English - Chapter 39 - Az-Zumar

This Book is sent down to you from God, the Almighty, the Wise

We have sent down the Book to you in Truth, so worship God, sincere in your faith in Him alone

Pure faith is owed to God alone. Those who take protectors besides Him [say], "We worship them only so that they may bring us nearer to God." God will judge between them concerning their differences. God does not guide any liar and denier of the truth

If God had intended to take a son, He could have chosen anyone He willed from whatever He created, may He be exalted in His glory! He is God, the One God, the One who holds absolute sway over all that exists

He created the heavens and earth in Truth. He wraps the night over the day and wraps the day over the night, and has made the sun and the moon subservient [to His laws], each running [its course] for an appointed time. He is the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving

He created you from a single soul, from which He made its mate, and He gave you eight kinds of grazing livestock in pairs [male and female]. He creates you in your mothers' wombs, one creation after another, within threefold of darkness. That is God, your Lord; to Him belongs all Sovereignty. There is no deity except Him, so how can you lose site of the truth

If you deny the truth, God has no need of you. Yet He does not approve of ingratitude in His servants, but, if you do show gratitude, He welcomes it in you. No bearer of burdens will bear the burdens of another. Then you will return to your Lord, and He will inform you of what you have done. He knows what is within your hearts

When a human being encounters some hard times, he calls upon his Lord, turning to Him [in repentance], but when He blesses him with His favors, he forgets his Lord whom he called before and he sets up equals to God in order to mislead others from His way. Say, "Enjoy your unbelief for a little, for you are included among the inhabitants of the Fire

Is one who worships devoutly during periods of the night-bowing down and standing [in prayer], being mindful of the Hereafter, and hoping for his Lord's mercy-[like one who does not]? Say, "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?" Only those who have understanding will keep this in mind

Say, "O My worshipers who have believed, be ever mindful of your Lord. Good [reward] awaits those who persevere in doing good in this world. [Remember that] God's earth is spacious. They who are patient will be given their reward beyond all account

Say, "I have been commanded to worship God, dedicating my faith to Him

And I have been commanded to be the first [among you] to submit

Say," I fear the punishment of a terrible Day should I disobey my Lord

Say, "God [alone] do I worship, sincere to Him in my faith

so worship what you will besides Him." Say, "Truly doomed are the ones who will lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Truly, that is a self-evident loss

They will have curtains of fire above them and below them. With this God puts fear into His worshipers. So be ever mindful of Me, My worshipers

Those who have avoided the worship of false deities and turned toward God will have good news, so give good news to My worshipers

who listen to what is said and follow what is best. Those are the ones God has guided, and those are the people endowed with insight

As for one who deserved the decree of punishment, can you [Prophet] save one who is already in the Fire

But those who are mindful of their Lord, for them are dwellings built one above the other, beneath which rivers flow. [This is] God's promise and God does not fail to deliver [His] promise

Do you not see that God sends down rain from the sky and guides it through the earth to flow as springs? Then with it He produces vegetation of varying colors, which later withers, and you see it turning yellow, then He turns it into waste. That is a reminder for those endowed with insight

Is one whose heart God has opened to submit to Him and who has received enlightenment from his Lord [like one whose heart rejects God]? Misery, then, to those whose hearts are hardened even more by the mention of God. They are clearly lost

God has sent down the best of narrations: a Book that is perfectly consistent within itself, repeating various statements [of the Truth] in forms that causes the skin of those who revere their Lord to shiver [in awe], after which their skin and their hearts soften at the mention of God. Such is God's guidance; He guides with it [the Qur'an] whoever is willing to be guided, but no one can guide those God leaves to stray

What about someone who shields his face against the worst of punishment on the Day of Resurrection [is he like one secure from it]? [On that day] it will be said to the unjust, "Taste what you have earned

Those before them also denied the truth, and punishment came upon them before they realize what is happening

God made them taste disgrace in this worldly life, but the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew

We have cited in this Qur'an every [kind of] example for people, so that they might remember

[It is] an Arabic Qur'an, without any distortion, so that they might become mindful

[To this end], God presents an example: [consider] a man owned by quarreling partners, and another [who is] devoted exclusively to one master, are they considered equal in status? All praise be to God! But most of them do not know

You will die, and they will die

Then, on the Day of Resurrection, you will dispute with each other before your Lord

So who is more unjust than one who invents lies about God and denies the Truth when it has come to him? Is there not [enough] room in Hell for the unbelievers

He who promotes the truth and testifies to it, it is they who are mindful of God

They will have with their Lord whatever they desire. This is the reward for those who do good

that God may remove from them the worst of their deeds and reward them according to the best of what they have done

Is not God adequately sufficient for His worshiper? [Yet], they threaten you with others beside Him. If God allows someone to be lost, for him there is no guide

and whomever God guides, no one can mislead him. Is not God Almighty and capable of retribution

If you asked them, "Who created the heavens and the earth?" They would say, "God." So say, "Then do you see those you pray to besides God? If God wishes to harm me, can they remove His harm; or if He wants to show me a blessing, can they withhold His blessing?" Say, "God suffices for me; all those who truly trust put their trust in Him

Say, "My people, do all you can, and so will I. Eventually you will know

who will receive a shameful punishment, and on whom will fall a lasting punishment

We sent down to you the Book offering the Truth to humankind. So whoever is guided, it is for his own good; and he who strays only does so to his own detriment. You are not their guardian

God retrieves people's souls at the time of their death, and the souls of the living during their sleep. He then keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others until an appointed term. There are signs in this for people who reflect

Or have they taken intercessors besides God? Say, "Even though they do not have any power, nor do they reason

Say, "To God belongs all intercession. To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. Then to Him you will all return

The hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with disgust when God alone is mentioned, but when those other than Him are mentioned, they suddenly rejoice

Say, "Our God, the Programmer of the heavens and the earth, Knower of all that is beyond our ability to witness and all that we can witness, You will judge between your worshipers concerning their differences

If the unjust owned everything on earth and the like of it with it, they would gladly offer it to ransom themselves from the terrible suffering on the Day of Resurrection, but there will appear to them from God what they never expected

The evils of their deeds will become clear to them, and they will be surrounded by what they used to ridicule

If hard times touch man, he calls on Us. Then, when We favor him with a Our blessing, he says, "I have only been given this only because of my knowledge." In fact, it is only a test, though most of them do not know

Those [who lived] before them said [the same thing], but what they had earned did not do them any good

for the evil of their deeds caught up with them. [Similarly,] the evil deeds of those who have wronged themselves among these people will also catch up with them, and they will not be able to evade God

Do they not know that God expands and restricts His provision for whomever He wills? In this are signs for a People who believe

Say, "My worshipers who have transgressed against themselves do not despair of God's mercy, for God forgives all sins. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Mercy-Giver

Turn in repentance to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you and you cannot be helped

Follow the best teaching sent down to you from your Lord before the punishment comes upon you suddenly, when you are not expecting it

so that a soul may not say, " How sorry I am for having neglected my duty to God and having been among the mockers

or say, "Had God guided me, I would have been among those who are mindful of God

or say, when it sees the punishment, "If only I had another chance to be among those who do good

[But God will reply] "No! My verses did come to you, but you denied them, turned arrogant, and denied the truth

On the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied about God with their faces darkened [by grief and sorrow]. Is not Hell the proper place for the arrogant

God will save those who were mindful of Him by the virtue of their successful choices; no harm will touch them, nor will they grieve

God is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian over all things

The keys of the heavens and the earth are His. Those who reject the verses of God, it is they who are the doomed

Say, "Do you order me to worship something other than God, you ignorant people

Yet, It has already been revealed to you, and to those before you, that "If you should associate [anything] with God, your work will be in vain, and you will surely be among the doomed

Then, worship [only] God and be among the grateful

[The unbelievers] have not valued God the way He ought to be valued. The whole earth will lie within His grasp on the Day of Resurrection, while heaven will be folded up in His right hand. May He be exalted in His glory, high above anything they associate with Him

The Horn will be blown, and whoever is in the heavens and the earth will be stunned, except whom God wills. Then it will be blown again, and they will stand, looking on

And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord. The Book will be set in place, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought in. Judgment will be passed among them equitably, and they will not be wronged

Every soul will be fully compensated [for] what it has done, for He knows best what they do

Those who denied the truth will be driven to Hell in crowds. When they reach it, its gates will open and its custodians will say, "Did not messengers from among you come to you, reciting to you the verses of your Lord, and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours?" They will say, "Yes, but the decree of punishment is justified against the unbelievers

They will be told, "Enter the gates of Hell and stay there eternally. How evil is the residence of the arrogant

But those who were mindful of their Lord will be driven to Paradise in crowds. When they reach it, its gates will open, and custodians will say, "Peace be upon you; you have done well, so enter it to reside there eternally

And they will say, "Praise be to God, who has fulfilled His promise to us and made us inherit the land, letting us settle in Paradise wherever we will. How excellent is the reward for those who act on their faith