Page 526

By the star when it descends,

Your companion [i.e., Muḥammad] has not strayed, nor has he erred,

Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination.

It is not but a revelation revealed,

Taught to him by one intense in strength [i.e., Gabriel] -

One of soundness. And he rose to [his] true form

While he was in the higher [part of the] horizon.

Then he approached and descended

And was at a distance of two bow lengths or nearer.

And he revealed to His Servant what he revealed [i.e., conveyed].

The heart did not lie [about] what it saw.

So will you dispute with him over what he saw?

And he certainly saw him in another descent

At the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary -

Near it is the Garden of Refuge [i.e., Paradise] -

When there covered the Lote Tree that which covered [it].

The sight [of the Prophet (ﷺ)] did not swerve, nor did it transgress [its limit].

He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord.

So have you considered al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā?

And Manāt, the third - the other one?

Is the male for you and for Him the female?

That, then, is an unjust division.

They are not but [mere] names you have named them - you and your forefathers - for which Allāh has sent down no authority. They follow not except assumption and what [their] souls desire, and there has already come to them from their Lord guidance.

Or is there for man whatever he wishes?

Rather, to Allāh belongs the Hereafter and the first [life].

And how many angels there are in the heavens whose intercession will not avail at all except [only] after Allāh has permitted [it] to whom He wills and approves.