Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
24 His are the sailing ships 1 on the sea
[appearing] like landmarks.
25 So which of your Lord’s bounties
will you both deny?
26 Every one on it 2 is ephemeral,
27 yet lasting is the Face of your Lord,
majestic and munificent.3
28 So which of your Lord’s bounties
will you both deny?
29 Everyone in the heavens and the earth asks Him.
Every day He is engaged in some work.
30 So which of your Lord’s bounties
will you both deny?
31 We shall soon make Ourselves unoccupied for you,
O you notable two!4
32 So which of your Lord’s bounties
will you both deny?
33 O company of jinn and humans!
If you can pass through
the confines of the heavens and the earth,
then do pass through.
But you will not pass through
except by an authority [from Allah].
34 So which of your Lord’s bounties
1 Or ‘the watercrafts.’
2 That is, on the earth.
3 The adjectives ‘majestic’ and ‘munificent’ pertain to the Face.
4 That is, the jinn and humans, or the Qur’ān and the Prophet’s Household, referred to as ‘thaqalayn’ in a famous tradition cited in Sunnī and Shī‘ī sources.
