| | Sayyid Qutb rendition of Surah Saba, Sheba(Saba`)
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| 34:1 | | All praise is due to God, to whom belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth; and to Him will be due all praise in the life to come. He is truly Wise, All-Aware. |
| 34:2 | | He knows all that goes into the earth and all that comes out of it; all that descends from the skies and all that ascends to them. He is the Merciful, the truly Forgiving. |
| 34:3 | | The unbelievers say: 'Never shall the Last Hour come upon us!' Say: 'Yes, by my Lord, it shall most certainly come to you. It is He who knows all that lies beyond the reach of human perception. Not an atom's weight in the heavens or the earth escapes Him; nor is there anything smaller or larger but is recorded in a clear book, |
| 34:4 | | so that He may reward those who believe and do righteous deeds. It is they who shall have forgiveness and generous provisions.' |
| 34:5 | | As for those who strive against Our revelations, seeking to defeat their purpose, these shall have a most painful suffering. |
| 34:6 | | Those who are endowed with knowledge are well aware that what has been revealed to you by your Lord is indeed the truth, and that it guides to the way that leads to the Almighty, to whom all praise is due. |
| 34:7 | | The unbelievers say: 'Shall we point out to you a man who will tell you that, when you have been utterly torn into pieces, you shall be restored to life in a new act of creation? |
| 34:8 | | Has he invented a lie about God, or is he a madman?' No! It is those who do not believe in the life to come who are suffering torment as they have gone far in error. |
| 34:9 | | Do they not consider how much of the sky and the earth lies open before them and how much lies hidden from them? If We so willed, We could cause the earth to swallow them, or cause fragments of the sky to fall upon them. In all this, there is a sign for every servant of God turning to Him in repentance. |
| 34:10 | | We graced David with Our favour. We said: “You mountains, sing with him God's praises! And likewise you birds!†We caused iron to become soft for him, |
| 34:11 | | saying: “Make coats of mail and measure their links with care. Do good, all of you. I certainly see all that you do.†|
| 34:12 | | To Solomon [We made subservient] the wind: its morning course [covered the distance of] a month's journey, and its evening course a month's journey. We caused a fountain of molten brass to flow for him, and some of the jinn worked under his control by permission of his Lord. Whoever of them deviated from Our command We shall make him taste suffering through a blazing flame. |
| 34:13 | | They made for him whatever he pleased: shrines and statues, basins as large as watering troughs, and firmly anchored cauldrons. We said: 'Work thankfully, family of David, for few of My servants are truly thankful.' |
| 34:14 | | When We decreed his death, nothing showed them that he was dead except an earthworm that gnawed away at his staff. And when he fell to the ground, the jinn saw clearly that, had they understood the reality which was beyond [their] perception, they would not have remained in humiliating servitude. ( 14 |
| 34:15 | | There was a sign for the people of Sheba in their dwelling place: two gardens, one to the right and one to the left: 'Eat of what your Lord has provided for you, and give thanks to Him: a land most goodly and a Lord Much-Forgiving.' |
| 34:16 | | But they paid no heed, and so We let loose upon them a raging torrent and replaced their two gardens with others yielding bitter fruit, tamarisks, and a few lote trees. |
| 34:17 | | Thus We requited them for their ingratitude: would We thus requite any but the totally ungrateful? |
| 34:18 | | We had placed between them and the cities which We had blessed towns within sight of one another so that they could travel in measured stages: 'Travel through them by night and day in safety.' |
| 34:19 | | But they said: 'Our Lord! Make our journeys longer.' They sinned against their souls; so We caused them to become a tale, and scattered them throughout the land. Surely, there are signs in all this for anyone who is patient in adversity, deeply grateful. |
| 34:20 | | Indeed Iblīs proved that his opinion of them was right: they all followed him, except for a group of believers. |
| 34:21 | | Yet he had no power at all over them; it is only for the end that We might make a clear distinction between those who truly believe in the life to come and those who are in doubt about it. Your Lord watches over all things. |
| 34:22 | | Say: 'Call upon those whom you imagine to be partners with God. They do not have even an atom's weight of authority either in the heavens or the earth, nor have they any share in either, nor does He have any helper from among them. |
| 34:23 | | Before Him, intercession is of no avail, except by one to whom He may have granted permission. When the terror is lifted from their hearts, they will ask [one another]: 'What has your Lord ordained?' They will answer: 'The truth. He is the Most High, the Supreme.' |
| 34:24 | | Say: 'Who is it that gives you sustenance out of the heavens and the earth?' Say: 'It is God; and either we or you are on the right path or have clearly gone astray!' |
| 34:25 | | Say: 'Neither shall you be called to account for whatever we have become guilty of nor shall we be called to account for whatever you are doing.' |
| 34:26 | | Say: 'Our Lord will bring us all together, and then He will lay open the truth between us, in justice. He alone is the One who opens all truth, the All-Knowing.' |
| 34:27 | | Say: 'Show me those whom you allege to be partners with Him. Nay! He alone is God, the Almighty, the Wise.' |
| 34:28 | | We have sent you to all mankind so that you bring them good news and give them warning; but most people do not understand. |
| 34:29 | | They ask: When is this promise to be fulfilled, if what you say be true?' |
| 34:30 | | Say: 'There has been appointed for you a day which you can neither delay nor advance by a single moment.' |
| 34:31 | | The unbelievers say: 'We will never believe in this Qur'Än, nor in any earlier revelations.' If only you could see how the wrongdoers shall be made to stand before their Lord, hurling reproaches at one another. Those of them who were weak on earth will say to those who had deemed themselves mighty: 'Had it not been for you, we would certainly have been believers.' |
| 34:32 | | The ones who deemed themselves mighty will say to those who were weak: 'Was it we who prevented you from following right guidance after it had been given you? Certainly not! It was you who were guilty.' |
| 34:33 | | Those who were weak will reply to those who deemed themselves mighty: 'Not so! It was your scheming, night and day, ordering us to disbelieve in God and to set up equals to Him.' When they see the punishment awaiting them, they will all harbour utter and unmitigated remorse. We shall put chains round the necks of the unbelievers. Are they to be requited for anything other than what they did? |
| 34:34 | | Whenever We sent a warner to any community, those of them who lived in luxury said: 'We do not believe in the message with which you have been sent.' |
| 34:35 | | They also say: 'Richer than you are we in wealth, and we have more children. We certainly are not going to be made to suffer.' |
| 34:36 | | Say: 'My Lord gives in abundance, or gives in scant measure, to whomever He wills; but most people do not understand.' |
| 34:37 | | It is neither your riches nor your children that can bring you nearer to Us: only he who believes and does what is right [comes near to Us]. To these multiple reward will be given for all that they have done. They will dwell in safety in the mansions of paradise; |
| 34:38 | | whereas all who strive against Our revelations, seeking to defeat their purpose, shall be given over to suffering. |
| 34:39 | | Say: 'My Lord gives in abundance, or gives in scant measure, to whomever He wills of His servants; whatever you give for His sake He will replace it for you, for He is the best of providers.' |
| 34:40 | | On the day He gathers them all together, He will say to the angels: 'Was it you that these people worshipped?' |
| 34:41 | | They will answer: 'Limitless are You in Your glory! You alone are our patron, not they. In fact they worshipped the jinn and most of them believed in them.' |
| 34:42 | | Today none of you has any power to benefit or harm another. We will say to the wrongdoers: 'Taste now the suffering through fire which you persistently denied.' |
| 34:43 | | When Our revelations are recited to them in all their clarity, they say: 'This is but a man who wants to turn you away from what your forefathers worshipped.' They also say: 'This is nothing but an invented falsehood.' Furthermore, when the truth comes to them, the unbelievers will say: 'This is just plain sorcery.' |
| 34:44 | | Yet never have We given them any books to study, nor have We sent them any warner before you. |
| 34:45 | | Those who have gone before them likewise denied the truth. These people have not attained even one tenth of what We gave their predecessors, yet when they denied My messengers, how terrible was My condemnation. |
| 34:46 | | Say: 'I counsel you one thing: stand before God, in pairs or singly, and think: there is no madness in your Companion [Muĥammad]. He is only a warner to you of awesome suffering to come.' |
| 34:47 | | Say: 'If I have ever asked you for any reward, you can keep it. My reward rests with none other than God. He is witness to everything.' |
| 34:48 | | Say: 'My Lord hurls forth the truth. He has full knowledge of all that is beyond the reach of people's perception.' |
| 34:49 | | Say: 'The truth has now come. Falsehood neither creates anything new, nor restores anything.' |
| 34:50 | | Say: 'Were I to go astray, I would but go astray to the loss of myself. But if I am on the right path, it is through what my Lord reveals to me. He is All-Hearing, ever-near.' |
| 34:51 | | if you could but see when they are seized by terror, with nowhere to escape; for they will have been seized from a place nearby. |
| 34:52 | | They will say: 'We do believe in it,' but how could they attain it from so far away, |
| 34:53 | | seeing that they had at first denied it all. They used to cast scorn from far away on what is imperceptible. |
| 34:54 | | A barrier will be set between them and all that they desire, just as was done with their kind before. They were lost in perplexing doubt. |
