The Throngs (Al-Zumer)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
This Book is a revelation from God, the Majestic and All-Wise. 1 We have revealed to you the Scripture with exactitude; so worship God with devotion all exclusive for Him. 2 it is to God alone that sincere obedience is due. And those who take other guardians besides Him say, "We serve them only that they may bring us nearer to God." Surely, God will judge between them concerning that wherein they differ. God does not guide anyone who is bent on lying and is a disbelieving liar. 3 Had God wanted to have a son, He would have chosen one from His creatures according to His will. God is too Exalted to have a son. He is One and Almighty. 4 He it is who has created the heavens and the earth in accordance with [an inner] truth. He causes the night to flow into the day, and causes the day to flow into the night; and He has made the sun and the moon subservient [to His laws,] each running its course for a term set [by Him]. Is not He the Almighty, the All-Forgiving? 5 He created you from a single soul, then from it He created its spouse. And He sent down to you eight pairs of the cattle. He creates you in your mothers' womb, creation after creation, in three (stages of) darkness. Such then is Allah, your Lord. For Him is the Kingdom. There is no god except Him. How, then, can you turn away? 6 If ye disbelieve, then verily Allah is independent of you. And He approveth not of infidelity in His bondmen. And if ye return thanks He approveth of that in you. No burdened soul shall bear another's burthen. Thereafter unto your Lord is your return; and He shall declare unto you that which ye have been working. Verily He is the Knower of that which is in the breasts. 7 ۞ And when some hardship strikes man, he prays to his Lord, inclined only towards Him – then when Allah grants him a favour from Himself, he forgets why he had prayed to Him earlier, and sets up equals to Allah in order to mislead from Allah’s way; proclaim, “Revel in your disbelief for some days; you are indeed of the people of the fire.” 8 Is he who payeth adoration in the watches of the night, prostrate and standing, bewaring of the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, (to be accounted equal with a disbeliever)? Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Are those who know equal with those who know not? But only men of understanding will pay heed. 9