English - Chapter 34 - Saba

Praise be to Allah to Whom belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth! To Him be praise in the hereafter. He is the Wise, the Aware

He has the knowledge of all that goes into the earth and that which comes out of it; and all that comes down from heaven and that ascends to it. He is the Merciful, the Forgiving

The unbelievers say: "The Hour of Doom will never come to us." Tell them: "Nay! By my Lord, the Knower of the unseen, it shall certainly come upon you. Nothing, even equal an atom, in the heavens or the earth is hidden from Him; nor there is anything smaller or greater than that, but is recorded in the Clear Book

The Hour is going to come and the Day of Judgement shall be established, to reward those who have believed and done good deeds; it is them for whom there is forgiveness and an honorable sustenance

As for those who strive to discredit Our revelations, there will be a humiliating painful punishment

Those to whom knowledge has been given can see that the revelations sent down to you from your Lord are the Truth and it guides to the Way of the Almighty, the Praise Worthy

The unbelievers say to the people: "Shall we point out to you a man who claims that when your body will disintegrate and crumble into dust you shall be raised to life again

Has he forged a lie against Allah or is he mad?" Nay! In fact those who do not believe in the Hereafter are doomed, for they are in gross error

Do they not see the sky and the earth that surrounds them from front and from behind? If We want, We can cave in the earth to swallow them up or let the fragments of the sky fall upon them. Surely there is a sign in this for every devotee that turns to Allah in repentance

We bestowed Our blessings on David and commanded: "O mountains! Join him in singing My rhymes," and a similar command was given to the birds. We made iron soft for him

saying: "make coats of armor measuring out the links in mail and O people of David, do good deeds; surely I am watching over all of your actions

And We made the winds subservient to Solomon, which made a month’s journey in the morning and a month’s journey in the evening; and We made a fountain of molten copper to flow for him; and subdued Jinns for him who worked in front of him by the leave of his Lord; and if any of them turned aside from Our command, We made Him taste the punishment of the blazing fire

When We decreed Solomon’s death he was leaning on his staff. The Jinns did not know that he was dead until the termite ate away his staff and he fell down. Thus it became clear to the Jinns that if they had known the unseen, they would not have continued in the humiliating punishment of their task

For the people of Saba (Sheba, presently a town in Yeman) there was indeed a sign in their dwelling place: two gardens - one to the right and one to the left. It was said to them: "Eat of what your Lord has given you and render thanks to Him. Pleasant is your land and forgiving is your Lord

But they gave no heed. So We let loose upon them the waters of the dam (called Ma'arib) and We converted their two gardens into the gardens producing bitter fruit, tamarisks and a few lote bushes

Thus did We requite them for their disbelief; and never do We punish any but the ungrateful

Between them and the towns which We had blessed (Syria and Palestine), We placed other towns in prominent positions so that they could journey to and fro in measured stages. We said: "Travel through them by day and night in complete security

But they prayed: "Our Lord! Make our journeys longer." Thereby they wronged their souls and We made them merely a tale that is told and dispersed them in scattered fragments. Surely there is a sign in this for every patient, grateful person

In their case, Iblees' (Satan’s) suspicions proved true, as they all followed him except a small group of the believers

even though he had no authority over them. It all happened because We wanted to see who among them believed in the hereafter and who is in doubt concerning it. Your Lord is watching over all things

O Prophet, say to the pagans: "Call on those deities whom you pray besides Allah they do not have power over an atom’s weight of anything in the heavens or earth, nor have they any share in either, nor is any of them a helper to Allah

No intercession before Allah can avail anyone except for the one for whom He permits. Until when terror will be removed from their hearts, they shall ask the intercessors: "What has your Lord ordained?" They will answer: "The Truth," He is the Most High, the Great

O Prophet, ask them: "Who provides your sustenance from the heavens and the earth?" If they do not answer, then say: "It is Allah! Certainly one of us; either we or you are rightly guided or in manifest error

Further, tell them: "You shall not be questioned about our errors nor shall we be questioned about your actions

Say: "Our Lord will bring us all together, then He will rightly judge between us. He is the Judge Who knows everything

Say: "Show me those whom you have made associate gods with Him. Nay! By no means can you do it. Allah Alone is the Almighty, the Wise

O Prophet, We have sent you to the entire mankind, to give them good news and forewarn them, but most men do not know

They ask you: "When will this promise of resurrection be fulfilled, if you are telling the truth

Tell them: "For you the appointment of a day is fixed, which you can neither postpone for a moment nor bring it early

The disbelievers say: "We shall never believe in this Qur’an, nor in the scriptures which came before it." If you could only see when these wrongdoers will be made to stand before their Lord, tossing accusing words on one another! Those who had been despised as weaklings will say to the arrogant: "If it were not for you, we would certainly have been believers

The arrogant will say to those despised weaklings: "Did we block you off from guidance when it came to you? Nay! Rather you yourselves were guilty

Those despised weaklings will say to the arrogant: "No! It was you who plotted day and night, bidding us to disbelieve in Allah and to set up equals with Him," - They will feel ashamed once they see the punishment, and We shall put yokes on the necks of those disbelievers; can there be any other reward except for what they did

Whenever We have sent a Warner to a town, its wealthy residents have said: "We surely disbelieve in what you are sent with

They say: "We have more wealth and children, which indicates that our gods are happy with us so we shall never be punished

O Prophet tell them: "Surely my Lord gives abundantly to whom He wills and sparingly to whom He pleases, but most people do not understand this

It is neither your wealth nor your children which bring you closer to Us even one jot, but those who believe and do good deeds; for them, there will be a double reward for their deeds and in high mansions shall they live in peace

As for those who strive in opposing Our revelations, they shall be brought for punishment

O Prophet tell them: "Surely my Lord gives abundantly to whom He pleases and sparingly to whom He wills. Whatever you spend in charity, He will pay you back. He is the best of those who provide sustenance

One Day He will gather them all together and ask the angels: "Was it you that these people used to worship

They will respond: "Glory be to You! Our tie is with You - as a protector - not with them; but they used to worship the Jinns and it was them in whom most of these people believed

On that Day you will be helpless to profit or harm one another. To the wrongdoers We shall say: "Taste the punishment of the fire which you persistently denied

Today when Our clear revelations are recited to them, they say: "This man only wants to turn you away from those gods to whom your forefathers have been worshipping." Others say: "This Qur’an is nothing but an invented falsehood." While yet others, who deny the truth when it comes to them, say: "This is nothing but plain magic

In fact, neither had We given them books to study, nor had We sent to them any Warner before you

Those who have gone before them also denied - these Arabs have not received one tenth of what We had granted them - yet when they denied My Messengers, see how terrible was My scourge

O Prophet say: "I would ask you one thing. For Allah’s sake! Think individually or consult one another and ponder whether your companion Muhammad is really mad? You yourself will come to the conclusion that he is nothing but a Warner to you to forewarn you of a severe punishment

Tell them: "I do not ask you for any recompense, even though what I preach is all in your interest. My reward is only due from Allah and He is a witness over everything

Say: "In fact my Lord reveals to me the truth, and He is the Knower of all hidden realities

Say: "The truth has arrived and falsehood neither originates nor restores anything

Say: "If I am in error, the loss is surely mine and if I am right, it is because of what my Lord has revealed to me. Surely He hears all and is very close

If you could only see the disbelievers on the Day of Judgement when they will be in a state of confusion! On that Day there will be no escape; and they will be seized from a nearby place

Then they will say: "We believe in it (the Truth brought by the Prophet": but how could they attain the Faith from such a far distant place)

They had disbelieved in it before - and they had sneered at the unseen when they were far away during their life on earth

A barrier will be placed between them and what they desired to have as was done with the similar people before them; for they were indeed involved in a misleading suspicion