Surah Furqan
Contents
Blessed is the One who revealed the Criterion to a servant of the divine for it to be a warning to all peoples; [25:1]
the One to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and who has not begotten a son, and who has no partner in the dominion, and who created every thing and determined its measure. [25:2]
Yet they have adopted other deities besides, which do not create anything but are themselves created; and which have no power to harm or help themselves, and who have no power over death, or over life, or over resurrection. [25:3]
But those who scoff say, “This is nothing but a lie, which he invented, while other people assisted him.” Thus they have done an injustice and set forth a falsehood. [25:4]
And they say, “These are myths of the ancients, which he has had written down, and they are dictated to him morning and evening.” [25:5]
Say, “It was revealed by the One who knows the secret in the heavens and the earth, being most forgiving and most merciful.” [25:6]
Yet they say, “What is the matter with this messenger—he eats food and walks along the streets! Why wasn’t an angel sent down to him, to be a herald with him, [25:7]
“or a treasure sent down to him, or a garden there for him to eat from?” The oppressors say, “You are only following a man who’s bewitched.” [25:8]
See how they make up images of you— they are lost, and can never find a way. [25:9]
Blessed is the One who, at will, could give you better than that —gardens with streams running below them- and give you palaces. [25:10]
But no, they deny the end of time; while We have prepared a blazing fire for those who deny the end of time: [25:11]
when it sees them from a distant place, they will hear its raging and groaning. [25:12]
And when they are thrown into a narrow space therein bound together, they will pray for annihilation right then and there. [25:13]
Don’t pray for a single annihilation today: pray for a manifold annihilation. [25:14]
Say, “Is that better, or the garden of eternity promised to the conscientious? That is a reward for them, and a destination. [25:15]
“They will have what they want there, abiding therein forever; that is a promise for which your Lord is responsible.” [25:16]
And one day God will gather them and what they worshipped other than God, and say, “Did you mislead these servants of Mine, or was it they who lost the way?” [25:17]
They will say, “Glory be to You! It wasn’t proper for us to adopt patrons other than You, but You supplied them and their fathers until they forgot remembrance and were a lost people.” [25:18]
So they have called you a liar for what you say, and you are incapable of escape or relief. Any of you who do wrong, We will have taste a tremendous torment. [25:19]
All the emissaries We sent before you did eat food, and walked along the streets. And We made some of you a trial for others; will you be forbearing? For your Lord is all-seeing. [25:20]
Those who do not expect to meet Us say, “Why weren’t angels sent down to us, or why don’t we see our Lord?” They have become bloated with self- importance, and have become uncontrollably arrogant. [25:21]
The day they see the angels, there will be no good news for sinners on that day, and they will say, “Oh, for a protective wall!” [25:22]
And We will turn to the works they have done, and make them scattered dust. [25:23]
The company of the garden will be fine on that day, in a secure abode, the finest place of rest. [25:24]
The day the sky is cleft with clouds, and the angels are sent down, [25:25]
the true dominion that day belongs to the Benevolent One. And it will be a trying day for atheists. [25:26]
The day the evildoer bites his hands, he will say, “If only I had gone along with the messenger! [25:27]
“Woe is me! If only I had not taken so-and-so for a friend— [25:28]
“he misled me away from the message after it had come to me. For Satan is a traitor to man.” [25:29]
And the messenger will say, “O my Lord, my people took this Recital to be useless.” [25:30]
Thus have We made an opponent to every prophet from among the sinners. Yet your Lord is sufficient as a guide and a savior. [25:31]
Those who scoff say, “Why was the Recital not revealed to him all at once?” It is this way so We may strengthen your heart thereby, as We enunciated it in a slow, distinct, and orderly way. [25:32]
And whatever adage they bring to you, We give you the truth, and the best explanation. [25:33]
Those who will be herded into hell on their faces, they will be in the worst state, and the most astray in their way. [25:34]
We gave Moses scripture, and made his brother Aaron an assistant to him. [25:35]
Then We said, “Go to the people who deny Our signs,” and We annihilated them. [25:36]
And We drowned the people of Noah when they rejected the messengers, and We made them a sign for humankind. And We have prepared a painful punishment for those who do wrong. [25:37]
And the ‘Ad and the Thamud too, and the people of the primal well, and many generations between them. [25:38]
To each of them We set forth ideals, and each of them We destroyed. [25:39]
And they have surely come across the town showered with destructive rain; haven’t they seen it? But they do not expect resurrection. [25:40]
And when they see you, they only take you for a laughing-stock: “Is this the one God has sent as a messenger? [25:41]
“He nearly led us away from our deities, and we would have done so had we not been constant to them.” But they will know, when they see the penalty, who is more misguided. [25:42]
Do you see the one who takes his fancy for his god? Could you be an agent for him? [25:43]
Do you suppose that most of them hear or understand? They are just like cattle, but even more errant in their way. [25:44]
Don’t you see how your Lord extends the shade, instead of making it stand still, at will? And We have made the sun its guide. [25:45]
Then We gradually withdraw it to Ourselves. [25:46]
And that is the One who has made the night a garment for you, and sleep for rest; and made the day a revival. [25:47]
And that is the One who sends the winds as heralds of good in advance of divine mercy*, and We shower pure water from the sky, [25:48]
that We may revive a dead land with it, and provide drink for the multitude of livestock and humans We created. [25:49]
And We have circulated it among them, that they may be mindful; but most people disdain aught but ingratitude. [25:50]
Had We wished, We would have sent a warner to every community. [25:51]
So don’t follow the ingrates, but wage a mighty struggle against them, [25:52]
as God is the One who loosed the two waters, one fresh and sweet, one salty and bitter, and put a gap between them, and a forbidden barrier: [25:53]
and that is the One who created human beings and made for them relations of blood and of marriage; for your Lord is omnipotent. [25:54]
Yet they worship, instead of God, what cannot benefit or harm them; and the ingrates are helpless against their Lord. [25:55]
But We only send you as a herald of good and a warner. [25:56]
Say, “I don’t ask you any reward for it, but that whoever will may take to a path to his Lord.” [25:57]
And trust in the Living, who never dies; and celebrate praise of God, who is sufficiently aware of the faults of mortal creatures, [25:58]
being the One who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six days, then settled on the Throne: the Benevolent One. So ask one informed about that. [25:59]
Yet when they are told to bow down to the Benevolent One, they say, “And what is the Benevolent One? Should we bow to what you tell us to?” And it increases their fearful flight. [25:60]
Blessed is the One who put constellations in the sky, and put a lamp therein, and a light-giving moon: [25:61]
and that is the One who made the night and the day alternate, for those who want to be mindful, and those who want to be grateful. [25:62]
And the servants of the Benevolent One are those who walk the earth humbly, and when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace,” [25:63]
and those who meditate on their Lord by night, prostrating themselves and standing up; [25:64]
and those who say, “Our Lord, deflect the torment of hell from us, for its agony is unrelenting; [25:65]
“it is indeed wretched as a dwelling place and an abode,” [25:66]
and those who when they spend are neither extravagant nor stingy, but right in between; [25:67]
and those who do not pray to any other deities besides God, and do not kill any being made off limits by God, except for just cause, and do not commit adultery— for whoever does that will meet with punishment: [25:68]
his torment will be doubled on the day of resurrection, and he will remain in that state, abased, [25:69]
except those who repent and have faith, and act with integrity— in their case God transforms their evil into good, for God is most forgiving, most merciful [25:70]
—and whoever repents and does good is turning to God repentant— [25:71]
and those who never testify to falsehood, and when they pass by folly they overlook it with dignity; [25:72]
and those who don’t fall down deaf and blind before them when the signs of their Lord are mentioned to them; [25:73]
and those who say, “Our Lord, grant us delight in our spouses and children, and provide us an exemplar for the conscientious”— [25:74]
they will be rewarded with the highest of heavenly abodes for their constancy, and they will be greeted there with salutations and peace, [25:75]
to remain there forever, an excellent dwelling place and abode. [25:76]
Say, “It does not matter to my Lord if you do not pray; and now that you have rejected truth, the inevitable will come about.” [25:77]