Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Ha'. Mim. 1 By the Clear Book; 2 Lo! We have appointed it a Lecture, in Arabic that haply ye may understand. 3 And verily, [originating as it does] in the source, with Us, of all revelation, it is indeed sublime, full of wisdom. 4 Should We have withdrawn the Reminder from you as you are a people who exceed the bounds? 5 How many a Prophet did We send to the earlier peoples! 6 And there came not to them a prophet but they mocked at 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 Who hath made for you the earth a bed, and hath made for you paths therein that haply ye may be directed. 10 It is He who has sent down water from the sky in a known measure by which He has given life to the dead earth. In the same way will you also be resurrected. 11 And He it is who has created all opposites. And He [it is who] has provided for you all those ships and animals whereon you ride, 12 That ye may mount upon their backs, and may remember your Lord's favour when ye mount thereon, and may say: Glorified be He Who hath subdued these unto us, and we were not capable (of subduing them); 13 And indeed we, to our Lord, will [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