Quran — Page 348

Nay, We have conveyed unto them the truth: and yet, behold, they are intent on lying [to them­selves]!

Never did God take unto Himself any offspring, nor has there ever been any deity side by side with Him: [for, had there been any,] lo! each deity would surely have stood apart [from the others] in whatever it had created, and they would surely have [tried to] overcome one another! Limitless in His glory is God, [far] above anything that men may devise by way of definition,

knowing all that is beyond the reach of a created being’s perception as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature’s senses or mind and, hence, sublimely exalted is He above anything to which they may ascribe a share in His divinity!

SAY: “O my Sustainer! If it be Thy will to let me witness [the fulfillment of] whatever they [who blaspheme against Thee] have been promised [to suffer] –

do not, O my Sustainer, let me be one of those evildoing folk!”

[Pray thus] for, behold, We are most cer­tainly able to let thee witness [the fulfillment, even in this world, of] whatever We promise them!

[But whatever they may say or do,] repel the evil [which they commit] with something that is bet­ter: We are fully aware of what they attribute [to Us].

And say: “O my Sustainer! I seek refuge with Thee from the promptings of all evil impulses;

and I seek refuge with Thee, O my Sustainer, lest they come near unto me!’

[AS FOR THOSE who will not believe in the life to come, they go on lying to themselves] until, when death approaches any of them, he prays: “O my Sustainer! Let me return, let me return [to life],

so that I might act righteously in whatever I have failed [aforetime]!” Nay, it is indeed but a [meaningless] word that he utters: for behind those [who leave the world] there is a barrier [of death] until the Day when all will be raised from the dead!

Then, when the trumpet [of resurrection] is blown, no ties of kinship will on that Day prevail among them, and neither will they ask about one another.

And they whose weight [of righteousness] is heavy in the balance - it is they, they who will have attained to a happy state;

whereas they whose weight is light in the balance - it is they who will have squandered their own selves, [destined] to abide in hell:

the fire will scorch their faces, and they will abide therein with their lips distorted in pain.