The Throngs (Al-Zumer)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
The sending down of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the Wise, 1 We have revealed to you the Scripture with exactitude; so worship God with devotion all exclusive for Him. 2 Is it not to God alone that all sincere faith is due? And yet, they who take for their protectors aught beside Him [are wont to say,] "We worship them for no other reason than that they bring us nearer to God." Behold, God will judge between them [on Resurrection Day] with regard to all wherein they differ [from the truth]: for, verily, God does not grace with His guidance anyone who is bent on lying [to himself and is] stubbornly ingrate! 3 Were Allah to create a son* for Himself, He would have chosen any one from His creation! Purity is to Him! He is Allah, the One, the All Dominant. (*Which is impossible.) 4 He created the heavens and earth in truth. He wraps the night over the day and wraps the day over the night and has subjected the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term. Unquestionably, He is the Exalted in Might, the Perpetual Forgiver. 5 He has created you [all] out of one living entity, and out of it fashioned its mate; and he has bestowed upon you four kinds of cattle of either sex; [and] He creates you in your mothers' wombs, one act of creation after another, in threefold depths of darkness. Thus is God, your Sustainer: unto Him belongs all dominion: there is no deity save Him: how, then, can you lose sight of the truth? 6 If you are ingrate behold, God has no need of you; none the less, He does not approve of ingratitude in His servants: whereas, if you show gratitude, He approves it in you. And no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden. In time, unto your Sustainer you all must return, and then He will make you [truly] understand all that you were doing [in life]: for, verily, He has full knowledge of what is in the hearts [of men]. 7 ۞ When man is afflicted with adversity he turns to his Lord, and prays to Him. But when He bestows His favour on him, he forgets what he prayed for before, and sets up others as compeers of God to mislead (people) from His way. Say: "Take advantage of your denying for a while: You will be among the inmates of Hell." 8 Can one who prays in the watches of the night, bowing in homage or standing attentive, fearful of the life to come, and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, (be like one who does not)? Say: "Can those who know, and those who do not know, be equal? Only they think who are wise." 9