Surah 25

AL FURQAN (The Criterion)

In the Name of God,1 the Gracious, the Merciful 2

1 Blessed is he who sent down the criterion to his servant, that it may be an admonition to all creatures; 2 he to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. No son has he taken3, nor has he a partner in his dominion. It is he who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions. 3 Yet they have taken gods besides him, that can create nothing but are themselves created; that have no power to harm or benefit themselves; that have no power over death or life or resurrection.

4 But the unbelievers say, “This is nothing but a lie which he has forged, and others have helped him in it.” In truth it is they who have put forward an iniquity and a falsehood. 5 And they say, “Tales of the ancients which he has written down. They are dictated before him morning and evening.” 6 Say, “It was sent down by him who knows the mystery of the heavens and the earth; truly he is oft-forgiving, most merciful.” 7 And they say, “What sort of a messenger is this, who eats food, and walks through the streets? Why has not an angel been sent down to him to give admonition with him? 8 Or why has not a treasure been bestowed on him, or why has he not a garden for enjoyment?” The wicked say, “You follow none other than a man bewitched.” 9 See what kinds of comparisons they make for you! But they have gone astray, and they will never be able to find a way! 10 Blessed is he who, if that were his will, could give you better things than those, gardens beneath which rivers flow; and he could give you secure palaces to dwell in. 11 No, they deny the Hour. But we have prepared a blazing fire for such as deny the Hour. 12 When it sees them from a place far off, they will hear its fury and its raging sigh. 13 And when they are thrown, bound together, into a constricted place therein, they will plead for destruction there and then! 14 “This day plead not for a single destruction. Plead for destruction oft-repeated!” 15 Say, “Is that best, or the eternal garden, promised to the righteous? For them, that is a reward as well as a goal of attainment.” 16 For them there will be all that they wish for in it. They will dwell there forever; a promise to be prayed for from your Lord. 17 The day he will gather them together as well as those whom they worship besides God, he will ask, “Was it you who led these my servants astray, or did they stray from the path themselves?” 18 They will say, “Glory to you! It would not be proper for us to take others for protectors besides you. You bestowed on them and their fathers good things in life, until they forgot the message; for they were a people lost.” 19 God will say, “Now have they proved you liars in what you say; so you cannot avert your penalty nor get help. And whoever among you does wrong, him shall we cause to taste of a grievous penalty.”

20 And the messengers whom we sent before you were all men who ate food and walked through the streets. We have made some of you as a trial for others. Will you have patience? For God is one who sees. 21 Such as fear not the meeting with us say, “Why are not the angels sent down to us?” or “Why do we not see our Lord?” Indeed they have an arrogant conceit of themselves, and mighty is the insolence of their impiety! 22 The day they see the angels, no joy will there be to the sinners that day. The angels will say, “There is a barrier forbidden to you altogether!” 23 And we shall turn to whatever deeds they did in this life, and we shall make such deeds as floating dust scattered about. 24 The companions of the garden will be well, that day, in their abode, and have the fairest of places for repose. 25 The day the heaven shall be torn open with clouds, and angels shall be sent down, descending in ranks, 26 that day, the dominion as of right and truth, shall be wholly for God most merciful. It will be a day of dire difficulty for the unbelievers. 27 The day that the wrongdoer will bite at his hands, he will say, “O, if only I had taken a straight path with the messenger! 28 Ah! Woe is me! Would that I had never taken such a one for a friend! 29 He led me astray from the message after it had come to me! Ah! Iblis4 is but a traitor to man!”

30 Then the messenger will say, “O my Lord! Truly my people took this Quran for just foolish nonsense.” 31 Thus have we made for every prophet an enemy among the sinners, but enough is your Lord to guide and to help. 32 Those who reject faith say, “Why is the Quran not revealed to him all at once?” Thus is it revealed, that we may strengthen your heart thereby, and we have imparted it to you in stages, gradually. 33 And no question do they bring to you but we reveal to you the truth and the best explanation of it. 34 Those who will be gathered to hell on their faces, they will be in an evil plight, and, as to path, most astray.

35 We sent Musa5 Al-Kitab6, and appointed his brother Harun7 with him as helper. 36 And we commanded, “Go, both of you, to the people who have rejected our signs.” Later, we destroyed those people with utter destruction. 37 And when the people of Nuh8 rejected the messengers, we drowned them and made them as a sign for mankind. We have prepared for all wrongdoers a grievous penalty, 38 as also Aad and Thamud, and the companions of the Rass, and many a generation between them. 39 To each one we set forth parables and examples; and each one we brought to utter annihilation. 40 And they must indeed have passed by the town on which a shower of evil rained. Did they not then see it? But they have no hope in the resurrection. 41 When they see you, they only treat you with ridicule, saying, “Is this the one whom God has sent as a messenger? 42 He indeed would nearly have misled us from our gods, had it not been that we were constant to them!” Soon they will know, when they see the penalty, who it is that is most misled in the path! 43 Do you see such a one as takes for his god his own passion? Could you be a disposer of affairs for him? 44 Or do you think that most of them listen or understand? They are only like cattle; no, they are farther astray from the path.

45 Have you not turned your vision to your Lord? How he prolongs the shadow! If he willed, he could make it stationary! Then we made the sun its guide. 46 Then we draw it in towards ourselves, a contraction by easy stages. 47 And he it is who makes the night as a robe for you, and sleep as repose, and makes the day a resurrection. 48 And he it is who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before his mercy, and we send down pure water from the sky, 49 that with it we may give life to a dead land, and slake the thirst of things we have created, cattle and men in great numbers. 50 And we have distributed the water among them, in order that they may celebrate our praises, but most men are averse to anything but rank ingratitude. 51 Had it been our will, we could have sent a warner to every centre of population. 52 Therefore do not listen to the unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost effort.

53 It is he who has let free the two bodies of flowing water, one palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter. Yet he has made a barrier between them, a partition that is forbidden to be passed. 54 It is he who has created man from water. Then he established relationships of lineage and marriage; for your Lord has all power. 55 Yet they worship, besides God, things that can neither profit them nor harm them; and the unbeliever is a helper against his own Lord! 56 But you we sent only to give glad tidings and admonition. 57 Say, “No reward do I ask of you for it but this—that each one who will, may take a path to his Lord. 58 And put your trust in him who lives and never dies. Celebrate his praise; and enough is he to be acquainted with the sins of his servants.

59 “He created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in six days,” 9 

and then mounted the throne—the most gracious. Ask then, anyone acquainted with him. 60 When it is said to them, “Bow down to the most gracious,” they say, “And who is the most gracious? Shall we bow down before that which you command us?” And it increases their aversion. 61 Blessed is he who made constellations in the sky, and placed in it a lamp and a moon giving light. 62 And it is he who made the night and the day to follow each other; for such as have the will to celebrate his praises or to show their gratitude.

63 And the servants of the most gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace!”
64 They are those who spend the night in adoration of their Lord prostrate and standing.
65 They are those who say, “Our Lord, avert from us the wrath of hell, for its wrath is indeed a grievous affliction. 66 Evil indeed is it as an abode, and as a place to rest in.”
67 They are those who, when they spend, are not extravagant and not niggardly, but hold a just balance between those extremes.
68 They are those who invoke not, with God, any other god, nor slay such life as God has made sacred, except for just cause; nor commit fornication, and any that does this meets punishment. 69 The penalty on the day of judgment will be doubled to him, and he will dwell in it in ignominy 70 unless he repents, believes, and works righteous deeds. For God will change the evil of such persons into good, and God is oft-forgiving, most merciful. 71 Whoever repents and does good has truly turned to God with an acceptable conversion.
72 They are those who witness no falsehood, and, if they pass by futility, they pass by it with honourable avoidance.
73 They are those who, when they are admonished with the signs of their Lord, do not droop down at them as if they were deaf or blind.
74 They are those who pray, “Our Lord! Grant to us wives and offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and give us the grace to lead the righteous.”
75 Those are the ones who will be rewarded with the highest place in heaven, because of their patient constancy. They shall be met in it with greetings and peace, 76 dwelling in it; how beautiful an abode and place of rest!

77 Say, “My Lord is not uneasy because of you if you do not call on him; but you have indeed rejected him, and soon will come the inevitable punishment!”

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  1. God, in Arabic allah, referring to the one true God, as opposed to an idol or “god.” It is the Arabic equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew), alaha (Syriac), and theos (Greek), all of which accurately translate into English as “God.” This translation choice is consistent with respected English Quran translations including those of A. Yusuf Ali (original edition), S.H. Nasr (Study Quran), T.B. Irving, and T. Itani (Clear Quran). ↩︎
  2. the Gracious, the Merciful, the highlighting of God’s grace and mercy predates the Quran, coming down from the many hundreds of references in the Taurat, Zabur, and Injil. A few samples follow:
    Taurat, Exodus 34:6 — …YAHWEH, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth. 
    Zabur 145:8 — YAHWEH is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
    Taurat, Joel 2:13 — Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to YAHWEH your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
    Taurat, Yunus 4:2 — …I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.”
    Injil, 1 Timothy 1:2 — …Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and AL-MASIH ‘ISA our Lord.
    Injil, Hebrews 4:16 — Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need. ↩︎
  3. 25:2 No son has he taken, here the Quran appears to be at variance with the Taurat (Hosea 11:1), Zabur (Psalm 2:7), and Injil (John 3:16), which all teach that ‘ISA Ibn Maryam is God’s Son. But it is not that the man ‘ISA was one day suddenly ‘taken’ into adoption by God as a son. Al-Kitab teaches that before his birth and even before the creation of the heavens and the earth, ‘ISA was always God’s Son, eternally co-existing with the Father (John 1:1-2; John 17:5). The fact that the eternal Son of God was born to the virgin Maryam as a human being (Galatians 4:4), takes nothing away from him being God. God is God forever, even after he chooses to become a human being. Nothing can diminish the glory of God. The honourable title SON OF GOD should not be twisted to mean a vulgar thing like the physical offspring of God. Rather, it is the title of an “honoured servant.” SON OF GOD is a unique title of the Messiah, ‘ISA AL-MASIH, revealed through Prophet Dawud in the Zabur 2:7-9, which says: I will tell of the decree. YAHWEH said to me, “You are my SON. Today I have become your FATHER. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, The ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” It is no wonder that in the Injil, the angel Jibrail announces to Maryam that her son “will be great, and will be called SON OF THE MOST HIGH.” (Luke 1:32). The study course “Eternal Word” deals with this issue in more detail in Lesson Four. ↩︎
  4. 25:29 Iblis, derived from the Greek diabolos, which also gives rise to the English word, devil. ↩︎
  5. 25:35 Musa, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Moses meaning “to pull out” or “draw out” (of water); referring to the biblical story where he was rescued from the Nile River by Firaun’s daughter. The original account of Musa‘s story begins in the Taurat, Exodus 3. ↩︎
  6. 25:35 Al-Kitab, Arabic-derived term meaning “the book” or “the scriptures.” It is related to the Aramaic ketab and Hebrew terms ketab, miktab, and ktb. On this website, Al-Kitab may refer to any or all of the four heavenly books believed in by Muslims. Here it refers to the Taurat. ↩︎
  7. 25:35 Harun, this Arabic name and the English name Aaron, are both derived from the Hebrew name Aharon, possibly meaning “exalted” or “high mountain.” ↩︎
  8. 25:37 Nuh, Arabic name derived from the Hebrew name Noah, meaning “rest.” For the original account of Nuh see the Taurat, Genesis 6. ↩︎
  9. 25:59 He created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in six days, Similar wording is found in the Taurat, Exodus 20:11: “in six days YAHWEH* made the heavens and earth, the sea, and all that is in them.” The six days of creation are described in detail in the Taurat, Genesis 1.
    *YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎