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IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
‘H. M. A revelation from the merciful, the compassionate; a book whose signs are detailed; an Arabic Qur’ân for a people who do know; a herald of glad tidings and a warning. But most of them turn aside and do not hear, and say, 'Our hearts are veiled from what thou dost call us to, and in our ears is dulness, and between us and thee there is a veil. Act thou; verily, we are acting too!' [5] Say, 'I am but a mortal like yourselves, I am inspired that your God is one God; then go straight to Him, and ask forgiveness of Him; and woe to the idolaters, who give not alms, and in the hereafter disbelieve!'
Verily, those who believe and do right, for them is a hire that is not grudged.
Say, 'What! do ye really misbelieve in Him who created the earth in two days, and do ye make peers for Him?--that is the Lord of the worlds!'
And He placed thereon 1 firm mountains above it and blessed it, and apportioned therein its foods in four days alike for those who ask. [10] Then He made for the heaven and it was but smoke, and He said to it and to the earth, 'Come, ye two, whether ye will or no!' They said, 'We come willingly!'
And He decreed them seven heavens in two days, and inspired every heaven with its bidding: and we
adorned the lower heaven with lamps and guardian angels; that is the decree of the mighty, the knowing One.
But if they turn aside, then say, 'I have warned you of a thunder-clap like the thunder-clap of ‘Âd and Thamûd; when their apostles came to them from before them and from behind them (saying), "Serve ye none but God."' They said, 'If our Lord pleased He would send down angels; so we in what ye are sent with disbelieve.'
And as for ‘Âd, they were big with pride in the land, without right, and said, 'Who is stronger than us in might?' Did they not see that God who created them He was stronger than they in might? But they did gainsay our signs. [15] And we sent upon them a cold blast in unfortunate days, that we might make them taste the torment of disgrace in the life of this world;--but the torment of the hereafter is more disgraceful, and they shall not be helped.
And as for Thamûd we guided them; but they preferred blindness to guidance, and the thunder-clap of the torment of abasement caught them for what they had earned; but we saved those who believed and who did fear.
And the day when the enemies of God shall be gathered together into the fire, marshalled along; until when they come to it, their hearing and their eyesight and their skins shall bear witness against them of that which they have done. [20] And they shall say to their skins, 'Why have ye borne witness against us?' they shall say, 'God gave us speech who has given speech to everything; He created you at first, and unto Him shall ye be returned;
and ye could not conceal yourselves that your hearing and your eyesight should not be witness against you, nor your skins; but ye thought that God did not know much. of what ye do. And that thought of yours which ye thought concerning your Lord has destroyed you, and ye have now become of those who lose!'
And if they are patient, still the fire is a resort for them; and if they ask for favour again, they shall not be taken into favour.
We will allot to them mates 1, for they have made seemly to them what was before them and what was behind them; and due against them was the sentence on the nations who passed away before them; both of ginns and of mankind; verily, they were the losers!
[25] Those who misbelieve say, 'Listen not to this Qur’ân, but talk foolishly about it, haply ye may gain the upper hand 2.' But we will make those who misbelieve taste keen torment; and we will recompense them with the worst of that which they have done. That is, the recompense of the enemies of God,--the fire! for them is an eternal abode therein: a recompence for that they did gainsay our signs.
And those who misbelieved say, 'Our Lord, show us those who have led us astray amongst the ginns and mankind; we will place them beneath our feet, and they shall both be amongst those who are put down!' [30] Verily, those who say, 'Our Lord is-God,' and then go straight, the angels descend upon them--'fear not and be not grieved, but receive the glad tidings of Paradise which ye were promised;
we are your patrons in the life of this world and in the next, and ye shall have therein what your souls desire, and ye shall have therein what ye call for,--an entertainment from the forgiving, the merciful!'
And who speaks better than he who calls to God and does right, and says, 'Verily, I am of those resigned?'
Good and evil shall not be deemed alike; repel (evil) with what is best, and lo! He between whom and thyself was enmity is as though he were a warm patron. [35] But none shall meet with it save those who are patient; and none shall meet with it save those who are endowed with mighty good fortune.
And if an incitement from the devil incites you, then seek refuge in God; verily, He both hears and knows.
And of His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Adore ye not the sun, neither the moon; but adore God who created you, if it be Him ye serve.
But if they be too big with pride--yet those who are with thy Lord celebrate His praises by night and day, and they are never weary.
And of His signs (is this), that thou mayest see the earth drooping, and when we send down water upon it it stirs and swells; verily, He who quickens it will surely quicken the dead; verily, He is mighty over all.
[40] Verily, those who are inclined to oppose our signs are not hidden from us. Is he who is cast into the fire better, or he who comes safe on the resurrection day? Do what ye will: verily, He on what ye do doth look.
Verily, those who misbelieve in the reminder when it comes to them--and, verily, it is a glorious Book! falsehood shall not come to it, from before it, nor from behind it--a revelation from the wise, the praiseworthy One. Naught is said to thee but what was said to the apostles before thee, 'Verily, thy Lord is Lord of forgiveness and Lord of grievous torment!'
And had we made it a foreign Qur’ân, they would have said, 'Unless its signs be detailed. . . . What! foreign and Arabic 1?' Say, 'It is, for those who believe, a guidance and a healing. But those who believe not, in their ears is dulness, and it is blindness to them; these are called to from a far-off place.'
[45] And we gave Moses the Book, and it was disputed about; but had it not been for thy Lord's word already passed it would have been decided between them, for., verily, they were in hesitating doubt thereon.
Whoso does right it is for his soul, and whoso does evil it is against it, for thy Lord is not unjust towards His servants.
To Him is referred the knowledge of the Hour: and no fruits come forth from their husks, and no female conceives, or is delivered, save with His knowledge.
And the day when He shall call to them, 'Where
are the partners ye did join with me?' they shall say, 'We do own to thee there is no witness amongst us!' and that on which they used to call before shall stray away from them, and they shall think there is no escape for them. Man is never tired of praying for good, but if evil touch him, then he is despairing and hopeless.
[50] But if we make him taste mercy from us after distress has touched him he will surely say, 'This is for me, and I do not think the Hour is imminent; and if I be brought back to my Lord, verily, I shall surely have good with Him 1;' but we will inform those who misbelieve of what they have done, and we will surely make them taste wretched torment.
And when we have been gracious to man, he turns away and goes aside; but when evil touches him he is one of copious prayer.
Say, 'Let us see now! if it be from God and ye disbelieve in it, who is more in error than he who is in a remote schism?'
We will show them our signs in the regions and in themselves, until it is plain to them that it is the truth. Is it not enough for thy Lord that He is witness over all? Ay, verily, they are in doubt about the meeting of their Lord! Ay, verily, He encompasses all!
199:1 On the earth.
201:1 Devils, opposed to the guardian angels of the believers.
201:2 I.e. interrupt the reading of the Qur’ân by talking, in order to overpower the voice of the reader.
203:1 I.e. they would have said, 'What! is the revelation in a foreign tongue, and we who are expected to read it Arabs?' This is paraphrased by Sale: 'If we had revealed the Qur’ân in a foreign language, they had surely said, "Unless the signs thereof be distinctly explained we will not receive the same: is the Book to be written in a foreign tongue, and the person unto whom it is directed an Arabian?"'
204:1 Or the words may be rendered, 'There is good with him still due to me.'