Sura  21 - The Prophets
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SURA XXI (21) - THE PROPHETS - Mecca - 112 Verses             (LXV - 151)    
 
       In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 
       This people's reckoning hath drawn nigh, yet, sunk in carelessness, they
turn aside.
 
       Every fresh warning that cometh to them from their Lord they only hear
to mock it, -
 
       Their hearts set on lusts:  and they who have done this wrong say in
secret discourse, "Is He more than a man like yourselves?  What!  will ye, with
your eyes open, accede to sorcery?"
 
       Say:  "My Lord knoweth what is spoken in the heaven and on the earth: He
is the Hearer, the Knower."
 
       "Nay," say they, "it is the medley of dreams:  nay, he hath forged it:
nay, he is a poet:  let him come to us with a sign as the prophets of old were
sent."
 
       Before their time, none of the cities which we have destroyed, believed:
will these men, then, believe?
 
       And we sent none, previous to thee, but men to whom we had revealed
ourselves.  Ask ye the people who are warned by Scriptures, if ye know it not.
 
       We have them n ot bodies which could dispense with food: and they were
not to live for ever.
 
       Then made we good our promise to them; and we delivered them and whom we
pleased, and we destroyed the transgressors.
 
21:10  And now have we sent down to you "the book," in which is your warning:
What, will ye not then understand?
 
       And how many a guilty city have we broken down, and raised up after it
other peoples:
 
       And when they felt our vengeance, lo! they fled from it.
 
       "Flee not," said the angels in mockery, "but come back to that wherein
ye revelled, and to your abodes!  Questions will haply be put to you."
 
       They said, "Oh, woe to us!  Verily we have been evil doers."
 
       And this ceased not to be their cry, until we made them like reaped
corn, extinct.
 
       We created not the heaven and the earth, and what is between them, for
sport:
 
       Had it been our wish to find a pastime, we had surely found it in
ourselves; - if to do so had been our will.
 
       Nay, we will hurl the truth at falsehood, and it shall smite it, and lo!
it shall vanish.  But woe be to you for what ye utter of God!
 
       All beings in the heaven and on the earth are His: and they who are in
his presence disdain not his service, neither are they wearied:
 
21:20  They praise Him night and day:  they rest not.
 
       Have they taken gods from the earth who can quicken the dead?
 
       Had there been in either heaven or earth gods besides God, both surely
had gone to ruin.  But glory be to God, the Lord of the throne, beyond what
they utter!
 
       He shall not be asked of his doings, but they shall be asked.
 
       Have they taken other gods beside Him?  Say; Bring forth your proofs
that they are gods.  This is the warning of those who are with me, and the
warning of those who were before me:  but most of them know not the truth, and
turn aside.
 
       No apostle have we sent before thee to whom we did not reveal that
"Verily there is no God beside me:  therefore worship me."
 
       Yet they say, "The God of Mercy hath begotten issue from the angels."
Glory be to Him!  Nay, they are but His honoured servants:
 
       They speak not till He hath spoken; and they do His bidding.
 
       He knoweth what is before them and what is behind them; and no plea
shall they offer.
 
       Save for whom He pleaseth; and they tremble for fear of Him.
 
21:30  And that angel among them who saith "I am a god beside Him," will we
recompense with hell:  in such sort will we recompense the offenders.
 
       Do not the infidels see that the heavens and the earth were both a solid
mass, and that we clave them asunder, and that by means of water we give life
to everything?  Will they not then believe?
 
       And we set mountains on the earth lest it should move with them, and we
made on it broad passages between them as routes for their guidance;
 
       And we made the heaven a roof strongly upholden; yet turn they away from
its signs.
 
       And He it is who hath created the night and the day, and the sun and the
moon, each moving swiftly in its sphere.
 
       At no time have we granted to man a life that shall last for ever:  if
thou then die, shall they live for ever?
 
       Every soul shall taste of death:  and for trial will we prove you with
evil and with good; and unto Us shall ye be brought back.
 
       And when the infidels see thee they receive thee only with scoffs: -
"What! is this he who maketh such mention of your gods?"  Yet when mention is
made to them of the God of Mercy, they believe not.
 
       "Man," say they, "is made up of haste."  But I will shew you my signs:
desire them not then to be hastened.
 
       They say, "When will this threat be made good?  Tell us, if ye be men of
truth?"
 
21:40  Did the infidels but know the time when they shall not be able to keep
the fire of hell from their faces or from their backs, neither shall they be
helped!
 
       But it shall come on them suddenly and shall confound them; and they
shall not be able to put it back, neither shall they be respited.
 
       Other apostles have been scoffed at before thee:  but that doom at which
they mocked encompassed the scoffers.
 
       Say:  Who shall protect you by night and by day from the God of Mercy?
Yet turn they away from the warning of their Lord.
 
       Have they gods beside Us who can defend them?  For their own succour
have they no power; neither shall the gods they join with God screen them from
Us.
 
        Yes! we have given these men and their fathers enjoyments so long as
their life lasted.  What! see they not that we come to a land and straiten its
borders?  Is it they who are the conquerors?
 
       Say:  I only warn you of what hath been revealed to me:  but the deaf
will not hear the call, whenever they are warned;
 
       Yet if a breath of thy Lord's chastisement touch them, they will
assuredly say, "Oh! woe to us! we have indeed been offenders."
 
       Just balances will we set up for the day of the resurrection, neither
shall any soul be wronged in aught; though, were a work but the weight of a
grain of mustard seed, we would bring it forth to be weighed:  and our
reckoning will suffice.
 
       We gave of old to Moses and Aaron the illumination, and a light and a
warning for the God-fearing,
 
21:50  Who dread their Lord in secret, and who tremble for "the Hour."
 
       And this Koran which we have sent down is a blessed warning:  will ye
then disown it?
 
       Of old we gave unto Abraham his direction, for we knew him worthy.
 
       When he said to his Father and to his people, "What are these images to
which ye are devoted?"
 
       They said, "We found our fathers worshipping them."
 
       He said, "Truly ye and your fathers have been in a plain mistake."
 
       They said, "Hast thou come unto us in earnest? or art thou of those who
jest?"
 
       He said, "Nay, your Lord is the Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth,
who hath created them both; and to this am I one of those who witness:
 
       - And, by God, I will certainly lay a plot against your idols, after ye
shall have retired and turned your backs."
 
       So, he broke them all in pieces, except the chief of them, that to it
they might return, inquiring.
 
21:60  They said, "Who hath done this to our gods?  Verily he is one of the
unjust."
 
       They said, "We heard a youth make mention of them:  they call him
Abraham."
 
       They said, "Then bring him before the people's eyes, that they may
witness against him."
 
       They said, "Hast thou done this to our gods, O Abraham?"
 
       He said, "Nay, that their chief hath done it:  but ask y them, if they
can speak."
 
       So they turned their thoughts upon themselves, and said, "Ye truly are
the impious persons:"
 
       Then became headstrong in their former error and exclaimed, "Thou
knowest that these speak not."
 
       He said, "What! do ye then worship, instead of God, that which doth not
profit you at all, nor injure you?  Fie on you and on that ye worship instead
of God!  What! do ye not then understand?"
 
       They said:  "Burn him, and come to the succour of your gods:  if ye will
do anything at all."
 
       We said, "O fire! be thou cold, and to Abraham a safety!"
 
21:70  And they sought to lay a plot against him, but we made them the
sufferers.
 
       And we brought him and Lot in safety to the land which we have blessed
for all human beings:
 
       And we gave him Isaac and Jacob as a farther gift, and we made all of
them righteous:
 
       We also made them models who should guide others by our command, and we
inspired them with good deeds and constancy in prayer and almsgiving, and they

worshipped ud.
 
       And unto Lot we gave wisdom, and knowledge; and we rescued him from the
city which wrought filthiness; for they were a people, evil, perverse:
 
       And we caused him to enter into our mercy, for he was of the righteous.
 
       And remember Noah when aforetime he cried to us and we heard him, and
delivered him and his family from the great calamity;
 
       And we helped him against the people who treated our signs as
impostures.  An evil people verily were they, and we drowned them all.
 
       And David and Solomon; when they gave judgment concerning a field when
some people's sheep had caused a waste therein; and we were witnesses of their
judgment.
 
       And we gave Solomon insight into the affair; and on both of them we
bestowed wisdom and knowledge.  And we constrained the mountains and the birds
to join with David in our praise:  Our doing was it!
 
21:80  And we taught David the art of making mail for you, to defend you from
each other's violence:  will ye therefore be thankful?
 
       And to Solomon we subjected the strongly blowing wind:  it sped at his
bidding to the land we had blessed; for we know all things:
 
       And sundry Satans who should dive for him and perform other work beside:
and we kept watch over them.
 
       And remember Job:  When he cried to his Lord, "Truly evil hath touched
me:   but thou art the most merciful of those who shew mercy."
 
       So we heard him, and lightened the burden of his woe; and we gave him
back his family, and as many more with them, - a mercy from us, and a memorial
for those who serve us:
 
       And Ismael, and Edris and Dhoulkefl - all steadfast in patience.
 
       And we caused them to enter into our mercy; for they were of the
righteous:
 
       And Dhoulnoun; when he went on his way in anger, and thought that we had
no power over him.  But in the darkness he cried "There is no God but thou:
Glory be unto Thee!  Verily, I have been one of the evil doers:"
 
       So we heard him and rescued him from misery:  for thus recuse we the
faithful:
 
       And Zacharias; when he called upon his Lord saying, "O my Lord, leave
not not childless:  but there is no better heir than Thyself."
 
21:90  So we heard him, and gave him John, and we made his wife fit for child-
bearing.  Verily, these vied in goodness, and called upon us with love and
fear, and humbled themselves before us:
 
       And her who kept her maidenhood, and into whom we breathed of our
spirit, and made her and her son a sign to all creatures.
 
       Of a truth, this, your religion, is the one Religion, and I your Lord;
therefore serve me."
 
       But they have rent asunder this their great concern among themselves
into sects.  All of them shall return to us.
 
       And whoso shall do the things that are right, and be a believer, his
efforts shall not be disowned:  and surely will we write them down for him.
 
       There is a ban on every city which we shall have destroyed, that they
shall not rise again,
 
       Until a way is opened for God and Magog, and they shall hasten from
every high land,
 
       And this sure promise shall draw on.  And lo! the eyes of the infidels
shall stare amazedly; and they shall say, "Oh, our misery! of this were we
careless! yea, we were impious persons."
 
       Verily, ye, and what ye worship beside God, shall be fuel for hell:P  ye
shall go down into it.
 
       Were these gods, they would not go down into it; but they shall all
abide in it for ever.
 
21:100 Therein shall they groan; but nought therein shall they hear to comfort
them.
 
       But they for whom we have before ordained good things, shall be far away
from it:
 
       Its slightest sound they shall not hear:  in what their souls longed
for, they shall abide for ever:
 
       The great terror shall not trouble them; and the angel shall meet them
with, "This is your day which ye were promised."
 
       On that day we will roll up the heaven as one rolleth up written
scrolls.  As we made the first creation, so will we bring it forth again. This
promise bindeth us; verily, we will perform it.
 
       And now, since the Law was given, have we written in the Psalms that "my
servants, the righteous, shall inherit the earth."
 
       Verily, in this Koran is teaching for those who serve God.
 
       We have not sent thee otherwise than as mercy unto all creatures.
 
       Say:  Verily it hath been revealed to me that your God is one God; are
ye then resigned to Him?  (Muslims.)
 
       But if they turn their backs, then say:  I have warned you all alike;
but I know not whether that with which ye are threatened be nigh or distant.
 
21:110 God truly knoweth what is spoken aloud, and He also knoweth that which
ye hide.
 
       And I know whether haply this delay be not for your trial, and that ye
may enjoy yourselves for a time.
 
       My Lord saith:  Judge ye with truth; for our Lord is the God of Mercy -
whose help is to be sought against what ye utter.
-- Sura  21 - The Prophets