١CONSIDER these [messages] ranged in serried ranks,
٢and restraining [from evil] by a call to restraint,
٣and conveying [to all the world] a reminder:
٤Verily, most surely, your God is One –
٥the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and of all that is between them, and the Sustainer of all the points of sunrise!
٦Behold, We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with the beauty of stars,
٧and have made them secure against every rebellious, satanic force,
٨[so that] they [who seek to learn the unknowable] should not be able to overhear the host on high, but shall be repelled from all sides,
٩cast out [from all grace], with lasting suffering in store for them [in the life to come];
١٠but if anyone does succeed in snatching a glimpse [of such knowledge], he is [henceforth] pursued by a piercing flame.
١١AND NOW ask those [who deny the truth] to enlighten thee: Were they more difficult to create than all those [untold marvels] that We have created? - for, behold, them have We created out of [mere] clay commingled with water!
١٢Nay, but whereas thou dost marvel, they [only] scoff;
١٣and when they are reminded [of the truth], they refuse to take it to heart;
١٤and when they become aware of a [divine] message, they turn it to ridicule
١٥and say: “This is clearly nothing but [a mortal’s] spellbinding eloquence!
١٦Why - after we have died and become mere dust and bones, shall we, forsooth, be raised from the dead? –
١٧and perhaps also our forebears of old?”
١٨Say: “Yea, indeed - and most abject will you then be!” –
١٩for that [resurrection which they deride] will be [upon them of a sudden, as if it were] but a single accusing cry - and then, lo! they will begin to see [the truth]
٢٠and will say: “Oh, woe unto us! This is the Day of Judgment!”
٢١[And they will be told:] “This is the Day of Distinction [between the true and the false - the Day] which you were wont to call a lie!”
٢٢[And God will thus command:] “Assemble all those who were bent on evildoing, together with others of their ilk and [with] all that they were wont to worship
٢٣instead of God, and lead them all onto the way to the blazing fire,
٢٤and halt them [there]!” [And then,] behold, they shall be asked,