Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Ha, Meem. 1 By the Clear Book, 2 We have made it a Qur'an in Arabic, that ye may be able to understand (and learn wisdom). 3 and behold, it is in the Essence of the Book, with Us; sublime indeed, wise. 4 Should We have withdrawn the Reminder from you as you are a people who exceed the bounds? 5 And how many Prophets We did send among the earlier people! 6 Yet never did a Prophet come to them but they mocked him. 7 Wherefore We destroyed peoples mightier than these in prowess; and there hath gone forth the example of the ancients. 8 And if you should ask them, "Who has created the heavens and the earth?" they would surely say, "They were created by the Exalted in Might, the Knowing." 9 Who hath made for you the earth a bed, and hath made for you paths therein that haply ye may be directed. 10 Who sent down water in due measure from the sky, then quickened a region that was dead -- So shall We bring you forth -- 11 It is He who has created everything in pairs and the ships and cattle for you to ride, 12 in order that you might gain mastery over them, and that, whenever you have mastered them, you might remember your Sustainer's blessings and say: "Limitless in His glory is He who has made [all] this subservient to our use - since [but for Him,] we would not have been able to attain to it. 13 And surely to our Lord we must return. 14 Yet they make some of His servants partners in His divinity. Man is clearly ungrateful! 15