Quran — Page 457

And they will add: “How is it that we do not see [here any of the] men whom we were wont to count among the wicked,

[and] whom we made the target of our derision? Or is it that [they are here, and] our eyes have missed them?”

Such, behold, will in truth be the [confusion and] mutual wrangling of the people of the fire!

SAY [O Muhammad]: “I am only a warner; and there is no deity whatever save God, the One, who holds absolute sway over all that exists,

the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, the Almighty, the All-Forgiving!”

Say: “This is a message tremendous:

[how can] you turn away from it?”

[Say, O Muhammad:] “No knowledge would I have had of [what passed among] the host on high when they argued [against the creation of man],

had it not been revealed unto me [by God] - to no other end than that I might convey [unto you] a plain warning.

[For,] lo, thy Sustainer said unto the angels: “Behold, I am about to create a human being out of clay;

and when I have formed him fully and breathed into him of My spirit, fall you down before him in prostration!”

Thereupon the angels prostrated themselves, all of them together,

save Iblis: he gloried in his arrogance, and [thus] became one of those who deny the truth.

Said He: “O Iblis! What has kept thee from prostrating thyself before that [being] which I have created with My hands? Art thou too proud [to bow down before another created being], or art thou of those who think [only] of themselves as high?”

Answered [Iblis]: “I am better than he: Thou hast created me out of fire, whereas him Thou hast created out of clay.”

Said He: “Go forth, then, from this [angelic state] - for, behold, thou art henceforth accursed,

and My rejection shall be thy due until the Day of Judgment!”

Said [Iblis]: “Then, O my Sustainer, grant me a respite till the Day when all shall be raised from the dead!”

Answered He: “Verily, so [be it:] thou shalt be among those who are granted respite

till the Day the time whereof is known [only to Me].”

[Whereupon Iblis] said: “Then [I swear] by Thy very might: I shall most certainly beguile them all into grievous error –

[all] save such of them as are truly Thy servants!”