The Criterion

so that We might revive a dead land, and give to drink of it, of that We created, cattle and men a many.

Blessed be He who has sent down the Salvation upon His servant, that he may be a warner to all beings;

to whom belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and He has not taken to Him a son, and He has no associate in the Kingdom; and He created every thing, then He ordained it very exactly.

Yet they have taken to them gods, apart from Him, that create nothing and themselves are created, and have no power to hurt or profit themselves, no power of death or life or raising up.

The unbelievers say, 'This is naught but a calumny he has forged, and other folk have helped him to it.' So they have committed wrong and falsehood.

They say, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients that he has had written down, so that they are recited to him at the dawn and in the evening.'

Say: 'He sent it down, who knows the secret in the heavens and earth; He is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.'

They also say, 'What ails this Messenger that he eats food, and goes in the markets? Why has an angel not been sent down to him, to be a warner with him?

Or why is not a treasure thrown to him, or why has he not a Garden to eat of?' The evildoers say, 'You are only following a man bewitched!'

Behold, how they strike similitudes for thee, and go astray, and are unable to find a way!

Blessed be He who, if He will, shall assign to them better than that -- gardens underneath which rivers flow, and he shall assign to thee palaces.

Nay, but they cry lies to the Hour; and We have prepared for him who cries lies to the Hour a Blaze.

When it sees them from a far place, they shall hear its bubbling and sighing.

And when they are cast, coupled in fetters, into a narrow place of that Fire, they will call out there for destruction.

'Call not out today for one destruction, but call for many!'

Say: 'Is that better, or the Garden of Eternity, that is promised to the godfearing, and is their recompense and homecoming?'

Therein they shall have what they will dwelling forever; it is a promise binding upon thy Lord, and of Him to be required.

Upon the day when He shall muster them and that they serve, apart from God, and He shall say, 'Was it you that led these My servants astray, or did they themselves err from the way?'

They shall 'Glory be to Thee! It did not behove us to take unto say, ourselves protectors apart from Thee; but Thou gavest them and their fathers enjoyment of days, until they forgot

the Remembrance, and were a people corrupt.' So they cried lies touching the things you say, and you can neither turn it aside, nor find any help. Whosoever of you does evil, We shall let him taste a great chastisement.

And We sent not before thee any Envoys, but that they ate food, and went in the markets; and We appointed some of you to be a trial for others: 'Will you endure?' Thy Lord is ever All-seeing.

Say those who look not to encounter Us, 'Why have the angels not been sent down on us, or why see we not our Lord?' Waxed proud they have within them, and become greatly disdainful.

Upon the day that they see the angels, no good tidings that day for the sinners; they shall say, 'A ban forbidden!'

We shall advance upon what work they have done, and make it a scattered dust.

The inhabitants of Paradise that day, better shall be their lodging, fairer their resting-place.

Upon the day that heaven is split asunder with the clouds and the angels are sent down in majesty,

the Kingdom that day, the true Kingdom, shall belong to the All-merciful and it shall be a day harsh for the unbelievers.

Upon the day the evildoer shall bite his hands, saying, 'Would that I had taken a way along with the Messenger!

Alas, would that I had not taken So-and-so for a friend!

He indeed led me astray from the Remembrance, after it had come to me; Satan is ever a forsaker of men.'

The Messenger says, 'O my Lord, behold, my people have taken this Koran as a thing to be shunned.'

Even so We have appointed to every Prophet an enemy among the sinners; but thy Lord suffices as a guide and as a helper.

The unbelievers say, 'Why has the Koran not been sent down upon him all at once?' Even so, that We may strengthen thy heart thereby, and We have chanted it very distinctly.

They bring not to thee any similitude but that We bring thee the truth, and better in exposition.

Those who shall be mustered to Gehenna upon their faces -- they shall be worse in place, and gone further astray from the way.

We gave Moses the Book, and appointed with him his brother Aaron as minister

and We said, 'Go to the people who have cried lies to Our signs'; then We destroyed them utterly.

And the people of Noah, when they cried lies to the Messengers, We drowned them, and made them to be a sign to mankind; and We have prepared for the evildoers a painful chastisement.

And Ad, and Thamood, and the men of Er-Rass, and between that generations a many,

for each We struck similitudes, and each We ruined utterly.

Surely they have come by the city that was rained on by an evil rain; what, have they not seen it? Nay, but they look for no upraising.

And when they see thee, they take thee in mockery only: 'What, is this he whom God sent forth as a Messenger?

Wellnigh he had led us astray from our gods, but that we kept steadfast to them.' Assuredly they shall know, when they see the chastisement, who is further astray from the way.

Hast thou seen him who has taken his caprice to be his god? Wilt thou be a guardian over them?

Or deemest thou that most of them hear or understand? They are but as the cattle; nay, they are further astray from the way.

Hast thou not regarded thy Lord, how He has stretched out the shadow? Had He willed, He would have made it still. Then We appointed the sun, to be a guide to it;

thereafter We seize it to Ourselves, drawing it gently.

It is He who appointed the night for you to be a garment and sleep for a rest, and day He appointed for a rising.

And it is He who has loosed the winds, bearing good tidings before His mercy; and We sent down from heaven pure water

We have indeed turned it about amongst them, so that they may remember; yet most men refuse all but unbelief.

If We had willed, We would have raised up in every city a warner.

So obey not the unbelievers, but struggle with them thereby mightily.

And it is He who let forth the two seas, this one Sweet, grateful to taste, and this salt, bitter to the tongue, and He set between them a barrier, and a ban forbidden.

And it is He who created of water a mortal, and made him kindred of blood and marriage; thy Lord is All-powerful.

And they serve, apart from God, what neither profits them nor hurts them; and the unbeliever is ever a partisan against his Lord.

We have sent thee not, except good tidings to bear, and warning.

Say: 'I do not ask of you a wage for this, except for him who wishes to take to his Lord a way.'

Put thy trust in the Living God, the Undying, and proclaim His praise. Sufficiently is He aware of His servants sins

who created the heavens and the earth, and what between them is, in six days, then sat Himself upon the Throne, the All-compassionate: ask any informed of Him!

But when they are told, 'Bow yourselves to the All-merciful,' they say, 'And what is the All-merciful? Shall we bow ourselves to what thou biddest us?' And it increases them in aversion.

Blessed be He who has set in heaven constellations, and has set among them a lamp, and an illuminating moon.

And it is He who made the night and day a succession for whom He desires to remember or He desires to be thankful.

The servants of the All-merciful are those who walk in the earth modestly and who, when the ignorant address them, say, 'Peace';

who pass the night prostrate to their Lord and standing;

who say, 'Our Lord, turn Thou from us the chastisement of Gehenna; surely its chastisement is torment most terrible;

evil it is as a lodging-place and an abode';

who, when they expend, are neither prodigal nor parsimonious, but between that is a just stand;

who call not upon another god with God, nor slay the soul God has forbidden except by right, neither fornicate, for whosoever does that shall meet the price

of sin-doubled shall be the chastisement for him on the Resurrection Day, and he shall dwell therein humbled,

save him who repents, and believes, and does righteous work -- those, God will change their evil deeds into good deeds, for God is ever All-forgiving, All-compassionate;

and whosoever repents, and does righteousness, he truly turns to God in repentance.

And those who bear not false witness and, when they pass by idle talk, pass by with dignity;

who, when they are reminded of the signs of their Lord, fall not down thereat deaf and blind;

who say, 'Our Lord, give us refreshment of our wives and seed, and make us a model to the godfearing.'

Those shall be recompensed with the highest heaven, for that they endured patiently, and they shall receive therein a greeting and --' Peace!'

Therein they shall dwell forever; fair it is as a lodging-place and an abode.

Say: 'My Lord esteems you not at all were it not for your prayer, for you have cried lies, and it shall surely be fastened.'