النجم

1CONSIDER this unfolding [of God’s message], as it comes down from on high!

2This fellow-man of yours has not gone astray, nor is he deluded,

3and neither does he speak out of his own desire:

4that [which he conveys to you] is but [a divine] inspiration with which he is being inspired –

5something that a very mighty one has imparted to him:

6[an angel] endowed with sur­passing power, who in time manifested himself in his true shape and nature,

7appearing in the horizon’s loftiest part,

8and then drew near, and came close,

9until he was but two bow-lengths away, or even nearer.

10And thus did [God] reveal unto His servant whatever He deemed right to reveal.

11The [servant’s] heart did not give the lie to what he saw:

12will you, then, contend with him as to what he saw?

13And, indeed, he saw him a second time

14by the lote-tree of the farthest limit,

15near unto the garden of promise.

16with the lote-tree veiled in a veil of nameless splendour….

17[And withal,] the eye did not waver, nor yet did it stray:

18truly did he see some of the most profound of his Sustainer’s symbols.

19HAVE YOU, then, ever considered [what you are worshipping in] Al-Lat and Al-Uzza,

20as well as [in] Manat, the third and last [of this triad]?

21Why - for yourselves [you would choose only] male offspring, whereas to Him [you assign] female:

22that, lo and behold, is an unfair division!

23These [allegedly divine beings] are nothing but empty names which you have invented - you and your forefathers - [and] for which God has bestowed no warrant from on high. They [who worship them] follow nothing but surmise and their own wishful thinking - although right guidance has now indeed come unto them from their Sustainer.

24Does man imagine that it is his due to have all that he might wish for,

25despite the fact that [both] the life to come and this present [one] belong to God [alone]?

26For, however many angels there be in the heavens, their intercession can be of no least avail [to anyone] - except after God has given leave [to inter­cede] for whomever He wills and with whom He is well-pleased.