Texts of Islam

The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'ân,: 53. an-Najm: T...

Summary only - full text stays on its own separately-gated source. Read the full text at the source »

This is a passage from M.M. Pickthall's English translation of the Qur'an, specifically Surah 53 (an-Najm, "The Star"), a Meccan chapter of the Islamic sacred scripture rendered in elevated, archaic English prose. The surah opens by defending the Prophet Muhammad's truthfulness and describing the divine revelation he received — including two visionary encounters with a powerful angelic figure (understood as Gabriel) — as authentic inspiration from God rather than personal invention. It then pivots to a polemical refutation of the pagan Arab deities Al-Lat, Al-'Uzza, and Manat, dismissing them as baseless human inventions unsupported by divine authority, and mocking the logic of attributing daughters to God while prizing sons. The middle section articulates core theological principles drawn from earlier Abrahamic tradition (citing Moses and Abraham): individual moral accountability, the certainty of divine judgment, God's exclusive sovereignty over life, death, and fortune, and the futility of intercession by angels or idols. The surah closes with an eschatological warning — the Hour of judgment is imminent and unknowable except to God — and ends with a direct summons to prostration and worship, making the passage both doctrinal argument and liturgical call to action.

The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'ân,: 53. an-Najm: T...

Related pages View as graph →