Hizb 42

Whoever surrenders his heart to Allah and is virtuous, has certainly held fast to the firmest handle, and with Allah lies the outcome of all matters.

As for those who are faithless, let their faithlessness not grieve you. To Us will be their return, and We will inform them about what they have done. Indeed Allah knows best what is in the breasts.

We will provide for them for a short time, then We will shove them toward a harsh punishment.

If you ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say, ‘Allah.’ Say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah!’ But most of them do not know.

To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. Indeed Allah is the All-sufficient, the All-laudable.

If all the trees on the earth were pens, and the sea replenished with seven more seas [were ink], the words of Allah would not be spent. Indeed Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.

Your creation and your resurrection are not but as of a single soul. Indeed Allah is all-hearing, all-seeing.

Have you not regarded that Allah makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night; and He has disposed the sun and the moon, each moving for a specified term, and that Allah is well aware of what you do?

That is because Allah is the Reality, and whatever they invoke besides Him is nullity, and because Allah is the All-exalted, the All-great.

Have you not regarded that the ships sail at sea with Allah’s blessing, that He may show you some of His signs? There are indeed signs in that for every patient and grateful [servant].

When waves cover them like awnings; they invoke Allah, putting exclusive faith in Him. But when He delivers them towards land, [only] some of them remain unswerving. No one will impugn Our signs except an ungrateful traitor.

O mankind! Be wary of your Lord and fear the day when a father will not atone for his child, nor the child will atone for its father in any wise. Indeed Allah’s promise is true. So do not let the life of the world deceive you, nor let the Deceiver deceive you concerning Allah.

Indeed the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah. He sends down the rain, and He knows what is in the wombs. No soul knows what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul knows in what land it will die. Indeed Allah is all-knowing, all-aware.

Alif, Lam, Meem.

The [gradual] sending down of the Book, there is no doubt in it, is from the Lord of all the worlds.

But they say, ‘He has fabricated it.’ No, it is the truth from your Lord, that you may warn a people to whom there did not come any warner before you, so that they may be guided [to the right path].

It is Allah who created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in six days, then He settled on the Throne. You do not have besides Him any guardian or intercessor. Will you not then take admonition?

He directs the command from the heaven to the earth; then it ascends toward Him in a day whose span is a thousand years by your reckoning.

That is the Knower of the sensible and the Unseen, the All-mighty, the All-merciful,

who perfected everything that He created and commenced man’s creation from clay.

Then He made his progeny from an extract of a base fluid.

Then He proportioned him and breathed into him of His Spirit, and made for you hearing, sight, and hearts. Little do you thank.

They say, ‘When we have been lost in the dust, shall we be indeed created anew?’ Indeed, they disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord.

Say, ‘You will be taken away by the angel of death, who has been charged with you. Then you will be brought back to your Lord.’

Were you to see when the guilty hang their heads before their Lord [confessing], ‘Our Lord! We have seen and heard. Send us back so that we may act righteously. Indeed we are [now] convinced.’

Had We wished We would have given every soul its guidance, but My word became due [against the faithless]: ‘Surely I will fill hell with all the [guilty] jinn and humans.’

So taste [the punishment] for your having forgotten the encounter of this day of yours. We [too] have forgotten you. Taste the everlasting punishment because of what you used to do.

Only those believe in Our signs who, when they are reminded of them, fall down in prostration and celebrate the praise of their Lord, and they are not arrogant.

Their sides vacate their beds to supplicate their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend out of what We have provided them.

No one knows what delights have been kept hidden for them [in the Hereafter] as a reward for what they used to do.

Is someone who is faithful like someone who is a transgressor? They are not equal.

As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, for them will be the gardens of the Abode—a hospitality for what they used to do.

As for those who have transgressed, their refuge will be the Fire. Whenever they seek to leave it, they will be turned back into it and told: ‘Taste the punishment of the Fire which you used to deny.’

We shall surely make them taste the nearer punishment prior to the greater punishment, so that they may come back.

Who is a greater wrongdoer than him who is reminded of his Lord’s signs, whereat he disregards them? Indeed, We shall take vengeance upon the guilty.

Certainly We gave Moses the Book, [declaring], ‘Do not be in doubt about the encounter with Him,’ and We made it a [source of] guidance for the Children of Israel.

When they had been patient and had conviction in Our signs, We appointed amongst them imams to guide [the people] by Our command.

Indeed your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that about which they used to differ.

Does it not dawn upon them how many generations We have destroyed before them, amid [the ruins of] whose dwellings they walk? There are indeed signs in that. Will they not then listen?

Do they not see that We carry water to the parched earth and with it We bring forth crops, from which they eat, themselves and their cattle? Will they not then see?

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

Say, ‘On the day of judgement their [newly found] faith will not avail the faithless, nor will they be granted any respite.’

So turn away from them, and wait. They too are waiting.

O Prophet! Be wary of Allah and do not obey the faithless and the hypocrites. Indeed Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

Follow that which is revealed to you from your Lord. Indeed Allah is well aware of what you do.

And put your trust in Allah; Allah suffices as trustee.

Allah has not put two hearts within any man, nor has He made your wives whom you repudiate by zihar your mothers, nor has he made your adopted sons your [actual] sons. These are mere utterances of your mouths. But Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the [right] way.

Call them after their fathers. That is more just with Allah. If you do not know their fathers, then they are your brethren in the faith and your kinsmen. Excepting what your hearts may intend deliberately, there will be no sin upon you for any mistake that you may make therein. And Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

The Prophet is closer to the faithful than their own souls, and his wives are their mothers. The blood relatives are more entitled to inherit from one another in the Book of Allah than the [other] faithful and Emigrants, barring any favour you may do your comrades. This has been written in the Book.

[Recall] when We took a pledge from the prophets, and from you and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus son of Mary, and We took from them a solemn pledge,

so that He may question the truthful concerning their truthfulness. And He has prepared for the faithless a painful punishment.

O you who have faith! Remember Allah’s blessing upon you when the hosts came at you, and We sent against them a gale and hosts whom you did not see, and Allah sees best what you do.

When they came at you from above and below you, and when the eyes rolled [with fear] and the hearts leapt to the throats, and you entertained misgivings about Allah,

it was there that the faithful were tested and jolted with a severe agitation.

When the hypocrites, as well as those in whose hearts is a sickness, were saying, ‘Allah and His Apostle did not promise us [anything] except delusion.’

And when a group of them said, ‘O people of Yathrib! [This is] not a place for you, so go back!’ A group of them sought the Prophet’s permission [to leave the scene of battle], saying, ‘Our homes lie exposed [to the enemy],’ although they were not exposed. They only sought to flee.

Had they been invaded from its flanks and had they been asked to apostatize, they would have done so with only a mild hesitation,

though they had already pledged to Allah before that they would not turn their backs [to flee], and pledges given to Allah are accountable.

Say, ‘Flight will not avail you, if you flee from death, or from being killed, and then you will be let to enjoy only for a little while.’

Say, ‘Who is it that can protect you from Allah if He desires to cause you harm or desires to grant you His mercy?’ Besides Allah they will not find for themselves any protector or helper.

Allah knows those of you who discourage others, and those who say to their brethren, ‘Come to us!’ and take little part in the battle,

grudging you [their help]. So when there is panic, you see them looking at you, with their eyes rolling like someone fainting at death. Then, when the panic is over, they scald you with [their] sharp tongues in their greed for the spoils. They never have had faith. So Allah has made their works fail, and that is easy for Allah.

They suppose the confederates have not left yet, and were the confederates to come [again], they would wish they were in the desert with the Bedouins asking about your news, and if they were with you they would fight but a little.

There is certainly a good exemplar for you in the Apostle of Allah—for those who look forward to Allah and the Last Day, and remember Allah much.

But when the faithful saw the confederates, they said, ‘This is what Allah and His Apostle had promised us, and Allah and His Apostle were true.’ And it only increased them in faith and submission.

Among the faithful are men who fulfill what they have pledged to Allah: there are some among them who have fulfilled their pledge, and some of them who still wait, and they have not changed in the least,

that Allah may reward the true for their truthfulness, and punish the hypocrites, if He wishes, or accept their repentance. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

Allah sent back the faithless in their rage, without their attaining any advantage, and Allah spared the faithful of fighting, and Allah is all-strong, all-mighty.

And He dragged down from their strongholds those who had backed them from among the People of the Book, and He cast terror into their hearts, [so that] you killed a part of them, and took captive [another] part.

He bequeathed you their land, their houses and their possessions, and a territory you had not trodden, and Allah has power over all things.

O Prophet! Say to your wives, ‘If you desire the life of the world and its glitter, come, I will provide for you and release you in a graceful manner.

But if you desire Allah and His Apostle and the abode of the Hereafter, then Allah has indeed prepared a great reward for the virtuous among you.’

O wives of the Prophet! Whoever of you commits a gross indecency, her punishment shall be doubled, and that is easy for Allah.