SURA XXV (25) - AL FURKAN      (Mecca - 77 Verses)          (LXVI -  159     
 
       In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 
       Blessed be He who hath sent down Al Furkan (the illumination) on his
servant, that to all creatures he may be a warner.
 
       His the Kingdom of the Heavens and of the Earth!  No son hath He
begotten!  No partner hath He in his Empire!  All things hath He created, and
decreeing hath decreed their destinies.
 
       Yet have they adopted gods beside Him which have created nothing, but
were themselves created:
 
       And no power have they over themselves for evil or for good, nor have
they power of death, or of life, or of raising the dead.
 
       And the infidels say, "This Koran is a mere fraud of his own devising,
and others have helped him with it, who had come hither by outrage and life."
 
       And they say, "Tales of the ancients that he hath put in writing! and
they were dictated to him morn and even."
 
       Say:  He hath sent it down who knoweth the secrets of the Heavens and of
the Earth.  He truly is the Gracious, the Merciful.
 
       And they say, "What sort of apostle is this?  He eateth food and he
walketh the streets!  Unless an angel be sent down and take part in his
warnings,
 
       Or a treasure be thrown down to him, or he have a garden that supplieth
him with food..." and those unjust persons say, "Ye follow but a man
enchanted."
 
25:10  See what likenesses they strike out for thee!  But they err, and cannot
find their way.
 
       Blessed be He who if he please can give thee better than that of which
they speak - Gardens, 'neath which the rivers flow:  and pavilions will He
assign thee.
 
       Aye, they have treated the coming of "the Hour" as a lie.  But a flaming
fire have we got ready for those who treat the coming of the Hour as a lie.
 
       When it shall see them from afar, they shall hear its raging and
roaring, -
 
       And when they shall be flung into a narrow space thereof bound together,
they shall invoke destruction on the spot:
 
       - "Call not this day for one destruction, but call for destructions
many."
 
       Say:  Is this, or the Paradise of Eternity which was promised to the
God-fearing, best?  Their recompense shall it be and their retreat;
 
       Abiding therein for ever, they shall have it in all that they desire!
It is a promise to be claimed of thy Lord.
 
       And on the day when he shall gather them together, and those whom they
worshipped beside God, he will say, "Was it ye who led these my servants
astray, or of themselves strayed they from the path?"
 
       They will say, "Glory be to thee!  It beseemed not us to take other
lords than thee.  But thou gavest them and their fathers their fill of good
things, till they forgat the remembrance of thee, and became a lost people."
 
25:20  Then will God say to the Idolaters, "Now have they made you liars in
what ye say, and they have no power to avert your doom, or to succour you."
 
       And whosoever of you thus offendeth, we will make him taste a great
punishment.
 
       Never have we sent Apostles before thee who ate not common food, and
walked not the streets.  And we test you by means of each other.  Will ye be
steadfast?  Thy Lord is looking on!
 
       They who look not forward to meet Us say, "If the angels be not sent
down to us, or unless we behold our Lord...."  Ah! they are proud of heart, and
exceed with great excess!
 
       On the day when they shall see the angels, no good news shall there be
for the guilty ones, and they shall cry6 out, "A barrier than cannot be
passed!"
 
       Then will we proceed to the works which they have wrought, and make them
as scattered dust.
 
       Happier, on that day, the inmates of the Garden as to abode, and better
off as to place of noontide slumber!
 
       On that day shall the heaven with its clouds be cleft, and the angels
shall be sent down, descending:
 
       On that day shall all empire be in very deed with the God of Mercy, and
hard day shall it be for the Infidels.
 
       And on that day shall the wicked one bite his hands, and say, "Oh! would
that I had taken the same path with the Apostle!
 
25:30  "Oh! woe is me! would that I had not taken such an one for my friend!
 
       It was he who led me astray from the Warning which had reached me! and
Satan is man's betrayer."
 
       Then said the Apostle, "O my Lord! truly my people have esteemed this
Koran to be vain babbling."
 
       Thus have we given to every Prophet an enemy from among the wicked ones
- But thy Lord is a sufficient guide and helper.
 
       And the infidels say, "Unless the Koran be sent down to him all at
once...."  But in this say would we stablish thy heart by it; in parcels have
we parcelled it out to thee;
 
       Nor shall they come to thee with puzzling questions, but we will come to
thee with the truth, and their best solution.
 
       They who shall be gathered upon their faces into hell, shall have the
worst place, and be farthest from the path of happiness.
 
       Heretofore we gave the law to Moses, and appointed his brother Aaron to
be his counsellor:
 
       And we said, "Go ye to the people who treat our signs as lies."  And
them destroyed we with utter destruction.
 
       And as to the people of Noah! when they treated their Apostles as
impostors, we drowned them; and we made them a sign to mankind: - A grievous
chastisement have we prepared for the wicked!
 
25:40  And Ad and Themoud, and the men of Rass, and divers generations between
them:
 
       Unto each of them did we set forth parables for warnings, and each of
them did we utterly exterminate.
 
       Oft there this have the unbelieving Meccans passed by the city on which
we rained a fatal rain.  What!  Have they not seen it?  Yet have they no hope
of a resurrection!
 
       And when they see thee, they do but take thee as the subject of their
railleries.  "What!  Is this he whom God has sent as an Apostle?
 
       Indeed he had well nigh led us astray from our gods, had we not
persevered steadfastly in their service." But in the end they shall know, when
they shall see the punishment, who hath most strayed from the path.
 
       What thinkest thou?  He who hath taken his passion as a god - wilt thou
be a guardian over him?
 
       Thinkest thou that the greater part of them hear or understand?  They
are just like the brutes!  Yes! they stray even further from the right way.
 
       Hast thou not seen how thy Lord lengthened out the shadow?  Had He
pleased he had made it motionless.  But we made the sun to be its guide;
 
       Then draw it in unto Us with easy indrawing.
 
       He it is who ordaineth the night as a garment, and sleep for rest, and
ordaineth the day for waking up to life:
 
25:50  He it is who sendeth the winds as the forerunner of his mercy (rain);
and pure water send we down from Heaven,
 
       That we may revive by it a dead land:  and we give it for drink to our
creation, beasts and men in numbers;
 
       And we distribute it among them on all sides, that they may reflect:
but most men refuse to be aught but thankless.
 
       Had we pleased, we had raised up a warner in every city.
 
       Give not way therefore to the Infidels, but by means of this Koran
strive against them with a mighty strife.
 
       And He it is who hath let loose the two seas, the one sweet, fresh; and
the other salt, bitter; and hath put an interspace between them, and a barrier
that cannot be passed.
 
       And it is He who hath created man of water, and established between them
the ties of kindred and affinity:  and potent is thy Lord.
 
       Yet beside God do they worship what can neither help nor hurt them:  and
the Infidel is Satan's helper against his Lord:
 
       Still we have sent thee only as a herald and a warner.
 
       Say:  I ask of you no recompense for it, except from him who is willing
to take the way to his Lord.
 
25:60  And put thou thy trust in Him that liveth and dieth not, and celebrate
his praise; (He fully knoweth the faults of his servants) who in six days
created the Heavens and the Earth, and whatever is between them, then mounted
his Throne:  the God of Mercy!  Ask now of the Wise concerning Him.
 
       But when it is said to them, "Bow down before the God of Mercy," they
say, "Who is the God of Mercy?  Shall we bow down to what thou biddest?" And
they fly from thee the more.
 
       Blessed be He who hath placed in the Heaven the sign of the Zodiac! who
hath placed in it the Lamp of the Sun, and the light-giving Moon!
 
       And it is He who hath ordained the night and the day to succeed one
another for those who desire to think on God or desire to be thankful.
 
       And the servants of the God of Mercy are thy who walk upon the Earth
softly; and when the ignorant address them, they reply, "Peace!"
 
       They that pass the night in the worship of their lord prostrate and
standing: -
 
       And that say, "O our Lord! turn away from us the torment of Hell, for
its torment is endless:  it is indeed an ill abode and resting place!
 
       Those who when they spend are neither lavish nor niggard, but keep the
mean: -
 
       Those who call on no other gods with God, nor slay whom God hath
forbidden to be slain, except for a just cause, and who commit not fornication
(for he who doth this shall meet the reward of his wickedness:
 
       Doubt to him shall be the torment on the day of Resurrection; and in it
shall he remain, disgraced, for ever: -
 
25:70  Save those who shall repent and believe and do righteous works - for
them God will change their evil things into good things, for God is Gracious,
Merciful -
 
       And whoso turneth to God and doeth what is right, he verily will concert
with a true conversion):
 
       And they who bear not witness to that which is false, and when they pass
by frivolous sport, pass on with dignity: -
 
       And they who, when monished by the signs of their Lord, fall not down
thereat, as if deaf and blind: -
 
       And who say, "O our Lord! give us in our wives and offspring the joy of
our eyes, and make us examples to those who fear thee:"
 
       These shall be rewarded with the High Places of Paradise for their
steadfast endurance, and they shall meet therein with - Welcome and Salutation:
-
       For ever shall they remain therein:  a fair abode and resting-place!
 
       Say:  Not on your account doth my Lord care if ye call not on Him!  ye
have treated his Apostle as an impostor:  but bye and bye a punishment shall
cleave to them.
 
