The Koran

more mighty than we in prowess?" Saw they not that God their creator was
mightier than they in prowess? And they rejected our signs.

Therefore on ill-omened days did we send against them an impetuous blast that
we might make them taste the chastisement of shame in this world:-but more
shameful shall be the chastisement of the life to come; and they shall not be
protected.

And as to Themoud, we had vouchsafed them guidance; but to guidance did they
prefer blindness; wherefore the tempest of a shameful punishment overtook
them for their doings:

But we rescued the believing and the God-fearing:

And warn of the day when the enemies of God shall be gathered6 unto the fire
urged on in bands:

Until when they reach it, their ears and their eyes and their skins shall
bear witness against them of their deeds:

And they shall say to their skins, "Why witness ye against us?" They shall
say, "God, who giveth a voice to all things, hath given us a voice: He
created you at first, and to Him are ye brought back.

And ye did not hide yourselves so that neither your ears nor your eyes nor
your skins should witness against you: but ye thought that God knew not many
a thing that ye did!

And this your thought which ye did think of your Lord hath ruined you, so
that ye are become of those who perish."

And be they patient, still the fire shall be their abode: or if they beg for
favour, yet shall they not be of favoured.

And we will appoint Satans as their fast companions; for it was they who made
their present and future state seem fair and right to them; and the sentence
passed on the peoples of Djinn and men who flourished before them hath become
their due, and they shall perish.

Yet the unbelievers say, "Hearken not to this Koran, but keep up a talking,
that ye may overpower the voice of the reader."

Surely therefore will we cause the unbelievers to taste a terrible
punishment;

And recompense them according to the worst of their actions.

This the reward of the enemies of God,-the Fire! it shall be their eternal
abode, in requital for their gainsaying our signs.

And they who believed not shall say, "O our Lord! shew us those of the Djinn
and men who led us astray: both of them will we put under out feet, that they
may be of the humbled."

But as for those who say, "Our Lord is God;" and who go straight to Him,7
angels shall descend to them and say, "Fear ye not, neither be ye grieved,
but rejoice ye in the paradise which ye have been promised.

We are your guardians in this life and in the next: your's therein shall be
your soul's desire, and your's therein whatever ye shall ask for,

The hospitality of a Gracious, a Merciful One."

And who speaketh fairer than he who biddeth to God and doth the thing that is
right, and saith, "I for my part am of the Muslims"?

Moreover, good and evil are not to be treated as the same thing. Turn away
evil by what is better, and lo! he between whom and thyself was enmity, shall
be as though he were a warm friend.

But none attain to this save men steadfast in patience, and none attain to it
except the most highly favoured.8

And if an enticement from Satan entice thee, then take refuge in God, for He
is the Hearing, the Knowing.

And among his signs are the night, and the day, and the sun, and the moon.
Bend not in adoration to the sun or the moon, but bend in adoration before
God who created them both, if ye would serve Him.

But if they are too proud for this, yet they who are with thy Lord do
celebrate His praises night and day,9 and cease not.

And among His signs is this, that thou seest the earth drooping: but, when we
send down the rain upon it, it is stirred and swelleth; verily He who giveth
it life, will surely give life to the dead; for His might extendeth over all
things.10

They truly who with obloquy disown our signs are not hidden from us. Is he
then who shall be cast into the fire, or he who shall come forth secure on
the day of resurrection, in the better position? Do what ye will: but His eye
is on all your doings.

Verily, they who believe not in "the warning," after it hath come to them . .
. and yet the Koran is a glorious book!

Falsehood, from whatever side it cometh, shall not come night it;11 it is a
missive down from the Wise, the Praiseworthy.

Nothing hath been said to thee which hath not been said of old to apostles