The Stars (Al-Najm)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
CONSIDER this unfolding [of God's message,] as it comes down from on high! 1 Your Companion is neither astray nor being misled. 2 And he does not say anything by his own desire. 3 It [the Quran] is nothing but revelation sent down to him. 4 Bestowed on him by the Supreme Intellect, 5 Of might, he (Gabriel) stood firm 6 standing poised at the highest point on the horizon, 7 Then the Spectacle became closer, and came down in full view. 8 until he was two bow-lengths away or even closer 9 And he revealed to His Servant what he revealed. 10 His heart did not falsify what he perceived. 11 Will ye then dispute with him concerning what he seeth? 12 And he certainly saw him in another descent 13 Near the Lote-tree beyond which none may pass: 14 Close to which is the Everlasting Paradise. 15 when there covered the Lote-Tree that which covered; 16 The eye did not turn aside, nor did it exceed the limit. 17 truly did he see some of the most profound of his Sustainer's symbols. 18 Have you ever thought about al-Lat and al-Uzza, 19 and your third idol al-Manat (whom you considered as God's daughters)? 20 What! for you the males and for Him the females! 21 That indeed is an unfair division -- 22 these are nothing but names which you yourselves have devised, you and your forefathers. God has sent down no authority for them. They follow nothing but conjecture and what their own selves desire, even though guidance has already come to them from their Lord! 23 Or shall man have what he wishes? 24 But to Allah belongs the last (Hereafter) and the first (the world). 25