THE ORIGINATOR (35) (al-fatir)
Number of Verses: 45
All praise belongs to God, the creator of the heavens and the earth who has made the angels Messengers of two or three or four wings. He increases the creation as He wills. God has power over all things (35:1).
No one can withhold whatever mercy God grants to the human being, nor can one release whatever He withholds. He is Majestic and All-wise. (35:2)
People, remember the bounty of God that He has granted to you. Is their any creator besides God who could provide you with sustenance from the heavens and the earth? He is the only God. Where then can you turn away? (35:3)
If they reject you, other Messengers had certainly been rejected before you. All decisions are in the hands of God. (35:4)
People, the promise of God is true. Let not the worldly life deceive you. Let not the devil deceive you about God (35:5) Satan is your enemy. Thus, consider him as your enemy. His party only calls you to make you the dwellers of the burning fire. (35:6)
The unbelievers will suffer a severe torment, but the righteously striving believers will receive forgiveness and a great reward (35:7).
Can one whose evil deeds seem attractive and virtuous to him (be compared to a truly righteous person)? God guides or causes to go astray whomever He wants. (Muhammad), do not be grieved because of their disbelief. God knows well whatever they do. (35:8)
It is God who sends the winds to raise the clouds. We then drive them unto barren areas and revive the dead earth. (The Resurrection) will also be executed in the same way. (35:9)
Whoever seeks honor should know that all honor belongs to God. Good words (worship) will be presented before Him and He will accept good deeds. Those who make evil plans will suffer intense torment. Their evil plans are doomed to destruction. (35:10)
God created you from clay which He then turned into a living germ and made you into pairs. No female conceives or delivers without His knowledge. No one grows older nor can anything be reduced from one's life without having its record in the Book. This is not at all difficult for God. (35:11)
The two oceans, one sweet and the other salty, are not alike. From each you can eat fresh meat and obtain ornaments to use. You see ships ploughing their way through them so that you may seek His favor and give Him thanks. (35:12)
He causes the night to enter into the day and the day to enter into the night. He has made subservient to Himself the sun and moon, each moving in an orbit for an appointed time. Such is God, your Lord, to whom belongs the kingdom. Those whom you worship besides Him do not posses even a single straw. (35:13)
They will not listen to your prayers if you pray to them. Even if they would listen, they would not be able to answer you. On the Day of Judgment they will reject your worship of them. Not even an expert reporter can tell you the truth in the way that God can do. (35:14)
People, you are always in need of God and God is Self-sufficient and Praiseworthy (35:15).
He could replace you by a new creation if He decided to. (35:16) This would not cost God dear at all. (35:17)
No one will bear the burden of another. Even if an overburdened soul should ask another to bear a part of his burden, no one, not even a relative, will do so. (Muhammad), you can only warn those who have fear of their Lord without seeing Him and who are steadfast in prayer. Whoever purifies himself, does so for his own good. To God do all things return. (35:18)
The blind and the seeing are not alike (35:19) nor are darkness and light (35:20) nor shade and heat (35:21) nor are the living and the dead. God makes to listen whomever He wants. (Muhammad), you cannot make people in the graves to listen. (35:23) You are simply a warner. (35:24)
We have sent you in all truth as a bearer of glad news and a warner. No nation who lived before was left without a warner. If they reject you, (know that) others who lived before them had also rejected their Messengers, Messengers who had brought them miracles, scriptures, and the enlightening Book (35:25) so I seized the unbelievers and how terrible was their torment. (35:26)
Have you not seen that God has sent water down from the sky, has produced fruits of various colors, and has made streaks of various colors in the mountains, white, red, and intense black (35:27).
He has also created people, beasts, and cattle of various colors. Only God's knowledgeable servants fear Him. God is Majestic and All-pardoning. (35:28)
Those who recite the Book of God, who are steadfast in prayer and, who spend out of what We have given them for the cause of God, both in public and in private, have hope in an indestructible bargain (35:29) and in receiving their reward from God and in further favors. He is All-forgiving and All-appreciating. (35:30)
Whatever We have revealed to you from the Book is all truth. It confirms what was revealed before. God sees His servants and is All-aware of them. (35:31)
We gave the Book as an inheritance to Our chosen servants, among whom some are unjust against their souls, some are moderate, and some are exceedingly virtuous by the permission of God. This is indeed a great favor (35:32).
They will enter the gardens of Eden wherein they will be decked with bracelets of gold, pearls, and silk garments (35:33).
They will say, "It is only God who deserves all praise. He has removed all of our suffering. Our Lord is certainly All-forgiving and All-appreciating (35:34).
It is He who has granted us, through His favor, an everlasting dwelling wherein we shall experience no hardship nor any fatigue." (35:35)
The unbelievers will dwell in hell. It will not be decreed for them to die nor will their torment be relieved. Thus do We recompense the ungrateful ones (35:36).
Therein they will cry-out, "Lord, take us out of here. We shall act righteously and behave different to what we did before." They will be told, "Did We not allow you to live long enough for you to seek guidance? Did We not send a warner to you? Suffer (the torment).
There is no one to help the unjust." (35:37)
God has knowledge of whatever is unseen in the heavens and the earth. He knows best what the hearts contain (35:38).
It is He who has made you each other's successors on earth. Whoever disbelieves, does so against his own self. The disbelief of the unbelievers will only increase the anger of their Lord and will only cause them greater loss. (35:39) (Muhammad), ask them, "Think about the idols which you worship besides God. Show me what part of the earth they have created. Do they have any share in the heavens? Has God sent them a Book to confirm their authority? In fact, whatever the unjust promise each other is nothing but deceit." (35:40)
God prevents the heavens and the earth from falling apart. If they do fall apart, then, no one besides Him can restore them. He is All-forbearing and All-forgiving. (35:41)
They solemnly swear that if a warner were to come to them, they would certainly have been better guided than any other nation. But when a warner came to them, it only increased their hatred (35:42) because of their pride in the land and their evil plots. Evil plots only affect the plotters.
Do they expect anything other than (God's) tradition (torment) with those who lived before. You will never find any change in the tradition of God nor will you find any alteration in it. (35:43)
Have they not travelled (sufficiently) through the land to see how terrible was the end of the mightier people who lived before them. Nothing in the heavens or the earth can challenge God. God is All-knowing and All-powerful. (35:44)
Were God to punish people for their deeds immediately, not one creature would have survived on earth. However, He has given them a respite for an appointed time and when their term comes to an end, let it be known that God watches over His servants. (35:45)