And what hindereth men from believing, when the guidance hath come to them, but that they say, “Hath God sent a man as an apostle?”

SAY: Did angels walk the earth as its familiars, we had surely sent them an angel-apostle out of Heaven.

SAY: God is witness enough between you and me. His servants He scanneth, eyeth.

And He whom God shall guide will be guided indeed; and whom he shall mislead thou shalt find none to assist, but Him: and we will gather them together on the day of the resurrection, on their faces, blind and dumb and deaf: Hell shall be their abode: so oft as its fires die down, we will rekindle the flame.

This shall be their reward for that they believed not our signs and said, “When we shall have become bones and dust, shall we surely be raised a new creation?”

Do they not perceive that God, who created the Heavens and the Earth, is able to create their like? And he hath ordained them a term; there is no doubt of it: but the wicked refuse everything except unbelief.

SAY: If ye held the treasures of my Lord’s mercy ye would certainly refrain from them through fear of spending them: for man is covetous.

We therefore gave to Moses nine clear signs. Ask thou, therefore, the children of Israel how it was when he came unto them, and Pharaoh said to him, “Verily, I deem thee, O Moses, a man enchanted.”

Said Moses, “Thou knowest that none hath sent down these clear signs but the Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth; and I surely deem thee, O Pharaoh, a person lost.”

So Pharaoh sought to drive them out of the land; but we drowned him and all his followers.

And after his death, we said to the children of Israel, “Dwell ye in the land:” and when the promise of the next life shall come to pass, we will bring you both up together to judgment. In truth have we sent down the Koran, and in truth hath it descended, and we have only sent thee to announce and to warn.

And we have parcelled out the Koran into sections, that thou mightest recite it unto men by slow degrees, and we have sent it down piecemeal.

SAY: Believe ye therein or believe ye not? They verily to whom knowledge had been given previously, fall on their faces worshipping when it is recited to them, and say: “Glory be to God! the promise of our Lord is made good!”

They fall down on their faces weeping, and It increaseth their humility.

SAY: Call upon God (Allah),²⁸ or call upon the God of Mercy (Arrahman), by whichsoever ye will invoke him: He hath most excellent names. And be not loud in thy prayer, neither pronounce it too low;²⁹ but between these follow a middle way:

And SAY: Praise be to God who hath not begotten a son, who hath no partner in the Kingdom, nor any protector on account of weakness. And magnify him by proclaiming His greatness.³⁰