Quran — Page 591

CONSIDER the heavens and that which comes in the night!

And what could make thee conceive what it is that comes in the night?

It is the star that pierces through [life's] darkness:

[for] no human being has ever been left unguarded.

LET MAN, then, observe out of what he has been created:

he has been created out of a seminal fluid

issuing from between the loins [of man] and the pelvic arch [of woman].

Now, verily, He [who thus creates man in the first instance] is well able to bring him back [to life]

on the Day when all secrets will be laid bare,

and [man] will have neither strength nor helper!

Consider the heavens, ever-revolving,

and the earth, bursting forth with plants!

BEHOLD, this [divine writ] is indeed a word that between truth and falsehood,

and is no idle tale.

Behold, they [who refuse to accept it] devise many a false argument [to disprove its truth];

but I shall bring all their scheming to nought.

Let, then, the deniers of the truth have their will: let them have their will for a little while.

EXTOL the limitless glory of thy Sustainer's name: [the glory of] the Al-Highest,

who creates [every thing], and thereupon forms it in accordance with what it is meant to be,

and who determines the nature [of all that exists], and thereupon guides it [towards its fulfilment],

and who brings forth herbage,

and thereupon causes it to decay into rust-brown stubble!

WE SHALL teach thee, and thou wilt not forget [aught of what thou art taught],

save what God may will [thee to forget] - for, verily, He [alone] knows all that is open to [man's] perception as well as all that is hidden [from it]

and [thus] shall We make easy for thee the path towards [ultimate] ease.

REMIND, THEN, [others of the truth, regardless of] whether this reminding [would seem to] be of use [or not]:

in mind will keep it he who stands in awe [of God],

but aloof from it will remain that most hapless wretch –

he who [in the life to come] shall have to endure the great fire

wherein he will neither die nor remain alive.

To happiness [in the life to come] will indeed attain he who attains to purity [in this world],

and remembers his Sustainer's name, and prays [unto Him].