Surah Ash-Shu'ara: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

Ta. Sin. Mim. These are the letters of the sounds that make up your language. Through the Quran the truths are made clearly known to you in words formed from the sounds of the language in which you speak, understand one another, and write.

O Prophet! You are almost destroying yourself with grief because they do not believe. Had We willed, We would have sent down to them from the sky such a tremendous miracle that they would all at once have bowed their heads and submitted.

Whenever a prophet and a book come from the presence of the Most Gracious to warn those who have conditioned themselves to deny the truth, they at once deny it. So too they call the Quran a lie, mock it, and turn away. Soon they will be shown that the call they mock and turn away from is the very truth.

Do these people never look carefully at the earth and reflect on how, by Our knowledge and power, We have created there every living thing in pairs and set it out for people’s benefit? Without doubt there are lessons in these for those who use their reason, but most people still shut their eyes to the truths. Your Lord is most merciful and compassionate toward those who wish to see and know the truth.

Long ago your Lord called to Moses: “O Moses! Go to that wrongdoing people, the people of Pharaoh, invite them to live the Allah-centered life that is the reason for their creation, and remind them of their responsibilities.”

Thereupon Moses said, “O my Lord! I fear they will not believe what I tell them, and because of that my tongue will falter and my chest grow tight; so appoint my brother Aaron too as my helper and as a messenger. Moreover, I once killed one of them, and so they have a case to use against me; for this reason I also fear they will kill me.”

Allah said to Moses: “There is no need for you to fear; it will never be so. I am with you both; I will see and watch over you. Now go together to Pharaoh, both of you, and say to him: ‘We are messengers of the Lord of all the worlds; we invite you, by His verses, to live by the system and morality that is the reason for people’s creation. If you will not accept, then allow the Children of Israel to leave here with us.’”

When Moses said this, Pharaoh said, “Did we not take you in among us when you were a little baby and bring you up? You spent many years of your life among us, yet despite this you were ungrateful, and you did what you should not have done and killed a man.”

Moses said to Pharaoh, “Yes, I caused the death of that man, who was one of you. But at that time I was one of the bewildered and the ignorant; I was afraid of you and fled from here, and then my Lord taught me the way to think rightly, decide rightly, and act rightly, and made me one of His messengers. As for the favor you now throw in my face, it was the result of your enslaving the Children of Israel.”

This time Pharaoh asked Moses, “While I stand here as lord, who might this Lord of all the worlds be, O Moses?” Moses said to him, “If you truly wish to learn what is right, to believe in Him wholeheartedly, and to live accordingly, I will tell you! He is the Lord (the Owner) of the heavens, the earth, and all that is between them.” Thereupon Pharaoh turned to those around him and said, “Did you hear what he is saying?”

When Moses went on, “He is your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers before you,” Pharaoh said to those present, “This Moses, who claims to have been sent by Allah as a prophet, has lost his mind; he does not know what he is saying.” And Moses said to him, “He is the Lord of the east and the west and all that is between them, the Lord of every place; and every person who uses his reason can see and understand that this is the truth.”

Pharaoh, growing ever more furious as he heard this, turned to Moses and began hurling threats, saying, “If you persist in accepting anyone other than me as lord and god, I swear I will throw you into a dungeon and let you rot there.”

This time Moses asked Pharaoh, “And if I show you, with the miracles Allah has granted me, that I am a prophet, will you still not accept it?” Pharaoh said to him, “Go on, then, if what you say is true, let us see these miraculous proofs of yours.” Thereupon Moses put his staff down on the ground, and all at once the staff became a huge snake. Then he put his hand into the front of his garment and drew it out, and his hand turned into a source of light that dazzled the eyes of those who looked on.

Seeing all this, Pharaoh, astonished, asked those around him, “This man has truly become a most skilled sorcerer; by the spell of his sorcery he is out to sway us and the people, do away with our order, and drive us out of our land. What measures should we take against this?”

The chiefs who made up Pharaoh’s council steered him, saying, “Keep Moses and his brother Aaron here for a while and keep them from having contact with people. Meanwhile send men to all your cities and bring the skilled sorcerers here.”

At last the sorcerers gathered from the land faced Moses on the day and at the hour agreed with him, in the square where the people had also gathered.

Pharaoh and his men, meanwhile, kept saying among themselves, “Let these sorcerers get the better of Moses and expose him as a sorcerer, so that the people will see that he is no prophet but really someone deceiving them, and will not follow him. That way we will be rid of him too.”

The sorcerers gathered from the cities came before Pharaoh and asked, “What reward will you give us if we defeat Moses?” And Pharaoh promised them, “If you win, I will raise you to high positions at my side.”

At last Moses said to the sorcerers who had come to the square, “Come on, then, show your skills.” As the sorcerers put down the ropes and staffs in their hands, they were saying to one another, “We will win, and further strengthen and exalt the might and glory of Pharaoh.”

After them Moses put down his staff, and Moses’ staff, turning into a huge snake, swallowed up all the trappings of sorcery with which the sorcerers had deceived the eye. Seeing this, the sorcerers fell down in prostration, saying, “We believe that the Lord of Moses and Aaron, the Lord of all the worlds, is our Lord too, and we prostrate ourselves to Him.”

At what he saw, Pharaoh called out to the sorcerers, “How is it that you believe in him before I have given you permission? So he is your master, who taught you sorcery, and you have plotted against me together with him, have you? You will see what punishment I will give you: I will have your hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, and then I will have you hanged.”

The sorcerers, who now believed that Allah is Lord and God, said to Pharaoh: “Your threats can never turn us from our faith; sooner or later we will all return to our Lord anyway. Today, here, we are the first of those who believe in our Lord, and so we hope that our Lord will forgive us the sins we have committed until now.”

Then We revealed to Moses: “Take My servants and set out by night, but know that you will be pursued by Pharaoh and his men.”

Meanwhile Pharaoh sent heralds to the cities and had it proclaimed to his people that the Children of Israel were a degenerate, wretched, despicable, and ungrateful community trying to stir up trouble in the land, and that people must therefore be on their guard and prepared against them; at the same time, telling the people of Egypt that they were a noble, superior, powerful, and highborn people, he called on them to stand together in unity against the dangers that might come from the Children of Israel.

So, because of this arrogance of theirs and the attitude of shirk and disbelief they took toward the system of life that is Allah’s call, We drove them out of the fine gardens, springs, wealth, property, and positions they imagined they owned, and deprived them of them. And then We granted the Children of Israel more than what the people of Pharaoh had possessed.

At last Pharaoh, learning that the Children of Israel had set out by night to leave Egypt, went after them with his men at sunrise; and when they drew near to Moses and those with him on the shore of the sea, those with Moses said, “Alas, we are caught!” Moses said to them, “Do not be afraid; my Lord is with me, and He will surely show a way out.”

Thereupon We revealed to Moses: “Strike the sea with your staff.” When Moses struck with his staff, the sea parted down the middle, and on each side the mass of water stood like two great mountains. Moses and his people crossed to the other side by the path opened through the middle of the sea, and when Pharaoh and his men entered the same path behind them to catch them, We drowned them in the waters.

Surely there are lessons to be learned from this story of Moses, but most people still persist in drawing no lesson from it.

The truth is that your Lord’s power and knowledge are boundless, and He is most compassionate and merciful toward the believers.

O Prophet! Tell them, too, what happened to Abraham. Recall when he asked his father and his people, “What, and whom, do you serve, and why?” They said, “We worship the idols to which we owe our present way of life, we serve them, and we will always remain devoted to them.” Abraham said to them, “Well, when you plead with them and call on them for help to solve your problems, do they do you any good, or can they ward off harm that may come to you?” They said, “No, but this is how we found our forefathers doing; they too sanctified those who had set up this order, took them as gods, made idols of them, and worshipped and served them.”

Abraham said to them, “Well, have neither you nor your forefathers ever thought about these you serve and worship? Now I tell you plainly that these you worship are in fact enemies to you and to me. I take only the Lord of all the worlds as God and serve Him alone. For it is He who created me and shows me the right path, who created the blessings that satisfy my hunger and thirst, who will heal me when I fall ill, who will cause me to die and then raise me to life again, and from whom I hope for forgiveness of my sins on the Day of Reckoning.”

And Abraham began to pray: “My Lord, grant me the ability to tell right from wrong and the power to judge rightly, and join me with Your virtuous, upright, and good servants; make me one of Your servants remembered as models of truthfulness. Place me too among those who attain the blessings of Your Paradise, and forgive my father, for he is one who has lost his way. My Lord, do not put me to shame on the Day of Reckoning.”

On the Day of Reckoning neither wealth, nor property, nor children will be of any use to anyone. On That Day only those who come before Allah with righteous deeds and a sound heart purified of sin will attain His good pleasure and be rewarded.

On That Day Paradise will be brought near to those who fulfilled their responsibilities toward Allah. And Hell will be brought near and set before those who paid no heed to their responsibilities toward Allah and turned their backs.

Those who deserve Hell will be told, “Where now are your gods, whom you went after and whom you never failed to serve? Let us see whether they have the power to help themselves or you!”

In the end both they and those who followed them unthinkingly will all be thrown together into the fire of Hell as the henchmen of Iblis. And there, blaming one another, they will writhe in remorse, saying, “By Allah, while we were in the world we lived in utter error; we followed systems of life invented by created beings like you and held you equal to the Lord of all the worlds; so it was you who led us astray and made us accept shirk and disbelief as a system of life. But today you can neither stand up for us nor show us any friendship. If only we had the chance to return to the life of the world, so that we might be among those who believe in and submit to the call made in Allah’s name through prophets and books.”

Surely there are lessons in this story for those who use their reason and reflect. Do not forget that the power and mercy of your Lord are infinite.

In the past the people of Noah, too, did not believe their prophet Noah and accused him of lying. Yet Noah, their own kinsman, had called them to act responsibly toward Allah and had said, “I am a trustworthy messenger sent to you by Allah, your Lord. Beware of going against Allah, and follow me. For this I ask no wage of you. My reward rests with Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. Come now, reflect on all the blessings Allah has given, and follow me so as to walk the right path He sets before you.”

Hearing this from Noah, his people, who associated partners with Allah, said to him, “What? When we see with our own eyes that those from the lowest ranks of society follow you, do you expect us to follow you too?”

Noah said to them: “I cannot know what those who follow me did in the past, or with what intention; what class they come from, how little or how much they had, and their social standing before they came to me are of no importance at all. It is not for you, nor for me, to pass judgment on them; judgment on His servants belongs to my Lord alone. If only you too could understand this and think this way. And know well that I am not going to drive away from me those who believe in Allah and wish to live as their faith requires. I am only a prophet who calls you, in Allah’s name, to the system and morality that is His call.”

At these words of Noah, his people said to him, “O Noah! If you do not give up this attitude, you will certainly be subjected to our gravest insults and be stoned.”

Thereupon Noah prayed to his Lord: “My Lord, my people stubbornly persist in not believing me; now judge between me and them, and bring me and the believers with me to safety.”

In the end We took Noah and the believers who had believed with him on board the ship, together with the loads they had brought with them, and saved them, and We drowned those who stayed behind.

Without doubt, in the story of Noah too there are lessons for those who use their reason. The truth is that your Lord’s power and His mercy toward the believers are infinite.

The people of Ad, too, called their kinsman, the Prophet Hud, who came to them, a liar.

Hud had said to them: “Should you not feel responsible toward Allah, who created you and endowed you with so many blessings, and reflect on why He created you? I am a trustworthy messenger sent to you by Allah; I call you to live the life whose limits Allah has set, the reason for your creation. So follow me, that you may find the right path. For this call I ask no wage of you; the measure of my reward rests with my Lord.”

Hud went on: “O my people! Do you count it a fine accomplishment to erect monuments and put up buildings on every high hill? Or do you imagine that you can live forever in these mansions you build? And will you go on acting as tyrants, recognizing no right or law, whenever the chance comes your way? Come now, come to your senses, act responsibly toward Allah, abandon this way of life, and begin to show Him reverence. Turn to the call of your Lord, who has given you every blessing you could imagine and granted you herds of animals, vineyards, gardens, children, springs, and rivers. If you turn away from this and persist in living bound to the system and morality of shirk and disbelief, I fear that one day you will be punished with a terrible punishment.”

In reply to these warnings of the Prophet Hud, his people said to him, “O Hud! Whether you counsel us or not makes no difference; we are not going to follow you and your call. What you say is nothing but what the ancients made up. We will not give up this system of life left to us by our forefathers. And so we do not believe that we will be punished either.”

So his people called Hud a liar, paid him no heed, and turned away from him. Thereupon We destroyed them with Our punishment. In the story of Hud there are lessons, yet most people still do not wish to accept the truth and learn a lesson.

Without doubt your Lord’s power is sufficient for everything. He is most merciful toward the believers.

The community of Thamud, too, accused their kinsman, the Prophet Salih, who was sent to them, of lying, and would not accept the call he made in Allah’s name. Salih had called them to take Allah alone as Lord and God and so live what is right.

Salih said to them, “O my people! I am a trustworthy messenger sent by Allah; I call you to be responsible and attentive toward Him. Heed this call of mine and follow me, so that you may turn to the right path. I ask no wage of you for my call. The One who will give me my reward is Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.”

Then Salih went on: “Do you think that, while you live in wanton excess amid the vineyards, gardens, springs, palm groves heavy with clusters, and crops that Allah has created and granted you, and in the mansions you have made by carving the rocks of the mountains, Allah will not punish your ingratitude? O my people! Give up this ingratitude, wantonness, and unruliness at once, and follow me so as to act responsibly toward Allah. Do not follow your leaders, who recognize none of the limits Allah has set and rebel against them. Such people do nothing but sow disorder on earth.”

After these warnings and counsel from Salih, his people said to him, “O Salih! It seems someone has bewitched you, and that is why you claim to be a prophet. You are no different from us; you are a human being like us. If what you say is really true and you are a prophet, then show us a miracle as proof of your prophethood.” Salih said to them: “The miracle you ask for is this she-camel; the right to drink at the place where your animals are watered shall belong to this camel one day and to your animals the next; and on no account try to do this camel any harm, or you will be struck with a tremendous punishment.” Despite this warning, those who associated partners with Allah and denied the truth slaughtered the camel mercilessly; then the punishment of which Salih had warned them seized them in a tight grip, and they deeply regretted what they had done, but by then it was far too late. There are lessons to be learned from what the people of Salih went through. Yet despite this, most people turn away from warnings.

Your Lord’s power is sufficient for everything. He is most merciful and compassionate toward the believers.

The people among whom Lot lived, too, refused to accept Lot’s prophethood and accused him of lying. Lot had called out to them: “O my people! Allah has charged me, as His trustworthy messenger, with making known to you a life in keeping with the purpose of your creation, and how you should live. So consider that you have responsibilities toward Allah, and follow me in order to fulfill them. I ask no wage of you in return for my call; it is my Lord who will determine my reward. How is it that you leave your wives, whom Allah created for you as partners, and have relations with men? You are truly a deviant people who know no limits.”

In response to these words of Lot, his deviant people said to him: “O Lot! If you try to lecture us on morality, we will drive you out of this land.”

Lot turned to them and said: “I loathe what you do, and I condemn you with abhorrence.” Then he prayed to Allah, saying, “My Lord, protect and save me and my family from the abominations they commit.”

So We saved Lot and his family; and upon that people who associated partners with Allah, denied the truth, and were deviant, among them his old wife, who chose to stay behind, We rained down stones like rain and wiped them all out; such was the terrible disaster that befell those who did not choose the right path even though they had been warned.

Without doubt, in the story of this people too there are lessons to be learned for those who use their reason and reflect.

Without doubt your Lord’s power is sufficient for everything. He is most compassionate toward the believers.

Long ago the People of the Thicket (Ayka), too, refused to accept the prophethood of Shuayb, who was sent to them, and did not believe in his call.

Shuayb said to them, “Do you never wonder about the responsibilities you have toward Allah, who created you for a lofty purpose? Here I am, a messenger appointed by Allah to make your responsibilities known to you; believe in me, trust me, and follow me, so that you may guard against going against Allah. In inviting you to live by the system of life and the morality that accord with the reason for your creation, I expect nothing from you in return. The One who will determine my reward is Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.

Adopt the morality to which Allah invites you; give full measure and full weight; do not usurp people’s rights by giving short measure. Let the scales you weigh with weigh true; do not deprive people of what they are due; do not spread corruption on earth and cause decay and moral rot. Do not violate the limits Allah has set. Do not forget that you have no true Lord and God other than Allah, who created you and those before you, and be conscious of your responsibilities toward Him.”

Despite these warnings of Shuayb, the people of the Thicket said to him, “Evidently someone has bewitched you and confused your mind; you are only a human being like us, so where do you get the idea that you are a prophet? We do not believe what you say; but if you insist on claiming prophethood and what you say is true, then bring a piece of the sky down on our heads, and let us see.”

Shuayb said to them, “My Lord knows all that you say and do; He Himself knows best how He will punish you.”

Because the people of the Thicket called their prophet a liar and turned their backs on his call, We punished them with a terrible punishment on a day when dark clouds covered them.

Without doubt, in the story of the Prophet Shuayb too there are lessons for those who reflect. Yet most people shy away from learning a lesson.

Your Lord’s power is sufficient for everything. He is the Almighty, who shows mercy to the believers and forgives them.

O Prophet! Without doubt this Quran has been revealed by Allah, the Lord and God of all the worlds, through the Holy Spirit (Ruh al-Qudus, that is, Gabriel), and placed in your heart, in words formed from the sounds of the language in which you speak plainly and understand one another, so that you may warn people.

This Quran also contains the revelations in the divine books sent to earlier prophets and their peoples. Is it not a proof for them that the learned among the Children of Israel know this truth? These verses were also in the books they distorted.

Had We sent this Quran down to someone who was not an Arab and did not know Arabic, and had that person set about reciting it to them, these people who associate partners with Allah and deny the truth would then have refused to believe, saying, “We do not understand its language.”

It is not possible for Our verses to find an echo in the hearts of those who stubbornly persist in refusing Our call. They will not believe in the Quran until they meet that agonizing punishment. In the end that agonizing punishment will seize them suddenly, and then they will say, “If only we were now given a little time, one more chance, so that we might hold fast to the system of life to which we were invited.” Yet were they not saying to their prophet, “When will this punishment you speak of come?”

They did not reflect on why they were granted the years of life We bestowed on them in their worldly lives and the blessings We let them enjoy, nor did they value them; they stopped their ears to the calls made to them to follow the system of life that is Allah’s call. That is why, when they met the punishment, the chances they had squandered availed them nothing.

We never destroy the people of any town without first sending them prophets who invite them to the system of life that is the reason for their creation. For We are not unjust.

Know well that it was not devils who brought this Quran down, for neither their knowledge nor their power could ever be equal to it; indeed, they are barred even from hearing the revelation.

O people! Never take others alongside Allah as lords and gods. And so do not seek help from anyone other than Allah. Otherwise you will be among those who deserve punishment.

Begin giving counsel and warnings with your nearest kin; and if any of them oppose you and turn away from the warnings, say to them: “I am charged with warning you; I am not responsible for what you do, or for what you fail to do when you should.” And take under your wing those who heed your counsel and warnings and believe in Allah’s call.

Put your trust in Allah, the Exalted, whose power is infinite and whose mercy is abundant, and take refuge in Him.

When you rise up against shirk, and when you are among those who prostrate, take refuge in Allah, the Majestic and Merciful, who sees you. Allah is All-Hearing and All-Knowing.

Devils beset all who are ungrateful to Allah, slanderers, and those who have made sin a habit; they influence them and then lead them along behind them. For such people always lend an ear to devils, and they have made lying their very trade.

As for the poets, they too are prone to deceiving both themselves and others; they often say what they do not do, and chase after empty fantasies. And those who follow them are the unknowing, the unthinking, and the ignorant.

But those who strive with all their strength and means to live in keeping with the reason for their creation, who keep Allah constantly in mind, and who defend what is right when they are wronged, are different. The wrongdoers who stubbornly persist in guilt and sin will soon see how they will be brought crashing down in great ruin.