Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
Ha Mim. 1 I swear by the illustrious Book. 2 Lo! We have appointed it a Lecture, in Arabic that haply ye may understand. 3 It (the Quran) exists in the original Book with Us which is certainly Most Exalted, full of wisdom and (beyond linguistic structures). 4 Shall We turn away the Remembrance from you because you are a sinful nation? 5 Many a prophet had We sent to the earlier communities, 6 but whenever a prophet came to them, they mocked him, 7 Wherefore We destroyed peoples mightier than these in prowess; and there hath gone forth the example of the ancients. 8 If thou wert to question them, 'Who created the heavens and the earth?' They would be sure to reply, 'they were created by (Him), the Exalted in Power, Full of Knowledge';- 9 He who made the earth a bed for you, and laid out tracks upon it so that you may find the way; 10 And Who sendeth down from the heaven water in measure; then We quicken a dead land therewith: even so ye shall be brought forth. 11 He Who created all the pairs, and appointed for you ships and cattle whereupon ye ride. 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 AND YET, they attribute to Him offspring from among some of the beings created by Him! Verily, most obviously bereft of all gratitude is man! 15