Al-Furqaan

Hallowed is He who from on high, step by step, has bestowed upon His servant the standard by which to discern the true from the false, so that to all the world it might be a warning:

He to whom the dominion over the heavens and the earth belongs, and who begets no offspring, and has no partner in His dominion: for it is He who creates every thing and determines its nature in accordance with [His own] design.

And yet, some choose to worship, instead of Him, imaginary deities that cannot create anything but are themselves created, and have it not within their power to avert harm from, or bring benefit to, themselves, and have no power over death, nor over life, nor over resurrection!

Moreover, those who are bent on denying the truth are wont to say, “This [Qur’an] is nothing but a lie, which he [himself] has devised with the help of other people, who thereupon have perverted the truth and brought a falsehood into being.”

And they say, “Fables of ancient times which he has caused to be written down, so that they might be read out to him at morn and evening!”

Say [O Muhammad]: “He who knows all the mysteries of the heavens and the earth has bestowed from on high this [Qur’an upon me]! Verily, He is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace!”

Yet they say: What sort of apostle is this [man] who eats food [like all other mortals] and goes about in the market places? Why has not an angel [visibly] been sent down unto him, to act as a warner together with him?”

Or: “[Why has not] a treasure been granted to him [by God]?” Or: “He should [at least] have a [bountiful] garden, so that he could eat thereof [without effort]!” And so these evildoers say [unto one another], “If you were to follow [Muhammad, you would follow] but a man bewitched!”

See to what they liken thee, [O Prophet, simply] because they have gone astray and are now unable to find a way to the truth]!

Hallowed is He who, if it be His will, shall give thee something better than that [whereof they speak] - gardens through which running waters flow - and shall assign to thee mansions [of bliss in the life to come].

But nay! It is [the very coming of] the Last Hour to which they give the lie! However, for such as give the lie to [the announce­ment of] the Last Hour We have readied a blazing flame:

when it shall face them from afar, they will hear its angry roar and its hiss;

and when they are flung, linked [all] together, into a tight space within, they will pray for extinction there and then!

[But they will be told:] “Pray not today for one single extinction, but pray for many extinctions!”

Say: “Which is better - that, or the paradise of life abiding which has been promised to the God-conscious as their reward and their journey’s end –