Hizb 40

Certainly We have carried on this discourse for them so that they may take admonition.

Those to whom We gave the Book before it are the ones who believe in it,

and when it is recited to them, they say, ‘We believe in it. It is indeed the truth from our Lord. Indeed we were Muslims [even] before it [came].’

Those will be given their reward two times for their patience. They repel evil [conduct] with good, and spend out of what We have provided them,

and when they hear vain talk, they avoid it and say, ‘Our deeds belong to us, and your deeds belong to you. Peace be to you. We do not court the ignorant.’

You cannot guide whomever you wish, but [it is] Allah [who] guides whomever He wishes, and He knows best those who are guided.

They say, ‘If we follow the guidance with you, we will be forced out of our territory.’ Did We not establish a secure sanctuary for them where fruits of all kinds are brought as a provision from Us? But most of them do not know.

How many a town We have destroyed that exulted in its lifestyle! There lie their dwellings, uninhabited after them except by a few, and We were the [sole] inheritors.

Your Lord would not destroy the towns until He had raised an apostle in their mother city to recite to them Our signs. We would never destroy the towns except when their people were wrongdoers.

Whatever things you have been given are only the wares of the life of this world and its glitter, and what is with Allah is better and more lasting. Will you not exercise your reason?

Is he to whom We have given a good promise, which he will receive, like him whom We have provided the wares of the life of this world, but who will be arraigned on the Day of Resurrection?

The day He will call out to them and ask, ‘Where are My ‘partners’ that you used to claim?’

Those against whom the word had become due will say, ‘Our Lord! These are the ones whom we have perverted. We perverted them as we were perverse ourselves. We repudiate them before You: it was not us that they worshipped.’

It will be said, ‘Invoke your partners!’ So they will invoke them, but they will not respond to them, and they will sight the punishment, wishing they had followed guidance.

The day He will call out to them and say, ‘What response did you give to the apostles?’

That day all information will be withheld from them, so they will not question one another.

As for him who repents, has faith and acts righteously, maybe he will be among the felicitous.

Your Lord creates whatever He wishes and chooses: they have no choice. Immaculate is Allah and exalted above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him].

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

He is Allah, there is no god except Him. All praise belongs to Him in this world and the Hereafter. All judgement belongs to Him, and to Him you will be brought back.

Say, ‘Tell me, if Allah were to make the night perpetual for you until the Day of Resurrection, what god other than Allah can bring you light? Will you not listen?’

Say, ‘Tell me, if Allah were to make the day perpetual for you until the Day of Resurrection, what god other than Allah can bring you night wherein you can rest? Will you not perceive?’

He has made for you the night and the day out of His mercy, so that you may rest therein and that you may seek His bounty and so that you may give thanks.

The day He will call out to them and say, ‘Where are My ‘partners’ that you used to claim?’

We shall draw from every nation a witness and say, ‘Produce your evidence.’ Then they will know that all reality belongs to Allah and what they used to fabricate will forsake them.

Korah indeed belonged to the people of Moses, but he bullied them. We had given him so much treasures that their chests indeed proved heavy for a band of stalwarts. When his people said to him, ‘Do not boast! Indeed Allah does not like the boasters.

Seek the abode of the Hereafter by means of what Allah has given you, while not forgetting your share of this world. Be good [to others] just as Allah has been good to you, and do not try to cause corruption in the land. Indeed Allah does not like the agents of corruption.’

He said, ‘I have indeed been given [all] this because of the knowledge that I have.’ Did he not know that Allah had already destroyed before him some of the generations who were more powerful than him and greater in amassing [wealth]? The guilty will not be questioned about their sins.

So he emerged before his people in his finery. Those who desired the life of the world said, ‘We wish we had like what Korah has been given! Indeed he is greatly fortunate.’

Those who were given knowledge said [to them], ‘Woe to you! Allah’s reward is better for someone who has faith and acts righteously, and no one will receive it except the patient.’

So We caused the earth to swallow him and his house, and he had no party that might protect him from Allah, nor could he rescue himself.

By dawn those who longed to be in his place the day before were saying, ‘Don’t you see that Allah expands the provision for whomever He wishes of His servants, and tightens it? Had Allah not shown us favour, He might have made the earth swallow us too. Don’t you see that the faithless do not prosper?’

This is the abode of the Hereafter, which We shall grant to those who do not desire to domineer in the earth nor to cause corruption, and the outcome will be in favour of the Godwary.

Whoever brings virtue shall receive [a reward] better than it, but whoever brings vice—those who commit misdeeds shall not be requited except for what they used to do.

Indeed He who has revealed to you the Quran will surely restore you to the place of return. Say, ‘My Lord knows best him who brings guidance and him who is in manifest error.’

You did not expect that the Book would be delivered to you; but it was a mercy from your Lord. So do not be ever an advocate of the faithless.

Do not ever let them bar you from Allah’s signs after they have been sent down to you. Invite to your Lord, and never be one of the polytheists.

And do not invoke another god besides Allah; there is no god except Him. Everything is to perish except His Face. All judgement belongs to Him, and to Him you will be brought back.

Alif, Lam, Meem.

Do the people suppose that they will be let off because they say, ‘We have faith,’ and they will not be tested?

Certainly We tested those who were before them. So Allah shall surely ascertain those who are truthful, and He shall surely ascertain the liars.

Do those who commit misdeeds suppose that they can outmaneuver Us? Evil is the judgement that they make.

Whoever expects to encounter Allah [should know that] Allah’s [appointed] time will indeed come, and He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing.

Whoever strives, strives only for his own sake. Indeed Allah has no need of the creatures.

As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, We will absolve them of their misdeeds and We will surely reward them by the best of what they used to do.

We have enjoined man to be good to his parents. But if they urge you to ascribe to Me as partner that of which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them. To Me will be your return, whereat I will inform you concerning what you used to do.

Those who have faith and do righteous deeds, We will surely admit them among the righteous.

Among the people there are those who say, ‘We have faith in Allah,’ but if such a one is tormented in Allah’s cause, he takes persecution by the people for Allah’s punishment. Yet if there comes any help from your Lord, they will say, ‘We were indeed with you.’ Does not Allah know best what is in the breasts of the creatures?

Allah shall surely ascertain those who have faith, and He shall surely ascertain the hypocrites.

The faithless say to the faithful, ‘Follow our way and we will bear [responsibility for] your iniquities.’ They will not bear anything of their iniquities. They are indeed liars.

But they will carry their own burdens and other burdens along with their own burdens, and they will surely be questioned on the Day of Resurrection concerning that which they used to fabricate.

Certainly We sent Noah to his people, and he remained with them for a thousand-less-fifty years. Then the flood overtook them while they were wrongdoers.

Then We delivered him and those who were in the Ark, and made it a sign for all the nations.

And Abraham, when he said to his people, ‘Worship Allah and be wary of Him. That is better for you, should you know.

What you worship instead of Allah are mere idols, and you invent a lie. Indeed those whom you worship besides Allah have no control over your provision. So seek all [your] provision from Allah, and worship Him and thank Him, and to Him you shall be brought back.’

If you impugn [the Apostle’s teaching], then [other] nations have impugned [likewise] before you, and the Apostle’s duty is only to communicate in clear terms.

Have they not regarded how Allah originates the creation? Then He will bring it back. That is indeed easy for Allah.

Say, ‘Travel over the land and observe how He has originated the creation.’ Then Allah will bring about the genesis of the Hereafter. Indeed Allah has power over all things.

He will punish whomever He wishes and have mercy on whomever He wishes, and to Him you will be returned.

You cannot frustrate Him on the earth or in the sky, nor do you have besides Allah any guardian or helper.

Those who deny the signs of Allah and the encounter with Him—they have despaired of My mercy, and for such there is a painful punishment.

But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Kill him, or burn him.’ Then Allah delivered him from the fire. There are indeed signs in that for a people who have faith.

He said, ‘You have taken idols [for worship] besides Allah for the sake of [mutual] affection amongst yourselves in the life of the world. Then on the Day of Resurrection you will disown one another and curse one another, and the Fire will be your abode, and you will not have any helpers.’

Thereupon Lot believed in him, and he said, ‘Indeed I am migrating toward my Lord. Indeed He is the All-mighty, the All-wise.’

And We gave him Isaac and Jacob, and We ordained among his descendants prophethood and the Book, and We gave him his reward in this world, and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the Righteous.

And Lot, when he said to his people, ‘You indeed commit an indecency none in the world has ever committed before you!

What! Do you come to men, and cut off the way, and commit outrages in your gatherings?’ But the only answer of his people was that they said, ‘Bring down us Allah’s punishment, if you are truthful.’

He said, ‘My Lord! Help me against this corruptive lot.’

And when Our messengers came to Abraham with the good news, they said, ‘We are indeed going to destroy the people of this town. Its people are indeed wrongdoers.’

He said, ‘Lot is in it.’ They said, ‘We know better those who are in it. We will surely deliver him and his family, except his wife: she shall be one of those who remain behind.’

And when Our messengers came to Lot, he was distressed on their account and in a predicament for their sake. But they said, ‘Do not be afraid, nor grieve! We shall deliver you and your family, except your wife: she will be one of those who remain behind.

We are indeed going to bring down upon the people of this town a punishment from the sky because of the transgressions they used to commit.’

Certainly We have left of it a manifest sign for people who exercise their reason.

And to Midian We sent Shu‘ayb, their brother. He said, ‘O my people! Worship Allah, and expect [to encounter] the Last Day, and do not act wickedly on the earth causing corruption.’

But they impugned him, whereupon the earthquake seized them, and they lay lifeless prostrate in their homes.

And ‘Ad and Thamud, [whose fate] is evident to you from their habitations. Satan made their deeds seem decorous to them, thus he barred them from the way [of Allah], though they used to be perceptive.

And Korah, Pharaoh, and Haman. Certainly, Moses brought them manifest proofs, but they acted arrogantly in the land; though they could not outmaneuver [Allah].

So We seized each [of them] for his sin: among them were those upon whom We unleashed a rain of stones, and among them were those who were seized by the Cry, and among them were those whom We caused the earth to swallow, and among them were those whom We drowned. It was not Allah who wronged them, but it was they who used to wrong themselves.

The parable of those who take guardians instead of Allah is that of the spider that takes a home, and indeed the frailest of homes is the home of a spider, had they known!

Allah indeed knows whatever thing they invoke besides Him, and He is the All-mighty, the All-wise.

We draw these parables for mankind; but no one grasps them except those who have knowledge.

Allah created the heavens and the earth with consummate wisdom. There is indeed a sign in that for the faithful.

Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book, and maintain the prayer. Indeed the prayer restrains from indecent and wrongful conduct, and the remembrance of Allah is surely greater. And Allah knows whatever [deeds] you do.