Hizb 39

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

So We delivered him and his family, except his wife. We ordained her to be among those who remained behind.

Then We poured down upon them a rain [of stones]. Evil was that rain for those who had been warned!

Say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, and Peace be to the servants whom He has chosen.’ Is Allah better, or the partners they ascribe [to Him]?

Is He who created the heavens and the earth, and sends down for you water from the sky, whereby We grow delightful gardens, whose trees you could never cause to grow...? What! Is there a god besides Allah? Indeed, they are a lot who equate [others with Allah].

Is He who made the earth an abode [for you], and made rivers [flowing] through it, and set firm mountains for it [’s stability], and set a barrier between the two seas...? What! Is there a god besides Allah? Indeed, most of them do not know.

Is He who answers the call of the distressed [person] when he invokes Him and removes his distress, and makes you successors on the earth...? What! Is there a god besides Allah? Little is the admonition that you take.

Is He who guides you in the darkness of land and sea and who sends the winds as harbingers of His mercy...? What! Is there a god besides Allah? Exalted is Allah above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him].

Is He who originates the creation, then He will bring it back, and who provides for you from the sky and the earth...? What! Is there a god besides Allah? Say, ‘Produce your evidence, if you are truthful.’

Say, ‘No one in the heavens or the earth knows the Unseen except Allah, and they are not aware when they will be resurrected.’

Do they comprehend the knowledge of the Hereafter? No, they are in doubt about it. Indeed, they are blind to it.

The faithless say, ‘What! When we and our fathers have become dust shall we be raised [from the dead]?

We and our fathers were promised this before. [But] these are just myths of the ancients.’

Say, ‘Travel over the land and observe how was the fate of the guilty.’

Do not grieve for them, and do not be upset by their guile.

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

Say, ‘Perhaps there is right behind you some of what you seek to hasten.’

Indeed your Lord is gracious to mankind, but most of them do not give thanks.

Your Lord knows whatever their breasts conceal, and whatever they disclose.

There is no invisible thing in the heaven and the earth but it is in a manifest Book.

This Quran recounts for the Children of Israel most of what they differ about,

and it is indeed a guidance and mercy for the faithful.

Your Lord will decide between them by His judgement, and He is the All-mighty, the All-knowing.

So put your trust in Allah, for you indeed stand on the manifest truth.

You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf listen to your call when they turn their backs,

nor can you lead the blind out of their error. You can make only those hear you who believe in Our signs and have submitted.

When the word [of judgement] falls upon them, We shall bring out for them an Animal from the earth who shall tell them that the people had no faith in Our signs.

On that day We shall resurrect from every nation a group of those who denied Our signs, and they will be held in check.

When they come, He will say, ‘Did you deny My signs without comprehending them in knowledge? What was it that you used to do?’

And the word [of judgement] shall fall upon them for their wrongdoing, and they will not speak.

Do they not see that We made the night that they may rest in it, and the day to provide visibility. There are indeed signs in that for a people who have faith.

The day when the trumpet is blown, whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will be terrified, except such as Allah wishes, and all will come to Him in utter humility.

You see the mountains, which you suppose, to be stationary, while they drift like passing clouds—the handiwork of Allah who has made everything faultless. He is indeed well aware of what you do.

Whoever brings virtue shall receive [a reward] better than it; and on that day they will be secure from terror.

But whoever brings vice—they shall be cast on their faces into the Fire [and told:] ‘Shall you not be requited for what you used to do?’

[Say], ‘I have been commanded to worship the Lord of this city who has made it inviolable and to whom all things belong, and I have been commanded to be among those who submit [to Allah],

and to recite the Quran.’ Whoever is guided is guided only for his own good, and as for him who goes astray, say, ‘I am just one of the warners.’

And say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah. Soon He will show you His signs, and you will recognize them.’ Your Lord is not oblivious of what you do.

Ta, Seen, Meem.

These are the signs of the Manifest Book.

We relate to you truly some of the account of Moses and Pharaoh for a people who have faith.

Indeed Pharaoh tyrannized over the land, reducing its people to factions, abasing one group of them, slaughtering their sons, and sparing their women. Indeed, He was one of the agents of corruption.

And We desired to show favour to those who were abased in the land, and to make them imams, and to make them the heirs,

and to establish them in the land, and to show Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts from them that of which they were apprehensive.

We revealed to Moses’ mother, [saying], ‘Nurse him; then, when you fear for him, cast him into the river, and do not fear or grieve, for We will restore him to you and make him one of the apostles.’

Then Pharaoh’s kinsmen picked him up that he might be an enemy and a cause of grief to them. Indeed Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts were iniquitous.

Pharaoh’s wife said [to him], ‘[This infant will be] a [source of] comfort to me and to you. Do not kill him. Maybe he will benefit us, or we will adopt him as a son.’ But they were not aware.

The heart of Moses’ mother became desolate, and indeed she was about to divulge it had We not fortified her heart so that she might have faith [in Allah’s promise].

She said to his sister, ‘Follow him.’ So she watched him from a distance, while they were not aware.

Since before We had forbidden him to be suckled by any nurse. So she said, ‘Shall I show you a household that will take care of him for you and they will be his well-wishers?’

That is how We restored him to his mother so that she might be comforted and not grieve, and that she might know that Allah’s promise is true, but most of them do not know.

When he came of age and became fully matured, We gave him judgement and knowledge, and thus do We reward the virtuous.

[One day] he entered the city at a time when its people were not likely to take notice. He found there two men fighting, this one from among his followers, and that one from his enemies. The one who was from his followers sought his help against him who was from his enemies. So Moses hit him with his fist, whereupon he expired. He said, ‘This is of Satan’s doing. Indeed he is clearly a misguiding enemy.’

He said, ‘My Lord! I have wronged myself. Forgive me!’ So He forgave him. Indeed, He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful.

He said, ‘My Lord! As You have blessed me, I will never be a supporter of the guilty.’

He rose at dawn in the city, fearful and vigilant, when behold, the one who had sought his help the day before, shouted for his help [once again]. Moses said to him, ‘You are indeed clearly perverse!’

But when he wanted to strike him who was an enemy of both of them, he said, ‘Moses, do you want to kill me, just like the one you killed yesterday? You only want to be a tyrant in the land, and you do not desire to be one who brings about reform.’

There came a man from the city outskirts, hurrying. He said, ‘Moses! The elite are indeed conspiring to kill you. So leave. I am indeed your well-wisher.’

So he left the city, fearful and vigilant. He said, ‘My Lord! Deliver me from the wrongdoing lot.’

And when he turned his face toward Midian, he said, ‘Maybe my Lord will show me the right way.’

When he arrived at the well of Midian, he found there a throng of people watering [their flocks], and he found, besides them, two women holding back [their flock]. He said, ‘What is your business?’ They said, ‘We do not water [our flock] until the shepherds have driven out [their flocks], and our father is an aged man.’

So he watered [their flock] for them. Then he withdrew toward the shade and said, ‘My Lord! I am indeed in need of any good You may send down to me!’

Then one of the two women approached him, walking bashfully. She said, ‘Indeed my father invites you to pay you the wages for watering [our flock] for us.’ So when he came to him and recounted the story to him, he said, ‘Do not be afraid. You have been delivered from the wrongdoing lot.’

One of the two women said, ‘Father, hire him. Indeed the best you can hire is a powerful and trustworthy man.’

He said, ‘Indeed I desire to marry you to one of these two daughters of mine, on condition that you hire yourself to me for eight years. And if you complete ten, that will be up to you, and I do not want to be hard on you. God willing, you will find me to a righteous person.’

He said, ‘This will be [by consent] between you and me. Whichever of the two terms I complete, there shall be no imposition upon me, and Allah is witness over what we say.’

So when Moses completed the term and set out with his family, he descried a fire on the side of the mountain. He said to his family, ‘Wait! Indeed, I descry a fire! Maybe I will bring you some news from it, or a brand of fire so that you may warm yourselves.’

When he approached it, he was called from the right bank of the valley in that blessed site from the tree: ‘Moses! Indeed I am Allah, the Lord of all the worlds!’

And: ‘Throw down your staff!’ And when he saw it wriggling as if it were a snake, he turned his back [to flee], without looking back. ‘Moses! Come forward, and do not be afraid. Indeed you are safe.’

‘Insert your hand into your shirt. It will emerge white, without any fault, and keep your arms drawn in awe to your sides. These shall be two proofs from your Lord to Pharaoh and his elite. They are indeed a transgressing lot.’

He said, ‘My Lord! Indeed, I have killed one of their men, so I fear they will kill me.

Aaron, my brother—he is more eloquent than me in speech. So send him with me as a helper to confirm me, for I fear that they will impugn me.’

He said, ‘We will strengthen your arm by means of your brother, and invest both of you with such authority that they will not touch you. With the help of Our signs, you two, and those who follow the two of you, shall be the victors.’

When Moses brought them Our manifest signs, they said, ‘This is nothing but concocted magic. We never heard of such a thing among our forefathers.’

Moses said, ‘My Lord knows best who brings guidance from Him, and in whose favour the outcome of that abode will be. The wrongdoers will not be felicitous.’

Pharaoh said, ‘O [members of the] elite! I do not know of any god that you may have besides me. Haman, light for me a fire over clay, and build me a tower so that I may take a look at Moses’ god, and indeed I consider him to be a liar!’

He and his hosts unduly acted arrogantly in the land, and thought they would not be brought back to Us.

So We seized him and his hosts, and threw them into the sea. So observe how was the fate of the wrongdoers!

We made them leaders who invite to the Fire, and on the Day of Resurrection they will not receive any help.

We made a curse pursue them in this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be among the disfigured.

Certainly We gave Moses the Book, after We had destroyed the former generations, as [a set of] eye-openers, guidance and mercy for mankind, so that they may take admonition.

You were not on the western side when We revealed the commandments to Moses, nor were you among the witnesses.

But We brought forth other generations and time took its toll on them. You did not dwell among the people of Midian reciting to them Our signs, but it is We who are the senders [of the apostles].

And you were not on the side of the Mount when We called out [to Moses], but [We have sent you as] a mercy from your Lord that you may warn a people to whom there did not come any warner before you, so that they may take admonition.

And lest—if an affliction were to befall them because of what their hands have sent ahead —they should say, ‘Our Lord! Why did You not send us an apostle so that we might have followed Your signs and been among the faithful?’

But when there came to them the truth from Us, they said, ‘Why has he not been given the like of what Moses was given?’ Did they not disbelieve what Moses was given before, and said, ‘Two magicians abetting each other,’ and said, ‘Indeed we disbelieve both of them’?

Say, ‘If you are truthful, bring some Book from Allah better in guidance than the two on them so that I may follow it.’

Then if they do not respond to you[r] [summons], know that they only follow their desires, and who is more astray than him who follows his desires without any guidance from Allah? Indeed Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.