108 [Believers], do not revile those they call on beside God in case they, in their hostility and ignorance, revile God. To each community We make their own actions seem alluring, but in the end they will return to their Lord and He will inform them of all they did. 109 They swear by God with their most solemn oaths that if a miraculous sign came to them they would believe in it. Say [Prophet], ‘Signs are in the power of God alone.’ What will make you [believers] realize that even if a sign came to them they still would not believe? 110 We would make their hearts and their eyes turn away, just as they did not believe the first time, and leave them to flounder in their obstinacy. 111 Even if We sent the angels down to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered all things right in front of them, they still would not believe, unless God so willed, but most of them are ignorant [of this]. 112 In the same way We assigned to each prophet an enemy, evil humans and evil jinn. They suggest alluring words to one another in order to deceive– if it had been your Lord’s will, [Prophet], they would not have done this: leave them to their inventions– 113 so that the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter may incline towards their deceit, be pleased with it, and so perpetrate whatever they perpetrate.
perpetrate whatever they perpetrate. 114 [Say], ‘Shall I seek any judge other than God, when it is He who has sent down for you [people] the Scripture, clearly explained?’ Those to whom We gave the Scripture know that this [Quran] is revealed by your Lord [Prophet] with the truth, so do not be one of those who doubt. 115 The word of your Lord is complete in its truth and justice. No one can change His words: He is the All Hearing, the All Knowing. 116 If you obeyed most of those on earth, they would lead you away from the path of God. They follow nothing but speculation; they are merely guessing. 117 Your Lord knows best who strays from His path and who is rightly guided.
Rules About Meat Consumption
118 So [believers] eat any [animal] over which God’s name has been pronounced, if you believe in His revelations. 119 Why should you not eat such animals when God has already fully explained what He has forbidden you, except when forced by hunger? But many lead others astray by their desires, without any true knowledge: your Lord knows best who oversteps the limit. 120 Avoid committing sin, whether openly or in secret, for those who commit sin will be repaid for what they do, 121 and do not eat anything over which God’s name has not been pronounced, for that is breaking the law. The evil ones incite their followers to argue with you: [a] if you listen to them, you too will become idolaters.
Lies and Inventions Result in Punishment
122 Is a dead person brought back to life by Us, and given light with which to walk among people, comparable to someone trapped in deep darkness who cannot escape? In this way the evil deeds of the disbelievers are made to seem alluring to them. 123 And so We have put chief evildoers in every city to perpetrate their schemes there– but they scheme only against themselves, without realizing it. 124 When a revelation is brought before them they say, ‘We shall not believe unless we ourselves are given a revelation as God’s messengers were.’ But God knows best where to place His messages: humiliation before God and severe torment will befall the evildoers for their scheming. 125 When God wishes to guide someone, He opens their breast to islam; [b] when He wishes to lead them astray, He closes and constricts their breast as if they were climbing up to the skies. That is how God makes the foulness of those who do not believe rebound against them.
126 [Prophet], this is the path of your Lord, made perfectly straight. We have explained Our revelations to those who take heed. 127 They shall have the Home of Peace with their Lord, and He will take care of them as a reward for their deeds.
128 On the day He gathers everyone together [saying], ‘Company of jinn! You have seduced a great many humans,’ their adherents among mankind will say, ‘Lord, we have profited from one another, but now we have reached the appointed time You decreed for us.’ He will say, ‘Your home is the Fire, and there you shall remain’– unless God wills otherwise: [Prophet], your Lord is all wise, all knowing. 129 In this way, We make some evildoers have power over others through their misdeeds. 130 ‘Company of jinn and mankind! Did messengers not come from among you to recite My revelations to you and warn that you would meet this Day?’ They will say, ‘We testify against ourselves.’ The life of this world seduced them, but they will testify against themselves that they rejected the truth: 131 your Lord would not destroy towns for their wrongdoing if they had not been warned. 132 Everyone is assigned a rank according to their deeds; your Lord is not unaware of anything they do. 133 Your Lord is self-sufficient and full of mercy. If He pleased, He could remove you and put others in your place, just as He produced you from the offspring of other people. 134 What you are promised is sure to come, and you cannot escape. 135 [Prophet], say, ‘My people, you carry on as you are, and so will I: you will come to realize who will have a happy homecoming in the Hereafter.’ The evildoers will not prosper.
136 They apportion to God a share of the produce and the livestock He created, saying, ‘This is for God’– so they claim!–‘ and this is for our idols.’ Their idols’ share does not reach God, but God’s share does reach their idols: how badly they judge! 137 In the same way, their idols have induced many of the pagans to kill their own children, [c] bringing them ruin and confusion in their faith: if God had willed otherwise they would not have done this, so [Prophet] leave them to their own devices. 138 They also say, ‘These cattle and crops are reserved, and only those we allow may eat them’– so they claim! There are some animals they exempt from labor and some over which they do not pronounce God’s name [during slaughter], falsely attributing these [regulations] to Him: He will repay them for the falsehoods they invent. 139 They also say, ‘The contents of these animals’ wombs will be reserved solely for our men and forbidden to our women, though if the offspring is stillborn they may have a share of it.’ He will punish them for what they attribute to Him: He is all wise, all aware. 140 Lost indeed are those who kill their own children out of folly, with no basis in knowledge, [d] forbidding what God has provided for them, fabricating lies against Him: they have gone far astray and have heeded no guidance.
Footnotes
a. Saying that nothing is wrong with meat sacrificed to an idol.
b. Devotion to God (see 2: 131–2).
c. Razi explains that either the jinn or servants of the idols appointed by the pagans suggested this infanticide.
d. i.e. scriptural evidence, cf. verses 143, 144, and 148.
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.