Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation (1930)
SÛRAH LXVII
Al-Mulk takes its name from a word in the first verse.
It belongs to the middle group of Meccan Sûrahs.
The Sovereignty
1. Blessed is He in Whose hand is the Sovereignty, and He is Able to do all things.
2. Who hath created life and death that He may try you, which of you is best in conduct; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving,
3. Who hath created seven heavens in harmony. Thou (Muhammad) canst see no fault in the Beneficent One’s creation; then look again: Canst thou see any rifts?
4. Then look again and yet again, thy sight will return unto thee weakened and made dim.
5. And verily We have beautified the world’s heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils,1 and for them We have prepared the doom of flame.
6. And for those who disbelieve in their Lord there is trie doom of hell, a hapless journey’s end!
7. When they are flung therein they hear its roaring as it boileth up,
1 On the authority of a tradition going back to Ibn ‘Abbâs, the allusion is to the soothsayers and astrologers who saw the source of good and evil in the stars. See LXXII, v. 9, footnote.
