Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Ha, Meem. 1 I swear by the illustrious Book. 2 Lo! We have appointed it a Lecture, in Arabic that haply ye may understand. 3 Indeed it is transcribed in the Original Book with Us; sublime and full of wisdom. 4 So shall We divert the advice away from you, because you are a nation that exceeds the limits? 5 And how many a prophet We sent among the ancients. 6 Yet never did a Prophet come to them but they mocked him. 7 We destroyed the strongest among them in power. The stories of the ancient people have already been mentioned. 8 If you ask them, "Who has created the heavens and the earth?", they will surely answer, "The Almighty, the All Knowing One has created them." 9 Who has made the earth a cradle for you and made thereon paths for you so that, hopefully, you may find your way 10 That sends down (from time to time) rain from the sky in due measure;- and We raise to life therewith a land that is dead; even so will ye be raised (from the dead);- 11 It is He who has created everything in pairs and the ships and cattle for you to ride, 12 That ye mount firmly on the backs thereof, and then may remember the favour of your Lord when ye mount thereon, and may say: hallowed be He Who hath subjected this unto us, and we for it were not fit. 13 And lo! unto our Lord we surely are returning. 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