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13. Ar-Ra'd - Thunder
| 1 | ALIF LAM MIM RA. These are the verses of the Scripture. Whatsoever is sent down to you from your Lord is the truth; but most men do not believe. |
| 2 | It is God who raised the skies without support, as you can see, then assumed His throne, and enthralled the sun and the moon (so that) each runs to a predetermined course. He disposes all affairs, distinctly explaining every sign that you may be certain of the meeting with your Lord. |
| 3 | It is He who stretched the earth and placed upon it stabilisers and rivers; and made two of a pair of every fruit; (and) He covers up the day with the night. In these are signs for those who reflect. |
| 4 | On the earth are tracts adjoining one another, and vineyards, fields of corn and date-palm trees, some forked, some with single trunks, yet all irrigated by the self-same water, though We make some more excellent than the others in fruit. There are surely signs in them for those who understand. |
| 5 | If you are surprised, then astonishing is the speech (of those who say:) "Having turned to dust shall we be raised as a new creation?" They are the ones who deny their Lord, and they will have collars around their necks. They are the inmates of Hell, where they will abide for ever. |
| 6 | They want you to hasten the evil before the good, even when there have been examples of retribution before them. Though certainly your Lord forgives human beings for their iniquities, your Lord is severe of retribution. |
| 7 | The unbelievers say: "Why no miracle was sent down to him by his Lord?" But you are only a bearer of warnings, and a guide for every nation. |
| 8 | God is cognisant of what every female carries in her womb, or what the wombs want or exceed (of their disburdening time). With Him all things are in determined measure. |
| 9 | He is the knower of the known and the unknown, the mighty and most high. |
| 10 | He who keeps his secret among you is the same to Him as he who speaks out publicly, and he who hides himself in the night and walks freely in the day. |
| 11 | His angels keep watch over him in succession (night and day), in front and behind, by God's command. Verily God does not change the state of a people till they change themselves. When God intends misfortune for a people no one can avert it, and no saviour will they have apart from Him. |
| 12 | It is He who makes the lightning flash for fear and hope, and raises massive clouds. |
| 13 | The thunder sings His praises, and the angels too, for awe of Him. He sends thunder-bolts and strikes whosoever He will with them: Even then it is God they contend about! But mighty is He in (His) power. |
| 14 | To call on Him is true (supplication). For those they invoke other than Him do not answer them at all, except like a man who stretches his hands towards the water that it reach his mouth, but it will never reach it. Not more than error are the prayers of infidels. |
| 15 | Whosoever is in the heavens and on earth bows to God in submission with a will or perforce, as do their shadows in the morning and evening. |
| 16 | Ask them: "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" (They will) say: "God." Say: "Then why do you take protectors besides Him who have no power over their own gain or loss?" Say: "Can a blind man and one who can see be equal? Or, darkness and light be the same? Or, have those they have appointed equal of God created, as He has created, so that the (two) creations look alike to them?" Say: "God is the creator of everything. He is One, the omnipotent." |
| 17 | He sends down water from the skies, which flows in channels according to their capacity, with the scum borne on the surface of the torrent, as rises the scum when metals are heated on the fire for making ornaments and household utensils. This is how God determines truth and falsehood. The scum disappears like the foam on the bank, and that which is useful to man remains on the earth. That is how God sets forth precepts of wisdom. |
| 18 | For those who obey their Lord is excellence. For those who fail to obey, the reckoning will be hard, even if they possess and give as ransom all that there is on the earth, and as much more; and Hell will be their abode: How wretched is its wide expanse! |
| 19 | Can a man who knows what has been revealed to you from your Lord is the truth, and one who cannot see, be the same? They alone take warning who are wise, |
| 20 | Who fulfil their covenant with God and do not break their agreement, |
| 21 | Who keep together what God has ordained held together, and fear their Lord and dread the hardship of the Reckoning, |
| 22 | Who persevere in seeking the way of their Lord, who fulfil their devotional obligations, and spend of what We have given them, secretly or openly, who repel evil with good: For them is the recompense of Paradise: |
| 23 | Perpetual gardens which they will enter with those of their fathers, spouses and children who were virtuous and at peace, with angels coming in through every door |
| 24 | Saying: "(Welcome,) peace on you, for you persevered." How excellent the recompense of Paradise! |
| 25 | As for those who break God's covenant after validating it, and sever relations which God ordained cohered, and spread corruption in the land, there is condemnation for them and an evil abode. |
| 26 | God increases or decreases the fortunes of whosoever He will, and they rejoice in the life of this world. Yet the life of this world is nothing but a merchandise as compared to the life of the next. |
| 27 | The unbelievers say: "How is it that no miracle was sent down to him by his Lord?" Say: "God leads whosoever He wills astray, and guides whoever turns to Him in repentance. |
| 28 | Those who believe and find peace in their hearts from the contemplation of God: Surely there is peace of heart in the contemplation of God!" |
| 29 | Those who believe and do the right, have happiness, and an excellent resting place. |
| 30 | That is how We have sent you to a people before whom many a people have come and gone, so that you may announce to them whatever We have revealed to you. But they do not believe in Ar-Rahman. Tell them: "He is my Lord. There is no other god but He. In Him have I placed my trust, and to Him is my reversion." |
| 31 | Had there been a Qur'an which could have made the mountains move, or the earth to cleave asunder, or the dead to speak, yet all authority belongs to God. Have the believers not learnt that if God had so willed He could have guided all mankind? As for unbelievers, they will be visited by misfortune endlessly for what they have done; or it would sit in their homes till the promised threat of God comes to pass. Surely God does not go back on His promise. |
| 32 | Many an apostle have they mocked before you; but I allowed the unbelievers respite, then I seized them. How severe was My punishment then! |
| 33 | Who is it who stands (watch) over every soul for what it does? Yet they ascribe compeers to God. Say: "Then name them. Or are you announcing to God what He does not know on the earth? Or is it only empty talk? In fact, the unbelievers' plots are made to look attractive to them, so that they are held back from the right path. Whosoever God allows to go astray has none to show him the way. |
| 34 | For them is punishment in this world; and the punishment of the world to come is far more severe. They will have no one to save them from God. |
| 35 | The likeness of Paradise promised the pious and devout is (of a garden) with streams of rippling water, everlasting fruits and shade. This is the recompense of those who keep away from evil; but the recompense of those who deny the truth is Hell. |
| 36 | Those to whom We have given the Scriptures rejoice in what We have sent down to you; but some of their factions reject some of it. Tell them: "I am commanded to worship only God, and not to associate compeers with Him. To Him I call you, and to Him is the destination." |
| 37 | That is how We have sent down this (Qur'an) as a code of clear judgement. But if you follow their caprices, now that you have been given knowledge, you will have no friend or protector against God. |
| 38 | We sent many apostles before you, and bestowed on them wives and children, but it was not for any apostle to come up with a miracle unless by the leave of God. For every age there is a law. |
| 39 | God abrogates or confirms whatsoever He will, for He has with Him the Book of Books. |
| 40 | Whether We allow you to see (the punishment) We have promised them, or end your life before (its execution), it is certainly for you to convey the message; the reckoning is for Us to do. |
| 41 | Do they not see Us advancing from all sides into their land and reducing its frontiers? It is for God to judge; and there is none to reverse His judgement. He is swift at reckoning. |
| 42 | Surely those who had gone before them had also plotted; but God's is all the planning, for He has knowledge of what each does. The unbelievers will soon learn for whom is the guerdon of Paradise. |
| 43 | Yet those who are disbelievers say: "You are not the apostle sent (by God)." Tell them: "God is sufficient as witness between me and you, and he who has knowledge of the Book." |