42.

Sura Shura (or Consultations)

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

God the Mighty, the Knower, inspired you (Muhammad SAW) as He

inspired those before you. He is Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom. To Him
belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth and He is Most
High, Most Great. That the highest heavens are almost ready to burst asunder
by His Glory, which is higher than all. Behold! Verily God is He, the Oft-
Forgiving, Most Merciful. And those who adopt protectors others than God,
He has an strict watch over them. You (Muhammad AS) are not the disposer of
their affairs. The Message has been revealed to you, in the language of Arabic,
by the inspiration. You should warn the people of the Mother of Cities
(Mecca) and all around her. Warn them of the Day of Assembly when every
one shall rise before their Lord. If God had so willed, He could have made
humans as a single people (It is one of the Signs of God that He has made us
different, that we may be tried in the exercise of our will, and that we may
reach, through righteousness and Faith, our highest development, and enjoy
His gifts of Mercy and Grace). On that Day some, by His Mercy, shall be in
the Garden and others in the Blazing Fire and shall find no protectors or
helpers to help them out of the Fire. Or have they chosen protecting friends
besides Him? But God, He alone is the Protecting Friend of His servants. It is
He Who gives life to the dead. It is He alone Who has Power over all things.
There can be no greater ingratitude or blasphemy than to worship false gods,
or to seek protection from things that have no power, when God – Who has
power over all things – is always seeking to protect and cherish His creatures,
and placing in their way all the means for attaining the best in them.

In whatsoever be the issue in which you differ, the verdict therein

belongs to God. Such is my Lord in Whom I put my trust, and refer myself to
Him. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made in pairs
(living beings), as such caused their multiplication. Naught could be His
likeness; and He is the Hearer, the Seer. To Him belong the keys of the
heavens and the earth. It is He Who enlargens and restricts the sustenance to
whom He likes, for He knows full well all things. By the inspiration from
God, he (Muhammad SA) has established the same religion as that which He
enjoined previously on apostles Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus: That you
should remain steadfast in Religion, and no divisions therein (i.e. Faith, Duty,
or Religion, is not a matter to dispute about. The formation of sects is against
the very principle of Religion and Unity. What we should strive for is
steadfastness in duty and faith, and unity among mankind). Those who
worship other things than God, it seems hard for them to turn to your callings.
God chooses by Himself those whom He pleases and guides Himself to those
who turn to Him (in repentance). By envy and selfishness, these people
divided themselves in different sects. That too at the time when they had full
knowledge about their religion. God’s decree had allowed a certain Term
during which a sinner had a chance of repentance and forgiveness. Were it not
so, sin would be punished at once, and the matter decided straighaway.
Referring to the People of the Book (Jews and Christians, contemporary with
the Prophet of Islam), were broken up into hostile sects which hated and
persecuted each other! (Islam came to unite them, and it did. The present
phases of Christianity and Judaism are of later growth). (OMuhammad) you
do as you are commanded and follow not their lusts but say: I believe in
whatever Scripture God has sent down, and I am commanded to be just among
you. God is our Lord and your Lord. To us our works and to you your works;
no argument between us and you. God will bring us together, and to Him is
our final goal. Those who still argue concerning God, their argument has no
weight with their Lord. Wrath is upon them and terrible penality in the
hereafter. It is God Who has revealed the Scripture with Truth, and the
Balance (by which to weight conduct). What will make you to realize that the
Hour is near? Those who do not believe or are doubtful about it, hasten its
arrival. While those who have no doubt about it, are fearful and clearly know
it is a Truth. God is gracious to His servants. He gives sustenance to whom He
pleases (God provides for all, but His provision is according to His wise Will
and Plan and not according to people’s extravagant demands.) He has Power
and can carry out His Will.

Those who desire the spiritual harvest in the Hereafter, God increases
it many fold and gives them in the Hereafter. Those who desire the harvest of
the world, it is given to them thereof and shall have no portion in the
Hereafter. God has not allowed in the religion His partners. Who has made it
lawful for them? Had it not been for the Decree of Judgement, the matter
would have been decided between them at once? Lo! For wrong-doers is a
painful Penalty. You (O Muhammad) will see the wrong-doers in fear on
account of their evil deeds. The burden of their deeds shall necessarily fall
over them. While those who believe and do righteous deeds shall be in
luxuriant Gardens. Their every wish will be granted. Indeed, that will be a
magnificient Bounty of God. Say to them (O Muhammad) that you do not ask
for any sort of tangible reward from them for proclaiming the glad tidings of
God. But at least you have the right to ask that your kith and kin should not
persecute you and put all sort of obstacles in your way. Do they say that you
(Muhammad SA) have forged a falsehood against God? God could seal the
heart of a false person and not expanded to new heights (as is the case with
Apostle). And that God wipe out the false display and vindicate the Truth for
He knows the secrets of all hearts. He is the One Who accepts the repentance
from His servants and forgives their sins and knows all that what His servants
do. To the prayers of the righteous He listens, and He gives them of His
Bounty beyond their desires. Every time they do a little good, they are
increased in their goodness. Every right impulse or aspiration is strengthened
and leads to progressive spiritual advancement. For the Unbelievers there is a
terrible Penalty. If God were to enlarge the provision for His servants they
would surely rebel in the earth, but He sends down by measure as He pleases.
This measure is best supplied by the watchful care of God and His perfect
Knowledge of all their real needs. He is the One Who sends down rain even
after men have given up all hope of rain; and spreads out His Mercy. He is the
Protecting Friend, the Praiseworthy. Among His Signs is the creation of the
heavens and earth and the creation of living creatures. That He has scattered
them and has power to gather when He wishes so.
 What we call the ills of life is due to our own ill-deeds, and many of
them are forgiven by God. Let no one imagine that he has defeated – or can
defeat – God’s Will or Plan. The only help or protection that is possible is
from God. And among His Signs are the ships, smooth sailing over the rough
seas some times as tall as mountains. If He wishes, He could calm down the
winds leaving the ships stranded on the surface of the seas or cause them to
perish on account of that which they have earned – but He forgives much. That
those who argue concerning Our revelations may know they have no refuge.
Whatever you are given in this life is but for your convenience. But that which
is with God is better and more lasting. This is for those who believe and put
their trust in their Lord. Those who avoid the greater crimes and shameful
deeds, and when they are angry even then forgive, and those who answer the
call of their Lord and establish regular prayer, who conduct their affairs by
mutual consultation, and those who spend out of what God bestow on them for
their sustenance and those who when a great wrong is done to them, defend
themselves. Further, the recompense for an injury is an injury equal thereto in
degree: but if a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due
from God: For God loves not who do wrong. But if any one likes to defend
himself after a wrong done to him, there is no cause of blame. The blame is
only against those who oppress others and then insolently transgress beyond
bounds through the land, defying the right of others and justice: For such there
will be grievous Penalty. But indeed, if any one show patience and forgive,
that would truly be an exercise of courageous will and resolution in the
conduct of affairs.

He whom God willed astray, for him there is no protecting friend after
Him. And you (Muhammad) will see the ill-doers when they see the doom,
how they say: Is there any way of return? As they will be brought before their
penalty; because of their disgrace, they will be very humble looking with
veiled eyes. The believers will say that these people are the eternal loosers.
The ill-doers shall be in perpetual torment. They shall find no protector and no
helper, other than God. And for any whom God leaves to stray, for him there is
no road. Listen to your Lord: The Day of Judgement is inevitable and can not
be put-off. On that Day there shall be no place to hide yourselves nor you can
deny your sins. If they are averse, We have not sent you (O Muhammad) as a
guard over them. You have only to convey the Message. And truly, when We
give man some gift out of God’s Mercy, exult in their good fortune and
attribute it to some merit in themselves, instead of to the Grace and Mercy of
God. Thus missing the real lesson of Life. On the other hand, when they are in
trouble, due to their own errors and short comings, they fall into despair and
blame God, instead of blaming to themselves. This is clearly ingratitude. So
they miss the true lesson of Life in that case also. To God belongs the
sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He
bestows children male or female according to His Will land Plan. Or He
bestows both males and females, and He leaves barren whom He will: For He
is full of knowledge and power. It is not fitting for a man that God should
speak to him except by inspiration, or from behind a veil, or by the sending of
a Messenger to reveal, with God’s permission, what God wills: For He is Most
High, Most Wise. Thus God inspired in you (Muhammad) a Spirit of Our
Command. You did not know what the Scripture was, nor what is the Faith.
But We have made it a light whereby We guide whom We will of Our servants.
You continue guiding men to the Straight Way – the Way of God. To Him
belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Behold
(how) all affairs tend towards God!