Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-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 That We made it a distinctly lucid Qur'an that you 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 We sent among the ancients. 6 No Prophet came to them whom they did not mock. 7 so We destroyed those who were mightier than these; such was the example of the earlier peoples. 8 Yet thus it is [with most people]: if thou ask them, "Who is it that has created the heavens and the earth?" - they will surely answer, "The Almighty, the All-Knowing has created them." 9 (Yea, the same that) has made for you the earth (like a carpet) spread out, and has made for you roads (and channels) therein, in order that ye may find guidance (on the way); 10 And who sends down rain from the sky in measured amounts, and We revive thereby a dead land - thus will you be brought forth - 11 He Who created all the pairs, and appointed for you ships and cattle whereupon ye ride. 12 in order that you might gain mastery over them, and that, whenever you have mastered them, you might remember your Sustainer's blessings and say: "Limitless in His glory is He who has made [all] this subservient to our use - since [but for Him,] we would not have been able to attain to it. 13 Surely we have to go back to our Lord." 14 Yet they make some of His creatures His offspring! Man is surely most ungrateful. 15