Sūrah al-Fāṭir

Worthy of gratitude is the God, creator of the heavens and the earth, Who makes angels messengers that have two, three and four wings. He increases a physical form in whatever way He intends. Surely, God has power over everything.

Whatever blessing God unravels for people, none can stop it and whatever He withholds, none can unravel it after His stopping. He alone is Powerful and Wise.

[For this reason,] People! Pay heed to the favours God has done to you. Is there any other creator than God Who provides you with sustenance from the heavens and the earth? No, there is no God except Him. Then where do you lose your sanity?

[In spite of this, O Prophet] if they deny you, grieve not the slightest because before you many messengers had also been similarly denied. [God is watching them] and all these matters shall finally be presented before God alone.

People! The promise of God is certain. So, let not the life of this world deceive you in any way, nor let that great deceiver ever deceive you about God. In reality, Satan is your enemy. Hence, you too consider him as your enemy. He calls his faction to himself so that they can be among the dwellers of Hell. [So, be on guard;] those who have disbelieved, for them there is a grave torment there and those who have accepted faith and have done righteous deeds, for them is forgiveness and a great reward.¹

[If they are not believing, it is no fault of yours, O Prophet!] Then can you guide him whose foul deed has been made fair to his eyes and he thinks that it is good? Because it is God only [Who according to His law] leads astray whomsoever He wants and guides whomsoever He desires. So, do not fret yourself by expressing sorrow on them because God is fully aware of whatever they are doing.

[People!] It is God Who sent the winds; then they drive forth the clouds; then We propelled them to a dead piece of land. Then through their water, revived that land after it had died. Similar will be the way in which people shall be raised up again.

He who wants honour [there] should request it from God because all honour is for God only. Pure words reach His presence and good deeds lift them upwards. And those who are plotting evil schemes, for them is a grave torment and all their schemes will finally be defeated.

And [O People!] God created you from clay; then from a drop of water; then made you in pairs. Without his knowledge, neither does a woman conceive nor give birth; neither a person having age is given years nor is his age reduced except that it is also written in a book. [He does not need help for any of these tasks.] In reality, this is quite easy for God.

[This world is a place of conflicting elements among which God creates harmony. Reflect that] both seas are not the same. One is sweet, quenches thirst, pleasant to drink and one is sour and you obtain fresh meat from both and eat it and take out ornaments you wear. And you see the ships cutting across that water so that you can obtain the bounty of God [from far off lands] and so that you may thank Him. He makes the night enter the day and the day enter the night and He has subdued the sun and the moon. Both are moving until an appointed time. It is this God Who is your Lord! Sovereignty is His and those who you call upon besides Him do not even own the crust of a date-seed. If you call them, they will not hear your call and even if they hear it, they will not be able to respond to it and on the Day of Judgement will deny your polytheism. And none can inform you [of these facts] the way one who is informed will.²

O People! [Value this knowledge and reminding from Him.] It is you who are in need of God. [He does no need of your faith.] God is self-sufficient and has praiseworthy attributes. If He wants, He can take you away and bring forth a new creation here [in your place]. This is not the slightest difficult for God.

[So, be on guard! On the Day of Judgement] no bearer of burden will bear someone else’s burden. And if a person laden by his burden will call out to share it, nothing shall be shared from it even if [the one who is called] is near of kin. [If they do not listen, leave them to themselves O Prophet!] You can warn only those who fear their Lord without seeing him and have remained diligent in offering the prayer. [This is a call for purification] and he who receives purification, does so for himself and [one day] everyone shall have to return to God.

[All your addressees are not the same.] In reality, the blind and those who can see are not equal. Light and expansive darkness are also not equal, neither sunlight and shade nor the living and the dead can be equal. Indeed, only God [according to His law] grants the urge to listen to whomsoever He desires. You cannot make these dead in the graves hear – you are only a warner. We have sent you with truth as a deliverer of glad tidings and warnings. [Before this also,] there was no community to which a warner was not sent. If these people deny you, this is nothing new because those before them had similarly denied as well. To them also their messengers had come with clear arguments, scriptures and a radiant book. Then I seized their disbelievers; so, see how was My curse on them!

Have you not seen that God has sent down water from the sky; then from it We produced fruits of various kinds and among the mountains also are ones white and red with different streaks and jet black also. Similarly, there are various streaks of colour too among human beings, beasts and cattle. [Hence everything should not be expected from everyone.] In reality, only those among the servants of God shall fear Him who are endowed with knowledge. Indeed, God is Powerful and Forgiving.

[O Prophet! Among your addressees] those who recite the Book of God, are diligent in offering the prayer and have been spending openly and secretly [in the way of God] from the sustenance We have given them, undoubtedly should expect a trade which shall never incur loss. They expect this so that God give them full reward of their deeds and also increase it for them from His grace. Indeed, God is Forgiving and One Who accepts. [Such are the people who will accept this call. Tell them:] The Book that We have revealed to you, it only is the truth in confirmation of the prophecies that already exist. Indeed, God is aware of His servants, All-Seeing.

[Precisely this truth was with the People of the Book as well. But they did not give it due importance.] Then We made those people the heirs of Our Book who We have selected from Our servants [for this honour]. So, some of them are unjust to their souls, some who are on the middle path and some who by God’s grace take lead in virtues. This, in fact, is a great blessing. For them are eternal orchards which they shall enter. There they shall be decked with bracelets of gold and pearls and their robes there shall be of silk. And [after receiving these blessings,] they will say: “Gratitude is to the God Who has delivered us from every sorrow. In reality, Our Lord is forgiving, accepting, Who with His grace has landed us in this House of eternal stay. Here, we shall neither suffer any hardship nor shall we get tired.”

On the other hand, those who have disbelieved, for them is the Fire of Hell. Neither will death come to them so that they die nor will its torment be lessened a little so that they may breathe a while. We punish every ingrate in this manner. They will cry out in it: “Our Lord! Take us out. Now we will do virtuous deeds; not like what we would do [before.]” – Did We not give you a long enough life so that he who wants to be reminded could have been reminded in it and a warner had also come to you [from God]? So, taste now the flavour of what you did: there is no helper of the unjust here. [People! No one will have any opportunity there to present excuses before God.] Undoubtedly, God knows every unknown of the heavens and the earth. In reality, He even knows the secrets concealed in the hearts.

It is He alone Who in this land has made you the inheritors of the earlier ones. [Now it is up to you whether you believe or disbelieve.] Then he who disbelieved, he alone shall face the evil consequences of his disbelief and in the sight of God the disbelief of the disbelievers is only a means of increasing His anger, and the disbelief of the disbelievers only increases their loss.

Tell them: Just take a look at your associates that you call upon besides God. Show me what they have made in this earth? Or do they have any share in making the heavens? Or have We given them a Book so that they have a clear proof of this? Certainly not! In fact, these wrongdoers are only making promises of deceptive things with one another.

[You think that they will be able to save you from God’s grasp?] In reality, only God is holding the heavens and the earth that they may fall apart and if supposedly they do fall apart, there is no one besides God Who can hold them. [If you are sitting peacefully among them, then this respite is provided by Him.] Undoubtedly, He is very Forbearing and Forgiving.

[Before this,] these people have been swearing strong oaths by God that if a warner comes to them, they will be more receptive than all other nations in accepting guidance. So, when a warner did come to them, then because of their arrogance his advent only increased their aversion and evil schemes. And an evil scheme [ultimately] besieges the person who contrives it. So, now they are waiting for that established practice which had manifested itself for others. [If this is the case,] you shall not find any change in that established practice of God nor shall you ever see that practice of God being deferred. Have they not roamed about in the land so that they could see the fate of those who have preceded them, even though they were mightier? [People!] There is nothing which can defeat God, neither in the heavens nor in the earth. Undoubtedly, He knows everything; He is very powerful.

[Hence, they too shall be seized one day.] Had God immediately seized people for their deeds, He would not have left any living being on the earth’s surface. On the contrary, He gives them respite until an appointed time. Then when that time ends, He necessarily seizes them because God watches over His servants.

The Phase of Itmām al-ḥujjah