Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Ha-Mim. 1 By the Clear Book, 2 We have made it an Arabic Quran so that you may understand. 3 It (the Quran) exists in the original Book with Us which is certainly Most Exalted, full of wisdom and (beyond linguistic structures). 4 Shall We then take away from you the admonition because ye are a people extravagant? 5 How many a prophet did We send among the men of old! 6 But never yet came a prophet to them without their deriding 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 has created the heavens and the earth?" they would surely say, "They were created by the Exalted in Might, the Knowing." 9 It is He who has made the earth for you as a cradle and has made roads therein so that you will perhaps seek guidance. 10 It is He who has sent down water from the sky in a known measure by which He has given life to the dead earth. In the same way will you also be resurrected. 11 it is He who created all living things in pairs and gave you ships to sail in and beasts to ride upon 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 indeed we, to our Lord, will [surely] return." 14 And they allot to Him a portion of His bondmen! Lo! man is verily a mere ingrate. 15