surah.translation .

Ibrahim


(14:1) Alif. Lam. Ra'. This is a Book which We have revealed to you that
you may bring forth mankind from every kind of darkness into light, and direct
them, with the leave of their Lord, to the Way1 of the Mighty, the
Innately Praiseworthy,2

(14:2) (to the Way of) Allah to Whom belongs all that is in the heavens and
all that is in the earth. Woe be to those who reject the Truth for a severe
chastisement,

(14:3) to those who have chosen the life of the world in preference to the
Hereafter,3 who hinder people from the Way of Allah, and seek to
make it crooked.4 They have gone far astray.

(14:4) Never have We sent a Messenger but he has addressed his people in
their language that he may fully expound his Message to them.5 (And
after the Message is expounded), Allah lets go astray whomsoever He wills, and
guides to the Right Way whomsoever He wills.6 He is the All-Mighty,
the All-Wise.7

(14:5) We indeed sent Moses with Our Signs, saying: "Lead your people out
of all kinds of darkness into light, and admonish them by narrating to them
anecdotes from the Days of Allah."8 Verily in it there are great
Signs9 for everyone who is patient and gives thanks (to Allah).0

(14:6) And call to mind when Moses said to his people: "Remember Allah's
favour upon you when He delivered you from Pharaoh's people who afflicted you
with a grievous chastisement, slaughtering your sons, while letting your women
live. In it there was a terrible trial from your Lord."

(14:7) Also call to mind when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks,1
I will certainly grant you more; but if you are ungrateful for My favours, My
chastisement is terrible.2

(14:8) Moses said: "Were you to disbelieve - you and all those who live on
earth - Allah is still Self-Sufficient, Innately Praiseworthy."3

(14:9) Have4 the accounts of your predecessors not reached you:
the people of Noah, the Ad, the Thamud, and those who came after them - they
whose number is not known to any except Allah? Their Messengers came to them
with Clear Signs, but they thrust their hands in their mouths,5
and said: "We do surely reject the Message you have brought, and we are in disquieting
doubt about what6 you are summoning us to."

(14:10) Their Messengers said: "Can there be any doubt about Allah, the Creator
of the heavens and the earth?7 He invites you that He may forgive
you your sins and grant you respite till an appointed term."8 They
replied: "You are only a human being like ourselves. You seek to prevent us
from serving those whom our forefathers have been serving all along. If that
is so, produce a clear authority for it."0

(14:11) Their Messengers told them: "Indeed we are only human beings like
yourselves,9 but Allah bestows His favour on those of His servants
whom He wills.1 It does not lie in our power to produce any authority
except by the leave of Allah. It is in Allah that the believers should put their
trust.

(14:12) And why should we not put our trust in Allah when it is indeed He
Who has guided us to the ways of our life? We shall surely continue to remain
steadfast in face of your persecution. All those who have to put trust, should
put their trust only in Allah."

(14:13) Then the unbelievers told their Messengers: "You will have to return
to the fold of our faith2 or else we shall banish you from our land."
Thereupon their Lord revealed to them: "We will most certainly destroy these
wrong-doers,

(14:14) and will then cause you to settle in the land3 as their
successors. That is the reward for him who fears to stand for reckoning and
holds My threat in awe."

(14:15) They sought Our judgement. And (thanks to that judgement) every obstinate
tyrant opposed to the Truth was brought to naught.4

(14:16) Hell is before him and he shall be made to drink of the oozing pus,

(14:17) which he will gulp but will scarcely swallow, and death will come
upon him from every quarter, and yet he will not be able to die. A terrible
chastisement lies ahead in pursuit of him.

(14:18) This is the example of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their
works are like ashes upon which the wind blows fiercely on a tempestuous day.
They shall find no reward for their deeds.5 That indeed is the farthest
point in straying.

(14:19) Do you not see that Allah created the heavens and the earth in Truth?6
Were He to will, He could take you away and bring a new creation.

(14:20) That is not at all difficult for Allah.7

(14:21) Then all of them will appear exposed before Allah,8 and
the weak ones will say to the haughty ones: "We merely followed you. Will you,
then, protect us from Allah's chastisement?" They will say: "Had Allah shown
us the Way to our salvation, we would surely have also guided you. Now it is
all the same whether we cry or suffer patiently, we have no escape."9

(14:22) After the matter has been finally decided Satan will say: "Surely
whatever Allah promised you was true; as for me, I went back on the promise
I made to you.0 I had no power over you except that I called you
to my way and you responded to me.1 So, do not blame me but blame
yourselves. Here, neither I can come to your rescue, nor can you come to mine.
I disavow your former act of associating me in the past with Allah.2
A grievous chastisement inevitably lies ahead for such wrong-doers."

(14:23) As for those who had believed and did good in the world, they shall
be admitted to the Gardens beneath which rivers flow. There, with the leave
of Allah, they shall abide forever, and will be greeted with: "Peace".3

(14:24) Do you not see how Allah has given the example of a good word?4
It is like a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and whose branches reach
the sky,5

(14:25) ever yielding its fruit in every season with the leave of its Lord.6
Allah gives examples for mankind that they may take heed.

(14:26) And the example of an evil word7 is that of an evil tree,
uprooted from the surface of the earth, wholly unable to endure.8

(14:27) Thus, through a firm word,9 Allah grants firmness to
the believers both in this world and in the Hereafter. As for the wrong-doers,
Allah lets them go astray.0 Allah does whatever He wills.

(14:28) Did you not see those who have exchanged Allah's favour with ingratitude
to Him, causing their people to be cast in the abode of utter perdition

(14:29) Hell, wherein they shall roast? How wretched a place to settle in!

(14:30) They have set up rivals to Allah that they may lead people astray
from His way. Tell them: "Enjoy for a while. You are doomed to end up in the
Fire!"

(14:31) (O Prophet), tell those of My servants who believe that they should
establish Prayer and spend out of what We have provided them with,1
both secretly and openly, before there arrives the Day when there will be no
bargaining, nor any mutual befriending.2

(14:32) It is Allah3 Who created the heavens and the earth, Who
sent down water from the heaven and thereby brought forth a variety of fruits
as your sustenance, Who subjected for you the ships that they may sail in the
sea by His command, Who subjected for you the rivers,

(14:33) Who subjected for you the sun and the moon and both of them are constant
on their courses, Who subjected for you the night and the day,4

(14:34) and Who gave you all that you asked Him for.5 Were you
to count the favours of Allah you shall never be able to encompass them. Verily
man is highly unjust, exceedingly ungrateful.

(14:35) And call to mind when Abraham prayed:6 "My Lord! Make
this city7 secure, and keep me and my sons away from worshipping
the idols.

(14:36) My Lord! They have caused8 many people to go astray.
Now, if anyone follows my way, he is from me; and if anyone follows a way opposed
to mine, then surely You are Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful."9

(14:37) "Our Lord! I have made some of my offspring settle in a barren valley
near Your Sacred House! Our Lord! I did so that they may establish Prayer. So
make the hearts of people affectionately inclined to them, and provide them
with fruits for their sustenance0 that they may give thanks.

(14:38) Our Lord! Surely You know all that we conceal and all that we reveal,1
and nothing in the earth or in the heaven is hidden from Allah.2

(14:39) All praise be to Allah Who, despite my old age, has given me Ishmael
and Isaac. Surely my Lord hears all prayers.

(14:40) My Lord! Enable me and my offspring to establish Prayer, and do accept,
our Lord, this prayer of mine.

(14:41) Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents and the believers on the Day
when the reckoning will take place."3

(14:42) Do not think Allah is heedless of the evil deeds in which the evil-doers
are engaged. He is merely granting them respite until a Day when their eyes
shall continue to stare in horror,

(14:43) when they shall keep pressing ahead in haste, their heads lifted
up, their gaze directed forward,4 unable to look away from what
they behold, their hearts utterly void.

(14:44) (O Muhammad), warn mankind of the Day when a severe chastisement
shall overtake them, and the wrong-doers will say: "Our Lord, grant us respite
for a short while; we shall respond to Your call and will follow Your Messengers."
(But they will be clearly told): "Are you not the same who swore earlier that
they shall never suffer decline?"

(14:45) You said so even though you had lived in the dwellings of those who
had wronged themselves (by sinning), and you were aware how We dealt with them,
and We had even explained to you all this by giving examples.

(14:46) Indeed the unbelievers contrived their plan, but it is in Allah's
power to nullify their plan, even though their plans were such that would move
even mountains.5

(14:47) So, do not think, (O Prophet), that Allah will go back upon His promise
to His Messengers.6 Surely Allah is Mighty, Lord of retribution.

(14:48) (Do warn them of the) Day when the heavens and the earth shall be
altogether changed;7 when all will appear fully exposed before Allah,
the One, the Irresistible!

(14:49) On that Day you shall see the guilty ones secured in chains;

(14:50) their garments shall be black8 as if made out of pitch,
and flames of the Fire shall cover their faces

(14:51) so that Allah may requite each person for his deeds. Allah is swift
in reckoning.

(14:52) This is a proclamation for all mankind that they may be warned by
it, and that they may know that their God is none but the One True God, and
that men of understanding may take heed.