Surah Al-A'raf

Alif Lam Mim Sad

A Book sent down to thee -- so let there be no impediment in thy breast because of it -- to warn thereby, and as a reminder to believers:

Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord, and follow no friends other than He; little do you remember.

How many a city We have destroyed! Our might came upon it at night, or while they took their ease in the noontide,

and they but cried, when Our might came upon there, 'We were evildoers.';

So We shall question those unto whom a Message was sent, and We shall question the Envoys,

and We shall relate to them with knowledge; assuredly We were not absent.

The weighing that day is true; he whose scales are heavy -- they are the prosperers,

and he whose scales are light -- they have lost their soul for wronging Our signs.

We have established you in the earth and there appointed for you livelihood; little thanks you show.

We created you, then We shaped you, then We said to the angels: 'Bow yourselves to Adam'; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis -- he was not of those that bowed themselves.

Said He, 'What prevented thee to bow thyself, when I commanded thee?' Said he, 'I am better than he; Thou createdst me of fire, and him Thou createdst of clay.'

Said He, 'Get thee down out of it; it is not for thee to wax proud here, so go thou forth; surely thou art among the humbled.'

Said he, 'Respite me till the day they shall be raised.'

Said He, 'Thou art among the ones that are respited.'