Moreover, good and evil are not to be treated as the same thing. Turn away
evil by what is better, and lo! he between whom and thyself was enmity, shall
be as though he were a warm friend.
But none attain to this save men steadfast in patience, and none attain to it
except the most highly favoured.8
And if an enticement from Satan entice thee, then take refuge in God, for He
is the Hearing, the Knowing.
And among his signs are the night, and the day, and the sun, and the moon.
Bend not in adoration to the sun or the moon, but bend in adoration before
God who created them both, if ye would serve Him.
But if they are too proud for this, yet they who are with thy Lord do
celebrate His praises night and day,9 and cease not.
And among His signs is this, that thou seest the earth drooping: but, when we
send down the rain upon it, it is stirred and swelleth; verily He who giveth
it life, will surely give life to the dead; for His might extendeth over all
things.10
They truly who with obloquy disown our signs are not hidden from us. Is he
then who shall be cast into the fire, or he who shall come forth secure on
the day of resurrection, in the better position? Do what ye will: but His eye
is on all your doings.
Verily, they who believe not in "the warning," after it hath come to them . .
. and yet the Koran is a glorious book!
Falsehood, from whatever side it cometh, shall not come night it;11 it is a
missive down from the Wise, the Praiseworthy.
Nothing hath been said to thee which hath not been said of old to apostles
before thee. Verily with thy Lord is forgiveness, and with Him is terrible
retribution.
Had we made it a Koran in a foreign tongue, they had surely said, "Unless its
signs be made clear . . . !12 What! in a foreign tongue? and the people
Arabian?" SAY: It is to those who believe a guide and a medicine;13 but as to
those who believe not, there is a thickness in their ears, and to them it is
a blindness: they are like those who are called to from afar.
Of old we gave the Book to Moses, and disputes arose about it: and if a
decree of respite from thy Lord had gone before, there would surely have been
a decision between them: for great were their doubts and questionings about
it.14
He who doth right-it is for himself:15 and he who doth evil-it is for
himself: and thy Lord will not deal unfairly with his servants.
With Him alone16 is the knowledge of "the Hour." No fruit cometh forth from
its coverings, neither doth any female conceive, nor is she delivered, but
with His knowledge. And on that day He shall call men to Him, saying, "Where
are the companions ye gave me?" They shall say, "We own to thee, there is no
one of us can witness for them."
And what they erst called on shall pass away from them, and they shall
perceive that there will be no escape for them.
Man ceaseth not to pray for good: but if evil betide him he despondeth,
despairing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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