The Throngs (Al-Zumer)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
The revelation of the Qur'an is from Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Wise. 1 Verily it is We Who have revealed the Book to thee in Truth: so serve Allah, offering Him sincere devotion. 2 Is it not to God alone that all sincere faith is due? And yet, they who take for their protectors aught beside Him [are wont to say,] "We worship them for no other reason than that they bring us nearer to God." Behold, God will judge between them [on Resurrection Day] with regard to all wherein they differ [from the truth]: for, verily, God does not grace with His guidance anyone who is bent on lying [to himself and is] stubbornly ingrate! 3 Had Allah willed to take a son (or offspring or children), He could have chosen whom He pleased out of those whom He created. But glory be to Him! (He is above such things). He is Allah, the One, the Irresistible. 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 has created you from a single soul. Out of this He created your spouse. He sent you eight pairs of cattle. He creates you for a second time in the wombs of your mothers behind three curtains of darkness. He is your Lord to whom belongs the Kingdom. He is the only Lord. Where then will you turn away? 6 If ye are thankless, yet Allah is Independent of you, though He is not pleased with thanklessness for His bondmen; and if ye are thankful He is pleased therewith for you. No laden soul will bear another's load. Then unto your Lord is your return; and He will tell you what ye used to do. Lo! He knoweth what is in the breasts (of men). 7 ۞ When the human being is afflicted with hardship, he starts to pray to his Lord and turns to Him in repentance. When God grants him a favor, he forgets the hardship about which he had prayed to God and starts to consider equal to God things that lead him astray from His path. (Muhammad), tell him, "You can only enjoy in your disbelief for a short time. You will certainly be a dweller of hell fire". 8 Is he who prays devoutly to God in the hours of the night, prostrating himself and standing in prayer, who is ever mindful of the life to come and hopes for the mercy of his Lord [like one who does not]? Say, "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?" Truly, only those endowed with understanding will take heed. 9