15:1  Alif Lam Ra. Those are the Signs of the Book and a clear Qur´an.

15:2  It may be that those who are kafir will wish that they had been Muslims.

15:3  Leave them to eat and enjoy themselves. Let false hope divert them. They will soon know.

15:4  We did not destroy any city without it having a set time.

15:5  No nation can advance its appointed time nor can they delay it.

15:6  They say, ´You, to whom the Reminder has been sent down, are clearly mad.

15:7  Why do you not bring angels to us if you are telling the truth?´

15:8  The angels only descend with the truth and then they would be granted no reprieve.

15:9  It is We Who have sent down the Reminder and We Who will preserve it.

15:10  We sent Messengers before you among the disparate groups of previous peoples.

15:11  No Messenger came to them without their mocking him.

15:12  In that way We insert it into the evildoers´ hearts.

15:13  They do not have iman in it, even though the example of the previous peoples has gone before.

15:14  Even if We opened up to them a door into heaven, and they spent the day ascending through it,

15:15  they would only say, ´Our eyesight is befuddled! Or rather we have been put under a spell!´

15:16  We have placed constellations in heaven and made them beautiful for those who look.

15:17  We have guarded them from every cursed Shaytan —

15:18  except for the one who listens stealthily, and he is followed by an open flame.

15:19  As for the earth, We stretched it out and cast firmly embedded mountains in it and made everything grow in due proportion on it.

15:20  And We put livelihoods in it both for you and for those you do not provide for.

15:21  There is nothing that does not have its stores with Us and We only send it down in a known measure.

15:22  We send forth the pollinating winds and send down water from the sky and give it to you to drink. And it is not you who keep its stores.

15:23  It is We who give life and cause to die and We are the Inheritor.

15:24  We know those of you who have gone ahead and those who are still to come.

15:25  It is your Lord who will gather them. He is All-Wise, All-Knowing.

15:26  We created mankind out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud.

15:27  We created the jinn before out of the fire of a searing wind.

15:28  When your Lord said to the angels, ´I am creating a human being out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud

15:29  When I have formed him and breathed My Ruh into him, fall down in prostration in front of him!´

15:30  Then the angels prostrated all together, every one of them —

15:31  except Iblis. He disdained to be one of the prostrators.

15:32  He said, ´Iblis, what is it that prevents you being among the prostrators?´

15:33  He said, ´I will not prostrate to a human being whom You have created out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud.´

15:34  He said, ´Get out from here, you are accursed.

15:35  The curse will be on you till the Day of Reckoning.´

15:36  He said, ´My Lord, grant me a reprieve until the Day they are raised again.´

15:37  He said, ´You are among the reprieved

15:38  until the Day whose time is known.´

15:39  He said, ´My Lord, because You misled me, I will make things on the earth seem good to them and I will mislead them all, every one of them,

15:40  except Your slaves among them who are sincere.´

15:41  He said, ´This is a Straight Path to Me.

15:42  You have no authority over any of My slaves except for the misled who follow you.´

15:43  Hell is the promised meeting-place for all of them.

15:44  It has seven gates and each gate has its allotted share.

15:45  Those who have taqwa will be amid Gardens and Springs:

15:46  ´Enter them in peace, in complete security!´

15:47  We will strip away any rancour in their hearts — brothers, resting on couches face-to-face.

15:48  They will not be affected by any tiredness there and they will never be made to leave.

15:49  Tell My slaves that I am the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful,

15:50  but also that My punishment is the Painful Punishment.

15:51  And tell them about the guests of Ibrahim.

15:52  When they came in to him, they said, ´Peace!´ He said, ´Truly we are afraid of you.´

15:53  They said, ´Do not be afraid. We bring you the good news of a boy of great knowledge.´

15:54  He said, ´Do you bring me this good news despite the fact of old age having reached me? What kind of good news are you bringing me?´

15:55  They said, ´We bring you good news of the truth, so do not be among those who despair.´

15:56  He said, ´Who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for misguided people?´

15:57  He added, ´What is your business, messengers?´

15:58  They said, ´We have been sent to a people who are evildoers —

15:59  with the exception of the family of Lut, all of whom We will save,

15:60  except for his wife. We have decreed her to be one of those who stay behind.´

15:61  When the Messengers came to the family of Lut,

15:62  he said, ´You are people we do not know.´

15:63  They said, ´We have come to you with what they had doubts about.

15:64  We have brought you the truth and we are certainly truthful men.

15:65  Travel with your family in the dead of night, following behind with them in front of you. None of you must look back. Go where you are ordered to.´

15:66  We revealed to him the command We had decreed: that on the following morning the last remnant of those people would be cut off.

15:67  The people of the city came, exulting at the news.

15:68  He said, ´These are my guests so do not put me to shame.

15:69  Have taqwa of Allah and do not dishonour me.´

15:70  They said, ´Did we not forbid you to play host to anyone at all?´

15:71  He said, ´Here are my daughters if you are determined to do something.´

15:72  By your life! They were wandering blindly in their drunkenness!

15:73  So the Great Blast seized hold of them at the break of day.

15:74  We turned the place completely upside down and rained down on them stones of hard-baked clay.

15:75  There are certainly Signs in that for the discerning.

15:76  They were beside a road which still exists.

15:77  There is certainly a Sign in that for the muminun.

15:78  The people of the Thicket* were also wrongdoers.

15:79  We took revenge on them as well. They are both beside a well-beaten track.

15:80  The people of al-Hijr denied the Messengers.

15:81  We brought them Our Signs but they turned away from them.

15:82  They carved out houses from the mountains, feeling safe,

15:83  but the Great Blast seized hold of them in the morning,

15:84  so all that they earned was of no use to them.

15:85  We did not create the heavens and earth and everything between them, except with truth. The Hour is certainly coming, so turn away graciously.

15:86  Your Lord, He is the Creator, the All-Knowing.

15:87  We have given you the Seven Oft-repeated* and the Magnificent Qur´an.

15:88  Do not direct your eyes longingly to what We have given certain of them to enjoy. Do not feel sad concerning them. And take the muminun under your wing.

15:89  Say: ´I am indeed a clear warner.´

15:90  Just as We sent down punishment on the dissectors,

15:91  those who divide the Qur´an into little pieces.

15:92  By your Lord, We will question them all, every one of them,

15:93  about what they did!

15:94  Proclaim what you have been ordered to and turn away from the idolaters.

15:95  We are enough for you against the mockers,

15:96  those who set up another god beside Allah. They will soon know!

15:97  We know that your breast is constricted by what they say.

15:98  So glorify your Lord with praise and be one of the prostrators.

15:99  And worship your Lord until what is Certain comes to you.