25. Al-Furqan/The Criterion

I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah

The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.

25:01
Blessed is the One WHO has sent down The Criterion on to HIS Servant,
so that he may be a warner to humankind - to all conscious beings against the consequences of its disobedience.

25:02
It is HE to WHOM belongs the Sovereignty over the celestial realm and the terrestrial world.
And HE has never taken to HIMSELF a son/child,
nor has HE any partner in the Sovereignty.
HE created/creates everything and measured/measures their proportion exactly.

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Yet they have taken to worship entities other than HIM -
those entities cannot create anything, while they are themselves created, and
they have no power to harm or benefit anyone, not even to themselves, and
they have no power over death, nor over life, nor over raising the dead to life - the Resurrection.

25:04
And those who disbelieve allege:
‘This - the Qur’an – is nothing but a fabrication.
He - Muhammad - has forged it, and some other people helped him with it.’
In fact, by alleging this they have done great injustice and committed a great blunder and
a perjury.

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And they also allege:
These are just ‘ancient tales!’
He has had them written down,
and these are dictated to him by morning and evening in order to memorize and then narrate it further.

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Say O The Prophet:

‘This - Qur’an - is being sent down onto me - by the One WHO Knows the secrets of the celestial realm and the terrestrial world.
Surely, HE is Ever-Forgiving of the believers, and Ever-Compassionate to them.’

25:07
And yet they say:
‘What sort of a Messenger is this person Muhammad?
He eats food and walks about in the marketplaces just like all of us.
Why has not an angel been assigned to him to be a warner with him’ and attest to his truthfulness?

25:08
Or why no treasure has been dropped on him from heaven,
or why no orchard for him so that he could eat of its income without effort – a sarcastic allusion to the gardens of paradise.
These evildoers also belittle him by saying to the believers:
If you follow Muhammad, you would only be following a person who is bewitched.’

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Look – how do they make comparisons for you - O The Prophet.
In fact, they have gone stray, and will never be able to find the right way.

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Blessed is the One WHO, if HE wants, can provide you far better things than that they speak of -
Paradise beneath which rivers/streams flow,
and provide you with palaces of perpetual bliss.

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In fact, they belie and deny the very coming of The Last Hour,
and WE have, in return, prepared for whoever belies and denies The Last Hour - a Blazing Fire.

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When it - Blazing Fire - sees them even from a place far off,
they will hear the sounds of its rumbling and sighing.

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And when they will be flung into a tightly narrow space within, shackled,
they will then beg for death as the only way of escaping the suffering that has befallen them.

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But they will be sarcastically told:
‘Do not beg just for one time death today, but beg for several deaths’ - time and again and still you will never die.

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Ask them:
‘Is this fate of Blazing Fire better for you, or that Paradise of Eternity promised to the righteous?
This is, for them, a reward and their final destination.’

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Therein they will have whatever they wish for and they will live therein for ever – never to leave, never to die.
This is a promise binding on your Rabb -The Lord that must be fulfilled.

25:17
And the Time when HE is going to gather them all together –
and whatever they worshiped of entities instead of Allah – the One and Only God of everyone and every thing,
and HE is going to question those entities:
‘Were it you who misled these servants of MINE by commanding them to worship you,
or, were it they who strayed from the Path’ by themselves?

25:18
They will submit:
‘Glory is to YOU O Allah!
It was inconceivable for us to take any guardian beside YOU.
So how could we command that we be worshiped?
But as for them, YOU granted them worldly riches and to their forefathers - inheriting it generation after generation - to such an extent until they forgot the Message,
and eventually, they became a lost people.

25:19
a. Then Allah will address those who worshiped entities besides HIM:
b. ‘O The Disbelievers!
c. The ones whom you regarded divine and worshiped they are now refuting you in your assertion;
d. so you can neither avert the punishment nor receive any help from them or anyone else.
e. And whoever among you committed evil of worshiping entities besides Allah - WE will make him suffer an awful punishment.’

25:20
a. O The Prophet!
b. And WE never assigned any of the Messengers before you, but a human being who ate food and walked about in the marketplaces just like all other people.
c. And, that is how WE have made some of you to be a test for others.
d. Will you - those who have faith be able to endure with patience such testing time?
e. And your Rabb - The Lord is Ever-Observing of those who endure with patience.

25:21
a. And those in doubt about the truth of Resurrection and its Correlatives, and thus do not expect to meet US say:
b. ‘Why are no angels being sent down to us as Messengers, or why do we not see our Rabb’
- The Lord with our own eyes to tell us about your Mission, only then we will believe?
c. In fact, they have grown arrogant within themselves,
d. so they behave with great audacity.

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a. The Time when they will finally see the angels
b. there will be no good news for the disbelieving criminals, and they will cry out to the angels in fear:
c. ‘Keep away, away from us!’

25:23
a. And WE will proceed to evaluate whatever good deeds they ever did,
b. and WE will make these deeds as mere scattered dust.

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a. Whereas at the same Time, the People of the Paradise will be settled in best dwelling place,
b. and in a best place to rest.

25:25
a. And at the Time, the celestial realm will split apart together with the clouds,
b. and the angels will descend successively in grand descending.
c. This will precede the beginning of the Time of Final Judgment.

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a. And at the Time, it will become obvious to all that the real Sovereignty will exclusively
belong to the Infinitely Merciful.
b. And it will be a Time of tremendous distress for the disbelievers.

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a. And the Time when every disbelieving criminal will bite at his hands/fingers in frustration and regret, and say with remorse:
b. ‘Oh, I wish I had followed the Path of Guidance with the Messenger!’

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a. ‘Oh, alas for me!
b. I wish I had never taken so-and-so as an intimate friend!’

25:29
a. ‘Indeed, he led me astray from the Message - the Qur’an - after its having come to me,
b. for the Satan has always let down humankind.’

25:30
a. And at that Time, the Messenger - Muhammad - will complain about his people by saying:
b. O ‘My Rabb - The Lord!
c. In fact my own people abandoned this - the Qur’an.

25:31
a. And likewise, WE assigned to every Prophet an adversary from among the disbelieving
criminals.
b. But your Rabb - The Lord is always Sufficient as a Guide for you, and as a Helper against your adversaries.

25:32
a. And those who disbelieve quiz the Messenger by asking:
b. ‘Why has The Qur’an not been revealed onto him all at once - in one piece.
c. The Divine Response was instantaneous:
d. WE reveal it like this in stages ‘so that WE may impress it on and strengthen your heart with it, and
e. WE are reciting it on to you in a measured pace’ - gradually and deliberately.

25:33
a. And every time they come to you with a hypothesis or a false argument meant to provoke you and cast doubt on The Qur’anic Message,

b. WE provide you with the truth to counter their false arguments more forcefully,
c. and with a better exposition which enables better understanding.

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a. They are those who are going to be gathered and dragged into Hell on their faces -
b. those will be in a worst place - as they are the most misguided from the Right Path.

25:35
a. And so it was that WE granted Moses the Scripture - the Torah,
b. and appointed his elder brother, Aaron, with him as a helper to assist him in sharing the responsibilities of the Prophethood.

25:36
a. Then WE instructed Moses and Aaron:
b. ‘Go, both of you, to the people of Pharaoh who deny and belie OUR Signs.’
c. So they went to them with the Message but were mocked and humiliated.
d. Then, later, WE destroyed them with complete destruction.

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a. As for the People of Noah - when they belied and denied the Messengers assigned to them,
b. WE drowned them all,
c. and made of them an example for humankind.
D. And WE have prepared a painful punishment for such evildoers in addition to the punishment that befell them in this world.

25:38
a. And WE also destroyed the People of `Ad and Thamud and the inhabitants of Rass,
b. and many other generations in between these and the People of Noah.

25:39
a. And to each of them as well as Lot’s WE explained the Truth in diverse ways and with
warning examples from history so that they may take heed.
b. And each of them WE destroyed with complete destruction.

25:40
a. And indeed they – the disbelievers – must have passed by the habitations upon which was rained an evil rain.
b. So did they not see it and learn lesson from it?
c. But no!
d. In fact, they never expect or believe to be raised to another dimension of existence after their death and face accountability, and thus do not believe.

25:41
a. Hence, whenever they see you, O The Prophet, they take you in mockery, saying:
b. ‘Is this the one whom Allah has assigned as a Messenger!?’

25:42
a. ‘He would have almost led us astray from our worshipful entities, had we not steadfastly opposed him and stood up so firmly with them!’
b. But, in due course, when they see the promised punishment, they will know who it was that strayed away from the Right Path.

25:43
a. Have you ever considered the one who takes his own whims/instinctual desires for worship?
b. Will you, then, O The Prophet, be responsible for him to preserve him from following his whims/desires?
c. No!

25:44
a. Or do you reckon that most of them actually listen to the Message, reflect or even understand it?
b. No!
c. Instead, they are just like the cattle - following their instinctual desires.
d. In fact, they are even worse than the cattle and farther astray from the Right Path.

25:45
a. Do you not notice how your Rabb - The Lord lengthens the shadow?
b. And if HE had wanted, HE could indeed make it stand still.
c. But have made the Sun to be its guide - shadow’s guide.

25:46
a. And then as the Sun rises, WE draw it - shadow – back towards Ourselves with a gradual drawing-in.

25:47
a. And it is HE WHO makes the nighttime as a garment for you, and the sleep a - cession from work, time to rest.
b. And HE makes the daytime to be a time to revival to life- and going about making your livelihood.

25:48
a. And it is HE WHO sends the winds as heralds of good news ahead of HIS Mercy in the form of rain.
b. And WE send down pure water from the great mass of sky clouds,

25:49
a. so that, with it, WE may enliven a lifeless land, and
b. provide drink to the multitude of livestock and humans that WE have created.

25:50
a. And indeed WE distribute it – the water - among them,
b. so that they may remember Allah’s Grace,
c. yet most people continue denying the reality of HIS Grace.

25:51
a. And if WE had wanted, WE could have continued as before and assigned a separate warner in every single habitation in the world.

25:52
a. So do not follow the likes and dislikes of the disbelievers,
b. but strive with utmost striving, against them, with this - The Qur’an.

25:53
a. And it is HE WHO has merged the two seas/large bodies of flowing water -
b. this one sweet and fresh, and that one salty and bitter.

c. Yet HE has placed a barrier - an invisible divide - between them, an absolute barrier to prevent mixing with each other.

25:54
a. And just as HE created water and made sweet and bitter water to co-exist, it is also HE WHO created the human being from water.
b. Then HE made for him ties through blood and ties through marriage.
c. And your Rabb - The Lord is Ever-Powerful to do whatever HE Wants.

25:55
a. Yet instead of Allah, they worship entities that can neither benefit them nor harm them.
b. And the disbeliever always allies himself against his Rabb - The Lord.

25:56
a. And WE have not assigned you, O The Prophet, but
- as a herald of good news for the obedient, and
- as a warner for the disobedient.

25:57
a. Say O The Prophet!
b. ‘I am not asking you for any reward, or worldly gain or benefit for my advocacy,
c. except that whoever wishes to take a Path leading to his Rabb - The Lord may do so.

25:58
a. Hence, trust in Allah, the Ever-Living, the One WHO never dies;
b. and glorify HIS Praise.
c. And HE is Sufficient as the Ever-Aware of the sinful trespasses of HIS servants.

25:59
a. HE created without a precedent the celestial realm and the terrestrial world and all that is between them and beyond in six days/time spans;
b. and then established HIMSELF on the Throne of Almightiness.
c. That is The Immensely Merciful!
d. So ask HIM about – HIS creation as HE is All-Aware of it.

25:61
a. Blessed be the One WHO placed great constellations/stellar formations in the sky,
b. and a great radiant lamp of sun in it, and a moon – illuminating reflection.

25:62
a. And it is HE WHO made the nighttime and the daytime to follow each other – successively,
b. a clear miraculous Wonder of HIS Unique Creative Powers for whoever wishes to reflect
or wishes to show gratitude.

25:63
a. And the true servants of the Immensely Merciful are those who demonstrate the following thirteen traits through their attitude and general behavior:
b. walk humbly on the earth as opposed to with pride and arrogance,
c. and whenever the vicious and ignorant address them, they reply with peace - without engaging in hostility with them.

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a. and those who stay up far into the night - prostrating themselves and standing devoutly before their Rabb - The Lord;

25:65
a. and those who say:
b. O ‘Our Rabb - The Lord!
c. Avert from us the punishment of Hell!
d. Truly its punishment is dreadful and inescapable!

25:66
a. Indeed this is an awful place even to stay for a while but an awful station to live eternally!

25:67
a. And those who, when they spend, they are neither wasteful nor stingy,
b. but they adopt an approach right between the two extremes.

25:68
a. Those are the people who never call upon any entity in worship besides Allah,
b. and nor do they ever slay a person whom Allah has forbidden to be slayed, except in justice,
c. and nor do they commit adultery/fornication.
d. And whoever would do that will obviously meet his punishment.

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a. The punishment will be doubled for him at the Time of Final Judgment, and
b. he will remain therein in humiliation forever.

25:70
a. Except for those who
- repent, and
- believe, and
- practice righteousness -
- before they leave this life,
b. and in that case - Allah will replace their bad deeds with good deeds,
c. for Allah is Ever-Forgiving to the repentant and Infinitely Compassionate.

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a. And whoever repents, and
b. practices righteousness,
c. has genuinely repented to Allah with genuine repentance.

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a. And those who do not bear false witnesses, and
b. whenever they come across some indecency and absurdity, they pass by it with dignity;

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a. and those who, whenever they are reminded by Messages of their Rabb - The Lord,
b. they do not remain unmoved as though deaf and blind.

25:74
a. And those who submit to Allah while making the plea:
b. O ‘Our Rabb - The Lord!
c. Make our spouses and our children a source of comfort to our eyes by living a life of righteousness,
d. and make us to be the foremost of the Allah-reverent.’

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a. They will be rewarded with highest place in Paradise for having been patient,
b. and, there, they will be met with a welcome and peace;

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a. living therein forever -
b. an awesome dwelling place and a station!

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a. Say to the disbelievers:
b. ‘Had it not been a consideration of my Rabb - The Lord that you were to be invited to HIS Path, my Rabb - The Lord would not have been bothered about you!
c. But you have been denying the Truth persistently,
d. so your punishment is going to be inevitable - unless you repent and believe.