Vanity (Al-Zukhruf)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
Ha, Meem. 1 I swear by the illustrious Book. 2 Lo! We have appointed it a Lecture, in Arabic that haply ye may understand. 3 And verily, it is in the Mother of the Book, in Our Presence, high (in dignity), full of wisdom. 4 [O YOU who deny the truth!] Should We, perchance, withdraw this reminder from you altogether, seeing that you are people bent on wasting your own selves? 5 And how many a prophet have We sent among the ancients. 6 Yet never did a Prophet come to them but 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 (Muhammad), if you ask them, "Who has created the heavens and the earth?" They will certainly say, "The Majestic and All-knowing God has created them". 9 He it is who has made the earth a cradle for you, and has provided for you ways [of livelihood] thereon, so that you might follow the right path. 10 And He Who sends down water from the cloud according to a measure, then We raise to life thereby a dead country, even thus shall you be brought forth; 11 He who created pairs of everything, and fashioned for you boats and beasts on which you ride, 12 In order that ye may sit firm and square on their backs, and when so seated, ye may celebrate the (kind) favour of your Lord, and say, "Glory to Him Who has subjected these to our (use), for we could never have accomplished this (by ourselves), 13 And verily unto our Lord we are to 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