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Surah 13: The Thunder - Overview
Surah 14: The Prophet Abraham - Overview
Surah 15: The Rocky Tract - Overview
Surah 16: The Bees - Overview
Surah 17: The Night Journey, The Children of Israel - Overview
Surah 18: The Cave - Overview
Essential Koran
The Storm of Love [13:12-15]
It is He who
shows you the lightning, for fear and hope, and produces the heavy clouds; the
thunder proclaims His praise, and the angels, in awe of Him. He looses the
thunderbolts, and smites with them whomsoever He will; yet they dispute about
God, who is mighty in power. To Him is the call of truth; and those upon whom
they call, apart from Him, answer them nothing, but it is as a man who stretches
out his hands to water that it may reach his mouth, and it reaches it not. The
prayer of the unbelievers goes only astray. To God bow all who are in the
heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows also in the
mornings and the evenings.
Words of Truth [14:24-27]
Hast thou not
seen how God has struck a similitude? A good word is as a good tree -- its roots
are firm, and it branches are in heaven; it give its produce every season by the
leave of its Lord. So god strikes similitudes for men; haply they will remember.
And the likeness of a corrupt word is as a corrupt tree -- uprooted from the
earth, having no stablishment. God confirms those who believe with the firm
word, in the present life and in the world to come, and God leads astray the
evildoers; and God does what He will.
The Green Tapestry [15:16-25]
We have set
in heaven constellations and decked them out fair to the beholders, and guarded
them from every accursed Satan excepting such as listen by stealth -- and he is
pursued by a manifest flame. And the earth -- we stretched it forth, and cast on
it firm mountains, and We caused to grow therein of every thing justly weighed,
and there appointed for you livelihood, and for those you provide not for.
Naught is there, but its treasuries are with Us, and We send it not down but in
a known measure. And We loose the winds fertilizing, and We send down out of
heaven water, then We give it to you to drink, and you are not its treasurers.
It is We who give life, and make to die, and it is We who are the inheritors. We
know the ones of you who press forward, and We know the laggards; and it is thy
Lord shall muster them, and He is All-wise, All-knowing.
The Call to Justice [16:89-91]
And the
day We shall raise up from every nation a witness against them from amongst
them, and We shall bring thee as a witness against those. And We have sent down
on thee the Book making clear everything, and as a guidance and a mercy, and as
good tidings to those who surrender. Surely God bids to justice and good-doing
and giving to kinsmen; and He forbids indecency, dishonor, and insolence,
admonishing you, so that haply you will remember. Fulfill God's covenant, when
you make covenant, and break not the oaths after they have been confirmed, and
you have made God your surety; surely God knows the things you do.
Giving [17:22-30]
Set not up with God another god, or thou wilt sit
condemned and forsaken. Thy Lord has decreed you shall not serve any but Him,
and to be good to parents, whether one or both of them attains old age with
thee; say not to the 'Fie' neither chide them, but speak unto them words
respectful, and lower to them the wing of humbleness out of mercy and say, 'My
Lord, have mercy upon them, as they raised me up when I was little.' Your Lord
knows very well what is in your hearts if you are righteous, for He is
All-forgiving to those who are penitent. And give the kinsman his right, and the
needy, and the traveller; and never squander; the squanderers are brothers of
Satan, and Satan is unthankful to his Lord. But if thou turnest from them,
seeking mercy from thy Lord that thou hopest for, then speak unto them gentle
words. And keep not thy hand chained to thy neck, nor outspread it widespread
altogether, or thou wilt sit reproached and denuded. Surely thy Lord outspreads
and straitens His provision unto whom He will; surely He is aware of and sees
His servants.
Praise [17:43-44]
Glory be to Him! High indeed be He exalted about
that they say! The seven heavens and the earth, and whosoever in them is, extol
Him; nothing is, that does not proclaim His praise, but you do not understand
their extolling. Surely He is All-clement, All-forgiving.
Daily Prayers [17:78-81]
Perform the prayer at the sinking of the sun
to the darkening of the night and the recital of dawn; surely the recital of
dawn is witnessed. And as for the night, keep vigil a part of it, as a work of
supererogation for thee; it may be that thy Lord will raise thee up to a
laudable station. And say: 'My Lord, lead me in with a just ingoing, and lead me
out with a just outgoing; grant me authority from Thee, to help me.' And say:
'The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished away; surely falsehood is ever
certain to vanish.'
The Descent of the Holy Koran [17:105-110]
With the truth We have sent
it down, and with the truth it has come down; and We have sent thee not, except
good tidings to bear, and warning; and a Koran We have divided, for thee to
recite it to mankind at intervals, and We have sent it down successively. Say:
'Believe in it, or believe not; those who were given the knowledge before it
when it is recited to them, fall down upon their faces prostrating, and say,
"Glory be to our Lord! Our Lord's promise is performed." And they fall
down upon their faces weeping; and it increases them in humility.' Say: 'Call
upon God, or call upon the Merciful; whichever you call upon, to Him belong the
Names Most Beautiful.' And be thou not loud in thy prayer, nor hushed therein,
but seek thou for a way between that.
Paradise and Hell [18:27-31]
Recite what has been revealed to thee of
the Book of thy Lord; no man can change His words. Apart from Him, thou wilt
find no refuge. And restrain thyself with those who call upon their Lord at
morning and evening, desiring His countenance, and let not thine eyes turn away
from them, desiring the adornment of the present life; and obey not him whose
heart We have made neglectful of Our remembrance so that he follows his own
lust, and his affair has become all excess. Say: 'The truth is from your Lord;
so let whosoever will believe, and let whosoever will disbelieve.' Surely We
have prepared for the evildoers a fire, whose pavilion encompasses them; if they
call for succor, they will be succored with water like molten copper, that
shall scald their faces -- how evil a potion, and how evil a resting-place!
Surely those who believe, and do deeds of righteousness -- surely We leave not
to waste the wage of him who does good works; those -- theirs shall be Gardens
of Eden, underneath which rivers flow; therein they shall be adorned with
bracelets of gold, and they shall be robed in green garments of silk and
brocade, therein reclining upon couches -- O, how excellent a reward! And O, how
fair a resting-place!
The Parable of Pride and Submission [18:32-44]
And strike for them a
similitude: two men. To one of them We assigned two gardens of vines, and
surrounded them with palm-trees, and between them We set a sown field; each of
the two gardens yielded its produce and failed not in any wise; and We caused to
gush amidst them a river. So he had fruit; and he said to his fellow, as he was
conversing with him, 'I have more abundance of wealth than thou and am mightier
in respect of men.' And he entered his garden, wronging himself; he said, 'I
don't think that this will ever perish; I do not think that the Hour is coming;
and if indeed I am returned to my Lord, I shall surely find a better resort than
this.' Said his fellow, as he was conversing with him, 'What, disbelievest thou
in Him who created thee of dust, then of a sperm-drop, then shaped thee as a
man? But lo, He is God, my Lord, and I will not associate with my Lord any one.
Why, when thou wentest in thy garden, didst thou not say, "As God will;
there is no power except in God"? If thou seest me, that I am less than
thou in wealth and children, yet it may be that my Lord will give me better than
thy garden, and loose on it a thunderbolt out of heaven, so that in the morning
it will be a slope of dust, or in the morning the water of it will be sunk into
the earth, so that thou wilt not be able to seek it out.; And his fruit was all
encompassed, and in the morning he was wringing his hands for that he had
expended upon it, and it was fallen down upon its trellises, and he was saying,
'Would I had not associated with my Lord any one!' But there was no host to help
him, apart from God, and he was helpless. Thereover protection belongs only to
God the True; He is best rewarding, best in the issue.
Moses Meets a Wandering Sage [18:65-82]
Then they found one of Our
servants unto whom We had given mercy from Us, and We had taught him knowledge
proceeding from Us. Moses said to him, 'Shall I follow thee so that thou
teachest me, of what thou hast been taught, right judgment?' Said he, 'Assuredly
thou wilt not be able to bear with me patiently. And how shouldst thou bear
patiently that thou hast never encompassed in thy knowledge?' He said, 'Yet thou
shalt find me, if God will, patient; and I shall not rebel against thee in
anything.' Said he, 'Then if thou followest me, question me not in anything
until I myself introduce the mention of it to thee.' So they departed; until,
when they embarked upon the ship, he made a hole in it. He said, 'What, hast
thou made a hole in it so as to drown its passengers? Thou hast indeed done a
grievous thing.' Said he, 'Did I not say that thou couldst never bear with me
patiently?' He said, 'Do not take me to task that I forgot, neither constrain me
to do a thing too difficult.' So they departed; until, when they met a lad, he
slew him. He said, 'What, hast thou slain a soul innocent, and that not to
retaliate for a soul slain? Thou hast indeed done a horrible thing.' Said he,
Did I not say that thou couldst never bear with me patiently?' He said,
'If I question thee on anything after this, then keep me company no more; thou
hast already experienced excuse sufficient on my part.' So they departed; until,
when they reached the people of a city, they asked the people for food, but they
refused to receive them hospitably. There they found a wall about to tumble
down, and so he set it up. He said, 'If thou hadst wished, thou couldst have
taken a wage for that.' Said he, 'This is the parting between me and thee. Now I
will tell thee the interpretation of that thou couldst not bear patiently. As
for the ship, it belonged to certain poor men, who toiled upon the sea; and I
desired to damage it, for behind them there was a king who was seizing every
ship by brutal force. As for the lad, his parents were believers; and we were
afraid he would impose on them insolence and unbelief; so we desired that their
Lord should give to them in exchange one better than he in purity, and nearer in
tenderness. As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan lads in the city, and
under it was a treasure belonging to them. Their father was a righteous man; and
thy Lord desired that they should come of age and then bring forth their
treasure as a mercy from thy Lord. I did it not of my own bidding. This is the
interpretation of that thou couldst not bear patiently.' |
