By the Name
God
the Fount-of-All-Mercy
the Ever-Merciful
grateful praise
belongs to God
Hu has sent down
upon Hu's servant
the Book
and has not
allowed for it
crookedness
straight
to warn of
great violence
from Hu directly
and to give
good news
to those who believe
and to those who
do good deeds
that for them
there is
an excellent reward
a home
where they
can stay forever
and to warn
those who say
"God has taken a son"
they have
no knowledge about this
neither them
nor their parents
monstrous speech
comes out of their mouths
they say
nothing but a lie
so that perhaps you might
eat yourself up
with sadness
chasing after them
with grief
if they do not believe
in these words
We have made
all that is on the earth
to make it beautiful
and so that
We could test them
which of them
is most fair
in what they do
and We will surely
make everything on it
lifeless dust
or do you think that
the Companions of the Cave
and what was written
of all Our Signs
they were more wonderful?
when the youths
took shelter
in the Cave
saying
"Our Liege
give us mercy
from You
and prepare us
to do what we do
with right action"
then We struck shut
their ears
in the Cave
for many years
then We raised them
so We might know
which of the two groups
would be better able
to work out
how long
they had been there
We will tell you
the truth of
their story
they were young people
who believed in their Liege
and We gave them
more and more
guidance
and We gave strength
to their hearts
when they stood up
and said
"Our Liege is
the Liege of
the heavens and the earth
we will not call out
to any god
apart from Hu
for then
what we were saying
would be an outrage
these people of ours
have taken other gods
apart from Hu
why have they not
been given
any clear authority
about them
but who does greater wrong
than someone who
invents lies
about God
so when you have
gone away from them
and what they serve
apart from God
take shelter
in the Cave
and your Liege
will spread out
Hu's mercy
for you
and provide you
with an easy way
to deal with
what is happening to you"
and you would have seen
the sun as it rose
slanting away from
their Cave
when it rose
and when it set
passing by them
on the left
while they were in
a wide gap
inside the Cave
that was one of
God's Signs
whoever God guides
is truly guided
and whoever
Hu leads to
the wrong way
you will not find
a protector
to guide them to
the right Way
you would have thought
they were awake
as they lay sleeping
while We turned them
now to the right
now to the left
and their dog
stretching its paws
at the entrance
if you had seen them
you would have
turned your back
and run away
filled with
fear of them
and so it was when
We woke them up again
so they could
question one another
one of them asked
"How long
have you been here?"
they said
"We have been here
for a day
or part of a day"
they said
"Your Liege knows best
how long
you have been here
send one of you
into the city
with this silver
and they can look
to see which of them
has the purest food
and bring some of it
for you to eat
and let them be polite
and tell no one about you
if they find out about you
they will stone you
or force you back
into their religion
then you will
have no success
ever"
and even so
We made them
stumble upon them
so they might know
that God's promise is true
and the Hour
there is no doubt of it
when they were arguing
amongst themselves
about the matter
they said
"Build over them
a building
their Liege
knows best about them"
but those who
won the argument
said
"We will build
over them
a place of worship"
they will say
"There were three
and their dog
was the fourth of them"
they will say
"Five
and their dog
was the sixth of them"
guessing at
what is not seen
they will say
"Seven
and their dog
was the eighth of them"
say
"My Liege
knows best
their number
and no one
knows about them
except a few"
so do not
argue with them
except in what is clear
and do not ask them
to tell you
anything about them
and do not say
about anything
"I will do that
tomorrow"
but only
"If God wills"
and remember
your Liege
when you forget
and say
"Perhaps my Liege
will guide me closer
to what is right"
and they stayed
in their Cave
for three hundred years
and to that
they added
nine more
say
"God knows best
how long they stayed
to Hu belongs
what is not seen
in the heavens and the earth
how well Hu sees
how well Hu hears
they have no one
to protect them
apart from Hu
and Hu
does not share
Hu's rule
with anyone
speak aloud
what has been
revealed to you
of the Book of your Liege
no-one can change
Hu's words
you will not find
apart from Hu
a place of safety
and have patience
yourself
along with those
who call to their Liege
at morning and evening
wanting Hu's face
and do not let
your eyes
turn away from them
wanting the attractions
of this world
and do not obey
the one whose heart
We have let neglect
remembering Us
so that they follow
their own desires
and their urges
know no bounds
say
"The truth
is from your Liege
so let whoever wills it
believe
and let whoever wills it
be ungrateful"
surely
We have made ready
for those who do wrong
a fire
whose tented walls
surround them
if they call for help
they will be helped
with water
like molten copper
that will scald their faces
how evil a drink
and how evil
a resting place
surely
those who believe
and do good deeds
surely
We will not let waste
the wages of the one
who does good deeds
those
theirs shall be
Gardens of Eden
with rivers flowing
beneath them
they will be
made beautiful
with bracelets of gold
and they shall be
dressed in green clothes
of silk and brocade
lying in comfort
upon couches
what an excellent reward
and how beautiful
a resting place
and tell them of
something like it
two people
to one of them We gave
two gardens of vines
and surrounded them
with date palms
and between them
We put a sown field
each of the two gardens
grew their crops
and did not fail
in any way
and We made gush out
between them
a river
so that owner had fruit
and said to a friend
when talking to them
"I have
more wealth than you
and more people
beneath me"
and entering the garden
they did themselves wrong
saying
"I do not think
that this will ever end
I do not think
that the Hour is coming
and if I do get
sent back to my Liege
I will surely find myself
in a better place than this"
said the friend
as they were talking
"Do you really not believe
in Hu created you
from dust
then a drop of liquid
then shaped you
as a human being
Hu is God
my Liege
and I will not
think of anyone
as a partner to my Liege
why
when you went
into your garden
did you not say
'It is as God wills
there is no power
except in God'?
you see in me
that I am less than you
in wealth and children
yet it may be
that my Liege will give me
better than your garden
and set loose on yours
a thunderbolt out of heaven
so that in the morning
it will be a heap
of barren dust
or in the morning
its water will be
sunk into the earth
so you can
no longer find it"
and those fruits
were all destroyed
and in the morning
they were wringing hands
for what had been
spent on it
and it was fallen down
hanging on its trellises
and they were saying
"I wish I had not
partnered anyone
with my Liege"
but there was
no force to help
apart from God
so no help was given
at times like that
the only protection
comes from God
the True
Hu gives
the best reward
and best outcome
and give them the example
of the life of this world
it is like water
that We send down
out of heaven
and the plants
of the earth
mix with it
yet in the morning
it is dry straw
scattered by the winds
and God is powerful
over everything
wealth and children
are the attractions of
the life of this world
but the things that last
good deeds
are better in reward
from your Liege
and better in hope
and on the day
We move the mountains
and you see the earth
stripped bare
and We
gather them together
and do not leave behind
a single one of them
they will be lined up
before your Liege
you have come to Us
as We created you
the first time
even though you said
We would not
set a time for you
and the Book
will be set in place
and you will see
those who do wrong
afraid of what is in it
and saying
"Alas for us
what is this Book
that does not
leave out anything
small or great
but has numbered
everything?"
and they will find there
everything they did
and your Liege
will not wrong anyone
and when We said
to the Angels
"Make Sajda to Adam"
they made Sajda
except for Iblis
which was among the jinn
and refused to obey
the command of its Liege
and you take it
and what comes from it
to be your protectors
instead of Me
even though they are
your enemy
how evil an exchange is that
for those who do wrong
I did not make them
witnesses of the creation
of the heavens and the earth
nor of their own creation
I would never take those
who lead others astray
to be My helpers
and on the day
Hu shall say
"Call on those
partners for Me
that you imagined"
and they will call on them
but they will not
answer them
and we shall set
between them
a place of destruction
then those who do evil
will see the Fire
and see that they are
about to fall into it
and will find no way
to escape from it
and We have
explained things
for humankind
in this Reading
with all kinds of
examples
but more than anything
humankind likes to argue
and nothing
stopped people
from believing
when guidance
came to them
or from looking for
forgiveness from
their Liege
apart from
the example of
the people of old
happening to them
or the punishment
appearing to them
before their eyes
and We do not
send Messengers
except to bring
good news and warning
but those who are ungrateful
argue using lies
so they can deny the truth
they have taken My Signs
and what they are warned of
as a mockery
and who does
greater wrong
than someone who
when reminded
of the Signs of their Liege
turns away from them
and forgets
what their hands
are storing up for them
We have put covers
over their hearts
so they cannot
understand it
and in their ears
heaviness
and though you call them
to the guidance
still they will never be guided
but your Liege is
the All-Forgiving
All-Merciful
if Hu were to
hold them to account
for what they have earned
Hu would have
hurried along
their punishment
but they have
a promised appointment
from which they will find
no escape
and those cities
We destroyed them
when they did wrong
with a promised appointment
for their destruction
and when Moses
said to his servant
"I will not give up
until I reach
the meeting place
of the two seas
even though
I must go on
for many years"
but when they reached
their meeting place
they forgot their fish
and it made its way
into the sea
by burrowing
when they had gone
some distance further on
he said to his servant
"Bring us our breakfast
indeed we are tired
from our journey"
he said
"Remember when
we took shelter
at the rock
I forgot the fish
and nothing
made me forget it
except Satan
keeping me from
remembering it
and so it made its way
into the sea
in a way that was
marvellously strange"
he said
"This is what
we were looking for"
and so they returned
along their tracks
going back over them
then they found
one of Our servants
to whom
We had given
mercy from Us
and to whom
We had taught
knowledge
direct from Us
Moses said to him
"May I follow you
so that you teach me
from what
you have been taught
of the right Way?"
he said
"Surely
you will not be able
to stay patient with me
and how would you
stay patient
with what you have
never accepted
into what you know?"
he said
"But you will find me
if God wills
patient
and I will not rebel
against you
in anything"
he said
"Then if you follow me
do not question me
about anything
until I myself
choose to mention it to you"
so they journeyed on
until
when they boarded a ship
he made a hole in it
he said
"Have you made a hole in it
so as to drown the people?
you have indeed
done a dreadful thing"
he said
"Did I not say
you would not be able
to be patient with me?"
he said
"Do not
tell me off
because I forgot
and do not make it
too hard for me
to follow you"
so they journeyed on
until
when they met
a young boy
he killed him
he said
"Have you killed
an innocent person
not in return for
a person
they have killed?
you have indeed
done a horrible thing"
he said
"Did I not say
you would not be able
to be patient with me?"
he said
"If I question you
about anything after this
then no longer
keep me company
I will have given you
enough of an excuse"
so they journeyed on
until
they reached
the people of a city
and they asked
those people
for food
but they refused
to let them stay
as guests
and there they found
a wall
about to fall down
and he built it up
he said
"If you had wanted
you could have
taken a wage for that"
he said
"This is the parting
between me and you
so now I will tell you
the explanation
of what
you could not bear
with patience
as for the ship
it belonged to
some poor people
who work on the sea
and I wanted to damage it
because behind them
a king was coming
seizing every ship
by brute force
as for the boy
his parents were
people who believe
and we were afraid
that he would
make them suffer
from his wickedness
and his being ungrateful
so we wanted
their Liege
to give them in exchange
better than him
in being pure
and nearer to them
in mercy
as for the wall
it belonged to
two orphans in the city
and under it
was a treasure
belonging to them
their father was
a good person
and your Liege wanted
that they should
come of age
and then discover
their treasure
as a mercy
from your Liege
I did not do it
of my own choice
this is
the explanation
of what
you could not bear
with patience"
and they will ask you
about the Two Horned One
say
"I will tell you
something about him"
We gave him
power and authority
in the land
and We gave him
a way to everything
so he followed a way
until
when he reached
the setting of the sun
he found it setting
in a muddy spring
and he found nearby
a people
We said
"O Two Horned One
you can either punish them
or treat them with kindness"
he said
"As for those who are unjust
we will punish them
and then they will be
returned to their Liege
and Hu shall punish them
with a dreadful punishment
but as for
whoever believes
and does good deeds
they shall receive
the best of rewards
and we shall say to them
of our command
to take their ease"
then he followed a way
until
when he reached
the rising of the sun
he found it rising
upon a people
to whom We had not given
any shelter from it
like that
and We surrounded
in knowledge
all that happened to him
then he followed a way
until
when he reached
between two mountain walls
he found on this side of them
a people who could hardly
understand speech
they said
"O Two Horned One
see how
Gog and Magog
are spreading sickness
in the earth
so can we arrange
to pay an offering to you
in return for
your setting up a barrier
between us and them?"
he said
"What my Liege has given me
is better than that
but lend me your strength
and I will set up a rampart
between you and them
bring me bars of iron"
until
when he had made it
all level
between the two cliffs
he said
"Blow"
until
when he had made it a fire
he said
"Bring me molten brass
to pour over it"
so they could not climb it
nor could they pierce it
he said
"This is a mercy
from my Liege
but when the promise
of my Liege
comes to pass
Hu will make it
into powder
and the promise
of my Liege
always comes true"
and on that day
We shall leave them
surging like waves
one upon another
and the Trumpet
shall be blown
and We shall gather them
all together
and on that day
We will show Hell
to those who are
ungrateful
whose eyes were covered
against remembering Me
nor were they able to hear
do those who are ungrateful
think they can take
My servants as protectors
instead of Me?
truly
We have prepared Hell
as a welcome
for those who are ungrateful
say
"Shall We tell you
who will be
the greatest losers
from what they do?
those whose effort
takes the wrong way
in the present life
while they think
they are doing good deeds"
those are the ones who are
ungrateful
for the Signs of their Liege
and the meeting with Hu
the things they do
will come to nothing
and on the Day of Rising
We will not give them
any weight
that is their repayment
Hellfire
because they were
ungrateful
and made My Signs
and My Messengers
a mockery
but for those who believe
and do good deeds
the Gardens of Paradise
will be
their place of welcome
to live there forever
never wanting
to leave them
say
"If the sea were ink
for the Words of my Liege
the sea would run out
before the Words of my Liege
even if We were to bring
the same amount again"
say
"I am only a mortal
like you
it is shown to me
that your God
is One God
so let the one who hopes for
the meeting with their Liege
do good
and not partner
any other
with their service
of their Liege"