Surah Zumar
Contents
The revelation of the Book is from God, the Mighty, the Wise: [39:1]
for We have revealed the Book to you in truth; so serve God sincerely in your way of life. [39:2]
Is it not to God that sincere obedience is due? Yet those who take protectors other than God say, “We only worship them that they may draw us nearer to God.” God will judge between them as to their differences. For God does not guide any lying ingrate. [39:3]
If God wanted to have a son, God could have chosen from creation at will. Glory to God! It is God the One, the Omnipotent, [39:4]
who created the skies and the earth fittingly, wrapping the night over the day and wrapping the day over the night, compelling the sun and the moon, each coursing for a definite term. Is this God not the epitome of power and forgiveness? [39:5]
God created you from one soul, then made its mate from it; and sent you livestock, eight in pairs. God creates you inside your mothers, in successive formations, in three darknesses. That is God for you, your Lord, to whom belongs the dominion. There is no other God; so how are you diverted? [39:6]
If you disbelieve, God is independent of you, yet does not prefer disbelief in servants. And if you are grateful, God prefers that for you. And no one who takes responsibility can bear the burden of another. And then you will return to God, who will tell you what you were doing, for God knows what is in hearts. [39:7]
When trouble afflicts man, he calls to his Lord, turning repentant to God. Then when God bestows favors on man, he forgets who he called to before, imputing peers to God, deflecting from the way of God. Say, “Enjoy your ingratitude a bit; for you’ll be among inmates of the fire.” [39:8]
Is this one who practices devotion in the nighttime, prostrating himself and standing up, heedful of the end, and placing his hopes in the mercy of his Lord? Say, “Are they equal, those who know and those who do not know?” Only those with reason take heed. [39:9]
Say, “O devotees, believers! Be conscious of your Lord! For those who do good in this world is good. And God’s earth is wide! Truly the patient will be rewarded, their recompense beyond account.” [39:10]
Say, “I have been commanded to serve God with sincere devotion in my way of life; [39:11]
“and I have been commanded to be first of those who acquiesce.” [39:12]
Say, “I fear, if I disobeyed my Lord, the agony of a horrendous day.” [39:13]
Say, “It is God I serve with sincerity in my way of life: [39:14]
“So worship whatever else you may.” Say, “The losers are those who lose their own souls and their family on the day of resurrection. Oh, no! That is indeed the obvious loss!” [39:15]
They’ll have canopies of fire over them, and canopies under them too. That is how God frightens mortals: “O my slaves! Beware of Me!” [39:16]
And for those who turn away from idolatry, disdaining its worship, and turn to God, there is good news; so give My servants glad tidings! [39:17]
Those who listen to the teaching and follow what’s best in it are those whom God has guided, and they are the sensible ones. [39:18]
Is that one against whom the sentence of punishment is justified? Would you, then, liberate someone in the fire? [39:19]
But for those who are wary of their Lord are mansions built with lofty chambers above and rivers running below, as a promise of God; and God never breaks a promise. [39:20]
Do you not see that God sends down water from the sky, causing it to enter the earth as springs, then brings forth thereby grain of different kinds; then it withers, and you see it yellowing, and God makes it crumble? Truly there is a reminder in that for those with understanding. [39:21]
Is it everyone whose chest God has opened to acquiescence, such that one is enlightened by his Lord? Woe, therefore, to those whose hearts are hardened against remembrance of God; they are in obvious error! [39:22]
God has sent down the best story as a Book of similar refrains. The skins of those who fear their Lord creep in terror of it; then their flesh and hearts soften to remembrance of God. That is the guidance of God, by which God guides whom God will. And whoever God leaves astray has no guide. [39:23]
Is it everyone who is wary, with his whole being, of the misery of the penalty of the day of resurrection? To wrongdoers it will be said, “Taste what you have earned!” [39:24]
Those before them repudiated truth, and the penalty came upon them from where they did not perceive. [39:25]
So God has made them taste disgrace in the life of this world. Yet the pain of the end is greater, if only they knew! [39:26]
We have set forth in this Recital every ideal for humankind, that they may take heed; [39:27]
a Recital in Arabic, free from distortion, that they may be aware. [39:28]
God has set forth a parable, of a man over whom a plurality of partners are wrangling, and a man secure in service to one man: are the two equal on comparison? Praise be to God! But most of them do not know. [39:29]
The fact is you are going to die, and they too are going to die. [39:30]
Then you will, on the day of resurrection, debate in the presence of your Lord. [39:31]
So who is more astray than one who lies about God and repudiates truth when it comes to him? Is there not an abode in hell for the ungrateful? [39:32]
And the one who brings truth, and the one who confirms it— they are the conscientious. [39:33]
They will have whatever they wish in the presence of their Lord; that is the reward of those who do good, [39:34]
that God may pardon the worst of their deeds, and reward them for the best of what they used to do. [39:35]
Is not God enough for a devotee? Yet they try to intimidate you with something other than God. And whoever God leaves astray has therefore no guide. [39:36]
But whomever God guides, none can lead astray. Is not God a mighty avenger? [39:37]
And yet if you asked them who created the heavens and the earth, they would say, “God.” Say, “And do you see those you pray to instead of God? If God wished me ill, could they remove God’s affliction? Or if God wished me mercy, could they withhold God’s mercy?” Say, “God is sufficient for me; in God do the trusting place their trust.” [39:38]
Say, “O my people! Work according to your ability; Indeed, I am at work. And you will know [39:39]
“who it is to whom there comes a disgracing punishment and upon whom alights an abiding agony.” [39:40]
For We have sent you the Book for mankind, according to truth. So whoever accepts guidance does so to the benefit of his own soul, and whoever strays only strays to the detriment of his own soul. And you are not the one to dispose of their affairs. [39:41]
God takes souls at their death, or in their sleep if they aren’t dead, keeping those sentenced to death, and sending the rest to a definite term. Surely there are signs in that for people who reflect. [39:42]
Do they take to intercessors other than God? Say, “Even though they have no power over anything, and no intelligence?!” [39:43]
Say, “All intercession is up to God, to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and to whom you will be returned.” [39:44]
But when God is mentioned as One, the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter recoil; and when idols not God are mentioned, then they rejoice. [39:45]
Say, “O God, creator of the heavens and the earth, knower of the hidden and the evident, You will judge between Your servants regarding that wherein they had differed.” [39:46]
Even if those who have done wrong had everything on earth, and its like besides, they would use it to redeem themselves from the ill of the agony of the day of resurrection; but there will appear to them from God what they had never expected. [39:47]
For there will appear to them the evils they have wrought, and they will be surrounded by what they used to mock. [39:48]
Now when trouble afflicts man, he calls on Us; then when We favor him with a blessing from Us, he says, “This has been given to me on account of science alone.” But it is a trial, though most of them do not know. [39:49]
Those before them had said this already, but what they used to do was of no profit to them. [39:50]
So the ills of what they did fell upon them. And the wrongdoers among those present will be overtaken by the ills of what they have done, and they cannot prevent it. [39:51]
Don’t they know that God expands one’s provision at will, and imposes limits? Surely there are signs in that for people who believe. [39:52]
Relate, “O My devotees who have transgressed against their own souls! Do not despair of God’s mercy, for God forgives all sins! Indeed, God is the epitome of forgiveness and mercy! [39:53]
“And turn to your Lord, and surrender thereunto, before the torment comes upon you, after which you will not be helped. [39:54]
“And follow the best of what has been revealed to you from your Lord, before there comes to you the agony, suddenly, while you’re unawares. [39:55]
“Lest a soul might say, ‘Ah, me! Woe is me for my neglect of my duty to God, for I was indeed a scorner!’ [39:56]
“Or lest one say, ‘If only God had guided me, I would have been conscientious!’ [39:57]
“Or lest one say, on seeing the penalty, ‘Had I but another chance, I would be one of the virtuous!’ [39:58]
“Oh, no! Our signs came to you, but you repudiated them; and you were arrogant, and you were a scoffer.” [39:59]
And on the day of resurrection you will see those who lied against God; their faces will be blackened. Is there not a place in hell for the self-important? [39:60]
And God will deliver the conscientious, setting them free in their place of refuge, where no ill will touch them, and they will not grieve. [39:61]
God is the creator of everything, and God is in charge of everything. [39:62]
The keys of the heavens and the earth belong to God, and those who deny the signs of God are the ones who are the losers. [39:63]
Say, “Do you enjoin me to worship other than God, you ignorant ones?” [39:64]
Since it has already been revealed to you and to your predecessors, that if you idolize, your works will be in vain, and you will be losers. [39:65]
Rather, worship God and be grateful. [39:66]
They have not truly assessed the measure of God, in whose grip the whole earth will be on the day of resurrection, and in whose right hand the heavens will be folded: glorious is God, transcendent beyond any association they make. [39:67]
And the trumpet will be sounded, and those in the heavens and those on earth will faint, excepting whoever God will; then it will be sounded again, and now they will be standing, expectant. [39:68]
And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord, and the Record will be set out, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought, and judgment among them will be made, according to truth, so they will not be treated unjustly. [39:69]
And every soul will be recompensed for what it did; and God knows best what they do. [39:70]
Those who scoffed will be driven to hell in crowds; then when they get there, its gates will be opened, and its keepers will say to them, “Didn’t messengers from among you come to you and recite to you the signs of your Lord, and warn you of the meeting of this day of yours?” They will say, “Yes, but the sentence of the punishment is justified against the atheists.” [39:71]
They will be told, “Enter the gates of hell, to abide therein.” And how miserable the abode of the self-important! [39:72]
But those who were conscious of their Lord will be conveyed in crowds to the garden: when they arrive, its gates will be opened and its keepers will say to them, “Peace upon you. You have been good, so enter herein to abide.” [39:73]
And they will say, “Praise be to God, who has fulfilled the divine promise to us, giving us the earth as an inheritance; we can live in the garden wherever we wish.” And how excellent the reward for workers! [39:74]
And you will see the angels surrounding the throne, praising God; and judgment among them will be made with true justice, and it will be said, “Praise be to God, Lord of all worlds.” [39:75]