Quran — Page 540

For, they who have attained to faith in God and His Apostle - it is they, they who uphold the truth, and they who bear witness [thereto] before God: [and so] they shall have their reward and their light! But as for those who are bent on denying the truth and on giving the lie to Our messages - it is they who are destined for the blazing fire!

KNOW [O men] that the life of this world is but a play and a passing delight, and a beautiful show, and [the cause of] your boastful vying with one another, and [of your] greed for more and more riches and children. Its parable is that of [life-giving] rain: the herbage which it causes to grow delights the tillers of the soil; but then it withers, and thou canst see it turn yellow; and in the end it crumbles into dust. But [the abiding truth of man’s condition will become fully apparent] in the life to come: [either] suffering severe, or God’s forgiveness and His goodly acceptance: for the life of this world is nothing but an enjoyment of self-delusion.

[Hence,] vie with one another in seeking to attain to your Sustainer’s forgiveness, and [thus] to a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which has been readied for those who have attained to faith in God and His Apostle: such is the bounty of God which He grants unto whomever He wills - for God is limitless in His great bounty.

NO CALAMITY can ever befall the earth, and nei­ther your own selves, unless it be [laid down] in Our decree before We bring it into being: verily, all this is easy for God.

[Know this,] so that you may not despair over whatever [good] has escaped you nor exult [unduly] over whatever [good] has come to you: for, God does not love any of those who, out of self-conceit, act in a boastful manner –

those who are niggardly [with God’s bounty] and bid others to be niggardly! And he who turns his back [on this truth ought to know that], verily, God alone is self-sufficient, the One to whom all praise is due!