Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
Ha Mim 1 I call to witness the lucent Book, 2 We verily, have made it a Quran in Arabic, that you may be able to understand (its meanings and its admonitions). 3 It is inscribed in the original Book (of Books) with Us, sublime, dispenser of (all) laws. 4 Should We divert this Good Counsel from you because you are a people immersed in extravagance? 5 And how many a prophet did We send to people of olden times! 6 no Prophet came to them except that they mocked him, 7 and so, [in the end,] We destroyed them [even though they were] of greater might than these: and the [very] image of those people of old became a thing of the past. 8 And if you should ask them, Who created the heavens and the earth? they would most certainly say: The Mighty, the Knowing One, has created them; 9 He it is Who made this earth for you a cradle and made in it pathways for you that you may find the way to your destination; 10 And (it is He), who sends down water from the sky in its measure thereby We revive the land that was dead, as such you shall be brought forth. 11 And the One Who created all pairs, and made the ships and cattle as rides for you. 12 So that you may properly mount their backs, and may remember your Lord’s favour when you have mounted them, and say, “Purity is to Him, Who has given this ride in our control, and we did not have the strength for it.” 13 It is to our Lord that we shall eventually return.” 14 AND YET, they attribute to Him offspring from among some of the beings created by Him! Verily, most obviously bereft of all gratitude is man! 15