[bestowed upon thee] so that thou mayest warn people whose forefathers had not been warned, and who therefore are unaware [of the meaning of right and wrong].
Thou canst [truly] warn only him who is willing to take the reminder to heart, and who stands in awe of the Most Gracious although He is beyond the reach of human perception: unto such, then, give the glad tiding of [God’s] forgiveness and of a most excellent reward!
Verily, We shall indeed bring the dead back to life; and We shall record whatever [deeds] they have sent ahead, and the traces [of good and evil] which they have left behind: for of all things do We take account in a record clear.
Lo! We sent unto them two [apostles], and. they gave the lie to both; and so We strengthened [the two] with a third; and thereupon they said: “Behold, we have been sent unto you [by God]!”
[The others] answered: “You are nothing but mortal men like ourselves; moreover, the Most Gracious has never bestowed aught [of revelation] from on high. You do nothing but lie!”
Said [the others]: “Truly, we augur evil from you! Indeed, if you desist not, we will surely stone you, and grievous suffering is bound to befall you at our hands!”
[The apostles] replied: “Your destiny, good or evil, is [bound up] with yourselves! [Does it seem evil to you] if you are told to take [the truth] to heart? Nay, but you are people who have wasted their own selves!”
Should I take to worshipping [other] deities beside Him? [But then,] if the Most Gracious should will that harm befall me, their intercession could not in the least avail me, nor could they save me:
36:24
إِنِّىٓ إِذًۭا لَّفِى ضَلَٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍ
and so, behold, I would have indeed, most obviously, lost myself in error!
36:25
إِنِّىٓ ءَامَنتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَٱسْمَعُونِ
“Verily, [O my people,] in the Sustainer of you all have I come to believe: listen, then, to me!”
And [yet,] they have a sign [of Our power to create and to resurrect] in the lifeless earth which We make alive, and out of which We bring forth grain, whereof they may eat;
Limitless in His glory is He who has created opposites in whatever the earth produces, and in men’s own selves, and in that of which [as yet] they have no knowledge.
[and] neither may the sun overtake the moon, nor can the night usurp the time of day, since all of them float through space [in accordance with Our laws].
And [yet,] when they are told, “Beware of [God’s insight into] all that lies open before you and all that is hidden from you, so that you might be graced with His mercy,” [most men choose to remain deaf;]
Thus, when they are told, “Spend on others out of what God has provided for you as sustenance,” those who are bent on denying the truth say unto those who believe, “Shall we feed anyone whom, if [your] God had so willed, He could have fed [Himself]? Clearly, you are but lost in error!”
[And they are unaware that] nothing awaits them beyond a single blast [of God’s punishment], which will overtake them while they are still arguing - [against resurrection]:
They will say: “Oh, woe unto us! Who has roused us from our sleep [of death]?” [Whereupon they will be told:] “This is what the Most Gracious has promised! And His message-bearers spoke the truth!”
On that Day We shall set a seal on their mouths but their hands will speak unto Us, and their feet will bear witness to whatever they have earned [in life].
NOW HAD IT BEEN Our will [that men should not be able to discern between right and wrong], We could surely have deprived them of their sight, so that they would stray forever from the [right] way: for how could they have had insight [into what is true]?
And had it been Our will [that they should not be free to choose between right and wrong], We could surely have given them a different nature [and created them as beings rooted] in their places, so that they would not be able to move forward, and could not turn back.]
But [let them always remember that] if We lengthen a human being’s days, We also cause him to decline in his powers [when he grows old]: will they not, then, use their reason?
AND [thus it is:] We have not imparted to this [Prophet the gift of] poetry, nor would [poetry] have suited this [message]: it is but a reminder and a [divine] discourse, clear in itself and clearly showing the truth,
Are they, then, not aware that it is for them that We have created, among all the things which Our hands have wrought, the domestic animals of which they are [now] masters? –
However, be not grieved by the sayings of those [who deny the truth]: verily, We know all that they keep secret as well as all that they bring into the open.
IS MAN, then, not aware that it is We who create him out of a [mere] drop of sperm - whereupon, lo! he shows himself endowed with the power to think and to argue?
And [now] he [argues about Us, and] thinks of Us in terms of comparison, and is oblivious of how he himself was created! [And so] he says, “Who could give life to bones that have crumbled to dust?”
Say: “He who brought them into being in the first instance will give them life [once again], seeing that He has full knowledge of every act of creation:
Is, then, He who has created the heavens and the earth not able to create [anew] the like of those [who have died]? Yea, indeed - for He alone is the all-knowing Creator: