The Stars (Al-Najm)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
CONSIDER this unfolding [of God's message,] as it comes down from on high! 1 your comrade is not astray, neither errs, 2 Nor does he speak of (his own) desire. 3 It is naught save an inspiration that is inspired, 4 taught him by one terrible in power, 5 [an angel] endowed with surpassing power, who in time manifested himself in his true shape and nature, 6 being on the higher horizon, 7 Then he drew near and drew closer 8 until he was two bows' length away, or nearer. 9 So Allah divinely revealed to His bondman, whatever He divinely revealed. 10 His heart lies not of what he saw; 11 Are you, then, going to contend with him regarding what he sees with his eyes? 12 And he certainly saw him in another descent 13 by the lote tree beyond which none may pass 14 nigh which is the Garden of the Refuge, 15 Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded (in mystery unspeakable!) 16 (His) sight never swerved, nor did it go wrong! 17 truly did he see some of the most profound of his Sustainer's symbols. 18 Have you considered Lat and 'Uzza, 19 and about the third deity, al-Manat? 20 Do sons belong to you and daughters to God? 21 That indeed is a division most unfair! 22 these are nothing but names which you yourselves have devised, you and your forefathers. God has sent down no authority for them. They follow nothing but conjecture and what their own selves desire, even though guidance has already come to them from their Lord! 23 Is the human to have whatever he fancies? 24 Rather, to Allah belongs the Hereafter and the first [life]. 25