ﮱ
surah.translation
.
ﰡ
ﭑﭒ
ﰀ
By the [angels] ranged in ranks,
ﭔﭕ
ﰁ
who rebuke reproachfully
ﭗﭘ
ﰂ
and recite God’s word
most certainly your God is One,
Lord of the heavens and the earth and everything between them, Lord of all the points of sunrise.
We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with stars,
and have made them secure against every rebellious devil.
Thus, they cannot eavesdrop on the ones on high, but shall be repelled from all sides,
driven away, with lasting suffering in store for them.
If any of them stealthily snatches away a fragment, he will be pursued by a piercing flame.
Now ask those [unbelievers]: Are they more difficult to create, or the other beings We have created? Them have We created out of a sticky clay.
Whereas you marvel, they scoff;
and when they are reminded of the truth, they pay no heed;
and when they see a sign, they resort to ridicule;
and say: ‘This is nothing but plain sorcery.
What! After we have died and become mere dust and bones, shall we be raised back to life?
ﯗﯘ
ﰐ
And perhaps our forefathers?’
Say: ‘Yes, indeed! And you shall be utterly humbled’.
There will be just one single cry, and they will all begin to see,
and will say: ‘Woe betide us! This is the Day of Judgement!’
This is indeed the Day of Decision which you used to call a lie!
Gather together all those who were bent on wrongdoing, their ilk, and all that they used to worship
instead of God, and guide them all to the path of hell,
but halt them a while, for they shall be asked:
‘How is it that you do not help one another?’
Indeed, on that Day they will be in complete submission.
They will turn upon one another accusingly.
Some [of them] will say: ‘You used to [whisper to us] approaching us from the right!’
The others will reply: ‘No! It was you who would not believe.
We had no power over you; but you were willing to exceed all limits.
Now our Lord’s word has come true against us, and we are bound to taste [the punishment];
If we led you astray, we ourselves were astray’.
On that Day, they all will share in the common suffering.
Thus shall We deal with all the guilty ones.
Whenever they were told, ‘there is no deity other than God’, they would turn away in arrogance,
and would say: ‘Are we to forsake our deities for the sake of a mad poet?’
For certain, he has brought the truth, and confirmed the earlier messengers.
You will indeed taste grievous suffering,
being requited only for what you used to do.
Not so God’s true servants.
Theirs shall be a predetermined sustenance:
fruits; and they will be honoured
in gardens of bliss,
seated on soft couches, facing one another
A cup will be passed round among them with a drink from a flowing spring:
clear, delicious to those who drink it,
causing no headiness or intoxication.
With them will be mates of modest gaze, most beautiful of eye,
as if they were hidden eggs.
And they will turn to one another with questions.
One of them will say: ‘I had a close companion on earth
who used to ask me: ‘Do you really believe
that after we have died and become mere dust and bones we shall be brought for judgement?”’
He adds: ‘Would you like to look down?’
Then he looks and sees him in the midst of the Fire.
He will then say: ‘By God! You almost brought me to ruin!
But for the grace of God I should have also been brought there’.
‘But then is it truly so, that we are not to die
except for our first death, and that we are not to suffer?
This is indeed the supreme triumph.’
Everyone should strive to attain this goal.
Is this the better welcome, or the Zaqqum tree?
We have made it a test for the wrongdoers.
It is a tree that grows in the very heart of the blazing Fire of Hell.
Its fruit is like devils’ heads.
They will indeed eat of it, filling their bellies.
Then on top of it, they will be given polluted, scalding water to drink.
Then again, their ultimate goal is hell.
They found their forefathers astray,
and rushed to follow in their footsteps.
Most of the people of old went astray before them;
although We had sent them warners.
Behold what happened in the end to those that had been warned.
Not so God’s true servants.
Noah cried to Us, and We are the best to answer prayer:
We saved him and his household from great distress;
and caused his offspring to be the survivors.
We caused him to be praised by later generations:
Peace be upon Noah in all the worlds!
Thus do we reward those who do good.
He was truly one of our believing servants.
Then We caused the others to drown.
Among those who followed his way was Abraham.
He turned to his Lord with a sound heart.
He said to his father and his people: ‘What is this that you worship?
Do you choose false deities instead of God?
What, then, do you think of the Lord of all the worlds?’
Then he cast a glance at the stars,
and said: ‘Indeed I am sick’.
So his people turned away from him and left.
He then approached their deities stealthily and said: ‘Will you not eat [your offerings]?
What is the matter with you that you do not speak?’
And then he fell upon them, smiting them with his right hand.
His people came to him hurriedly,
but he said: ‘Do you worship something that you yourselves have carved,
while it is God who has created you and all you do?’
They said: ‘Build him a pyre and throw him into the blazing fire’.
They schemed to harm him, but We caused them to be humiliated.
And Abraham said: ‘I will go to my Lord: He is sure to guide me.
Lord! Grant me a righteous son’.
We gave him the happy news that he will have a clement son.
When the boy was old enough to work with his father, Abraham said: ‘My son! I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice you. Tell me, then, what you think’. [Ishmael] said: ‘My father! Do as you are bidden, and, God willing, you will find me to be patient in adversity’.
When the two of them had surrendered themselves to the will of God, and Abraham laid him prostrate on his forehead,
We called to him: ‘Abraham!
You have already fulfilled the dream’. Thus do We reward those who do good.
All this was indeed a momentous trial.
We ransomed [Ishmael] with a noble sacrifice,
We caused him to be praised by later generations:
Peace be upon Abraham!
Thus do we reward those who do good.
He was truly one of our believing servants.
We gave Abraham the happy news of Isaac, a prophet and a righteous man;
and We blessed him and Isaac; but among their offspring there were those who do good and others who would glaringly sin against their souls.
We also bestowed Our favour on Moses and Aaron;
We saved them and their people from great distress;
We gave them support, so that it was they who achieved victory.
We gave them the Scripture which made things clear;
We guided them to the right path;
We caused them to be praised by later generations:
Peace be upon Moses and Aaron!
Thus do we reward those who do good.
Both were among our believing servants.
Elijah too was one of Our messengers.
He said to his people: ‘Have you no fear of God?
How can you invoke Baal and forsake the best of creators,
God, your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers?’
But they accused him of lying. Therefore, they will certainly be brought [for punishment].
Not so God’s true servants.
We caused him to be praised by later generations:
Peace be upon Elijah!
Thus do we reward those who do good.
He was truly one of our believing servants.
Lot was also one of Our messengers.
We saved him and all his household,
except for an old woman who stayed behind.
Then We utterly destroyed the others.
Surely you pass by their ruins at morning-time,
as also by night. Will you not, then, use your reason?
Jonah too was one of Our messengers.
He deserted, going on the laden ship.
They cast lots, and he was the one who lost.
The whale swallowed him, for he was to blame.
Had he not been of those who truly glorified God,
he would have remained in the whale’s belly till Resurrection Day.
We caused him to be cast out, sick, on a barren shore,
and caused a gourd tree to grow over him.
Then We sent him to [a community of] one hundred thousand or more.
They believed, so We let them enjoy life for a while.
Now ask the unbelievers if it be true that your Lord has daughters, while they would have sons?
Or is it that We have created the angels female in their presence?
Out of their falsehood they say:
‘God has begotten children’. They are lying indeed.
Would He then choose daughters in preference to sons?
What is the matter with you? How do you make your judgement?
ﭖﭗ
ﲚ
Do you not reflect?
Or do you, perhaps, have a clear authority?
Bring your scriptures, if you are speaking the truth!
They claim that He has kinship with the jinn; yet the jinn themselves know that they will be brought [before God] for judgement.
Limitless is God in His glory, above all what people attribute to Him.
Not so God’s true servants.
Neither you nor what you worship
can lure away from God any
except one who is destined for hell.
Every single one of us has his appointed place:
we are ranged in ranks,
and we too extol His limitless glory.
They have long been saying:
‘If only we had before us a tradition from those of old,
we would certainly be true servants of God’.
Yet they reject it. In time, they will come to know.
Our word has already been given to Our servants the messengers:
it is they who will be helped,
and it is Our forces who will surely be victorious.
So, turn away from them for a while,
and watch them; in time, they too will come to see.
ﯧﯨ
ﲯ
Do they really wish to hasten Our punishment?
When it strikes in their midst, terrible will be the morning of those who were already warned.
And again, turn away from them for a while,
and watch them; in time, they too will come to see.
Limitless in His glory is your Lord, the Lord of almightiness, above all what people attribute to Him.
And peace be upon all His messengers.
All praise is due to God, the Lord of all the worlds.