When it is said to them:
"Come to what God
Hath revealed; come
To the Apostle":
They say: "Enough for us
Are the ways we found
Our fathers following."
What! even though their fathers
Were void of knowledge
And guidance?
One day will God
Gather the apostles together,
And ask: "What was
The response ye received
(From men to your teaching)?"
They will say: "We
Have no knowledge: it is Thou
Who knowest in full
All that is hidden."
"And behold! I inspired
The Disciples to have faith
In Me and Mine Apostle:
They said, 'We have faith,
And do thou bear witness
That we bow to God
As Muslims'."
Rejected were the Apostles
Before thee: with patience
And constancy they bore
Their rejection and their wrongs,
Until Our aid did reach
Them: there is none
That can alter the Words
(And Decrees) of God.
Already hast thou received
Some account of those Apostles.
He is the Irresistible, (watching)
From above over His worshippers,
And He sets guardians
Over you. At length,
When death approaches
One of you, Our angels
Take his soul, and they
Never fail in their duty.
When there comes to them
A Sign (from God),
They say: "We shall not
Believe until we receive
One (exactly) like those
Received by God's apostles."
God knoweth best where
(And how) to carry out
His mission. Soon
Will the wicked
Be overtaken by
Humiliation before God,
And a severe punishment,
For all their plots.
"O ye assembly of Jinns
And men! came there not
Unto you apostles from amongst you
Setting forth unto you
My Signs, and warning you
Of the meeting of this Day
Of yours?" They will say:
"We bear witness against
Ourselves." It was
The life of this world
That deceived them. So
Against themselves will they
Bear witness that they
Rejected Faith.
O ye Children of Adam!
Whenever there come to you
Apostles from amongst you,
Rehearsing My Signs unto you,
Those who are righteous
And mend (their lives),—
On them shall be no fear
Nor shall they grieve.
Who is more unjust
Than one who invents
A lie against God
Or rejects His Signs?
For such, their portion
Appointed must reach them
From the Book (of Decrees):
Until, when Our messengers
(Of death) arrive and take
Their souls, they say:
"Where are the things
That ye used to invoke
Besides God?"
They will reply, "They
Have left us in the lurch,"
And they will bear witness
Against themselves, that they
Had rejected God.
And We shall remove
From their hearts any
Lurking sense of injury;—
Beneath them will be
Rivers flowing;—and they
Shall say: "Praise be, to God,
Who hath guided us
To this (felicity): never
Could we have found
Guidance, had it not been
For the guidance of God:
Indeed it was the truth.
That the Apostles of our Lord
Brought unto us." And they
Shall hear the cry:
"Behold! the Garden before you!
Ye have been made
Its inheritors, for your
Deeds (of righteousness)."
Do they just wait
For the final fulfilment
Of the event? On the day
The event is finally fulfilled,
Those who disregarded it
Before will say: "The apostles
Of our Lord did indeed
Bring true (tidings). Have we
No intercessors now to intercede
On our behalf? Or could we
Be sent back? Then should we
Behave differently from our
Behaviour in the past."
In fact they will have lost
Their souls, and the things
They invented will leave
Them in the lurch.
Such were the towns
Whose story We (thus)
Relate unto thee:
There came indeed to them
Their apostles with clear (Signs):
But they would not believe
What they had rejected before.
Thus doth God seal up
The hearts of those
Who reject Faith.
"Those who follow the Apostle,
The unlettered Prophet,
Whom they find mentioned
In their own (Scriptures),—
In the Law and the Gospel;—
For he commands them
What is just and forbids them
What is evil; he allows
Them as lawful what is good
(And pure) and prohibits them
From what is bad (and impure);
He releases them
From their heavy burdens
And from the yokes
That are upon them.
So it is those who believe
In him, honour him,
Help him, and follow the Light
Which is sent down with him,—
It is they who will prosper."
Say: "O men! I am sent
Unto you all, as the Apostle
Of God, to Whom belongeth
The dominion of the heavens
And the earth: there is no god
But He: it is He that giveth
Both life and death. So believe
In God and His Apostle,
The unlettered Prophet,
Who believeth in God
And His Words: follow him
That (so) ye may be guided."
They ask thee concerning
(Things taken as) spoils of war.
Say: "(Such) spoils are
At the disposal of God
And the Apostle: so fear
God, and keep straight
The relations between yourselves:
Obey God and His Apostle,
If ye do believe."