The Stars (Al-Najm)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I CALL TO witness the star of the pleiades when it has dipped 1 Your companion [Muhammad] has not strayed, nor has he erred, 2 nor speaks he out of caprice. 3 Indeed it is not except a Revelation which is revealed, 4 taught by One who is Stern in power. 5 Of might, he (Gabriel) stood firm 6 being on the higher horizon. 7 Then he drew near and hung above suspended, 8 Till he was (distant) two bows' length or even nearer, 9 Thus He revealed unto His bondman whatsoever He revealed. 10 The heart lied not (in seeing) what it saw. 11 Will ye then dispute with him concerning what he seeth? 12 And verily he saw him yet another time 13 by the lote tree beyond which none may pass 14 Near it is the Paradise of Abode. 15 with the lote-tree veiled in a veil of nameless splendour 16 (His) sight never swerved, nor did it go wrong! 17 Verily he saw one of the greater revelations of his Lord. 18 (Can anything as such be considered true) of al-Lat, al-Uzza, 19 and about the third deity, al-Manat? 20 Why - for yourselves [you would choose only] male offspring, whereas to Him [you assign] female: 21 That were indeed an unjust division. 22 These are only names which you and your fathers have invented. No authority was sent down by God for them. They only follow conjecture and wish-fulfilment, even though guidance had come to them already from their Lord. 23 Or shall man have what he coveteth? 24 But unto Allah belongeth the after (life), and the former. 25