These are they who have purchased error in exchange for right guidance: but their traffic hath not been profitable; and they have not been rightly guided. Their likeness is as the likeness of those who have kindled a fire _in the dark_, and when it hath enlightened what is around them, God taketh away their light and leaveth them in darkness, seeing not. _They are_ deaf, dumb, blind: therefore they will not turn back. Or _they are_ like _people in_ a storm of rain from heaven, wherein are darkness and thunder and lightning: they put their fingers in their ears because of the vehement sounds of the thunder, for fear of death. And God encompasseth the unbelievers. The lightning almost snatcheth away their eyes: whenever it shineth on them they walk in _the light of_ it, but when darkness cometh on them they stand still. And if God pleased He would certainly take away their ears and eyes: for God is all-powerful. (ii. 7-19.) LXXXV. O ye who have believed, take not the Jews and Christians as friends. They are friends one to another; and whosoever of you taketh them as his friends, verily he is _of the number_ of them. O ye who have believed, take not as friends those who have made your religion a laughing-stock and a jest, of those who have received the Scripture before you, and the unbelievers: (But fear God if ye be believers:) And _those who_ when ye call to prayer make it a laughing-stock and a jest. This _they do_ because they are a people who do not understand. (v. 56, 62, 63.) LXXXVI. †The servants of the Merciful are they that walk upon the earth softly; and when the ignorant speak unto them, they reply ‘Peace!’— And they that pass the night worshipping their Lord, prostrate and standing;— And that say, ‘O our Lord, turn away from us the torment of Hell: verily its torment is endless; verily it is an ill abode and resting-place!’— And those who when they spend are neither lavish nor niggard, but keep the mean;— And those who call on no other gods with God, nor slay whom God hath forbidden to be slain, except for a just cause; nor are unchaste;— And they who bear not witness to a lie, and when they pass by vain discourse pass it by with dignity;— These shall be rewarded with the highest Heaven, for that they persevered, and they shall be accosted therein with ‘Welcome and Peace,’ to live therein for ever—a fair abode and resting-place! (xxv. 64-75.) _PART THE SECOND._ _PROPHETS, APOSTLES, AND DIVINE BOOKS._[190]