The Throngs (Al-Zumer)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
THE BESTOWAL from on high of this divine writ issues from God, the Almighty, the Wise: 1 We have revealed to you the Scripture with exactitude; so worship God with devotion all exclusive for Him. 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 Had God pleased to take a son, He could have chosen whom He liked from among those He has created. Glory be to Him. He is God, the one, the omnipotent. 4 He has created the heavens and the earth for a genuine purpose. He covers the night with the day and the day with the night and has subdued the sun and the moon, each of which floats for an appointed time. God is certainly Majestic and All-Forgiving. 5 He created you of a single soul, then from it He appointed its mate; and He sent down to you of the cattle eight couples. He creates you in your mothers' wombs creation after creation in threefold shadows. That then is God, your Lord; to Him belongs the Kingdom; there is no god but He; so how are you turned about? 6 If you are ungrateful, then surely Allah is Self-sufficient above all need of you; and He does not like ungratefulness in His servants; and if you are grateful, He likes it in you; and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another; then to your Lord is your return, then will He inform you of what you did; surely He is Cognizant of what is in the breasts. 7 ۞ And when some hurt toucheth man, he crieth unto his Lord, turning unto Him (repentant). Then, when He granteth him a boon from Him he forgetteth that for which he cried unto Him before, and setteth up rivals to Allah that he may beguile (men) from his way. Say (O Muhammad, unto such an one): Take pleasure in thy disbelief a while. Lo! thou art of the owners of the Fire. 8 Or is he who is obedient in the watches of the night, bowing himself and standing, he being afraid of the world to come and hoping for the mercy of his Lord..? Say: 'Are they equal -- those who know and those who know not?' Only men possessed of minds remember. 9