The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

a
According to some commentators this refers to those Jews and Christians at the
time of the Prophet who believed in him.
The Spider
255
29: 60

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God sustains them and you: He alone is the All Hearing, the All
Knowing. 
61If you ask the disbelievers who created the heavens and
earth and who harnessed the sun and moon, they are sure to say,
‘God.’ Then why do they turn away from Him? 
62It is God who
gives abundantly to whichever of His servants He will, and sparingly
to whichever He will: He has full knowledge of everything. 
63If you
ask them, ‘Who sends water down from the sky and gives life with it
to the earth after it has died?’ they are sure to say, ‘God.’ Say, ‘Praise
belongs to God!’ Truly, most of them do not use their reason.
64The life of this world is merely an amusement and a diversion;
the true life is in the Hereafter, if only they knew. 
65Whenever they
go on board a ship they call on God, and dedicate their faith to Him
alone, but once He has delivered them safely back to land, see how
they ascribe partners to Him! 
66Let them show their ingratitude for
what We have given them; let them take their enjoyment –
– soon they
will know. 
67Can they not see that We have made [them] a secure
sanctuary
a
though all around them people are snatched away? Then
how can they believe in what is false and deny God’s blessing? 
68Who
could be more wicked than the person who invents lies about God,
or denies the truth when it comes to him? Is Hell not the home for
the disbelievers? 
69But We shall be sure to guide to Our ways those
who strive hard for Our cause: God is with those who do good.
a
Mecca.
The Qur
an
29: 61
256

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30. THE BYZANTINES
A Meccan sura which opens with a reference to the defeat of the Byzantines at
the hands of the Persians (
613–14
ce
) in Syria, and the subsequent victory of
the Byzantines in 
624
ce
. The sura urges people to re
flect on the creation of
themselves, the heavens and earth, and all God’s wonders. God’s power to give
life to a barren land is repeated as an indication both of His ability to raise the
dead and of His mercy to mankind. The disbelievers are warned to believe
before it is too late; the Prophet is urged to persevere and to ignore the taunts of
the disbelievers.
In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy
1Alif Lam Mim
2The Byzantines have been defeated 3in a nearby land. They will
reverse their defeat with a victory 
4in a few years’ time
a
–– God is in
command,
first and last. On that day, the believers will rejoice 5at
God’s help. He helps whoever He pleases: He is the Mighty, the
Merciful.
6This is God’s promise: God never breaks His promise,
but most people do not know; 
7they only know the outer surface of
this present life and are heedless of the life to come. 
8Have they not
thought about their own selves?
b
God did not create the heavens and
earth and everything between them without a serious purpose and an
appointed time, yet many people deny that they will meet their Lord.
9Have they not travelled through the land and seen how their
predecessors met their end? They were mightier than them: they
cultivated the earth more and built more upon it. Their own mes-
sengers also came to them with clear signs: God did not wrong
them; they wronged themselves. 
10Later the evildoers met a terrible
end for rejecting and [repeatedly] mocking God’s revelations. 
11God
brings creation into being; in the end He will reproduce it and it is to
Him you will be recalled.
12On the Day the Hour arrives, the guilty will despair 13and they
will have no intercessors among those partners they ascribed to
a
When fortunes were reversed and the Byzantines won a victory, this was to please
the believers. This was also the year of the Muslim victory at Badr. The earlier defeat of
the Byzantines had been viewed by the Meccan pagans as a victory for paganism.
b
Or ‘within’ themselves. See also 
41: 53.

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God –
– they will deny these partners. 
14When the Hour arrives, on
that Day people will be separated: 
15those who believed and did good
deeds will delight in a Garden, 
16while those who disbelieved and
denied Our messages and the meeting of the Hereafter will be
brought for punishment.
17So celebrate God’s glory in the evening, in the morning––
18praise is due to Him in the heavens and the earth–– in the late
afternoon, and at midday. 
19He brings the living out of the dead and
the dead out of the living. He gives life to the earth after death, and
you will be brought out in the same way. 
20One of His signs is that
He created you from dust and –
– lo and behold! –
– you became human
and scattered far and wide. 
21Another of His signs is that He created
spouses from among yourselves for you to live with in tranquillity:
He ordained love and kindness between you. There truly are signs in
this for those who re
flect. 22Another of His signs is the creation of the
heavens and earth, and the diversity of your languages and colours.
There truly are signs in this for those who know. 
23Among His signs
are your sleep, by night and by day, and your seeking His bounty.
There truly are signs in this for those who can hear. 
24Among His
signs, too, are that He shows you the lightning that terri
fies and
inspires hope; that He sends water down from the sky to restore the
earth to life after death. There truly are signs in this for those who
use their reason. 
25Among His signs, too, is the fact that the heavens
and the earth stand 
firm by His command. In the end, you will all
emerge when He calls you from the earth. 
26Everyone in the heavens
and earth belongs to Him, and all are obedient to Him. 
27He is the
One who originates creation and will do it again –
– this is even easier
for Him. He is above all comparison in the heavens and earth; He is
the Almighty, the All Wise.
28He gives you this example, drawn from your own lives: do you
make your slaves full partners with an equal share in what We have
given you? Do you fear them as you fear each other? This is how
We make Our messages clear to those who use their reason. 
29And
still the idolaters follow their own desires without any knowledge.
Who can guide those God leaves to stray, who have no one to help
them?
30So [Prophet] as a man of pure faith, stand firm and true in
your devotion to