15
15. Al-Hijr - The Rocky Tract
| 1 | Alif Lam Ra. Those are the signs of the Book and of a manifest Koran. |
| 2 | Perchance the unbelievers will wish that they had surrendered: |
| 3 | leave them to eat, and to take their joy, and to be bemused by hope; certainly they will soon know! |
| 4 | Never a city have We destroyed, but it had a known decree, |
| 5 | and no nation outstrips its term, nor do they put it back. |
| 6 | They say: 'Thou, upon whom the Remembrance is sent down, thou art assuredly possessed! |
| 7 | Why dost thou not bring the angels unto us, if thou speakest truly?' |
| 8 | We send not down the angels, save with truth; |
| 9 | then they would not be respited. It is We who have sent down the Remembrance, and We watch over it. |
| 10 | Indeed, We sent Messengers before thee, among the factions of the ancients, |
| 11 | and not a single Messenger came to them, but they mocked at him; |
| 12 | even so We cause it to enter into the hearts of the sinners -- |
| 13 | they believe not in it, though the wont of the ancients is already gone. |
| 14 | Though We opened to them a gate in heaven, and still they mounted through it, |
| 15 | yet would they say, 'Our eyes have been dazzled; nay, we are a people bewitched!' |
| 16 | We have set in heaven constellations and decked them out fair to the beholders, |
| 17 | and guarded them from every accursed Satan |
| 18 | excepting such as listens by stealth -- and he is pursued by a manifest flame. |
| 19 | And the earth -- We stretched it forth, and cast on it firm mountains, and We caused to grow therein of every thing justly weighed, |
| 20 | and there appointed for you livelihood, and for those you provide not for. |
| 21 | Naught is there, but its treasuries are with Us, and We send it not down but in a known measure. |
| 22 | And We loose the winds fertilising, and We send down out of heaven water, then We give it to you to drink, and you are not its treasurers. |
| 23 | It is We who give life, and make to die, and it is We who are the inheritors. |
| 24 | We know the ones of you who press forward, and We know the laggards; |
| 25 | and it is thy Lord shall muster them, and He is All-wise, All-knowing. |
| 26 | Surely We created man of a clay of mud moulded, |
| 27 | and the jinn created We before of fire flaming. |
| 28 | And when thy Lord said to the angels, 'See, I am creating a mortal of a clay of mud moulded. |
| 29 | When I have shaped him, and breathed My spirit in him, fall you down, bowing before him!' |
| 30 | Then the angels bowed themselves all together, |
| 31 | save Iblis; he refused to be among those bowing. |
| 32 | Said He, 'What ails thee, Iblis, that thou art not among those bowing?' |
| 33 | Said he, 'I would never bow myself before a mortal whom Thou hast created of a clay of mud moulded.' |
| 34 | Said He, 'Then go thou forth hence; thou art accursed. |
| 35 | Upon thee shall rest the curse, till the Day of Doom.' |
| 36 | Said he, 'My Lord, respite me till the day they shall be raised.' |
| 37 | Said He, 'Thou art among the ones that are respited |
| 38 | unto the day of a known time.' |
| 39 | Said he, 'My Lord, for Thy perverting me I shall deck all fair to them in the earth, and I shall pervert them, all together, |
| 40 | excepting those Thy servants among them that are devoted. |
| 41 | Said He, 'This is for Me a straight path: |
| 42 | over My servants thou shalt have no authority, except those that follow thee, |
| 43 | being perverse; Gehenna shall be their promised land all together. |
| 44 | Seven gates it has, and unto each gate a set portion of them belongs.' |
| 45 | But the godfearing shall be amidst gardens and fountains: |
| 46 | 'Enter you them, in peace and security!' |
| 47 | We shall strip away all rancour that is in their breasts; as brothers they shall be upon couches set face to face; |
| 48 | no fatigue there shall smite them, neither shall they ever be driven forth from there. |
| 49 | Tell My servants I am the All-forgiving, the All-compassionate, |
| 50 | and that My chastisement is the painful chastisement. |
| 51 | And tell them of the guests of Abraham, |
| 52 | when they entered unto him, saying, 'Peace!' He said, 'Behold, we are afraid of you.' |
| 53 | They said, 'Be not afraid; behold, we give thee good tidings of a cunning boy.' |
| 54 | He said, 'What, do you give me good tidings, though old age has smitten me? Of what do you |
| 55 | give me good tidings?' They said, 'We give thee good tidings of truth. Be not of those that despair.' |
| 56 | He said, 'And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord, excepting those that are astray?' |
| 57 | He said, 'And what is your business, envoys?' |
| 58 | They said, 'We have been sent unto a people of sinners, |
| 59 | excepting the folk of Lot; them we shall deliver |
| 60 | all together, excepting his wife -- we have decreed, she shall surely be of those that tarry.' |
| 61 | So, when the envoys came to the folk of Lot, |
| 62 | he said, 'Surely you are a people unknown to me!' |
| 63 | They said, 'Nay, but we have brought thee that concerning which they were doubting. |
| 64 | We have come to thee with the truth, and assuredly we speak truly. |
| 65 | So set forth, thou with thy family, in a watch of the night, and follow after the backs of them, and let not any one of you turn round; and depart unto the place you are commanded.' |
| 66 | And We decreed for him that commandment, that the last remnant of those should be cut off in the morning. |
| 67 | And the people of the city came rejoicing. |
| 68 | He said, 'These are my guests; put me not to shame, |
| 69 | and fear God, and do not degrade me.' |
| 70 | They said, 'Have we not forbidden thee all beings?' |
| 71 | He said, 'These are my daughters, if you would be doing.' |
| 72 | By thy life, they wandered blindly in their dazzlement, |
| 73 | and the Cry seized them at the sunrise, |
| 74 | and We turned it uppermost nethermost and rained on it stones of baked clay. |
| 75 | Surely in that are signs for such as mark; |
| 76 | surely it is on a way yet remaining; |
| 77 | surely in that is a sign for believers. |
| 78 | Certainly the dwellers in the Thicket were evildoers, |
| 79 | and We took vengeance on them. The two of them were upon a roadway manifest. |
| 80 | The dwellers in El-Hijr cried lies to the Envoys. |
| 81 | We brought them. Our signs, and they turned away from them. |
| 82 | They were hewing the mountains into houses, therein dwelling securely; |
| 83 | and the Cry seized them in the morning; |
| 84 | that they earned did not avail them. |
| 85 | We created not the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, save in truth. Surely the Hour is coming; so pardon thou, with a gracious pardoning. |
| 86 | Surely thy Lord, He is the All-creator, the All-knowing. |
| 87 | We have given thee seven of the oft-repeated, and the mighty Koran. |
| 88 | Stretch not thine eyes to that We have given pairs of them to enjoy; and do not sorrow for them, and lower thy wing unto the believers, |
| 89 | and say, 'Surely, I am the manifest warner.' |
| 90 | So We sent it down to the partitioners, |
| 91 | who have broken the Koran into fragments. |
| 92 | Now by thy Lord, We shall surely question them all together |
| 93 | concerning that they were doing. |
| 94 | So shout that thou art commanded and turn thou away from the idolaters. |
| 95 | We suffice thee against the mockers, |
| 96 | even against those who set up with God another god. Certainly they will soon know! |
| 97 | We know indeed thy breast is straitened by the things they say. |
| 98 | Proclaim thy Lord's praise, and be of those that bow, |
| 99 | and serve thy Lord, until the Certain comes to thee. |