A Meccan sura which takes its name from the list of prophets mentioned from verse 48 to verse 91. It stresses that fact that Muhammad is a man like earlier prophets, and has been given the same message to declare the unity of God. It warns the disbelievers of the approaching Judgement from which there is no escape.
In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy
1Ever closer to people draws their reckoning, while they turn away, heedless. 2Whenever any fresh revelation comes to them from their Lord, they listen to it playfully 3with frivolous hearts. The evildoers conferred in secret: ‘Is this man anything but a mortal like yourselves? Are you going to fall under his spell with your eyes wide open?’ 4He said,a ‘My Lord knows everything that is said in the heavens and the earth: He is the All Hearing, the All Knowing.’ 5Some say, ‘Muddled dreams’; others, ‘He made it up’; yet others, ‘He is just a poet, let him show us a sign as previous messengers did.’ 6But of the communities We destroyed before them not a single one believed. Will these now believe? 7And even before your time [Prophet], all the messengers We sent were only men We inspired— if you [disbelievers] do not know, ask people who know the Scripture— 8We did not give them bodies that ate no food, nor were they immortal. 9We fulfilled Our promise to them in the end: We saved them and those We wished to save, and We destroyed those who exceeded all bounds.
10And now We have sent down to you [people] a Scripture to remind you. Will you not use your reason? 11How many communities of evildoers We have destroyed! How many others We have raised up in their places! 12When they felt Our might coming upon them, see how they tried to escape it! 13‘Do not try to escape. Go back to your homes and the pleasure you revelled in: you may be questioned.’ 14They said, ‘Woe to us! We were wrong!’ 15and that cry of theirs did not cease until We made them burnt-off stubble.
16We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything between them playfully. 17If We had wished for a pastime, We could have found it within Us—if We had wished for any such thing. 18No! We hurl the truth against falsehood, and truth obliterates it—see how falsehood vanishes away! Woe to you [people] for the way you describe God! 19Everyone in the heavens and earth belongs to Him, and those that are with Him are never too proud to worship Him, nor do they grow weary; 20they glorify Him tirelessly night and day.
21Have they chosen any gods from the earth who can give life to the dead? 22If there had been in the heavens or earth any gods but Him, both heavens and earth would be in ruins: God, Lord of the Throne, is far above the things they say: 23He cannot be called to account for anything He does, whereas they will be called to account. 24Have they chosen to worship other gods instead of Him? Say, ‘Bring your proof. This is the Scripture for those who are with me and the Scripture for those who went before me.’ But most of them do not recognize the truth, so they pay no heed. 25We never sent any messenger before you [Muhammad] without revealing to him: ‘There is no god but Me, so serve Me.’ 26And they say, ‘The Lord of Mercy has taken offspring for Himself.’a May He be exalted! No! They are only His honoured servants: 27they do not speak before He speaks and they act by His command. 28He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot intercede without His permissionb—indeed they themselves stand in awe of Him. 29If any of them were to claim, ‘I am a god beside Him,’ We would reward them with Hell: this is how We reward evildoers.
30Are the disbelievers not aware that the heavens and the earth used to be joined together and that We ripped them apart, that We made every living thing from water? Will they not believe? 31And We put firm mountains on the earth, lest it should sway under them, and set broad paths on it, so that they might follow the right direction, 32and We made the sky a well-secured canopy—yet from its wonders they turn away. 33It is He who created night and day, the sun and the moon, each floating in its orbit. 34We have not granted everlasting life to any other human being before you either [Muhammad]—if you die, will [the disbelievers] live for ever? 35Every soul is certain to taste death: We test you all through the bad and the good, and to Us you will all return. 36When the disbelievers see you, they laugh at you: ‘Is this the one who talks about your gods?’ They reject any talk of the Lord of Mercy.
37Man was created hasty: I will show you My signs soon, so do not ask Me to hasten them. 38They say, ‘When will this promise be fulfilled, if what you say is true?’ 39If the disbelievers only knew, the time will arrive when they will not be able to ward off the Fire from their faces or their backs, and they will get no help. 40It will come upon them suddenly and stupefy them; they will be powerless to push it away; they will not be reprieved.
41Messengers before you [Muhammad] were also ridiculed, but those who mocked them were overwhelmed in the end by the very thing they had mocked. 42Say, ‘Who could protect you night and day from the Lord of Mercy?’ Yet they turn away when their Lord is mentioned. 43Do they have gods who can defend them against Us? Their gods have no power to help themselves, nor can they be protected from Us. 44We have allowed these sinners and their forefathers to enjoy life for a long time. But do they not see how We are shrinking their borders? Is it they who will prevail? 45Say, ‘I warn you only through the Revelation.’ The deaf will not hear the warning call, 46yet if a mere breath of your Lord’s punishment touches them, they will be sure to cry, ‘Woe to us! We were wrong!’ 47We will set up scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection so that no one can be wronged in the least, and if there should be even the weight of a mustard seed, We shall bring it out—We take excellent account.
48We gave Moses and Aaron [the Scripture] that distinguishes right from wrong, a light and a reminder for those who are mindful of God, 49those who stand in awe of their Lord, though He is unseen, and who fear the Hour. 50This [Qur’an] too is a blessed message We have sent down—are you [people] going to deny it? 51Long ago We bestowed right judgement on Abraham and We knew him well. 52He said to his father and his people, ‘What are these images to which you are so devoted?’ 53They replied, ‘We found our fathers worshipping them.’ 54He said, ‘You and your fathers have clearly gone astray.’ 55They asked, ‘Have you brought us the truth or are you just playing about?’ 56He said, ‘Listen! Your true Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, He who created them, and I am a witness to this. 57By God I shall certainly plot against your idols as soon as you have turned your backs!’ 58He broke them all into pieces, but left the biggest one for them to return to. 59They said, ‘Who has done this to our gods? How wicked he must be!’ 60Some said, ‘We heard a youth called Abraham talking about them.’ 61They said, ‘Bring him before the eyes of the people, so that they may witness [his trial].’ 62They asked, ‘Was it you, Abraham, who did this to our gods?’ 63He said, ‘No, it was done by the biggest of them—this one. Ask them, if they can talk.’ 64They turned to one another, saying, ‘It is you who are in the wrong,’ 65but then they lapsed again and said, ‘You know very well these gods cannot speak.’66 Abraham said, ‘How can you worship what can neither benefit nor harm you, instead of God? 67Shame on you and on the things you worship instead of God. Have you no sense?’ 68They said, ‘Burn him and avenge your gods, if you are going to do the right thing.’ 69But We said, ‘Fire, be cool and safe for Abraham.’ 70They planned to harm him, but We made them suffer the greatest loss. 71We saved him and Lot [and sent them] to the land We blessed for all people, 72and We gave him Isaac and Jacob as an additional gift, and made each of them righteous. 73We made all of them leaders, guiding others by Our command, and We inspired them to do good works, to keep up the prayer, and to give alms: they were Our true worshippers. 74We gave Lot sound judgement and knowledge and saved him from the community who practised obscenities—they were shameless people who broke God’s law! 75We admitted him to Our mercy; he was a righteous man.
76Long before that, We answered Noah when he cried out to Us: We saved him and his family from the great calamity 77and We helped him against the people who rejected Our signs—they were evil people, so We drowned them all.
78And remember David and Solomon, when they gave judgement regarding the field into which sheep strayed by night and grazed. We witnessed their judgement 79and made Solomon understand the case [better], though We gave sound judgement and knowledge to both of them. We made the mountains and the birds celebrate Our praises with David—We did all these things— 80We taught him how to make coats of mail for the benefit of you [people], to protect you in your wars, but are you grateful for this? 81We harnessed the stormy wind for Solomon, so that it sped by his command to the land We had blessed—We have knowledge of all things— 82and We made some of the jinna subservient to him, to dive for him and do other works besides. We were watching over them.
83Remember Job, when he cried to his Lord, ‘Suffering has truly afflicted me, but you are the Most Merciful of the merciful.’ 84We answered him, removed his suffering, and restored his family to him, along with more like them, as an act of grace from Us and a reminder for all who serve Us. 85And remember Ishmael, Idris, and Dhu’l-Kifl:b they were all steadfast. 86We admitted them to Our mercy; they were truly righteous. 87And remember the man with the whale,c when he went off angrily, thinking We could not restrict him, but then he cried out in the deep darkness, ‘There is no God but You, glory be to You, I was wrong.’ 88We answered him and saved him from distress: this is how We save the faithful. 89Remember Zachariah, when he cried to his Lord, ‘My Lord, do not leave me childless, though You are the best of heirs.’ 90We answered him—We gave him John, and cured his wife of barrenness—they were always keen to do good deeds. They called upon Us out of longing and awe, and humbled themselves before Us. 91Remember the one who guarded her chastity.d We breathed into her from Our Spirit and made her and her son a sign for all people.
92[Messengers],e this community of yours is one single community and I am your Lord, so serve Me. 93They have torn their unity apart, but they will all return to Us. 94If anyone does good deeds and is a believer, his efforts will not be ignored: We record them for him. 95No community destroyed by Us can escape its return,f 96and when the peoples of Gog and Magog are let loose and swarm swiftly from every highland, 97when the True Promise draws near, the disbelievers’ eyes will stare in terror, and they will say, ‘Woe to us! We were not aware of this at all. We were wrong.’ 98You [disbelievers] and what you worship instead of God will be fuel for Hell: that is where you will go— 99if these [idols] had been real gods they would not have gone there—you will all stay there. 100There the disbelievers will be groaning piteously, but the [idols] will hear nothing.
101But those for whom We have decreed Paradise will be kept far from Hell— 102they will not hear a murmur from it—and endlessly they will enjoy everything their souls desire. 103They will have no fear of the great Terror:a the angels will receive them with the words, ‘This is the Day you were promised!’ 104On that Day, We shall roll up the skies as a writer rolls up [his] scrolls. We shall reproduce creation just as We produced it the first time: this is Our binding promise. We shall certainly do all these things.
105We wrote in the Psalms, as We did in [earlier] Scripture: ‘My righteous servants will inherit the earth.’ 106There truly is a message in this for the servants of God! 107It was only as a mercy that We sent you [Prophet] to all people.b 108Say, ‘What is revealed to me is that your God is one God—will you submit to Him?’ 109But if they turn away, say, ‘I have proclaimed the message fairly to you all. I do not know whether the judgement you are promised is near or far, 110but He knows what you reveal and conceal. 111I do not know: this [time] may well be a test for you, and enjoyment for a while.’ 112He said,c ‘My Lord, pass the true judgement.’ And, ‘Our Lord is the Lord of Mercy. We seek His assistance against what you [disbelievers] say.’