The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

6. LIVESTOCK
A Meccan sura which takes its title from verses 136–9. The false claims the
polytheists made about livestock are thoroughly addressed: the sura in its
entirety makes plain that it is God who creates, controls, and sees everything,
and that it is to Him that we turn in times of need. Thus it gives a lengthy
refutation of the idolaters’ claims.
In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy
1 Praise belongs to God who created the heavens and the earth and
made darkness and light; yet the disbelievers set up equals to their
Lord! 2 He is the one who created you from clay and specified a term
[for you] and another fixed time, a known only to Him; yet still you
doubt! 3 He is God in the heavens and on earth, He knows your
secrets and what you reveal, and He knows what you do; 4 but every
time revelation comes to them from their Lord, they turn their backs
on it. 5 So they denied the truth when it came to them, but the very
thing they laughed at will be brought home to them.
6 Do they not realize how many generations We destroyed before
them? We established them in the earth more firmly than you, sent
down abundant rain on them from the sky and made running rivers
flow at their feet, yet We destroyed them for their misdeeds and
raised other generations after them. 7 Even if We had sent down to
you [Prophet] a book inscribed on parchment, and they had touched
it with their own hands, the disbelievers would still say, ‘This is
nothing but blatant sorcery.’ 8 They say, ‘Why was no angel sent
down to [support] him?’ b But had We sent down an angel, their
judgement would have come at once with no respite given. 9 Indeed,
if We had sent an angel as messenger, We would still have sent him in
the form of a man, so increasing their confusion.
10 Messengers have been mocked before you [Muhammad], and
those who mocked them were engulfed by the very punishment they
had mocked. 11 Say, ‘Travel throughout the earth and see what fate
a These refer to the specified lifetime of individuals and the Day of Judgement.
b They always argued against the Prophet that he was only a man, and asked him to
produce an angel to support him. Cf. 25: 7.