1Ḥā, Meem.¹²⁸⁵

2[This is] a revelation from the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful –

3A Book whose verses have been detailed, an Arabic Qur'ān¹²⁸⁶ for a people who know,

4As a giver of good tidings and a warner; but most of them turn away, so they do not hear.

5And they say, "Our hearts are within coverings [i.e., screened] from that to which you invite us, and in our ears is deafness, and between us and you is a partition, so work;¹²⁸⁷ indeed, we are working."

6Say, [O Muḥammad], "I am only a man like you to whom it has been revealed that your god is but one God; so take a straight course to Him and seek His forgiveness." And woe to those who associate others with Allāh –

7Those who do not give zakāh, and in the Hereafter they are disbelievers.

8Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds – for them is a reward uninterrupted.

9Say, "Do you indeed disbelieve in He who created the earth in two days and attribute to Him equals? That is the Lord of the worlds."

10And He placed on it [i.e., the earth] firmly set mountains over its surface, and He blessed it and determined therein its

[creatures'] sustenance in four days without distinction¹²⁸⁸ – for [the information of] those who ask.

11Then He directed Himself¹²⁸⁹ to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, "Come [into being],¹²⁹⁰ willingly or by compulsion." They said, "We have come willingly."

12And He completed them as seven heavens within two days and inspired [i.e., made known] in each heaven its command. And We adorned the nearest heaven with lamps [i.e., stars, for beauty] and as protection.¹²⁹¹ That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.

13But if they turn away, then say, "I have warned you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt [that struck] 'Aad and Thamūd.

14[That occurred] when the messengers had come to them before them and after them, [saying], "Worship not except Allāh." They said, "If our Lord had willed,¹²⁹² He would have sent down the angels, so indeed we, in that with which you have been sent, are disbelievers."

15As for 'Aad, they were arrogant upon the earth without right and said, "Who is greater than us in strength?" Did they not consider that Allāh who created them was greater than them in strength? But they were rejecting Our signs.

16So We sent upon them a screaming wind during days of misfortune to make them taste the punishment of disgrace in the worldly life; but the punishment of the Hereafter is more disgracing, and they will not be helped.

17And as for Thamūd, We guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance, so the thunderbolt of humiliating punishment seized them for what they used to earn.

18And We saved those who believed and used