Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Ha. Mim. 1 I swear by the illustrious Book. 2 Lo! We have appointed it a Lecture, in Arabic that haply ye may understand. 3 And verily it is, in the Original Book before Us, indeed exalted. 4 [O YOU who deny the truth!] Should We, perchance, withdraw this reminder from you altogether, seeing that you are people bent on wasting your own selves? 5 And how many a prophet did We send to people of olden times! 6 And whenever any Prophet came to them, they only mocked at him. 7 Then We destroyed those who were stronger than these in prowess, and the case of the ancients has gone before, 8 And if you should ask them, Who created the heavens and the earth? they would most certainly say: The Mighty, the Knowing One, has created them; 9 Who has made the earth a cradle for you and made thereon paths for you so that, hopefully, you may find your way 10 It is He who sends water down from the sky in due measure, We revive dead land with it and likewise you will be resurrected from the grave, 11 He Who created all the pairs, and appointed for you ships and cattle whereupon ye ride. 12 That you may settle yourselves upon their backs and then remember the favor of your Lord when you have settled upon them and say. "Exalted is He who has subjected this to us, and we could not have [otherwise] subdued it. 13 And lo! unto our Lord we surely are returning. 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