The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

a
We deal out such days among
people in turn, for God to 
find out who truly believes, for Him to
choose martyrs
b
from among you –
– God does not love evildoers –
–
141for Him to cleanse those who believe and for Him to destroy the
disbelievers. 
142Did you think you would enter the Garden without
God
first proving which of you would struggle for His cause and
remain steadfast? 
143Before you encountered death, you were hoping
for it. Well, now you have seen it with your own eyes.
144Muhammad is only a messenger before whom many messengers
a
This part of the sura refers to the Battle of Uhud, where the Muslims were
defeated, having disobeyed the Prophet’s orders.
b
The noun shahid is much more complex than the term ‘martyr’ chosen to render it
in this context. The root sh–h–d conveys ‘to witness, to be present, to attend’, but also
‘to testify’ or ‘to give evidence’. Thus the ‘martyrs’ here are chosen by God to witness
Him in heaven, are given the opportunity to give evidence of the depth of their faith
by sacri
ficing their worldly lives, and will testify with the prophets on the Day of
Judgement.
3: 129
The Qur
an
44

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have been and gone. If he died or was killed,
a
would you revert to
your old ways? If anyone did so, he would not harm God in the least.
God will reward the grateful. 
145No soul may die except with God’s
permission at a predestined time. If anyone strives for the rewards of
this world, We will give him some of them. If anyone strives for the
rewards of the Hereafter, We will give him some of them: We will
reward the grateful. 
146Many prophets have fought, with large bands
of godly men alongside them who, in the face of their su
fferings for
God’s cause, did not lose heart or weaken or surrender: God loves
those who are steadfast. 
147All they said was, ‘Our Lord, forgive us
our sins and our excesses. Make our feet 
firm, and give us help
against the disbelievers,’
148and so God gave them both the rewards
of this world and the excellent rewards of the Hereafter: God loves
those who do good.
149You who believe, if you obey the disbelievers, they will make
you revert to your old ways and you will turn into losers. 
150No
indeed! It is God who is your protector: He is the best of helpers.
151We will strike panic into the disbelievers’ hearts because they
attribute partners to God although He has sent no authority for this:
their shelter will be the Fire –
– how miserable is the home of the
evildoers! 
152God fulfilled His promise to you: you were routing
them, with His permission, but then you faltered, disputed the
order, and disobeyed, once He had brought you within sight of your
goal
b
–
– some of you desire the gains of this world and others desire
the world to come –
– and then He prevented you from [defeating]
them as a punishment. He has now forgiven you: God is most gra-
cious to the believers. 
153You fled without looking back while the
Messenger was calling out to you from behind, and God rewarded
you with sorrow for sorrow. [He has now forgiven you] so that you
may not grieve for what you missed or for what happened to you.
God is well aware of everything you do. 
154After sorrow, He caused
calm to descend upon you, a sleep that overtook some of you.
Another group, caring only for themselves, entertained false
thoughts about God, thoughts more appropriate to pagan ignorance,
and said, ‘Do we get a say in any of this?’ [Prophet], tell them,