The Stars (Al-Najm)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
By the star when it plunges, 1 your companion has neither strayed nor is he deluded; 2 and neither does he speak out of his own desire: 3 This is only revelation communicated, 4 and taught to him 5 [an angel] endowed with surpassing power, who in time manifested himself in his true shape and nature, 6 the strong one who appeared on the uppermost horizon. 7 Then he drew near and hung above suspended, 8 And was at a distance of two bows' length or (even) nearer, 9 He revealed to God's servant whatever he wanted. 10 The [servant's] heart did not give the lie to what he saw: 11 Will you then dispute with him as to what he saw? 12 He saw Him indeed another time 13 by the lote tree beyond which none may pass 14 Close to which is the Garden of Tranquility, 15 When the Lote-tree was covered over with what it was covered over; 16 his eye swerved not; nor swept astray. 17 For truly did he see, of the Signs of his Lord, the Greatest! 18 Have you then considered the Lat and the Uzza, 19 And Manat, the other third (of the pagan deities)? 20 What! for you the male sex, and for Him, the female? 21 That is indeed an unfair division! 22 These [allegedly divine beings] are nothing but empty names which you have invented - you and your forefathers - [and] for which God has bestowed no warrant from on high. They [who worship them] follow nothing but surmise and their own wishful thinking - although right guidance has now indeed come unto them from their Sustainer. 23 Is the human to have whatever he fancies? 24 But to Allah belongs the last (Hereafter) and the first (the world). 25