Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Ha-Mim. [These letters are one of the miracles of the Quran, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. 1 By the Clear Book; 2 We have indeed sent it as a Qur’an in the Arabic language, so that you may understand. 3 And verily it is, in the Original Book before Us, indeed exalted. 4 So shall We divert the advice away from you, because you are a nation that exceeds the limits? 5 How many a Prophet did We send to the ancients, 6 And never came there unto them a prophet but they used to mock him. 7 and so, [in the end,] We destroyed them [even though they were] of greater might than these: and the [very] image of those people of old became a thing of the past. 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 He Who made the earth a resting-place for you, and made in it ways for you that you may go aright; 10 And He it is who sends down, again and again, waters from the sky in due measure: and [as] We raise therewith dead land to life, even thus will you be brought forth [from the dead]. 11 and who created the pairs, all of them, and appointed for you ships and cattle such as you ride, 12 so that you may sit firmly on their backs. Then once you have mounted them, remember your Lord's favour and say, "Glory be to Him who has subjected these creatures to us; we would never on our own have subdued them. 13 And lo! unto our Lord we surely are returning. 14 And they appoint for Him from His bondmen a part! Verily man is an ingrate manifest. 15