سورة Al-Furqan (The Criterion )

Blessed be He who has revealed the criterion [the Quran] to His servant that he may warn the nations.

Sovereign of the heavens and the earth, who has begotten no children and who has no partner in His sovereignty, it is He who has created all things and measured them out precisely.

Yet they have taken, besides Him, deities who create nothing and are themselves created, and who have no power to harm, or benefit themselves and who control neither death, nor life, nor resurrection.

Those who deny the truth say, \"This is only a forgery of his own invention in which others have helped him.\" What they say is unjust and false.

They say, \"It is just fables of the ancients, which he has had written down. They are dictated to him morning and evening.\"

Say to them, \"It has been revealed by Him who knows every secret that is in the heavens and on the earth. Truly, He is most forgiving and most merciful.\"

They say, \"What kind of a messenger is this who eats food and walks about in the market-places? Why has no angel been sent down with him to warn us?\"

Or a treasure should have been sent down to him, or he should have had a garden from which to eat.\" The wrongdoers say, \"You are surely following a man who is bewitched.\"

Observe what kind of things they attribute to you. They have surely gone astray and cannot find the right way again.

Blessed is He who, if He please, can give you better things than that; gardens watered by flowing streams, and palaces too.

They deny the Hour. For those who deny that Hour, We have prepared a blazing fire.

When it sees them from afar, they will hear its raging and roaring.

When they are thrown into a narrow space, chained together, they will plead for death.

But they will be told, \"Do not call today for one death, call for many deaths!\"

Say, \"Which is better, this or the Paradise of immortality which the righteous have been promised? It is their recompense and their destination.\"

Abiding there forever, they shall find in it all that they desire. This is a binding promise which your Lord has made.

On the Day He gathers them all together with those they worship besides Him, He will say, \"Was it you who misled My servants, or did they stray away by themselves?\"

They will answer, \"Hallowed be You! It was not proper for us to choose any guardian other than You. But You gave them and their fathers the comforts of this life, so that they forgot Your reminder and thus brought destruction upon themselves.\"

[God will say], \"Now, they have given the lie to all your assertions, and you can neither ward off [your punishment] nor obtain any help.\" For, whoever of you has committed evil, shall be caused by Us to taste great suffering!\"

We never sent any messengers before you who did not eat food and walk in the market-place. We make some of you a means of trial for others, to see whether you are steadfast. Your Lord is all seeing.

Those who do not expect a meeting with Us say, \"Why are angels not sent down to us?\" Or \"Why do we not see our Lord?\" Surely, they are too proud of themselves and have greatly exceeded all bounds.

There will be no good tidings for the guilty on the day they see the angels; and they will cry out, \"Keep away, keep away!\"

and We shall take all that they did and turn it into scattered dust.

The inhabitants of the Garden will have the best residence and the finest lodging on that Day.

On a Day when the sky will split open with its clouds and the angels are sent down rank upon rank,

true sovereignty on that Day will belong to the Gracious One, and it will be a hard Day for those who deny the truth.

On that Day, the wrongdoer will bite his hands and say, \"Would that I had walked in the Messenger's path!

Oh, would that I had never chosen such a one for my companion --

he made me forgetful of the warning after it had reached me. Satan is man's great betrayer.\"

The Messenger will say, \"Lord, my people did indeed discard the Quran,\"

thus did We assign to every prophet an enemy from among the sinners; your Lord is sufficient as a guide and a helper.

Those who deny the truth say, \"Why was the Quran not sent down to him in a single revelation?\" We sent it in this manner, so that We might strengthen your heart. We gave it to you in gradual revelation.

Every time they raise an objection, We will bring you the truth and the best of explanations.

Those who will be dragged headlong into Hell shall have an evil place to dwell in, for they have strayed far from the right path.

We gave Moses the Book, and appointed his brother Aaron as his supporter.

Then We said, \"Go together to the people who have denied Our signs.\" We utterly destroyed them!

We drowned the people of Noah also when they rejected their messengers and We made them an example to all mankind. We have prepared a painful punishment for the wrongdoers,

to 'Ad, and Thamud, and the people of al-Rass, and as We did for the many a generation between them.

To each of them We gave warnings and each of them We destroyed completely.

Indeed they must have come upon the town on which an evil rain had poured down. Did they not see it? Yet they have no faith in the Resurrection.

Whenever they see you they only make a mockery of you -- \"Is this the one God has sent as His Messenger?

Indeed, he would well-nigh have led us astray from our deities, had we not been [so] steadfastly attached to them!\" When they behold the punishment, they shall realize who strayed furthest from the right path.

Have you seen him who has taken his own desire to be his god? Can you be a guardian over him?

Do you think most of them can hear or understand? They are like cattle. Indeed, they are even more astray.

Have you not seen how your Lord lengthens the shadows? Had He pleased, He could have made them constant; then We placed the sun as an indicator for them,

then We withdrew it to Us, a gradual withdrawal.

It is He who made the night a mantle for you, and sleep for repose; and made the day a time for rising.

It is He who sends the winds as heralds of His mercy and We send down pure water from the sky,

so that We may bring life to a dead land; and slake the thirst of Our creation; cattle and men, in great numbers.

We have explained it to them in diverse ways, so that they may take heed, but most persist in their ingratitude.

If We had so wished, We might have sent a warner into every town,

so do not yield to those who deny the truth, but strive with the utmost strenuousness by means of this [Quran, to convey its message to them].

It is He who released the two bodies of flowing water, one sweet and fresh and the other salty and bitter, and set up an insurmountable barrier between them.

It is He who has created human beings from water and He has granted them the ties of blood as well as marriage. Your Lord is all powerful.

Yet they worship besides God that which can neither benefit them nor harm them. One who denies the truth is a helper [of evil] against his Lord.

We have sent you only as a bearer of glad tidings and as a warner.

Say, \"I do not ask you for any recompense for this except that anyone who so wishes should take the right path to his Lord.\"

Put your trust in the One who is the Ever-Living [God], who never dies, and glorify Him with His praise. He is fully aware of the sins of His servants;

it is He who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six Days [periods], then settled Himself on the throne -- the Gracious One. Ask any informed person about Him.

When they are told, \"Prostrate yourselves before the Gracious One,\" they ask, \"Who is this Gracious One? Shall we prostrate ourselves before whatever you will?\" This increases their aversion.

Exalted is He who put constellations in the heavens, a radiant lamp and an illuminating moon --

it is He who has made night and day succeed each other, a sign for those who would take heed and would be grateful.

The true servants of the Gracious One are those who walk upon the earth with humility and when they are addressed by the ignorant ones, their response is, \"Peace\";

and those who spend the night prostrating themselves, and standing before their Lord,

who say, \"Our Lord, ward off from us the punishment of Hell, for its punishment is a dreadful torment to suffer.

Indeed, it is an evil abode and evil dwelling-place.\"

They are those who are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but keep a balance between the two;

those who never invoke any other deity besides God, nor take a life which God has made sacred, except with the right to do so, nor commit adultery. Anyone who does that shall face punishment:

he shall have his suffering doubled on the Day of Resurrection and he will abide forever in disgrace,

except for those who repent and believe and do good deeds. God will change the evil deeds of such people into good ones: He is most forgiving and most merciful.

He who repents and does good deeds has truly turned to God.

And those who do not bear false witness, and when they pass by frivolity, they pass by with dignity;

who do not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the signs of their Lord when they are reminded of them;

who say, \"Lord, grant us joy in our wives and children and make us a model for the righteous.\"

These are the ones who will be rewarded with lofty mansions in Paradise, for their steadfastness. They will be received therein with greetings of welcome and salutations of peace.

There they shall abide forever: a blessed dwelling and a blessed resting place.

Say, \"What would my Lord care for you, if you do not call on Him. Because you have indeed rejected the truth and His punishment is bound to overtake you.