Then said the Apostle, "O my Lord! truly my people have esteemed this Koran to be vain babbling." Thus have we given to every Prophet an enemy from among the wicked ones-But thy Lord is a sufficient guide and helper. And the infidels say, "Unless the Koran be sent down to him all at once. . . ." But in this way would we stablish thy heart by it; in parcels have we parcelled it out to thee;10 Nor shall they come to thee with puzzling questions,11 but we will come to thee with the truth, and their best solution. They who shall be gathered upon their faces into hell, shall have the worst place, and be farthest from the path of happiness. Heretofore we gave the law to Moses, and appointed his brother Aaron to be his counsellor:12 And we said, "Go ye to the people who treat our signs as lies." And them destroyed we with utter destruction. And as to the people of Noah! when they treated their Apostles as impostors, we drowned them; and we made them a sign to mankind:-A grievous chastisement have we prepared for the wicked! And Ad and Themoud, and the men of Rass,13 and divers generations between them: Unto each of them did we set forth parables for warnings, and each of them did we utterly exterminate. Oft are this have the unbelieving Meccans passed by the city on which was rained a fatal rain. What! Have they not seen it? Yet have they no hope of a resurrection! And when they see thee, they do but take thee as the subject of their railleries. "What! Is this he whom God has sent as an Apostle? Indeed he had well nigh led us astray from our gods, had we not persevered steadfastly in their service." But in the end they shall know, when they shall see the punishment, who hath most strayed from the path. What thinkest thou? He who hath taken his passions as a god-wilt thou be a guardian over him? Thinkest thou that the greater part of them hear or understand? They are just like the brutes! Yes! they stray even further from the right way. Hast thou not seen how thy Lord lengtheneth out the shadow?14 Had He pleased he had made it motionless.15 But we made the sun to be its guide; Then draw it in unto Us with easy indrawing. He it is who ordaineth the night as a garment, and sleep for rest, and ordaineth the day for waking up to life: He it is who sendeth the winds as the forerunner of his mercy (rain); and pure water send we down from Heaven, That we may revive by it a dead land: and we give it for drink to our creation, beasts and men in numbers; And we distribute it among them on all sides, that they may reflect: but most men refuse to be aught but thankless. Had we pleased, we had raised up a warner in every city. Give not way therefore to the Infidels, but by means of this Koran strive against them with a mighty strife. And He it is who hath let loose the two seas,16 the one sweet, fresh; and the other salt, bitter; and hath put an interspace between them, and a barrier that cannot be passed.