and We shall make them taste
severe punishment.
51When We bestow Our favor
on people, they turn away,
staying far [from Us].
But when misfortune touches them,
they turn [to Us], full of prayer.
52Say, “Did you ever reflect:
what if this [revelation] is truly
from God—yet you still deny it?
Who can be more astray than one
so far opposed to it?”
53Soon We will show them
Our signs—on the far horizons
and within themselves
until it becomes clear to them
that this is the truth.
Is it not enough that your Lord
is Witness to all things?
54Indeed, they remain in doubt about
the meeting with their Lord—yet
He surely Encompasses all things.
SURA 42
Consultation (Al-Shura)
A Meccan sura with some Medinan verses, this also is comparatively short (53 verses). Unlike other suras that begin with multiple mysterious letters, it frames them in two verses (vv. 1–2) not a single verse (as in Maryam, Sura 19). It extols settling affairs by consultation (v. 38), accented in the title. At the same time, it highlights the value of the Quran in Arabic (v. 7), a guiding light for Muhammad, unversed yet commanded through a divine spirit (v. 52).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1Ha Mim.
2ʿAyn Sin Qaf.°
3This is how He reveals to you,
as to those before you—
God, the Almighty, All Wise.
4To Him belongs
all that is in the heavens
and all that is on the earth—
for He is the Most High, Most Great.
5The heavens are almost
rent from on high,
while the angels glorify
their Lord with praise,
and pray for forgiveness
for all those on earth.
God is the One Who
is Forgiving, Ever Merciful.
6As for those who take others
as protectors,° God Watches them,
and you are not their keeper.
7We have hereby revealed
to you an Arabic Quran
that you might warn
the mother of cities°
and those around her,
warn them of the day of gathering
—of which there is no doubt—
with one group in the garden,
the other in the fire.
8Had He wished, God would
have made them one people,
but He admits into His mercy
whom He will;
and the wrongdoers
shall have no protector
and no helper.
9Or, have they taken as protectors
others besides Him?
For God is the Protector,
the Restorer of life to the dead,
and He has Power over all things.
SECTION 2
10Whatever issue you dispute,
it is for God to judge—
this is God, my Lord:
in Him I trust
and to Him I turn.
11Creator of the heavens and earth,
He has made for you mates
from among yourselves, and mates
between the animals, multiplying you.
There is nothing like Him—
He is the All Hearing, All Seeing.
12His are the keys
of the heavens and the earth:
He extends and restricts provision
for whom He will—
He Knows all things.
13He has ordained for you
the religion that He enjoined
upon Noah, that We revealed
to you, Prophet,
and that We enjoined upon
Abraham, Moses, and Jesus:
“Establish the religion, and do not
divide yourselves within it.”
What you call the polytheists to do
is hard for them;
God chooses for Himself
whom He will,
and He guides to Himself
whoever turns toward Him.
14They divided, out of mutual envy,
only after knowledge came to them.
If judgment on them had not been
deferred until an appointed time
by a previous word from your Lord,
sentence would have been passed
between them. And those
who inherited the Book after them
are vexed with doubt over it.
15So, call people to the [Book],
stand firm as commanded,
and do not follow their fancies;
say, rather: “I believe in the Book
which God has revealed,°
and I have been commanded
to dispense justice among you.
God is our Lord and your Lord;
our deeds belong to us,
and yours to you—so let there be
no dispute between us and you.
God will gather us together,
and to Him is our final return.
16As for those who dispute over God
after accepting the message,°
their dispute is vain
in the eyes of their Lord—
His wrath falls on them,
and severe torment awaits them.
17It is God Who sent down
the Book, with truth,
as well as the balance
[to weigh truth and falsehood].
And what would make you know
that the hour may be near?
18Those who don’t believe in it
seek to hasten it,
while those who believe in it
are fearful of it,
knowing it to be true.
Those who argue about the hour
have gone far astray.
19God is Most Gentle
toward His servants;
He provides for whom He will.
He is All Powerful, Almighty.
SECTION 3
20For those who desire
the harvest of the hereafter,
We shall increase their harvest;
and for those who desire
the harvest of this world,
We shall grant them some of it,
but they shall have no portion
in the hereafter.
21Or, do they have gods
ordaining for them in religion
what God has not permitted?
Had it not been for a decisive word
[from God], sentence would already
have been passed between them.
The wrongdoers shall face
a painful punishment.
22You will see the wrongdoers
fearful on account of what they earned,
and what will surely befall them.
But those who believe
and do good deeds shall be
in the gardens’ flowering meadows.
They will have all they wish for
from their Lord—
that is the abundant grace.
23This is the joyous news
which God gives to His servants
who believe and do good deeds.
Say, “I ask of you no reward for this
beyond the love due
to those who are close to you.”
As for those who do good,
We shall increase its good for them°—
God is Forgiving, Appreciative.
24Or, do they say,
“He has coined a lie about God”—
even though, if God wished,
He could seal up your heart?
For by His words
God abolishes falsehood
and verifies truth—
He Knows what hearts contain.
25It is He Who accepts
the repentance of His servants
and pardons wrongful deeds;
He knows all that you do.
26He answers those
who believe and do good deeds,
and grants them ever more
from His grace. But those
who disbelieve shall face
severe punishment.
27Had God extended [boundless]
provision° to His servants,
they would have tyrannized the earth.°
But He sends down in due measure
what He will, for He is All Aware,
All Seeing, of His servants.
28It is He Who sends down
rain—after people have despaired—
and spreads His mercy far,
for He is the Protector,
the Praiseworthy.
29Among His signs is creation
of the heavens and the earth,
and the creatures He dispersed
throughout both—
He is All Powerful, Able
to gather them when He will.
SECTION 4
30Whatever misfortune befalls you
is wrought by your own hands,
yet He pardons much.
31Nowhere can you escape
throughout the earth;
nor, do you have besides God
any protector or helper.
32Among His signs are the ships,
sailing [high] on the seas,
like mountains.
33If it were His wish,
He could lull the wind,
then the ships would be motionless
on the back of the ocean.
In this are signs
for all who are patient
and full of thanks.
34Or He could wreck [the ships]
on account of what [their crew]
has earned, yet He pardons much.
35So let them know, those
who dispute over Our signs—
there is no escape for them.
36Whatever you are given
is but a passing pleasure
of the life of this world.
But what God will give to those
who believe and trust in their Lord
is far better and will endure—
37those who avoid the major sins
and indecencies, and forgive,
even when angry;
38those who answer their Lord,
are steadfast in prayer,
and settle their affairs
by mutual consultation,
and who give [in charity]
from what We have given them;
39and those who defend themselves
when oppression falls upon them.
40The requital for a wrong
is an equal wrong; but whoever
pardons and reconciles
will find his reward with God,
for He does not love
those who do wrong.
41But there is no reproach on those
who defend themselves when wronged.
42Reproach falls only on
those who oppress people and
tyrannize the earth lawlessly.
Theirs shall be a painful torment.
43But whoever forbears
and forgives, displays in this
an ideal resolve.°
SECTION 5
44And whoever God allows to stray
shall no longer have a protector.
And you shall see the wrongdoers say,
when they see the punishment,
“Is there any way [for us] to return?”
45You will see them exposed
to [the punishment], humbled,
humiliated, glancing, with furtive eyes,
and the believers will say,
“The losers are those who have
lost themselves and their kin
on the day of resurrection.
The wrongdoers will abide
in enduring torment.”
46And they have no protectors
to help them beyond God;
and whoever God allows to stray
shall find no way forward.
47Answer your Lord before
the coming of a day, from God,
which cannot be turned away.
On that day there will be no asylum
for you, no denial.
48If still they turn away, [remember,]
We have not sent you, Prophet,
to be their guardian. Your task
is only to convey [the message].
When We grant humankind
a taste of Our mercy, they rejoice in it;
but when some harm befalls them
—by their own hands—
then humankind becomes ungrateful.
49To God belongs dominion
of the heavens and the earth.
He creates what He will;
He grants to whom He will
female or male offspring;
50or grants both males and females,
and makes barren whom He will—
He is All Knowing, All Powerful.
51It is beyond any mortal
that God would speak to him
except by revelation
or from behind a veil
or by sending a messenger
to reveal, by His leave,
what He will.
He is the Most High, All Wise.
52Hereby, We have revealed
Our command to you, Prophet,
through a spirit. You were unversed
in the Book, and in faith;
but We made it a Light,
by which We might guide
whom We will of Our servants—
you truly guide to a straight path,
53the path of God,
to Whom belongs
all that is in the heavens
and all that is on the earth.
All affairs are destined
ultimately to God.
SURA 43
Gold Adornments (Al-Zukhruf)
A Meccan sura of 89 verses. Its short, pithy verses extol the virtues of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus while also condemning those who rejected them and persisted in idolatry or disbelief. The final command to Muhammad is to “turn away from them, and say ‘Peace,’ for soon they shall come to know” (v. 89).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1Ha Mim.°
2By the clarifying Book,
3which We have made
an Arabic Quran
to make you understand.
4It is in an archetypal Book,°
kept by Us, Exalted, Most Wise.
5Should We take this message
away from you, disregarding you,
since you are a people who transgress?
6How many messengers
did We send to earlier peoples,
7yet no prophet came to them
whom they did not mock.
8And We destroyed people
mightier than these—examples
of earlier peoples have passed.
9If you asked them, “Who created
the heavens and the earth?”
they would surely say,
“They were created by
the Almighty, the All Knowing,”
10Who made the earth a place
of repose for you, and traced roads
throughout it to guide you.
11And it is He Who sends down
rain from the sky, in due measure,
and We revive thereby a dead
