The Stars (Al-Najm)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I CALL TO witness the star of the pleiades when it has dipped 1 Your Companion is neither astray nor being misled. 2 and neither does he speak out of his own desire: 3 It [the Quran] is nothing but revelation sent down to him. 4 and taught to him 5 Endued with Wisdom: for he appeared (in stately form); 6 While he [Jibrael (Gabriel)] was in the highest part of the horizon, 7 then he drew near, and became close 8 Till he was (distant) two bows' length or even nearer, 9 So Allah divinely revealed to His bondman, whatever He divinely revealed. 10 The heart was not untrue in (making him see) what he saw. 11 Will you dispute with him what he saw? 12 For indeed he saw him at a second descent, 13 Nigh unto the lote-tree at the boundary. 14 Nigh unto which is the Garden of Abode. 15 When there covered the Lote Tree that which covered [it]. 16 [And withal,] the eye did not waver, nor yet did it stray: 17 Assuredly he beheld of the sign of his Lord, the greatest. 18 Have you considered El-Lat and El-'Uzza 19 And Manat, the third, the other? 20 Why - for yourselves [you would choose only] male offspring, whereas to Him [you assign] female: 21 That is indeed an unfair division! 22 These are nothing but names that you and your forefathers have invented, for which Allah has sent down no authority. They are merely following their conjectures and their carnal desires although guidance has come to them from their Lord. 23 Shall man have whatever he craves? 24 All that is in the life to come and all that is in this life belongs only to God. 25