Alif Lam Mim Ra These are the signs of the Scripture. What your Lord has sent down to you [Prophet] is the truth, yet most people do not believe.

it is He who spread out the earth, placed firm mountains and rivers on it, and made two of every kind of fruit; He draws the veil of night over the day. There truly are signs in this for people who reflect.

There are, in the land, neighbouring plots, gardens of vineyards, cornfields, palm trees in clusters or otherwise, all watered with the same water, yet We make some of them taste better than others: there truly are signs in this for people who reason.

If anything can amaze you [Prophet], then you should surely be amazed at their asking, ‘What? When we become dust, shall we be created anew?’ These are the ones who deny their Lord, who will wear iron collars around their necks and be the inhabitants of the Fire, there to remain.

They ask you to bring on the punishment rather than any promised rewards, though there have been many examples before them––your Lord is full of forgiveness for people, despite their wrongdoing, but He is truly severe in punishment.

The disbelievers say, ‘Why has no miracle been sent down to him from his Lord?’ But you are only there to give warning: [earlier] communities each had their guide.

God knows what every female bears and how much their wombs shrink or swell- everything has its measure with Him;

He knows what is not seen as well as what is seen; He is the Great, the Most High.

It makes no difference whether any of you speak secretly or aloud, whether you are hiding under cover of night or walking about in the day:

each person has guardian angels before him and behind, watching over him by God’s command. God does not change the condition of a people [for the worse] unless they change what is in themselves, but if He wills harm on a people, no one can ward it off–– apart from Him, they have no protector.

It is He who shows you the lightning, inspiring fear and hope; He builds up the clouds heavy with rain;

the thunder sounds His praises, as do the angels in awe of Him; He sends thunderbolts to strike whoever He will. Yet still they dispute about God- He has mighty plans.

The only true prayer is to Him: those they pray to besides Him give them no answer any more than water reaches the mouth of someone who simply stretches out his hands for it- it cannot do so: the prayers of the disbelievers are all in vain.

All that are in heaven and earth submit to God alone, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the mornings and in the evenings.

Say [Prophet], ‘Who is Lord of the heavens and the earth?’ Say, ‘God.’ Say, ‘Why do you take protectors other than Him, who can neither benefit nor harm even themselves?’ Say, ‘Are the blind equal to those who can see? And are the depths of darkness equal to the light?’ Have the partners they assign to God created anything like His creation so that their creation is indistinguishable from His? Say, ‘God is the Creator of all things: He is the One, the All Compelling.’

He sends water from the sky that fills riverbeds to overflowing, each according to its measure. The stream carries on its surface a growing layer of froth, like the froth that appears when people melt metals in the fire to make ornaments and tools: in this way God illustrates truth and falsehood- the froth disappears, but what is of benefit to man stays behind- this is how God makes illustrations.

There will be the best of rewards for those who respond to their Lord; those who do not respond would willingly give away the earth’s contents twice over, if they had it, in order to ransom themselves, so terrible will be their reckoning. Hell will be their home, and their bed wretched.