سورة Sad ( The Letter Sad )

Sad. By the Quran, full of admonition!

Those who deny the truth are steeped in arrogance and hostility.

How many generations We have destroyed before them! And they cried out when it was too late to escape.

They are surprised that a warner should come to them from among themselves. They say, \"This is a magician, a great liar.

Does he make all the deities out to be one God? This is indeed a strange thing.\"

Their leaders departed, saying, \"Walk away! Hold fast to your deities. This is clearly a conspiracy.

We have not heard of any such thing in the old religion. This is nothing but a fabrication.

Was the message sent only to him out of all of us?\" In fact, they doubt My warning; in fact, they have not yet tasted My punishment.

Do they possess the treasures of the mercy of your Lord, the Mighty, the Great Bestower?

Have they control over heavens and earth and whatever [lies] between them? Then let them climb up to heaven by ropes:

this host too, among other hosts, is bound to suffer defeat.

Before them the people of Noah denied the truth, as did the 'Ad and Pharaoh of the Stakes,

and the tribe of Thamud, and the people of Lot, and the dwellers of the Wood -- these were the confederates.

There was not one of them but treated their messengers as liars, so My punishment rightly overtook them:

they have only to wait for one single blast [of punishment]: it shall not be delayed by one whit.

They say: \"Our Lord! Hasten on for us our fate before the Day of Reckoning.\"

Bear with their words patiently. Remember Our servant David, a man of strength who always turned to Us:

We made the mountains join him in glorifying Us at sunset and sunrise;

and the birds, too, in flocks, all turned to Him.

We made his kingdom strong, and bestowed upon him wisdom and sagacity in judgement.

Have you heard the story of the disputants who entered his chamber by climbing over the wall?

When they reached David, he took fright, but they said, \"Do not be afraid. We are two disputants, one of whom has wronged the other: judge between us fairly, do not be unjust, and guide us to the right path.

\"This brother of mine has ninety-nine ewes and I have only one. He said, \"Let me have charge of it,\" and got the better of me with his words.\"

David said, \"He has certainly wronged you by demanding that your ewe be added to his ewes! Thus many partners wrong one another -- [all] save those who believe [in God] and do righteous deeds: but how few are they!\" And [suddenly] David understood that We were only putting him to the test, and so he asked his Lord to forgive him his sins; he fell to his knees, and turned to Him in repentance.

We forgave him his sins. His reward will be nearness to Us, a good place to return to.

We said, \"David, We have given you mastery over the land. Judge fairly between people. Do not follow your desires, lest they divert you from God's path: those who wander from His path will have a severe punishment, because they ignore the Day of Reckoning.\"

We did not create heaven and earth and all that is between them in vain. That is the opinion of those who deny the truth. Woe betide those who deny the truth, when they are cast into the Fire --

shall We treat those who believe and do good works the same as those who spread corruption in the land; shall We treat the pious the same as the wicked?

This is a blessed Book which We sent down to you [Muhammad], for people to ponder over its messages, and for those with understanding to take heed.

We gave David Solomon. He was an excellent servant who always turned to God.

When well-bred horses, which were fleet of foot were paraded before him near the close of day,

he said, \"I have put the love of good things above the remembrance of my Lord,\" until [the sun] disappeared behind its veil and the horses disappeared from sight,

\"Bring them back to me!\" -- [he said] and began to stroke their legs and their necks.

We tried Solomon by placing upon his throne a [lifeless] body; and thereupon he turned towards Us].

He prayed, \"Lord forgive me! Grant me such power as no one after me will have -- You are the Most Generous Provider.\"

Then We subjected the wind to his power, so that it blew gently, at his behest, wherever he willed,

and also the jinn, every kind of builder and diver

and others chained in fetters.

We said: \"This is Our gift, so give or withhold as you wish without reckoning.\"

His reward will be nearness to Us, a good place to return to.

Bring to mind Our servant Job who cried to his Lord, \"Satan has afflicted me with distress and suffering.\"

We said, \"Stamp your foot! Here is cool water for you to wash in and drink,\"

We restored his family to him, doubling their number as an act of grace from Us, and as a reminder to all who are endowed with insight.

We said to Him, \"Take a handful of twigs in your hand and strike with that but do not break your oath.\" We found him steadfast. What an excellent servant! He turned constantly to his Lord.

Remember Our servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- possessors of strength and vision.

We chose them for a special [purpose] -- proclaiming the message of the Hereafter:

and, in Our sight they were indeed among the select, the truly good!

Remember [Our servants] Ishmael, Elisha, and Dhu'l-Kifl. Each of them was among the just.

This is a Reminder. The righteous shall have a good place to return to:

the Gardens of eternity with gates thrown wide open to them.

They will be comfortably seated; reclining, they will call for abundant fruit and drink;

with them, they will have pure, modest women of an equal age.

This is what you were promised on the Day of Reckoning:

Our provision for you will never be exhausted.

But the arrogant will have the worst return:

they will burn, in Hell, an evil resting place --

all this will be theirs; let them taste it -- a scalding, dark, foul fluid,

and other such torments.

[And they will say to one another: \"Do you see] this crowd of people rushing headlong to join you?\" \"No welcome to them! Indeed, they are headed for the fire!\"

They will say to them, \"You are not welcome! It was you who brought this on us, an evil place to stay,\"

adding, \"Our Lord, give double punishment to those who brought this upon us.\"

And they will say, \"How is it that we do not see [here any of the] men whom we used to count among the wicked,

[and] whom we made the target of our derision? Or are they here, and our eyes have missed them?\"

All this is certainly true -- the inhabitants of the Fire will blame one another in this way.

Say, [Prophet], \"I am only a warner. There is no god but God, the One, the All-Powerful,

Lord of the heavens and earth and everything between them, the Almighty, the Most Forgiving.\"

Say, \"This is momentous news,

yet you ignore it.

I had no knowledge of the Exalted Assembly when they argued [against the creation of man]:

it has only been revealed to me that I am a plain warner.\"

Your Lord said to the angels, \"I am about to create a human being out of clay;

and when I have formed him fully and breathed My spirit into him, prostrate yourselves before him.\"

Thereupon the angels prostrated themselves, all of them together,

but not Satan, who was too proud. He became one of those who deny the truth.

God said, \"Satan, what prevented you from prostrating yourself to what I created with My own Hands? Were you overcome by arrogance, or are you of those who think [only] of themselves as exalted?\"

Satan replied, \"I am better than him. You created me from fire, but You created him from clay.\"

\"Begone! You are accursed:

My curse will remain upon you till the Day of Judgement!\"

But Satan said, \"My Lord, grant me respite until the Day of Resurrection,\"

so He said, \"You are granted respite

till the Appointed Day.\"

He said, \"By Your Honour, I will lead all of them astray,

except for those among them who are Your chosen servants.\"

God said, \"This is the truth, I speak only the truth,

I will fill up Hell with you and every one of them who follows you.\"

Say, \"I do not ask you for any recompense for this, nor am I a man of false pretentions:

this is simply an admonition to mankind,

you shall before long know its truth.\"