READ IN THE name of your Lord who created,
Created man from an embryo;
Read, for your Lord is most beneficent,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught man what he did not know.
And yet, but yet man is rebellious,
For he thinks he is sufficient in himself.
Surely your returning is to your Lord.
Have you seen him who restrains
A votary when he turns to his devotions?
Have you thought, if he had been on guidance
Or had enjoined piety, (it would have been better)?
Have you thought that if he denies and turns away,
Does he not know that God sees?
And yet indeed if he does not desist We shall drag him by the forelock,
By the lying, the sinful forelock.
So let him call his associates,
We shall call the guards of Hell.
Beware! Do not obey him, but bow in adoration and draw near (to your Lord).