The Koran
CHAPTER XXXII.
ENTITLED, ADORATION; REVEALED AT MECCA.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.
A. L. M. The revelation of this book, there is no doubt thereof, is from
the Lord of all creatures. Will they say, Mohammed hath forged it? Nay,
it is the truth from thy Lord, that thou mayest preach to a people, unto
whom no preacher hath come before thee; peradventure they will be directed.
It is God who hath created the heavens and the earth, and whatever is between
them, in six days; and then ascended his throne. Ye have no patron or intercessor
besides him. Will ye not therefore consider? He governeth all things from
heaven even to the earth: hereafter shall they return unto him, on the
day whose length shall be a thousand years, of those which ye compute.
This is he who knoweth the future and the present; the mighty, the merciful.
It is he who hath made everything which he hath created exceeding good:
and first created man of clay, and afterwards made his posterity of an
extract of despicable water; and then formed him into proper shape, and
breathed of his spirit into him; and hath given you the senses of hearing
and seeing, and hearts to understand. How small thanks do ye return! And
they say, When we shall lie hidden in the earth, shall we be raised thence
a new creature? Yea, they deny the meeting of their Lord at the resurrection.
Say, The angel of death, who is set over you, shall cause you to die: then
shall ye be brought back unto your Lord. If thou couldst see, when the
wicked shall bow down their heads before their Lord, saying, O Lord, we
have seen and have heard: suffer us therefore to return into the world,
and we will work that which is right; since we are now certain of the truth
of what hath been preached to us: thou wouldst see an amazing sight. If
we had pleased, we had certainly given unto every soul its direction: but
the word which hath proceeded from me must necessarily be fulfilled, when
I said, Verily I will fill hell with genii and men, altogether. Taste therefore
the torment prepared for you, because ye have forgotten the coming of this
your day; we also have forgotten you; taste therefore a punishment of eternal
duration, for that which ye have wrought. Verily they only believe in our
signs, who, when they are warned thereby, fall down adoring, and celebrate
the praise of their Lord, and are not elated with pride: their sides are
raised from their beds, calling on their Lord with fear and with hope;
and they distribute alms out of what we have bestowed on them. No soul
knoweth the complete satisfaction which is secretly prepared for them,
as a reward for that which they have wrought. Shall he, therefore, who
is a true believer, he as he who is an impious transgressor? They shall
not be held equal. As to those who believe and do that which is right,
they shall have gardens of perpetual abode, an ample recompense for that
which they shall have wrought: but as for those who impiously transgress,
their abode shall be hell fire; so often as they shall endeavor to get
thereout, they shall be dragged back into the same, and it shall be said
unto them, Taste ye the torment of hell fire, which ye rejected as a falsehood.
And we will cause them to taste the nearer punishment of this world, besides
the more grievous punishment of the next; peradventure they will repent.
Who is more unjust than he who is warned by the signs of his Lord, and
then turneth aside from the same? We will surely take vengeance on the
wicked. We heretofore delivered the book of the law unto Moses; wherefore
be not thou in doubt as to the revelation thereof: and we ordained the
same to be a direction unto the children of Israel; and we appointed teachers
from among them, who should direct the people at our command, when they
had persevered with patience, and had firmly believed in our signs. Verily
thy Lord will judge between them, on the day of resurrection, concerning
that wherein they have disagreed. Is it not known unto them how many generations
we have destroyed before them, through whose dwellings they walk? Verily
herein are signs: will they not therefore hearken? Do they not see that
we drive rain unto a land bare of grass and parched up, and thereby produce
corn, of which their cattle eat, and themselves also? Will they not therefore
regard? The infidels say to the true believers, When will this decision
be made between us, if ye speak truth? Answer, On the day of that decision,
the faith of those who shall have disbelieved shall not avail them; neither
shall they be respited any longer. Wherefore avoid them, and expect the
issue: verily they expect to obtain some advantage over thee.
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