O men! ye are but paupers in need of God; but God is the Rich, the Praiseworthy!

If He please, He could sweep you away, and bring forth a new creation!

Nor will this be hard for God.

And the burdened soul shall not bear the burden of another: and if the heavy laden soul cry out for its burden to be carried, yet shall not aught of it be carried, even by the near of kin! Thou shalt warn those who fear their Lord in secret, and observe prayer. And whoever shall keep himself pure, he purifieth himself to his own behoof: for unto God shall be the final gathering.

And the blind and the seeing are not alike; neither darkness and light; nor the shade and the hot wind;

Nor are the living and the dead the same thing! God indeed shall make whom He will to hearken, but thou shalt not make those who are in their graves to hearken; for only with warning art thou charged.

Verily we have sent thee with the truth; a bearer of good tidings and a warner; nor hath there been a people unvisited by its warner.

And if they treat thee as a liar, so did those who were before them threat their Apostles who came to them with the proofs of their mission, and with the Scriptures and with the enlightening Book:³

Then chastised I the unbelievers: and how great was my vengeance!

Seest thou not how that God sendeth down water from the Heaven, and that by it we cause the up- growth of fruits of varied hues, and that on the mountains⁴ are tracks of varied hues, white and red, and others are of a raven black? And of men and reptiles and animals, various likewise are the hues. Such only of his servants as are possessed of knowledge fear God. Lo! God is Mighty, Gracious!

Verily they who recite the Book of God, and observe prayer, and give alms in public and in private from what we have bestowed upon them, may hope for a merchandise that shall not perish:

God will certainly pay them their due wages, and of his bounty increase them: for He is Gracious, Grateful.

And that which we have revealed to thee of the Book is the very Truth, confirmatory of previous Scriptures: for God knoweth and beholdeth his servants.

Moreover, we have made the Book an heritage to those of our servants whom we have chosen. Some of them injure themselves by evil deeds; others keep the midway between good and evil; and others, by the permission of God, outstrip in goodness; this is the great merit!

Into the gardens of Eden shall they enter: with bracelets of gold and pearl shall they be decked therein, and therein shall their raiment be of silk:

And they shall say, “Praise be to God who hath put away sorrow from us. Verily our Lord is Gracious, Grateful,

Who of His bounty hath placed us in a manison that shall abide for ever: therein no toil shall reach us, and therein no weariness shall touch us.”

But for infidels is the fire of Hell; to die shall never be decreed them, nor shall aught of its torment be made light to them. Thus reward we every infidel!

And therein shall they cry aloud, “Take us hence, O our Lord! righteousness will we work, and not what we wrought of old.”—“Prolonged we not your days that whoever would be warned might be warned therein? And the preacher came to you—