Hizb 16

Alif, Lam, Mim, Suad.

[This is] a Book that has been sent down to you—so let there be no disquiet in your heart on its account that you may warn thereby—and as an admonition for the faithful.

Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord, and do not follow any masters besides Him. Little is the admonition that you take!

How many a town We have destroyed! Our punishment came to it at night, or while they were taking a midday nap.

Then their cry, when Our punishment overtook them, was only that they said, ‘We have indeed been wrongdoers!’

We will surely question those to whom the apostles were sent, and We will surely question the apostles.

Then We will surely recount to them with knowledge, for We had not been absent.

The weighing [of deeds] on that Day is a truth. As for those whose deeds weigh heavy in the scales—it is they who are the felicitous.

As for those whose deeds weigh light in the scales—it is they who have ruined their souls, because they used to wrong Our signs.

Certainly We have established you on the earth, and made in it [various] means of livelihood for you. Little do you thank.

Certainly We created you, then We formed you, then We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam.’ So they [all] prostrated, but not Iblis: he was not among those who prostrated.

Said He, ‘What prevented you from prostrating, when I commanded you? ’‘I am better than him,’ he said. ‘You created me from fire and You created him from clay.’

‘Get down from it!’ He said. ‘It is not for you to be arrogant therein. Begone! You are indeed among the degraded ones.’

He said, ‘Respite me till the day they will be resurrected.’

Said He, ‘You are indeed among the reprieved.’

‘As You have consigned me to perversity,’ he said, ‘I will surely lie in wait for them on Your straight path.

Then I will come at them from their front and from their rear, and from their right and their left, and You will not find most of them to be grateful.’

Said He, ‘Begone hence, blameful and banished! Whoever of them follows you, I will surely fill hell with you all.’

[Then He said to Adam,] ‘O Adam, dwell with your mate in paradise, and eat thereof whence you wish; but do not approach this tree, lest you should be among the wrongdoers.’

Then Satan tempted them, to expose to them what was hidden from them of their nakedness, and he said, ‘Your Lord has only forbidden you from this tree lest you should become angels, or lest you become immortal.’

And he swore to them, ‘I am indeed your well-wisher.’

Thus he brought about their fall by deception. So when they tasted of the tree, their nakedness became exposed to them, and they began to stitch over themselves with the leaves of paradise. Their Lord called out to them, ‘Did I not forbid you from that tree, and tell you, ‘‘Satan is indeed your manifest enemy?’’ ’

They said, ‘Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves! If You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers.’

He said, ‘Get down, being enemies of one another! On the earth shall be your abode and sustenance for a time.’

He said, ‘In it you will live, and in it you will die; and from it you will be raised [from the dead].’

‘O Children of Adam! We have certainly sent down to you garments to cover your nakedness, and for adornment. Yet the garment of Godwariness—that is the best.’ That is [one] of Allah’s signs, so that they may take admonition.

‘O Children of Adam! Do not let Satan tempt you, like he expelled your parents from paradise, stripping them of their garments to expose to them their nakedness. Indeed he sees you—he and his hosts—whence you do not see them. We have indeed made the devils friends of those who have no faith.’

When they commit an indecency, they say, ‘We found our fathers practising it, and Allah has enjoined it upon us.’ Say, ‘Indeed Allah does not enjoin indecencies. Do you attribute to Allah what you do not know?’

Say, ‘My Lord has enjoined justice,’ and [He has enjoined,] ‘Set your heart [on Him] at every occasion of prayer, and invoke Him, putting your exclusive faith in Him. Even as He brought you forth in the beginning, so will you return.’

A part [of mankind] He has guided and a part has deserved [to be consigned to] error, for they took devils for guardians instead of Allah, and supposed they were guided.

O Children of Adam! Put on your adornment on every occasion of prayer, and eat and drink, but do not waste; indeed, He does not like the wasteful.

Say, ‘Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has brought forth for His servants, and the good things of [His] provision?’ Say, ‘These are for the faithful in the life of this world, and exclusively for them on the Day of Resurrection.’ Thus do We elaborate the signs for a people who have knowledge.

Say, ‘My Lord has only forbidden indecencies, the outward among them and the inward ones, and sin and undue aggression, and that you should ascribe to Allah partners for which He has not sent down any authority, and that you should attribute to Allah what you do not know.’

There is a [preordained] time for every nation: when their time comes, they shall not defer it by a single hour nor shall they advance it.

O Children of Adam! If there come to you apostles from among yourselves, recounting to you My signs, then those who are Godwary and righteous will have no fear, nor will they grieve.

But those who deny Our signs and are disdainful of them, they shall be the inmates of the Fire and they shall remain in it [forever].

So who is a greater wrongdoer than him who fabricates a lie against Allah, or denies His signs? Their share, as decreed in the Book, shall reach them. When Our messengers come to take them away, they will say, ‘Where is that which you used to invoke besides Allah?’ They will say, ‘They have forsaken us,’ and they will testify against themselves that they were faithless.

He will say, ‘Enter the Fire, along with the nations of jinn and humans who passed before you!’ Every time that a nation enters [hell], it will curse its sister [nation]. When they all rejoin in it, the last of them will say about the first of them, ‘Our Lord, it was they who led us astray; so give them a double punishment of the Fire.’ He will say, ‘It is double for each [of you], but you do not know.’

And the first of them will say to the last of them, ‘You have no merit over us! So taste the punishment because of what you used to earn.’

Indeed, those who deny Our signs and are disdainful of them—the gates of the heaven will not be opened for them, nor shall they enter paradise until the camel passes through the needle’s eye, and thus do We requite the guilty.

They shall have hell for their resting place, and over them shall be sheets [of fire], and thus do We requite the wrongdoers.

As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds—We task no soul except according to its capacity—they shall be the inhabitants of paradise, and they shall remain in it [forever].

We will remove whatever rancour there is in their breasts, and streams will run for them. They will say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who guided us to this. We would have never been guided had not Allah guided us. Our Lord’s apostles had certainly brought the truth.’ And the call would be made to them: ‘This is paradise, which you have been given to inherit because of what you used to do!’

The inhabitants of paradise will call out to the inmates of the Fire, ‘We found what our Lord promised us to be true; did you find what your Lord promised you to be true?’ ‘Yes,’ they will say. Then a caller will announce in their midst, ‘May Allah’s curse be on the wrongdoers!’

—Those who bar [others] from the way of Allah, and seek to make it crooked, and disbelieve in the Hereafter.

There will be a veil between them. And on the Elevations will be certain men who recognize each of them by their mark. They will call out to the inhabitants of paradise, ‘Peace be to you!’ (They will not have entered it, though they would be eager to do so.

And when their look is turned toward the inmates of the Fire, they will say, ‘Our Lord, do not put us among the wrongdoing lot!’)

The occupants of the Elevations will call out to certain men whom they recognize by their marks, ‘Your rallying did not avail you, nor what you used to disdain.

Are these the ones concerning whom you swore that Allah will not extend them any mercy?’ ‘Enter paradise! You shall have no fear, nor shall you grieve.’

The inmates of the Fire will call out to the inhabitants of paradise, ‘Pour on us some water, or something of what Allah has provided you.’ They will say, ‘Allah has indeed forbidden these two to the faithless!’

Those who took their religion for diversion and play and whom the life of the world had deceived. So today, We will forget them as they forgot the encounter of this day of theirs, and as they used to impugn Our signs.

Certainly We have brought them a Book, which We have elaborated with knowledge, as a guidance and mercy for a people who have faith.

Do they not consider [the consequences of] its fulfillment? The day when its fulfillment comes, those who had forgotten it before will say, ‘Our Lord’s apostles had certainly brought the truth. If only we had some intercessors to intercede for us, or we would be returned, so that we may do differently from what we did!’ They have certainly ruined their souls, and what they used to fabricate has forsaken them.

Indeed your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and then settled on the Throne. He draws the night’s cover over the day, which pursues it swiftly, and [He created] the sun, the moon, and the stars, [all of them] disposed by His command. Look! All creation and command belong to Him. Blessed is Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.

Supplicate your Lord, beseechingly and secretly. Indeed, He does not like the transgressors.

And do not cause corruption on the earth after its restoration, and supplicate Him with fear and hope: indeed Allah’s mercy is close to the virtuous.

It is He who sends forth the winds as harbingers of His mercy. When they bear [rain-] laden clouds, We drive them toward a dead land and send down water on it, and with it We bring forth all kinds of crops. Thus shall We raise the dead; maybe you will take admonition.

The good land—its vegetation comes out by the permission of its Lord, and as for that which is bad, it does not come out except sparsely. Thus do We paraphrase the signs variously for a people who give thanks.

Certainly We sent Noah to his people. He said, ‘O my people, worship Allah! You have no other god besides Him. Indeed I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day.’

The elite of his people said, ‘Indeed we see you in manifest error.’

He said, ‘O my people, I am not in error. Rather, I am an apostle from the Lord of all the worlds.

I communicate to you the messages of my Lord, and I am your well-wisher, and I know from Allah what you do not know.

Do you consider it odd that a reminder from your Lord should come to you through a man from among yourselves, to warn you so that you may be Godwary and so that you may receive His mercy?’

But they denied him. So We delivered him and those who were with him in the ark, and We drowned those who denied Our signs. Indeed, they were a blind lot.

And to [the people of] ‘Ad [We sent] Hud, their brother. He said, ‘O my people, worship Allah! You have no other god besides Him. Will you not then be wary [of Him]?’

The elite of his people who were faithless said, ‘Indeed we see you to be in folly, and indeed we consider you to be a liar.’

He said, ‘O my people, I am not in folly. Rather, I am an apostle from the Lord of all the worlds.

I communicate to you the messages of my Lord and I am a trustworthy well-wisher for you.

Do you consider it odd that there should come to you a reminder from your Lord through a man from among yourselves, so that he may warn you? Remember when He made you successors after the people of Noah, and increased you vastly in creation. So remember Allah’s bounties so that you may be felicitous.’

They said, ‘Have you come to [tell] us that we should worship Allah alone and abandon what our fathers have been worshiping? Then bring us what you threaten us with, should you be truthful.’

He said, ‘Punishment and wrath from your Lord has become due against you. Do you dispute with me regarding names, which you have named—you and your fathers—for which Allah has not sent down any authority? So wait! I too am waiting along with you.’

Then We delivered him and those who were with him by a mercy from Us, and We rooted out those who denied Our signs and were not faithful.

And to [the people of] Thamud [We sent] Salih, their brother. He said, ‘O my people, worship Allah! You have no other god besides Him. There has certainly come to you a manifest proof from your Lord. This she-camel of Allah is a sign for you. Let her alone to graze [freely] in Allah’s land, and do not cause her any harm, for then you shall be seized by a painful punishment.

Remember when He made you successors after [the people of] ‘Ad, and settled you in the land: you build palaces in its plains, and hew houses out of the mountains. So remember Allah’s bounties, and do not act wickedly on the earth, causing corruption.’

The elite of his people who were arrogant said to those who were oppressed—to those among them who had faith—‘Do you know that Salih has been sent by his Lord?’ They said, ‘We indeed believe in what he has been sent with.’

Those who were arrogant said, ‘We indeed disbelieve in what you have believed.’

So they hamstrung the She-camel and defied the command of their Lord, and they said, ‘O Salih, bring us what you threaten us with, if you are one of the apostles.’

Thereupon the earthquake seized them, and they lay lifeless prostrate in their homes.

So he abandoned them [to their fate], and said, ‘O my people! Certainly I communicated to you the message of my Lord, and I was your well-wisher, but you did not like well-wishers.’

And Lot, when he said to his people, ‘What! Do you commit an outrage none in the world ever committed before you?!

Indeed you come to men with desire instead of women! Indeed, you are a profligate lot.’

But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Expel them from your town! They are indeed a puritanical lot.’

Thereupon We delivered him and his family, except his wife; she was one of those who remained behind.

Then We poured down upon them a rain [of stones]. So observe how was the fate of the guilty!

And to [the people of] Midian [We sent] Shu‘ayb, their brother. He said, ‘O my people, worship Allah! You have no other god besides Him. There has certainly come to you a manifest proof from your Lord. Observe fully the measure and the balance, and do not cheat the people of their goods, and do not cause corruption on the earth after its restoration. That is better for you, if you are faithful.

And do not lie in wait on every road to threaten and bar those who have faith in Him from the way of Allah, seeking to make it crooked. Remember when you were few, and He multiplied you, and observe how was the fate of the agents of corruption.

If a group of you have believed in what I have been sent with, and a group have not believed, be patient until Allah judges between us, and He is the best of judges.’