In the name of God, the Almighty,¹ the Merciful.

¹ alif lām rā¹ Those² are the proofs³ of the Wise Writ.⁴

² Was it a wonder to men that We revealed¹ to a man among them: “Warn thou men, and bear thou glad tidings to those who heed warning,² that they have a precedence of honour³ in the sight of their Lord”? The false claimers of guidance⁴ say: “This is an obvious sorcerer.”⁵

³ Your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days,¹ then established Himself upon the Throne, directing the matter. There is no intercessor save after His leave; that is God, your Lord, so serve Him. Will you then not² take heed!

⁴ Unto Him is your return all together — the promise of God in truth.¹ He begins creation, then He repeats it that He might reward those who heed warning² and do righteous deeds with equity.³ And those who ignore warning⁴ will have a drink of scalding water and a painful punishment for what they denied.

⁵ He it is that made the sun an illumination, and the moon a light;¹ and He determined for it phases, that you might know the number of years and the reckoning. God created that not save in truth;² He sets out and details³ the proofs⁴ for people who know.

⁶ In the alternation of night and day, and what God has created in the heavens and the earth, are proofs¹ for people who are in prudent fear.²

⁷ Those who look not for the meeting with Us, and are pleased with the life of this world and are at rest therein, and those who are heedless of Our proofs,¹

⁸ Those: their shelter is Hell for what they earned.

⁹ Those who heed warning¹ and do righteous deeds: their Lord will guide them by their faith; there will flow beneath them rivers in the Gardens of Bliss.

¹⁰ Their supplication therein will be: “Glory¹ be to Thee, O God!” and their greeting therein will be: “Peace!” And the end of their supplication will be: “Praise belongs to God, the Lord of All Creation!”

¹¹ And were God to hasten for men the ill as they would hasten the good, their term would have been concluded for them. But We leave those who look not for the meeting with Us, wandering blindly in their inordinacy.

¹² And when affliction touches man, he calls to Us on his side, or sitting, or standing;¹ but when We remove from him his affliction, he passes by as though he had not called to Us about an affliction which touched him; thus is made fair to the committers of excess what they do.

¹³ And We destroyed the generations before you when they did wrong, and their messengers came to them with clear signs, but they were not to believe — thus reward We the lawbreaking people.

¹⁴ Then We appointed you successors in the earth after them, that We might see how you will do.

¹⁵ And when Our proofs¹ are recited to them as clear signs, those who look not for the meeting with Us say: “Bring thou a Qur’an² other than this; or change thou it.”³ Say thou: “It is not for me to change it of my own accord.⁴ I follow only what is revealed⁵ to me. I fear, if I should disobey my Lord, the punishment of a tremendous day.”

¹⁶ Say thou: “Had God willed, I would not have recited it to you, nor would He have made it known to you; for I had tarried among you a lifetime before it.” Will you then not¹ use reason!²

¹⁷ Then who is more unjust than he who invents a lie about God, or denies His proofs?¹ The lawbreakers are not successful.

¹⁸ And they serve, besides¹ God, what neither harms them nor benefits them; and they say: “These are our intercessors with God.” Say thou: “Would you inform God of what He knows not in the heavens or in the earth?” Glory² be to Him! And exalted is He above that to which they ascribe a partnership!³

¹⁹ And mankind was only one community, then they differed; and were it not for a word that preceded from thy Lord,¹ it would have been concluded between them concerning that wherein they differ.

²⁰ (And they say: “Oh, that a proof¹ were but² sent down upon him from his Lord!” Say thou: “The Unseen belongs only to God; so wait — I am with you waiting.”³

²¹ And when We let men taste mercy after affliction has touched them, then have they a scheme concerning Our proofs.¹ Say thou: “God is swifter in scheme!” Our messengers² write down what you scheme.

²³ Then when He delivers them, they rebel in the earth without cause.¹) O mankind: your sectarian zealotry² is but against yourselves, — the enjoyment of the life of this world — then to Us is your return and We will inform you of what you did.

²⁴ The likeness of the life of this world is but like water We send down from the sky, and the plants of the earth mingle with it, whereof men and cattle eat: when¹ the earth has taken her decoration, and is made fair, and its people think they have power over it, Our command comes by night or by day, and We make it reaped as if it had not flourished the day before² — thus do We set out and detail³ the proofs⁴ for people who reflect.

²⁵ And God calls to the Abode of Peace, and guides whom He wills to a straight path.

²⁶ For those who do good is the best and more; and there will cover their faces neither dust¹ nor disgrace. Those are the companions of the Garden; therein they abide eternally.

²⁷ And for those who earn evil deeds¹ is a reward for evil² by the like thereof; and disgrace will cover them — they will not have against God any defender — as if their faces were covered with pieces of darkening night. Those are the companions of the Fire; therein they abide eternally.

²⁸ And the day We gather them all together, then will We say to those who ascribe a partnership:¹ “Your places — you and your partners!”² Then We will separate them, and their partners³ will say: “It was not us you served.

²⁹ “Sufficient is God as witness between us and you; we were, of your service, unaware.”

³⁰ Thereupon will every soul prove¹ what it did before; and they will be returned to God, their protector, the Truth;² and strayed from them will be what they invented.

³¹ Say thou: “Who provides for you from the heaven and the earth?” If¹ He who owns the hearing and the sight, and He who brings forth the living from the dead and brings forth the dead from the living, and He who directs the matter² — then will they say: “God”³ — then say thou: “Will you then not⁴ be in prudent fear!”

³² For that is God, your Lord, the Truth;¹ then what is there after the truth but error? How then are you diverted?

³³ Thus¹ did the word of thy Lord become binding² upon those who are perfidious,³ that they do not believe.⁴

³⁴ Say thou: “Is there among your partners¹ one that begins creation then repeats it?” Say thou: “God begins creation then repeats it; how then are you deluded?”

³⁵ Say thou: “Is there among your partners¹ one that guides to the truth?”² Say thou: “God guides to the truth;³ is then He who⁴ guides to the truth⁵ worthier⁶ to be followed, or he who guides not save he be guided? Then what ails you? How judge you?”

³⁶ And most of them follow only assumption;¹ assumption avails nothing against the truth.² God knows what they do.

³⁷ And this Qur’an¹ is not such as could be invented by other than² God; but it is a confirmation of what is before it,³ and an exposition of the Writ about which there is no doubt,⁴ from the Lord of All Creation.

³⁸ If¹ they say: “He invented it,”² say thou: “Bring a sūrah³ the like thereof; and call whom you can⁴ besides⁵ God, if you be truthful.”⁶

³⁹ The truth is,¹ they have denied what they compassed not in knowledge, and whose interpretation has not yet come to them. Thus denied those before them. Then see thou how was the final outcome of the wrongdoers.²

⁴⁰ And among them is he who believes in¹ it; and among them is he who believes not in² it. And thy Lord best knows the workers of corruption.

⁴¹ And if they deny thee, then say thou: “To me be my work, and to you be your work; you are quit of what I do, and I am quit of what you do.”

⁴² And among them are some who listen to thee — canst thou make the deaf to hear, though they do not reason?

⁴³ And among them is he who looks at thee — canst thou guide the blind when they do not see?

⁴⁴ God wrongs not men in anything; but men wrong their souls.

⁴⁵ And the day He gathers them will be as if they had tarried only an hour of the day: they will recognise one another; those will have lost who denied the meeting with God and were not guided.

⁴⁶ And whether We show thee some of what We promise them, or We take thee: to Us is their return; then is God witness over what they do.

⁴⁷ And for every community¹ is a messenger; then when their messenger comes, it will be concluded between them with equity,² and they will not be wronged.

⁴⁸ And they say: “When is this promise, if you¹ be truthful?”²

⁴⁹ Say thou: “I have power to do myself neither harm nor benefit save that God should will.” For every community is a term; when their term comes, then they will not defer an hour, nor will they advance.¹