Alif Lam Ra. Those are the Signs of the Book and a clear Qur´an.
It may be that those who are kafir will wish that they had been Muslims.
Leave them to eat and enjoy themselves. Let false hope divert them. They will soon know.
We did not destroy any city without it having a set time.
No nation can advance its appointed time nor can they delay it.
They say, ´You, to whom the Reminder has been sent down, are clearly mad.
Why do you not bring angels to us if you are telling the truth?´
The angels only descend with the truth and then they would be granted no reprieve.
It is We Who have sent down the Reminder and We Who will preserve it.
We sent Messengers before you among the disparate groups of previous peoples.
No Messenger came to them without their mocking him.
In that way We insert it into the evildoers´ hearts.
They do not have iman in it, even though the example of the previous peoples has gone before.
Even if We opened up to them a door into heaven, and they spent the day ascending through it,
they would only say, ´Our eyesight is befuddled! Or rather we have been put under a spell!´
We have placed constellations in heaven and made them beautiful for those who look.
We have guarded them from every cursed Shaytan —
except for the one who listens stealthily, and he is followed by an open flame.
As for the earth, We stretched it out and cast firmly embedded mountains in it and made everything grow in due proportion on it.
And We put livelihoods in it both for you and for those you do not provide for.
There is nothing that does not have its stores with Us and We only send it down in a known measure.
We send forth the pollinating winds and send down water from the sky and give it to you to drink. And it is not you who keep its stores.
It is We who give life and cause to die and We are the Inheritor.
We know those of you who have gone ahead and those who are still to come.
It is your Lord who will gather them. He is All-Wise, All-Knowing.
We created mankind out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud.
We created the jinn before out of the fire of a searing wind.
When your Lord said to the angels, ´I am creating a human being out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud
When I have formed him and breathed My Ruh into him, fall down in prostration in front of him!´
Then the angels prostrated all together, every one of them —
except Iblis. He disdained to be one of the prostrators.
He said, ´Iblis, what is it that prevents you being among the prostrators?´
He said, ´I will not prostrate to a human being whom You have created out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud.´
He said, ´Get out from here, you are accursed.
The curse will be on you till the Day of Reckoning.´
He said, ´My Lord, grant me a reprieve until the Day they are raised again.´
He said, ´You are among the reprieved
until the Day whose time is known.´
He said, ´My Lord, because You misled me, I will make things on the earth seem good to them and I will mislead them all, every one of them,
except Your slaves among them who are sincere.´
He said, ´This is a Straight Path to Me.
You have no authority over any of My slaves except for the misled who follow you.´
Hell is the promised meeting-place for all of them.
It has seven gates and each gate has its allotted share.
Those who have taqwa will be amid Gardens and Springs:
´Enter them in peace, in complete security!´
We will strip away any rancour in their hearts — brothers, resting on couches face-to-face.
They will not be affected by any tiredness there and they will never be made to leave.
Tell My slaves that I am the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful,
but also that My punishment is the Painful Punishment.
And tell them about the guests of Ibrahim.
When they came in to him, they said, ´Peace!´ He said, ´Truly we are afraid of you.´
They said, ´Do not be afraid. We bring you the good news of a boy of great knowledge.´
He said, ´Do you bring me this good news despite the fact of old age having reached me? What kind of good news are you bringing me?´
They said, ´We bring you good news of the truth, so do not be among those who despair.´
He said, ´Who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for misguided people?´
He added, ´What is your business, messengers?´
They said, ´We have been sent to a people who are evildoers —
with the exception of the family of Lut, all of whom We will save,
except for his wife. We have decreed her to be one of those who stay behind.´
When the Messengers came to the family of Lut,
he said, ´You are people we do not know.´
They said, ´We have come to you with what they had doubts about.
We have brought you the truth and we are certainly truthful men.
Travel with your family in the dead of night, following behind with them in front of you. None of you must look back. Go where you are ordered to.´
We revealed to him the command We had decreed: that on the following morning the last remnant of those people would be cut off.
The people of the city came, exulting at the news.
He said, ´These are my guests so do not put me to shame.
Have taqwa of Allah and do not dishonour me.´
They said, ´Did we not forbid you to play host to anyone at all?´
He said, ´Here are my daughters if you are determined to do something.´
By your life! They were wandering blindly in their drunkenness!
So the Great Blast seized hold of them at the break of day.
We turned the place completely upside down and rained down on them stones of hard-baked clay.
There are certainly Signs in that for the discerning.
They were beside a road which still exists.
There is certainly a Sign in that for the muminun.
The people of the Thicket* were also wrongdoers.
We took revenge on them as well. They are both beside a well-beaten track.
The people of al-Hijr denied the Messengers.
We brought them Our Signs but they turned away from them.
They carved out houses from the mountains, feeling safe,
but the Great Blast seized hold of them in the morning,
so all that they earned was of no use to them.
We did not create the heavens and earth and everything between them, except with truth. The Hour is certainly coming, so turn away graciously.
Your Lord, He is the Creator, the All-Knowing.
We have given you the Seven Oft-repeated* and the Magnificent Qur´an.
Do not direct your eyes longingly to what We have given certain of them to enjoy. Do not feel sad concerning them. And take the muminun under your wing.
Say: ´I am indeed a clear warner.´
Just as We sent down punishment on the dissectors,
those who divide the Qur´an into little pieces.
By your Lord, We will question them all, every one of them,
about what they did!
Proclaim what you have been ordered to and turn away from the idolaters.
We are enough for you against the mockers,
those who set up another god beside Allah. They will soon know!
We know that your breast is constricted by what they say.
So glorify your Lord with praise and be one of the prostrators.
And worship your Lord until what is Certain comes to you.