Jonah (Younus)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Alif-Lam-Ra*; these are verses of the Book of wisdom. (*alphabets of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 It is a matter of wonderment to the mankind that we should reveal unto a man among them saying: warn thou the mankind, and bear those who have believed the glad tidings that theirs shall be a sure footing with their Lord! The infidels say: verily this is a sorcerer manifest. 2 Surely your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods, and He is firm in power, regulating the affair, there is no intercessor except after His permission; this is Allah, your Lord, therefore serve Him; will you not then mind? 3 Unto Him you all must return: this is, in truth, God's promise - for, behold, He creates [man] in the first instance, and then brings him forth anew to the end that He may reward with equity all who attain to faith and do righteous deeds; whereas for those who are bent on denying the truth there is in store a draught of burning despair and grievous suffering because of their persistent refusal to acknowledge the truth. 4 It is God who has made the sun radiant and the moon luminous and has appointed for the moon certain phases so that you may compute the number of years and other reckonings. God has created them for a genuine purpose. He explains the evidence (of His existence) to the people of knowledge. 5 Most surely in the variation of the night and the day, and what Allah has created in the heavens and the earth, there are signs for a people who guard (against evil). 6 Indeed those who do not expect to meet Us and have preferred the worldly life and are content with it, and those who neglect Our signs, – 7 those -- their refuge is the Fire, for that they have been earning. 8 The righteously striving believers receive, through their faith, guidance from their Lord to the bountiful gardens wherein streams flow. 9 Their prayer therein will be: Glory be to Thee, O Allah! and their greeting therein will be: Peace. And the conclusion of their prayer will be: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds! 10