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.
Those who reject our Signs
Are deaf and dumb,—
In the midst of darkness
Profound: whom God willeth,
He leaveth to wander:
Whom He willeth, He placeth
On the Way that is Straight.
Say; "For me, I (work)
On a clear Sign from my Lord,
But ye reject Him. What ye
Would see hastened, is not
In my power. The Command
Rests with none but God:
He declares the Truth,
And He is the best of judges."
Who can be more wicked
Than one who inventeth
A lie against God,
Or saith, "I have
Received inspiration,"
When he hath received
None, or (again) who saith,
"I can reveal the like
Of what God hath revealed"?
If thou couldst but see
How the wicked (do fare)
In the flood of confusion
At death!—the angels
Stretch forth their hands,
(Saying), "Yield up your souls:
This day shall ye receive
Your reward,—a penalty
Of shame, for that ye used
To tell lies against God,
And scornfully to reject
Of His Signs!"
Of camels a pair,
And of oxen a pair;
Say, hath He forbidden
The two males,
Or the two females,
Or (the young) which the wombs
Of the two females enclose?—
Were ye present when God
Ordered you such a thing?
But who doth more wrong
Than one who invents
A lie against God,
To lead astray men
Without knowledge?
For God guideth not
People who do wrong
Those who give partners
(To God) will say:
"If God had wished,
We should not have
Given partners to Him,
Nor would our fathers;
Nor should we have had
Any taboos." So did
Their ancestors argue
Falsely, until they tasted
Of Our wrath. Say:
"Have ye any (certain)
Knowledge? If so, produce
It before us. Ye follow
Nothing but conjecture:
Ye do nothing but lie."
Say: "Bring forward your witnesses
To prove that God did
Forbid so and so." If they
Bring such witnesses,
Be not thou amongst them:
Nor follow thou the vain
Desires of such as treat
Our Signs as falsehoods,
And such as believe not
In the Hereafter: for they
Hold others as equal
With their Guardian-Lord.
Or lest ye should say:
"If the Book had only
Been sent down to us,
We should have followed
Its guidance better than they."
Now then hath come
Unto you a Clear (Sign)
From your Lord,—and a guide
And a mercy: then who
Could do more wrong
Than one who rejecteth
God's Signs, and turneth
Away therefrom? In good time
Shall We requite those
Who turn away from Our Signs,
With a dreadful penalty,
For their turning away.
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.
To those who reject
Our Signs and treat them
With arrogance, no opening
Will there be of the gates
Of heaven, nor will they
Enter the Garden, until
The camel can pass
Through the eye of the needle:
Such is Our reward
For those in sin.
But they rejected him,
And We delivered him,
And those with him,
In the Ark:
But We overwhelmed
In the Flood those
Who rejected Our Signs.
They were indeed
A blind people!
"We should indeed invent
A lie against God,
If we returned to your ways
After God hath rescued
Us therefrom; nor could we
By any manner of means
Return thereto unless it be
As in the will and plan of God,
Our Lord. Our Lord
Can reach out to the utmost
Recesses of things by His
knowledge.
In God is our trust.
Our Lord! Decide thou
Between us and our people
In truth, for thou
Art the best to decide."
The men who rejected
Shu’aib became as if
They had never been
In the homes where they
Had flourished: the men
Who rejected Shu’aib—
It was they who were ruined!
If the people of the towns
Had but believed and feared
God, We should indeed
Have opened out to them
(All kinds of) blessings
From heaven and earth;
But they rejected (the truth),
And We brought them
To book for their misdeeds.