35. Fatir (فاطر)

All praise be to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and earth, Who made the angels messengers with two, three, or four wings. He increases in creation whatever He wills. Indeed, Allah is Most Capable of all things.

Whatever mercy Allah opens up for people, none can withhold it; and whatever He withholds, none can release it thereafter, for He is the All-Mighty, All-Wise.

O people, remember Allah’s favor upon you. Is there any creator other than Allah who gives you provision from heaven and earth? None has the right to be worshiped except Him. How can you then be deluded?

If they reject you, there were messengers rejected before you; it is to Allah that all matters will be returned.

O people, indeed Allah’s promise is true, so do not let the life of this world deceive you, nor let the Chief Deceiver [Satan] deceive you concerning Allah.

Indeed, Satan is an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy. He only calls his followers to be among the inmates of the Blazing Fire.

Those who disbelieve will have a severe punishment, but those who believe and do righteous deeds will have forgiveness and a great reward.

Is one whose evil deed is made appealing to him so he deems it good [like one who is rightly guided]? It is Allah who causes to stray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. So do not let yourself collapse in grief for them. Allah is All-Knowing of what they do.

It is Allah Who sends the winds which stir up clouds, then We drive them to a dead land and revive therewith the earth after its death. Such will be the Resurrection.

Whoever seeks honor, then all honor belongs to Allah alone. To Him ascend good words, and righteous deeds raise them[1]. But those who plan evil deeds will have a severe punishment, and the plans of such people will perish.

It is Allah Who created you from dust[1], then from a drop of semen, and then He made you into pairs[2]. No female conceives nor gives birth without His knowledge. None is given long life or cut short of his life except that it is in a Record[3]. That is surely easy for Allah.

The two bodies of water are not alike: one is fresh and palatable, pleasant to drink, and the other is salty and bitter. Yet from each you eat fresh meat and extract ornaments to wear. And you see the ships traverse their way through both, so that you may seek His bounty and so that you may give thanks.

He merges the night into the day and the day into the night, and subjected the sun and the moon, each running its course for an appointed term. Such is Allah, your Lord. To Him belongs the dominion, whereas those whom you invoke besides Him do not own so much as the membrane of a date stone.

If you call upon them, they cannot hear your call, and even if they were to hear, they could not respond to you. On the Day of Resurrection they will disown your associating them as partners with Allah[1]. And none can inform you like the All-Aware.

O people, it is you who are in need of Allah, whereas Allah is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy.

If He wills, He can eliminate you and bring in a new creation,

for that is not difficult for Allah.

No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. If a heavily-laden soul calls for help to bear its burden, nothing of it will be carried, even if he is a close relative. You can only warn those who fear their Lord unseen[1] and establish prayer. Whoever purifies himself, he only does so for his own benefit. To Allah is the final return.

The blind and the seeing are not equal[1],

nor are the depths of darkness and the light[1],

nor the shade and the scorching wind[1].

Nor are the living and the dead equal. Allah makes to hear whom He wills, but you cannot make to hear those who are in the graves[1].

You are but a warner.

We have sent you with the truth as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner. There has never been any community except that a warner came to it[1].

If they reject you, so did those who came before them. Their messengers came to them with clear proofs, divine scriptures[1], and an enlightening Book[2].

Then I seized those who disbelieved. How severe was My response!

Do you not see that Allah sends down rain from the sky, then We bring forth thereby fruits of various colors? And in the mountains there are various tracts of white and red, of various colors, and raven black;

just as humans, animals and livestock are of various colors. Only the people of knowledge among His slaves fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is All-Mighty, All-Forgiving.

Those who recite the Book of Allah, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them, secretly and openly, hoping for a deal that will suffer no loss,

so that He will reward them in full and give them more out of His bounty[1]. He is All-Forgiving, Most Appreciative.

The Book that We have revealed to you [O Prophet] is the truth, confirming that which came before it. Indeed, Allah is All-Aware and All-Seeing of His slaves.

Then We made to inherit the Book those whom We have chosen from among Our slaves[1]. But among them are some who wrong themselves, some follow a middle course, and some are foremost in good deeds with Allah’s permission. That is the great bounty.

They will enter Gardens of Eternity; they will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearls, and their garments will be of silk.

And they will say, “All praise be to Allah Who has taken away from us all sorrow. Indeed, our Lord is All-Forgiving, Most Appreciative,

He Who has caused us to settle – out of His grace – in the everlasting home, wherein no weariness or fatigue will touch us.”

As for those who disbelieve, there will be the Fire of Hell; neither will they be sentenced to death, so that they may die, nor will its punishment be lightened for them. This is how We recompense every disbeliever.

They will be screaming therein, “Our Lord, take us out; we will do righteous deeds, unlike what we used to do.” [They will be told], “Did We not give you long enough lives to take heed for anyone who wished to take heed? And the warner did come to you. So taste! The wrongdoers will have no helper.”

Allah is the Knower of the unseen in the heavens and earth. He is All-Knowing of what is in the hearts.

It is He Who has made you successors on earth. Whoever disbelieves will bear the burden of his disbelief. Their disbelief only increases the disbelievers in contempt before their Lord, and their disbelief only increases the disbelievers in loss.

Say, “Tell me about your associate-gods whom you supplicate besides Allah. Show me what they created on earth, or do they have a share in the heavens? Or have We given them a Book so they have clear proof? No, the wrongdoers promise one another nothing but delusion[1].”

Allah keeps the heavens and earth from vanishing. If they were to vanish, there is none to sustain them other than Him. He is Most Forbearing, All-Forgiving.

They swore by Allah their most solemn oaths that if a warner came to them, they would surely be more guided than any other community. But when a warner came to them, it only added to their aversion –

due to their arrogance in the land and plotting evil, but evil plotting only backfires on its own people. Are they awaiting anything other than the fate of the earlier peoples? You will find no change in Allah’s way[1], and you will find no alteration in Allah’s way[2].

Have they not traveled in the land to see what was the end of those who came before them? They were more powerful than them. Allah is not such that something can escape Him in the heavens or on earth. He is indeed All-Knowing, Most Capable.

If Allah were to take people to task for what they did, He would not leave a single living being on earth, but He gives them respite for an appointed term. When their appointed time comes, then Allah is All-Seeing of His slaves.