46al-AḥqāfThe Sand Dunesسُورَةُ الأحقاف

Ḥā-Mīm [Ḥ-M].

[With such letters of your alphabet] the divine Writ [is] conveyed from Allah, the Grand, the Wise.

We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything in between them except in the manner of truth and justice and for a time period [whose duration is] decreed [by Us]: yet, those who reject [Our power and potential] stand askance of the [divine] warnings offered to them.

Say [O Muhammad, to the mushriks], “Reflect on those [artificial deities/authorities] who you call upon to the exclusion of Allah! Show me what they have created out of the earth [and its elements]; or do they have corresponding rival deities in the heavens? [If so], produce for me a scripture preceding this one [the Qur’an] or [bring me] any trace of [substantial] knowledge — if what you say is the truth.”

And who could be more in the wrong than he who calls [upon deities/authorities] to the exclusion of Allah — those [types of idol deities] who will not be able to respond to him [an inability that will continue] until the Day of Resurrection, and [furthermore] they [the dumb idol deities] are not even aware of such appeal?

And when people are assembled [on the Day of Judgement], they [the false man-designated godly authorities] will be enemies of those [who deified them] and [they will] dispute their godlike status [which they had been given when they were in worldly life].

And if Our miraculous āyāt are rehearsed for them in a clear manner, the God-deniers would say to truth and justice as it is delivered to them, “This is plain magic.”

Or they would say, “He [Muhammad] invented it [the Qur’an]!” Say [O Muhammad], “If I did invent it, you can do nothing to help me vis-à-vis Allah; He knows very well [the issues into] which you thoughtlessly immerse yourselves: suffice it that He is a witness between me and you! And [withal], He is forever the Forgiver, the Constantly Merciful.”

Say [O Muhammad], “I am not an anomaly as an apostle [sent by Allah] and I have no knowledge of what will happen to me or to you [in its exact timing]: for I am only an evident warner.”

Say [O Muhammad, to the deniers of Allah], “Have you deliberated [on how you will end up] if it [the Qur’an] is indeed from Allah, and you [nonetheless] reject it — even though a witness from the Children of Israel testified to its counterpart [the Torah] and then committed himself [to Allah], the while you were too arrogant to do so? Verily, Allah does not guide people who are unjust!”

And these God-deniers said to the God-affirmers, “If it [the Qur’an] was that good, they [the committed muslims] would not have preceded us to it!” And since they refuse to be guided by it [the Qur’an], they will always say, “These are ancient fairytales [and fabrications].”

And before it [the Qur’an], there was the divine writ of Mūsā, a guide and [an expression of Allah’s] grace; and this [Qur’an] is a Scripture that is a confirmation [of the Torah], in the Arabic tongue, to warn the oppressors and [to give] good news to those who seek perfection [according to Allah’s standard]:

For, certainly, those who say, “Our Sustainer is Allah,” and then are straightforward [in life] shall neither be fearful [of the future] nor regretful [of the past].

It is they who are the inhabitants of Paradise to dwell there forever as a recompense for what they did [while they lived their lives in a world of the past].

And We counseled man to [respectfully] do his [moral] best toward his parents: his mother bore him [in pregnancy] with great difficulty, and gave birth to him with great difficulty, and endured [the strenuous task of] his prenatal and weaning period for thirty months. And so, when he grows robustly to maturity and reaches the age of forty years, he [who is perceptive] says, “O my Sustainer! Motivate me to be thankful for Your blessings, which You have approved for me and my parents, and move me to do what is right and righteous so that You may be pleased, and rectify my progeny for me. I have, indeed, turned in repentance to You: for I am, surely, one of those who has yielded to You.”

From [such as] these do We accept the best of what they did, and We forgo their less-than-desirable acts, as they are shepherded into Paradise — in fulfillment of the promise of truth they were promised.

[Contrast that with] he who says to his [God-guided] parents, “I am fed up with both of you! Are you telling me that I will be brought back [to life] knowing that many generations have passed before my time [without anyone coming back to life]?!” And while they [the parents] fervently plead for Allah’s help [in witness of his recalcitrance], “Pity you! For, behold, Allah’s promise is always a matter of truth and justice,” he but replies, “This [opinion] is nothing but an antiquated mythology.”

It is [such as] these who, according to truth and justice, will incur the decree [of destruction from Allah], together with the nations of jinn and humankind preceding them — indeed, they were losers.

Each [individual and society, be they committed muslims or kāfirs] shall be evaluated in correspondence with their [situational] deeds and they will be compensated in accordance with their [overall] deeds [in the life to come] — and none shall be wronged.

And [there will be a] Day when the God-deniers shall be displayed in front of the Fire [and they will hear it said], “You did away with the wholesome deeds of life during your worldly lives and you enjoyed that [with little thought of final accountability]: and so, today, you will be paid back with the torment of humiliation because of your [past] arrogance on earth void of any truth and justice and because of your degenerate behavior [while you were in the world].”

And be mindful of the resident of [the tribal nation of] ‘Ād [Prophet Hūd] as he warned his society [located] at the [famous] sand dunes, [knowing that his warnings were] preceded by and would be followed by [such divine] warnings, “Conform to no one except Allah! Verily, I fear for you the torment of a breathtaking Day!”

They responded, “Have you come to us to divert us from our gods? And if so, then bring about that which you promise [will happen to us] if you are a man of truth!”

Said he, “The knowledge [of the timing of such events] rests with Allah: I [only] convey to you what I have been tasked with; however, I see that you are a people of ignorance [when it comes to man-to-God relations]!”

And [finally], when they saw it — appearing as a dangerous natural downpour on the horizon — approaching their valleys, they said, “This dangerous moving atmospheric system on the horizon is [about] to bring us rainfall.” [But Hūd said], “Rather, it is the very thing you were anxious to have happen — an airstream carrying with it painful suffering,

“Compelled to destroy everything [of your modernity] as per its Sustainer’s order.” The following morning nothing could be seen except for their [vacant] dwellings: in such a fashion do We requite a society that is against the law [of Allah].

And, surely, We gave them the means of power to flourish [within those worldly means of power] as We correspondingly did with you, and We endowed them with [the faculty of] hearing, and [the faculties of] perception, and heart and intellect: yet neither their hearing, nor their visions, nor their perceptive capacities were of any redeeming value because they denied the self-evident truth about Allah’s power presence and overwhelming authority; and eventually they were surrounded and enclosed by [the terrible punishment] they used to scorn.

And thus have We destroyed many [criminal] civil societies in your surrounding areas; but [before destroying any of them] We specified Our power presence to them so as to give them the opportunity to return [in their senses and in their societies to Us].

But, then, did the mediating gods they had allotted to themselves come to their support? No, they were nowhere to be found! [In the end] that was the result of their fabrications [about deities and authorities] and it was because of their allegations [that they on the Day of Accountability are forlorn].

And keep in mind that We caused a group of jinn to come your way [O Muhammad] and listen to the [articulation of the] Qur’an; and when they [the jinn] arrived they said [to each other], “Listen, without a sound [from any of you]!” And when the recitation [of the Qur’an] ended, they went back to their population with warnings [they heard from the Qur’an].

They said, “O our fellow [mortal beings]! We listened to a Book that was released after [that of] Mūsā, affirming what preceded it [of divine messages]: it guides to truth and justice and to a straightforward path.

“O our fellow [mortal beings]! Respond to Allah’s [prophet-] advocate and commit yourselves with him: [in doing so] many of your sins will be forgiven and He will save you from a very painful affliction.

“And whoever does not respond to Allah’s [prophet-] advocate should know that he cannot outmaneuver [Allah] on earth, nor can he have anyone to protect him to the exclusion of Allah: such are the ones who are in a manifest waywardness.”

Are they [the mushriks] not enlightened enough to know that Allah — the One who created the heavens and the earth and was not exhausted in creating them — is capable of bringing the dead back to life? Of course He can. Indeed, He is capable and has power over everything.

And [there will be] a Day when the God-deniers will be strutted forward, facing the Fire [whereupon they will be asked], “Is this [materialization of the Fire] not the result of truth and justice?” They will reply, “Of course, by Our Sustainer!” [And] He will say, “Then experience the torment due to your active denial [of Allah’s power and authority].”

Thus, be patient [O Muhammad], as prophets beyond the call of duty were patient. And do not wish for a hastened suffering [concerning the deniers of Allah]: on the Day when they see what [terrible torment] they were promised, [it will seem to them] as though [their worldly life] was but a [short] hour of a day! [This is] a news item [if ever there was one]. So, will any be destroyed except for degenerate folks?