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SURE
Neml Suresi
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T. (Ta) S. (Seen) the Surah opens with these, introductory letters from the Arabic Alphabet to draw attention to the miracle of the Quran which though written in the people's tongue, cannot be emulated. These are the divinely discoursed verses flowing with the precision and grace symbolic of the Quran, which is the spirit of truth guiding into all truth.
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As to those who deny the Hereafter and refuse to admit the truth of Resurrection, they have lost the intuitive recognition and perception of the truth. Acting upon their struggle in defiance of the truth, We have allured them to a brighter present and a happier destiny so that their minds be thrown into confusion and lose sight of the truth until they commit themselves to loss in the maze of error.
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"Drop your staff". He said to Mussa. And when Mussa saw it moving as though it were a serpent personified, he withdrew in the face of danger and did not return. But he was told: "O Mussa do not be afraid and cast out of your mind the emotion of fear, for My Messengers fear naught in My immediate presence."
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Unjustly and with inordinate self-esteem, they refused to accept these signs- as emblematic of Allah's Omnipotence and Authority, notwithstanding that they had a sense perception of the truth in their innermost beings And you can see how fatal was the consequence which united all those characterized with playful malice.
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And We bestowed on Dawud (David) and Sulayman (Solomon) divine knowledge for which they were grateful and they expressed their gratitude in words, thus: "Our bosoms", they said, "surge forth answering thanks to Allah Who has privileged us with what is beyond the common advantages of others of His votaries whose hearts reflect the image of religious and spiritual virtues.
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And then did Sulayman inherit Dawud's kingdom, spiritual insight and the prophetic office -attributes do not usually go from father to son- and there did he address his people, thus: "O you people" he said, "we have been gracefully taught the language of the birds and we have been granted -by Allah- something of everything, and this is indeed His efficacious grace effecting the end for which it is given.
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And there did Sulayman's countenance turn expressive of pleasure and amusement and he laughed at what he thought was indeed incredible and at once he prayed: "O Allah, my Creator", I pray and beseech You to actuate me with the feeling of gratitude and gratefulness for Your grace and blessing and Your beneficent gift you bestowed on me and my parents Help me impress my deeds with wisdom and piety to Your satisfaction, and in mercy to me, admit me O Allah, my Creator, into the realm of those of Your votaries in whose hearts reigns piety.
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"I found, " he said, "that she and her subjects pay reverence and veneration to the sun in lieu of Allah and they display that by appropriate acts and rites. And AL-Shaytan (Satan) has allured them to a brighter present and a happier destiny as a logical result or sequence to their doings and He blinded their eyes to the path of righteousness and led them by the nose to their loss in the maze of error",
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And when the envoys presented Sulayman with the present he said: "Do you provide me with wealth!" "What Allah has conferred on me of His grace that abounds in me far excels all that He has bestowed on you. In fact, it is you - people- who would rejoice with such a gift beyond a common joy". It is evident, said Sulayman, that they rejoice at worldly gains whereas We rejoice at inviting to the path of Allah, for which cause we are ready to fight
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But said he who was imbued with spiritual Knowledge of the Scriptures and with some limitless spiritual power conferred on him by Allah. "I will fetch it to you before the time taken in twinkling your eye*" And when he -Sulayman- found -the throne- set right there he prayed: "This is indeed an instance of the grace of Allah conferred on me to test my inclination whether I will propound gratitude or ingratitude. And he who is actuated with the feeling of gratitude and gratefulness, he but serves his own interest and he who sets himself in defiance of Allah must realize that Allah is Ghaniyun (Independent, Absolute, Self-sufficient) and Karimun (Beneficent)"
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And when she arrived -and was welcomed by Sulayman- she was asked: "Does your throne look like this!" "It certainly looks, " she said, "as if it were it" "And with Allah's mercy and grace", said Sulayman to his retinue, "we were given the divine knowledge which is the spirit of truth guiding us into all truth long before her and by consequence we conformed to Allah's system of faith and worship, we conformed to Islam"
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As the honoured guest of Sulayman she was invited to enter the palace and as she did she thought the brilliant floor was a lake and she drew up the hem of her clothes, but there she was told that that was not water but a floor paved with slabs of glass. There and then she paused and declared: O Allah my Creator, she said, "I have wronged my own soul and here and as of now I exercise with Sulayman low submissive reverence in Islam for Allah the Creator, of the worlds.
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They mutually agreed and resolved under oath (their kind of oath) to launch an attack upon him -Saleh- and his people by night to finish them off and rid the town of them and then declare their innocence to his next of kin and insist on their statement, thus: "We", they would say, "were never present at the scene of the massacre of his people and this is the truth".
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Declare O Muhammad, the praise of Allah and make a return to Him in evidence of obligation, thus: "To You O Allah do I express my gratitude and gratefulness". And pray and beseech Him for peace that it be extended to those of His worshippers whom He chose to convey His message. Ask -the infidels- "Who is better, Allah (the Unique, the Omnipotent and the Omnipresent) or those -who are helpless- whom they incorporate with Him!"
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Ask them: "Who was He Who created the heavens and the earth and caused rain water to fall from the floor of the vault of heaven to serve as the means of causing beautiful orchards to grow, an action proper to Allah alone! If you people had tried hard to cause the trees* thereof to grow you would have utterly failed. Is this not an action distinctly and exclusively peculiar to Allah! Or is it to a god incorporated with Him! Yet they are a people who ignorantly and impudently place the objects they worship -false gods- on an equality with Allah!
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Who was He Who set the earth at Creation in the order of a settled habitation** where you established your abode and He permeated into it rivers and placed in it stays –mountains*- in a certain setting, fixed as with an anchor, and installed a natural barrier*** between the two waters -the fresh and the salt-! Was it another Ilah with the Almighty Allah! The truth is that most of them are ignorant of the facts.
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Who is He who responds to the invocation of the distressed when he invokes His help and sets him free from what caused him misery and exhausted his mind, and Who makes you inherit those who came to this world before you! Is it an Ilah incorporated with Allah! How little indeed you bear Allah in mind!
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Who is He who guides you in the darkness on land and at sea and Who sends the wind as a forerunner of His mercy heralding a joyful event! Is it an Ilah sharing the Omnipotence and Authority of Allah! Glory be to Him and extolled are His glorious attributes. He is infinitely far beyond all those they incorporate with Him.
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Nor shall you be able to guide those who lack intellectual or spiritual perception and their minds' eyes are blind nor can you extricate them or disengage out of the entangled wood of error. You can only influence those who listen to you and give credence to Our revelations and to Our authoritative divine signs with hearts impressed with the image of religious and spiritual virtues, for such persons have indeed conformed to Islam.
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And when time is propitious for Allah's predetermined special occasion to come to pass and they-the infidels - come to meet with their destiny, We introduce to them a beast from the earth to discourse with them and say to them: "The infidels had always denied Allah's revelations and authoritative signs. What do you think of the signs now!"
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Did they not see that We designated for them a period of darkness - the night- to take their natural repose and recuperate*, and a period filled with light -the day- to have clear perception of things and acquire experience of the activities of human existence! phenomena emblematic indeed of Allah's Omnipotence and Authority that are appreciated and faithfully recognized by people who bow down their ears to the truth.
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The Day shall come when the trumpet is sounded indicative of Resurrection and Judgement, and there shall all those in the heavens and all those on earth be shocked with startling intense horror except those whom Allah shall exempt as He will and all shall be brought before Him in low submissive reverence and humility.
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