| | N J Dawood (2014) rendition of Surah The Thunder(ar-Ra`d)
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| 13:1 | | ALIF lām mīm rā‘. These are the revelations of the Book: and that which has been revealed to you from your Lord is Truth, yet most do not believe |
| 13:2 | | It was God who raised the heavens without visible pillars. He then ascended the throne and pressed the sun and the moon into service, each pursuing an appointed course. He ordains all things: He makes plain His revelations, so that you may firmly believe in meeting your Lord |
| 13:3 | | It was He who spread out the earth and placed upon it mountains and rivers. He gave all plants their male and female parts and drew the veil of night over the day. Surely in these there are signs for people who reflect |
| 13:4 | | And in the land there are adjoining plots: vineyards and cornfields and groves of palm, the single and the clustered. Their fruits are nourished by the same water: yet We make the taste of some more favoured than the taste of others. Surely in this there are signs for people who understand |
| 13:5 | | If anything could make you marvel, then you should surely marvel at those who say: ‘When we are dust, shall we be restored in a new creation?‘ Such are those who deny their Lord. Their necks shall be bound with chains. Those are the tenants of the Fire, wherein shall they abide for ever |
| 13:6 | | And they bid you hasten evil rather than good. Yet many were those who were punished before them. Your Lord is forgiving to people, despite their wrongdoing: yet stern is your Lord in retribution |
| 13:7 | | And the unbelievers say: ‘Why has no sign been sent down to him from his Lord?‘ But you are only to give warning: every nation has its mentor |
| 13:8 | | God knows what every female bears: He knows the wombs whose term falls short, and those that signify increase. For everything He has a finite measure |
| 13:9 | | He knows the unknown and the manifest: the Supreme One, the Most High |
| 13:10 | | It is the same whether you converse in secret or aloud, whether you hide under the cloak of night or walk about in the light of day |
| 13:11 | | Each has guardian angels before him and behind him, who preserve him by God‘s command. God does not change a people‘s lot unless they change what is in their hearts. If God seeks to afflict them with a misfortune, none can ward it off. Besides Him, they have no protector |
| 13:12 | | He it is who makes the lightning flash upon you, inspiring you with fear and hope, and gathers up the heavy clouds |
| 13:13 | | The thunder sounds His praises, and the angels, too, in awe of Him. He hurls His thunderbolts at whom He pleases. Yet they wrangle about God; and stern is His might |
| 13:14 | | To Him is the prayer of Truth. The idols to which they pray give them no answer. They are like a man who stretches out his hands to the water and bids it rise to his mouth: it cannot reach it. Vain are the prayers of the unbelievers |
| 13:15 | | All who dwell in the heavens and on the earth shall prostrate themselves before God: some willingly, some perforce; and their very shadows, morning and evening |
| 13:16 | | Say: ‘Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?‘ Say: ‘God.‘ Say: ‘Why then have you chosen other gods besides Him, who, even to themselves, can do neither good nor harm?‘ Say: ‘Are the blind and the seeing equal? Is darkness equal to the light?‘ Or have their idols brought into being a creation like His, so that both creations appear to them alike? Say: ‘God is the Creator of all things. He is the One who conquers all.&lsquo |
| 13:17 | | He sends down water from the sky which fills the riverbeds to overflowing, so that the torrent bears a swelling foam, akin to that which rises from smelted ore when men make ornaments and tools. Thus God depicts Truth and falsehood. The scum is cast away, but that which is of use to man remains behind. Even thus God speaks in parables |
| 13:18 | | Rich is the recompense of those that obey their Lord. But those that disobey Him ― if they possessed all that the earth contains, and as much besides, they would gladly offer it for their ransom. Theirs shall be a baleful reckoning. Hell shall be their home, an evil resting-place |
| 13:19 | | Is then he who knows that the Truth has been revealed to you from your Lord like him who is blind? Truly, none will remember but those that are of good sense possessed |
| 13:20 | | those who keep faith with God and do not break their pledge |
| 13:21 | | who join together what God has bidden to be united; who fear their Lord and dread a baleful reckoning |
| 13:22 | | who for the sake of God endure with fortitude, attend to their prayers, and from what We gave them give in private and in public; and who ward off evil with good. These shall have the recompense of Paradise |
| 13:23 | | They shall enter the Gardens of Eden, together with the righteous among their fathers, their spouses, and their descendants. From every gate the angels will come in to them, saying |
| 13:24 | | Peace be to you for all that you have steadfastly endured; blessed is the recompense of Paradise.&lsquo |
| 13:25 | | As for those who break God‘s covenant after confirming it, who put asunder what God has bidden to be united and perpetrate corruption in the land, the curse shall light on them; the scourge of Hell awaits them |
| 13:26 | | God gives abundantly to whom He will and sparingly likewise. They rejoice in the life of this world: yet the life of this world is but a brief diversion compared with the life to come |
| 13:27 | | The unbelievers say: ‘Why has no sign been sent down to him by his Lord?‘ Say ‘God leaves in error whom he will, and guides to Himself those who repent |
| 13:28 | | and have faith; whose hearts find comfort in the remembrance of God |
| 13:29 | | Surely in the remembrance of God all hearts are comforted. Blessed are those who believe and do good works; blissful is their final abode |
| 13:30 | | Thus have We sent you forth to a community before whom other communities had passed away, that you may recite to them that with which We have inspired you. Yet they deny the Lord of Mercy. Say: ‘He is my Lord. There is no god but Him. In Him I have put my trust, and to Him I shall return.&lsquo |
| 13:31 | | And even if there be a Koran whereby the mountains could be set in motion, the earth rent asunder, and the dead communed with, surely all things are subject to God‘s will. Are the faithful unaware that, had God pleased, He could have guided all mankind? As for the unbelievers, because of their misdeeds disaster shall not cease to afflict them or to crouch at their very doorstep until God‘s promise be fulfilled. God will not fail the appointed time |
| 13:32 | | Apostles were mocked before you: but, though I bore with the unbelievers, My scourge at length took them; and how terrible was My scourge |
| 13:33 | | Who is it that watches every soul and all its actions? Yet they set up other deities besides God. Say: ‘Name them. Would you tell Him of that which is unknown to Him on the earth? Or are they merely empty words?‘ Indeed, their foul devices seem fair to the unbelievers, for they are debarred from the right path. They have no guide, those whom God has led astray |
| 13:34 | | Torment awaits them in this nether life: but more grievous is the torment of the life to come. From God they will have no protector |
| 13:35 | | Such is the Paradise the righteous have been promised: it is watered by running brooks: eternal is its fruit, and eternal is its shade. Such shall be the end of the righteous; and the Fire shall be the fate of the unbelievers |
| 13:36 | | Those to whom We gave the Book rejoice in what is revealed to you, while some factions deny a part of it. Say: ‘I am only commanded to serve God and to associate none with Him. To Him I pray, and to Him I shall return.&lsquo |
| 13:37 | | Thus have We revealed it, a code of judgements in the Arabic tongue. If you succumb to their desires after the knowledge you have been given, from God you shall have no guardian or protector |
| 13:38 | | We sent forth apostles before you and gave them wives and descendants. Yet no apostle could work a miracle except by God‘s leave. Every age has a term decreed |
| 13:39 | | God abrogates and confirms what He pleases. His is the Decree Eternal |
| 13:40 | | Whether We let you glimpse in some measure the scourge We promise them, or claim you back to Us, your mission is only to give warning: it is for Us to do the reckoning |
| 13:41 | | Do they not see how We invade their land and diminish its borders? If God decrees a thing, none can reverse it. And swift is His reckoning |
| 13:42 | | Those who have gone before them also schemed, but God is the master of all scheming: He knows what every soul has done. And the unbelievers will then learn for whom the blissful end is destined |
| 13:43 | | And the unbelievers say: ‘You are not sent.‘ Say: ‘Sufficient is God as my witness and your witness, and so are those who know the Book.&lsquo |
