38:1  Sad. (I swear) by the glorious Qur’an bearing the Reminder (with guidance to the truth and warning, that you are one who has been sent to convey God’s Religion)

38:2  However, those who disbelieve are lost in self-glory and opposition

38:3  We destroyed before them many generations (who likewise willfully persisted in unbelief and opposition). (In the end) they called out for help but only when it was too late for the punishment (they had earned) to be canceled

38:4  They deem it strange that a warner from among them has come to them, and the unbelievers say: "This man is but a sorcerer, a fraud (who makes fabrications in attribution to God)

38:5  "What! has he made all the deities into One God. This is a very strange thing, indeed!"

38:6  The leaders among them went about inciting one another: "Move on, and remain constant to your deities. Surely that (to which this man calls) is the very thing that is certainly intended (deliberately plotted by him and those who follow him)

38:7  "We have not heard of this in recent ways of faith. This is surely nothing but a concoction

38:8  "From among all of us has the Reminder been sent down on him?" No! Rather, (on account of their self-glory) they are lost in doubts concerning My Reminder. No indeed! they have not yet tasted My punishment (so that they might abandon their arrogance and recognize the truth)

38:9  Or do they own and control the treasures of the Mercy of your Lord, the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Bestowing, (that they presume to object to your being chosen as the Messenger)

38:10  Or do they own the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them? Then let them ascend to the heavens by ropes (and see if they can prevent the Message from being sent to you)

38:11  They are no more than a routed band of (disunited) parties there (awaiting a defeat as certain as the defeat of the hordes of old times who rejected the Messengers and were utterly abased)

38:12  Before them the people of Noah denied (their Messenger), and the Ad, and the Pharaoh with formidable strongholds

38:13  And also the Thamud, and the people of Lot, and the people al-Aykah. Those are the hordes (of old times)

38:14  Not one of them but denied the Messengers (sent to them), and therefore My retribution was their just, inevitable due

38:15  These wait but for a single blast, which will tolerate no delay (to give them respite)

38:16  Yet, they say: "Our Lord! Hasten on to us our share before the Day of Reckoning!"

38:17  Bear patiently all that they say, and remember Our servant David, powerful (in his glorification of God, in knowledge, in kingdom, and in fighting). Surely he was one ever turning to God in penitence

38:18  We subdued the mountains to glorify (their Lord) along with him in the afternoon and bright morning

38:19  And the birds assembled; all were turned to Him (in devotion and glorification)

38:20  We strengthened his kingdom, and granted him wisdom and decisive speech (to inform, and convince, and lead)

38:21  Now, has the report of the litigants come to you, when they climbed over the wall into the royal chamber

38:22  When they entered in upon David, and so he was taken aback by them. They said: "Do not be alarmed! (We are) two litigating parties; one party trespassed against the right of the other. So judge between us with truth; do not be unjust; and guide us to the level path."

38:23  (One of them explained the case): "This is my brother: He has ninety-nine ewes, and I have but one. Then he said, ‘Make it over to me,’ and he overpowered me in (force of) speech."

38:24  David said: "He has undoubtedly wronged you in demanding your single ewe to add to his own ewes. Truly many are the partners in business who trespass against the right of one another, except such as believe and do good, righteous deeds, and how few they are!" David came to understand that We had tried him, so he appealed to his Lord for forgiveness, and fell down in prostration, and turned to God in contrition

38:25  So We forgave him that. Indeed he enjoyed nearness to Us and an excellent place of final return

38:26  "O David! We have appointed you a vicegerent in the land (to rule according to Our commandments); so judge among people with the truth and do not follow personal inclination, lest it leads you astray from the path of God. Surely, those who wander astray from God’s path – for them there is a severe punishment because they have forgotten the Day of Reckoning

38:27  We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in vain (so that people should think themselves at liberty to act each according to his own desires and inclinations). That is the mere conjecture of those who disbelieve. Woe to those who disbelieve because of the Fire

38:28  Or (do they think that) We treat those who believe and do good, righteous deeds the same as those who provoke disorder and corruption on earth, or (that) We treat the pious, God-revering ones the same as the shameless, dissolute ones

38:29  This is a Book, which We send down to you, full of blessings, so that they (all conscious, responsible beings) may ponder its verses and that the people of discernment may reflect on it and be mindful

38:30  We granted to David (who was perfectly righteous in his Caliphate) Solomon. How excellent a servant Solomon was! Surely he was one ever-turning (to God) in penitence

38:31  Once, in the afternoon, there were brought before him nobly-bred horses (trained for fighting in God’s cause, steady when standing, swift when running)

38:32  (Having watched them for some time,) he said: "Indeed my love for these horses is (not on their own behalf, but) because they serve for the remembrance of my Lord (and conveying His Name to other lands)." And the horses were hidden by the veil of distance

38:33  (He commanded): "Bring them back to me." Then, he rubbed down their legs and their necks

38:34  Indeed, We tried Solomon and placed a lifeless body upon his throne. Afterwards, he turned (to God) in contrition

38:35  He prayed: "My Lord, forgive me, and bestow on me a kingdom which will not suit anyone after me. Surely You are the All-Bestowing."

38:36  We (accepted his prayer and) subdued the wind to his service, so that it coursed gently by his command wherever he willed

38:37  And of the satans (devils) (We made subservient to him) every builder (on earth) and diver (to extract precious stones from the sea)

38:38  And others (of the rebellious jinn) linked together in fetters

38:39  "This is Our gift, so either bestow (from it), or withhold (from it), without reckoning (that it may diminish or that you will be held to account for it)

38:40  Surely he enjoyed nearness to Us and an excellent place of final return

38:41  And remember Our servant Job, when he called out to his Lord: "Surely Satan has caused me to be afflicted with distress and great suffering."

38:42  (We told him:) "Strike the ground with your foot: here is cool water to wash with and to drink

38:43  We granted him his household and the like thereof along with them as a mercy from Us, and as a reminder (with guidance and instruction) for the people of discernment

38:44  (We also told him): "Take in your hand a bundle of rushes and strike with it: do not break your oath." Surely, We found him full of patience and constancy. How excellent a servant! He was surely one ever-turning to God in penitence

38:45  And remember Our servants Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, endowed with power (in obedience to God and doing good deeds), and insight (to discern the truth in things and events)

38:46  We made them perfectly pure and sincere by virtue of a characteristic most pure: their constant remembrance of the Abode (of the Hereafter)

38:47  They are in Our sight among the perfectly purified, chosen ones, the truly good

38:48  And also remember Ishmael and al-Yasa‘a (Isaiah), and Dhu’l-Kifl. Every one of them is of the truly good

38:49  All this is a remembrance (of the excellence of those We have mentioned and an instruction for people). For the God-revering, pious there is an excellent abode of return

38:50  Gardens of perpetual bliss whose gates are wide-open to them

38:51  In which they will recline (on thrones), calling therein for many a fruit and drink

38:52  And with them will be pure, chaste-eyed spouses, well-matched, (whose glances are fixed on them only)

38:53  This is what you are promised for the Day of Reckoning

38:54  This is certainly Our provision (for you) with no diminishing (nor end) in it

38:55  All this (for the God-revering, pious); but for the rebellious is an evil abode of return

38:56  Hell, where they will enter to roast: how evil a cradle

38:57  This (then is for them), so let them taste it: boiling water and intensely-cold, dark fluid

38:58  And paired with that, another (torment) of similar nature

38:59  "(O rebellious ones!) Here is the crowd of people who rushed blindly into sin in your company (while in the world, and now they will rush into the Fire together with you)!" (The rebellious ones cry out:) "No welcome for them! They will indeed enter the Fire to roast."

38:60  They (who had blindly followed) say: "No! rather for you, there is no welcome for you! It is you who forwarded this for us (from the world)!" Then, how evil a place to abide in

38:61  And they say (in supplication): "Our Lord! Whoever forwarded this for us, increase him in punishment doubled in the Fire!"

38:62  And (the rebellious ones) say: "What is it with us that we cannot see the men (the poor and weak believers) whom we used to count among the wicked

38:63  "Whom we used to take in mockery? Or is it that (they are here with us, but) our eyes have missed them (just as we turned our eyes from them in contempt in the world)?"

38:64  Such will in truth be the mutual wrangling of the people of the Fire

38:65  Say: "I am but a warner. There is no deity save God, the One (with no-one and nothing like or comparable to Him), the All-Overwhelming (with absolute sway over all that exists)

38:66  The Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Forgiving

38:67  Say: "This (Qur’an) is a supreme message

38:68  "You turn away from it in aversion

38:69  "I had no knowledge of the High Assembly (in the heavens) when they were arguing

38:70  "I (follow only what is revealed to me and) it is revealed to me that I am but a plain warner."

38:71  (Remember) when your Lord said to the angels: "I am creating a mortal out of clay (to set him on the earth as vicegerent)

38:72  "When I have fashioned him fully and breathed into Him out of My Spirit, then fall down prostrating before him (as a sign of respect for him and his superiority)."

38:73  So the angels prostrated, all of them together

38:74  But Iblis did not (in defiance of God’s explicit order to him); he grew arrogant and displayed himself as an unbeliever

38:75  (God) said: "O Iblis! What prevents you from prostrating before the being whom I have created with My two Hands? Are you too proud (to bow down before any created being in defiance of My command), or are you (of those who think themselves) so high in honor (that they cannot be ordered to prostrate before anyone)?"

38:76  (Iblis) answered: "I am better than him. You have created me from fire and him You have created from clay."

38:77  (God) said: "Then get you down out of it; surely You are one eternally rejected (from My Mercy)

38:78  And My curse is on you until the Day of Judgment."

38:79  He said: "My Lord, grant me respite till the Day when they are raised (from the dead)!"

38:80  (God) said: "You are of the ones granted respit

38:81  "Until the Day of the Time Appointed."

38:82  (Iblis) said: "Then (I swear) by Your Glory, I will certainly cause them all to rebel and go astray

38:83  "Except Your servants among them, endowed with sincerity in faith and worshipping You."

38:84  (God) said: "(Whatever I do and command is) the truth itself, and the truth I speak

38:85  "I will most certainly fill Hell with you (and your kind), and those (of humankind) who follow you, all together."

38:86  Say (O Messenger): "I ask of you no wage for this (conveying the Qur’an to you), and I am not of those who claim to be what they are really not and make fabrications of their own

38:87  "This (Qur’an) is only a Reminder (with guidance and admonishment) for all conscious beings

38:88  You will most certainly come to know what it informs of after a time (as appointed for you)