The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

a
The Garden, cf. 
20: 117.
b
Conventionally translated as ‘private parts’, but the Arabic does not necessarily
have this meaning.
c
Iblis is the enemy of mankind and vice versa.
d
Of God-consciousness. This is one of the views reported by Razi.
The Heights
95
7: 27

---

28Yet when [these people] do something disgraceful,
a
they say,
‘We found our forefathers doing this,’ and, ‘God has commanded us
to do this.’ Say [Prophet], ‘God does not command disgraceful
deeds. How can you say about God things that you do not know [to
be true]?’
29Say, ‘My Lord commands righteousness. Direct your
worship straight to Him wherever you pray; call on Him; devote
your religion entirely to Him. Just as He 
first created you, so you
will come back [to life] again.’
30Some He has guided and some are
doomed to stray: they have taken evil ones rather than God as their
masters, thinking that they are rightly guided. 
31Children of Adam,
dress well
b
whenever you are at worship, and eat and drink [as We
have permitted] but do not be extravagant: God does not like
extravagant people. 
32Say [Prophet], ‘Who has forbidden the
adornment and the nourishment God has provided for His ser-
vants?’ Say, ‘They are [allowed] for those who believe during the life
of this world: they will be theirs alone on the Day of Resurrection.’
This is how We make Our revelation clear for those who
understand.
33Say [Prophet], ‘My Lord only forbids disgraceful deeds––
whether they be open or hidden –
– and sin
c
and unjusti
fied aggres-
sion, and that you, without His sanction, associate things with Him,
and that you say things about Him without knowledge.’
d
34There is a
time set for every people: they cannot hasten it, nor, when it comes,
will they be able to delay it for a single moment.
35Children of Adam, when messengers come to you from among
yourselves, reciting My revelations to you, for those who are con-
scious of God and live righteously, there will be no fear, nor will they
grieve. 
36But those who reject Our revelations and arrogantly scorn
them are the people of the Fire and there they will remain. 
37Who is
more wrong than the person who invents lies against God or rejects
His revelations? Such people will have their preordained share [in
this world], but then, when Our angels arrive to take them back,
a
It has been suggested that this could refer to the pagan custom of men and women
walking round the Ka
 ba naked (Razi).
b
Literally ‘wear your adornment’, but this is clearly a reference to clothes and not to
jewellery; cf. 
7: 26. See also references to food in 6: 135, 145, 148.
c
Razi identi
fies this as intoxicants because of their link with ‘sin’ in 2: 219 and the
preceding verse about food.
d
Revealed knowledge, cf. 
6: 148.
The Qur
an
7: 28
96

---

saying, ‘Where are those you used to call on beside God?’ they will
say, ‘They have deserted us.’ They will confess that they were dis-
believers and 
38God will say, ‘Join the crowds of jinn and humans
who have gone before you into the Fire.’ Every crowd curses its
fellow crowd as it enters, then, when they are all gathered inside, the
last of them will say of the 
first, ‘Our Lord, it was they who led us
astray: give them double punishment in the Fire’–
– God says, ‘Every
one of you will have double punishment, though you do not know
it’–
–
39and the first of them will say to the last, ‘You were no better
than us: taste the punishment you have earned.’
40The gates of Heaven will not be open to those who rejected Our
revelations and arrogantly spurned them; even if a thick rope
a
were
to pass through the eye of a needle they would not enter the Garden.
This is how We punish the guilty –
–
41Hell will be their resting place
and their covering, layer upon layer –
– this is how We punish those
who do evil. 
42But those who believe and do good deeds–– and We
do not burden any soul with more than it can bear –
– are the people
of the Garden and there they will remain. 
43We shall have removed
all ill feeling from their hearts; streams will 
flow at their feet. They
will say, ‘Praise be to God, who guided us to this: had God not
guided us, We would never have found the way. The messengers of
our Lord brought the Truth.’ A voice will call out to them, ‘This is
the Garden you have been given as your own on account of your
deeds.’
44The people of the Garden will cry out to the people of the
Fire, ‘We have found what our Lord promised us to be true. Have
you found what your Lord promised you to be true?’ and they will
answer, ‘Yes’. A voice will proclaim from their midst, ‘God’s rejec-
tion [hangs] over the evildoers: 
45those who turned others away
from God’s path and tried to make it crooked, those who denied the
Hereafter.’
46A barrier divides the two groups with men on its heights
recognizing each group by their marks: they will call out to the
people of the Garden, ‘Peace be with you!’–
– they will not have
entered, but they will be hoping, 
47and when their glance falls upon
the people of the Fire, they will say, ‘Our Lord, do not let us join the
evildoers!’–
–
48and the people of the heights will call out to certain
a
Not ‘camel’. The roots of the words for ‘camel’ and ‘thick twisted rope’ are the
same in Arabic and ‘rope’ makes more sense here (Razi).