سورة Sad ( The Letter Sad )

Suad. By the Quran bearing the Reminder,

the faithless indeed dwell in conceit and defiance.

How many a generation We have destroyed before them! They cried out [for help], but gone was the time for escape.

They consider it odd that there should come to them a warner from among themselves, and the faithless say, ‘This is a magician, a mendacious liar.’

‘Has he reduced the gods to one god? This is indeed an odd thing!’

Their elite go about [urging others]: ‘Go and stand by your gods! This is indeed the desirable thing [to do].

We did not hear of this in the latter-day creed. This is nothing but a fabrication.

Has the Reminder been sent down to him out of [all of] us?’ Indeed, they are in doubt concerning My Reminder. Indeed, they have not yet tasted My punishment.

Do they possess the treasuries of the mercy of your Lord, the All-mighty, the All-munificent?

Do they own the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them? [If so,] let them ascend [to the higher spheres] by the means [of ascension].

[They are but] a host routed out there of the factions.

Before them Noah’s people impugned [their apostle] and [so did the people of] ‘Ad, and Pharaoh, the Impaler [of his victims],

and Thamud, and the people of Lot, and the inhabitants of Aykah: those were the factions.

There was not any one but such as impugned the apostles; so My retribution became due [against them].

These [too] do not await but a single Cry, which will not grant [them] any respite.

They say, ‘Our Lord! Hasten on for us our share before the Day of Reckoning.’

Be patient over what they say, and remember Our servant, David, [the man] of strength. Indeed he was a penitent [soul].

We disposed the mountains to glorify [Allah] with him at evening and dawn,

and the birds [as well], mustered [in flocks]; all echoing him [in a chorus].

We consolidated his kingdom and gave him wisdom and conclusive speech.

Has there not come to you the account of the contenders, when they scaled the wall into the sanctuary?

When they entered into the presence of David, he was alarmed by them. They said, ‘Do not be afraid. [We are only] two contenders: one of us has bullied the other. So judge justly between us, and do not exceed [the bounds of justice], and show us the right path.’

‘This brother of mine has ninety-nine ewes, while I have only a single ewe, and [yet] he says, ‘Commit it to my care,’ and he browbeats me in speech.’

He said, ‘He has certainly wronged you by asking your ewe in addition to his own ewes, and indeed many partners bully one another, except such as have faith and do righteous deeds, and few are they.’ Then David knew that We had tested him, whereat he pleaded with his Lord for forgiveness, and fell down in prostration and repented.

So We forgave him that, and indeed he has [a station of] nearness with Us and a good destination.

‘O David! Indeed, We have made you a vicegerent on the earth. So judge between people with justice, and do not follow your desires, or they will lead you astray from the way of Allah. Indeed there is a severe punishment for those who stray from the way of Allah, because of their forgetting the Day of Reckoning.’

We did not create the sky and the earth and whatever is between them in vain. That is a conjecture of the faithless. So woe to the faithless for the Fire!

Shall We treat those who have faith and do righteous deeds like those who cause corruption on the earth? Shall We treat the Godwary like the vicious?

[This is] a blessed Book that We have sent down to you, so that they may contemplate its signs, and that those who possess intellect may take admonition.

And to David We gave Solomon—what an excellent servant he was! Indeed, he was a penitent [soul].

One evening when there were displayed before him prancing steeds,

he said, ‘Indeed I have preferred the love of [worldly] niceties to the remembrance of my Lord until [the sun] disappeared behind the [night’s] veil.’

‘Bring it back for me!’ Then he [and others] began to wipe [their] legs and necks.

Certainly We tried Solomon, and cast a [lifeless] body on his throne. Thereupon he was penitent.

He said, ‘My Lord! Forgive me, and grant me a kingdom that will not befit anyone except me. Indeed You are the All-munificent.’

So We disposed the wind for him, blowing softly wherever he intended by his command,

and every builder and diver from the demons,

and others [too] bound together in chains.

‘This is Our bounty: so withhold or bestow without any reckoning.’

Indeed he has [a station of] nearness with Us and a good destination.

And remember Our servant Job [in the Quran]. When he called out to his Lord, ‘The devil has visited on me hardship and torment,’

[We told him:] ‘Stamp your foot on the ground; this [ensuing spring] will be a cooling bath and drink.’

We gave [back] his family to him along with others like them, as a mercy from Us and an admonition for those who possess intellect.

[We told him:] ‘Take a faggot in your hand and then strike [your wife] with it, but do not break [your] oath.’ Indeed, We found him to be patient. What an excellent servant! Indeed he was a penitent [soul].

And remember Our servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, men of strength and insight.

Indeed We purified them with exclusive remembrance of the abode [of the Hereafter].

Indeed they are surely with Us among the elect of the best.

And remember Ishmael, Elisha and Dhu’l-Kifl—each [of whom was] among the elect.

This is a Reminder, and indeed the Godwary have a good destination:

the Gardens of Eden, whose gates will be flung open for them.

Reclining therein [on couches], they will call for abundant fruits and drinks,

and there will be with them maidens of restrained glances, of a like age.

This is what you are promised on the Day of Reckoning.

This is Our provision, which will never be exhausted.

This [will be for the righteous], and as for the rebellious there will surely be a bad destination:

hell, which they shall enter, an evil resting place.

[They will be told, ‘This is scalding water and pus; let them taste it,

and other kinds [of torments] resembling it.’

[The leaders of the faithless will be told,] ‘This is a group [of your followers] plunging [into hell] along with you.’ [They will repond,] ‘May wretchedness be their lot! For they will enter the Fire.’

They will say, ‘No, may wretchedness be your lot! You prepared this [hell] for us. What an evil abode!’

They will say, ‘Our Lord! Whoever has prepared this for us, double his punishment in the Fire!’

And they will say, ‘Why is it that we do not see [here] men whom we used to count among the bad ones,

ridiculing them, or do [our] eyes miss them [here]?’

That is indeed a true account of the contentions of the inmates of the Fire.

Say, ‘I am just a warner, and there is no god except Allah, the One, the All-paramount,

the Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, the All-mighty, the All-forgiver.’

Say, ‘It is a great prophesy,

of which you are disregardful.

I have no knowledge of the Supernal Elite when they contend.

All that is revealed to me is that I am just a manifest warner.’

When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am about to create a human being out of clay.

So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down in prostration before him.’

Thereat the angels prostrated, all of them together,

but not Iblis; he acted arrogantly and he was one of the faithless.

He said, ‘O Iblis! What keeps you from prostrating before that which I have created with My [own] two hands? Are you arrogant, or are you one of the exalted ones?’

‘I am better than him,’ he said. ‘You created me from fire and You created him from clay.’

He said, ‘Begone hence, for you are indeed an outcast,

and indeed My curse will be on you till the Day of Retribution.’

He said, ‘My Lord! Respite me till the day they will be resurrected.’

Said He, ‘You are indeed among the reprieved

until the day of the known time.’

He said, ‘By Your might, I will surely pervert them,

except Your exclusive servants among them.’

Said He, ‘The truth is that—and I speak the truth—

I will surely fill hell with you and all those who follow you.’

Say, ‘I do not ask you any reward for it, and I am no impostor.

It is just a reminder for all the nations,

and you will surely learn its tidings in due time.’