to allow us to appoint one of our members to participate as on the selection committee. Of course the vote goes to the school board, not to the selection committee so we wouldn't have a vote but we would have a seat at the table during the interviews and the discussion. And then the, the other possibility that's been talked about is that we simply sit back and let the select that let the school board go through their process and then comment on their choice. So I don't know what how members are are feeling about this. I'm feeling in any direction. We also, I guess, there's another, there's another possibility I guess that I should should. And of course there may be, there may be many many other possibilities and if anybody has one please feel free to oppose it. We could come out and we could have a discussion and simply say we don't have any objections to any of the candidates in which case then we've provided our input. And that would be for a specific individual. And we could, you know, any, anything along the gamut of, you know, comment about what our preference might be without even without specifically picking a candidate we could do that as well. So Don I see your hand up, go ahead. I guess my other question would be, couldn't we just authorize the school board to go ahead with their process and we stay right out of it. They know what they're looking for in a candidate. Unless we've had, we haven't had hands on experience. Currently in the school board. Could we just vote to authorize them to go ahead. We could do that. Sure. Personally, I'd rather not get involved in their decision because they're going to have to work with whoever they choose we don't as a board. It's just Yeah, there's there's there's some history as to why the statute reads this way. In my understanding. There's, there's, there are, there will be eight votes placed or cast to pick to select the, the appointee. And only three of those are from the district that's going to be represented. And so that's, that's why my, it's my understanding of why the statute is written to say that the select board should be consulted. And most of the folks that will will vote on the appointee don't live in the district that's going to be represented. And so they're, they're, they're maybe some, I mean, you know, an underlying issue while we might want to take at least some, some sort of position. And but you're right, Don, we could, we could certainly just say we're, and that kind of goes along with we don't have any objections to any of the candidates that have been posed and we'll leave it to them. I mean, we don't get a vote anyway. So, yeah. Tracy, go ahead. If, if any other board member feels strongly that there should be a member at the select board meeting or on the selection committee. I would say yes only if there's a member that has children that would be directly affected. Also, you need to be available to participate. Right. So, so Aaron the interviews are on the 31st and then is the discussion is immediately after that or is it will there be another meeting for that. The discussion will be right after the interviews. Okay. Is there anybody who wants to Tracy. Well, I am a parent in the district, but I don't feel as though personally I don't I don't feel as though we need to have a voice in this. So would it be appropriate to make a motion. Sure. Okay. I would move that the select board can they to the school board that we do not raise objection with any of the three candidates and that we recommend or authorize whatever the school board to move ahead with their process as defined. Thanks Tracy. Thanks Don any further discussion. I have to pause here a moment because we did not take public comment. So although it's generally outside our practice to accept public comment after there's a motion on the floor. I do see one hand up in the public. I see two hands up in the public. So I would like to offer them an opportunity to speak as well as a select board okay with that. It's fine Margaret was had asked the question earlier anyway so. Okay, Margaret go ahead. Hi, can you hear me. Yes we can. Okay, thanks. I realized this is out of order with the motion having been made but I'm this feels a lot like what happened on the select board when somebody resigned right after the election. And it feels like, especially if five of the people voting on this are not even in the district. I mean we voted on those are candidates. And now our votes kind of being thrown out. It just feels very, very like political hanky panky. I'm surprised that since one of the candidates was actually on the ballot and did get votes that you didn't just automatically appoint that person instead of going through this whole process. It just feels like it's very uncomfortable feeling, especially with people who are not in our district, getting to vote on our representative. And I would love to see a select board member sitting in on those meetings. So, thank you. I guess to make one thing clear there is a requirement that their appointment be made within 30 days of the select board being notified of the vacancy. And so there really is a there's a very strict time crunch on that. And so there's, there's certainly not adequate time to to warn and hold a new election in that timeframe. And I, and Aaron, I'm not, it's not clear to me that if, well, if the school board doesn't come to a decision, is there an option that you could could call an election. I have to check on that. I mean, I think the new statute actually gives us a few extra days I think we get 35 for some reason, I have to read it again. I have a few more, but you know, I think I don't believe that that has typically been done, but I should should preface that also or add to that that I can certainly find out I would want it to get some some legal. I'm not aware of it in my knowledge in my history but that doesn't mean that it might not have happened.  It doesn't say what happens if I know I think it's I believe it's our, the town charter that tells us that if we don't come to agreement we have to hold a special election. Yeah, I mean we are charged under the statute to to a point. So yeah. Okay, right. Thanks. And Margaret thank you for your comments. Thank you Margaret. The ring. Hi Andy. Hi Aaron. A couple questions. Hi. This is new to me so I'm sorry if I'm I'm a nerd, and I want to understand process process is very important to me. And I don't have children in school but I do have a niece in school so I do kind of follow along. I was just wondering if some of the Genesis so if I'm understanding, Andy if I'm understanding you right there's a new statute that's impacting and why we're having a meeting tonight is it this is not normal this is the first time we're doing this. It's been revised. Yeah. So it, it, it was a statute that was in put in place at the same time that having unified districts with was put in place. And this is the second time that there's been a vacancy on the aspects for school district board that has affected us the first time, none of us were aware of that statute statute that requires this yeah and so the way it rolled out and this is, is Aaron contacted me that that, you know, just before they announced who their, who their selection was and then it was at that point was like, oh gee did we do this right and so we had some conversation, you know, after that happened and fortunately Aaron remind remember that they needed to do more than than simply notify us and that we had a responsibility to and, and we, we did have some Aaron and I, and, and all of our legal counsel has some back and forth about what in consultation with means and there's no there's no clear answer. And if I can just interject Andy, you know, it doesn't help the statute is very vague. You consult, you know, so I think, you know, I certainly, this is, you know, I think there was just a my understanding is there was a sense of you know, certainly we would want to know from the select board if there were any concerns or any injections. So, but I, but I think, then Andy and I kind of wanted to have a deeper understanding with the revision of the statute of okay so what exactly does in consultation mean you know so. So that's where we wanted to say okay let's let's have more of this expanded conversation. So this is learning curve stuff for everyone involved. Yes, and there's no precedent. Right, right. So this is very much learning curve and interpretation and legal interpretations as well. So I'm assuming when you say it's so it's a state statute, and is it in the charter then. It's a state statute. Yes. So is it chartered as well. I don't know. So does that get folded into the charter and wonder even. So there's well charters give you allow you to have exceptions to state law or additional powers that on top of what state law allows you. So this would just be because well because often when you charter something to you just say, Well, whatever the state statute says, you know, but you'll have that in the charter as well so I'm just wondering how that was covered in the charter. And then. Is it just in consultation with the district that the one who stepped down is from or all. Yes. So that's the purpose. If I'm interpreting this right do you think that's the purpose of this meeting then is because in a way, we're not getting a vote, but the consultation would be who we voted into office. Yes. Okay, so that's in and then I heard, and if you can confirm that, and I know if this is statue or policy that typically, and same concept board, when an appointment happens it runs to the, the next election, but that this particular appointment was going to run to the end of the term. Correct. So that feels a little wonky to me. Do you know if that's policy or chartered, or if there's a state statute around that. My understanding is that I don't know if the word is. I'd have to find out for you Lorraine, but my understanding is, I'd have to look at the statute and pull it up but I believe that it is that it. So this term, this is an existing term. The term was vacated at x point in this particular case it was vacated about a third. So there's about two thirds left of the term left. So yes the appointment would then fill the rest of that vacated term. My understanding was that that's not the practice in the past that and the practice in the past was not to the end of the vacated term, but to the actual the next election. So I would love to nail the law on that and what I would want I want to make sure that's checked on because that's a long time to let someone to finish out an appointment in terms of not be able to elect someone. I'm sorry Tracy could Andy. I'm not the chair. Hi Tracy. Yeah, I'm just looking at the statute that we're dealing with unified school district shell appoint a person who is otherwise eligible to serve as a member of the unified union school district board to fill the vacancy until an election is held at an annual or special meeting. Yeah, I know it does say almost otherwise provided in accordance with the articles of agreement so. We are following the statute. But yeah, it this this this may fall into an interpretation area because the select board interprets that to mean until the next election until the end of the term right so we've had a situation right where the seat that Ethan has right now has had three different people in it in each of its three years because we had a. Yeah, because the way the way it's, it's right we appointed somebody and that to chose not to run for the third year of that term. Yeah, but if you read it, it's until the voters elect a successor at an annual. Yeah, or special meeting. Yeah. So I think that's how the board's been doing it. But I think, you know, so I don't, I don't think either one is wrong. I think that's the way the board has been doing it though Aaron might want to check back in the history, and I would love a lawyer to make sure lawyers reviewing that from our board as well not just from the school board, because that it is that is, you know, it. I have both touched base with our legal counsel but we can reach out to them again. And if you could look at past history as well. Yeah, absolutely. And the rain and the select board case where we're basing what we do on our charter language which says the next election. So it does differentiate that the next either or ours explicitly says the next election right and so we we appoint for the remainder of the current year with with the election for the remainder of that term. Yeah, the other concern around all this because there was so much anger and vitriol and we've been to the mill all of us with COVID and certainly how how we seem elected and other things have gone on and everyone's just so stressed out. It also concerns me that we don't as public because it is a public position, don't see the candidate names ahead of time, because it feels like something's being hidden I don't need to know a phone number I don't need to know any personal information. But I do feel like as a member of the public I have a right to know. And I would like that publicized and I was wondering what's behind. I heard what you said Aaron, but it is not a, we're not hiring someone. It's, it's a public office. That's normally an elected position. So to me it doesn't really fall into those rules I hear what you're saying, but I disagree with that and principle, because my concern is part of what has happened through all this. A lot of the anger is around the lack of transparency, and part of building public trust is a is being transparent and if we continue in that vein. I'm concerned that we will go through what we just went through again. And, and I would like that consideration to be heard in full voice because I'm also hearing complaints about even how public comment is taken, when there's hardly anyone there and people are getting cut off. After two minutes when there's no one there when I thought the practice used to be it was like a 15 minute public comment area and then you would divide it by how many people were there to speak. And so, I just want to make sure we're on the path being more transparent. And this is not necessarily looking good right off the bat. So, was your question about the names. Did you say you, I just want to know the name made public. They were made public. I think about a week ago. And how are they made public because they, I believe they were in a couple of publications I know at least the Essex free retorder because they requested that they wouldn't have been published. Have they not requested me that public records request. So, yeah, I mean, they were on the minutes I think for this this meeting as well they were they they've been out in the public. So we were not trying to hide the names from anyone. That's all I want to make sure we were just trying to protect their personal information that they have provided for us. Absolutely. We were trying to do. Yeah, I have no issue with that and I don't. But I think initially we didn't even know the names and that so that's out there in the public domain now for people don't follow that. They still think that that was a problem was just knowing the names. So I just want to let you guys know what the what we're hearing on the ground, because often we're in our own bubbles and we don't know. And I just think we're in a weird time. And it's just really important to be as transparent as possible and communicate out as much as possible. That's why I see like, you know, kudos to Greg and the board for making updates to communication and even allowing the public to opt into information like that, so that when it does go out, we can actually get that information right away, instead of having to go someplace to find it. And I think a lot of that stuff with technology today can help squash some of that feeling that's going on out there in a quick manner. So just some public comments, I appreciate you guys being patient with me, and I appreciate you kind of explaining what's behind why we're doing this. Thanks, Lorraine, and just just to be explicit, the names are Al Bombardier, Megan Humphries, and Jemima Talbot. I appreciate that, that's good. Thank you. Okay. Okay. I don't see any other hands for the public. Any other board member comments based on what was what we heard. Just for a little clarification, they will be appointed for the remainder of the full term versus going through the next annual election. That's the plan. Correct. This is the way the school board is currently interpreting it but I think there was a request different to make sure that that's the intent of the statute. Absolutely. Don, I can give you a little history of when we were the town school board Aaron. And I'm not sure if when you became a union or joined together it changed, but I served on the board school board for us for five years and then left. And then a couple years later there was an opening because somebody resigned and they chose to make it just one year until the following election, which is just what we do as a select board. And that's what we did is a school board. Yeah, and I know the Essex town might have because you guys had a different district, they might have done something different prior to the consolidation too. So I can look into that. That's the way my past experience is being on the high school CTE board before the consolidation. So, but I'm happy to research that absolutely. Yeah, I would add to that, but I think that would be a very good step towards transparency and really consider having another election at the next annual meeting. It's my two cents. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so the motion on the table is to indicate to this select board to the school board we keep getting these board names mixed up to the school board that we have no objection to the three candidates and to have them go through their third normal selection process. And I just want to make sure there's no further discussion. I don't see any hands up. Tracy's not waving at me. So okay, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, motion passes for zero. Aaron, go forward and do your do your duty and make a good selection and we we support what you do. Okay, we're lucky again to have great candidates so I really appreciate you all taking the time I know you just called a special meeting for tonight so I really appreciate your time and and thank you very much. All right, thank you. And I'll report back to Andy on those questions okay. Okay, great thanks so much Aaron. Thank you everybody. Okay, so let's see. That's the last business item we don't need to go into executive session Greg you got anything that you need to want to touch on. No, okay. I make the motion we adjourn. Okay, thank you Don. Second. Thank you candle it's a non debatable motion all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Thank you we're adjourned.


Now, caching resources locally can be great for performance and network resilience, but when your app has to make a request, how do you choose whether to go to the network first or the cache, or maybe ignore the network or cache every time? I'm Sam Dutton, and I'm going to show you how to develop the best strategy for different types of resources. When service workers were first introduced, a set of common caching strategies emerged. A caching strategy is a pattern that determines how a service worker generates a response after receiving a fetch event. In this video, I'll take you through some examples, and at the end show you how to use Workbox to implement these strategies really easily. So the cache-only strategy, well, it only uses the cache. This might seem a bit weird, but it's ideal for anything that you consider static to a particular version of your site. You should have cached these assets in the install event, so you can depend on them being there. The code is pretty simple. You only respond to requests with matches from the cache. Now, of course, in a real-world application, you'd make a decision in the code as to which requests would only get a response from the cache. The opposite approach is network-only. Well, this is right for stuff that has no offline equivalent, such as analytics pings or non-get requests that require a dynamic response from the server. The code here essentially mimics the default browser behavior without a service worker. Again, in a real-world application, you'd use code to choose requests that would be network-only. The cache-first strategy is also known as falling back to the network. The service worker goes to the cache first, and if the resource isn't found, then it goes out to the network. If you're building offline first, this is how you'll handle the majority of requests. Other patterns will be exceptions based on the incoming request. This gives you the cache-only behavior for the things in the cache and the network-only behavior for anything not cached, which includes all those non-get requests that can't be cached. As you can see from the code example, the service worker checks the cache first, returns a response if available, and otherwise makes a fetch request to the network. The network-first strategy you can also think of as being network falling back to cache, and this is ideal as a quick fix for resources that update frequently, no matter what the version of your site. For example, articles, avatars, social media timelines, and game leaderboards.  If a network request succeeds, you'll most likely want to update the cache entry. However, this method has flaws. If the user has an intermittent or slow connection, they'll have to wait for the network to fail before they get the content already on their device, which might be perfectly acceptable, but this can take an extremely long time and is a frustrating user experience. The code example is pretty straightforward, but take a look at the next pattern, cache then network, for a better solution. This approach goes to the cache and to the network, uses the cache response first, and then updates the page and cache once the network responds. This works well for content that updates frequently. The service worker makes two requests, one to the cache, one to the network, and the idea is to show the cached data first and then update the page when, or if, the network data arrives. Sometimes you can just replace the current data when new data arrives, for example a game leaderboard, but that can be disruptive with larger pieces of content. Basically, don't disappear something if the user may be reading it or interacting with it. The code in this example fetches the resource and then updates the resource in the cache and returns it to the page. Note the use of response.clone to allow for efficient memory usage. You can only read a response's body once. Clone is used to create additional copies that can be read separately. This service worker code starts a spinner and initiates a network fetch for the latest data. If the network request returns, the page is updated and a flag is marked, which is network data received, to indicate that the latest data has been received. The code shown here in main.js uses the cache API, since that's available from the window object, to display the existing cached data while waiting for the network data to return. If there's no cached data or the network has already returned, indicated by the network data received flag, we use the network data. If everything fails, an error is displayed. And finally, the spinner display is stopped. The so-called stale while revalidate strategy is ideal for frequently updating resources where having the very latest version is non-essential. Avatar images, for example. So if there's a cached version available, use it, but fetch an update for next time. The code is similar to cache their network, return the cached response immediately and update from the network. However, with this strategy, you don't update the page every time data is returned from the network. You only update the cache, so the new resource will be available on refresh. This could be used for stuff that doesn't need to be immediately up to date, but should be kept relatively fresh, such as third party libraries or avatars. If you fail to serve something from the cache and or the network, you may want to provide a generic fallback. You can use this for default imagery, failed post requests, for example, or to display fallback content when the user is offline. The item you fall back to is likely to be an install dependency. If your page is posting an email, your service worker might fall back to storing the email in local storage out box and respond, letting the page know that the send failed, but the data was successfully retained. The example shown here responds with a fallback page for any request that doesn't get a response from the cache or from the network. Workbox can be used to implement a lot of these strategies really easily. Workbox is a library that bakes in a set of best practices and removes the boilerplate every developer writes when working with service workers. For those of you who might have used SWPrecache and SWToolbox, Workbox is the replacement. Workbox makes writing service workers easier as part of your build process. It abstracts away common patterns and handles a multitude of corner cases. Workbox covers all the strategies I've already mentioned. Now, rather than implementing these strategies by hand, which is difficult and error prone, you can configure them very, very simply with the Workbox library. To use Workbox from your service worker, you first need to import the library from a CDN. Workbox has a built-in router which takes care of responding to requests when certain criteria are met. Here we use a regular expression as the criteria for our route. Workbox has built-in support for common caching strategies so you don't have to write or copy and paste your own response logic. That logic is ready to use right out of the box. Workbox also goes beyond the basics, allowing you to customize the built-in strategies with powerful options like specifying an expiration policy for a given cache. Workbox will take care of cleaning up old entries automatically, instead of them being saved indefinitely on your user's devices. Now, if you want to use the strategies in your own fetch event logic, you can use the strategy classes to run a request through a specific strategy. And this makes Workbox really flexible for implementing your own custom caching logic. You can find out lots more about Workbox and caching strategies from the documentation linked to from this video. And from the accompanying lab and workbook.


Surah 3 of the Holy Quran translated by Muhammad Habib Shaker. This labour-vox recording is in the public domain. Surah 3, the family of Imran, Al Imran, revealed at Medina, in the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. Alif Lam Mim, Allah, there is no God but He, the Ever-living, the Self-subsisting, by whom all things subsist. He has revealed to you the Book with Truth, verifying that which is before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Injil a four-time, a guidance for the people, and He sent the Forkhan. Surely, they who disbelieve in the communications of Allah, they shall have a severe chastisement, and Allah is mighty, the Lord of Retribution. Allah, surely nothing is hidden from Him in the earth or in the heaven. He it is who shapes you in the wombs as He likes. There is no God but He, the Mighty, the Wise. See it is who has revealed the Book to you. Some of its verses are decisive, they are the basis of the Book, and others are allegorical. Then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity, they follow the part of it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead and seeking to give it their own interpretation. None knows its interpretation except Allah, and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge say we believe in it. It is all from our Lord, and none do mind except those having understanding. Our Lord, make not our heart to deviate after Thou hast guided us aright, and grant us from Thee mercy, surely Thou art the most liberal giver. Our Lord, surely Thou art the gatherer of men on a day about which there is no doubt. Surely Allah will not fail His promise. As for those who disbelieve, surely neither their wealth nor their children shall avail them in the least, against Allah, and these it is who are the fuel of the fire, like the striving of the people of Faran and those before them. They rejected our communications, so Allah destroyed them on account of their faults, and Allah is severe in requiting evil. Say to those who disbelieve, you shall be vanquished, and driven together to hell, and evil is the resting place. Indeed, there was a sign for you in the two hosts, which met together in encounter, one party fighting in the way of Allah, and the other unbelieving, whom they saw twice as many as themselves, with the sight of the eye, and Allah strengthens with His aid whom He pleases. Most surely there is a lesson in this for those who have sight. The love of desires of women and sons, and hoarded treasures of gold and silver, and well bred horses, and cattle, and tilth, is made to seem fair to men. This is the provision of the life of this world, and Allah is He with whom is the good goal of life. Say shall I tell you what is better than these? For those who guard against evil are gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow to abide in them, and pure mates, and Allah's pleasure, and Allah sees the servants. Those who say, our Lord, surely we believe, therefore forgive us our faults, and save us from the chastisement of the fire. The patient, and the truthful, and the obedient, and those who spend benevolently, and those who ask forgiveness in the morning times. Allah bears witness that there is no God but He, and so do the angels and those possessed of knowledge, maintaining His creation with justice. There is no God but He, the mighty, the wise. Surely the true religion with Allah is Islam, and those to whom the book had been given did not show opposition, but after knowledge had come to them, out of envy among themselves, and whoever disbelieves in the communications of Allah, then surely Allah is quick in reckoning. But if they dispute with you, say, I have submitted myself entirely to Allah, and so everyone who follows me, and say to those who have been given the book, and the unlearned people, do you submit yourselves? So if they submit, then indeed they follow the right way, and if they turn back, then upon you is only the delivery of the message, and Allah sees the servants. Surely as for those who disbelieve in the communications of Allah, and slay the prophets unjustly, and slay those among men who enjoy injustice, announce to them a painful chastisement. Those are they whose works shall become null in this world, as well as the hereafter, and they shall have no helpers. Have you not considered those Jews who are given a portion of the book? They are invited to the book of Allah, that it might decide between them, then a part of them turn back and they withdraw. This is because they say, the fire shall not touch us but for a few days, and what they have forged deceives them in the matter of their religion, then how will it be when we shall gather them together on a day about which there is no doubt, and every soul shall be fully paid what it has earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. Say, O Allah, master of the kingdom, thou givest the kingdom to whomsoever thou pleasest, and takeest away the kingdom from whomsoever thou pleasest, and thou exaltest whom thou pleasest, and abasest whom thou pleasest, in thine hand is the good. Surely thou hast power over all things. Thou makest the night to pass into the day, and thou makest the day to pass into the night, and thou bringest forth the living from the dead, and thou bringest forth the dead from the living, and thou givest sustenance to whom thou pleasest without measure. Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers, and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of the guardianship of Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully, and Allah makes you cautious of retribution from himself, and to Allah is the eventual coming. Say, whether you hide what is in your heart, or manifest it, Allah knows it, and he knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth, and Allah has power over all things. On the day that every soul shall find present, what it has done of good, and what it has done of evil, it shall wish that between it and that evil there were a long duration of time, and Allah makes you to be cautious of retribution from himself, and Allah is compassionate to the servants. Say, if you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your faults, and Allah is forgiving, merciful. Say, obey Allah and the messenger, but if they turn back, then surely Allah does not love the unbelievers. Surely Allah chose Adam and Noah and the descendants of Ibrahim and the descendants of Imran above the nations. Offspring one of the other, and Allah is hearing, knowing. When a woman of Imran said, my lord, surely I vow to thee what is in my womb, to be devoted to thy service, except therefore from me surely thou art the hearing, the knowing. So when she brought forth, she said, my lord, surely I have brought it forth a female, and Allah knew best what she brought forth, and the male is not like the female, and I have named it Maryam, and I commend her and her offspring into thy protection from the accursed shaitan. So her lord accepted her with a good acceptance, and made her grow up a good growing, and gave her into the charge of Zakaria. Whenever Zakaria entered the sanctuary, to see her he found with her food. He said, O Maryam, whence comes this to you? She said, it is from Allah, surely Allah gives to whom he pleases without measure. There did Zakaria pray to his lord. He said, my lord, grant me from thee good offspring, surely thou art the hearer of prayer. Then the angels called to him as he stood praying in the sanctuary, that Allah gives you the good news of Yahya, verifying a word from Allah, and honorable and chaste and a prophet from among the good ones. He said, my lord, when shall there be a son born to me, and old age has already come upon me, and my wife is barren? He said, even thus does Allah what he pleases. He said, my lord, appoint a sign for me. Said he, your sign is that you should not speak to men for three days except by signs. And remember your lord much, and glorify him in the evening and the morning. And when the angels said, O Maryam, surely Allah has chosen you and purified you, and chosen you above the women of the world, O Maryam, keep to the obedience to your lord and humble yourself, and bow down with those who bow. This is of the announcement relating to the unseen which we reveal to you, and you were not with them when they cost their pens to decide which of them should have Maryam in his charge, and you were not with them when they contented one with another. When the angels said, O Maryam, surely Allah gives you good news with a word from him of one whose name is the Messiah, Isa son of Maryam, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near to Allah. And he shall speak to the people when in their cradle, and when of old age, and he shall be one of the good ones. She said, My lord, when shall there be a son born to I me? And man has not touched me. He said, even so Allah creates what he pleases. When he has decreed a matter, he only says to it be and it is, and he will teach him the book and the wisdom, and the Torah and the Ingeel, and make him a messenger to the children of Israel, that I have come to you with a sign from your lord, that I determine for you out of dust like the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird with Allah's permission, and I heal the blind and the leperous and bring the dead to life with Allah's permission, and I inform you of what you should eat and what you should store in your houses. Most surely there is a sign in this for you, if you are believers, and a verifier of that which is before me of the Torah and that I may allow you part of that which has been forbidden to you, and I have come to you with a sign from your lord, therefore be careful of your duty to Allah and obey me. Surely Allah is my lord and your lord, therefore serve him, this is the right path. But when Isa perceived unbelief on their part, he said, Who will be my helpers in Allah's way? The disciples said, We are helpers in the way of Allah. We believe in Allah and bear witness that we are submitting ones. Our lord, we believe in what Thou hast revealed, and we follow the messenger, so write us down with those who bear witness. And they planned, and Allah also planned, and Allah is the best of planners. And when Allah said, O Isa, I am going to terminate the period of your stay on earth, and cause you to ascend unto me and purify you of those who disbelieve, and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection. Then to me shall be your return, so I will decide between you concerning that in which you differed. Then as to those who disbelieve, I will chastise them with severe chastisement in this world and the hereafter, and they shall have no helpers. And as to those who believe and do good deeds, he will pay them fully the rewards, and Allah does not love the unjust. This we recite to you of the communications and the wise reminder. Surely the likeness of Isa is with Allah as the likeness of Adam. He created him from dust, then he said to him, Be, and he was. This is the truth from your Lord, so be not of the disputers. But whoever disputes with you in this matter, after what has come to you of knowledge, then say, Come, let us call our sons, and your sons, and our women, and your women, and our near people, and your near people. Then let us be earnest in prayer, and pray for the curse of Allah on the liars. Most surely this is the true explanation, and there is no God but Allah, and most surely Allah He is the Mighty, the Wise. But if they turn back, then surely Allah knows the mischief-makers. Say, O followers of the Book, come to an equitable preposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but Allah, and that we shall not associate oud with Him, and that some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allah. But if they turn back, then say, Bear witness that we are Muslims. O followers of the Book, why do you dispute about Ibrahim, when the Torah and the Injeel were not revealed till after him? Do you not then understand? Behold, you are they who disputed about that of which you had knowledge. Why then do you dispute about that of which you have no knowledge, and Allah knows why you do not know? Ibrahim was not a Jew nor a Christian, but he was an upright man, a Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists. Most surely the nearest of people to Ibrahim are those who followed him and this prophet, and those who believe and Allah is the guardian of the believers. A party of the followers of the Book desire that they should lead you astray and they lead not astray but themselves, and they do not perceive. O followers of the Book, why do you disbelieve in the communications of Allah while you witness them? O followers of the Book, why do you confound the truth with the falsehood and hide the truth while you know? And a party of the followers of the Book say, Avau believe in that which has been revealed to those who believe, in the first part of the day, and disbelieve at the end of it. Perhaps they go back on their religion, and do not believe but in him who follows your religion. Say surely the true guidance is the guidance of Allah, that one may be given by him the like of what you were given, or they would contend with you by an argument before your Lord. Say surely grace is in the hand of Allah, he gives it to whom he pleases and Allah is ample giving, knowing. He especially chooses for his mercy whom he pleases, and Allah is the Lord of mighty grace. And among the followers of the Book, there are some such that if you entrust one of them with a heap of wealth, he shall pay it back to you. And among them there are some such that if you entrust one of them with a dinar, he shall not pay it back to you except so long as you remain firm in demanding it. This is because they say, there is not upon us in the matter of the unlearned people any way to reproach, and they tell a lie against Allah while they know. Yea, whoever fulfills his promise and guards against evil, then surely Allah loves those who guard against evil. As for those who take a small price for the covenant of Allah and their own oath, surely they shall have no portion in the hereafter, and Allah will not speak to them, nor will he look upon them on the day of resurrection, nor will he purify them, and they shall have a painful chastisement. Surely there is a party amongst those who distort the Book, with their tongue that you may consider it to be a part of the Book, and they say it is from Allah, while it is not from Allah, and they tell a lie against Allah whilst they know. It is not made for a mortal, that Allah should give him the Book and the wisdom and prophet Then he should say to men, be my servants rather than Allah's, but rather he would say, be worshippers of the Lord because of your teaching the Book and your reading it yourselves, and neither would he enjoy you that you should take the angels and the prophets for lords. What would he enjoy you with unbelief after you are Muslims? And when Allah made a covenant through the prophets, certainly what I have given you of Book and Wisdom, then a messenger comes to you verifying that which is with you, you must believe in him, and you must aid him. He said, do you affirm and accept my compact in this matter? They said, we do affirm. He said, then bear witness, and I too am of the bearers of witness with you. Whoever therefore turns back after this, these it is that are the transgressors. Is it then other than Allah's religion that they seek to follow, and to him submits whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and to him shall they be returned, say, we believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqub and the tribes, and what was given to Musa and Aisa and to the prophets from their Lord. We do not make any distinction between any of them, and to him do we submit. And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers. How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their believing, and after they had borne witness that the messenger was true and clear arguments had come to them? And Allah does not guide the unjust people. As for these, the reward is that upon them is the curse of Allah and the angels and of men, all together. Abiding in it their chastisement shall not be lightened nor shall they be respited, except those who repent after that and amend. Then surely Allah is forgiving, merciful, surely those who disbelieve after their believing then increase in unbelief, their repentance shall not be accepted, and these are they that go astray. Surely those who disbelieve and die while they are unbelievers, the earth full of gold shall not be accepted from one of them, though he should offer to ransom himself with it. This it is who shall have a painful chastisement, and they shall have no helpers. By no means shall you attain to righteousness until you spend benevolently out of what you love, and whatever thing you spend, Allah surely knows it. All food was loaful to the children of Israel, except that which Israel had forbidden to himself. Before the Torah was revealed, say bring then the Torah, and read it if you are truthful. Then whoever fabricates a lie against Allah after this, these it is that are the unjust. Say Allah has spoken the truth, therefore follow the religion of Ibrahim, the upright one, and he was not one of the polytheists. Surely the first house appointed for men is the one at Baqqa, blessed and a guidance for the nations. In it are clear signs, the standing place of Ibrahim and whoever enters it shall be secure, and pilgrimage to the house is incumbent upon men for the sake of Allah, upon everyone who is able to undertake the journey to it, and whoever disbelieves, then surely Allah is self-sufficient above any need of the world. Say O followers of the Book, why do you disbelieve in the communications of Allah, and Allah is a witness of what you do? Say O followers of the Book, why do you hinder him who believes from the way of Allah? You seek to make it crooked while you are witness, and Allah is not heedless of what you do.  But how can you disbelieve while it is you to whom the communications of Allah are recited? And among you is his messenger, and whoever holds fast to Allah, he indeed is guided to the right path. O you who believe, be careful of your duty to Allah with the care which is due to him, and do not die unless you are Muslims. And hold fast by the covenant of Allah altogether, and be not disunited. And remember the favour of Allah on you when you were enemies.  Then he saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you his communications that you may follow the right way. And from among you there should be a party who invite to good and enjoying what is right and forbid the wrong, and these it is that shall be successful. And be not like those who became divided and disagreed after clear arguments had come to them, and these it is that shall have a grievous chastisement. On the day when some faces shall turn white, and some faces shall turn black, then as to those whose faces turn black, did you disbelieve after your believing? Taste therefore the chastisement, because you disbelieved. And as to those whose faces turn white, they shall be in Allah's mercy. In it they shall abide. These are the communications of Allah which we recite to you with truth. And Allah does not desire any injustice to the creatures. And whatever is in the heavens, and whatever is in the earth is Allah's. And to Allah all things return. You are the best of the nations raised up for the benefit of men. You enjoying what is right and forbid the wrong, and believe in Allah. And if the followers of the book had believed it, would have been better for them. Of them some are believers, and most of them are transgressors. They shall by no means harm you but with a slight evil.  Then shall they not be helped. Abasement is made to cleave to them wherever they are found, except under a covenant with Allah, and a covenant with men, and they have become deserving of wrath from Allah. And humiliation is made to cleave to them. This is because they disbelieved in the communications of Allah, and slew the prophets unjustly. This is because they disobeyed and exceeded the limits. They are not all alike. Of the followers of the book, there is an upright party. They recite Allah's communications in the night time, and they adore Him. They believe in Allah and the last day, and they enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong. And they strive with one another, in hastening to good deeds, and those are among the good. And whatever good they do, they shall not be denied it. And Allah knows those who guard against evil. As for those who disbelieve, surely neither their wealth nor their children shall avail them in the least against Allah. And these are the inmates of the fire, therein they shall abide. The likeness of what they spend in the life of this world is as the likeness of wind in which is intense cold that smites the sea produce of a people who have done injustice to their souls and destroys it. And Allah is not unjust to them, but they are unjust to themselves. O you who believe, do not take for the inmate friends from among others than your own people. They do not fall short of inflicting loss upon you. They love what distresses you. vehement hatred has already appeared from out of their mouth. And what their breasts conceal is greater still. Indeed, we have made the communications clear to you if you will understand. Lo, you are they who will love them while they do not love you. And you believe in the book in the whole of it. And when they meet you, they say, we believe. And when they are alone, they bite the ends of their fingers in rage against you.  Surely Allah knows what is in the breasts. If good befells you, it grieves them.  And if you are patient and guard yourselves, their scheme will not injure you in any way. Surely Allah comprehends what they do. And when you did go forth early in the morning, from your family to lodge the believers in encampments, for war and Allah is hearing, knowing. When two parties from among you had determined that they should show cowardice, and Allah was the guardian of them both, and in Allah should the believers trust. And Allah did certainly assist you at Badr when you were weak. Be careful of your duty to Allah, then that you may give thanks. When you said to the believers, does it not suffice you that your Lord should assist you with three thousand of the angels sent down? Yea, if you remain patient and are on your guard, and they come upon you in a head-long manner, your Lord will assist you with five thousand of the havoc-making angels. And Allah did not make it but as good news for you, and that your hearts might be at ease thereby, and victory is only from Allah the mighty, the wise. That He may cut off a portion from among those who disbelieve or abase them so that they should return disappointed of attaining what they desired. You have no concern in the affair whether He turns to them mercifully or chastises them, for surely they are unjust. And whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is Allah's. He forgives whom He pleases, and chastises whom He pleases, and Allah is forgiving, merciful. O you who believe, do not devour usury, make it double and redouble, and be careful of your duty to Allah that you may be successful, and guard yourselves against the fire which has been prepared for the unbelievers, and obey Allah and the messenger that you may be shown mercy, and hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden, the extensiveness of which is as the heavens and the earth.  As for these, the reward is forgiveness from the Lord, and gardens beneath which rivers flow to abide in them, and excellence is the reward of the laborers. Indeed there have been examples before you, therefore travel in the earth and see what was the end of the rejecters. This is a clear statement for men, and a guidance and an admonition to those who guard against evil, and be not infirm and be not grieving, and you shall have the upper hand if you are believers. If a wound has afflicted you at Uhud, a wound like it has also afflicted the unbelieving people, and we bring these days to men by turns, and that Allah may know those who believe and take witnesses from among you, and Allah does not love the unjust, and that He may purge those who believe and deprive the unbelievers of blessings. Do you think that you will enter the garden, while Allah has not yet known those who strive hard from among you, and He has not known the patient? And certainly you desired death before you met it. So indeed you have seen it, and you look at it. And Muhammad is no more than a messenger. The messengers have already passed away before him. If then he dies or is killed, will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to Allah in the least, and Allah will reward the grateful. And a soul will not die but with the permission of Allah, the term is fixed. And whoever desires the reward of this world, I shall give him of it. And whoever desires the reward of the hereafter, I shall give him of it. And I will reward the grateful. And how many a prophet has fought with whom were many worshippers of the Lord, so they did not become weak-hearted on account of what befell them in Allah's way, nor did they weaken, nor did they abase themselves, and Allah loves the patient. And their saying was no other than that they said, Our Lord, forgive us our faults and our extravagance in our affair, and make firm our feet and help us against the unbelieving people. So Allah gave them the reward of this world and better reward of the hereafter, and Allah loves those who do good to others.  Nay, Allah is your patron, and he is the best of the helpers. We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they set up with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and there abode is the fire, and evil is the abode of the unjust. And certainly Allah made good to you His promise, when you slew them by His permission, until when you became weak-hearted and disputed about the affair, and disobeyed after He had shown you that which you loved.  Then He turned you away from them, that He might try you. And He has certainly pardoned you, and Allah is gracious to the believers, when you ran off precipitately, and did not wait for anyone, and the messenger was calling you from your rear, so He gave you another sorrow instead of your sorrow, so that you might not grieve at what had escaped you, nor at what befell you, and Allah is aware of what you do. Then after sorrow He sent down security upon you, a calm coming upon a party of you, and there was another party whom their own souls had rendered anxious. They entertained about Allah thoughts of ignorance quite unjustly, saying, We have no hand in the affair. Say, Surely the affair is holy in the hands of Allah. They conceal within their souls what they would not reveal to you. They say, Had we any hand in the affair, we would not have been slain here. Had you remained in your houses, those for whom slaughter was ordained would certainly have gone forth to the places where they would be slain. And that Allah might test what was in your breasts, and that He might purge what was in your hearts, and Allah knows what is in the breasts. As for those of you who turn back on the day when the two armies met, only the shaitan thought to cause them to make a slip on account of some deeds they had done. And certainly Allah has pardoned them. Surely Allah is forgiving, forbearing. O you who believe, be not like those who disbelieve and say of their brethren when they travel in the earth or engage in fighting. Had they been with us, they would not have died, and they would not have been slain.  And Allah gives life and causes death, and Allah sees what you do. And if you are slain in the way of Allah, or you die, certainly forgiveness from Allah and mercy is better than what they amass.  Thus it is due to mercy from Allah that you deal with them gently. And had you been rough, heart-hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around you. Forgive them therefore and ask pardon for them, and take counsel with them in the affair. So when you have decided, then place your trust in Allah. Surely Allah loves those who trust. If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome you. And if He forsakes you, who is there then that can assist you after Him? And on Allah should the believers rely? And it is not attributable to a prophet that he should act unfaithfully. And he who acts unfaithfully shall bring that in respect of which he has acted unfaithfully on the Day of Resurrection. Then shall every soul be paid back fully what it has earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. This then he who follows the pleasure of Allah like him, who has made himself deserving of this pleasure from Allah, and his abode is Hell, and it is an evil destination. There are varying grades with Allah, and Allah sees what they do. Certainly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them a messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them, and teaching them the book and the wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error. What? When a misfortune befell you, and you had certainly afflicted the unbelievers with twice as much, you began to say, when is this? Say it is from yourselves, surely Allah has power over all things. And what befell you on the day when the two armies met at Uhud was with Allah's knowledge, and that he might know the believers, and that he might know the hypocrites, and it was said to them, come, fight in Allah's way, or defend yourselves. They said, if we knew fighting, we would certainly have followed you. They were on that day much neater to unbelief than to belief. They say with their mouths what is not in their hearts, and Allah best knows what they conceal. Those who said of their brethren, whilst they themselves held back, have they obeyed us, they would not have been killed. Say, then avert death from yourselves if you speak the truth, and reckon not those who are killed in Allah's way as dead, nay, they are alive, and are provided sustenance from their Lord, rejoicing in what Allah has given them out of His grace, and they rejoice for the sake of those who being left behind them, have not yet joined them, that they shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice on account of favor from Allah and His grace, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the believers. As for those who responded at Ahut to the call of Allah and the Messenger, after the wound had befallen them, those among them who do good to others, and guard against evil shall have a great reward. Those to whom the people said, surely men have gathered against you, therefore fear them, but this increased their faith, and they said Allah is sufficient for us, and most excellent is the Protector. So they returned with favor from Allah and His grace, no evil touched them, and they followed the pleasure of Allah, and Allah is the Lord of mighty grace. It is only the shaitan that causes you to fear from his friends, but do not fear them, and fear me if you are believers. And let not those grieve you who fall into unbelief hastily, surely they can do no harm to Allah at all. Allah intends that he should not give them any portion in the hereafter, and they shall have aggrievous chastisement. Surely those who have put unbelief at the price of faith shall do no harm at all to Allah, and they shall have a painful chastisement.  We grant them respite only that they may add to their sins, and they shall have a disgraceful chastisement.  Therefore, believe in Allah and His messengers, and if you believe and guard against evil, then you shall have a great reward. And let not those deem who are niggeredly in giving away that which Allah has granted them out of His grace, that it is good for them, nay, it is worse for them. They shall have that whereof they were niggeredly made to cleave to their necks. On the resurrection day, and Allah's is the heritage of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is aware of what you do. Allah has certainly heard the saying of those who said, Surely Allah is poor and we are rich. I will record what they say, and they are killing the prophets unjustly. And I will say, taste the chastisement of burning. This is for what your own hands have sent before, and because Allah is not in the least unjust to the servants. Those are they who said, Surely Allah has enjoined us that we should not believe in any messenger until he brings us an offering which the fire consumes. Say, Indeed, there came to you messengers before me with clear arguments and with that which you demand. Why then did you kill them if you are truthful? But if they reject you, so indeed were rejected before you messengers who came with clear arguments and scriptures and the illuminating book.  Then whoever is removed far away from the fire and is made to enter the garden, he indeed has attained the object and the life of this world is nothing but a provision of vanities. You shall certainly be tried respecting your wealth and your souls. And you shall certainly hear from those who have been given the book before you and from those who are polytheists. Much annoying talk. And if you are patient and guard against evil, surely this is one of the affairs which should be determined upon. And when Allah made a covenant with those who were given the book, you shall certainly make it known to men and you shall not hide it. But they cast it behind their backs and took a small price for it. So evil is that which they buy. Do not think those who rejoice for what they have done and love that they should be praised for what they have not done. To do by no means, think them to be saved from the chastisement and they shall have a painful chastisement. And Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and Allah has power over all things. Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, there are signs for men who understand. Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth, our Lord thou hast not created disinvain. Glory be to thee, save us then from the chastisement of the fire. Our Lord, surely whomsoever thou makest enter the fire, him thou hast indeed brought to disgrace, and there shall be no helpers for the unjust. Our Lord, surely we have heard a preacher calling to the faith, saying, Believe in your Lord, so we did believe. Our Lord, forgive us therefore our faults and cover our evil deeds and make us die with the righteous. Our Lord, and grant us what thou hast promised us by thy messengers, and disgrace us not on the day of resurrection. Surely thou doubts not fail to perform the promise.  They therefore who fled and were turned out of their homes and persecuted in my way, and who fought and were slain, I will most certainly cover their evil deeds, and I will most certainly make them enter gardens beneath which rivers flow. A reward from Allah and with Allah is yet better reward. Let it not deceive you that those who disbelieve go to and fro in the cities fearlessly.  But as to those who are careful of their duty to their Lord, they shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding in them. Then entertainment from their Lord, and that which is with Allah is best for the righteous. And most surely of the followers of the book, there are those who believe in Allah and in that which has been revealed to you, and in that which has been revealed to them. Being lowly before Allah, they do not take a small price for the communications of Allah, these it is that have their reward with their Lord. Surely Allah is quick in reckoning. O you who believe, be patient and excel in patience, and remain steadfast and be careful of your duty to Allah that you may be successful. End of Sura 3


Hello everybody, E here. Welcome back to another book review before we jump into this and he lets you know that this book that I will be reviewing today where the truth lies by Anna Bailey with Sentome for review by Atria Publishing. Now on with the review. First place I'm going to start off with is if you are a fan of Ron Rash, David Joy trying to think of more Asakins, maybe not Asakins, I think he's more thrillery. I'm not sure. I haven't read enough of these guys to know. Definitely David Joy or Megan Lucas. She wrote Songbirds and Stray Dogs or Stray Dogs and Songbirds. It's one of the other. But if you are a fan of any of those authors, you definitely need to check this one out. It's not as much Hicklet as David Joy, but it, okay, let me say this. The author, I believe is British. Yes, Anna Bailey was born in Bristol in 1995 and spent her childhood in Gloucestershire. Is that right? I'm sure my Brit folks will let me know down there in the doobly-doo. Anyways, I'm going to go ahead and set this down. By the way, this is out on August 3, 2020, 15 days before my birthday. Where this book excels more than anything else is with the characters. I look for character, pacing, and dread in everything that I read. I used to say I only look for it in horror, but pretty much everything I read. And as far as dread, if it's not horror, there has to be some kind of conflict that keeps me interested. The pacing has to be on point means it doesn't really have to blow along, but there has to be something happening. And with the characters, characters are usually my number one. If I can't gel with the characters, man, I'm out. And in this one, I loved all of the characters, but I have to say that my favorite character was Rat. He's a young traveling nomad personality. He falls in love with one of the boys in the small town. And that's only a very small subplot of the main overarching plot, which is about a young woman who disappears and the family in the whole town is looking for her. The dynamic and the relationships between these people is absolutely fascinating. This book could have had nothing going on and I would have been interested in what these characters did and said. Another beautiful aspect of this book is the writing. Anna Bailey is obviously talented. I don't want to rush at the cliche that doesn't feel like a debut, but it doesn't. It feels like Bailey is a seasoned author. It felt like she knew what she was doing, but I am most impressed with the fact that she is British and she nailed rural America. And at no point in time did I go, well, that just wouldn't have been said or that wouldn't have happened or these people reacted the wrong way or any of that stuff. I was amazed, especially having read quite a bit of British literature, I was amazed because you don't find those aspects, those rural American aspects in British literature. Not that I found. Last time I was disimpressed with a non-American writing American stories was John Connolly because he's Irish and none of his stuff, well, all of his stuff reads as if he were an American, you know, that he was a native to this country. Anywho, I really cannot say enough about this book, but I believe what makes this one so strong, the writing, the characters, all that stuff. I don't want to talk too much about the plot because it is so twisty, turny that I fear that I will spoil something even without thinking about it. I've done that a couple times where I've been like, I don't want to spoil it. And then I talk about a certain aspect and they're like, I thought you didn't want to talk about spoilers. And they were, of course, right. But so with this one, there's a lot of stuff going on. There's a damn near, the second half of the book, there's like a plot twist on almost every page. One thing I'll say is you guys might, you guys might be split on whether or not you like the ending. I say this because I spoke to another person about this who had read it and they brought up that they wanted a more conclusive ending. I thought the ending was perfectly conclusive. I don't think the ending was open at all. The reason why I say this, and if the person I spoke to, there's a reason I'm not naming them, but the person I spoke to is watching. I feel like the scene at the end was conclusive because it was there. I don't see any other reason for that last chapter to have been there unless a certain conclusion could have been come to you, unless you, you know, arrived. The only reason for it to be there is to make you arrive at a certain conclusion. I think I said that, right? Otherwise, what's the purpose of it? If it's vague, if it is a vague ending, why put that last chapter there? But that's really, unfortunately, all I have to say about this book because when I review books that I absolutely love, I just don't have much to say. I mean, it's always the case and I've always been this way. You can go back and look at all of my videos.  Anytime I love a book, you're looking, you're definitely looking at under, under 10, under 10 minutes. I am impressed by the recent output from Atria Publishing. There was the other black girl. In fact, I've been impressed for a while, but the other black girl this year followed by where the truth lies. The other black girl was Zacchia Delilah Harris and Anna Bailey where the truth lies. Both of those books are on my, so far right now, they're fighting for top, for contender for top book of the year. That's how much I'm enjoying Atria's output this year. The new Connolly comes out this year too. I mean, we just got, we got so much good stuff coming from them. I'm just assuming, you know, the Connolly is going to be good because he has a good track record. But I'm impressed with their output, consistently impressed. I am also impressed with the fact that no matter whether or not, whether I review their books positively or negatively, they keep sending me books. So they obviously respect me as a reviewer. I respect them as a company. And I dig it. So if you're looking for something, I know people don't browse publishers too often, but if you're looking for something to try a new, maybe a new publisher, give Atria, they're not new by any shape or form, but give them a try. I mean, I've loved almost everything I've read from them. There's been, there's been a few misses. But it seems like with Atria, all I do is one stars or five stars and it's mostly the five stars. But every company's going to miss every now and again, but they have been on it here lately. The last thing I want to leave with is a trigger warning. I'm laughing, there's a reason why I'm laughing at that use of it. So I'm going to give a trigger warning to the conservative minded folks, the folks that don't like social justice in their, in their books or don't like, we already mentioned there, the rat and his boyfriend. So if any of those things, for some odd reason, you know, get your goat and you don't want to deal with it, whatever, don't read this book. But then everybody else, if you are more along the lines of love is love, people are people, you're probably going to dig this book. There's a lot of back and forth. You never, never really knew what was going on until the end. And I really, really enjoyed that. But as far as this review, this review been over. So have you read where the truth lies by Anna Bailey? If you have, let me know whether or not you liked it, loved it, hated it, all that stuff down in the doobly-doo, but tell me why you loved it, liked it, hated it or any of those things so that we can have a discussion. Until next time, I have an E, you have an U, this has been another book review. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye bye.