AL AHQAF (Winding Sand-tracts)
In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful
1 Ha. Mim.
2 The revelation of Al-Kitab is from Allah, the exalted in power, full of wisdom.
3 We created not the heavens and the earth and all between them but for just ends, and for a term appointed: but those who reject faith turn away from that of which they are warned.
4 Say: Do you see what it is you invoke besides Allah? Show me what it is they have created on earth, or have they a share in the heavens? Bring me a book before this, or any remnant of knowledge, if you are telling the truth!
5 And who is more astray than one who invokes, besides Allah, such as will not answer him to the day of judgment, and who are unconscious of their call?
6 And when mankind are gathered together at the resurrection, they will be hostile to them and reject their worship!
7 When our clear signs are rehearsed to them, the unbelievers say of the truth when it comes to them: This is evident sorcery!
8 Or do they say he has forged it? Say: If I forged it, then you cannot obtain one thing for me from Allah. He knows best what you speak about! Enough is he for a witness between me and you! And he is oft-forgiving, most merciful.
9 Say: “I am no bringer of new-fangled doctrine among the messengers, nor do I know what will be done with me or with you. I follow but that which is revealed to me by inspiration; I am but a warner open and clear.”
10 Say: Do you see? If this is from Allah, and you reject it, and a witness from among Bani-Israel testifies to its similarity with earlier scripture, and has believed while you are arrogant, how unjust you are! Truly, Allah guides not a people unjust.
11 The unbelievers say of those who believe: If this were a good thing, they would not have gone to it first, before us! And seeing that they guide not themselves thereby, they will say, This is an old falsehood!
12 And before it, Al-Kitab of Musa was sent as a guide and a mercy: and this book confirms it in the Arabic tongue; to admonish the unjust, and to give glad tidings to those who do right.
13 Truly those who say, Our Lord is Allah, and remain firm, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
14 Such shall be companions of the garden, dwelling in it forever: a reward for their deeds,
15 We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents: in pain did his mother bear him, and in pain did she give him birth. The carrying of the child to his weaning is thirty months. At length, when he reaches the age of full strength and attains forty years, he says, O my Lord! Grant me that I may be grateful for your favour which you has bestowed upon me, and upon both my parents, and that I may work righteousness such as you may approve; and be gracious to me in my issue. Truly have I turned to you and truly do I submit to you.
16 Such are they from whom we shall accept the best of their deeds, and overlook their other deeds. They shall be among the companions of the garden: a promise of truth, which was made to them.
17 But the one who says to his parents, Enough of you! Do you hold out the promise to me that I shall be raised up, even though generations have passed before me without rising again? And the two parents seek Allah’s aid: Woe to you! Have faith! For the promise of Allah is true. But he says, This is nothing but tales of the ancients!
18 Such are they against whom is proved the sentence among the previous generations of Jinns and men, that have passed away; for they will be lost.
19 And to all are assigned degrees according to the deeds which they have done, and in order that Allah may reward their deeds, and no injustice be done to them.
20 And on the day that the unbelievers will be placed before the fire: You received your good things in the life of the world, and you took your pleasure out of them: but to day shall you be recompensed with a penalty of humiliation: for you were arrogant on earth without just cause, and you transgressed.
21 Mention Hud, one of Aad’s brothers: behold, he warned his people about the winding sand tracts: but there have been warners before him and after him: Worship no one other than Allah: truly I fear for you the penalty of a mighty day.
22 They said: Have you come in order to turn us aside from our gods? Then bring upon us the calamity with which you threaten us, if you are telling the truth!
23 He said: The knowledge of when it will come is only with Allah: I proclaim to you the mission on which I have been sent: but I see that you are a people in ignorance!
24 Then, when they saw a cloud traversing the sky, coming to meet their valleys, they said, This cloud will give us rain! No, it is the calamity you were asking to be hastened; a wind wherein is a grievous penalty!
25 Everything will it destroy by the command of its Lord! Then by the morning nothing was to be seen but the ruins of their houses! Thus do we reward those given to sin!
26 And we had firmly established them in a power which we have not given to you. And we had endowed them with hearing, seeing, heart and intellect: but of no profit to them were their hearing, sight, and heart and intellect, when they went on rejecting the signs of Allah; and they were encircled by that which they used to mock at!
27 We destroyed aforetime populations round about you; and we have shown the signs in various ways, that they may turn to us.
28 Why then was no help forthcoming to them from those whom they worshipped as gods, besides Allah, as a means of access to Allah? No, they left them in the lurch: but that was their falsehood and their invention.
29 Behold, we turned towards you a company of Jinns listening to the Quran: when they stood in the presence of it, they said, Listen in silence! When the reading was finished, they returned to their people, to warn them.
30 They said, O our people! We have heard a book revealed after Musa, confirming what came before it: it guides to the truth and to a straight path.
31 O our people, listen to the one who invites to Allah, and believe in him: he will forgive you your sins, and deliver you from a penalty grievous.
32 If any does not listen to the one who invites to Allah, he cannot escape, and no protectors can he have besides Allah: such men are in clear error.
33 Do they not see that Allah, who created the heavens and the earth, and never wearied with their creation, is able to give life to the dead? Yes, truly he has power over all things.
34 And on the day that the unbelievers will be placed before the fire, they will be asked, Is this not the truth? They will say, Yes, by our Lord! One will say: Then taste the penalty, for that you used to deny the truth!
35 Therefore patiently persevere, as did the messengers of firm purpose; and be in no haste about them. On the day that they see what was promised them, it will be as if they had not waited more than an hour in a single day. Proclaim the message: shall any be destroyed except those who transgress?