Quran — Page 433

And [as for those who now deny the truth,] one Day He will gather them all together, and will ask the angels, “Was it you that they were wont to worship?”

They will answer: “Limitless art Thou in Thy glory! Thou [alone] art close unto us, not they! Nay, [when they thought that they were worshipping us,] they were but [blindly] worshipping forces concealed from their senses; most of them believed in them.”

And [on that Day God will say]: “None of you [created beings] has today any power to benefit or to harm another!” And [then] We shall say unto those who had been bent on evildoing: “Taste [now] that suffering through fire which you were wont to call a lie!”

For [thus it is:] whenever Our messages are conveyed unto them in all their clarity, they [who are bent on denying the truth] say [to one another], “This [Muhammad] is nothing but a man who wants to turn you away from what your forefathers were wont to worship!” And they say, “This [Qur’an] is nothing but a falsehood invented [by man]!” And [finally,] they who are bent on denying the truth speak thus of the truth when it comes to them: “This is clearly nothing but spellbinding eloquence!”

And yet, [O Muhammad,] never have We vouchsafed them any revelations which they could quote, and neither have We sent unto them any warner before thee.

Thus, too, gave the lie to the truth [many of] those who lived before them; and although those [earlier people] had not attained to even a tenth of [the evidence of the truth] which We have vouch­safed unto these [late successors of theirs], yet when they gave the lie to My apostles, how awesome was My rejection!

Say: “I counsel you one thing only: Be [ever­ conscious of] standing before God, whether you are in the company of others or alone; and then bethink yourselves [that] there is no madness in [this pro­phet,] your fellow-man: he is only a warner to you of suffering severe to come.”

Say: “No reward have I ever asked of you [out of anything] that is yours: my reward rests with none but God, and He is witness unto everything!”

Say: “Verily, my Sustainer hurls the truth [against all that is false] He who fully knows all the things that are beyond the reach of a created being’s perception!”