105 The people of Noah, too, called the messengers liars. 106 Their brother Noah said to them, ‘Will you not be mindful of God? 107 I am a faithful messenger sent to you: 108 be mindful of God and obey me. 109 I ask no reward of you, for my only reward is with the Lord of the Worlds: 110 be mindful of God and obey me.’ 111 They answered, ‘Why should we believe you when the worst sort of people follow you?’ 112 He said, ‘What knowledge do I have of what they used to do? 113 It is for my Lord alone to bring them to account– if only you could see– 114 I will not drive believers away. 115 I am here only to give people a clear warning.’ 116 So they said, ‘Noah, if you do not stop this, you will be stoned.’ 117 He said, ‘My Lord, my people have rejected me, 118 so make a firm judgement between me and them, and save me and my believing followers.’ 119 So We saved him and his followers in the fully laden ship, 120 and drowned the rest. 121 There truly is a sign in this, though most of them do not believe: 122 your Lord alone is the Almighty, the Merciful.
123 The people of Ad, too, called the messengers liars. 124 Their brother Hud said to them, ‘Will you not be mindful of God? 125 I am a faithful messenger sent to you: 126 be mindful of God and obey me. 127 I ask no reward of you, for my only reward is with the Lord of the Worlds. 128 How can you be so vain that you set up monuments on every high place? 129 Do you build fortresses because you hope to be immortal? 130 Why do you act like tyrants whenever you attack someone? 131 Be mindful of God and obey me; 132 be mindful of Him who has provided you with everything you know– 133 He has given you livestock, sons, 134 gardens, springs– 135 for I truly fear that the torment of a grievous day will overtake you.’ 136 They replied, ‘It makes no difference to us whether you warn us or not, 137 for we only do what our forefathers used to do: 138 we shall not be punished.’ 139 They denounced him as a liar, and so We destroyed them. There truly is a sign in this, though most of them do not believe: 140 your Lord alone is the Almighty, the Merciful.
Saleh, Lot and Shuaib
141 The people of Thamud, too, called the messengers liars. 142 Their brother Salih said to them, ‘Will you not be mindful of God? 143 I am a faithful messenger to you: 144 be mindful of God and obey me. 145 I ask no reward from you, for my only reward is with the Lord of the Worlds. 146 [Do you think] you will be left secure for ever in what you have here– 147 gardens, springs, 148 fields, palm trees laden with fruit– 149 carving your fine houses from the mountains? 150 Be mindful of God and obey me: 151 do not obey those who are given to excess 152 and who spread corruption in the land instead of doing what is right.’ 153 They said, ‘You are bewitched! 154 You are nothing but a man like us. Show us a sign, if you are telling the truth.’ 155 He said, ‘Here is a camel. She should have her turn to drink and so should you, each on a specified day, 156 so do not harm her, or the punishment of a terrible day will befall you.’ 157 But they hamstrung her. In the morning they had cause to regret it: 158 the punishment fell upon them. There truly is a sign in this, though most of them will not believe: 159 your Lord alone is the Almighty, the Merciful.
160 The people of Lot, too, called the messengers liars. 161 Their brother Lot said to them, ‘Will you not be mindful of God? 162 I am a faithful messenger to you: 163 be mindful of God and obey me. 164 I ask no reward from you, for my only reward is with the Lord of the Worlds. 165 Must you, unlike [other] people, lust after males 166 and abandon the wives that God has created for you? You are exceeding all bounds,’ 167 but they replied, ‘Lot! If you do not stop this, you will be driven away.’ 168 So he said, ‘I loathe what you do: 169 Lord, save me and my family from what they are doing.’ 170 We saved him and all his family, 171 except for an old woman who stayed behind, 172 then We destroyed the others, 173 and poured a rain of destruction down upon them. How dreadful that rain was for those who had been forewarned! 174 There truly is a sign in this, though most of them will not believe: 175 your Lord alone is the Almighty, the Merciful.
176 The forest-dwellers, too, called the messengers liars. 177 Shu'ayb said to them, ‘Will you not be mindful of God? 178 I am a faithful messenger to you: 179 be mindful of God and obey me. 180 I ask no reward of you, for my only reward is with the Lord of the Worlds. 181 Give full measure: do not sell others short. 182 Weigh with correct scales: 183 do not deprive people of what is theirs. Do not spread corruption on earth. 184 Be mindful of God who created you and former generations,’ 185 but they replied, ‘You are bewitched! 186You are nothing but a man like us. In fact we think you are a liar. 187 Make bits of the heavens fall down on us, if you are telling the truth.’ 188 He said, ‘My Lord knows best what you do.’ 189 They called him a liar, and so the torment of the Day of Shadow came upon them– it was the torment of a terrible day. 190 There truly is a sign in this, though most of them will not believe: 191 your Lord alone is the Almighty, the Merciful.
Revelation
192 Truly, this Quran has been sent down by the Lord of the Worlds: 193 the Trustworthy Spirit [a] brought it down 194 to your heart [Prophet], so that you could bring warning 195 in a clear Arabic tongue. 196 This was foretold in the scriptures of earlier religions. 197 Is it not proof enough for them that the learned men of the Children of Israel have recognized it? 198 If We had sent it down to someone who was not an Arab, [b] 199 and he had recited it to them, they still would not have believed in it. 200 So We make it pass straight through the hearts of the guilty: 201 they will not believe in it until they see the grievous torment, 202 which will suddenly hit them when they are not expecting it, 203 and then they will say, ‘Can we have more time?’ 204 How can they ask that Our punishment be brought to them sooner? 205 Think, if we let them enjoy this life for some years 206 and then the promised torment came upon them, 207 what good would their past enjoyment be to them? 208 Never have We destroyed a town without sending down messengers to warn it, 209 as a reminder from Us: We are never unjust.
210 It was not the jinn [c] who brought down this Quran: 211 it is neither in their interests nor in their power, 212 indeed they are prevented from overhearing it. 213 So [Prophet] do not invoke any gods beside God, or you will incur punishment. 214 Warn your nearest kinsfolk 215 and lower your wing tenderly over the believers who follow you. 216 If they disobey you, say, ‘I bear no responsibility for your actions.’ 217 Put your trust in the Almighty, the Merciful, 218 who sees you when you stand up [for prayer] 219 and sees your movements among the worshippers: 220 He is the All Hearing, the All Knowing. 221 Shall I tell you who the jinn come down to? 222 They come down to every lying sinner 223 who readily lends an ear to them, and most of them are liars: 224 only those who are lost in error follow the poets. [d] 225 Do you not see how they rove aimlessly in every valley; 226 how they say what they do not do? [e] 227 Not so those [poets] who believe, do good deeds, remember God often, and defend themselves after they have been wronged. The evildoers will find out what they will return to.
Footnotes
a. Generally understood to mean the Angel Gabriel.
b. This alludes to the refusal of many Meccan Arabs to believe that revelation could come to man from among themselves.
c. Cf. 72: 8–9; 37: 7–10.
d. The Meccans dismissed the Quran as poetry. After the Prophet moved to Medina, the Meccans commissioned poets to satirize the Muslims, and some Muslim poets counter-attacked.
e. Poets used to boast and exaggerate in their praise-poems and satires.
The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)
The Qur'an / a new translation by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, copyright © 2004 Oxford World's Classics (Oxford University Press). Used by permission. All rights reserved.