That He may make
Your conduct whole and sound
And forgive you your sins:
He that obeys God
And His Apostle, has already
Attained the highest
Achievement.
And their predecessors rejected
(The Truth); these have
Not received a tenth
Of what We had granted
To those: yet when they rejected
My apostles, how (terrible)
Was My rejection (of them)!
Praise be to God,
Who created (out of nothing)
The heavens and the earth,
Who made the angels
Messengers with wings,—
Two, or three, or four (Pairs):
He adds to Creation
As He pleases: for God
Has power over all things.
And if they reject thee,
So did their predecessors,
To whom came their apostles
With Clear Signs, Books
Of dark prophecies,
And the Book
Of Enlightenment.
The Unbelievers will be
Led to Hell in crowd:
Until, when they arrive there,
Its gates will be opened.
And its Keepers will say,
"Did not apostles come
To you from among yourselves,
Rehearsing to you the Signs
Of your Lord, and warning you
Of the Meeting of this Day
Of yours?" The answer
Will be: "True: but
The Decree of Punishment
Has been proved true
Against the Unbelievers!"
But (there were people) before them,
Who denied (the Signs),—
The People of Noah,
And the Confederates
(Of Evil) after them;
And every People plotted
Against their prophet,
To seize him, and disputed
By means of vanities,
Therewith to condemn
The Truth: but it was I
That seized them!
And how (terrible)
Was My Requital!
That was because there came
To them their apostles
With Clear (Signs),
But they rejected them:
So God called them
To account: for He is
Full of Strength,
Strict in Punishment.
"And to you there came
Joseph in times gone by,
With Clear Signs, but
Ye ceased not to doubt
Of the (mission) for which
He had come: at length,
When he died, ye said:
"No apostle will God send
After him." Thus doth God
Leave to stray such as
Transgress and live in doubt,—
They will say: "Did there
Not come to you
Your apostles with Clear Signs?"
They will say, "Yes".
They will reply, "Then
Pray (as ye like)! But
The Prayer of those
Without Faith is nothing
But (futile wandering)
In (mazes of) error!"
We did aforetime send
Apostles before thee: of them
There are some whose story
We have related to thee,
And some whose story
We have not related
To thee. It was not
(Possible) for any apostle
To bring a Sign except
By the leave of God:
But when the Command
Of God issued,
The matter was decided
In truth and justice,
And there perished,
There and then, those
Who stood on Falsehoods.
For when their apostles
Came to them
With Clear Signs, they exulted
In such knowledge (and skill)
As they had; but
That very (Wrath) at which
They were wont to scoff
Hemmed them in.
Behold, the apostles came
To them, from before them
And behind them, (preaching):
"Serve none but God."
They said, "If our Lord
Had so pleased, He would
Certainly have sent down angels
(To preach): now we reject
Your mission (altogether)."
Nothing is said to thee
That was not said
To the apostles before thee:
That thy Lord has
At His command (all) Forgiveness
As well as a most
Grievous Penalty.