Then sent We Our apostles
In succession: every time
There came to a people
Their apostle, they accused him
Of falsehood: so We made
Them follow each other
(In punishment): We made them
As a tale (that is told):
So away with a people
That will not believe!
Is it that there is
A disease in their hearts
Or do they doubt,
Or are they in fear,
That God and His Apostle
Will deal unjustly with them?
Nay, it is they themselves
Who do wrong.
The answer of the Believers,
When summoned to God
And His Apostle, in order
That he may judge between them,
Is no other than this:
They say, "We hear and we obey":
It is such as these
That will attain felicity.
Say: "Obey God, and obey
The Apostle: but if ye turn
Away, he is only responsible
For the duty placed on him
And ye for that placed
On you. If ye obey him,
Ye shall be on right guidance.
The Apostle's duty is only
To preach the clear (Message).
Only those are Believers,
Who believe in God and
His Apostle: when they are
With him on a matter
Requiring collective action,
They do not depart until
They have asked for his leave;
Those who ask for thy leave
Are those who believe in God
And His Apostle; so when
They ask for thy leave,
For some business of theirs,
Give leave to those of them
Whom thou wilt, and ask
God for their forgiveness:
For God is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful.
Deem not the summons
Of the Apostle among yourselves
Like the summons of one
Of you to another: God
Doth know those of you
Who slip away under shelter
Of some excuse: then
Let those beware who
Withstand the Apostle's order,
Lest some trial befall them,
Or a grievous Penalty
Be inflicted on them.
And they say: "What sort
Of an apostle is this,
Who eats food, and walks
Through the streets? Why
Has not an angel
Been sent down to him
To give admonition with him?
And the people of Noah,—
When they rejected the apostles,
We drowned them,
And We made them
As a Sign for mankind;
And We have prepared
For (all) wrong-doers
A grievous Penalty;—