equally, We shall question
those who were sent.
7And We shall recount to them
[their deeds], with full knowledge—
We were never away from them.
8The balance° on that day
shall be just.
Those whose balance
is heavy [with good deeds]
shall flourish.
9And those whose balance is light
have lost their souls
for they did injustice to Our verses.
10We settled you on the earth
and gave you livelihood there—
how little you give thanks!
SECTION 2
11We created you and shaped you;
then We commanded the angels,
“Bow down before Adam.”
All bowed down—except Iblis,
who would not bow.
12God asked, “What stopped you
from bowing as I commanded you?”
He retorted, “I am better than him;
You created me from fire, but him
you fashioned from mere clay.”
13God said, “Go down from here;°
it’s not your place to be proud here—
go, for you are truly debased.”
14Iblis said, “Give me reprieve
until the day that all people
are raised up from the dead.”
15God answered, “You shall
be granted a reprieve.”
16Iblis said, “Because
you’ve sent me astray,
I shall lie in wait for them
on Your straight path.°
17“I shall come upon them
from before and behind them,
from their right and from their left,
and You will find that most of them
are not grateful to You.”
18God replied, “Go out from here,
disgraced and exiled.
As for those who follow you—
I shall fill hell with all of you.
19“Adam, you and your spouse
may live in the garden, and
eat wherever you will,
but do not approach this tree,
for you would be doing wrong.”
20Then Satan whispered to them both,°
—so as to expose their shameful parts,
which had been hidden from them—saying,
“Your Lord forbade you to eat
from this tree only to stop you
from becoming angels or immortals.”
21And he swore to them both,
“This is sincere advice I offer you.”
22So, through his guile,
he lured them both [to fall].
And once they tasted of the tree,
they realized their nakedness,
and began to cover themselves
with leaves from the garden.
And their Lord called to them both,
“Did I not forbid you both
to eat from this tree?
Did I not tell you both
that Satan is your open enemy?”
23They responded, “Our Lord,
we have wronged ourselves—
if You do not forgive us
and have mercy on us,
we’ll be among
the ones who fall into loss.”
24God said, “Go down from here,
as enemies of one another;
you shall have a home
and livelihood upon the earth—
for a short while.”
25He said, “There you shall live
and die, and from there
you shall be brought out again.”
SECTION 3
26Children of Adam,
We have given you garments
to cover your nakedness, and
to adorn you. But the best garment
is mindfulness of God.
This is one of the signs of God
that people might take heed.
27Children of Adam,
don’t let Satan tempt you
—as he did your parents
bringing them out of the garden—
to strip them of their garments,
and expose their nakedness to them;
he sees you, he and his tribe,
from where you can’t see them—
We made the devils allies
of those who don’t believe.
28When they commit any indecency,
they say, “This is what we found
our fathers doing,” and
“God commanded us to do it.” Say,
“God never commands indecency—
would you say about God
things you do not know?”
29Say, “My Lord commands justice,
so set your faces toward Him
wherever you pray,°
and call upon Him, sincere in faith.
Just as He first made you,
so you shall return [at last to Him].”
30He has guided some, while others
have rightly been left to stray,
for they have taken devils as allies
instead of God, thinking that they
are rightly guided.
31Children of Adam, wear
proper clothes wherever you pray;
eat and drink, but not to excess,
for God dislikes the extravagant.
SECTION 4
32Say, “Who forbids the adornment
that God furnished for His servants
and the good things to sustain them?”
Say, “They are for those
who believed, in the life of this world,
and are only for them
on the day of resurrection.”
This is how We expound Our signs
for people who have knowledge.
33Say, “My Lord has forbidden only
immoral deeds, open or concealed,
as well as sin, lawless aggression,
and your joining partners with God—
for which no sanction has been sent—
or that you speak about God
things beyond your knowledge.”
34Each community is assigned
a fixed time°—when this time arrives,
they can neither delay nor hasten it—
not even by an hour.
35Children of Adam, when
messengers from your own people
come to you, reciting My signs,
those who are mindful of Me
and amend themselves
shall neither fear nor grieve.
36But those who deny Our signs,
and proudly disdain them
shall be inmates of the fire—forever.
37Who does more wrong than those
who invent lies about God or deny
His signs? They will get their share
as decreed in the Book—but when
Our angels come to take them,
and ask, “Where are those
on whom you called besides God?”
They will answer,
“They have abandoned us,”
and they will be witnesses
against themselves—
that they were disbelievers.
38He will say, “Enter the fire,
with the communities before you—
jinn and humankind.
Whenever a people enters,
it curses its sister community, and
when they all arrive inside,
the last of them will say of the first,
“Our Lord, these are the ones who
led us astray; so double
their punishment in the fire!”
He will say, “It shall be doubled
for each—though you don’t know it.”
39The first ones will say to the last,
“So you were no better than us.
Taste, then, the punishment
you have earned!”
SECTION 5
40The gates of heaven shall never
open to those who deny Our signs
and proudly disdain them,
nor shall they enter the garden,
until a camel can pass through
a needle’s eye.° This is how
We reward the sinners.
41Hell shall be their bed
and also the covering above them—
this is how We recompense
those who do wrong.
42Those who believe
and do good deeds—We place
no burden on a soul beyond its limit—
shall live in the garden, forever.
43And We shall remove ill feeling
from their hearts. Rivers will flow
beneath them, and they will say,
“Praised be God who guided us here;
we could not have found guidance
without God—our Lord’s messengers
brought the truth.”
And a voice will call to them,
“This is the garden—yours
to inherit—for all you have done.”
44The people in the garden
will call out to the inmates of the fire,
“We have found the promise
of our Lord to be true;
have you found it to be true?”
They will answer, “Yes,”
and a herald among them
shall cry out, “The curse of God
is upon those who do wrong,
45“those who bar others from the path
of God, and seek to make it crooked,
those who deny the hereafter.”
46Between the two groups a barrier
shall stand, with people on its heights
—not yet in the garden but hoping—
who recognize all by their marks.
They shall greet the people
in the garden, “Peace be with you!”
47But when their eyes are turned
toward the inmates of the fire,
they will say, “Our Lord, don’t place
us with the wrongdoers.”
SECTION 6
48And the people on the heights
will call out to people they recognize
by their marks,
“What did you gain by your
great numbers and proud disdain?
49“Are these the ones you swore
would not be granted God’s mercy?
—who are now told, ‘Enter the garden—
you shall have no fear, nor grieve’?”
50The inmates of the fire
will call to the people of the garden,
“Pour water upon us, or whatever
God has given you.” They will reply,
“God has forbidden both
to the disbelievers,
51“those who took their religion
as play and a pastime, those
deluded by the life of this world.
That day We shall forget them,
just as they forgot the meeting
with Us on this day of theirs,
and rejected Our signs.”
52For We brought them a Book,
that We explained—on the basis
of certain knowledge—as guidance
and mercy for people who believe.
53Are they just waiting
for its warning to be fulfilled?
On the day it is fulfilled, those
who had forgotten it will say,
“Our Lord’s messengers
brought the truth. And now,
will anyone intercede for us?
Or can we be sent back
to act differently than we did?”
They have lost their souls,
and their invented idols
shall abandon them.
SECTION 7
54Your Lord is God, Who created
the heavens and the earth in six days,
then took up the throne.
He veils day with night,
which trails it swiftly.
He created the sun, moon, and stars—
all subject to His command.
Is the creation not His,
and the command? Blessèd be God,
Lord of the universe.
55Call on your Lord,
in humility, and secretly—
He dislikes those who transgress.
56Don’t sow corruption in the land
now that it has been reformed,
but call on Him, in fear and hope.
The mercy of God is near
for those who do good.
57It is He who sends the winds,
bearers of joyous news,
heralding His mercy;
when they carry the heavy clouds,
We drive them to barren land,
We send rain on it, and
We raise up from it fruit of all kinds.
In the same way,
We shall raise up the dead—
that you might take heed.
58Good soil yields rich vegetation,
by permission of its Lord,
but bad soil gives a meager yield—
in this way We vary Our signs
to a people who are grateful.
SECTION 8
59We sent Noah to his people.
He said, “My people, worship God—
you have no god but Him.
I fear for you the torment
of a momentous day.”
60The leaders of his people retorted,
“We see that you’re clearly wrong.”
61He replied, “My people,
I am not wrong—I am a messenger
from the Lord of the universe.
62“I am conveying to you
messages from my Lord,
and I am advising you,
for I know—from God—
what you do not.
63“Do you wonder that a reminder
has come to you from your Lord
through a man of your own people,
to warn you—that you might
be mindful of God,
and be shown mercy?”
64But they denied him,
so We delivered him,
and those with him, in the ark,
and We drowned those
who denied Our signs—
a blind people.
SECTION 9
65And We sent to the people of ʿAd
their brother Hud, who said,
“My people, worship God—
you have no god but Him.
Will you not be mindful of Him?”
66But the leaders of the unbelievers
among his people retorted,
“We think you’re a fool—and a liar.”
67He replied, “My people,
I am no fool—I am a messenger
from the Lord of the universe.
68“I am conveying to you
messages from my Lord,
and you can trust
the advice I offer you.
69“Do you wonder that a reminder
has come to you from your Lord
through a man of your own people,
to warn you—remember how
He made you heirs to Noah’s people,
and raised you greatly in stature.
Remember the bounties of God,
that you might flourish.”
70They retorted, “Do you come
to tell us to worship God alone, and
forsake what our fathers worshipped?
Bring us the torment you threatened
if you are speaking the truth.”
71He exclaimed, “Your Lord’s torment
and wrath shall fall on you.
Do