The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

a
Cf. 
8: 53; 16: 112.
b
Or ‘prostrate’: shadows submit to God’s laws in nature and also stretch out on the
ground as if prostrating. Sajada has both meanings.
The Qur
an
13: 8
154

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earth’s contents twice over, if they had it, in order to ransom them-
selves, so terrible will be their reckoning. Hell will be their home,
and their bed wretched.
19Can someone who knows that the revelation from your Lord is
the Truth be equal to someone who is blind? Only those with under-
standing will take it to heart; 
20those who fulfil the agreements they
make in God’s name and do not break their pledges; 
21who join
together what God commands to be joined; who are in awe of their
Lord and fear the harshness of the Reckoning; 
22who remain stead-
fast through their desire for the face of their Lord; who keep up the
prayer; who give secretly and openly from what We have provided for
them; who repel evil with good. These will have the reward of the
[true] home: 
23they will enter perpetual Gardens, along with their
righteous ancestors, spouses, and descendants; the angels will go in
to them from every gate, 
24‘Peace be with you, because you have
remained steadfast. What an excellent reward is this home of yours!’
25But there will be rejection for those who break their confirmed
agreements made in God’s name, who break apart what God has
commanded to be joined and who spread corruption on earth: theirs
is the dreadful home –
–
26God gives abundantly to whoever He will,
and sparingly to whoever He will –
– and though they may revel in the
life of this world, it is but a 
fleeting comfort compared with the Life
to come.
27The disbelievers say, ‘Why has no miracle been sent down to
him from his Lord?’ [Prophet], say, ‘God leaves whoever He will to
stray, and guides to Himself those who turn towards Him, 
28those
who have faith and whose hearts 
find peace in the remembrance
of God –
– truly it is in the remembrance of God that hearts 
find
peace –
–
29those who believe and do righteous deeds: joy awaits these,
and their 
final homecoming will be excellent.’ 30So We have sent you
[Prophet] to a community –
– other communities passed away long
before them –
– to recite to them what We reveal to you. Yet they
disbelieve in the Lord of Mercy. Say, ‘He is my Lord: there is no god
but Him. I put my trust in Him and to Him is my return.’
31If there
were ever to be a Qur
an with which mountains could be moved, the
earth shattered, or the dead made to speak [it would have been this
one],
a
but everything is truly in God’s hands. Do the believers not
a
Or ‘[they still would not believe]’.
Thunder
155
13: 31

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realize that if God had so willed, He could have guided all mankind?
As for the disbelievers, because of their misdeeds, disaster will not
cease to a
fflict them or fall close to their homes until God’s promise
is ful
filled: God never fails to keep His promise.
32Many messengers before you [Muhammad] were mocked, but I
granted respite to the disbelievers: in the end, I took them to task –
–
how terrible My punishment was! 
33Is He who stands over every soul
marking its action [in need of any partner]? Yet they ascribe partners
to God. Say, ‘Name them,’ or, ‘Can you tell Him about something
on the earth He does not know to exist, or is this just a display of
words?’ But the things they devise are made alluring to the dis-
believers and they are barred from the [right] path: no one can guide
those God leaves to stray. 
34There is a punishment for them in this
world, but the punishment of the Hereafter will be harder –
– no one
will defend them against God.
35Here is a picture of the Garden that those mindful of God have
been promised: 
flowing streams and perpetual food and shade. This
is the reward that awaits those who are mindful of God; the dis-
believers’ reward is the Fire. 
36Those to whom We sent the Scripture
rejoice in what has been revealed to you [Prophet]; some factions
deny parts of it. Say, ‘I am commanded to worship God, and not join
anything with Him in worship: to Him I call [others] and to Him I
shall return.’
37So We have sent down the Quran to give judgement
in the Arabic language. If you were to follow their desires, after the
knowledge that has come to you, you would have no one to guard you
or protect you from God. 
38We sent messengers before you and gave
them wives and o
ffspring; no messenger was given the power to
produce a miracle except with God’s permission. There was a Scrip-
ture for every age:
a
39God erases or confirms whatever He will, and
the source of Scripture is with Him. 
40Whether We let you [Prophet]
see part of what We threaten them with, or cause you to die [before
that], your duty is only to deliver the message: the Reckoning is
Ours. 
41Do they not see how We come to [their] land and shrink its
borders? God decides –
– no one can reverse His decision –
– and He is
swift in reckoning. 
42Those before them also schemed, but the over-
all scheme belongs to God: He knows what each soul does. In the
end, the disbelievers will 
find out who will have the excellent home.