It is we who created you; why then will ye not believe? Have ye considered the germs of life-- Is it ye who create them, or are we the creators? It is we who have decreed death among you; yet are we not debarred From changing you for your likes, or producing you how ye know not. But ye have known the first creation: why will ye not mind? Have ye considered what ye sow? Is it ye who raise it, or are we the raisers thereof? If we pleased we could surely make it dry, so that ye would stop and marvel, [saying] “We have spent, yet we are forbidden [the fruits].” Have ye considered the water ye drink? Is it ye who send it down from the clouds, or do we send it down? If we pleased we could make it salt; why will ye not be thankful? Have ye considered the fire which ye kindle? Is it ye who make the wood that produces it, or do we make it? It is we who have made it for a reminder and a benefit to the traveller. Then magnify the name of thy Lord the Most Great. And I swear by the setting-places of the stars, And that, if ye knew it, is verily a mighty oath, Verily this is the honourable Korān, Written in the preserved Book: Let none touch it but the purified,-- A revelation from the Lord of the worlds. Will ye then disdain this discourse, And make it your daily bread to discredit it? Why then when the dying man’s soul has come up to his throat, And ye at the moment are watching,-- And we are nearer to him than ye, although ye see us not,-- Why, if ye are to have no Judgment, Do ye not cause that soul to return, if ye speak the truth? But if he be one of those brought nearest to God, There is rest for him and sweet odour and a garden of delights. And if he be of the people of the right hand, [He shall be greeted with] “Peace to thee,” from the people of the right. And if he be of those who call it a lie, The erring, Then an entertainment of scalding water, And broiling in Hell. Verily this is assured truth! So magnify the name of thy Lord the Most Great. (lvi.) THE MERCIFUL. _In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful._