Allah knows what every female bears; and what the wombs fall short of (in gestation), and what they may add. With Him everything is in a fixed measure. 8 the Knower of the unseen and the visible, the All-great, the All-exalted: 9 Equal* are the one among you who speaks softly and one who speaks aloud, and one who is hidden during the night and one who walks during the daytime. (* For Allah.) 10 For each (person), there are angels in succession, before and behind him. They guard him by the Command of Allah. Verily! Allah will not change the good condition of a people as long as they do not change their state of goodness themselves (by committing sins and by being ungrateful and disobedient to Allah). But when Allah wills a people's punishment, there can be no turning back of it, and they will find besides Him no protector. 11 It is He who shows you the lightning, for fear and hope, and produces the heavy clouds; 12 The thunder hymneth His praise and (so do) the angels for awe of Him. He launcheth the thunderbolts and smiteth with them whom He will while they dispute (in doubt) concerning Allah, and He is mighty in wrath. 13 Unto Him [alone] is due all prayer aiming at the Ultimate Truth, since those [other beings or powers] whom men invoke instead of God cannot respond to them in any way - [so that he who invokes them is] but like one who stretches his open hands towards water, [hoping] that it will reach his mouth, the while it never reaches him. Hence, the prayer of those who deny the truth amounts to no more than losing oneself in grievous error. 14 All that is in the heavens and the earth prostrates itself, whether willingly or by force, before Allah; and so do their shadows in the morning and in the evening. ۩ 15 Say (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him), “Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?” Proclaim, “Allah”; Say, “So have you appointed such as supporters besides Him, who can neither benefit nor harm themselves?”; say, “Will the blind and the sighted ever be equal? Or will the realms of darkness and the light ever be equal?” Have they appointed such as partners to Allah who created something like Allah did? Therefore their creation and His creation seemed alike to them? Proclaim, “Allah is the Creator of all things, and He Alone is the Dominant over all.” 16 He sendeth down water from the heaven, so that the valleys flow according to their measure; then the torrent beareth the scum on top, and from that over which they kindle a fire seeking ornament or goods - ariseth a scum like thereto: Thus doth Allah propound the truth and falsity. Then as for the scum, it departeth as rubbish, and as for that which benefiteth the mankind, it lasteth on the earth: Thus doth Allah propound the similitudes. 17 For those who obey their Lord is excellence. For those who fail to obey, the reckoning will be hard, even if they possess and give as ransom all that there is on the earth, and as much more; and Hell will be their abode: How wretched is its wide expanse! 18