Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Ha Mim. 1 By this luminous Book. 2 We verily, have made it a Quran in Arabic, that you may be able to understand (its meanings and its admonitions). 3 And verily, it is in the Mother of the Book, in Our Presence, high (in dignity), full of wisdom. 4 Shall We turn away the Remembrance from you, for that you are a prodigal people? 5 How many a prophet did We send among the men of old! 6 And never came there a Prophet to them but they used to mock at him. 7 We destroyed the strongest among them in power. The stories of the ancient people have already been mentioned. 8 And if thou askest them: who hath created the heavens and the earth? they will surely say: created them the Mighty, the Knower. 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 Who sent down water from the sky with a proper measure, so We revived a dead city with it; this is how you will be taken out. 11 It is He who has created everything in pairs and the ships and cattle for you to ride, 12 So that you may properly mount their backs, and may remember your Lord’s favour when you have mounted them, and say, “Purity is to Him, Who has given this ride in our control, and we did not have the strength for it.” 13 It is to our Lord that we shall eventually return.” 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