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 did not err, nor did he go astray. 2 nor does he speak out of his own desire. 3 It is but a revelation revealed. 4 Which one of mighty powers hath taught him, 5 by the great mighty one (Gabriel), 6 And he is in the highest part of the horizon. 7 Thereafter he drew nigh, then he let himself down. 8 until he was two bows' length away, or nearer. 9 then revealed to his servant that he revealed. 10 His heart did not falsify what he perceived. 11 Will ye then dispute with him concerning what he saw? 12 And he certainly saw him in another descent 13 Nigh unto the lote-tree at the boundary. 14 Nigh thereto is the Garden of Abode. 15 When that which shroudeth did enshroud the lote-tree, 16 The sight did not shift, nor did it cross the limits. 17 Assuredly he beheld of the sign of his Lord, the greatest. 18 Have you then considered Al-Lat, and Al-'Uzza (two idols of the pagan Arabs). 19 and the third one, Manat? -- 20 Is it for you the males and for Him the females? 21 That indeed is 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 Or is there for man whatever he wishes? 24 All that is in the life to come and all that is in this life belongs only to God. 25