English - Chapter 27 - An-Naml

Ta. Sin. These are the Revelations of the Qur’an, (and) a Book clear in itself and clearly showing the truth

Guidance and glad tidings for the believers

Who establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms, and in the Hereafter they have certainty of faith

As for those who do not believe in the Hereafter, We have surely decked out their deeds to be appealing to them (because of their unbelief), and so they wander in anxiety (about their worldly lives with deadened hearts)

Those are the ones for whom is the worst of punishment (in the world and in the Hereafter), and they will be the greatest losers in the Hereafter (as they will be left with no good deeds forwarded for acceptance)

And to you (O Messenger) the Qur’an is being conveyed from the Presence of One All-Wise, All-Knowing

(Remember and recount to them) when Moses (while traveling in the desert saw a fire and) said to his family: "I perceive a fire far off. (Wait here,) I will bring you from there some information (about where we are and the way we should take), or bring you at least a burning brand so that you may (kindle a fire and) warm yourselves

When he came to it, he was called: "Blessed is he who is at the fire and those who are around it; and All-Glorified is God (above having any resemblance with the created), the Lord of the worlds

O Moses! It is I, God, the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Wise

Now, throw down your staff." (He threw it, and) when he saw it slithering as if a snake, he turned his back to flee. "O Moses, have no fear. The Messengers (those who enjoy nearness to Me and therefore absolute security) do not (have any reason to) feel fear in My Presence

Only those who have done wrong (should fear). But if (they repent and) substitute good in place of evil – surely I am All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate

Put your (right) hand into your bosom: it will come forth shining white without flaw. It is (one) among the nine signs (miracles for you to show) to the Pharaoh and his people. Surely, they are a transgressing people

But when Our signs came to them in plain sight and clear enough to have opened their eyes to truth, they said: "This is clearly nothing but sorcery

They rejected them out of mere iniquity and self-exaltation, although their consciences were convinced of their being true. So see how was the outcome for those given in to spreading disorder and corruption

(On the other hand, We saved the Children of Israel whom the Pharaohs had persecuted for centuries, and granted them great triumph. And in time,) We granted David and Solomon (special) knowledge. Both used to thank and praise God, saying: "All praise and gratitude are for God, Who has favored us more than many of His believing servants

Solomon succeeded David. He would say (citing in gratitude God’s favors to him): "O people! We have been taught the language of birds and we have been granted (some portion) of everything (which God provides for His servants). Surely this is a conspicuous favor

One day his hosts of jinn, and of human beingsmen, and of birds were assembled before Solomon (upon his command), and were led forth under full control

Until, when they reached a valley of ants, one of the ants said: "O you ants! Get into your dwellings lest Solomon and his army crush you unawares

Smiling at her words (in humble contentment with God’s favors to him), he said: "My Lord! Inspire and guide me so that I may thank You for Your favor which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and so that I may act righteously in a manner that will please You; and include me (out of Your mercy) among Your righteous servants

(On another occasion) he inspected the birds and said: "How is it that I cannot see the hoopoe? Or is he among the absentees

I will certainly inflict a severe punishment on him or maybe even kill him unless he comes to me with a convincing reason (for his absence)

Before long the hoopoe came up and said: "I have obtained (some important information) which you do not have, and have come to you from Sheba with reliable news

I found there a woman ruling over them, one who has been granted everything (that a ruler is expected to have), and who has a mighty throne

However, I found her and her people prostrating to the sun rather than God. Satan has decked out their deeds to be appealing to them, and thus has barred them from the (unique straight) way, so they are not rightly guided

So that they do not prostrate before God, Who brings to light what is hidden in the heavens and the earth (Who brings into the light of existence all things and beings in the heavens and the earth from the veil of non-existence), and knows what you keep secret and what you disclose

God – there is no deity but He, the Lord of the Mighty Throne

(Solomon) said: "We will see whether you are speaking the truth or are one of the liars

Go with this letter of mine, and drop it to them; then draw back from them and see how they will deal with it among themselves, and return

She (the Queen, when the letter reached her) said: "O you nobles! See, an honorable letter has been cast to me

It is from Solomon, and it is: ‘In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate

‘Do not act towards me in defiance, but come to me in submission.’

O you nobles! Let me have your counsel in this matter. (You know well that) I never conclude a decision on a matter unless you are present with me

They said: "We dispose great power and we dispose great daring but the decision is yours, so consider what you will command

She said: "When kings enter a country, they cause destruction and corruption in it, and make the noble (ones of its inhabitants) abased. This is what they really do

Now I will send them a present and see with what (answer) the envoys return

When he (the envoy with the present) came to Solomon, he (Solomon) said: "Do you mean to help me with wealth? What God has granted me (of Prophethood, kingdom, and wealth) is much more and better than all that He has given you. It is only (people such as) you who would rejoice in this gift of yours

Go back to them (who sent you, and inform them that, if they do not come to us in submission), we will certainly come upon them with hosts which they have no power to resist. We will assuredly drive them from there in disgrace, and they will be humbled

(The Queen, having received his message, decided to visit Solomon in Jerusalem. Knowing of her journey,) Solomon said (to his council): "O you nobles! Who among you can bring me her throne before they come to me in submission

One strong and cunning among the jinn said: "I can bring it to you before you rise from your council. Surely I have the strength and skill to do so and I am trustworthy

And one who had some knowledge of the Book said: "I can bring it to you in the twinkling of your eye." When Solomon saw the throne set in his presence, he said: "This is out of the pure grace of my Lord that He may try me whether I give thanks or act with ingratitude. Whoever gives thanks gives thanks only for (the good of) his own soul; and whoever acts with ingratitude – (let him be aware that) my Lord is surely All-Wealthy and Self-Sufficient, All-Munificent

He said: "Disguise her throne, and let us see whether she is able to find guidance or remains one of those who are not guided

When she (the Queen) arrived, she was asked: "Is your throne like this?" She said: "It is as if it were the same. We were given knowledge (about the magnificence of Solomon’s rule and his extraordinary power) before all this (we have seen here), and we have already decided to submit

That she had been worshipping other than God kept her back (from the Straight Path); for she belonged to a disbelieving people

It was said (to her): "Enter the palace." When she saw it, she thought it was a pool of water and bared her calves (in order to hold her robes above the water). He (Solomon) said: "This is a palace paved with crystal." (Having now concluded that Solomon must truly be a Prophet,) she said: "My Lord, surely I have wronged myself (by worshipping false gods). But now I submit myself, in Solomon’s company, to God, the Lord of the worlds

And certainly We sent to the Thamud their brother Salih (with the message): "Worship God alone." (When he conveyed the Message) they split into factions in dispute with each other

He (Salih) said (to them): "O my people! Why do you seek to hasten the coming (upon you) of evil instead of good? Why do you not seek God’s forgiveness for your sins so that you may be shown mercy (to be granted a good, virtuous life in the world and eternal happiness in the Hereafter)

They said: "We augur ill of you and those who are with you." (Salih) answered: "What you describe as augury is (something ordained) by God. But the truth is that you are a people who are being tried

There were nine ringleaders in the city, causing disorder and corruption in the land and not setting things right

They said, swearing in God’s Name: "We will certainly swoop on him and his family by night suddenly and kill them all. Then we will assuredly say to his heirs that we did not witness the destruction of his family (nor of Salih himself); indeed we speak the truth

And so they devised a scheme, and indeed We put Our will into force (to give them their just deserts), while they were not aware

So see how was the end of their scheme! We utterly destroyed them and their people all together

Those then are their houses, all lying in utter ruins because they were lost in wrongdoing. Surely in this is a sign (an important lesson) for a people seeking knowledge

And We saved those who believed and kept from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety

We also sent Lot as Messenger. He warned his people: "Will you do that abhorrent indecency in plain view (of one another)

Will you go with lust to men in place of women? You are indeed an ignorant people with no sense (of decency and right and wrong)

But his people’s only reply was nothing but to say (to one another): "Expel Lot’s family (as well as himself) from your land. They are a people who make themselves out to be pure

Then We saved him and his family except his wife. We decreed that she should be among those who stayed behind (and were destroyed)

We poured upon them a (destructive) rain (of stones). How evil was the rain of those who had been warned

Say: "All praise and gratitude are for God and peace be upon those of His servants whom He has chosen (and made pure)." Is God better or all that they associate as partners (with Him)

Or He Who has created the heavens and the earth, and sends down for you water from the sky? –We cause to grow with it gardens full of loveliness and delight: it is not in your power to cause their trees to grow. Is there another deity besides God? No, but they are a people who veer away (from truth). –

Or He Who has made the earth as a fixed abode, and has caused rivers to flow in its fissures, and has set for it firm mountains, and has placed a barrier between the two large bodies of water? Is there another deity besides God? No, but most of them do not know

Or He Who answers the helpless one in distress when he prays to Him, and removes the affliction from him, and (Who) has made you (O humankind) vicegerents of the earth (to improve it and rule over it according to God’s commandments)? Is there another deity besides God? How little you reflect

Or He Who guides you through the veils of the darkness of land and sea, and Who sends forth the (merciful) winds as a glad tiding in advance of His mercy? Is there another deity besides God? Absolutely exalted is He above all that they associate with Him as partners

Or He Who originates creation in the first instance and then reproduces it, and Who provides you from the heaven and the earth? Is there another deity besides God? Say: "Produce your evidence, if you are truthful

Say: "None in the heavens and on the earth knows the Unseen (all that lies in the hidden realms and beyond any created being’s perception), but only God knows it. Neither do they (or their false deities) know when (the world will be destroyed and) they will be raised to life (after their death)

No, indeed. Their knowledge does not attain to the Hereafter (as they have desired only the worldly life and wasted their faculties of learning in pursuit of worldly knowledge). No, indeed, for (despite being informed about it through Revelation) they remain in doubt about it. No, indeed, for they remain blind to (all the arguments about) it

Those who obstinately persist in unbelief say: "What! is it when we have already become dust – is it then that we and our forefathers will be brought forth (to a new life)

We have certainly been threatened with this before, we and our forefathers. This is nothing but fables of the ancients

Say: "Go about the earth and see how was the outcome for the disbelieving criminals

Do not grieve over them (because of their negative response toward your mission), nor be distressed because of all that they scheme (to void your mission and bar people from God’s way)

They also say: "(So tell us) when is this threat to be fulfilled, if you are truthful

Say: "It may well be that something of that which you ask to be hastened has already drawn quite near behind you

Indeed your Lord is most Bountiful to humankind but most of them do not give thanks

Your Lord certainly knows whatever their bosoms conceal and whatever they disclose

There is nothing hidden (from them as from all creatures) in the heaven or on the earth but is in a Manifest Book

Surely this Qur’an explains to the Children of Israel most of the matters on which they differ

And most certainly it is guidance (in all matters) and mercy (full of blessings) for the believers

Indeed your Lord will judge between them (the believers and the unbelievers) according to His decree. He is the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Knowing

So put your trust in God. You surely stand on the truth, which is clear and doubtless

Indeed you cannot make the dead hear nor can you make the deaf hear the call once they have turned their backs, going away

Nor can you guide the blind out of their error. You can make none hear save those who (being unprejudiced, are willing to) believe in Our Revelations and signs (in the outer world as well as in their inner world), and are (therefore) ready to submit (to the truth)

When the time for the fulfillment of the word (of punishment) about them comes, We will bring forth for them a living creature from the earth who will speak to them – that people have no certainty of faith in Our signs and Revelations

A Day (will come) when We will raise up and gather from every community a host of those who denied Our Revelations and signs (which establish the truth of all the essentials of faith), and they will be set in array (and driven to the place of reckoning)

Until they arrive there, when He will say to them: "Did you deny My Revelations and signs even without even having full, certain knowledge about them? If that is not so, what else were you doing

The word (of punishment) will be fulfilled against them because they did wrong (including especially associating partners with God). They will then not (be able to) speak (a single word of excuse and defense)

Have they not noticed that We have made the night so that they may rest in it, and the day sight-giving (for them to work in)? Surely in this are signs for people who will believe

On the Day when the Trumpet is blown all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth will be stricken with shock and terror, except those whom God wills to exempt. All will come to His Presence, utterly humbled

You see the mountains, thinking them to be firmly fixed, but in reality they (are in constant motion) and pass by (with the movement of the earth) like the passing of the clouds. (And so will they be crumbled on Doomsday so as to take on the form particular to the other world.) This is the pattern of God Who has perfected everything. He is fully aware of all that you do

Whoever comes (on Judgment Day) with good (and purified of sin) will have better than its worth, and such will be safe from any shock and terror on that Day

But whoever comes with (unforgivable) evil, such will be flung down upon their faces into the Fire. "Are you recompensed for anything but what you used to do

(Say, O Messenger:) "I am ordered only to worship the Lord of this city (Makkah, where the first house of worship dedicated to God was built, and) which He has made sacred and to Whom all things belong. And I am ordered to be of the Muslims (those who submit to Him in all His orders)

Also say: "All praise and gratitude are for God. Soon He will show you His signs (which will prove that whatever He has decreed is true), and you will come to know them." Your Lord is never heedless and unmindful of whatever you do