الم
Alif. Lām. Mīm. (1)
تِلْكَ آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ الْحَكِيمِ
THESE ARE MESSAGES of the divine writ, full of wisdom, (2)
هُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لِلْمُحْسِنِينَ
providing guidance and grace unto the doers of good (3)
الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ بِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ
who are constant in prayer and dispense charity: for it is they, they who in their innermost are certain of the life to come! (4)
أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
It is they who follow the guidance [that comes to them] from their Sustainer; and it is they, they who shall attain to a happy state! (5)
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَشْتَرِي لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَهَا هُزُوًا أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ
But among men there is many a one that prefers a mere play with words [to divine guidance], so as to lead [those] without knowledge astray from the path of God, and to turn it to ridicule: for such there is shameful suffering in store. (6)
وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا وَلَّىٰ مُسْتَكْبِرًا كَأَنْ لَمْ يَسْمَعْهَا كَأَنَّ فِي أُذُنَيْهِ وَقْرًا فَبَشِّرْهُ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ
For whenever Our messages are conveyed to such a one, he turns away in his arrogance as though he had not heard them – as though there were deafness in his ears: give him, then, the tiding of grievous suffering [in the life to come]. (7)
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتُ النَّعِيمِ
[As against this,] verily, those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds shall have gardens of bliss, (8)
خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقًّا وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
to abide therein in accordance with God's true promise: for He alone is almighty, truly wise. (9)
خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ بِغَيْرِ عَمَدٍ تَرَوْنَهَا وَأَلْقَىٰ فِي الْأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ وَأَنْزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَنْبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ زَوْجٍ كَرِيمٍ
He [it is who] has created the skies without any supports that you could see, and has placed firm mountains upon the earth, lest it sway with you, and has caused all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon. And We send down water from the skies, and thus We cause every noble kind [of life] to grow on earth. (10)
هَٰذَا خَلْقُ اللَّهِ فَأَرُونِي مَاذَا خَلَقَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ دُونِهِ بَلِ الظَّالِمُونَ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ
[All] this is God's creation: show Me, then, what others than He may have created! Nay, but the evildoers are obviously lost in error! (11)
- He [it is who] has created the skies without any supports that you could see,7 and has placed firm mountains upon the earth, lest it sway with you,8 and has caused all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon. And We9 send down water from the skies, and thus We cause every noble kind [of life] to grow on earth.10
- 7 See note 4 on 13:2.
- 8 See note 11 on 16:15.
- 9 This is another of the many Qur'anic instances where the personal pronoun relating to God is suddenly changed - in this instance, from "He" to "We" - in order to indicate that God, being infinite, cannot be circumscribed by any pronoun applicable to created, finite beings, and that the use of such pronouns with reference to Him is no more than a concession to the limited nature of every human language.
- 10 Lit., "thereon". As in 26:7, the term zawi has here the significance of "a kind".
- He created the heavens without any pillars that ye3587 can see; He set on the earth mountains3588 standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds.3589 We send down rain3590 from the sky, and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature, in pairs.3591
- 3587 Cf. 13:2 and n. 1800.
- 3588 Cf. 16:15 and n. 2038.
- 3589 Cf. 2:164 and n. 166.
- 3590 Note the change of the pronoun at this stage in the verse. Before this, Allah was spoken of in the third person. "He", and the acts of Creation referred to were acts that, in the main, were completed when the universe as we see it came into being, though its slow age-long evolution continues. After this, Allah speaks in the first person "We "-the plural of honour, as explained before (see n. 56 to 2:38); and the processes spoken of are those that go on continually before us, as in the case of rain and the growth of the vegetable kingdom. In some way the creation of the heavens and the earth and animal life on it may be considered impersonal to man, while the processes of rain and vegetation may be considered in special personal relationship to him.
- 3591 I think that sex life in plants is referred to, as in 13:3, where see n. 1804, though the pairs here may refer to animals also. "Noble" (karim) may refer to the more beneficent plants and trees (and animals), which Allah has created for man's use.
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He created the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; He set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds. We send down rain from the sky, and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature, in pairs.
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
He hath created the heavens without supports that ye can see, and hath cast into the earth firm hills, so that it quake not with you; and He hath dispersed therein all kinds of beasts. And We send down water from the sky and We cause (plants) of every goodly kind to grow therein.
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
He created the heavens without pillars as you see them, and put mountains upon the earth lest it might convulse with you, and He spread in it animals of every kind; and We sent down water from the cloud, then caused to grow therein (vegetation) of every noble kind.
— M. Habib Shakir -
He has created the heavens without any pillars, that you see and has set on the earth firm mountains, lest it should shake with you. And He has scattered therein moving (living) creatures of all kinds. And We send down water (rain) from the sky, and We cause (plants) of every goodly kind to grow therein.
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
He hath created the heavens that ye behold without pillars and hath cast Into the earth firm mountains lest it move away with you; and He hath scattered thereon every kind of animal. And We send down water from the heaven and We make grow every kind of goodly growth therein.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
He created the heavens without pillars that you see and cast on the earth firm mountains lest it should shake with you. Upon it He dispersed all manner of crawling thing, and He sent down water from the sky with which He caused to grow in it every generous kind.
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
He created the heavens without pillars that you can see, and He cast firm mountains in the earth, lest it should shake with you, and He spread in it all types of creatures. And We sent down water from heaven, then caused to grow therein of every fine kind.
— Ayub Khan -
He has created the heavens without any pillars that you can see, and He has placed in the earth firm mountains that it may not quake with you, and He has spread therein all kinds of creatures; and We have sent down water from the clouds, and have caused to grow therein of every fine species.
— Sher Ali -
He [it is who] has created the skies without any supports that you could see, and has placed firm mountains upon the earth, lest it sway with you, and has caused all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon.
And We send down water from the skies, and thus We cause every noble kind [of life] to grow on earth.
— Muhammad Asad -
He created the heavens without pillars you can see, and He cast on the earth firm mountains, lest it shake with you, and He scattered abroad in it all manner of crawling thing. And We sent down out of heaven water, and caused to grow in it of every generous kind.
— Arthur Arberry -
He{{12}} created the heavens without any pillars visible to you{{13}} and He placed mountains in the earth as pegs lest it should turn topsy turvy with you,{{14}} and He dispersed all kinds of animals over the earth, and sent down water from the sky causing all kinds of excellent plants to grow on it.
— Abu'l Ala Maududi