Sūra XXV. Furqān, or The Criterion

The Holy Quran, tr. by Yusuf Ali, [1934], at sacred-texts.com

p. 926

Sūra XXV.

Furqān, or The Criterion.

In the name of God, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful.

1. Blessed is He Who
Sent down the Criterion
To His Servant, that
May be an admonition
To all creatures;—

2. He to Whom belongs
The dominion of the heavens
And the earth: no son
Has He begotten, nor has He
A partner in His dominion:
It is He Who created
All things, and ordered them
In due proportions.

3. Yet have they taken,
Besides Him, gods that can
Create nothing but are themselves
Created; that have no control
Of hurt or good to themselves;
Nor can they control Death
Nor Life nor Resurrection.

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4. But the Misbelievers say:
"Naught is this but a lie
Which he has forged,
And others have helped him
At it." In truth it is they
Who have put forward
An iniquity and a falsehood.

5. And they say: "Tales of
The ancients, which he has caused
To be written: and they
Are dictated before him
Morning and evening."

6. Say: "The (Qur-ān) was sent down
By Him Who knows
The Mystery (that is) in the heavens
And the earth: verily He
Is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

7. find they say: "What sort
Of an apostle is this,
Who eats food, and walks
Through the streets? Why
Has not an angel
Been sent down to him
To give admonition with him?

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8. "Or (why) has not a treasure
Been bestowed on him, or
Why has he (not) a garden
For enjoyment?" The wicked
Say: "Ye follow none other
Than a man bewitched."

9. See what kinds of comparisons
They make for thee!
But they have gone astray,
And never a way will they
Be able to find!

SECTION 2.

10. Blessed is He Who,
If that were His Will,
Could give thee better (things)
Than those,—Gardens beneath which
Rivers flow; and He could
Give thee Palaces (secure
To dwell in).

11. Nay, they deny the Hour
(Of the Judgment to come):
But We have prepared
A Blazing Fire for such
As deny the Hour:

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12. When it sees them
From a place far off,
They will hear its fury
And its raging sigh.

13. And when they are cast,
Bound together, into a
Constricted place therein, they
Will plead for destruction
There and then!

14. "This day plead not
For a single destruction:
Plead for destruction oft-repeated!"

15. Say: "Is that best, or
The eternal Garden, promised
To the righteous? For them,
That is a reward as well
As a goal (of attainment).

16. "For them there will be
Therein all that they wish for:
They will dwell (there) for aye:
A promise to be prayed for
From thy Lord."

17. The Day He will gather
Them together as well as
Those whom they worship
Besides God, He will ask;

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"Was it ye who led
These My servants astray,
Or did they stray
From the Path themselves?"

18. They will say: "Glory to Thee!
Not meet was it for us
That we should take
For protectors others besides Thee:
But Thou didst bestow,
On them and their fathers,
Good things (in life), until
They forgot the Message:
For they were a people
(Worthless and) lost."

19. (God will say): "Now
Have they proved you liars
In what ye say: so
Ye cannot avert (your penalty)
Nor (get) help." And whoever
Among you does wrong,
Him shall We cause to taste
Of a grievous Penalty.

20. And the apostles whom We
Sent before thee were all
(Men) who ate food
And walked through the streets:
We have made some of you
As a trial for others:
Will ye have patience?
For God is One Who
Sees (all things).

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SECTION 3.

21. Such as fear not
The meeting with Us
(For Judgment) say:
"Why are not the angels
Sent down to us, or
(Why) do we not see
Our Lord?" Indeed they
Have an arrogant conceit
Of themselves, and mighty
Is the insolence of their impiety!

22. The Day they see the angels,—
No joy will there be
To the sinners that Day:
The (angels) will say:
"There is a barrier
Forbidden (to you) altogether!

23: And We shall turn
To whatever deeds they did
(In this life), and We shall
Make such deeds as floating dust
Scattered about.

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24. The Companions of the Garden
Will be well, that Day,
In their abode, and have
The fairest of places for repose:

25. The Day the heaven shall be
Rent asunder with clouds,
And angels shall be sent down,
Descending (in ranks),—

26. That Day, the dominion
As of right and truth,
Shall be (wholly) for (God)
Most Merciful: it will be
A Day of dire difficulty
For the Misbelievers.

27. I the Day that the wrong-doer
Will bite at his hands,
He will say, "Oh! would that
I had taken a (straight) path
With the Apostle!

28. "Ah! woe is me!
Would that I had never
Taken such a one
For a friend!

29. "He did lead me astray
From the Message (of God)
After it had come to me!
Ah! the Evil One is
But a traitor to man!

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Then the Apostle will say:

30 "O my Lord! Truly
My people took this Qur-ān
For just foolish nonsense."

31. Thus have We made
For every prophet an enemy
Among the sinners: but enough
Is thy Lord to guide
And to help.

32. Whose who reject Faith
Say: "Why is not the Qur-ān
Revealed to him all at once?
Thus (is it revealed), that We
May strengthen thy heart
Thereby, and We have
Rehearsed it to thee in slow,
Well-arranged stages, gradually.

33. And no question do they
Bring to thee but We
Reveal to thee the truth
And the best explanation (thereof),

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34. Whose who will be gathered
To Hell (prone) on their faces,—
They will be in an evil
Plight, and, as to Path,
Most astray.

SECTION 4.

35. (Before this,) We sent Moses
The Book, and appointed
His brother Aaron with him
As Minister;

36. And We commanded: "Go ye
Both, to the people who
Have rejected our Signs:"
And those (people) We destroyed
With utter destruction.

37. And the people of Noah,—
When they rejected the apostles,
We drowned them,
And We made them
As a Sign for mankind;
And We have prepared
For (all) wrong-doers
A grievous Penalty;—

38. As also ’Ad and Thamūd,
And the Companions

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Of the Rass, and many
A generation between them.

39. To each one We set forth
Parables and examples;
And each one We broke
To utter annihilation
(For their sins).

40. And the (Unbelievers) must indeed
Have passed by the town
On which was rained
A shower of evil: did they not
Then see it (with their own
Eyes)? But they fear not
The Resurrection.

41. When they see thee,
They treat thee no otherwise
Than in mockery: "Is this
The one whom God has sent
As an apostle?"

42. "He indeed would well-nigh
Have misled us from
Our gods, had it not been
That we were constant
To them!"—Soon will they
Know, when they see
The Penalty, who it is
That is most misled
In Path!

43. Seest thou such a one
As taketh for his god
His own passion (or impulse)?
Couldst thou be a disposer
Of affairs for him?

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44. Or thinkest thou that most
Of them listen or understand?
They are only like cattle;—
Nay, they are worse astray
In Path.

SECTION 5.

45. Hast thou not turned
Thy vision to thy Lord?—
How He doth prolong
The Shadow! If He willed,
He could make it stationary!
Then do We make
The sun its guide;

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46. Then We draw it in
Towards Ourselves,
A contraction by easy stages.

47. And He it is Who makes
The Night as a Robe
For you, and Sleep as Repose,
And makes the Day
(As it were) a Resurrection.

48. And He it is Who sends
The Winds as heralds
Of glad tidings, going before
His Mercy, and We send down

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Pure water from the sky,—

49. That with it We may give
Life to a dead land,
And slake the thirst
Of things We have created,—
Cattle and men in great numbers.

50. And We have distributed
The (water) amongst them, in order
That they may celebrate
(Our) praises, but most men
Are averse (to aught) but
(Rank) ingratitude.

51. Had it been Our Will,
We could have sent
A warner to every centre
Of population.

52. Therefore listen not
To the Unbelievers, but strive

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Against them with the utmost
Strenuousness, with the (Qur-ān).

53. It is He Who has
Let free the two bodies
Of flowing water:
One palatable and sweet,
And the other salt
And hitter; yet has He
Made a barrier between them,
A partition that is forbidden
To be passed.

54. It is He Who has
Created man from water:
Then has He established
Relationships of lineage

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And marriage: for thy Lord
Has power (over all things).

55. Yet do they worship,
Besides God, things that can
Neither profit them nor
Harm them: and the Misbeliever
Is a helper (of Evil),
Against his own Lord!

56. But thee We only sent
To give glad tidings
And admonition.

57. Say: "No reward do I
Ask of you for it but this:
That each one who will
May take a (straight) Path
To his Lord."

58. And put thy trust
In Him Who lives
And dies not; and celebrate
His praise; and enough is He
To be acquainted with
The faults of His servants;—

59. He Who created the heavens
And the earth and all
That is between, in six days,
And is firmly established
On the Throne (of authority):
God Most Gracious:
Ask thou, then, about Him
Of any acquainted (with such things).

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60. When it is said to them,
"Adore ye (God) Most Gracious!",
They say, "And what is (God)
Most Gracious? Shall we adore
That which thou commandest us?"
And it increases their flight
(From the Truth).

SECTION 6

61. Blessed is He Who made
Constellations in the skies,
And placed therein a Lamp
And a Moon giving light;

62. And it is He Who made
The Night and the Day
To follow each other:
For such as have the will
To celebrate His praises
Or to show their gratitude.

63. And the servants of (God)
Most Gracious are those
Who walk on the earth
In humility, and when the ignorant
Address them, they say,
"Peace!";

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64. Those who spend the night
In adoration of their Lord
Prostrate and standing;

65. Those who say, "Our Lord!
Avert from us the Wrath
Of Hell, for its Wrath
Is indeed an affliction grievous,—

66. "Evil indeed is it
As an abode, and as
A place to rest in";

67. Those who, when they spend,
Are not extravagant and not
Niggardly, but hold a just (balance)
Between those (extremes);

68. Those who invoke not,
With God, any other god,
Nor slay such life as God
Has made sacred, except
For just cause, nor commit
Fornication;—and any that does
This (not only) meets punishment

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69. (But) the Penalty on the Day
Of Judgment will be doubled
To him, and he will dwell
Therein in ignominy,—

70. Unless he repents, believes,
And works righteous deeds,
For God will change
The evil of such persons
Into good, and God is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful,

71. And whoever repents and does good
Has truly turned to God
With an (acceptable) conversion;—

72. Those who witness no falsehood;
And, if they pass by futility,
They pass by it
With honourable (avoidance);

73. Those who, when they are
Admonished with the Signs
Of their Lord, droop not down
At them as if they were
Deaf or blind;

74. And these who pray,
"Our Lord! Grant unto us
Wives and offspring who will be
The comfort of our eyes,

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And give us (the grace)
To lead the righteous."

75. Those are the ones who
Will be rewarded with
The highest place in heaven,
Because of their patient constancy:
Therein shall they be met
With salutations and peace,

76. Dwelling therein;—how beautiful
An abode and place of rest!

77. Say (to the Rejecters):
"My Lord is not uneasy
Because of you if ye call not on Him
But ye have indeed rejected
(Him), and soon will come
The inevitable (punishment)!"

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