Rub’ al-Hizb 172 ربع ١٧٢

We graced David with Our favour. We said, ‘You mountains, echo God’s praises together with him, and you birds, too.’ We softened iron for him,

saying, ‘Make coats of chain mail and measure the links well.’ ‘Do good, all of you, for I see everything you do.’

And [We subjected] the wind for Solomon. Its outward journey took a month, and its return journey likewise. We made a fountain of molten brass flow for him, and some of the jinn worked under his control with his Lord’s permission. If one of them deviated from Our command, We let him taste the suffering of the blazing flame.

They made him whatever he wanted- palaces, statues, basins as large as water troughs, fixed cauldrons. We said, ‘Work thankfully, family of David, for few of my servants are truly thankful.’

Then, when We decreed Solomon’s death, nothing showed the jinn he was dead, but a creature of the earth eating at his stick: when he fell down they realized- if they had known what was hidden they would not have continued their demeaning labour.

There was a sign for the people of Sheba, too, in their dwelling place: two gardens, one on the right, one on the left: ‘Eat from what your Lord has provided for you and give Him thanks, for your land is good, and your Lord most forgiving.’

But they paid no heed, so We let loose on them a flood from the dam and replaced their two gardens with others that yielded bitter fruit, tamarisk bushes, and a few lote trees.

In this way We punished them for their ingratitude- would We punish anyone but the ungrateful?

Also, We had placed, between them and the towns We had blessed, other towns within sight of one another to which they could travel easily- ‘ Travel safely in this land by night and by day’-

but [still] they complained, ‘Our Lord has made the distance between our staging posts so long!’They wronged themselves and, in the end, We made their fate a byword, and scattered them in countless fragments. There truly are signs in this for every patient, thankful person.

Satan was proved right in his opinion of them, for they all followed him- except for a group of believers-

even though he had no authority over them. But [We aim] to distinguish those who believe in the life to come from those who doubt it: [Prophet], your Lord observes everything.

Say, ‘Pray to your so-called gods besides God: they do not control even the weight of a speck of dust in heaven or earth, nor do they have any share in them, nor are any of them any help to God.

Intercession will not work with Him, except by those to whom He gives permission.’ They will be asked, after the terror is lifted from their hearts [on the Day of Judgement], ‘What did your Lord speak?’ and they will answer, ‘The Truth. He is the Most High, the Most Great.’