English - Chapter 43 - Az-Zukhruf

Ha Mim

By the Book which makes things clear

We have made it an Arabic Qur´an so that hopefully you will use your intellect

It is in the Source Book with Us, high-exalted, full of wisdom

Shall We then deprive you of the Reminder for being a profligate people

How many Prophets We sent to the previous peoples

But no Prophet came to them without their mocking him

and so We destroyed people with greater power than they have and the pattern of the previous peoples has gone before

If you were to ask them, ´Who created the heavens and the earth?´ they would reply, ´The Almighty, the All-Knowing created them.´

It is He who made the earth a cradle for you and made pathways for you in it so that hopefully you would be guided

It is He who sends down water in due measure from the sky by which We bring a dead land back to life. That is how you too will be brought forth

It is He who created all the species and gave you ships and livestock for you to ride

so that you might sit firmly on their backs and remember your Lord´s blessing while you are seated on them, saying, ´Glory be to Him who has subjected this to us. We could never have done it by ourselves

Indeed we are returning to our Lord!´

They have assigned to Him a portion of His creatures! Truly man is openly ungrateful

Has He then taken daughters from what He has created and chosen sons for you

When any of them is given the good news of the very thing which he himself has ascribed to the All-Merciful his face darkens and he is furious

´What! Someone brought up among pretty trinkets who cannot produce a cogent argument!´

They have designated the angels as female, those who are in the presence of the All-Merciful! Were they present to witness their creation? Their testimony will be recorded and they will be asked about it

They say, ´If the All-Merciful had so willed, we would not have worshipped them.´ They have no knowledge of that. They are only conjecturing

Or did We give them a Book before, which they are holding to

No, in fact they say, ´We found our fathers following a religion and we are simply guided in their footsteps.´

Similarly We never sent any warner before you to any city without the affluent among them saying, ´We found our fathers following a religion and we are simply following in their footsteps.´

Say: ´What if I have come with better guidance than what you found your fathers following?´ They say, ´We reject what you have been sent with.´

So We took revenge on them. And see the final fate of the deniers

When Ibrahim said to his father and his people, ´I am free of everything you worship

except for Him who brought me into being, Who will certainly guide me,´

he made it an on-going word among his descendants so that perhaps they might turn back

I let those people and their forefathers enjoy themselves until the truth came to them and a Messenger to make it clear

But when the truth came to them they said, ´This is magic and we reject it.´

They say, ´Why was this Qur´an not sent down to one of the great men of the two cities?´

Is it, then, they who allocate the mercy of your Lord? We have allocated their livelihood among them in the life of the dunya and raised some of them above others in rank so that some of them are subservient to others. But the mercy of your Lord is better than anything they amass

Were it not that mankind might all become one community, We would have given those who reject the All-Merciful silver roofs to their houses and silver stairways to ascend

and silver doors to their houses and silver couches on which to recline

and gold ornaments. All that is merely the trappings of the life of this world. But the Next World with your Lord is for those who have taqwa

If someone shuts his eyes to the remembrance of the All-Merciful, We assign him a shaytan who becomes his bosom friend —

they debar them from the path, yet they still think they are guided —

so that, when he reaches Us, he says, ´If only there was the distance of the two Easts between you and me!´ What an evil companion

It will not benefit you today, since you did wrong, that you share equally in the punishment

Can you make the dead hear or guide the blind and those who are patently misguided

Either We will extricate you and take revenge on them

or let you see what We have promised them. They are completely in Our power

So hold fast to what has been revealed to you. You are on a straight path

It is certainly a reminder to you and to your people and you will be questioned

Ask those We sent before you as Our Messengers: Have We ever designated any gods to be worshipped besides the All-Merciful

We sent Musa with Our Signs to Pharaoh and his nobles. He said, ´I am the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds.´

But when he came to them with Our Signs, they merely laughed at them

We showed them no Sign which was not greater than the one before it. We seized them with punishment so that hopefully they would turn back

They said, ´Magician, invoke your Lord for us by the contract He has made with you and we shall certainly follow the guidance.´

But when We removed the punishment from them, they immediately broke their word

Pharaoh called to his people, saying, ´My people, does the kingdom of Egypt not belong to me? Do not all these rivers flow under my control? Do you not then see

Am I not better than this man who is contemptible and can scarcely make anything clear

Why have gold bracelets not been put upon his arms and why is there not a train of angels accompanying him?´

In that way he swayed his people and they succumbed to him. They were a people of deviators

Then when they had provoked Our wrath, We took revenge on them and drowned every one of them

We made them a thing of the past, an example for later peoples

When an example is made of the son of Maryam your people laugh uproariously

They retort, ´Who is better then, our gods or him?´ They only say this to you for argument´s sake. They are indeed a disputatious people

He is only a slave on whom We bestowed Our blessing and whom We made an example for the tribe of Israel

If We wished We could appoint angels in exchange for you to succeed you on the earth

He is a Sign of the Hour. Have no doubt about it. But follow me. This is a straight path

Do not let Shaytan bar your way. He truly is an outright enemy to you

And when ´Isa came with the Clear Signs, he said, ´I have come to you with Wisdom and to clarify for you some of the things about which you have differed. Therefore have taqwa of Allah and obey me

Allah is my Lord and your Lord so worship Him. This is a straight path.´

The various factions among them differed. Woe then to those who did wrong on account of the punishment of a painful Day

What are they waiting for, but the Hour to come upon them suddenly when they are not expecting it

On that Day the closest friends will be enemies to one another — except for those who have taqwa

´My slaves, you will feel no fear today; you will know no sorrow.´

As for those who had iman in Our Signs and became Muslims

´Enter the Garden, you and your wives, delighting in your joy.´

Platters and cups of gold will passed around among them and they will have there all that their hearts desire and their eyes find delight in. You will remain in it timelessly, for ever

There will be many fruits in it for you to eat

The evildoers will remain timelessly, for ever, in the punishment of Hell

It will not be eased for them. They will be crushed there by despair

We have not wronged them; it was they who were wrongdoers

They will call out, ´Malik, let your Lord put an end to us!´ He will say, ´You will stay the way you are.´

We brought you the truth but most of you hated the truth

Or have they hatched a plot? It is We who are the Hatcher

Or do they imagine that We do not hear their secrets and their private talk? On the contrary Our messengers are right there with them writing it down

Say: ´If the All-Merciful had a son, I would be the first to worship him.´

Glory be to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, beyond what they describe

So leave them to plunge and play around until they meet their Day which they are promised

It is He who is God in heaven and God on earth. He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowing

Blessed be Him to whom belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and everything in between them. The knowledge of the Hour is with Him. You will be returned to Him

Those you call upon apart from Him possess no power of intercession — only those who bore witness to the truth and have full knowledge

If you asked them who created them, they would say, ´Allah!´ So how have they been perverted

And as for his words, ´My Lord, these are people who have no iman!´

turn from them and say, ´Peace! You will soon come to know.´