world’s life ! This is their sum of knowledge ; verily, thy Lord knows best who has erred from His way, and He knows best who is guided !
God’s is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, that He may reward those who do evil for what they have done ; and may reward those who do good with good ! those who shun great sins and iniquities, — all but venial faults, — verily, thy Lord is of ample forgiveness ; He knows best about you, when He produced you from the earth, and when ye were embryos in the wombs of your mothers.
Make not yourselves out, then, to be pure ; He knows best who it is that fears.
Hast thou considered him who turns his back ? who gives but little 35 and then stops[1] ? Has he then the knowledge of the unseen, so that he can see ?
Has he not been informed of what is in the pages of Moses and Abraham who fulfilled his word ? — that no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another ? 40 and that man shall have only that for which he strives ; and that his striving shall at length be seen ? Then shall he be rewarded for it with the most full reward ; and that unto thy Lord is the limit ; 45 and that it is He who makes men laugh and weep ; and that it is He who kills and makes alive ; and that He created pairs, male
- ↑ This passage refers to one El Walîd ibn Muhâirah, who being abused for following Mohammed and forsaking the religion of the Qurâis, answered that he had done so to escape divine vengeance. Thereupon an idolater offered to take on himself El Walîd’s sin for a certain sum of money. The offer was accepted, and Walîd apostatized from El Islâm, paying down a portion of the amount agreed upon at the time. Later on he refused to pay the balance on the ground that he had already paid enough.
