And We send the fecundating winds,
Then cause the rain to descend
From the sky, therewith providing
You with water (in abundance),
Though ye are not the guardians
Of its stores.
By God, We (also) sent
(Our apostles) to Peoples
Before thee; but Satan
Made, (to the wicked),
Their own acts seem alluring:
He is also their patron to-day,
But they shall have
A most grievous penalty.
It is your Lord
That knoweth you best:
If He please, He granteth
You mercy, or if He please,
Punishment: We have not sent
Thee to be a disposer
Of their affairs for them.
And We refrain from sending
The Signs, only because
The men of former generations
Treated them as false:
We sent the She-camel
To the Thamūd to open
Their eyes, but they
Treated her wrongfully:
We only send the Signs
By way of terror
(And warning from evil).
Do ye then feel secure
That He will not cause you
To be swallowed up
Beneath the earth
When ye are on land,
Or that He will not send
Against you a violent tornado
(With showers of stones)
So that ye shall find
No one to carry out
Your affairs for you?
Or do ye feel secure
That He will not send you
Back a second time
To sea and send against you
A heavy gale to drown you
Because of your ingratitude,
So that ye find no helper
Therein against Us?
"It may be that my Lord
Will give me something
Better than thy garden,
And that He will send
On thy garden thunderbolts
(By way of reckoning)
From heaven, making it
(But) slippery sand!—
We only send the apostles
To give glad tidings
And to give warnings
But the Unbelievers dispute
With vain argument, in order
Therewith to weaken the truth,
And they treat My Signs
As a jest, as also the fact
That they are warned!
"So go ye both to him,
And say, "Verily we are
Apostles sent by thy Lord:
Send forth, therefore, the Children
Of Israel with us, and
Afflict them not:
With a Sign, indeed,
Have we come from thy Lord!
And Peace to all
Who follow guidance!
And if We had inflicted
On them a penalty before this,
They would have said:
"Our Lord! If only Thou
Hadst sent us an apostle,
We should certainly have followed
Thy Signs before we were
Humbled and put to shame."
"Nay," they say, "(these are)
Medleys of dreams!—Nay,
He forged it!—Nay,
He is (but) a poet!
Let him then bring us
A Sign like the ones
That were sent to
(Prophets) of old!"