Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Ha-Meem. (Alphabets of the Arabic language – Allah, and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 By the Scripture which maketh plain, 2 Lo! We have appointed it a Lecture, in Arabic that haply ye may understand. 3 And surely it is in the original of the Book with Us, truly elevated, full of wisdom. 4 Then should We turn the message away, disregarding you, because you are a transgressing people? 5 How many a prophet did We send among the men of old! 6 Yet never did a Prophet come to them but they mocked him. 7 Then We destroyed men mightier than these in prowess; and the example of the men of old hath gone (before them). 8 And if you ask them, “Who has created the heavens and the earth?”, they will surely say, “They are created by the Most Honourable, the All Knowing.” 9 He it is who has made the earth a cradle for you, and has provided for you ways [of livelihood] thereon, so that you might follow the right path. 10 He Who sent down water from the sky in a determined measure, and thereby We revived a dead land: likewise will you be raised up (from the earth) -- 11 It is He who has created everything in pairs and the ships and cattle for you to ride, 12 That you may firmly sit on their backs, then remember the favor of your Lord when you are firmly seated thereon, and say: Glory be to Him Who made this subservient to us and we were not able to do it 13 To our Lord we shall all return". 14 Yet they assign to some of His slaves a share with Him (by pretending that He has children, and considering them as equals or co-partners in worship with Him). Verily, man is indeed a manifest ingrate! 15