Surah Adh-Dhariyat (The Winds That Scatter)

1. Allah Almighty swears by the winds that scatter the dust.

2. Allah Almighty swears by the clouds that are laden with rain.

3. Allah Almighty swears by the ships that sail on the surface of the water with ease and smoothness.

4. Allah Almighty swears by the angels that bring down Allah ’s commands and laws and distribute them according to His will. They determine matters that concern them and partition the affairs of the universe accordingly.

5. Allah Almighty swears by all the previous creatures that death, resurrection, the gathering and retribution which have been promised to men are true and inevitable.

6. The Day of Judgement which they have been promised will ineluctably come.

7. Allah Almighty swears by the sky which is marvellously organized and solidly constructed like the organization of the well interlocked chain mail.

8. Allah Almighty swears that you, polytheists, who treat the messengers as liars, diverge in what you say: you are confused and inconsistent and are never in agreement. Such inconsistency and conflict can only spread to those who are astray because what you say is false.

9. And your contradictory affirmations turn away from the truth he who has been already deluded but does not turn away he who has been firm in his faith. This is because they are without accord or consistency.

10. Cursed are those who are in doubt and conjecture and say what is not based on fact or proof.

11. They are in profound ignorance and in a great heedlessness to what they have been commanded. They are immersed in falsehood, straying and delusions, and do not awaken to the truth.

12. Those who sow doubts and speak contradictions say without seeking knowledge and information: “When is the Day of Account that you have been promising us?”

13. The Day of Judgement, which they ask about and the coming of which they believe improbable, is the Day on which Allah will punish the unbelievers in the fire of Hell.

14. The keepers of the Fire tell them reproachfully: “Suffer this punishment that you have hastened mockingly and thought it would not take place.”

15. But those who believe in Allah and His messengers, fear their Lord and obey Him, and avoid sins, will be on that day in gardens in which rivers flow.

16. They will be happy with the gifts of their Lord which they had never hoped for. In their lives they did good deeds seeking the satisfaction of their Lord and have thus deserved this abundant reward.

17. They would sleep for only a few hours as they stayed up most of the night praying and worshipping.

18. They remained awake most of the night in worship and at early dawn, they prayed for forgiveness, as if they had committed sins during the night.

19. They gave a share of their moneys to the indigent in distress and to the needy who are too proud to beg. They neither have enough nor do they beg: thus, no one knows of their poverty in order to offer them charity.

20. And on earth there are signs that point out to the greatness of the Creator and His divine Might. These signs are perceived by those who contemplate their meaning and therefore believe with more certitude.

21. In the creation of man and the development of his growth, his knowledge of the functions of the cells of his body, his reproduction, the difference in colour of men and their appearance and languages. etc. in all these are signs that he whose heart is full of certainty can contemplate and think of the greatness of their Creator and His Power to create.

22. In the heavens are the means of your subsistence: rain that helps plants and vegetation to grow and which quenches the thirst of the thirsty among His creatures; the sun, moon and the stars which affect the climate on earth, creating winds that form the four seasons. The winds are the means of driving saturated clouds from one place to another. Also the winds carry the pollen from trees and plants from one place to another so that the plants and trees are fertilized and produce their fruit. All this happens according to Allah’s will and order. Each receives the sustenance that Allah has destined for him. In heaven there is also the promised compensation for your deeds according to your acts, either good if your deeds are good or evil if your deeds are evil.

23. Allah Almighty swears by His noble Self that the Hereafter, the resurrection and the retribution, all of which He has promised His servants, are undoubtedly true. So do not doubt them just as you would not doubt your ability to speak when you speak..

24. Allah Almighty reminds His Messenger (peace be upon him) once more about the stories of the noble messengers with their people and the rejection and harm they encountered from them. Yet they continued to accomplish with patience and endurance the mission which Allah had entrusted to them. So Allah helped them and destroyed their people. In these stories is support and consolation for the Prophet and a warning for the unbelievers of Allah’s torture and punishment. The stories also serve to draw their attention to the conduct of Allah with His Messengers to whom He gave victory and with the unbelievers whom He destroyed along with their cities. Allah’s conduct has neither changed nor been modified. Allah Almighty begins with the story of Abraham when he was visited by the honoured guests from among the pure angels.

25. These guests came upon Abraham and gave him a salutation of peace. He returned it with a more gracious one. The messengers came to him in the guise of handsome and distinguished young men. He did not believe that he had seen like them in the area.

26. He left them hurriedly and went discretely to his family and brought to them a fat roasted calf.

27. He placed the food before them and asked them kindly if they would like to eat.

28. They did not reach out for the food or eat it. Abraham conceived a fear of them thinking that they wanted to harm him, but they comforted him and said: “Fear not for we are the messengers of Almighty Allah . We have come to destroy the people of Lot.” They then announced to him the birth of a son who would be endowed with knowledge. He would be a joy to his parents.

29. When Abraham’s wife heard the glad news which the angels had brought her, she was astonished. She came forward and struck her face saying: “How can I give birth when I am old and barren and when I did not conceive when I was younger?” In chapter 11- Hud (The Prophet Hud), 72, Allah Almighty says: “She said: ‘Woe is me! How can I bear a child when both I and my husband are old?’”

30. The messengers said: “We have informed you what your Lord said. Allah is capable of everything. He is All-Wise in what He does and All-Knowledgeable of the honour you deserve.”

31. Abraham (peace be upon him) asked the messengers: “What is your mission? And what is the important errand that you have come for?”

32. They said: “We have been sent to destroy the people of Lot because of their corruption and sins.”

33. They told him that they would throw upon the people of Lot stones of clay, as hard as rocks.

34. These stones were marked and prepared to destroy those who transgress beyond bounds in their disbelief and corruption. It is said that each of the stones had the name of the person it would hit on it.

35. Before the messengers of Allah had destroyed the villages of the people of Lot, Allah made the believers evacuate the village in answer to Lot’s prayers so that they would not be destroyed with the others.

36. The messengers found but one household in these villages whose inhabitants had submitted to Allah . Those were Lot’s family, excluding his wife.

37. After Allah Almighty made Lot and his family leave the village, His messengers destroyed it in the morning and turned it upside down. None of its corrupt inhabitants escaped. Allah made of this village a lesson for those who take warning because of the destruction and torment which Allah descended upon it. The destruction of the village was a sign for those unbelieving wrongdoers.

38. We made of the story of Moses a lesson for those with sound minds, for Allah sent him to Pharaoh with clear arguments and miracles.

39. But Pharaoh turned arrogantly away from the clear truth that Moses brought, proud of his people, his soldiers and his kingdom. He said: “What you have brought to me proves that you are either a sorcerer or a madman.”

40. So Allah Almighty punished him for his disbelief and for treating Moses, His messenger, as a liar. Allah drowned him and his forces in the sea. Pharaoh was to blame for his transgression and his treatment of Allah ’s messenger as a liar.

41. We made of the story of ‘Ad a lesson to all who take heed, for Allah Almighty sent upon them a devastating wind that destroyed them all.

42. This devastating wind spared nothing in its passage but reduced to dust. (The wind is called “the sterile wind” because it destroys everything in its passage and produces nothing useful.)

43. In the story of Thamud is another sign and a lesson to learn for he who reflects on the signs of Allah . Their prophet Saleh told them: “Enjoy yourselves in your homes for three days, then your Lord’s punishment will befall you for slaughtering Allah’s she-camel. This is an ineluctable promise from Allah .”

44. The people of Thamud treated Saleh as a liar, and they were haughty and defied Allah’s commands. Therefore Allah Almighty sent upon them thunderbolts from the sky: the earth shook, and they were all destroyed even as they watched.

45. They could not flee the punishment that had befallen them, nor could they find anyone to help them, or repel Allah’s torture and wrath.

46. Allah Almighty destroyed the people of Noah before them in the Flood because of their corruption and their disobedience to Allah .

47. Allah Almighty says that He built the sky by His Might and His creative Splendour, for He is capable of doing that without becoming fatigued. (Other commentators say that the meaning is: He built the sky by His Might and Power and He has the power to create any other thing if He so chooses.)

48. He spread out the earth for His creatures and levelled and prepared it so that the creatures, animals and plants, could settle on it.

49. Allah Almighty created for each of His creatures a partner to complement him. He created the earth and the sky, the land and the sea, the night and the day. In this way, creatures might remember and know that the Creator is One and has no partner.

50. Therefore, take refuge in Allah, O people, and hasten to obey Him. Rely on Him in all your affairs for I am warning you of His punishment so that you can fear the punishment which He inflicted on previous nations who treated their messengers as liars and disbelieved in their Lord. I am informing you clearly what you should beware of.

51. Do not worship another god with Allah. He is the Creator and the Lord Whom you should worship. I am a counsellor who warns you of His punishment should you take partners with Him.

52. Allah Almighty consoles His noble Messenger and informs him what the polytheists of Quraish said, notably that he was a sorcerer and that he was possessed. Those who told lies among past nations have said similar things about their messengers who were patient towards the harm inflicted upon them by their people until Allah’s help came to them.

53. Is this the legacy they have transmitted from one generation to another until those who tell lies among your people told it to you? But they are transgressors with like hearts which are united by one aim, namely to defame the messengers. Thus the ancient people have said the same words as the recent.

54. So turn away from them, O Mohammad, and do not regret their disbelief and rejection, for you are not to blame for that. You are a prophet, and you have conveyed your Lord’s message in the best way.

55. Continue to call men to Allah, and remind them of this Quran, for remembrance will benefit the believing hearts that are prepared for guidance.

56. Allah Almighty created man and jinn to know Him and to worship Him alone without partners and thank Him for His countless blessings.

57. Allah Almighty does not want to seek the help of His creatures so that they can benefit Him and so that they can drive away harm from Him. He does not require any sustenance or food from them as the masters require of their slaves.

58. Allah Almighty does not need them. He created them and gave them sustenance. Therefore they are in need of Him; He has no need of them or of others. He is the Lord of Power. Nothing incapacitates Him. In a Hadith the prophet said: “Oh son of Adam, if you devote yourself to worshipping Me, I will fill your heart with wealth and help you overcome your poverty; but if you do not, then I will fill your heart with worries, and not give you any wealth.”

59. Those who have wronged their souls by occupying themselves with things other than Allah ’s worship, and by disbelief and telling lies, will get a portion of the punishment which is similar to the portion of their companions of earlier nations who were unbelievers and who fabricated lies. So do not ask Me to hasten the punishment for them before its predestined time.

60. Woe to the unbelievers when the promised Day comes! On that day they will receive a severe torture.