17. Surah Al-Isra

Your Lord knows you best. He may have mercy on you if He wills, or punish you if He wills. We have not sent you ˹O Prophet˺ as a keeper over them.

Your Lord knows best all those in the heavens and the earth. And We have surely favoured some prophets above others, and to David We gave the Psalms.¹ 

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Invoke those you claim ˹to be divine˺¹ besides Him—they do not have the power to undo harm from you or transfer it ˹to someone else˺.”

˹Even˺ the closest ˹to Allah˺ of those invoked would be seeking a way to their Lord, hoping for His mercy, and fearing His punishment. Indeed, your Lord’s torment is fearsome.

There is not a ˹wicked˺ society that We will not destroy or punish with a severe torment before the Day of Judgment. That is written in the Record.

Nothing keeps Us from sending the ˹demanded˺ signs except that they had ˹already˺ been denied by earlier peoples. And We gave Thamûd the she-camel as a clear sign, but they wrongfully rejected it.¹ We only send the signs as a warning.

And ˹remember, O  Prophet˺ when We told you, “Certainly your Lord encompasses the people.” And We have made what We brought you to see¹ as well as the cursed tree ˹mentioned˺ in the Quran² only as a test for the people. We keep warning them, but it only increases them greatly in defiance.

And ˹remember˺ when We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam,” so they all did—but not Iblîs,¹ who protested, “Should I prostrate to the one You have created from mud?”

Adding, “Do you see this one you honoured above me? If you delay my end until the Day of Judgment, I will certainly take hold of his descendants, except for a few.”