سورة Az-Zukhruf ( The Gold Adornment )

Ha, Meem.

By the Manifest Book:

We have made it an Arabic Quran so that you may exercise your reason,

and it is sublime and wise with Us in the Mother Book.

Shall We keep back the Reminder from you and disregard you because you are an unrestrained lot?

How many a prophet We have sent to the former peoples!

There did not come to them any prophet but that they used to deride him.

So We destroyed those who were stronger than these, and the example of the former peoples has already come to pass.

If you ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say, ‘The All-mighty, the All-knowing created them.’

He, who made the earth a cradle for you, and made for you in it ways so that you may be guided [to your destinations],

and who sent down water from the sky in a measured manner, and We revived with it a dead country. Likewise, you shall be raised [from the dead].

He created all the kinds and made for you the ships and the cattle such which you ride,

that you may sit on their backs, then remember the blessing of your Lord when you are settled on them, and say, ‘Immaculate is He who has disposed this for us, and we [by ourselves] were no match for it.

Indeed we shall return to our Lord.’

They ascribe to Him offspring from among His servants! Man is indeed a manifest ingrate.

Did He adopt daughters from what He creates while He preferred you with sons?

When one of them is brought the news of what he ascribes to the All-beneficent, his face becomes darkened and he chokes with suppressed rage, [and says]

‘What! One who is brought up amid ornaments and is inconspicuous in contests?’

They have made the angels—who are servants of the All-beneficent—females. Were they witness to their creation? Their testimony will be written down and they shall be questioned.

They say, ‘Had the All-beneficent wished, we would not have worshipped them.’ They do not have any knowledge of that, and they do nothing but surmise.

Did We give them a Book before this, so that they are holding fast to it?

No, they said, ‘We found our fathers following a creed, and we are indeed guided in their footsteps.’

So it has been that We did not send any warner to a town before you, without its affluent ones saying, ‘We found our fathers following a creed and we are indeed following in their footsteps.’

He would say, ‘What! Even if I bring you a better guidance than what you found your fathers following?!’ They would say, ‘We indeed disbelieve in what you are sent with.’

Thereupon We took vengeance on them; so observe how was the fate of the deniers.

When Abraham said to his father and his people, ‘I repudiate what you worship,

excepting Him who originated me; indeed He will guide me.’

He made it a lasting word among his posterity so that they may come back [to the right path].

Indeed, I provided for these and their fathers until the truth and a manifest apostle came to them.

But when the truth came to them, they said, ‘This is magic, and we indeed disbelieve in it.’

And they said, ‘Why was not this Quran sent down to some great man from the two cities?’

Is it they who dispense the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have dispensed among them their livelihood in the present life, and raised some of them above others in rank, so that some may take others into service, and your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass.

Were it not [for the danger] that mankind would be one community, We would have made for those who defy the All-beneficent, silver roofs for their houses and [silver] stairways by which they ascend,

and [silver] doors for their houses and [silver] couches on which they recline,

and ornaments of gold; yet all that would be nothing but the wares of the life of this world, and the Hereafter is for the Godwary near your Lord.

We assign a devil to be the companion of him who turns a blind eye to the remembrance of the All-beneficent.

Indeed they bar them from the way [of Allah], while they suppose that they are [rightly] guided.

When he comes to Us, he will say, ‘I wish there had been between me and you the distance between the east and the west! What an evil companion [you are]!’

‘Today that will be of no avail to you. As you did wrong, so will you share in the punishment.’

Can you, then, make the deaf hear or guide the blind and those who are in manifest error?

We will indeed take vengeance on them, whether We take you away

or show you what We have promised them, for indeed We hold them in Our power.

So hold fast to what has been revealed to you. Indeed, you are on a straight path.

Indeed it is a reminder for you and your people, and soon you will be questioned.

Ask those of Our apostles We have sent before you: Did We set up any gods to be worshipped besides the All-beneficent?

Certainly We sent Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his elite. He said, ‘I am indeed an apostle of the Lord of all the worlds.’

But when he brought them Our signs, they indeed laughed at them.

We did not show them a sign but it was greater than the other, and We visited on them punishment so that they might come back.

They would say, ‘O magician! Invoke your Lord for us by the covenant He has made with you [to remove this scourge]. We will indeed be guided [when it is removed].’

But when We lifted the punishment from them, behold, they would break their pledge.

And Pharaoh proclaimed to his people, saying, ‘O my people! Do not the kingdom of Egypt and these rivers that run at my feet belong to me? Do you not perceive?

Am I not better than this wretch who cannot even speak clearly?

Why no bracelets of gold have been thrown to him, nor any angels accompany him as escorts?’

Thus did he mislead his people and they obeyed him. Indeed, they were a transgressing lot.

So when they roused Our wrath, We took vengeance on them and drowned them all.

Thus We made them the vanguard and an example for posterity.

When the Son of Mary was cited as an example, behold, your people raise an outcry.

They say, ‘Are our gods better or he?’ They cite him to you only for the sake of contention. Indeed, they are a contentious lot.

He was just a servant whom We had blessed and made an exemplar for the Children of Israel.

Had We wished We would have set angels in your stead to be [your] successors on the earth.

[Say,] ‘Indeed he is a portent of the Hour; so do not doubt it and follow me. This is a straight path.

Do not let Satan bar you [from the way of Allah]. Indeed he is your manifest enemy.’

When Jesus brought those manifest proofs, he said, ‘I have certainly brought you wisdom, and [I have come] to make clear to you some of the things that you differ about. So be wary of Allah and obey me.

Indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him. This is a straight path.’

But the factions differed among themselves. So woe to the wrongdoers for the punishment of a painful day.

Do they not consider that the Hour may overtake them suddenly while they are unaware?

On that day, friends will be one another’s enemies, except for the Godwary.

[They will be told,] ‘O My servants! Today you will have no fear, nor will you grieve

—those who believed in Our signs and had been Muslims.

Enter paradise, you and your spouses, rejoicing.’

They will be served around with golden dishes and goblets, and therein will be whatever the souls desire and eyes delight in. ‘You will remain in it [forever].

That is the paradise you have been given to inherit for what you used to do.

There are abundant fruits for you in it, from which you will eat.’

Indeed the guilty will remain [forever] in the punishment of hell.

It will not be lightened for them, and they will be despondent in it.

We did not wrong them, but they themselves were wrongdoers.

They will call out, ‘O Malik! Let your Lord finish us off!’ He will say, ‘Indeed you will stay on.’

‘We certainly brought you the truth, but most of you were averse to the truth.’

Have they settled on some [devious] plan? Indeed, We too are settling [on Our plans].

Do they suppose that We do not hear their secret thoughts and their secret talks? Yes indeed [We do]! And with them are Our messengers, writing down [everything].

Say, ‘If the All-beneficent had offspring, I would have been the first to worship [him].’

Clear is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, of whatever they allege [concerning Him]!

So leave them to gossip and play until they encounter the day they are promised.

It is He who is God in the sky, and God on the earth, and He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowing.

Blessed is He to whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, and with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, and to Him you will be brought back.

Those whom they invoke besides Him have no power of intercession, except those who are witness to the truth and who know [for whom to intercede].

If you ask them, ‘Who created them?’ they will surely say, ‘Allah.’ Then where do they stray?

And his plaint: ‘My Lord! Indeed these are a people who will not have faith!’

So disregard them, and say, ‘Peace!’ Soon they will know.