Quran — Page 525

Is it their minds that bid them [to take] this [attitude] - or are they [simply] people filled with overweening arrogance?

Or do they say, “He himself has composed this [message]”? Nay, but they are not willing to believe!

But then, [if they deem it the work of a mere mortal,] let them produce another discourse like it - if what they say be true!

[Or do they deny the existence of God?] Have they themselves been created without anything [that might have caused their creation]? or were they, perchance, their own creators?

[And] have they created the heavens and the earth? Nay, but they have no certainty of anything!

[How could they?] Are thy Sustainer’s treasures with them? Or are they in charge [of destiny]?

Or have they a ladder by which they could [ascend to ultimate truths and] listen [to what is beyond the reach of human perception]? Let, then, any of them who have listened [to it] produce a manifest proof [of his knowledge]!

Or, [if you believe in God, how can you believe that] He has [chosen to have] daughters, whereas you yourselves would have [only] sons?

Or is it that [they who reject thy message, O Muhammad, fear lest] thou ask of them a reward, so that they would be burdened with debt [if they should listen to thee]?

Or [do they think] that the hidden reality [of all that exists] is almost within their grasp, so that [in time] they can write it down?

Or do they want to entrap [thee in contradic­tions]? But they who are bent on denying the truth - it is they who are truly entrapped!

Have they, then, any deity other than God? Utterly remote is God, in His limitless glory, from anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!

AND YET, if they [who refuse to see the truth] were to see part of the sky falling down, they would [only] say, “[It is but] a mass of clouds!”

Hence, leave them alone until they face that [Judgment] Day of theirs, when they will be stricken with terror:

the Day when none of their scheming will be of the least avail to them, and they will receive no succour.

But, verily, for those who are bent on doing evil, there is suffering in store [even] closer at hand than that [supreme suffering in the hereafter]: but most of them are not aware of it.

And so, await in patience thy Sustainer’s judgment, for thou art well within Our sight. And extol thy Sustainer’s limitless glory and praise whenever thou risest up,

and extol His glory at night, and at the time when the stars retreat.