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surah.translation
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Blessed be He in whose hand all dominion rests; who has power over all things;
who has created death as well as life, so that He may put you to a test to show who of you is best in conduct. He alone is the Almighty, Much-Forgiving.
He created seven heavens in layers. No fault will you see in what the Lord of Grace creates. Turn up your eyes: can you see any flaw?
Then look again, and again: your vision will come back to you dull and weary.
We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and made them missiles to pelt the devils with. We have prepared for them suffering through the blazing Fire.
Suffering in hell awaits those who deny their Lord: an evil destination.
When they are thrown in it, they will hear it drawing in its breath as it boils up,
almost bursting with fury. Every time a group is thrown in it, its keepers will ask them, ‘Did no one come to warn you?’
‘Yes’, they will reply, ‘a warner did indeed come to us, but we did not believe him. We said, ‘God has revealed nothing. You are in total error’.
They will further say, ‘Had we but listened, or reasoned, we would not now be among the inhabitants of the blazing Fire’.
Thus they shall confess their sins. Far [from God’s mercy] are the inhabitants of the blazing Fire.
Those who stand in awe of their Lord although He is beyond the reach of human perception will have forgiveness and a rich reward.
Whether you keep your words secret or state them openly, He has full knowledge of what is in all hearts.
How could it be that He who has created should not know all? He is above all comprehension, yet is all-aware.
He it is who has made the earth easy to live upon. Go about, then, in all its highlands and eat of His provisions. To Him you will be resurrected.
Do you feel secure that He who is in heaven will not cause the earth to swallow you up when it quakes?
Or do you feel secure that He who is in heaven will not let loose against you a sandy whirlwind. You will come to know the truth of My warning.
Those who lived before them also disbelieved. How terrible was My rejection of them?
Do they not see the birds above them, spreading their wings and drawing them in? None but the Lord of Grace holds them up. He sees everything.
What army is there to come to your aid, except for the Lord of Grace? The unbelievers are truly lost in self-delusion.
Who will provide for you, if He were to withhold His provision? Yet they persist in their arrogance and in rebellion.
Is he who goes grovelling on his face better guided than the one who walks upright on a straight path?
Say: ‘It is He who has brought you into being, and given you hearing, sight and hearts. Yet seldom are you thankful.
‘And He it is who caused you to multiply on earth; and to Him you shall be gathered’.
They say: ‘When is this promise to be fulfilled, if what you say be true?’
Say: ‘God alone has knowledge of this. I am only a plain warner’.
When they see it close at hand, the unbelievers’ faces will be stricken with grief, and it will be said: ‘This is what you were calling for’.
Say: ‘Just think: whether God destroys me and those who follow me, or bestows mercy upon us, who will protect the unbelievers from painful suffering?’
Say: ‘He is the Lord of Grace: in Him we believe, and in Him we place our trust. You will come to know who is in manifest error’.
Say: ‘Just think: if all your water were to sink underground, who would give you clear flowing water?’