The Rock

Alif Lam Ra. Those are the signs of the Book and of a manifest Koran.

Perchance the unbelievers will wish that they had surrendered:

leave them to eat, and to take their joy, and to be bemused by hope; certainly they will soon know!

Never a city have We destroyed, but it had a known decree,

and no nation outstrips its term, nor do they put it back.

They say: 'Thou, upon whom the Remembrance is sent down, thou art assuredly possessed!

Why dost thou not bring the angels unto us, if thou speakest truly?'

We send not down the angels, save with truth;

then they would not be respited. It is We who have sent down the Remembrance, and We watch over it.

Indeed, We sent Messengers before thee, among the factions of the ancients,

and not a single Messenger came to them, but they mocked at him;

even so We cause it to enter into the hearts of the sinners --

they believe not in it, though the wont of the ancients is already gone.

Though We opened to them a gate in heaven, and still they mounted through it,

yet would they say, 'Our eyes have been dazzled; nay, we are a people bewitched!'

We have set in heaven constellations and decked them out fair to the beholders,

and guarded them from every accursed Satan

excepting such as listens by stealth -- and he is pursued by a manifest flame.

And the earth -- We stretched it forth, and cast on it firm mountains, and We caused to grow therein of every thing justly weighed,

and there appointed for you livelihood, and for those you provide not for.

Naught is there, but its treasuries are with Us, and We send it not down but in a known measure.

And We loose the winds fertilising, and We send down out of heaven water, then We give it to you to drink, and you are not its treasurers.

It is We who give life, and make to die, and it is We who are the inheritors.

We know the ones of you who press forward, and We know the laggards;

and it is thy Lord shall muster them, and He is All-wise, All-knowing.

Surely We created man of a clay of mud moulded,

and the jinn created We before of fire flaming.

And when thy Lord said to the angels, 'See, I am creating a mortal of a clay of mud moulded.

When I have shaped him, and breathed My spirit in him, fall you down, bowing before him!'

Then the angels bowed themselves all together,

save Iblis; he refused to be among those bowing.

Said He, 'What ails thee, Iblis, that thou art not among those bowing?'

Said he, 'I would never bow myself before a mortal whom Thou hast created of a clay of mud moulded.'

Said He, 'Then go thou forth hence; thou art accursed.

Upon thee shall rest the curse, till the Day of Doom.'

Said he, 'My Lord, respite me till the day they shall be raised.'

Said He, 'Thou art among the ones that are respited

unto the day of a known time.'

Said he, 'My Lord, for Thy perverting me I shall deck all fair to them in the earth, and I shall pervert them, all together,

excepting those Thy servants among them that are devoted.

Said He, 'This is for Me a straight path:

over My servants thou shalt have no authority, except those that follow thee,

being perverse; Gehenna shall be their promised land all together.

Seven gates it has, and unto each gate a set portion of them belongs.'

But the godfearing shall be amidst gardens and fountains:

'Enter you them, in peace and security!'

We shall strip away all rancour that is in their breasts; as brothers they shall be upon couches set face to face;

no fatigue there shall smite them, neither shall they ever be driven forth from there.

Tell My servants I am the All-forgiving, the All-compassionate,

and that My chastisement is the painful chastisement.

And tell them of the guests of Abraham,

when they entered unto him, saying, 'Peace!' He said, 'Behold, we are afraid of you.'

They said, 'Be not afraid; behold, we give thee good tidings of a cunning boy.'

He said, 'What, do you give me good tidings, though old age has smitten me? Of what do you

give me good tidings?' They said, 'We give thee good tidings of truth. Be not of those that despair.'

He said, 'And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord, excepting those that are astray?'

He said, 'And what is your business, envoys?'

They said, 'We have been sent unto a people of sinners,

excepting the folk of Lot; them we shall deliver

all together, excepting his wife -- we have decreed, she shall surely be of those that tarry.'

So, when the envoys came to the folk of Lot,

he said, 'Surely you are a people unknown to me!'

They said, 'Nay, but we have brought thee that concerning which they were doubting.

We have come to thee with the truth, and assuredly we speak truly.

So set forth, thou with thy family, in a watch of the night, and follow after the backs of them, and let not any one of you turn round; and depart unto the place you are commanded.'

And We decreed for him that commandment, that the last remnant of those should be cut off in the morning.

And the people of the city came rejoicing.

He said, 'These are my guests; put me not to shame,

and fear God, and do not degrade me.'

They said, 'Have we not forbidden thee all beings?'

He said, 'These are my daughters, if you would be doing.'

By thy life, they wandered blindly in their dazzlement,

and the Cry seized them at the sunrise,

and We turned it uppermost nethermost and rained on it stones of baked clay.

Surely in that are signs for such as mark;

surely it is on a way yet remaining;

surely in that is a sign for believers.

Certainly the dwellers in the Thicket were evildoers,

and We took vengeance on them. The two of them were upon a roadway manifest.

The dwellers in El-Hijr cried lies to the Envoys.

We brought them. Our signs, and they turned away from them.

They were hewing the mountains into houses, therein dwelling securely;

and the Cry seized them in the morning;

that they earned did not avail them.

We created not the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, save in truth. Surely the Hour is coming; so pardon thou, with a gracious pardoning.

Surely thy Lord, He is the All-creator, the All-knowing.

We have given thee seven of the oft-repeated, and the mighty Koran.

Stretch not thine eyes to that We have given pairs of them to enjoy; and do not sorrow for them, and lower thy wing unto the believers,

and say, 'Surely, I am the manifest warner.'

So We sent it down to the partitioners,

who have broken the Koran into fragments.

Now by thy Lord, We shall surely question them all together

concerning that they were doing.

So shout that thou art commanded and turn thou away from the idolaters.

We suffice thee against the mockers,

even against those who set up with God another god. Certainly they will soon know!

We know indeed thy breast is straitened by the things they say.

Proclaim thy Lord's praise, and be of those that bow,

and serve thy Lord, until the Certain comes to thee.