The Throngs (Al-Zumer)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
THE BESTOWAL from on high of this divine writ issues from God, the Almighty, the Wise: 1 Surely We have revealed to you the Book with the truth, therefore serve Allah, being sincere to Him in obedience. 2 Lo, religion is exclusively devoted to Allah. Your religion is entirely consecrated to Him. As for those who have taken others than Allah for their guardians, (they say): “We worship them only that they may bring us nearer to Allah.” Allah will judge between them concerning what they differ about. Verily Allah does not guide anyone who is given to sheer lying, is an utter unbeliever. 3 If Allah had willed to choose a son, He could have chosen what He would of that which He hath created. Be He Glorified! He is Allah, the One, the Absolute. 4 He has created the heavens and the earth with the truth; He makes the night cover the day and makes the day overtake the night, and He has made the sun and the moon subservient; each one runs on to an assigned term; now surely He is the Mighty, the great Forgiver. 5 He created you from a single soul, then produced its spouse from it, and He has provided for you eight heads of cattle in pairs. He creates you stage by stage in your mothers' wombs in a threefold darkness. Such is God, your Lord. Sovereignty is His. There is no god but Him. So what has made you turn away? 6 If you are ungrateful, remember that God has no need of you. He is not pleased by ingratitude in His servants; if you are grateful, He is pleased [to see] it in you. No soul shall bear another's burden. You will return to your Lord in the end and He will declare to you what you have done: He knows well what is in the hearts of men. 7 ۞ And when some hardship strikes man, he prays to his Lord, inclined only towards Him – then when Allah grants him a favour from Himself, he forgets why he had prayed to Him earlier, and sets up equals to Allah in order to mislead from Allah’s way; proclaim, “Revel in your disbelief for some days; you are indeed of the people of the fire.” 8 Can one who prays in the watches of the night, bowing in homage or standing attentive, fearful of the life to come, and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, (be like one who does not)? Say: "Can those who know, and those who do not know, be equal? Only they think who are wise." 9