43Az-ZukhrufالزخرفVerse 1 of 89

The Ornaments of Gold43. Az-Zukhrufالزخرف

Az-Zukhruf

al-Zukhruf

The Gold Ornaments

Meccan89 verses43 / 114

43

Page 489

ḥ-m (ḥā mīm)

Ha, Meem.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-l-kitābi l-mubīni

By the Manifest Book:

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾinnā jaʿalnāhu qurʾānan ʿarabiyyan laʿallakum taʿqilūna

We have made it an Arabic Quran so that you may exercise your reason,

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-ʾinnahū fī ʾummi l-kitābi ladaynā la-ʿaliyyun ḥakīmun

and it is sublime and wise with Us in the Mother Book.

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾa-fa-naḍribu ʿankumu dh-dhikra ṣafḥan ʾan kuntum qawman musrifīna

Shall We keep back the Reminder from you and disregard you because you are an unrestrained lot?

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-kam ʾarsalnā min nabiyyin fī l-ʾawwalīna

How many a prophet We have sent to the former peoples!

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-mā yaʾtīhim min nabiyyin ʾillā kānū bihī yastahziʾūna

There did not come to them any prophet but that they used to deride him.

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-ʾahlaknā ʾashadda minhum baṭshan wa-maḍā mathalu l-ʾawwalīna

So We destroyed those who were stronger than these, and the example of the former peoples has already come to pass.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-la-ʾin saʾaltahum man khalaqa s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍa la-yaqūlunna khalaqahunna l-ʿazīzu l-ʿalīmu

If you ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say, ‘The All-mighty, the All-knowing created them.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

alladhī jaʿala lakumu l-ʾarḍa mahdan wa-jaʿala lakum fīhā subulan laʿallakum tahtadūna

He, who made the earth a cradle for you, and made for you in it ways so that you may be guided [to your destinations],

— Ali Quli Qarai

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wa-lladhī nazzala mina s-samāʾi māʾan bi-qadarin fa-ʾansharnā bihī baldatan maytan ka-dhālika tukhrajūna

and who sent down water from the sky in a measured manner, and We revived with it a dead country. Likewise, you shall be raised [from the dead].

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-lladhī khalaqa l-ʾazwāja kullahā wa-jaʿala lakum mina l-fulki wa-l-ʾanʿāmi mā tarkabūna

He created all the kinds and made for you the ships and the cattle such which you ride,

— Ali Quli Qarai

li-tastawū ʿalā ẓuhūrihī thumma tadhkurū niʿmata rabbikum ʾidhā stawaytum ʿalayhi wa-taqūlū subḥāna lladhī sakhkhara lanā hādhā wa-mā kunnā lahū muqrinīna

that you may sit on their backs, then remember the blessing of your Lord when you are settled on them, and say, ‘Immaculate is He who has disposed this for us, and we [by ourselves] were no match for it.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-ʾinnā ʾilā rabbinā la-munqalibūna

Indeed we shall return to our Lord.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-jaʿalū lahū min ʿibādihī juzʾan ʾinna l-ʾinsāna la-kafūrun mubīnun

They ascribe to Him offspring from among His servants! Man is indeed a manifest ingrate.

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾami ttakhadha mimmā yakhluqu banātin wa-ʾaṣfākum bi-l-banīna

Did He adopt daughters from what He creates while He preferred you with sons?

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-ʾidhā bushshira ʾaḥaduhum bi-mā ḍaraba li-r-raḥmāni mathalan ẓalla wajhuhū muswaddan wa-huwa kaẓīmun

When one of them is brought the news of what he ascribes to the All-beneficent, his face becomes darkened and he chokes with suppressed rage, [and says]

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾa-wa-man yunashshaʾu fī l-ḥilyati wa-huwa fī l-khiṣāmi ghayru mubīnin

‘What! One who is brought up amid ornaments and is inconspicuous in contests?’

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-jaʿalū l-malāʾikata lladhīna hum ʿibādu r-raḥmāni ʾināthan ʾa-shahidū khalqahum sa-tuktabu shahādatuhum wa-yusʾalūna

They have made the angels—who are servants of the All-beneficent—females. Were they witness to their creation? Their testimony will be written down and they shall be questioned.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-qālū law shāʾa r-raḥmānu mā ʿabadnāhum mā lahum bi-dhālika min ʿilmin ʾin hum ʾillā yakhruṣūna

They say, ‘Had the All-beneficent wished, we would not have worshipped them.’ They do not have any knowledge of that, and they do nothing but surmise.

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾam ʾātaynāhum kitāban min qablihī fa-hum bihī mustamsikūna

Did We give them a Book before this, so that they are holding fast to it?

— Ali Quli Qarai

bal qālū ʾinnā wajadnā ʾābāʾanā ʿalā ʾummatin wa-ʾinnā ʿalā ʾāthārihim muhtadūna

No, they said, ‘We found our fathers following a creed, and we are indeed guided in their footsteps.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

Page 491

wa-ka-dhālika mā ʾarsalnā min qablika fī qaryatin min nadhīrin ʾillā qāla mutrafūhā ʾinnā wajadnā ʾābāʾanā ʿalā ʾummatin wa-ʾinnā ʿalā ʾāthārihim muqtadūna

So it has been that We did not send any warner to a town before you, without its affluent ones saying, ‘We found our fathers following a creed and we are indeed following in their footsteps.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

qāla ʾa-wa-law jiʾtukum bi-ʾahdā mimmā wajadtum ʿalayhi ʾābāʾakum qālū ʾinnā bi-mā ʾursiltum bihī kāfirūna

He would say, ‘What! Even if I bring you a better guidance than what you found your fathers following?!’ They would say, ‘We indeed disbelieve in what you are sent with.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-ntaqamnā minhum fa-nẓur kayfa kāna ʿāqibatu l-mukadhdhibīna

Thereupon We took vengeance on them; so observe how was the fate of the deniers.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-ʾidh qāla ʾibrāhīmu li-ʾabīhi wa-qawmihī ʾinnanī barāʾun mimmā taʿbudūna

When Abraham said to his father and his people, ‘I repudiate what you worship,

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾillā lladhī faṭaranī fa-ʾinnahū sa-yahdīni

excepting Him who originated me; indeed He will guide me.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-jaʿalahā kalimatan bāqiyatan fī ʿaqibihī laʿallahum yarjiʿūna

He made it a lasting word among his posterity so that they may come back [to the right path].

— Ali Quli Qarai

bal mattaʿtu hāʾulāʾi wa-ʾābāʾahum ḥattā jāʾahumu l-ḥaqqu wa-rasūlun mubīnun

Indeed, I provided for these and their fathers until the truth and a manifest apostle came to them.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-lammā jāʾahumu l-ḥaqqu qālū hādhā siḥrun wa-ʾinnā bihī kāfirūna

But when the truth came to them, they said, ‘This is magic, and we indeed disbelieve in it.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-qālū law-lā nuzzila hādhā l-qurʾānu ʿalā rajulin mina l-qaryatayni ʿaẓīmin

And they said, ‘Why was not this Quran sent down to some great man from the two cities?’

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾa-hum yaqsimūna raḥmata rabbika naḥnu qasamnā baynahum maʿīshatahum fī l-ḥayāti d-dunyā wa-rafaʿnā baʿḍahum fawqa baʿḍin darajātin li-yattakhidha baʿḍuhum baʿḍan sukhriyyan wa-raḥmatu rabbika khayrun mimmā yajmaʿūna

Is it they who dispense the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have dispensed among them their livelihood in the present life, and raised some of them above others in rank, so that some may take others into service, and your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-law-lā ʾan yakūna n-nāsu ʾummatan wāḥidatan la-jaʿalnā li-man yakfuru bi-r-raḥmāni li-buyūtihim suqufan min fiḍḍatin wa-maʿārija ʿalayhā yaẓharūna

Were it not [for the danger] that mankind would be one community, We would have made for those who defy the All-beneficent, silver roofs for their houses and [silver] stairways by which they ascend,

— Ali Quli Qarai

Page 492

wa-li-buyūtihim ʾabwāban wa-sururan ʿalayhā yattakiʾūna

and [silver] doors for their houses and [silver] couches on which they recline,

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-zukhrufan wa-ʾin kullu dhālika lammā matāʿu l-ḥayāti d-dunyā wa-l-ʾākhiratu ʿinda rabbika li-l-muttaqīna

and ornaments of gold; yet all that would be nothing but the wares of the life of this world, and the Hereafter is for the Godwary near your Lord.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-man yaʿshu ʿan dhikri r-raḥmāni nuqayyiḍ lahū shayṭānan fa-huwa lahū qarīnun

We assign a devil to be the companion of him who turns a blind eye to the remembrance of the All-beneficent.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-ʾinnahum la-yaṣuddūnahum ʿani s-sabīli wa-yaḥsabūna ʾannahum muhtadūna

Indeed they bar them from the way [of Allah], while they suppose that they are [rightly] guided.

— Ali Quli Qarai

ḥattā ʾidhā jāʾanā qāla yā-layta baynī wa-baynaka buʿda l-mashriqayni fa-biʾsa l-qarīnu

When he comes to Us, he will say, ‘I wish there had been between me and you the distance between the east and the west! What an evil companion [you are]!’

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-lan yanfaʿakumu l-yawma ʾidh ẓalamtum ʾannakum fī l-ʿadhābi mushtarikūna

‘Today that will be of no avail to you. As you did wrong, so will you share in the punishment.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾa-fa-ʾanta tusmiʿu ṣ-ṣumma ʾaw tahdī l-ʿumya wa-man kāna fī ḍalālin mubīnin

Can you, then, make the deaf hear or guide the blind and those who are in manifest error?

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-ʾimmā nadhhabanna bika fa-ʾinnā minhum muntaqimūna

We will indeed take vengeance on them, whether We take you away

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾaw nuriyannaka lladhī waʿadnāhum fa-ʾinnā ʿalayhim muqtadirūna

or show you what We have promised them, for indeed We hold them in Our power.

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-stamsik bi-lladhī ʾūḥiya ʾilayka ʾinnaka ʿalā ṣirāṭin mustaqīmin

So hold fast to what has been revealed to you. Indeed, you are on a straight path.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-ʾinnahū la-dhikrun laka wa-li-qawmika wa-sawfa tusʾalūna

Indeed it is a reminder for you and your people, and soon you will be questioned.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-sʾal man ʾarsalnā min qablika min rusulinā ʾa-jaʿalnā min dūni r-raḥmāni ʾālihatan yuʿbadūna

Ask those of Our apostles We have sent before you: Did We set up any gods to be worshipped besides the All-beneficent?

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-la-qad ʾarsalnā mūsā bi-ʾāyātinā ʾilā firʿawna wa-malaʾihī fa-qāla ʾinnī rasūlu rabbi l-ʿālamīna

Certainly We sent Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his elite. He said, ‘I am indeed an apostle of the Lord of all the worlds.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-lammā jāʾahum bi-ʾāyātinā ʾidhā hum minhā yaḍḥakūna

But when he brought them Our signs, they indeed laughed at them.

— Ali Quli Qarai

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wa-mā nurīhim min ʾāyatin ʾillā hiya ʾakbaru min ʾukhtihā wa-ʾakhadhnāhum bi-l-ʿadhābi laʿallahum yarjiʿūna

We did not show them a sign but it was greater than the other, and We visited on them punishment so that they might come back.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-qālū yā-ʾayyuha s-sāḥiru dʿu lanā rabbaka bi-mā ʿahida ʿindaka ʾinnanā la-muhtadūna

They would say, ‘O magician! Invoke your Lord for us by the covenant He has made with you [to remove this scourge]. We will indeed be guided [when it is removed].’

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-lammā kashafnā ʿanhumu l-ʿadhāba ʾidhā hum yankuthūna

But when We lifted the punishment from them, behold, they would break their pledge.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-nādā firʿawnu fī qawmihī qāla yā-qawmi ʾa-laysa lī mulku miṣra wa-hādhihi l-ʾanhāru tajrī min taḥtī ʾa-fa-lā tubṣirūna

And Pharaoh proclaimed to his people, saying, ‘O my people! Do not the kingdom of Egypt and these rivers that run at my feet belong to me? Do you not perceive?

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾam ʾana khayrun min hādhā lladhī huwa mahīnun wa-lā yakādu yubīnu

Am I not better than this wretch who cannot even speak clearly?

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-law-lā ʾulqiya ʿalayhi ʾaswiratun min dhahabin ʾaw jāʾa maʿahu l-malāʾikatu muqtarinīna

Why no bracelets of gold have been thrown to him, nor any angels accompany him as escorts?’

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-stakhaffa qawmahū fa-ʾaṭāʿūhu ʾinnahum kānū qawman fāsiqīna

Thus did he mislead his people and they obeyed him. Indeed, they were a transgressing lot.

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-lammā ʾāsafūnā ntaqamnā minhum fa-ʾaghraqnāhum ʾajmaʿīna

So when they roused Our wrath, We took vengeance on them and drowned them all.

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-jaʿalnāhum salafan wa-mathalan li-l-ʾākhirīna

Thus We made them the vanguard and an example for posterity.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-lammā ḍuriba bnu maryama mathalan ʾidhā qawmuka minhu yaṣiddūna

When the Son of Mary was cited as an example, behold, your people raise an outcry.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-qālū ʾa-ʾālihatunā khayrun ʾam huwa mā ḍarabūhu laka ʾillā jadalan bal hum qawmun khaṣimūna

They say, ‘Are our gods better or he?’ They cite him to you only for the sake of contention. Indeed, they are a contentious lot.

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾin huwa ʾillā ʿabdun ʾanʿamnā ʿalayhi wa-jaʿalnāhu mathalan li-banī ʾisrāʾīla

He was just a servant whom We had blessed and made an exemplar for the Children of Israel.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-law nashāʾu la-jaʿalnā minkum malāʾikatan fī l-ʾarḍi yakhlufūna

Had We wished We would have set angels in your stead to be [your] successors on the earth.

— Ali Quli Qarai

Page 494

wa-ʾinnahū la-ʿilmun li-s-sāʿati fa-lā tamtarunna bihā wa-ttabiʿūni hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīmun

[Say,] ‘Indeed he is a portent of the Hour; so do not doubt it and follow me. This is a straight path.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-lā yaṣuddannakumu sh-shayṭānu ʾinnahū lakum ʿaduwwun mubīnun

Do not let Satan bar you [from the way of Allah]. Indeed he is your manifest enemy.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-lammā jāʾa ʿīsā bi-l-bayyināti qāla qad jiʾtukum bi-l-ḥikmati wa-li-ʾubayyina lakum baʿḍa lladhī takhtalifūna fīhi fa-ttaqū llāha wa-ʾaṭīʿūni

When Jesus brought those manifest proofs, he said, ‘I have certainly brought you wisdom, and [I have come] to make clear to you some of the things that you differ about. So be wary of Allah and obey me.

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾinna llāha huwa rabbī wa-rabbukum fa-ʿbudūhu hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīmun

Indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him. This is a straight path.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-khtalafa l-ʾaḥzābu min baynihim fa-waylun li-lladhīna ẓalamū min ʿadhābi yawmin ʾalīmin

But the factions differed among themselves. So woe to the wrongdoers for the punishment of a painful day.

— Ali Quli Qarai

hal yanẓurūna ʾillā s-sāʿata ʾan taʾtiyahum baghtatan wa-hum lā yashʿurūna

Do they not consider that the Hour may overtake them suddenly while they are unaware?

— Ali Quli Qarai

al-ʾakhillāʾu yawmaʾidhin baʿḍuhum li-baʿḍin ʿaduwwun ʾillā l-muttaqīna

On that day, friends will be one another’s enemies, except for the Godwary.

— Ali Quli Qarai

yā-ʿibādi lā khawfun ʿalaykumu l-yawma wa-lā ʾantum taḥzanūna

[They will be told,] ‘O My servants! Today you will have no fear, nor will you grieve

— Ali Quli Qarai

alladhīna ʾāmanū bi-ʾāyātinā wa-kānū muslimīna

—those who believed in Our signs and had been Muslims.

— Ali Quli Qarai

udkhulū l-jannata ʾantum wa-ʾazwājukum tuḥbarūna

Enter paradise, you and your spouses, rejoicing.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

yuṭāfu ʿalayhim bi-ṣiḥāfin min dhahabin wa-ʾakwābin wa-fīhā mā tashtahīhi l-ʾanfusu wa-taladhdhu l-ʾaʿyunu wa-ʾantum fīhā khālidūna

They will be served around with golden dishes and goblets, and therein will be whatever the souls desire and eyes delight in. ‘You will remain in it [forever].

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-tilka l-jannatu llatī ʾūrithtumūhā bi-mā kuntum taʿmalūna

That is the paradise you have been given to inherit for what you used to do.

— Ali Quli Qarai

lakum fīhā fākihatun kathīratun minhā taʾkulūna

There are abundant fruits for you in it, from which you will eat.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

Page 495

ʾinna l-mujrimīna fī ʿadhābi jahannama khālidūna

Indeed the guilty will remain [forever] in the punishment of hell.

— Ali Quli Qarai

lā yufattaru ʿanhum wa-hum fīhi mublisūna

It will not be lightened for them, and they will be despondent in it.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-mā ẓalamnāhum wa-lākin kānū humu ẓ-ẓālimīna

We did not wrong them, but they themselves were wrongdoers.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-nādaw yā-māliku li-yaqḍi ʿalaynā rabbuka qāla ʾinnakum mākithūna

They will call out, ‘O Malik! Let your Lord finish us off!’ He will say, ‘Indeed you will stay on.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

la-qad jiʾnākum bi-l-ḥaqqi wa-lākinna ʾaktharakum li-l-ḥaqqi kārihūna

‘We certainly brought you the truth, but most of you were averse to the truth.’

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾam ʾabramū ʾamran fa-ʾinnā mubrimūna

Have they settled on some [devious] plan? Indeed, We too are settling [on Our plans].

— Ali Quli Qarai

ʾam yaḥsabūna ʾannā lā nasmaʿu sirrahum wa-najwāhum balā wa-rusulunā ladayhim yaktubūna

Do they suppose that We do not hear their secret thoughts and their secret talks? Yes indeed [We do]! And with them are Our messengers, writing down [everything].

— Ali Quli Qarai

qul ʾin kāna li-r-raḥmāni waladun fa-ʾana ʾawwalu l-ʿābidīna

Say, ‘If the All-beneficent had offspring, I would have been the first to worship [him].’

— Ali Quli Qarai

subḥāna rabbi s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍi rabbi l-ʿarshi ʿammā yaṣifūna

Clear is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, of whatever they allege [concerning Him]!

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-dharhum yakhūḍū wa-yalʿabū ḥattā yulāqū yawmahumu lladhī yūʿadūna

So leave them to gossip and play until they encounter the day they are promised.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-huwa lladhī fī s-samāʾi ʾilāhun wa-fī l-ʾarḍi ʾilāhun wa-huwa l-ḥakīmu l-ʿalīmu

It is He who is God in the sky, and God on the earth, and He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowing.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-tabāraka lladhī lahū mulku s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍi wa-mā baynahumā wa-ʿindahū ʿilmu s-sāʿati wa-ʾilayhi turjaʿūna

Blessed is He to whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, and with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, and to Him you will be brought back.

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-lā yamliku lladhīna yadʿūna min dūnihi sh-shafāʿata ʾillā man shahida bi-l-ḥaqqi wa-hum yaʿlamūna

Those whom they invoke besides Him have no power of intercession, except those who are witness to the truth and who know [for whom to intercede].

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-la-ʾin saʾaltahum man khalaqahum la-yaqūlunna llāhu fa-ʾannā yuʾfakūna

If you ask them, ‘Who created them?’ they will surely say, ‘Allah.’ Then where do they stray?

— Ali Quli Qarai

wa-qīlihī yā-rabbi ʾinna hāʾulāʾi qawmun lā yuʾminūna

And his plaint: ‘My Lord! Indeed these are a people who will not have faith!’

— Ali Quli Qarai

fa-ṣfaḥ ʿanhum wa-qul salāmun fa-sawfa yaʿlamūna

So disregard them, and say, ‘Peace!’ Soon they will know.

— Ali Quli Qarai