Read the Quran Chapter 45 English

CHAPTER 45
Kneeling (Al-Jathiyah)

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
  1. Ha Mim
  2. This Scripture is sent down from God, the Mighty and Wise One.
  3. There are signs in the heavens and the earth for those who believe:
  4. in your own creation and all the creatures He has spread about, there are signs for people of sure faith;
  5. and in the succession of night and day, and in the means of subsistence which God sends down from the skies, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless, and in the circulation of the winds: [in all this] there are signs for people who use their reason.
  6. These are God’s revelations, which We recite to you in all truth. But if they deny God and His revelations, in what message will they believe?
  7.  
  8. Woe to every sinful liar!
  9. He hears God’s revelations being recited to him, yet persists in his arrogance as if he had never heard them. Forewarn him of a painful punishment.
  10. When he learns something of Our revelations, he derides them: for such there will be humiliating torment.
  11. In front of them is Hell; and of no profit to them is anything they may have earned, nor any protectors they may have taken to themselves besides God: for them there shall be a terrible punishment.
  12. Such is Our guidance; those who reject their Lord’s revelations shall suffer a woeful punishment.
  13.  
  14. It is God who has subjected the sea to you so that you may sail thereon by His command, and so that you may seek His bounty, and so that you may be grateful.
  15. He has subjected whatever is in heaven and on the earth to you; it is all from Him. In that are signs for those who ponder.
  16.  
  17. Tell the believers to ignore those who do not believe in the coming of the days of God. He will requite people for what they have done.
  18. Whoever does what is just and right, does so for his own good; and whoever does evil, does so to his own detriment, and you shall all return to your Lord.
  19.  
  20. We gave Scriptures, wisdom and prophethood to the Children of Israel, and provided them with good things and favoured them over all other people.
  21. We gave them clear arguments in matters [of religion]. It was only after knowledge came to them that they differed among themselves out of mutual rivalry. On the Day of Resurrection your Lord will judge between them regarding their differences.
  22. Then We set you on a clear path [of religion]: so follow it, and do not yield to the desires of those who have no knowledge.
  23. They can be of no avail to you against God. The wrongdoers are friends of one another, while the friend of the righteous is God.
  24. This [Book] brings enlightenment and guidance to mankind, and is a blessing for those who have firm faith.
  25.  
  26. Do those who commit evil deeds imagine that We shall deal with them in the same way as We deal with those who have attained to faith and do righteous deeds, that they will be alike in their living and their dying? How badly they judge!
  27. God has created the heavens and the earth for a true purpose, so that every soul may be rewarded for whatever it has earned, and no one will be wronged.
  28.  
  29. [Prophet], consider the one who has taken his own desire as a deity, whom God allows to stray in the face of knowledge, sealing his ears and heart and covering his eyes—who can guide such a person after God [has abandoned him]? Will you not take heed?
  30.  
  31. They say, ‘There is nothing but our life in this world: we die, we live, nothing but time destroys us.’ They have no knowledge of this; they only follow conjecture.
  32. Whenever Our clear revelations are recited to them, their only argument is to say, ‘Bring back to us our forefathers, if what you say be true.’
  33. Say, ‘God gives you life, then causes you to die, and then will gather you together for the Day of Resurrection, about which there is no doubt. But most people do not know it.’
  34.  
  35. To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; on the Day when the Hour comes, those who follow falsehood will be the losers.
  36. You will see every people on their knees, every people shall be summoned to its Record [and a voice will say], ‘Today you will be requited for your deeds.
  37. This record of ours will declare the truth about you: We have been recording whatever you have been doing.’
  38.  
  39. Those who believed and did good deeds will be admitted by their Lord into His mercy—that shall be the manifest triumph.
  40. But those who rejected the truth [will be asked], ‘When My revelations were recited to you, were you not arrogant and did you not persist in wicked deeds?
  41. When it was said to you, “God’s promise is true: there is no doubt about the Hour,” did you not reply, “We do not know what the Hour is. We think it to be nothing but a conjecture, and we are not convinced”?’
  42.  
  43. The evil of their actions will then become clear to them. The punishment they mocked will engulf them.
  44. It will be said to them, ‘This Day We shall forget you, as you yourselves forgot that you would meet this Day. Your abode shall be the Fire, and you shall have no helpers.
  45. That is because you made a mockery of God’s revelations and were deluded by the life of this world.’ Therefore, today they will not be brought out of the Fire, nor will they be allowed to make amends.
  46.  
  47. Praise, then, be to God, Lord of the heavens, and Lord of the earth, the Lord of all the worlds.
  48. All greatness belongs to Him in the heavens and earth. He is the Almighty, the All Wise.

45:1-6
To say that the Quran is a revelation from the All-Powerful and Wise God amounts to giving on His behalf a definite standard on the basis of which its veracity can be demonstrated. Its divine origin means, moreover, that it will prove to be unassailable. The Quran will, in any case, prevail over its opponents. This statement was made in the Makkan period. At that time, circumstances were entirely against the Quran. But later history has most wonderfully testified to the veracity of this statement. The call given by the Quran met with the greatest success in history. Similarly, the notion of revelation from God the Omniscient and Almighty implies that all its contents must be based on knowledge and wisdom. The Quran was revealed before the age of science. But now, even in this age of science nothing mentioned in the Quran has been proved irrational. Furthermore, all the things in the Universe spread out far and near are testimonies to the truth of the Quran’s message. However, this testimony will be valid only for one who possesses a receptive and believing mind; who is capable of grasping the real meaning of such matters as are expressed in the language of signs.

45:7-11
Very often, an admission of the Truth is synonymous with the surrendering of a high position. Since man does not want to lose his elevated status, he does not accept the Truth. But, not bowing down before the Truth amounts to a refusal to bow down before God. God will mete out the most severe of punishments to the recalcitrant. Though a man turns away from Truth out of conceit, he nevertheless presents theoretical arguments meant to justify his behaviour. But these arguments are nothing but false utterances. The denier of truth misrepresents some facet of reality and makes this an excuse; and on the basis of this excuse ridicules the Truth and the preacher of Truth. Such individuals deserve the most severe punishment, because they compound their misdeeds with arrogance. What prompts them to behave arrogantly is the prominence of their worldly position. But, worldly position will be of no avail to anyone in the Hereafter.

45:12-13
God has made water subject to such natural laws that large ships may sail back and forth across deep oceans and safely reach their destinations. Such is the case with the entire universe. The universe has been created in such a way that it is completely subservient to man’s interests. Man may harness its resources in whatever manner he likes. It is thanks to the serviceability of this world that it has been possible for man to develop glorious civilizations. We assume that the existing structure of the universe is unique and that it has taken its final shape. Yet it could have been created in a variety of other ways. What is truly miraculous is that, out of all the possible alternatives, it has taken a form which is useful to mankind. This is a sign of God which, if given deep consideration, will demonstrate a glorious lesson.

45:14-15
Those who do not firmly believe that the Day of Judgement is going to dawn on them, venture to oppress others. They harass the preacher of Truth in every possible way. At that time feelings of revenge may develop in the heart of the preacher, but he should be forgiving towards his addressees. He should concentrate all his attention on the work of his mission and leave the matter of dealing with others’ evil deeds in the hands of God. The value of the preacher’s efforts is not assessed on the basis of the number of persons he has influenced and brought on to the path of Truth. The value of his performance in the eyes of God depends upon the extent to which he remained steadfastly dedicated to the Truth; and to what degree he himself exemplified the behaviour expected of him.

45:16-20
According to verse 16, God exalted the Children of Israel over the peoples of the world. This parallels what was said of the people (ummah) of the Prophet Muhammad, i.e. ‘You are the best ummah (nation)’ (3:110). To make a group the bearer of the Book of God is in fact making it responsible for guidance to other nations’ and it is in this sense that the community that bears the Book is superior to all nations. In principle, the Children of Israel were commanded to convey the message to the whole world, as is now the case with the Muslims. But the Children of Israel, by introducing deviations into their Book, lost this status forever. There is always uniformity in the authentic teachings of religion. But additions to them by scholars create differences and undue complexities. Then every scholar makes additions according to his taste. Thereafter every scholar and his followers set about proving their additions to be correct and others’ additions to be incorrect. In this way, religious sects start forming and finally a stage is reached when one religion becomes divided into several religions. When the Children of Israel distorted their revealed religion, God thereupon revealed the Quran through the Prophet Muhammad. Since no other prophet was to appear after him, God caused the Quran to be preserved and kept safe by special arrangements, so that it should never again happen that the religion of God be lost in the labyrinth of human additions.

45:21-22
One who thinks that it is all the same whether a man leads a virtuous life or a life of evil—since either way he ultimately has to die and perish—is nurturing an extremely erroneous idea. This way of thinking runs counter to the consciousness of justice which is found in the very nature of every man right from his birth. Moreover, this amounts to denying the meaningfulness of the universe, which is immanent in it to the ultimate degree. The fact is that man’s inherent nature and the vast universe around him both completely nullify the concept by which life is treated as being so purposeless as not to lead to any significant outcome.
45:23
To make desire one’s deity means giving it the supreme position in one’s life. One who thinks and acts under the influence of desire has, in effect, made himself a slave to it. Man’s mind is perfectly capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. But, when he mindlessly follows his desires, he closes the door to reason. Then when he encounters arguments in support of the Truth, he fails to feel their weight. In reply to every statement, he presents false arguments and rejects it. Such behaviour ultimately impairs his mental powers. His ears hear the words, but fail to grasp their meaning. His eyes look at the Truth, but fail to learn a lesson from it. The message of truth reaches his heart, but fails to warm it. God has made man’s power of reasoning the entrance gate for guidance. But if a man enslaved by his desires shuts off his mind, how can guidance enter?

45:24-26
‘Nothing but time destroys us.’ These are not the words of the common man. Such maxims are typically uttered by a special calibre of individual. Such an individual, because of his intelligence, attains the status of an intellectual representative of society. However, whatever he says is based on conjecture and not on any real knowledge. On the contrary, whatever a prophet says is based on a concrete foundation. Every day we witness the birth of a human being out of a death-like state of non-existence. It is as if here every man receives life after “death”, then after being alive, he dies again. This is an indication of the fact that, just as life appeared after death-like non-existence for the first time, similarly, for the second time also, there will be life after death. With this, the possibility of life after death is proved beyond doubt. Therefore, it is not correct to demand that those who are due to be resurrected in future should be brought back to life today for the purpose of demonstrating this truth, because the whole purpose of the present world is to put man to the test. If, today, the state of the future world were to be shown, the purpose of testing would be nullified.

45:27-28
Those who, in this world, rise with the Message of God, do so, in fact, on the basis of Truth; and those who stand up on any other basis, do so, in fact, on the basis of falsehood. In the Hereafter, the latter will have no footing; because whatever they had considered to be a solid foundation was nothing of the sort. It was a mere deceit or illusion which vanished on the appearance of reality.
45:29
Having one’s deeds ‘written down’ does not mean having them written with pen and ink in the usual sense; it means rather having one’s deeds recorded. Man’s motives, his utterances and his deeds are all being recorded with precision in accordance with God’s arrangements. This record will be so supremely real that it will not be possible for anybody to deny its correctness.

45:30-32
Here arrogance does not imply contempt for God, it is directed rather against the messenger of God. In the present world, accepting God’s word is, in effect, synonymous with acceptance of the word of the messenger of Truth. Now, those who suffer from overweening pride consider it beneath their dignity to accept the word of a man like themselves. So they ignore it. Unlike them, those who are free of pride immediately bow down before it. While the wrath of God will descend upon the former, the latter will be blessed by the grace of God. One who denies the Truth makes different types of statements in order to justify his stand. Sometimes he tries to prove the preacher untrustworthy and sometimes he tries to cast doubts upon his message. But it will be clear on the Day of Judgement that these attempts stemmed from a sinful mentality and not from a Truth-loving mind.

45:33-35
In the present world when a man commits evil, its bad results do not at once appear before him. This serves to embolden him. When he is warned about his bad deeds, he is not prepared to give any serious attention to this. But, in the Hereafter, the consequences of his misdeeds will appear before his eyes and he will be completely engulfed in them. At that time he will accept the Truth, which he had formerly ridiculed as being worthless. In the Hereafter, man will accept the Truth which he denied in this world. But this will carry no weight there, as it is only acceptance of Truth at the ‘unseen’ level which is of value, not acceptance after the revelation of Reality.

45:36-37
The universe is of infinite immensity. So, its Creator and Lord must also be one who is of unlimited greatness: this mighty being cannot be anyone except the one and only God. Nobody can seriously venture to assume anybody except God to be the Creator and Lord of the universe. So, if the Creator and Lord of the universe is one and only one being, then it follows essentially that all praises should also be due to Him; man should devote his full attention to Him; he should make Him his all.

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