Hizb 22

Those who are virtuous shall receive the best reward and an enhancement. Neither dust nor abasement shall overcast their faces. They shall be the inhabitants of paradise, and they shall remain in it [forever].

For those who have committed misdeeds, the requital of a misdeed shall be its like, and they shall be overcast by abasement. They shall have no one to protect [them] from Allah. [They will be] as if their faces were covered with dark patches of the night. They shall be the inmates of the Fire, and they shall remain in it [forever].

On the day when We gather them all together, We shall say to those who ascribe partners [to Allah], ‘Stay where you are—you and your partners!’ Then We shall set them apart from one another, and their partners will say, ‘It was not us that you worshipped.

Allah suffices as a witness between you and us. We were indeed unaware of your worship.’

There every soul will examine what it has sent in advance, and they will be returned to Allah, their real master, and what they used to fabricate will forsake them.

Say, ‘Who provides for you out of the sky and the earth? Who controls [your] hearing and sight, and who brings forth the living from the dead and brings forth the dead from the living, and who directs the command?’ They will say, ‘Allah.’ Say, ‘Will you not then be wary [of Him]?’

That, then, is Allah, your true Lord. So what is there after the truth except error? Then where are you being led away?

Thus the word of your Lord became due against those who transgress, that they shall not have faith.

Say, ‘Is there anyone among your partners who originates the creation and then brings it back?’ Say, ‘Allah originates the creation, then He will bring it back.’ Then where do you stray?

Say, ‘Is there anyone among your partners who may guide to the truth?’ Say, ‘Allah guides to the truth. Is He who guides to the truth worthier to be followed, or he who is not guided unless shown the way? What is the matter with you? How do you judge?’

Most of them just follow conjecture; indeed conjecture is no substitute for the truth. Indeed Allah knows best what they do.

This Quran could not have been fabricated by anyone besides Allah; rather, it is a confirmation of what was [revealed] before it, and an elaboration of the Book, there is no doubt in it, from the Lord of all the worlds.

Do they say, ‘He has fabricated it?’ Say, ‘Then bring a surah like it, and invoke whomever you can, besides Allah, should you be truthful.’

Indeed, they deny something whose knowledge they do not comprehend, and whose explanation has not yet come to them. Those who were before them denied likewise. So observe how was the fate of the wrongdoers!

Some of them believe in it, and some of them do not believe in it, and your Lord best knows the agents of corruption.

If they deny you, say, ‘My deeds belong to me and your deeds belong to you: you are absolved of what I do and I am absolved of what you do.’

There are some of them who prick up their ears at you. But can you make the deaf hear even if they do not exercise their reason?

There are some of them who observe you. But can you guide the blind even if they do not perceive?

Indeed Allah does not wrong people in the least; rather, it is people who wrong themselves.

On the day He will gather them [it will be] as if they had not remained [in the world] except for an hour of the day getting acquainted with one another. They are certainly losers who deny the encounter with Allah, and they are not guided.

Whether We show you a part of what We promise them, or take you away [before that], [in any case] their return will be to Us and Allah will be witness to what they do.

There is an apostle for every nation; so when their apostle comes, judgement is made between them with justice, and they are not wronged.

They say, ‘When will this promise be fulfilled, should you be truthful?’

Say, ‘I have no control over any benefit for myself nor [over] any harm except what Allah may wish. There is a time for every nation: when their time comes, they shall not defer it by a single hour nor shall they advance it.’

Say, ‘Tell me, should His punishment overtake you by night or day, [you will not be able to avert it]; so what part of it do the guilty seek to hasten?’

‘What! Do you believe it when it has befallen? Now? While you would seek to hasten it [earlier]?!’

Then it will be said to those who were wrongdoers, ‘Taste the everlasting punishment. Shall you not be requited for what you used to earn?’

They inquire of you, ‘Is it true?’ Say, ‘Yes! By my Lord, it is true, and you cannot frustrate [Him].’

Were any soul that has done wrong to possess whatever there is on the earth, it would surely offer it for ransom. They will hide their remorse when they sight the punishment; and judgement will be made between them with justice and they will not be wronged.

Look! To Allah indeed belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. Look! Allah’s promise is indeed true; but most of them do not know.

It is He who gives life and brings death, and to Him you shall be brought back.

O mankind! There has certainly come to you an advice from your Lord, and a cure for what is in the breasts, and a guidance and mercy for the faithful.

Say, ‘In Allah’s grace and His mercy—let them rejoice in that! It is better than what they amass.’

Say, ‘Have you regarded what Allah has sent down for you of [His] provision, whereupon you have made some of it unlawful and [some] lawful?’ Say, ‘Did Allah give you the sanction [to do so], or do you fabricate a lie against Allah?’

What is the idea of those who fabricate lies against Allah [concerning their situation] on the Day of Resurrection? Indeed Allah is gracious to mankind, but most of them do not give thanks.

You do not engage in any work, neither do you recite any part of the Quran, nor do you perform any deed without Our being witness over you when you are engaged therein. Not an atom’s weight escapes your Lord in the earth or in the sky, nor [is there] anything smaller than that nor bigger, but it is in a manifest Book.

Look! The friends of Allah will indeed have no fear nor will they grieve

—those who have faith and are Godwary.

For them is good news in the life of this world and in the Hereafter. (There is no altering the words of Allah.) That is the great success.

Do not grieve at their remarks; indeed all might belongs to Allah; He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing.

Look! To Allah indeed belongs whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth. What do they pursue who invoke partners besides Allah? They merely follow conjectures and they just make surmises.

It is He who made the night for you, that you may rest in it, and the day to provide visibility. There are indeed signs in that for people who listen.

They say, ‘Allah has taken a son!’ Immaculate is He! He is the All-sufficient. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. You have no authority for this [statement]. Do you attribute to Allah what you do not know?

Say, ‘Indeed those who fabricate lies against Allah will not be felicitous.’

An enjoyment in this world; then to Us shall be their return, then We shall make them taste the severe punishment because of what they used to defy.

Relate to them the account of Noah when he said to his people, ‘O my people! If my stay [among you] be hard on you and [also] my reminding you of Allah’s signs, [for my part] I have put my trust in Allah. So conspire together, along with your partners, leaving nothing vague in your plan, then carry it out against me without giving me any respite.

If you turn your back [on me], I do not ask any reward from you; my reward lies only with Allah and I have been commanded to be of those who submit [to Allah].’

But they impugned him. So We delivered him and those who were with him in the ark and We made them the successors, and We drowned those who denied Our signs. So observe how was the fate of those who were warned!

Then after him We sent [other] apostles to their people. They brought them manifest proofs, but they would not believe something they had denied before. Thus do We seal the hearts of the transgressors.

Then, after them, We sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and his elite with Our signs, but they acted arrogantly and they were a guilty lot.

When the truth from Us came to them, they said, ‘This is indeed plain magic!’

Moses said, ‘Do you say of the truth when it comes to you [that it is magic]? Is this magic? Magicians do not find salvation.’

They said, ‘Have you come to us to turn us away from what we found our fathers following, so that supremacy may be yours in the land? We will not believe in the two of you.’

Pharaoh said, ‘Bring me every expert magician.’

So when the magicians came, Moses said to them, ‘Throw down what you have to throw.’

So when they threw down [their sticks and ropes], Moses said, ‘What you have produced is magic. Indeed Allah will bring it to naught presently. Indeed Allah does not foster the efforts of those who cause corruption.

Allah will confirm the truth with His words, though the guilty should be averse.’

But none believed in Moses except some youths from among his people, for the fear of Pharaoh and his elite that he would persecute them. For Pharaoh was indeed a tyrant in the land, and indeed he was an unrestrained [despot].

And Moses said, ‘O my people! If you have faith in Allah, put your trust in Him, if you have submitted [to Him].’

Whereat they said, ‘In Allah we have put our trust.’ ‘Our Lord! Do not make us a [means of] test for the wrongdoing lot,

and deliver us by Your mercy from the faithless lot.’

We revealed to Moses and his brother [saying], ‘Settle your people in the city, and let your houses face each other, and maintain the prayer, and give good news to the faithful.’

Moses said, ‘Our Lord! You have given Pharaoh and his elite glamour and wealth in the life of this world, our Lord, that they may lead [people] astray from Your way! Our Lord! Blot out their wealth and harden their hearts so that they do not believe until they sight the painful punishment.’

Said He, ‘Your supplication has already been granted. So be steadfast, and do not follow the way of those who do not know.’

We carried the Children of Israel across the sea, whereat Pharaoh and his troops pursued them, out of defiance and aggression. When overtaken by drowning, he called out, ‘I believe that there is no god except Him in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am one of those who submit [to Him]!’

[He was told,] ‘What! Now? When you have been disobedient heretofore and were among the agents of corruption?!

So today We shall deliver your body so that you may be a sign for those who come after you.’ Indeed many of the people are oblivious to Our signs.

Certainly We settled the Children of Israel in a worthy settlement and We provided them with all the good things, and they did not differ until [after] the knowledge had come to them. Your Lord will indeed judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that about which they used to differ.

So if you are in doubt about what We have sent down to you, ask those who read the Book [revealed] before you. The truth has certainly come to you from your Lord; so do not be among the skeptics.

And do not be of those who deny the signs of Allah, [for] then you shall be among the losers.

Indeed those against whom your Lord’s judgement has become due will not have faith,

even though every sign were to come to them, until they sight the painful punishment.

Why has there not been any town that might believe, so that its belief might benefit it, except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in the life of this world, and We provided for them for a while.

Had your Lord wished, all those who are on earth would have believed. Would you then force people until they become faithful?

No soul may have faith except by Allah’s leave, and He lays defilement on those who do not exercise their reason.

Say, ‘Observe what is in the heavens and the earth.’ But neither signs nor warnings avail a people who have no faith.

Do they await anything except the like of the days of those who passed away before them? Say, ‘Then wait! I too am waiting along with you.’

Then We shall deliver Our apostles and those who have faith. Thus, it is a must for Us to deliver the faithful.

Say, ‘O people! if you are in doubt about my religion, then [know that] I do not worship those whom you worship besides Allah. Rather, I worship only Allah, who causes you to die, and I have been commanded to be among the faithful,

and that: ‘‘Dedicate yourself to the religion, as a Hanif, and never be one of the polytheists.

Nor invoke besides Allah that which neither benefits you nor can do you any harm. For if you do so, then you will indeed be among the wrongdoers.’’ ’

Should Allah visit you with some distress, there is no one to remove it except Him; and should He desire any good for you, none can stand in the way of His grace: He grants it to whomever He wishes of His servants, and He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful.

Say, ‘O mankind! The truth has already come to you from your Lord. Whoever is guided, is guided only for [the good of] his own soul, and whoever goes astray, goes astray only to its detriment, and it is not my business to watch over you.’

And follow that which is revealed to you, and be patient until Allah issues [His] judgement, and He is the best of judges.

Alif, Lam Ra. [This is] a Book, whose signs have been made definitive and then elaborated, from One [who is] all-wise, all-aware,

declaring: ‘Worship no one but Allah. I am indeed a warner to you from Him and a bearer of good news.

Plead with your Lord for forgiveness, then turn to Him penitently. He will provide you with a good provision for a specified term and grant His grace to every meritorious person. But if you turn your backs [on Him], indeed I fear for you the punishment of a terrible day.

To Allah will be your return, and He has power over all things.’

Look! They fold up their breasts to hide [their secret feelings] from Him. Look! When they draw their cloaks over their heads, He knows whatever they keep secret and whatever they disclose. Indeed, He knows best whatever is in the breasts.