The Ant

Ta. Sin. THESE ARE MESSAGES of the Qur’an - a di­vine writ clear in itself and clearly showing the truth:

a guidance and a glad tiding to the believers

who are constant in prayer and spend in charity: for it is they, they who in their innermost are certain of the life to come!

As for those who will not believe in the life to come - behold, goodly have We made their own doings appear unto them, and so they stumble blindly to and fro

It is they whom the worst of suffering awaits: for it is they, they who in the life to come shall be the greatest losers!

But [as for thee, O believer,] verily, thou hast received this Qur’an out of the grace of One who is wise, all-knowing.

Lo! [While lost in the desert,] Moses said to his family: “Behold, I perceive a fire [far away]; I may bring you from there some tiding [as to which way we arc to pursue], or bring you [at least] a burning brand so that you might warm yourselves.”

But when he came close to it, a call was sounded: “Blessed are all who are within [reach of] this fire, and all who are near it! And limitless in His glory is God, the Sustainer of all the worlds!”

[And God spoke thus:] “O Moses! Verily I alone am God, the Almighty, the Wise!”

[And then He said:] “Now throw down thy staff!” But when he saw it move rapidly, as if it were a serpent, he drew back [in terror], and did not [dare to] return. [And God spoke to him again:] O Moses! Fear not - for, behold, no fear need the message-bearers have in My Presence,

and neither need anyone who has done wrong and then has replaced the wrong with good: for, verily, I am much-forgiving, a dis­penser of grace!

“Now place thy hand into thy bosom: it will come forth [shining] white, without blemish!” [And thou shalt go] with nine [of My] messages unto Pharaoh and his people for, verily, they are people depraved!”

But when Our light-giving messages came unto them, they said, “This is clearly [but] spellbinding deception!”

- and in their wickedness and self-exaltation they rejected them, although their minds were convinced of their truth: and behold what hap­pened in the end to those spreaders of corruption!

AND, INDEED, We granted [true] knowledge unto David and Solomon [as well]; and both were wont to say: All praise is due to God, who has [thus] favoured us above many of His believing servants!”

And [in this insight] Solomon was [truly] David’s heir; and he would say: “O you people! We have been taught the speech of birds, and have been given [in abundance] of all [good] things: this, behold, is indeed a manifest favour [from God]!”

And [one day] there were assembled before Solomon his hosts of invisible beings, and of men, and of birds; and then they were led forth in orderly ranks,

till, when they came upon a valley [full] of ants, an ant exclaimed: “O you ants! Get into your dwellings, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you without [even] being aware [of you]!”

Thereupon [Solomon] smiled joyously at her words, and said: “O my Sustainer! Inspire me so that I may forever be grateful for those blessings of Thine with which Thou hast graced me and my parents, and that I may do what is right [in a manner] that will please Thee; and include me, by Thy grace, among Thy righteous servants!”

And [one day] he looked in vain for [a parti­cular one of] the birds; and so he said: How is it that I do not see the hoopoe? Or could he be among the absent?

[If so,] I will punish him most severely or will kill him unless he bring me a convincing excuse!”

But [the hoopoe] tarried but a short while; and [when it came] it said: “I have encompassed [with my knowledge] something that thou hast never yet encompassed [with thine] - for I have come to thee from Sheba with a tiding sure!

“Behold, I found there a woman ruling over them; and she has been given [abundance] of all [good] things, and hers is a mighty throne,

And I found her and her people adoring the sun instead of God; and Satan has made these doings of theirs seem goodly to them, and [thus] has barred them from the path [of God], so that they cannot find the right way:

[for they have come to believe] that they ought not to adore God [although it is He] who brings forth all that is hidden in the heavens and on earth, and knows all that you would conceal as well as all that you bring into the open:

God, save whom there is no deity - the Sustainer, in awesome almightiness enthroned!”

Said [Solomon]: “We shall see whether thou hast told the truth or art one of the liars!

Go with this my letter and convey it to them; and thereafter withdraw from them and see what [answer] they return.”

[When the Queen had read Solomon’s letter,] she said: “O you nobles! A truly distinguished letter has been conveyed unto me.

Behold, it is from Solomon, and it says, ‘In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace:

[God says:] Exalt not yourselves against Me, but come unto Me in willing surrender!’”

She added: “O you nobles! Give me your opinion on the problem with which I am now faced; I would never make a [weighty] decision unless you are present with me.”

They answered: “We are endowed with power and with mighty prowess in war - but the command is thine; consider, then, what thou wouldst command.”

Said she: “Verily, whenever kings enter a country they corrupt it, and turn the noblest of its people into the most abject. And this is the way they [always] behave?

Hence, behold, I am going to send a gift to those [people], and await whatever [answer] the envoys bring back.”

Now when [the Queen’s messenger] came unto Solomon, he said: “Do you people mean to add to my wealth? But that which God has given me is [so much] better than all that He has given you! Nay, it is [only such as] you that would rejoice in this gift of yours!

“Go thou back unto them [that have sent thee]! For, [God says:] ‘We shall most certainly come upon them with forces which they will never be able to withstand, and shall most certainly cause them to be driven from that [land of theirs], despicable and humbled!’”

[When Solomon learned that the Queen of Sheba was coming,] he said [to his council]: “O you nobles! Which of you can bring me her throne ere she and her followers come unto me in willing surrender to God?”

Said a bold one of the invisible beings [subject to Solomon]: “I shall bring it to thee ere thou rise from thy council-seat - for, behold, I am powerful enough to do it, [and] worthy of trust!”

Answered he who was illumined by revela­tion: “[Nay,] as for me - I shall bring it to thee ere the twinkling of thy eye ceases!” And when he saw it truly before him, he exclaimed: “This is [an outcome] of my Sustainer’s bounty, to test me as to whether I am grateful or ungrateful! However, he who is grateful [to God] is but grateful for his own good; and he who is ungrate­ful [should know that], verily, my Sustainer is self-sufficient, most generous in giving!”

[And] he continued: Alter her throne so that she may not know it as hers: let us see whether she allows herself to be guided [to the truth] or remains one of those who will not be guided.”

And so, as soon as she arrived, she was asked: “Is thy throne like this?” She answered: “It is as though it were the same!” [And Solomon said to his nobles: “She has arrived at the truth without any help from us,] although it is we who have been given [divine] knowledge before her, and have [long ago] surrendered ourselves unto God!

[And she has recognized the truth] although that which she has been wont to worship instead of God had kept her away [from the right path]: for, behold, she is descended of people who deny the truth!”

[After a while] she was told: “Enter this court!” - but when she saw it, she thought that it was a fathomless expanse of water, and she bared her legs. Said he: “Behold, it is [but] a court smoothly paved with glass!” Cried she: “O my Sustainer! I have been sinning against myself thy worshipping aught but Thee]: but [now] I have surrendered myself, with Solomon, unto the Sustainer of all the worlds!”

AND [likewise], indeed, We sent unto [the tribe of] Thamud their brother Salih [with this message]: “Worship God alone!” and, behold, they were [split into] two factions contending with one another.

Said [Salih to the erring ones]: Why do you seek to hasten the coming upon you of evil instead of hoping for the good?” Why do you not, rather, ask God to forgive you your sins, so that you might be graced with His mercy?”

They answered: “We augur evil from thee and those that follow thee!” Said he: “Your destiny, good or evil, rests with God yea, you are people undergoing a test!”

Now there were in the city nine men who were wont to commit deeds of depravity all over the land, and would not reform;

[and] after having bound one another by an oath in God’s name, they said: “Indeed, we shall suddenly fall upon him and his household by night [and slay them all]; and then we shall boldly say to his next of kin, ‘We did not witness the destruction of his household - and, behold, we are indeed men of truth!’”

And so they devised an evil scheme; but We devised a subtle scheme (of Our own), and they perceived it not.

Behold, then, what all their scheming came to in the end: We utterly destroyed them and their people, all of them;

and [now] those dwellings of theirs are empty, [ruined] as an outcome of their evil deeds. In this, behold, there is a message indeed for peo­ple of [innate] knowledge –

seeing that We saved those who had attained to faith and were conscious of Us,

AND [thus, too, did We save] Lot, when he said unto his people: “Would you commit this abomination with your eyes open (to its being against all nature)?

Must you really approach men with lust instead of women? Nay, but you are people without any awareness (of right and wrong)!”

But his people’s only answer was this: “Expel [Lot and] Lot’s followers from your township! Verily, they are folk who make themselves out to be pure!”

Thereupon We saved him and his household - all but his wife, whom We willed to be among those that stayed behind -

the while We rained a rain [of destruction] upon the others: and dire is such rain upon all who let themselves be warned [to no avail]

SAY: “All praise is due to God, and peace be upon those servants of His whom He chose [to be His message-bearers]!” Is not God far better than anything to which men [falsely] ascribe a share in His divinity?

Nay - who is it that has created the heavens and the earth, and sends down for you [life-giving] water from the skies? For it is by this means that We cause gardens of shining beauty to grow - [whereas] it is not in your power to cause [even one single of] its trees to grow! Could there be any divine power besides God? Nay, they [who think so] are people who swerve [from the path of reason]

Nay - who is it that has made the earth a fitting abode [for living things], and has caused running waters [to flow] in its midst, and has set upon it moun­tains firm, and has placed a barrier between the two great bodies of water? Could there be any divine power besides God? Nay, most of those [who think so] do not know [what they are saying]!

Nay - who is it that responds to the distressed when he calls out to Him, and who removes the ill [that caused the distress], and has made you inherit the earth? Could there be any divine power besides God? How seldom do you keep this in mind!

Nay - who is it that guides you in the midst of the deep darkness of land and sea, and sends forth the winds as a glad tiding of His coming grace? Could there be any divine power besides God? Sublimely exalted is God above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!

Nay - who is it that creates [all life] in the first instance, and then brings it forth anew? And who is it that provides you with sustenance out of heaven and earth? Could there be any divine power besides God? Say: “[If you think so,] produce your evidence - if you truly believe in your claim!”

Say: “None in the heavens or on earth knows the hidden reality [of anything that exists: none knows it] save God.” And neither can they [who are living] perceive when they shall be raised from the dead:

nay, their knowledge of the life to come stops short of the truth: nay, they are [often] in doubt as to its reality: nay, they are blind to it.

And so, they who are bent on denying the truth are saying: “What! After we have become dust - we and our forefathers - shall we [all], forsooth, be brought forth [from the dead]?

Indeed, we were promised this - we and our forefathers - in the past as well; it is nothing but fables of ancient times!”

Say: “Go all over the earth and behold what happened in the end to those [who were thus] lost in sin!”

But do not grieve over them, and neither be distressed by the false arguments which they devise [against Gods messages].

And [when] they ask, “When is this promise [of resurrection] to be fulfilled? [Answer this, O you who believe in it,] if you are men of truth!” –

say thou: “It may well be that something of that which [in your ignorance] you so hastily demands has already drawn close unto you.”

Now, verily, thy Sustainer is indeed limitless in His bounty unto men - but most of them are bereft of gratitude.

But, verily, thy Sustainer knows all that their hearts conceal as well as all that they bring into the open:

for there is nothing [so deeply] hidden in the heavens or on earth but is recorded in [His] clear decree.

BEHOLD, this Qur’an explains to the children of Israel most [of that] whereon they hold divergent views;

and, verily, it is a guidance and a grace unto all who believe [in it].

Verily, [O believer,] thy Sustainer will judge between them in His wisdom - for He alone is almighty, all-knowing.

Hence, place thy trust in God [alone] - for, behold, that in which thou believest is truth self-evident.

[But,] verily, thou canst not make the dead hear: and [so, too,] thou canst not make the deaf [of heart] hear this call when they turn their backs [on thee] and go away,

just as thou canst not lead the blind [of heart] out of their error; none canst thou make hear save such as [are willing to] believe in Our messages, and thus surrender themselves unto Us.

Now, [as for the deaf and blind of heart –] when the word [of truth] stands revealed against them, We shall bring forth unto them out of the earth a creature, which will tell them that mankind had no real faith in Our messages.

And on that Day We shall gather from within every community a host of those who gave the lie to Our messages; and they will be grouped [according to the gravity of their sins]

until such a time as they shall come [to be judged. And] He will say: “Did you give the lie to My messages even though you failed to encompass them with [your] knowledge? Or what was it that [you thought] you were doing?”

And the word [of truth] will stand revealed against them in the face of all the wrong which they had committed, and they will not [be able to] utter a single word [of excuse]:

for, were they not aware that it is We who had made the night for them, so that they might rest therein, and the day, to make [them] see? In this, behold, there are messages indeed for peo­ple who will believe!

And on that Day the trumpet [of judgment] will be sounded, and all [creatures] that are in the heavens and all that are on earth will be stricken with terror, except such as God wills [to exempt]: and in utter lowliness all will come unto Him.

And thou wilt see the mountains, which [now] thou deemest so firm, pass away as clouds pass away: a work of God, who has ordered all things to per­fection! Verily, He is fully aware of all that you do!

Whoever shall come [before Him] with a good deed will gain [further] good there from; and they will be secure from the terror of that Day.

But they who shall come with evil deeds – their faces will be thrust into the fire, [and they will be asked:] “Is this aught but a just requital for what you were doing [in life]?”

[SAY, O Muhammad:] “I have been bidden to worship the Sustainer of this City – Him who has made it sacred, and unto whom all things belong: and I have been bidden to be of those who surrender themselves to Him,

and to convey this Qur’an [to the world].” Whoever, therefore, chooses to follow the right path, follows it but for his own good; and if any wills to go astray, say [unto him]: “I am only a warner.

And say: “All praise is due to God! In time He will make you see [the truth of] His messages, and then you shall know them [for what they are].” And thy Sustainer is not unmindful of whatever you all may do.