fear the fire whose fuel is men and stones[1], prepared for misbelievers. But bear the glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow; whenever they are provided with fruit therefrom they say, 'This is what we were provided with before,' and they shall be provided with the like[2]; and there are pure wives for them therein, and they shall dwell therein for aye.
Why, God is not ashamed to set forth a parable of a gnat[3], or anything beyond; and as for those who believe, they know that it is truth from the Lord; but as for those who disbelieve, they say, 'What is it that God means by this as a parable? He leads astray many and He guides many;'—but He leads astray only the evildoers; 25 who break God's covenant after the fixing thereof, and cut asunder what God has ordered to be joined, and do evil in the earth;—these it is who lose.
How can ye disbelieve in God, when ye were dead and He made you alive, and then He will kill you and then make you alive again, and then to Him will ye return? It is He who created for you all that is in the earth, then he made for the heavens and fashioned them seven heavens; and He knows all things.
And when thy Lord said unto the angels, 'I am about to place a vicegerent in the earth,' they said,
- ↑ That is, the idols.
- ↑ The vagueness is in the original; it is variously interpreted 'fruits like each other,' or 'like the fruits of earth.'
- ↑ This is in answer to the objections that had been taken against the mention of such small things as the 'spider' and the 'bee,' which give their names to two of the chapters of the Qur'ân.
