Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Ha-Meem. (Alphabets of the Arabic language – Allah, and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 By the clear Book, 2 verily We have made it an Arabic Qur'an that you may understand. 3 And verily, [originating as it does] in the source, with Us, of all revelation, it is indeed sublime, full of wisdom. 4 Shall We utterly ignore you because ye are a wanton folk? 5 And how many a Prophet have We sent amongst the men of old. 6 And not a prophet came unto them but him they were wont to mock. 7 and so, [in the end,] We destroyed them [even though they were] of greater might than these: and the [very] image of those people of old became a thing of the past. 8 And if you ask them, “Who has created the heavens and the earth?”, they will surely say, “They are created by the Most Honourable, the All Knowing.” 9 (It is) He who made the earth to be a cradle for you and made in it ways for you, in order that you are guided. 10 It is He who has sent down water from the sky in a known measure by which He has given life to the dead earth. In the same way will you also be resurrected. 11 He who created pairs of everything, and fashioned for you boats and beasts on which you ride, 12 so that you may sit firmly on their backs. Then once you have mounted them, remember your Lord's favour and say, "Glory be to Him who has subjected these creatures to us; we would never on our own have subdued them. 13 "And to our Lord, surely, must we turn back!" 14 Yet they have assigned to Him a part of His own servants! Man is dearly unthankful. 15