35FāṭirThe Sundererسُورَةُ فاطر

All praise is due to Allah, who detached the heavens and the earth, who assigned the malā’ikah to convey [divine] messages — [malā’ikah] endowed with [regulatory] augmentations [that are] twofold, threefold, and fourfold. He expands His formation [of the heavens and the earth] in accordance with His will: for, indeed, Allah has power over everything.

Whatever grace Allah affords people there can be no one to suppress it; and whatever He holds back there can be no one to overrule Him and release it: for He is the Grand, the Infinitely Wise.

O people! Be mindful of Allah’s blessings [and allowances] to you. Is there a creator besides Allah who could give you provisions [originating] from the skies and the earth? There is no deity/authority except Him: so how do you go about improvising lies [about Him]?

And if they [the mushriks] accuse you [O Prophet] of lies, [know that] there were apostles before your time who were accused of lying: so [do not be discouraged because ultimately] to Allah all issues revert.

O people! Allah’s promise [of resurrection] is truly inevitable: so do not be lured by a [short and cheap] worldly life, and do not be induced away from Allah by temptation [and satanic excitement].

Behold, Satan is an enemy of yours: therefore, designate him as an enemy. He but beckons his cabal [culled from classes of people], whose members then [and ultimately] become lodged in the raging fire —

[Seeing that] those who are active kāfirs shall encounter a severe affliction, just as those who are committed to Allah [His might and majesty] and do what is right and righteous shall be granted forgiveness and a huge reward.

Is there an equivalency between he who is led to believe that his incorrect [and indecent] works are suitable and appropriate [and he who is not misled in that way]? [Know, then, that] indeed, Allah misguides he who wants misguidance and He guides he who wants guidance. [That being the case], do not dissipate your [energetic] self into sorrow over them [and their misguided efforts]: verily, Allah is well aware of what they contrive.

It is Allah who drives the winds that then accelerate the clouds, whereupon We propel them toward a barren land and subsequently bring that land to life after its barrenness [unproductiveness, unfruitfulness]: in such a way resurrection [is demonstrated].

Whoever is seeking power and prestige [should know that] all power and prestige belong to Allah [alone]. To Him ascend words of propriety; and [those who seek worldly power and prestige should understand that] good deeds [are what] elevate the one [who does them]. But as for those who arrange conspiracies, they shall meet severe punishment, and all their conspiratorial arrangement will [eventually] amount to ruin.

And Allah created you from soil, then from spermatozoa, and then He rendered you into twosomes [pairs]. And there is no female that gets pregnant and delivers [her baby] except that she does so with His knowledge; and there is no one who reaches old age or whose aging is impeded except that it is [documented] in a record: for, behold, all of that is simple for Allah to do.

[Consider that] the two large bodies of water are not equivalent [to each other]: the one has sweet, thirst-quenching, pleasant [alkaline water] to drink, and the other salty and acetic [water]. Yet, from both you eat tender meat and you extract jewels that you wear; and [on both] you watch vessels ploughing through the waves — [all of this] so that you can pursue of His abundances and thus have an inclination to be thankful.

[And that] He makes the night permeate into the day [in early morning, in late evenings], and He makes the day permeate into the night [in early morning, in late evenings], and He made the Sun and the Moon a utility [for you] — all of which will run their course until a time determined [by Him]. [In all those details] He [who made it possible] is Allah, your Sustainer: to Him belongs all sway, whereas those whom you [the mushriks] beseech in exclusion to Him do not have sway over so much as a seed’s membrane!

Were you [the committed muslims] to call them [to Allah’s truth and justice], they will not listen to your petition, and even if they do listen in they will not respond [favorably] to you. However, on the Day of Resurrection they will deny your characterization of them as being guilty of shirk. And no one can inform [your understanding of this matter] as one who has full experience [and knowledge] of it [this life and the one to follow].

O people! [Any way you choose to measure yourselves] you are poverty-stricken [and need] Allah, whereas Allah is in no need [of anyone], the Abundantly Appreciated.

If He wills it, He can do away with you [altogether] and bring about another creation [instead of you]:

And that is not [delicately] difficult for Him to do.

And no bearer of burdens shall be made to carry another’s [accountability] load; and if one is overloaded and seeks help [from someone to relieve him of weighty sins] nothing thereof will be transferred [to that other] even if he is a close relative. You [O Muhammad] can only touch by your warnings those who stand in awe of Allah, His tangible imperceptibility notwithstanding, and [who] socialize the ṣalāh. And whoever is refined [in this way] is [actually] refining himself for his own [good], and to Allah is the final destiny.

There is no match between a person who is sightless and a person who is a visionary;

Nor between darkness and the light;

Nor between the [cool] shade and the scorching heat;

And neither are spirited people on par with unresponsive people. Surely, Allah can make he who wills to listen take heed, whereas you [O Muhammad] cannot even make those who are in their burial places listen [to you]:

You are nothing but a warner.

We have sent [assigned] you with truth and justice to relay good news [to good people] and bad news [to bad people]: for never has there been an ummah except that a warner passed through it.

And [do not worry] if they accuse you of lying; [know that] there were those in past times who also accused [their warners] of lies: their apostles came to them with clear [divine] evidence and with books of divine wisdom and with illuminating scripture.

[But] in the final analysis, I took to task all those who denied [My power and authority] — and how awesome was My negation [of them]!

Have you not considered how Allah brings down water from the sky, and We produce from it fruits of many hues — just as in the mountains there are rock contours that are white and red [in appearance] with other different colors and [yet others] pitch black,

And there are in people, and in earthly beasts, and in cattle, too, many hues [types and shades]. Of all His mortal subjects only those who have acquired holistic knowledge stand [faithfully] in awe of Allah [as they realize the compatibility of revealed information with discovered information]: verily, Allah is grand, very forgiving.

Surely those who arrange Allah’s Book in sequence [and succession] and socialize the ṣalāh and spend, privately and publicly, of what We provide them — they are the ones who anticipate [a payback of] a bargain that keeps on paying —

[And for these deeds] He compensates them with their just rewards and adds on to that from His profusion: surely, He is very forgiving, very appreciative.

And [remember that] what We have revealed to you [O Muhammad] of scripture is truth and justice that certifies the scriptures preceding it: surely, Allah is well-versed and well aware of His subjects.

Then [with regard to those past revelations] We passed on the responsibility of scripture to those subjects of Ours [the devoted followers of prophets and scriptures] whom We especially selected: out of them [in the course of time] there were those who did injustice to themselves, and those who were average [middle of the road, commonsensical], and those who, by Allah’s leave, would initiate endeavors of prosperity — [and] this is an astounding advantage.

[And for the latter, there shall be] stable estate gardens that they will enter, therein to be adorned with charms of gold and pearls, and therein to be attired in garments of silk;

And they will say, “All appreciation belongs to Allah who has caused sorrow to go away from us: for, surely, our Sustainer is very forgiving, very grateful —

He who, out of His abundance, destined us to the abode of permanent residence, wherein we are not exposed to hard work and wherein we experience no fatigue.

But as for those who rejected [Our power and authority], theirs shall be the fire of Hell: they will not be terminated [there] to die and they will not experience a reduction of its torment. It is in such a manner that We pay back every hardcore kāfir.

And in there [Hell], they [the kāfirs] will cry out loud, “O our Sustainer! Eject us [from this hellhole] and we will do what is right and righteous — not like what we did [when we were back in the world].” [But We shall answer], “Did We not give you a [long enough] lifespan to think through what you were doing [on earth], and [furthermore, did not] a warner come to you [and caution you lest you wind up where you are now]? For that reason, experience [and endure such suffering] as people having [a record of] worldly injustice can count on no one to come to their support [here and now, when the results are already in].”

Indeed, Allah is exceptionally aware of all that is unknown [to the human mind] of the heavens and earth; He is, indeed, particularly aware of what is hidden inside the heart of hearts [of people].

He it is who caused you to be successors [of His will] on earth. So whoever rejects [Him in carrying out the responsibilities thereof] will be accountable for his rejection, and not only will the kāfirs’ kufr compound Allah’s unpleasantness toward them, the kāfirs’ kufr will escalate their own loss.

Say [O Muhammad, to the kāfirs], “Ponder the god-equivalents that you call upon besides Allah. Show me what they created out of the earth or do they have, in your opinion, a divinity restricted to heaven?” Or did We grant them a scripture upon which they could pursue a path of proof [and substantiation of their view]? Rather, people of injustice [and bias] promise each other nothing but pompous delusion.

Surely, Allah secures the galaxies and the earth lest they become extinct; and if they were to vanish there is no one who could secure them after He ceases to do so. Indeed, He has been [and is] ever-forbearing, very forgiving.

And they [the rejectionists of God’s authority and power] swore by Allah with their most emphatic oaths that if a warner were to come to them, they would follow his guidance better than any preceding society [of past times had followed the warners sent to them], but now that a warner [Muhammad] has come to them they display larger-than-life aversion [to him],

As a matter of arrogance on earth and a malevolent conspiracy — and a malevolent conspiracy is bound to blowback on its instigators: for would they consider [Allah’s] social laws to be only relevant to people of past history? Regardless, you will not find an alternative to Allah’s social law and you will not find a redirection to Allah’s social law.

Have they not traveled throughout the world to see what was fated to those [deniers of God’s power and authority] who preceded them and were so much mightier than they were? [Can they not see that] nothing can challenge Allah in the heavens or on earth, since, most certainly, He has been [and will always be] very well-versed, and very prevailing?

Now if Allah were to [at once] hold people to account for what they are in the habit of committing [of crimes] He would not spare one single moving creature on the surface of the earth; rather, He defers them to an appointed time — and when their appointed time arrives, [verily they will come to know that] Allah has forever been observant of His subjects.