Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
HaMeem. 1 By the Clear Book; 2 We have made it an Arabic Quran so that you may understand. 3 and behold, it is in the Essence of the Book, with Us; sublime indeed, wise. 4 So shall We divert the advice away from you, because you are a nation that exceeds the limits? 5 And how many a prophet We sent among the former peoples, 6 And never came there a Prophet to them but they used to mock at him. 7 and so, [in the end,] We destroyed them [even though they were] of greater might than these: and the [very] image of those people of old became a thing of the past. 8 And if thou (Muhammad) ask them: Who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely answer: The Mighty, the Knower created them; 9 He who made the earth a bed for you, and laid out tracks upon it so that you may find the way; 10 And He it is who sends down, again and again, waters from the sky in due measure: and [as] We raise therewith dead land to life, even thus will you be brought forth [from the dead]. 11 And Who hath treated the pairs, all of them, and appointed for you from ships and cattle things whereon ye ride. 12 So that you may properly mount their backs, and may remember your Lord’s favour when you have mounted them, and say, “Purity is to Him, Who has given this ride in our control, and we did not have the strength for it.” 13 And surely to our Lord we must return. 14 Yet they make some of His creatures His offspring! Man is surely most ungrateful. 15