34 the people of saba

(In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful)

 

All praise and glory is to Allah, to whom belongs all that is in the Heavens

and all that is on the earth,

and to Him belongs all thanks in the Hereafter.

And, He is the Most Wise, the Most Aware.

He Knows what seeps into the earth, and what comes forth from it,

and what comes down from the Heaven, and what ascends thereto.

And, He is the Most Merciful, the Most Forgiving One.

But, the people who DisBelieve say, “The Final Hour won’t come to us.

Say, “Yes, by my Sovereign Lord, it will certainly come to you.

God knows both the seen and unseen.”

And, not even an atom’s weight is unknown to Him,

and He knows all that is in the Heavens and the Earth,

and all things great and small,

and everything is recorded on a Clear Slate –

so He may reward those who Believe and do Righteous good deeds in life.

They will have forgiveness with their Lord and a noble reward.

But, those who work against Our Verses seeking to lead people astray –

for them will be a painful punishment of a distasteful nature.

And, those who have been endowed with wisdom see that which is

Revealed to you from your Sovereign Lord is the Truth,

and it Guides to the Right Path of the Most Exalted in Might,

the Most Worthy of Praise.

But, the DisBelievers say, “Shall we show you a man who thinks

that after we perish and return to dust, that we will be resurrected again?

Is he inventing lies about God, or is he mad?”

Indeed, those who DisBelieve in the Hereafter will taste of the punishment,

and are extremely mistaken.

Do they not look at all that is before them, and behind them,

created by Allah in the Heavens and the earth.

If We so willed, We could cause the earth to engulf them,

or have pieces of the sky fall upon them.

And, without a doubt, in that, is a Sign for every follower who turns back to Him.

And, We most assuredly gave to David of Our Bounty.

We said, “The mountains and the birds, repeat Our Heavenly Praise of Him.”

And, We made pliable ore available to man,

commanding him to, “apply full coats and make links of chain,

and work all of you toward virtuous and moral causes.

Undeniably, I am seeing of all that you do.”

And, to Solomon, We subjected the wind

for a month in the morning and in the evening. 

And, We made a spring of copper to flow for him.

And, the jinn worked for him by His Lord’s leave.

And, whoever went astray from God’s Path,

will taste of the painful punishment of Hellfire.

They made for him palaces, statues, bowls and kettles.

We said, “O family of David, work with gratefulness.”

But, few of My followers are thankful.

And, when We decreed Solomon’s death,

nothing would indicate it was that time, except the termite eating at his staff.

But, when he fell and the staff collapsed from his weight,

it became known to the jinn that if they had the power to know the unseen,

they would not have had the disgraceful punishment.

There was a Sign for the people of Saba; two gardens on the left and right.

It was said to them, “Eat of the sustenance provided by your Sovereign Lord,

and be thankful to Him.

A good earth, and a Most Forgiving God.”

But, they turned away from Him, so We sent a flood upon them,

and We replaced their gardens with trees bearing bitter fruit,

tamarisks, and a few lote trees.

Through that, We compensated them for their DisBelief.

And, do We punish any but the unthankful?

And, We put between them and the Holy Cities, other communities.

And, We placed the communities at measured distances so they were

convenient to travel to, saying, “Travel safely between them

by night or day.”

And they disrespectfully said, “Lord,

make the distances between our journeys longer.”

And, they wronged their ownselves, so We made them examples

and caused them to go away, all of them.

Indeed, in that are Signs for those people who are uncomplaining,

and thankful.

And, Satan already confirmed that he could easily lead mankind astray,

so they followed him, all but a group of Believers.

And, he didn’t have any authority over them except

 allowing the Sovereign Lord God to see who Believes in the Hereafter,

and who is doubtful.

And, your Lord God is Guardian over all things.

Say, “Call upon those you claim belief in other than God.”

They do not have an atom’s weight of power in the Heavens and the earth,

and they don’t have any association with Him,

nor is there any helper or protector other than Allah.

And, intercession is not possible except by God’s leave.

In anticipation of when terror is removed from their hearts,

they will say, “What did your Lord say?”

They will reply, “The Truth.”

And God is the Most Exalted, the Most Majestic.

Say, “Who do you think provides of His Sustenance and Bounty

from the Heavens and the Earth?”

Say, “Allah!”  And, without a doubt, one of us is Clearly Guided,

and one of us is clearly mistaken.”

Say, “You will not be made to pay for my misdeeds, nor I for yours.”

Say, “Our Sovereign Lord God will gather us all together;

and, He will judge between us in Truth.

And, He is the Most Knowledgeable Judge.”

Say, “Show those to me of whom you have associated with God.

No!  He alone is God, the Most Exalted in Might, the Most Wise.”

And, We did not send you inclusively, without exception,

to mankind as a bearer of good tidings, but also a warner.

But, most people don’t know this.

And, they say, “When is this Day, if you are being truthful?”

Reply, “For you is the Undeniable Day, when you will not

stay therein for more than your appointed time,

 nor leave an hour early.”

And, the DisBelievers say, “We don’t Believe in this Qur'an,

nor the Word of God before it.”

But, if you could but see them standing before their Sovereign Lord,

they will be taking each others’ words back.

The meek will say to the arrogant, “If it wasn’t for you,

we would have been Believers.”

And, the arrogant ones will reply, “Did we lead you astray from Guidance,

after it came to you?  Actually, you were the wrongdoers.”

The weak ones will reply, “Rather, you were commanding us

to not Believe in God, and to associate others with him,

and it was your scheme by night and day.”

But, they will all regret it when they see the punishment;

and We placed shackles on the necks of those who DisBelieved.

Will they be rewarded except for what they did?

And, We did not send to any community one of God’s Messengers,

except but that the rich ones would say, “In what you were sent,

we are DisBelievers.”

And, they said further, “And, we are richer in wealth and progeny,

and we are not to be punished.”

Say, “Without a doubt, God provides His sustenance to whom He Wills,

and rescinds it at Will, but most people don’t know that.”

And, it is not your wealth or your children that bring you closer to Allah,

but it’s being a Believer and doing Righteous good deeds in life.

For them, there will be duplicate reward for what they did,

and they will reside in the upper levels of Heaven, safe.

And, the people who endeavor against Our Verses in order to cause them failure-

they will be driven into the Fiery Blaze of Hellfire.

Say, “Undeniably, Our Sovereign Lord God provides of His Sustenance

for whom He wills of His followers, or diminishes it.

But, whatever you spend in His causes and in charity –

He will reward you; and He is the Best of Providers.”

And, mention the Day when He will gather them all together,

and say to the angels, “Did these people use to worship you?”

They will reply, “Exalted are You! You, O Allah, you are our supporter,

not them.  To a certain extent, they used to worship the jinn;

most of them believed in them.”

But, on the Day, you will not have the power to exert

benefit or harm over one another, and We will say to the wrongdoers,

“Taste of the punishment of Hellfire, which you used to deny existed.”

And, when Our Verses are recited to them as Clear Proof,

they say, “This is nothing but a man who wants to turn you away from

what your forefathers were worshiping. And further, they say,

“This is nothing but invented lies.”

And those who DisBelieve in the Truth say, “This is nothing but sorcery.”

And, We gave them Holy Scriptures to study,

and before Muhammad, We sent to them other Messengers.

And, those before them rejected the Truth, and they have not

attained a tenth of what We gave them.

But, they rejected My Messengers, so how was My reprimand.

Say, “I only tell you one thing – that you stand in Truth before God,

either individually or in pairs, and be pensive.”

And, your companion is not mad.

Muhammad is a warner to mankind, to avert the punishment of Hellfire.

Say, “Whatever compensation I asked you for – take it, it is yours.

My compensation is only from God, and He is a Witness over all matters.”

Say, “Undoubtedly, my Sovereign Lord God compels the Truth,

and He Knows both the Seen and the Unseen.”

Say, “The Truth has come, and falsehood can never begin nor repeat again.”

Say, “If I should go astray, then I go astray to my own detriment.

But, if I am Rightly Guided, it is by what my Sovereign Lord reveals to me.

Really, He is listens, and is near.”

If you could visualize when the DisBelievers are horrified by Hellfire,

there will be no escape, and they will be destroyed by the Fiery Blaze.

And, they will be saying, “We Believe in it now!”

But, how can they expect to obtain Faith at this late date?

And, they already DisBelieved in it before,

 and they would insult Him by DisBelief in a place far from the Truth.

And, they will be prevented from getting into Paradise and what they desire,

as was done with the DisBelievers before.

Without a doubt, they were in arrogant DisBelief.