١ALL PRAISE is due to God, who has created the heavens and the earth, and brought into being deep darkness as well as light: and yet, those who are bent on denying the truth regard other powers as their Sustainer's equals!
٢He it is who has created you out of clay, and then has decreed a term [for you] - a term known [only] to him. And yet you doubt –
٣although He is God in the heavens and on earth, knowing all that you keep secret as well as all that you do openly, and knowing what you deserve.
٤Yet whenever any of their Sustainer's messages comes unto them, they [who are bent on denying the truth] turn their backs upon it:
٥and so they give the lie to this truth now that it has come unto them. In time, however, they will come to understand what it was that they were wont to deride.
٦Do they not see how many a generation We have destroyed before their time - [people] whom We had given a [bountiful] place on earth, the like of which We never gave unto you, and upon whom We showered heavenly blessings abundant, and at whose feet We made running waters flow? And yet we destroyed them for their sins, and gave rise to other people in their stead.
٧But even if we had sent down unto thee [O Prophet] a writing on paper, and they had touched it with their own hands - those who are bent on denying the truth would indeed have said, "This is clearly nothing but a deception!"
٨They are saying, too, "Why has not an angel (visibly] been sent down unto him?" But had we sent down an angel, all would indeed have been decided, and they would have been allowed no further respite [for repentance.