The Stars (Al-Najm)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
CONSIDER this unfolding [of God's message,] as it comes down from on high! 1 Your comrade erreth not, nor is deceived; 2 And he does not say anything by his own desire. 3 that [which he conveys to you] is but [a divine] inspiration with which he is being inspired 4 He was taught by [an angel] who is mighty in power, 5 Lord of power and wisdom. So he acquired poise and balance, 6 being on the higher horizon. 7 Then he approached and descended 8 until he was two bows' length away, or nearer. 9 And he revealed to His Servant what he revealed. 10 His heart added no untruth to what he saw. 11 What! So do you dispute with him regarding what he saw? 12 And certainly he saw him descend a second time: 13 At the farthest lote-tree; 14 Nigh thereto is the Garden of Abode. 15 When that covered the lote-tree which covered it. 16 his eye swerved not; nor swept astray. 17 Indeed he saw the supreme signs of his Lord. 18 Have you then considered the Lat and the Uzza, 19 And Manat the other third? 20 What! For you the son, and for Him the daughter? 21 That, then, is an unjust division. 22 These are nothing but names which ye have devised,- ye and your fathers,- for which Allah has sent down no authority (whatever). They follow nothing but conjecture and what their own souls desire!- Even though there has already come to them Guidance from their Lord! 23 Or shall man have what he coveteth? 24 But it is to Allah that the End and the Beginning (of all things) belong. 25