Surah “The Criterion, The Standard”

as rendered by Sayyed Abbas Sadr-Ameli — 77 verses

Blessed is He Who sent down the Furqan (The Distinction of right and wrong) upon His servant that he may be a Warner to the worlds
He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and He has not taken any son (unto Himself), nor has He any partner in His dominion, and He created everything, then ordered them in due proportions
Yet they have taken gods, besides Him, gods that do not create anything while they are themselves created and they do not own for themselves any hurt or profit, nor can they control death nor life nor resurrection
And those who disbelieve say: 'This (Qur'an) is nothing but a lie which he (our Apostle) has forged, and other people have helped him at it; so indeed they have done injustice and (uttered) a falsehood
And they say: '(Qur'an is) the stories of the ancients he has got them written, so they are dictated before him morning and evening'
Say: 'He sent it down Who knows the secrets in the heavens and the earth. Verily He is ever Forgiving, Merciful'
And they say: 'What sort of a Messenger is this that he eats food and he walks about in the markets? Why has not an angel been sent down to him, to be a warner with him
Or why has not a treasure been bestowed on him, or why has he not a garden to eat of it?' And the unjust say: 'You follow none other than a man bewitched'
Behold, how they strike similitudes for you, but they have gone astray, so they shall not be able to find a way (to the truth)
Blessed is He Who, if that were His will, could give you better (things) than all that, gardens beneath which rivers flow, and He will give you palaces
But they deny the Hour (of Resurrection), and We have prepared a Blazing Fire for him who denies the Hour
When it sees them from a far place, they will hear its raging and roaring
And when they are cast, coupled in fetters, into a narrow place of that Fire, they will call out there for destruction.
(It will be said to them:) 'Call not this day for one destruction, but call for many destructions
Say: 'Is that better or the eternal garden which has been promised to the pious ones? That shall be a reward and a resort for them'
For them there will be therein whatever they desire: they will dwell(there) for aye. It is for your Lord a promise that must be fulfilled
And (remember) the Day He will muster them and that which they worship instead of Allah, and He shall say: 'Was it you who misled these My servants or did they themselves go astray from the way?
They will say: 'Glory be to You! It did not behoove us that we take any guardians besides you; but You did provide them and their fathers to enjoy until they forgot the Message and they were a people in perdition'
(Allah will say to the idolaters:) 'So they shall indeed belie you of what you say, so you shall not be able to avert (your penalty) nor (get) help, and whoever of you be unjust, We will cause him taste a great torment
And We never sent any messengers before you but they certainly ate food and walked in the markets; and We have made some of you a trial for the others: will you bear patiently? And your Lord is Ever-Seeing
And those who do not hope to meet Us (for Judgment) say: �Why are not the angels sent down to us, or (why) do we not see our Lord?� Certainly they are too proud of themselves and have revolted in great revolt
On the day when they shall see the angels, there shall be no glad tidings that day for the guilty, and they (the angels) shall say: 'It (Paradise) is a forbidden (thing), totally prohibited'
And We will proceed to what they have done of deeds, so We shall render them as scattered floating dust
The companions of the Garden (Paradise) that day shall be in a better abode and a better resting-place
And on the day when the heaven shall burst asunder with the clouds and the angels shall be sent down descending (in ranks)
The dominion that day in truth shall belong to the Beneficent Lord, and a hard day shall it be for the unbelievers
And on the day when the unjust one shall bite his hands, saying: 'Oh! Would that I had taken a way alone with the Messenger'
Oh woe is me! Would that I had not taken such a one for a friend
He indeed led me astray from the Message after it had come to me, and the Satan fails to aid man
And the Messenger will say (that Day): 'O my Lord! Verily my people treated this Qur'?n with neglect
31 And thus We appointed for every prophet an enemy from among the sinners, and sufficient is your Lord as a Guide and a Helper
And those who disbelieve say: 'Why has not the Qur'?n been sent down upon him all at once? Thus (is it revealed), that We may strengthen your heart by it and We have rehearsed it to you in slow, well-arranged stages, gradually'
And they shall not bring to you any similitude, but We bring to you the truth and the best explanation (of it)
Those who shall be mustered upon their faces unto Hell, they are in a worse place and as to path,most astray
And indeed We gave Moses the Book and We appointed His brother Aaron with him (as his) assistant
And We said: 'Go you both unto the people who have rejected Our signs!' so We destroyed them with utter destruction
And the people of Noah, when they rejected the messengers, We drowned them and made them a sign for mankind; and We have prepared for the unjust a painful chastisement
And the (tribes of) '?d and Tham?d and the men of Ar-Rass, and many generations between them
And unto each of them We did give examples, and every one (of them) We did destroy with utter extermination
And indeed they have passed by the town on which was rained an evil rain, did they not then see it? Nay! They did not hope to be raised again
And when they see you, they take you for aught but a mockery; (saying:) 'Is this the one whom Allah has sent us a messenger?
'He would have led us astray from our gods if we had not been staunch to them!' And soon they will know, when they see the chastisement, who is it that is most misled in path
Have you seen him who takes his low desires for his god? Would you then be a guardian over him
Do you think that most of them do hear or understand? They are (nothing) but like the cattle; nay they are farther astray from the path
Have you not seen (the might of) your Lord, how He extends the shadow? And if He had pleased He would certainly have made it stationary, then We have made the sun an indication of it
Then We draw it in towards Ourselves, by an easy (gradual) contraction
And He it is Who appointed the night for you to be a covering, and sleep as a rest, and He appointed the day a rising
And He it is Who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings going before His Mercy (rain), and We send down pure water from the sky
That thereby We may give life to a dead land, and We give many beasts and men that We have created to drink thereof
And indeed We have distributed it amongst them so that they may remember (Allah), but most of mankind are averse (to aught) save ingratitude
And if We had pleased certainly We would have raised up a warner in every town
So do not follow the infidels, and strive against them with it (the Qur'?n) a strenuous strife
And He it is Who had made the two seas join and flow together, one palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter; and between the two He has made a barrier and inviolable obstruction
And He it is Who has created man from water, then He made him related in blood and in wedlock; and your Lord is ever Powerful
And they worship besides Allah (things) which neither profit them nor harm them; and the infidel is a helper (of aberration) against his Lord
And We did not sent you but a bearer of glad tidings and a warner
Say: 'I do not ask you a wage for it (my ministry) except for him who wishes to choose a way unto his Lord'
And rely on the (Ever) living One Who dies not, and celebrate with His praise, and sufficient is He as being aware of the faults of His servants
(He) Who created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six Days, then He established Himself on 'Arsh (the Throne of authority) the Beneficent (God)! Ask then (what you need) from Him Who is aware (of every thing)
And when it is said to them: 'Prostrate you to Rahm?n (The Beneficent Allah), they say: 'And what is Rahm?n (the Beneficent Allah)? Shall we prostrate to what you bid us?' And it increases them in aversion
Blessed is He Who has set in heaven constellations, and has set therein a lamp (the sun) and the moonilluminating
And He it is Who has made the night and the day to succeed each other for him who desires to reflect or desires to be thankful
And the servants of the Beneficent (Allah) are those who walk on the earth humbly; and when the ignorant address them, they answer; 'Peace'
And those who spend the night prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing
And those who say: 'O' our Lord! Avert from us the torment of Hell, verily the torment of it is a lasting affliction
Verily it is an evil abode and (an evil) station
And those who when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly, and are stationed between the two (extremes)
And those who do not call with Allah any other god, and do not slay the soul which Allah has forbidden except for just cause, nor commit fornication, and whosoever does this shall find a requital of the sin
On the Day of Judgment, the chastisement will be doubled to him, and he shall abide therein in abasement
Unless he repents, believes, and works righteous deeds, then these are they who, Allah changes their evil deeds to good ones, And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful
And whoever repents and does good, he verily repents toward Allah with true repentance
And those who witness no falsehood, and when they pass by what is vain, they pass by nobly
And those who, when admonished with the Signs of their Lord, do not fall down thereat deaf and blind
And those who say: 'O' our Lord! Grant us from our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us for the pious ones (their) Imams
Those (servants of the Beneficent) shall be rewarded with the high stations (in Paradise) because they were patient, and they shall be met therein with welcome and salutations
Abiding therein; how excellent the abode, and the resting-place
Say (to the disbelievers:) 'My Lord would not esteem you at all were it not for your prayer (unto Him), but you: indeed have belied (the Truth), and soon you shall be (in) the grip (of the inevitable)