Kingship (Al-Mulk)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Blest be He in whose hand is the dominion, and He is over everything Potent. 1 He created death and life so that He might test you, and find out which of you is best in conduct. He is the Mighty, the Most Forgiving One. 2 It is He who has created seven heavens, one above the other. You can see no flaw in the creation of the Beneficent God. Look again. Can you see faults? 3 Again turn thy vision a second time: (thy) vision will come back to thee dull and discomfited, in a state worn out. 4 And indeed We have beautified the lower heaven with lamps, and have made them weapons against the devils, and have kept prepared for them the punishment of the blazing fire. 5 Those who are bent on blaspheming against their Lord will have the punishment of Hell: an evil destination. 6 When they will be cast thereinto, they will hear thereof a braying even as it boileth up, 7 As if about to explode with rage; whenever a group is thrown into it, the guardians of hell will ask them, “Did not a Herald of Warning come to you?” 8 They will say, “Yes, why not – indeed a Herald of Warning did come to us – in response we denied and said ‘Allah has not sent down anything – you are not except in a great error’.” 9 And they shall say: Had we but listened or pondered, we should not have been among the inmates of the burning fire. 10 and thus they will confess their sin; far from God's mercy are the inmates of Hell. 11 Verily! Those who fear their Lord unseen (i.e. they do not see Him, nor His Punishment in the Hereafter, etc.), theirs will be forgiveness and a great reward (i.e. Paradise). 12 (Whether you) speak in secret or aloud, He knows the innermost of the chests. 13 Should He not know what He created? And He is the Subtile, the Aware. 14