⁵⁰ Say thou: “Be you stones or iron

⁵¹ “Or a creation of what is great within your breasts!”¹ And they will say: “Who will bring us back?” Say thou: “He who created you the first time.” Then they will shake their heads at thee and say: “When is it?” Say thou: “It may be that it is near:

⁵² “The day He will call you, and you will answer with His praise, and you will think that you tarried only a little.”

⁵³ And say thou to My servants, that they say that which is best.¹ The satan² provokes to evil between them; the satan³ is to man an open enemy.

⁵⁴ Your Lord knows you best; if He wills, He will have mercy on you or, if He wills, He will punish you. And We have not sent thee as a guardian over them.

⁵⁵ And thy Lord best knows who is in the heavens and the earth. And We have preferred some prophets over others; and We gave to David Psalms.¹

⁵⁶ Say thou: “Call to those whom you claim besides¹ Him — they have no power over the removal of affliction from you, or of alteration.”²

⁵⁷ Those to whom they call¹ seek the means of approach to their Lord, which of them should be nearest, and hope for His mercy and fear His punishment; the punishment of thy Lord is to be feared.

⁵⁸ And there is no city save We will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection, or punish it with severe punishment; that is in the Writ¹ inscribed.

⁵⁹ And there prevented Us from sending proofs¹ only that the former peoples denied them.² And We gave Thamūd the she-camel as a visible proof,³ but they wronged her. And We send the proofs⁴ only to put in dread.⁵

⁶⁰ And when We said to thee: “Thy Lord encompasses mankind[...],”¹ and We made the vision² which We showed thee only a means of denial³ for mankind, and also⁴ the accursed tree⁵ in the Qur’an.⁶ And We put them in dread,⁷ but it increases⁸ them not save in great inordinacy.

⁶¹ And when We said to the angels: “Submit¹ to Adam,” then they submitted.² Not so³ Iblīs; he said: “Shall I submit⁴ to one Thou hast created of clay?”

⁶² He said: “Hast Thou seen¹ this whom Thou hast honoured above me? If Thou grant me respite until the Day of Resurrection, I will master² his progeny save a few.”

⁶³ Said He: “Depart thou! And whoso follows thee of them: Gehenna will be your reward; an ample reward.

⁶⁴ “And incite thou whom thou canst of them with thy voice, and rally thou horse and foot¹ against them, and partner² thou them in their wealth and children, and promise thou them,” — but the satan³ promises them only delusion —

⁶⁵ “My servants: over them thou hast no authority.” And thy Lord suffices as disposer of affairs:

⁶⁶ Your Lord is who drives for you the ships¹ upon the sea, that you might seek of His bounty; He is merciful towards you.

⁶⁷ But when affliction touches you upon the sea, strayed have those to whom you call save He. Then when He delivers you to the land, you turn away; and man is ungrateful.

⁶⁸ Do you feel secure that He will not cause a portion of the land to swallow you, or send against you a storm of stones? Then would you not find for you a guardian.

⁶⁹ Or do you feel secure that He would not return you to it¹ a second time, and send against you a raging storm² of wind, and drown you for what you denied?³ Then would you not find for you against Us an adherent.⁴

⁷⁰ We have honoured the children of Adam, and carried them on land and sea, and provided them with good things, and preferred them greatly¹ above many of those² We created.

⁷¹ The day We call each people¹ with their record,² then whoso is given his writ³ in his right hand, those will read⁴ their writ,⁵ and they will not be wronged a hair upon a date-stone.

⁷² And whoso is blind in the World¹ will be blind in the Hereafter, and further astray in the path.

⁷³ And they had almost seduced thee away from that We revealed¹ to thee, that thou invent about Us other than it² — and then would they have taken thee as a friend.³

⁷⁴ And were it not that We had made thee firm, thou wouldst have relied¹ upon them a little,

⁷⁵ Then would We have let thee taste double¹ in life, and double in death; then wouldst thou not find for thee against Us a helper.

⁷⁶ And they had almost driven thee out of the land, to turn thee out therefrom; and then would they not have tarried after thee save a little.¹

⁷⁷ The practice¹ of those We sent before thee of Our messengers[...];² and thou wilt not find in Our practice³ any alteration.

⁷⁸ Uphold thou the duty¹ at the merging² of the sun until the dark of night, and the recitation³ of dawn — the recitation⁴ of dawn is witnessed⁵ —

⁷⁹ And some of the night, keep thou vigil¹ with it,² as an addition³ for thee; it may be that thy Lord will raise thee to a praised station.⁴

⁸⁰ And say thou: “My Lord: cause Thou me to enter at a true entrance, and to leave at a true exit; and appoint Thou for me from Thyself a helping authority.”

⁸¹ And say thou: “Truth¹ has come, and vanity has passed away; vanity is to pass away.”

⁸² And We send down of the Qur’an¹ what is a healing and mercy for the believers;² but it increases not the wrongdoers³ save in loss.

⁸³ And when We favour a man, he turns away and distances himself;¹ and when evil touches him, he is without hope.

⁸⁴ Say thou: “Each does as he sees fit,¹ but your Lord best knows him who is guided in the path.”

⁸⁵ And they ask thee about the Spirit.¹ Say thou: “The Spirit is by command of my Lord; and you have been given of knowledge only a little

⁸⁶ (And if We willed, We would take away that We have revealed¹ to thee; then wouldst thou not find for thee therein² against Us a guardian)

⁸⁷ “Only by mercy from thy Lord”;¹ His kindness to thee is great.

⁸⁸ Say thou: “If the servi¹ and the domini² gathered to produce the like of this Qur’an,³ they would not produce the like thereof, though they were helpers one of another.”

⁸⁹ And We have expounded¹ for men in this Qur’an² every³ similitude,⁴ but most men refuse save denial.

⁹⁰ And they say: “We will not believe thee until thou cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us,

⁹¹ “Or thou have a garden of date-palms and grapevines, and thou cause rivers to gush forth in the midst thereof abundantly,¹

⁹² “Or thou cause the sky to fall — as thou hast claimed — upon us in pieces, or thou bring God and the angels before us face to face,¹

⁹³ “Or thou have a house of finery,¹ or thou ascend into the sky; and we will not believe thy ascension until thou bring down upon us a writ² we may read.”³ Say thou: “Glory⁴ be to my Lord!⁵ Am I anything save a mortal messenger!”

⁹⁴ And there prevented men from believing when the guidance came to them only that they said: “Has God raised up a mortal as messenger?”

⁹⁵ Say thou: “Had there been in the earth angels walking securely, We would have sent down upon them from the sky an angel as messenger.”¹

⁹⁶ Say thou: “Sufficient is God as witness between me and you; He is of His servants aware and seeing.”

⁹⁷ And whom God guides, he is guided; and whom He sends astray, for them thou wilt find no allies besides¹ Him. And We will gather them on the Day of Resurrection on their faces — blind and dumb and deaf — their shelter is Gehenna; whenever it subsides, We will increase for them an inferno.

⁹⁸ That is their reward because they denied Our proofs¹ and said: “When we are bones and dust,² will we be raised up as a new creation?”

⁹⁹ Have they not considered¹ that God, who created the heavens and the earth, has power to create the like of them? And He has made for them a term whereof there is no doubt; but the wrongdoers² refuse save denial.