a place for you to live, and the sky
a canopy. He gave you form,
perfected your forms, then provided
good things for your sustenance.
This is God, your Lord—blessed
is He, Lord of the universe.
65He is the Living—there is no god but He
so call upon Him, with sincere faith.
All praise be to God, Lord of the universe.
66Say, “I am forbidden to worship
those you call upon besides God
since clear proofs have come to me
from my Lord. I am commanded
to submit to the Lord of the universe.”
67It is He Who created you
from dust, then from sperm,
then from a clot of blood;
He then brings you out as infants,
till you reach maturity, and old age
—though some of you die young—
to reach your appointed term,
to make you understand.
68It is He Who gives life
and brings death; and
when He decrees something,
He merely says, “Be!” and it is.
SECTION 8
69Don’t you see those
who dispute the signs of God,
how perverted they are?°
70Those who deny the Book and
what We sent with Our messengers—
but soon they shall know,
71when they are dragged,
with yokes and chains
around their necks,
72into the boiling fluid,
then burned in the fire.
73Then they’ll be asked, “Where
are the other gods you worshipped
74“besides God?” They will say,
“They have abandoned us—in fact,
we were calling upon nothing.”
In this way, God leaves
the disbelievers to stray.
75[They will be told,] “That is because
you exulted on earth without right°
and because you were insolent.
76“Enter the gates of hell,
to stay there forever—wretched
is the home of the proud.”
77So be patient, Prophet, for God’s promise
is true; and whether we show you
something of [the punishment] We promised them
or make you die before that,
to Us they shall be returned.
78We sent messengers before you;
We told you the stories of some
and not others. No messenger
brings signs without God’s leave.
And when God’s command comes,
fair judgment will be passed—
and there, those who
incite falsehood shall lose.
SECTION 9
79It is God who made livestock for you,
some for you to ride, others for you to eat,
80and they have other uses for you;
through them you can fulfill
your hearts’ desire, and you are carried
upon them, as you are upon ships.
81He shows you His signs—
which, then, of the signs of God
would you deny?
82Don’t they travel through the earth
and see the fate of those before them?
They were greater in number, strength,
and in their impact on the earth—yet
their achievements proved no use to them.
83When their messengers came
to them with clear proofs,
they merely exulted
in what they already knew—
but they were engulfed
by what they mocked.
84Only when they saw Our torment
did they say, “We believe
in God alone, and we deny
the other gods we joined with Him.”
85But their “faith” after seeing
Our torment did not avail them.
This has always been God’s way
with His servants—
there, the disbelievers lost.
SURA 41
Explained in Full (Fussilat)
Still another late Meccan sura, but only 54 verses long, this accents the Quran as something explained in full and in Arabic (v. 3), at once a guide and a cure for those who believe but conveying only deafness and blindness for those who disbelieve (v. 44).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1Ha Mim. °
2A revelation from
the Most Merciful, Ever Merciful—
3a Book whose verses are explained
in clear detail, an Arabic Quran
for people who know,
4bringing joyous news
and warning—but most of them
turn away so they don’t hear.
5They say, “Our hearts are shielded°
from what you call us to,
and our ears sunk in deafness;
between us and you is a veil,
so do as you will—and so shall we.”
6Say, “I’m just a human, like you.
It’s revealed to me that your God
is One God—so seek a straight path
to Him, and ask forgiveness of Him.”
Wretched are those who join
other gods with Him,
7those who don’t give in charity,
and who deny the hereafter.
8Those who believe
and do good deeds
shall know an unceasing reward.
SECTION 2
9Say, “Do you deny the One
Who created the earth in two days?°
Do you set up others as His equals?
This is the Lord of all Creation.”
10He set firm mountains on [the earth],
high above, and blessed it, and measured
its sustenance according to the needs
of those who seek it—in four days.
11Then He set Himself toward the sky,
a mere mass of smoke, and commanded
both it and the earth, “Come into being,
willing or unwilling.” They answered,
“We are coming into being, willingly.”
12He perfected them as seven heavens
in two days, and He revealed
to each heaven its role.
We adorned the lower heaven
with lamps and rendered it secure.
This is the order ordained
by the Almighty, the All Knowing.
13But if they should turn away,
then say, “I have warned you
of a thunderbolt—like the one
that struck ʿAd and Thamud.”°
14When messengers came to them
from all perspectives,° urging,
“Do not worship anything other
than the One God,” they responded,
“If our Lord had wished,
He would have sent down angels—
we deny the message sent with you.”
15The people of ʿAd strutted proudly
through the land, without just cause.°
They would say,
“Who is our superior in strength?”
Don’t they see that God
—Who created them—
is far superior to them in strength?
Yet they continued to deny Our signs.
16So We sent against them
a roaring wind, through days
of misfortune, to let them taste
the torment of disgrace
in the life of this world—
though torment in the hereafter
shall be more disgraceful,
and they shall not be helped.
17As for the people of Thamud—
We gave them guidance but
they preferred blindness to guidance,
so they were struck by a thunderbolt
as punishment, disgracing them
for their misdeeds.
18But We delivered those
who believed and feared God.
SECTION 3
19On the day the enemies of God
are gathered toward the fire
and are driven in ranks—
20when they come to [the fire],
their hearing, and sight
—their very skins—
shall testify against them
on account of their deeds.
21They will ask their skins,
“Why do you testify against us?”
and their answer will be,
“God gave us speech—He
Who gives speech to all things.
It is He Who created you
in the beginning, and to Him
you will be returned.
22“Yet you did not try to hide, to
stop your hearing, sight, and skins
from testifying against you—
but you thought God unaware
of much of what you did.
23“This is what you thought
of your Lord, and it is this thought
that has brought you to ruin—
you are now among those
who will suffer loss.”
24Even if they can endure it,
the fire shall be their home;
if they ask to redeem themselves,
they shall not be allowed.
25And We have decreed
[evil] companions for them
who made their present and past°
seem fair to them; but the decree°
of their punishment proved true
as with the generations
of jinn and humans who came
before them—they were the losers.
SECTION 4
26The unbelievers say, “Don’t listen
to this Quran: drown it in idle noise—
that way, you’ll have the last word.”°
27But We will make the unbelievers
taste severe torment,
and We will requite them
for the worst of their deeds.
28This is the requital
for the enemies of God
—the fire, their eternal home—
their requital for denying Our signs.
29And the unbelievers will say,
“Our Lord, show us the jinn and humans
who misled us—we’ll trample them
beneath our feet, forcing them
to be among the lowest [in hell].”
30The angels will descend to those
who say, “Our Lord is the One God,”
and are upright, [saying to them],
“Have no fear, do not grieve,
and receive joyous news
of the garden you were promised.
31“We are your protectors
in the life of this world
and the hereafter.
There you shall have
all that your souls desire,
all that you ask—
32“a welcoming gift from
the Forgiving, the Ever Merciful.”
SECTION 5
33Who speaks better than one
who calls people to God,
does good deeds, and speaks
the words, “I am one of those
who bow to God’s will.”°
34Good and evil are not equal.
Counter [evil] with something better,
then the person who was your foe°
will become like a close friend.
35But none is granted this [goodness]
except people who show patience,
those with great righteousness.°
36If any evil prompting from Satan
should whisper within you,
seek refuge in God—
He is All Hearing, All Knowing.
37Among His signs are
night and day, sun and moon.
Do not bow before sun and moon,
but bow before God,
Who created them—
if it is Him alone you worship.
38But if [the unbelievers]
strut proudly, [it is of no account],
for those with your Lord
hymn His glory night and day,
without fatigue.
39And among His signs is this:
you see the earth barren, and when
He sends down rain upon it,
it stirs into life, and swells.
He Who gives it life can surely
bring life to the dead—
He has Power over all things.
40Those who distort
what is in Our signs
are not hidden from Us.
Who is better—a person
who is hurled into the fire,
or someone who comes through
secure on the day of resurrection?
Do what you will—
He is Aware of all that you do.
41Those who reject the message
when it comes to them—
it is a Book of great power,
42that no falsehood might reach
from any side,° revealed by
the All Wise, the Praiseworthy—
43[should know that] nothing is said
to you that was not said
to the messengers before you.
Your Lord is Full of Forgiveness
and Severe in Requital.
44Had We produced this Quran
in a foreign tongue, they would say,
“Why are its verses not explained
in full? A foreign [Book
brought by] an Arab!° Say,
“It is guidance and healing
for those who believe,
but for those who disbelieve,
it brings deafness to their ears,
and blindness—as if they
were being called from afar.”
SECTION 6
45We gave the Book to Moses
but disputes arose over it.
Had your Lord not issued a decree,°
judgment would have been passed
between them. But they remain
in anxious doubt over it.
46Whoever does good deeds,
does so for himself;
and whoever does bad deeds,
does so against himself.
Your Lord is never unjust
to His servants.
47Knowledge of the hour
lies with Him alone.
No fruit emerges from its sheath,
no female conceives or gives birth
without His knowing.
And on the day He calls to them,
“Where are My partners?”
they will say, “We confess to you
that none of us can attest [to them].”
48The gods they called on before
will forsake them, and they will see,
for sure, that they have no escape.
49People never cease to pray for good,
but when evil touches them,
they lose hope and despair.
50When We let them taste Our mercy
after adversity touches them,
they will say, “This my due—
I don’t believe that the hour
will ever transpire, yet even if
I am brought back to my Lord,
He will surely have the best reward
for me.” But We shall inform
the disbelievers of
