Surah Saba (The City of Saba)

1. Allah Almighty glorifies His noble soul and informs His servants that absolute praise is due to Him in this life and in the hereafter, in the heavens and on earth. He is the Creator and the benefactor of all His creatures, both in the life here below and hereafter, and He is the Master of existence and the Governor who controls everything. He is the All-wise in His law and His ordainment and His disposition, from whom nothing to do with His creation is hidden.

2. He knows what is deep in the earth, such as the waters, the seeds, the minerals, the dead, and hidden treasure, and He knows what comes forth from the earth: animals, plants, gases, water, minerals, and the patrimony of earlier generations. He knows what descends from the heavens: angels, scriptures, meteors, rain, and thunder, and He knows what rises upwards to the heavens: angels, and the deeds of mankind and other creatures. He is the All-merciful towards His servants, for He does not hasten to chastise the disobedient with His punishments, and He is All-forgiving of the faults of those who repent and return to Him.

3. After having shown that it is He who is praised in the heavens and on earth, in the life here below and in the hereafter, for all His beneficence towards His servants, Allah Almighty goes on to say that most of His creatures deny the Last Dwelling place, and mock those who believe in it, and seek to hasten the coming of the torture with which Allah threatens the criminal unbelievers. Then He says: “Those who disbelieve in Allah and His benevolence, and fail to recognize what it is that guides those with wholesome intelligence, say: ‘There is no return from death to life, no resurrection, no judgement, and no punishment, and we will die of old age….'” Then Allah orders His Messenger to answer them by swearing in the name of his Almighty Lord that the Final Meeting will most certainly and inevitably come to pass, but that the date of the fatal Hour when the Resurrection takes place and when Allah will resuscitate His creatures is known only to Allah, Who alone knows the invisible. Nothing escapes His knowledge, whether it be buried in the earth or high in the heavens. He knows how bodies decompose into minute particles and where they lie. And so they will be reassembled on the Day of Resurrection by order of Allah, who will once again re-create them as they were before. Allah has clearly confided that in the Book which omits nothing and forgets nothing. This is one of the three verses in which Allah orders His noble messenger to swear in the name of his Almighty Lord that the Hour will come to pass, and that the dead will be resurrected for the Last Judgement. The first verse is found in chapter 10- Yunus (Jonah), 53: “And they ask you: ‘Is it true?’ Say: ‘Yes, by my Lord! It is most certainly true. And you cannot subtract anything from the power of Allah.'” The second verse is found in chapter 64- Al-Tagabun (Mutual Loss and Gain), 7: “Those who have disbelieved claim that they will not be resurrected. Say: ‘Oh, yes, you will! By my Lord! You will most certainly be reminded of your former deeds. And that is easy for Allah.'” And the third is the verse here explicated.

4. The object of the Hour and of the Assembly of all creatures is to judge them according to their deeds during their life on earth, for Allah will give the finest reward to those who have believed in their Lord and in His Books and His messengers, and who have performed good deeds. He pardons their faults, receives them into paradise, and assigns them generous sustenance.

5. As for those who disbelieved in their Lord, and tried to prevent people from following the precepts of their messengers concerning belief, good deeds, and the paths of righteousness, and who strove to fight against Allah and His Quran, Allah will punish them with the painful torture of hell-fire.

6. And the believers who have believed in the prophets and the message they have brought on their Lord’s behalf, and who have believed with certitude that Allah will assemble them on the Day of Resurrection to judge them according to their deeds, when they see the Hour come, they will say: “What Allah revealed to you, O Mohammad, is the absolute truth. He guides whoever follows Him towards the path of Allah, the Invincible and Omnipotent, worthy of all praise for all that He has said, decided, and ordained.”

7. The unbelievers of Quraish ironically and mockingly said: “Do you want us to show you a man who predicts that once you are dead and your bodies decomposed and dispersed in the earth you will be resurrected and judged according to your deeds here on earth, and be repaid with good if your acts are good and bad if your acts are bad?” The man they refer to is Mohammad.

8. “These sayings can only be those of a blasphemer or a madman who mistakes his imaginings for reality.” Allah Almighty replies to these people who call His message a lie, saying: “Things are not as they claim, imagine, or assume. Mohammad is not someone who lies and blasphemes, nor is he a madman, he is a pious and rational man who has come with the truth, on behalf of his Lord, whereas they are liars and ignorant people who are sunk in disbelief and error, which will lead them to Allah’s torture in the last Dwelling-place.

9. Then Allah Almighty reminds them of all the things they see around them in the universe which prove the power of Allah, and then says: “Those who treat the Hour as a lie, can they not see the earth they walk upon and the skies above them, and do they not therefore know that the power of Allah surrounds them, and that Allah is capable of ordering the earth to swallow them up and the sky to fall upon them in pieces and destroy them? But Allah Almighty, who is capable of doing that, postpones the imposition of His punishment until a certain date which he has established and foreordained. In contemplating what Allah has created, such as the earth and sky, there are signs enough, for every devout and intelligent servant, to prove the power of Allah to resuscitate the dead from their graves.”

10. Allah Almighty speaks of His gracious acts towards His servant David. He granted him majesty, prophecy, and a mellifluous voice, so that when he glorified Allah aloud, the mountains echoed with his song and the birds stopped their own song in order to repeat his. Then Allah Almighty says that he softened iron for him and taught him how to manufacture armour in the form of chain mail, in order to protect those who fight for Allah against their enemies in battle, for previously armour was made from metal plates which encumbered a man’s movements, but when armour was made of chain-mail movement was far easier.

11. Almighty Allah revealed to David (peace be upon him) how to forge metal, which allowed him to create supple armour to perfection. Also he used medium-sized nails which were not too thin or too thick, and therefore the armour was well fitted, according to need. Then Allah Almighty ordered David (peace be upon him) and his family to praise Him for His graciousness by performing good deeds which pleased Allah, and He told them that He observed their words and their deeds, for nothing is hidden from Him.

12. Allah Almighty says that He was gracious towards Solomon (peace be upon him), the son of David. He gave him control over the wind which was very useful to him for certain purposes, for the wind can travel from morning to evening as far as a determined horseman can ride in one month. Then He says that He caused copper to flow from a spring in the ground, as if it were a spring of water (which is why He called it a spring of copper). He also gave him control over the jinns who by Allah’s permission worked under his orders, the details are given in the following verse, so that any of them who disobeyed Solomon (peace be upon him) were grievously punished by Allah. (The meaning is perhaps as follows: Whichever of the jinns deviated from obedience to Allah by refusing to obey Solomon, was grievously tortured by Allah.)

13. The jinns constructed whatever Solomon wanted, such as lofty palaces (sanctuaries), statues, dishes as large as fountains, and massive cauldrons so enormous that they could not be moved. Allah Almighty said to David’s family: “Obey Allah in order to thank Him for His innumerable gifts to you, though few of His servants are grateful to Him for His graciousness.” (In a Hadith reported by al-Tirmudhi, the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “Here are three things, whoever has them has what David (peace be upon him) had: Justice, both when one is calm and when one is angry. Moderation, both when one is rich and when one is poor. Fearing Allah, both in secret and in public.”)

14. When Allah Almighty had decreed that Solomon should die, he stood upright leaning on his crook. He remained for a long while in this position while the jinns continued to work for him, thinking he was still alive, so they went on working. Then Allah caused a tiny insect to nibble at his crook until it broke and Solomon collapsed. Then the jinns realized that he had been dead for some time without their knowing it. If men and jinns could decipher the invisible, they would have known of Solomon’s death the moment that it happened, and they would not have had to wait until the “beast of the earth” had nibbled the crook on which he was leaning so that he then fell down, also, they would not have continued to toil at the difficult tasks Solomon had set them to (“the humiliating torture”).

15. The tribe of Sheba dwelt in Yemen, it is said that their grandfather was Yachjob bin Ya’rob bin Qahtan. Allah Almighty says: “This tribe enjoyed the blessings of vast beautiful gardens on the left and the right of the valley where they had constructed the Ma’rib dam. Then Allah sent them messengers who invited them to worship Allah alone and to eat what had been assigned to them and to thank Allah for His gifts to them, such as the beauty of their country and the abundance of foods. So they obeyed and worshipped Allah and thanked him, for a certain period of time.”

16. Then they grew lax about worshipping Allah and thanking Him, and came to disbelieve in their Lord and His gifts. Then Allah Almighty punished them for that by unleashing against them torrential waters which destroyed the dam and tore down the stones they had piled on top of one another to hold back the water. In consequence, the water gushed through the dam and flooded the gardens and fields and brought havoc to farmland and cattle, and the people were dispersed throughout the country. Allah changed their vast gardens and abundant fruits into desert plots with a few trees with bitter fruit, with tamarisks and some rare jujube-trees.

17. We punished them severely because of their disbelief in their Lord, their ingratitude for His gifts, and for having turned away from truth towards falsehood. Allah only imposes such painful and destructive retribution on those who are obdurate in their obstinacy and totally ungrateful for Allah’s gifts.

18. After having spoken of the happiness, the blessings, and the abundance of foods enjoyed by the people of Sheba in Yemen, Allah Almighty recalls His graciousness towards them when they travelled, for their journeys took them through safe and densely-populated lands, furnished with towns within easy reach and only a short distance apart, where they could break their journey and drink and eat: no need to load themselves down with water and other provisions. Thus they left their native town in the morning and slept that very night in another, until they arrived at the cities of Syria (“which We have blessed with plenty”). Then Allah Almighty says that He told them: “You may travel between these cities which are to be found between Yemen and Syria for days and nights in total security and without suffering from hunger or thirst, and without fear of being attacked by any enemies.”

19. But they were arrogant. They scorned Allah’s graces and valued the lesser over the greater, and so they asked Allah to lengthen the distances between rest-stops and place between them a desert without water or vegetation so that only major caravans could go from one town to another, and the wealthy could show off their abundant food and means of transport, in order to display their pride in front of the poor and impoverished. Allah therefore punished them for their injustice and their ingratitude for Allah’s graces towards them and made them the subject of conversation and scattered them in all directions. What befell these people should be an example and a warning for every servant who endures patiently the ordeals and is grateful for the blessings.

20. Satan thought that he could separate from Allah Almighty those on whom Allah had showered so many blessings, so he stalked them. Then he incited them to disbelief and arrogance and they obeyed him and disobeyed their Lord. Thus what Satan had hoped came to pass, and everyone obeyed Satan except for a small group of believers.

21. And yet Satan had no authority over them to oblige them to disbelieve and disobey, he merely invited them, and they obeyed. It was because Allah had given him the power in order to test them and distinguish between those who believed in the Final Dwelling-place and Allah’s rewards and punishments, and those who doubted and who believed neither in the Hour nor the Assembly nor in Allah’s rewards and punishments. Your Lord, Mohammad, remembers how people behave, and nothing escapes His notice, He adds up their deeds in order to repay them in the hereafter, either with good if their deeds have been good or with bad if they have been bad.

22. O Mohammad, reprimand the idolaters among your people, and make clear to them how they have strayed in ascribing associates to Allah and in worshipping idols, and say: “Call upon these idols which you claim to be Allah’s associates, and ask them to prevent misery and misfortune from touching you, or to procure benefits for you, if they can, so that you can see that they are not even masters of something as light as an atom, just as they are not associates of Allah any more than the smallest atom in the universe, and that He receives not the slightest aid from these so-called divinities in creating or doing anything. How then can you worship such powerless idols?”

23. It belongs to the majesty of Allah that nobody dare intercede with Him without first obtaining His permission, and so He does not permit anyone to intercede on behalf of these unbelievers, for intercession in their favour will never take place. On the Day of Resurrection, people will be placed in Allah’s hands, fearful and terrified as they wait for permission for intercession, and when intercession is permitted their souls will calm down and their terror will vanish from their hearts. Then they will say to each other: “What did your Lord say regarding the permission for intercession?” They will reply: “The truth,” which means that permission for intercession is granted to whomever Allah wills. These verses indicate that intercession will be permitted in favour of the believers. As for the unbelievers, no intercession will be permitted to them. Allah Almighty is unique, in His glory and His pride.

24. Say, Mohammad, to those who ascribe associates to Allah: “Who assures you your subsistence from the skies by making the rain descend to irrigate the fields and provide drink for men and beasts? Who brings forth food from the earth to feed both you and your animals?” If they do not reply, then say to them: “It is Allah. One of us, you or I, is on the right path, and the other has gone astray; and since I have established proof of the truth of the uniqueness of Allah and the righteousness of my path, that proves the falsehood of your idolatrous practices and the idols you worship in addition to Allah.”

25. And say to these idolaters: “You will not be questioned concerning the faults and sins we have committed, and we will not be questioned, either, concerning what you have done, be it good or evil.”

26. Tell them: “Our Lord will bring us all together on the Day of Resurrection, when all people are assembled before Him, and then He will divide us equitably. He is the just Judge, who knows the truth of all things and who will repay everyone for their acts. On that day, therefore, you will know to whom belong power, victory, and eternal bliss.”

27. And tell them: “Show me these idols which you have worshipped along with Allah and which you have ascribed to Him as associates. No, the truth is not as you claim. For Allah has neither peer nor associate nor partner. He is the sole and unique Allah, the Omnipotent, who has conquered all things and triumphed over all other beings; He is the All-wise, in His deeds, His words, and His decisions.”

28. And we sent you, Mohammad, not only to your own people but to all the world, to announce the glorious reward and the exquisite gardens awaiting those who obey Allah, and to warn mankind of the terrible torture for those who disobey. But most people do not know that, and therefore their ignorance encourages them to persist in their aberration.

29. These idolaters obstinately and mockingly say: “When is this famous day on which you promise us reward or punishment, if you are indeed telling the truth?”

30. Tell them, O Mohammad: “The appointed day will come to you, and you will be able neither to postpone nor hasten it.”

31. Some unbelievers of Quraish say: “We will never believe in this Quran nor in the preceding Books nor in what they contain concerning the invisible, the resurrection, the judgement, and the retribution.” Allah Almighty replies to them, addressing His noble messenger: “If you could see, Mohammad, how these unbelievers will be lined up in front of their Lord on the Day of Resurrection, waiting for judgement and retribution, humiliated and ashamed, then you would witness astonishing things.” Those whose weakness has been abused will say to those who thought themselves so grand and who pushed them to stray from the true path: “If you had not prevented us from following the right path and obliged us to follow you, we would have believed in our Lord and in what Allah’s messenger brought to us.”

32. Then those who thought themselves so grand will say to those whose weakness they have abused: “Were we the ones who prevented you from following the true path when it had been pointed out to you by your Lord? That is not true. Rather, it is you who prevented yourselves from following the true path: because you are criminals, and you preferred disbelief to belief.”

33. Those who were victims of their own weakness will say to those who thought themselves important: “But it was you who lured us into disbelief night and day, who encouraged us to persist in our disbelief, and who told us that we were on the right path in worshipping idols.” However, when they see the torture that Allah has prepared for criminal unbelievers, their discussion will come to a stop; and each of them will conceal his regret and remorse at his wrongdoing towards Allah and disobedience to Him. Then iron collars and chains will be put around the necks of those sinners in hell. The torture they will suffer in the fires of hell is merely the payment they earned for disbelieving and committing sins and misdeeds in their lives here on earth.

34. Then Allah Almighty says to His Messenger (peace be upon him) that he is not the first messenger sent by Allah to a nation where people of wealth and power treated him as a liar and publicly announced that they would never believe in the uniqueness of Allah Almighty and that they would not give up their idolatry.

35. The wealthy materialists and the arrogant said that they had more riches and more children than most people, and therefore that was a sign that Allah loved them and that He was taking care of them. If they were straying from the true path, they said, He would not have showered them with these blessings, and therefore He would not punish them.

36. Mohammad! Say to them: “My Lord gives wealth to those He loves and to those He does not love, and He dispenses His gifts generously among those He chooses of His creatures, not because He loves a particular individual or because He has kept a place for him by his side, nor because of a rank that individual has earned. He limits His gifts to those He chooses not because Allah detests them or because of avarice; He does that for a wise reason that He alone knows; but most people are unaware of this truth.”

37. And tell them: “Neither your riches, of which you are so proud, nor your children whom you boast of, bring you nearer to Allah, and they are not a sign of His concern for you or His love for you. It is not these things which will bring you closer to Allah, but belief and virtuous deeds. Allah doubles the rewards for the person who believes and who acts virtuously, as a payment for his behaviour, and thus he rewards good deeds tenfold or seven hundredfold, by inviting men to enter the higher ranks in paradise, and having their dwelling in the upper levels of paradise, where they will be safe, sheltered from fear and from evil.”

38. As for those who strive to impugn Allah’s signs and to frustrate His prophets and noble messengers and prevent people from following Allah’s path and the message brought by His noble prophet and from believing in Allah’s verses, the angels of torment will force them into hell where they will undergo horrible torture, as retribution for their disbelief and their efforts to prevent people from believing in Allah and in the message of His prophet.

39. And tell the people, O Mohammad, that it is Allah Almighty who distributes His goods among the people, increasing the share of whomsoever He wishes for a certain time, and then restricting it for a certain time, for a reason known only to Him. Do not therefore fear poverty! Dispense your wealth according to Allah’s precepts, and use your wealth to come closer to Him in order to gain His contentment! Everything which you generously give away according to Allah’s commandments or by His permission, He will replace with bounties in the hereafter; Allah is the greatest giver; He will grant you His gifts in the most unexpected ways.

40. O Mohammad, remind your people of the day when Allah Almighty will assemble the arrogant and the weak together with the angels whom the idolaters worshipped, desirous of their intercession, hoping that they will approach Allah; then He will question the angels, saying: “Did you order these people here to worship you?”

41. The angels will then reply, saying: “All glory and purity to You! You are far higher than those whom these people associate with You. We worship You and disavow them. You are on our side against them. There is no alliance between us and them; and they did not worship us, they worshipped jinns who embroidered idolatry and the worship of idols for them. The jinns led them astray and the idolaters obeyed and followed them.”

42. Allah Almighty then tells them: “On that day none of you will benefit from the idols you worshipped and treated as Allah’s associates, in the hope of their assistance and protection against evil.” Then He chides them, saying: “Taste the torments of the fire that you treated as a lie during your life on earth! Now you feel it and you know that there is no escape for you. Reproach yourselves for what your own hands have perpetrated!”

43. These idolaters deserve this terrible torture in the fires of hell, because when the verses of Allah’s Book were recited to them, as a proof of His uniqueness and the falsity of their idolatry, they said: “This man seeks to turn you away from the true religion, the religion of your ancestors, to make you his servants, although he has no proof or argument to prove the truth of what he says. This Quran, too, which Mohammad has brought to us and which he claims has come down from heaven to him, is nothing but lies that he has invented and fabricated out of bits and pieces, and attributed to Allah to propagate his message.” And they add that the Book which contains the laws and the guidance which Mohammad has brought to us on Allah’s behalf is nothing but obvious sorcery. And it is mere sorcery designed to influence men’s hearts and minds.

44. In response to these idolaters who claim that their religion is the true religion, Almighty Allah says: “Religion is only true when it is revealed by Allah, and when it is contained in a Book sent down to a prophet to be communicated to the people, and through which He explains to them the laws and precepts. The idolaters come from a community to whom no book was sent before the Quran, and to whom no messenger was sent before Mohammad (peace be upon him), so how can they claim that their religion is the true religion?”

45. There was an example and a lesson for them in the earlier generations which preceded them, and which were far stronger and richer than the idolaters of Quraish, but Allah Almighty destroyed and annihilated them for treating His messengers as liars. Neither their goods nor their children could shelter them from the wrath of Allah. Having seen the consequences for these nations in their travels through their former lands, what did they think of the punishment of Allah and His torture of those who disbelieved and in their arrogance treated Allah’s messengers as liars?”

46. Say, O Mohammad, to these idolaters, who claim that you are possessed: “I advise you to stop accusing me of lying, out of your obstinacy and your pride. Reflect instead upon my invitation and seek truth and righteousness, either in pairs or each of you separately (for because of the multitude, words become confused and cannot be justly evaluated). If they do as you advise, they will come to see that you are not possessed, because you are the most reasonable, the most truthful and the most perfect in mind and spirit amongst them. That will oblige them to believe in you and your message and to accept your invitation. You have come but to warn them of what punishments to expect at the hand of Allah, which will descend upon them on the Day of Resurrection if they come to their Lord unrepentant, still persisting in their disbelief and their idolatry, and refusing to accept your message.

47. Tell them: “I ask you for neither salary nor gifts for having communicated Allah’s message to you, for my salary is Allah’s concern alone. It is He who knows everything and witnesses everything, and Who therefore knows the honesty and sincerity of my invitation.”

48. Tell them, O Mohammad: “My Lord casts out the false with His truth until He has annulled and eradicated the effects of falsehood and spread the truth throughout the world. Allah Almighty has perfect knowledge of the unseen; nothing is hidden from Him on earth or in the heavens.”

49. Say: “Truth has come from Allah, as well as good laws (meaning Islam whose banner and name have been lifted), whereas the false has been cast out and has disappeared; nothing is left of falsehood which could possibly be revived or renewed.”

50. Say to your people, O Mohammad: “If I stray from righteousness and follow a path other than the truth, then evil will rebound on me alone; whereas if I follow the truth, it is thanks to Allah’s revelation and His help that I continue to establish the proof of the truth and to follow in the path of righteousness; for He hears the words of men, He is nearby, and He grants the prayers of those who appeal to Him.”

51. If you could see them, O Mohammad, these people who accuse you of lying, when on the Day of Resurrection they are plunged in terror at the sight of their terrible torture; then you will see something that is beyond description; they will be unable to escape or save themselves; for there will be no means of escape for them, but they will immediately be led directly to the fire.

52. When they see their torment they will say: “Now we believe in the truth (in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and the Resurrection).” But how can they attain them, how can they now believe when they are so far from earth, when it is too late and earth is no longer within reach. Belief and good deeds are counted here below in the life on earth, whereas in the hereafter, which is the time of retribution, where they will be judged.

53. How can they become believers in the hereafter, having disbelieved in the truth when they were here below, and treated the messengers as liars and fabricated conjectures on things they knew nothing about, and in this way totally mistook their goal, judging things from a distance and saying things about the messenger without proof or basis, such as that he was a magician, a soothsayer, and a madman, and treating the Resurrection as a lie.

54. They will be prevented from returning to earth so that they might believe and perform good deeds. That is the way Allah will treat unbelievers like them who formerly treated His messengers as liars, and so they will wish, when they see their torture, that they had been believers. But their wish will not be accepted, because when they were here below on earth they doubted and resisted what their messengers told them concerning resurrection, judgement, and retribution.