The Qur'an Sura LIII — THE STAR
1By the STAR when it setteth,
2Your compatriot erreth not, nor is he led astray,
3Neither speaketh he from mere impulse.
4The Koran is no other than a revelation revealed to him:
5One terrible in power taught it him,
6Endued with wisdom. With even balance stood he
7In the highest part of the horizon:
8Then came he nearer and approached,
9And was at the distance of two bows, or even closer,–
10And he revealed to his servant what he revealed.
11His heart falsified not what he saw.
12What! will ye then dispute with him as to what he saw?
13He had seen him also another time,
14Near the Sidrah-tree, which marks the boundary.
15Near which is the garden of repose.
16When the Sidrah-tree was covered with what covered it,
17His eye turned not aside, nor did it wander:
18For he saw the greatest of the signs of his Lord.
19Do you see Al-Lat and Al-Ozza,
20And Manat the third idol besides?
21What? shall ye have male progeny and God female?
22This were indeed an unfair partition!
23These are mere names: ye and your fathers named them thus: God hath not sent down any warranty in their regard. A mere conceit and their own impulses do they follow. Yet hath "the guidance" from their Lord come to them.
24Shall man have whatever he wisheth?
25The future and the present are in the hand of God:
26And many as are the Angels in the Heavens, their intercession shall be of no avail
27Until God hath permitted it to whom he shall please and will accept.
28Verily, it is they who believe not in the life to come, who name the angels with names of females:
29But herein they have no knowledge: they follow a mere conceit; and mere conceit can never take the place of truth.
30Withdraw then from him who turneth his back on our warning and desireth only this present life.
31This is the sum of their knowledge. Truly thy Lord best knoweth him who erreth from his way, and He best knoweth him who hath received guidance.
32And whatever is in the Heavens and in the Earth is God's that he may reward those who do evil according to their deeds: and those who do good will He reward with good things.
33To those who avoid great crimes and scandals but commit only lighter faults, verily, thy Lord will be diffuse of mercy. He well knew you when he produced you out of the earth, and when ye were embryos in your mother's womb. Assert not then your own purity. He best knoweth who feareth him.
34Hast thou considered him who turned his back?
35Who giveth little and is covetous?
36Is it that he hath the knowledge and vision of the secret things?
37Hath he not been told of what is in the pages of Moses?
38And of Abraham faithful to his pledge?
39That no burdened soul shall bear the burdens of another,
40And that nothing shall be reckoned to a man but that for which he hath made efforts:
41And that his efforts shall at last be seen in their true light:
42That then he shall be recompensed with a most exact recompense,
43And that unto thy Lord is the term of all things,
44And that it is He who causeth to laugh and to weep,
45And that He causeth to die and maketh alive,
46And that He hath created the sexes, male and female,
47From the diffused germs of life,
48And that with Him is the second creation,
49And that He enricheth and causeth to possess,
50And that He is the Lord of Sirius,
51And that it was He who destroyed the ancient Adites,
52And the people of Themoud and left not one survivor,
53And before them the people of Noah who were most wicked and most perverse.
54And it was He who destroyed the cities that were overthrown.
55So that that which covered them covered them.
56Which then of thy Lord's benefits wilt thou make a matter of doubt?
57He who warneth you is one of the warners of old.
58The day that must draw nigh, draweth nigh already: and yet none but God can reveal its time.
59Is it at these sayings that ye marvel?
60And that ye laugh and weep not?
61And that ye are triflers?
62Prostrate yourselves then to God and worship.
Suras are in the standard order; verse divisions follow Rodwell's 1861 edition and do not always match the standard ayah numbering.