An-Nahl

The Hour and the punishment that Allah has decreed for you - O disbelievers - is close, so do not ask for it to come sooner than its time. Exalted is He and High above that which they associate with Him in their worship.

He sends down the angels to whichever of His Messengers He wills with revelation that brings life to the souls: Saying: Warn O Messengers, the people against associating partners with Allah, for there is no one deserving of worship besides Me. Be mindful of me - O People - by fulfilling my instructions and avoiding my prohibitions.

Allah created the heavens and the earth without any precedent for a true purpose. He did not create them in vain, but created them to serve as a sign of His greatness. He is Exalted and high above their ascribing others as partners to Him.

He created man from a despised drop of fluid who then progressed from one form to another until he became a harsh contender using falsehood to attempt to invalidate with it the truth, being an obvious opponent in his arguing.

He also created livestock such as camels, cattle and goats for your benefit - O People. Some of these benefits include deriving warmth from their wool and hair and other benefits from their milk, skin and backs. Some of them serve as food that you eat.

There is beauty in them for you in the evening and in the morning when you take them out to graze.

These livestock that We created for you carry your heavy goods when you travel to places that you would only be able to reach after bearing great hardship on yourselves. Your Lord - O People - is Kind and Merciful to you as He has subjugated these livestock to you.

He created horses, mules and donkeys for you to ride and carry your goods on and for them to be an adornment for you that you can beautify yourselves with amongst people. He will create in the future means of transport and other things that you do not know about.

Allah has made it a duty upon Himself to show the Path that leads to His Pleasure, which is Islam. Some paths are that of Satan that deviate away from the truth. Any path other than the path of Islam is deviated. Had Allah willed to guide you all to Faith He would have guided you alltogether.

He, may He be glorified, is the One Who sent down for you water from the clouds. From this water you have a drink that you and your livestock can drink of. From it you get vegetation on which you can graze your animals.

With that water, Allah grows for you the crops that you eat. He also grows for you olives, date-palms and grapes as well as other types of fruit. In that water and the things that it gives rise to there is a sign of Allah’s power for people who ponder over His creation and use it as evidence of Allah’s greatness.

Allah subjugated the night for you so that you can find peace and rest in it, and the day so that you can earn your livelihood in it. He put the sun at your service and made it bright and the moon, which He made a light. The stars are subjugated for you by His decree, which you use for navigation in the darknesses of the sea and land and by which you come to know time etc. In the subjugation of all of these things there are clear signs of Allah’s power for people who apply their minds, for they are the ones who will grasp the wisdom in them.

He, may He be glorified, also subjugated for you the things on earth that He created having diverse colours such as minerals, animals, plants and crops. In what He has created and subjugated for you there is a clear sign of Allah’s power for people to pay heed and realise that Allah is a powerful benefactor.

He, may He be glorified, is the One Who subjugated the sea for you and enabled you to travel on it and to extract what is in it, so that you can eat the fresh and soft meat of the fish that you catch and that you can extract from it jewellery that you and your wives can wear such as pearls and coral. You see the ships splitting the waves of the ocean and you travel on these ships in search of Allah's bounty in the form of profit you gain from trade. All of this is for you to be grateful to Allah for the favours He has given you and to worship Him alone.

He spread out mountains on earth to keep it firm so that it does not shake and cause you to become unsettled. He caused rivers to flow so that you can drink from them and give water to your livestock and crops. He split in it pathways for you to tread and reach your destinations without losing your way.

He made for you on earth clear landmarks that you could be guided by when travelling during the day. He also made for you stars in the sky that you could use as a guide at night.

Is the one who creates all these things like the one who does not create anything?! Do you not think about the greatness of Allah who created everything and worship Him alone without ascribing as partners to Him what has not created anything?

If you - O people - tried to count and list Allah’s many blessings that He has favoured you with, you will not be able to do so because they are so numerous and diverse. Allah is Forgiving, as He did not take you to task for being neglectful of showing thanks to Him, and Merciful, as he did not stop these blessings from you on account of your sins and failure to thank Him.

Allah knows the actions that you - O servants - conceal and those that you reveal. None of those actions are hidden from Him and He will recompense you for them.

Those whom the idolaters worship besides Allah, do not create anything no matter how little. Those who worship them besides Allah are the ones who make them. How do they worship besides Allah those idols which they make with their own hands?!

Despite the fact that the idol worshippers made their gods with their own hands, they are also lifeless things that have no life nor knowledge. They do not know when they will be resurrected with their worshippers on the Day of Judgement, to be thrown together with them into the fire of Hell.

The only being that truly deserves to be worshipped is only one being who has no partner and that is Allah. Those who deny the resurrection and the recompense, their hearts are arrogant and they do not fear the reckoning. They therefore do not believe that there will be any reckoning or retribution. They are arrogant and refuse to accept the truth.

Truly, Allah knows the actions that these people conceal and He knows the actions they reveal. Nothing is hidden from Him and He will recompense them for that. He, may He be glorified, does not love those who are too proud to worship and submit to Him. Instead he detests such people intensely.

When these people who deny the oneness of the Creator and who reject the resurrection are asked: What did Allah reveal to Muhammad (peace be upon him)? They say: He did not reveal anything to him. It is only that he himself has brought stories and fables of the earlier ones.

So that their outcome will be that they will bear their sins without any reduction, and they will also bear some of the sins of those they misled from Islam on account of ignorance and blind imitation. How terrible will be that which they will carry from their own sins and the sins of their followers.

The disbelievers before these people devised plots against their Messengers. Allah then destroyed their buildings from the foundations and as a result their roofs fell on them from above. The punishment came to them from where they did not expect as they had expected their buildings to protect them but they were destroyed by them.

Then on the Day of Judgment Allah will humiliate and disgrace them with His punishment and He will say to them: Where are my partners whom you used to associate with me in worship and because of which you used to oppose the prophets and the believers? Those who were righteous scholars will then say:: Indeed! Humilation and torment on this Day will necessarily cover the disbelievers.

Those whose souls are taken by the angel of death and his aides while wronging themselves in their disbelief will submit with full surrender when death actually comes to them, and they will deny the disbelief and sins they used to do, thinking that such denial will be of benefit to them. It will be said to them: You have lied. You were disbelievers who used to commit sin. Allah knows everything that you used to do in the world. Nothing is hidden from Him and He will recompense you for that.

It will be said to them: Enter in accordance with your deeds through the doors of Hell to live therein forever. What an evil place of residence for those who were too arrogant to have faith in Allah and worship Him alone.

Yet those who were mindful of their Lord by fulfilling His instructions and avoiding His prohibitions were asked: What did your Lord send down to your Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)? They replied: Allah has sent down on him great good. For those who worshipped Allah well and treated His creation well in this worldly life there is an excellent reward including victory and abundance of sustenance. And the reward that Allah has prepared for them in the Hearafter will be better then what He has already given them in the world. What an excellent home is the home of the afterlife for those who are mindful of their Lord by fulfilling His instructions and avoiding His prohibitions!

They will enter gardens of residence and permanence with rivers flowing below their palaces and trees. In these gardens they will have every type of food, drink and other pleasures that they desire. This type of reward, which He gives to those who are mindful from the nation of Muhammad (peace be upon him), He also gives to those who were mindful from the previous communities.

Those whose souls are taken by the angel of death and his aides while their hearts were free from disbelief, the angels will address them saying: Peace be on you. You are safe from every difficulty. Enter paradise because of the correct belief and good actions that you used to do in the world.

Are these denying idolaters waiting for anything but the angel of death and his aides to come to take their souls and strike their faces and their backs, or for Allah’s command to come to eradicate them by means of a punishment in the world? Similar to those idolaters who came before who were destroyed because if their idolatry; so too the idolaters of Makkah may perhaps meet the same fate. Allah did not wrong them when He destroyed them but they wronged their own souls by bringing them to the point of destruction because of their disbelief in Allah.

So the retribution of the actions they used to do came down on them and they were surrounded by the punishment they used to mock at whenever they were reminded of it.

Those who associated others with Allah in their worship said: Had Allah willed for us to worship Him alone and not to ascribe any partners to Him, we would not have worshipped anything besides Him, neither us, nor our ancestors before us. Had He willed for us not to prohibit anything we would not have done so. The disbelievers of the past also presented such false arguments. The duty of the Messengers is only to clearly communicate what they have been instructed to convey and they have done so. The disbelievers cannot present fate as an argument after Allah has given them free will and choice and sent to them His Messengers.

We had sent to every previous nation a Messenger instructing his nation to worship Allah alone, and leave the worship of others beside Him such as idols, satans etc. Some of them were guided by Allah and had faith in Him, while others rejected Allah and went against His Messenger so He did not guide them and they deserved misguidance. So travel through the earth to see for yourselves what the end result of the deniers was after the punishment and destruction came upon them.

Even though you - O Messenger - try everything you can to call these people being so eager for their guidance, Allah will not guide those whom He misguides and they will have none besides Allah to assist them by protecting them from the punishment.

These deniers swore their most serious oaths: Allah will not resurrect anyone who dies, without their having any proof of that. Yes indeed, Allah will resurrect everyone who dies, being His binding promise, because the one who brought them to life from non-existence without any precedent is able to bring them back to life after having caused them to die. But most people do not know that Allah will resurrect the dead and they therefore deny the resurrection.

Allah will resurrect them all on the Day of Judgement to make clear to them the things they differed about such as His Oneness, the resurrection and prophethood and so that the disbelievers may realise that they were false in their claim of Allah’s having partners and in their denial of the resurrection.

Indeed when I want to bring the dead to life and ressurect them then there will be nothing to prevent Me from doing so. When We will something to happen, all that We say is, ‘Be,’ and it definitely becomes.

Those who left their homes, families and wealth emigrating from the land of disbelief to the land of Islam in search for Allah’s pleasure after having been persecuted by the disbelievers, we will make them settle in the world in a place in which they will be honoured. But the reward of the afterlife is greater because it includes paradise. If those who remained behind from emigration knew the reward of those who emigrate they would not have remained behind.

These emigrants in Allah’s way are the ones who were patient against the harm of their people and the separation from their families and homes. They were steadfast in Allah’s obedience. They rely only on their Lord in all their affairs and Allah therefore gave them this great reward.

I did not send before you - O Messenger - except men who were human beings, to whom I sent revelation. I did not send Messengers that were angels. This is Our constant practice. If you all deny that then ask the people of the previous scriptures and they will tell you that Messengers were on;y human beings.

We sent those Messengers from amongst humans with clear signs and revealed scriptures. We have revealed to you, O Messenger, the Qur’ān so that you can give people the explanation they require and so that they can apply their minds and take a lesson from what it contains.

Do those who make plots to prevent people from Allah’s path feel secure that Allah will not cause the earth to cave in with them as He caused it to cave in with Qarun, or that the punishment will not come to them from where they least expect.

Or that the punishment will not afflict them whilst they are going about on their journeys and in their quest for earnings. They will not escape nor protect themselves from it.

Or do they feel secure that Allah’s punishment will not come to them while they are afraid of it? Allah is able to punish them in every condition. Your Lord is compassionate and merciful. He does not take retribution hastily for perhaps His servants will turn to Him in repentance.

Do these deniers not look with contemplation at His creation? Their shadows incline right and left following the movement of the sun in the day and that of the moon at night, in humility and prostration to their Lord, whilst they are submissive to Allah and are subject to His domination.

It is to Allah alone that all creatures in the heavens and on earth prostrate. It is to Him alone that the angels prostrate. They are not too proud to worship Allah and obey Him.

They - despite their constant worship and obedience - fear their Lord who is above them by His Self, Dominance and Authority and they carry out the acts of obedience that their Lord instructs them to.

Allah, may He be glorified, said to all His servants: Do not take two beings of worship. The being deserving of worship is only one who has no second nor any partner. So fear Me only and do not fear others besides Me.

To Him alone belongs everything in the heavens and on earth: He created, owns and controls all of it. To Him alone obedience, submission and sincerity is due always. Will you, then, fear anyone other than Allah? No, instead fear Him alone!

Whatever blessing you - O people - have in this world or in the afterlife is from Allah, may He be glorified, and not from anyone else. Then when some calamity, sickness or poverty afflicts you, it is to Him alone that you plead in supplication to remove what has afflicted you. Thus, the One who grants blessings and who removes difficulties is the One Who must be worshipped alone.

Then when He answers your prayer and removes the harm from you, a group of you begin associating partners with their Lord and worshipping others with Him. What unjust behaviour is this!

Their associating partners with Allah meant that they in fact reject Allah’s favours to them, including Allah saving them from their distress after they had called on Him alone. It was therefore said to them: Enjoy the luxuries that you have until Allah’s penalty comes to you sooner or later.

The idolaters allocate to their idols, which do not know anything - as they are lifeless objects that can neither benefit nor harm - a portion of the wealth that We provided for them, as a means of seeking closeness to those idols. By Allah, you - O idolaters - will be questioned on the Day of Judgement about your assertions that these idols are gods and that they are entitled to a portion of your wealth.

The idolaters attribute daughters to Allah and they believe that these are the angels. Thus they attribute lineage to Allah and select for him what they do not like for themselves. He is Pure, Glorified and Sanctified from what they assign to Him. They assign for themselves the male offspring that they desire. What crime is greater than this?!

When one of these idolaters is given the news of the birth of a female his face darkens due to the extreme dislike of such news and his heart is filled with worry and grief. Then, he attributes to Allah what he does not like for himself!

He hides from his people because of the bad news of the birth of a girl that was given to him. He asks himself: Shall he keep this girl that he was given news of with humiliation and dejection, or shall he bury her alive and hide her in the dust? How evil is the decision that the idolaters make when they assigned to their Lord what they detest for themselves.

It is those who do not believe in the Hereafter who have a lower description; such as ignorance, disbelief, as well as the need to have offspring. Allah has the praiseworthy attributes of majesty, perfection, independence and knowledge. He, may He be glorified, is Mighty in His kingdom and nothing can overcome Him. He is Wise in His creation, planning and legislation.

If Allah, may He be glorified, were to punish mankind for their injustices and for their rejection of Him, He would not leave on earth a single human being or animal that walks on its surface. But He, may He be glorified, postpones them until a time that is fixed in His knowledge. Then, when that time that is fixed in His knowledge comes, they will not delay it nor will they advance it for even a short while.

They assign to Allah, may He be glorified, females that they dislike to attribute to themselves. They claim falsely that if indeed they are resurrected then they will have the best ranks with Allah. Truly, for them is the Fire, and they will be left therein never to come out of it.

By Allah, We sent Messengers to communities before you - O Messenger, but Satan made their evil deeds of idolatry, disbelief and sins seem good to them. He is their so-called helper on the Day of Judgement so let them ask him for help. They will have a painful punishment of the Day of Judgement.

We did not reveal the Qur’ān to you, O Messenger, except for you to make clear to all people what they differ about in respect of Allah’s oneness, resurrection and the details of the sacred law, and for the Qur’ān to be a guidance and mercy for those who have faith in Allah, His Messengers and all what the Qur’ān came with, for they are the ones who will truly benefit.

Allah sends down rain from the direction of the sky, with which He revives the earth by taking out vegetation from it after it had been dry and arid. In the sending down of the rain from the direction of the sky and in the taking out of the earth’s vegetation by means of it, is a clear sign of Allah’s power for people who listen to the words of Allah and ponder over them.

There is a lesson for you to take - O people - in camels, cows and goats: We give you to drink from their udders milk that comes out from in between the waste that the stomach contains and the blood that is in the body. Despite this it comes out as pure milk that is tasty and pleasant to those who drink it.

There is a lesson for you in the provision We give you from the fruits of date palms and grapes. From them you make intoxicants that affect the mind, which are not good, and you also take from them a good provision that is of benefit to you such as dates, raisins, vinegar and trickle. In this there truly is a sign of Allah’s power and favour to His servants for people who use their reason, for they are the ones who take heed.

Your Lord, O Messenger, inspired the bees and guided them saying, “Make homes for yourselves in the mountains, in the trees and in the structures and shelters that people build.”

“Then eat of all the fruits you desire, and go along the pathways that your Lord inspires you to take that are made easy for you.” From the bellies of those bees emerges honey of different colours, such as white, yellow and other colours, which contains a cure for people that they can use to treat their sick. Surely in such inspiring of bees and in the honey that emerges from their bellies is a sign of Allah’s power and planning of the affairs of His creation for people who reflect, for they are the ones who take heed.

Allah created you without a precedent; then He will cause you to die when your term of life ends. The lifespan of some of you will be extended to the worst stage of life, which is the severe old-age, when a person will no longer know anything of what he used to know. Allah is knowing, and no action of His servants is hidden from Him. He is powerful and nothing can overpower Him.

Allah, may He be glorified, has given some of you preference over others in the provision that He has granted you and has made some you some of you rich and others poor, some of you leaders and others subjects. Those whom Allah has given preference in provision are not willing to pass on what Allah has given them to their servants, so that they become equal partners in the ownership thereof. How then are they pleased for Allah to have partners from amongst His servants when they are not pleased for themselves to have partners from amongst their servants who are equal to them? What injustice is this and what rejection of Allah’s favours can be worse than this?!

Allah has made for you - O people - spouses from your species whose company you can enjoy. He has made for you from your spouses children and grandchildren; and has provided you with wholesome foods such as meat, grains and fruit. Will they then believe in false idols and statues, and reject Allah's innumerable favours and not thank Him by having faith in Him alone?!

These idolaters worship, besides Allah, idols who have no power to provide them with any provision from the heavens or the earth and they will never be able to do so because they are inanimate objects that have no life or knowledge.

So - O People - do not make similarities for Allah from these idols that do not benefit nor harm. Allah has no likeness that you can associate with Him in worship. Allah knows the attributes of majesty and perfection that are His and you do not know that and as a result you ascribe partners to Him and claim that your idols are similar to Him.

Allah, may He be glorified, strikes an example to refute the idolaters: A bonded slave that is unable to do anything and who has nothing to spend as compared to a free person to whom We have given from our side lawful wealth that he uses as he wills and spends from it secretly and openly as he wills. These two men are not equal. How then do you make Allah who is the Owner of everything, who spends in His dominion and does what He wills, equal to those powerless idols? Praise be to Allah Who is deserving of all praise. Rather, most of the idolaters do not know that Allah is Single in His divinity and that He alone deserves to be worshipped.