Surah An-Naml: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

Ta. Sin. These are verses of the Quran, which make the truths clear in words formed from letters that are the sounds of your language.

These verses guide those who believe and give them good news. Those who have such faith perform their prayers consciously and constantly, give generously to those in need so as to warm hearts to Allah’s call and to purify themselves, and believe wholeheartedly in the Hereafter.

Those who do not believe in the Hereafter, imagining that what they do is right and good, drift about blindly in the swamp of shirk and disbelief. Such people will suffer the worst of punishments and be among the losers.

Without doubt this Quran is being sent down by Allah, the Possessor of judgment and wisdom, who knows the one truth about everything and makes it known.

Recall when Moses, on his way back to Egypt, saw a fire in the distance and said to his family: “I have seen a fire in the distance; you wait here, and I will go and take a look; perhaps I can bring from there an ember to warm you, and some news about the way.” When he reached it, Moses was called: “Blessed is the light of this fire and the surroundings it lights up. Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, is the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and He alone is the Exalted.

O Moses! I am Allah, who created the universe, owns it, lays down rulings, and has the authority to rule. Now put down the staff in your hand.”

Moses put his staff down on the ground, and when he saw that the staff had turned into a snake moving swiftly, he at once turned his back and began to flee. Thereupon Allah said, “O Moses! Do not be afraid; those I have chosen as prophets need have no fear in My presence. Nor need those fear who have done some wrong, wronging themselves and others, and then repented and turned to what is right.

O Moses! Now put your hand into the front of your garment; when you draw it out, you will see it as a flawless, shining white source of light. Along with these We will show Pharaoh and his people nine miracles; and you, invite them with these miracles to live by the system and morality that is the reason for their creation.”

When Moses invited Pharaoh and those around him to the right path with these miracles and signs, Pharaoh and his men at once said, “This is plain sorcery, the work of a sorcerer.” In fact, in their inner world they had understood that what they saw was not sorcery and that what they heard were not the words of a sorcerer; but because they swaggered and were arrogant, they twisted the truth and denied it. See, then, what their end was!

In the past We had given David and Solomon knowledge and sovereignty, and so they would give thanks, saying, “Praise be to Allah, who has raised us above most people through this knowledge.”

Solomon succeeded his father David to the throne and called out to his people: “O my people! We have been granted the meaning of the birds’ calls and the ability to communicate with them, and along with this, knowledge of the reason for people’s creation. These are Allah’s manifest favors.”

One day Solomon gathered his army, made up of his native people, of foreigners (jinn), and of birds, and set out; when he came to the Valley of the Ants, one of the people of the valley called out to his people:

“O people of the Valley of the Ants! Go into your homes at once, so that Solomon’s army does you no harm.” When Solomon heard these words he smiled, and then he prayed, “My Lord, grant me to give thanks for the countless blessings You have bestowed on me and on my mother and father, and always to do deeds that please You; and in Your compassion and mercy grant me to be among Your good and virtuous servants.”

One day, too, Solomon was inspecting his birds when he saw that Hudhud (the hoopoe) was not among them, and he asked the others, “I do not see Hudhud among you; has he gone missing again? If this time he does not give me a valid excuse, I will punish him severely or have his head cut off.” Before long Hudhud turned up and said to Solomon, “I have learned something you do not yet know; I have brought you news about the people of Sheba. I saw that a woman rules over her people there and holds every kind of authority; what is more, she has a magnificent throne. But her people have taken the sun as a god alongside Allah and worship it; Satan has made what they do seem attractive to them and led them astray, so that they have become unable to find the right path. Yet it is Allah who knows what is hidden and concealed in the heavens and on the earth, what passes through our minds, and all that we do, and there is no god but Him whose rulings are to be obeyed; should they too not live believing in the Lord of the Throne?”

Thereupon Solomon said to Hudhud, “We shall see whether what you say is true, or whether you are lying about the people of Sheba.”

After a while Solomon called Hudhud and said, “Take this letter to them, and see what attitude they take toward my letter; then come back and tell me what you saw.”

After reading the letter that came from Solomon, the woman ruler gathered her council and said to them: “A most important letter has come to me from Solomon. The letter begins with the words ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,’ and then goes on: ‘Do not be arrogant toward me and belittle the importance of the call I make in Allah’s name; come to me of your own will and wholeheartedly, to submit to the system of life that is Allah’s call.’”

After reading this letter to her council, the queen of Sheba asked them, “My lords, what is your view of what we should do in this situation we face? I do not want to decide and reply without hearing your views.”

The queen’s select councillors said to her: “We are a strong and warlike nation; you can rely on us when it comes to fighting, but the decision is still yours.”

Hearing this, the queen said to them, “The truth is that when rulers enter a country, they turn it upside down and humiliate and degrade the leading people of that country. That is what they all do; so I will send them a gift, and we will see how they respond to our envoys.”

When the queen’s envoys came to Solomon with their gifts, Solomon said to them: “Do you take me for someone who can be won over with gifts, or who wants to add wealth to his wealth? The blessing of the right path that Allah has granted me is far more precious and better than what you wish to give me; your gift is of value only to those who, like you, accept no life but the passing life of this world. Now go back to those who sent you with these gifts and convey to them this message of mine: if they do not turn to and believe in the system of life whose limits Allah has set, the reason for their creation (if they do not give up oppressing people), I swear that we will march on them with a force they cannot withstand and drive them out of that land, humbled, abased, and despised.”

After the envoys had returned to their country, Solomon, thinking that the queen of Sheba would come to meet him, gathered his skilled craftsmen and said to them: “O my able craftsmen! Which of you can make an exact copy of her throne and bring it to me before the queen and her men come to us to submit wholeheartedly?”

Thereupon an ifrit (a foreigner, a highly skilled one) from among the jinn in Solomon’s service said to Solomon, “I will make it and bring it to you before you rise from where you are sitting, for I am capable, knowledgeable, and strong in this.” Another who was there, equipped with knowledge from the Book, said to Solomon, “I will make that throne and bring it to you in the blink of an eye.” And after a while he made the throne and brought it before Solomon. When Solomon saw it, he prayed, saying, “To see and experience this, too, is a favor from my Lord. With the power and blessings He has granted me, my Lord is testing me to see whether I will give thanks to Him or be ungrateful. Whoever lives in submission to Allah does good to himself, and whoever turns away from Him does harm to himself. Allah is in need of no one’s thanks. He is most generous toward everyone in the life of this world. Toward the believers He is compassionate and merciful.”

Then Solomon went on: “Make some changes to this throne, and let us see whether she will be able to see and understand the differences between her own and this one, or not.”

When the woman who was queen of Sheba came before Solomon, Solomon asked her, “Was your throne like this?” She said, “Yes, it is as if this were my throne.” But she did not notice the details and the changes made to the throne. Solomon turned to those present and said, “Because knowledge of the truth was given to us earlier, we had submitted to Allah and become Muslims; but the queen and her people took other gods alongside Allah, and what they took as gods kept them from becoming Muslims. For they were a people inclined to live associating partners with Allah.”

The queen of Sheba was invited into the hall of the palace. When the queen saw that the floor of the hall was made of crystal glass, she thought it was water and began to gather up her skirts. Seeing this, Solomon said to the queen, “The floor is not water; it is made of crystal glass that gives the impression of water,” whereupon the queen said: “My Lord! All these years I have wronged myself by taking the sun as a god; now I too, with Solomon, have submitted to the Lord of all the worlds.”

Long ago We also sent to the people of Thamud their kinsman Salih as a prophet. Salih called his people to follow Allah’s call. But when this message reached them, they split into two hostile factions. Faced with this, Salih said to them, “O my people! Why do you not choose to believe in the Allah-centered system of life that is the reason for your creation, live in keeping with it, and so be happy in this world and the Hereafter? You are persisting in unruliness, rebellion, and denial as though you wanted the punishment to come at once! Yet if you repent, ask Allah’s forgiveness, and turn to what is right, you will attain Allah’s pardon and mercy.”

His people turned to Salih and said, “We believe that bad luck will befall us because of you and those with you.” Salih said to them, “The bad luck that has befallen you and will befall you is due to your stubborn persistence in shirk and disbelief. Allah is testing you with these warnings.”

The city where Salih’s people lived was run by a gang of nine men, corrupt and tyrannical people who knew no law or order. This gang, disturbed by Salih’s call, agreed among themselves to raid the homes of Salih and those with him one night and do away with them all; and they also agreed then to go to those who would seek redress for their blood and say, “We have nothing to do with those who did this. We are people who stand for what is right and speak the truth.”

Thinking themselves clever, they laid such a trap, but We brought their trap to nothing, and they were not even aware of it.

See, then, what came of the traps they laid: from the midst of those traps We saved those who were believers, and all who remained We destroyed with Our punishment and wiped out. Now the places where they once lived stand empty and utterly desolate. In the story of Salih there are lessons for those who use their reason and reflect.

Long ago We also sent Lot as a prophet. He said to his people: “How is it that you can commit that loathsome, shameless act, contrary to human nature, leaving women and turning to men? You are truly a most perverted, immoral, and disgraceful people.”

In response his people gathered among themselves and said: “Let us drive Lot and those with him out of our land; clearly these are people who supposedly want to stay pure.”

So We saved Lot and his family from among that people who associated partners with Allah, denied the truth, and were perverted; and his wife, who deserved the punishment, We destroyed together with those who deserved it.

We rained stones down upon them like rain. That rain of stones, falling on those who had been warned yet turned away from living by the morality to which they were invited, was truly terrible.

Say: “Allah alone is worthy of praise and thanks. Peace be upon the prophets He has chosen and upon those who follow in their footsteps. O you who associate partners with Allah! Tell me now, who is the superior God: Allah, or the false gods you have invented?”

O you who stop your ears and close your eyes to Allah’s call! Just think: when it is Allah who created the heavens and the earth, and who sends down water from the sky and with it grows vineyards and gardens of matchless beauty, while you can neither create nor grow even a single tree in those gardens, can it ever be right to take other gods alongside Allah? Yet still they turn their backs on these truths.

Think of Allah, who made the earth fit for you to live on in this way, set rivers flowing between valleys, placed unshakable mountains upon it, and created two great bodies of water, the water of one salty and bitter and that of the other sweet, bringing them together without letting their waters mix, through the barrier He placed between them. Is He the true God, or those you take as gods alongside Him and associate as partners with Allah? For those who see and reflect on these things, is it possible to take a god other than Allah? Yet many people ignore them. And what else is it but ingratitude to take other gods alongside Allah, who answers the prayer of one in distress and comes to his aid, and who has given provision on earth both to those before you and to you, and to associate partners with Him? How little you reflect, and how you close your eyes and hearts to the truths!

When it is Allah who enables you to find your way in the darkness of land and sea, who sends the winds as bearers of good news ahead of the rain, and who has created so many blessings, will you take another god alongside Allah, have it set up the order of your life, and associate it as a partner with Allah?

Will you take other gods alongside Allah, who created you in the first place and goes on creating anew, who will raise you to life again after death, and who gives you provision from both the sky and the earth? Say to such people: “If you persist in associating partners with Allah, then bring your proof, if you have any, and let us see.”

O Prophet! Say to them also: “No one in the heavens or on the earth but Allah can know the unseen, and no one can know when he will be raised to life after death. Allah alone knows these things.”

Despite being warned constantly about the Hereafter and the Day of Reckoning, those who persist in associating partners with Allah and in disbelief still doubt that it will come, and stop their ears to the warnings.

Some of those who associate partners with Allah say: “So we and our forefathers are to be raised to life again after we die and mix with the soil, are we? This matter we are told of was told to our forefathers too; these are nothing but the fabrications of the ancients.”

Say to them: “Travel through the land and reflect on what the end was of those who associated partners with Allah and denied the Hereafter.”

And do not give way to sorrow and grieve over what those who have not come to know Allah as He deserves say.

When they say to you, “If you are telling the truth, when will this resurrection after death and this promised punishment you speak of come about?” say to them: “Perhaps part of the punishment you want to come quickly so that you may see it is already on your heels.”

Let such people know well that your Lord is acting most graciously in not giving them at once the punishment they deserve, but granting them time and opportunity; yet most people do not know or understand this.

Your Lord also knows very well what they conceal in their hearts and what they reveal. Everything in heaven and on earth that is hidden and unknown to people is within His knowledge and on record.

This Quran also sheds light on the matters over which the Children of Israel argue and are divided.

This Quran is, moreover, a guide to the right path and a source of mercy, making clear to those who reflect on the purpose of their creation how they should live.

Without doubt your Lord will judge between all people according to what they deserve. For He is just, powerful, and supreme, and knows everything as it truly is.

Put your trust in your Lord alone! The system of life to which He invites is the very truth.

You cannot make the dead hear the call, nor make those who turn their backs and flee hear it; you cannot show the truth to those who act blind to it, nor turn them to the right path. You can make only those hear who wish to learn the reason for their creation and live in keeping with it.

When, with the Resurrection Allah has promised, the Day of Punishment comes, We will bring forth from the earth a dabbah (a living creature) that will announce that most people deserve the punishment because they did not believe wholeheartedly in Our call and fulfill what it requires.

On That Day We will gather in groups, from every community, those who called Our verses lies and turned away from the call made in Allah’s name, and drive them to the place of punishment. When they arrive there, they will be told, “We granted you the ability to understand and grasp the right system of life and its morality, and We invited you through prophets and books. Despite all this, you paid no heed and rejected it without thinking or listening, and so you made no preparation at all for this day.” And when the punishment they deserve is set before them, they will have nothing to say, nor the strength to say it.

Have those who have conditioned themselves to deny the truth not seen that We made the night dark so that you may rest, and the day bright so that you may work? Truly there are signs in this for a people who believe.

When that Day of Resurrection, whose coming is certain, arrives, the Trumpet will be blown, and everyone in the heavens and on the earth, except those Allah wills, will be seized by an indescribable terror; and then they will be brought before Allah with heads bowed.

The mountains you think cannot be moved from their places drift away like clouds. This is the work of the knowledge and power of Allah, who binds everything to an unfailing order and laws. Without doubt Allah is aware of everything people do, and of everything they fail to do when they should.

Whoever comes before his Lord with good deeds will receive something better in return. Those who believe in Allah and fulfill their responsibilities will be protected from the terror of the Day of Resurrection.

But those who are brought before Allah having turned away from these truths will be dragged face down and thrown into the fire of Hell, and they will be told, “This is the recompense for what you did in your worldly life.”

O Prophet! Say to those who stubbornly persist in shirk and disbelief: “I have been commanded only to serve Allah, the Lord of this city He has made blessed and of everything; for He is the Owner of everything. What could be more right than following the system of life that is His call?

I have been charged with reciting the Quran and conveying it to people. From now on, whoever turns to living the life to which he is invited through the Quran has found the right path; and whoever turns his back and rejects it, say to him: ‘I am only a warner.’” Tell them this too: “It is Allah who is worthy of praise and thanks, who created us, endowed us with so many blessings, and showed us the right path; He will show you everything He has promised when its time comes, and when you see it you will understand the truth. Your Lord is never unaware of what you do.”