The Throngs (Al-Zumer)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
The sending down of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the Wise, 1 It is We who sent down the Book to you [Prophet] with the Truth, so worship God with your total devotion: 2 Surely pure religion is for Allah only. And those who choose protecting friends beside Him (say): We worship them only that they may bring us near unto Allah. Lo! Allah will judge between them concerning that wherein they differ. Lo! Allah guideth not him who is a liar, an ingrate. 3 If Allah desire to take a son to Himself, He will surely choose those He pleases from what He has created. Glory be to Him: He is Allah, the One, the Subduer (of all). 4 He has created the heavens and the earth with the truth; He makes the night cover the day and makes the day overtake the night, and He has made the sun and the moon subservient; each one runs on to an assigned term; now surely He is the Mighty, the great Forgiver. 5 He created you from a single soul, then produced its spouse from it, and He has provided for you eight heads of cattle in pairs. He creates you stage by stage in your mothers' wombs in a threefold darkness. Such is God, your Lord. Sovereignty is His. There is no god but Him. So what has made you turn away? 6 If you are ungrateful, remember that God has no need of you. He is not pleased by ingratitude in His servants; if you are grateful, He is pleased [to see] it in you. No soul shall bear another's burden. You will return to your Lord in the end and He will declare to you what you have done: He knows well what is in the hearts of men. 7 ۞ When man is afflicted with adversity he turns to his Lord, and prays to Him. But when He bestows His favour on him, he forgets what he prayed for before, and sets up others as compeers of God to mislead (people) from His way. Say: "Take advantage of your denying for a while: You will be among the inmates of Hell." 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