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The Creator, or the Angels
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Say: If I err, verily to my own cost only shall I err: but if I have guidance, it will be of my Lord's revealing, for He is the Hearer, the near at hand.

50Couldst thou see how they shall tremble and find no escape, and be taken forth from the place that is so near;[1]

And shall say, “ We believe in Him! But how, in their present distance, shall they receive the faith,

When they had before denied it, and aimed their shafts at the mysteries from afar?[2]

And a gulf shall be between them and that which they shall desire—

As was done unto their likes of old, who were lost in the questionings of doubt.



 

[LXXXVI.]

SURA XXXV.—THE CREATOR, OR THE ANGELS

Mecca.—45 Verses.

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


Praise be to God, Maker of the Heavens and of the Earth! Who employeth the ANGELS as envoys, with pairs of wings, two, three, and four: He addeth to his creature what He will! Truly God hath power for all things.

The mercy which God layeth open for man, no one can keep back; and what He shall keep back, none can afterwards send forth. And He is the Mighty, the Wise.

O men! bear in mind the favour of God towards you. Is there a creator other than God, who nourisheth you with the gifts of heaven and earth? There is no God but He! How then are ye turned aside from Him?

If they treat thee as an impostor, then before thee have apostles been treated as impostors. But to God shall all things return.

O men! assuredly the promise of God is true: let not then the present life deceive you: and let not the Deceiver deceive you as to God.

  1. That is, their graves. Mar. So called because there is but a step into it from the surface of the earth. Ullm.
  2. That is, when in this life.