Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
HA MIM. 1 By the Clear Book, 2 Lo! We have appointed it a Lecture, in Arabic that haply ye may understand. 3 And verily it is, in the Original Book before Us, indeed exalted. 4 Shall We then take away from you the admonition because ye are a people extravagant? 5 How many a Prophet did We send to the earlier peoples! 6 But never yet came a prophet to them without their deriding him 7 We utterly destroyed them although they were greater in might than these. The examples of ancient peoples have gone before. 8 Yet if you were to ask them: “Who created the heavens and the earth?” they will certainly say: “The All-Mighty, the All-Knowing has created them.” 9 He who made the earth a bed for you, and laid out tracks upon it so that you may find the way; 10 And who sends down rain from the sky in measured amounts, and We revive thereby a dead land - thus will you be brought forth - 11 He Who created all the pairs, and appointed for you ships and cattle whereupon ye ride. 12 so that you may sit firmly on their backs. Then once you have mounted them, remember your Lord's favour and say, "Glory be to Him who has subjected these creatures to us; we would never on our own have subdued them. 13 "And to our Lord, surely, must we turn back!" 14 And from* His bondmen, they appointed a portion for Him; man is indeed an open ingrate. (* Appointed some of His creation as His sons and daughters). 15