Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Ha-Mim. [These letters are one of the miracles of the Quran, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. 1 I swear by the Book that makes things clear: 2 Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Qur'an that you might understand. 3 And indeed it is, in the Mother of the Book with Us, exalted and full of wisdom. 4 Shall We then take away from you the admonition because ye are a people extravagant? 5 How many Messengers did We send to the ancient people? 6 But never yet came a prophet to them without their deriding him 7 and so, [in the end,] We destroyed them [even though they were] of greater might than these: and the [very] image of those people of old became a thing of the past. 8 And indeed if you ask them, "Who has created the heavens and the earth?" They will surely say: "The All-Mighty, the All-Knower created them." 9 (Yea, the same that) has made for you the earth (like a carpet) spread out, and has made for you roads (and channels) therein, in order that ye may find guidance (on the way); 10 And He Who sends down water from the cloud according to a measure, then We raise to life thereby a dead country, even thus shall you be brought forth; 11 And He Who created pairs of all things, and made for you of the ships and the cattle what you ride on, 12 So that you may properly mount their backs, and may remember your Lord’s favour when you have mounted them, and say, “Purity is to Him, Who has given this ride in our control, and we did not have the strength for it.” 13 And to our Lord we shall surely return." 14 Yet they assign to some of His slaves a share with Him (by pretending that He has children, and considering them as equals or co-partners in worship with Him). Verily, man is indeed a manifest ingrate! 15