The Stars (Al-Najm)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
By the star when it sets: 1 This fellow-man of yours has not gone astray, nor is he deluded, 2 nor speaks he out of caprice. 3 It is naught but revelation that is revealed, 4 something that a very powerful one has imparted to him, 5 [an angel] endowed with surpassing power, who in time manifested himself in his true shape and nature, 6 When he was on the uppermost horizon. 7 Then he approached and came closer, 8 Till he was two bows length off or yet nearer. 9 Thus He revealed unto His bondman whatsoever He revealed. 10 His heart did not lie of what he saw. 11 will you, then, contend with him as to what he saw? 12 Indeed he saw him a second time, 13 by the lote-tree of the farthest limit, 14 Nigh unto which is the Garden of Abode. 15 when the lote tree was covered in mystic splendour. 16 Neither did sight falter nor exceed the bounds. 17 Certainly he saw of the greatest signs of his Lord. 18 (Among the idols) have you considered allat and al'uzza, 19 And Manat, the other third (of the pagan deities)? 20 Is the male for you and for Him the female? 21 Then that is surely a very unjust distribution! 22 They are but names which you have named, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority. They follow but a guess and that which they themselves desire, whereas there has surely come to them the Guidance from their Lord! 23 Does man imagine that it is his due to have all that he might wish for, 24 Rather, to Allah belongs the Hereafter and the first [life]. 25