سورة Saba ( Sheba )

Praise be to God, to whom belongs all that the heavens and the earth contain and praise be to Him in the Hereafter. He is the All Wise, the All Aware.

He knows whatever goes into the earth and whatever comes forth from it, and whatever descends from heaven and whatever ascends into it. He is the Merciful, the Forgiving.

Those who deny the truth declare, \"The Hour will never come upon us.\" Say, \"Yes, by my Lord, it will surely come upon you! Who knows the unseen. Not the smallest particle in the heavens or the earth, or anything less or greater than that escapes Him; all is recorded in an open Book.

He will surely reward those who believe and do good deeds: they shall have forgiveness and an honourable provision.\"

But those who strive against Our signs, trying to defeat them, will suffer a painful torment.

Those who have been given knowledge know that what has been revealed to you from your Lord is the truth, and that it guides to the path of the Almighty, the Praiseworthy.

Those who deny the truth say, \"Shall we point out to you a man who will tell you that when you are broken up into particles, you will be put together again in a new creation?

Has he invented a lie about God, or is he afflicted with madness?\" Indeed no. It is those who do not believe in the Hereafter who will suffer torment, for they have strayed far into error.

Do they not observe how they are encompassed by what is before them and what is behind them in heaven and on earth? We could, if We pleased, cause the earth to swallow them up, or cause a piece of the sky to fall upon them. In that certainly there is a sign for every servant of Ours who turns to us.

We bestowed upon David great favour. We said, \"O mountains and birds! Join with him in celebrating Our praise.\" We softened iron for him, saying,

\"Make full-length coats of mail, measuring the links well. And do righteous deeds. Surely, I see all that you do.\"

We subjected the wind to Solomon; its morning course was a month and its evening course a month; and We caused a fount of molten copper to flow for him. And of the jinn there were some who worked under him, by the command of his Lord. If any one of them turned away from Our command, We would make him taste the punishment of the burning fire.

They made for him whatever he desired: palaces and statues, basins like reservoirs, and large cooking vessels fixed in their places. We said, \"Give thanks, house of David, for few of My servants are truly grateful.\"

When We decreed Solomon's death, nothing indicated his death to them except a worm from the earth, which was eating away at his cane. When he fell down, the jinn plainly realized that if they had known what was unseen, they would not have had to continue with such humiliating labour.

For the people of Sheba there was a sign in their homeland: two gardens, one on the right hand and the other on the left. We said to them: \"Eat what your Lord has provided for you, and be grateful. You have a good land and a Lord most forgiving.\"

Yet they turned away [from the truth]. So We let loose on them a flood from the dam and replaced their two gardens by two others bearing bitter fruits, tamarisks, and a few lote trees.

We requited them in that way because of their ingratitude. We requite no one in that way but the ungrateful.

We had placed between them and the towns that We had blessed, other towns situated close to each other, and We fixed the stages [of journey] between them, saying, \"Travel between them in safety by night and day,\"

but they said, \"Our Lord! Make the stages of our journeys longer.\" Thus they wronged themselves and We made them bygone tales and scattered them throughout the land. There are certainly signs in that for everyone who is steadfast and thankful.

Satan was correct in his assessment of them and they all followed him, except for a band of true believers,

but he had no authority over them; We only desired to distinguish those who believed in the Hereafter from those who were in doubt concerning it. Your Lord is watchful over all things.

Call upon those whom you set up beside God! They possess not an atom's weight either in the heavens or on the earth, nor have they any share in either, nor has He any helpers among them.

No intercession avails with Him, except on the part of one to whom He grants permission. When their hearts are relieved of fear, they will enquire from those to whom permission is granted, \"What has your Lord said?\" They will answer, \"The truth. He is the Most High, the Supreme One.\"

Ask them, \"Who provides sustenance for you from the heavens and the earth?\" Say, \"It is God\"; either you or we are rightly guided or in manifest error.\"

Say to them, \"You will not be called to account for our sins and we shall not be called to account for what you do.\"

Tell them, \"Our Lord will gather us together; then He will judge between us with truth and justice. He is the Just Decider, the All Knowing.\"

Say to them, \"Show me those whom you have joined with Him as partners. No indeed! For He alone is God, the Mighty One, the Wise One.\"

We have sent you as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner for the whole of mankind, but most people have no knowledge.

They ask, \"When will this promise be fulfilled, if you are truthful?\"

Say, \"A Day has already been appointed for you which you can neither delay nor advance by a single moment.\"

Those who deny the truth say, \"We shall believe neither in this scripture nor in [any] that [came] before it.\" Could you but see when the wrongdoers will be made to stand before their Lord, casting blame on one another! Those who had been weak will say to the arrogant ones, \"Had it not been for you, we should certainly have been believers!\"

The haughty ones will then reply to the weak ones, \"Did we keep you away from the guidance when it came to you? Indeed not. You yourselves were the guilty ones.\"

Those deemed weak will say to those deemed great, \"No, it was your scheming night and day when you commanded us to reject God and assign equals to Him.\" But they will show their remorse when they see the punishment. We will put iron collars round the necks of those who had been bent on denying the truth. They will be requited only in proportion to their misdeeds.

For it has been thus whenever We sent a warner to any community. Its affluent ones said, \"We reject what you have been sent with.\"

They say, \"We have more wealth and children; and we are surely not going to be punished.\"

Say to them, \"My Lord increases the provision for whoever He pleases and decreases it for whoever He pleases; but most people do not know it.\"

It is not your wealth or your children that will confer on you nearness to Us. It is those who believe and act righteously who will be doubly rewarded for their good deeds, and will dwell in peace in the high pavilions [of paradise],

while those who strive to thwart Our messages, seeking to defeat their purpose, shall be summoned to punishment.

Say to them, \"It is my Lord who increases the provision for such of His servants as He pleases, and decreases it for such of them as He pleases. Whatever you spend, He will recompense you for it. He is the best of providers.\"

On the Day when He gathers them all together, He will ask the angels, \"Was it you that these people worshipped?\"

They will say, \"Glory be to You! You are our protector, not them. Indeed no! They worshipped the jinn; it was in them that most of them believed.\"

Today you possess no power to benefit or harm one another. We shall say to the wrongdoers, \"Suffer the punishment of the Fire that you persistently denied.\"

Whenever Our messages are conveyed to them in all their clarity, they say, \"This [Muhammad] is nothing but a man who wants to turn you away from what your forefathers worshipped.\" And they say, \"This [Quran] is nothing but an invented falsehood.\" And they who are bent on denying the truth speak thus of the truth when it comes to them, \"This is clearly nothing but plain sorcery!\"

We had not given them books to study, nor have We sent them a warner before you.

Their predecessors also rejected the truth. These have not attained to one tenth of the power that We had bestowed upon the earlier people. But they rejected My messengers. Then how terrible, was My chastisement!

Say to them, \"I exhort you to do one thing: and that is to stand up before God in pairs, or singly, and then reflect. You will thus realize that your companion is not afflicted with madness. He is only a warner, warning you of an impending severe chastisement.\"

Say, \"If I have asked you for any recompense, you can keep it. It is God alone who will reward me: He is the witness of all things.\"

Say to them, \"My Lord hurls forth the Truth [at falsehood] and He is the knower of hidden things.\"

Say to them, \"The Truth has come and will endure. Falsehood has no power to originate any good, nor to reproduce it.\"

Affirm, \"If I am in error, I shall carry the burden thereof; and if I am rightly guided, it is because of what my Lord has revealed to me. Truly, He is all-hearing and near at hand.\"

If you could only see when those who denied the truth are terrified, and there is no way out, and they are seized from a place nearby;

then they will say, \"We now believe in Him.\" But how will they attain to faith, having gone so far away from it?

They had rejected it before, while they indulged in conjectures from far away.

And between them and their desires a barrier shall be placed as was done in the past with people of their ilk; for they were indeed in disquieting doubt.